Leveraging AI in data analytics: transforming insights into strategic business decisions

In today’s business landscape, organisations generate massive amounts of data – but turning that data into actionable insights remains a challenge for many leaders. Enterprise leaders sit on mountains of information. But without the right tools to extract meaning, it’s like trying to steer a ship through fog with no compass. This is where AI, especially when integrated into platforms like Salesforce, changes the game for data-driven decision-making.

Why traditional analytics is falling short

Legacy analytics systems, even those with basic automation, are often reactive. Telling you what happened, not what’s happening or what’s likely to happen next. They tend to rely on human input, siloed data, and static reports.

And in a world where data volume and complexity are accelerating, that creates serious friction. Opportunities get missed. Blind spots grow. And decision-making slows to a crawl.

Modern business leaders need more than hindsight, they need actionable foresight.Want to go deeper? Learn more in our Trailhead module on Unlocking Actionable Data Insights with Tableau Next

How AI transforms data into actionable insight

AI changes the relationship between humans and data. Instead of relying on specialists to interpret trends, business users can interact directly with insights – through natural language, contextual guidance, and automation.

AI-powered analytics platforms help organisations:

• Detect patterns and anomalies that humans might overlook
• Surface real-time insights from constantly changing data
• Predict outcomes with greater accuracy
• Recommend tailored next steps aligned with business objectives
• Leverage agentic analytics to generate visualisations and explore data using natural language – allowing users to ask questions, spot trends, and make decisions confidently

This shift means that questions which once required a data analyst – like identifying the root cause of a revenue dip or spotting changes in customer behaviour – can now be answered directly by business users. With Tableau Next, AI effectively turns every user into an analyst, bringing data exploration into the everyday workflow.At the heart of this evolution is a new model of intelligence – one where AI enables human curiosity, not replaces it. That’s the core objective of agentic analytics: empowering people to ask better questions, test new ideas, and act with greater clarity.

AI in strategic analytics: four real-world applications

Many businesses are already turning AI-powered analytics into strategic outcomes. Here are some of the most impactful use cases:

Customer intelligence
Salesforce’s Einstein Prediction Builder helps anticipate churn, surface cross-sell opportunities, and personalise experiences at scale – improving customer retention and lifetime value.

Financial forecasting
Organisations are moving beyond static annual budgets with AI-powered forecasting that updates in real time based on internal and external data shifts.

Supply chain agility
AI identifies disruptions, demand fluctuations, and vendor risks earlier – allowing teams to adapt quickly before problems escalate.Workforce optimisation
Leaders use predictive analytics to understand performance patterns and plan talent strategies based on data, not just gut feel.

Tableau Next: designed for the AI-first enterprise

In today’s workplace, the issue isn’t access to data, it’s knowing how to use it in the moment. Most dashboards are static, buried in tabs, or out of date by the time they’re consulted.

Tableau Next, the latest evolution of Salesforce’s analytics platform, tackles this challenge head-on. It brings analytics into your workflow, shifting from passive dashboards to proactive, conversational, and context-aware intelligence.

Here’s how Tableau Next is helping enterprise teams unlock real-time, insight-led decisions:

• Next-gen analytics combining Tableau, AI agents and Salesforce infrastructure
  
• Automate repetitive tasks like data cleaning, transformation, visualisation, and multi-step workflows – freeing up teams to focus on high-value thinking
  
• Uncover deeper insight faster by proactively detecting hidden patterns, correlations, and trends using AI-guided exploration
  
• Support seamless action with contextual summaries, natural language outputs, and real-time alerts integrated directly into tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and email
  
• Enables agentic analytics so users can explore data with natural language prompts – building visualisations, asking questions, and discovering trends without technical barriers

This is analytics built for how people actually work – embedded in daily workflows, responsive to changing conditions, and aligned with real business outcomes.

3 steps to building an AI-powered data strategy

You don’t need to rebuild your entire analytics stack overnight. Here’s where to start:

1. Identify high-impact decision areas
Look for decisions being made with incomplete or delayed data – that’s where AI can have the biggest impact early on.

2. Strengthen your data foundation
AI needs connected, clean, and current data to work effectively. Use Salesforce Data Cloud to unify sources and eliminate silos. 

It doesn’t matter where your data sits, whether it’s in a CRM, across applications, in external systems, or even in a data lake or warehouse. Data Cloud will unify it to create a single source of truth that can be activated to deliver AI-driven insights directly into workflows.

3. Deliver insights where people work
Embed analytics into everyday tools like CRM, service consoles, and productivity platforms – so insights become part of the process, not a separate task.

With the right data and the right tools, strategic analytics becomes less about hindsight and more about shaping what’s next.

The future belongs to insight-driven leaders

We’re entering a new era of business intelligence – one that values curiosity, speed, and trust. The winners won’t just be the companies with the most data, but those who can make the most of it.

AI-powered analytics gives leaders the ability to move with clarity and confidence – to spot patterns faster, ask better questions, and take action in real time.

With agentic analytics, human insight stays at the centre – guided by AI that empowers rather than replaces.

Transformation is just the beginning. With Salesforce, progress is purposeful, measurable, and built on trust.