Solace has released a new IDC InfoBrief finding that the constraint on enterprise AI success has shifted from the models themselves to the real-time data feeding them, based on a survey of 623 senior technology decision-makers at billion-dollar-plus enterprises across eight countries.

The study, titled 2026 State of Real-Time Data: Agentic Enterprises Are Running on Real-Time Data, found that organisations ranked highest on real-time data maturity report measurable outcomes on 67% of their AI projects, compared with just 35% among the least mature organisations.

Connecting agents to data is the bottleneck

Forty percent of organisations named connecting AI agents in real time to reliable enterprise data as a top obstacle to putting agents into production, ahead of building the agents themselves. Data quality and consistency was cited as the leading technical challenge overall at 46%, a concern flagged even by the most advanced adopters.

“Every enterprise has the same AI models. The winners are the ones whose agents run on trusted, real-time data, and the numbers back it up,” said Paul Fitzpatrick, chief marketing and business development officer, Solace.

Operating practice, not budget, separates leaders

The study found that real-time data readiness barely moves with company size and varies only modestly by industry. What separates leading organisations is how they work: 76% run real-time data across most or all of their operations, compared with just 7% among the least mature organisations. Leaders also standardise on a single unified platform rather than a patchwork of tools.

As organisations advance through maturity tiers, agents deployed in production rise from 20% at emerging organisations to 59% among leaders, while the share of AI projects delivering measurable outcomes climbs from 35% to 67%. Ninety percent of organisations said their real-time data investments have met or exceeded expectations, and between 94% and 97% plan to increase spending on both real-time data and agentic AI.

• Leaders in real-time data maturity report measurable AI outcomes on 67% of projects, versus 35% for laggards
• 40% cite connecting agents to reliable data, not building agents, as the top production obstacle
• 76% of leading organisations run real-time data across most or all operations, versus 7% of emerging ones
• 94%-97% plan to increase spending on real-time data and agentic AI

The survey was conducted by IDC in June 2026 among 623 senior technology decision-makers at organisations with $1 billion or more in revenue, with the largest share in manufacturing, financial services and retail. The results carry a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9% at a 95% confidence interval.