New Delhi, Dec. 18 -- For years, enterprise data in India lived out of sight. It was stored, processed, and governed by specialised teams, then surfaced periodically through reports and dashboards. If the numbers appeared on time, the system was considered successful.

That definition is breaking down. As Indian enterprises push deeper into automation and AI, data is no longer a background asset. It is something people and systems interact with continuously.

"For a long time, enterprise data lived quietly in the backend," says Siddhesh Naik, Country Leader for Data & AI Software at IBM India & South Asia. "Today, it's something people actively interact with while making decisions or relying on AI-driven insights."

The data user has multiplied

The most noticeable change is to whom the data is actually intended. Analysts and IT teams are no longer the primary audience.

"The user is no longer a person alone-it's the entire ecosystem," says Arijit Bonnerjee, Senior Vice President and Head - India Region at Tata Communications. "Frontline employees, applications, AI models, even autonomous systems are now active data consumers."

Vijayant Rai, Managing Director-India at Snowflake, points to a shift in access itself. "Natural language is becoming the universal interface for data," he says. "Business teams are moving from being passive consumers of dashboards to active participants in analysis."

This expansion raises expectations around speed, clarity, and consistency. When data feeds live operations or AI agents, ambiguity is no longer tolerable.

Trust breaks faster than ever

As data moves closer to decision-making, the cost of failure rises. Trust, once lost, is hard to recover.

"Nothing breaks trust faster than inconsistent answers to the same question," Rai says. "If two leaders see different revenue numbers, confidence collapses instantly."

Security failures accelerate that erosion. Proofpoint research shows that 99% of Indian CISOs reported sensitive data loss in the past year. "Traditional perimeter controls cannot keep pace with how people actually use data today," says Bikramdeep Singh, India Country Manager at Proofpoint. "Protection now depends on understanding behaviour and context."

Several leaders note that trust is no longer a mere governance checkbox. "Trust is engineered," says Srinivasa Kattuboina, Head of Data and Analytics Practice at EPAM India. "It comes from reliability, predictability, and visibility, not documentation."

Why 'data as a product' often stalls

Many enterprises now describe data as a product, but few operate it like one. Ownership is fragmented, quality drifts, and datasets linger long after their value declines.

"Calling something a product doesn't make it one," says Sridhar Mantha, CEO of Generative AI Business Services at Happiest Minds. "Without accountability and continuous care, data belongs to everyone-and therefore no one."

Others warn against trying to productise everything. "Not all data deserves product-level investment," Kattuboina says. "When everything becomes a product, costs rise and focus disappears."

Where advantage is emerging

Competitive advantage is no longer tied to who stores the most data, but to who can turn it into a dependable experience.

"Advantage is emerging where data is embedded directly into workflows," says Prasanth Krishnan, Principal Sales Engineer at UiPath. "When decisions, automation, and AI rely on the same trusted foundation, cycle times shrink."

Infrastructure still matters, but as an enabler. "Faster, more consistent access to data supports responsive systems," says C R Srinivasan, CEO of Digital Connexion. "But only if environments are designed for real usage, not just storage."

The broader shift is cultural. As Bonnerjee puts it, "When data becomes experiential, it stops being the responsibility of a few and becomes the responsibility of everyone."

For Indian enterprises, that may be the hardest transition of all-but also the one that determines whether data finally delivers on its promise.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.