Austin, Texas, USA, June 18, 2026
The era of selling GenAI as universal productivity is over. The winning story is now specific, measurable, and narrow.
The 1H 2026 Data Intelligence, Analytics, and Infrastructure Decision Makers Survey (2H 2025 n=677 GenAI users, 1H 2026 n=818) finds that broad GenAI productivity narratives are losing credibility, with overall workflow efficiency as a perceived benefit falling 6.0 percentage points even as specific, measurable task categories continue to gain ground.
Figure 1: Benefits of GenAI for Data Work (Wave Comparison)
Q: “What are the primary reasons or benefits driving your use of Generative AI to augment and automate your daily data-related workflows?” Base: 2H 2025 n=677 GenAI users; 1H 2026 n=818. Caution: base differs between waves. Source: Futurum Research, May 2026
“The market has moved past the hype peak for GenAI as a universal productivity tool. What is growing is what can be measured: documentation, automation, code. What is shrinking is what is vague: overall efficiency, free time, creative liberation. Vendors still leading with broad productivity claims will find those claims discounted by buyers who have now lived with GenAI long enough to know where it earns its keep.”
— Brad Shimmin, VP & Practice Lead, Data Intelligence, Analytics, and Infrastructure, The Futurum Group
The survey reveals several key developments shaping GenAI value perception:
- Documentation leads the specific-task gains. Documentation generation rose 4.9 points, the largest gain in the benefit set, confirming that auto-generated technical writing is the clearest discrete productivity win.
- Automation and code acceleration are compounding. Task automation rose 3.8 points, and code acceleration rose 3.2 points, reinforcing that GenAI value is strongest where the output is verifiable and the workflow is bounded.
- Aspirational categories are fading. Beyond workflow efficiency, data quality enhancement fell 2.3 points, and strategic time liberation slipped 0.5 points, a consistent pattern across every benefit framed as broad or indirect.
Subscribers can read more in the full report, “1H 2026 Data Intelligence, Analytics, and Infrastructure Decision Makers Survey Report,” on the Futurum Intelligence Platform. Non-subscribers—click here for more information.
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Author Information
Brad Shimmin is Vice President and Practice Lead, Data Intelligence, Analytics, & Infrastructure at Futurum. He provides strategic direction and market analysis to help organizations maximize their investments in data and analytics. Currently, Brad is focused on helping companies establish an AI-first data strategy.
With over 30 years of experience in enterprise IT and emerging technologies, Brad is a distinguished thought leader specializing in data, analytics, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software development. Consulting with Fortune 100 vendors, Brad specializes in industry thought leadership, worldwide market analysis, client development, and strategic advisory services.
Brad earned his Bachelor of Arts from Utah State University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. Brad lives in Longmeadow, MA, with his beautiful wife and far too many LEGO sets.
