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Gartner Says 80% of GenAI Apps Will Use Existing Data – Is Yours Ready?

June 2, 2025
Musharrat Shahin

Gartner forecasts that 80% of GenAI business apps will be built on existing data platforms by 2028, making RAG a critical enabler of faster, safer AI deployment.

Source: Freepik

In a world racing to embrace Generative AI (GenAI), the question isn’t whether businesses will adopt it, but how fast and how wisely. At the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit in Mumbai, the conversation has shifted from hype to how-to. Gartner predicts that by 2028, 80% of GenAI business applications will be developed on existing data management platforms, cutting development time and complexity by half.

This trend marks a pivotal shift toward using in-house data systems as a launchpad for GenAI innovation, reducing the cost and chaos of integrating fragmented tools and frameworks.

Why RAG Matters Now

A key theme at the summit is the growing adoption of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)—a technique that combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with real-time access to business-specific data. According to Prasad Pore, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, RAG offers “implementation flexibility, enhanced explainability, and composability” for GenAI apps.

Since most LLMs are trained on public data, they often fail to deliver when solving organization-specific problems. RAG bridges this gap by feeding the LLMs with internal data, structured and unstructured, while using tools like vector search, metadata tagging, and chunking to enhance accuracy and trust.

Recommendations for Enterprises

To fully leverage GenAI, Gartner advises businesses to:

  • Transform data platforms into RAG-ready systems that can act as real-time knowledge sources.
  • Adopt RAG technologies like vector search and graph databases, ensuring resilience and scalability.
  • Use metadata strategically, technical and operational, to secure GenAI from privacy risks and misuse.

As India’s GenAI ecosystem accelerates, highlighted by recent moves from major tech players like Infosys and TCS to integrate GenAI into core services, RAG is emerging as a vital foundation, not just an add-on.

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