Signal Comparative Zones for Data Intelligence Platforms
Debuting Data Intelligence Platforms, Signal Zones indicate Google, Microsoft, Databricks at Elite status, SAS, Teradata aspiring; Futurum Signal compares and lists Elite, Leader, Established, and Aspiring companies in the space.
As a proprietary human-agentic workflow, Futurum Signal generates powerful future execution radar comparisons to predict market impact and projects the impact on a given market.
AUSTIN, Texas, August 20, 2025–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Futurum Group, an influential leader in research, intelligence, media, and advisory services for the technology industry, today unveiled its first Futurum Signal report, generated by its forward-looking predictive evaluation platform.
Analyzing the $409B Data Intelligence market, which is projected to reach nearly $900B within the next 5 years, Futurum Signal unveiled the market positioning and scores of a dozen companies in the space. With the ambition to harness AI through Generative and Agentic AI tools as companies’ priority investment, Data Platforms represents the next evolution in enterprise data strategy, unifying disparate data, analytics, and AI capabilities into a single ecosystem.
Futurum Signal’s Comparison Zones include a visual showcasing how companies rank based on their overall Signal score, a Signal Comparative Heat Map showcasing how companies compare across each of the five assessment categories, and Signal Radar, a company-specific view of their respective score on each of the five assessment categories.
Of note, while Google stood out in its score for ‘Strategic Vision’, Databricks led under ‘Product Innovation & Solution Capabilities’, and Microsoft topped ‘Business Value Index’, demonstrating an ultimate measure of success in delivering rapid, quantifiable ROI. Companies like AWS, Salesforce, and Snowflake scored the Leader status, representing companies expected to show strengths and competitive advantages. Companies considered reliable and competitive, including IBM, Oracle, and Cloudera, face shortcomings in the specific Data Intelligence Platform market.
Futurum Signal was announced earlier in August and is integrated into the firm’s Futurum Intelligence Platform. Its unique analysis evaluates companies across five core categories—Business Value Index, Product Innovation & Technology Capabilities, Strategic Vision, Go-To-Market Execution, and Ecosystem Alignment—on a consistent 10-point scale that rolls up into an overall Futurum Signal score.
The full report can be requested by visiting: Futurum Signal – The Futurum Group
Key findings:
Strategic Vision: Google stands out. Its top score demonstrates that leadership in this category requires an unwavering, clearly articulated, and massively funded strategy that anticipates market shifts. Google’s coherent AI-first approach, which infuses everything from its core infrastructure to its application layer, serves as a north star for the industry, contrasting sharply with vendors who are still articulating how AI fits into their broader portfolio.
Product Innovation & Solution Capabilities: Databricks leads the pack. This score is a testament to its unified platform, which has successfully erased the artificial lines between data engineering, data science, machine learning, and business intelligence. Winning in this category demands a cohesive, end-to-end experience that simplifies the data lifecycle, a stark difference from competitors who still present a collection of loosely integrated tools.
Ecosystem Alignment: Snowflake and Databricks are exemplary. Their high scores show that true market leadership is built on a foundation of open standards and a thriving network of partners. Their embrace of open formats like Apache Iceberg and robust support for ISVs and GSIs creates a powerful network effect, making their platforms stickier and more valuable than closed, proprietary systems.
Go-to-Market Execution: Microsoft and SAP are elite. Their top scores underscore that technical excellence is insufficient without a world-class sales and distribution engine. Leadership here requires deep enterprise penetration, mature partner channels, and the ability to bundle new data and AI solutions with existing, mission-critical software contracts—a key advantage over pure-play vendors still scaling their sales organizations.
Business Value Index: Microsoft is at the top. This demonstrates that the ultimate measure of success is the ability to deliver rapid, quantifiable ROI by embedding data and AI directly into the business processes and productivity tools users rely on every day. Microsoft Fabric and Copilot exemplify this approach, delivering immediate value within the familiar context of Azure and Microsoft 365, a model that others are now racing to emulate
“While the world is mesmerized by shiny new AI models, this inaugural Signal report reveals the real breakthrough is happening one layer down,” says Brad Shimmin, Futurum’s VP & Practice Lead, Data Intelligence, Analytics & Infrastructure. “The Elite vendors aren’t just plugging AI into existing software; they’re meticulously engineering an intelligence, trustworthy data foundation that can tuen the promise of AI into tangible enterprise value and help companies build an operating system fit for the next wave of business innovation.”
Upcoming Signal reports available this Fall will include:
Data Intelligence Platforms
Security Operations Platforms
Software Engineering Platforms
Agentic AI Platforms
AI Cloud Platforms
Sales, Service, & Marketing Platforms
Cloud Marketplace Platforms
Futurum Signal is now available to businesses and analysts looking for a data-driven, actionable approach to navigating the future of technology and customer engagement. Vendors can inquire about reprints and licensing.
About Futurum
The Futurum Group is the fastest-growing independent tech research, intelligence, media, and advisory firm. Its continued growth is driven by emerging technologies and innovation across its clientele of more than 515 global companies. Futurum has established its reputation as a leader in global research, intelligence, and advisory, focused on analyzing emerging technologies and market trends across enterprise, AI, cloud, semiconductor, and tech transformation landscapes. Futurum helps businesses, investors, and technology providers make informed strategic decisions through its market intelligence products, thought leadership content, analyst briefings, and multimedia programming.
