Resource
Fragmented data carries a business cost: slower decisions, weaker trust and missed opportunities. This research shows how connected compliance and product data can strengthen performance, support AI adoption and accelerate growth.
We asked business leaders and consumers what helps them make informed decisions and where better product and compliance information could make a difference.
Speed alone does not mean an organization is ready to grow. The report’s Confidence x Speed framework explores four positions: Stuck, Cautious/Constrained, Fast but Exposed and Ready to Grow.
Which one are you?
We call it the Trust Tax — the time, effort and risk created by finding, reconciling and rechecking fragmented compliance information. Once you see it in your own compliance data, you can't unsee it.
Business decision-makers reported challenges from fragmented compliance data:
Delays in reporting
Slower decision-making
Challenges addressing customer requirements
Less trust in analysis
The compliance data maturity model maps four stages, from fragmented to intelligent. Where does your organization sit? What will it take to move forward?
35% of leaders say centralization and visibility — not automation, not AI — is still their biggest gap. That's a stage-two problem. Centralizing data makes it easier to find. Not easier to trust.
rank predictive risk identification among AI’s three most valuable uses in compliance.
rank data privacy and security among their top three AI concerns
rank output trustworthiness, including hallucinations, among their top three AI concerns
rank integration complexity among their top three AI concerns
Upstream, 58% of leaders say verifying supplier claims and sustainability data is one of their hardest challenges. Downstream, 42% of consumers expect manufacturers to explain product claims — but only 45% actually trust them when they do.
You’re accountable for both. The answer isn’t tighter control over every supplier or more persuasion at the customer end. It’s extending visibility, traceability and evidence across the full product lifecycle.
“Confidence must travel as far as the product does.”
87% of leaders expect greater data centralization and integration to deliver high or very high improvement in operational efficiency.
86% of leaders expect greater data centralization and integration to deliver high or very high improvement in ESG and sustainability goals.
72% of consumers say openly explaining product testing and results would increase their trust.
54% of consumers agree AI helps them find product information more efficiently. Make product facts and evidence accessible.
Explore the findings on confidence, data, maturity, intelligence and connection—and what they could mean for your organization.
Online surveys conducted in May 2026 without identifying the sponsor. Business respondents helped select relevant technology.
400 business decision-makers + 800 consumers = 1,200 respondents.
United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Greater China, Korea and Japan.
Middle market: $100M–$1BCorporate: $1B–$5B
Enterprise: $5B+ Annual revenue
Technology, executive leadership, compliance, sustainability, operations, product and more.
Consumers were age 25+ and had purchased or considered products in at least three categories during the previous year, including vehicles, electronics, home appliances, building materials, home furnishings, apparel, household and personal care products, children’s products, and over-the-counter health products.
