Ontologies, business glossaries, metrics definitions, semantic layers, and knowledge graphs.
Semantics
A business-friendly semantic abstraction commonly used to start knowledge engineering for BI.
Semantic layer
A cautious AI ambition posture that the article challenges as not being a strategy.
AI-Cautious
A person mentioned in the community and analyst sections of the trip report.
CommunityPerson
6 out of 10 European IT leaders have real concerns about AI agent cost overruns.
European IT leader concern about AI agent cost overruns
A formal handshake between upstream operational governance and downstream analytical governance.
Data contract
Policy type suitable for policy-as-code translation: Privacy.
Privacy
Connects the article to AI ambition archetypes.
has archetype
Connects governance-as-code to policy categories.
has policy type
A managed enterprise layer that captures semantics, operational state, provenance, policies, users, access, and assets for AI-ready work.
ContextLayer
Conference attended by Juan Sequeda and used as the source of the trip-report takeaways.
London
Gartner Data & Analytics London May 2026
What does context include?
A graph of entities and relationships used to represent enterprise context and semantics.
Knowledge graph
Policy type suitable for policy-as-code translation: Ethics.
Ethics
Generated executable SPARQL recipes over the companion RDF graph.
Executable SPARQL recipes
90% of D&A leaders say their architecture needs a minor or significant overhaul to support new use cases.
Architecture needs overhaul
Best when data and use-case requirements are fulfilled within the application footprint.
Application-provider-centric
Most organizations use multiple applications, creating cross-application context challenges.
URL-encoded live query action for URIBurner SPARQL.
Run live query
Best when the enterprise is already on one cloud and values pre-integrated capabilities and speed over differentiation.
CSP-centric
Hyperscaler metadata tools typically scan inside their own ecosystems; multi-cloud buyers still need ISVs.
Best for best-of-breed depth, cloud neutrality, and high maturity in specific capabilities.
ISV-centric
Risk of recreating fragmented stitching and exposure to acquisition by a non-strategic platform vendor.
Connects a foundation or context layer to a business use case.
supports use case
The conference community section mentions analysts, friends, and data community participants.
Awesome community
User identity, department or cohort context, access entitlements, and business assets.
Users, access, and assets
Start with a concrete business outcome or use case.
Choose an outcome
Connects the article to a quantitative observation.
has metric
An AI ambition posture oriented around selective opportunities.
AI-Opportunistic
AI and D&A leaders are still working through foundational issues: data quality, governance effectiveness, and architecture readiness.
Basics and foundations
Policy type suitable for policy-as-code translation: Security.
Security
Connects a context layer to a component.
has component
A domain of governance that must be coordinated for AI, analytics, risk, data, security, or operational work.
GovernanceDomain
Only 13% say their D&A governance function can fully lead AI governance.
Governance function fully able to lead AI governance
Juan Sequeda's methodology for progressing by use case rather than waterfall foundation programs.
Pay-as-you-go methodology
Data community participant mentioned as SanjMo.
Sanjeev Mohan
Records a risk called out in the trip report.
risk
A component of enterprise context such as semantics, rules, ownership, operational state, provenance, users, access, or assets.
ContextComponent
Data community participant mentioned in the community section.
Malcolm Hawker
Decision traces, process lineage, actions taken, and outcomes produced.
Provenance
Gartner Data & Analytics London May 2026 takeaways RDF
Dataset containing the generated RDF and representative data for the trip report.
Gartner London takeaways RDF dataset
Deliver the use case while building the reusable context and governance foundation.
Deliver and govern
A strategic option for building a converged data management platform.
VendorStrategyOption
Moderator of the strategic data management platform panel.
Daniel Cota
Governance domain named in the article: Analytics governance.
Analytics governance
Policy type suitable for policy-as-code translation: Lifecycle.
Lifecycle
A live poll found 40% going straight to ontologies and knowledge graphs.
Knowledge engineering starts with ontologies and knowledge graphs
Company whose data and analytics innovations were presented and demonstrated at the conference.
ServiceNow
What methodology does the article advocate?
A frame for translating definitions, models, quality, security, privacy, ethics, and lifecycle policies into enforceable code.
Policy as code frame
Default live endpoint for generated executable query links.
URIBurner SPARQL endpoint
Connects a strategy option or governance item to a capability.
concerns capability
Governance domain named in the article: Data governance.
Data governance
Organizations need explicit strategy across CSP-centric, ISV-centric, and application-provider-centric data management platforms.
Vendor strategy
Context layers, semantics, ontologies, knowledge graphs, operational state, provenance, users, access, and assets are core to AI-ready data infrastructure.
Context, context, context
An AI ambition posture oriented around systematic AI transformation.
AI-First
Generation of RDF, HTML, and Markdown artifacts from the article.
RDF and companion document generation
Governance domain named in the article: Decision governance.
Decision governance
Enterprise AI value depends on context, governance, data foundations, and use-case-driven methodology.
Answer 1
The convergence of data, AI, analytics, cybersecurity, MDM, decision, risk, and IT governance.
Governance singularity
Use outcome-first delivery to build foundations and deliver value together.
Apply the iron-thread method
Model the semantics, provenance, users, access, and policies needed for the outcome.
Identify minimum context
Connects the article or organization to a vendor strategy option.
has vendor strategy
Defined terms for the generated article knowledge graph.
Glossary
Governance domain named in the article: Cybersecurity governance.
Cybersecurity governance
Entities, activities, and environmental conditions that describe what is happening in the business now.
Operational state
Business rules, governance policies, and accountability assignments.
Rules, policies, and ownership
Governance domain named in the article: Operational governance.
Operational governance
A quantitative observation or statistic from the trip report.
MetricObservation
Questions and answers derived from the trip report.
FAQ
Shows governance domains participating in the governance singularity frame.
List expanded governance domains
PREFIX sm: <https://juansequeda.substack.com/p/gartner-data-and-analytics-london#> PREFIX schema: <http://schema.org/> SELECT ?domain ?name WHERE { GRAPH <https://linkeddata.uriburner.com/DAV/demos/daas/gartner-data-analytics-london-gpt5-chat-1.ttl> { sm:governanceFrame sm:hasGovernanceDomain ?domain . ?domain schema:name ?name . } } ORDER BY ?name
Governance domain named in the article: IT governance.
IT governance
The article argues for use-case-driven, pay-as-you-go, iron-thread methodology rather than foundation-first waterfall.
Methodologies
Returns article metrics and values as executable representative data.
Rank quantitative observations
PREFIX sm: <https://juansequeda.substack.com/p/gartner-data-and-analytics-london#> PREFIX schema: <http://schema.org/> SELECT ?metric ?name ?value ?unit WHERE { GRAPH <https://linkeddata.uriburner.com/DAV/demos/daas/gartner-data-analytics-london-gpt5-chat-1.ttl> { ?metric a sm:MetricObservation ; schema:name ?name ; schema:value ?value ; schema:unitText ?unit . } } ORDER BY DESC(?value)
Start from business outcomes, build minimum foundations for the use case, deliver value, and repeat.
Answer 4
Gartner analyst on the strategic data management platform panel.
Robert Thanaraj
Data and analytics conference takeaways
Juan Sequeda's trip report on Gartner Data & Analytics London covering foundations, context, vendor strategy, governance, methodologies, and community.
Gartner Data & Analytics London May 2026: My Honest No-BS Takeaways
A delivery methodology for building foundations while producing outcome-oriented value.
Methodology
Gartner analyst presenting on the future of D&A governance.
Anurag Raj
A type of governance policy that may be expressed as code.
PolicyType
A use-case-first methodology that builds minimum foundations while delivering value end-to-end.
Iron-thread approach
Governance domain named in the article: MDM governance.
MDM governance
A lightweight ontology and representative data model for Juan Sequeda's Gartner Data & Analytics London May 2026 takeaways.
Gartner London 2026 context and governance ontology
47% of European organizations have financial guardrails or AI FinOps practices in place.
Organizations with financial guardrails or AI FinOps
Governance expands beyond data governance into AI, analytics, cyber, risk, MDM, decision, IT, and operational governance.
Governance is also king and queen
A live poll found 60% starting knowledge engineering with semantic layers for BI.
Knowledge engineering starts with semantic BI layers
What is the main conference takeaway?
Governance domain named in the article: Corporate risk governance.
Corporate risk governance
A platform-independent layer of semantics, rules, ownership, operations, provenance, users, access, and assets that supports AI-ready work.
Enterprise Context Layer
Only 1 out of 10 D&A and AI leaders share AI agent cost-overrun concerns.
D&A and AI leader concern about AI agent cost overruns
Why does governance expand?
Policy type suitable for policy-as-code translation: Definitions and models.
Definitions and models
Governance expands beyond data governance into coordinated governance over AI, analytics, cybersecurity, MDM, decision, risk, IT, and operations.
Expanded governance frame
Only 26% of D&A or AI leaders think their data engineering practices are highly effective for existing AI use cases.
Highly effective data engineering for AI use cases
Roxane Edjlali
Author of the trip report and data/knowledge graph practitioner.
Juan Sequeda
Only 1 in 5 AI initiatives are achieving ROI in 2025.
AI ROI achievement in 2025
DCAT catalog for the generated context, governance, vendor strategy, and methodology knowledge graph.
Gartner London takeaways catalog
Presenter of a talk about how to build a context layer.
Andres Garcia-Rodeja
Returns CSP, ISV, application-provider, and tiered vendor strategy options with risks.
Compare vendor strategy options
PREFIX sm: <https://juansequeda.substack.com/p/gartner-data-and-analytics-london#> PREFIX schema: <http://schema.org/> SELECT ?strategy ?name ?risk WHERE { GRAPH <https://linkeddata.uriburner.com/DAV/demos/daas/gartner-data-analytics-london-gpt5-chat-1.ttl> { ?strategy a sm:VendorStrategyOption ; schema:name ?name ; sm:risk ?risk . } } ORDER BY ?name
Follow the data, people, policies, and operational steps involved.
Trace the work
Connects a governance frame to a governance domain.
has governance domain
Ehtisham Zaidi
A medallion-like approach that distinguishes strategic vendors from critical vendors.
Tiered strategic-critical vendor strategy
Critical vendors may not be strategic, and strategic vendors may not yet be critical.
Governance policies translated into enforceable code.
Policy as code
Policy type suitable for policy-as-code translation: Quality.
Quality
Context includes semantics, rules, policies, ownership, operational state, provenance, users, access, and assets.
Answer 2
Governance domain named in the article: AI governance.
AI governance
A Gartner-style AI ambition archetype.
AIArchetype
Shows the components modeled for the enterprise context layer.
List context layer components
PREFIX sm: <https://juansequeda.substack.com/p/gartner-data-and-analytics-london#> PREFIX schema: <http://schema.org/> SELECT ?component ?name ?description WHERE { GRAPH <https://linkeddata.uriburner.com/DAV/demos/daas/gartner-data-analytics-london-gpt5-chat-1.ttl> { sm:enterpriseContextLayer sm:hasComponent ?component . ?component schema:name ?name ; schema:description ?description . } } ORDER BY ?name
A formal model of classes and relationships used to make context explicit.
Ontology
Records a recommendation or takeaway.
recommendation
WPP Global Data Manager who joined the ServiceNow conversation.
Mircea Danciulescu
AI blurs data, analytics, cyber, decision, risk, IT, and operational governance boundaries.
Answer 3