AI is an accelerator that widens the gap
Paris, 6 February 2026 – Equans, a global leader in multi-technical services, today unveils, together with L’Usine Nouvelle and L’Usine Digitale (Infopro Digital), the findings of an international study on how organisations create value from data, based on interviews with 980 decision-makers across six countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UnitedKingdom, the United States and Canada). The challenge is no longer only to secure and govern data, but to turn it into a tangible driver of performance.
Key figures – International study
- 91% of organisations say they have data governance in place: the challenge now lies in real- world implementation and value creation.
- Only 45% exploit more than half of the data they collect: value remains under industrialised, despite a widely shared strategic narrative.
- 61% in the UK and the US say their approach is already operational, versus 46% in France: Europe’s “performance lag” is about execution, not ambition.
- 59% of organisations in the United States already have a single platform, compared with 38% in France and 29% in the Netherlands: unification is the real engine for scaling.
- 71% (US) pool data collection across departments, versus 50% (France) and 44% (Netherlands) : maturity is also organisational (breaking silos and enabling internal circulation).
- AI is accelerating the conversion of data into performance, but it first requires unified, shared data: 54% usage in the United States vs 19% in the Netherlands.
Data security is largely in place, but data exploitation remains the glass ceiling
Data collection and inventorying are now largely established across all countries: 91% of respondents say they have governance rules defining ownership, responsibilities, access and security. However, maturity is decided on the final step, turning data into tangible outcomes. Overall, only 45% say they exploit more than half the data they collect. Thispoints to a practical glass ceiling:in many organisations, data mainly supports day-to-day operations, while insight delivery and the conversion into actionable information remain the weak link. In other words, making data “talk” is still the hardest capability to industrialise.
In Europe, data is still mainly a compliance issue, while English-speaking countries treat it as a performance lever
The international comparison reveals two distinct dynamics. On one side, the English-speaking bloc, where most of the organisations report exploiting more than 50% of their data (Canada 55%, UK 54%, US 52%). On the other, continental Europe, where exploitation is lower: France reaches only 41% above the threshold (52% below it), and the Netherlands 39% (42% below it), signalling that scaling remains immature. This divide is also reflected in the nature of projects: where English-speaking countries are moving towards production-ready, standardised data use, Europe more often remains focused on operational steps (collection, processing, reporting). The gap is therefore less about intent than about the ability to move from reporting to true exploitation.
Without a single platform and internal data sharing, creating value is difficult
The study highlights very concrete levers that explain the gap.
- The first break point is unification: 59% of organisations in the United States say they already have a single platform, compared with 38% in France and 29% in the Netherlands.
- Second lever: the ability to break down silos. Data collection is more often pooled in the United States (71%) than in France (50%) or the Netherlands (44%), a key marker of data circulation across departments.
- Third lever: proving value. Quantified ROI is measured more frequently in the United States (45%) than in France (25%), and drops to 11% in the Netherlands, illustrating how difficult it can be to manage data through a performance lens.
In this landscape, the Netherlands is a revealing case: the survey results show it more often trailing on industrialisation markers. They cautiously suggest that a stronger emphasis on protection and security frameworks can, in practice, create additional barriers before use cases reach production, illustrating a Europe that is highly attentive to governance, but still constrained when it comes to scaling.
AI boosts performance, but catching up requires industrial-grade data
Final takeaway: AI does not erase gaps; it can amplify them. AI use for data exploitation is markedly higher in the United States (54%) than in the Netherlands (19%) or France (36%). And while AI is seen as a future priority everywhere, it is even more so in English-speaking countries: 93% in the United States, versus 73% in France and 68% in the Netherlands.The study underlines a key point: AI becomes a lasting lever only when it rests on data that is already unified, shared and managed through relevant indicators. In short, AI accelerates, mostly where data execution is already ready to scale.
“ This study shows that the issue is no longer only about governing data, but about unlocking tomorrow’s performance from it: cleaning and structuring it so it can be used, analysing it in real time, pooling it across departments, and steering it through relevant, shared indicators to support decision-making. Scaling is what now makes the difference between the English-speaking bloc and continental Europe. For Equans, the challenge is to help our clients unlock the value of their treasures, sometimes hidden, by turning them into concrete use cases. Working on IT/OT integration and then AI, across factories, industrial processes and infrastructure, to boost the competitiveness of both private and public organisations. ”