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Unlock Business Value with GenAI Through a Data Semantic Approach

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By Robert Thanaraj, Sr Director Analyst at Gartner

Semantic representations of information are crucial for the functionality of large language models (LLMs), which is fuelling a heightened focus on semantics within data and analytics (D&A) and AI. 

Data silos become entrenched and limit an organization’s capacity to draw insights from its data. Without understanding the relationships within data, the individual pieces of information become less useful.

Semantic approaches facilitate a shared understanding of business terms and their interrelationships, which is vital for providing the necessary context for generative AI (GenAI). In a Gartner survey on the evolution of data management, 44% of the respondents from AI-ready organizations reported that semantic alignment is a key factor in assessing the AI readiness of their data.

D&A leaders can enhance and expand their semantic understanding by leveraging emerging technologies such as knowledge graphs and augmented data catalogs, thereby unlocking greater value from their information resources.

What is Data Semantics?

Data semantics refers to the meaning and interpretation of data within a business-specific context, as opposed to focusing on the physical representation of data through a data dictionary or a business glossary. It involves understanding what a data element represents, how it should be used, and its relationships with other data elements. Without this understanding, data is of limited use for AI use cases.

Semantic modeling is a practice of connecting technical metadata with business metadata.

A business glossary serves as the foundation for all things “semantic,” documenting the meanings of business-related terms. When the semantics and rules of a business glossary are well-understood, it leads to better data quality, easier integration and greater usefulness, supporting interactions with LLMs. The glossary also supports business goals like reducing costs and managing risks by making definitions clear, consistent and easy to trace back to their sources.

Top Recommendations for D&A leaders

  • -Upskill your data engineers with semantic modeling techniques such as the use of knowledge graphs in building business ontologies.
  • -Introduce DataOps practices to “deliver value from data” more easily, quickly and broadly. Take a people-, product- and governance-centric approach.
  • -Invest in converged data management platforms. Establish a platform engineering team that produces platform services for platform tenants.

Key Benefits of Data Semantics

Leveraging and governing semantics effectively enables:

  • Improved Data Understanding: Both people and applications gain a unified view of data and its structure. For example, if several medical e-commerce sites use consistent relationships between terms, applications can extract and aggregate information across these sites to support user queries or serve as input for other applications.
  • Knowledge Reuse: Relationships uncovered by one group can be reused or built upon by others for new use cases, allowing previously identified connections to be embedded in future work.
  • Enhanced Accuracy with LLMs:  Incorporating knowledge graphs into the training and inference processes of LLMs serves as a factual base (i.e., data and metadata source) for mitigating errors and hallucinations.
  • Enhanced Interoperability and Innovation: By adopting semantic modeling, organizations open themselves to a wider range of use cases and enable more effective data interchange.

Link Data from Different Sources to Derive Data Relationships

Semantic reconciliation plays a crucial role in effectively linking data from different sources. It is also essential for inferring relationships between disparate datasets. Without a clear understanding of the relationships, correlations and distinctions among the meanings of data from different modalities such as text, videos, images and structured data, organizations cannot fully realize the potential of their data assets.

Modern semantic tools use algorithms to find connections in data. These tools recommend the best ways to clean, organize and analyze information. They also track where data comes from and how it is used for better governance.

With augmented data discovery, algorithms automatically detect correlations, segments, clusters, outliers and relationships, presenting the most statistically significant and relevant results. By using these semantic approaches, organizations can connect information from different sources, uncover relationships and gain valuable insights that drive better decisions.

In business ecosystems, the degree of openness is driven by members’ strategies, common goals and shared interests. For example, governments, nongovernmental organizations, charities and community groups can collaborate on health or public policy issues, or in open-source developer communities. This creates an opportunity for exploiting the knowledge of data and the meaning of data in terms of what can be applied to several digital business moments.

Lastly Think Data Semantics Before Introducing Large Language Models

Organizations are spearheading transformative initiatives to implement large language models in order to transform their operations. However, data and analytics leaders often rush to integrate LLM capabilities without first ensuring these tools are aligned with real business outcomes. To maximize value, it’s essential to connect LLMs with robust semantic frameworks.

Knowledge graphs are a powerful foundation for leveraging LLMs in business contexts. These machine-readable data structures capture semantic knowledge about both physical and digital entities. These worlds include entities and their relationships, which adhere to a network of nodes and links forming the graph data model.

LLMs can streamline the creation of ontologies, which define categories and relationships within data. By using “few-shot” learning prompts—providing just a handful of examples—users can guide LLMs to generate base ontologies in open formats that suit their needs. These initial frameworks can then be refined for greater detail as required.

Additionally, LLMs support ontology mapping by helping users align entities and relationships across different datasets or systems. With targeted prompts and sample mappings, organizations can extract relevant connections from their data and improve accuracy through iterative refinement.

By adopting large language models alongside semantic representations like knowledge graphs and ontologies, organizations position themselves for faster deployment of advanced analytics solutions that deliver meaningful business value.

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Delinea Brings Runtime Control for AI Agents to GISEC Global 2026

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Delinea, the identity security platform that governs what humans, machines and AI agents do once they have access, today announced its participation at GISEC Global 2026. Under the theme, “From Access to Action: Governing AI at Runtime,” the company will spotlight the growing need for organisations to govern the actions autonomous AI agents take after access has been granted.

Following its release of new runtime authorisation capabilities for AI agents this summer, Delinea will use GISEC to advance the conversation around runtime authorisation, an approach designed to enforce policy on an agent’s actions within a session, at the time those actions are executed.

As AI agents take on increasingly autonomous roles across databases, cloud environments, infrastructure and business systems, the security challenge is shifting beyond authentication. While an agent may have legitimate access to a system, it can still take an action that exceeds its intended task or creates operational risk. Delinea’s runtime authorisation capabilities enable organisations to apply policy at the point of action — allowing, blocking or escalating activity before it executes.

“AI adoption is moving the identity-security conversation beyond the moment of authentication,” said Mortada Ayad, VP Sales at Delinea. “The question for organisations is no longer simply whether an AI agent can access a critical system. It is whether they can govern what that agent does once it is inside. At GISEC, we want to put that challenge, and the need for runtime control, at the centre of the regional conversation.”

Delinea has strategically adopted a channel-led presence at this year’s show, reflecting its focus on bringing these capabilities to market through the regional partners enterprises rely on to deploy, manage and operationalise complex security programmes. Through its presence at the stands of regional distributor, Shifra, and integrator partner, Defa3, the company will deepen engagement with existing partners, recruit new partners and build the specialist capabilities needed to support secure AI adoption across the region.

The approach builds on the Delinea Partner Advantage Program, launched in July 2026. The program provides partners with clearer rules of engagement, deal protection, tiered incentives and AI-driven enablement, helping them build profitable identity-security practices, while delivering stronger outcomes for customers. It is designed to support selling partners today, with expanding roles planned for managed service providers, global systems integrators, advisory partners and technology partners.

“For a capability this consequential, technology alone is not enough,” Ayad added. “Customers need partners who understand their environment, their risk and how to translate security policy into practical control. Our focus at GISEC is to equip and grow that ecosystem, so organisations can move forward with AI, knowing that authorised access does not become unchecked action.”

Delinea’s runtime authorisation for AI agents enables organisations to govern activity across the systems agents use, including databases, SSH hosts, Kubernetes clusters and cloud consoles. Through just-in-time, task-scoped access, and real-time policy enforcement, organisations can reduce reliance on standing credentials, while maintaining a defensible record of AI-driven activity.

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Tech First Gulf Strengthens its presence in Africa with the appointment of Mustapha Rafiki as General Manager – Maghreb & Francophone Africa

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Tech First Gulf (TFG), a leading value-added technology distributor across the Middle East and Africa, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mustapha Rafiki as General Manager – Maghreb & Francophone Africa. This strategic appointment marks another significant milestone in TFG’s continued regional expansion and reinforces the company’s commitment to strengthening its footprint across Africa.

With over 19 years of experience in the information technology industry, Mustapha brings extensive expertise in business development, channel management, sales leadership, and operational excellence. Throughout his career, he has successfully built and managed high-performing partner ecosystems while driving sustainable business growth across North, West, East, and Central Africa.

Before joining Tech First Gulf, Mustapha served as Head of B2B Africa at Logitech, where he led business operations across multiple African markets, developing strategic go-to-market initiatives and strengthening channel partnerships. Prior to Logitech, he held the position of Country Manager at Canon, where he played a pivotal role in expanding the company’s presence, developing strategic alliances, and accelerating growth across key enterprise and commercial segments.

As TFG continues to expand its operations throughout Africa, Mustapha’s appointment reflects the company’s vision of investing in experienced leadership to unlock new opportunities, deepen vendor and partner relationships, and deliver greater value to customers across the markets.

Under his leadership, TFG aims to accelerate regional growth by strengthening its distribution network, expanding strategic technology alliances, enabling channel partners, and introducing innovative solutions that address the evolving needs of enterprises and public sector organizations across the region. His deep understanding of African markets, combined with his proven leadership, will play a vital role in driving TFG’s next phase of growth.

“We are pleased to welcome Mustapha to Tech First Gulf as we continue our expansion across the region. The markets under his leadership offer tremendous opportunities for growth and innovation, and we remain committed to investing in their future through strong leadership and long-term partnerships. Mustapha’s proven track record, strategic vision, and extensive regional expertise make him the ideal leader to accelerate our growth, strengthen our market presence, and deliver lasting value to our partners and customers,” said Mr. Akashdeep (Sky), Chief Strategy Officer, Tech First Gulf

Commenting on his appointment, Mustapha Rafiki said:

“I am excited to join Tech First Gulf at such an important stage of its growth journey. TFG has built a strong reputation for delivering innovative technology solutions and empowering its partner ecosystem. I look forward to working closely with our vendors, partners, and customers to accelerate growth, expand our market presence, and create lasting value across the region.”

As Tech First Gulf continues its regional expansion strategy, the company remains focused on empowering businesses through world-class technology solutions, strengthening strategic partnerships, and building a future-ready digital ecosystem across India, Middle East and Africa.

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Turnitin Expands AI Writing Detection to Support Arabic Language Submissions

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Turnitin recently announced the launch of its AI writing detection capabilities for Arabic language submissions, marking a significant step in supporting educators and students worldwide. This expansion helps equip Arabic-speaking educators with the tools necessary to safeguard academic integrity and nurture original thinking in the classroom.

As AI adoption among students becomes nearly universal, educators require solutions that promote transparency, rather than surveillance. Turnitin goes beyond simply verifying authorship, its tools support the broader learning journey, and help equip students with the critical skills demanded by today’s workforce.

“By providing Arabic-speaking educators with tools that uphold learning integrity, we ensure that they have solutions designed to support original thought and critical thinking, rather than having LLMs replace it,” said James Thorley, Vice President of APAC and EMEA at Turnitin. “While there is no substitute for knowing a student’s writing style, educational background, and institutional AI policies, this tool gives educators insights into areas where AI may have been used. Ultimately, it opens the door to meaningful, informed conversations about the responsible use of AI.”

AI writing detection for Arabic is now available through Turnitin Originality and as an add-on for iThenticate customers. Like the English, Spanish, and Japanese versions, the feature provides educators with an overall percentage of likely AI-generated content, alongside:

Detection capabilities for the leading large language models, reporting designed with educators in mind and seamless integration into existing customer workflows.

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