The enterprise lawn: Why data is the nutrient for autonomous business growth

Jenner Images/Moment via Getty Images

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

ZDNET's key takeaways

• Data mobility is essential for optimizing process flow and organizational health. 
• System integration is the irrigation system needed to eliminate data silos and unlock trapped value.  
• Data readiness and accessibility is the biggest hurdle for AI adoption in business.
  

The aesthetic appeal and functional quality of a meticulously maintained lawn, sports field, or golf course is universally appreciated and admired. It speaks to a commitment to excellence and provides the foundation for peak performance.

Consider the world of competitive athletics: Baseball players rely on a firm, level infield; football and soccer players need a consistent, resilient turf; and tennis players require a true-bouncing court. Even golfers, whose game is intimately tied to the varied contours of the fairway and the delicate smoothness of the putting green, depend on a well-manicured surface to safely and effectively achieve their full potential. 

Also: 5 ways to grow your business with AI - without sidelining your people

The quality of the playing field is not a minor detail; it is a mission-critical component of success, directly influencing everything from injury prevention to competitive outcome.

Similarly, in the dynamic environment of innovative, customer-focused companies, the "playing field" -- the entire ecosystem of customer engagement -- must be carefully constructed, deliberately optimized, and continuously maintained. This is the crucial stage "where the game happens," and where value is created, perceived, and exchanged. Just as there are deep, fundamental principles governing agronomy and landscape architecture, there are non-negotiable scientific and structural formulas that dictate success in the business landscape.

The fields of landscape architecture and golf course management are not hobbies but rigorous professions for a reason. They rely on deep knowledge of soil science, hydrology, nutrient management, and environmental factors. Success is not achieved through guesswork but through the application of precise, fundamental scientific formulas that are non-negotiable for producing and maintaining a high-performance surface.

In business, this translates into an obsession with customer engagement. This "playing field" encompasses every touchpoint: the digital experience, the sales process, the service delivery model, and the product itself. Maintaining this field requires an equivalent level of obsession and rigorous, data-driven methodology. Companies must obsess over the "soil" (the underlying data infrastructure), the "nutrients" (the continuous flow of valuable, relevant data), and the "topography" (the user experience and process design). 

Also: AI agents are only as good as the data they're given, and that's a big issue for businesses

Just as a poorly maintained field leads to missed opportunities and potential injuries, a neglected customer engagement ecosystem will inevitably hinder a company's ability to achieve its full potential and outmaneuver the competition. Therefore, the strategic construction and persistent, high-standard maintenance of the business playing field are essential precursors to sustained innovation and competitive advantage.

The Salesforce CIO Trends Report of 2026 cited that 96% of all CIOs plan to leverage agentic AI to cultivate a resilient, high-performing organization, where data moves at the "speed of need," and all stakeholders are afforded access to quality AI and digital labor. These lofty goals mirror the aspirations of every dedicated homeowner tending to a plush, vibrant green lawn. The parallels between maintaining a healthy patch of grass, outside in nature amidst daily uncertainties, and maintaining a healthy, growing enterprise organization are profound, particularly when comparing the biological needs of grass to the data and informational needs of every business.

Data as lifeblood: the nutrient balance

At its core, water and nutrients are the lifeblood of a lawn. Without consistent hydration and the right balance of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, the grass withers, creating brown patches and neglect -- much like the technical debt of deferred maintenance. In the enterprise context, data is the nutrient and the water.

But what happens to water that doesn't move? It becomes stagnant. In this example, both water and a company's data need to move to be effective. Blockages are the number one cause of death in living organisms and businesses alike. According to Gartner's 2025 CIO Research Report, 80% of organizations seeking to scale digital business will fail because they do not take a modern approach to data and analytics governance. 

Also: Deploying AI agents is not your typical software launch - 7 lessons from the trenches

The fittest businesses and the most vibrant lawns both embrace continuity and responsiveness to remove blockages and waste. Just as grass needs balanced fertilization, business strategy requires a balanced diet of information -- financial metrics, customer signals, and operational performance.

Irrigation systems: breaking down silos

The flow and movement of data is analogous to the lawn's irrigation and root system. For a lawn to thrive, water must be consistently delivered across the entire surface and absorbed deep into the soil. It must be supplied at the right time, to the right areas, in the right amounts; otherwise, it results in costly waste. A key lesson that I highlighted in my book "Autonomous:" All waste is costly, but not all costs are wasteful.

For the modern company, this means breaking down data silos that trap information and prevent real outcomes. Forrester's CIO Predictions for 2026 expect more than 40% of organizations to prioritize data sharing, and will, in turn, outperform their peers on most business value metrics.

Also: The hidden data crisis threatening your AI transformation plans

Integration tools and enterprise platforms like Salesforce act as a sophisticated irrigation system, ensuring data flows seamlessly in real time and allowing organizations to obsess over the customer experience. If the data flow breaks down, decisions are made on stale or incomplete information -- the business equivalent of unwanted weeds and erosion.

The infrastructure: pumps and AI readiness

Finally, the integrity of the operation depends on systems and pumps. In lawn care, this includes pumps that move the water and sophisticated sprinkler heads that distribute it evenly. In the enterprise, this is the job of the IT infrastructure: ERP systems, cloud platforms, and integration platforms as a service (iPaaS).

Investing in cloud migration is like replacing an unreliable, old well pump and leaky garden hose with a fully automated, managed irrigation system. This infrastructure is especially critical as we move toward the agentic enterprise. Gartner's 2025 CIO Agenda highlights that while 90% of CIOs are investing in AI, the primary hurdle remains "data readiness." Without a modern pump to move clean data to AI agents, the enterprise lawn cannot achieve autonomous growth.

Also: True agentic AI is years away - here's why and how we get there

A well-architected data system ensures that the critical nutrients are reliably distributed at scale, allowing the organization to focus less on infrastructure repair and more on growth -- the healthy, predictable expansion of the plush green lawn. In summary: 

1. Data mobility is essential for organizational health: Nothing happens until something moves, and much like stagnant water kills a lawn, trapped data creates blockages in businesses. The enterprise lawn emphasizes that data must move at the speed of need to avoid the technical debt of brown patches and neglect.

2. Integration as an irrigation system: Breaking down data silos is compared to ensuring water reaches the deepest roots. Modern platforms like Salesforce act as the delivery mechanism that ensures business strategy is fed with a balanced diet of trusted financial, customer, and operational data.

3. AI readiness: You don't have to get ready if you stay ready. The agentic enterprise cannot exist without replacing leaky garden hoses (legacy infrastructure) with modern pumps (Cloud/iPaaS). Gartner's 2025 AI Research warns that data readiness is the primary hurdle for AI adoption and that fewer than 20% of companies are ready to implement the full capabilities of AI. 

This article was co-authored by Earl Murphy, Salesforce Enterprise Account Executive and the President of Soberforce, a business resource group dedicated to mental health, community-building, and sober inclusivity.