Yugabyte Unveils Distributed Database Trends Report, Highlights Modernization Strategies for AI-Driven Applications
In today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape, next-generation application development and modernization have emerged as top priorities for organizations, according to a new report by Yugabyte. Released during the company’s annual Distributed SQL Summit on November 10, co-hosted at KubeCon North America, the Distributed Database Trends Report sheds light on enterprise priorities, challenges, and strategies for database modernization and AI-driven app development.
The report, developed in collaboration with Gatepoint Research, surveyed senior technology leaders—including CIOs, CTOs, and VPs of Engineering and Architecture—across industries such as financial services, healthcare, technology, and manufacturing. The findings reveal a strong emphasis on innovation and modernization, both at the application and data layers. Notably, developing next-generation applications, including AI-based apps, ranks highest among organizational priorities at 76%, followed closely by application modernization at 63%.
Despite this focus, legacy databases remain a significant hurdle. Respondents identified inefficient operations and slow innovation (50%), limited scalability (43%), high costs (36%), and resilience issues (30%) as the primary challenges posed by outdated systems. These obstacles are driving enterprises to adopt modern database solutions that can support their evolving needs.
To address these challenges, nearly half (48%) of organizations are re-architecting their systems for cloud-native or distributed databases, while 45% are migrating to fully managed cloud databases. When evaluating modern database technologies, high availability and resilience (71%) and scalability (69%) emerged as the most critical attributes, followed by enterprise-grade security (60%).
“These findings underscore the urgency for tech leaders to embrace modernization,” said Karthik Ranganathan, co-founder and co-CEO of Yugabyte. “Architectural decisions must align with AI strategies while ensuring ultra-resilience and scalability. To facilitate this transition, we’re leveraging AI agents for seamless migrations and offering an AI-powered Performance Advisor for continuous monitoring and optimization. Our investments in cutting-edge tools reflect our commitment to supporting enterprises in their modernization journey.”
The report also highlights the growing importance of AI in enterprise technology strategies. Generative AI leads the pack as the most popular investment area (80%), while organizations are actively exploring agentic AI (58%), Large Action Models (42%), and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technologies (40%). These advancements are not only shaping application modernization efforts but also fueling demand for multi-modal capabilities at the data layer to integrate with modern technologies.
Yugabyte’s vision for “agentic database modernization” emphasizes the role of AI-powered tools in simplifying and accelerating the transition from legacy systems to distributed databases. By combining automation, advanced analytics, and proactive performance tuning, these tools aim to reduce complexity and ensure businesses can scale efficiently while maintaining resilience.
As enterprises navigate this transformative period, the need for adaptable, AI-ready infrastructure becomes increasingly clear. YugabyteDB, the company’s distributed SQL database, is designed to meet these demands by providing a modern, scalable, and secure foundation for next-generation applications. Its ability to seamlessly integrate with cloud-native architectures and support diverse workloads positions it as a key enabler of database modernization.
For organizations looking to dive deeper into the research, the full Distributed Database Trends Report is available for download. Additionally, Yugabyte offers resources to help businesses understand how its solutions can support their modernization goals.
If you’re attending KubeCon + CloudNativeCon, be sure to visit Yugabyte at booth #1030 from November 11-13 to explore the role of distributed SQL in the AI era. You can also join the seventh annual Distributed SQL Summit, co-located at the Omni Atlanta Hotel at Centennial Park, Atrium Terrace, for insights into the latest trends and innovations in distributed database technology.
About Yugabyte
Yugabyte is the company behind YugabyteDB, the open-source, high-performance distributed SQL database for building global, cloud-native applications. YugabyteDB serves business-critical applications with SQL query flexibility, high performance, and cloud-native agility, allowing enterprises to focus on business growth instead of complex data infrastructure management. It is trusted by companies in cybersecurity, financial markets, IoT, retail, e-commerce, and other verticals. Founded in 2016 by former Facebook and Oracle engineers, Yugabyte is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, 8VC, Dell Technologies Capital, Sapphire Ventures, and others. Learn more information at www.yugabyte.com.
