Training 10,000 Data Product Managers: Alation’s Program for Tomorrow’s AI Leaders

Alation is launching a landmark initiative to train 10,000 Data Product Managers through Alation University over the next three years. Read on to learn why.

Data is the one resource companies have in abundance—and the one they struggle most to use. Despite heavy investments in data warehouses and pipelines, turning raw data into tangible business value remains a persistent challenge. Business leaders agree that too much data, combined with process complexity, often limits success. The traditional, reactive data delivery model—where a business need triggers a costly, manual process to stitch together a dataset that is outdated the moment it’s created—is inefficient and unscalable.

To thrive in the new data economy, we must shift our thinking from managing technical resources to creating strategic business products. This is the move from cathedrals of centralized data to vibrant bazaars of data products, where data is no longer confined to experts but is packaged and ready to be shared, monetized, and leveraged by many.

This transformation doesn't happen on its own. It requires a new role at the intersection of business, data, and technology: the data product manager.

In support of this vision, Alation is proud to announce a landmark initiative to empower this new generation of leaders. We are launching a new program through Alation University to train 10,000 Data Product Managers over the next three years.

The power of data products for business and AI success

A data product is much more than a raw table in a warehouse; it is a curated, governed, and reusable data asset designed to generate business value and be easily consumed by humans, applications, and AI models. These are tangible assets like datasets, APIs, or dashboards, engineered with clear owners, defined users, and measurable value.

By adopting a data product mindset, companies see dramatic results, including delivering use cases up to 90% faster and reducing ownership costs by 30% (McKinsey).

This approach is especially critical for unlocking the power of AI:

• Fueling trusted AI: AI and machine learning models require curated, cleaned, and prepared data to be trained effectively. Data products serve as reliable, governed inputs that end users, applications, and AI models can trust.

• Designing for a new customer: The AI agent. The future of the data economy includes AI agents as primary consumers of data. These agents will proactively find, interpret, and subscribe to data products to achieve goals with limited human intervention. To succeed, every data product must be designed for both humans and AI agents, with a seamless, intuitive, and frictionless experience.

The rise of the data product manager

This shift from data projects to products demands more than technology; it requires a new set of business-focused skills. A data product that doesn’t meet a clear business need will not be used. That’s why the role of the data product manager is essential.

A data product manager, or data product owner, is responsible for a data product’s entire lifecycle, from creation to deprecation. They bridge strategy and execution by defining the product's scope and value, ensuring it solves a meaningful business challenge, and iterating on it based on user feedback. The role is about more than keeping data clean. It’s about creating business value. Jeff Cruz, Technical Data Product Manager at the NBA, acts as a translator between technical teams and the business, aligning both sides around shared data products.

This role is a game-changer, moving beyond traditional data stewardship—which focuses on the technical quality of "data-in-a-catalog"—to a value-creation focus on "data-product-in-use". As organizations recognize this need, the demand for skilled data product owners is increasing rapidly.

Announcing the Alation Data Product Manager Accreditation

To meet this growing demand and close the skills gap, Alation is launching the Data Products Manager Masterclass via Alation University. Our goal is to train 10,000 accredited data product managers in the next three years, equipping them with the business-focused skills needed to drive data culture and deliver measurable value.

The curriculum is designed to transform professionals into strategic data leaders, covering key competencies such as:

• Product thinking: Moving from a project focus on outputs to a product focus on outcomes and value.

• Use case definition: Bridging the gap between data and business value by defining a clear problem to solve.

• Lifecycle management: Overseeing data products from ideation and design to deployment, maintenance, and iteration.

• Designing for AI: Building data products that serve both human decision-makers and emerging AI agents as customers.

• Modern standards and governance: Applying standards and embedding governance to ensure data products are trusted, compliant, and interoperable.

Co-created with Dr. Jarkko Moilanen, creator of the Open Data Product Specification (now hosted by the Linux Foundation) and co-author of Deliver Value in the Data Economy, the course turns proven standards into practical skills.

Build trusted data products with Alation

Alation provides the essential platform for Data Product Managers to succeed. We empower organizations to execute a data product strategy by unifying governance, discovery, and collaboration.

• The Data Products Builder automates the creation of trusted, AI-ready data products, translating business needs directly into documented, ready-to-use assets with embedded governance.

• The Data Products Marketplace makes these valuable assets discoverable and accessible, moving beyond a technical catalog to a business-oriented hub where users can find solutions to their problems.

• The Agent Builder builds on this foundation, enabling leaders to build agents that truly function in the enterprise, grounded in governed, trusted data.

The age of ad hoc data pipelines is over. By embracing a data-as-a-product ideology and empowering a new class of data leaders, organizations can finally unlock the full potential of their data assets. Alation is committed to building this future, not only with our platform but by investing in the people who will lead the way.

Learn more about the new Alation University Data Products Manager Masterclass and start your journey to becoming a data leader today.