Shelf has been named an IDC Innovator in the IDC Innovators: Data Intelligence Platform Software, 2025 report.1
For Shelf, this recognition validates the company’s unique approach to solving one of generative AI’s most persistent challenges: ensuring data quality and context.
The IDC Innovators report noted three key differentiators for Shelf.io:
- Universal Data Ingestion and Transformation: “Shelf.io distinguishes itself by its capability to ingest unstructured data from any source and create a unified representation of it. Data may come from file shares, SharePoint, semistructured databases, structured data applications, and any other source. Shelf.io then increases efficiency by prioritizing relevant data for specific use cases. Only relevant data is enriched and analyzed, resulting in greater value. This is useful for managing large data repositories, allowing tailored processing aligned with business requirements and better AI application performance.”
- Unstructured Data Quality Assessment: “The platform employs 23 proprietary diagnostics to thoroughly analyze content, section by section. This method identifies critical issues such as similarities, duplications, contradictions, and out-of-date information and missing information, reflecting how AI models handle data. Their transparent dashboard shows which documents influence AI responses and highlights quality issues, such as conflicting data from various sources. Shelf.io combats the chaos of unstructured information by addressing problematic data early in the process, ensuring AI outputs are accurate and trustworthy.”
- Graph Relationships: “Shelf.io’s semantic layer functions as a context engine, generating a graph of relationships between data entities to improve AI comprehension. This distinguishing feature goes beyond basic metadata to create a rich, interconnected context that enhances the performance of large language models. Establishing graphical relationships allows for more accurate and context-aware AI responses, distinguishing Shelf.io in the market.”
Why Shelf.io was chosen as an IDC Innovator
The report noted Shelf.io was chosen as an IDC Innovator for the following: “Shelf.io was named an IDC Innovator for its groundbreaking work in unstructured data quality, a critical issue in data intelligence. The platform uses 23 proprietary diagnostics to detect issues such as contradictions and outdated data at the document section level, ensuring transparency and context. Shelf.io enriches the data using a semantic layer to build graphical relationships. This innovation addresses the growing demand for reliable, accurate data in AI applications. This innovative approach sets Shelf.io apart in a market where effective unstructured data management is increasingly important for AI workloads.”
Looking Forward
While celebrating this recognition, Shelf acknowledges the challenges ahead. The company must continue educating the market about the importance and measurability of unstructured data quality while keeping pace with rapid technological change in the AI space.
1IDC Innovators: Data Intelligence Platform Software, 2025 report.(doc #US52935725, June 2025) An IDC Innovators report presents a set of vendors – under $100M in annual revenue at the time of selection – chosen by an IDC analyst within a specific market that offer a new technology, a groundbreaking solution to an existing issue, and/or an innovative business model. It is not an exhaustive evaluation or a comparative ranking of all companies, but rather a document that highlights innovative companies in a specific market segment. IDC INNOVATOR and IDC INNOVATORS are trademarks of International Data Group, Inc.
