Thank you for joining us on "Data Cloud Now,"
where we're bringing you the latest
in all things data in business and industry.
I'm joined by Srini,
Global Snowflake Practice Lead at Accenture.
Srini, so great to have you on the program.
With experience in specialized skills
across more than 40 industries,
serving clients from more than 120 countries,
how does data play a pivotal role
in delivering value to your clients on a day-to-day basis?
First of all, thanks a lot for having me here, Ryan.
In Accenture, we feel every business is a data business.
With the current trend in the market,
companies have to constantly be reinventing themselves
to stay relevant in the market,
and we feel data is core to this process.
In your role, closely aligned with Snowflake,
what trends are you noticing,
and how is it increasing impact, Srini?
Last year, we executed more than 300-plus projects on--
300 plus? 300 plus.
Wow. On Snowflake, it's correct.
So, let me give a trend.
More than the technology part,
let me talk about the trend
in terms of the nature of projects itself.
Till two years back,
most of the projects on Snowflake were more of IT-led,
objective being data center disposition
or, you know, sunsetting your data warehouse on prem.
Real focus was on cost.
But of late, past couple of years,
as and when Snowflake starts delivering
on various other promises,
new features are getting released,
customers are really taking a view on
there is a lot more that you can achieve,
not just take the cloud,
go to the cloud.
You take the data to Snowflake.
Now what, right?
So now, more and more, business is getting involved,
and projects we feel are led by business
and are enabled by IT.
So that is the first trend.
What is the implication?
There is a lot more purpose-driven projects,
with a better ROI.
In fact, Accenture survey shows companies
which go with the intent of innovating
are likely to save even more
than the companies that go with the intention of saving.
Fascinating. Really? That's true.
It's interesting.
Srini, from your perspective,
at Accenture, you believe that cloud is the enabler,
data is the driver, and AI is the differentiator.
Can you elaborate a little bit on that
and what is meant by that?
Yeah. That's a very interesting question.
If you see,
the very definition of cloud itself is expanding.
It's no more a set of a cluster of computers
which are there with the hyper-scaler.
Now, when we talk about cloud,
we are talking about the cloud continuum,
which includes your public cloud, private cloud,
edge computing, and everything in between,
seamlessly connected through a cloud-first network.
And Accenture calls this a cloud continuum.
So that, you know, it's more than a simple platform.
Now it's a business operating system
on which you can keep innovating.
So that is the ultimate enabler.
Now, come to data.
When you expand the realm of the whole cloud,
see the type and variety of data
that you have now access to,
be it biometrics, IoT, edge devices, and data warehouses.
All types of data, right?
You have access,
which kind of opens up completely new avenues.
This cloud continuum opens up
a lot of wide spaces and blind spots
which are hitherto not even visible to the customer, right?
So data is a big driver for that factor for you to innovate.
But there is a problem with this.
Now, rather than having a lack of data,
we have too much of data.
Humans and machines
generate 2.5 quintillion bytes every day.
Hold on. Hold on.
Every day? Yeah.
Quintillion, right?
I mean, you can imagine,
put the number of zeros next to--
Start writing them down.
Exactly. Exactly, right?
Now what is the problem?
Now, we were not able to make sense out of that.
In fact, our study shows only 10 to 15% of the data
has immediate value.
Almost, you can say every data has value,
but 85% of that, you can't really put it to use.
The trick is in finding out which is that 10%.
This is where AI comes into picture.
Your ability to kind of,
I mean, now we can use AI to clean
and then make better understanding.
Your ability to make insights out of your data
is the biggest differentiator in the market now.
That's why these three are the trifactor of innovation.
You touched on it a little bit.
I want to ask what's next,
specifically as it relates to data.
Where do we go from here?
I just mentioned about the new frontiers,
which are opening up.
The next biggest challenge will be
how do we handle the new types of data
which are more cloud propellant.
Accenture, every year we release Tech Vision, right?
If you see Tech Vision 2022, we called out four trends,
metaverse, programmable world,
the third is synthetic data,
and fourth is quantum computing.
All of this have tremendous potential to output data.
This is a challenge as well as an opportunity.
Challenge, in terms of your ethics and scale and context,
but it's a great opportunity,
because it is throwing you newer insights.
Getting a handle on that,
that is going to be the biggest, biggest frontier
for us to cover,
and our focus will be really to focus on AI
to leverage that,
so what we call as AI to the digital code.
And we are embedding AI,
adaptable, responsible AI,
into every phase of the data pipeline itself,
just in the pipeline, our equality, ethics, and everything.
So that, that's going to be the next big thing for data.
We're here at the New York stop
at the Snowflake Data Cloud World Tour.
You hear the excitement,
you hear the energy all around us.
What are you hearing here in your outlook,
as it relates to the future of data collaboration?
Yeah.
I think I hear innovation at speed and scale,
the kind of buoyancy which is there around,
not just with the features
which are coming out of Snowflake itself.
I see the ecosystem really beaming with energy.
And the more and more Snowflake is trying to pivot
to industry-based solutions,
which kind of brings about more data sets, more insights,
and then more ecosystem partners,
and people are able to discover and identify
the fact that lot of the groundwork is already done.
You just tap into this,
and then you can build more innovation.
There was a time
where we had to make buy versus build decisions.
Now, it is more about assemble and consume,
which is a big leapfrog in terms of innovation.
And it's just not,
as I say, it's not just Snowflake.
The whole ecosystem is advancing along with that.
I feel Data Cloud is like the high tide,
which rises every ship along,
and Accenture is very happy to be a part of this.
Well, we're honored to have you on "Data Cloud Now,"
to hear your insights.
Thank you so much for joining us, Srini.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
For everyone watching,
I'm Ryan Green with "Data Cloud Now."
We'll see you soon.