>> Narrator: Live from San Francisco,
it's the Cube.
Covering Informatica World 2017.
Brought to you by Informatica.
(futuristic electronic music)
>> Welcome back, everyone. We're
here live in San Francisco.
This is the Cube's exclusive coverage
of Informatica World 2017.
I'm John Furrier looking
to angle the Cube.
My co-host, Peter Burris, head of research
for SiliconANGLE media,
also general manager of Wikibon.com.
Our next guest is Albrecht Powell
who's the enterprise information
management global lead
at Accenture Analytics.
Welcome to the Cube.
>> Thanks very much.
Good to be here today.
>> John: See you're
sporting the sideways A,
not to be confused with
siliconANGLE red A,
which is the other way around.
Great to have you on.
>> That would be the accent
on the future. (laughing)
Our moniker.
>> So, um. Great to have
you on. Center analytics.
A lot of people may or may not know--
huge investment in data science.
You guy's are doing a lot of work,
and integrating in with customers.
Not just on the management
consulting side, but,
you know, a lot of the architecture,
a lot of the delivery--
You essentially manage
services across the board.
>> Albrecht: Oh yeah.
>> There's a lot of architecture going on,
so I got to ask you about the
data powered enterprise vision
that you have,
because that's the theme
that you guys have.
What does that mean, first of all?
And how does it relate
to Informatica World,
and ultimately the
customers just trying to get
to the Cloud, lower their
costs, increase their top line.
What's the digital
transformation connection?
>> Boy, lots of questions in there.
So, you know, to us,
in the digital revolution
that's happening right now,
the expectations on
companies are just growing
exponentially.
You've got customers,
you've got shareholders,
business partners.
You've got stockholders
that all have so much more
insight on companies. They want more,
and they're putting so many
demands on companies today.
So, it's causing
disruption in the industry.
We all know about the Uber's.
We all know about going from
print media to digital media.
But you've got companies like John Deere;
they sell tractors, right?
But they're moving toward a
platform based company now,
where they're now working with farmers,
they're working with agriculture,
helping to support.
So, when you've got that as
a different business model,
you've got that coupled
with the explosion in data.
So, you know, the statistics--
Amazon, I think it took six years to get
their first trillion.
Now it's you know, the next
trillion they got in one year.
By the year, I think 2020,
1.7 megabytes of data
is going to be created
per person per second.
These are staggering numbers.
And when you put those two together,
I personally think that the next big wave,
the next big value
proposition for clients,
is going to be data, and
harnessing the power of that.
When I look back over my 28 year career,
I go back to the ERP days.
That was the big wave. Right?
You had to be on Oracle or SAP
or PeopleSoft or JD Edwards.
I think right now, we're just starting
in this phenomenal wave of opportunity.
>> You mentioned re-platforming,
or platform approach.
The word re-platforming
is an industry buzzword.
But that really is an impact
to IT, business operations,
and personnel, and ultimately
the business model!
I mean, this is like a serious impact.
>> It really is, and that is where
this data powered enterprise comes in.
We're trying to work with our clients
to figure out how to harness
this value proposition,
unlock the data that they've
got stuck in their systems,
the dark data wherever it may be,
and unleash that and try
to gain business insights
from that.
>> Alright. Take us through
the playbook, because okay--
I buy it. I see the train
coming down the tracks
that is really high speed.
I bet I got to move to the new model.
You look at Amazon, it's
a great proof point.
Hockey sticks since 2010.
No doubt about it. Just one tell sign.
I want to move.
Now, I got to be careful,
if I move too fast
I get over my ski's, or over-rotate--
whatever metaphor you want to use,
but how do I get there?
What are you guys doing with clients
and what's the strategy? Playbook.
>> You know, the biggest
thing we try and do
is the relationships we have
with clients are long term,
trust based relationships.
And when we go in, we're
not selling a product.
We're trying to help them
drive business value.
So, what we typically
do around the data space
is help them figure out
what's the strategy,
what's the vision,
where do they want to go?
They may think they need
a data quality solution,
an MDM solution.
But you know, we come
in and we talk to them
and we realize: what are
you trying to get out of it?
Where do you want to go?
And lay out a vision, a
set of guiding principles.
And that framework often
times help them drive
within the next one-two years,
a much more sustainable set of growth
as opposed to trying
to do a point solution.
So typically, we'll start there.
But, you know, we'll also come
in if they're hemorrhaging,
if they're bleeding, if
they've got major problems.
Or, if they're trying to
hit a strategic adjective,
procurement spend analytics,
or growth, or disruption in the market.
Those are the type of
things that we'll come in
and talk to them about to start with.
>> Is there a mindset--
obviously, there's a mindset shift.
But given that, certainly if
the certain room's on fire,
you take care of those first.
I get the critical piece of it,
'cause sometimes it is mission critical
right out of the gate.
But, is there an architectural mindset?
Is it a building blocks approach?
Has there been a shift in how to deploy
and iterate through, in an agile way,
that you've seen a pattern that's emerged?
>> I mean obviously Cloud
is big with everybody today,
and the hype out there is
everybody's moving everything
to Cloud.
And in reality, a lot of our clients--
They've invested a lot
in these data centers,
so they're reticent to make the leap.
So, we're working with them to help,
and Informatica has been
phenomenal with some of the tools
and solutions that they have
to help them pull over to
you know, Cloud based solutions.
And you know, most of
our clients right now,
they have a hybrid architecture.
They're moving in that way.
They've got some stuff that
they want to keep close
and tight, they've got some
stuff that they want to move.
But between OpenSource with
the new subscription models--
For instance, and Informatica has.
It's a game changer for our clients.
Because now, they're
able to get solutions up
faster, quicker,
and we do a lot of work
with our liquid studios
to help them pile at
those type of solutions.
>> But it's still got to be
in service to some outcome,
or to some idea?
>> Albrecht: Absolutely.
>> So, that suggests that
one of the challenges
that people have been having
in the big data universe
is this disconnect between
what we want to do, and
implementing a dupe on a cluster.
And that notion of how
do we actually introduce
some of the concepts of
design into that process
so that we can see
realistically, and practically,
and in a way that executed,
a process to go from the idea
down to the actual implementation?
So, use cases are a big issue.
Getting developers more
involved and active
is a big issue.
But, what is the role of
design in this process?
>> So one of the things
that we've shifted to
is we have a set of innovation centers,
where we'll bring clients in,
and we might start with
a workshop or two, right?
To talk to them about the capabilities.
But very quickly we evolve
that into design thinking
sessions, to really draw out
what's the real challenge
they're trying to find?
Because half the time,
they think they know
what the problem is,
but they really don't,
and we help them uncover that.
And then, from a design standpoint,
we do a lot more prototyping now,
where we'll go through and actually build
in a matter of weeks,
a real time capability that
they can go take and run with.
We have this thing called the
Accenture Insights Platform,
where we've negotiated
with a lot of partners,
such as Informatica,
to have their tools, their software,
in a hot, ready Cloud-based environment,
where again, in the matter
of a couple of weeks,
we can stand something up,
and they can see it, they can touch it.
It's no longer the big capital investments
to go start these type of projects.
>> But it has to again, be
something that people can touch
and can play with.
>> Albrecht: Exactly.
>> And start themselves, to
start saying, "Well, yes,
"it works here. It doesn't work here."
So they can start iterating on it.
It's a way of increasing the
degree to which iteration
is the dominant feature
of how things roll out.
Ties back to the use case.
As you guys think about the
tooling that's available,
from Informatica and elsewhere,
how does the tooling--
Is the tooling robust enough at this point
to really support that process,
or is there still some
holes we have to fill?
>> Yeah, you know, I almost
feel like the technology
is there, right?
We can do so much.
The challenge that I run into
when I meet with the C-suite--
I always ask the question,
"What's your holy grail question?"
If you knew this piece of information,
how would that be a game changer?
Eight times out of ten, I hear,
"If I knew sales by quarter by region,
"and that is was accurate,
"I could really do something."
It's like, that's not your question.
The question should be:
Who should I acquire?
When is a customer going
to walk out of the store?
What's the weather going to be?
What's the minimum amount
of water I need to put
in a plant for it to grow?
You, know, in a drought situation.
And those are the kind of questions
that we are trying to
draw out from our clients.
And again, these design thinking sessions
help us drive to that.
>> John: Is that liquid studio's
and the innovation centers
the same thing? You
mentioned liquid studios.
What is that? Real quick.
>> They are.
So, again the whole idea
behind these studios
is that instead of doing, you know,
starting with a massive project,
or driving a massive five
year RFP for a program.
Again, get it in a liquid fashion;
very agile, very prototypical,
you know, build something.
>> John: Very fluid. (laughs)
>> Exactly right.
And so that they can see, touch, feel,
and manipulate these things.
And then from there, they
may want to scale that up.
And you know, they may do it themselves.
Often times, they'll
partner with us to do it.
>> You're partnering in the real
time requirements definition
of what they're trying to do.
>> Albrecht: Correct.
>> Well, it must be
organized. I saw on Twitter
that Accenture received
the Informatica Ecosystem
Impact Award last evening.
Congratulations.
>> Albrecht: Thank you very
much, I appreciate that.
Very excited.
>> Where did that come from,
and why is it important
to you guys? Obviously, the
recognition with Informatica,
you guys are doing well with them.
>> Now, Informatica is a
very strong strategic partner
of ours. I mean, we've worked with them
for the last 18 or so years.
I personally been involved
with them the whole time.
The company has vision, you know,
when you talk to Anel, you talk to Ahmet,
who was just on--
The vision that they
have for their products,
they know where they want to go.
The reinvention that they've done here
with the new branding,
and the new marketing--
A lot of our clients had
traditionally thought of them
as more the power center, and more the--
>> John: The plumbing.
>> Exactly.
>> John: I'll say it.
>> And we keep challenging them.
It's like, you know,
why aren't you bigger?
Why isn't everybody using you?
Because I think the tool set
is robust enough right now.
And again, it's finding these use cases
to be able to apply this.
>> Well, they made a big bed.
The joke in silicon valley right now,
in infrastructure
companies, is that plumbers
are turning into machinists,
as kind of an analogy.
But now with machine learning,
you're starting to see things
that they've made a bed on
that's flowering, and it's important.
And I think they made some good bets.
They'll be on the right side
of history, in my opinion.
But I want to ask you a personal question,
because you know, you mention waves.
You mention the ERP waves
and the software wave
of the mini computer, which
then became local area networks,
inter-networking, et cetera.
Basically the premise of
what IT has turned into.
With now, the disruption that's going on,
how is it different?
Because Informatica seems
to be on that same software
cycle in a new way.
What is different about
this new world order
that's different than those days,
the glory days,
of rolling out SAP implementations,
or Oracle ERP and CRM's.
Shorter time cycles.
What are the things that you're seeing
that are key things that
customers should pay attention to,
they need to avoid, and things
they should double down on,
relative to this new wave of software?
And how does Informatica
fit into all that?
>> Sure. The ERP wave was critical.
It was the way to get
everything under one umbrella.
Very important, right?
But today, the idea of single instance,
companies can't keep
up. They can't do that.
So it's the nimble, it's the agile.
I'm really excited about
Informatica is that
they've got the end to end
solution, which is phenomenal,
but they've also got the piece parts.
And there's a lot of our clients
that you know, they're trying to integrate
multiple ERP systems together,
they're trying to integrate
multiple platforms,
so MDM is becoming much
more important today.
Data governance. Absolutely
critical out there.
They've had a gap, frankly,
in data governance for years.
And yeah their acquisition,
their AXON tool--
Again, it's a game changer out there
and a lot of our clients are
aggressively looking at that,
and trying to do that.
>> Paul: How does it change the game
for some of your clients? Give an example.
You don't have to name the customer,
but in the use case basis.
>> Everybody needs, you
know. We talk about the need
for governance, right?
And it comes into
whether it's paper based,
whether it's automation--
Some way to get processes
standardization and so forth
around governance, and
get people accountable.
The tools that have
been out in the market--
There are some that are good,
but they're not integrated.
There's no interoperability between them.
And what I like about AXON
now is they can sell it
as a single point solution.
Great way to get in the door of a client.
But, they can also then integrate
that with all of the other
platform pieces that Informatica has,
and that tie is really powerful.
>> Well, governance also plays a role
when you think about, for example,
the idea that we want greater
distribution of data--
Data is going to be more distributed.
We want some visibility into
that data through metadata,
and (mumbles) talked about that.
But, we heard from healthcare
conversation this morning,
and others, that one
of the big barriers is,
do I have access?
Do I have rights?
Do I have privileges to this data?
And governance has to follow that process
where people know in advance:
What rights do I have?
What access do I have?
Am I using it properly?
Am I breaking rules?
That notion of governance
can't just be centered
on compliance and regulation,
it has to be moved
into more of an asset management approach.
Do you agree?
>> Right. Agreed.
And the way we look at
governance, it's expanding now.
It's not the traditional
data-owner, data-steward,
data-operator any more.
>> Yeah, it's not the central group.
It's a corporate set of responsibilities.
>> Right. And we're rolling governance now
out to the end-user.
So, how they are looking at
data and interacting with data.
Because data, now, it's a utility.
It is something that everybody touches,
everybody uses, not just
an IT thing anymore.
When you take that,
and again you take the
expanse of that into security.
You know, as you talked about--
Secured source for example.
The play in tying the
two of those together.
Very powerful solution.
And even within Accenture,
you know, we're tying
our data, our governance,
our security practices,
much more tightly together as
a single, unified solution.
>> John: How does the AI machine learn,
'cause we hear in Claire
their new interface,
see LX out there, and Amazon.
I mean Google I/O's announcing neural nets
that train computers!
Certainly it's a lot
of buzzwords out there.
Does that make the master
data management, and the MDM,
and the data quality more
relevant? Or less relevant?
>> I think just as relevant
as it's always been.
There's a lot of people that sit and say
that the traditional data
stuff is a commodity now.
And again, machine learning
is absolutely essential, AI.
We need that because we're
scaling so much bigger
out in industry today.
But, MDM is not going away.
The integration between platforms,
the need for good data quality.
And I think, we almost took
a shift in the industry
to the buzzwords. Right?
It's all about big data
and AI and everything,
and in some ways we almost
left the traditional behind.
And now we're coming back to realizing
that you need good data to power
the different data sources you've got,
the big data and everything else,
that then needs to be scaled,
and that's where the machine learning--
>> And freed up for developers
who have a DevOps mindset
don't want to get into the
nuances of being a data wrangler.
>> Well, the patterns of data usage
are going to be important,
thinking about MDM.
Because at the end of the day,
you're not going to have
copies of everything.
>> No.
>> You're going to have
relationships, increasingly.
>> Right.
>> Peter: And MDM has to be
able to capture that, too.
>> Exactly.
>> Alright, final question
I have to ask you,
what's the future for you guys?
What do you guys see?
'Cause you guys always got the top brains
in the industry working on things.
what is Accenture's view of the future?
What's the most important
things coming down
after this wave?
Or is this wave just multiple sets,
and to your clients,
what are the top three things,
or top things that you
guys see as future waves
or items that you're working on?
>> You know, again, this
data wave right now--
Again, it's the most exciting time
that I've ever had in the career.
And I see the growth that we're doing.
And you know at Accenture,
we have a lot of investment
in research and development,
we've got a team of data scientists
that's out trying to mine data,
figure out, you know,
what the insights are
that are out there.
The liquid studios that
we're pulling together.
And, you know, as we talk to our clients,
it's all about the art of the possible.
It's not so much trying to
sell a tool or solution.
That's obviously important.
But, where can we take you?
What are the things that the
industry hasn't thought of yet
that we can take you as a company
and help you disrupt into
a new business market?
>> Re-imagining the future.
Thanks for coming,
Albrecht. Appreciate it.
Albrecht Powell with Accenture Analytics.
Exciting this time in the industry--
I would agree data is certainly
intoxicating at one level,
but really great value opportunity.
Thanks for coming on the Cube,
and sharing the data
with us as we analyze.
Here on the Cube, more great coverage
after this short break.
At Informatica World 2017, I'm
John Furrier, Peter Burris.
We'll be right back with more.
(futuristic electronic music)
