Welcome to Informatica! Meet Naag and Rhys

In episode 2, of our 3 part series, our Pre-Sales Director,?Brad Starr?welcomes his newest team members, Naag Balakrishnan and Rhys Alliex to our growing team at Informatica!

Both join us as Principal Data Management Consultants. Naag previously worked as a strategic architect in presales and professional services, and Rhys has extensive experience in advanced analytics projects, and enabling data science teams to work in the cloud.

Brad sat down with Naag and Rhys to find out what attracted them to Informatica, what they are most excited to learn here, and how they see data management changing in the future…

Why did you choose Informatica?

Naag: I began following Gartner Magic Quadrants and understood Informatica to be the leader in all genres of the data space. It kindled my curiosity, and I wanted to understand the additional capabilities Informatica had out-of-the-box when compared to its competitors.

Rhys: Working in advanced analytics and data science, I spent most of my time fixing the quality of data and building reliable and governed data sets. My perception of Informatica was only from an Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) perspective, and I had always thought how the IDMC solution would have saved me so much time and increased the value of the analytics teams.?

What’s been the biggest surprise since coming on board?

Naag: I was surprised right from the interview stage! I knew Informatica’s technology was solid and extensive, but the people here are highly professional and equally friendly. The interviews were more like a conversation than a Q&A session.

From Day 1 I received a very warm welcome, with a well-defined curriculum and proper plan to get up to speed in the first couple of months.

We have highly supportive seniors who are always available to clarify any questions I have about the product or the process.

Most of all, I was awestruck when I realised why Informatica is the leader in the Magic Quadrants – it’s the suite of products and pioneering subscription-based model with IPUs, offering a one-stop-shop ranging from data integration through to data quality, management information, customer data integration, and more.

Rhys: The one thing that surprised me most about Informatica was Cloud Data Quality. I had always known about it, but I never knew the depth, simplicity and ease of the interface when it came to dealing with what traditionally would have been complex and code-intensive transformations.?

What are you most excited to learn at Informatica?

Naag: As Informatica continues to invest in innovation, I’m excited to see the new products and features that will be introduced. I’m also excited that my learning curve will ramp up steadily.

Rhys: I am most excited to learn about Application Integration Management. It’s an area I haven’t spent much time in, so it scares me a little…but in a good way.?

Looking back at the past 2 years, would you change any of the tools you used to migrate data to the cloud and why?

Naag: I have previously worked on initiatives that involved maintaining a separate team for data processing, infrastructure provisioning, and API development for data exchange.

In the event of a production failure, all 3 experts had to work in a war room approach – which is overwhelming and time consuming. Specifically with real time data, potential data loss is highly likely and data catchup is a strenuous process. It also involves 1000’s of lines of coding for data processing and integration, infrastructure (IaaS), and API development for DX.

Products that offer a "Plug-in and Play” solution solve this through:

·?????infrastructure provisioning and data processing with low/no-code which doesn’t compromise or elevate processing power

·?????data exchange capability (through APIs) with role-based access control, configurable with a few clicks

·?????a simple solution for data catch-up without any hassles

Rhys: I would have loved to have changed the tools I used, and use IDMC instead. The simplicity, scalability and accountability of the iPaaS solution would have helped me get more buy-in from senior management quicker.?

How do you see data management changing in the next 2, 5 and 8 years?

Naag: Data governance and protection will take centre stage as maturity increases. There is a huge demand to gain insights on the go, so modernised and out-of-the-box data infrastructure, and integration for IoT and machine generated data, will help to achieve this capability.

Lastly, I expect to see an increase in uptake on augmented analytics which is the use of machine learning and AI within business intelligence.

Rhys: I see the low/no code environment really driving data management. Organisations have limited skill sets, yet more and more business users are becoming data curious and the low/no code environment really supports this type of growth.?