 "In many industries, data is becoming the business: Chief technology officer, NetApp")
Mark Bregman, chief technology officer of storage company NetApp has been a regular visitor to India over the last few decades. In 1993, he shared a 10-year outlook at IBM on how digital would replace physical — though his predictions were a few years ahead of the digital disruption the world is currently witnessing. Bregman tells Raghu Krishnan that the future of business is data and traditional companies are investing into harness data to be competitive. Edited excerpts:
Tell us about the shift towards cloud and the disruption it is bringing to traditional IT infrastructure.
We are seeing the trend that we’ve seen several times before — something that happens whenever there is a change of platform; from mainframe to mini computers to PC and the web. In all these cases, there were concerns by CEOs that we are spending too much money.
There is a huge data explosion that is happening. Explain how is this shift affecting businesses?
We and some others in the digital economy say that data as is the currency. So the challenge is how do you help customers understand what kind of value do they get from their data. Historically, across all industries, data has primarily been used to run the business and make it more efficient. the data is becoming the business. In many industries, data is becoming the business.
For example, I have a Tesla. It reports all the time to its headquarters. The original idea is to send data on reliability and all those things. Now, they have all my driving history. So Tesla can potentially take my data, analyse it and work with an insurance company and offer me a better deal with the insurance company, saying that I am a good driver. They can do that because they have evidence.
What types of businesses?
I think it is every business, literally by their imagination. So you think about businesses in the retail sector — traditionally they used information for billing, inventory planning — now they use the same data and understand you as a customer and offer an experience and something of value to you. On the one hand, it is traditional marketing and benefits the company. They are also offering you benefits as a customer.
Not only is data growing in volume, it is also changing its role within an enterprise. Earlier, it was used for operational reasons; now it is right at the heart of a business.
Amazon and Uber harness data and run their business. How can traditional businesses adapt to this shift?
If you look at Uber and Tesla, they are effectively in contrast to a conventional company. Tesla stated as a auto manufacturer and with the insights it got from software data, it is now a software- and data-powered auto company. Uber is completely different. Uber’s business completely depends on the data it collects. Uber cannot exist without data — it doesn’t own the car.
What are your customers saying about digitisation?
Our customers have three problems: Near-term, they are under pressure, a lot of focus is on the efficiency of existing conventional businesses; second, how can they use IT-accelerated business — new opportunities and new customers and using information effectively; third, how can we use this information to completely transform the business.
Tell us about the shift towards cloud and the disruption it is bringing to traditional IT infrastructure.
We are seeing the trend that we’ve seen several times before — something that happens whenever there is a change of platform; from mainframe to mini computers to PC and the web. In all these cases, there were concerns by CEOs that we are spending too much money.
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There is a rhetoric that says that everything is moving towards the cloud. Some things are moving towards the cloud, new things that you would never have imagined before worked on the cloud. The old things will stay where they are. We still have mainframe for the applications that are suitable. This is why we are talking about the hybrid cloud — a lot would be on cloud, a lot would be on the premise and some of that would be on SaaS. From a data point of view, you still have a responsibility to your data, you have to protect and manage it. How do we help customers manage their data, whether it is on Netapp, Amazon or Salesforce? That’s the opportunity.
There is a huge data explosion that is happening. Explain how is this shift affecting businesses?
We and some others in the digital economy say that data as is the currency. So the challenge is how do you help customers understand what kind of value do they get from their data. Historically, across all industries, data has primarily been used to run the business and make it more efficient. the data is becoming the business. In many industries, data is becoming the business.
For example, I have a Tesla. It reports all the time to its headquarters. The original idea is to send data on reliability and all those things. Now, they have all my driving history. So Tesla can potentially take my data, analyse it and work with an insurance company and offer me a better deal with the insurance company, saying that I am a good driver. They can do that because they have evidence.
What types of businesses?
I think it is every business, literally by their imagination. So you think about businesses in the retail sector — traditionally they used information for billing, inventory planning — now they use the same data and understand you as a customer and offer an experience and something of value to you. On the one hand, it is traditional marketing and benefits the company. They are also offering you benefits as a customer.
Not only is data growing in volume, it is also changing its role within an enterprise. Earlier, it was used for operational reasons; now it is right at the heart of a business.
Amazon and Uber harness data and run their business. How can traditional businesses adapt to this shift?
If you look at Uber and Tesla, they are effectively in contrast to a conventional company. Tesla stated as a auto manufacturer and with the insights it got from software data, it is now a software- and data-powered auto company. Uber is completely different. Uber’s business completely depends on the data it collects. Uber cannot exist without data — it doesn’t own the car.
What are your customers saying about digitisation?
Our customers have three problems: Near-term, they are under pressure, a lot of focus is on the efficiency of existing conventional businesses; second, how can they use IT-accelerated business — new opportunities and new customers and using information effectively; third, how can we use this information to completely transform the business.