Big Data is about information and insights. Every company that strives to be a part of the future knows this. However, many businesses have yet to understand that the IT folks and the marketing department are not the only people in the company who find Big Data essential. Big Data also has a place in the boardroom, where it can inform the decisions that guide the whole of the company.

To gain some insight on how Big Data and the boardroom come together, John Furrier (@furrier) and Peter Burris (@plburris), cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, spoke to Bruce Chizen, board member and senior adviser at Informatica Corp., during Informatica World 2016 in San Francisco. 

Where Informatica stands in today’s market

The conversation started with Chizen relating his experience with coming to Informatica. He mentioned seeing a company with great products, great tech and macro environment in their favor. Customers seem to love Informatica. Meanwhile, looking at the macro dynamic, he saw a need for more data integration, cleaning and processing. These were great things for the company.

Things had changed since then, though. “The volume of data that is being generated is mind-boggling to me,” he said. He explained that at other companies, he struggled for information and often had to rely on intuition. He didn’t have the tools, or the infrastructure, to give him the answers he needed. Now, there’s Big Data.

Data is a board-level conversation

From a board perspective, Chizen said, Big Data is a matter of corporate governance. They need to know the data is secure, private, and goes to the right places and right countries. The board, he said, is responsible for validating the value of a company. When that valuation is backed up by data, the board has a lot more confidence.

“At the end of the day, every decision a leader has to make will never be based 100% on data,” Chizen said. There is always a piece of experience, intuition and charisma that is unique to individual leaders. However, the leader has to use and leverage data like never before.  

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Informatica World 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE