When IBM Corp. decided to bring an analytics platform to market, a “data-first” strategy and developing a method for how the business uses data were the first two steps in the process. The company is working with various verticals, and the customers’ process begins by uncovering how to take their existing technology investments and create a hybrid cloud environment with the IBM Cloud Data Services platform.

“Instead of a do-it-yourself kit that is a bunch of proprietary [and] interoperability issues in terms of expense and inefficiency that can’t take advantage of the cloud, we decided to … build a platform that allows you to easily ingest, govern, curate … present and deploy,” said Derek Schoettle (pictured, left), general manager of analytics platform services and cloud data services at IBM.

Schoettle and Adam Kocoloski (pictured, right), chief technical officer, cloud data services, at IBM, sat down for an interview with John Furrier (@furrier) and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio, during IBM InterConnect 2017 held in Las Vegas, NV. (*Disclosure below.)

The discussion centered on the analytics component of the IBM Cloud Data Services platform.

Making data work for the enterprise

The big takeaway according to Schoettle is that IBM is offering governance and security and an operationalized platform.

“What clients complain about, a common refrain, is the operationalization of the analytics, of the machine learning models. ‘How do I take this insight that my data science team had discovered and have it influence business process or be incorporated into an application?’” he explained.

IBM is driving customers this direction to deliver a hybrid option that includes open-source-based technology that provides immediate data insights across the business.

Schoettle and Kocoloski noted that one of the goals for IBM in the data platform is to ensure that clients can move along in the journey more aggressively. The subscription-based Bluemix offers customers an opportunity to look under the hood of Watson (IBM’s cognitive technology) and the software and services on the Bluemix cloud platform. IBM will help companies with the skills and enablement needed for the platform.

There is a cultural shift within the enterprise, and most customers want a common fabric, and they want it to feel like a shopping experience. “You’re seeing us take that menu of composable services in a cloud platform and treat the data platform as one composition … to put together this menu of services, specifically to help data professionals collaborate and drive the business forward,” said Kocoloski.

As the demands for artificial intelligence grow, it is important to know that data is always on and companies will struggle with the velocity it will bring. Kocoloski talked about the culture shift and rethinking business models to deploy skills.

In the case of hybrid solutions, IBM is bringing together all parts of the enterprise to provide solution assurance and remove operational risk.

“Clients have to make sacrifices in moving to cloud,” said Schoettle, and IBM is working with them to get there.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM InterConnect 2017. (*Disclosure: SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE is a media partner at InterConnect. Neither IBM nor other conference sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE