Even before a global pandemic eliminated many services that relied on person-to-person contact, the self-service revolution was already underway. Now, much like today’s routine use of ATMs and airline ticketing kiosks, the ability to find, catalog and gain useful insight from data is becoming self-service as well.

Io-Tahoe LLC has carved out a position in the smart data management space in less than four years since its founding in 2017. As data volumes have grown exponentially, the company’s ability to enable data search and discovery across a wide range of technology platforms using artificial intelligence and machine learning has resonated within the enterprise world. After introducing its Smart Streaming Discovery platform in 2019, Io-Tahoe found itself being named by industry analysts as one of the leaders in the data space. And the value it offered had a great deal to do with lessening the data burden for many organizations.

“Injecting intelligence into the data through automation is a critical but often overlooked capability to accelerate time to Insights,” said Dave Vellante, chief analyst at SiliconANGLE Media’s sister market research firm Wikibon and host of SiliconANGLE’s livestreaming video studio theCUBE. “Io-Tahoe specialized in the streamlining of data pipelines by removing many labor-intensive activities and reducing the time it takes to complete many of the tasks and steps in the data lifecycle. This is important because it allows organizations to free resources from mundane, low-value tasks and point them at more strategic activities.”

On December 10, starting at 11 a.m. EST, theCUBE will provide inside coverage of Io-Tahoe’s Data Automation Series, with a focus on Adaptive Data Governance. TheCUBE hosts will interview company executives and customers and discuss how Io-Tahoe achieves a self-service enterprise marketplace through advanced APIs, the role of AI in data discovery, and a growing need for governance in an expanding international regulatory environment. (* Disclosure below.)

Citizen data scientists

Two years before Io-Tahoe was even launched, Gartner forecast that a next-generation of smart data discovery would enable a new class of citizen data scientists. This has emerged as an important trend, as seen in a recent CompTIA data management report that found only 25% of companies felt properly positioned with corporate data management — and a majority lacked internal IT employees dedicated to data analytics.

How have Io-Tahoe’s solutions shifted the balance in the enterprise data management world? Direct Energy, the largest residential energy supplier in North America, is using Io-Tahoe’s technology to fully integrate and leverage critical data from newly acquired companies.

“Every time we acquire organizations, they have various different applications running in the estate,” said Eddie Edwards, global data services director at Direct Energy, during an interview with theCUBE. “What we’re able to do is use the product to plug in and then profile to understand what knowledge they have around their customer base and how we can bring that in to build up a single view and offer additional products.”

At Webster Bank, a financial institution with 3 million customers and approximately $30 billion in assets, smart data management means using Io-Tahoe’s data automation to break down silos and eliminate hundreds of hours of analytical work. The bank has done this by placing data analysis in the hands of its bankers.

“I wanted to give the lines of business an ability to do search within the data,” said Paula D’Amico, senior vice president of enterprise data architecture at Webster Bank, during an interview with theCUBE in June. “I wanted the bankers to be able to walk around with an iPad in their hands and be able to access data for a customer really fast and be able to get them the best deal.”

Governance on the rise

Io-Tahoe’s solutions have attracted interest at a time when the meter for regulatory requirements governing privacy and the use of data has climbed into the red zone. General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, which became active over two years ago, has impacted any company doing business in the European Union. Fifty fines totaling $320 million have already been assessed, according to a GDPR tracker.

In California, a data privacy protection act has been in effect for nearly one year. Under the act’s fine schedule, if 100,000 users were impacted by a data breach, the total amount of the fine could reach $750 million for one incident.

To address business concerns in this area, Io-Tahoe provides automated data governance that tags, links and annotates data policy assessments using metadata to meet policy needs.

“We tie data to lines of regulation,” said Lester Waters, chief information security officer of Io-Tahoe, during an interview with theCUBE. “Using the Io-Tahoe software, I’m able to catalog all of that. I’m able to garner insights into that data using the nine patent pending algorithms that we have to do intelligent tagging.”

One of the most heavily regulated data-driven industries is the field of healthcare. Io-Tahoe has formed partnerships with Amazon Web Services Inc. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. to tackle the lack of centralized patient data, a thorny problem that has plagued the medical industry for years.

Io-Tahoe’s involvement supports an ambitious program by AWS to collaborate with healthcare providers, along with government and public health organizations, and provide more tools for analyzing data that could ultimately anticipate illnesses.

“If you think about the healthcare industry, there has been a shift from reactive to predictive care,” said Stuti Deshpande, solutions architect at Amazon Web Services, in a September conversation with theCUBE. “We’ve observed that nurses who are supported by artificial intelligence tools increase their productivity by 50%.”

In October, Io-Tahoe launched a new “SmartData” partner program, designed around a data-as-a-service model to deliver 10 outcomes in a single platform. The company’s no-code and cloud-enabled data management modules provide a self-service experience that is changing the way that organizations address the challenges of data analysis in 2020.

“There’s a lot of pressure on data, a lot of demand on data to deliver more value to the business,” said Ajay Vohora, chief executive officer of Io-Tahoe, during a recent interview with theCUBE. “To be able to put data in context and search across the entire enterprise estate, you can start to do some exciting things and piece together the fabric across different systems. We look to build on top of that with data automation.”

Livestream of IoTahoe’s Adaptive Data Governance event

Io-Tahoe’s Data Automation Series “Adaptive Data Governance” livestream event will be broadcast on theCUBE. You can also watch it on demand on theCUBE’s dedicated page and YouTube channel.

How to watch theCUBE interviews

We offer you various ways to watch the live coverage of Io-Tahoe’s “Adaptive Data Governance” livestream event, including theCUBE’s dedicated website and YouTube channel. You can also get all the coverage from this year’s events on SiliconANGLE.

TheCUBE Insights podcast

SiliconANGLE also has podcasts available of archived interview sessions, available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify, which you can enjoy while on the go.

Guests who will be interviewed on theCUBE during IoTahoe’s Adaptive Data Governance event

Guests who will be interviewed on theCUBE during the Io-Tahoe Automation digital event include Io-Tahoe’s Ajay Vohora, chief executive officer; Lester Waters, chief technology officer; Yusef Khan, head of data services; Patrick Zeimet, data solutions engineer; and Sabita Davis, enterprise account executive. TheCUBE will also speak with Santiago Castro, chief data officer at FBN, and Gudron van der Wal, senior manager of digital transformation and industries at Oracle.

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Io-Tahoe’s Data Automation Series “Adaptive Data Governance” livestream event. Neither Io-Tahoe LLC, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE