Whether information is stored in raw form in massive data lakes or in more structured data warehouse environments, one truth is constant: Enterprise users must still be able to find what they need at any given moment.

This need has created a compelling market opportunity for data discovery firms such as Snowflake Inc. and Io-Tahoe LLC, which offer tools for a wide range of data-driven use cases. Today’s focus is not so much on where data is stored, but on what users can do to locate and cultivate it in ways that drive enterprise success.

“The data lake concept was intriguing when first introduced in 2010,” said Dave Vellante, co-founder and chief research officer at Wikibon and host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming video studio. “But people quickly realized that shoving data into a data lake made them stagnant repositories that were essentially storage bins which were less expensive than traditional data warehouses.”

The future of data discovery across all forms of data storage will be a central focus for “ActiveDQ Intelligent Automation for Data Quality Management,” a special presentation on theCUBE, airing from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on April 29.

Io-Tahoe and Snowflake will come together and demonstrate how digital “SnoBots,” driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning, remove manual efforts and multiple steps for achieving data quality while reducing item cost and speeding remediation. Viewers will observe demonstrations in the use of intelligent automation to curate high-quality data, drive analytics and power customer-oriented applications for business users. (* Disclosure below.)

Next wave for data management

The concept behind Io-Tahoe’s ActiveDQ approach is to ensure data is ready for consumption and to keep its quality state available for faster decision-making. The company automates data processes and workflows encompassing migrations, data quality, governance and self-service data analytics.

Data governance is a particularly important issue for enterprises these days as the world grapples with an ongoing pandemic. A recent report from the International Association of Privacy Professionals found that over 40% of respondents saw privacy as more important for organizations since the onset of COVID-19, while only 5% viewed it as less critical.

Io-Tahoe has found traction in this arena through its Smart Data Discovery and AI-driven Data Catalog offerings, which provide full relationship mapping and sensitive data detection.

“AI-enabled automation is the next wave for data management tools,” said John Santaferraro, research director of data, analytics and AI at Enterprise Management Associates, in an interview with SiliconANGLE. “Vendors that excel in the use of AI and machine learning in their analytics, business intelligence and data management platforms will create significant differentiation and barriers to entry that will change the face of how information is accessed, delivered and acted upon.”

Embracing vendor partnerships

 Io-Tahoe has built its industry position in the data discovery business through a series of key strategic partnerships. Snowflake, the cloud-based data warehouse provider, has partnered with Io-Tahoe to employ intelligent automation in the ongoing quest for data quality.

Webster Bank, a financial institution with 3 million customers and $30 billion in assets, relies on both Io-Tahoe and Snowflake to make its information readily available for data scientists and customer-facing bank personnel.

“Your lines of business and your data scientists just dive right in,” explained Paula D’Amico, senior vice president of enterprise data architecture for Webster Bank, during an interview with theCUBE. “Using Io-Tahoe and data automation with their search engine, data scientists and data analysts don’t need to talk to IT to get accurate information.”

Another key partnership involves Oracle Corp. In March, Io-Tahoe joined the Oracle Partner Network, a program designed to help companies accelerate the transition to cloud. Io-Tahoe’s Data RPA platform is now available for users to deploy on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

“The strategic partnership landscape today directly reflects customer pressure and demands,” said Paige Bartley, senior research analyst at 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, in an interview with SiliconANGLE. “With organizations making major IT investments, there is a certain reluctance – rightfully so – to simply rip and replace IT assets. Instead, there is pressure on technology vendors to ‘play nice’ with other providers that may in fact overlap in functionality to some degree.”

Challenges in healthcare

One of the ways in which Io-Tahoe’s smart data technology is being applied can be seen in the healthcare industry. Healthcare information is inevitably structured and unstructured, subject to major variances in definition and terminology and highly regulated.

COVID-19 has accelerated the need to analyze massive amounts of information. In September, the National Institutes of Health awarded contracts to public and private sector groups to create technologies for sourcing and analyzing data from various platforms in monitoring global movement of the virus.

Organizing the chaos of healthcare data is a challenge, and one of Io-Tahoe’s customers – Clearsense Inc. – relies on the firm’s technology to identify specific fields in medical records, such as medications, rapidly and accurately.

Clearsense has used Io-Tahoe’s data discovery tools to analyze information sources with over 7,000 tables and up to 300,000 columns. Io-Tahoe automated this process on the Clearsense platform.

“Staying ahead in today’s healthcare market means organizations must find ways to improve efficiencies across all areas of their operations,” said Charles Boicey, co-founder and chief innovation officer for Clearsense, in an interview on data search in the healthcare industry. “Io-Tahoe is helping us achieve this.”

Livestream of ‘ActiveDQ Intelligent Automation for Data Quality Management’

“ActiveDQ Intelligent Automation for Data Quality Management” is a livestream event. To access the event live, you can register here for free. Plus, you can watch theCUBE interviews here on demand after the live event.

How to watch theCUBE interviews

We offer you various ways to watch the live coverage of “ActiveDQ Intelligent Automation for Data Quality Management,” 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

Guests who will be interviewed on theCUBE during the “ActiveDQ Intelligent Automation for Data Quality Management” livestream include Io-Tahoe’s Ajay Vohora, chief executive officer; Yusef Khan head of data services; Tiji Mathew, enterprise data solution architect; Patrick Zeimet, enterprise data engineer; and Senthilnathan Karuppaiah, solutions architect and head of production engineering. TheCUBE will also speak with Snowflake’s Glenn Grossman, enterprise account executive, and Duncan Turnbull, partner sales engineer.

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Io-Tahoe’s ActiveDQ™ Intelligent Automation for Data Quality Management event. Neither Io-Tahoe LLC, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Check out the promo video below:

Photo: Io-Tahoe