The drive to become data-driven has created a divide between the haves and have-nots of the digital business world.

Those with access to quality data and the ability to analyze it in real-time are winning the strategic insight race, while those sitting on a stagnant data lake are losing traction in the market.

“Data is something that everyone should and can be able to use,” said Claire Hockin (pictured), senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Splunk Inc. “Our goal and our vision is you just capture your data and you can apply it to any use case using Splunk.”

Hockin spoke with  John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the recent Splunk .conf21 Virtual event. They discussed the virtual event, Splunk’s fun and fast culture, and the company’s vision for the future of data. (* Disclosure below.)

The ever-increasing scale of Splunk

“Working with customers on the data frontier” is Hockin’s description of her job as Splunk’s CMO.

“One of the best things about Splunk is we do have this incredibly fun and playful brand,” she said. “As data just becomes something that is more and more powerful, it’s really relatable. And we have fun with activating that and storytelling.”

The company attracts people who continually challenge and reinvent, according to Hockin.

“Splunk has always been that next big thing. And then the next big thing again,” said Furrier, who has watched Splunk crest each technological wave only to catch the next one without a pause. “This sets the pattern ‘do something big that’s new, operationalize it, and do something new again,’” he said.

As more companies become digital, Splunk’s customer base continues to evolve. Its Data-to-Everything Platform is trusted by 20,000 customers, and it has a growing ecosystem community of 230,000 members.

“We’re seeing this incredible velocity in terms of what’s possible and how we can co-build with our partners and do more and more with our customers,” Hockin stated.

The McLaren Racing team uses Splunk to maximize its race performance, sending hundreds of terabytes of data from sensors on the cars through Splunk Enterprise to its mission control in the U.K., where a team of 32 analysts make split-second decisions and relay them back to the pit team at the track.

This provides a good example of how all companies should be gaining value from data, according to Hockin.

“You have to bring all that data together, and you have to look at it and take decisions centrally for the benefit of your whole team,” she said.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of during the Splunk .conf21 Virtual event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Splunk’s .conf21 Virtual conference. Neither Splunk Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE