The data industry is exploding, and generative artificial intelligence is supercharging its growth and potential.

That was the overarching sentiment expressed by industry analysts John Furrier, Savannah Peterson and Shelly Kramer as they previewed theCUBE’s coverage of the Qlik Connect event today in Orlando.

TheCUBE’s John Furrier talks about generative AI use in the data industry.

“No surprises data is a challenge for everyone,” said Shelly Kramer (pictured, center), managing director and principal analyst at theCUBE Research. “Everyone is working to get their arms around it, to understand how best to leverage it. Whenever there’s data there’s opportunity.”

Kramer spoke with fellow theCUBE analyst Savannah Peterson (left) and John Furrier (right), co-founder and executive analyst at theCUBE Research, at Qlik Connect, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed what the future hold for data management using generative AI and how companies, such as QlikTech International AB, are driving innovation in this area. (* Disclosure below.)

A glimpse of the future in the data industry

The Qlik Answers demo kicking off the event gave a glimpse into the future of data analytics powered by AI.  Companies with strong data management practices, including data governance and handling, are best positioned to benefit from this next generation of generative AI tools, according to Furrier.

“We are finally at an era where we actually see the benefit of user experiences, the human side of managing data,” he said. “Powering business is going to empower more applications. We’re kind of seeing the realization now of all those generations that came before with data.”

Qlik has a longstanding focus and investment in making data a “foundational element” for its customers’ businesses, according to Kramer. The company’s established data governance practices position the company well to capitalize on the recent emergence of generative AI, unlike companies that haven’t prioritized data beforehand.

“What we’re seeing now is the necessity of building a culture around data,” Kramer said. “I think that seeing how Qlik has embraced that, seeing the work that they’ve done in the trenches for a long time now coming to fruition, that’s really exciting.”

The next wave of technological disruption

With generative AI fusing with data to drive powerful new capabilities, Qlik Connect showcased why companies investing in data readiness are primed to capitalize on the next wave of technological disruption and productivity gains.

“I think what I want to ask is what’s their strategy,” Furrier said. “If you just connect the dots forward, the revolution in productivity, that’s going to come from data. What they do and what they’re powering businesses to do is going to help businesses build a better future and the world.”

A standout presentation at the event was Qlik’s demonstration of the benefits of handling unstructured data alongside structured data. Adding unstructured data unlocks new possibilities with multimodal generative AI, which opens the door for an “explosion of new applications and use cases” that leverage both structured and unstructured data in powerful new ways, Furrier pointed out.

“Databases have been around about for years, generations of data management solutions, but the advent of dealing with structured and unstructured data is really the compelling thing that jumps out at me,” he said. “When you add in unstructured data, the multimodal generative AI adoption really kicks in.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of  Qlik Connect:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Qlik Connect. Neither QlikTech International AB, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE