In 12 years with Pentaho Corp., Anthony DeShazor (pictured) has seen the company go through a number of evolutions. Now chief solution architect and senior vice president of customer success at Hitachi Vantara Corp. after Hitachi’s acquisition of Pentaho in 2015, the most impactful transformation DeShazor has seen is in the way the company interacts with and supports customers.

“We began as a technology company. … As we started getting more customers, we realized the technology had to serve the customer versus the customer serving the technology,” DeShazor said. Now supported by the backing of Hitachi Vantara, Pentaho is in its best position yet for being able to listen to customers and build more effective solutions to their problems, he added.

DeShazor spoke with Rebecca Knight (@knightrm) and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during PentahoWorld in Orlando, Florida. They discussed Pentaho’s growth as a customer-centric organization and how it plans to support clients further in achieving their goals — both in business and toward a greater social good. (* Disclosure below.)

Achieving goals at the ‘double bottom line’

Pentaho’s efforts have all been centered around building a product that can create positive outcomes for any customer issue, starting with an open-source approach. “At the very core, we needed to build … something that could be molded to the client’s problem,” DeShazor said.

With the manpower, infrastructure and geographic scope of Hitachi Vantara, DeShazor predicted that the company’s ability to help customers achieve their desired outcomes will grow exponentially. “As great as Pentaho was as a standalone company, I believe we’ll be that much bigger when you have the whole weight of Hitachi Vantara standing behind you. … Now you will see us attack things that we could not even fathom before,” he said.

DeShazor is especially looking forward to the company’s improved ability to help customers through the transformational shifts incoming with the wave of big data. Pentaho ensures clients at all levels have a thorough understanding of their data by offering trainings and designating internal experts at each company to streamline processes.

“You can install the best technology … but if you can’t get the people to adapt to … and use the software … you’ve basically just wasted your time,” DeShazor said.

Looking ahead, DeShazor sees even greater potential to not only work with businesses in achieving their goals, but creating a greater social good — what he refers to as Pentaho’s ‘double bottom line.’ Their work with companies like Intelligent Mechatronic Systems Inc. provides a promising framework for other organizations with potential to make an impact.

“That is social innovation; that’s what we’re looking for. … How can we help you achieve your business goals but go beyond that to better society?” DeShazor concluded.

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

Photo: SiliconANGLE