The tech world is in a constant state of flux as new technologies enter the mix. And for businesses, this means new ways to collect, store and use data. However, controlling data and running applications on it is not easy, which is why companies are experimenting with machine learning and metadata.

“To be candid, it’s the best of times. The changing times is the best of times because people can experiment,” said Amit Walia (pictured), executive vice president and chief product officer of Informatica Corp.

Walia spoke with John Furrier (@furrier), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio, during this week’s BigData NYC event. They discussed the importance of machine learning and cybersecurity in today’s business climate. (* Disclosure below.)

Machine learning must go to the data

Data has become the currency for every enterprise. Companies have realized their business will live or die based on how well they predict the future using data on their products and customers. To better use data insights the world is moving toward predictive analytics and machine learning, according to Walia.

The biggest “new normal” is artificial intelligence, and the biggest application of machine learning is data processing. Informatica believes that’s where the world is going to go, and because of this, the company has focused on bringing AI to the data across the enterprise.

“Companies are not going to magically move all their data to one place to run AI on it,” Walia said. Instead, companies will organize around metadata, data about data. This allows companies to leave data where it is, while then using the metadata layer as the central nervous system for their information architecture.

As an example, this metadata approach has proved useful in computer security. Because there are so many ways to access data, securing the access points is impractical. Securing the data is the way to go, Walia explained.

“You just have to append your metadata. So security, governance, hybrid cloud, all of those things become a lot easier versus creating one new architecture after another,” Walia concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of BigData NYC 2017. (* Disclosure: Informatica Corp. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Informatica Corp. nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE