Informatica has had a busy 2024, announcing major new innovations and partnerships as it brings artificial intelligence to the fore of its cloud-based data management offering.
Last month the California-based company deepened its association with Databricks, providing the full range of its AI-powered Intelligent Data Management Cloud capabilities within Databricks’ Data Intelligence Platform. The expanded partnership will enable joint customers to deploy enterprise-grade GenAI applications at scale, based on a foundation of high-quality, trusted data and metadata. That followed the unveiling of a similar association with Snowflake. It was also selected by Microsoft as the Independent Software Design (ISV) design partner for the software behemoth’s new data fabric product.
The frequency of the rollouts in recent months has been dictated by the rapidity with which Informatica’s financial institution clients are seizing on the potential of AI. Many are struggling to bring the technology into their legacy systems, while others have a vision of what they want to do with it but not the capability to implement it.
With the market also heavily weighted towards capitalising on the growing generative AI space, Informatica group vice president and head of EMEA North sales Greg Hanson said new developments and enhancements are on the cards for the near future.
“The critical foundational layer for companies is to get their data management right and if you look at the current state of most large organisations, their integration and their data management looks a bit like spaghetti,” Hanson tells Data Management Insight.
“They realise, though, that they have to pay attention to this strategic data management capability because it’s almost as fundamental as the machinery that manufacturers use to make cars.”
Rapid Change
Hanson says that the pace of innovation at Informatica is the fastest he’s seen in his two decades at the company because its clients understand the operational benefits to be gained from implementing AI-based data management processes. This “unstoppable trend towards AI” is being driven by board-level demand, especially within financial services, a sector he describes as being at the “bleeding edge” of technological adoption.
Many have had their appetites whetted by AI’s ability to streamline and improve the low-hanging fruit challenges they face, such as creating unique customer experiences and engagements. To embed and extend those AI-powered capabilities across their entire organisation, however, will take more effort, says Hanson.
“Their ability to harness data and exploit AI’s potential is going to be the difference between the winners and losers in the market,” he says. But the drive to get results quickly may lure firms towards rash decisions that could create more problems later.
“They need to think strategically about data management, but they can start small and focus on a small use case and an outcome that they can deliver quickly, then grow from there.”
Make it Simple
Among Informatica’s clients across 100 countries are banks such as Santander and Banco ABC Brasil, US mortgage underwriting giant Freddie Mac, insurer AXA XL and online payments provider PayPal. Among the services it’s providing such institutions are broad cost reduction by the optimisation of reference data operations and the simplification of their broader data processes.
This latter point is key to helping clients better use their data, says Hanson. Arguing that without good data inputs, AI’s outputs will be “garbage out at an accelerated pace”, he says that many companies have overcomplicated data setups that are hampering their adoption of the technology. By having separate tools to manage each element of their data management setup – including data access, quality, governance and mastering capabilities – large firms are strangling their ability to make AI work for them.
“But now complexity is out and simplicity is in,” Hanson says. “As companies modernise to take advantage of AI, they need to simplify their stacks.”
Enter GenAI
Informatica is helping that simplification through a variety of solutions including its own GenAI-powered technology for data management, CLAIRE GPT – the name being a contraction of “cloud AI for real-time execution”. The technology began life simply as CLAIRE seven years ago. Last year, however, it was boosted with the inclusion of GenAI technology, enabling clients to better control their data management processes through conversational prompts and deep-data interrogation.
Comparing the new iteration to Microsoft’s Copilot, Hanson says CLAIRE GPT now offers clients greater capabilities to simplify and accelerate how they consume, process, manage and analyse data. Adding fuel to its firepower is CLAIRE GPT’s ability to enable individual clients to call on the combined metadata of Informatica’s 5,000-plus clients to provide them with smarter outputs.
While almost all of Informatica’s offerings are embedded with its new GenAI technology, the next step will be to ensure the company’s entire range of products benefits from it.
“Data management is complex and costly for many companies and it massively impacts the ability of the company to release new products, deliver new services and create more pleasing customer experiences,” he says.
“Our job with GenAI as the fundamental platform foundation is to offer more comprehensive services around that foundational layer of data management, and more automation and productivity around the end-to-end data management journey.”
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