Digital-native businesses often find it difficult to overcome data security challenges because of the sheer volume and varying quality of raw data being generated every second. There is also some reluctance to change data strategies and because of the huge costs of using new technologies. This makes it difficult for companies to increase efficiency and speed, integrate diverse data sources, and extract valuable insights over the long term.
YourStory, in collaboration with Oracle, brought together industry experts from digital-native businesses across domains to discuss the transformative power of data and AI for business and how to navigate and scale the data landscape for long-term success. The round-table discussion, ‘Navigating Data and AI Integration for Optimal Performance,’ aims to address what processes, techniques and strategies companies can use to extract maximum value from their data.
Carthageian SHead IT, Whatfix; ion deCPO, Zopper; Susnata SinghDirector, Fiserv; Avinash BhattAssociate Vice President – Engineering, Homelane; and Saikat SarkarDirector – Data Science, AA and ML, IQVIA participated in the discussion, highlighting specific challenges such as data governance, security, and cost management.
Challenges in data infrastructure and AI integration
Struggling with efficiency in predictive analytics, one speaker said their company is exploring AI investments for image processing, call insights and customer profiling to improve business outcomes. AI has immense potential for product features, innovation, and decision-making based on accurate data insights.
With a focus on data analytics, participants addressed how to analyze customer and employee data to improve sales and customer service in a variety of industries. They also discussed the challenges of training AI models with large datasets, citing the high cost of estimation and the need for simple workflows. They emphasized the potential of natural language processing (NLP) tools such as GPT-3, which can generate insights from data without the need for complex model training. Video analysis and the importance of questions asked at conferences and seminars have been found to be extremely useful in understanding customer behavior and preferences.
Explaining Oracle’s approach to AI, one speaker emphasized the importance of not moving data unnecessarily and using AI services to drive models where the data resides. He also highlighted the cost-effectiveness and resource optimization benefits of using Oracle’s converged database built-in AI capabilities.
The speakers exchanged ideas on cost efficiency and scalability in managing data infrastructures, especially for startups and digital-native companies. The conversation included the benefits of cloud services in providing scalability and elasticity, especially during peak periods. One of the speakers emphasized the importance of cost per unit in cloud services, noting that while overall costs may increase, per-unit costs decrease with scale.
Multi-cloud data management capabilities
Exploring multi-cloud environments is essential to stay competitive and avoid vendor lock-in. Oracle and Microsoft have a strong partnership, with Oracle running databases in Microsoft data centers. The partnership allows for seamless integration and low latency between regions with options to use Oracle or Microsoft databases.
Speakers further discussed how Oracle’s multi-cloud services allow customers to leverage best operating practices and cost competitiveness. Seamless migration between on-premise Oracle databases and cloud services, one-time migration and database-as-a-service options are also available. Oracle offers database services within other cloud platforms such as AWS and Azure, giving customers the flexibility to use the best of both worlds. Discussions included competitive pricing and support awards for moving Oracle workloads to the cloud, ensuring existing customers can leverage the latest technologies.
While participants highlighted the benefits of using Oracle databases on various cloud platforms, they also brought up challenges associated with migrating from traditional to cloud databases, including differences in pricing and investment.
Securing network configurations
Speakers discussed the importance of security policies in cloud computing, highlighting the need for a basic security setup that is cost-effective and easy to manage. They also highlighted the challenges in managing data security and compliance across different cloud platforms and the need for better integration and governance. Oracle’s multi-cloud strategy addresses these challenges by providing secure and compliant solutions.
The discussion touches on the importance of having a strong security framework to protect data and maintain customer trust. Participants also emphasized the importance of data protection, especially in regulated sectors such as finance and healthcare, and the need for better integration and governance. They raised additional concerns about data migration and quality, emphasizing the need for AI to address data gaps and improve data quality during cloud migration.