Thought Leaders in Big Data: Adam Wray, CEO of Basho (Part 5)

Adam Wray: We’re now moving towards distributed data platforms. This is where clients in the enterprise are going to say, “I want to use many models, but I don’t want to be responsible for figuring out how to keep all that available. I just want the data to be accessible so I can build my applications and go after business value at the top.” Riak Core gives us a distributed systems foundation to layer more and more models on, which is a key architectural approach that’s different form our competitors. It allows us to think broader. We have proven we can provide multi-model because we have already built both Riak KV and Riak S@ on the same foundation. A third Riak product is coming.

I think the state here is that complex solutions are built on top of products, because if you can spend a lot of time at a company, what you’re really after is an analytics goal or an IoT solution set. We’re working with a large petroleum company that is collecting data on furnaces across an entire country with the intent of being able to collect that data and anticipate when the furnace is going to break so they can reach out proactively and say, “We’d like to schedule a service and support to come out and replace this part that’s about to break.” They will lower their cost of support because today they have to go out multiple times to figure out what’s going on. They’ve created a path to be able to think more intelligently about what those furnaces could do for clients.

Sramana Mitra: You said you have about 200 customers. What are the verticals where you see maximum uptick of your solution?

Adam Wray: For us, it’s been any type of vertical that’s dealing with a massive amount of data. For example on the technology side, we see a lot of uptick in security. We got Symantec as a client. We, just recently, signed Looking Glass.

Sramana Mitra: Cyber security is a category where you’re seeing uptick?

Adam Wray: Yes, a lot of uptick on that side. It’s all underneath the technology umbrella. We did business with Nokia, Cisco, VMWare, and Microsoft. Each of these companies is collecting a great amount of data to try to deliver more optimal solutions. They’re using data as an enabler. That’s one large area. I could pick on a couple of others. We’ve been prolific in healthcare. We’re working with the Danish government and the Japanese government. Now, we’re starting to work with different hospitals in United States as well. Healthcare is an area that’s just scratched the surface with regards to data as an enabler. We’re also seeing vertical adoption in financial services, telecommunications, and e-commerce.

Sramana Mitra: I’m going to ask you to go to the 30,000-foot level. What do you see around if you were a new entrepreneur? What kind of open problems in your domain would you explore to find opportunities for building new companies?

Adam Wray: That’s a great question. I’ll use a use case to hit on how I think people should be thinking about that challenge. We have a gaming company called Bet365. It’s the largest gambling company in all of Europe. They partnered with us to use our platform to be able to create new ways in which to monetize and engage their client’s interactions. For example, they have a process that they now run. Effectively, you can change a bet midstream. You can bet on a football team and halfway through the process, decide to change and put a portion of those dollars to someplace else.

I would say stop thinking of it from the coolness of the technology perspective alone. Stop thinking about it from the developers. Ask the fundamental question. What does it mean to the business? For example, if you go after the gaming vertical, what does it mean for their topline revenue growth? If you ask the CTO of Bet365, he’d say, “That one component of engagement with our clients made more money that you could ever charge us no matter what you’re thinking.”

Sramana Mitra: Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Thought Leaders in Big Data: Adam Wray, CEO of Basho
1 2 3 4 5