You don’t clean your house just once a year, do you?

Good quality of data, an enterprise-wide data culture, visibility, transparency, and action-ability—form the secret sauce of good analytics. Here’s why…

Just like a wise grandma would emphasize while sharing her secret recipe, Nicolas Sekkaki, Global Practice Leader—Applications, Data & AI, Kyndryl stresses 3 key things. Do clean the tomatoes before you boil them down to a soup or sauce. Do peel them and dice them well as per the texture you want. And never ever forget to put the ketch-up in the right bottle—make sure it is easy to squeeze. Sekkaki tells us why throwing away rotten tomatoes is something everyone should be mindful of—be it the gardener or the kitchen chef. He also explains why it is important for companies to clean their house every day—if they want to keep data quality squeaky-clean for value-driven applications. Plus, he gives us a peek into why it feels like being just in college with the big and exciting world waiting with its opportunities and challenges.

Data and Analytics are hygiene factors for any enterprise’s IT and Business strategy today. How can organisation leverage these areas as an X-factor?

Data has been a resource and recently companies have started to look at it in a way that it can be harvested for insights. It is being used as a competitive advantage. But if 80 percent of this time is used in just data preparation areas, a lot needs to be improved. Especially as there is still room to sharpen aspects like ‘time to value’, data modernisation, and contextual use-cases which can amplify return on investment.

Where can it move to next?

Customers need simplicity and agility. IT has become complex in so many ways. We need to bring in more automation, reduce costs, improve quality, and free up the core resources for a customer. We, at Kyndryl, have converted our internal experiences into products for our customers—keeping this in mind. Also, we are working on co-innovation, especially in areas where we can have single-pane-of-glass consoles.

I think enterprises need to realise that data cannot be an IT issue. It has to become part of the core culture. The important quality of data has to pervade every function and be critical for every person in an organisation. You have to clean your house every day. It’s as simple and as important as that. What is also crucial to realise in the context of data. A certain figure can have a different implication in one department, but it can affect the calculations of another department in a different way.

How will the recent geopolitical factors and regulatory pressures influence data strategy for enterprises?

I cannot comment on specific incidents; but, in general, I see that companies would want their data to be at a certain place. But a lot has changed after the cloud’s advent. For us, it is vital to be respectful of regulations and understand the value of data from a customer’s perspective.

 A $19 billion business, it provides the ‘heart and lungs of thousands of customers – designing, building, and modernizing their technology systems so they can stay competitive in an increasingly digital global economy.

Would you say Blockchain is too early for the data storage and management world?

No. It’s a ledger that can equip people well with the correct version of data. It wipes away islands and IT replication. It brings in a lot of other capabilities to the market with the use of data with proper validation and transparency.

Is AIOps the next big thing?

It is generating a lot of buzz as a big thing. But is it the next big thing? I am not sure. We are developing it right now though. It would be a big thing if it helps the industry to be strong in predictive capabilities and to improve data quality.

Can you share something about your collaborations with Hyperscalers, Cloudera, etc.?

The world is made up of an ecosystem. We need to have the right skills and expertise, especially in cloud areas, to be relevant in the ecosystem. We strive to bring more value and responsiveness to our customers, bring relevance to our partners and expand capabilities in AI and data tools.

Data estates in business environments grow rapidly and exponentially in hybrid, multi-cloud, and Edge environments. To extract insights from them and convert them into business decision intelligence, the speed at which insights are generated becomes a key success factor. It requires continuous data modernization as a business imperative.

Kyndryl’s Application, Data, and AI practice provide Data Modernization and Data Platform Management services offering key services like building data fabric/platforms that support industry best practices including Governance, Reliability (DataOps, Observability, Lineage, Quality), Security, & Compliance. We also deliver E2E Analytics use cases using Hyperscaler and ISV data warehouse and Data lakes.

Any examples?

We recently completed a project for a client in the manufacturing Industry who had embarked on their Digital Transformation journey and they were eager to improve the operational equipment efficiency (OEE), build a digital twin, reduce downtime with predictive maintenance, etc. Kyndryl proposed a hybrid data fabric solution that comprises an edge data solution per manufacturing location and a centralized cloud data fabric built entirely using cloud PaaS services. We performed a detailed analysis of client-preferred CSPs and suggested high-level architectures, CSP PaaS services, and their sizing for various scenarios. We then implemented the data platform end-to-end including landing zones, security, scalability configurations, and integration with ecosystem components and we are currently providing managed services for this cloud data platform.

What are you excited about? Anything about the post-IBM spin-off path that you can share something on?

Well, there are few moments in life where one can feel a true definition of purpose, where one finds turning points to create a powerful change. I feel we have been studying at a good college. Now it’s time to get out of home and do something extraordinary. As an infrastructure services provider, Kyndryl is an independent company spun off from IBM last November. A $19 billion business, it provides the ‘heart and lungs of thousands of customers – designing, building, and modernizing their technology systems so they can stay competitive in an increasingly digital global economy.

I am happy to be at this moment where a lot is possible ahead with a new kind of freedom and direction now.

Nicolas Sekkaki, Global Practice Leader, Applications, Data & AI, Kyndryl

By Pratima H

pratimah@cybermedia.co.in