In today’s fast-paced world of data and artificial intelligence, integrating strong data management systems with advanced AI technologies is essential for businesses to remain competitive. As AI continues to gain prominence, the focus on efficient data integration and management has become critical to fully harness AI’s potential.

Innovations in data movement and storage are paving the way for more seamless and effective data utilization, thereby driving business agility and insight generation. These technological advancements underscore a significant shift toward more streamlined and user-friendly data management solutions, essential for capitalizing on AI’s full potential, according to Anjan Kundavaram (pictured), chief product officer of Fivetran Inc., a data integration platform that extracts, loads and transforms data from various sources into a single data warehouse.

Fivetran’s Anjan Kundavaram talks with theCUBE about efficient data integration.

“AI is making things faster for us,” he said. “LLMs are able to do things analytics couldn’t. They’re able to kind of parse their instruction data. They’re able to parse through sources and give you new insight. It’s paramount that companies first invest in moving data and moving data quickly.”

Kundavaram spoke with theCUBE Research’s John Furrier and Savannah Peterson at the Data + AI Summit, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed efficient data integration, how organizations can streamline the process, and Fivetran and Databricks Inc.’s partnership. (* Disclosure below.)

Efficient data integration: Revolutionizing data movement with simplicity and efficiency

Fivetran’s approach to data movement is redefining how companies handle their data infrastructure. The company’s solutions simplify complex data integration tasks, ensuring accurate and efficient data transfer while minimizing the technical burden on users, according to Kundavaram.

“The product is so simple to use. If you want to move data from, say, a Postgres to a Snowflake or Postgres to Databricks, you could do four clicks and you move your data,” he said. “That’s not easy to do [because] underneath, there’s a lot of complexity.”

This emphasis on simplicity without compromising on performance is a core tenet of Fivetran’s philosophy. By handling the intricate details behind the scenes, Fivetran ensures that data is moved correctly and efficiently, addressing issues such as schema pollution and ensuring data integrity, Kundavaram explained.

“It’s one thing to move data; it’s another thing to move data correctly,” he said. “It looks super easy on the top, but underneath, there’s a ton of stuff the team has to do.”

The need for strong data movement solutions becomes even more critical when considering the fragmented nature of modern data estates. Companies often grapple with numerous data sources and applications, each holding crucial pieces of information.

“For analytics, you were like, ‘OK, I’ll just get the operational data out of the databases. I’ll get some of my applications,’” he said. “But now with AI, some of your context is in these other applications that are super important. So, you really need to get the data to a single destination.”

Leveraging AI for enhanced business insights

The integration of AI into data management processes offers transformative potential for businesses. By harnessing AI, companies can derive deeper insights from their data, driving innovation and competitive advantage. This capability is vital for companies looking to derive actionable intelligence from their vast data reserves.

Fivetran’s ability to facilitate rapid and accurate data movement plays a pivotal role in this process, according to Kundavaram, who shared a compelling customer success story.

“A customer the other day [told us] it would take them six weeks to do one source to a destination,” he said. “They got in a meeting with their team and did it live on a call. That’s our job — we are the plumbing company. We make it super easy to move the data, and we do it across 500 data sources.”

The ease and speed with which Fivetran enables data movement empower businesses to quickly adapt and innovate. This agility is crucial in today’s fast-paced market, where timely and accurate data can be the key to seizing new opportunities and staying ahead of the competition, Kundavaram added.

“If you’re a company looking at stale data from one of these sources, that could be the missing thing for driving a new business model, driving innovation,” he said.

The power of collaboration and open source

Fivetran’s close collaboration with Databricks exemplifies the benefits of strategic partnerships in the tech industry. Together, they enhance the capabilities of their respective platforms, driving innovation and delivering superior solutions to their customers. This synergy allows both companies to better address the evolving needs of the data management and AI landscape, according to Kundavaram.

“We are a very close collaborator with Databricks,” he said. “We have been for a number of years, and the best way to count that is the number of joint customers. We have hundreds of joint customers … we work very closely.”

This partnership not only enhances Fivetran’s offerings, but also contributes to the broader ecosystem of data management and AI technologies. By leveraging Databricks’ data processing capabilities and Fivetran’s efficient data integration, the partnership creates a comprehensive solution that meets the diverse needs of modern enterprises, Kundavaram explained.

“Kudos to Ali [Ghodsi] for open-sourcing Unity,” he said. “It is a great thing for the industry. Let’s figure out what customers want and then what’s in there. There’s no more black boxes.”

Open-source initiatives drive innovation by fostering a collaborative environment where developers can contribute and improve upon existing technologies. This collective approach accelerates technological advancements and ensures that solutions evolve to meet real-world demands. It also empowers developers and businesses to build on a foundation of shared knowledge, driving continuous improvement and growth in the industry, Kundavaram explained.

“As a product guy, you really want to go where the customers want. The best way is to talk to a bunch of customers using open source and be like, what are the problems you’re looking at and help solve that,” he added.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of the Data + AI Summit:

(* Disclosure: Fivetran Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Fivetran nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE