(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) >> Welcome back to Las Vegas. Lisa Martin here, with Dave Vellante. We are covering day two of our coverage of Snowflake Summit '22. of Snowflake Summit '22. It's been a cannon of content coming your way, the last couple of days. We love talking with customers, with partners. We've got a partner on the program from ThoughtSpot. We're going to be diving into digital transformation with self-service analytics for the modern data stack. Please welcome Kuntal Vahalia, SVP of Channel and Alliances at ThoughtSpot. Welcome Kuntal. >> Thank you, Lisa. Dave, thank you for having us. >> Dave: Good to see you. >> Talk to the audience a little bit about ThoughtSpot. Give 'em an overview, and then de dive into the partnership with Snowflake. >> Yeah, absolutely. So ThoughtSpot is the, what we call live analytics, for the modern data stack, right? We want to be the experience layer for all the data that's getting modernized and moving into the cloud, right? And then specifically to Snowflake, we, of course, we have seen over the last two days here Snowflake has made tremendous innovations where they've accelerated a customer's journey into the cloud, especially the data cloud. Our job is to go really unlock that data, right? Generate that value, make it consumable at the at the experience level layer, right? So what we want to do here with Snowflake is here with Snowflake is make analytics self service for the end users, for the end users, on top of the Snowflake data cloud, right? And we want to empower everyone to create, consume, and operationalize data driven insights. We think if the end users can gender their own insights through live analytics, we could do have a completely different operating model for a business, right? And I think we can do that in accelerated fashion on, sitting on top of Snowflake data cloud. >> End users? Lines of business? >> It's line of business users, so we directly go to end users. That's one of our differentiation, not just IT, not just IT, but as end users as well, so we could be all things to all enterprise, to all enterprise, across our line of businesses. >> So what kind of impact are you seeing with your customers? You know, ones that are leaning into ThoughtSpot and Snowflake and sort of rethinking their data approach? >> Yeah. I mean the impact could be immense, right? As I said, this is not just about analytics. If we are successful in empowering end users, it completely changes the velocity of the business. We are now driving innovation at every node, at every layer in the organization. Not just IT, not just smaller segments in the organization, we are doing this anywhere, in any pocket, right? So I think the impact could be massive, if we do this right. And I think we are starting to see that, we have a lot of customers here actually, joint customers, Capital One, Canadian Tires, Walmart, they're all joint customers, where we have seen starting to see some of those impacts, where we have data getting modernized, the stack being ready, and then we're coming in at the top as the experience layer, which is driving that new digital operating model. >> Describe the maturity curve when you go, you mentioned some of the the the leaders, I mean, take a Walmart. I mean, they kind of invented the whole, you know, beer and diapers thing, right? So obviously a company with tremendous resources and and and advanced technology. Compare. Compare. So some of those leaders with sort of the other end of the spectrum, when you come into a company and you see, okay, here's, okay, here's, what does that spectrum look like? And and what's the upside for the, I don't want to call 'em laggards, but I'll call 'em laggards. >> Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, this, this, I think we are still early on. I mean, as this is not just a exercise in getting the data ready, this is also an exercise in in change management, because now, as I said, we are going beyond IT. We are going to line of business users as well, so a lot of change management required, and we have seen companies that are actually putting this in front of the frontline workers, empowering frontline workers to consume analytics and to drive self-service via search and AI, and AI, they're on a different curve. They are actually being competitive in the market. That's an advantage for them, right? >> Right. >> So we are seeing a lot of companies, like Walmart, already ahead in that journey with us still early days, right? We got to go, land in one line of business, go from there to other line of business till we go enterprise wide. >> Can you, it sounds like you might be a facilitator of connecting heads of business with the IT and the tech folks at ThoughtSpot. >> Absolutely. I mean, that is the Holy Grail. How do we get IT And line of business work frictionless, where everyone has their roles defined, right? And still get to the outcome where innovation is happening now with IT on the data cloud and then go beyond IT into the broader business? So yeah, I think that's definitely one of the our goals and outcomes of what we do. >> So what are the roles there? So the business obviously wants to do more business. Okay. They put analytics in their hands and it helps them get there. What role does IT play? Making sure that those services are available? Are they a service provider? Is it more of a governance and compliance thing? >> Yeah, I mean, step number one is still to get the data ready and I think IT still owns the key to that kingdom, especially around governance, security, so I think IT still has to get the data stack ready, right? Step number two is for IT to really build a framework for how to consume analytics for how to consume analytics for the end users. Step number three then is, is the rule is, Hey, we don't need IT to now deliver dashboards or KPIs to the business every day that that's how traditional dashboards work. In our world, once IT does step number one and step number two the business can take over and they can now go operate the business on their own using live analytics. >> Creating self-serve >> Absolutely. Self-service analytics using service in AI. >> What have you seen, in terms of from the IT folks perspective, we talked about change management a minute ago, It's very challenging to do, but these days every company has to be a data company. >> Kuntal: Yeah. >> They don't have a choice. >> Yeah. >> What are you seeing from a change management perspective within the IT function across your customers and then be willing to let go in some cases? and then be willing to let go in some cases? >> Actually, >> Actually, what we have seen is, you know, think about the the technical debt that IT is owning over the last few years, it's just increasing, right? IT is looking for ways to A. cut cost, to A. cut cost, B. deliver more B. deliver more with probably the same amount of resources they have, so in some ways they welcome this new operating model, as long as they can keep the governance, they can keep the security, they can keep the framework around how business is run, as long as IT has a say in that, they're more than welcome to invite business, to really drive innovation at the edges through self-service analytics, so what we found is IT is a is a welcome partner, in this journey, especially when they have to get the data ready and modernize the data set for us. >> You guys announcing a partnership with Matillion this week, what? Tell us what that's all about. The one earlier. >> We did. So we did announce a partnership, so I think, as I said, step number one is getting the data ready, and I think we have heard from Frank and the rest of this team this week, even Snowflake is taking a best of breed approach on the data stack, right? So we want the computer So we want the computer and the storage to be ready, but for that, the data pipeline has to be ready, which is where Matillion comes in with the low code, no code approach, so we think between Matillion, Snowflake, and ThoughtSpot, we could be the accelerated best of breed approach for customers to realize value and and be live on the, on the modern data stack. >> Is that your, is that your stack? >> As we said, we, we meet the customers where they are, but we think this is accelerated path. >> What are the advantages of, you know, what are you optimizing on in that stack? in that stack? >> First with Matillion, we have, what we concept, we have this concept of Spot Apps, so this is ThoughtSpot's way to really capture the IP and the templates for customers to move fast, right? That's where we bake in a lot of the industry IP, a lot of functional IP around end sources, and and endpoints, so we have some of those spot apps built with Matillion, built with Matillion, so now customers able to ingest data into the so now customers able to ingest data into the into the cloud faster using Matillion, right? So that's, that's something we worked with, same thing with Snowflake, you know, we are now starting to go verticalize with Snowflake, So we are starting to build a lot of IP around financial services, healthcare and whatnot, which is where I think we are, again, accelerating customer's path on the modern data stack, all the way to the experience layer. >> A as a partner of Snowflake's, what does all the narrative around the data cloud, we've been talking about that for a while, a lot of conversation around the data cloud the last couple of days, where do partners fit into that overall narrative? >> Yeah, I think multiple places, right? First thing, First thing, First thing, every layer of the data cloud still needs innovation, still needs partners, and every partner adds a different set of value. Just like we add value at the, at the top layer, which is the experience layer, But I think, you know, we have channel partners we have a lot of SIs and GSIs here, and GSIs here, especially once we take a best of breed approach, to delivering customer outcomes, SIs are the neutral ground. They're the ones who are going to have the Matillion expertise, and the Snowflake expertise, and thoughts for expertise, all baked into one DNA practice, data analytics practice, so I think at every layer, partners have a role to play and every layer partners have role, have value to add. have value to add. >> What's the engagement process like for customers when you you're talking about the the the the three way partnership Matillion, Matillion, ThoughtSpot, and stuff like, how do customers get involved, what's your go to market look like? >> Right. I mean, obviously, I mean, we, we, we are humble, we know where we are. I mean, we, a little bit smaller than, than Snowflake Snowflake has a head start, so they've been about five years ahead of us, so we are largely targeting customers that are that are Snowflake ready, where there is some semblance of data cloud, where data seems to be organized and ready to go, right? so once we think the customer is at that point in the journey, we have very strong partnership across both, across entire organization, at a product level, at a field engagement level, and our field teams really understand the value the joint value between the two organizations, so we, we start to see Snowflake feel, and ThoughtSpot feel, starting to work together on key accounts, once we think the data is ready, and wherever we need to accelerate the data, that's where we bring in Matillion as well, to ingest more data into, into the data cloud, but that's largely been the engagement model between the three companies. >> How do you see the announcements that they made around applications affecting what you guys are doing and your ecosystem? >> Yeah, I mean, I think that's a validation. I think to us, I think to us, we always said step number one is to modernize the data, move into the cloud. That's step number one, but we still have to unlock the data. Like the data still needs to be consumed, And we always said, Hey, we are that app that could drive the consumption of data, but now with some of the announcement we have seen, I think the validation is there saying, "Hey, yes." There, even Snowflake is ready to move in a more accelerated fashion into the application world where they want to drive consumption, not just with the analytics layer, but with lot of other applications that's out there. >> Yeah. >> What are some of the things that you've heard this week, in the last couple of days, that really validate that really validate the the partnership with Snowflake, from your perspective? >> Yeah. I mean, I think the first thing is, is this concept of modern data stack, which is best of breed. I think we have been thinking about that for a long time, for the last year or so. We have seen this come through at this event here, right? We see Matillion, Snowflake, and then the SIs around it, all coming together, so I think to us, that's the biggest validation that the modern data stack is the right approach, especially best of breed, to drive the right customer outcomes, so to me, that's big. Second is this concept of really accelerating applications on top of the data cloud. I think that's, again a validation of what we've been trying to do over the last few years, which is, the data has modernized, let's now drive consumption and adoption of that data, so I think those are the two big take areas. >> So, so the modern data stack, to get to the modern data stack, you got to do some work. >> Yep. >> But so the, the play is to hold out the carrot, which you just kind of just did, 'cause once you get there, then you can really start to hit the steep part of the S-curve, right? >> That's right. >> What, what are the, what would you say are are the sort of prerequisites that customers need to think about to really jump on that modern data stack curve? >> Um, I think they they got to first have a vision around the outcomes, what outcomes we are driving. I think it's one thing to say, "Hey, we just going to move the data over from from legacy into the cloud." I mean, that's just, that's just migration, that doesn't drive the outcomes. To us, what makes sense is, let's start with the right outcomes around supply chain, around retail, around e-commerce, let's name it, right? I think, it starts there. From there on, let's figure out, what do we need? What's what, what technologies do we need in the stack to enable those outcomes, right? It could be ThoughtSpot at the top, it could be something else at the top, and same thing, it's Matillion, and Snowflake, right? But it really starts with what outcomes we going to drive in what industry and what KPIs are important for our customers. >> What's next for ThoughtSpot and Snowflake? I was just looking at the notes here. Over 250 plus joint customers, you mentioned some Disney+, Capital One, I've seen them around here. What's next for these two powerhouses? >> Well, I think we're just getting started, to be honest. I mean those 250 customers, first, we got to go drive success for them. I mean, we are a 10 year old company with a two year runway because we transferred our business transformed our business to cloud, less than two years ago, so this 250 joint logos are actually all happened in the last two years and that's driven us to be in the, probably in the top five adoption drivers for Snowflake, all in the last two years, So goal number one is to really, let's go drive customer success for these joint logos. Second, let's go expand them, right? Consumption is the key criteria, both for Snowflake, as well as ThoughtSpot. We are very well aligned, our pricing models aligned there, our incentives aligned there, We really want customers to go adopt and consume the stack, and then of course, really, we want to go verticalize ourselves, start speaking the language of the customers, and really just get bigger. I mean, we still got to build a machine around this. >> Lisa: Yep. >> Lisa, this is, this is all still early days for us. >> Early innings. A lot of, but a ton of potential. The, the field is ripe. >> The field is right open. I think in, and we will, I think we are, bottom of the third or bottom of the second, I think you still have a long game to play, right? >> Well good. Most people always use bottom the first. I'm glad to hear it's really bottom of the second or third. That's pretty good. >> Yeah, well, 250 logos are there. >> Lisa: Yeah. >> And it's further along 'cause of the, the I don't want to say it like this, but I'm going to say it anyway. The failure of the big data movement, it pushed us along quite, quite a ways, in terms of thinking, putting data at the core, the technology kind of failed us, you know and the, and the, you know and the, and the, the centralization of the architectures, the centralization of the architectures, it failed us, But then the cloud came along. >> That's right. >> We learned a lot and now, you know, technology's advanced I think people's thinking is advanced and they realize increasingly the importance of data >> And ecosystem is coming. I mean, I think you look around here, this is a secret sauce for the future. >> Dave: Yep. This is what's going to really get us moving faster over the next few innings because now the rest of the ecosystem is coming along. >> Yep. The momentum is here. That flywheel is moving. >> That's right. >> Definitely. Kuntal, thank you very much for joining David and me on the program talking about >> Kuntal: Lisa, Dave, thank you so much for your time. >> what ThoughtSpot's all about, what you're up to, a lot of momentum. We wish you the best of luck as you progress into those later innings. >> Thank you >> For Dave Vellante. I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCube. We are live in Las Vegas at Snowflake Summit '22. Dave and I are going to be right back with our next guest, so stick around. (mellow techno music) (mellow techno music) (mellow techno music) (mellow techno music)