Loafing about on a coherent big data strategy has to be one of the dumbest moves an enterprise can make these days. Losing out on potential business value and severe regulatory penalties are just two possible costs. That’s not to say it’s as easy as flipping a switch. How can companies get their data act together and stay out of the heaping fail pile?

“You need to get your act together on managing the data asset. It’s not managing the actual data; it’s managing the metadata,” said Jerry Held (pictured), board member at Informatica LLC.

Companies need to be able to find out where their data is, who can access it, how its secured, and how many copies exist without digging through dozens of cupboards and crawl spaces. Does this mean all data should be stuffed into one massive, universal receptacle? It does not — in fact, attempts to do so have typically flopped, according to Held. Instead a single, universal lens through which to view and analyze all data that exists is what’s needed.

Held spoke with John Furrier (@furrier) and Peter Burris (@plburris), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, at the Informatica World event in Las Vegas. They discussed Informatica’s holistic data software strategy and the R&D advantage of being a private company. (* Disclosure below.)

DAMS delivers single view of data streams, lakes, etc.

Attempts to centrally define and control the structure of data around the enterprise have failed, Held pointed out. The outlook for such models now that data streams — from multiple databases, engines, “internet of things” devices, etc. — are multiplying is even grimmer.

“It has to be a heterogeneous world. And you have to have a way to pull all those pieces together,” Held said.

Building on the concept of a database management system, Informatica proposes a data asset management system (or DAMS). This is embodied in its Enterprise Data Catalog — the most exciting and fastest-growing offering from the company today, according to Held. It allows users to look across every type of data in the enterprise, be it on-premises, in public clouds, databases or what-have-you.

Similar products that catalog bits and pieces of a company’s data property are “interesting,” according to Held. “But the word ‘enterprise’ is key. You need something that spans the entire enterprise,” he added. That task is entirely too arduous for human brains; Informatica’s Enterprise Data Catalog leverages machine learning to find data and figure out relationships, Held concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Informatica World event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Informatica World 2018. Neither Informatica LLC, the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE