ITechnology Interview with Shawn Rogers, VP Analytics Strategy and Corporate Marketing at TIBCO

“Visualizing data helps us explore data structure and relationships and provides a basis for communicating information.”

Hi Shawn, welcome to the ITechnology Interview Series. You have led some of the biggest Data Science and analytic projects in the last 20 years. Please tell us about your journey in the data management industry and how it has changed over the years?

For over 20 years, I’ve been able to do a lot of different things in the technology industry – from being an IT leader and analyst to a journalist and book author. Prior to joining TIBCO, I was Director of Global Marketing and Channels at Quest Software and Chief Research Officer at Dell’s Information Management Group. Before Dell, I was Vice President Research for Business Intelligence and Analytics at Enterprise Management Associates, a leading analyst firm. I also co-founded the BeyeNETWORK, a global online publication covering business intelligence and analytics, and was a partner at DMReview magazine, a leading print publication. In 2014, I published my first book, ‘Social Data Analytics: Collaboration for the Enterprise,’ and in 2017, I published my second book, ‘Analytics: How to Win with Intelligence.’

How did you arrive at TIBCO? What makes working with TIBCO’s technology team so exciting?

I began working with TIBCO in 2017 as the Senior Director of Analytics Strategy, in which I acted as a strategist, thought leader, and technology evangelist for the analytics solutions at TIBCO. I worked with product marketing, product management, and global sales teams to contribute to the strategy for AI, ML, and analytics. I now serve as VP, Analytics Strategy and Corporate Marketing. TIBCO has a solid team and we’re able to do innovative work for our customers which keeps it exciting for me.

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As a global leader in Cloud Integration and Analytics you serve some of the biggest brands and organizations in the world. Could you tell us more about the diversity of data visualization projects you handle for your customers?

The data and analytics landscape is changing at lightning speed and so are the projects requiring insights from data. Most big brands and organizations understand the value of making data-driven decisions but each is at a different point in the journey. The more progressive firms have solid foundations that provide a diverse group of users with the insights required to run their businesses. TIBCO is uniquely positioned to partner with companies at each step in the journey. Cloud solutions are a critical component of our approach from connecting to, unifying, and analyzing data.

Could you please tell us about the data engine that drives Spotfire Interoperability? How can businesses benefit from shifting to Spotfire + TIBCO ModelOps?

Putting AI and analytics into action is one of the biggest obstacles that organizations face today. Even though you have a team of talented data scientists developing groundbreaking models, they often lack the expected impact on the business because there is a huge disconnect between the people developing the models and the IT developers tasked with deploying them into production.

TIBCO’s model operations solution bridges that gap and helps you get more analytic models into production environments faster so you can realize the full business value of your analytics.TIBCO ModelOps enables organizations to deploy all analytics, rules-based, and AI models quickly, safely, and at scale.

I am a huge F1 fan… Your LinkedIn cover page revealed you are into F1 too [#TIBCOFAST]. Tell us about the great work TIBCO does for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. Tell us more about the challenges you identified and solved for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team this season.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team implements constant optimization on a day-to-day basis. In 2021, the FIA implemented a new budget cap, designed to level the playing field across all 10 racing teams. With new constraints, including strong penalties for exceeding the budget cap, the team found it even more important to deliver maximum performance from the cars.

The team collaborated with TIBCO to build a Cost Visualizer Tool, enabling the team to better understand and more precisely predict manufacturing costs for the race cars.

To build the Cost Visualizer Tool, the team’s engineering, finance, and operations teams worked closely to identify where their time and money was spent, then visualize the information for faster, smarter insights. The team constantly analyzes data both on and off the track, informing changes based on race performance and track conditions. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team works constantly to ensure the cars perform with maximum budget efficiency.

How has your ModelOps and analytics prowess helped Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team continue with its phenomenal championship lead?

When the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team prepares for a race, underpinning the critical decisions that will steer it toward victory is a constant stream of data being collected, tagged, and analyzed. Each event involves minute-by-minute decisions made by coordinating trackside engineers, drivers, and the factory in Brackley. Each circuit is different, with changing weather, track conditions, race speed, and unrelenting competition.

To respond to and anticipate these differences, the Team relies on data streaming for real-time decisions. Depending on the range of scenarios the Team faces, analytic-driven insights will inform the adjustments needed to optimize the car for the specific track. Before coming to the track, the Team works to quantify the key areas of the car that might prove to be a challenge.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team uses TIBCO technology to visualize and understand simulations, allowing the Team to establish a benchmark going into the weekend and measure adjustments on the fly. TIBCO is key in enabling the F1 team to adapt on the fly with analytics and decision-making support. It all adds up to a monumental amount of data to consume and process—in addition to the assessment of competitor data, making TIBCO technology a differentiating element in the Team’s overall winning strategy.

How do AI and Machine Learning capabilities make data visualization so much more effective?

Visualizing data helps us explore data structure and relationships and provides a basis for communicating information. Machine learning can be used to systematically comb through data and quantitatively identify patterns.

Combining Al and ML with visual analytics can be especially powerful. Starting with AI / ML, we can reduce dimensional data to important variables for visualization. Starting with visualizations and visual analytics, it’s possible to identify patterns that can subsequently be tested with rigorous ML methods. Further, AI can be used inside a visual analytics environment to suggest data shaping, variables to explore, and patterns in the underlying data.

Where are ModelOps engineering / development trends heading to in 2022? Which industries are likely to benefit the most from the emerging computing trends associated with data integration and analytics?

Companies in all industries that leverage model-driven analytics can and will benefit from ModelOps. There are many features and advantages to having solid ModelOps solutions but at its core, ModelOps helps you to scale and grow your analytic practice. I expect to see significant growth in this space going forward. Managing and governing analytic models are a requirement for companies in all industries that rely on sophisticated analytics.

Expert tip on how to build a self-service data visualization technology platform for Sales and Marketing teams?

Successful self-service environments are best built collaboratively. IT and business stakeholders need to understand each other’s goals and the overall goal of the project. Don’t skip the governance aspects of enabling a diverse user group, ensuring you have the correct guard rails in place is critical. It’s also necessary to confirm that you have solved how best to connect to all the data your user community requires and that the data is in a unified state making it easy to use in a self-serve project. Lack of access will stall adoption. Lastly, leverage cloud-based solutions wherever possible.

Your plans for 2022: What kind of future do you foresee for the data visualization market?

In 2022, more organizations will use digital twins to leverage artificial intelligence. Digital twin environments and AI combined allow users to draw more accurate and more valuable insights. This combination also allows users to explore the ramification of different business choices to optimize the performance of physical assets. The ability to experiment in a digital environment powers faster, smarter innovation.

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Thank you, Shawn! That was fun and we hope to see you back on iTechnologyseries.com soon