In this episode of Data Forward, Acceldata CPO Ramon Chen chats with Bob Evans, founder of Cloud Wars, about how cloud giants are shifting from product-focused strategies to customer-led innovation. They explore the evolving role of data, AI, and cross-cloud partnerships—and what it means for the future of enterprise tech.

In this episode of Data Forward, Ashwin Rajeev (CTO & Co-Founder, Acceldata) talks with Adnan Khan, Managing Director of Data & AI Services (EMEA) at Accenture, about modernizing enterprise data in the age of AI.

Adnan shares insights from 20+ years at Accenture—exploring how regulated industries, legacy systems, and organizational culture shape innovation. From balancing foundational systems with AI adoption, to building trust through observability and lineage, this conversation offers real-world strategies for scaling data and AI initiatives.

Highlights:

The two-speed path to data modernization

Why observability and lineage matter more than ever

How regulation impacts AI adoption across industries

Accenture’s approach to driving agility without breaking trust

In this episode of Data Forward, Chief Product Officer Raman Chen sits down with Tarik El Mansouri, a seasoned Chief Data Officer and digital transformation leader, to explore what it takes to build trustworthy, AI-ready data foundations in today’s enterprise. From coining the term "Proactive Data Quality" to championing Master Data Management and data observability at global organizations like Schneider Electric, Tarik shares deep insights into aligning data strategy with business outcomes, establishing trust across data supply chains, and embracing AI with responsibility and ethics. If you're navigating enterprise data transformation in the AI era, this conversation is a must-listen.

In this episode, Kaycee Lai, Founder of Promethium, joins host Ramon to discuss building data fabrics and products. They explore challenges in creating Instant Data Fabrics, with examples from National Grid, Quest Diagnostics, and Comcast. The conversation covers the synergy between Data Observability and data fabrics, plus best practices for starting a data fabric journey and insights on AI and GenAI's impact on data management.

In this episode of Data Forward, Rohit and Prakul Sharma, a partner at Deloitte leading the data and AI practice, discuss the evolving role of AI in data management and governance. The conversation explores how AI is reshaping data strategies, from enhancing data governance to enabling more seamless integrations and automations. Prakul also shares insights into the evolving role of the Chief Data Officer (CDO), the challenges faced by Fortune 500 companies in managing complex data landscapes, and the future of AI-driven data management.

Key Takeaways:
AI and Data Symbiosis: AI is transforming the way data is managed, governed, and utilized, with a focus on integrating unstructured data and embedding AI into all aspects of the data lifecycle.

Evolving Role of CDOs: As AI becomes more integrated into data strategies, the role of the CDO is expanding beyond traditional responsibilities to include overseeing AI models, ensuring data quality, and serving application developers.

Future of Data Management: The future of data management will rely on AI-driven tools to simplify tasks like data mapping, quality control, and lineage tracking, enabling leaner organizations with greater productivity and innovation.

In this episode of Data Forward, Acceldata’s co-founders, Rohit Choudhary (CEO), Ashwin Rajeev (CTO), and Raghu Mitra (VP of Engineering), discuss how AI and cloud transformation have reshaped engineering. They highlight how these shifts boost productivity, streamline software development, and evolve the role of engineers in driving success.

3 Key Takeaways:

- AI and Cloud Revolutionizing Engineering: Cloud and AI integration have enabled smaller teams to drive major productivity gains, building scalable solutions.
- Shift from "Build vs. Buy" in Software: Powerful tools are making it easier to buy software solutions, focusing on value and efficiency.
- Engineering Craftsmanship and Problem-Solving: Great engineers stand out by deeply understanding problems, taking responsibility, and producing high-quality, thoughtful code.

In this episode Gabriel Charvat, VP Data Quality Insights explores how Dun & Bradstreet, the ultimate data products company, is modernizing operational data quality. He provides tips on best practices and how they have leveraged innovative technologies like Data Observability to replace legacy tools.Taking data quality to the next level by shifting left, speeding time to onboarding new data sources, and improving the efficiency of their pipelines. The conversation highlights key advancements, including reducing time-to-insight, gamifying data quality across global teams, and enabling proactive data quality to address issues before they reach customers.

Merv Adrian, former Gartner analyst, BARC Fellow and CEO of IT Market Strategy joins Data Forward to discuss how organizations can prepare their data for AI innovation. Drawing on insights from a comprehensive survey of 335 AI leaders, Merv shares what distinguishes "High Readiness" companies, the critical role of data observability in ensuring trustworthy AI, and the essential steps to address obstacles like skill shortages and budget.

This episode dives into the future of data management, exploring next-gen architectures, cloud-native vs hybrid strategies, the role of data observability, and AI integration. We discuss how enterprises can effectively manage unstructured data, prepare for evolving architectures, and navigate the challenges of modern data systems.

In this Data Forward episode, we dive into the visionary insights of Malcolm Hawker, Chief Data Officer at Profisee and host of the popular CDO Matters podcast. Malcolm shares his transformative ideas on data management, including a fresh take on building customer-centric data organizations, stressing the importance of bold structural changes and the unique role product managers can play within data teams.