Mumbai : Cloudera, Inc.,, the modern platform for machine learning and analytics optimized for the cloud, recently held  their annual flagship event, Cloudera Sessions 2018 in Mumbai at The ITC Grand Central with participation of big data experts, customers and partner organizations from home and abroad.

Cloudera empowers people and organizations to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. At this year’s conference, the theme was focused on “Think Big. Start Smart. Iterate Often.”. Cloudera’s customers such as Yes Bank, Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), DCB Bank, and Axis Bank along with partners like Microsoft, Cisco, Qlik, SUSE and Paladion participated in the event to share best practices and advice on how to embark on a data-driven journey and derive actionable insights from data.

Cloudera’s newly appointed Country Manager for India, Vinod Ganesan, delivered his inaugural welcome address at the event and said, “We are delighted to see many industry leaders, customers and partners of Cloudera join us in our annual conference to share their experiences and learnings on their data-driven journey. Many enterprises are beginning to realize the importance of digital transformation and the benefits that can be derived through the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence in their businesses. We look forward to being a partner of choice for enterprises in India as they start to embark on their data-driven digital transformation journey.”

One of our customer speakers, Rajat Kanwar Gupta, President, YES BANK spoke about YES BANK’s increased focus on becoming ‘Technology Company in the Business of Banking’. “In our efforts to re-imagine banking and deliver banking-as-a-platform, we have recognised that data science and data analytics are key pillars to achieving this objective. By leveraging analytics from Cloudera, YES BANK is able to achieve more relevant and customized digital experiences for each customer by creating a set of next-gen digital capabilities such as personal advisor, pro-active servicing and smart personal finance managers.”, said Gupta.

The Cloudera Annual Sessions are a part of the global roadshow series aimed at helping organizations explore the role of machine learning and advanced analytics in driving customer insights, connecting products and services (IoT), and protecting businesses through real-life customer stories and use cases.

The event was attended by over 250 representatives from sectors like BFSI, Telecom, Manufacturing, Healthcare & Pharma. Almost 40% of attendees were from the CXO and senior management profiles.

A panel discussion on ‘How the Age of Vendor Alliances Will Shape the Future for the Customer’ was also organised. Moderated by Sangram Aglave from BusinessWorld, the panel comprised of Mandar Kulkarni – Director Partner Technology, Microsoft; Ravi Raman – EVP, Product Engineering and Development, Paladion; Arun Balasubramanian – Managing Director, Qlik; Joel Sequeira – Technology Specialist, Suse and Vinod Ganesan – Country Manager, Cloudera.

One of the key takeaways from the discussion was that given the speed and scale at which data is growing, enterprises will become more reliant on technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to help them manage their data. It will be impossible to have sustainable and scalable data solutions to meet the requirements of enterprises without the participation of all the stakeholders from the data management ecosystem.

Anupam Singh, General Manager of Analytics at Cloudera, spoke about the three big issues in modern data warehousing today and how they can be addressed with Cloudera’s scalable, hybrid, cloud-native warehouse to better enable self-service flexibility and real-time insights. “It is time to modernise our approach to analytics. A modern data warehouse which has the agility to move between private and public clouds, without sacrificing performance, governance, and cost efficiency.”

Conference attendees also played a part in giving back to society by participating in a tree-planting initiative led by Cloudera Cares, the philanthropic arm of Cloudera, in association with Pangea Econet Assets Private Limited. Attendees had to write a message regarding environmental conservation on a card and tie it to the motif tree. For each card received, a tree will be planted in their name on Government land within Mumbai, and participants will also receive a personalized tree plantation e-certificate. The response was overwhelming and through this initiative, 180 trees will be planted in  Mumbai.