Q&A with Emil Brunner, CEO of Takeoff1 GmbH

MEDIA 7 | June 13, 2019

Q&A with Emil Brunner, CEO of Takeoff1 GmbH
Emil Brunner, CEO of Takeoff1 GmbH is an experienced businessman who has worked in many countries. He has dedicated more than 10 years to the intuitive method of language acquisition called the “Birkenbihl Approach” formulated by Vera F. Birkenbihl.  Emil and Vera have worked together on the digitalization of this language acquisition method which has been incorporated into Emil's language-learning platform, Brain-Friendly. 

In this interesting Q&A, Emil takes us through the Birkinbihl approach which is helping users worldwide to learn languages with ease.

MEDIA 7: Could you please tell us about your background?
EMIL BRUNNER:
 I started as a technician; then I changed to sales. In my heart, I’ve always been a salesman. I started my business as the first Xerox Partner in Austria, and then I managed a company selling office machines and equipment. It was my first time going into other countries, like Germany and Switzerland. In that business, I worked with many phone agents, so the company grew to an outbound sales call center. In the USA, I had my first technology experience and built an automated call machine. We then got the franchise partner of RTL Teleshop - it was after QVC the second largest in DACH, for Austria.  I gained knowledge in TV-Power plus Sales power and found it fascinating. The next step was to automate the call center.

In 2004, we ran a call center in a pizza box (computer) for teleshop companies. In the States, we closed orders for up to 60% of callers fully automated, the rest were connected to the classical human call center. It had a great future, but I did it with the wrong people. So the company went bankrupt, and we went back to Austria.
After that experience, back "home" - felt so small, and we went on to start a software development business.
I began working and studying TV & Film making at the same time. My master's degree was a documentary film about "Teleshop and new technologies.”

I met Vera F. Birkenbihl, and she was one of the most successful scientists for learning methods and strategies and held a lot of live seminars - long before TEDx came up. I produced about 10 of those seminars, gaining many skills in the process, and that's when I found out about the language learning method. Me and language? I had trouble all the time while I went to school. I was sure languages were not for me. However, my son was a successful young developer and was interested and started to develop an app for language learning - using the brain-friendly Birkenbihl method. Which means, you never waste time cramming vocabulary and you don't need to learn any grammar rules.

I don't know anyone who’s happy learning vocabulary. About 90+% of all people using a language (mother tongue and foreign language) are not able to describe a grammar rule — only the teachers can do it. So there must be another way without the pain. And here it was!
I tried to learn English. The goal was to speak well without thinking about what to say. I just wanted to talk.

That's it. It took me more than a year, but I had an experience I’ll never forget. I was working on my phone with many customers and collecting orders. After a while, I put the orders from my notes into the computer. Wow! I had made a request for English courses - an order from a bookstore in Birmingham. How did I do it? Yes, I did it in English, and I didn't even realize it. It was automatic. The gap, switching from German to English, was gone - forever.

In the meantime, both my sons, Herwig and Gerwin, were now professionals in software development on the international stage. I had a Swiss partner and last year, I sold my shares to set up a new company with a new app - the Birkenbihl language learning movies. The digitalization of language learning - watch a movie and get the language. Based on subscription models, we sell it now in DACH, US, and European Single markets.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning, that I am the only one, who got the okay from Vera F.Birkenbihl (she died 2011), to follow the method of the new science of language learning and take it to the next level. I got the seal of approval for the "Birkenbihl Approach" to honor products they follow with the principle of "brain-friendly" learning method.

I have put all of this experience into a new book, the follow up of Birkenbihl's bestseller "Einfach Sprachen Lernen". I completed it with Katharina Rucker, she has been on board since 2008 and is still the best blogger for language learning knowledge. The book will be published in English in Q1-2020.

"Using the brain-friendly Birkenbihl method, you never waste time cramming vocabulary and you don't need to learn any grammar rules."



M7: How far is the Birkenbihl method’s idea of ‘learning a language need not be difficult’ serving its purpose of making language acquisition effortless?
EB:
 Let me say 100%. Because the "classical" way to learn a language is totally different from the way our brain works. Our brain is trying to find new things to discover, to get new experiences and so on. What is there to discover when you use a vocabulary list? For example, table - Tisch / table - la mesa, etc. it could also be shown as table - Katze (cat). There is no sense, no meaning, no context.

If you learn it the brain-friendly way as a full sentence, and you "de-code" it, your brain has enough context, and there are new words to learn. 

So it works, and it takes a minimum amount of time because our brain is memorizing everything in connections, like synapses, and that works very well, making it fun and available to use for the rest of your life.
The newest thing we have developed is the Movie(c) courses. Birkenbihl told us all the time, "a movie is the closest experience to real life". Watching a movie is like experiencing an actual event. 

When the "de-code line" is integrated into the movie,  entertainment and learning become cohesive. The "de-code line" in the movie, works as a karaoke player. The spoken word-pair is synchronized and highlighted. So you can close your eyes or your brain will automatically follow the decode line, and you will absorb the language. Repeat it, and you become perfect. It’s the digital way to learn a foreign language.

M7: How do you develop the movies and what is the approach for making users learn new languages easily with these movies?
EB: 
The classical way to learn a language is to cram grammar rules. Understanding and speaking are two processes in our brain that we have to learn separately. The idea developed by Birkenbihl was to find out how to use the mother tongue to understand a foreign language. She had done a lot of research and observed neuroscientists and decided to call the it the decode line which means you have two decoding lines – the upper line is the foreign language that you want to learn, the lower line is the word-by-word translation where you get the information about the meaning of the words.
It’s easy to follow them if you like to follow, but it’s enough if you just watch the movie. Your brain is automatically looking at the decode line and getting the information so if you repeat that you become more familiar with the sentence and you’ll understand it.

M7: How has your working with Vera F. Birkenbihl for more than 10 years helped you to come out with an intuitive method of language acquisition called the “Birkenbihl Approach”? What was the idea behind this?
EB: 
Birkenbihl told me that she’d had an experience with teachers and children. The problem was that the children didn’t enjoy learning vocabulary. It was, and still is, a pain. After a couple of days, all of the learned words go. So she thought, if most people have this problem then the problem couldn't be the people, it must be the method. There must be a better way.

After that, she started researching, and she found old documents, detailing how the aristocrats (the European marriage expansion) learned languages. There were many connections between the European Aristocrats, and this old document described how they learned. There was a transcript, a direct translation underneath and a live speaker. So the learners followed the speaker and read the word pairs.

All of the experiments she did, worked very well. I remember, it was approximately 2008, there was a teacher in Odelzhause who gave the children private English lessons Coached by Birkenbihl, in 3 months, the whole class were able to speak English very well and had no problem with vocabulary tests. That was the point we realized we were onto something. Based on our findings, my son built the first application for Windows. However, if you think that’s it, no. It took a lot of time to optimize it and to do all the beta tests. But after a while, we saw that it worked, and my experience was. WOW! - I got it.


"Watching a movie is like experiencing an actual event.   When the "de-code line" is integrated into the movie,  entertainment and learning become cohesive."


M7: How is the “Birkenbihl Approach” assisting people around the world to learn more languages efficiently?
EB:
Thanks, that’s an excellent question. You can do it, totally without any app, with paper or music. Take the lyrics of the song you love and start to “de-code” (translate it word-by-word). Yes, with the app, it’s much easier, and if you have a device ready, you can fit, learning a language, into every spare moment you have. So you waste no time, get entertained and learn simultaneously. After a while, you begin to speak automatically like a baby, who is listening for a long time.
When it becomes a year old, it starts with some words, after the second year it begins, from one day to the next to speak full sentences, only by listening. So while you improve upon your spelling skills, in your mother tongue or foreign language, always listen (day and night) in the background. Your sub-conscience will do the rest.
It is a kind of democratization of language learning; everybody can do it, independent of age or origin.

M7: You have played a vital role in digitalization of this language acquisition method. What inspired you to take up this challenge and what was your vision behind this?
EB:
Yes, first, it was a curiosity about the possibility and a challenge for myself to learn a language up to a level to be able to sell anything. Remember, I was a weak student.
Additionally, it was the feedback from the first beta tester, later from customers that they had the same experience I had, and they are now happy and successful.  So it was sensible. Yes, a little bit also to make it easier for people. So now, I see that the end of the traditional way to learn a language is coming.

Think about it... you can watch a movie, it doesn't matter which one, and you get automatically delivered the “de-code” line. I think we'll be able to get it in the near future, we are still working on it. So you don't need any teacher, because every child is learning it like their mother tongue, additionally. For example, a Hollywood movie uses about 1000 to 1500 unique words, a daily newspaper uses about 500 to 700 unique words. So let's watch Spanish movies this weekend, and that's it. My idea is that no child should have to suffer the cramming of vocabulary.


"While you grow up your spelling skills, in your mother tongue or foreign language, always listen in the background. Your sub-conscience will do the rest. It is a kind of democratization of language learning."



M7: As a language instructor, how important is resolving the problem of language acquisition as a barrier to businesses and marketing when globalization is the trend?
EB: It is vital. In two cases, one of them is, that companies spend a lot of money, year by year and nothing is changing. The costs go up, and success is equal to or less. Especially the production industries who have many difficulties, i.e. when the company is based in Germany, and the production is in Mexico. In this case, we can help. We can produce a learning movie for the technical process and add the “de-code line”, so the employees get both, the knowledge and the language. I think this is an excellent opportunity for all instructors and trainers of language. They can supply companies to work with the Birkenbihl method, and it gives more success with less time to spend. 

M7: Do you think that the Birkenbihl method will encourage more people around the world to learn languages swiftly?
EB:
Yes, that's what I hope, and it is essential to tell everybody that with this method it is possible, yes it works. Also, my hope is that it could connect people and bring more happiness. It's okay, if you start now and only spend 10 minutes every day. After approximately 6 weeks, you will get about 400 to 600 unique words. However, you can also do it in 2 weeks if you spend 10 minutes, 10 times a day (less than 2 hours). Alternatively, if you spend only 10 minutes every 3rd day, it takes a little longer. Do it when you want with the time that suits you. Overall, you get it.

M7: Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your younger self?
EB:
Not much, except one thing: Whatever you do, if it doesn't work, find out how it could work, there is surely another way. But, just do it.

ABOUT BRAIN FRIENDLY

The Birkenbihl Approach (BBA) means, learning as the brain loves to learn. Our brain - look to the minds of children - how they like to discover and to understand how things work. It uses neuro mechanisms like abstracting rules (grammar) and background listening (to build synapses for spelling). To know more, visit Brain-Friendly.

More C-Suite on deck

'Raising the voices of those who may not always be heard is critical,' says Claire Thomas

Media 7 | April 28, 2023

Claire Thomas is responsible for developing and implementing a strategy for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across Hitachi Vantara through programs that reflect the diverse backgrounds, interests, and passions of their current and future workforce. Continue reading to learn her views on the significance of inclusion and diversity in an organization.

Read More

‘Advances in AI and Machine Learning are not scalable without proper data governance program in place’ says Peggy Tsai, Chief Data Officer at BigID

Media 7 | March 8, 2022

Peggy Tsai, Chief Data Officer at BigID talks about BigID’s data intelligence platform and its integrated applications. Read on to know more about her thoughts on GDPR compliance, the future data intelligence landscape and more in her latest interview with Media 7.

Read More

‘Data teams are critical in defining and driving business growth metrics’ says Gaurav Rewari, CEO of Mode.

Media 7 | March 4, 2022

Gaurav Rewari, CEO of Mode elaborates on his role as a CEO of Mode Analytics, the most comprehensive platform for collaborative Business Intelligence and Interactive Data Science. Read on to know more about his thoughts on digitization and Mode's brand-new visualization tool, Visual Explorer.

Read More

'Raising the voices of those who may not always be heard is critical,' says Claire Thomas

Media 7 | April 28, 2023

Claire Thomas is responsible for developing and implementing a strategy for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across Hitachi Vantara through programs that reflect the diverse backgrounds, interests, and passions of their current and future workforce. Continue reading to learn her views on the significance of inclusion and diversity in an organization.

Read More

‘Advances in AI and Machine Learning are not scalable without proper data governance program in place’ says Peggy Tsai, Chief Data Officer at BigID

Media 7 | March 8, 2022

Peggy Tsai, Chief Data Officer at BigID talks about BigID’s data intelligence platform and its integrated applications. Read on to know more about her thoughts on GDPR compliance, the future data intelligence landscape and more in her latest interview with Media 7.

Read More

‘Data teams are critical in defining and driving business growth metrics’ says Gaurav Rewari, CEO of Mode.

Media 7 | March 4, 2022

Gaurav Rewari, CEO of Mode elaborates on his role as a CEO of Mode Analytics, the most comprehensive platform for collaborative Business Intelligence and Interactive Data Science. Read on to know more about his thoughts on digitization and Mode's brand-new visualization tool, Visual Explorer.

Read More

Related News

Big Data Management

Ocient's Report Reveals Surge in Hyperscale Data's Impact on Firms

Ocient | September 25, 2023

Ocient, a renowned hyperscale data analytics platform, has recently announced the release of its second annual industry report, titled "Beyond Big Data: Hyperscale Takes Flight." The 2023 report, which is the result of a survey conducted among 500 data and IT leaders responsible for managing data workloads exceeding 150 terabytes, sheds light on the escalating significance of hyperscale data management within enterprises. It also underscores the critical requisites of time, talent, and cutting-edge technology necessary for the effective harnessing of data at scale. Building on the foundation of Ocient's inaugural Beyond Big Data survey, the 2023 report delves into the minds of IT decision-makers, seeking to unravel the challenges, investment priorities, and future prospects occupying the forefront of their agendas for 2023 and beyond. The report offers valuable year-over-year comparisons, drawing on trends identified in 2022 while also presenting fresh, timely insights that mirror the immediate concerns of enterprise leaders in the United States. Among the pivotal insights featured in this year's report are the following: Immediate Emphasis on Data Quality: Organizations committed to leveraging their hyperscale data for critical business decisions are placing paramount importance on ensuring the highest data quality standards. Data Workload Growth as a Driving Force: Data and IT leaders are increasingly recognizing data warehousing and analytics as pivotal elements of their IT strategies, a sentiment vividly reflected in their budget allocations. AI Readiness at the Forefront: Leaders are eager participants in the AI revolution, yet they grapple with concerns surrounding security, accuracy, and trust. Innovation Hindered by Talent and Technology Gaps: Many leaders continue to struggle with the challenges of optimizing their toolsets and scaling their teams swiftly enough to meet the demands posed by hyperscale data volumes. Stephen Catanzano, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, commented: It's clear enterprises are investing in data analytics and warehousing, especially given their costs are being driven up so high with older systems that can't handle the data that's being pushed to them. [Source – Business Wire] Chris Gladwin, Co-Founder and CEO of Ocient, stated that data was not slowing down, and he emphasized that the results of the 2023 Beyond Big Data report confirmed the significance of hyperscale data workloads for enterprises across various industries. He also noted that data volumes were on the rise, as was the importance of comprehending one's data. Nevertheless, the challenges related to data quality, the proliferation of tools, and staffing constraints persisted and were impeding progress in the industry. Furthermore, Gladwin mentioned that the frontier beyond big data had arrived and that Ocient's annual report illustrated the challenges and opportunities that were shaping the enterprise data strategies of the future. About Ocient Ocient is a pioneering hyperscale data analytics solutions company dedicated to empowering organizations to unlock substantial value through the analysis of trillions of data records, achieving performance levels and cost efficiencies previously deemed unattainable. The company is entrusted by leading organizations around the globe to leverage the expertise of its industry professionals in crafting and implementing sophisticated solutions. These solutions not only enable the rapid exploration of new revenue avenues but also streamline operational processes and enhance security measures, all while managing five to 10 times more data and significantly reducing storage requirements by up to 80%.

Read More

Big Data Management

Teradata Partners with ActionIQ on New Marketing and Customer Experience Offering for VantageCloud Customers

Business Wire | October 04, 2023

Teradata (NYSE: TDC) and ActionIQ announced today a new joint-offering for marketing and customer experience (CX) activations for Teradata VantageCloud customers. This new offering, which includes integration with VantageCloud and ActionIQ, is now complete and ready for customers. The collaboration highlights Teradata’s open and connected ecosystem, which includes a strong partnership with ActionIQ to leverage the companies’ collective expertise in advertising and marketing technology for CX. Together, the two companies aim to democratize access to customer data across the enterprise while providing technical teams with enhanced control. By combining the harmonized data approach and advanced analytics of Teradata VantageCloud with the full capability of ActionIQ’s modern customer experience apps, businesses can gain a comprehensive 360-degree view of customers, foster more meaningful engagements, and deliver superior experiences. The partnership between Teradata and ActionIQ is a win for customers interested in enhancing their customer experience and driving profitable growth, said Lisa Stewart, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Partners and Alliances at Teradata. With ActionIQ's expertise in advertising and marketing technology for CX, combined with Teradata's complete cloud analytics and data platform, businesses can unlock the full potential of their customer data, enhance agility, accelerate time-to-value, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. “Teradata's unmatched legacy in data analytics and ActionIQ's marketer-friendly CDP (customer data platform) position us to redefine customer experiences," said Tasso Argyros, ActionIQ CEO and Founder. "Our shared vision is to empower businesses, enabling faster innovation, better decisions, and genuine customer connections.” With Teradata VantageCloud, the complete cloud analytics and data platform, and ActionIQ, businesses can unlock faster innovation, better decision-making, and enhanced customer experiences, particularly for AI and ML. ActionIQ’s unique composable architecture offers easy-to-use, self-service data access to marketers while pushing queries into VantageCloud for the best of both worlds in terms of performance, enterprise scale and security. This allows business teams to gain direct, but controlled, access to data, enabling self-serve use cases through seamless and scalable integrations with owned and paid channels. IT and data teams will benefit from zero data latency, scalable governance, and worry-free integrations, freeing up resources previously spent on managing ever-changing requirements. This partnership is designed to future-proof acquisition marketing strategies, increases loyalty, and improves retention for business teams. ActionIQ will offer a range of solutions to Teradata VantageCloud customers: ActionIQ Audience Center is an audience segmentation tool enabling effective management of audience data for targeted marketing campaigns and personalized customer interactions. Real-Time CX allows for real-time access to customer profiles and behavior for personalized customer experiences. IdentityPlus provides comprehensive identity resolution capabilities that deliver deeper insights into customer identities and behaviors, resulting in personalized experiences and improved targeting. Journey Orchestration offers a drag-and-drop canvas for building multi-step, multi-channel customer journeys. As a result of this new partnership, all of these applications can now map directly to Teradata VantageCloud. ActionIQ will join Teradata at the Teradata Possible event in Orlando on October 2-4 to share more details with customers. About ActionIQ ActionIQ is a new kind of composable customer data platform for enterprise brands who want to grow faster and deliver meaningful experiences for their customers. Built for data in constant motion, ActionIQ’s unique composable architecture gives marketers easy and secure ways to activate data anywhere in the customer experience while keeping data securely where it lives. Unify data from any source, build smart audiences, resolve customer identities, and design personalized interactions that unlock revenue across the entire customer lifecycle – all while helping technical teams extend existing technology investments to manage data governance, costs, and performance. Enterprise brands such as Albertsons, Atlassian, Bloomberg, DoorDash, HP, and many more use ActionIQ to drive growth through extraordinary customer experiences. Learn more at actioniq.com. About Teradata At Teradata, we believe that people thrive when empowered with better information. Our best-in-class cloud analytics and data platform delivers the harmonized data and trusted AI/ML organizations need for confident decision-making, faster innovation, and impactful business results. See how at Teradata.com.

Read More

Big Data

Teradata helps customers accelerate AI-led initiatives with new ModelOps capabilities in ClearScape analytics

iTWire | September 27, 2023

Teradata today announced new enhancements to its leading AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning) model management software in ClearScape Analytics (e.g., ModelOps) to meet the growing demand from organisations across the globe for advanced analytics and AI. These new features – including “no code” capabilities, as well as robust new governance and AI “explainability” controls – enable businesses to accelerate, scale, and optimise AI/ML deployments to quickly generate business value from their AI investments. Deploying AI models into production is notoriously challenging. A recent O'Reilly's survey on AI adoption in the enterprise found that only 26% of respondents currently have models deployed in production, with many companies stating they have yet to see a return on their AI investments. This is compounded by the recent excitement around generative AI and the pressure many executives are under to implement it within their organisation, according to a recent survey by IDC, sponsored by Teradata. ModelOps in ClearScape Analytics makes it easier than ever to operationalise AI investments by addressing many of the key challenges that arise when moving from model development to deployment in production: end-to-end model lifecycle management, automated deployment, governance for trusted AI, and model monitoring. The governed ModelOps capability is designed to supply the framework to manage, deploy, monitor, and maintain analytic outcomes. It includes capabilities like auditing datasets, code tracking, model approval workflows, monitoring model performance, and alerting when models are not performing well. We stand on the precipice of a new AI-driven era, which promises to usher in frontiers of creativity, productivity, and innovation. Teradata is uniquely positioned to help businesses take advantage of advanced analytics, AI, and especially generative AI, to solve the most complex challenges and create massive enterprise business value. Teradata chief product officer Hillary Ashton “We offer the most complete cloud analytics and data platform for AI. And with our enhanced ModelOps capabilities, we are enabling organisations to cost effectively operationalise and scale trusted AI through robust governance and automated lifecycle management, while encouraging rapid AI innovation via our open and connected ecosystem. Teradata is also the most cost-effective, with proven performance and flexibility to innovate faster, enrich customer experiences, and deliver value.” New capabilities and enhancements to ModelOps include: - Bring Your Own Model (BYOM), now with no code capabilities, allows users to deploy their own machine learning models without writing any code, simplifying the deployment journey with automated validation, deployment and monitoring - Mitigation of regulatory risks with advanced model governance capabilities and robust explainability controls to ensure trusted AI - Automatic monitoring of model performance and data drift with zero configuration alerts Teradata customers are already using ModelOps to accelerate time-to-value for their AI investments A major US healthcare institution uses ModelOps to speed up the deployment process and scale its AI/ML personalisation journey. The institution accelerated its deployment with a 3x increase in productivity to successfully deploy thirty AI/ML models that predict which of its patients are most likely to need an office visit to implement “Personalisation at Scale.” A major European financial institution leveraged ModelOps to reduce AI model deployment time from five months to one week. The models are deployed at scale and integrated with operational data to deliver business value.

Read More

Big Data Management

Ocient's Report Reveals Surge in Hyperscale Data's Impact on Firms

Ocient | September 25, 2023

Ocient, a renowned hyperscale data analytics platform, has recently announced the release of its second annual industry report, titled "Beyond Big Data: Hyperscale Takes Flight." The 2023 report, which is the result of a survey conducted among 500 data and IT leaders responsible for managing data workloads exceeding 150 terabytes, sheds light on the escalating significance of hyperscale data management within enterprises. It also underscores the critical requisites of time, talent, and cutting-edge technology necessary for the effective harnessing of data at scale. Building on the foundation of Ocient's inaugural Beyond Big Data survey, the 2023 report delves into the minds of IT decision-makers, seeking to unravel the challenges, investment priorities, and future prospects occupying the forefront of their agendas for 2023 and beyond. The report offers valuable year-over-year comparisons, drawing on trends identified in 2022 while also presenting fresh, timely insights that mirror the immediate concerns of enterprise leaders in the United States. Among the pivotal insights featured in this year's report are the following: Immediate Emphasis on Data Quality: Organizations committed to leveraging their hyperscale data for critical business decisions are placing paramount importance on ensuring the highest data quality standards. Data Workload Growth as a Driving Force: Data and IT leaders are increasingly recognizing data warehousing and analytics as pivotal elements of their IT strategies, a sentiment vividly reflected in their budget allocations. AI Readiness at the Forefront: Leaders are eager participants in the AI revolution, yet they grapple with concerns surrounding security, accuracy, and trust. Innovation Hindered by Talent and Technology Gaps: Many leaders continue to struggle with the challenges of optimizing their toolsets and scaling their teams swiftly enough to meet the demands posed by hyperscale data volumes. Stephen Catanzano, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, commented: It's clear enterprises are investing in data analytics and warehousing, especially given their costs are being driven up so high with older systems that can't handle the data that's being pushed to them. [Source – Business Wire] Chris Gladwin, Co-Founder and CEO of Ocient, stated that data was not slowing down, and he emphasized that the results of the 2023 Beyond Big Data report confirmed the significance of hyperscale data workloads for enterprises across various industries. He also noted that data volumes were on the rise, as was the importance of comprehending one's data. Nevertheless, the challenges related to data quality, the proliferation of tools, and staffing constraints persisted and were impeding progress in the industry. Furthermore, Gladwin mentioned that the frontier beyond big data had arrived and that Ocient's annual report illustrated the challenges and opportunities that were shaping the enterprise data strategies of the future. About Ocient Ocient is a pioneering hyperscale data analytics solutions company dedicated to empowering organizations to unlock substantial value through the analysis of trillions of data records, achieving performance levels and cost efficiencies previously deemed unattainable. The company is entrusted by leading organizations around the globe to leverage the expertise of its industry professionals in crafting and implementing sophisticated solutions. These solutions not only enable the rapid exploration of new revenue avenues but also streamline operational processes and enhance security measures, all while managing five to 10 times more data and significantly reducing storage requirements by up to 80%.

Read More

Big Data Management

Teradata Partners with ActionIQ on New Marketing and Customer Experience Offering for VantageCloud Customers

Business Wire | October 04, 2023

Teradata (NYSE: TDC) and ActionIQ announced today a new joint-offering for marketing and customer experience (CX) activations for Teradata VantageCloud customers. This new offering, which includes integration with VantageCloud and ActionIQ, is now complete and ready for customers. The collaboration highlights Teradata’s open and connected ecosystem, which includes a strong partnership with ActionIQ to leverage the companies’ collective expertise in advertising and marketing technology for CX. Together, the two companies aim to democratize access to customer data across the enterprise while providing technical teams with enhanced control. By combining the harmonized data approach and advanced analytics of Teradata VantageCloud with the full capability of ActionIQ’s modern customer experience apps, businesses can gain a comprehensive 360-degree view of customers, foster more meaningful engagements, and deliver superior experiences. The partnership between Teradata and ActionIQ is a win for customers interested in enhancing their customer experience and driving profitable growth, said Lisa Stewart, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Partners and Alliances at Teradata. With ActionIQ's expertise in advertising and marketing technology for CX, combined with Teradata's complete cloud analytics and data platform, businesses can unlock the full potential of their customer data, enhance agility, accelerate time-to-value, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. “Teradata's unmatched legacy in data analytics and ActionIQ's marketer-friendly CDP (customer data platform) position us to redefine customer experiences," said Tasso Argyros, ActionIQ CEO and Founder. "Our shared vision is to empower businesses, enabling faster innovation, better decisions, and genuine customer connections.” With Teradata VantageCloud, the complete cloud analytics and data platform, and ActionIQ, businesses can unlock faster innovation, better decision-making, and enhanced customer experiences, particularly for AI and ML. ActionIQ’s unique composable architecture offers easy-to-use, self-service data access to marketers while pushing queries into VantageCloud for the best of both worlds in terms of performance, enterprise scale and security. This allows business teams to gain direct, but controlled, access to data, enabling self-serve use cases through seamless and scalable integrations with owned and paid channels. IT and data teams will benefit from zero data latency, scalable governance, and worry-free integrations, freeing up resources previously spent on managing ever-changing requirements. This partnership is designed to future-proof acquisition marketing strategies, increases loyalty, and improves retention for business teams. ActionIQ will offer a range of solutions to Teradata VantageCloud customers: ActionIQ Audience Center is an audience segmentation tool enabling effective management of audience data for targeted marketing campaigns and personalized customer interactions. Real-Time CX allows for real-time access to customer profiles and behavior for personalized customer experiences. IdentityPlus provides comprehensive identity resolution capabilities that deliver deeper insights into customer identities and behaviors, resulting in personalized experiences and improved targeting. Journey Orchestration offers a drag-and-drop canvas for building multi-step, multi-channel customer journeys. As a result of this new partnership, all of these applications can now map directly to Teradata VantageCloud. ActionIQ will join Teradata at the Teradata Possible event in Orlando on October 2-4 to share more details with customers. About ActionIQ ActionIQ is a new kind of composable customer data platform for enterprise brands who want to grow faster and deliver meaningful experiences for their customers. Built for data in constant motion, ActionIQ’s unique composable architecture gives marketers easy and secure ways to activate data anywhere in the customer experience while keeping data securely where it lives. Unify data from any source, build smart audiences, resolve customer identities, and design personalized interactions that unlock revenue across the entire customer lifecycle – all while helping technical teams extend existing technology investments to manage data governance, costs, and performance. Enterprise brands such as Albertsons, Atlassian, Bloomberg, DoorDash, HP, and many more use ActionIQ to drive growth through extraordinary customer experiences. Learn more at actioniq.com. About Teradata At Teradata, we believe that people thrive when empowered with better information. Our best-in-class cloud analytics and data platform delivers the harmonized data and trusted AI/ML organizations need for confident decision-making, faster innovation, and impactful business results. See how at Teradata.com.

Read More

Big Data

Teradata helps customers accelerate AI-led initiatives with new ModelOps capabilities in ClearScape analytics

iTWire | September 27, 2023

Teradata today announced new enhancements to its leading AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning) model management software in ClearScape Analytics (e.g., ModelOps) to meet the growing demand from organisations across the globe for advanced analytics and AI. These new features – including “no code” capabilities, as well as robust new governance and AI “explainability” controls – enable businesses to accelerate, scale, and optimise AI/ML deployments to quickly generate business value from their AI investments. Deploying AI models into production is notoriously challenging. A recent O'Reilly's survey on AI adoption in the enterprise found that only 26% of respondents currently have models deployed in production, with many companies stating they have yet to see a return on their AI investments. This is compounded by the recent excitement around generative AI and the pressure many executives are under to implement it within their organisation, according to a recent survey by IDC, sponsored by Teradata. ModelOps in ClearScape Analytics makes it easier than ever to operationalise AI investments by addressing many of the key challenges that arise when moving from model development to deployment in production: end-to-end model lifecycle management, automated deployment, governance for trusted AI, and model monitoring. The governed ModelOps capability is designed to supply the framework to manage, deploy, monitor, and maintain analytic outcomes. It includes capabilities like auditing datasets, code tracking, model approval workflows, monitoring model performance, and alerting when models are not performing well. We stand on the precipice of a new AI-driven era, which promises to usher in frontiers of creativity, productivity, and innovation. Teradata is uniquely positioned to help businesses take advantage of advanced analytics, AI, and especially generative AI, to solve the most complex challenges and create massive enterprise business value. Teradata chief product officer Hillary Ashton “We offer the most complete cloud analytics and data platform for AI. And with our enhanced ModelOps capabilities, we are enabling organisations to cost effectively operationalise and scale trusted AI through robust governance and automated lifecycle management, while encouraging rapid AI innovation via our open and connected ecosystem. Teradata is also the most cost-effective, with proven performance and flexibility to innovate faster, enrich customer experiences, and deliver value.” New capabilities and enhancements to ModelOps include: - Bring Your Own Model (BYOM), now with no code capabilities, allows users to deploy their own machine learning models without writing any code, simplifying the deployment journey with automated validation, deployment and monitoring - Mitigation of regulatory risks with advanced model governance capabilities and robust explainability controls to ensure trusted AI - Automatic monitoring of model performance and data drift with zero configuration alerts Teradata customers are already using ModelOps to accelerate time-to-value for their AI investments A major US healthcare institution uses ModelOps to speed up the deployment process and scale its AI/ML personalisation journey. The institution accelerated its deployment with a 3x increase in productivity to successfully deploy thirty AI/ML models that predict which of its patients are most likely to need an office visit to implement “Personalisation at Scale.” A major European financial institution leveraged ModelOps to reduce AI model deployment time from five months to one week. The models are deployed at scale and integrated with operational data to deliver business value.

Read More