Seema Haji, Director of Product Marketing for IoT at Splunk, sits down at .Conf 2018 to discuss the announcement of Splunk’s first IoT offering, Splunk for Industrial IoT. We discuss how Splunk is using the new platform to make data more accessible for industrial operations and IT vs OT. Seema also shows us how Splunk is using machine learning and AI to shape the industry 4.0 revolution.
You know who else is on Spotify?  The Big Data Beard!
Music from this episode is by Andrew Belle.  Please go check him out…you’ll thank us!

Transcript:

Cory Minton:
[0:53] Alright well we are at Sprint Cup 2018 in Orlando Florida and we are pleased to have the star of day to Kino Seema Haji vaughan-lee dilg product markets in Chico welcome to the show.

Seema Haji:
[1:11] Yeah this is my first time I’m super excited.

Cory Minton:
[1:13] It is it’s at we we like to get new guests on because our our listeners like to find out all the new good stuff so today there was some really exciting announcements because,
Splunk clearly been a super use-case Focus company in one of the emerging use cases and hottest Trends and it today is iot,
so give me a little background on your roll what you’re doing in the Iowa to space and let’s talk about some of the big announcement today.

Seema Haji:
[1:34] I’m absolutely so I’ve been a slug a year-and-a-half.
I know everything by now and you at 4 weeks in this is officially my second. Com,
and I was just super excited to be here to launch Long’s first iot product as you heard at the keno today you know we just had so much Innovation here it’s been,
a floureon almost hard to keep up with you know the introduction of business flow and natural language and some of the advances in machine learning and you know what I started the Splunk a year-and-a-half ago,
my goal was to come here for my background of being a very startups and launch and helped launch at first I a t product and thankfully we just have a fantastic set of product managers and Specialists driving the product and the technology behind coyote.

Cory Minton:
[2:25] Very cool
iot feels like a really natural fit Force 1 million with the swim platform is its capability and focus on machine data feels like a very natural fit,
why is it the first LT product it feels like it’s been that’s been a use case we talked about it’s the first official product tell us what that means to be the first official product and what its Amos to do.

Seema Haji:
[2:44] Absolutely so you touched on it you said the word natural and the truth is iot has been very organic here at Splunk so even though today may have been our first formal product or askew or announcement,
customers phone customers have been solving for iot for several years
and that’s how you know when we think about Doug touched on this yesterday we’re trying to make that accessible to even more users or trying to get users the ability to work the way the Dental Works
right so what we doing here is you know anything about IRT you think about industrial operations
how do we make this process seamless how do we let process engineer US or shop floor Engineers use iot,
and that’s how we actually built a product for this market so you know the best way to think about it is customers can do this with spunk Enterprise
but just as we did with it service intelligence and Splunk and price Acura T now we creating an easy way for process engineer as the guys on the factory floor,
to get started dieting.

Cory Minton:
[3:47] So in order to be successful and iot what I want to find is.
There’s often times people want to boil the ocean right there’s this it there’s this others as massive sensors is all the stuff we can do but sometimes it’s hard to focus in so how is Splunk helping organizations focus in on that that outcome that you’re trying to drive with iot.

Seema Haji:
[4:05] So
coyotes very fast there is the consumer side of things and then there is the data analytics industrial operation side of things a first area focus is really around industrial says you heard today you know where entering the industrial Market,
cease,
we were at Hannover Messe it’s an event huge industrial event in April and it’s just mind-blowing sometimes at the disparity in the advances in Automation in manufacturing and the way that they’re doing data analytics,
you know OT that’s what customers and their OT environment they’re actually believe it or not using a majority of them Excel today there an ID.
It’s actually you know I’m going to say it’s 60 70% of them and the sections fast even speaking with all the analyst they they tell us the same thing so,
these are guys that are downloading data from the Industrial Systems and then it’s thinking about it and looking at data analytics after the fact so they looking a week ago 2 weeks ago a month ago,
so R-value like when you stay focused it’s let’s start the manufacturing let’s stop with transportation,
these are the guys that are ready to invest their ready to take advantage of real-time insights they want things like predictive maintenance so let’s enter that market and give them away to do this.

Cory Minton:
[5:28] So it feels like the time is there there’s a lot of there’s a lot of Industry movements going on that make this like a really prime time to do that what it what are those macro things that are happening across the industry that you think are like the driving force and why it’s Now’s the Time.

Seema Haji:
[5:42] So Marvin text John you know my hope is under this morning he touched on industry 4.0,
and I think it really comes down to either the best analogy that I have is our car right the way we,
take care of Montano car
to every 3 months we go in for an oil change and we say of either 3 months or 3000 Miles I need to bring my car in and I need to get the oil changed that’s you very classic case of preventative maintenance I’m going to prevent my car from breaking down on the freeway,
the next stage is condition-based maintenance the alert goes off in my car saying hey Tina it’s time for an oil change bring your car in,
the biggest trend of driving this is the next stage of that which is predictive maintenance so how do I use things like machine learning and AI to not wait for that signal to go off in the car
not wait for that reminder in my Google Calendar to say bring your car in but I can actually predict that hate my car is going to need maintenance,
and I’m use things like Ai and machine learning which is the next ideal place for us to be,
to say not to say bring your car in but also predict what piece in your car needs that maintenance or that little bit of TLC so I think predictive maintenance is a big trend.

[6:57] The second is the convergence of it and OT so traditionally you know it Department Security Department so he Department existed in silos there now coming together they now want to share data,
and I think the third piece is security so traditionally industrial OT environments have been secure by brick walls,
we’re going to protect everything that’s physical security and now with all of the advances were all connected it security is becoming a legitimate risk,
so I think it’s the three that are really driving us to where we need to be.

Cory Minton:
[7:33] Anderson when I think about iot I think about you you’ve got these thousands millions devices at the edge that are sending data back.
And if I want to do something with it is challenging that’s what you’re I think you’re after respond cuz that you’re going to make it easier to get all that data end to do something with it,
but that’s not human scale data so talk to me about why AI machine learning is such a critical component,
albino Tri and how your interactions of your Integrations into some of the open source Technologies is such a critical component for customer success.

Seema Haji:
[8:03] I think it really comes down to,
speed it comes down to how can you get up and running even quicker how do you,
actually predict meaningful outcomes to take machine learning as an example right if you talk to customers and all of the customers I speak to at the animal is there is there.
A sense of the Sumerian hearing what they say which is it’s really difficult,
to test how machine learning is going to work before you put it into production,
I’m also there is how do you translate what the business needs to what’s happening in the technology which is your machine learning and AI right so.
Where is spunk I think our value isn’t trying to make this ask you if he’s seamless for the end-user so how do we give them the ability to do an and get some of these meaningful meaningful outcomes test it,
and then learn with that and Incorporated priority specifically I think machine learning is all the customers speak about it,
the user as we speak to have interest in it they don’t quite know what it is still,
and they are still learning to differentiate between machine learning and AI,
and is still trying to draw that correlation between machine learning and predictive maintenance which I just described.

Cory Minton:
[9:29] Yeah pretty good man it’s just one of those I love the idea of it but it feels like it’s one of those that,
if businesses do it well it’s like that law of large numbers or if you have a small impact on your keeping a multimillion-dollar production line up and running yet a small increase in efficiencies that has to go to translate the large Downstream like out.

Seema Haji:
[9:48] Absolutely so we have a customer TV cargo door should barn and their Europe’s largest real fit operator,
they’re using Splunk to do predictive maintenance on the railroad locomotives so think about the driver driving a locomotive,
the operator that sitting you know thousands of miles away
nursing the same view of the health of a locomotive and then they’re predicting when that’s going to need maintenance that’s your classic predictive maintenance your skin
and then the driver gets an alert saying hey you need to take this off the rails for a little while cuz you need to bring it in the shop it translated millions of dollars for them
compared to when a locomotive is going to break down you know so it’s it’s absolutely huge.

Cory Minton:
[10:28] So it from an industry perspective like that’s what that’s a capital asset intensive industry like that that organization at the way they create value is by using large amounts of capital capital intensive products to translate into customer value that’s their revenue stream,
besides transportation and Industrial manufacturing what are some of the next Industries you think are going to be most relevant Lee transformed by iot and where your team is trying to accomplish.

Seema Haji:
[10:53] When we talk about industrial I think the
verticals if you well that are absolutely right and ready are manufacturing Transportation oil and gas
wishing a lot of traction in energy and utilities and we’ll sing a lot of traction and public-sector so government right so I think those are going to be areas of focus for us and in the future,
and then on the consumer side of iot I don’t know what the future holds it’ll be it’ll be yeah check back with me next year.

Cory Minton:
[11:21] So we also got to see a an augmented reality demo,
that it felt very much aligned to this industrial manufacturing Concepts where I can send a technician out into the floor using this mobile application actually start to Overlay metrics,
how is how is augmented reality AI machine learning Iowa houses all connected like help me understand what that really means respond.

Seema Haji:
[11:44] So let me try to describe a scenario to you and you you kick that off but you have somebody in the field that’s going to test,
let’s say you know like an energy meter right he’s using his augmented reality tool,
that’s actually saying hey this meter is faulty there’s something wrong with it but he’s getting that data and this is a legit spunky’s Case by the way I got named the customer but they’re feeding data back in the Splunk and they can actually identify,
that meter is and provide live information saying hey you know what this is how you actually fix an address that made.

Cory Minton:
[12:20] Okay that’s cool.

Seema Haji:
[12:21] And it’s typical,
then think about it from the plant floor operations when something’s broken I can actually now look at my industrial Machinery maybe scan a barcode like we showed you in the demo and say this is a piece of equipment how does it feel when is it going to be,
when can I predict is going to fail,
and how do I maybe use machine learning to predict what impact is going to have on the production output the quality of my production line and how can I best prepare for that.

Cory Minton:
[12:52] Joey iannaci big big Focus I’m curious what you’re seeing personally and what your team’s me focus in on when you think about the next 6 to 12 months what are the what are the big rocks you’re hoping to chat you know you’re helping to tackle with your team and the outcomes are going to be trying to drive with your customers.

Seema Haji:
[13:07] So we’ve been of the past couple of years building a strong ecosystem of iot partners that have the domain expertise to help us bring this to market now that we’ve G8 now that we’re here,
our goal is to continue to drive awareness both with existing Sprint customers go after net new accounts in industrial companies,
and in Oak Grove Estates make some money.

Cory Minton:
[13:29] Very cool so I want to shift gears without a fun conversation about what smoke is doing in the Iowa to practice bring your first iot product to Market when should very natural use casing fit in Wheel of that,
I don’t switch gears to Rapid Fire will get to know you the personal we did do a little bit of trolling on you on Twitter and Linkedin and we found out self-proclaimed,
you’re into whiskey cooking and hiking that’s like my three favorite things.

Seema Haji:
[13:54] Is that is that right.

Cory Minton:
[13:55] Whiskey what kind of bourbon scotches what are you into.

Seema Haji:
[13:58] Scotch a single malt I have a bottle of Oban upstairs in my room.

Cory Minton:
[14:02] All right cooking with what’s your favorite kind of cooking.

Seema Haji:
[14:06] You know I grew up cooking Indian food but living here in the US in California for 20 years I can make a mean Irish stew.
I can do a really good roast chicken with a Mediterranean couscous Twist on it and I can make a pretty good Indian chicken curry.

Cory Minton:
[14:22] Have you gotten in a sous vide cooking yet or.

Seema Haji:
[14:25] We can have to work on that.

Cory Minton:
[14:26] Alright so rapid fire questions the actual ones ones these are fun don’t worry about him just to say the first thing that comes to mind you know just been too much lifetime labor what year do you think Skynet will go online.

Seema Haji:
[14:38] 20/20.

Cory Minton:
[14:39] 20/20 are pretty close that worries me a little bit what is the what’s the last great book you read that you’d recommend to us.

Seema Haji:
[14:46] Oh you know I’m trying to ethics of our fathers it’s a book by Rabbi Hillel and it talks about us as individuals as part of the society that we’re at and what the role that we play.

Cory Minton:
[15:00] Really and what genre of music are you currently rocking.

Seema Haji:
[15:04] I’m an old fashioned alternative rock person.

Cory Minton:
[15:09] No I respect that that makes sense what piece of technology is making your life worse.

Seema Haji:
[15:15] I think social media video you were trolling me right before I got.

Cory Minton:
[15:19] Would you like better by being there that’s beyond.

Seema Haji:
[15:21] It’s um if I’m honest it
it makes me a little sad when I drive to work everyday and I see people everywhere they’re just buried in their phones nobody says hello to each other we’re missing so dusty old fashion style conversations.

Cory Minton:
[15:38] We’re more connected and less connected than ever.

Seema Haji:
[15:39] I just like yeah I just reversed out a little bit.

Cory Minton:
[15:42] What is your personal biggest Money Pit right now.

Seema Haji:
[15:45] Money Pit who I just bought a Mercedes.

Cory Minton:
[15:49] Did you good for you you’re in the car still now.

Seema Haji:
[15:49] A week ago I did don’t tell BMW that I was on stage with today though.

Cory Minton:
[15:54] Oh that’s right that’s awesome that’s a good choice all right are you going anywhere really interesting soon.

Seema Haji:
[16:00] I am going to Barcelona for iot will Congress Inn in a week and a half or straight from cons and then I’m actually going back home to India for 4 weeks which I’m really is Pune close to Bombay.

Cory Minton:
[16:09] What’s it in India what’s it in India very cool art what TV show are you currently binging on.

Seema Haji:
[16:17] Oh my goodness this is going to put me out Borgia on Showtime.

Cory Minton:
[16:22] Alright very good we can find you on social media you’re on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Seema Haji:
[16:26] I’m on Twitter I’m more active I think I’m LinkedIn I need to like pick up a little bit of my Twitter Afrikaans.

Cory Minton:
[16:31] It’s all good it was very nice to have you on the show today I hope you will be come back on again maybe next year we’ll hear what’s next tryouts yet smog are thank you so much.

Seema Haji:
[16:37] Nice meeting you thank you so much.