In a recent fireside chat with Fivetran’s Global VP of Sales Engineering, Jonathan Lincheck, Fivetran’s COO Taylor Brown and Chief Product Officer Anjan Kundavaram shed light on some of the most pressing challenges in data management today. From the persistence of data silos to the rise of open data formats and AI, they explore how Fivetran’s latest product innovations, including the new Hybrid Deployment, help enterprises streamline data strategies, enhance security and adapt to evolving business demands. Here are the key highlights from their discussion. 

Addressing data silos in an era of SaaS growth 

As Kundavaram explained, the rise of SaaS applications has led to a proliferation of data silos across various formats — spreadsheets, mainframes, databases — which prevent enterprises from gaining holistic insights. For decision-makers, these silos are a major barrier to extracting meaningful, context-rich insights from data. “If you want a data advantage, fix the data silo problem,” Kundavaram stated, emphasizing that unifying data access is the key to impactful decisions.

Security and compliance challenges in a decentralized world

With new regulations such as the GDPR and CCPA, coupled with a global, remote workforce, enterprises face mounting data governance challenges. Brown pointed out that companies need scalable, automated data solutions to handle the volume and complexity of data while maintaining security and compliance. Traditional, on-premise systems lack the flexibility and scalability required in today’s environment, making modern data tools like Fivetran’s Hybrid Deployment essential.

Hybrid Deployment offers enterprises the best of both worlds: the flexibility of the cloud combined with the security of on-premises infrastructure. Kundavaram highlighted that Fivetran’s Hybrid Deployment model allows organizations to easily, safely and efficiently move and integrate data from both cloud-native and on-premises systems while meeting stringent security requirements. With Fivetran's control plane in the cloud separated from a locally hosted data plane, this model provides a seamless, secure way to manage data pipelines while protecting sensitive information. Large organizations like National Australia Bank have already realized fast setup, as much as 30% in cost savings and much faster replication thanks to this model.

Why a successful AI strategy starts with a data strategy

A key takeaway from the discussion was the importance of treating data and AI strategies as a unified approach. Brown underscored that successful AI applications depend on a strong data foundation. Citing Fivetran’s work with Saks, he shared how a robust data strategy enabled the retailer to quickly deploy AI solutions. For example, when customers contact Saks, customer service agents receive data-driven recommendations from large language models (LLMs) to enhance every caller’s experience. Saks uses several tools for real-time natural language processing (NLP) and understanding call sentiment. Fivetran sits upstream of these AI deployments, supplying data from a wide and growing range of sources.

As Brown put it, “At the end of the day, AI runs on top of the data you have.”

2025: The shift to open data formats and data lakes

Looking ahead, Fivetran’s leaders anticipate a shift towards open data formats like Delta and Iceberg, enabling companies to reduce costs and avoid vendor lock-in. By supporting open data lake architectures, Fivetran empowers organizations to centralize data affordably while enabling access across various analytics platforms, ensuring flexibility and scalability. Kundavaram noted, “The industry is moving toward open formats, and we’re here to support that shift.”

Taylor agreed, "I think the whole industry is moving towards data lakes...we're just going to see a whole lot more investment from companies, from partners, from the ecosystem to support data lakes."

Whatever the future holds, integrating data effectively is key. Ensuring a strong data foundation will enable better, faster insights that can take organizations to the next level. 

For more insights from Fivetran’s thought leaders, explore the full fireside chat here.