www.hitachivantara.com Open in urlscan Pro
2600:9000:236e:ca00:5:b3a5:e100:93a1 Public Scan

Back to summary

Submitted URL:
https://info-sales.hitachivantara.com/t/103053/c/a49a1367-6b48-4ebd-a456-17fba7d1f41c/NB2HI4DTHIXS653XO4XGQ2LUMFRWQ2LWMFXHIYLSMEXGG33N...
Effective URL:
https://www.hitachivantara.com/en-us/audio/competitive-intelligence-studio-next-podcast.html
Submission: On March 17 via manual (March 17th 2022, 4:09:59 pm UTC) from US — Scanned from DE

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Pause
Unmute

Current Time 0:04
/
Duration 0:10
Loaded: 100.00%

0:04
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE
Remaining Time -0:06
Share
1x
Playback Rate

Chapters
* Chapters

Descriptions
* descriptions off, selected

Captions
* captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
* captions off, selected

Audio Track
* en (Main), selected

Picture-in-PictureFullscreen

This is a modal window.

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque
Font Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge
StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional
Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall
Caps
Reset restore all settings to the default valuesDone
Close Modal Dialog

End of dialog window.

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or
activating the close button.

Close Modal Dialog

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or
activating the close button.

Close Modal Dialog

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or
activating the close button.

Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Pause
Unmute

Current Time 0:03
/
Duration 0:10
Loaded: 100.00%

0:04
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind liveLIVE
Remaining Time -0:07
Share
1x
Playback Rate

Chapters
* Chapters

Descriptions
* descriptions off, selected

Captions
* captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
* captions off, selected

Audio Track
* en (Main), selected

Picture-in-PictureFullscreen

This is a modal window.

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

End of dialog window.

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or
activating the close button.

Close Modal Dialog

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or
activating the close button.

Close Modal Dialog

This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or
activating the close button.

HITACHI INSPIRE THE NEXT LOGO
* Search

* United States

* Community Community
* Get Support Get Support
* Partner Partner

Hitachi Vantara

* Solutions
* Modernize the Digital Core
* Infrastructure Modernization
* Application Infrastructure
* Data Protection
* Cloud Storage for Applications
* Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure
* Infrastructure as a Service
* Data Modernization
* Cloud Data Management
* Data Lakes and Data Warehouses
* Data Integration
* AI-Driven Solutions

* Midrange Storage Solutions
* Application Modernization
* Application Reliability Centers
* Cloud Modernization
* Application Engineering
* ERP Modernization for SAP
* ERP Modernization for Oracle
* Smart Spaces
* Data-Driven Industrial Operations

* Industry Solutions
* Banking and Insurance
* Manufacturing
* Energy and Utilities
* Healthcare and Life Sciences
* Retail
* Government
* Transportation

EVERFLEX

Close
* Products
* Storage
* Flash Storage
* Object Storage
* Software Defined Storage
* Network Attached Storage
* Storage as a Service
* Converged and Hyperconverged Infrastructure
* IT Operations Management
* Hitachi Ops Center
* Unified Compute Platform Advisor

* IoT Software and Solutions
* Lumada Industrial DataOps
* Lumada Manufacturing Insights
* Data Management and Analytics
* Lumada DataOps
* Download Pentaho
* Data Protection
* Video Intelligence

Proven. Powerful. Predictable.

Here's your new VSP portfolio. Work smarter with enterprise-class systems
priced for your midsized business.

Explore Midrange
Portfolio Explore Midrange Portfolio
Close
* Services
* Application Reliability Centers
* Consulting Services
* Digital Strategy Advisory Services
* Data Modernization Services
* AI & Insights Services
* Application Modernization
* Cloud Modernization Services
* Digital Experience Services
* Managed Services

* Edge to Cloud Infrastructure Services
* Infrastructure Services
* Hitachi Kubernetes Service
* Customer Support Services
* Lumada and Pentaho Support Services
* Preferred Customer Services
* Training
* Certification

Consulting Services

Our consulting services help you unlock your digital transformation with
agility and innovation.

Transform
Now Transform Now
Close
* EverFlex
Move to
XaaS Move to XaaS
* Why EverFlex
* Offerings
* EverFlex Blogs

VALUE SELECTOR

A Complete Suite of as-a-Service Offerings for IT and the Business

GENERATE A
RECOMMENDATION GENERATE A RECOMMENDATION
WHITEPAPER

WHITEPAPER

Consumption-based Acquisition Gains Significant Traction

View
Whitepaper View Whitepaper
Close
* Insights
* News
* Partners
View Partners and
Resources View Partners and Resources
* Partner Program
* Create Business Model
* Manage Business Model
* Deliver Business Model
* Resell Business Model

* Find A Partner
* Become a Partner
* Partner Portal

Explore Our Partner Ecosystem

Our searchable Partner Locator tool highlights partner competencies, business
models, and location(s).

Find a
Partner Find a Partner
Award-Winning Partner Program

Award-Winning Partner Program

Get partner information you need, including product news, big conversations,
training and tools.

Partner
Portal Partner Portal
Close
* Company
View
Company View Company
* Social Innovation
* Leadership
* Careers
* Customer Stories
* Events and Webinars

* Data Management Done Differently
* Corporate Social Responsibility
* Contact Us
* Legal & Compliance

MAGICAL EXPERIENCES DELIVERED

Learn how Hitachi Vantara and Disney Parks turn data into even more magic.

See
Alliance See Alliance
WHAT’S NOW TO WHAT’S NEXT

WHAT’S NOW TO WHAT’S NEXT

Know how to build next-gen charging solutions for EVs? We do.

See The
Future See The Future
Close
* Contact Us
* Call Us at 1.858.225.2095
Call Us at 1.858.225.2095
* Contact Sales
Contact Sales
* Get Support
Get Support
* Find a Partner
Find a Partner
* Report Misconduct
Report Misconduct

Search SEARCH

* Industry Solutions
* Banking and Insurance
* Manufacturing
* Energy and Utilities
* Healthcare and Life Sciences
* Retail
* Government
* Transportation

EVERFLEX

* IoT Software and Solutions
* Lumada Industrial DataOps
* Lumada Manufacturing Insights
* Data Management and Analytics
* Lumada DataOps
* Download Pentaho
* Data Protection
* Video Intelligence

Proven. Powerful. Predictable.

Here's your new VSP portfolio. Work smarter with enterprise-class systems
priced for your midsized business.

Consulting Services

Our consulting services help you unlock your digital transformation with
agility and innovation.

Transform
Now Transform Now
Close
* EverFlex
Move to
XaaS Move to XaaS
* Why EverFlex
* Offerings
* EverFlex Blogs

VALUE SELECTOR

A Complete Suite of as-a-Service Offerings for IT and the Business

GENERATE A
RECOMMENDATION GENERATE A RECOMMENDATION
WHITEPAPER

WHITEPAPER

Consumption-based Acquisition Gains Significant Traction

* Find A Partner
* Become a Partner
* Partner Portal

Explore Our Partner Ecosystem

Our searchable Partner Locator tool highlights partner competencies, business
models, and location(s).

Find a
Partner Find a Partner
Award-Winning Partner Program

Award-Winning Partner Program

Get partner information you need, including product news, big conversations,
training and tools.

Partner
Portal Partner Portal
Close
* Company
View
Company View Company
* Social Innovation
* Leadership
* Careers
* Customer Stories
* Events and Webinars

* Data Management Done Differently
* Corporate Social Responsibility
* Contact Us
* Legal & Compliance

MAGICAL EXPERIENCES DELIVERED

Learn how Hitachi Vantara and Disney Parks turn data into even more magic.

See
Alliance See Alliance
WHAT’S NOW TO WHAT’S NEXT

WHAT’S NOW TO WHAT’S NEXT

Know how to build next-gen charging solutions for EVs? We do.

* United States

* Community Community
* Get Support Get Support
* Partner Partner

AMERICAS
* LATAMLATAM
* Brasil (Brazil)Brasil
* United StatesUnited States

ASIA PACIFIC
* Australia/New ZealandAustralia/New Zealand
* 中国 (China)中国
* Hong KongHong Kong
* IndiaIndia
* 日本 (Japan)日本
* 한국 (Korea)한국
* 台湾 (Taiwan)台湾
* ASEANASEAN

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Deutschland (Germany)Deutschland
* Россия (Russia)Россия

* Home
/
* Resources
/
* Competitive Intelligence Studio Next Podcast

en_us
18 mins | January 20, 2020

SEE HOW HITACHI COMPETES AND OUR CUSTOMERS WIN!

Winning in a Landscape of 500 Different Competitors

Your browser does not support the <code>audio</code> element.

00:00

18:02

Download
Episode Download Episode

LISTEN TO
HITACHI VANTARA PODCAST

*
*
*
*

SUMMARY

Discover how an amalgamation of proven customer-focused products, services,
capabilities, and data op solutions separates Hitachi from the rest.

HOST

JEREMY BRISIEL

Chief Creative Officer, Swelloquent Arts

Chief Creative Officer, Swelloquent Arts, and an award-winning writer, producer
and host with over 20 years experience delivering creative content to audiences
around the world.

MARK FARRANT

Master Research Analyst, Global Competitive & Market Intelligence, Hitachi
Vantara

CHUCK KRAMER

Senior Competitive Intelligence Analyst, Hitachi Vantara

The Senior Competitive Intelligence Analyst at Hitachi Vantara is an experienced
hands-on director, manager and presales solutions engineer with over 30 years of
experience in information technology, big data, department management, sales,
large infrastructure & data center project management, network design &
engineering, audio/visual system design, and security system implementation.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to this Studio NEXT podcast. I'm your host, Jeremy Brisiel, and we have
a great conversation on tap today. Especially if you like competitive
intelligence. I don't know how to not say that phrase that way. I know that I'm
supposed to just say it as a normal way, but I can't say. Gentlemen, if you
could, since I don't want to mess names up or titles, could you tell me who
we're talking to today? Tell the audience.

MARK FARRANT, MASTER RESEARCH ANALYST, GLOBAL COMPETITIVE & MARKET INTELLIGENCE,
HITACHI VANTARA:

Okay. My name is Mark Farrant. I'm a Master Research Analyst with Competitive
and Market Intelligence.

JEREMY BREISEL, HOST:

So many great words.

CHUCK KRAMER, SENIOR COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE ANALYST, HITACHI VANTARA:

I know. I'm Chuck Kramer. I'm a Senior Competitive Intelligence Analyst for the
data integration, big data and analytics space.

JEREMY:

So, in case folks who are listening, you don't get it. We're talking to some
really bright guys today about the overall landscape. Don't roll your eyes. This
is an audio podcast. It's fantastic that you guys have a broad perspective on
not just Hitachi, but on the industry and on trends and on the overwhelming way
that things are tracking. So, I want to talk about those things.

MARK:

I mean, in general, we tend to know more about the competitors' products than we
do in some instances our own. But you know, as our primary customer is field
sales, we have to give them the broad strokes of what our competition is doing.
And some of our competitors have multiple products in multiple different stacks.
So you know, what we faced, especially over the past 12 months, is we've been
fighting NVMe. Our competitors have it and now they have NVMe over fabric and
SCM. And if you don't know what those mean, then go out and look at them up. But
with the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform 5,000 series, with just NVMe , we've
solved that particular issue. We have the fastest row in the world. Now when we
go over fabric and with SCM, who knows what the future will hold.

JEREMY:

Oh, that's great. You touched on so many of the great topics we want to dive
down into before we get much further into it. For those that don't understand
exactly what the competitive intelligence arm does or what you guys are doing,
day to day, what's that look like?

CHUCK:

Well, a lot of what we do is a somewhat reactive. So, our sales team, our field
teams will have questions. Primarily, they'll be up against a specific
competitor, with a specific use case and they need to know how to position our
product. Because, to be honest, some of our competitors do things better than we
do and we do things better than them in other ways.

What we need to do is understand, kind of what the use case is and provide those
high-level understandings of, okay, this is what we do better, this is what our
strong points are. This is positioning statements against what they may be
saying about us and how to utilize our strong capabilities against some of their
capabilities that may not measure up to what we're doing. Additionally, if there
is a capability that they have working with our sales team to maybe reposition
the conversation towards our strengths, and if the conversation with the
customer can be a spent guiding them to be able to have that intelligent
conversation. The ultimate goal, I think though, is to make our field teams more
intelligent and when they're sitting in front of a customer to be able to talk
about the market and the entire market and be that consultative type of a person
with them. So that, when the customer has a question about, "How do you solve
for this?" they sound like the subject matter expert, knowing full well what the
competitive landscape looks like and being able to position what our
capabilities are to the customer. So that the goal is for us to be able to get
our products in and solve problems for Hitachi's customers.

JEREMY:

Right. That all weaves together. You've touched on it already Mark, but let's
dig down into it a little bit more. And you mentioned it Chuck, the competitive
landscape. What does it look like? Where are we at right now? What do we see for
Hitachi Vantara?

MARK:

So, in the past, our customers have always perceived us as an engineering
company. We've always brought product to market that has shown our engineering
heritage. It may not be leading edge or bleeding edge, but when we have come to
market and we are fully tested in those environments so that we can turn round
so that somebody like Brian or Jonathan Martin can stand up and say, we can make
these eight statements about our product. It is the fastest. It provides this
extra type of capability, more storage support better, better, better, faster,
more at the end of the day. Those are bold statements that are based on our
engineering heritage. But more importantly — so that was just the VSP 5,000
series — more importantly, what was discussed in the Lumada Data Services. Now,
that brings together lots of different product which we can sell, but to Chuck's
point enables our sales teams to converse in a more strategic fashion with our
customers. So that they're not just saying, okay, here's a box, we want to sell
you the box, but rather understanding the customer's business. And then with
things like Lumada Data Services, a data optimizer for Hadoop, edge
manufacturing insights, those are all core to some of the fundamental aspects of
Hitachi Vantara, Hitachi as a whole and especially with things like Hitachi
consulting, where they bring that more consultative ability to the market.
Again, solving business problems with a broad spectrum of technologies and
capabilities.

JEREMY:

You're talking about so many things there and many of the advantages that
Hitachi brings across the board in so many ways, Chuck, the competitive
landscape from your point of view, what does it look like for us? And then to
follow up on Mark's thing, what does that shift from sort of box to strategy?
How do you see that playing out?

CHUCK:

Well, I use a slide when I do enablement to our sales teams and talk about the
competitive landscape and it literally has logos of probably 500 different
companies when we talk about the competitive landscape. And that depends on what
you're doing in the area that I focus on: you know, data integration, analytics,
big data — that environment. If you're integrating data loading data, you've got
a set of 20 different competitors. I mean, there's actually, hundreds if you're
talking about data preparation before you get to analytics and then the actual
analytics, where that data is now insightful and people can make informed
decisions and utilize that data, make it actionable.

We have a broad group of competitors because there are individuals that do each
one of those steps along that data pipeline. Right. Now when we start bringing
in some of the broader capabilities that we're talking about with the entire
Lumada ecosystem that we're doing, you're now bringing in different vendors that
may be in my realm, you know, the big data space weren't even considered to be a
competitors. So, managing this, and one of the things Mark and I have been
doing, we've been teamed up with our teams that are working on the project
tapestry stuff, which we're going to announce here at NEXT is trying to define,
okay, who are our key competitors? And that's very difficult to do when you're
offering as many capabilities that we've got underneath this umbrella with
Hitachi right now. So, it's quite an expansive and at times I don't, it is
overwhelming to be able to say, okay, who's our competitor? Well, what are you
trying to do? Well, we're trying to solve this problem for the customer. Okay,
well in that case, your competitors might be these three entities or it might be
this and a cloud based solution, and those kinds of things. And the next thing
may be, okay, what are we doing? You know, well, we also have this use case.
Okay, well hold on. And now that may be a different set of competitors that we
have to put together. And then we have to create the positioning around, okay,
why, us as a solution. So the good news is, and everything I've just described
is what we're, bringing to market: this Lumada ecosystem and intelligent data
operations that we're coming out with. Nobody's really doing everything that
we're doing. So, as far as having a specific competitor that we can poke on the
nose and say, this is our key competitor there: There really isn't one. We are
coming out with some game- changing capabilities that it typically takes a
solution to do. So, you need five or six different types of hardware, software,
services, capabilities to be able to deliver what we're starting to deliver with
some of the announcements, some of the capabilities in the Lumada suite.

MARK:

It's what our competition in general terms can't do. So, to go back to Chuck's
point, if I'm going up against a particular use case or a particular capability,
in some instances we have to go back and say, who are you competing against?
Because if you're going against competitor A or mentioning any names to preserve
the innocence. A is tough though. Z is really bad because nobody understands
what I'm saying at that point. If we have a competitor and it's going up against
a data optimizer for dupes, say which we announced today, building that
landscape document, those strategies, those silver bullets, the strengths, the
vulnerabilities, and you know, the core things that sales guys are looking for
or sales people are looking for. Sorry. That's generally the easy approach.
Cause sometimes as Chuck alluded to, it's like, okay, I've got a hundred
competitors in this one use case and then when we start branching out. A lot of
what we're seeing, especially with Lumada Data services is the ability to
strategically look at what we're doing and then go to market with a coherent
story versus what all of our competition has to do. This is actually, okay well
I'm going to have to do this for myself, third-party for something else, a
partner for something else. What makes this really exciting and from my time in
IT, which is expensive, is that we start bringing in both our partner
communities and our service communities. So, this becomes an overall chic
solution for ourselves. People who support Hitachi Vantara and also for our
partners.

CHUCK:

And that's, you started talking about that streamlining in that, which creates
agility, which creates response time, which creates an ability to listen to
customers in such a deeper way because you can respond more agilely. And for an
organization of a certain size and age that isn't always the case. And that is
exciting. That is exciting to see that transformation happen.

MARK:

But the beauty about that though is that once we figured that secret sauce out,
that which then becomes our Kung Fu is: Regardless of the customer, regardless
of the industry that they working, the vertical they work in and also their
size, we have scalable solutions to meet those needs. So, whether for a global
1000 customer or for a mom and pop operation in a local community, we still have
those feature function capabilities because we've already figured the hard stuff
out, which is getting all that stuff to work together in a more coherent manner.

JEREMY:

That's remarkable in that way. And I, before we say goodbye as I could talk
about this for a long, long, long, long time, as you can see both as well, but
we lose the room in a little while. So we've got to get out of here. Oh no,
that's not true. But I do want to talk before we say goodbye about data, it's
always remarkable to have these conversations with a competitive marketing
intelligence research, but also to the solutions that are all so data-driven
that you talked about special sauce. But in a way drinking your own champagne is
a fine way to get things done. It's also a good way to have a nice party. Chuck,
data is a big part of the way to find the path to these solutions. How has that
played out? How do you see it in the future being part of the strategy?

CHUCK:

Well, as everyone's aware, data is not diminishing. Data is constantly growing.
We have our watches that we're wearing, our phones, our other devices that are
constantly generating data. And that's just from a consumer standpoint. Now, if
we start talking about manufacturing, healthcare, all of the systems that are
out there generating data and those edge devices, what we're going to be doing
is aggregating all of these different data types. And you know, there's
structured data, which is your standard spreadsheet data. Things that fit into
nice columns and rows. Then there's a semi-structured data, which you can view
as a tweet or some social media that has some structure. And then there's
unstructured data like VI video. And where you're going to get the most value
out of your data is when you have solutions that can gather that data at the
edge with the capabilities we have with Hitachi. Take that data, blend it,
normalize it and then be able to apply analytics to that, to get those
actionable insights from that data. That's where the value comes in because
everybody can gather data and you've heard the term, you get data lakes and
you've got data swamps. I mean a couple of years ago it was like, gather all
your data into one place. Now you've got it aggregated and you can go apply
analytics to it and do all of this. Well, if you just throw all kinds of stuff
into this, this data lake, it becomes a swamp because you don't necessarily
know. You've got to have governance, you've got to have rules. You've got to
have different capabilities around that and some of the AI technologies that
we've come up with to be able to take that data, curate that data, prepare it
for analytics before you land it into a data lake. So, now when you apply your
analytics to it or pull specific aspects of that data out, you can truly derive
insights from it because the data is ready to be analyzed. And you can now, if
you're in a retail environment or whatever, you can monetize that data. If
you're utilizing it for healthcare, you can now apply that to research and save
lives because you've got all this wealth of data and now you're able to actually
utilize it in a way that's meaningful to derive those insights.

MARK:

Do things more efficiently, speak time to market for new products, build new,
better understandings, right? That, then tie into some of our other initiatives
around, you know, social innovation and what the digital business means. So, for
us, who all began guys who thrived on spinning disk, or spinning rust as it's
referred to occasionally, it's a totally different way of thinking. And
strategically that's much more interesting, especially when we start looking at
the benefit that we derive from providing these types of solutions to our
customers. But, also looking at what social impact can be as well. I mean even
if it's things like public safety, some of the more esoteric things that we get
involved in that we can't actually talk about, that's all next-generation stuff.
Cause that's another one of our outputs: It's inputs into strategically
developing what's happening in the next three and five, seven years.

JEREMY:

It's totally true.

MARK:

So, at the end of the day it's like what benefit can we provide the customer:
It's going to be where we sell product, but it's got to be products, services,
capabilities, solutions that make sense for their business. Because again,
driving intelligent insight from their data makes them more agile and also makes
our day-to-day lives much more interesting 'cause we're having to think about
things in a completely different way. That's where we're seeing in the
competitive intelligence perspective, this blending of capabilities. You know,
Chuck doing the analytic side, me understanding the hardware, some of the
strategic stuff.

CHUCK:

One final point as we move into Lumada Data Services, we see that it's that
amalgamation of capabilities that basically could be the grand future for
Hitachi Vantara.

JEREMY:

Well, I think the future is in very good hands. You guys have shared a lot of
the insights, to see where the future is laid out, to go from box to strategy,
in a very short way. Chuck and Mark, thanks for being with us. It was a great
conversation. I look forward to wrapping it up again and having another
conversation just like this, but even with more interesting and fascinating data
and insights in 2020.

www.hitachivantara.com Open in urlscan Pro 2600:9000:236e:ca00:5:b3a5:e100:93a1 Public Scan

Form analysis 0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

www.hitachivantara.com Open in urlscan Pro
2600:9000:236e:ca00:5:b3a5:e100:93a1 Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM