Introduction
2024 has been a landmark year for Cloudaeon, as the company continues its mission to help organisations harness the true value of Cloud, Data, and AI. Recently, Cloudaeon CRO Dan Harris sat down with Founders Shashikant Mundlik and Amol Malpani to reflect on the year’s achievements and discuss their vision for the future.
The Highlight of 2024: Innovation Lab
Dan: What data and AI initiative are you most proud of in 2024?
Amol: We established the Innovation Lab, a secure environment for quickly generating data hypotheses, to define the scope and deliver a minimum viable product within 4 weeks. The initial alpha project predicted a 50% reduction in the time taken to launch a data product from source to production. The resulting production build achieved a 96% improvement, saving £3.96M in full-time employee costs.
Scaling Success: The Evolution of the Innovation Lab
Dan: That’s a great start, how has the innovation lab developed?
Amol: Since that alpha success, half a dozen beta projects have been developed in the innovation lab, ranging from data engineering to real-time ERP insights. Cost optimisation for self-service analytics with a natural language interface. The innovation lab has delivered millions in demonstrable data value for zero client investment during the beta phase.
The Secret to Innovation Lab’s Success
Shashikant: This pioneering work proves that data and AI projects can solve business problems and demonstrate ROI without significant upfront expenditure. It’s not just about money, either. Time investment is minimal, too. A typical engagement requires less than six hours of stakeholder involvement, with recommendations returned within just 10 days for the MVP scope.
The 3C Model: Deciding Which Use Cases to Tackle
Amol: We always begin with a business problem. Then, we evaluate it through our 3C model: can we increase capability, capacity (or both), and do so more cost-efficiently? If the answer is no, we disregard the use case.
Proving the Value of Data and AI Projects
Dan: Is it easy to prove a data and AI project adds value?
Shashikant: To ensure alignment with data capabilities, we produce a value pyramid. This maps the paths through which new capabilities, capacity, or cost efficiencies drive the company’s attainment of their strategic goals.
Engaging Business Stakeholders
Dan: To what extent do you work with business stakeholders?
Amol: We involve business stakeholders during the discovery, ideation, and playback phases of an Innovation Lab project. However, our primary role is to support data leaders, who then champion the projects to their stakeholders in our absence.
Shashikant: Our goal is to ensure data leaders succeed by helping them deliver impactful projects that demonstrate business value.
The Road Ahead: Cloudaeon’s Vision for 2025
Dan: Where is Cloudaeon heading with Data and AI in 2025?
Shashikant: We're a specialist Data and AI systems integrator. Data and AI are at the heart of everything we do, and that is driven from the very top of the organization. From the C-suite down, we're all in!
Cloudaeon’s founders are steadfast in their mission to revolutionize how businesses unlock the value of Cloud, Data, and AI. Through initiatives like the Innovation Lab, they’ve shown how impactful data projects can be delivered with speed, precision, and tangible results. As they look to 2025, the focus remains clear: driving data value at every level.
