3086: Hyland's Vision for AI-Driven Transformation: Unstructured Data in the Spotlight

[00:00:04] Are we overlooking the largest data goldmine hidden within our organisations?

[00:00:10] Well today I'm joined by the CEO of Highland, his name's Jitesh, and together we're going to try and uncover the transformative potential of unstructured data.

[00:00:22] A form of data that makes up 80-85% of what enterprises manage, yet it's often left completely untapped.

[00:00:31] And with innovations in AI, and Highland's forward-looking Content Innovation Cloud, the focus is increasingly on unlocking the unique power hidden inside this data.

[00:00:44] Whether that be documents, videos, images, audio, and everything in between.

[00:00:49] So today we'll be exploring how Highland, with 14,000 customers worldwide, is positioned to reshape the future of content intelligence by moving swiftly from data management to true AI-driven insights.

[00:01:06] But how can businesses transform with this approach? What does it really mean for the future of enterprise content?

[00:01:13] Well, you've heard enough from me. Let me get today's guest on, who will tell us all about this.

[00:01:18] So a massive warm welcome to the show. Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:01:25] I'm Jitesh Guy, CEO at Highland. I have been formally trained as an engineer, and I've had the unique fortune of building innovative new products and technologies, bringing them to market over my 25-year career in technology to solve some really exciting and challenging problems for our customers.

[00:01:50] And thrilled to have the opportunity to do that and serve as CEO for Highland and deliver some radical innovation to help our customers realize incredible outcomes with their enterprise content.

[00:02:05] Well, thanks so much for taking the time to sit down with me today. So much I want to talk with you about.

[00:02:10] You're obviously in the US. I was in the US last week for the Lenovo tech event in Seattle, and every tech event I go to at the moment is a huge buzz predictably around AI.

[00:02:21] But unstructured data, which is often one of the biggest problems because data is the lifeblood of any AI strategy, is often overlooked.

[00:02:29] So can you share your perspective on the importance of unstructured data and how it plays into that larger AI conversation?

[00:02:37] Because it's something we don't talk about enough, I think.

[00:02:40] Yeah, yeah. It's a topic that I'm uniquely passionate about.

[00:02:45] But I guess I'd first start with there is a lot of hype in AI.

[00:02:49] There's a lot of hype in AI and gen AI.

[00:02:52] There's a lot of promise and potential and everybody, every technology company is trying to in some way, shape or form align with AI, whether or not they have any business to do so.

[00:03:06] Whether or not the technology has been proven to actually deliver meaningful value to customers.

[00:03:12] Now, what's unique about enterprise content, as you're very astutely pointing out is enterprise content is documents, its images, its audio and video that is mission critical to an organization and how it operates.

[00:03:31] Enterprise content is unstructured data.

[00:03:36] And of an entire estate of an organization's data, unstructured data, enterprise content is 80 to 85% of an organization's data set.

[00:03:50] Now, if you take all of that together and you look at some unique technology tailwinds or innovations that have happened over the last few years, notably large language models.

[00:04:04] So not AI per se, as much as gen AI.

[00:04:08] Large language models and the innovation that's happening there literally every two weeks, something unique and interesting is happening.

[00:04:15] Is enabling content management providers like Highland to really think aggressively about how can we redefine the value we deliver to our customers?

[00:04:29] If you know content management, our customers have entrusted us to govern that 80 to 85% of their unstructured data, to persist it, to version it, to govern it, to ensure that they are compliant.

[00:04:46] And Highland has 14,000 customers globally that have entrusted us with this data.

[00:04:53] And now they're coming to us and saying, hey, you're ensuring that we use it appropriately.

[00:04:58] You're ensuring that we're compliant.

[00:05:00] My board is telling me I need to gen AI enable my organization.

[00:05:05] How are you going to gen AI enable me given you have all of my unstructured data?

[00:05:10] So we live in incredibly exciting times.

[00:05:15] And as a product builder, one that is passionate about building innovation and bringing it to market to serve our customers, we have an incredible opportunity that we're working toward in gen AI enabling our customers.

[00:05:30] And unlike other SaaS apps or other technology providers, we as content management leaders uniquely have this opportunity and are already starting to gen AI enable our customers.

[00:05:45] And we're talking about the hype there and some of those conversations where some businesses are just, hey, we need you to gen AI our business.

[00:05:52] Is there a sense in some areas that they just want to tick that box rather than solve an actual problem or are they actually well educated in this before coming to you?

[00:06:03] It's the wild west.

[00:06:05] It's the beginning of a major technology disruption.

[00:06:08] It's, you know, you can look at the internet and how the enterprises embraced the internet in the early days was I just don't know what to do with this.

[00:06:18] You can do very similar things with mobile and social, which is, I see something here.

[00:06:25] I think there's something interesting.

[00:06:26] Maybe I should build a mobile banking app.

[00:06:29] Similar things organizations are prototyping.

[00:06:33] You know, there's the hype cycle.

[00:06:36] I feel like we're now in the trough of disillusionment where everybody was really excited.

[00:06:42] This chat GPT thing looked really cool and could answer questions.

[00:06:47] And there's some code generation that's happening and some tools that are, you know, reasonably productive.

[00:06:55] But enterprise content and unstructured data is a clear opportunity.

[00:07:02] And, you know, I come at it from the perspective of I've spent prior to Highland 14 years of my career enabling organizations to manage their structured data.

[00:07:13] Yeah.

[00:07:15] Their relational hierarchical data sets in their favorite databases or warehouses helping them generate reports, run analytics, build ML models and data lakes for the purposes of data science.

[00:07:30] And that was, you know, 15 to 20% of an enterprise's estate.

[00:07:34] And so, unlike the hype elsewhere of having an assistant help you generate code or what have you, getting insights out of 80% of your data estate that you were previously unable to get insights from is an incredibly large value creating opportunity for our customers.

[00:07:59] Unlocking the insights from your customers.

[00:08:05] Unlocking the insights from enterprise content of all sorts, your customer chat interactions to drive operational outcomes and analytical outcomes opens up incredible opportunities for our customers, whether they're in healthcare or insurance or financial services.

[00:08:24] And then AI enabling business processes as a result of those insights.

[00:08:30] Delivering custom application experiences on this foundation of content intelligence sets a foundation of unprecedented outcomes that our customers can deliver to their business and to their customers.

[00:08:46] And if we do have anybody listening that are hearing about highland for the first time, or maybe they're familiar with you, but not sure exactly what it is you do, I think we should highlight that you have been a leader in automation, particularly with Highland Experience Automate.

[00:09:00] But for people hearing about that for the first time, can you just expand on how this solution helps enterprises navigate some of the complexities of unstructured data?

[00:09:10] What makes it different from other automation platforms out there?

[00:09:13] Yeah, I think the key is we're a leader in content, in enterprise content, in enabling organizations to manage their unstructured data.

[00:09:26] And what we're doing for the better part of two decades over many technology disruptions and many generations of technology-related innovation is enabling our customers to manage their most mission-critical enterprise content.

[00:09:43] What's the key is that?

[00:09:52] It's critical.

[00:09:54] It's critical.

[00:09:56] It's critical.

[00:09:59] It's critical.

[00:10:03] And I think it's critical.

[00:10:07] Like I mentioned, insurance claims or patient onboarding or patient care or education and student retention, all driven on the foundation of unstructured data.

[00:10:22] We've been automating these business processes, enabling organizations to deliver value.

[00:10:27] And with Gen AI, we can now give structure to what has previously been unstructured.

[00:10:34] We can read, literally read and process all of the petabytes of content and images, interpret them, and enable organizations to understand what's inside them and drive greater automation.

[00:10:55] What makes us unique is the fact that we have the content.

[00:10:58] We are not simply a business process orchestration technology built on some BPMN engine.

[00:11:07] That's just the Swiss Army Knight.

[00:11:09] What we start with is the content because the content then informs what and how you should automate your organization and its processes.

[00:11:18] And before you came on the podcast today, I was doing a little research on you and I learned that you stepped into the role of Highland CEO after 14 years at Informatica.

[00:11:28] So I've got to ask, how would you say your experiences over Informatica have maybe shaped your vision for Highland?

[00:11:36] And what excites you most about leading the company into its next chapter?

[00:11:41] Because I would imagine you've been on quite a journey yourself here.

[00:11:43] Yeah, yeah.

[00:11:44] You know, I've had the great fortune over my two and a half decades to build incredible innovations to solve complex problems.

[00:11:52] And yes, 14 years at Informatica.

[00:11:55] And if you know Informatica, they are focused on the structured data management problem, the 15 to 20% of an enterprise's data estate.

[00:12:06] They're focused on unifying this data and delivering analytical insights from it.

[00:12:15] And I had the unique fortune over those 14 years to define the multi-year vision strategy and deliver the roadmap to enable organizations to manage their data and build ML models on structured relational data sets.

[00:12:32] And I would get asked by CIOs and chief data officers, chief analytics officers, Jitesh, I love everything you're enabling my organization and me to do with my structured data.

[00:12:48] What can you do for my 80, 85% of my enterprise data, which is unstructured?

[00:12:55] And that's historically been an incredibly challenging problem to solve.

[00:13:01] Highland being a leader in unstructured data, being a trusted custodian of that data, and combining that with the technology tailwinds of large language models, processing and compute,

[00:13:15] we find ourselves at a unique time where we can now answer that question that hasn't been answerable before.

[00:13:24] And essentially, we are AI enabling enterprise content.

[00:13:29] We are scaling how we enable organizations to manage their enterprise content and critically innovate with it to deliver new products and services,

[00:13:41] to inform organizations to build new business and operating models and deliver AI-enabled, content-intelligent, next-generation experiences in engaging with their customers.

[00:13:56] So what I've done over the last 14 years for structured data, the time has come to do that, and even more for unstructured data.

[00:14:07] And helping businesses bring to life unstructured data, a tie where it's needed for AI is no small feat.

[00:14:15] So kudos to you and your team for doing that.

[00:14:17] And also, I was reading at your recent community live events and subsequent summits across over here in Europe, you detailed for Highland customers your vision and the content innovation cloud.

[00:14:29] Again, for anyone hearing about this stuff for the first time, can you tell them a little bit more about this vision and, again, how it makes you different from your competitors out there?

[00:14:38] Our point of view is we have 14,000 customers globally that have entrusted us with this mission-critical data.

[00:14:48] This is not family images or photos of the last Formula One race they attended or the last, you know, NBA or baseball or what have you.

[00:14:58] This is, as I mentioned earlier, patient records, insurance claims, critical enterprise content that we persist, that sits in our technology, that is governed through our policies.

[00:15:16] And in meeting with CIOs, our customers are coming to us saying, you have all of my enterprise content.

[00:15:25] How are you, Gen AI, enabling me?

[00:15:29] There's an enormous opportunity there.

[00:15:31] And our point of view is the time for content management to redefine itself as an industry has come.

[00:15:39] Now, content management should not just be, A, I have 80% of my estate is this unstructured data.

[00:15:46] I don't know what's in it, but I just want to make sure that it's governed and I'm compliant and only the right people have access to the right information.

[00:15:54] That's critical.

[00:15:55] That's foundational.

[00:15:56] But the time and opportunity has come to innovate with the insights that are inside, that innovate to deliver analytical insights, what we call content intelligence.

[00:16:08] Innovate to then redefine your business processes and how you want to drive process automation with process intelligence.

[00:16:17] And innovate to deliver new application experiences, what we call application intelligence for our customers' lines of business to enable them to be productive.

[00:16:32] What we've seen over the last several years is, you know, we talk about digital transformation, but it's really digital fragmentation.

[00:16:42] CIOs are enabling sales, marketing, finance, every line of business within their organization with their favorite SaaS app.

[00:16:51] And there's multiple SaaS apps for one individual, what I call digital fragmentation.

[00:17:00] That's not really, truly transforming.

[00:17:05] And content intelligence on this foundation of content management and governance, combined with process intelligence and application intelligence enables true AI-powered transformation of an organization, enables true innovation.

[00:17:22] And that is what we call the content innovation cloud.

[00:17:57] And I love the phrase you use there, digital fragmentation, because I think unstructured data will be a challenge for so many people listening today and their organizations.

[00:18:11] And your words will resonate deeply with them.

[00:18:14] So for any of those people listening, are there any steps that you would advise enterprises to take to effectively begin harnessing unstructured data for more informed decision making, better automation outcomes, etc.?

[00:18:27] Any advice on the kind of steps you think they should be taking?

[00:18:30] And, you know, yes.

[00:18:33] First, your most mission-critical content, your most sensitive content is sitting in a content management system somewhere deep within your IT organization.

[00:18:49] It is your treasure trove that you previously have not thought or appreciated how you can extract unprecedented value from.

[00:18:58] You've simply put it in a repository to ensure it's locked down and governed.

[00:19:04] That is your data moat.

[00:19:06] That is your treasure trove.

[00:19:09] And the time has come to unlock value from it, to Gen AI enable it.

[00:19:15] Historically, you think of data lakes and data warehouses as where the data science and AI magic happens.

[00:19:23] It does for structured data.

[00:19:26] But unstructured data is sitting in your content management systems.

[00:19:30] There are existing policies that govern it.

[00:19:32] And on the backs of these repositories and these existing policies, you can Gen AI enable your organization, do so responsibly,

[00:19:41] and deliver content intelligence, process intelligence, and application intelligence outcomes for your organization.

[00:19:47] It's a radical shift in how CIOs should be thinking about their enterprise content and where it exists and where it sits and the value they can deliver from it.

[00:19:55] Same goes for chief data officers, chief analytics officers, chief privacy officers, and CEOs.

[00:20:03] Because the opportunity is immense, the technology is there, and their data is what defines how they operate, what products they build, their brand.

[00:20:14] Their enterprise content is their living record and history of their organization.

[00:20:21] Fantastic advice for people listening, but I suspect for yourselves at Highland, with so many advancements in AI, data processing, and automation,

[00:20:30] I've got to ask, where do you see the biggest opportunities for growth and innovation for you at Highland over the next few years?

[00:20:37] It's almost become impossible to predict the future.

[00:20:40] There's the old saying that we overestimate what we're going to predict in the short term and underestimate what we can in the long term.

[00:20:47] But how do you see all this taking shape for you at Highland over the next few years?

[00:20:52] First, I don't see it taking place over the next few years.

[00:20:55] I see it taking place over the next few months.

[00:20:57] We have our content intelligence capabilities actively in private preview with our customers,

[00:21:02] and we're going to be generally available going into 2025.

[00:21:07] And in subsequent months, we have multiple process intelligence, application intelligence,

[00:21:13] and content intelligence capabilities coming.

[00:21:15] We sit at the intersection of cloud, enterprise content, and AI at a time where innovation and technology tailwinds are enabling us to do incredible things.

[00:21:29] And that is what Highland is doing.

[00:21:31] And as CIOs, CDOs, CPOs, CEOs think about how they want to Gen.AI enable their organization,

[00:21:39] know that Highland is probably already doing it for them,

[00:21:44] and to reach out and partner with us so that we can help them realize unprecedented outcomes for their organization.

[00:21:55] And of course, the intersection of AI and automation is a huge topic right now.

[00:22:00] So how do you at Highland plan to stay competitive in a space that is evolving so rapidly?

[00:22:05] As you said, we're talking months here, not years.

[00:22:08] So how do you see that evolving?

[00:22:11] What role do you see AI playing in the future of enterprise automation?

[00:22:15] Anything you can share around that too?

[00:22:17] Yeah, it's really simple.

[00:22:18] Great question.

[00:22:21] Your AI is only as good as the data that you train your models with,

[00:22:26] that you fine-tune your models with,

[00:22:28] that you enable your models to access.

[00:22:30] 14,000 organizations globally have entrusted us with their most mission-critical data,

[00:22:38] their most mission-critical enterprise content.

[00:22:41] And it's incumbent upon us to ensure that they continue to remain governed

[00:22:46] and compliant in their use of this unstructured data, but to Gen.AI enable them.

[00:22:52] And so what makes us unique is 14,000 organizations have entrusted us with their data moat,

[00:22:59] and we are now going to deliver incredible value for those 14,000 customers.

[00:23:04] But equally, we recognize that there is content that sits outside of any Highland technologies

[00:23:09] within these 14,000 customers in other repositories.

[00:23:14] And we're going to Gen.AI enable them too, because we have the privilege,

[00:23:18] the honor of being the trusted custodians of their enterprise content, their unstructured data.

[00:23:23] We have the expertise over 30 plus years of being trusted custodians of their enterprise data.

[00:23:30] And we uniquely sit at the intersection of cloud, AI, and our customers' enterprise content,

[00:23:38] something no other organization really has access to.

[00:23:44] And a question I've got to ask, as a CEO in the tech space,

[00:23:47] how do you balance the need for innovation with some of the practicalities of running a global enterprise,

[00:23:54] especially one as diverse as Highland?

[00:23:56] Because I would imagine this is something that every business, large, small, medium,

[00:24:02] everything in between are struggling with right now and getting that balance right.

[00:24:05] But how do you balance that need?

[00:24:08] You know, we're an innovation-led company.

[00:24:10] Innovation is our DNA.

[00:24:12] We have consistently innovated and built out new capabilities over the years.

[00:24:17] And really, that's what we continue to do.

[00:24:21] As cloud, as a technology became a thing our customers wanted,

[00:24:26] and as a service model of delivery, we innovated and built Highland Cloud.

[00:24:31] And as Gen.ai, large language models, agentic AI, and the innovation in that space is maturing,

[00:24:42] we are embracing this technology disruption, applying it to enterprise content to deliver radical value.

[00:24:50] So, to me, it's really, if I were to summarize it, it's an incredible technology opportunity for Highland,

[00:24:58] and it's really just running the business.

[00:25:01] We're innovation-led, and we have to do it because it's incumbent on us.

[00:25:06] If not us, for our 14,000 customers, then who's going to do this?

[00:25:11] It's a powerful moment to end on.

[00:25:13] But before I let you go, one of the things that I always try to do, I guess,

[00:25:18] especially because of how busy they are, and I know how busy you must be,

[00:25:21] with 14,000 different customers around the world.

[00:25:25] So, some of the biggest names in business, VC funding and tech,

[00:25:28] have either been guests or maybe even listened to this podcast.

[00:25:31] So, let's see if there's something we can do for you here.

[00:25:34] Is that a person you'd love to have a private breakfast or lunch with?

[00:25:38] Who would that be?

[00:25:39] He or she might just get to hear this, and let's see what we can manifest here.

[00:25:44] But who would he be and why?

[00:25:45] One of my idols, heroes, is the great Warren Buffett.

[00:25:50] For many reasons, he's an investing legend.

[00:25:53] But for me specifically, because he doesn't jump on the hype.

[00:25:58] He's very pragmatic, he's very rational, very analytical, and he's always right.

[00:26:05] He's had remarkable investing record through measured, thoughtful,

[00:26:14] fundamental investment strategies in diverse industries.

[00:26:19] He started in insurance and very specific, but now he's in technology,

[00:26:23] and his track record continues.

[00:26:25] So, would love to connect and spend time and get any pearls of wisdoms and insights

[00:26:33] from the great Warren Buffett.

[00:26:35] What a great choice there.

[00:26:36] And let's hope with the six degrees of separation,

[00:26:39] somebody somewhere connected to our will be hearing this.

[00:26:43] Hopefully, we can set something up.

[00:26:44] Just let me know if it does happen.

[00:26:46] But we'll send that out into the universe.

[00:26:49] And for everyone listening wanting to find out more about you,

[00:26:52] your team or anything we talked about today, where's the best starting point?

[00:26:56] Where would you like to point everyone?

[00:26:58] Highland.com.

[00:26:59] Follow us on social media.

[00:27:02] And if you're already a customer, reach out to your Highland account representative.

[00:27:07] We live in unique times where Highland uniquely is equipped to deliver incredible value.

[00:27:17] We live in unique times where our customers are equipped to deliver incredible value to their customers.

[00:27:25] And the time is now.

[00:27:27] Because if you're not innovating with your content now, then your competitor is.

[00:27:33] And if they are the first mover, then they are going to realize outcomes and take share from you.

[00:27:42] So we are moving fast.

[00:27:44] We're operating with urgency.

[00:27:46] And I encourage all of you that are listening to look at your enterprise content, innovate with it,

[00:27:51] and partner with Highland because we have the innovations.

[00:27:55] And we are uniquely equipped because we're the trusted custodians of 14,000 customers globally of their enterprise content.

[00:28:04] I love that.

[00:28:05] And considering that, I think there's so much hype around AI at the moment.

[00:28:09] People talking about all the different solutions.

[00:28:11] But, of course, they cannot do anything without bringing that unstructured data to life.

[00:28:15] So I would urge anyone listening to check you out if they do have problems around unstructured data.

[00:28:21] And I also love chatting with you about how you're using your insights to automate enterprises with Highland experience

[00:28:28] and automate the company's trajectories from there.

[00:28:31] So many big things to talk about there.

[00:28:34] But just thank you for sharing your story today.

[00:28:36] Neil, it's been a pleasure.

[00:28:38] Thank you for having me.

[00:28:39] And we live in exciting times, looking forward to a subsequent time with you where we can share even more exciting innovations

[00:28:47] that are coming over the coming months.

[00:28:49] I think as we've heard today, the race to harness unstructured data to drive real-world AI transformation is already underway.

[00:28:59] And a big thank you to Jitesh for sharing that Highland's unique vision,

[00:29:04] one that aligns content, process, and application intelligence to try and empower organizations in ways that are practical and yet cutting edge.

[00:29:16] But where does your organization stand in tapping into unstructured data for innovation?

[00:29:23] As always, techblogwriteroutlook.com.

[00:29:26] Connect with me on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, just at Neil C. Hughes.

[00:29:30] Let me know your thoughts.

[00:29:31] I hope you enjoyed today's conversation as much as I did.

[00:29:34] Got another one lined up for you tomorrow.

[00:29:36] So please, come and join me again.

[00:29:38] We'll do it all again.

[00:29:40] And have a little fun along the way.

[00:29:41] But it's time for me to step outside now.

[00:29:44] So thank you for listening as always.

[00:29:46] And I will speak with you all bright and early tomorrow morning.

[00:29:50] Bye for now.