revAlation London Recap: We Came, We Saw, We Collaborated

Community, collaboration, content. As the theme of this year’s revAlation London, that phrase might not be as classic as “Veni, vidi, vici,” but attendees came, saw, and were inspired to conquer their data management challenges to help grow their data-enterprise empires.

This year’s revAlation London was a fully engaging experience for the EMEA data community. The opening day kicked off with a meet-and-greet and governance training. By the second day, we were in full swing, with presentations, keynotes, and panels in between.

A Slight Scramble, then Satyen

The event attracted 170 attendees — despite a last-minute schedule change due to a surprise national rail strike in the UK.

In his keynote speech, Alation CEO Satyen Sangani offered a deep dive into decentralization, the new “natural order” of data management. Decentralizing data on a data intelligence platform, Satyen shared, is the first step to leveraging powerful new use cases, such as data mesh and data fabric.

In his keynote address, Sangani challenged organizations to embrace decentralization: “The world is realizing that, after decades of trying the opposite, decentralization is the natural order,” he pointed out.

Sangani also offered these insights:

• You need to find your data so you can use it.

• But to use your data you need to understand it.

• Understanding data is the goal of data intelligence.

• Data intelligence delivers the right data to the right person at the right time for the right purpose in the right medium and context — by learning and managing the who, what, when, where, why, and how of that data.

Decentralization, Sangani concluded, is key to enabling the two fundamental needs for a data intelligence platform:

• It needs to connect to and catalog everything.

• It needs to be engaged and adopted by everyone.

Sangani also noted that data intelligence software is the solution that aligns with the latest data megatrends, “putting the pieces together, while leaving infrastructure, tools, and people distributed.”

Insights from Industry Experts

The remaining keynotes were presented by industry thought leaders and experts:

• Tim Harford, a senior columnist for the Financial Times, shared how communicating with numbers is so rewarding — and also revealed how a lack of context can lead to data being misused, miscommunicated, and misunderstood.

• Steve Pimblett, CDO of The Very Group, outlined how Alation helped him build a sound foundation of trusted data to empower users and embrace the change in data culture throughout the business.

• Eva Murray, Snowflake’s lead evangelist for EMEA, shared how to build a data community inside an organization to fulfill the human need for connection and belonging.

In addition to the other events and activities, there was also plenty of networking throughout the event — the venue buzzed with activity and conversation.

Fabulous Feedback!

According to Steve Neat, Alation’s GM of EMEA, engagement was instant and contagious. “It was like a dinner party where you initially don’t know anyone, but you’re immediately made to feel welcome,” Neat recounts. “You meet like-minded, interesting people with whom you have fascinating discussions, enjoy good food and drink, and build strong relationships. And you discover you’re part of a wonderful community.”

Steve added, “This year we built out our community in EMEA, and I’m sure attendees can’t wait for next year.”

And don’t just take our word for it — here’s some of the immediate feedback:

Building on the revAlation Foundation

revAlation London was just the latest event to engage the data community, and we’ve got plenty planned — in EMEA and throughout the world — for the near future.

Curious to learn more? Experience the event for yourself, with access to keynote videos, slides, photos, and more!