Geoff Thomas, SVP in APJ, Qlik
Earlier this year, Samsung Electronics banned its employees from using popular generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) tools such as ChatGPT after discovering staff uploaded sensitive code to the platform, The Straits Times wrote.
Incidents such as this created an uneasy feeling about the security aspect of popular GenAI tools. But what exactly can businesses do to protect their data?
To answer this big question, e27 spoke to Geoff Thomas, SVP in APJ, at data solutions company Qlik.
“We will not stop the innovation around this kind of model. It is a good thing; we want that. But our position is to help organisations have their data host in order,” he says.
For Qlik, this involves building a data fabric to integrate or unify different data sources, environments, and pipelines to understand the lineage of data and where it comes from. But Thomas explains that the most pressing issue that companies are facing today is finding that balance between protecting their data and maximising the use of innovative tools.
Find out how they can get there in this interview. The following is an edited excerpt of the conversation.
How exactly can we achieve a balance between innovation and data protection?
They must build a governance model, particularly in organisations in highly regulated environments such as the public sector, banking and financial services. So, they need to build a data framework, a governance model around how they are accessing data, which employees can access data, and how they integrate different data sources.
It needs to be driven by the CFO or CEO. That is why these days, nearly every organisation has a Chief Data Officer who does not report to the CIO; it is no longer considered a technology function. It is a critical business function.
It is nice to be sponsored by the CEO as they need an overall data strategy around it. Because, even if you get all the right technology and bits in place if you have a data-illiterate workforce, then that is going to limit us as well. So, it is all about having a top-down strategy around data governance, a framework for data.
It is no longer the domain of data scientists in white coats, locked away in a cupboard somewhere. Democratisation is probably an overused term, but it gives everyone the benefits.
In Southeast Asia (SEA), is there any aspect of this market that are more urgent for businesses to tackle when it comes to security?
Singapore and SEA are probably our fastest-growing markets; India is another example. It is a vibrant market. [There is a] huge opportunity here with data.
Qlik is working with [businesses in SEA] to help them have the right platform and strategy in place around data quality. When I started in the industry many decades ago, it was a “garbage in, garbage out” principle. This means you do not have quality data, you do not know where that data came from, how it is being used, or who has access to it.
It is understanding the lineage of the data as you have data coming from multiple sources. It could be operational legacy systems, mainframe systems, or cloud systems. They could be trying to stream that data in real-time into a platform such as Snowflake or their cloud platform of choice. So it is about getting that foundation in place. And that is what we do.
Two of the largest vertical industries we work with here in Singapore are banking and financial services and the public sector. They are heavily regulated industries.
When it comes to the use of GenAI … How do they ensure that they are getting the benefits of those platforms when having a situation like Samsung, where their crown jewels are disappearing into the ether? Again, it goes back to building trust. We are helping these customers build a framework where they can trust the data, where it comes from, and how clean it is.
So we released a set of OpenAI connectors so our customers can use the platform. But if they want to augment that with Gen AI models such as chat GPT, we have connectors for that.
The year 2024 is coming soon. What do you think businesses should prioritise regarding AI and security next year?
I think some of the biggest priorities [include] having a robust data strategy. Data privacy is still going to be very, very important, particularly in some of the heavily regulated industries. We know what the ramifications can be if sensitive customer data gets out … so security will continue to be really important.
The hallucination rate of GenAI models is around 15 to 20 per cent. So, 80 per cent of the time, they give useful feedback and information, but 20 per cent of the time, they are making a guess.
I have been around long enough in this industry to know that it is not going to stop; what will accelerate is the pace of innovation. Everyone is talking about ChatGPT, for example, but it will be something else tomorrow. These things are going to continue to be refined. So, it is harnessing the power of that to help them drive innovation without creating potential security issues. Another [trend] around GenAI will be, what is the business use case where they can get benefits?
If you read the CIO Survey, you will see investment growing in data and cybersecurity. These two are obviously intertwined and will continue to be big focuses.
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Image Credit: Qlik
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