Yesterday, Bluewolf announced a partnership with Informatica, a longtime leader of data and integration software, and a firm that has made a successful transition from its on-premise roots to the new world that is dominated by the cloud, mobility, and digital. The timing couldn't be better for our two firms to come together.

When Informatica first came to market in the mid-1990's, it invented the acronym ETL (Extraction, Transform, and Load), as businesses began the tortuous exercise of moving large chunks of data from one system to another, primarily for the purpose of doing detailed analysis in what was then dubbed a "data-warehouse."

How times have changed. Back then, organizations were comfortable that data resided in a warehouse, much like consumers were comfortable that bank statements were organized neatly in the filing cabinet upstairs. Data moved slowly, unless you were processing a financial transaction. Data was kept, on the off chance that it was relevant, and only the most forward thinking and deep pocketed organizations truly used it effectively to make business decisions — mainly in the areas of budgeting, forecasting, and supply chain management.

Today, we are engulfed in data. We are obsessed with data. And it is no longer sufficient to move data at the speed it moved 15 years ago. Most importantly, live access to data — at the swipe of a thumb or the echo of a voice — is the medium through which we all live our lives today, whether depositing or transferring money, calling a car service, or using applications to collaborate and process a task. Live data is at the heart of all of the devices in our lives. When used properly, it is the currency that allows brands to engage with their customers, increase market share, wallet share, customer retention, and cost containment. Live data defines the increasingly dominant digital experience that all of our customers demand.

Soon after Informatica dominated the ETL market, their products broadened into the areas of real-time integration, master data management, and cloud integration. These are all components that allow organizations to move and transform data into insights that meet their customers digital demands. Data is at the center of increasing innovation and connecting dots so consumers and businesses can transact, decide, and even be guided to take the next best action.

Bluewolf is obsessed with optimizing customer moments; the tweet responding to a product defect, the inbound call to an agent to solve a problem, the pitch to a prospect about an innovative idea. We obsess over clumsy processes, like when your bag misses your flight, but you don't find out until the conveyor belt at baggage claim stops turning. We work with clients to identify these moments and uncover solutions that make customer moments better.

To be effective, live data — not real-time (which time isn't real?) — is critical. Informatica provides organizations with live data. Anywhere. Anytime. For any purpose. Bluewolf is excited to work with Informatica and together both inform and transform those customer moments that drive our clients' business.