By Maninder
It has been a good five years since the data revolution began to take shape. We would often hear about data is the new gold. This could not have been more true and looking into the future it forms the basis of all things Machine Learning, Deep learning and Artificial intelligence. In all this, one name that has continually stuck around, to most like an enigma is that of Palantir. Almost all those somewhat familiar with the name are aware of it, yet nobody is able to clearly formulate what it does.
Until recently, this was probably somewhat by design too. The latest IPO has shed some light on the company and it is truly one of the most exciting companies around today. And the answer probably lies in Palantir’s multidimensional approach to solving the same problems. In understanding the interoperability, inter-relationships, probabilistic, situational scenario mapping and putting all of these together precisely. There are a tons of data oriented companies out there today and most take the easy approach to solving for enterprise problems. They tend to emulate enterprises as they exist and operate today – in silos. The payments team is concerned about payments, the procurement teams are concerned about procurement, the engineering team is concerned about product and the sales teams are worried about writing and executing contracts. Software today is solving for each of these enterprise verticals. Enterprise is able to combine them together and to study them as a whole. This is novel, exciting and everything in between that nerds like myself could ever dream of.
Imagine the risk element in a world where each company is able to prevent misalignments before they happen. Business goes increasingly away from an art but everything becomes data driven with increasing precision.
Palantir currently markets three software – Apollo, Gotham and Foundry. It is very true that the company started carrying out intelligence contracts of the US DOD, many times providing key intel in combat missions. It has since made a push for clients in big commercial space, mostly in tackling big supply chain problems with the likes of Airbus and Boeing. I am extremely excited for what holds in the future of Palantir and you should be too. It is a pioneer and we should expect others to join the crusade in the coming years, but Palantir will continue to lead the way.
In a nutshell, Palantir democratizing intelligence on the basis on real data, breaks silos that have long existed and in effect enables effective governance, transparency and cohesiveness between teams, giving their clients an exceptional operational advantage and clarity in execution, the likes of which have not existed before. Palantir is not only solving for a use case or a single department within an organization but foundry is able to look to inter-relationships and interdependencies to a level that inspire high confidence and precise intelligence. To me as an outsider it is the work of a soul touching artist with the precision of a nano-sized semiconductor. It is this mission, which I believe the world is ready for but does not fully know it yet.