No AI without Data Strategy, Vijayant Rai & Dhiraj Narang - Snowflake

How is Snowflake approaching the market now, and what is the role of partners? Who are the customers, and how are the partners involved?

Vijayant: Partners are a key part of our go-to-market strategy in India. I view them as force multipliers, helping us engage more effectively with customers. They’re involved from the start—advising customers on data strategies, integrating data into our platform, and applying business algorithms like analytics and reporting. As a cloud-based SaaS company, our technology is consumption-based, and partners bring domain expertise, such as in banking or financial services, to guide enterprises through transformation. While customers can directly consume our technology, partners play a crucial role in deployment within specific domains. Dhiraj can elaborate further on the ecosystem and its growth.

Dhiraj: Partners are vital in creating market opportunities, guiding customers on their cloud journey, and helping them unlock new potential. For example, one of India’s largest insurance companies is working with our partner Lumiq on ESG transformation. Bluepi is helping one of the largest companies move its entire data platform to Snowflake, while Shiprocket, a major logistics company, has transformed significantly with our solutions. A leading bank is partnering with Hoonartek to build a data platform. These examples highlight how partners drive success across various sectors, acting as true force multipliers in our ecosystem.

Can you share the percentage of business you're doing with partners?

Dhiraj: Our goal is to involve partners in every opportunity, aiming for 100% partner engagement. This requires a deliberate strategy. We need partners who are industry-focused and geographically present in specific regions. When Vijayant joined about nine months ago, one of our first tasks was building a partner ecosystem. We needed partners with industry expertise, whether in FSI,manufacturing, or retail.

For example, one of our partners has strong assets that allows them to break down silos, and create harmonized data platforms for analytics. NSEIT is doing excellent work with asset management companies across India. EY and Deloitte are working with top enterprises to help deliver the Snowflake message. A major finance company recently transformed their operations on Snowflake with EY’s help, moving their data to our platform.

In terms of geographic reach, we are also identifying partners for specific regions. For example, in Sri Lanka, a key market for us, Altria is helping us spread the Snowflake message. In India, SaasWorx is helping us engage in the north and east, while Kasmo is covering the south and west. We're building these partnerships ahead of future opportunities to ensure broad coverage.

AI is trending worldwide. How has Snowflake helped its partners transform in AI?

Vijayant: There’s no AI strategy without a data strategy. We help customers build their data strategy by organizing data, breaking silos, enabling data sharing, and bringing them to a marketplace for seamless collaboration. Our focus is on unlocking the power of data for everyone.

A key trend we’re seeing is the rise of citizen developers—people without coding skills accessing data through natural language inputs to drive business outcomes. Snowflake ensures they can do this in a secure, governed environment. We’re also training our partners on cutting-edge technologies like Document AI and Snowflake Container Services so they can offer more value to their customers.

How does Snowflake select its partners?

Dhiraj: We primarily look for companies with deep domain expertise. We provide them with building blocks and support, helping them create Snowflake solutions relevant to various industries like data science, manufacturing, and finance. Our goal is to tailor Snowflake for India by combining their expertise with our resources.

Data strategy is crucial for success, especially with the rise of AI. The acceleration of data is now a board-level priority, driven by AI's impact. Enterprises need to centralize their data first, then use it strategically. One example is a large payment aggregator in India, now able to share data across merchants and break down silos.

We also offer a data marketplace, allowing companies to share and monetize data. Firms like BlackRock and FactSet use our marketplace to provide data sets for others to enrich their own.

Digital-native companies, unburdened by legacy systems, have shown strong interest in Snowflake. They're drawn to our stack-based platform, which is easier to adopt and scale without heavy technical overhead. We’ve also seen significant traction in sectors like financial services, retail, manufacturing, and hospitality.

Lastly, the ISV and SaaS infrastructure has been a major force multiplier, creating innovative solutions and driving revenue. We’re focused on building a developer ecosystem and fostering sustainable partnerships that add value in India.

How is Snowflake performing in the Indian market?

Vijayant: India is one of our fastest-growing markets, and we see significant opportunities here. Many enterprises still rely on on-premise systems, so there’s a big potential to modernize their data estates and deliver faster outcomes. We’re just starting to tap into full potential.

Our SaaS-based platform helps customers quickly achieve results without the need for long, drawn-out implementations. We serve large and small enterprises, offering valuable data insights to companies of all sizes. This flexibility makes India a critical market for Snowflake, where we’re investing heavily.

For example, a small wealth management firm in Mumbai, founded by former financial professionals, leveraged Snowflake to quickly commission their data operations. SMEs are a key focus, with a dedicated sales team addressing this market. The SME market in India is estimated to have 4000-5000 potential customers. We at Snowflake work closely with our partners to reach these businesses.

One advantage we provide, especially to SMEs, is ease of use. Our SaaS platform requires minimal resources to run, allowing even small businesses to come on board easily and focus on solving their specific use cases.

Security is a top priority for us. Whether GDPR compliance, RBI regulations, or data privacy, we ensure global best practices are built into the platform. Our platform, with features like multi-factor authentication, is designed to secure data in transit and at rest. This level of security is the same for all customers, whether they have 100 or 100,000 employees.

Dhiraj: We view our partners as integral to our success. They are involved with us at every opportunity, and we’ve built a strong culture of collaboration with them. We ensure our partners are continuously trained on the latest features of our platform, allowing them to unlock new use cases for our customers.

We are actively involved with our partners to help them innovate and bring new solutions to the market. We host events like SPN (Snowflake Partner Network) Connects in Bangalore and Mumbai to engage with partners, and our monthly SPN Pulse meetings keep everyone updated on the latest platform innovations. This approach helps us and our partners achieve consistent success.

- Jointly done by Ankit Parashar

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