Encourage ethical data management amid rising concerns: Confluent’s Jay Kreps

Individuals have the right to know how their personal data is being used and laws like The Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023, encourage ethical data management which is becoming increasingly important amidst rising concerns about privacy, security and transparency said Jay Kreps, cofounder and CEO, Confluent, a Nasdaq-listed leading data streaming company.

“Companies will have to focus a lot on structured data maintenance within organisations. However, determining compliance can be challenging and lead to greater scrutiny on data movement. This was evident with GDPR in Europe and similar regulations in the US,” he said.

He said that they have observed two conflicting pressures at play in companies when it comes to managing data.


“On one hand, there's a strong urge to leverage data for various purposes — to enhance customer interactions, fuel next-gen AI advancements, and provide more personalised experiences. On the other hand, there’s the need to secure and control the data, ensuring compliance and safety,” said Kreps.

“Within the same organisation, you often find two distinct teams advocating for Opposite approaches.” In India too, data streaming is increasingly becoming vital for companies to enhance their operational agility and gain real-time insights.

“Streaming technology enables the real-time synchronisation of data, connecting all these disparate sources. An apt analogy is that of a central nervous system. The capability to unify data streams from different organisational segments empowers better decision making and the creation of personalised customer experiences,” he said.

In such a milieu, India has emerged as Confluent’s second largest country in terms of the employee base. “A substantial portion of our engineering team is situated in India, contributing significantly to our workforce. India plays a pivotal role in product development and much of our core development occurs in India,” said Kreps.