Hello, it’s Kent Graziano “The Data Warrior” Graziano here to make sure you don’t miss the inside scoop we got from Snowflake on a recent episode of the #TrueDataOps Podcast. I was joined by Vernon Tan, Senior Manager of frostbyte Industry Solutions at Snowflake, and Robert Guglietti, Solution Development Manager of Industry & Technical Innovation at Snowflake.
We discussed Snowflake's innovative frostbyte team, particularly their deployment of DataOps.live Enterprise to create the “Snowflake Solutions Center” (SSC) for Snowflake’s global Sales Engineering (SE) organization.
Rob and Vernon shared the obstacles they faced in scaling a complex data solution for an expanding base of internal customers and client accounts, as well as the benefits they’re seeing now that the SSC platform is up and running.
Delivering assets to transform the sales organization
Rob and Vernon both worked at Snowflake as Sales Engineers (SEs). “Right now we’re at a critical juncture in our evolution as a company,” Vernon explained, “going from simply selling technology capability to getting into actual solutions.”
In this new mode of selling, SEs need to change gears. Instead of focusing on the same set of features in every sales conversation, they have to tailor demos and presentations to highlight how Snowflake could solve business problems for any customer in any industry. “These things grew more and more complex,” Rob pointed out. “It was harder and harder for sales engineers to pivot on the fly, and showcase the power of Snowflake to potential customers without having a massive amount of time to set those things up.”
Vernon and Rob founded a centralized team—frostbyte—to give Snowflake’s global sales organization the information they needed for solution selling. They began creating assets showcasing the ways that Snowflake could solve business problems and deliver that content to Sales teams and customers.
The frostbyte team’s scaling challenge
Vernon remembers, “We formed the team, we started building out content, and we realized that rolling out end-to-end solution assets for people to adopt on their own machines on their own Snowflake accounts is kind of a complicated proposition.”
“I set up a central Snowflake account and replication ring around the world, to basically replicate all that data to every Snowflake cloud and region available to Snowflake sales engineers. Then, we set up data sharing for people to access all that data without really physically moving it after the replication is over.”
That framework was a start, but Vernon outlined several issues they still had to work out:
- What do we do when the data lands in that Snowflake account?
- How do we instantiate any first-class objects like tables or views that people need to work with that data and deploy the solution?
- How do we manage versions?
- How do we roll out the code for people to run reliably?
- How do we make sure the assets don't have errors?
- How do we do all this outside of Snowflake, such as with Jupyter notebooks?
As happens with scaling issues, the challenges only compounded over time. When the frostbyte team got started three years ago, their task was to replicate data to a few hundred accounts. Now, there are more than 1400.
“So the basis for the problem is, how do we do this at scale? How do we do it in a way that is seamless for an end-user group of hundreds of SEs across over 1400 demo accounts?”
Vernon shared that they explored building a solution in-house. “We exhausted every possible option that didn't involve partnering with a company or purchasing a tool or platform… but that comes with its own cost: technical debt, staffing requirements…it was very very onerous, very difficult.”
Embracing DataOps.live for Scalable Data Product Deployment
The frostbyte team needed a scalable solution for deploying dozens of advanced demo scenarios within a complex and ever-changing environment. Each Sales Engineer (SE) has different environmental variables and considerations. Each demo needs to be tailored to the specific needs of the customer.
Instead of building a platform from scratch, the frostbyte team turned to Snowflake’s trusted technology partner DataOps.live. The result is a flexible yet robust Snowflake Solutions Center that can efficiently manage everything the frostbyte team can throw at it. Read the public announcement here.
The Snowflake Solutions Center addresses the intricacies of delivering end-to-end solution templates—essentially each a unique data product—across numerous teams and accounts through the principles of #TrueDataOps. The complete solution, built on the DataOps.live platform, incorporates CI/CD, environment management, and collaboration to enhance data product access, governance, and usability.
“From a data product standpoint, it's all about eliminating friction as well,” shared Vern. “Because no matter how good your data product is, if the path to adoption is not there, you're not going to be successful.”
Snowflake’s collaborative innovation with DataOps.live
The partnership between Snowflake and DataOps.live was pivotal to the development of the Snowflake Solutions Center. This collaboration enabled standardized templates and frameworks that simplify the development process. Tasks that had relied on manual scripting now have automated, scalable solutions.
“DataOps.live delivered in a massive, massive way and we couldn't imagine where we'd be now without their partnership.”
- Vernon Percival Tan, Senior Manager frostbyte Industry Solutions, Snowflake
The frostbyte team can now deploy complex data models and ensure that updates and changes are seamlessly integrated across the organization.
Snowflake and DataOps.live have been technology partners since 2017. DataOps.live welcomed Snowflake as a venture capital investment partner in 2021, and in 2024 Snowflake named DataOps.live an Elite ISV Partner. Now, Snowflake has also become a strategic customer of DataOps.live.
Impact and future prospects
Vernon and Rob stress that the Snowflake Solutions Center plays an important role in Snowflake's transition from selling features to delivering comprehensive industry solutions.
By lowering the technical barrier for sales engineers, the SSC is enhancing the sales organization’s efficiency and effectiveness throughout the sales process. This strategic initiative not only improves Snowflake's ability to meet revenue targets but also accelerates adoption of the company’s solutions, reinforcing Snowflake’s position as a leader in the data cloud industry.
Even Snowflake can use help building a custom platform
Snowflake’s trust in DataOps.live technology underscores the importance of adopting DataOps for scalable data management solution. It also drives home an important point about IT resources. Even if your company has plenty of in-house technical skill—and Snowflake certainly does—a pre-built platform can accelerate your time to success versus trying to build a solution from the ground up.