An expanding data management software platform company, Zaloni recently moved to Frontier RTP’s 600 building. We sat down with Michelle Byrd, chief people officer, to learn more about Zaloni and its new headquarters.
Zaloni describes themselves as the data lake company for data-intensive enterprise customers who want to turn data into meaningful business insights.
Zaloni’s unique offering is two-fold: they are subject matter experts in both big data solutions and data analytics software. Founded in 2007, the company first specialized in big data consulting before pivoting to platform and software solutions two years ago.
That pivot led Zaloni to create their own data management and enterprise software platform, the Zaloni Data Platform (ZDP).
ZDP turns volumes of data that have been disseminated across different departments, teams, and functions within an organization into a unified data supply chain. It then helps companies extract data from “data swamps,” or collections of data that sit stagnant and do not provide any value. ZDP currently has the capabilities to gather data from any source, including on-premises, cloud, multi-cloud and hybrid, to generate insights quickly.
“We very much walk hand in hand with our customers in this journey,” Michelle says. Everything about Zaloni’s platforms allows data to become more available, insightful, and meaningful. “There are a lot of platforms and players in the space. But I think there are very few where you can create an opportunity to bring everything in one place.”
Zaloni’s co-founders are Ben Sharma and Bijoy Bora. Ben, a technologist by training, now leads #TeamZaloni as CEO with a passion for big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Now an SVP for an AI platform based in San Francisco, Bijoy played a key role in getting Zaloni off the ground and strategically growing its team internationally.
Company culture across its many locations is a core asset to Zaloni’s brand identity, and that translates to its new space at Frontier RTP. Every facet of the new Zaloni headquarters was intentionally designed to create space for collaboration, finding harmony between the open floor plan, and creating areas for concentration without drawing barriers.
“We do really cool, cutting edge technology work in a high demand, growth space. We wanted our work space to represent an environment where our team could be excited about coming in for solutioning, innovating and collaborating with and for customers.” Byrd led the project with the help of Alliance Architecture. Rooms are formed by an eclectic use of furniture, shapes and texture that maximizes the 11,000 square-foot space.
When you walk into the new space, a world map acts as a focal point at the lobby. “We have a globally distributed team. Most of our employees are outside of the U.S. We wanted to bring the one-team idea and global make-up of our brand into our space at Frontier RTP,” Byrd says.
The common area, equipped with kitchen tables, bleachers, and mid-century globe lights, is called City Market, a nod to Zaloni’s Raleigh roots. Conference areas, meeting rooms and training rooms are all named for other cities where Zaloni has offices.
Photos taken by #TeamZaloni staff all around the world are hung up behind employees’ desks. “We expect growth in all markets, but are excited about what we are seeing developing in MEA and Europe right now,” Michelle says. Due to an interesting shift in the global big data platform market, Zaloni has had the opportunity to focus specifically on growth both domestically and internationally.
The company currently has employees in eight states in the U.S., as well as Bangalore, Guwahati, and Dubai. Forty-five employees, including the executive team, are located in the U.S.; India office locations employ an additional 120 in engineering and solutions roles. The Dubai location has six employees working in sales and solutions delivery.