What's Next in Data Streaming: 4 Key Trends for IT Leaders | Life Is But A Stream Podcast
Is your data strategy keeping up with your AI ambitions? In this special episode, we unpack findings from Confluent’s 2025 Data Streaming Report—a global pulse check on how IT leaders (4,000+ to be specific) are using data streaming to drive innovation, faster time to market, and reduce costs and complexity.
Learn more: https://report.confluent.io/
Our guest, Andrew Sellers, Senior Director of Technology Strategy group at Confluent, explores how tech leaders across industries are especially using data streaming platforms to power real-time AI and create always-on customer experiences. From breaking down data silos to enabling real-time decision-making, you’ll learn how data streaming platforms are powering the next wave of innovation by turning data into real-time value. With standout ROI—44% of IT leaders report an ROI of 5x—and competitive gains, tech leaders already on board are outpacing the rest.
Tune in for actionable insights and what it takes to unlock AI’s full potential with a modern data foundation.
ABOUT THE GUEST:
Dr. Andrew Sellers leads Confluent's Technology Strategy Group, a team of research technologists, Field CTOs, and customer advisory leaders supporting product and GTM strategy development, competitive analysis, and thought leadership. Andrew has previously brought several AI-enabled commercial offerings to market as a technology leader, applying data streaming extensively to ensure application data is well contextualized and current. Data streaming commercial products he designed, built, and delivered have generated tens of millions in revenue. He is an author of dozens of peer-reviewed publications and a co-inventor listed on over 100 patents, primarily related to the application of AI tools to problems in cybersecurity and risk management.
Andrew received his PhD in computer science from the University of Oxford, where his dissertation investigated the use of AI to automate web-scale data extraction. He was the valedictorian of his class at the U.S. Air Force Academy and a Truman Scholar.
GUEST HIGHLIGHT:
“The thing that’s so extraordinary about data streaming—what the survey data informs us about is that the more one invests in it, the better the ROI becomes.”
“We've all played with things like ChatGPT, it's a fun toy, but it's not adequate for your enterprise use cases because it doesn't really know about your domain-specific data.”
EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:
02:46 - What is A Data Streaming Platform?
04:21 - 44% IT Leaders See 5x ROI with Data Streaming
11:18 - Future-Proofing with Data Streaming Platforms
13:05 - AI Readiness and the Data Streaming Advantage
19:04 - Shift Left: Apply Governance Close to the Source
21:22 - Data Products
24:32 - Scaling Analytics with Federated Data Ownership
25:59 - Wrap-Up: Insights, Takeaways & Where to Learn More
DIVE DEEPER INTO DATA STREAMING:
► EP1—Stream On: Unleashing Innovation with Data Streaming: https://youtu.be/Y-J_J75H0MU
► EP2—Processing Without Pause: Continuous Stream Processing and Apache Flink®: https://youtu.be/fxrcg9vNOfM
► EP3—The Connective Tissue: Shift Left to turn Data Chaos to Clarity: https://youtu.be/gDl2-DEuKkk
LINKS & RESOURCES:
► 2025 Data Streaming Report: https://report.confluent.io/
► Current 2025: https://current.confluent.io/
► Connect with Joseph: @thedatagiant
► Joseph’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thedatagiant
► Andrew’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/andrewjsel/
► Learn more at: https://cnfl.io/40rKeSD
► Check out the Life Is But A Stream playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist
OUR SPONSOR:
Your data shouldn’t be a problem to manage. It should be your superpower. The Confluent data streaming platform transforms organizations with trustworthy, real-time data that seamlessly spans your entire environment and powers innovation across every use case. Create smarter, deploy faster, and maximize efficiency with a true data streaming platform from the pioneers in data streaming. Learn more at confluent.io.
ABOUT THE SHOW:
Hosted by Joseph Morais, Life Is But A Stream is for technology leaders looking to embrace the data revolution and transform their organizations through data streaming. Instant analytics, next level customer experiences, and business innovation that was previously unimaginable: it all starts with Life Is But A Stream.
#datastreaming #dsp #confluent