Snowflake Intelligence Officially Launches in Japan with Innovative AI Data Solutions

On December 9, Snowflake Inc., an AI data cloud provider headquartered in Tokyo, held a press conference to announce the official launch of Snowflake Intelligence in Japan. This new tool is a corporate-level intelligence agent that allows businesses to query their data using natural language. The event showcased success stories from various companies that participated in the public preview of Snowflake Intelligence, including Kokuyo Co., Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, and JINS.

During the conference, Ryuro Ukita, the CEO of Snowflake Japan, offered a demonstration of Snowflake Intelligence, emphasizing its unique attributes such as authority management, governance, and the ability to gain insights from unstructured data. Ukita stated, "Data is the 'fuel' for AI. Leveraging unstructured data, along with structured data, deepens insights. A simple operation combined with strong security and governance is essential for supporting that data."

Snowflake Intelligence: Aiming for Inclusive Data Utilization

One key aspect highlighted was the concept of an inclusive AI agent designed for everyone involved in data utilization. Hiroshi Tanaka from Kokuyo's Business Supply Division shared insights under the theme "Inclusive Data Utilization with Snowflake Intelligence," aimed at overcoming hurdles faced by data users. Kokuyo developed their analytical foundation around Snowflake, effectively categorizing their users into 'data leaders', 'core users', and a significantly large group of 'data users'.

Tanaka pointed out that while they have many data users, this group faced substantial barriers in utilizing data efficiently. By considering the implementation of Snowflake Intelligence, the company aimed to lower these barriers, allowing everyone to ask questions in a chat format without heavy technical requirements.

Using previously established data models, Kokuyo managed to create an agent capable of conducting ad-hoc analysis of sales by product or customer axis within just two months. Currently, this tool is undergoing public preview use, where feedback and usage data are monitored to facilitate ongoing improvements.

Tanaka claimed, "We now have an entry point for data utilization. Individuals facing business challenges can now develop AI agents themselves, and there has been positive feedback from management and managers." However, he also noted the need to enhance the quality of responses and user experience (UX) in the future.

Efficient AI Utilization in Diverse Business Fields

Tetsuya Mitsui from Fujifilm's ICT Strategy Department discussed their approach to adapting efficiently to changes within the data utilization environment. He presented the three focal objectives for the Snowflake Intelligence verification process: rapidly achieving Proof of Value (PoV) for AI utilization, democratizing AI through natural language use, and efficiently maintaining security levels.

One of their case studies involved enhancing data utilization for various production processes in diverse fields. The complexity and increase in monitoring items raised cognitive load significantly. To meet these challenges, they prototype several quality control AI agents and established a system where users can easily switch agents via the Snowflake Intelligence UI, which accelerates verification.

In the realm of business operations, they developed agents to assist with sales data analysis, report generation, and issue identification. By applying Snowflake Intelligence, they managed to streamline UI layer development, allowing engineers to focus more on crucial areas such as data modeling and contextual engineering, thereby enhancing real-world applications.

Mitsui reflected, "While I can’t say we met all three objectives during our verification period, our concentration on context engineering to improve accuracy and accelerate AI agent PoC showcases promising results for future enhancements and the expansion of use cases."

Building a Reliable Sales Analysis Agent

Mikako Kawashima from JINS shared their project titled “Reliable Sales Analysis Agent,” which leverages Snowflake Intelligence. Marking 2024 as their “AI Year,” JINS plans to establish an AI promotion department in November. They began their internal verification of Snowflake Intelligence amidst multiple ongoing projects.

Previously, JINS faced challenges in analyzing sales across approximately 550 domestic stores due to the lengthy process of exporting data from Snowflake to spreadsheets. The goal was to automate data collection, analysis, and insights with AI so that personnel could focus on actionable tasks. An initial step involved creating a structured report that includes critical data and AI-generated comments.

Identifying the compatibility of Snowflake Intelligence with chatbot systems prompted the commencement of internal tests. With the capability to instruct the analysis in natural language, JINS found that even non-engineers could successfully develop the tool. They launched the first operational version just weeks into the project, expediting both development and deployment phases.

Currently, they are in the PoC phase, utilizing actual sales data, which has generated positive early feedback from sales executives and management, stating it was easy to utilize even for those unfamiliar with data analysis.

However, some issues related to processing speed were identified, prompting JINS to focus on optimizing usage scenarios and enhancing speed. Looking ahead, expanding the tool’s adaptability across various departments and for overseas operations is on their radar. Kawashima expressed, "The simplicity of use allows individuals without data science knowledge to easily engage, potentially serving as a cornerstone for our data culture. As we continue to build our data infrastructure, we aim to elevate the knowledge of users to facilitate informed decision-making."

Conclusion

In closing, Ryuro Ukita mentioned other companies and launch partners that are advancing the integration of Snowflake Intelligence. He concluded, "Our mission with Snowflake Intelligence is to deliver new business models to our clients. This represents a significant first step towards fostering a culture of greater data utilization within organizations."

This article sheds light on the exciting advancements of Snowflake Intelligence and its implications for businesses in Japan as they embrace AI-driven data insights.