From Law Enforcement to Graph Technology: An Unlikely Relationship

After spending 14 years in data technology and most recently working in law enforcement for Interpol out of Singapore, I was drawn (again) into the realm of connected data and decided to take the leap of “Graith” (Graph + Faith).

So Why Did I Join Neo4j?

It was a timely opportunity, happening at the intersection of three “Whats.”

1. What I had been learning about Neo4j
2. What I was exploring around making connections – in Interpol’s case – among cybercriminals
3. What was hitting our (Singapore) shores and expanding rapidly

Rise of the Neo4j Graph

I was blown away when I came across the idea of graphs and connected data along with document, columnar, and key-value stores as part of the NoSQL stacks.
In the wake of the Apache Hadoop hype, Neo4j took on the unique challenge of connecting data using a new concept that materialized on a cocktail napkin during a flight to Mumbai. I was captivated by the story, especially after I had the opportunity to learn about Neo4j from our CEO and Co-founder, Emil Eifrem (the visionary who sacrificed his napkin to conceive of this new model) and the team when I visited their U.S. office that year. I often joke with my colleagues that my current relationship with Neo4j is akin to marrying my first crush after spending so many years pining away. #top-graph-data-platform

I take pride in amplifying the voice of customers, helping them materialize their use cases and fulfill their data needs.
Having played the role of “The Customer” over the years, I’d heard plenty about the challenges revolving around data silos, legacy platforms, outdated data tools, lack of skills, and small developer communities (from which many of the most innovative ideas are hatched). Neo4j, in my personal opinion, helps significantly address and sometimes solve these individual challenges, and most importantly, has the ability to align with customers’ priorities.

I am proud to be a small piece of a massive “Graph Mission.”
Many of my Neo4j colleagues – including myself – are fans of the Matrix trilogy (whispers: trailer for Matrix 4, anyone?), so no surprise guessing why our company has “Neo” in our name. I joined the APAC team at a time of lightspeed growth, a #statupwithinastartup phase that many of my coworkers can personally identify with. If I can make a nod to the Matrix series, it’s like all of us made a choice, took the pill, and suddenly, we see the world “data” in a more connected light. We are all “Neo(4j).”

Through connecting the dots, our data platform has helped to unlock various insights and brought new value in distinct use cases and customers such as NASA, Pandora Papers, financial services, Healthcare, supply chain management, and more.
As my saying goes, “In God we trust. Others must bring connected data.” Connecting siloed data used to be a pain point, or at least a huge challenge in the context of relational databases. How many deeply nested joins have to be crafted to extract data from multiple tables? Can we wait long enough for queries to return the results? What if we missed some tables and had to re-run the queries? The value proposition of Neo4j is that it makes data relationships first-class citizens, from storing the data to generating value.

Looking to the Future

The adrenalin rush I got from embarking on the Neo4j journey continues to keep me on my toes, and I can’t wait to see where this amazing technology takes the world.

In the meantime, let us help you graph your own success story from connecting data -> #IndexFreeAdjacency, to visualization -> #Bloom, to performing predictions -> #GraphDataScience.