AWS for Software Companies Podcast

Juan Sequeda, Principal Scientist and Head of AI Lab at data.world shares case studies and best practices for creating cultures of enablement around data quality and behaviours.Topics Include:Juan Sequeda introductionFoundation of knowledge & data graphs for AI2 million users in the OpenData catalogue, 40% of Fortune 500OneWeb Case Study – data from satellitesThe Culture of Enablement to empower your organization with dataOneWeb using AWS SagemakerPrologis Real Estate logistics data case studyTying staff rewards to data quality and behavioursDeveloping a culture of changeSession wrap up

AdPredictive’s Ali Levitan, EVP of Business Development & Growth, and Laura Crossley, VP of Experience, join us to discuss how AdPredictive’s partnership with AWS Clean Rooms is empowering marketing teams with data-driven tools. Topics Include:Introduction to Ali Levitan & Laura CrossleySolving the big problems for MarketersThe challenges marketers are facing in current environmentThe partnership of AWS Clean Rooms and AdPredictiveUse Cases and Success StoriesExpanding the power of data to non-technical marketing teamsOvercoming challenges throughout the integrationInnovating and staying focusedAdvice for other software leadersAdPredictive is passionate about supporting marketersAccessing the AdPredictive solutionInterview wrap upFree Trial of AdPredictive's tools are available here.

Tim LoGrasso of Kickdrum and Matt Thompson of AWS host a roundtable sharing best practices for software mergers and acquisitions.Topic include:Karthik Krishnamurthy introductionTim LoGrasso, Kickdrum introductionMaturity model for calculating risk in M&AM&A changes and challenges in 2023Matt Thompson, AWS introductionIs architecture a focus when considering M&A?Most M&A struggles due to product team misalignmentContainers, APIs in compute infrastructure easier to integrate than MonolithsM&As are often driven by Finance and Business Development, not so much Product TeamsTime metric to measure success and failure for M&AsBuilding a case for M&A vs buildPreethi Srinivasan (Druva, DataStax) on due diligence for M&A considerationsPre-integration Proof of Concepts increase the success rate90 day and 12 month plans with funding models to deliver the joint opportunityUnderstand the ‘white space’ to address with the combination of productsWhat can product teams do to accelerate value?Identify potential friction points and how to addressAccess to cheap compute power is importantGuidance on managing customer data during M&AThe customer data to reviewManaging people risk during an M&ASession wrap up

Deepak Thakral, VP of eCommerce at McAfee and Bob Page, SVP of Product at Tealium discuss Software Data Architectures and share best practices in a roundtable hosted by AWS’s Denise Zelt.Topics include:Deepak Thakral of McAfee introductionBob Page of Tealium introductionBob Page on helping customers with their end users and creating business valueSetting up priorities for data architecture and roadmapLessons learned from TealiumDeepak: How McAfee manages high performance & security with increasing dataShankar Venkataraman of Jivox on scaling and processing 10 times data volume in past 3 yearsSteven Tiell of DataStax on performing real time AI of time series dataBob Page on adoption of microservices and best practicesTradeoffs of transitioning from monolithic to micro servicesYuan Liu of Stripe on service oriented architecture vs microservicesAmit Pande of Dhruva providing SaaS based data protectionFinal thoughts and recommendations from Bob Page and Deepak Thakral

Grady Summers and Marty Bowers of Sailpoint share how their partnership with AWS resulted in their product running 1800x faster at 1/50th of the cost.Grady Summers & Marty Bowers introductionAutomating access and recertificationLeveraging Infrequent Access Tables in Dynamo DB for cost reduction and autoscalingGuidance and lessons learned

Sam Lakkundi, Vice President of Innovation and Head of Innovation Labs at BMC, share insight on the roadmap and massive benefits applying the power of data and the cloud to the Manufacturing industry.Topics include:About BMC SoftwareMoving their stack to AWSThe rapid change of the manufacturing industryPredicting and simulating downtime w a digital modelCreation of BMC HelixLeveraging AWS Sagemaker and TwinmakerSimulating manufacturing changes to identify opportunities to actionPresentation wrap up

Dr Lou Kratz, Principle Research Engineer of Bazaarvoice, shares how his organization generates value from data, cutting time to value by 6x and leveraging AWS to save big on cloud costs.Topics include:Making smart decisions automatically from data with machine learningBazaarvoice business modelUnderstanding value is the most important part of any machine learning projectLeveraging AI/ML for content moderationLeveraging AWS SagemakerBeing cost effective with serverless optionsCutting time to value by 6x with savings of 82%Investing in ML OpsFinal recommendations for data and ML Ops

Tom Godden, Enterprise Strategist with AWS and Executive advisor shares his experience as both a CIO and CTO on how to drive higher value from data strategies.Topics include:About the Enterprise Strategy teamLearning from customers using data to go from vision to valueSpeed and agility is the only differentiatorWhat it means to be a data-driven enterpriseHow companies like Disney, Formula 1 and Amazon use data as a differentiator“Data is the new oil” – CIO Magazine79% of the challenges around the adoption of data are cultural4 “Es” of data – Engage, Enable, Educate, EliminateInsist on having the dataOne way and two-way doors & Two pizza teamsDecentralize data producers, distribute throughout organizationBe prepared to re-evaluate your metricsGovern to enable, not to restrictBuilding tenets for data policies and proceduresA data asset is not successfully deployed until it is fully automatedThink big and execute smallBuilding a smarter organization leveraging machine learningA mission statements needs to mean somethingWork to eliminate biasesAvoiding “The Frozen Middle”Be clear on the “why” for implementing machine learningStart small and think big with AIPresentation wrap up

Jonathan Barouch, CEO of Local Measure, joins us to discuss their journey of leading and innovating through a major business disruption.Topics Include:Intro to Local MeasureThe pre-Covid business model and customersImpact of CovidLosing 75% of their revenue within monthsTeams navigating the early months of CovidReinventing the businessTesting, iterating new business modelsLeveraging AWS APIs for Amazon Connect Cloud Contact Center solutionBalancing the former focus and contact centre pivotThe importance of a call centre in lean timesMigrating call centres of airlines and banks within 30 daysChange management and the Local Measure solutionLeveraging AI/ML for additional customer efficienciesShaving seconds off calls equate to huge savingsLeveraging AI/ML to turbocharge agentsAdditional industries for the Local Measure solutionTransforming data for tangible benefitProactive, predictive and outbound engagementsGuidance for other Software Executives going through disruptionWhat’s next for Local MeasureInterview wrap up

Multiple software industry leaders speak about their journey in building a resilient SaaS business.Speakers:Adrian Deluca - Director of Solutions Architecture – AWSAshley Kramer - CMO, CSO, Acting CTO at GITLABKochira Okamoto - CEO at YayoiTendü Yoğurtçu, PHD - Chief Technology Officer at PreciselyMathias Golombek - Member of the Executive Board and Chief Technology Officer at ExasolAkshay Patel - Principal SaaS Business Development Lead at AWS Topics Covered:Introduction by Adrian DelucaBalancing growth and profitability Q/A by Tendü YoğurtçuBuilding and keeping both Exasol’s product lines running Q/A by Mathias GolombekWhat do Enterprise customers value most? Q/A by Ashley KramerBalancing growth and profitability in Japanese countries & pivoting the company in a new direction Q/A by Kochira OkamotoWhat strategies are used through SaaS factoring engagements Q/A by Akshay PatelFavorite Metric for growth and profitability Q/A by Kochira Okamoto and Tendü YoğurtçuWhat were you unprepared for, when you were releasing your SaaS products? Q/A by Mathias Golombek and Tendü Yoğurtçu and Ashley KramerWhat sort of attributes do you look for in your developer you hire? Q/A by Ashley Kramer and Kochira Okamoto and Tendü YoğurtçuHow is diversity playing out particularly in your business? Q/A by Tendü Yoğurtçu, Ashley Kramer and Akshay PatelWhat do you think about Re-skilling? Q/A by Mathias Golombek, Kochira Okamoto, Ashley Kramer, Akshay Patel and Tendü YoğurtçuWhat do you do to invest in yourself for personal growth? by Mathias Golombek, K, Ashley Kramer, Akshay Patel and Tendü YoğurtçuEnd – Conclusion by Adrian Deluca