>> Commentator: Live from Stanford University it's theCUBE covering the Women in Data Science Conference 2017. (jazzy music) >> Hi, welcome back to theCUBE. I'm Lisa Martin live at Stanford University at the second annual Women in Data Science WiDS tech conference. We are here with Ann Rosenberg from SAP. She's the VP head of Global SAP Alliances and SAP Next-Gen. Ann, welcome to the program. >> Thank you so much. >> So SAP is a sponsor of WiDS. Talk to us a little bit about that, and why is it so important for SAP to be involved in this great womens organization. >> So first of all, in my role as working with SAP's relationship to academia and also building up innovation network we see that data science is a very, very key skill set, and we also would like to see many more women get involved into this. Actually (mumbling) right now as we speak we are at the same time in 20 different countries around the world, 24 events we have. So we are both in Berlin, we are in New York, we are all over the world. So it's very important. I call it kind of a movement what we are doing here. It's important that all over the world that we inspire women to go into data science and into tech in general. So it is important thing for SAP. First of all, we need a lot of data science interested people. You also need our entire SAP ecosystem to go out to universities and be able to recruit a data science student both from a diversity perspective, whatever you are a female or a man of course. >> Absolutely, you're right. This is a very inspiring event. It's something that you can really actually feel. You're hearing a lot of applause from the speakers. When you're looking enabling even SAP people to go out and educate and recruit data scientists, what are some of the key skills that you're looking for as the next generation of data scientists? >> This is an interesting thing because you can say that you need like a very strong technical skill set, but we see more and more, and I saw that after I moved to Silicon Valley for two years that also the whole thing about design thinking, the combination of design thinking and data science is becoming something which is extremely important, but also the whole topic about empathy and also, so when you build solution you need to have this whole purpose driven in mindset. So I think what we're seeing more and more is that it's great to be a great data science, but it takes more than that. And that's what I see Stanford and Berkeley are doing a lot, that they're kind of mixing up kind of like the classes. And so you can be a strong data science, but at the same time you also have the whole design thinking background. That's some of the things that we look for at SAP. >> And that's great. We're hearing more and more of that, other skills, critical thinking, being able to not only analyze and interpret the information, but apply it and explain it in a way that really reflects the value. So I know that you have a career, you've been in industry, but you've also been a lecturer. Is this career that you're doing now, this job in alliances and next-gen for SAP sort of a match made in heaven in terms of your background? >> I actually love that question, probably the best question I ever got because it is definitely my dream job. When I was teaching in Copenhagen for some years ago I saw the mind of young people. I saw the thesis, the best of master thesis. I saw what they were able to do, and I'm an old management consultant, and I kept on thinking that the quality of work, the quality of ideas and ideations that the students come with were something that the industry could benefit so much from. So I always wanted to do this matchmaking between the industries and the mind of young people. And it's actually right now I see that it's started kind of, what I at least saw for the last two years that the industries that go to academia, go to universities to educate or to students to work on new ideas. And of course in Silicon Valley this has been going on for some time now, but we see all over the world. And the network that I'm responsible for at SAP, we work in more than 106 countries around the world, with 3,100 universities. And what I really want to do now, I call it the Silicon Valleys of the world where you are mapping the industries with academia with the accelerators and start ups. It's just an incredible innovation network, and this is what I see is just so much growing right now. So it's a great opportunity for academia, but equally also for the industry. >> I love that. Something that caught my eye, I was doing some research, and April 2016 SAP announced a collaboration with the White House's Computer Science for All Initiative. Tell us about that. >> I mean the whole DNA of SAP is in education. And therefore we do support a number of entity around the world. Whatever we talk about building up a skill set within data science, building skill set in design thinking, or in any kind of development skills is really, really important for us. So we do a lot of work together with the governments around the world. Whatever you talk about the host communication, for example, we have programs called Young Thinkers, Beatick, where you go out to high schools or you go into academia, to universities. So when this institute came up, we of course went in and said we want to support this. So if I look at United States, so we have a huge amount of universities part of the network that I'm driving with my team. So we have data curriculums, education material, we have train to train our faculties, boot camps. We do hackathons, coach games. We do around 1,200 to 1,600 hackathon coach games per year around the world. We engage with the industries out to the universities. So therefore it was a perfect match for us to kind of support this institute. >> Fantastic. Are there any things that SAP does as we look at the conference where we are, this Women in Data Science, are there things that you're doing specifically to help SAP, maybe even universities bring in more females into the programs, whether it's a university program or into SAP? >> Yeah, so for SAP in our whole recruiting process we definitely are looking into that. There is a great mix between female and male people who get hired into the company, but we also, it all start with that you actually inspire young women to go into a data science education or into a development education. So my team, we actually go in before SAP recruiting get involved where we, that's why we build up the strong relationships with universities where we inspire young women, like we do at this event here to why should they go in and have a career like this. So therefore you can see there's a lot of pre=work we need to be done for us to be able to go in and go into the recruiting process afterwards. So SAP do a lot of course in the United States, but all over the world to inspire young women to go into tech. And SAP does what we see today all over the world we have huge amount of female from SAP, female speakers at all our events who stand as role models to show that they are women, they are working for SAP, and are very, very strong female speakers and are female role models for all young women to get involved. So we do a lot of stuff to show that to the next generation of data science of whatever it is in tech. >> Yeah, and I can imagine that that's quite symbiotic. It's probably a really nice thing for that female speaker to be able to have the opportunity to share what she's doing, what she's working on, but also probably nice for her to have the opportunity to be a mentor and to help influence someone else's career. So you mentioned accelerators a minute ago, and I wanted to understand a little bit more about SAP Next-Gen Consulting, this collaboration of SAP with accelerators or start ups. How are you partnering to help accelerate innovation, and who is geared towards? Is it geared more towards student? Or is SAP also helping current business leaders to evolve and really drive digital transformation within their companies? >> So the big (mumbling) I'm working on right now too is as mentioned you said SAP Next-Gen is called SAP Next-Gen Innovation With Purpose. So it's linked to the 17 U.N. global goals. We've seen from now in Silicon Valley when you innovate you actually make innovation web purposes included. And that's why we kind of agreed on in SAP why don't we make an innovation network where the main focus is that all the innovation we get out of this is purpose driven linked to the 17 global goals. Like the event here is the goal number five, gender equality. In that network we actually do the matchmaking between academia. We look at all the disrupted new technologies, experience the technologies like machine learning like what's being discussed a lot here, block chain IOT. And then we look at the industry out there because the industries, they need all the new ideas and how to work with all the new opportunities that technology can provide, but then we also look into accelerator start ups. The huge amount, and often when you're in Silicon Valley you kind of think this is the world of the start ups of the world. So when you travel around the world, that's we we looked into a lot the last two years. We call the Silicon Valleys of the world, any big city around the world, or even smaller cities, they have tech hub. So you have Ferline Valley, you have Silicon Roundabout in London, you have Silicon Alley in New York, and that is where there is a huge amount of gravity of start ups and accelerators. And when you begin to link them together with the university network of the world and together with the industry network of the world, you suddenly realize that there is an incredible activity of creativity and ideations and start ups, and you can begin to group that into industries. And that give industries the opportunity not only to develop solution inside the company, but kind of like go in and tap into that incredible innovation network. So we work a lot with seeding in start up, early start ups into corporates, and also crowd source out to academia and the mind of young people all Next-Gen Consulting project where you similar work with students at universities on projects. It could be big data science project. It could be new applications. So I see like as the next generation type of consultancy and research what is happening in that whole network. But that is really what SAP Next-Gen is, but it is linked to the 17 U.N. global goals. It is innovation with purpose, which I'm really happy to see because I think when you build innovation, you really think about in the bigger, the whole (mumbling) thing that we know from singularity. You should think about a bigger purpose of what you're doing. >> Right, right. It sounds like though that this Next-Gen Consulting is built on a foundation of collaboration and sharing. >> It is, it is, and we have three Next-Gen lab types we set up. In this year we built, last year, we are a new year now, we built 20 Next-Gen labs at university campuses and at SAP locations. And here in the new year more labs is being set up. We are opening up a big lab in New York. We just recently opened up one in Valdov at SAP's headquarter. We have one here in Silicon Valley, and then we have a number of universities around the world where SAP's customers go in and work with academia, with educators and students because what do you do today if you're in industry? You need to find students who are strong in machine learning and all the new technologies, right? So there's a huge need for in industry now to engage with academia, an incredible opportunity for both sides. >> Right, and one last question. Who are you, in the spirit of collaboration, who do you collaborate back with at SAP corporate? Who are all the beneficiaries or the influencers of Next-Gen Consulting? >> So I collaborate, inside SAP I collaborate, SAP have a number of, we have ICN, Innovation Center Network. We have our start up focus program. We have a number of innovation, the labs, a number of basically do all our software developments, so they're heavily involved. We have our whole go to market organization with all our SAP customers and industry, I call them clubs. And then externally is of course academia, universities, and then it is the start up communities, accelerators and of course, the industry. So it is really like a matchmaking. That's like, when people ask me what do you do, and I'm a matchmaker. That's really what I am. (Lisa laughs) >> I like that, a matchmaker of technology and people all over. So you're on the planning committee for WiDS. Wrapping things up here, what does this event mean to you in terms of what you've heard today? And what are you excited about for next year's event? >> So for me, one year ago when I heard about this year I kind of said this is important, this is very important. And it's not just an event, it's a movement. And so that was where I went in and said you know, we want to be part of this, but it must be more than just an event here. It's staying for the need to be much more than that. And this is where we all teamed up, all the sponsors together with ISMIE, and we said okay, let us crowd source it out, let us live stream it out much more than ever. And this is also what the assignment is now, that we to so many locations. This is just the beginning. Next year is going to be even bigger, and it's not like that we will wait to next year. We this week announced the SAP Next-Gen global challenges linked to the 17 U.N. global goals. So we are inspiring everybody to go in and work on those global challenges, and one of them is goal number five, which is linked to this event here. So for us and for me this is just the beginning, and next year is going to be even bigger. But we are going to do so many event and activity up to next year. My team in APJ, because of the Chinese New Year, have already been planned coming up here. >> Lisa: Fantastic. >> And we have been doing pre-event, (mumbling) events. So again, it is a movement, and it's going to be big. That's for sure. >> I completely can feel that within you. And you're going to be driving this momentum to make the movement even louder, ever more visible next year. >> Ann: Yeah. >> Well Ann, thank you so much for joining us on The Cube. We're happy to have you. >> Thank you so much for the opportunity. >> And we thank you for watching The Cube. I am Lisa Martin. We are live at Stanford University at the second annual Women in Data Science Conference. Stick around, we'll be right back. (jazzy music)

>> Narrator: Live from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. It's theCUBE covering Women in Data Science Conference 2018. Brought to you by Stanford. >> Welcome back to theCUBE. Our continuing coverage live at the Women in Data Science Conference 2018, #WiDS2018. I'm Lisa Martin and I'm very excited to not only be at the event, but to now be joined by one of the speakers who spoke this morning. Mala Anand, the executive vice president at SAP and the president of SAP Leonardo Data Analytics, Mala Anand, Mala, welcome to theCUBE. >> Thank you Lisa, I'm delighted to be here. >> So this is your first WiDS and we were talking off camera about this is the third WiDS and 100,000 people they're expecting to reach today. As a speaker, how does that feel knowing that this is being live streamed and on their Facebook Live page and you have the chance to reach that many people? >> It's really exciting, Lisa and you know, it's inspiring to see that we've been able to attract so many participants. It's such an important topic for us. More and more I think two elements of the topic, one is the impact that data science is going to have in our industry as well as the impact that we want more women to participate with the right passion and being able to be successful in this field. >> I love that you said passion. I think that's so key and that's certainly one of the things, I think as my second year hosting theCUBE at WiDS, you feel it when you walk in the door. You feel it when you're reading the #WiDS2018 Twitter feed. It's the passion is here, the excitement is here. 150 plus regional WiDS events going on today in over 50 countries so the reach can be massive. What were maybe the top three takeaways from your talk this morning that the participants got to learn? >> Absolutely, and what's really exciting to see is that we see from a business perspective that customers are seeing the potential to drive higher productivity and faster growth in this whole new notion of digital technologies and the ability now for these new forms of systems of intelligence where we embed machine learning, big data, analytics, IoT, into the core of the business processes and it allows us to reap unprecedented value from data. It allows us to create new business models and it also allows us to reimagine experiences. But all of this is only possible now with the ability to apply data science across industries in a very deep and domain expertise way, and so that's really exciting and, moreover, to see diversity in the participants. Diversity in the people that can impact this is very exciting. >> I agree. You talked about digital business. Digital transformation opens up so many new business model opportunities for companies but the application of advanced analytics, for example, alone opens up so many more career opportunities because every sector is affected by big data. Whether we know it or not, right? And so the opportunity for those careers is exploding. But another thing that I think is also ripe for conversation is bringing in diverse perspectives to analyze and interpret that data. >> Absolutely. >> To remove some of the bias so that more of those business models and opportunities can really bubble up. >> Absolutely. >> Lisa: Tell me about your team at SAP Leonardo and from a diversity perspective, what's going on there? >> Yeah, absolutely. So I think your point is really valid which is, the importance of bringing in diversity and also the importance of diversity both from a gender perspective and a diversity in skills. And I think the key element of data and decision science is now it opens up different types of skills, right? It opens up the skills of course, the technology skills are fundamental. The ability to read data modeling is fundamental, but then we add in the deep domain expertise. The add in the business perspectives. The ability to story tell and that's where I see the ability to story tell with the right domain expertise opens up such a massive opportunity for different kinds of participants in this field and so within SAP itself, we are very driven by driving diversity. SAP had set a very aggressive goal for by 2017 to be at 25% of women in leadership positions and we achieved that. We've got an aggressive goal to be at 30% of women in leadership positions by 2020 and we're really excited to achieve that as well and very important as well both within Leonardo and data analytics as well, by diversity is fundamental to our growth and more importantly to the growth for the industry. I think that's going to be fundamental. >> I think that's a really important point, the growth of the industry. SAP does a lot with WiDS. We had Ann Rosenberg on last year. I saw her walking around. So from a cultural stand point, what you've described, there's really a dedicated focus there and I think it's a unique opportunity that SAP doesn't have. They're taking advantage of it to really show how a massive corporation, a huge enterprise, can really be very dedicated to bringing in this diversity. It helps the business, but it also, to your point, can make a big impact on industry. >> Absolutely, you know, culture is such a critical part of being succeeding in the business, and I think culture is an important lever that can help differentiate companies in the market. So of course it's technology, it's value creation for our customers, and I think culture is such an important part of it, and when you unpeel the lever of culture, within there comes diversity, and within there comes bringing a different diversity of skills base as well that is going to be really critical in the next generation of businesses that will get created. >> I like that. Especially sitting in Silicon Valley where there's new businesses being created every, probably 30 seconds. I'd love to understand, if we kind of take a walk back through your career and how you got to where you are now. What were some of the things that inspired you along the way, mentors? What were some of the things that you found really impactful and crucial to you being as successful as you are and a speaker at an event like WiDS? >> Oh, absolutely. It's really exciting to see that from my own personal journey, I think that one of the things that was really important is passion. And ensuring that you find those areas that you're passionate about. I was always very passionate about software and being able to look at data and analyze data. From doing my undergraduate in Computer Science, as well as my graduate work in Computer Science from Brown, and from there on out, always looking at any of the opportunities whether it was an individual contributor that I did. It's important to be passionate and I felt that that was really my guiding post to really being able to move up from a career perspective, and also looking to be in an environment, in an ecosystem, of people and environments that you're always learning from, right? And always never being afraid to reach a little bit further than your capabilities. I think ensuring that you always have confidence in the ability that you can reach, and even though the goals might feel a little bit far away at the moment. So I think also being around a really solid team of mentors and being able to constantly learn. So I would say a constant, continuous learning, and passion is really the key to success. >> I couldn't agree more. I think it's that we often, the word expert is thrown around so often and in so many things, and there certainly are people that have garnered a lot of expertise in certain areas, but I always think, "Are you really ever an expert?" There's so much to learn everyday, there's so many opportunities. But another thing that you mentioned that reminded me of, we had Maria Klawe on a little bit earlier today and one of the things that she said in her welcome address was, in terms of inspiration, "Don't worry if there's something "that you think you're not good at." >> Mala: Absolutely. >> It's sort of getting out of your comfort zone and one of my mentors likes to say, "getting comfortably uncomfortable." That's not an easy thing to achieve. So I think having people around, people like yourself, you're now a mentor to potentially 100,000 people today, alone. What are some of the steps that you recommend of, how does someone go, "I really like this, "but I don't know if I can do it." How would you help someone get comfortably uncomfortable? >> Yeah, I think first of all, building a small group I would say, of stakeholders that are behind you and your success is going to be really important. I think also being confident about your abilities. Confidence comes in failing a few times. It's okay to miss a few goals, it's okay to fail, but then you leap forward even faster. >> Failure is not a bad F word, right? >> Mala: Absolutely. >> It really can be, and I think, a lot of leaders, like yourself will say that it's actually part of the process. >> It's very much part of the process. And so I think, number one thing is passion. First you've got to be really clear that this is exactly what you're passionate about. Second is building a team around you that you can count on, you can rely on, that are invested in your success. And then thirdly is also just to ensure that you are confident. Being confident about asking for more. Being confident about being able to reach close to the impossible is okay. >> It is okay, and it should be encouraged, every day. No matter what gender, what ethnicity, that should just sort of be one of those level playing fields, I think. Unfortunately, it probably won't be but events like WiDS, and the reach that it's making today alone, certainly, I think, offer a great foundation to start helping break some of the molds that even as we sit in Silicon Valley, are still there. There's still massive discrepancies in pay grades. There's still a big percentage of females with engineering degrees that are not working in the field. And I think the more people like yourself, and some of your other colleagues that are here participating at WiDS alone today, have the opportunity to reach a broader audience, share their stories. Their failures, the successes, and all the things that have shaped that path, the bigger the opportunity we have and it's, I think, almost, sort of a responsibility for those of us who've been in STEM for a while, to help the next generation understand nobody got here with a silver spoon. Eh, some. >> Absolutely. >> But on a straight path. It's always that zig zaggy sort of path, and embrace it! >> Yeah, I think that's key, right? And the one point here is very relevant that you mentioned as well is, that it's very important for us to recognize that a love for an environment where you can embrace the change, right? In order to embrace change, it's not just people that are going through it, but people that are supporting it and sponsoring it because it's a big change. It's a change from what was an environment a few years ago to what is going to be an environment of the future, which is an environment full of diversity. So I think being able to be ambassadors of the change is really important. As well as to allow for confidence building in this environment, right? I think that's going to be really critical as well. And for us to support those environments and build awareness. Build awareness of what is possible. I think many times people will go through their careers without being aware of what is possible. Things that were certain thresholds, certain limits, certain guidelines, two years ago are dramatically different today. >> Oh yes. >> So having those ambassadors of change that can help us build awareness, with our growing community, I think is going to be really important. >> I think, some of the things too, that you're speaking to, there are boundaries that are evaporating. We're seeing them become perforated and sort of disappear, as well as maybe some of these structured careers. There's a career as this, as that. They used to be pretty demarcated. Doctor, lawyer, architect, accountant, whatnot. And now it's almost infinite. Especially having a foundation in technology with data science and the real world social implications alone, that a career in this field can deliver just kind of shows the sky's the limit. >> Yeah, absolutely. The sky's truly the limit, and I think that's where you're absolutely right. The lines are blurring between certain areas, and at the same time, I think, this opens up huge opportunity for diversity in skill set and diversity in domain. I think equally important is to ensure to be successful you want to start by driving focus, as well, right? So, how do you draw that balance? And for us to be able to mentor and guide the younger generation, to drive that focus. At the same time take leverage the opportunities open is going to be critical. >> So getting back to SAP Leondardo. What's next in this year, we're in March of 2018. What are some of the things that are exciting you that your team is going to be working on and delivering for SAP and your customers this year? >> SAP Leondardo is really exciting because it essentially allows for our customers to drive faster innovation with less risk. And it allows our customers to create these digital businesses where you have to change a business process and a business model that no single technology can deliver. So as a result we bring together machine learning, big data analytics, IoT, all running on a solid cloud platform with in-memory databases like Kana, at scale. So this year is going to be all about how we bring these capabilities together very specifically by industry and reimagine processes across different industries. >> I like that, reimagine. I think that's one of the things that you're helping to do for females in data science and computer sciences. Reimagine the possibilities. Not just the younger generation, but also those who've been in the field for a while that I think will probably be quite inspired and reinvigorated by some of the things that you're sharing. So, Mala, thank you so much for taking the time to stop by theCUBE and share your insights with us. We wish you continued success in your career and we look forward to seeing you WiDS next year. >> Thank you so much, Lisa. I'm delighted to be here. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. >> My pleasure. We want to thank you. You are watching theCUBE live from WiDS 2018, at Stanford University. I'm Lisa Martin. Stick around, my next guest will be joining me after this short break.