Mykola Konrad, Ribbon Communications | Fortinet Accelerate 2018
>> (announcer) Live from Las Vegas, it's the Cube. Covering Fortinet Accelerate '18. Brought to you by Fortinet. (upbeat music) >> Welcome back to the Cube. We are live at Fortinet Accelerate 2018. I'm Lisa Martin, with my co-host, Peter Burris. And we're excited to be joined by Myk Conrad, the VP of Product Management at Ribbon Communications. Myk, welcome to the Cube. >> Well, thank you very much, and it's great to be here. >> So tell us about Ribbon, your Technology Alliance's partner. Tell us about Ribbon Communications, and what you guys do with Fortinet. >> Okay, so a few things. Ribbon Communications, we basically are a security and cloud company, in the voice and video space. So what does that practically mean? That means we sell something called a session border controller, which is a voice and video firewall, into both service providers and into enterprises. So an example would be, when you make a mobile call, with AT&T, or Verizon, or Deutsche Tel, or British Talk, I mean, whoever your particular service provider is, that voice session becomes an IP packet, wends its way through the network, and as it's wending its way through the network, it has to be potentially encrypted, it has to be protected, denial service attacks, all of that stuff, that's what we do. Now how does that work into what Fortinet does? We are a part of their cloud security fabric, and we have the ability, with a new product that we're launching, or have launched this week, or announced this week. It will be actually GA and available in the summer. It will be included in passing information into the security fabric. So we protect voice and video, Fortinet protects data, web, email, you know, everything that they do very well. What we are, what this new product that we call Ribbon Protect is, is going to be a bridge between the voice and video world of IP communications, and the data world that Fortinet works with. And we're going to be passing information and talking between those two worlds, and therefore adding an extra layer of security to that. So that's how we work with them. >> (Peter) So voice and video have some certain special communications requirements, and basically, you're bringing the capacity to do voice video security, and the special requirements associated therein into the Fortinet ecosystem. >> (Mykola) Yeah, so a great example is, so let's use an enterprise as an example, alright? So let's say you're a big bank, somebody along the lines of a Bank of America, and I'm not saying it's Bank of America, or Wells Fargo. I'm not naming anyone, but just along those lines. Big bank. You probably have a SIP trunk, which is an IP trunk, and IP packets for communications coming into a data center, or multiple data centers around the world, and into individual branches of all your retail locations. And those are voice and video packets. And your tellers, or your contact center agents, are picking up the phone, and that's all IP audio and video. Or they might be using a handset, and again, that's all IP to the laptop, or to the handset. And they're having these conversations. You may want to encrypt those conversations. You definitely want to make sure, if a contact center is up, and it's doing mortgage calls, it's taking individual requests for checking account balances, that that contact center stays up. In the world of IP, especially in SIP communications, it's very easy to send a denial service attack against, for example, a contact center, and bring that down. So nothing keeps somebody from generating, from a single laptop, 20 gigabytes, 30 gigabytes, or petabytes worth of calls into a contact center. And that will bring down the infrastructure, unless you're protecting that infrastructure with a download service type of device. Similar, very analogous to what you would see is in a DDoS device that, for example, Fortinet sells, on the data side, to protect your web servers and your email servers, and all the other things, except on the voice side. So that's what we do. And now, with Ribbon Protect, we're going to be taking all the information that we're gleaning, as these ports are being opened and closed, and as we are getting attacked on the voice and video side. so an IP address comes in. We've decided that there's a lot of bad calls coming in from that side of the fence. We blacklist that. We will then pass that information over to the data side of the house. Through the security fabric, we will pass through, and then Fortinet can, on their side, say, "Hey, this is now blacklisted also." So any packets coming from that IP address that are doing something else, that have nothing to do with voice and video, because it's two separate networks, typically, will now be protected. So now the bank has an added level of security. >> (Peter) And Fortinet propagates that, cascades it throughout. >> Cascades it throughout their entire partner ecosystem. >> Right. >> So that's what we do. And we have deep visibility into SIP. So one of the things, as an example, firewalls are very good at opening and closing ports. And the default for most firewalls is port closed. The problem is with SIP it's a phone call. Ports are typically closed. A call comes in, and it's ringing. You answer, and when you answer the UDP port has to be open, so that a media stream can come through and cut through the call, so you can actually have a conversation. Otherwise, the packets will get blocked, and there will be no conversation. You'll get one-way audio, or no audio. We have very good visibility into which ports are being assigned the duration of that call, so when somebody says, "Okay, bye." Hang up, click, and you kill that packet stream, that port will get closed automatically. A lot of firewalls don't do that. They keep the ports open, because they don't know at that SIP level that a call's coming through right this very second for Myk, open the port for three minutes because he's talking to his mom, conversation's over, close the port, because they don't go to that depth of information on the SIP application level. We do, because that's our job. And we then pass that information, say, "Listen, you should be closing this port, or opening this port." We have a lot of visibility that firewalls just don't have. And now, as part of the security fabric, we're going to be passing that information onwards. So now we're going to have a stronger security perimeter for enterprises as well as service providers that are using the combination of our session border controllers, Ribbon Protect, the new product that's coming out, and the Fortinet panoply of products. >> So if I'm a CSO at a bank, and we were speaking with Fortinet's CSO earlier today, and kind of talking about the evolution of that. We talked as well, I think with John Madison, about the security architect. If I'm the CSO at a bank, or a service provider, what is my material value that this technology alliance is going to give to my organization? >> (Mykola) That's a good question. So there's a couple different aspects of this. So let me talk about Ribbon Protect. We frame Ribbon Protect in three different value propositions: one is for telephony fraud, or communications fraud, another one is in cybersecurity threats, and a third one is network visibility. So I'm going to start with network visibility and work my way back up that chain. So there's a value proposition, not necessarily for the CSO, but for the CIO and the people running the communications network, in having really good visibility into the communications network, an end-to end view across multiple different disparate items. So let me give you an example. Typical bank will have Cisco, they might have Juniper, they might also have an Avia system, when it comes to communications, they might have an old Nortel system, they might have some cloud communications from a Vonage, or a Fuse, or Verizon. All these disparate systems, all under this one CIO, and a call comes in, and nothing works. For some reason it's not routing correctly, the contact center agent isn't getting the call. You know, have you ever called, and you get transferred, and you get dropped? That's the problem. And then when they try to troubleshoot that, it's very hard, because there's so many disparate elements. So the first thing you need is visibility. So from a CIO perspective this product, Ribbon Protect, will give you visibility into the network, and that will allow you to troubleshoot and bring the network up. Then you go into the next level. So once you have visibility. So you can't provide security until you have visibility into a network, so now that you've got this N10 visibility, now let's talk about security. Two different types of security threats that our customers are seeing when it comes to communications. One is sort of robo dialing, toll fraud. And I would even put denial service attacks sort of in there. Denial service attacks also go to the next level, which is cybersecurity. But robo dialing: how many of you are getting calls all the time now? I'm getting them on my mobile, literally, I get like three or four a day on my mobile phone from a different random number, because they know my area code and they think if they mask it, it's a friend of mine, and I'll answer the call. That's becoming more and more prevalent. Now think about if you're an enterprise, and if you're a CSO, and now you're tasked with keeping these employees productive, but they're starting to get all these random calls, your contact center agent. And we've actually had this happen to customers of ours, where they picked up the phone and they were getting random garbled noise on the other end. And you're a contact center agent, your job is to sit there, and you hear these weird noises in your earphone, you hang up, next one comes in, it's weird noises. Third one comes in, it's actually a person that is asking about their mortgage. Great. That's your job. But then the next one is some weird ... It brings productivity way down. So there's that one area. And then there's toll fraud, which is in the billions of dollars, now, of cost to both enterprises and service providers, where people are doing things like calling Zambia, or weird little countries, and routing through enterprise networks. So that's another aspect that a CSO would be worried about. And lastly, and the most important one, is the cybersecurity issue. Packet-based denial service attacks across your entire system, that can not only take down your web server and your email server, but also your communications, your real-time communications, but also exfiltration of data. So what we've seen is the following: a hacker comes in through the data side and understands the network typology, puts in some malware, but because they're using something from Fortinet or somebody else, they can't do anything with that information. There's no way out. But here's the SIP network, this UC network, sitting in the system, and it's sort of unguarded, not that there's no guards there in place, but the data side, if you look at everything that Fortinet and others have been putting out, that side of the fence is getting a lot of attention. And over the last few years even more attention, as hacks have taken place, and PII has been stolen. But on the SIP side of the fence, that hasn't really happened as much. And so we believe that's the weakest chain right now, or will soon be the weakest chain. And hackers will use the open ports, because if your just using a firewall, those ports are open. The range of UDP ports to put media through is wide open. It has to be, otherwise it won't work. And so they can exfiltrate data through that. So they use some other means to find the typology of the network, get in, and then they can pass data out through that. And it might look like a good media stream, like a video call, and we've actually seen examples where people have sent video and embedded, underneath that, data inside the video. >> They piggyback. >> And they piggyback it. So you're going to see, the value to the CSO is, listen, if you're concerned about people finding a different way into your network, you're protected against, or you think you're protected against malware, you're protected against email, you're protected against web server attacks. Well have you really thought about the UC side? So if I'm a CSO, I should be really worried about securing that side of my fence, because I haven't been worried about it for the last three or four years, and there's been an increase in attacks, or increasing amount of attacks on that side of the fence. And then there's these other values of Ribbon Protect that hit other aspects of the IT chain. So we believe that there's a, sort of three core value propositions, two that really affect the CSO, and one that's more of a CIO issue. >> Well, look, once a port's open it's open. >> Correct, yeah. >> And video and voice do have characteristics that if a device is set up to introspect it and understand it, then it can recognize it. But as you said, your general-purpose firewall typically is not looking at that. And you don't want to introduce an entirely distinct and separate management platform, and paying, if you don't have to. So the CSO gets to see the same paying, while the CIO gets to ensure that voice and video happens without being hit? >> (Myk) And works. Yes. >> And at the same time, that the CSO is getting the paying that they need, so they have some visibility into what's going on with the network. >> (Myk) Exactly, and that's the entire purpose of this product. We believe it meshes nicely with what Fortinet's talking about, in that they have their Fortiguard Artificial Intelligence product that they've been talking about, and how it's detecting what's going on in the network, and millions of nodes, and features, and really actually quite sophisticated stuff. I just sat through an entire presentation on it. We are doing the same thing with Ribbon Protect, where we have an artificial intelligence layer that would sit inside the company, but it's specifically looking at the communications pathways, what's normal communications, what's abnormal communications. what's normal packet flows on the communications side, and abnormal communication flows. And putting two and two together, and doing machine learning, similar analogous things to what they're doing on the data side, and on the virus malware detection side, is what we're doing on the communications side, and putting together our own database, again, similar to what they have, where they have a database, and they apply that database of known bad, known good, to their ... And we're doing the same thing, and then we're going to share that information into the Fortinet fabric. >> So you're really collaborating and, it sounds like complimentary technologies. >> (Peter) Yeah, you're complimenting. >> That the customer benefits from. We've got about a minute left, but I'd love for you to share, maybe at a super high level, an example of a joint Fortinet/Ribbon customer, where the CIO and the CSO are being very happy with the technologies that you are delivering in this collaboration. >> I can't name any names, unfortunately, but we are talking with a large service provider right now, that is very enamored of Fortinet, and uses them extensively on the data side, to provide services to their customers, meaning: as a service provider, you're providing data and managed services to your enterprise customers. And they also use us today to provide voice services - >> (Peter) To secure voice. >> To secure voice services to the same set of customers. And so now what we're talking about is marrying the two, not sending data to Fortinet, and what is getting this service provider very excited is to be able to offer a differentiated service to their enterprise customer base, something that the other service providers can't, because they either aren't using Fortinet, or aren't using us. They need somebody that is using both, and this particular one happens to be using both of us, so we can put Ribbon Protect into their environment, into their network, and it'll start sharing their information, and what that will allow them to do is market to their customers at a higher level of security, and even to the point where they might be able to go out and say things like, "The most secure voice video system in the world today." >> (Peter) Yeah. They're expanding the scope of a common security footprint, and thereby allowing a new class of services to be provided to, whether CSO or CIO. >> And they view it as a differentiator for themselves. >> (Lisa) That's exactly what I was thinking - >> Which is why, when they're talking to the CSO or the CIO, why should you use us versus the other three guys you're probably talking to right now, well here's one reason. There's probably a few others, but here's at least one reason. >> Differentiation, a key fundamental for digital transformation. Well Myk, Mykola, thank you so much for joining us on the Cube. You're now a Cube alumni. >> Thank you very much, happy to be an alumni. >> (Lisa) Excellent. We want to thank you for watching the Cube's continuing coverage of Accelerate 2018. I'm Lisa Martin. For my co-host, Peter Burris, stick around. We've got great interviews coming up next. (upbeat music)
SUMMARY :
(announcer) Live from Las Vegas, it's the Cube. the VP of Product Management at Ribbon Communications. and what you guys do with Fortinet. and the data world that Fortinet works with. and the special requirements associated therein on the data side, to protect your web servers (Peter) And Fortinet propagates that, and the Fortinet panoply of products. and kind of talking about the evolution of that. So the first thing you need is visibility. or increasing amount of attacks on that side of the fence. So the CSO gets to see the same paying, (Myk) And works. And at the same time, that the CSO is getting the paying and on the virus malware detection side, So you're really collaborating and, That the customer benefits from. and managed services to your enterprise customers. and this particular one happens to be using both of us, and thereby allowing a new class of services why should you use us versus the other three guys Well Myk, Mykola, thank you so much We want to thank you
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Madhav Mekala
>>I've got Mada Mykola here with me, commerce architect at PepsiCo Mada. Welcome to the program, >>Lisa. >>So we're going to be talking about the solution that you implemented, um, that helped with the global supply chain. So let's talk though, first about your role commerce architect. Help me understand that a little bit better. >>So Frito, uh, PepsiCo is pretty big. It's a conglomerate of multiple product lines. So I worked for Frito-Lay, which is basically all the salty snacks. And then we have, uh, the Quaker products as well in our portfolio. So I oversee all the architecture for all the commercial IOT solutions, uh, in the CFNA portfolio. >>Got it all the commercial lines. So we all know the last 18 months major challenges with the global supply chain component shortages. We've seen a huge increase in the cost of raw materials, um, limited labor, but you guys actually started to tackle this challenge before the pandemic happened. So talk to me about the catalyst that PepsiCo, what you saw to modernize field service and supply chain application. >>Yeah, so we have a pretty old system that our field force, our frontline users are using. So we have a world-class supply chain system where we go into the stores and place orders and deliver products, the us, and then we penetrate, I think, more than 95% of the households with our products. So we need to have a robust supply chain as well as a good frontline sales application, to be able to manage the orders and be able to deliver the products. Right? So the system that we have is almost 20 year old system running on a video data technology. There've been trying to replace that for a while now. And finally, we started this, uh, early last year to completely replace the solution with a brand new iPhone based app. Uh, and then that gives our frontline the ability to go place orders, do deliveries to retail execution in the store, like checking checkout, build displays. There are so much functionality that our RSRs or Franklin users do in the stores and this app enables them to do much more efficient. >>And we're going to break into that, but you mentioned you had a 20 year old technology. Talk to me about some of the challenges that that likely presented to those frontline workers. >>Yeah. I mean, there are multiple challenges for one, we cannot enable new business models. So business wants to come up with new ideas for, um, to be able to implement in the field, but with our system being so old, it's so hard to implement anything on that one. And then even the physical device is not scaling. We had a lot of memory issues, so it's time for it to kind of retire. And also the technology we use the 3g technologies retiring pretty soon at the next year. So we were definitely need to move to a new solution. And this is one of the most things we have to do, but right away. So that's where we started the project and we are in pilot phase right now. >>What would have been some of those negative consequences? Had you not undertaken the effort? I imagine from a competitive perspective, knowing how much competition is out there, what would some of those challenges have been if this had persisted? >>Yeah. So one is the stability of the application, right? So, uh, the frontline users have to spend more time because the app is not stable, the current one. So that reduces the efficiency of our Salesforce. Right? And then on the other hand, we also not able to put new features or new business models enable new business models on top of the existing ones. So we are losing out on some of them because of our outdated system. So that's one thing we want to solve with the new one. >>So this is really critical to really evolve PepsiCo's business at, at its baseline. Right? >>That's true. Yeah. It is very critical application that we're building and this will enable us to do a lot more things in future. And we can come up with new ideas, including like virtual reality or connecting to multiple systems. There are so many new ideas that we want to enable once we have this in place. >>Awesome. Talk to me about why Couchbase, and then tell us more about, you started to talk a little bit about the solution, but let's go ahead and dig in and unpack the actual solution that you implemented. >>Yeah. So this is, eh, we call it an ERP and a mobile device because it has so much functionality as a company three. Totally. We have been, uh, over a hundred years, uh, in this business, right. We have so many, uh, optimized process, uh, that we have that kind of led to some digital in the system because we want to do in a particular way, because that's the best way to do it as part of our business process. So what we're trying to do here is take that business process and also provide an app that will enhance it and then connect to more, more systems. So that's what we're trying to do here. And then on top of that one, we will replace all the existing peripherals that we use with the new technology, like Bluetooth and also, so that, uh, the, they are much more faster, and it's a lot more productive for our frontline force. >>Sounds like a lot of sales folks are going to be a lot more productive. Talk to me about where Couchbase is as an integral component to this new system. >>Yeah. So one of the key requirements for this app is an offline mode. What that means is, uh, one of our Salesforce who go from our system, uh, from our DC to all the stores, should be able to run the whole day without any, uh, major disruption, even if they're not connected, let's say because when they go into big stores, typically there's no connection. There are metal boxes. So the cellular reception is not there, but most of our work that we do from our frontline is within the store. So it has to be a full offline where we have to have all the data within the device, and we should be able to place artists create inventory that records or adjust inventory, and then create invoices. All the majority of the things that we do are in the store and they should be able to do without, um, the kind of connection. So that's where we explored multiple options and kind of zeroed in on Couchbase where we bring all the data into Couchbase based database on the device, and then sync it when there is connection, but there's no connection. We still have all the data on the device and we can go do all of our duties in the stores without any issues, even if it is not connected. >>So the sales folks can be in the stores with their mobile device, doing all the transactions that they need to do with the stores, regardless of if there's connectivity. Talk to me about what happens when they get back to connectivity in that and the Couchbase database sync. >>Yeah. And, uh, the other big thing we want is instant connect. I mean, when there's connectivity, we want instant sync with the backend, right? If there's new data that comes, we'll need that in the device at the same time, if I place an order, I want to send it back immediately to our backend systems for that our fulfillment stacks for those. So that's very critical when we have a lot of cutoff times for our artists. So we need artists as soon as we've placed to be going to the backend systems. So what happens when it gets connected, as soon as the sales folks come out of the store, or when within the store, they got connectivity, these codebase technology that we are using using the sync gateway immediately syncs the data back and forth. Uh, if there is any new data that's available. So that is key for us in this particular app. >>So our transactions happening in, in real time or near real time. >>Yeah. So the data flow happens in real time when this kind of gritty, but when it is not connected still, it doesn't have any issue with the actual transactions with the artists that can go complete anything that they would >>Got it. Okay. So there's no impediment there. In fact, it's a productivity enhancer. It sounds like for all of those sales folks out on the frontline TA. So, so millions of documents go through the system, tens of billions of dollars. Talk to me about the volume of data and the actual monetary value. That's traversing the system. >>Yeah. It's huge. Again, this is kind of weak. It's the lifeline of the company. The seals are always the life of any company, right? So most of the goes through our system. And, um, we're talking anywhere between hundreds of thousands of dollars that flow through back and forth, uh, between, uh, between the device and the server. So there's a lot of master data that comes like products place from customers, all that information that comes from the backend to the device and all the orders, inventory, and everything that gets created on the device gets flown back to the subtler. So yeah, I mean, it's, it's a very complex system. And also from the volume perspective, it's huge. So we had to build a massive infrastructure on the backend to be able to handle all this. One of the key feature is again, we have this massive data that we need to sync to the devices, but each device should only get the portion of the data that they want because a particular Salesforce only goes to a small set of 20 stores, let's say. So the data that we seem to that device is only for those 20 stores. So that's the key here. So Couchbase allows us to do that. The codebase sync, where we can subset the data into different portions and only send the data that is relevant for a particular device. >>So then from a, from a latency perspective, it must be pretty low latency, pretty fast to be able to get this data back to the device and to the sales person that is in the middle of a transaction. >>Yes. Uh, I mean, it's pretty, the sink is very fast. The Cosby's sink, especially user's web sockets. And we do continuous replicators where if I complete an order, the next instant it's on the stairwell. So it's, it's we observed the speeds improve a lot. So the technology that we are using users are things for a long, long time compared to code based. And that's another productivity gain for our Salesforce. >>What were some of the differentials? You mentioned some of the technology requirements that PepsiCo had in rearchitecting, the infrastructure, but what were some of the key technology differentiators that really made Couchbase stand out as the obvious choice? >>Yeah, so we, when we started this project, we all know the sink is the key for this whole project, because we thought that data going back and forth, we cannot really build a robust, um, uh, offline app. So we looked at multiple, uh, options, other providers that are doing the sink. And we also looked at building our own sink. Uh, in-house using API APIs, but then we did lots of, uh, performance testing across all the, uh, options that we had at that time. And then Ottawa cost base came above. All of them are pretty handle it. So obviously we can coach base takes care of the sink, and then we can focus on our business process. So we can go build all the business process and not worry about how we build a single. And then that is itself a big effort. So that's what caught me is prior to seeing instant sync engine. And then we were able to focus more on our, uh, the app application, the frontline application, the sales application, >>And those business processes. Let's talk about some of the business outcomes. We've mentioned a few already in our conversation, increased in productivity. The sales forces increased in that as well, but I imagine there's a lot of benefits for the end-user customer in terms of being able to get the transactions completed faster. What are some of those positive business outcomes that PepsiCo is seeing as a result of implementing Couchbase? >>Yeah. So you hit on a couple of them when the sink times are definitely a big factor with that will directly give more time for the sales folks to go either go to most stores or even they go to the existing stores, they can do more, spend more time with the customer merchandising and making sure everything is correct. So that's one also the new app users, uh, connect with a lot of new peripherals that are not available on the previous platform. Um, also the, uh, our folks are very, uh, enthusiastic about using a new app, right? So it's like coming into the 21st century for them using such an old lab for a long time. So a lot of things that they see, they can see the images of the bags while ordering, which was not a feature earlier. Some of them are small, but they make a huge impact on our users. >>Um, so yeah, I mean, and then this is just a start that we are doing. And then once we are able to completely implement this one, we have a lot more going into, in future. I was just talking about, we can do virtual reality or show them how to sell using what filter do. We can show a display to a store manager saying, Hey, I want to put a display here. And this is how it looks. They can show it on the phone that Dan just explaining and showing some paper images. So there's a lot of possibilities, >>A lot of improvements to the customer experience. It sounds like, it sounds like adoption is quite high for your folks who are used to 20 year old technology, probably being very, uh, excited that they have a modern app. But talk to me a little bit about the appetite of the organization to continue modernizing the application infrastructure and presuming going from older technology to that 21st century, like you talked about. >>Yeah. So in other parts, we are already modernized some of these. So we have been on the journey for the last four or five years building multiple digital platforms. So one of the example I can give is when COVID hit, there's a lot of disruption for everybody, for the consumers. So they are not able to find the products in the stores, but people are afraid to go to the stores to even buy products. So we reacted very quickly and opened a consumer of a website called snacks or calm, which Pepsi never sold it to the directly. We always go through our stores, but the first time we open the consumer channel and base powered some of it for the backend purpose. So this is not a mobile app, it's just a desktop app, but we already have been on the district has mission journey even before we quickly turned into COVID for the snacks.com. >>And similarly, we are, you are doing this for our retail execution portion of it, um, using this product. So, and then we'll be continuing to do this going forward, or to enable a lot of functionality for, uh, I mean, for all of our sales, as well as, uh, supply chain and other systems, so that we can be more efficient. We can be more elastic saying if there is more demand, our backend should be able to handle all that, uh, which was not the case before extra. Now we built a state of the art backend system on cloud. So there's a lot of transmission, digital transmission going on within PepsiCo. And I'm really proud to be part of this project so that we took this to the next level. And then this is just a start. We can do a lot more, >>Right? This is just the beginning. That sounds like a great transformation for a history company that we all, everybody knows PepsiCo and all of its products. But it sounds like when the pandemic hit, you had the infrastructure in place to be able to pivot quickly to launch that direct to consumer, which of course consumers, patients has been quite thin in the last year and a half. Talk to me a little bit about the impact to the overall organization as a result of being able to, to get more direct with those consumers. >>Yeah. So till now, again, we are, the business model is we sell to the stores and then go to the customer. So we'd never get a direct, uh, sense of what consumer, uh, liking is. I mean, we get through some surveys and stuff, but we don't have a direct channel with the consumer, which this particular product enabled us next.com. So we know the consumer behavior, how they, um, buying patterns, browsing patterns, which ones they like and including with geography. And also we learned a lot from a consumer behavior point of view for the project. And then we kept on enhancing. So one new thing we introduced was called multipack where the consumers can come and make their own market practices. They can say, okay, I need this many of this particular product, this product per I can make that multipack. And we ship them the customized market back. >>And it was such a huge hit that we are not able to even fulfill them so much demand was there for that one. So we had to revamp and then get back. And now it's a huge thing on our snacks that complex. So all of this is possible because we had a digital platform underneath that supports this kind of innovation. So the new business models are just coming to life in within weeks or even few months. And that's what we will be trying to do with the new platform that could billing for this app as well, where we'll bring in a lot of new business models. We have >>Excellent, a lot of, uh, transformation. It sounds like at PepsiCo in the last couple of years, I'd love the customization, that personalization route that you're going. I think that's going to be a huge hit for consumers. And as you said, there's a lot of demand letter. Thank you for joining me today, talking about how you are modernizing the field service and supply chain application, the impact it's making for end users for your customers and for the sales folks. We appreciate your time. >>Thank you so much >>From out of McCullough. I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching this cube conversation.
SUMMARY :
Welcome to the program, So we're going to be talking about the solution that you implemented, um, So I oversee all the architecture for all the commercial IOT solutions, So we all know the last 18 months major challenges So the system that we have is almost 20 year old Talk to me about some of the challenges that that likely presented to those frontline workers. And also the technology we use the 3g technologies retiring pretty soon So that's one thing we want to solve with the new one. So this is really critical to really evolve PepsiCo's business at, at its baseline. There are so many new ideas that we want to enable once we have this in place. Talk to me about why Couchbase, and then tell us more about, uh, that we have that kind of led to some digital in the system because we want to do in Sounds like a lot of sales folks are going to be a lot more productive. We still have all the data on the device and we can go do all of So the sales folks can be in the stores with their mobile device, doing all the transactions So we need artists as soon as we've but when it is not connected still, it doesn't have any issue with the actual transactions Talk to me about the volume of data and the actual So the data that we seem to that device is only for those 20 stores. So then from a, from a latency perspective, it must be pretty low latency, pretty fast to be able to get this data back So the technology that we are care of the sink, and then we can focus on our business process. Let's talk about some of the business outcomes. So it's like coming into the 21st century for them using such an old lab for a long time. And then once we are able to completely implement this one, we have a lot more going into, the application infrastructure and presuming going from older technology to that 21st century, So we have been on the journey for And I'm really proud to be part of this project so that we took this to the next level. Talk to me a little bit about the impact to the overall organization as a result of being able to, So we know the consumer behavior, how they, um, buying patterns, So the new business models are just coming to life in within weeks or even It sounds like at PepsiCo in the last couple of years, I'm Lisa Martin.
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