>>Hey everyone. Hello from Las Vegas. Lisa Martin here with you, and I'm on the show floor at Reinvent. But we have a very special program series that the Cube has been doing called Women of the Cloud. It's brought to you by aws and I'm so pleased to have an excellent panel of women leaders in technology and in cloud to talk about their tactical recommendations for you, what they see as found, where they've helped organizations be successful with cloud. Please welcome my three guests, Tara Kapor, president and Chief Revenue Officer, consulting and Digital Transformations, NTT Data. We have Rachel Mu, aws, head of North America, partner sales from aws, and Jimmy Barnes joins us as well, managing director, investment banking engineering at Goldman Sachs. It is so great to have you guys on this power panel. I love it. Thank you for joining me. >>Thank >>You. Let's start with you. Give us a little bit of, of your background at NTT Data and I, and I understand NTT has a big focus on women in technology and in stem. Talk to us a little bit about that and then we'll go around the table. >>Perfect, thank you. Thank you. So brand new role for me at Entity Data. I started three months back and it's a fascinating company. We are about 22 billion in size. We work across industries on multiple innovative use cases. So we are doing a ton of work on edge analytics in the cloud, and that's where we are here with aws. We are also doing a ton of work on the private 5G that we are rolling out and essentially building out industry-wide use cases across financial services, manufacturing, tech, et cetera. Lots of women identity. We essentially have women run cloud program today. We have a gal called Nore Hanson who is our practice leader for cloud. We have Matine who's Latifa, who's our AWS cloud leader. We have Molly Ward who leads up a solutions on the cloud. We have an amazing lady in Mona who leads up our marketing programs. So a fantastic plethora of diverse women driving amazing work identity on cloud. >>That's outstanding to hear because it's one of those things that you can't be what you can't see. Right. We all talk about that. Rachel, talk a little bit about your role and some of the focus that AWS has. I know they're big customer obsession, I'm sure obsessed with other things as well. >>Sure. So Rachel Muir, pleased to be here again. I think this will be my third time. So a big fan of the Cube. I'm fortunate enough to lead our North America partner and channel business, and I'll tell you, I've been at AWS for a little under two years, and honestly, it's been probably the best two years of my career. Just in terms of where the cloud is, where it's headed, the business outcomes that we can deliver with our customers and with our partners is absolutely remarkable. We get to, you know, make the impossible possible every day. So I'm, I'm thrilled to be here and I'm thrilled to, to be part of this inaugural Women of the Cloud panel. >>Oh, I'm prepared to have all three of you. One of the things that feedback, kind of pivoting off what, Rachel, one of the things that you said that one of our guests, some of several of our guests have said is that coming out of Adams keynote this morning, it just seems limitless what AWS can do and I love that it gives me kind of chills what they can do with cloud computing and technology, with its ecosystem of partners with its customers like Goldman Sachs. Jimmy, talk to us a little bit about you, your role at Goldman Sachs. You know, we think of Goldman Sachs is a, is a huge financial institution, but it's also a technology company. >>Yeah. I mean, since the age of 15 I've been super passionate about how we can use technology to transform business and simplify modernized business processes. And it's, I'm so thrilled that I have the opportunity to do that at Goldman Sachs as an engineer. I recently moved about two years ago into the investment banking business and it's, you know, it's best in class, one of the top companies in terms of mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, et cetera. But what surprised me is how technology enables all the businesses across the board. Right? And I get to be leading the digital platform for building out the digital platform for in the investment banking business where we're modernizing and transforming existing businesses. These are not new businesses. It's like sometimes I liken it to trying to change the train while it's moving, right? These are existing businesses, but now we get to modernize and transform on the cloud. Right. Not just efficiency for the business by efficiency for technologists as >>Well. Right, right. Sticking with you, Jimmy. I wanna understand, so you've been, you've been interested in tech since you were young. I only got into tech and accidentally as an adult. I'm curious about your career path, but talk to us about that. What are some of the recommendations that you would have for other women who might be looking at, I wanna be in technology, but I wanna work for some of the big companies and they don't think about the Goldman Sachs or some of the other companies like Walmart that are absolutely technology driven. What's your advice for those women who want to grow their career? >>I also, growing up, I was, I was interested in various things. I, I loved doing hair. I used to do my own hair and I used to do hair for other students at school and I was also interested in running an entertainment company. And I used actually go around performing and singing and dancing with a group of friends, especially at church. But what amazed me is when I landed my first job at a real estate agent and everything was being done manually on paper, I was like, wow, technology can bring transformation anywhere and everywhere. And so whilst I have a myriad of interest, there's so many ways that technology can be applied. There's so many different types of disciplines within technology. It's not, there's hands on, like I'm colder, I like to code, but they're product managers, there are business analysts, there are infrastructure specialist. They're a security specialist. And I think it's about pursuing your passion, right? Pursuing your passion and identifying which aspects of technology peak your interest. And then diving in. >>Love that. Diving in. Rachel, you're shaking your head. You definitely are in alignment with a lot of what >>Duties I am. So, you know, interesting enough, I actually started my career as a civil engineer and eventually made it into, into technology. So very similar. I saw in, you know, heavy highway construction how manual some of these processes were. And mind you, this was before the cloud. And I sat down and wrote a little computer program to automate a lot of these manual tasks. And for me it was about simplification of the customer journey and really figuring out how do you deliver value. You know, on fast forward, say 20 plus years, here I am with AWS who has got this amazing cloud platform with over 200 services. And when I think about what we do in tech, from business transformation to modernizing to helping customers think about how do they create new business models, I've really found, I've really found my sweet spot, and I'll say for anyone who wants to get into tech or even switch careers, there's just a couple words of advice that I have. And it's really two words, just start. >>Yes, >>That's it. Just start. Because sometimes later becomes never. And you know, fuel your passion, be curious, think about new things. Yes. And just >>Start, I love that. Just start, you should get t-shirts made with that. Tell me a little bit about some of your recommendations. Obviously just start is great when follow your passion. What would you say to those out there looking to plan the letter? >>So, you know, my, my story's a little bit like jus because I did not want to be in tech. You know, I wanted an easy life. I did well in school and I wanted to actually be an air hostess. And when I broke that to my father, you know, the standard Indian person, now he did, he, you know, he wanted me to go in and be an engineer. Okay? So I was actually push into computer engineering, graduated. But then really two things today, right? When I look back, really two pieces, two areas I believe, which are really important for success. One is, you know, we need to be competent. And the second is we need to be confident, right? Yes, yes. It's so much easier to be competent because a lot of us diverse women, diverse people tend to over rotate on knowing their technical skills, right? Knowing technical skills important, but you need to know how to potentially apply those to business, right? Be able to define a business roi. And I see Julie nodding because she wants people to come in and give her a business ROI for programs that you're executing at Goldman Sachs. I presume the more difficult part though is confidence. >>Absolutely. It's so hard, especially when, when we're younger, we don't know. Raise your hand because I guarantee you either half the people in the, in the room or on the zoom these days weren't listening or have the same question and are too afraid to ask because they don't have the confidence. That's right. Give me, let's pivot on confidence for a minute, Jim, and let's go back to how would you advise your younger self to find your confidence? >>That's, that's a tough one because I feel like even this older self is still finding exercise to, to be real. But I think it's about, I would say it's not praise. I think it's about praising yourself, like recognizing your accomplishments. When I think about my younger self, I think I, I like to focus more on what I didn't do or what I didn't accomplish, instead of majoring and focusing on all the accomplishments and the achievements and reminding myself of those day after day after day. And I think it's about celebrating your wins. >>I love that. Celebrating your wins. Do you agree, Rachel? >>I do. Here's the hard part, and I look around this table of amazing business leaders and I can guarantee that every single one of us sometime this year woke up and said, oh my gosh, I don't know how to do that. Oh >>Yeah. But >>What we haven't followed that by is, I don't know how to do that yet. Right. And here's the other thing I would tell my younger self is there will be days where every single one of us falls apart. There will be days when we feel like we failed at work. There will be days when you feel like you failed as a parent or you failed as a spouse. There'll be days where you have a kid in the middle of target screaming and crying while you're trying to close a big business deal and you just like, oh my gosh, is this really my life? But what I would tell my younger self is, look, the crying, the chaos, the second guessing yourself, the successes, every single one of those are milestones. And it's triumphant, it's tragic, but every single thing that we have been through is fiercely worthwhile. And it's what got us >>Here. Absolutely. Absolutely. Think of all the trials and tribulations and six and Zacks that got you to this table right now. Yep. So Terry, you brought up confidence. How would you advise the women out there won't say you're gonna know stuff. The women out there now that are watching those that are watching right there. Hi. How would you advise them to really find their, their ability to praise themselves, recognize all of the trials and the tribulations as milestones as Rachel said, and really give themselves a seat at the table, raise their hand regardless of who else is in the room? >>You know, it's a, it's a more complex question just because confidence stems from courage, right? Confidence also stems from the belief that you're going to be treated fairly right now in an organization for you to be treated fairly. You need to have, be surrounded by supporters that are going to promote your voice. And very often women don't invest enough in building that support system around them. Yeah. Right. We have mentors, and mentors are great because they come in and they advise us and they'll tell us what we need to go out and do. We really need a team of sponsors Yes. Who come in and support us in the moment in the business. Give us the informal channel because very often we are not plugged into the informal channel, right. So we don't get those special projects or assignments or even opportunities to prove that we can do the tough task. Yeah. So, you know, my, my advice would be to go out and build a network of sponsors. Yes. And if you don't have one, be a sponsor for someone else. That's right. I love that. Great way to win sponsorship is by extending it todos. >>And sometimes too, it's about, honestly, I didn't even know the difference between a mentor and a sponsor until a few years ago. And I started thinking, who are I? And then I started realizing who they were. That's right. And some of the conversations that we've had on the cube about women in technology, women of the cloud with some of the women leaders have said, build, and this is kind of like, sort of what you were saying, build your own personal board of directors. Yeah. And that, oh, it gives me chills. It's just, it's so important for, for not just women, but anybody, for everybody. But it's so important to do that. And if you, you think about LinkedIn as an example, you have a network, it's there, utilize it, figure out who your mentors are, who your sponsors are, who are gonna help you land the next thing, start building that reputation. But having that board of directors that you can kind of answer to or have some accountability towards, I think is hugely very >>Important. Yeah. >>Very important. I think, you know, just for, just for those that are listening, a really important distinction for me was mentors are people that you have that help you with, Hey, here's the situation that you were just in. They advise you on the situation. Sponsors are the people that stick up for you when you're not in the room to them. Right. Sponsors are the ones that say, Hey, I think so and so not only needs to have a seat at the table, but they need to build the table. And that's a really important delineation. Yeah. Between mentors and sponsors. And everybody's gotta have a sponsor both within their company and outside of their company. Someone that's advocating for them on their behalf when they don't even know it. Yeah. Yeah. >>I love that you said that. Build the table. It reminds me of a quote that I heard from Will I am, I know, very random. It was a podcast he did with Oprah Winfrey on ai. He's very into ai and I was doing a panel on ai, so I was doing a lot of research and he said, similar for Rachel to build the table, don't wait for a door to open. You go build a door. And I just thought, God, that is such brilliant advice. It is. It's hard to do. It is. Especially when, you know, the four of us in this room, there's a lot of women around here, but we are in an environment where we are the minority women of color are also the minority. What do you guys think where tech is in terms of de and I and really focusing on De and I as as really a very focused strategic initiative. Turner, what do you think? >>So, you know, I just, I, I spoke earlier about the women that we have at Entity Data, right? We have a fabulous team of women. And joining this team has been a moment of revelation for me coming in. I think to promote dni, we all need to start giving back, right? Yes. So today, I would love to announce that we at Entity would like to welcome all of you out there. You know, folks that have diverse ideas, you know, ISV, partners with diverse solutions, thought leaders out there who want to contribute into the ecosystem, right? Customers out there who want to work with companies that are socially responsible, right? We want to work with all of you, come back, reach out to us and be a part of the ecosystem because we can build this together, right? AWS has an amazing platform that gives us an opportunity to do things differently. Yes. Right. Entity data is building a women powered cloud team. And I want to really extend that out to everyone else to be a part this ecosystem, >>But a fantastic opportunity. You know, when we talk about diversity and inclusion and equity, it needs to be intentional for organization. It sounds very intentional at ntt. I know that that intention is definitely there at AWS as well. What are your thoughts on where tech is with respect to diversity? Even thought diversity? Because a lot of times we tend to go to our comfort zones. We do. And so we tend to start creating these circles of kind of like, you know, think tanks and they think alike people to go outside of that comfort zone. It's part of building the table, of building the, is the table and getting people from outside your comfort zone to come in and bring in diverse thought. Because can you imagine the potential of technology if we have true thought diversity in an organization? >>Right? It's, it's incredible. So one of the things that I always share with my team is we've got the opportunity to really change the outcome, right? As you know, you talked about Will I am I'm gonna talk about Bono from you too, right? One of, one of his favorite quotes is, we are the people we've been waiting for. Oh, I love that. And when you think about that, that is us. There is no one else that's gonna change the outcome and continue to deliver some of the business outcomes and the innovation that we are if we don't continue to raise our hand and we don't continue to, to inspire the next generation of leaders to do the same thing. And what I've found is when you start openly sharing what your innovation ideas are or how you're leveraging your engineering background, your stories and your successes, and, and frankly, some of your failures become the inspiration for someone you might not even know. Absolutely. And that's the, you know, that's the key. You're right. Inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, yes. Have to be at the forefront of every business decision. And I think too often companies think that, you know, inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility is one thing, and business outcomes are another. And they're not. No, they are one in the same. You can't build business outcomes without also focusing on inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility. That's the deliberate piece. >>And, and it has to be deliberate. Jimmy, I wanna ask you, we only have a couple of minutes left, but you're a woman in tech, you're a woman of color. What was that like for you? You, you were very intentional knowing when you were quite young. Yeah. What you wanted to do, but how have you navigated that? Because I can't imagine that was easy. >>It wasn't. I remember, I always tell the story and the, the two things that I really wanted to emphasize today when I thought about this panel is rep representation matters and showing up matters, right? And there's a statement, there's a flow, I don't know who it's attributed to, but be the change you want to see. And I remember walking through the doors of Goldman Sachs 15 years ago and not seeing a black female engineer leader, right? And at that point in time, I had a choice. I could be like, oh, there's no one look like, there's no one that looks like me. I don't belong here. Or I could do what I actually did and say, well, I'm gonna be that person. >>Good, >>Right? I'm going to be the chain. I'm going to show up and I am going to have a seat at the table so that other people behind me can also have a seat at the table. And I think that I've had the privilege to work for a company who has been inclusive, who has had the right support system, the right structures in place, so that I can be that person who is the first black woman tech fellow at Goldman Sachs, who is one of the first black females to be promoted up the rank as a, from analysts to managing director at the company. You know, that was not just because I determined that I belong here, but because the company ensure that I felt that I belong. >>Right. >>That's a great point. They ensure that you felt that. Yeah. You need to be able to feel that. Last question, we've only got about a minute left. 2023 is just around the corner. What comes to your mind, Jimmy will stick with you as you head into the new year. >>Sorry, can you repeat >>What comes to mind priorities for 2023 that you're excited about? >>I'm excited about the democratization of data. Yeah. I'm excited about a lot of the announcements today and I, I think there is a, a huge shift going on with this whole concept of marketplaces and data exchanges and data sharing. And I think both internally and externally, people are coming together more. Companies are coming together more to really de democratize and make data available. And data is power. But a lot of our businesses are running, running on insights, right? And we need to bring that data together and I'm really excited about the trends that's going on in cloud, in technology to actually bring the data sets together. >>Touro, what are you most excited about as we head to 2023? >>I think I'm really excited about the possibilities that entity data has right here, right now, city of Las Vegas, we've actually rolled out a smart city project. So saving citizens life, using data edge analytics, machine learning, being able to predict adverse incidents before they happen, and then being able to take remediation action, right? So that's technology actually working in real time to give us tangible results. We also sponsor the Incar races. Lots of work happening there in delivering amazing customer experience across the platform to millions of users real time. So I think I'm just excited about technology coming together, but while that's happening, I think we really need to be mindful at this time that we don't push our planet into per right. We need to be sustainable, we need to be responsible. >>Absolutely. Rachel, take us out. What are you most excited about going into 2023? >>So, you know, there are so many trends that are, that we could talk about, but I'll tell you at aws, you know, we're big. We, we impact the world. So we've gotta be really thoughtful and humble about what it is that we do. So for me, what I'm most excited about is, you know, one of our leadership principles is about, you know, with what broad responsibility brings, you know, you've got to impact sustainability and many of those other things. And for me, I think it's about waking up every day for our customers, for our partners, and for the younger generations. And being better, doing better, and making better for this planet and for, you know, the future generations to come. So >>I think your tag line just start applies to all of that. It does. It has been an absolute pleasure. And then really an honor to talk to you on the program. Thank you all for joining me, sharing your experiences, sharing what you've accomplished, your recommendations for those others who might be our same generation or older or younger. All really beautiful advice. Thank you so much for your time and your insights. We appreciate it. >>Thank you. Thank you. >>For my guests, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching The Cube, the leader in live enterprise and emerging tech coverage. Thanks for watching.

>> From around the globe, it's the Cube covering the Upgrade 2020, the NTT Research Summit presented by NTT Research. >> Hi, I'm Stu Miniman, and this is the Cube's coverage of Upgrade 2020 the Global Research Summit for NTT and always happy when we get to talk about digital transformation. Happy to welcome to the program, first time guest on the program, Eric Clark. He is the Chief Digital Officer with NTT data. Eric, thanks so much for joining us. >> Thank you, glad to be here. >> All right so Eric, let's start, you know, CDOs, first of all, there's lots of CDOs. We've done lots of events with the Chief Data Officers, which I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about data, but the digital officers, of course digital so important in general and even more so in 2020. But let's understand your role as Chief Digital Officer. What's your charter? Where you sit in the work? What are you responsible for? >> Yeah, definitely, and you know, it's a good question. I often start conversations with our customers by talking about exactly that, because Chief Digital Officer means something different to different companies. So for us, it's primarily my market facing. And what that means is I spend most of my time looking at research, looking at R&D, looking at what our competitors are doing in the market and looking at where trends are going to make sure that we have the right offerings and capabilities to bring to our customers, to make sure that they will remain competitive in their markets. >> That's great, you know, we've been talking for years about the digital transformations that companies have been going through. One of our definitions has been, if you're not at the end of it, more data-driven, you probably haven't done the right thing. But Eric, this year with 2020, you know, anecdotally, we talked to a lot of customers and obviously there's certain initiatives that get frozen or will take a little bit longer, but those digital initiatives, which are supposed to rely on data and help us move fast and be more agile, seem to be at the top of the list and are accelerating because if I can't respond to the daily and weekly changes that have been great in 2020, I might have a tough time surviving. So, what are you seeing? How does that live in your world? >> Yeah, you're exactly right. And that's what we're seeing from our client base as well. So early on in the pandemic, there was a lot of freeze. You know, hold everything, stop, stop spending, and let's figure out where we are and where this is going. But very quickly that turned to, we've got to react. We're going to be living with this for awhile. And we can't afford to sit back and wait and see where it goes. We've got to react and we've got to direct our future. And very often the way that comes out is with digital. So, customers are looking for opportunities to leverage digital, to grow revenue, to improve customer engagement and to drive more of their revenue through digital channels. >> Interesting, but one thing I didn't here in there, but I'm sure is part if it, what about the employees themselves? One of the big things of course, is that we've made this wonderful corporate environment, you've got the great internet there and now way everybody's at home and scrambling as to what they do. So how about the kind of the EX to go along with the CX? >> Yeah, exactly, and that was actually one of the first places that we focused as a company, because we do a lot of what we refer to as workplace services. So making sure that our customers, employees have the tools they need to do their job successfully. So immediately when offices started closing and people started going home, our big challenge was let's make sure that our customers can connect from anywhere, from wherever they need to be working from and have access to the applications and the tools and the products that they need to perform their jobs remotely. And that's really turned into a significant business of its own, really addressing those needs, not only for our customers, but also for our employee base. We have 50,000 people that we sent home, more than 90% of overnight. And many of these are our employees that are interacting with our customer base on a daily basis. So we had to make sure not only that they had connected but they had to be secure. So it was a very big switch and I think I personally was really impressed not only with what we did, but what we saw the industry do, to make that transition very safely and seamlessly. >> Eric I'd love you to expand a little bit on that, You know, which pieces of that full solution that is NTT offering and how do you and your partners help your customers through those rapid adoptions that they need? >> Yeah, so we're a full suite provider. So, we're focused on digital operations, which is digitizing your back office from your workplace services to your hybrid infrastructure network, et cetera. All the way through bringing what we refer to as journey to the cloud. So how do we help you identify what applications and what data you need in the cloud. CX and EX very big focuses for us. In fact, we take a lot of pride in, while we do go to market and sell CX specifically, we consider CX part of everything we do. So if we're talking about workplace services or hybrid infrastructure or security, we want the employee experience to be solid, and we want the employee experience to be consistent across all of those things. So, we think that our customers should not expect to have different interfaces and different portals and different user experiences when they do work with us across infrastructure, application and cloud, et cetera. >> That's excellent Eric. You know we spent the last six months talking about how did we react to the pandemic, and now at least here in the US, the children are back in school. If they're back though, it tends to be a hybrid model. And when we look at work, often we know we're going to have this long gated, kind of new abnormal if you will. So, yes you might be back in the office some, but chances are you will spend some time remote and therefore it's not work from home or back to work, it's work from anywhere, is what I need to be able to do. So, how are you preparing? How are you helping your customers through that? Because it's one thing if it was just a switch that says, I'm either here or there, but it's changing and it's very fluid. >> Yeah, and you're exactly right, it is work from anywhere. But there are some of our customers that don't have the luxury of work from anywhere. So when you think about manufacturing facilities and different hospitality companies, there are people that need to go into physical places. We do a lot in the healthcare space. We need doctors in the hospitals. So we've done a lot to help our customers figure out safe ways to return to work. Recently, we've seen universities, and as you mentioned, high schools and elementary schools all going back with varying degrees of success, right? Some of them have failed and they've had to take a pause and figure out how they're going to restart. We've also seen professional sports leagues and now college sports leagues. And when we see them having issues, we see protocols adjusting and we see them looking for what can we do to make this safer, more effective and more successful for whether it's our sports team, our school or our business. So we've taken a very active approach in that. And we're leveraging technology and creating IP that starts with pre-arrival, registering in advance and opting in for things like tracking social distancing and tracking the use of masks. Then using cameras and facilities to monitor it, to make sure people that are adhering to social distancing and adhering to wearing mask. And in the event that they aren't, we can send instant notifications to their phone. If we have repeat violators, we can prohibit them from coming back to the office. So we can have very strict controls and adherence to whatever the protocols may be as the protocols change. And then the other thing that allows us to do is in the event, someone would test positive with COVID, we will know exactly who they've been within six feet of without a mask over the past X number of days. All of that is stored in the cloud for us to use for reference and use for audit purposes. So that gives us the ability to then use our app to direct all the people that the person that was positive was in contact with, let them go get tested, come back with a negative test before they returned to the office. So basically what we've done is we've created all kinds of technology using automation and AI and facial recognition to bring more safety and more security to the workplace, whatever that workplace might be. Whether again, school, university, manufacturing facility, or a hotel. >> Really interesting topic. Tracking and tracing, so critically important. We've seen in many countries around the world, that's really helped them get their arms around and control that. We talked at the top of the interview about digital means leveraging the data. And if I don't have the data, I can't respond to what's happening there. Here in the US, I haven't heard as much about the tracking and tracing. Is this a company by company thing? Do they have the expense all on them to do it? And of course it raises the concerns about, well, I'm concerned about my privacy and that balance between the public interest and my right to privacy. How do you help your customers sort through some of those issues? >> Well, privacy is definitely a big issue. And you notice that when I was explaining that I said in pre-arrival, you opt in. So the way we've approached it is, it is an opt in. So those that don't want to opt in to that kind of tracking and tracing, won't be those that will be allowed to come back to the office. And that goes back to your other point, I've worked from anywhere. Many of those people can still successfully work from anywhere. But those that feel like they're more effective, more successful or have a need to be in an office, or a need to be physically again in a manufacturing facility or a hotel, we have a way to do that safely. >> All right, well, Eric one of the things I love about research events lately like yours, is a little peek into what's coming on down the road. So, any other things you'd like to share about? You know, some of the things that are exciting you, some things we should be looking at a little bit further down the road? >> Well, I think, you know, for us as you know, we spend a significant amount of money each year on research, and we really get excited about these opportunities and these showcases. So you'll see a lot of exciting information and a lot of what's coming in the future. (indistinct) out of it right now obviously because of the time you'll see themes of safety and security, but you're also going to see just a whole lot of really thought provoking, forward thinking technology. >> You always take the opportunity, even when they're crisis out there. There's the opportunity for innovation and acceleration of what's happening. >> Yes. Eric, thanks so much, a pleasure talking with you and definitely looking forward to hearing more from the event. >> Great, thank you, enjoyed it. >> And stick with us for more coverage from Upgrade 2020, I'm Stu Miniman, thanks as always for watching the Cube. (upbeat music)

>>from around the globe. It's the Cube covering upgrade 2020 The NTT Research Summit presented by NTT Research. >>Hi, I'm stupid, man. And this is the Cubes coverage of Upgrade 2020 the global research Summit for NTT and always happy when we get to talk about digital transformation. Happy to welcome to the program First time guests on the program. Eric Clark. He is the chief digital officer with NTT Data. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank >>you. Glad to be here. >>All right, so let's start, you know, CDOs. First of all, there there's lots of studios. We've done lots of events with the chief data officers, which I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about data. But the digital officers, of course, digital so important in general. And even more so in 2020. But let's understand your role is as chief digital officer. What's your charter where you sit in York? What you're responsible for? >>Yeah, definitely. And you know, it's a good question. I often start conversations with our customers by talking about exactly that, because Chief Digital officer means something different toe different companies. So for us, it's primarily market facing. Onda What that means is I spend most of my time looking at research, looking at R and D, looking at what our competitors are doing in the market and looking at where trends. We're going to make sure that we have the right offerings and capabilities to bring to our customers to make sure that they will remain competitive in their markets. >>That's great. You know, We've been talking for years about the, you know, the digital transformations that companies have been going through. One of our definitions have been. If you're not at the end of it, more data driven, you probably haven't done the right thing. But Eric, this year with 2020 you know, anecdotally we talked to a lot of customers, and obviously there's certain initiatives that get frozen or, you know, uh, we'll take a little bit longer. But those digital initiatives, which are supposed to rely on data and help us move fast and be more agile, seem to be at the top of the list and are accelerating because if I can't respond to you know, the daily and weekly changes that have been great in 2020 you know, I might have a tough time surviving. So what are you seeing? You know, how does that live in your world? >>Yeah, you're exactly right. And that's what we're seeing from our client base as well. So early on in the pandemic, there was a lot of freeze, you know, hold everything. Stop. Stop spending. And let's figure out where we are and where this is going. But very quickly that turn to we've got to react. We're gonna be living with this for a while and we can't. We can't afford to sit back and wait and see where it goes. We've got to react, and we've got to direct our our future. And very often the way that comes out is with digital. So you know, customers are looking for opportunities to leverage digital, to grow revenue, to improve customer engagement and to drive more of their revenue through digital channels. >>Interested in one thing I didn't here and there, but I'm sure is part of it. What about the employees themselves? One of the big things, of course, is that we've made this wonderful corporate environment. You've got the great great Internet there, and now wait. Everybody's at home and scrambling as to what they do. So so how about the kind of the the e x to go along with the C X? Yeah, >>exactly. And that was actually one of the first places that we focused as a company, because we do a lot of you know what we refer to as workplace services. So making sure that our customers employees have the tools they need to do their job successfully. Eso immediately. When when officers started closing and people started going home, our big challenge was Let's make sure that our customers can connect from anywhere from wherever they need to be working from and have access to the applications and the tools and the products that they need to perform their jobs remotely. And that's really turned into a significant business of its own of, you know, really addressing those needs not only for our customers but also for our employee base. You know, we have 50,000 people that we sent home more than 90% of overnight, and you know, many of these are our employees that are interacting with our customer based on a daily basis, So we had to make sure not only that they had connective, >>but >>he had to be secure. So it was a very big switch. And I think I personally was really impressed. Not only with what we did, but what we saw. The industry. Dutilleux make that transition very safely and seamlessly. >>Well, let's Eric, I love you to expand a little bit on that. You know which pieces of that that full solution, Uh, is NTT offering? And how do you and your partner's, uh, you know, help your customers through. You know, those rapid options that they need? >>Yeah, so So So we're a full suite provider. So we're focused on digital operations, which is, you know, digitizing your back office from your workplace services to your hybrid infrastructure network, etcetera, all the way through bringing. You know what? We refer to his journey to the cloud. So how do we help you identify what applications and what data you need in the cloud? Um uh, c X and E x. Very big focuses for us. In fact, we take a lot of pride in while we do go to market and sell c X specifically, we consider c x part of everything we do so if we're talking about workplace services or hybrid infrastructure or security. We want the employee experience to be solid, and we want the employee experience to be consistent across all of those things. So way think that our customers should not expect to have different interfaces and different portals and different user experiences when they do work with us across infrastructure and application and cloud etcetera. >>That's excellent, Eric. You know, we spent the last six months talking about how do we react to the pandemic? And now, at least, you know, here in the U. S. Uh, the Children are back in school. If they're back, though, it tends to be ah, hybrid model. And when we look at work, often we know we're gonna have this elongated kind of new abnormal, if you will. So, yes, you might be back in the office some, but chances are you will spend some time remote and therefore it's not work from home or back toe work. It's work from anywhere, is what I need to be able to do. So how are you preparing? How are you helping your customers through that? Because, you know, it's one thing if it was just, you know, a switch that says I'm either here or there, but it z changing and it's very fluid. >>Yeah, and you're exactly right. It is work from anywhere, but there are some of our customers that don't have the luxury of work from anywhere. So when you think about manufacturing facilities and different hospitality companies, um, there there are people that need to go into physical places. We do a lot in the healthcare space. We need doctors in the hospitals. So we've done a lot to help our customers figure out safe ways to return to the work. Recently, we've seen universities and, as you mentioned, you know, high schools and elementary schools all going back with varying degrees of success, right? Some of them have failed, and they've had to take a pause and and figure out how they're going to restart. We've also seen professional sports leagues and now college sports leagues. Andi, When we see them having issues, we see protocols adjusting and we see them looking for what can we do to make this safer, more effective and more successful for whether it's our sports team, our school or our business. So we've taken a very active approaching that, and we're leveraging technology and creating I P. That starts with pre arrival, you know, registering in advance and, you know, opting in for things like tracking social distancing and tracking the use of mask, then using cameras and facilities to monitor it, to make sure people that are are adhering to social distancing and adhering to wearing masks. Andi In the event that they aren't we can send instant notifications to their phone. If we have repeat violators, Weaken. Prohibit them from coming back to the office so we can have very strict controls and adherence to whatever the protocols. Maybe as the protocols change. And then the other thing that allows us to do is in the event someone would test positive with co vid, we will know exactly who they've been within 6 ft of without a mask over the past X number of days. All that is stored in the cloud for us to, you know, use for reference and use for audit purposes so that gives us the ability to then use are apt to direct all the people that the person that was positive was in contact with, let them go, get tested, come back with a negative test before they return to the office. So So, basically, what we've done is we've created all kinds of technology using automation and AI and facial recognition to bring MAWR safety and more security to the workplace. Whatever that work placement might be, whether again, school, university manufacturing facility or a hotel >>Really interesting topic. You know, tracking and tracing so critically important we've seen in many countries around the world. That's really help them get their arms around and control that. You know, we talked to the top of the interview about, you know, digital means leveraging the data. And if I don't have the data, I can't respond to what's happening there. Um, here in the US, I haven't heard as much about the tracking and tracing. Is this a company by company thing do they have is the expense all on them to do it? And of course, it raises the concerns about Well, I'm concerned about my privacy and that that balance between the public interest on my right to privacy, how do you help your customer sort through some of those issues >>Well, privacy is definitely a big issue. And, you know, you noticed that when I was explaining that I said in pre pre arrival, you opt in. So the way we've approached it is it is an opt in. So those that don't wanna opt into that kind of tracking and tracing, um won't won't be those that will be allowed to come back to the office. And that goes back to your other point of work from anywhere. Many of those people can still successfully work from anywhere but those that feel like they're more effective, more successful or have a need to be in an office or need to be physically again in a manufacturing facility or a hotel. We have a way to do that safely, >>right? Well, Eric, one of the things I love about research events like yours is a little peek in tow. What's coming on down the road? So any other things you'd like toe, you know, share about, You know, some of the things that are exciting. You some things we should be looking at a little bit further down the road. >>Well, I think you know for us, as you know, We spend a significant amount of money each year on research, and and we really get excited about thes thes opportunities in these showcases. So you'll see ah, lot of exciting information and a lot of what's coming in the future. Um, a lot of it right now, obviously, because of the times you'll see themes of safety and security. Um, but you're also going to see just ah, whole lot of really thought provoking forward thinking technology. >>Always take the opportunity. Even when there are crisis is out there. There's the opportunity for innovation and acceleration off. What's happening? Eric, Thanks so much pleasure talking with you and definitely looking forward to hearing more from from the event. >>Great. Thank you. Enjoyed it. >>Stay with us for more coverage from upgrade 2020 times to minimum. Thanks as always, for watching cute with

>> Narrator: From around the globe, it's theCUBE, covering the Upgrade 2020, the NTT research summit, presented by NTT research. >> Welcome back. I'm Stu Miniman, and this is theCUBEs, coverage of Upgrade 2020. Of course, it's NTT's Global Research Summit. Really excited, we're going to be able to dig into healthcare, the health system of course, something that's been, top of mind for everyone around the globe this year, so happy to welcome you to the program. First time guest Mary Edwards. She is the president of provider at NTT DATA Services. Mary, welcome to the program, saying thanks so much for joining us. >> Hi, Stu. Glad to be here. >> All right. So why don't we start, as I tee it up. We're going to be talking about health care there, just a little bit of your background, your group inside of NTT DATA Services. >> Sure. So I've been at NTT DATA Services for a year, just about a year on the knows. Really glad to be here. I've been healthcare, all of my career over 30 years. At first in the Blues, in underwriting actuarial and strategy, then hop to consulting. I was a partner with Accenture for 20, well, yeah, I think 22 years, I was at Accenture. and then, I was leading a commercial markets portion of a platform as a service company for a couple of years, and then NTT called and I was really impressed with what I learned about NTT and delighted to join the firm as the president of provider. >> Well, Mary, I've got a little bit of background in some of the health I love, I go to innovation conferences, and they're like, "We have the opportunity to really transform markets, but it's so tough to make change." Well, you've been there for a year, and the last year, there's been a force in function to change the advent of telehealth and telemedicine. I've done plenty of interviews, and heck, me and my family have been to doctors, using those services, which, at the beginning of this year, I wouldn't have thought was possible. Some of these might be long term changes in impact on what's happening, but bring us inside, your customers, what are some of the pressing challenges they're facing? And it's been a little bit this, there obviously, are huge challenges, but there's also been an opportunity to make some rapid changes. >> Great question. Well, first of all, there's no place I'd rather be right now, than serving the health systems across the US, and certainly we have impact globally. It's dynamic time, lots of change, and as you say, with change comes opportunity. But also, it's a time of deep fragility, and a time when these clients really need help, not just from NTT, but from a variety of partners. And I know, I feel and my team feels, that it's a privilege to work in supporting them, through this very difficult time. And when I say difficult time, I mean, think about it, even before the pandemic, Chartists research was talking about the fact that likely 25% of rural hospitals would fail. Fast forward only a couple of months from that, research being published and across the industry, outpatient revenues are down 11% year over year, inpatient revenue down as well, labor expenses up by nearly 18%. And so there's a lot of pressures on the industry right now. And that's what I mean by just a very significant time to be in the industry and position to help. There's a huge recovery, that needs to happen from what our clients have experienced. First and foremost, top line. We've got to get the revenue back into the hospitals. The CARES Act funding doesn't last forever, and certainly, brings with it some obligations. So bringing in that top line growth, virtual health, which you mentioned, is a big part of that strategy. At the same time, they've got to deal with all the new delivery models or working models, work from anywhere is something that all businesses have to face, and incredibly, an incredible challenge for our health systems. Because of course, it's not just about how we do our individual work, but the interactions that they have to have in conducting the work that they do. So care from anywhere and work from anywhere, are huge concerns of our health system clients now. And you have to do that in industrialized ways, because you don't know where you're working day to day, you have to be able to have fast switching, right? Because we're not in control of where we work. Cities and states are telling us, what we have to do on a day in day out basis. There's a huge concept - >> Human. >> Oh, go ahead. Sure. >> Yeah, no, I just say, as you say, obviously, healthcare is rightly so a heavily regulated industry. So bring us inside a little bit, what are some of those opportunities, some of those innovations that providers are being able to take advantage? And have we opened the gates a little bit to help things move a little bit faster here in 2020, due to necessity? >> Yeah. Well, virtual care, you mentioned that earlier, has exploded. There's a lot of dialogue right now in the industry about whether that's forever. It will never go back to the low single digits that it was prior to the pandemic. I mean, prior to the pandemic health systems were happy if they could get to 10%. Overnight, virtual care went to 40%, 50%, increase overnight, and just continue to grow. CEOs across the industry prior to the pandemic, were really focused on digital front door strategies, the ability to enable consumers to enter the healthcare system, digitally and virtually. And so probably for the 18 months before the pandemic, most large system CEOs that I talked to, were working on those strategies. They're doubling down on those strategies, because the industry is reshaping around that digital future state. The cost pressures that we're seeing in health care, at the same time, require that they think about new operating and delivery models, certainly the industry will restructure, based on what we've gone through and continue to experience. And that will mean certainly changes in consolidation in the healthcare industry, right? As certainly certain systems will fail, right. Can't support what's happening around the economics of the industry. But also within our delivery and operations, there will be and we're already seeing a trend toward more pervasive outsourcing, moving offshore, taking particularly back office functions, whether it's IT or business processes, and looking for the help that can drive down the cost structure, better automate, and innovate on those processes and delivery models, and accelerate their journey to the digital future state of health. >> So Mary, help us understand NTT DATA Services, and NTT broader, what are the solutions? How are you helping your customers with everything we've discussed here? >> Sure, well, you can't enable those digital front door strategies unless you do things like get your applications to the cloud. You've got to be able to open up your environment to trade, if I say it that way, right? To exchange more broadly, even within your own ecosystem, within your own walls, the ability to connect doctors with doctors that before the pandemic didn't have a need to connect in the same way becomes important. So at NTT, we do everything, journey to the cloud. Certainly the security that's so important to those journey and also the digital future of health care. RPA, the introduction of bots and AI to workflows and operations in order to reduce cost. In my division in provider, we worked for nearly the last year on something we call, nucleus for healthcare, which is that digital front door enabled by digital foundation and which delivers through pre-selected capabilities scheduling, through virtual care visits to care coordination and payment, all integrated across the digital fabric, in order to accelerate the industry and certainly our health system partners achievement of that digital front door vision and the full digital future for healthcare. >> I love you talked about RPA automation, has been one of the top things we've been hearing this year. It's just a top sea level priority. We love coming to events like this, a lot of discussion of research looking a little bit forward down the road. What are some of the items here at Upgrade 2020, you want to make sure our audience get a little peek into? >> Yeah, well, you talk about automation, and I said a moment ago about offshore, we're thinking about no shore, right? So when you think about the application of automation and advanced analytics AI into business processes, it's not about moving business processes to a lower cost geography, it's about automating, and enabling through bots and whatnot, the ability to not have hands touch it, and really conserving your resources for the more complex things that have to happen. So I love that concept of no shoring, and really using technology to position humans for their best possible work, solving the harder problems that we face as an industry. I think about innovations in patient monitoring, and what we can take in terms of IoT, from other industries. And for instance, at NTT, we've been doing smart city with the city of Las Vegas, for a couple of years now. And we've got lots of AI around movement, heat, light, the physical context of things. You think about how you move that into healthcare. And it's certainly about patient observation, and creating safe spaces, where doctors and nurses don't have to travel in and out of rooms when there's a high contagion rate, but it's also about using AI, not just to watch the room, but to allow AI to alert when there's something very significant happening, what kind of movement in the bed, what does that infer in terms of what's happening in the patient's room, and alerting on that basis versus a visual monitor, if you will. There are other innovations. Oh, go ahead, Stu. >> Oh, no, so sorry, I thought you had said, please finish. >> Well, I was just about to say there are other innovations that we're working on, that are really about patient well being, patient companion. I think about the work we're doing at NTT disruption around something called Jibo, which is a robotics, very cool little guy who we've had some experience using it in our children's hospitals, right. It becomes like a really a companion of sorts. There are lots of applications for that kind of technology, especially in a pandemic time, when most of our patients are isolated and craving some human interaction and these capabilities can be like that, they can be companions, and they can provide the social interaction that really lead to health and well being. >> Well, so many important topics. Mary, thank you so much for joining us. Great to hear your automation, robotics in the people, at the center, of course, of what we look at in healthcare. Great to talk to you. Thanks so much for joining us. >> Thank you. Bye bye. >> Stay tuned for more coverage from Upgrade 2020. I'm Stu Miniman, thank you for watching theCUBE. (upbeat music)