(upbeat music) >> Announcer: Live from New York, it's the Cube, covering AWS Global Summit 2019. Brought to you by Amazon Web Services. >> Welcome back, we're here in New York City at AWS Summit, one of the regional summits. Over 10,000 people in attendance. I'm Stu Miniman. My cohost is Corey Quinn and happen to welcome Slalom to the program for the first time. So, Slalom, like Amazon themselves, is based in Seattle, yet, also has a presence here in New York City. And representing that, to my right, we have Parul Patel, who is the managing director of middle market for Slalom, based here in New York City. >> That's right. >> World Trade Center, I believe that's where your office is. >> That's right. >> That's excellent. And Joe Berg is the managing director with Slalom based out of Seattle. Thank you so much for joining us. >> Yeah, thank you. >> All right, so, I did walk by the booth this morning. Build as a service is the big takeaway. But for our audience that might not be familiar with Slalom, give us the bumper sticker. >> Yeah, so, the way we like to tell the story is Slalom is a modern consulting company focused on strategy, technology and business transformation. As a part of the technology work that we've been doing for clients for the last couple decades, we started to see a shift in that really with the advent of cloud and companies like AWS. Really changing the technology landscape and what was really possible. You mentioned the build as a service tagline. That's really what the operating model that we built to serve those customers at the scale and at the velocity that they're starting to execute on their most mission critical digital initiatives today. So build as a service is really how we dig in and leverage platforms like AWS and provide value for customers. All right, so, Parul, one of the things we like about these regional summits is it's not just little bit rinse and repeat when you go to the environments-- >> Parul: Right. >> But they do speak to the local market. So when you look at that, some of the customers in the keynotes, you expect to see some financial services-- >> Parul: Right. >> Being here in New York City. A startup like Door Dash, where they were here. Give us your viewpoint, what is special or unique about the greater metropolitan region here in New York City that you see with your customers. >> Sure. So I think as we think about New York as a market, a lot of industries, a lot of companies that are based here. Certainly financial service is one of the big ones. But the buzz in the market is all about cloud. What are we going to do, how are we going to get into the cloud? The question we like to ask our customers is, why. Why do you want to be in the cloud? And what we're seeing, especially in financial services, is a lot of innovation. So as we think about what Joe does from a build as a service perspective, we have a client in financial services who they wanted to figure out, how do we generate more revenue? So we built them, with our build as a service capability, an AWS platform that helped them bring data together and figure out how to monetize that data across different business units and innovate. And so I think it's things like that that we ask that question of why. We can leverage cloud to really do that transformation. >> That's great. We always talk about IT can't be the organization of no. Or, as a friend of mine, Alan Cohen, said, that there's the triangle of no and slow and we need to move up to the top, which is go. >> Right. >> So how does cloud help with that move forward. That love story you talk about, how do I monetize data, how do I move that forward. There's been that promise of that but how do I turn it from a lofty goal into actual reality? >> Yeah, maybe Joe, I'll let you answer that with a little bit of how we bring it to life with our build as a service. >> Honestly, we look at cloud, it's not just an enabler of business today. It's almost fueling business today. And the reality is, the customer consumer demand out there for digital experiences is exponentially growing, right? Organizations are trying to transform themselves into these modern technology companies. Doesn't matter what industry, financial services-- >> Parul: That's right. >> Or otherwise, they're really trying to transform themselves. And cloud is really allowing them to get out of the procurement game, out of the infrastructure game, out of the data center game and really start to lean into, how do I just make use of this in a meaningful way that's going to translate into those revenue streams that Parul talked about. >> It's deceptively complex. Sorry, it's deceptively simple, I suppose, to take a look at what cloud represents, of, okay, now whatever you want instead of buying it, waiting six weeks for it to show up, if you're lucky, and then racking it. Suddenly, it's an API call away. The technology piece is interesting but how does that impact the cultural change, the processes, the governance story about it? The cost control, speaking as a cloud economist, how do you find that this is revolutionizing these companies as they are migrating into this brave new world and transforming? >> Joe: Yeah. >> When I think about cloud, so to me, it isn't a technology play at all across a business. It's about changing your business that starts with changing your mindset. So, being in the cloud, and leveraging cloud, is about how do I do things different? And that means, I'm looking at my fundamental operating model. I'm looking at who my customers are and then changing the mindset of my people. And culturally, we're going to become faster, we're going to iterate a lot more. And having things like cloud, which I can spin up instances at the click of a button, makes it easier for me to do that. But it comes with, I've got to think about my people, right? And I always tell our clients, explain to your people why this is important to them and why it's important to the business because they're going to be able to learn new skills. They're going to be able to do more and become more marketable out there. And so, to me it's a company transformation, not necessarily a technology play at all. >> Yeah, and I'll just maybe piggyback on the back of that. When you take your strategy and you start to think about translating how we're going to do things in a digital business environment and you start to think about the demands that consumer base has on how fast you release features, how quickly you are procuring new experiences for them. It is absolutely about an operating model that can translate strategy and do initiative and budgeting planning into execution very quickly. It's also, then, about when they move into the actual execution. IT organizations were not built to build technology products. They were there to build technology projects. And the confluence of those events of this becoming mission critical and part of their external facing strategy has really required that transformation and cultural shift as well, in terms of how do we build things very fastly and quickly-- >> Parul: That's right. >> Get them out to market in a iterative way that has impact and benefit and value to consumer. And I think that is the holistic complexity that organizations are dealing with, with something that is making technology very simple but the actual then motion of getting that technology to be useful is complex. >> Yeah, and it becomes very challenging to get to a point of people who are used to the old way of doing things. they're seeing the skillset that's required continue to evolve. And it's very challenging for a large-scale company to say, okay, I'm going to go out this week and hire 2,000 new people who are all up to speed on a cloud provider. >> Parul: Yeah. >> That's something that's almost impossible for people to do. So there has to be a bridge. There has to be a story that isn't, well, we're going to replace you with a younger version. >> Right. >> There has to be something that opens a door and a way to get there. And doing that both culturally and on an individual level seems like it's something a lot of companies are struggling with right now. Is that something you're seeing in your customer base? >> Absolutely. I love that question because it gives me an invitation to talk about build as a service. >> That's right. >> And build as a service, we're playing on the as a service language that companies like AWS establish, right? And the idea about build as a service is it's instantly available. You've got idea, you need to go start executing quickly. Maybe competitor A has already built an experience out there that is surpassing you in the marketplace. You don't time to think about, how do I pull all these things together? How do I upskill my resources in terms of skillsets and capabilities to then get to the point where I can execute? I need to do that now. But, I'm also on this journey of transforming my internal culture and my people and my skillsets. So how do I get a jumpstart in that. We have built a model to help our customers instantly tap into that. And these multidisciplinary teams that really holistically are bringing solution to customer, but we're also doing this in what we call a co-creation model. How do we help them learn and adopt those same principles that are going to help them build modern technology, software and products when we're gone and they're becoming self-dependent. And I think that is part of the journey of how you can leverage a company like Slalom. >> And that's why I would add, Joe, as we think about our offering, it is about getting to velocity in the software engineering space in the cloud. But this co-creation concept, I think, is one that we've heard from our clients that not a lot of people do. It's easy for partners to come in and say, here, we'll just do it for you. And our model is, we want to do it with you to the point where, when you have an agile team, we've got a mixed team of Slalom team members and client team members where we're helping the client team members learn along the way because these are all new technologies that are evolving so fast that it's hard to keep up, for anyone. >> It give me hope to hear what you're saying here, 'cause we all have the scars of listing through. It's like, okay I did a big rollout. Oh how'd it go? Well, you know, it was six to 12 months later than we thought and we all did the corporate mandated training. Yet, a month later, we're all lookin' at each other sayin, oh my gosh, how do we deal with what we have? And of course, it is no longer just waterfall and throw things over there. It is constantly changing. Therefore, co-creation is a term we love-- >> Joe: Yeah. >> And help us walk through. How long is an engagement like this? How much is there the ramp up? And then, as a service, so I'm assuming there is maintenance and you're staying engaged as after we are through some of those milestones. >> Sure, sure. Well, I always kind of start with, we moved from, as I said earlier, a project mindset into a product mindset. So each of these we consider its own piece of software. And product really starts way out here on the ideation site. So Parul talks a lot with customers about the strategy of what new revenue streams you need be thinking about. how do you engage with experiences? Once we move into this I know what I want to build. Now I just don't know how I'm going to get there to the finish line, as you were talking about earlier, Stu. That's really where we enter in with this build as a service model. And we start with a short four to six week discovery phase. So we can start to establish the foundation of what we're going to build together with our customers. That's where co-creation starts, right? What are other priorities? What are the features? How do we do agile together, which is usually a term companies use but it's not a term they know how to use, or a motion they know how to exercise well with. And so, how do we establish those things that we're going to create together? And then we scale into what we would call an MVP release cycle. Our whole idea is that we help you get to an MVP. We help you get to more viable product and then you start to become the owners of those future releases. That's that co-creation piece, where we can bring you alongside us, establish culture, actually create business value by actually getting something out the door. And then, you start to own it yourself. Depending on the competency and the abilities of the customers we work with, that can vary in terms of when those transitions happen. But we look at that as typically anywhere from a 10 to 14 week exercise to get that first iteration out. And then we start to iterate faster than that. >> Are most of your customers, are they just dealing with the people that they have in house? Or are they having to bring in new people to help with that transition along the way? I'm assuming it's a bit of a mix. >> I think it is a bit of a mixed bag and I think one of the keys, what I like about our philosophy, is that, we're all about how do we get you working software as quickly as possible. While we can do a four to six week discovery, we have client in a startup in the healthcare space, where we got them through discovery within four weeks. We do two week sprints. After three sprints, we had software up and running. And so, within 10 weeks, we said, here's what you need, and here's some working software. That I think, in a lot of ways, people say, hey, we're agile, we work fast. People typically are not delivering software in 10 weeks. And that to me, is the differentiator for the way we approach our problems, is we want to get to that working software as fast as possible. >> Right, at some point it almost feels like agile stopped meaning agility and started meaning we have a lot of meetings every morning. >> Parul: Yes. >> Joe: That's right. >> And that doesn't work. >> Yeah. >> That's right. That's a great way to say it, yeah. >> All right, a lot of customers here. Tell us what are some of the top things you're hearing from people. What bring them to your booth? What are some of those things that kind of set off the, oh this is a good fit for working with Slalom. >> Sure, well, I get asked all the time, what industries do you guys work in? Where is this most relevant, especially when you're talking about build as a service. And the reality is, it just slices horizontally right through every industry. Because, I don't know of an industry, whether it be healthcare, financial services, retail, manufacturing, I don't know of one that isn't on that journey. They're at different places on that journey, and the adoption curve, but usually we seem them coming. I think there's a stat out there that says 80% of the enterprise customers have adopted cloud. But only about 10% of the work clothes are on cloud, right? >> Parul: That's right. >> So they're coming to us with saying, hey we know we're on this journey of moving to the cloud, but we're stuck in really getting the most value out of the cloud and how can you help us accelerate the value that we believe is there with a platform like AWS? And that's where we're really entering in and finding those critical experiences that are going to create value, not only internally in terms of momentum, but externally in terms of their business. >> Yeah. And I would say that as we think about when companies look at us and why they picked Slalom as an organization to work with, one of the key differentiators is we like to work with people that we enjoy working with. So we truly want to partner with our clients and so companies say, you know what? We want people that we enjoy working with. we want people that are going to challenge us and be innovative. And that's what you're going to get. When you get Slalom, if you're lookin' for someone to be innovative and challenging a little bit, we're probably not the best fit for your company, right? That's just being honest out there. But I think the other piece of it is that we want to accelerate your journey and enable you to do it. So, we're not in the business. While we have long-term capabilities, like as a service, etc, we're not in the business of taking over your business or being in the outsourcing space. And so, our mindset is all about how do we make you better? And help you realize your vision? And I think that's why we work across a lot of different industries and a lot of different types of companies. >> Joe and Perul, really appreciate you helping share how you're helping customers through that journey, through great adoption in the cloud. Thanks for sharin' and all the updates on Slalom. >> Thank for having us! >> Yeah, thanks for havin' us. >> All right. for Corey Quinn, >> Take care. >> I'm Stu Minimann. We'll be back here with lots more coverage from AWS Summit in New York City. Thanks for watchin' the Cube. (upbeat music)