I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up. Here is the index to the growing list of interviews.
This time it is Rob Enslin, President, Cloud Sales at Google.
I have known Rob over the years from his long stint at SAP. He is not one to brag but if you parse some of the statements he makes in the video below, you get a sense for the tectonic changes coming to most economies and how technology will play what he calls a "massive role". The formidable range of offerings Google and Alphabet already offers to consumer world will increasingly be leveraged by the enterprise. With Thomas Kurian and Rob that should accelerate.
He touches a wide range of industries across the conversation - auto makers, banks, food and beverage, hospital, universities, call centers, public sector agencies, travel companies. He covers scenarios such as running a virtual annual general meeting, banks moving from branch to digital banking, machine inspection of shop floors and automation of thermal checks at airports.
He describes how many customers start with "lift and shift" of legacy apps to Google infrastructure for the cloud economics, scalability and security. Then they start to leverage Google's machine learning, collaboration, vast data sets (like health related ones from Google Health and Calico), mapping and other digital assets.
I was struck by his personal productivity during the shelter at home. He describes a day of customer calls to Japan, Indonesia, Germany, Brazil, Florida, New York and California. Organizing all that a few months ago would have required 2-3 week trip. He says Google has always been a video-savvy workplace (which has also made their WFH a lot easier), but he says it is striking how the rest of the world has moved that way.
He is rightly proud that the cloud has managed to support so much traffic without too many hiccups - all the massive uptick in ecommerce, video, banking and trading volumes, telemedicine and other digital activity from home. As he asks - could we have done that a decade ago?
He also touches on delivery models and how even complex machine learning projects are being supported remotely. He expects much more productivity going forward in delivery of services.
When I asked him about leadership, he complimented Google leadership like the CEO Sundar Pichai for decisiveness - about quickly moving to work from home, ending large group meetings, being conservative about moving back into physical workplaces. He also cites his personal experiences during the dot.com recession in the early 2000s, and that in the 2008 financial meltdown as helping him lead during this crisis. He says he shares with his employees how he personally relaxes. He also participates in many virtual happy hours, virtual Peloton group rides with staff.
He was immensely popular at SAP - read this post I did on his earlier career and his leadership style. No surprise he has continued that at Google.
I found it an extremely uplifting conversation. I think you will too.
