Latest / Identity at the Center / #184 - Oktane 22 - Okta CIO Alvina Antar

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#184 - Oktane 22 - Okta CIO Alvina Antar · Identity at the Center

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You're listening to the identity at the center podcast.
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This is the show that talks about identity and access
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management and making sure you know who has access to what
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let's get started. Welcome to the identity of the
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sender podcast I'm Jeff and that's Jim.
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Hey Jim hey Jeff, how are you? Oh not so bad yourself great.
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We had the kickoff keynote from Todd and Eugenio this morning
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and man I am pumped. It was a fantastic session.
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Yeah it was a it was a fun talk. We've got another fun talk about
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to come up here. I want to be respectful of her
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time so we're going to have Elvina antar, come on.
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She's the CIO for OCTA. Welcome to the show Elvina.
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Thanks, thanks for having me. Yeah, thank you so much.
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The time I know that you're very busy.
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You've probably got like, 80 thousand people were all trying
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to get time with you here the conference, but we do appreciate
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you taking some time out for us. I think the first thing that we
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want to find out is this is our first time we've had a chance to
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meet you and kind of talk with you.
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And how did you become you know, the CIO of okhta what's been
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your journey to get to that path?
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Well, I have had my my entire career has been an it.
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So I graduated in 97, spend 17, incredible.
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Years at Del Sol started there as a software engineer and spent
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years across every part of the business.
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And the last couple of years while Adele, I ran em AIT and so
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that gave me a glimpse into startups and CEOs who are really
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driving Innovation and and then I left after Delano, stir
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privatization and joined Zora and was therefore a CIO and took
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them public. And so I spent six years there,
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and gained a ton of Experience of what I believed in, it
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organization should look like for our modern Enterprise and
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then just over two years ago, landed an OCTA.
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I've been knocked a customer for Years, love octaves Vision
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around identity. I've been an OCTA Workforce
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customer for years and now with customer identity, just being
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able to drive digital experiences and ensuring that
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you have a more seamless experience across both your
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employees, which I've had to do my entire career and your
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customers is critical. And so I couldn't be happier to
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be part of an organization that you know as founder led a
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Visionary leader as we saw today with Todd and Eugenio with the
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odd 0 founder, who's really the driving force across both our
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Workforce, identity cloud and our customer identity Cloud.
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So it seems like you've had a lot of great conversations here
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over the last 12, 24 hours, let's call it right since.
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It's since we've been here, you were kind of sharing just before
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we hit record button here that you had an interesting
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conversation yesterday. With the current doctor
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customer. You tell us a little about that.
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Yes I had a chance to have a fireside chat with Spencer Mott
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who is the CEO of booking Holdings and his story is
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incredible. He is a longtime one of the
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longest standing OCTA customers this is maybe his seventh or
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eighth octane in attendance. He came from Amsterdam to join
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us in person and shared his story.
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So So he's currently the C, so a booking Holdings but Years
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Years. Prior he brought up to n and
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elctronic arts and Amgen and McKesson all of which our
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customers still today. And, and at at booking Holdings,
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what his responsibility is, is, it's a conglomerate right of
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Priceline booking.com open table and Agoda and he was just
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sharing the experience of how Priceline has 70 million
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customer accounts that have migrated You customer identity
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and they had a 20-year in-house build that they ripped and
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replaced with our customer identity solution.
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And they, he talked about how they want to be out of the
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identity business. Like they're not in the identity
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business there in the, in the, in the, in the travel and
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bookings. And they want to create a
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concierge service for their customers, write and create the
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most seamless security experience from the time that
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you booked a flight to the time that you You have a reservation
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at your hotel, or your car, or your, or your restaurant.
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And so, you know, being able to drive their Innovation and drive
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it in experience and partner with, you know, our partner with
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our identity solution has been a game changer for booking
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Holdings and so it was just a powerful story and the best part
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about it was that he shared stories back with Freddie are
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octus co-founder and back in the days when nobody cared about,
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Bag and and just, it was just was just amazing and special to
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be able to have someone who's truly been a partner and
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Advocate and customer for so many years to share share.
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Why why he has seen the vision of identity early Burley on back
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you know, 13 years ago when we first started and he's just
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excited about our future. I think it's just so amazing
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hearing that story and thinking about their business model and
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how integral I am must be to create a good customer
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experience because he go into that site and it doesn't
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recognize you or you have a hard time getting in.
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There's so many different options that Booker travel.
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So identity, it's one of those cases where identities just pops
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out as like a true differentiator, I was thinking
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about your origin story and what Jumped out at me as like, you
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know, the thought I had was, I started an idea around the same
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time, right? And the CIO roll back, 20, plus
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years ago, now, right? Is was so much different than it
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is today and I think it's because technology is now just
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core in every single aspect of the business.
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I can't think of a single aspect of the business, where
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technology is not a playing a key role.
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And now, now, here we are at Octane 22 and you're going to be
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hosting a panel of cios and you're going to be talking about
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the CI CI, o-- role in business transformation.
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It's really driving the, but let me not put the words in your
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mouth, what is it? What is it?
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That we can expect out of that session?
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Well, thank you for sharing that.
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It couldn't be a better time to be a CIO, honestly.
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I mean, it's every company. Just as you said across every
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industry is a technology company.
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I mean today at the keynote, Todd asked, Todd asked, Kim
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Huffman the CIO of trip actions, who was sharing the story of how
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they've always been at work for state, ID identity customer.
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But they got out of that identity business.
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And, and, and, and deployed customer identity to be able to
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drive a more seamless, and secure experience for their
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customers at trip actions. A very similar story than what I
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just shared and, and, and what, what in the question that that
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taught asked Kim? was are you are you are you a
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technology company or are you a travel, you know and and expense
7:25
organization and her response was we're a technology company
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and if you ask any CIO or any any executive across every
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industry, Legacy or modern. There are technology company
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because technology Powers the business technology enables
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business strategy, and enables companies to achieve their
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vision. And, and so this panel, thank
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you for mentioning it. I'm so excited.
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They're three of my friends. So, you know, how fun is it to
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get to be able to hang out with your friends on stage.
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So, we actually have a group called the Silicon Valley, CIO
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women's Network and or AKA flamingos I'll do I'm not
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wearing pink today. I've got green sporting sporting
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exporting bright green today, but, you know, they're they're
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they're incredible. Inspiring women cios who, who
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pushed me and challenge me every day.
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So we have archana Rao who used to be the CIO at atlassian and
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recently just moved to become the CIO at Unity Technologies
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and driving their Innovation from you know, beyond gaming,
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which is just so so powerful. For the developers in the house.
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We've got the CIO of DocuSign who spent years at Cisco and is
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really driving docu signs. Next phase of growth Shanti
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higher. And then we have a niche of
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aswany, who's the CIO at toast, and toast is an incredible
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Story. I mean, toast, what they're
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doing in in in, you know, the, the industry is just
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transformational, right? I mean, we all use toast.
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And, and they're both a Workforce customer and a
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customer identity customer and you know, but the panel isn't
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isn't necessarily about identity.
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The panel is about how they are enabling transformation and how
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they are Business Leaders. They're not just technology
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leaders, their Business Leaders and enabling their, their
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company's vision and strategy and how in order to enable their
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company's Vision, they need to ruthlessly.
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Prioritize those things that will truly move the needle and
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how they are all. Identity first companies, in
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order to enable that strategy identity is the foundation for
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their strategy, it is truly the foundation to drive Cloud,
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adoption to drive business and digital transformation all
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through a hardened security footprint.
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The only way that you do that is by is by positioning identity as
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the foundation of your organization.
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And so I can't wait for that conversation.
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It's going to be casual and fun. Just like this.
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Yeah. And so, you know, I can't wait,
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can't wait to share that either. And going back to the origin
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story, just thinking, 20 plus years ago, trying to make the
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case to make investments and security and identity and access
10:21
management. It was an uphill battle was
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like, why should I spend money on these things are?
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That was the challenge we face as Security Professionals,
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nowadays. I think it's, I think I'm
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answering my own question. I think it's a lot easier.
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But we're at the Gartner conference within the last few
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months. And Becky, archambault was
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giving a presentation is that we used to, as I am professionals,
10:47
have a seat at the kids table. Now, we have a seat at the adult
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table, but we need to be able to talk about business objectives
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and things like that. And I guess, you know, to put
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that question to you or really the thought is around, you know.
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Do we now have a seat in the c-suite?
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Are we? Being taken more seriously today
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and kind of what is it? What advice could you give to
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your peers or up-and-coming practitioners on making that
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case? I think we have more than a seat
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at a table. You know and I think that the
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and actually I know I know we do I live and breathe it every day
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and I mean, look at look at look at our boards.
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Now we actually have cyber security as a chair in
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boardrooms because of Requirement of driving driver
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security and the CIO is our and a seesaw is are critical to
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ensuring that there's there's there's there's there's a
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strategy around cybersecurity thinking about business
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transformation on digital transformation.
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The CIO is the enablement function.
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It's it's the only way that you can achieve that vision is
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through a process technology and data and we don't talk about
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data enough. You know, a lot of the times in
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order to especially for organizations who are Either
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pivoting, their business models to subscription perpetually
12:09
moving from Perpetual to recurring Revenue business
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models or were born subscription.
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They need to understand their customers.
12:16
They need to be able to understand how their customers
12:18
are using their products and have deep product Telemetry to
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understand, you know, customers success, right.
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In order to ensure there's an in order to ensure that they renew
12:30
in order to ensure that there's Clarity around upsells and
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opportunities were churn prediction this.
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Data like having that customer data is integral.
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And so, those are the conversations that we have in
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the boardroom. It's all around driving driving
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automation, to drive growth and scale.
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It's all around data, the power of both your product data, your
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product and your Enterprise data to be able to make data-driven
12:55
decisions and have trust and transparency in your
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organization. So that you're well-equipped to
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make the right decisions through data that you trust.
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And then Security is front and center.
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So there's those are all conversations that are happening
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in the executive room and an in the boardrooms.
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Yeah. And I think as a software
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organization you've got to be obviously getting new
13:24
subscriptions as what kind of keeps the company growing.
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But you have to be at the point where the client is actually
13:31
using it getting deep with it and really getting the value
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from it for them. Stay loyal to that platform
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100%. So there's another panel that
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you're giving around driving diversity in Tech.
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I want to touch on that one as well.
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Can you give us a sneak preview of what we can expect on that
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one? Well, yes, this is something
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that's near and dear to my heart.
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You know, every every octane we showcase our culture, you know,
13:57
who we are. You know, we one of the main
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reasons I joined. You asked, why or how I'm the
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CIO at Octoman. One of the main reasons is not
14:04
only my strong belief in our vision, Of identity because
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obviously, I'm a passionate leader who has to believe in in
14:11
our vision but also who we are and and what we stand for and,
14:17
and and, and we truly are an organization that is invested in
14:21
ensuring that we drive intentional change and driving
14:25
diversity and Tech is something that that I am committed.
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And I know many of my peers are committed to truly driving
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driving. And measuring outcomes as we
14:37
measure business, outcomes, all that all the things that we do
14:41
today. And what we prioritize is to do
14:43
measurable business outcomes, that same that same lens should
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be taking on taken on diversity. We should have measurable
14:52
business outcomes to drive real change in what in what tech
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looks like you know. And so the three speakers that I
15:01
have that, I couldn't tell you how I can't, I can't begin to
15:03
explain how excited I am to have these speakers.
15:06
One is the CEO and founder of girls in Tech Adriana, guess
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cone and she is, she started girls in Tech over 15 plus years
15:16
ago. I'm now on the board of girls in
15:18
Tech, and I am just so, so excited to have her, share her
15:24
Mission, and how why she started girls in Tech to be able to
15:28
eliminate the gender gap in technology.
15:31
The second speaker is melon Yen, who is the CEO and founder of A
15:36
collective which is an incredible VC.
15:39
They actually just close their second round of funding who has
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200 plus operators, who are all diverse operators.
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I mean, so I think that it was 90%, women operators and 40%
15:52
people of color who are funding the next, the next set of
15:58
innovation. And so that's so she's going to
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share the whole vision of operator Collective and and how
16:04
having died diverse. Operators will drive the next
16:07
generation of diversity and tang.
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And then, the third, I mean, if that isn't enough, the third
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incredible speaker is the CEO of build which I'm also on The
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Advisory Board of build which is an incredible.
16:21
Incredibly inspiring organization who is an
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organization that focuses on youth underprivileged youth and
16:30
and providing entrepreneurship, you know, for those youth who
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have never seen anyone And their family pursue higher education.
16:39
And and so they have an opportunity to be able to share
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what they're doing in the classrooms and how they have
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build entrepreneurship as part of the classroom from freshman
16:48
through senior year and the percentage of those those youth
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that are now pursuing higher education.
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And octet is a, I am proud to say that autism proud sponsor of
16:59
both build and girls in Tech. And you know, my hope in this
17:03
conversation is to not only showcase these Has incredible
17:06
organizations. But to have everyone here, the
17:09
thousands of people that are here be able to come away and
17:12
say, you know, I need a sponsor, these organizations.
17:15
This is how I'm going to drive, intentional change and that we
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all have a part in driving change for diversity and Tech.
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I love the passion behind it and I think there's I know we're
17:25
getting short on time so I'm going to ask a quick question
17:27
hopefully. But I think can you summarize?
17:30
What is the competitive advantage of having that
17:32
diversity within your organization?
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It Whatever the order some organization might be?
17:39
Well I mean it's all about diversity of thought.
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It's not about, you know, one of the conversations that we're
17:44
going to have and I can't wait, it's tonight at 5:30 and it's
17:48
going to be just an incredible inspirational conversation.
17:51
But it's Lie about diversity importance of diversity, of
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thought, nobody wants a quota. We don't want to be able to hire
17:58
based on a quota like, that is insane.
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The fact that we've come to this time and day that we have to be
18:05
in a position where we can drive quota for measuring, you know,
18:08
diversity in hiring and more importantly retaining, it's not
18:13
about just hiring, it's one thing to hire.
18:16
But what about retaining, what about, creating an inclusive
18:18
environment that where people are thriving and They and they
18:22
want to stay and they see career growth by the investment that
18:28
the organizations are making because it's genuine and it's
18:31
and it's intentional. So we're going to be talking
18:35
about those those those things and more.
18:38
So this is octane 22. And I think one of the things
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that I'll, that will want to get out is, you know, what should
18:43
people be taking away from this conference?
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I mean, this is my first acting, so it's first and I've been to,
18:47
and it's been great so far. And certainly appreciate the
18:49
support that OCTA has given us to kind of make this Of thing
18:52
happen. What should people take away if
18:56
they are here or if they're watching online or if they're
18:58
living vicariously through this podcast?
19:01
Well, I love. I think we're all living
19:02
vicariously through, you brought your podcast.
19:04
So, thank you, first for creating this podcast and
19:07
showing the importance of identity and driving
19:09
transformation and driving and driving Cloud adoption and
19:13
enabling a more secure infrastructure and and ensuring
19:18
that our organizations are positioned for Success, you
19:21
know, to me. You know, one of the key themes
19:23
that I love that that we should take away is that truly identity
19:27
belongs to you and that's one of the things that timeshare today
19:30
and it's and it's so true and that's why we're so laser
19:34
focused on ensuring that the employee identity.
19:38
What we talked about Workforce identity that are tied to
19:40
employees and partners and an extended extended Workforce.
19:45
You know, Aunt has offered for 13 years, ought is known for
19:49
Workforce identity, right? And and, and And all that we're
19:53
doing with Workforce and now, with our, with our focus on
19:56
customer, identity and driving, digital experiences, a seamless,
20:00
and secure digital experience for your consumers.
20:03
And for, you know, the all the Sass providers that those
20:06
consumers are connected to, you know, one key takeaway is that
20:12
we have now created a knocked identity platform that brings
20:15
together, both the workforce identity and customer identity
20:18
and showcasing The Importance of Being an identity first company,
20:22
The in driving your transformation and enabling your
20:25
strategies. Our success is is seeing our
20:28
companies being able to achieve their vision and by allowing us
20:32
to be able to partner with with our customers and ensuring that
20:36
they that they are able to drive their employee experience and
20:41
their customer experience in the most seamless and secure way
20:44
through identity as the foundation of their
20:47
architecture. So we call this identity.
20:49
The center for a reason and that's So I'm going to go over
20:53
at Joel. I'm not sitting here.
20:54
Quietly in the corner. Do we have three minutes to end
20:56
on a lighter note? I get two thumbs up.
20:58
Alright, go for a gym, so it's our traditional and the show to
21:01
end on a lighter note. So, we're going to question
21:04
that. Yeah, yeah, it's going to be
21:06
unrelated to Identity and access management.
21:09
So one thing I've been picking up is that Airbnb has noticeably
21:13
taken on the focus of creating travel experiences such as
21:18
renting a tree house, or a cave or a houseboat.
21:22
Do any of those sound like things you would do in which one
21:24
sounds like the thing you would most likely do, definitely The
21:29
Treehouse. So, I just spent my summer, and
21:32
I actually just thought of this. So I just spent our summer, with
21:36
my family, my husband Rami, and my three beautiful children that
21:40
I'm lucky to, to have, we had the best family vacation in
21:45
Costa Rica and we stayed in a treehouse.
21:48
I mean, literally, it was like a tented Camp.
21:50
I felt like I was in the middle of The Wilderness and it was the
21:56
most incredible experience and I wish I could have that
21:59
experience every day. It was it was there was no
22:02
technology, you know, we talked about technology but in order to
22:05
step away and and be able to experience the rainforest and
22:10
and and bond in a way that we haven't, we don't we don't get
22:15
to bond often enough, right? And, and so Costa Rica the the
22:20
environment, the economy. Variance was was was was
22:25
something that my family will never forget and so I will
22:27
definitely take the Treehouse tree house.
22:29
How about you Jeff? I don't know how vain I'm
22:30
thinking, sort of like there's like a Swiss Family Robinson so
22:33
I've scenario sitting in a tree house.
22:35
I I guess I am completely the opposite.
22:39
I need air conditioning, I need electricity.
22:42
So give me the houseboat. I think that's probably of the
22:45
three choices. That would be, what I do, you're
22:47
gonna see cave because, you know, it's pretty cool in caves.
22:50
It's cool, but it's not gonna stop.
22:52
With Wi-Fi, and a cape sucks, even though Alby knows.
22:54
Now talk me into the Treehouse, but I'm gonna go cave and I just
22:58
think that would be super cool being in the cave.
23:01
Yeah. You haven't been to Costa Rica?
23:03
No, I have am. So with the Treehouse.
23:07
So is there a specific Tree House recommendation that we
23:10
should have here? A specific tree?
23:13
Yeah, I mean, I guess I get. So where do we go for?
23:15
Going to say, in a treehouse in Costa Rica so the La Fortuna
23:18
area could be an amazing place and it's right by the Arsenal
23:22
Mechanic, you know, location and it was just incredible.
23:28
And so, I highly highly recommend it.
23:30
Yeah, okay. Alright.
23:31
Well I know you're very busy. So we're going to let you go.
23:33
Thank you very much for taking the time for us.
23:35
It means a lot for us. And for all the listeners that
23:37
we've got around the world that I want to thank OCTA, which
23:40
obviously you're a part of for helping kind of make this thing
23:42
happen. Also the RSM for their support,
23:44
you can find us on the web I don't need to center.com or on
23:46
Twitter at idea. See podcast for those who are
23:49
looking for Show links will have them in the show notes.
23:52
Come on. OCTA Octane and act itself.
23:55
And yeah, thank you so much for being part of this and we'll
23:57
talk with everyone in the next one.
24:02
Thanks for listening to the identity at the center podcast.
24:05
If you like what you heard, don't forget to subscribe and
24:07
visit us on the web and identity at the center.com.