 Hi, hello, everyone. It's impossible to see anyone. So there is such a bright light Good morning, everyone. Let's start sharing very briefly our our experience Just to put up with a bit of context where we are Well In the meantime, they solved the technical issues. I'm Christine Alvarez. Since nine months I am the group CTO in Banco Santander, but before that all my experience in the telco industry I used to be the CIO in in BodaFone and and and the last 12 years also in Telefonica, so it is quite interesting for me changing a completely different sector like banking But the observing that from the technology point of view is quite quite similar The only difference is the time when the sector is erupted Elco sector was erupted sometimes a some years ago Banking industry is starting to be disruptive. So some days in in Santander I have the impression to be like maybe five six years ago in when I was in in Telefonica, no that is mainly my always working in in technology position But very very related with business because for me everything is about business Technology is is necessary, but it's not the final goal. It's really how we really trust for our business model Christina We've worked together Amazingly, but we've only met and actually we didn't know we were together in Telefonica and but different trajectories in In actually changing companies in a very much Sweet moment for this because the moment in which data Brings this this state to sing which it is less of Coast of business Think that you have to plan for storage and becomes a business asset and Companies start to realize that and start to do things which are interesting with that data becoming an asset and then Build their businesses looking more at the data and less of the technology It's it's it's kind of some of the things that we're going to share to today here my own experience we we shared the Telefonica beat after that I want to to to work for AT&T in San Francisco Bay Area running a team of big data innovation and Having as in many other times doing my life being fortunate enough to work with amazing teams that actually Can other ones that actually make the change not and we may be more or less Involved in that but it's actually the people who in spite of the organizations sometimes Drive the change and actually implemented and then in the case of AT&T I was in that moment in which a company 140 years old 300,000 employees Changed their pace not because the regulator Chopped it into many baby bells But because they wanted to be a new thing and they purchased the Time Warner Media conglomerate and they created a brand new advertising analytics business Which is now named Xander which is a Hint of Alexander Graham Bell the founder of Bell Labs and This company 140 years old with an inertia like like a dinosaur Made it choice to to transform based on data the data That was going to be coming from their communications bit the data was going to be coming from the media bit and the part that they were able to actually Monetize that data in the analytics bit. So amazing moments in in time and now with something there We're just at the beginning of the journey, you know, and we are discovering we are learning about banking sector We are learning and there are huge opportunities to really transform because it's an industry that isn't now is suffering a big disruption So I think we we are going to enjoy it a lot working in this We do am I at a bit of dinosaurs because we have been living companies where data was my treasure And it was data was the power if I have the info I have the power So it's quite interesting but the good news for for for all of us are here today Is that there is the most exciting time to work in technology? I've been working in technology for more than 27 years and at the beginning I felt like a cost As a cost light bit efficiency and all the discussion was about cost cost reduction And how to really use the technology for me much more productive. Okay, it's good But it's not enough and today the technology when you talk about all the CEOs of the big companies They are very very concerned by technology and for me that is so exciting I am really happy to see that Technologies in the middle of the business and and again is not the goal But it's how we really transfer our business model and that is about the PNL I always say digital transformation is how you change your PNL Using two elements first technology second the chain of customer behavior That is not about to have nice technologies inside the company. That is really how we Rethink our business model and it's very very tough Think for instance in the case of Telefonica some years ago when was up and Netflix appears and we were so Thinking in our own business and trying to copy them and it's impossible all these guys are going to the rap Your core business and you don't want to compete with them trying to be like them Because for my point of view is impossible. You really need to understand where are your core strengths? Where are you really good and really transfer your core and really transfer where you are the best and not trying to copy others? Because the competitors want to commoditize your strengths and that is it's very very Important is a very strategic discussion and the only difference between the sectors is when when this ration is coming And it's there is not any difference the kind of the ration and the good news for us is the technologies are quite quite similar Many years ago. It was not the case today Everybody talk about a cloud everybody talk about APIs about data DevOps all the Basics are there Where is the difference for me and the challenge is the execution and if the real Challenge is how these big companies really execute these digital transformation Creating impact on the PNL And and there is a lot of pressure I get on the bank in February We launch all of our a cloud program in March. We're already putting in production And it's not easy and it's not a question nine months getting a baby in one month There are structural changes takes time and to really create sustainable Difference really bad. It's very important to start the journey and doing and learning by doing that is not Like in the past huge long processes Testing learning technology is there. It's outside. It's a baby. I had a lot of discussion with my teams In the last years. Ah, we really need to test this new technology. Come on guys There are many people using this technology across the board less Learning doing things and maybe it's not going to be perfect And I remember our first cloud project in Santander has been a very good learning experience And it was a data project, but I am happy and people was very reluctant to tell me Christina It's been a disaster. Okay great news We are learning because these new technologies are very difficult to the security in big companies And it's something we really need to help and to enable our people to really fail and to really change things and our main responsibility is always the icebreaker and how we take the Sticks and how we really putting together the technology the business there is the compliant people really moving on the same direction But there is not an option and the difference for me is going to be where the companies They can really execute or the others. They are going just and it's loaded And that is for me is very very important because this is not about this the technology team Of course, you need a technology team very powerful But you can have the best technology team in a company. You don't trust for the company That is a leadership issue Starting for the top from the CEO and all the senior managers finance marketing operations Legal human resources Technology that is not about putting technology big data analytics and all these new things Across the company and that's it. It doesn't work The real challenge is how you really manage manage a company in a certain vertical in this way Because if we really believe that we want to be the customer-centric Organization you really need to manage your company by customer journeys and that's breaks all the traditional way of working And and that for me is the challenge. First of all understand for what I need to transform my business For what in terms of business that is a business discussion I want to change the revenues or the cost but less first having the discussion Where is the business drivers and after that I had the what now we start talking about the how But many companies start making things putting the data putting many Technology pieces with no clear business driven and they fail. Okay. Maybe they can get some nice prayer release But they are not really transforming the company So that is because has to be the top down has to be business driven And it implies a very very deep chain from the technology from the people and from the processes And if you don't do three things at the same time, it doesn't work And I remember I failed completely in 2015 when I just start creating the first agile team Working in cloud after one year was a disaster because I underestimate the Relactancy of the intermediate managers. I are underestimate the complexity of the new technology And I underestimate that the difficult part is not putting the first work in the cloud It's how you're running the company the day after How you're running a data product that is not managing software lines is managing data on real time That is completely in your work, but again the important thing is really Have the commitment of the top managers to really have a single plan There is no the business and technology plan There is the company plan and to really secure than a starting a small getting results and really continue on that and again technology many times and sees the C part because Sounds like okay. I mean the year but the because I Suffer a lot in my in my experience really changing changing the way of working not only in technology Also working with my colleagues, but saying that all of these new technologies are very very complex Imagine how different well imagine is the reality How you really change a team working in mainframe on a traditional distributed system in the last 15 20 years now Working in cloud with Kubernetes containers And in a second DevOps Wow so nice is fantastic But the reality that is really really very very complex and creating box is very easy creating really a scalable industrialized services massive service with Millions of transactions is another story And we have to be very serious and we have the responsibility to explain that that is not creating an app in a weekend That is very serious. There are good news. There are very good guys And good companies that we have to support We have to get the best of all these companies to really change our business model But don't forget that it takes time Is no easy and things are going to fail and I want to share with you my my worst experience working as a CIO it was And it's something that it really helped me a lot to think that maybe we had to manage things in a completely different way it was a database corruption 2011 30 of December I Was with my family in a nice hotel and all my team was distributed in their holidays Across the world and we have to manage a very very Tough situation in the middle of the Christmas campaign We really learned a lot and not only the technology teams all the company Because many many times out of technology they underestimate the impact and the complexity of it when the things When the things doesn't work and many people think that this new technology never stop It's quite funny my conversation in the back now But but that is putting in the cloud and it's secure and it works every 24 seven. No, no, no guys things Are a things goes down in a data center or in the cloud and we have to be ready to react And the good news now the technology and the automation really helps a lot compare with the past But don't be shy and don't be a Optimistic and they're estimating the complexity of all of this and and it's very very important to be ready for the fail amazing story I Think that there's there's technology is is one of the enablers and as was Christina was saying it's it's it's probably the one that comes to mind first and there is an inertia to go for it fully that happened with the data lakes and Yeah, everyone has a later lake or two or too many and then There's the thought of what are we doing with this data lake? What are we going to what's the business doing was the business doing making of it and in many cases the Culprits the guilty ones are us the geeks. We are geeks. So we like it. We like technology so we go ahead and we build the lakes and we didn't sadly some creatures appear in the lake and and in some cases Discussions go back to technology when we should be focusing on what are we going to do with this? And I had one of these conversations with with my way with with my teams in in Palo Alto We should be riding the wave of technology We were in that in the in the cradle of technology with the best minds in in that that money can can can hire Suddenly there was kind of a sad vibe because our lakes were Jurassic I mean it was it was the term that was so sticky that We had a moment in which The teams were talking about that while the versions of our spark are not the latest the prime latest because I can download that But I cannot find it in my production lake So there was this tension between the teams that actually had to make things work in production And the teams that wanted to innovate them more and more and more and they could not stop themselves from doing that and We need to actually be there for the teams that are in production because those are Technologists as well as our gigs, but they need to actually maintain a stable production system sometimes our Innovation our innovator ourselves is is fighting against that so we we treat technology a little bit like technology toys We want to have the latest and finest so One anecdote from from a marion experience on this was was having to face my team in in and in Palo Alto And be very harsh on them because of course They were giving a hard time to the production teams that actually was just one person behind in in sparks It was not that big a deal But then something happened or as it happens in in that area of the world the CTO for for the whole AT&T John Donovan happens to be also in the board of Palo Alto networks and blah blah blah He popped by our office Which was in the central office in the middle of Palo Alto? He asked around hey guys, would you would you ask me? I'm the most powerful technology man in your company What would you ask me if I gave you the chance to ask me for something? Do you think my team asked for more power more machines another lab? Potential to to work. I know it's to strike a deal with the Stanford University across the across the Camino Real No, they didn't they complained about the Jurassic Lake And that has been lingering around AT&T since I since I left I found a friend visiting Madrid the other day and they were still Rumors in the corridors about the Jurassic Lake That is the kind of power that you can unleash when you do things, right? And also the kind of the bad vibe that you can create when you do it Just for the wrong reasons and of course There was a bashing of the team that in production to try to to bring that lake to to the right Level of release, but then the next the next generation of releases never came because that production team I stopped talking to that data science team and we had to dedicate a lot of time and effort to build back those Relationships and we need to be careful with these things are more important than the one things And it is not about technology. It's also that the the dynamics the human dynamics the team dynamics in between between those teams which may You may find things going south with no specific reason is not the technology is the people and of course It's also the processes. We had an intro for saying okay, the technology processes and people and data in the middle and What happens with processes? Well, you were very successful than the previous generation that something brought you here You were Henry Ford and you created the first car in production and you reinvented the the the production scale Building and selling of cars for the first time and for a couple of decades or a decade and a half You are king of the hill. There's no one can beat you and then you become overconfident and you've got this this funny Kind of catchphrase any color car as long as it is black because that is the guy I do But then you become a little bit resting at your laurels. You become a little bit of a Overconfident and the processes that brought you there are not going to take you to the next phase There's someone that is going to be thinking on that process and they don't have the ties and the legacy and the and the mental Blockers that you have and they are going to do something different like for instance in the case of or GM came and they said, okay, no any car for any force any budget any Purpose so we will work for the customer that has of course become a theme for from from then on But that made Ford lose very quickly a lot of market share and then of course they finally changed the process they transformed and That is a little bit the driver here Technology opens up possibilities, but then if your organization if your processes are not up to What did they need to be if you transform those processes if you don't transform those processes You will just add technology to a thing that is not working So that is that is one of the that's one pitfall in in processes that that we need to be aware and another another one is Not just technology, but also data brings and opens a lot of possibilities. We're saying that before you can transform a 140-year-old company Based on the on the potential of data to create and grow a new business But then with that comes it's like a spider-man with great responsibility with great power comes great responsibility So now you've got data enables a New a new business but enables needs to enable a new set of conversations between teams That maybe not we're all that happy talking to each other IT compliance and legal and operations They all need to sit together and think very hardly through some of the issues that are new because data is not code It's a different thing So we were able to cage code in a particular machine and then protect the machine with a firewall and blah blah blah But now the the data comes out of that box and it's floating around what I do with this Well apply the same things that that we did with code and hardware Well, it gets guess what that is not possible. You cannot do that So now do we need to get these people to sit together to rethink those processes? Before even you see any any of the supposed business benefit So it is hard because there's no money yet back in it So it is it is kind of an interesting conversation and one of my personal anecdotes in this in this particular case was prior to AT&T when we first made the product that Elena he was talking about before We're working with the with the team with the corporate team in a digital unit and then we're creating for the first time a product that was actually the immune system of the organization we were working for was ready to attack that new product because We don't sell data. We sell communications. We sell phones or communications lines or or even TV But that company was not ready to start selling this other thing data. How do you touch that? How do you? Tell your salespeople to sell that we don't know we approach that that is a good deal Right that is it's something something we bundle with our trios and do us and something we we bundle with your with your connectivity No, it's not it's a source of big revenue, but we need to understand it We need to retrain a lot of other people So I went down from this corporate World in which we had made a few we had some success stories in in specific markets with the specific clients like supermarket chain or with an airport in a particular place that went into to steal some market share from another airport and Those were success stories and we already did some of the technology bit. So we're quite confident. So in That case it was I happened to be in one of those places with you are the only guy that speaks both English and Spanish and Can sit down with a Spanish speaking team and try to to break some to break the ice So I got in front of this table with 17 guys Telling me that is not secure. That is not legal. That is not feasible. That is not profitable You cannot do that and there was kind of an experience of course over the course of six months We have had all the time in the world to go through the through the right conversations to go through the right reassurance that what we were trying to do was perfectly My migratable or we could we could take it from from that other place to their Local context and make it make it work But I can tell you that that was a learning experience In front in that team and saying being said no so many times it really builds your character It's your skin like this. So it's it's it's one of those things that you need to be prepared for Some survival tips is don't give up. It will happen it if you are persistent enough But you need to face this is going to happen You need the same way that with technology that Christina was preventing us. It will fail Just be ready for it in this case. This will happen. So you will have to face a lot of noise You don't have to work with teams that are not absolutely not technical at all If you oversee that if you don't if you underestimate that you're prone to fail because that that is that is something that we need to Incorporate very clearly in the in the process No, and one important point for me and we have the obligation as the technology teams to Educate to the rest of the companies and I know that sometimes and in the past I think the technology team have done a very bad job Because we manage the language a fine 99.99 now a squirrel I'm very nice words that nobody understand us out of sight of technology So it was comfortable because we live in a in an island but On the other side we were always guilty because it was very difficult for the rest of the organization understand us so I think and this one of my obsession with the teams that I manage is we have the obligation to speak the business Language and if we are not able to explain a technology project Where is the benefit for the customer or for the business? maybe Before in that case, let's stop the project and I remember That sounds a bit aggressive, but that is true If we're not able to show that really putting a new technology piece We are not contributing. We are not able to explain in a single page Where is the business benefit customer benefit forget about that project and really start measurement How you are really performing with your business is not about the Communication the machine the hardware the software is up and down. It's really the customer get the transaction in the online channel It's really the customer able to really make what they are experienced And at the end of the day, we really have to abstract all that complexity And thanks to all the new technology with data is amazing the capabilities that we have Let me show you a very real example that I lived some years ago in Telefonica and now they're in Santander You know that for Telefonica TV services was one of the key strategy priorities and video services are pure real-time Service you can is not the same putting a fiber at your home that really beating the middle of a soccer match Real Madrid Barcelona having an issue is completely different story. So And the traditional way to work in the telcos was a completely bad approach all the company was bad So I was quite funny when I I remember the first time we put the commercial the commercial reporting real-time People from commercials say and now what? Because all my processes were thinking to receive the report at the next day So I really need to remain How I were to manage a real-time report. Okay, good That was the easy part because was more the analytic But when you really start managing data in the real-time transaction There is another story and we really need to find a way to get all the data From the set of books all the data from the content that the customer was Visualizing all the info from the network because if you had an issue with the mobile or with the With the network there has a complexity That when we had an incident It was a nightmare because you really need to collect more than 30 people in a table How to manage all that complexity and we couldn't afford that you can afford that if it's not a real-time business But for a pure real-time business, you cannot do that So and the important thing it was not my box is okay. No is the customer experience really good He's having frozen images is having some delays And it's really how we measure customer experience from all the technology data And we really were very very hard and the important the most difficult thing was sitting together on the same table All the areas involved was the first challenge But one they understand that the goal was how we measure our customer are getting the right TV service How will you really use the real-time data technologies that we can put all the data together and to really include it in the In the real-time transaction. We really make an a state chain And was the game the most difficult part was to align all the people to really not having The goal for their bucket or their box really having the end-to-end goal And another for me very very interesting example how we Had to create the content recommendation for the customer The first approach was the pure traditional. Let's make a lot of so are less made to create a complex are great That's what's going to buy forget about that. We have to manage for these a completely new data technologies It's not about relational database completely different technology. Let's do it We had a need we have to get this piece in the market in six months There is technology outside. Let's try it and again the most difficult part for putting the people from the content putting the people From legal putting the people from data together on a table with a single goal Helping them to change the process and to break many processes and many obstacles in these big companies is the more difficult part But we were able to really putting in six months these so are peace with the data And it was the way to really show that in these big companies Is it's quite difficult the transformation? But if you have the right support from the from the top managers and we have the Minimal number of people really wanting to change you can because when you start changing things people say, okay It's suddenly 80% of the people saying every day. There is not possible. That is the case now in the bank with all the cloud I Receive much more people saying you are crazy that people really able and thinking how I can change When you really identify this key business project and you really identify these people that they are really change agent Is the way to start and making things change? And you really can scale up because when people think that they you can do it in another way and if they fail You are not going to kill them is when the people start say, okay Why not and of course there is 20% of the people that they don't want to change forget about that and Focus on the people that really want to change and combine new skill with existing one You need both it's impossible to think yes people from a site can transfer see huge organization So for me that is the key challenge for a leader in this big company How do you compile the new profiles the system one putting a clear business goal and help them to deliver? Because at the end of the day if you don't execute you don't deliver You are not changing anything and one of the problems that I observe in these big companies There are many people talking many people with a great ambition But we fail in the execution so that is very important being very concrete and it's my obsession with With Jose Luis and the rest of the team Let's execute a concrete use case Okay, we want to go to the moon, but before going to the moon. Let's start small Let's execute one use case that has benefit for the business and let's learn The technology and the rest because we have the obligation to educate, but I think it's really I Really enjoy a lot and that is the reason because I I made my decision to come to a different sector to really try to Transport and to help to to this new entrepreneur this new company, you know So just Just building on That was amazing. So What we need to do when we are kind of these change agents that we both are new to the bank we came this year We're trying to what help? Whatever we can have some really need pristine messages that need to go through and we need to repeat and repeat and We need to also create some some some illusion of what is at the other side of all this transfer This this is all hard stuff It's going to be taking a lot of time and effort and energy that you need to put in and as Christina was saying No, this is not immediately evident when you've been already thinking on doing something different with the startups and with With the do you think that you're past your corporate moment? And then you're back in your corporate moment with with the stronger force because of course there the forces of No are very clear when you when you try to to change a company like this You need to get to that moment in which you change is Hard to change is fun because there is a moment in which as I was saying people start to See that change has started to happen. See things have started to tilt the other way And then it's like, okay. I may actually use this this may actually help me It's not a threat. It's an opportunity to do something different or It may be my next step in my career become whatever next thing by by being an expert on that thing but there's there's a need there's this need to to tell a story and Yeah, excuse me for using the cheesy Mandatory Steve jobs image, but it is not here because of the of Steve it's of course we We all think is is it's probably one of the best storytellers and and Creators of of products that kind of stick to to our to our to our memory and our collective minds This is here because that very auditorium Where where he's standing right now is in the old Cupertino offices for Apple And it's what I had to take the data science team reporting to me Because there was no way I could I tried everything to keep them with me But I didn't know how else to motivate that the Jurassic lakes were already non-jurassic I brought business people to try to offer the connection to from what they were doing to the to the business And we were successful at that successful as to be the seed of Sander the new company that was going to be formed still they were Restless and every week if you managing a team in in Silicon Valley is kind of a crazy thing every every every big week You've got someone coming to you saying okay, I've got an offer from Google for Facebook I don't know for for eBay so you have to actually think very hard how to keep people with you what I was I didn't know And of course there's a limited set of options in an old companies at 1080 and T To you to bring the kind of incentives that these companies have on on on employees, which are technical So I ended up learning from them just by by working very closely with them That what they wanted to be is in the exclusive clubs of data scientists in Silicon Valley There was one of those Baylor and a conference that was kind of very little known is not one of those these these hundreds of people conferences and And I was happy enough to be able to get them tickets to the wall tickets to get all the team in there And they they hosted Apple hosted us in this very auditorium and I could see their static views I say lucky and now I hit the nail in the head now I got it But I didn't know how to I didn't know what was going to work And it's it's keeping trying trying and failing and doing some things even with with the teams with people You don't know what's going to motivate, you know, what is going to click? You don't know what is going to to to work so you repeat and then repeat it again and then repeat it again because at some point someone in the audience is going to catch that the transformation is here to stay and you better get used to it and You are part of this by the way, you are part of it. It's not going away You're part of it. So that's accommodate yourself change your mind change your processes Stop saying no and I start looking for ways to say yes and For people which are existing teams They need to feel that they are part of that new thing It's not something that is coming there to you to invade their space It's a new space and they need to move in and for the newcomers the change agents that the data scientists that Brand new people you're bringing they also need to to to be leading that change and not really Hiding in the corners, you know, we are a center of excellence of this and that they need to spread around and Then they need to get together with the skeptical and turn them into believers. So this is it doesn't get any easier than that Absolutely I'm very very important I made my decision to come to Santander because I really believe they had a very good vision and for me That is a fundamental point as I told before that is about how to re-invade the company No, how to re-invade the technology area So and I really believe the the the chairman the CEO has a very clear view where we want to go But saying that it's very important and it is part of our job How we really explain that there is a multi-year journey and creating a sustainable Advantage and to really transfer a huge group like Santander is going to take time and it's going to be tough And we are going to have to make that decisions We really need a very strong top-down leadership, but I think it's very worth things It really when you really see such a company with such a history And all the things they have done across all the history Okay, maybe CC to worry in a small company, of course But I really feel the the the obligation to try to contribute to to really change The company, no, but it's very very important to be very realistic and to ensure that is not a question On next quarter And to really explain them that we really need concrete results That is not about having the firm resale into three years time That is because I am obsessed with the real concrete use cases every three or four months But saying that it's very important to be very very persistent and don't lose the final motivation Because in these big companies sometimes there is a lack of patience and there is the sense of urgency getting result I really need all the execution result I need for tomorrow. Okay This part of the anxiety we have to manage and we have to be very very consistent I always say in Spanish. Sorry. I don't know how to say it in English to be got a Malaya There is very very important is when it's raining very very Well, I don't know Continuously it's very important from the technology areas Educate how the technology can help all the areas of the company to transfer Because they need to transfer the processes the way they are doing business and to really create a robust foundation We are now in Santander creating our sustainable technology foundation with all the key pillars And that is just the early beginning of the journey And to really taking the right process with the right teams and start making happen For those of you that don't know where this is this is a man-made Scenery made by the Romans by persisting and changing the courses for a river to actually mine gold It's in Astorica for those of you that want to travel there. It's persistence. Do whatever you have to do use water use a drop like what a Malaya until it actually Breaks whatever it has to be broken, but it's a it's a it's kind of the secret sauce to all of this Don't don't give up push back Determined and enjoy If I don't enjoy in my work, I prefer to leave the company to be completely honest because I think we invest a lot of time a lot of Energy Sundays are really tough But it's very important at the end of the day you come back home and say, okay I'm really making things and I'm really enjoying no because there are many people in these big companies they are that life zombies and they are like And for me is a pity, you know, and again it's part of how we really Understand where is the big picture and the most important question if we are able to answer to the all the people What I win with this digital transformation, no that for me is is a key challenge for for all the leaders Because if we are not able to answer this question to all the people in the in the company It's impossible to transform the company Yeah, so keep calm change everything It's very very important Okay, so that's it. No, it's one more click. I think Yeah