00:00All right, so I think by now we are all really familiar
00:04with what a COO does.
00:06If you're not one, you know about one.
00:07But I want to ask how many of you
00:10either are a chief transformation officer
00:13or have one at your company?
00:14Show of hands.
00:16All right, we're about 50-50.
00:17Okay, well lucky for us, we have one here on stage
00:19and she used to formerly be a COO.
00:22So Raquel, can you tell us what are the differences
00:24between a chief transformation officer and a COO?
00:27Yes, happy to be here.
00:29Thank you for having me.
00:31It is a transition or a transformation, I should say.
00:36With the COO position, the work that you're doing
00:39with products, with the CTO, we look to bring
00:43that same level of commercial innovation,
00:46collaboration, consumer insights, but with our programs.
00:51So bringing value, creating value creation,
00:54ensuring that you're getting top ROI,
00:56doing the Pareto analysis, doing the work
01:00that's important for our employees,
01:02keeping us as a destination organization,
01:05but also making investments in the next generation
01:08of innovations.
01:10So the transformation, we have the entire corporate
01:12portfolio of innovations from digital to tech
01:18to the infrastructure to ERP systems, you name it,
01:22and it's driving in this space.
01:24And it certainly helps because we drove
01:26an important transformation in the supply chain
01:30during COVID that kind of set the stage
01:31to then move into creating the transformation strategy
01:35and roadmap for the company.
01:36Excellent, I want to come back to supply chain,
01:38but Sarah, I first want to come to you
01:40as someone who is truly just slacking backstage.
01:42I am very personally invested in what you're doing
01:44over there.
01:45So what does true transformation look like
01:47for you at Slack?
01:48And can you give me one specific example
01:51of how you've disrupted company operations
01:53in your very short time so far as COO?
01:56Yeah, it's a short time.
01:57I started in December, but it has been rapid fire.
02:01And I think as COOs who get work done,
02:03I have to start with work itself.
02:06Work today is broken, and we are leveraging
02:09Gen AI to fix it.
02:11And if you think about it, 41% of our teams
02:15are spending time doing really low value tasks.
02:18Even today, I was searching for a slide
02:20for the exact version that I wanted.
02:22And this kind of mix of data being in different apps,
02:27silos between teams, you're actually losing
02:30really valuable enterprise information.
02:32So what we are tackling is how do you point
02:37Gen AI at that really powerful enterprise data
02:40that you have across your organization?
02:43And we're doing it in our own team
02:46and also with several of our clients.
02:49We've launched over 100 AI-powered agents.
02:52Think of it like a chief of staff
02:54for the activities that are critical to your business.
02:57Sales, marketing service, commerce.
02:59And we're pointing that AI at the structured
03:01and unstructured data, the apps,
03:03and then it's actually taking action
03:05to build capacity across your teams.
03:08So sales agents, marketing agents,
03:10and we're using it ourselves.
03:11So we've launched 100 AI-powered tools and apps,
03:14including agents, over the last year.
03:18It's already delivered 50,000 hours in savings
03:21for our sales and IT services teams,
03:23which is where we started.
03:24And then several of our most innovative customers
03:28are already on the journey with us, too.
03:30Rivian, producing electric vehicles.
03:32They've actually put their assembly line robots
03:37into Slack's AI-powered operating system.
03:40So the robots talk to the engineers
03:42and tell them when the supply chain is down.
03:4672% improvement in their productivity
03:49in just this first phase.
03:50So really powerful.
03:53Work has broken.
03:54We're working with Gen AI to try and fix it.
03:56That's a great example.
03:57And what about at L'Oreal, Raquel?
03:59What type of tech are you using that's new and innovative?
04:02Yeah, so we're a beauty tech company.
04:05And so we're the number one beauty company in the world.
04:08And part of that is really embracing ongoing transformation.
04:13It's a way of life.
04:14And so it's fueling our digital innovation,
04:18the work that we do to be connected to consumers
04:20and create a love mark with consumers.
04:23A known fact, or a little known fact,
04:25our average product life cycle is less than two years.
04:28So you need to operate with a lot of speed.
04:31So you think about the different innovations,
04:33you don't necessarily need that lipstick,
04:37but you want it, right?
04:38Yes.
04:39And so, or from a skincare perspective.
04:42So the pace and speed of change is super important.
04:46And then I'm happy to share,
04:48hopefully many of you may have seen,
04:49we were the keynote this year at CES.
04:53Really, again, the combination of beauty
04:55and tech coming together,
04:57where we launched three new innovations.
05:00One being with the L'Oreal Professional,
05:03it's a Air Light Pro.
05:05And so it's the next generation hair drying system,
05:09but it uses one third less energy.
05:12And it also leaves your hair much more enriched,
05:15it's not stripping.
05:16And that also brings to life both technology,
05:19but also our commitment to sustainability.
05:22So in everything that we're doing,
05:23we're measuring scope two and three,
05:26really appreciating the impact
05:27of how consumers use our products
05:30and the impact that that's having on the environment.
05:33We also launched a digital makeup applicator
05:38for consumers who have movement disorders.
05:42And so the ability to still take pride in how you look,
05:46but if you don't have steady motion,
05:49that can be very difficult.
05:51So you should check it out, it's amazing.
05:53It's with Lancome, it's called Hapta.
05:56Again, so it's a stabilizer and anyone can apply makeup.
06:02So those are two examples.
06:04We also have a ColorSonic, which is in-home hair color,
06:09it's personalized, it does all the mixing
06:12in an applicator and it applies it directly to the roots.
06:15Excellent, people in the audience
06:16understand the importance of application.
06:18And I think us on stage for sure.
06:19The roots, right?
06:21But again, you can experiment.
06:23So the opportunity for personalization,
06:25tech, consumer, digital, right?
06:28And I think that's the power
06:30when you're solving for multiple elements
06:32and you're having that connection
06:34to the consumer leveraging tech,
06:36but also for our employees, right?
06:38And the work that we're doing on programs
06:41and bringing to life employee centric innovations
06:45to make time for what matters most.
06:47So that's our tagline, making time for what matters most.
06:50And in that is eliminating low value added tasks for sure.
06:54Now, before I turn it over to the audience for questions,
06:56I wanna come back to what you said about supply chain.
06:58Can you talk to me about how you innovated supply chains,
07:01either using this new tech or post pandemic?
07:04Yes, so COVID was a very special time for supply chains.
07:10Many people around the world
07:12got in touch with the term supply chain.
07:14So we disrupted the supply chain.
07:17It was because of the supply chain innovations
07:19focusing on e-comm.
07:20We achieved our 10 year ambition
07:22in e-commerce in three months.
07:24And we were able to grow 2X the market
07:27during this incredibly disruptive period.
07:30Certainly the one that I've experienced
07:32in my 32 year career, I've never seen anything like it.
07:35So I always say from a supply chain perspective,
07:38we have to be 18 to 24 months ahead of the hopes
07:42and dreams of our commercial friends, right?
07:44Because we're moving systems, people, solutions, steel.
07:48And so we were able to do that,
07:50particularly with building some infrastructure,
07:52very important infrastructure to support e-commerce,
07:56but also speed at scale, right?
07:58So being able to not only focus on our big brands
08:03that have big velocity and large velocities,
08:05but also the brands that were delighting consumers
08:08as they began to experiment and have personalized products.
08:13So there's a speed and a difference
08:14in your manufacturing strategy
08:16for that type of production and that velocity
08:19versus large scale like shampoos
08:21that we're all using day in, day out.
08:23Absolutely, and I think we have time
08:24for one audience question.
08:25If anyone has one, raise your hand,
08:27we'll run it over to you.
08:28But if not, I have one for Sarah going once.
08:31All right, Sarah, quickly can you tell us
08:33where do you see the biggest growth opportunity at Slack?
08:37So I have to acknowledge that Slack's been delighting users
08:41for the last 10 years.
08:43My team's remit is about building the next 10 year chapter
08:47and actually nodding to Raquel's comment
08:50around disruption and getting ready for that change.
08:52There's a really common misconception
08:55that COOs are just focusing on optimizing what is.
08:59And we really pride ourselves in setting the tone
09:04for the organization for what's coming next.
09:06So analyzing from data science to launching new products,
09:11from incubating new ideas,
09:13and then also getting the team set up
09:15so that whatever happens next,
09:17we're ready to pivot really quickly.
09:19So my team's been involved in all of the levers
09:22of the growth strategy at Slack.
09:25I think the most exciting things coming next
09:28are the product innovations and how fast they're coming.
09:32We've talked about agents already,
09:34that personal assistant for work.
09:36We've also launched Slack AI, which is embedded summaries,
09:42summarizing your enterprise information through search.
09:45If I just give an example,
09:46in Q1, I delivered the Slack growth strategy.
09:48In Q2, I delivered a baby.
09:52So I tapped into this exact summary.
09:56Functionality to recap what has happened in my company
09:59while I was out.
10:00And this is pretty critical.
10:01Could be just PTO.
10:03But we are using the innovation to empower our teams
10:08to create that capacity for our organization,
10:11but also to be ready to pivot really quickly
10:14when something net new comes
10:15that we haven't seen yet on the horizon.
10:18I think this moment is super exciting for COOs and CTOs
10:22as we position supply chains and operations
10:25to become vectors of growth.
10:27We've always been about creating value creation,
10:30driving savings and productivity,
10:32but we're now front-facing with the consumer
10:35and providing a lot of those delight factors.
10:38And so making that transition,
10:40we're adding that to our toolbox.
10:43So it's productivity because that is a given always,
10:46year over year.
10:47But how do you leverage the capabilities
10:50of the supply chain or the operation
10:53to drive growth for the company?
10:54Absolutely.
10:55That's the game changer.
10:55100%.
10:56Well, thank you so much, Raquel.
10:57Thank you so much, Sarah.
10:58Thank you for leaving maternity leave to join us.
10:59We appreciate you both for being here.
11:01Awesome.
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