Customers often ask how can their companies innovate like Amazon. From its humble beginnings as the “World’s Largest Bookstore,” Amazon has not only innovated across e-commerce and adjacent segments within e-commerce, but also introduced new businesses that are unrelated to e-commerce. Over the years Amazon has gotten very good at taking hard problems and made them easier for the masses to use. This session will give you an insight to our Culture of Innovation and the working backwards process we use and share some ideas you can take back to your own organisations.

1. Executive Luncheon

2. Innovation and Culture at Amazon
Joshua Burgin
Director and General Manager, Compute Services, AWS

3. True Customer Obsession Think Big
Ownership Bias For Action
Invent and Simplify Frugality
Are Right, A Lot Earn Trust
Learn and Be Curious Dive Deep
Hire and Develop the Best Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
Insist on the Highest Standards Deliver Results
Leadership Principles

4. Leaders start with the customer and work
backwards. They work vigorously to earn
and keep customer trust. Although leaders
pay attention to competitors, they obsess
over customers.
Customer Obsession

5. Leaders are right a lot. They have strong
judgment and good instincts. They seek
diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm
their beliefs.
Are Right, A Lot

6. Leaders are never done learning and always
seek to improve themselves. They are
curious about new possibilities and act to
explore them.
Learn and be Curious

7. “If you decide to do only the things you
know are going to work, you’re going to
leave a lot of opportunity on the table.”
~Jeff Bezos

8. Introduction of Innovation workshop
Huang Wen-I
Innovation Advisory Lead, APJ Professional Services, AWS

9. WE START WITH
THE CUSTOMER
AND
WORK
BACKWARDS
AMAZON

12. f (innovation) = (org * arch)
(mechanisms * culture)

13. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Mechanisms: Encoded
behaviors that turn ideas
into meaningful innovations
– Working Backwards
methodology, PR-FAQs,
and detailed Narratives
Architecture: Empower
innovators through self-
service tools; utilize AWS
cloud platform to build
quickly, scale fast and
minimize costs of failure
Organization: We
decentralize authority to
single-threaded owners
leading small, empowered
‘two pizza’ teams that own
what they create
Culture: Hire builders &
manage against our 14
Leadership Principles, Think
Big & invest early – and
accept failure as a critical
part of the innovation
process

14. INNOVATION AT THE EDGE
Enable everyone to innovate

15. Enabling customers to innovate at the edge
Enable
Execute
Explore
Innovation
Program
Help me adopt
Amazon’s approach
to innovation
Show me how
Amazon
innovates
Help me build the
platform on which
to innovate
How do I
innovate
(like
Amazon)?

16. Introduce Digital
Innovation
Working
Backwards
Workshop
Specify the customer
problem or opportunity
Establish
specific
customer
interest in
Amazon’s
approach to
innovation
Executive sponsor
identified
Specific business problem
or opportunity identified
Commitment to partner,
invest, and build on AWS
New digital offering
defined at high level
Press release
(outline) developed
Stakeholder
alignment and
momentum
 PR FAQ finalized
 Digital offering brought
to life via prototype
 Value proposition
created, with order-of-
magnitude cost/benefit
estimates
 Prototype launched
 Scalable architecture
designed and deployed
 Operating model
established to support
prototype and sustained
innovation
OUTCOMESSTAGE
Digital Innovation program
Identify
[Learn & Be Curious]
AWS Digital Innovation – engagement model
Establish
customer interest
PR/FAQ
Cloud prototype
Value proposition
Deliver new digital
offering
Build scale
architecture
Establish operating
model & capability
Engage
[Customer Obsession / Think Big]
Define
[Think Big / Invent &
Simplify]
Prototype
[Bias for Action]
Realize Value
[Deliver Results]

17. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
AWS Digital Innovation – selected case studies
Global media company
Experimenting with voice and emerging technologies
• CEO and six business units in innovation workshop
• Running multiple experiments concurrently
• Committed to being a leader in voice
Multinational financial services company
Reinventing banking from the ground up
National media company
Multi-year program for cultural transformation
• BoD and entire executive team completed training
• Launched innovation accelerator and established venture fund
• Mass-adoption and enthusiasm for innovation
Auto manufacturer
Driving innovation for connected car
• Benefits across platforms from infotainment to telematics
• Ability to rapidly prototype on AWS cloud platform
• Access to broader Amazon capabilities through One Amazon
Global mining company
Maximizing value realized from extracting mineral resource
Global healthcare tech company
Reinventing healthcare for billions of people
• Digital platform supporting a range of health applications
• Data securely aggregated, analyzed, shared for collaborative
care
• Transforming into connected software and platform company
• 2 years of co-innovation with AWS IoT team

18. Interested in Amazon’s approach to innovation?
Let’s partner to invent something your customers will love.
EXPLORE innovation at
Amazon – the principles behind our
organization, architecture,
mechanisms and culture
DEFINE a new product, service,
or experience that will delight your
customers; start with the customer
and work backwards
BUILD a prototype in the
cloud to bring your new digital
offering to life; test it with your
customers
You bring:
• Senior executive business sponsor
• Specific customer problem or opportunity
• Investment in workshop and prototype
Amazon brings:
• Innovation expertise
• Executive workshop facilitation
• Prototyping capability and credits
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