>> CES is the best
place on Earth
to imagine what our
future will hold.
From self-driving cars to the
latest in artificial
intelligence,
5G connectivity to digital
health and therapeutics.
CES is the epicenter of Global
Innovation and creativity.
The executives joining us for
the next CES keynote are
leading the charge to build
this new tech enabled future.
Julie Sweet is CEO of Accenture,
the Global Professional
Services firm with more
than 500,000
employees worldwide.
Her job is to help the
world's biggest companies
figure out the future.
She understands
how diversity and
inclusion benefit a
company's bottom-line.
She's committed to
creating a more diverse,
inclusive, and equal workplace.
In 2020, she was
named number 1 on
the Fortune's list of most
powerful women in business.
Julie is joined by Michael
Miebach, President
of MasterCard.
Michael began his tenure
as CEO on January 1,
after more than a decade
with the company.
He spent 2020 serving as the
company's president
and CEO elect.
Along the way, he has been
a key driver in helping
MasterCard to diversify
its product offerings.
As Chief Product
Officer at MasterCard,
Michael helped expand
MasterCard's offerings from
consumer cards to digital first
products like the Apple Card,
Block Chain, Digital
Identity and
a variety of multi-racial
payment solutions.
Both Julie and Mike will
demonstrate a passion and
commitment to technologies
that improve lives,
and make for more
inclusive communities.
Today, they're going to be
interviewed by Dan Roth,
Editor and Chief
of LinkedIn News,
and explore how tech is solving
the world's biggest
challenges and
the trends that are going
to define our next decade.
Please join me in
welcoming Julie,
Michael, and Dan to CES.
>> Hello CES.
Welcome to 2021.
It is great to have you here.
We are talking to you in
whatever room you're in.
I'm doing this from my attic.
Our two great guests are,
we're going to find out
where they are in a second,
but what we're going to cover in
this session is what we are
seeing in terms of how
technology is
changing the economy
and companies over
the next 10 years,
what are the trends that are
driving all of this change?
Which ones can you bet on?
How has the last
year accelerated or
changed what we expect to
see over the next decade?
I'm thrilled to welcome to
the stage, Julie Sweet,
the CEO of Accenture,
and Michael Miebach, the
new CEO of MasterCard.
Welcome to you both.
Let's just start. Julie
where are you right now?
>> I am in my home office,
which is where I've
been since COVID began,
since pandemic was declared.
>> Okay, great.
Were you prepared
to work out of your home,
or was this something
that you were
just puckering in place
and now it is turd,
you built an office around you?
>> I did. I already
had a home office.
Accenture for decades
has actually
not even had a headquarters.
So when I wasn't on the road,
I did work out of
my home office.
So for us as a company,
it was a pretty
seamless transition,
because we don't have a
headquarters, for example,
my leadership team is
all around the world.
In fact, my CFO and I both
live in Washington DC area
and it's the first time
the CEO and CFO of
Accenture have been in
the same office in
something like 30 years.
So that part was
pretty seamless.
Now doing it permanently,
that's a different conversation.
>> All right. We're going
to get into that and
find out any tips and tricks
you have as well for how we
should all be
managing right now.
Michael, where are
we catch for you?
>> You're catching me
in Purchase, New York.
Think about a better location
for a company called
MasterCard has in
being in Purchase.
So this is one of our
conference rooms.
Throughout the crisis,
I've mostly been here,
because travel wasn't possible.
Normally like Julie, I
would be on the road,
but it wasn't much
being on the road.
We're bunker down here
at our head office,
and we do have head office.
>> How many people are working
in that office right now?
>> We have about a 10
percent show rate.
Normally is about
2,000 people here.
That policy of you work
where you need to work,
whatever makes most sense of you
is something that
we've done for years,
and now we needed to do it,
and so it's only critical
people that are coming in.
>> That's great. Let's start
with a discussion about how
this pandemic has changed
some of these trends,
how we're seeing our
businesses is going
to change over the next decade.
We were talking
before this session,
and some of the data that really
jumped out at me that
both of you shared,
was how companies and
consumers have accelerated their
approach towards digital.
Over this last year, as
we've been stuck at home,
or as we've been thinking
about how to motivate or
work with employees who
are spread all over.
Julie, let's start with you.
What are you hearing
back from people you're
serving or other client
you're working with
about how this last
year has changed
how they're doing business?
Michael, I would
love to hear the
same from you about customers.
>> Sure, I think when
we take a step back,
remember that COVID hit
while we were already in
the middle of really
revolutionary
change in technology.
It's interesting pre COVID IBM,
lots of panels where
we were still
discussing the value
of technology.
Literally overnight,
technology became a lifeline.
I remember early in the crisis,
many CEOs talking to
me about how lucky
I had parts of the company that
said we could never
work remotely,
that are suddenly
closing the books
and doing all of these things.
So the mindset has had
a massive change.
I think there's
really two important
pivots from a technology
point of view
that are both here to
stay but really going to
drive massive change in
both how companies operate,
but what they can do for
their consumers as well,
and that is the
shift to the Cloud,
which was a big trend Pre-COVID,
but something we thought would
take more like a decade.
What we see today is we're
about 20 percent in the Cloud,
if you look across industries,
and we think that
companies will get
to about 80 percent on
average, large companies.
By 2025, a massive acceleration.
That is really a once
in a digital era,
replatforming a global business
that has a lot of implications,
so I'm sure we'll get into.
But the second pivot is really
the role of Artificial
Intelligence.
This is something we're
seeing every day.
If you think about
how, for example,
Contact Centers for governments
had to completely change.
Governments have
been slow to change,
but all over sudden they had
thousands of citizens who
needed vital information,
and we started not just
automating and doing things,
but using Artificial
Intelligence
to answer inquiry's.
You've seen supply
chain disruptions,
consumers changing behavior,
and you needed the data,
but then the actual
ability to predict
new behaviors really
coming for the best,
for the most advanced companies,
the ability to now use
Artificial Intelligence to
have different predictions and
understanding of their business.
I think that's something
that hasn't been talked
about as much post-crisis.
But it is what we are seeing,
particularly those of our
clients who were leaders
pre-crisis and putting the
foundation in ahead
in the Cloud,
and is really, we think over
the next 12-18 months is
going to differentiate them.
>> That's great. I want
to get into that more,
especially because
those build on
early wins in AI and in Cloud,
build on each other.
So it sounds like what you're
saying is there's
probably going to be
a separation for people
who are investing now,
versus people who might come
out a little bit later.
Before we get into that.
Michael, what do you say?
>> Dan, you said earlier,
how about looking at a consumer?
We just talked a
little bit about
Julie sees on the business side,
on the consumer side.
Now if you think
about our business
in spending data on how people
pay for goods and services is
a nice reflection of what
is going on in the economy.
We could have seen
from the early days
of the lock down
until where we're
now is how consumer behavior
has changed and it has
changed quite dramatically.
I would argue it's
worth to say that,
years of digital acceleration
have been compressed
into months.
You take one data point which
I find really fascinating,
at the end of last year
the portion of the
commerce here in the US,
that was e-commerce,
was just under
20 percent and a year ago
before that it was 13 percent.
That is a seismic shift.
The key question then is people
were forced to stay home.
They were forced to use
e-commerce because there
was no other way to do it.
Which of these trends
are going to stick?
That's a key question
we are asking
ourselves and we've
asked consumers.
Every single month
since April 2020,
we've asked around 14
markets around the world,
what do you believe?
With rising cases, consumer
confidence went lower,
in the summer when things
looked a lot better,
consumer confidence was rising.
Everybody was saying,
"Well, this is fantastic.
I'm going to use all these
fantastic digital payment tools
and online consumption,
all of that.
I will do it afterwards,
after the crisis
subside just as much,
but also onto go back and
shop in my local business
around the corner."
It is a bit of a
tale of Two Cities.
Yes, the digital
trend will stick,
but I also want to
revert to what I
was doing before because
I really like that.
In the end where it's
going to play out,
our prediction is that
about two-thirds of
that trend towards e-commerce
is going to stick.
It's going to stick whatever
it's a better solution
than what was out there in terms
of physical experience before.
If you want to go to a shop
and you're going to talk,
you get great advice
from the guy that
you know in your local town.
Fantastic, that is a
better experience but
repeatable purchases away you
don't really have any
advantage by being in a shop.
Why wouldn't you
do what you just
started to learn
throughout the crisis?
About two-thirds will retain.
That's our view.
>> It's interesting how much
those two play into each other.
This idea that consumers
spend more of
their time online buying
just gives more data to
Julie's customers
to be able to apply
artificial intelligence
and figuring out how
to get those people
to come back.
It's going to force
companies, I would assume,
to adopt this technology
even faster because their
consumers are demanding it.
It is one thing to say,
"I know I have to digitize,
I know I've got
to do this right,
I know I've got to
move to the Cloud.
I've got to be in AI."
But pulling that off is a
totally different area.
You've got to, is right hiring,
is the right technology.
Our companies, do they
have what they need?
Do they understand what it is
going to take to make this jump?
>> Dan, the answer of
course is it depends.
What Michael is talking about,
what you're talking about,
we've coined the term
compressed disruption.
Because what's
happening right now is
that in ordered to
do all of the different things
that companies have to do,
their having to transform
multiple parts of
their organization
at once where they
were going to do it
more sequentially.
To build a little bit on
what Michael said is,
these trends build
on each other.
You have e-commerce spending,
but at the same
time you have the
whole idea of remote working.
Our latest survey, just
from January says that
about 65 percent of
people who were not
working from home before
expect this will continue.
Our latest polls also said
that there's 15 percent
of consumers who never want
to go back to a store.
Not just using e-commerce,
but like literally never going
back to bricks and mortar.
You also have the telehealth
trends and all of them build
on each other in terms
of consumer behaviors.
As a company you have employees
who have certain expectations.
You're providing health care,
you're reaching your consumers,
and all that really
means you have to think
about transforming
much more quickly.
The reality is that a year
before we went to COVID,
when we did our research
to look at 10 industries,
8,000 companies
across the world.
We measured companies
by digital adoption,
breadth and depth,
leadership and culture.
The top 10 percent were doing
twice as well as the
bottom 25 percent,
is what we call the leaders
versus the laggards.
That gap literally
widened overnight.
What I would tell you is that,
as we look at companies,
there's two important areas
that companies are really
competing on right now.
The first is those who were
leaders have an overnight,
digital leaders, overnight
competitive advantage.
The question is, can they
capitalize it on it?
But for the rest
of the companies,
I would say it's a
question of leadership,
because what is required
isn't simply go implement
some technology.
It's the courage
to do compressed
disruption of your own business.
It's the willingness to rethink.
I talk a lot about the humility
to look at other industries,
other companies and to
partner to do it fast.
If I was in the
business of investing,
I would probably be most
focused on the quality of
the leadership because that
is really what
it's going to take
because you can do
a lot of things.
You can help companies
leap frog etc.,
but you have to
have that mindset.
>> If we think about
the next decade,
it sounds like what you're
saying and Michael,
what you're saying
also is that there
is going to be a
pretty big shift,
it sounds like we're
entering a world where the rich
are going to get richer or
the people who are figuring
this out are going have to
just increase this
chasm between the two,
when you're going to see
companies who are getting how
to make sure that they
are providing for the people
who don't want to leave home,
the few who still want to go
back to shopping in person.
We're willing to leave
the home but most of us
are going to be pretty
comfortable being here,
working here, living, doing all
of our buying from our homes.
Is that going to create
an even bigger gap
between the big
companies and small companies?
Is there hope for some of these
smaller or slower players?
>> Well, Dan I
think this gap has
been there between small
companies and large companies.
If you look at this scene
of the digital players,
they have a real
head start and yes,
we've been on this
train of digitization
and those people are pulling
ahead at this point in time.
But then you start to think
about small businesses.
Think about hundreds of
millions of small businesses.
Yes, the point that Judy
made on the leadership,
there's very courageous
entrepreneurs out there,
but getting out
there and getting
the help that you need to get to
get your business
online quickly,
that takes leadership
across industries.
For example, in our space,
in the payment space,
for payment companies
to step forward enable
small business for
online businesses
and help them to
run that business.
Different types of
leaderships are required.
I think if that happens and we
have a broader
ecosystem in mind,
then I think we have a
chance that the chasm
between the laggards and leaders
doesn't help open
up any further,
and I think the same actually
applies to consumers.
Those of us that are very
comfortably at home,
like you just described it Dan,
but there's others
that don't have
the choice to be very
comfortably at home,
and I think what do we
need to do for them?
As we move forward in terms of
this brave new world of
seamless commerce and I can
choose whatever I want to do,
and it's all digitally enabled.
Well, if you can't participate,
there is no choice for you.
How do we enable that choice?
I think here in terms of
corporate leadership,
there's more to be done by
pulling people in that it's
starting with
financial inclusion.
That is ensuring that you create
solutions for different types
of work models going forward.
The gig worker is going
to be more of a reality.
Portable benefits
for gig workers to
change jobs as
consumer behaviors
change and different needs need
to be satisfied,
and all of that.
I think that stepping
up is needed,
and then we can have a digital
economy that works
for everybody.
>> Michael, is that happening?
Do you think it's
happening and is it happening
fast enough that we
are getting this
payment infrastructure
and enablement to make
that [inaudible]?
>> I would argue that this has
been talked about for years,
that this is needed.
COVID doesn't have
many positive aspects,
but I think that it's one that
this is a realization that
this is an opportunity to do
this at this point in time.
If I just look
across our industry,
the competitive tension
is actually there.
But the desire to
work together and
do something for
SMEs and make sure
there's lending
offers and credit to
access or do something
for the gig workers,
I sense an increased
sense of partnership.
>> Okay. As we think
about this session is what's
going to happen in 10 years,
you are somewhat confident that
the underpinning
that we will have
a full payments infrastructure
in place that allows
this easy movement of
jobs and allows gig workers
to get paid easier.
Will that be in place?
Or we'll still
be slowly working
our way toward it?
>> Let's hope we talk at CES
10 years from now
and see if what
I'm going to say isn't true,
but I am very confident.
>> All right.
>> Julie was making the
point at the beginning that
this digital
transformation has been
going on and we're
all working on that.
The homework has been done.
In fact, we put it to
good use this year.
If you look at what happened,
the whole world moved online
and everything worked.
We didn't miss a step as an
industry, so that's fantastic.
But what we did do is we did
satisfy immediate crisis needs.
But then you think about where
is the consumer going now?
That new consumer that has just
identified that doing
something online is
actually quite easy and it is
quite comfortable and yes,
I might have a few
question mark on
safety and how much
data I want to give.
All of those are points that
are not to be thought through.
How do we move from
realizing crisis needs,
to where is the consumer
now going to go with that?
So continuously putting
the consumer forward.
Then the fundamental
underlying trend
that I think needs
to be realized and
that we need to satisfy
is to ensure that
there's trust in this
brave new digital world.
There's going to be a lot
of young people that
are going to be quite happy to
provide all sorts of data
into this ecosystem.
Then imagine a world where that
trust is actually compromised,
then we could have
this all unravel.
Trusted networks, solutions
around digital identity,
safety, security,
some data principles,
these are all things that are
not really thought about and
discussed to much great degree
across nations at
a higher level.
Some companies
individually think about
that and there's some
more homework to do.
Then that brave new world,
10 year if somehow
can actually work.
>> I want to switch
topics a little bit,
but to touch on things both
of you have talked about.
Recently Brene Brown
mentioned that she
found that 2020 was a year
actually of two pandemics.
There was the pandemic
of coronavirus,
there was also this pandemic
of racial injustice and
racial inequality and
companies realizing that
they had to do
much more and actually put
their money where their mouth
is around writing some
historical wrongs.
I would love to get a sense
from both of you of how over
the next 10 years you
see that playing out.
What is the corporate role in
making sure that there is
equality in the workplace and
making sure that you
are reaching consumers
of all stripes and
the people all have an equal
ability to get ahead?
Julie, why don't we start with
you and how you're thinking
about this and how
your clients are?
>> Well, first of all, we
have a very strong commitment
at Accenture toward
equality and particularly
have been focused for several
years around equality and
advancement of our black
employees and our
Latinx and Hispanic
American employees.
We took the opportunity when
George Floyd was murdered
to take a fresh look
at how we were
approaching our commitment both
within Accenture and
outside of Accenture.
We've set external goals
similar to what we set back in
2015 where we set it for
women that were globally going
to be at gender equality, 2025.
We have 500,000, people
we're at 45 percent now,
so not a small goal.
We've now set external goals.
To your point around
what's our role?
We really believe
that as a company,
starting with ourselves, we have
to make sure that we are
focused on equality.
We're taking the steps to fight
racism and to provide
opportunities for advancement.
We also are doing that within
the communities and trying to
do so as much as possible by
linking with other companies,
because that's where
you get scaled impact.
Whether it's at the
business roundtable or I'm
on the board and we're
doing a lot of work there.
The organization that
[inaudible] just
started called [inaudible] where
we're one of the
founding members,
but really trying to work
together with other companies.
I think that's an important role
and it goes really
to what Michael was
saying in terms of even with
the competitive dynamics.
The companies are saying
we have to take a step
back and we have
to work together
where we have common interests.
I think one of the things as we
look forward is
that in the past,
oftentimes people talked about
principles of free market.
What is really needed to
have the economy flourish?
I think those principles
are changing.
Because whether it's what
Michael talked about,
for example, with data privacy,
or it's how do you bridge
the digital divide and
make sure that you have
internet access so
that everyone can
participate in e-commerce
and in remote jobs?
To also really providing the
foundations of equality.
There's really, I think
new rules being written,
and I hope they'll be
global and I think
there's more interest
in that where we
say the fundamental
principles of what
is needed to make a
digital economy,
global economy work, are
different than the past.
I think there's
more recognition,
although a ton of work to do,
and of course, the issues cross.
Here in the US, a third of
black families do not have
access to the Internet.
The implications of that over
employment and education
are enormous.
I would say a
rewriting of what is
needed to support a
thriving global economy,
provides an opportunity
for companies to work
together with
governments and not
for profits in a different way.
>> Mike, what do you think?
>> Yeah.
Julie, pretty much
everything you just said.
We think about it exactly
in the same way.
It is my belief that as a
company whatever you do,
in terms of your business,
is a good starting
point to see how
you can address
inequalities out there,
because that's an expertise,
that's how you
make a difference,
so why not leverage it to
addressing inequalities?
That is what we
have been doing for
the last decade when it comes
to financial inclusion.
Financial inclusion, you don't
have a financial identity,
you cannot transact on
the net and all of that.
We pulled 500
million people into
the formal financial system,
just achieved this
goal in the middle of
this crisis brought
about May this year,
and we put another stake
in the ground to pull
another 500 million people,
make it one billion,
out of the two-and-a-half
billion people around the globe
that are not included
financially, and then,
the murder of George
Floyd happens,
and it put a spotlight
on something that
is widely understood and
was there for a long time.
But it raised it
to the forefront,
and we took a step back,
very similar to Julie was
describing and said,
what else can we do?
It was our believe that,
what said work is
systematic racism,
so we figured we don't
need a donation,
we don't need a
flavor of the month,
we don't need an
immediate response,
we need something systematic.
A systematic way to address
the Wilson opportunity
gap and so forth.
Linking back to my first point,
what do we do as a business?
How can we systematically
help address that point?
Well, the first
thing is, you can
always do better inside your
own business to start with.
So we put out goals
where we said,
we will increase by 50 percent
our senior management
EP level and above.
That's good.
There's obviously no pay
gaps and things like that,
so we perform our
goals around that.
That's inside the
company making sure you
create the same level
opportunities.
But then you look outside of
the company and to society,
what can we do on the
thought leadership base?
Oftentimes it's not understood
widely enough why there is a
wealth and opportunity gap,
for black Americans for example.
We are partnering
with Rockefeller and
others out there to understand
and do some research around us,
so that's important, and
then we take that research,
and then we come to
our own business,
and that is really on the
market side of our business.
Do we have the right solutions?
Do we have the right products
that we're putting out there,
to put it into the
hands of Black
Americans or business owners,
so Black American business
owners and so forth,
to address the opportunity
gap that they have,
and significant commitment put
behind that $500 million that we
put across these three
dimensions are on company.
What we do in terms of thought
leadership across society,
and inside of our own business.
One of the easiest thing
that any business can do is,
we all have suppliers
and do we have
the companies I'll
be looking for
the start-ups in our incubator
that a black owned,
while the vast majority is
not, but they are there,
if you just start
looking for them,
exactly what we've done,
and then the same on
the supplier side.
You're rounded all off,
and then you come to
the point that was,
the murder of George Floyd,
put a specific spotlight on
racism here in the
United States,
but we are in 200 plus
countries around the world,
and racism and equality
shows the face in different
ways around the world,
and as a global citizen,
we are having
different programs,
at different parts
around the world.
Financial inclusion cuts across,
it's a starting point for us,
and we'll need to find the
different approaches in Africa,
in Europe, wherever
else where active.
>> Do you think those are
both great answers and
it's really interesting to think
about what implications this
we'll have in 10 years.
We will look back and
say, I know there were,
there were questions that came
up after George Floyd's murder.
A month later people said what
happens when the
anger dies down?
What happens when the spotlight
shifts as it inevitably?
Will businesses continue,
to focus on this?.
What you're both describing
is almost a rewriting
of or a kind of a rejiggering
of how business thinks
about what its role is.
Julie you mentioned that
Business Roundtable famously,
[inaudible] said,
"Hey, we're not
going to put shareholders first.
That's not necessarily
the focus of business."
You've got to think
about stakeholders
as well, think about society.
In 10 years, will we
look back and say,
this changed how
businesses operate,
we're willing to
work more together.
We have to think more about the
impact businesses
having on society,
or do you think this will,
maybe not carry
over for that long?
>> It's a good question because
I remember back in 2016,
as you may recall,
there was a terrible
week in the US where
we had two black men murdered,
and then we had the
ambush on Dallas,
and at the time, we were
optimistic that that terrible
week would lead
to something new.
I do believe this is different,
and I'm sure lots of
academic papers written
around why and all the different
events that came together but,
and I believe it's from
my own perspective,
different for two reasons.
First of all, I
do think this has
been building, and
we've had this,
and there came this time with
all these other issues where,
I've really seen a difference.
The Business Roundtable, was
always focused on diversity,
it was not making the
types of statements,
and the work together
that they're doing now,
and it is different.
You're seeing action,
so we're going from
commitment to action
and I'm seeing
that privately and publicly.
But there's also other
very practical reason,
is it this is good business.
Right it is good
business and it's
good business, some
three-dimensions.
Michael can talk
about better than I,
the consumer
dimension of needing
to be able to have a more,
you have a very diverse
consumer group,
and when that's true
around the world,
and that's really important
in growing and they're
growing and income, etc,
and so there's a
whole driving force
behind who are your consumers.
Secondly, there's the
talent question.
Soon after, when I was talking
about this with one of
my clients who's in the
oil industry said,
look, it's really hard to get
people to go into
the oil industry.
I need to be able to tap into
a broader group of people,
and so they were
asking for my help,
in thinking through how
could they tap into more,
because it's not been a
traditional industry where
they had a lot of diversity,
ethnic diversity, and,
it's a talent issue,
and so that is a reason as well,
and then there's the
diversity around innovation.
We started really doubling
down on diversity
back in 2014 when we became the
first company put
in my industry,
to set up digital,
and our business
was less than 20
percent digital
Cloud and security,
it's now 70 percent,
and we've been investing
and made bold goals,
and it had an incredible run.
Nine percent [inaudible] ,
with the leader in our industry,
and we did so because we did not
believe that we could
pivot our company.
Think about that pivot.
Without more diversity,
so you get the innovation
and the thinking.
If you think about who
your Bart buyers are,
the need for talent
and then innovation.
These are reasons why not only
is it the right thing to do,
but it's the right
business answer,
and that's why I
have confidence,
that this is a pivotal
moment and we will have
a very different
world in 10 years.
>> Super interesting, and I
love the talent component.
I think you're totally right.
Michael, what do you think?
>> I think what is
different now is that we
have a unique opportunity
coming out of this crisis.
There's a need to rebuilt.
That allows you to put aside
some of the legacy and
build in a different way.
I think that is generally
understood that if we are going
to continue to try to do
the same thing that
we've done in the past.
When looking at getting back on
our feet in terms of growth,
it's going to require just
a different approach.
The starting point is
entirely different.
You're looking at not quite
a blank piece of paper,
but a somewhat more
blank piece of paper.
That's the first thing.
I think some of the aspects of
what COVID has brought to us
lead right into this point.
I was intrigued when Julie was
just talking about access to
new talent pools,
working from home.
What does this tell us?
From a hiring perspective,
I can go to communities
where I can find diverse
talent today because
I'm much more comfortable that
these people don't actually have
to show up in my office in New
York or Singapore or somewhere.
We are having a few
post-crisis aspects
that could make us
think about the
rebuilding in a different way.
Now, the aspect of
commercial viability on how
you address diversity and
inequality questions.
We've learned that
over the last decade.
This comes to this
point about capitalism
versus just thinking about
the shareholder all along.
I think stakeholder
capitalism here,
it plays out in a way
that when we saw
10 years ago that financial
inclusion is good business,
we took a 10-year view.
With purely a shareholder focus,
we would have never done that.
We said, well, let's see
what happens in 10 years.
Well, we build our own market,
but at the same time we pulled
people into the
financial system.
That is good business,
and we've learned to
do that and as we look forward
into new solutions,
new markets, new,
verticals, address racism,
help the SME sector,
whatever it is with that
kind of a learning,
I think that's going to work.
Others have been on a similar
trip to the point
that Julie made
earlier partnerships
matter into space of
these more and more
like-minded companies
that are willing to take
the longer-term view.
Right now I think
it is a pivotal
moment, there's no going back.
>> Well, you're talking
about opening up
all kinds of markets for talent
and for customers
and new learnings
that you can get as you move to
a more diverse workforce and a
more diverse customer base.
This is all, I
think, good news and
it's going to really
change I would assume,
how companies operate over the
next 10 years as
we just learned,
as these changes happen.
We only have a few minutes left.
This is the consumer
electronic show, CES.
I do want to get
into this question
of what kind of technologies
you guys are betting on
over the next few years.
Is there anything, you're
especially excited about Julie,
you already mentioned
AI, the Cloud,
other things that you're
looking at VR, 5G.
When you are trying to prepare
your companies for whatever
is coming down the road,
what are the ones
that you are spending
most of your time
or your saying we
have to understand
how this works?
>> Sure, well, let
me just start.
I've talked about Cloud and AI,
which I think are two
critical pivots.
The third though is 5G.
In fact, we just did
some research that I
wanted to share with you that
we haven't been published,
where eight in 10 executives
believe that 5G will have
a significant impact
on their business and
57 percent say it will
be revolutionary.
What's interesting
is that of course,
5G has started
with the consumer.
When the first wave, and around
the world you've
got people using
it with your smart phones.
But we're now in the waves that
will really be
driven by business.
But what 5G will enable is tied
of course to the consumer and
the ability to do more
of the 3D printing,
for example, 3D printing
of devices to provide
what you want when you want
it and where you want it.
It'll change supply
chains because of that.
The ability to move at
much greater speed,
it will really
transform business.
We're spending a lot
of time because again,
5G was something that pre COVID,
we believed would take a lot
longer in the business world.
In part because things
like manufacturing
we're going to
change much slower,
they're happening much faster.
So as a CEO of a company,
if you don't understand what is
the impact on 5G on my industry,
and on my company well
you're missing something.
I think that 5G is probably
not being talked enough
about more broadly in
terms of the capabilities
because pre-crisis,
it was thought to be
a much slower rise.
>> Julie when you
talk about 5G is
the biggest impact the idea of
having always on devices
with you at all times.
You never worry about how you're
communicating with any
part of your supply chain.
Or is it more than that?
>> It's more because
the fact with 5G,
you don't have any delay,
they're zero latency.
If you think about how do you
use technology in surgeries,
how do you use it for
autonomous driving?
The ability to use technology
to really change how
we live when you have
zero latency is massive.
When you think about these
more important areas
and more sensitive areas.
Because of course,
we've already seen
the impact like in
the smart phones,
but that's where you
have to start opening up
possibilities that we don't
have today at scale.
>> Awesome. Michael,
What are you looking at?
>> Well, 5G.
How do I make this
more interesting?
Let's say, we're also
looking at Cloud
because you obviously have to
push a lot more intelligence,
AI-powered intelligence to
the edge of your network
where we reach every corner
and every crook of the world.
If that's your starting
point and you say,
what else is 5G bringing?
There will always be
buyers and sellers.
If I look through my lens in
terms of how commerce will
change over the next years,
always buyers and sellers,
what might change is that the
buyers might not
be Dan or Julie,
the buyers might be a machine.
If you think about
Internet of Things,
tens of billions of
connected devices,
what will enable that? It's 5G.
On the top of the use
cases that Julie just
explain some of these consumer
experiences that might be there,
telemedicine, whatever it is,
I think the next big click
forward is the world
of Internet of Things
and micro-payments,
fractional payments
flying all over
the world with zero latency
as Julie was saying,
I think that's where
we're going to go.
It's all these foundational
technologies coming together.
There would never be a
good conversation around
emerging technologies if we
wouldn't talk about blockchain,
so I just throw that in.
Earlier at the beginning
of the conversation,
we talked about
trust and how there
needs to be trust in this
brave new digital world.
It is a trust enabling
technology which I think is
going to be really
critical because
there will always
be buys and sells,
they don't know each other.
Who is at either end
of the transaction,
what is being exchanged.
Proof of providence
identifying identity,
those are all things that
blockchain will help us do.
If you throw that on top
of these other three,
I think you have
got the package.
>> That's great. Michael and
Julie, thank you so much.
This was such a
great conversation.
I am looking forward
and I'd love
to get a commitment from you.
2031, we meet again
right here and we
review all of these
and see how we did.
You guys in?
>> I'll be there.
>> We're in, absolutely.
>> Thanks, Dan. Thanks, Julie.