(gentle music) (church bells ringing)
Excellence: A defining standard,
a pursuit of the passionate, the pinnacle of our ambitions
marked by unparalleled outcomes and best-in-class quality.
From the highest castles
to some of the most esteemed products and services,
one small group of island nations has forged
a legacy of excellence that resonates far beyond its shores.
This is the United Kingdom.
(dramatic upbeat music)
A country whose size belies its achievements.
Where towering aspirations fuel an unwavering commitment
to producing premium results
and have set a global standard for greatness.
Here, we'll find that the powerful winds
of innovation have converged with local customs,
values, and ways of living to create something unique.
Together, we'll see firsthand how technology
and tradition combine to form Cloud Cultures.
(gentle upbeat music)
(gentle music)
Excellence is an ideal we all strive for.
It drives our decision making, fuels innovation,
and propels us to exceed not only our own expectations,
but also the demands of an ever-evolving industry.
Which leads me to wonder, what defines it?
What distinguishes exceptional from ordinary?
And perhaps, most crucially,
how has one country managed to be so successful
in their pursuit of it?
Which brings us here, to the United Kingdom,
where high standards are more than a luxury,
they're way of life.
To help me discover how UK innovation
continually stands out,
I've enlisted the help of some friends
from our Microsoft UK offices: Lizzie Donnachie,
a product marketing director,
and Kwadwo, or Kojo Benko, a digital lead.
When it comes to an enduring legacy of precision,
performance, and prestige,
one name stands above the rest.
Rolls-Royce Engines began producing its first aero engines
at the onset of World War I, and ever since,
has been on an upward trajectory in innovation.
As Lizzie will soon discover,
that's in large part due to the exacting standards
and dedication to excellence
that is synonymous with their name.
I wonder if you could explain to me
a little bit about Rolls-Royce.
Obviously, everyone knows the brand. Can you tell me a bit
about your bit of the business specifically?
Rolls-Royce Civil Aerospace provide the engines
for wide-body planes and also for some of the best
and fastest business jets in the world.
So if you're trying to get somewhere really quickly,
you can rely upon us.
I joined Rolls-Royce about four years ago,
and we were introducing the latest generation
of new engine technology.
The new engines were going to generate huge amounts of data,
and we needed to re-architect our platform
to be able to cope with that increase.
What's the sort of data that gets produced by each engine?
So each engine generates about half a gig of data
per flight, and there's multiple engines on a plane.
We're looking at vibrations, we're looking at temperatures,
we're looking at lots of different things
that give us an indication of the health of the engine
and allow us to respond if we see something
that we can either help the pilot
or we can help the maintenance staff when the plane lands.
We spoke before about actually
the need for the quality of the engines.
Can you talk a little bit about why
that's such an important principle for Rolls-Royce?
We work in a world where the smallest tolerances
are incredibly important.
So today, we're capturing a lot of data from the machines
that we make these parts with.
That's really important because
if there's a defect in the process,
then it's better to find it early, scrap that part
or recycle that part, and start again and move forward.
Rolls-Royce is a global company,
got a big presence here in the UK.
Can you tell me a little bit about what that means to you
and kind of how you see that translate in what you do?
For British engineering, obviously,
excellence is something that comes to mind,
and there's something about wanting to do the simplest thing
is real part of our character.
I kind of have this phrase, either verbally or in my head,
which is, let's always find a better way.
There must be a better way of achieving what we want to do.
It's about learning,
and I really think the elasticity of the cloud,
the instant nature of being able to utilize it,
are really helpful in that kind of exploration.
And I think that's really important for the future.
(gentle upbeat music)
Even a company as heralded as Rolls-Royce Engines
experiences that same persistent itch,
that nagging awareness that the things we create
can always be better, more refined, more remarkable.
And it's this commitment to continuous improvement,
paired with the right data, that is elevating them
to ever-greater heights.
Shakespeare famously wrote, "It is not in the stars
to hold our destiny, but in ourselves."
Here at the beating heart of finance,
empires rise and fall, fortunes are minted,
and the London Stock Exchange Group has taken the reins
of their destiny with an unlikely character
in the role of chief information officer.
No, not Cassius...a Yankee!
Tony, it's really great to get the opportunity
to talk with you today. I'd love to hear a little bit more
about the London Stock Exchange Group,
what it is, what you do, and what it means to you.
We do a lot of things here.
I think the name might suggest we're an exchange
with people screaming orders and stuff.
That is what I think of. Yeah, I know.
And not that traditional exchange,
but we also have a big post-trade business.
We're a big clearing organization.
We are there to make sure that if anything happens
in terms of a major default,
that we have protected the industry from a big issue.
We are a source of capital,
and we have a big data analytics business
providing so many industries with critical data
for them to run their businesses.
And certainly the analytics
to be able to help people make decisions.
Yeah. It's really critical.
Yeah, at speed, giving them that information
to be able to make those decisions.
And of course, you know what people want from us
is they want to make sure that it's always there,
always ready, always available.
So, this whole notion of resilience,
it's a culture that we need to establish.
You play such a critical role as part of the delivery
of that quality, that excellence, that resilience,
for so many companies around the world,
and the work around innovation is also probably
deeply rooted in that focus on resilience.
Well, what's interesting, if you look at our tech journey,
we spent a lot of time in the last few years
bringing the people and the systems
and the customers together
with what was the London Stock Exchange
into one, more integrated company.
And that focus has been around integration,
it's been around getting the platforms,
getting a foundation in place,
modernizing a number of the areas with a very clear goal
that that's a foundation for transformation.
Tony, tell me a little bit about how cloud
and cloud innovation has really changed the way you,
the way the company works.
I'm always asked to optimize to three things
that are working against each other:
speed to market, cost efficiency, and quality.
Yep. Right.
And if you optimize to one,
it's always at the expense of The other two.
The other two. That's right.
And so you're constantly tugging on these.
The cloud actually allows us to optimize on all three.
Not immediately and not without work,
but it does allow that.
Right. Now let me ask you
a really important question, Tony.
(Tony laughs)
I have, in my travels, gotten to eat food
from all over Europe.
Being an American here in the UK,
what is your favorite dish?
What is your favorite type of food here in the UK?
Turkish. Oh really?
Yeah, and certainly here in England,
it's an abundance and it's phenomenal, so.
And they do it well. They do it well.
That's right.
Tony, thank you so much, and I look forward to grabbing
a Turkish bite with you at some point.
It's been my pleasure,
and I will happily take you to a Turkish restaurant anytime.
(gentle upbeat music)
The London Stock Exchange Group has distinguished itself
through its relationships.
Clients rely on them to navigate
the unpredictable currents of the market.
And in an industry where even the slightest edge
can lead to substantial margins,
they found theirs using the cloud to deliver insights
and solutions at speed.
A short train ride away, Kwadwo is in Windsor
to uncover how noble aspirations and opportune circumstances
empowered vCreate to keep families connected
when it matters most.
Could you tell me just a little bit about vCreate?
Sure, vCreate is a secure clinical video service
used as a tool to keep families connected
when they have relatives in hospital,
and also it's used as a sort of clinical tool
to enable families to send videos into to their doctor
as a tool for diagnostics.
Oh wow. How did the idea come about?
We had a video platform for the private sector.
And that was going quite, quite well.
And then we got an email, out the blue,
from a neonatologist in Glasgow.
He said, "I've got a dad on my unit who's got a baby
in the neonatal intensive care unit and he is a car mechanic
and when customers bring their cars in to be serviced,
they do a little video.
And, so he said,
"Why can't I get a video of my baby?"
We had a great conversation about it
and I just thought, why is no one doing this already?
So we gave them an instance
and then it launched and everyone loved it.
It went from that one unit in Glasgow,
then the other, the ones at Scotland, and then England,
and then before, yeah, before we knew it, it was a thing.
And then up to this day,
there's now been 75,000 families have sent and received
over three quarters of million videos, it's insane.
So at the beginning, it takes place before COVID,
and then COVID happens. Yeah.
So how was that transition?
You know, COVID was obviously such a devastating time
for the world, and I think that we were just,
we had the right technology at the right time.
In September 2019 we made the decision
to move to the cloud, and then obviously with COVID,
and we got very busy very quickly,
but fortunately, we had the infrastructure in place.
I think we would've really struggled to scale up
at the speed that we would've needed to.
And that would've meant that, you know,
a lot of families would've missed out.
I think in the UK,
we are really proud of our healthcare system,
so being able to impact that in a great way is fantastic.
It's a very unique system we have here in the UK.
It's a very specific culture, and there are regulations
across even some of these sort of devolved nations
in the UK as well.
We wanted to make sure that actually every unit,
which would then equate to any parent in the country,
you know, would have equitable access.
But then also that the technology was easily deployed
and no barriers to entry.
So, we are mainly in the UK,
but we do have a sort of scattering of units
across the world in the US, Canada, Australia,
and some in Europe.
There are lots of different regulatory rules
across the world with data residencies,
so being able to spin up servers and resources
in these different regions
virtually, immediately, is incredible.
And what that allows us to do as well
is that everyone gets the same experience,
so the system runs
exactly the same way as it does in Windsor
as it does in Melbourne, Australia.
That just speaks to the testament
of how quality the product is,
being so easily adopted and scaled around the world.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Corey] vCreate has had a remarkable journey.
They saw a need, and they had the technology,
capability, and infrastructure to meet it.
And by harnessing the power of the cloud to scale,
they could trust every family would have an experience
that lived up to their high standards.
Over the course of our conversations here in the UK,
I've started to pick up on a common thread:
that data is the key to unlocking excellence.
So I'm on my way across town
to talk with a company that specializes in it: KX Systems.
Hey Ashok, it's really awesome to be here,
and I'm excited about our fantastic meal in front of us
in this wonderful pub.
Tell me a little bit about KX.
KX is all about helping, especially data-driven companies,
to kind of get to the answers at the speed of thought.
'Cause most people will start with questions
and try to figure out the answers,
but you need to kind of look at the vast amount of data,
and how do you actually answer the questions
based on what you observe.
I've been talking with a lot of partners
and really focusing on sort of the importance of innovation
and specifically, the importance of innovation
when it comes to culture.
You know, what do you love about the UK, and what sort of
makes you excited about running a company here in the UK?
I was asking somebody the other day,
what's the national dish of UK, right?
It's not fish and chips. Is it not fish and chips?
It's chicken tikka masala.
Oh, is that right?
It is, yes. Okay, okay, fantastic. Okay.
Chicken tikka masala was invented here because people,
I don't know if you knew that.
I did not know that. That's awesome.
Yeah, so what I like about here
is that it's really a global city.
People come from different parts of the world
and you're focused on the issue, the culture,
the collaboration, the innovation which happens.
We talk about data, you know,
how you want to democratize data in decision making.
So it's the same thing with chicken tikka masala.
Now they've democratized it so that every culture,
you know, everybody eats it.
Now how do you democratize, how do you get data literacy,
and how do everybody uses the same without biases?
Even just connecting it back to the overall
sort of cultural things that I've learned while here
is that strive for excellence can also mean
taking that diversity, taking that collaboration
from other locations, and bringing it together.
It's not about technology alone,
it's really how do people build agility
and equality into it.
You know, obviously we've all gone through
some tough times over the last few years.
You know, how important was that focus on quality,
focus on improving to carry through some of the tough times
here in the UK?
Yeah, but I think, you know, when you look at now
with what's happening with Brexit and, you know,
the type of things where people have to focus on the cost
with inflation being high,
I think there's a lot more focus on
how do I improve efficiency and, you know,
you don't want to give up something
because you're improving some of this thing,
cutting costs versus, this is where I think
you focus more on doing the right things.
It's not about doing more for less,
it's doing the right things in the first place.
So it's effectiveness, not efficiency.
(dramatic music)
Ashok raises an intriguing point.
There's an important distinction
between efficiency and effectiveness.
Operating efficiently is undeniably important,
but it doesn't guarantee exceptional results.
However, aligning our actions with meaningful outcomes-
that can be a differentiating factor.
With so much going on,
I barely had enough time to make my flight,
so I'll be reconnecting with Lizzie and Kojo remotely.
(dramatic music)
Hi, Corey! Hi, Corey!
Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet with you guys
in person when I was there in the UK,
but great to connect again.
So Lizzie, tell me a little bit about your meeting
with Rolls-Royce Engines.
Met Stewart. It was really good.
We spoke a little bit about some of the challenges
of being in a business that creates data
when the engines are in the air.
That's really, really cool.
And Kojo, you got the chance to meet with vCreate.
Tell me a little bit more about that.
This healthcare company and they developed, you know,
a video technology that connects patients with families.
The idea came from a parent who was asking for a secure way
to sort of check on his child who was in the neonatal unit.
So that sort of birthed this idea, an amazing story.
I love that, and did either of those conversations
have anything to do with food?
Was there food involved in those conversations?
We had really good coffee. Okay, good.
Well that's a positive.
I got the chance to talk with Ashok from KX,
and we got to talk about the focus on how quality
as sort of a way of life for the UK,
and then I also got the chance to meet
with the London Stock Exchange Group and really talk about,
again, their focus on quality
and how important it was to their end customers.
And there it was really,
Tony had offered me a Turkish dinner the next time I'm back.
So again, food was really a central theme for me.
Well, thank you guys so much.
It's been really awesome to get the chance to meet
and work with both of you and learn more about your country
and all of the exciting work being done there.
Thanks for coming. Thanks for having us. Yes.
All right. Bye-bye.
(dramatic music)
What we've discovered here in the UK
has been nothing short of brilliant.
The cloud culture here has shown us that excellence
is more than just an outcome;
it's a mindset that permeates every aspect of our work.
And while achieving it is always desirable,
it's the pursuit that matters most.
Once again, the UK's most famous playwright put it best,
"Be great in act as you have been in thought."
Armed with modern technology, we are all capable
of setting a standard that inspires greatness.
I've had a great time here in the UK,
but I have another stop to make,
and it's looking like it's going to be an experience
I won't be forgetting anytime soon.
(gentle upbeat music)
See you in Italy.
(gentle music)