The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way a lot of people work—and IT pros are no exception.
Earlier this year, our chief customer officer Rachel Orston launched a series of SaaSOps Stories on our blog, through which she hoped to learn more about the new skills and uncomfortable challenges that IT leaders are facing in 2020. Each leader she interviewed brought a lot of insights to the table, but three common themes emerged:
- Management styles have changed. Each IT leader Orston spoke to felt that they had strong teams in place. But because they have such talented teams, they’ve all evolved into more empathetic managers.
- Cost savings has become a huge priority. The pandemic forced everyone that Orston interviewed to take a closer look at the budget and be realistic about what was possible this year.
- Remote work is here to stay. Across the board, IT leaders had to drop everything to support work at the beginning of the pandemic—and they all feel that remote work is the new normal.
On day four of Altitude 2020, Orston continued the series with a live interview with Lester Chan, Head of Enterprise Security at Zoom. Then, she handed out some well-deserved SaaSOps Stars awards.
Zoom’s explosive growth—and its unique challenges
You can read a full transcript of Orston’s interview with Lester Chan here, but there a few things that I think are worth highlighting:
- Zoom was built to be an enterprise solution. We’ve all been invited to our share of Zoom happy hours and weddings this year. But because Zoom was built to be an enterprise communication tool, Chan discussed how the security team grew rapidly to support these new use cases.
- Remote work can be challenging, even for Zoom. Chan says that Zoom has the same remote work challenges that most companies face, but that its leadership is working hard to set an example of how to do it well.
- Zoom relies on BetterCloud to secure its platform. “[Our efforts] enabled people, processes, and technology to secure Zoom,” he added. “It’s great that BetterCloud is a part of that and we partnered with you guys to get that done.”
Want to watch the full interview? Register for Altitude 2020 here.
Announcing the 2020 SaaSOps Stars
This marks the second year of our SaaSOps Stars Awards program, through which Orston explained we celebrate innovative individuals and teams that have transformed their companies, careers, and industries. The winners really accomplished some amazing (borderline unbelievable) things this year, so take some time to watch the full presentation to learn more about their achievements.
To whet your appetite, here’s a quick breakdown of this year’s honorees:
- Orchestration Wizard: Betterment (Kevin Torres, Amir Rodriguez, Justin Geronimo)
- Security Specialist: Kim Ha, Turo
- Technical Titan: Gillen Burch, Square
- Rookie of the Year: Glossier (Jean Vargas, Ashley Perry, Myles Rayfield, Drew Sandquist)
- Squad of the Year: 2U (Dan Berman, Brian Joyce, Jay Stine)
- Superhero of the Year: Hiram Gonzalez, Workiva
Join me in giving all of these folks a virtual, but very sincere high five!
Altitude 2020 technically ends tomorrow, but you can still register here. That’ll save your seat for an AMA with our CEO David Politis. Plus, you’ll get on-demand access to the sessions that you missed.
