Designed to inspire business and technology leaders, Amazon’s Innovation Day was attended by several thousand executives, start-up CEOs, IT managers and developers across a variety of industries.
The half-day program was inspired by Amazon’s ‘Day 1 Principles’, which govern the company’s culture, and focused on encouraging Australian businesses to create a mindset that promotes innovation at scale.
The day included presentations from local and international Amazon executives, alongside external speakers such as Airtasker CEO and founder Tim Fung and Atlassian ‘futurist’ Dominic Price.
Amazon SVP International Consumer Russ Grandinetti spoke to the audience about Amazon’s most important leadership principle: customer obsession.
“Innovation always begins with what matters to customers,” he said. “Customer obsession and innovation are a continuum. This means you shouldn’t start from the skills you already have – work backwards from what customers want and learn those skills.”
Amazon Australia Country Manager Rocco Braeuniger took part in a panel alongside Mr Grandinetti, where the pair were asked questions about their favourite moments with Amazon, leadership learnings, and game-changing technology and services headed for Australia.
Mr Braeuniger, who spoke of how Amazon prides itself on continuously inventing on behalf of Australian customers, said: “At Amazon, it’s important for us to track and understand customer experiences. This feedback is incredibly valuable and allows us to update the customer experience quickly.”
Amazon Alexa Skills Country Manager ANZ Kate Burleigh shared the history of Alexa (Amazon’s cloud-based voice service) and gave guidance on how to create skills that customers engage with and truly appreciate.
“Voice represents the next major paradigm in computing,” she said. ‘From day one, the design of Alexa was focused on the customer journey. Through voice, we’re redefining how we bring everyday skills to life, whether that be ordering a pizza or a ride.”
Amazon’s Innovation Day was held at the International Convention Centre in Sydney’s Darling Harbour on Tuesday.
