Moving Quickly in Uncertain Times, Thanks to Cloud

Darren Hardman, General Manager, UK and Ireland, Amazon Web Services

UK businesses started 2020 knowing that there were major uncertainties ahead as Brexit negotiations intensified. Then the really unexpected happened. COVID-19 meant that plans were made, then ripped up, on an almost daily basis through spring and summer as the virus spread and government announcements and public perceptions of risk changed.

Business ‘Unusual’—Challenges Met with the Help of AWS

We’ve long heard about the importance of innovation and agility to business success. But in 2020 even some of the most conservative companies have been forced to radically change how they work, just to keep functioning. In fact, there can hardly be an organisation or a family in the country, or indeed the world, that has not been forced to embrace fundamental change to business as usual in the last six months.

Local GPs shifted to video consultations in a matter of days—something that might have taken months of meetings and negotiations in normal times. Schools across the country moved to offer students video classes and online tuition. All over the UK, organisations had to pivot to radically different business models and operating strategies.

None of this would have been possible without cloud services that allowed anyone to innovate at a pace previously considered unimaginable. Amazon Web Services (AWS), and other providers, allowed businesses to respond quickly as the world changed daily. And as our new TV ad shows (embedded for your enjoyment here), AWS underpins dozens of services we all rely on every day, such as Trainline and Deliveroo.

AWS enabled Deliveroo to cope with huge spikes in demand when lock-down started, and restaurants closed premises. It meant the company could quickly introduce contact-free delivery to reassure both drivers and customers. It also meant the company could offer marketing support to restaurants looking at delivery for the first time, for example by lowering their onboarding fees.

Trainline was also able to lean on AWS to help with the changes it needed to make. Some routes required seat reservations in order to enforce social distancing—a quick change to its booking system meant reservations were added automatically when people bought tickets on designated routes.

Trainline was also able to quickly develop Crowd Alerts—a crowd-sourced app to alert passengers to busy, and not so busy, services, and even which sections of trains are best avoided. User-generated data informs other passengers on the best part of the train to choose to ensure social distancing. As the number of users and the richness of the data provided grew, Trainline offered the information to the train operators, to help them improve services.

These are just two examples from the hundreds of amazing things that AWS customers have achieved in response to this crisis.

AWS is ready to help organisations make use of the best technology to drive change. We want to ensure organisations, and their people, are ready for whatever the next 12 months might bring. In the coming year, staying agile thanks to scalable, flexible cloud technology will be more important than ever. Join us at re:Invent to learn how.