Osvaldo Spadano | Akoova | Unbound Commerce: Harness the Power of Open Source!

Summary

Joseph Russell, Strategy Director at JH, introduces the business track of a conference focusing on e-commerce and innovation. He emphasizes the importance of open-source software, citing its role in driving innovation, creating startups, and building communities. The keynote by Aussie, CEO of a managed Magento Cloud hosting service, discusses the benefits of open-source for businesses, including freedom to innovate, lack of vendor lock-in, and the ability to leverage AI and data effectively. The talk highlights the preference of experienced CTOs for best-of-breed solutions over bundled offerings, advocating for agility and the exploration of new possibilities in the digital landscape.

Takeaways

• 🎤 Joseph Russell is the MC for the business track at this event, introducing speakers and sessions.
• 📈 There are 10 sessions today with more merchants than ever, sharing their stories of success during challenging times.
• 🚀 The first speaker on the business track is Aussie, CEO and founder of Aouva, a managed Magento Cloud hosting provider.
• 💡 Aussie emphasizes the importance of open source in driving innovation, creativity, and removing corporate barriers.
• 🤖 Open source is highlighted as crucial for AI development, with companies like Meta, Elon Musk’s Grok, and Mistral AI using open source models.
• 🔓 Open source software offers freedom from vendor lock-in, allowing developers to modify, enhance, and adapt the software.
• 🌐 Open source significantly contributes to the economy, with over 100 million developers using GitHub and substantial investments in the UK.
• 📊 Retail IT leaders view open source as secure, with plans to increase its use for digital transformation and better security.
• 🔍 Open source versus closed source and bundling versus unbundling are key considerations in software solutions, with unbundling fostering innovation.
• 💼 Experienced CTOs prefer best-of-breed approaches, leveraging the latest technologies and avoiding vendor lock-in to innovate and excel.

Q & A

Who is the main speaker and what is his role at the event?

The main speaker is Joseph Russell, who is the strategy director at JH and the MC for the business track in the main auditorium.

How many sessions are planned for the day?

There are 10 sessions planned for the day.

What options are available for attendees who are not interested in the business track?

Attendees not interested in the business track can attend the technical track upstairs or mingle in the marketplace.

Who is the first speaker on the business track, and what is his background?

The first speaker on the business track is Aussie, the CEO and founder of Aouva, a managed Magento cloud hosting company. He has over three decades of industry experience and is an expert in lean thinking for e-commerce and technology.

What is the key theme at the Aouva stand this year?

The key theme at the Aouva stand this year is 'Open for Life'.

What does the speaker say about the pace of innovation and its relation to AI?

The speaker mentions that the pace of innovation is accelerating faster than ever, especially with the launch of ChatGPT, and that innovation is happening everywhere.

How does the speaker relate lean thinking to open source and innovation?

The speaker shares that small teams using lean product and process development can outperform large R&D teams, and that open source fosters innovation by removing corporate barriers and encouraging creativity.

What are some of the benefits of open source software mentioned in the speech?

Open source software provides freedom to innovate, freedom from vendor lock-in, freedom to collaborate, and freedom of choice. It significantly contributes to the economy and is considered a secure and impactful technology.

What is the speaker's perspective on bundling and unbundling in the tech industry?

The speaker explains that bundling combines multiple products and services into one offering, often used by large corporations to protect their market dominance. Unbundling, on the other hand, allows for specialization and innovation by selecting the best tools for specific needs.

What advice does the speaker give regarding data ownership and the choice of technology solutions?

The speaker advises that data ownership is crucial, emphasizing the importance of knowing who owns the data, where it is, and how to access it. He suggests that open source software is the safe choice for ensuring control over data.

Outlines

00:00

📅 Opening Remarks and Housekeeping

Joseph Russell introduces himself as the strategy director at JH and MC for the day. He outlines the agenda with 10 sessions, more merchants than ever, and the opportunity to hear success stories despite recent challenges. Attendees can choose between the business and technical tracks, with flexibility to switch sessions or mingle. The first speaker, Aussie, CEO and founder of a managed Magento Cloud hosting company, is introduced.

05:01

🌐 Introduction to Open Source and Innovation

Aussie begins his talk emphasizing the pace of innovation, especially with AI advancements. He recounts attending a UK Lean Summit and learning how small teams using lean product and process development outperform larger teams. He highlights the role of open source in fostering innovation without corporate constraints.

10:02

🔓 The Impact of Open Source on Security and Innovation

Aussie discusses the importance of open source in cybersecurity and national security, referencing the Biden Administration's executive order and congressional bills. He underscores the role of open source in AI development, with examples from Meta, Elon Musk's Grok, and Mistral AI. Open source is crucial for innovation and has significant economic contributions, with over 100 million developers on GitHub.

15:05

🔍 Open Source Trends in Retail and E-commerce

Statistics from a 2023 survey reveal that retail IT leaders find open source software secure and plan to increase its use. Open source is essential for digital transformation, offering higher quality, better security, and flexibility. The talk also highlights the unbundling trend in tech, where specialized solutions are preferred over bundled ones from single vendors.

20:07

🛠️ The Process of Bundling and Unbundling in Technology

Aussie explains how bundling and unbundling shape the tech industry, using examples from AOL, Yahoo, Google, and the music industry. Unbundling allows for specialization and innovation, whereas bundling by large corporations can stifle innovation. Experienced CTOs prefer best-of-breed solutions over single-vendor bundles to stay competitive.

25:10

🧠 AI and Open Source Accelerating Innovation

The synergy between AI and open source accelerates unbundling and innovation. Amazon Bedrock is highlighted as an example of offering multiple AI solutions. Data ownership becomes critical, with open source providing freedom over data. Real-time integration between transactional and analytical systems opens new possibilities for real-time analytics and machine learning.

📈 The Growing Importance of Open Source in Enterprises

Open source is becoming inevitable for large businesses due to its innovation potential. AWS's zero ETL integration is an example of simplifying data pipelines, enabling real-time analytics and machine learning. Experienced CTOs prefer best-of-breed solutions to leverage new opportunities and avoid being locked into a single vendor.

🔄 Upgrading and Sidegrading with Open Source

Aussie discusses the terminology of upgrading versus sidegrading, emphasizing that moving from proprietary to open source is not a downgrade but a parallel shift. He stresses the importance of branding and marketing for open source, encouraging the community to support it. The talk concludes with an invitation to explore open source offerings and a reminder of the value of community-driven innovation.

Keywords

💡Open Source

Open Source refers to a type of software whose source code is freely available, allowing anyone to view, use, modify, and distribute it. In the context of the video, it is the key theme and is emphasized as a driving force for innovation, collaboration, and freedom from vendor lock-in. The script discusses how open source is crucial for national security and economic vitality, as well as its role in digital transformation and the creation of startups and communities.

💡Innovation

Innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. The script highlights the acceleration of innovation and how open source serves as a collaborative oasis for it. It is mentioned that small teams using lean product and process development can outperform larger R&D teams in innovation, and open source is a place where innovation thrives without corporate constraints.

💡Vendor Lock-in

Vendor lock-in occurs when a customer is unable to use another vendor's products or services without substantial switching costs or performance loss. The script discusses the freedom from vendor lock-in as one of the benefits of open source, allowing developers to modify, enhance, and adapt software without being tied to a single provider, which can lead to unwanted changes or price hikes.

💡Magento

Magento is an open-source e-commerce platform written in PHP. The script mentions Magento as an example of a successful open-source project, with a growing community and the ability to harness the power of open source for e-commerce. It is also mentioned in the context of the 'Magento Association' and 'magenta open for life' campaign, indicating its significance in the industry.

💡Lean Thinking

Lean Thinking is a philosophy derived mainly from the Toyota Production System that focuses on maximizing value while minimizing waste. In the script, lean thinking is mentioned as a method adopted by companies to thrive and excel, with a specific example of a professor sharing the effectiveness of lean product and process development in outperforming traditional R&D teams.

💡Digital Transformation

Digital transformation refers to the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how a company operates and delivers value to customers. The script discusses how open source is a key part of digital transformation strategies, with 62% of retail IT leaders using it for this purpose, and how it contributes to the economy and the tech sector.

💡Bundling

Bundling is the practice of combining multiple products or services into a single offering. The script contrasts bundling with unbundling, illustrating how bundling can create innovation dependence on a single provider, whereas unbundling allows for specialization and the selection of best-of-breed solutions without being locked into one vendor's ecosystem.

💡Unbundling

Unbundling is the opposite of bundling, where components that were previously part of a single offering are separated and sold individually. The script uses examples from the music and tech industries to explain unbundling and how it empowers innovation and specialization, allowing merchants to choose the best tools for their needs without vendor lock-in.

💡CTO (Chief Technology Officer)

A Chief Technology Officer is the executive-level position responsible for overseeing the technological direction of an organization. The script mentions that competent CTOs prefer the best-of-breed approach rather than relying on a bundle from a single vendor, as they drive complex digital transformations and seek to leverage new possibilities in the constantly changing tech landscape.

💡Data Ownership

Data ownership refers to the rights and responsibilities associated with the control and use of data. The script emphasizes the importance of data ownership in the context of open source, stating that it provides total freedom over one's data, which is crucial for large businesses and becomes a key decision criterion as data is considered the 'king' in the digital age.

💡Side Grading

Side grading, as mentioned in the script, refers to the act of moving from one software version or platform to another without necessarily upgrading or downgrading in terms of functionality. The script corrects the common misconception that moving from a commercial product to an open-source one is a downgrade, asserting that it is simply a strategic choice that can offer benefits such as increased innovation and flexibility.

Highlights

Joseph Russell introduces himself as the strategy director at JH and the MC for the business track.

There are 10 sessions scheduled for the business track, focusing on stories of success amidst challenging times.

The technical track is available for those not interested in business stories, located upstairs.

Aussie, CEO and founder of a couver, is introduced as the first speaker with over three decades of industry experience.

The importance of harnessing the power of open source for e-commerce is emphasized.

Aussie discusses the acceleration of innovation and its prevalence across various sectors.

Lean product and process development can outperform large R&D teams, as shared by a professor at a UK lean summit.

Open source is a collaborative oasis for innovation without corporate barriers.

AI developments like meta AI and groke by Elon Musk are open source, highlighting its significance in the tech industry.

The Biden Administration and Congress have recognized the importance of open source for national security and economic vitality.

Open source contributes significantly to the economy, with contributions amounting to billions in the UK tech sector.

92% of retail IT leaders believe open source software is as secure or more secure than proprietary software.

Open source is chosen for its security, quality, and the ability to leverage technology safely.

The concept of bundling versus unbundling in technology solutions is explored, with unbundling allowing for more innovation and specialization.

CTOs prefer best-of-breed approaches over bundled solutions for the flexibility and innovation they offer.

Artificial intelligence and open source software are accelerating the process of unbundling in the tech industry.

Data ownership and accessibility are key considerations in the choice of technology solutions.

Open source provides total freedom over data, which is increasingly valuable for businesses.

The importance of not locking oneself into a single vendor and the benefits of best-of-breed solutions are highlighted.

Open source software is now considered a safe choice for driving innovation and gaining a competitive edge.

The distinction between upgrading, downgrading, and sidegrading when moving between software versions is clarified.

The Magento Association and a couver collaboration is praised for its importance in branding and marketing for open source.

The event concludes with a call to action to visit the a couver stand and participate in activities related to the 'sudden wave'.

Transcripts

good morning everybody good morning so

um just a quick bit of housekeeping my

name is uh Joseph Russell I'm strategy

director at JH and I'm going to be your

MC here in the main auditorium today for

the business track okay so I'll be

introducing people I've got a little

session coming up later um so just so

you know who I am um we've got 10

sessions today uh more Merchants than

ever you know you get to really hear

about those stories uh From The Trenches

you know particularly over what's been a

challenging kind of 12 months 24 months

now and to really hear kind of how

people have been managed to achieve

success uh in those

circumstances um now if you're not after

the business stuff if you're not after

those stories then it's the technical

track for you and that's upstairs so no

shame if you want to scry off up the

steps at this point okay this is your

your last chance all right but yeah in

you can swap over anytime you like we're

going to have a little bit of swap over

time between talks so you can do that uh

or if you just want to grab a coffee or

you know if you guys want to skip the

talks and just mingle up in the

marketplace totally fine as well you

know you make your own day today that's

what we try and uh give you with the

agenda now the honor of presenting the

first track session uh on the business

track belongs to Aussie who's the CEO

and founder of a couver the managed

Magento Cloud hosting of choice now a is

a technology exer with over three

decades of Industry experience with the

couver just being his fourth startup

he's also an expert in lean thinking for

e-commerce and technology so please you

know as the first Speaker today on the

track give a warm welcome to Aussie

thank

you hi everyone good

morning so let's start we haven't got

much time would be intense lots of sles

to go through so it's

me okay so B Commerce harness the power

open source so ma open for life is this

year's key theme at the A stand as you

probably have noticed if you have been

upstairs um in with the Mago Association

um so please come and visit us um

experience this silent wave would be fun

and um

and um you know collect you probably

seen the Magento vinyl um there are um

tracks uh two trucks which have been

created by Matias and yor U of the

magenta

Association that's me I've been

introduced already

so uh yeah I've been on both sides of

the table uh in retail in e-commerce for

over 20 years um and now here at

aoua these are some of the Supreme

Brands um that we are proud to serve at

aova so yeah let's talk about I won't

talk about AI don't worry um but I'll

use it because it's important so they

hyper created by the launch of CH gbt

around um was 18 months ago um clearly

show that the pace of innovation is

accelerating faster than ever it just

keeps

accelerating and Innovation is happening

everywhere now earlier this year um was

in April I attended a UK lean

Summit uh an annual event that brings

together the best companies out there

adopting lean to thrive and Excel

including obviously Toyota uh since lean

originated from the Toyota production

system um there was a professor of the

lean Product Development

Center in Taiwan uh who shared his

learning and results when teaching the L

product and process de development

courses in collaboration with large Corp

operations one clear

takeaway was that small team of students

using lean product and process

development can outperform large

research and development teams in

developing new products and services

small teams don't have the top down

strategies the politic they don't have

the

silos a Innovation Thrive without the

typical constraints of large

corporations open source is one of the

best places to innovate Beyond any

constraints it off a collaborative Oasis

um for Innovation encouraging creativity

and removing those corporate

barriers which you know the Stuffle

Innovation going back to AI um notice

that meta

Ai and groke by Alon

musk um are open source as well as mral

AI based in France uh which is essential

for building a European ecosystem around

AI to catch up with the uh us

companies an open source in is more

complex due to um you know safety and

ethical consideration but still is a

driving

force in

March

2020 in sorry it was may actually 20121

the Biden Administration issued an

executive order following some major

security incidents for improving the

national cyber

security and in 2022 and 2023 three the

Congress in collaboration with the cyber

security and infrastructure Security

Agency introduced a bill highlighting

the significance of Open Source it

recognized that open source software is

crucial for ensuring the National

Security and the economic V Vitality of

the United States

recent AI

development and debates at the

UK AI safety Summit which was held um

couple of months

ago highlighted The crucial role of Open

Source at the highest level of

government and the Prime Minister Rishi

sunak himself said on

linking that UK government is Pro open

source the open source drives

Innovation it creates

startups and creates

communities there are many ways to

Define open

source but fundamentally in my opinion

of Open Source is about

freedom is freedom to

innovate developers can modify Hance and

adapt the

software is freedom from vendor Lo in

have all been tied up to a single

provider unwanted changes or Price

hikes is freedom to

collaborate work with diverse Community

to improve the

software and it is freedom of choice

select from variety of solutions pick

and choose not just one vendor's

ecosystem B open source is more um open

source also significantly contribute to

the

economy um in 2022 it contributed nearly

14 billion pounds annually which is

27% of the UK Tech sector gross value

added it is estimated that between five

and six billion roughly was invested in

open source software only in the

UK and there are more than 100 million

developers using

GitHub and when more developers come

together incredible things

happen oou

um is a suit a suite of open-source uh

business applications covering all

company needs from U Erp CRM accounting

inventory point of sell

Etc and in India they saw the client

acquisition growing from

20 per month to over 500 per month

within one

year they're not using sap as you can

see according to a recent survey by

stock overflow developer see open source

as the most

proven and impactful

Technology right

there here are some stats

about open source Trends in retail and

e-commerce published by the open

invention Network in September

2023

92% of retail it leaders believe that

open source software is a secure or more

secure than proprietor

software 78% of them expect to increase

their use of Open Source

Source software for

Technologies 84% of retail it leaders

choose open source

suppliers 77% of them say open source is

a key part of the security

strategy and

62% top use of Open Source is digital

transformation in summary we fality

leader says that the top three reason to

use open source software are higher

quality better security and their

ability to safely leverage the

technology we saw this before and the LA

for Magento keeps growing as you can see

um this is the you know the history of

the stars in gab for Magento 2

there are different criteria to evaluate

um when choosing softer

solutions for example um open source

versus closed

Source

bundling which means all solutions from

one vendor versus unbundling which is a

mix of best of breed Solutions generic

solutions for addressing wide range of

um common needs to specialized Solutions

um terot to specific needs and then SAS

sofa service versus on your Cloud we

don't talk about on premise anymore uh

which offers a balance between um

traditional on premise and modern s

solutions kind of based on

both now let's zoom on the bundling and

unbundling what is it uh let let's um

use an example here once upon a time you

probably remember if you're old enough

that there was AOL American online which

bundled everything from dial

up um to Information Services such as

email news

Etc then came Yahoo and unbundled the

content from the access Yahoo didn't

need um an ISP it wasn't

one one feature of Yahoo was

search and then Google Google came

along and ab bundled search from

yahu and then Facebook came along and ab

bundled search for people from from

Google here is another

example um the music industry um is a

classic example of unbundling before you

you had to buy a CD with many trucks in

it then

um napsa came along and you could

download the truck that you wanted okay

nowadays everyone you know use Spotify

you don't have to buy a bundle of trucks

you just download a stream the one that

you

want and this bundling and bundling it's

a process that keeps playing out all the

time within a tech

industry now let's focus on bundling

it's a common

strategy that is used by large

corporations to protect their market

dominance it combines multiple products

and services into a single offering

right which can be

appealing due to perceived convenience

and

integration means wanted to Outsource

Innovation and be on par with other

average competition and companies often

choose this path and this approach kind

of creates what I call Innovation

dependence you depend on the provider to

be able to

innovate then there is a

bundling um which empowers innovation

specialization and Excellence new

entrance can focus on a specific

vertical a sector and do it

exceptionally well uh Merchants select

the best tools um for their needs

without being locked into a single

vendor and Merchants wanting to innovate

a stand out choose this

approach traditionally choosy

bundled solution from established Brands

was the safe option the safe

bet and this was summed up by this old

saying nobody ever go fir for buying

IBM but

noway executive will be questioned for

not to explore Innovative best of bridge

solution this is an old Behavior

um that is driven this one which is

driven by risk

aversion um

woring to make the wrong

choice and it's time for Innovation it's

it's not good for the company you work

for it

really doesn't allow to achieve full

potential and it holds back what's

possible

now I've been I've been lucky to um to

see many and to know lots of different

CTO out there and uh one thing is clear

is that experience a very competent CTO

prefer the best of breed approach rather

than relying on a bundle from a single

vendor CTO drives complex digital

transformation where e-commerce

is just one

component okay uh of a broader strategy

and this is becoming more and more

so um CTO innovates by nature and they

don't rely on a single vendor

okay artificial intelligence and open

source software accelerate bundling

effort as I said this is a process that

keeps going on keeps playing out and

bothos are just accelerating the process

for example um like let's look at um

Amazon Bedrock you might not be familiar

with it but um it's an AWS

offering um to deploy solution for

different type of large language models

uh including the open- source one that

we just mentioned the customer can

choose from and

customize in

contrast the bundlers they offer their

own solution or AI Solutions with fancy

names such as you know Einstein Watson

sense uh they don't give you much

choice now when you couple artificial

intelligence with the accelerated pace

of

innovation with

unbundling and with the

need to own customer

relationship data becomes a key decision

criteria and the questions you have to

ask is who owns the data where is the

data how can I access the data this is

probably will become one of the most

important criteria for

you data is the king no doubt it will

become the king and open source provide

total freedom on your own data uh the

larger the business and the more

important and valuable those data

are with better Enterprise grade

solutions from the ecosyst systems such

as

AWS akova and many many others uh which

we have today here in this in this in

this place

um open source is not just a

viable

solution it's almost inevitable even for

large businesses not just for small or

mid companies actually you will see more

and more large businesses adopting open

source many of them they already doing

that um open source and Bas bre

approaches open up new possibilities um

I'll give you an example here um no long

time ago a few months ago um at the end

of last year actually um

AWS announced a a zero ETL

integration between Aurora which is a

honey performance and scalable uh

database uh my SQL compatible and red

shift which is a data warehousing

solution and this NE real time um

integration between a transactional

database the

aora and the analytical system the data

Lake

eliminates the need and the headaches of

of a data pipeline you don't need a data

pip pipeline you don't need ETL

anymore and all of a sudden it enables

um a real

time

um uh integration which then can enable

real time analytics can enable real time

machine learning and we can stop there

you can just think about what can you do

when you have your own transactional

data moving near real time into a place

where you can quickly do analy

and machine learning on the Fly near

Real Time new possibilities open

up this is why it's important and this

is why experience

CTO prefer best of breed because they

know the landscape is constantly

changing there are always new

possibilities down the line that do not

want to be Clos into a COR and not be

able to leverage those

opportunities so never lock yourself in

this is rule number

one

so in the current state of Technology

open soft open source software is the

safe

Choice H by embracing open source

companies can drive Innovation obviously

gain agility

resilience and comp competitive age

needed to thrive in today's

digital landscape now G is nobody ever

got fir from buying a BM from today oops

sorry from today no nobody will ever get

fired for choosing open

source now I'd like to make a point

here when you move for one softare

version to the

next you call it

upgrade or upgade grading moving from a

gental open

source to Adobe Commerce for example

it's not upgrading it is called s

grading okay similarly when you move

from Magento uh sorry Adobe Comm to

Magento open source that's not called

downgrading it is called side grading so

remember that's when you use

terminologies such as upgrading or

downgrading in here you use sound

grading okay you don't lose anything

with open source if anything you gain

with open

source as we said

before this is old news um apparently um

the side is live today I've just heard

um which is great um it is great to see

what's happening uh between the magenta

Association and major s and um and

that's important because I I really

believe that branding and marketing is

extremely important for the magent open

source because no one is really taking

care of it anymore so we need to take

care of it from now

on and when a community comes together

incredible things can happen and it's

happening

now um magenta open for

life is the key theme uh today um at the

marketplace come to the aova stand um

together with the magenta Association

experience the sudden wave uh these are

the times when the sudden wave is

happening but might be happening uh

Beyond those times as

well uh thank you so much to um Matias

in New York from the magenta Association

for coming for making the vinyl and uh

dejing for all of us

uh thank you so

much and don't

forget um to play a vinyl um you need a

time table so you can win one just

follow these instructions and you have

the opportunity to win one if um if you

go to the um akuan stand you will have

also the information so you can take a

screenshot here um or go to the stand

later on

and that's it for me uh

[Applause]