May 27, 2020
On this episode of The Six Five - Insiders Edition, hosts Daniel Newman and Patrick Moorhead welcome Pega CEO Alan Trefler. The discussion centered around the need for agility in the wake of COVID-19.
Build for Change - More Than a Motto
Alan shared that in the 1980s when he set out to build Pega, we were still defining processes by writing code. Everything was reactionary. He wanted to create a model-driven architecture where that model could live in a database. This is not traditional software development and it goes beyond low-code. But what’s especially great about this approach is that it’s really easy to change and relaunch. As Alan put it, they were built for change and were ready to help customers all over the world in the matter of a few days.
Helping Customers Find Success in COVID-19
One of Pega’s customers is the largest provider of healthcare in the United States. This company needed an easy way to manage their own staff and the network of physicians they engage. Within four days, Pega built and launched a COVID-19 management app that services hundreds of thousands of these employees. After seeing the benefit to one company, Pega released a free version of this tracking and management app for all customers.
As the pandemic spread across Germany, the Bavarian Government realized they needed a way to provide financial assistance to unemployed gig workers, farmers, and small to medium-sized businesses. Alan explained that Pega did a one day catalyst session to discuss what would be possible. Five days later, they were live with a system that allows people in need to apply for assistance securely and through an entirely digital process. The system has helped thousands of people and has detected fraudulent claims, helping the government too.
Rethinking How We Digitize
COVID-19 has made a lot of companies realize that there is a fundamental problem with how they use and deploy technology. The massive disruption has shown the seams of processes of any company. We are seeing how people work together, how approvals are automated, how things are managed, and how customers are engaged. But we quickly found out that how things were done couldn’t scale through this pandemic.
Supply chains are under pressure, the need to engage customers is radically different and revenue that was thought to be there isn’t because customers can’t pay. This pandemic is testing the agility of organizations that thought they could change. Alan shared that many companies are rethinking how they digitize and ultimately future-proof their business — and Pega is ready to answer the call.
Looking Toward the Future
Alan believes that COVID-19 will get business and IT people to change the way they work together. The current scrum culture in many companies is a non-collaborative way for the business people to get what they need. There’s an opportunity for business people to influence and drive the use of technology in an intelligent way right now that didn’t exist before the crisis. The smart companies will embrace it and come out stronger on the other side.
PegaWorld iNspire and a Concert for the Ages
What was supposed to be the annual 2-day event in Boston has been reimagined to a free two and a half hour interactive virtual live broadcast on Tuesday, June 2. Alan shared that PegaWorld iNspire will be a free event with multiple tracks, keynotes, and live Q&A sessions with Pega’s leadership team. Registration is open on their website and this is one event you don’t want to miss.
Pega is also helping Boston-based band Dropkick Murphys with a live stream concert Friday, May 29 at 6pm ET from Fenway Park featuring Bruce Springsteen. Streaming Outta Fenway will raise funds for several amazing organizations including Feeding America. Set a reminder to watch this awesome show.
If you’d like to learn more about Pega and what they’re doing to help companies during COVID-19 be sure to check out their website and listen to the full episode below. While you’re at it, don’t forget to subscribe to The Six Five podcast so you never miss an episode.