If you ask Teresa Carlson, vice president of worldwide public sector at Amazon Web Services, government's fascination with Silicon Valley is a good thing for Washington. "Yes, government is going out there," she said. "But their goal is to bring the companies right here." Joanne S. Lawton
Jill R. Aitoro
Senior Staff Reporter
Washington Business Journal
The UpTake: Teresa Carlson of Amazon Web Services says the government could become a major player in growing a tech ecosystem.
The federal government’s growing fascination with Silicon Valley is hard to ignore. And for some in Washington, it’s a little unnerving. But to Teresa Carlson, Amazon Web Services’ head of public sector in Herndon, it’s a good thing — and good for the capital region.
A lot of opinions are swirling about the recent trips by Pentagon, White House andHomeland Security officials to California, as well as the investment government is making in the technology community out west. Professional Services Council CEO Stan Soloway said that government has two trains running in opposite directions — “one seeks to open the market to innovation, new ideas and new players; the other continues to raise the barriers to entry, including backsliding on key reforms of the '90s.”
But Carlson told me she sees it differently. And perhaps she’s one who would know, given the success of AWS — what the world recently learned is a $5 billion business— at penetrating the bureaucracy that is government in less than five years. The company gained momentum quickly, as I reported in 2012, and has already exceeded most expectations.
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I spoke to her about that success, and the government’s approach to innovation. Here’s what she’s said.
So we learned that AWS is doing quite well. Can you share anything about the federal side, specifically?
Today we have 1,500 government customers. Contrast that to what we announced in 2012, 300. Four-and-a-half years ago, we didn’t know if we had any customers, frankly. I’m sure they were utilizing AWS, but we didn’t have procurement vehicles, an ecosystem of partners. It’s quite a contrast.
For a long time, and arguably still now in varying degrees, government was slow to adopt cloud. Where does that stand now?
We knew from the early days that we needed to build confidence that we’d overachieve, because we were the new kid on the block. But the reality is that the government desires the ability to innovate and move faster. That started back with [the first federal chief information officer] Vivek Kundra saying, “Let’s look at technologies that are not the traditional model.” It challenged the whole thinking, the whole idea of how government had to operate. Then AWS comes to town and says, “Let us demonstrate how you can achieve that.”
We’re seeing the federal government try so hard to embrace Silicon Valley, which has brought some skepticism. How did AWS — a commercial tech company with its roots out west — manage to make it work?
We would never force anything into the model. But government first adopted cloud through processes like website hosting; that was an easy lift. Then they went into training and development. Then they went into [disaster recover]. And now they’re into mission critical applications. We have a saying at Amazon, “There’s no compression algorithm for experience.”
We want a long-term view of the business, and we want our customers to understand that we want to work with them.
So was this about AWS adapting to government — or the other way around?
You have to have patience. For highly regulated markets that have done things in a traditional manner for a long period of time, change isn’t easy. But they want to get there. It takes time and patience and an adoption cycle that makes sense. But once they get that experience we see them move quite fast.
Is the talent here?
We look for inventors, builders. People who think differently, who are questioning the status quo. And yes, they’re here. They may have had a traditional background in government, but it doesn’t mean they’re not disruptors.
But what does government’s investment and focus in California say about Washington innovation? Is it lacking?
What we see here in Washington is more startups, more incubators. I know, because they have created their companies on AWS. What you’ll see in this area is a continued strength in the startup and incubator ecosystem. And those companies from Silicon Valley are going to be building a presence here as they recognize the opportunity of working with government. Yes, government is going out there. But their goal is to bring the companies right here. That’s a good thing.
Senior Staff Reporter
Washington Business Journal
The UpTake: Teresa Carlson of Amazon Web Services says the government could become a major player in growing a tech ecosystem.
The federal government’s growing fascination with Silicon Valley is hard to ignore. And for some in Washington, it’s a little unnerving. But to Teresa Carlson, Amazon Web Services’ head of public sector in Herndon, it’s a good thing — and good for the capital region.
A lot of opinions are swirling about the recent trips by Pentagon, White House andHomeland Security officials to California, as well as the investment government is making in the technology community out west. Professional Services Council CEO Stan Soloway said that government has two trains running in opposite directions — “one seeks to open the market to innovation, new ideas and new players; the other continues to raise the barriers to entry, including backsliding on key reforms of the '90s.”
But Carlson told me she sees it differently. And perhaps she’s one who would know, given the success of AWS — what the world recently learned is a $5 billion business— at penetrating the bureaucracy that is government in less than five years. The company gained momentum quickly, as I reported in 2012, and has already exceeded most expectations.
Subscribe to Upstart Today for a daily jolt of startup news and powerful ideas.
I spoke to her about that success, and the government’s approach to innovation. Here’s what she’s said.
So we learned that AWS is doing quite well. Can you share anything about the federal side, specifically?
Today we have 1,500 government customers. Contrast that to what we announced in 2012, 300. Four-and-a-half years ago, we didn’t know if we had any customers, frankly. I’m sure they were utilizing AWS, but we didn’t have procurement vehicles, an ecosystem of partners. It’s quite a contrast.
For a long time, and arguably still now in varying degrees, government was slow to adopt cloud. Where does that stand now?
We knew from the early days that we needed to build confidence that we’d overachieve, because we were the new kid on the block. But the reality is that the government desires the ability to innovate and move faster. That started back with [the first federal chief information officer] Vivek Kundra saying, “Let’s look at technologies that are not the traditional model.” It challenged the whole thinking, the whole idea of how government had to operate. Then AWS comes to town and says, “Let us demonstrate how you can achieve that.”
We’re seeing the federal government try so hard to embrace Silicon Valley, which has brought some skepticism. How did AWS — a commercial tech company with its roots out west — manage to make it work?
We would never force anything into the model. But government first adopted cloud through processes like website hosting; that was an easy lift. Then they went into training and development. Then they went into [disaster recover]. And now they’re into mission critical applications. We have a saying at Amazon, “There’s no compression algorithm for experience.”
We want a long-term view of the business, and we want our customers to understand that we want to work with them.
So was this about AWS adapting to government — or the other way around?
You have to have patience. For highly regulated markets that have done things in a traditional manner for a long period of time, change isn’t easy. But they want to get there. It takes time and patience and an adoption cycle that makes sense. But once they get that experience we see them move quite fast.
Is the talent here?
We look for inventors, builders. People who think differently, who are questioning the status quo. And yes, they’re here. They may have had a traditional background in government, but it doesn’t mean they’re not disruptors.
But what does government’s investment and focus in California say about Washington innovation? Is it lacking?
What we see here in Washington is more startups, more incubators. I know, because they have created their companies on AWS. What you’ll see in this area is a continued strength in the startup and incubator ecosystem. And those companies from Silicon Valley are going to be building a presence here as they recognize the opportunity of working with government. Yes, government is going out there. But their goal is to bring the companies right here. That’s a good thing.
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