increase of compliance and governance levels . Meantime , the cloud made it possible for our specialized teams to focus on their more essential tasks .”
Citing app-based and online delivery systems , Nanjari said that customers are noticeably keener in surfing for their requirements with ease and speed . “ We ’ ve proved this happening during the peak demand on Father ’ s Day and the Christmas holidays . We love the fact that our guests are now able to order faster than before and with less friction ,” he said .
He also said the pizza company would replace its current platform " We are now beta testing a new mobile App ( native for Android and iOS ) and the new Web that will run on an entirely different platform by leveraging multiple services offered by AWS ."
Meanwhile , the existing Shakey ' s app " is cross platform , so it runs on both iOS and Android , and it shares the same backend with the existing Web , these are all supported by AWS . One of the enhancements that we introduced last year in these legacy platforms was the introduction of serverless architecture . We identified several processes that weren ’ t performing well , then we migrate them to serverless components . Now these legacy platforms are a little bit better due to the enhancement we did by adopting some cool stuff powered by AWS , that was one of our ingredients to support high demand on Father ’ s day and Christmas time last year ."
Improvements in Shakey ’ s back-end infrastructure provided the foundation for a new version of our ecommerce front-end . “ This is something that our guests will see somewhere in the second quarter of 2021 ,” Nanjari said .
Looking further ahead , the CTO said that Shakey ’ s would harness data analytics for non- structured data later this year and utilize Machine Learning and automation such as AWS Personalize .
Internal accounting and budgetary processes will also be digitalized in order to increase efficiency and accuracy .
“ We foresee important benefits from the finance and supply chain point of view ,” he said .
“ I like how dynamic AWS is at the moment in innovating by introducing new services ,” Nanjari said , adding that he also liked “ the way the existing services have evolved . AWS has a strong sense of democratizing all aspects of technology , making it accessible not only to large corporations , but also to small and medium companies . Although we started a couple of years ago when we began our digital journey , AWS has always been supportive in different ways .”
Here to stay
He noted that the Philippines " is a country that has a tremendous impact on IT . We ' re serving important markets such as United States and Europe , the talent pool is vast and I ’ ve found guys here with the sort of performance and attitude you don ' t see in other countries . There are many motivations to stay in this beautiful country ."
The longest lockdown in the world , he said , has changed a lot of things . I was familiar with remote work for quite some time before the lockdown , so working with virtual teams wasn ' t new for me due to my start-up experience . But how we do it on a massive scale ?, how to deal with a team of 50 people reporting in a virtual environment ?, how to build trust when you are the new guy in the team and you only have videoconference ?, it has been also a personal journey to discover how to engage the team in these difficult times ".
He said he ' s been " exploring how , because , in order to succeed in my work , I need others to level up their game . That ' s my personal learning ." He said he has been meditating on " what drives me and how to transmit this to others by using video conferences . It has been challenging , but we have developed an environment where is super ok to talk about things that matters , really trying to be open and transparent about what we feel , for example mental health , which is a big deal during these times , not only for me , but also for the entire company , IT is not the exception since we are always under huge pressure ," Nanjari said .
" I believe that you need to know your people at the very personal level " he said , speaking of his management style , " you need to know what they want , how they live , what is their family circle , what are their interests , what are their motivations , you need to invest quality time into that and you need to do it genuinely . Although I cannot reach out to all of the 50 people at the same time , what I can do is to put this into practice with the people who are working directly with me and I challenge them to do the same with the rest of the team . It ' s a way to build our corporate culture and understand the pain points for different team members . We were able to spot some specific improvements this way ."
Nanjari observed that the Philippines " has been changing very fast over the last few months , and we have to embrace that rather than missing the old days . We have to make the best of it , and there ' s so much progress that has been driven by technology . You can see the work that GCash has made by simplifying digital payments . You can see the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas working actively encouraging digital wallet ecosystems . National ID has finally seen the light . You can see schools getting more prepared for delivering online classes . It ' s a digital environment that you couldn ' t have imagined one or two years ago ." Technology , he added , is what makes these things possible .
That said , he added that " we need to speed up our recovery process and get vaccinated as soon as possible . Then you ' re going to see how this wonderful country will resume its flourishing pace and how life will turn a little bit easier with less Covid and a more digital lifestyle . Definitely the Philippines will do better than before , better than others and better than expected .”