Talking Working From Anywhere with NetApp’s Emily Miller
Transcript
(upbeat rock music) >> Hey, you're joining me in one of my favorite places in Silicon valley, Santana Row, which I've normally associated with consumerism, and shopping, and dining, NetApp has its new HQ in the middle, one of the coolest spaces in Silicon valley, I have to be honest. Joining me to talk about this work from anywhere trend is NetApp's VP of Reputation and Influence Emily Miller. Emily, welcome to the CTO Advisor, CTO Dose on the Road. >> Thank you, Keith. It's great to be here.
Nice to meet you in person. >> So Emily, first off, I don't think we can, even in person, I don't think video can capture just the fit and feel of where we're at. What drove NetApp's decision to move its HQ to the middle of Santana Row? >> (laughs) Great question, Keith. I think that NetApp had been going through some transformation, looking at real estate strategy and work strategy for a while. Pandemic kind of accelerated it to a certain extent. And there was an opportunity to look at how can we bring our corporate campus into kind of a more modern way of working and, I loved Sunnyville campus.
I spent time there, but it was very much kind of the older way of working in terms of you came, you had a gym, you had a cafe, you didn't ever have to leave the building, but there really wasn't anything outside. And so what's amazing about this space is, we have these amazing restaurants, coffee shops, you can be more kind of embedded into the community where we are, and it's a fantastic destination in the heart of Silicon valley. >> So how do you think this will impact NetApp employees in general?
>> Yeah. Well, I think that when we think about the way we were working before the pandemic, there was this, we were in-office type of culture. I was always two days a week from home. But now, I think having a really cool destination, it's a great place where people will want to come and do those interactive collaborative work sessions. I think we're going to have the space to do that. I'm not going to have a desk anymore. I don't need a desk.
I had a desk for 10 years, I never sat at it. I was always in other rooms, I was always in meetings talking to people on Zoom around the world. So, I'm looking forward to coming down here to be in a space that's really built more for collaboration. Now, we've got to have health and safety in mind, so they're definitely working on building that out here. So, it kind of brings a different energy too, because you can come here and then you can go out to dinner with colleagues.
We can bring customers here and have a great roof deck coffee or happy hour, and then we can go to a great place for dinner. So, it's going to mix it up quite a bit in a fun way. >> So, me and Melissa are working from the RV. We've been on the road for 60 plus days, actually 70 plus days now. And everything from the dogs barking in the background to just the Valley has a flavor to it. >> Yes.
>> How do you see the future of work evolving? How has this intertwined with this decision to come to Santana Row? >> Yeah, so I do think that this notion of, our Head of Legal made a comment, he said he was really tired of the phrase "work-life balance," because work and life are so intertwined. And so now, I think with the pandemic, I think we've all experienced how work and life just kind of bleeds into each other. This creates a really great place to come to work, but then you can have a life.
And, again, whether that's meeting maybe friends who don't work at NetApp, but work somewhere else, this is a great place that they'll want to come to. >> So speaking about friends who don't work at NetApp, let's talk about the customer impact of this decision. How will this impact customers if at all? >> Yeah. So we had an amazing customer briefing center and program in Sunnyvale, and we definitely want to bring the best of that program to this space. We're actually sitting in front of the space that is going to be our new briefing program.
And we, again, before we had an amazing space on the campus, but it was very much just that space. There Weren't a lot of hotels nearby... >> Right? I know the pain of trying to find a hotel in the Valley. Yes. >> You've probably experienced that. I think there was a Togo's nearby and that was the only place to really eat. >> Now Togo's is a fine establishment. >> Togo's is amazing. And that Togo's, I think even had a bar.
It was like an institution in the Valley, but I think the Togo's is closed, sadly. >> Oh wow. >> However, coming here, we can bring the briefing experience that we have here, but then it expands to what we have here on Santana Row, so amazing hotel right down the street. You can wake up, walk down, have the briefing, and then you can have a great dinner out. You could even do some shopping if you wanted to. >> So we just talked about INSIGHT being virtual and, say what you may about virtual events, one of the best things about it, it becomes much more accessible.
It becomes much more accessible for speakers, you get a much more diverse cast of speakers, customers who can never come to INSIGHT before, the same thing about EBCs and the EBC experience, when customers got demoes and they could come to Santana Row, they could come to the old HQS and experience. NetApp has done a wonderful job adjusting to that. How will those customers who can't make it down to Santana, how will they expect to engage with NetApp virtually? >> Yeah. Well, Keith, I think that's a great point, because when I, one of the things we also learned before in our briefing center in the past, it was very rare that we would pipe somebody in.
It was always a very in-person experience and, great outcomes because of that, but we know when we switched, when we had to pivot to virtual briefings, pretty much overnight, we were able to get a lot more people to come to those briefings because they didn't have to travel. And so, the challenge is how do you create a really immersive personal experience that needs to accommodate people being in the room as well as perhaps somewhere else? 'Cause that's going to be a reality. And it does also impact how we work in the office.
I think one of the things that we all learned was, by all being on Zoom, nobody had the mic. There wasn't like a dominant conference room that took over the meeting where a couple of people were on Zoom. We were all a box on the screen and we had to learn kind of the new etiquette of working together. And so, same way, when we come back to the office, how do we optimize the communication and how we work together when some of us will still be remote piping into an in-person meeting?
>> So, let's end this on a less personal note. We have a lot of similarities, personally, and working from home gives a huge amount of flexibility to just take care of family needs, this work-life balance. You had a couple of days prior to that, but you lead a team. >> Yeah. >> And you have your own personal life. How will working from home or this new future of work, whether working from home or working from anywhere, how do you think that will impact you personally?
>> Well, I believe, I mentioned I had this cube for the last 10 years, but I rarely spend any time in it. When I worked from home before, I always felt really productive, but I was incredibly uncomfortable because I was sitting in a kitchen diner booth, and all my stuff was just on the table, and I was just moving around the house, getting away from people trying to do conference calls. And now, I need to create a space that's really optimized for me to work at home.
And so for me, that means I got a standing desk. I was sitting in very uncomfortable chairs. I'm a little more mature in my years. My hips didn't like that and so I need to move around. I need to stand. And so finding the right way to set up my space at home is really important, so that when I do come down to the office, I'm not coming to a desk, I'm bringing my laptop, my iPad, my phones, and I can really go anywhere.
And so that's what I'm looking forward to is using the different facilities to the most optimal way. >> So Emily, I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule. Even though we're in a lovely setting, it's still means a lot to the CTO Advisor, for one, it's your team that sponsored the NetApp sponsorship for the CTO Advisor Road Trip. We really appreciate you taking the risk and trying something new. If you want to learn more about NetApp, you can follow the link below.
com/road-trip to learn more about the road trip. You can always DM me on Twitter @CTOAdvisor. Talk to you next CTO Dose.
