Company Interview / Datadog's Australian expansion

Alexis Le-Quoc, Founder of Datadog (NASDAQ:DDOG) outlines the company's plan to establish its first data centre in Australia, aiming to tap into the $147 billion IT market. Alexis underscores the importance of data residency, responding to customer needs in Australia and New Zealand.

Alexis highlights Datadog's decade-long presence in Australia, with the new data centre reinforcing commitments to data sovereignty. This move enables Datadog to engage with sensitive data applications, expanding their business opportunities beyond the US and Europe.

With clients like Flight Centre (ASX:FLT) and Seek (ASX:SEEK), Alexis mentions their ongoing support and expansion plans. Discussing the role of cloud observability, Alexis notes its importance in providing real-time insights and enhancing digital operations for listed companies.

Below is the full unedited transcript of this interview:

0:00

Let's get into a Nasdaq listed company now. Datadog plans to establish its first data center outside the US and Europe in Australia, aiming to capture a share of the country's $147 billion IT market. Let's discuss what that means with Datadog founder Alexis Lacroix. Alexis, thanks so much for joining us here on a very, very busy day. Just curious to to start off with your thoughts on on how these, um, tariffs may actually impact your overall business too.

0:27

Thanks, Juliet. Very happy to be here. So I think, um, like many of you know, around the world, we're trying to figure out how the how the next couple of days, next couple of weeks are going to pan out. Um, I

0:42

it is it is rather difficult to say at this point, um, how how our customer is going to be affected. I think that's that's what's going to dictate, I think how the, the, our business will adjust. Um, right now I think we are staying the course, as you mentioned, we're, um, establishing a stronger presence in Australia because we have a strong belief in the market, in the IT market, in Australia and New Zealand, and so that we remain committed to to that investment. Tell us a little bit more than Alexis about the expansion into Australia and what you plan to achieve here.

1:16

So we've actually been in Australia as a company for almost ten years. We've had a number of employees. We have two offices here. This latest investment is really about establishing a physical presence in terms of a data centre in Australia. And what we've heard from a number of customers in Australia, in New Zealand is the need to really have stronger guarantees of data residency, and I think that's true around the world. I think every country has voices stronger concern for data residency, and this is really just us adjusting to that and having a presence in Australia where data um remains within the boundaries, I think is a way for us to to say that we've heard we've heard the needs from customers. So what's the importance more broadly about data sovereignty, particularly here for your Australian business?

2:17

You know, there are understandably, if you think about the spectrum of applications that, for instance, live in the cloud. There are applications where data residency does not matter as much because maybe the data in question is not particularly sensitive. And on the other end of the spectrum, there's very sensitive data that could pertain to local government. Uh, and that kind of data obviously comes with strong data residency guarantees that must be provided by all the vendors. And so for us, I think establishing a physical presence with a data centre in Australia, we we are able to go after these workloads, we are able to open up new avenues of business that otherwise would be not open to us. If we if we operate, if we continue to operate just out of the US or you or other regions in Asia-Pacific. So I understand you have quite a lot of Australian and New Zealand customers, Flight Centre and Seek that are both listed on our market for example. Tell us about your customers and

3:16

I guess you've got plans to to to garner more to expand even further.

3:22

Yes. The way we think about our customers is very much the way we think about any customer. Very, sometimes very small, sometimes very big, who have undergone a digital transformation. I think that's that's really the the thread that unites all of our customers. So I think you mentioned, um, you know, some of them in region will continue to support them, of course, through our expansion will gain new customers, uh, in Australia and by, by virtue of being present here and we'll we apply effectively the same strategy worldwide. We want to be where our customers are. We want to support the use cases they have. And that's been, you know, looking out for us so far and certainly hoping that it continues to be the case. And just finally, Alexis, how important is some of this cloud observability then for listed companies.

4:13

So I think observability is the way to think about it, is gives you a real time feedback on how well your digital operations are working. And nowadays, particularly, I think in the past five years, there's been really an emphasis and an acceleration on moving more and more of the business online, either completely, directly or indirectly, and having that ability to understand in real time what's happening is essential so that you can react to issues. And absurdity is really just that. It's being able to understand what's happening in real time, be able to react and correct issues if they are some or scale up, for instance, the presence, if there's additional demand hitting a particular customer at a given time.