Company Interview / Staying lucid in the AI space

Key points:

Lucid Software launches its global data residency program in Australia to enhance collaboration, performance, and security systems across APAC.The software company provides a broad suite of visual collaboration applications, aiding companies to adapt to the new mode of post-Covid work.Lucid's investment in AI accelerates ideation, synthesis of ideas and sharing of these ideas, enhancing collaborative efforts.

Dan Lawyer from Lucid Software elaborates on the launch of the company's global data residency program in Australia, which aims to boost collaboration, performance and security across the Asia Pacific region. According to Dan, the program focuses on aiding companies to exercise better control over their data when it's at rest, as Lucid understands the rising concerns around privacy and data integrity. He stresses the firm's commitment towards compliance and security, and the provision for businesses in Australia and APAC to align with local laws and regulations.

Touching on Lucid's hosting by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Dan defends AWS in light of the recent Microsoft CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) outage. He highlights the shared commitment of major cloud providers to resolve such unwelcome situations. In the context of the post-Covid world, Lucid continues its mission to help companies adapt to hybrid schedules and new working paradigms, primarily through their suite of visual collaboration applications.

Addressing the role of AI in collaboration, Dan states that Lucid has always been proactive in leveraging AI to enrich their platforms, making it easier for teams to ideate, synthesize and share concepts seamlessly. He mentions how users can use AI to automatically generate a diagram of any concept they're exploring. Lucid’s collaborations with various Fortune 500 firms including Atlassian (NASDAQ: TEAM), and its imminent potential, illuminate its expanding trajectory. However, Dan carefully maintains a distance from discussing the possibilities of going public.

Full unedited transcript:

0:00

Lucid Software has announced the launch of its global data residency in Australia, the expansion marking a milestone in Lucid's mission to enhance collaboration, performance and security across APAC. Dan Lawyer, Chief Product Officer at Lucid Software, joins me now. Dan, thanks so much for joining us. Tell us what this is all about.

0:19

Thanks, Julia. I'm thrilled to spend some time talking to you about it. You know, Lucid's latest global data residency program, uh, is really a focus on our priority to help, uh, companies around the world to be able to enhance their collaboration, their performance and their security. Uh, and we want to really focus on doing this across the world, but specifically in Asia Pacific region, uh, in APAC, plus our enterprise customers here in Australia, to be able to control where their data in lucid is stored when that data is at rest.

0:52

There's obviously so much importance for people to be concerned about where their data is and the security surrounding it as well. What are you doing to address some of those concerns at lucid?

1:04

You know, lucid has always taken security very, very seriously. And we're seeing obviously, you know, increase, uh, growth and concern around privacy. And so Lucid's been leading into compliance and security for some time. Uh, and we know it's a top priority for businesses globally. So, uh, you know, data localisation, it's essential for Australian organisations. They're looking to maintain control and have security over their data. That's what Lucette has been investing in is to allow for, uh, companies in APAC and specifically in Australia, to have the ability to, to control what type of their data, uh, and be able to, you know, work with that sensitive and confidential information in a way that allows them to be in compliance with local laws and local regulations. So I understand that you're hosted by AWS, the Amazon Web Services platform. Tell us, I guess, your belief in that system, given what we saw a couple of weeks ago with the Microsoft CrowdStrike outage.

2:04

Yeah. You know, Amazon Web Services has been a longstanding partner for lucid and I think many companies around the world. And what we saw during the outage, we you know, we saw, um, super important for many people, it impacted, uh, lucid in some ways as well as it did many companies. Uh, but we saw them responding quickly to resolve the situations. It did not. You know, it was not clear to us that they were able to, uh, or that they were behind or ahead, like it seemed like all the major cloud providers were all dealing with it in the best ways possible, which was a very unfortunate event, really, for people around the world, I think. How are you also, I guess, trying to help companies adapt to the new way of working post-Covid, because a lot of people want to work on a hybrid schedule, and I guess it's kind of trying to manage the demands of the business and the employees. Yeah, that's really where Lucent specializes. Our suite of visual collaboration applications is really focused on helping companies

3:04

to collaborate effectively, whether they're collaborating in person, in a hybrid world, or completely remotely. By getting everybody side by side on the same canvas, to be able to see and the same picture, to be able to work with each other in a very visual way, and then doing that in, you know, a way that allows them to deal with all of their information. You can imagine the various ranges of information that teams will collaborate on together, from things that may be less secure, to things that are quite secure and quite sensitive. And so lucid offers a full range of services that allows those teams to be able to work together on the same canvas and address any type of security need that they might have given the local and government regulations that they're facing. And, and lucid is really you know, that's what we're known for. That's what we're best in class at doing, is helping teams to be able to collaborate in that way. How much are you relying on AI for collaboration as well?

3:58

You know, reliance is a strange word. We certainly have invested over the years in what we're doing with artificial intelligence. And in fact, when, you know, the big kind of swing toward people having broad interest in artificial intelligence came. Lucid had been investing in our platforms, uh, with artificial intelligence for some time. And so we were able to respond very quickly and to add that to the mix, uh, and very early on, we were able to insert a whole workflow around how teams can collaborate together to be able to start from the initial ideation phase and then take all those ideas and synthesize those into meaning, and then take those and summarize them and share them out and have that whole workflow supported by that. But I think my favorite thing that lucid does when it comes to AI is the ability to help people to use AI to automatically generate a diagram of any concept they're looking for. Uh, it's really fun to see, and it's a big accelerator to a lot of people to be able to just have the AI create that initial diagram for them. You work with a lot of fortune 500 companies. You also work with, um, Australian

4:58

found Atlassian. What is the likelihood that you might list yourself down?

5:04

Uh, Goll, I can't actually give you a likelihood on that one. Uh, I do know that lucid is growing rapidly around the world, and that we are seeing a lot of success. I think it's both, you know, the the, uh, growing demand and need for the solutions that lucid brings to market, uh, as well as, uh, good customer reception and a good product market fit and known for the reliability and security of our platform. And so I think all those things bode well for lucid and its ongoing growth. And so, you know, with growth comes opportunity where that leads us. We'll just have to wait and see.