Interview with Relativity CTO

Interview with Relativity CTO Below is an article originally written by Joyce Wells, editor-in-chief of KMWorld magazine, and published on April 29, 2019. This article is about PowerToFly Partner Relativity. Go to Relativitys page on PowerToFly to see their open positions and learn more.Earlier this year, Relativity, a Chicago-based provider of legal software, announced plans to hire 300 people. As part of the expansion, the company named Keith Carlson as its new CTO.Carlson was most recently general manager of payments and fraud at Amazon Web Services in Seattle, and is now responsible for technology and architecture strategy and oversees engineering delivery, engineering operations, and production engineering functions at Relativityformerly known as kCura.In his new role, the company says, he will be integral to maturing Relativitys SaaS delivery model with RelativityOne and expanding Relativitys reach into the unstructured data realm.Carlson recently shared his views on the value of unstructured data, changing requirements for data privacy, and how the e-discovery space is evolving. What are some of the approaches or technologies that you hope to plan to implement in your new role at Relativity?Keith Carlson As more customers adopt RelativityOne, we will continue to implement more cloud-native services to augment this growth. Thanks to the elastic scaling and storage already built in to our SaaS product, we can really focus on making the whole customer experience the best it can be.At Amazon Web Services, you developed one of the first cloud fraud prevention and detection organizations and grew it to where it was evaluating 10 trillion pieces of data a day. How does the expertise and skills from that role transfer to the new responsibilities at Relativity?KC Building the Fraud Prevention gruppe at AWS taught me the value of unstructured data. During my time there we developed sophisticated real-time analysis models that process ed thousands of variables. Over the next decade, I believe that leveraging unstructured data will be a key part of the move to machine learning models, artificial intelligence and deep learning, and I believe that these technologies will impact just about every part of our lives. With the experience Relativity already has in the unstructured data space, I feel like I have been given a front row seat for whats coming. I cant wait to see where it goes and where we will take things.Why is it important to extend Relativitys reach into the unstructured data realm?KC Customers love the extensibility of our platform because it allows them to address the unique needs of their geschftlicher umgang and clients in e-discovery and beyond. More and more were beginning to see customers harness the power of our platform to build unique applications to previously-unsolved problems in the unstructured data realm. A great example of this is Deloittes new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) application which is built on top of Relativity. The application is used by government agencies to help them manage disclosure requests for government records using automation, analytics and scalable data compliance functionality. Internally, were also committed to building out unique extensions of Relativity that help grow our business and promote new revenue streams. One area were really excited about is proactive compliance and how our new Relativity Trace application works with businesses in regulated industries to stop bad behavior like fraud and insider trading before it happens.How are changing views on data privacy affecting e-discovery solutions?KC Data privacy has made its way into regulierung around the world and it has impacted how organizations manage data and e-discovery matters across borders. Now more than ever, it is important that users look for a single e-discovery solution with a global footprint, like RelativityOne, that can handle increasingly complex e-discovery matters i n a secure and compliant manner.What are the biggest challenges you see in the e-discovery?KC One area that is always top of mind for customers and continues to be a high priority for Relativity is data security, especially in the public cloud. Our goal is to lead the industry to SaaS through RelativityOne and one of the biggest hurdles weve identified is users being unsure around data security in the public cloud. Were confident that we can continue to quell any concerns around this topic by delivering a truly best-in-class security posture developed and implemented by our Calder7 security team and built into every avenue and process of the code that our engineering team develops. Im looking forward to expanding engineerings partnership with our Calder7 team to ensure that our security remains a best-in-class pillar for our company and for RelativityOne. One of the biggest challenges in almost all industries today is achieving gender parity. Gender diversity provid es huge benefits in the workplace. pWhile some industries have made significant advancements in gender diversity, some industries lag further behind... and the construction industry is well-known for being in the latter category. If someone says, construction workers, youll likely picture a group of men in yellow hard hats analyzing an architects plans or laying bricks on top of a scaffold. And men at work signs only help to reinforce this image.pThis stereotype is rooted in reality. When was the last time you actually spotted a woman on a construction site? Or hired a female plumber or carpenter? Your answer is most likely never. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statisticsreports that only 3.4% of the total of 8.3 million construction employees are women.pBut the construction industry has a lot more to offer than steel-toed boots and hard hats, and it needs women to help advance the industry in this era of rapid change. Here are 5 reasons why women joining t he workforce or looking to make a pivot should consider a career in construction.h21. Fuel Innovation/h2pNot only is diversity the socially and morally right thing to do, but it is also actually an excellent business strategy. pResearch presented in the Harvard Business Reviewshows that diverse teams develop more innovative ideas. This is further supported by a study conducted by Gallupon the performance of gender-diverse teams versus single-gender teams, which found that the difference in backgrounds and perspectives led to better business performance and problem-solving. h22. Capitalize on Demand/h2pThe construction industry is currently experiencing a labor shortage. The industry itself is booming and projected to be one of the fastest-growing industries, with total spending projected to exceed $1.45 trillion in 2023/a. However, most construction companies are unable to meet the rising demand. pAccording to the Associated General Contractors of America/a, more than 80% of contrac tors are experiencing difficulties filling hourly craft positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce.pAnd demand isnt limited to individual contributor roles. Given the industry boom, there are a number of open stable and high-paying roles (any project managers out there?) waiting for the right candidateh23. Leadership Opportunities/h2pAccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics/a, women compose only 7.7% of the total 1 million managerial positions in construction.br/pBut given the highly collaborative nature of construction work, more women in leadership roles would help drive innovation and enhance productivity.Furthermore, as a woman in construction in a leadership position, youd have the unique opportunity to drive change for the industry and make it a more attractive option for other women.h24. High-Income Potential/h2pSalaries for many skilled positions in construction are on the rise, making a construction career a prime choice for women looking for a high- paying job,pThe 2018 Construction Craft Salary Surveyconducted by the National Center for Construction Education and Research revealed that salaries for many skilled craft areas are increasing. Project managers and project supervisors topped the list at $92,523 and $88,355, respectively. The next set of highest-paying jobs include those of combo welders ($71,067), instrumentierung technicians ($70,080), pipe welders ($69,222), power line workers ($68,262) and industrial electricians ($67,269). Of the 32 categories of workers in the survey, 19 positions earned an average salary of $60,000 or higher.h25. Sense of accomplishment/h2p The construction industry can give employees a unique sense of achievement. Yes, the job is stressful and the work can be demanding, but nothing beats the feeling of being able to build something from the ground up. pHow many professionals in other industries can point at a school, a hospital, or a skyscraper and say I helped build that?pThe construction in dustry has a long way to go in combating gender bias and supporting women in the workforce, but given the current demand for workers, theres no better time to pick up a sledgehammer (figurative or literal) and smash the gender stereotypes plaguing the construction industry.