The Future Is Now: Holly Hall Of The MACH Alliance On How Their Technological Innovations Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
Be comfortable with failure and learn fast: It is a big part of the MACH mindset, and I believe it should be taught to everyone. Progress comes in small steps.
As a part of our series about cutting-edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Holly Hall.
Holly has been managing director of The MACH Alliance since September 2022. Under her stewardship, the MACH Alliance has grown into a globally recognized standards organization and the leading force in the composable enterprise movement. She has over 15 years of experience in senior roles in product development, new business, and management across the digital, advertising, and design sectors including leading the UK’s digital association, BIMA, and International Director at D&AD, celebrating excellence in commercial creativity.
Her passion lies in building education programs and communities where people can genuinely thrive and access new opportunities.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I’ve worked in lots of different sectors — from advertising and design to digital and tech — but I’ve always loved building communities, uniting people under a common goal and watching them thrive. That’s how I came to my current role. The MACH Alliance was looking for someone to take MACH (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native and Headless) — a rapidly growing movement in the enterprise technology space — and The MACH Alliance, and create an organization that would not only set the standards for technology in the future, but mature into an industry body that would outlive its founders, support new communities and nurture future talent.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
In 2010, I was the awards director of a large global awards for the digital, advertising and design industry. Each year, we ran five days of judging with leading experts from around the world flying into London. But not that year.
The day before we kicked everything off, I received a phone call telling me to watch the news. The eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, a volcano in Iceland, had created an ash cloud that had stopped pretty much all European air traffic, creating the highest level of air travel disruption since World War II.
We were ill-prepared, and we had to scramble together early video communications software, (unfortunately Zoom only came into existence the year after!). It was a tough week, but I was also amazed and surprised at the tenacity of those leaders, and their support for our program. One group even managed to arrive by taxi from Paris.
Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs that you are working on? How do you think that will help people?
Organizations, especially large enterprises that have been around for a long time, can struggle with what is a rapidly evolving digital-first world. The only constant is change as the economic, environmental and political collide. They are under constant pressure to serve their audience better, faster and more efficiently. This is easier said than done when technical debt, vendor lock-ins and constant upgrades swallow resources.
The MACH Alliance advocates for a future where 100% of a company’s tech stack is based on MACH principles. Every component is pluggable, scalable, replaceable and can be continuously improved through agile development. Why? Because composability of functionality provides businesses with the agility, flexibility and speed required to meet the needs of organizations today, even if that need is solely to react to whatever comes next.
As an Alliance, we support organizations by certifying vendors and system integrators who have the expertise and experience to deliver MACH technology that eases adoption and ensures the utmost clarity for organizations wanting to begin their composable journey.
How do you think this might change the world?
The MACH Alliance’s vision is to create a future where every business can confidently access and skillfully leverage open and transformative technologies that power their businesses to optimize impact and sustain competitive growth.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks of this technology that people should think more deeply about?
A composable approach using MACH principles means that organizations have a better understanding of their data and the technology that sits behind the business. This is not the ‘metaverse’ or ‘AI’ with a dark side attached; this is about establishing a foundation so that data is open and accessible, and the tech stack is swappable.
Having said that, if a company does want to experiment with the latest innovations in functionality (and why wouldn’t you, there are some amazing tools out there!), then having a foundation that aligns with MACH principles is critical to the ease at which new technologies can be adopted and deployed.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this breakthrough? Can you tell us that story?
Within The MACH Alliance and its community of MACH certified vendors, there is what’s known as the “napkin story.” It is our origin story. Five people who were passionate about what technology can do for businesses sat in a pub — diet cokes only — and sketched an idea of an alliance on the back of a napkin. An email followed that same day. What I love is that they knew they were onto something. I quote: “We are at the genesis of something amazing.”
What do you need to lead this technology to widespread adoption?
In short, we need organizations and businesses to let go of the past. The benefits of composable and MACH are clear. As MACH adoption reaches critical mass — our annual research shows 87% have increased their investment into MACH in the last 12 months — they’ll only be left behind. Our role is to make it as easy as possible. Our certification standards are trustworthy, and we will work hard to up-skill the market. Organizations can join an open community of experts and peers to guide them on their journey.
What have you been doing to publicize this idea? Have you been using any innovative marketing strategies?
With an incredibly active community, thought leadership has always been an important initiative. This year, we’ve stepped it up a gear and developed a complete online, structured education program called rideMACH. The program launched this month and stands as a cornerstone of our commitment to empowering organizations with the knowledge and resources needed to navigate their MACH journey confidently. Through rideMACH, anyone can gain access to educational materials, training sessions and expert insights, enabling them to build their MACH muscles and in-house expertise.
There is also MACH THREE, which is our annual conference where global leaders in marketing, business and technology, meet to discuss how composable and MACH principles can supercharge their digital evolution. We don’t run this as a typical conference. It is small, there are no sales booths, and it is heavy on workshops and roundtables. That means it is very community-led and ultimately, it is an amazing place to learn from other like-minded companies that have made an impact in their industries. Participants take away inspiration, alignment, guidance and connections. MACH THREE is June 17–18 this year in New York City.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I have had many amazing bosses and mentors, but it would be remiss of me not to say my husband. He is my ally and supporter, and he does far more than his fair share of household duties. :-)
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I was thrown into a leadership role at a very young age, and I made many mistakes. In almost every position I have had since, I’ve made sure that we are offering a way for our community to upskill in their ability to be successful at their role. That might be formal education, training, mentoring or just simple peer networks. This can be about accessing best practice or just learning from others’ experiences, but never underestimate it.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
- Be comfortable with failure and learn fast: It is a big part of the MACH mindset, and I believe it should be taught to everyone. Progress comes in small steps.
- The sunk cost fallacy: Make evidence-based decisions and always be ready to start again and/or move on.
- Be an active listener: Communication is everything, and listening is a skill you need to constantly work on.
- Don’t be afraid to say no: This is one I’m working on. I still find it so hard, but for me, it is crucial to be honest and open.
- Always be curious: I am surrounded by very clever people, many of whom are technologists from amazing technology companies, so why wouldn’t I want to access their brains on a daily basis?
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
What a tough question to answer. I am going to talk about something close to my heart that I unfortunately still see and all too often experience. Despite conversations for many years about gender diversity in technology, women are still underrepresented (and are often underpaid and discriminated against to boot).
At The MACH Alliance, we believe that a modern approach to technology must have diversity and equality at its core, and we are proud to have an active community of “Women in MACH” who campaign for change, as well as provide practical resources to help us build a future pipeline of talented female leaders.
It has been proven time and time again that diversity is good for business. To all tech leaders out there, please get involved and make this a priority for your business.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“A rising tide lifts all boats.”
I think I say this about five times a day. It perfectly represents what we do at The MACH Alliance. This is not about an individual product, vendor or even sector. This is about a wholesale change in the way organizations approach their technology stacks.
Some very well-known VCs read this column. If you had 60 seconds to make a pitch to a VC, what would you say? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
We are a not-for-profit, so we’re not for sale. However, on behalf of the many incredible vendors in the MACH space, this is the future of enterprise technology. For many leading brands, that future is now.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Here is my LinkedIn, and here is The MACH Alliance’s!
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
