AWS pricing team turns 18-tab Excel model into an AI chatbot to evaluate customer deals, CFO says

Good morning. For companies figuring out how to use AI, the conversation is changing from improving existing work to rethinking what the business can do.

I spoke with John Felton, SVP and CFO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing and AI platform, about that shift. Felton speaks regularly with AWS customers, including fellow CFOs, and said their AI adoption is still uneven. Many are still early in their broader cloud and IT modernization efforts, a prerequisite for deploying AI at scale.

“I think in general, I would say it feels early across the board,” Felton told me. “It’s unbelievable the pace of change, how fast things are moving. I do think every company is in a different stage of it. I think everyone is still early.” That puts him at an interesting vantage point as AI drives a significant new investment cycle.

Felton also pointed out that customer AI discussions about two years ago focused largely on productivity and cutting costs. That is changing.

“There really is a lot more focus on: how do I use AI for new revenue products, for new customer experiences?” he said.

That perspective carries particular weight given the scale of the business Felton oversees. AWS is now a $169 billion annualized business, and Felton has been with Amazon for more than 20 years. He previously led Amazon’s worldwide operations before becoming AWS finance chief in 2024, reporting to Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky.

The bigger shift, Felton said, is from adding AI to an existing process to rethinking the process. What impresses him is seeing companies move toward an “AI first mindset,” using AI to rethink what the business should be in the first place.

“That is where a bunch........

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