deal architect

New Normal: Conversation with Peter Maier of SAP

I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.

This time it is Peter Maier, President, Industries at SAP. He describes examples from public health, auto, oil and gas and other sectors but I was also pleasantly surprised by many angles he emphasized.

SAP has the image of a lumbering giant whose projects take forever. He described a project where they built a registration portal (Rückholprogramm) within a couple of days for the German Federal Foreign Office (Auswaertiges Amt) to help airlift stranded German citizens around the globe as commercial air travel came to a standstill.

He describes another 2 week project to help manage capacity across 25 hospitals in the Heidelberg University system.

He describes how they quickly collected 750 feature ideas in response to the crisis which should make their way into their products. He repeatedly talks about supply chain opportunities in many sectors. SAP set up a Global Pandemic Taskforce in late January - way before most other companies. That's one advantage of their global reach - they could see first hand what was already happening in China.

SAP is also encumbered with a SI ecosystem which traditionally has depended on large, on-site implementation projects, snarkily referred to as the "school bus" model. In a new world with travel at a standstill, it is good to hear him talk about remote project delivery at Galp Energia, a Portuguese oil and gas company.  He also describes INDEX-Werke's part, service and IoT platform, iXWorld to remotely support the auto industry.

He describes fairly significant public health efforts. He describes contact tracing projects in collaboration with Deutsche Telekom in Germany and Apple and Google in the US. He also describes the Qualtrics COVID-19 Assessment, Testing, and Case Management Solution being used in Utah, Iowa, New Jersey and Nebraska. 

Given their presence in just about every industry, I look forward to hearing about more such agility in other sectors

Finally, it was good to hear empathy about customers - he talks about "survival" time for many of them. SAP did not help its image too much by attempting to raise maintenance rates during the last deep recession. The agility and empathy Peter brings out is a lot more encouraging this time.

New Normal: Conversation with Tom Brennan and Dave Stephans of Rootstock Software

I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.

This time it is Tom Brennan, CMO and Dave Stephans, CRO of Rootstock Software.

They describe acrobatics in their customer base. Unionwear pivoted from their headgear and eventwear products to making clear vinyl face shields and reusable gowns. Matouk, a maker of luxury linens, shifted production to making masks. Working with Propel, a PLM/PDM solution also on the Salesforce platform, they describe efforts with public health agencies to help with PPE supply chains. They also describe their efforts with MVM.care which is helping design a "open source" community to build medical ventilators, starting with the hotspot in Italy. They also spend time on how their cloud applications facilitated work from home support and remote implementations. 

We also discuss their involvement in the Saleforce Work.com initiative. and growing opportunities in the medical marijuana/CBD market, a vertical where Rootstock has had success - see my note here - and new opportunities which will open up as manufacturing supply chains shift around the world. 

At the start, Tom explains his Hemingway lookalike beard. He is referring to his bluefin tuna fishing guest column in my Passion guest series where he had referenced the Old Man and the Sea.

They cover a lot of ground in this 23 minute recording.

New Normal: Conversation with Ben Pring of Cognizant's Center for Future of Work

I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.

This time it is Ben Pring. a futurist who leads several thought leadership initiatives for Cognizant and their Center for the Future of Work.

We discuss how the "Future of Work" has become the "Present of Work" in the last quarter during the COVID-19 crisis.

He discusses moving Cognizant's global workforce to a work-from-home model,  their work alongside Microsoft to help Sensodyne with a contact tracing app in the UK and a large robotic process automation (RPA) project for an Australian retailer. 

We discuss how the great work from home "experiment" of the last few weeks will likely play out and how companies are developing protocols for re-opening physical sites.  He describes the swinging of the globalization pendulum, and he references an upcoming Cognizant study on 21 places for the future which are likely to benefit from the reshaping of global supply chains.

We also discuss automation trends that have accelerated during the crisis (both of us have written books on automation and jobs in the last few years) and, in contrast, the calls for "Reverse Fordism" and of rethinking platforms to also benefit participants not just the provider.

He describes what he calls the "Clean Regime" - a focus on hygiene in all aspects of work and workplaces. He thinks we may see a Health Security Agency (HSA) similar to the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) that emerged after the 9/11 attacks.

He jokes he is looking forward to air travel with"(Westin) Heavenly Beds, soggy club sandwiches and the TSA crew at 6 in the morning."

Ben and I were colleagues at Gartner and always have plenty to cover when we meet. For now, meeting via Zoom is not that bad an option.

Business acrobatics and heroics that also deserve flyovers

It's been wonderful to see Blue Angels, Thunderbirds and other planes do flyovers over different cities to honor front line workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Here is one over Washington, DC.

While those flyovers have received media attention, very little of business/technology heroics have seen much praise. Most press/social media has focused on the doom and gloom and the angry politics around the crisis.

I am extremely grateful to a long (and growing) list of C level execs, VCs and practitioners across industries and countries who have shared examples of their herculean efforts and those at customers or portfolio companies. They have massively scaled volumes up and down, or delivered innovative new products and services in days. You hear of million employee payrolls, companies moving 200,000 employees to work from home,  hundreds of billions in emergency PPP bank loans, moving from on-campus to distance learning in a couple of weeks, pop-up hospitals, last mile logistics acrobatics and so much more.

There is authenticity and humility in their voices - this is not just for marketing advantage.

Each conversation below is in the form of a 20-30 minute Zoom interview. I also summarize their key points in each post if you don't want to spend as much time on the videos.

Aerospace - Jeff Robertson, Maxar Technologies

Agriculture - Sridhar Vembu, Zoho

Airlines - Rahul Samant, Delta Airlines

Auto - Dennis Hodges, Inteva

Auto - Paul Wright, Accuride

Auto - Evangelos Simoudis, Synapse Partners

Banking - Jack Barrett, First Citrus Bank

Banking - Sarvesh Mahesh, Tavant

Banking - Rob Enslin, Google

Banking - Mike Laven, Currency Cloud

Banking - Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh, Salesforce

Banking - Charles Phillips, Recognize

Biotech - Lou Von Thaer, Battelle

eCommerce - Bob Stutz, SAP

Enterprise Software - Greg Tomb, SAP

Field Service - Darren Roos, IFS

Food, wellness - Ray Lane, GreatPoint Ventures

Grocery - Bob Stutz, SAP

Healthcare - Lou Von Thaer, Battelle

Healthcare - Mark Galloway, SmartPad

Healthcare - Brad Feld, Foundry Group

Healthcare - David Watson, AMA's Health2047

Healthcare - Bill Shea, Cognizant

Healthcare - Aneel Bhusri, Workday

Healthcare - Sanjay Poonen, VMware

Healthcare - Rod Johnson, Infor

Healthcare - Sridhar Vembu, Zoho

Healthcare - Stephanie Lapierre, Tealbook

High Tech - Amit Shah, Excelitas Technologies

High Tech - Ray Wang, Constellation Research

Higher Education - Daniel Pullin, Neeley School of Business, TCU

Higher Education - Daniel Pullin, October session

Higher Education - Mike Ettling, Unit4

Higher Education - Eric Dirst, DeKonsultere, LLC

Industrie 4.0 - Marty Groover, C5MI

Life Sciences - Jason Blessing, Model N

Logistics - Jerome Dubois/Rylan Hamilton, 6 River Systems

Logistics - Tom Ryan, tkr Consulting Associates

Manufacturing - Bill Berutti/Jerry Foster, Plex Systems

Manufacturing - Tom Brennan/Dave Stephans, Rootstock Software

Manufacturing - Darren Roos, IFS

Mining - Brad Keywell, Uptake 

Oil and Gas, Phiroz Darukhanavala, formerly of BP

Private Equity - Tamas Hevizi, Automation Anywhere

Politics - Bruce Bond, Common Ground Committee

Outsourcing - Phil Fersht, HFS Research

Outsourcing - Emily McEvilly, Workday

Professional Services - Mike Ettling, Unit4

Professional Services - Sarvesh Mahesh, Tavant

Professional Services - Greg Tomb, SAP

Public Health - Lou Von Thaer, Battelle

Public Health - Doug Belden, Hillsborough County, FL

Public Health - David Watson, AMA's Health2047

Public Health - Ray Wang, Constellation Research

Public Health - Ed Abbo, C3.ai

Public Health - Peter Maier, SAP

Public Health - Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh, Salesforce

Public Health - Tom Brennan/Dave Stephans, Rootstock Software

Public Health - Rob Enslin, Google

Railroads - Brad Keywell, Uptake

Real Estate - Sarvesh Mahesh, Tavant

Retail - Rod Johnson, Infor

Retail - Ben Pring, Cognizant

Research & Development - Lou Von Thaer, Battelle

Restaurants - Tara Gambill, MOD Pizza 

Sports - Max Mueller/Chris Nilson, Daimani

Sports - Paul Greenberg, The 56 Group and Brent Leary, CRM Essentials

Sports - Jeremy Bloom, Integrate

State and Local Govt - Rich Karlgaard, Forbes Media

State and Local Govt - Doug Belden, Hillsborough County, FL

Supply Chains - Tom Ryan, tkr Consulting Associates

Telecoms - Jay Smith, TracFone Wireless

Transportation - Evangelos Simoudis, Synapse Partners

Travel - Joseph Rajadurai, Cognizant

Utilities - Andre Blumberg, CLP Power

Utilities - Ed Abbo, C3.ai

User Groups - Geoff Scott/Dave Wascom, ASUG

Venture Capital - Brad Feld, Foundry Group

Venture Capital - Ray Lane, Greatpoint Ventures

BTW, many of the guests touch on several other industries. Many also bring a global point of view about Europe and Asia/Pac and others touch on leadership and resilience in a crisis, future of work, workforce diversity, data explosion and other topics

They include

Asia Pac - Andre Blumberg, CLP Power

Asia Pac - Sridhar Vembu, Zoho

Asia Pac - Rob Enslin, Google, 

Asia Pac - Rich Karlgaard, Forbes Media

Asia Pac - M.R. Rangaswami, Sand Hill Group

Asia Pac - Phil Fersht, HFS Research

Customer Centricity - Sue Fellows, Workfront

Customer Centricity - Emily McEvilly, Workday

Data trends - Brett Hurt, Data.world

Diversity - Tony Prophet, Salesforce

Diversity - Charles Phillips, RECOGNIZE

Diversity - Stephanie Lapierre, Tealbook

EU - Mike Laven, Currency Cloud

EU - Mike Ettling, Unit4

EU - Peter Maier, SAP

EU - Darren Roos, IFS

EU - Phil Fersht, IFS

Future of Work - Ben Pring 

HCM - Brian Sommer, TechVentive

HCM - Josh Bersin, Josh Bersin Academy

Leadership - Alex Shootman, Workfront

Leadership - Ray Lane, Greatpoint Ventures

Leadership - Daniel Pullin, Neeley School of Business, TCU

Leadership - Sanjay Poonen, VMware

Leadership - Sridhar Vembu, Zoho

Leadership - Rob Enslin, Google

Leadership - Charles Phillips, RECOGNIZE

Leadership - Ray Wang, Constellation Research

Leadership - Jeremy Bloom, Integrate

Leadership - Dr. Patti Fletcher/Grant Beckett, Workhuman

Planning - Grant Halloran, Planful

Public Discourse - Bruce Bond, Common Ground Committee

Sustainability - M. R. Rangaswami, Sand Hill Group

Startups - Ton Dobbe, Value Inspiration 

Startups - Eric Dirst, DeKonsultere

Startups - Brett Hurt, Data.world

Third Party Support - Seth Ravin, Rimini Street

Several others coming ...

Grateful to each and their colleagues for their amazing service during this crazy phase. 

New Normal: Conversation with Rahul Samant of Delta Airlines

I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.

This time it is Rahul Samant, CIO of Delta Airlines.

As a road warrior, I was in awe of all the acrobatics he describes in the last few weeks as they downscaled for the short term as traffic fell off a cliff (like retiring their MD-88s and 777s years ahead of schedule, reducing cash burn of $100 million a day, refunds of $1.5 billion, 45% of employee base on voluntary leave). He discusses the massive compute cycles to reschedule flights, crews and operations. I did not realize they continue to fly a thousand flights a day with medical cargo, personnel and volunteers, repatriating US citizens from around the world, and other essential traffic.

Even more heartening to me and many of my readers who fly often, he describes all the activities to make passengers more comfortable about returning to the air (with electrostatic foggers, touchless check-ins, empty middle seats, high energy HEPA filters and other measures). He points out that Delta has worked very hard on its reliability image and metrics in the last few years. He expects the same emphasis on hygiene and for Delta to be known for that.

Finally, Rahul was in the financial services industry during the 2008-9 meltdown. He is obviously not pleased to be stuck in another major crisis but says he is glad he is with a company as caring as Delta.  

BTW, towards the end I compliment his CEO, Ed Bastian - I should have said at 31:14 "why would we penalize that employee?" not "passenger"

Few of us will fly this Memorial Day, but enjoy this vision of travel in the not so distant future.

New Normal: Conversation with Rod Johnson of Infor

I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.

This time it is Rod Johnson, President of Infor.

He covers a wide range of industries in his comments. Infor has a large presence in the healthcare industry and he talks about heroics he has seen in that sector. He describes how Infor software has helped with inventory management of supplies in hospitals and helping them get reimbursed for a significantly changed mix of services. He talks about working with hospitality customers around touchless check-in processes and retail companies to turn stores into virtual warehouses.

Talking about acrobatics in his customers he mentions Quidel, a diagnostic healthcare company (an Infor LN ERP customer) and how they have significantly scaled their COVID-19 antigen test kits. He talks about Ecolab and how Infor transportation management helped in last mile logistics including using helicopters to get cleaning supplies to cruise ships. 

He also discusses why we should learn from TV networks to create richer digital experiences as we increasingly work remotely. Infor is based in New York city and has a captive digital agency, Hook & Loop so can certainly lead in that area.  

New Normal: Conversation with Dean Daniel Pullin of TCU

I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.

This time it is Dean Daniel Pullin at the Neeley School of Business at TCU in Fort Worth, TX.

He describes acrobatics he has seen in telemedicine and retail in the DFW area. More impressively, his staff developed a new offering in 3 weeks - a Master of Science in Business Analytics. They also migrated their classes from in-person to on-line in 2 weeks. They are spending the summer rethinking course content for a digital delivery world. The dramatically changed world also is giving them opportunities to rethink curriculum - he describes a hackathon to design new services to address mental health issues during the crisis.

He talks about how their student demographics are likely to change with international travel in particular being challenged. He also describes how students are innovating in a very challenging job market.

I particularly liked his thoughtful response to my question whether we will see a V, U, W or L recovery - starting around 18:00

He was plagued by bandwidth issues at his home office. He graciously drove to campus to continue the session. As you can see, the connectivity was not much better. The audio is fine all the way, the video improves in the last third. He is very good - worth putting up with the video lag

New Normal: Conversation with Sanjay Poonen of VMware

I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.

This time it is Sanjay Poonen, COO of VMware.

He describes about how the "trifecta" of VMware products has helped companies perform their version of acrobatics - virtual desktops through their Workspace One offering, security via Carbon Black and "edge" network acceleration via Velocloud and how they have helped companies as they massively scaled work from home, pop-up clinics and other "edge" usage.

He describes how they made virtual their global sales kick off meetings at a weekend's notice in response to travel restrictions due to the crisis. To my question about other acrobatics, he invokes Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom and the massive scaling they have accomplished. "I am learning speed from Eric, he is learning scale from me" starting around 17:15

Even more inspirational are Sanjay's thoughts about leadership starting around 26:30.

Overall, a very enjoyable, educational conversation.   

New Normal: Conversation with Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh of Salesforce

I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.

This time it is Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh, EVP, Industries at Salesforce.

I especially enjoyed this conversation because she brought out so many examples of response to the crisis across 6 major industry sectors she leads. Too many vendors are still trying to sell what was in their bag pre-crisis.

She talks about Salesforce support for emergency response at public health agencies in many of the "hotspots" for the virus.

She next describes their work with many US banks as they processed thousands of the emergency PPP loans to small businesses.

She also describes Work.com which is designed to help companies plan for safe re-opening of their work facilities as their communities gradually allow for that.

 

New Normal: What to expect from SAP and its partners

Tom Wailgum of ASUG interviewed me as part of the virtual edition of its Executive Exchange last week. It had originally been scheduled in Orlando as a companion to SAP's annual Sapphire event. SAP's event has been postponed till next month and ASUG turned its event virtual, and utilized the ON24 platform for the broadcast.

Tom and I covered wide ground about a post-COVID world in our 30 minute session including

• My recent Zoom interviews with a number of C level executives and VCs and what I have heard across industries/regions - acrobatics, views on return to work, overall recovery
• How customers will likely deal with SAP - cloud applications v on prem, vertical v horizontal functionality, expectations of more integration in the SAP portfolio,  re-shuffling spend, acceleration of digitization
• What customers can expect from SI partners - travel restrictions, more shared services, automation
• CIO performance during the crisis, likely new C- level health-centric exec, expansion of HR role with increased focus on health, work from home etc