As we have moved to virtual vendor briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission from vendors), as part of my Analyst Cam series.
Mike Ettling, CEO and Dmitri Krakovsky, Chief Product Officer of Unit4 joined me for a corporate and product briefing.
Mike spends time on the recent announcement that they have received a majority investment from TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm and about the exit of the previous majority investor, Advent International. He discusses what TA liked in the services verticals they are focused on to value them in excess of $2 billion
Last May, I had interviewed Mike about leadership during a crisis. I asked him to provide an update and starting around 10.45 he invokes the Zulu philosophical concept of Ubuntu which roughly translates to 'I am because of who you are'. That has guided him through life and especially in the crisis that started last year. Later in the conversation, in keeping with the recent spat between two much larger competitors , I asked both of them if they wanted to take shots at any competitors. I joked they were 'boring" but I like their high road - "we focus on customers, not competitors"
Dmitri provided an update on the ERPx release. In October, he had presented (starting around 28.00 here) about the rollout. They are on schedule with 15 early adopter customers across industries and geographies he describes. Dmitri also addresses my point that the hyperscalers have gained momentum not just at the infrastructure layer, but also at the platform layer. How does an application vendor like Unit4 navigate this major shift in the industry?
We cover lots of other ground during the session. Dmitri will be back to present more details in a session later this week.
