In the 47th episode of the series we have Patricia Harris of Workday
Workday has coined a new category, Enterprise Management Cloud and is distancing itself from the ERP moniker. Makes a lot of sense to highlight their cloud and analytical strengths. Besides, the market started looking more during the crisis in 2020 for bite-sized applications, not intergalactic commitments. So, we have a fun few minutes on Magic Quadrants.
But most of the time is spent on her solution marketing focus and Workday's path as it paces toward a $10 billion revenue goal. We also discuss how her background at IHS Markit and their extensive research on various industries is going to help Workday's vertical moves. We spend some time about her time at Hitachi Vantara, how the world of IT infrastructure is changing and how to navigate the growing influence of hyperscalers.
In the 46th episode of the series we have Monty Hamilton of Rural Sourcing.
While the COVID-19 pandemic and related WFH protocols have turned many of us into recluses, the big realization is you can WFA - as in Anywhere. We have seen an significant acceleration in relocations - for tax, weather, safety, many other reasons. We had Mark Brooks who has been working and living for ages across the world - Shanghai, Bali, Malta, now Dubai. Next, we had Tammie Hilend, CIO at Maxar who discussed how she has done her demanding job on the road in her RV Then we had Raju Vegesna of Zoho Software talk about secondary and tertiary city locations in India, Japan, Netherlands, Mexico, the US
I had written about Rural Sourcing in my 2010 book, The New Polymath, and I periodically get an update from Monty. They keep growing in secondary US cities - he talks about his 7th and 8th locations, the "features list" they use to decide on locations, how his practice has evolved a lot more to cloud deployments, product engineering and analytics.
I have always loved his approach - go to where the talent is, don't force them to relocate, unless they want to. Of course, after last year, many of them do want to relocate.
In the 45th episode of the series, we have Pete Schlampp, EVP Product Development at Workday.
Last week, I had the chance to present to some Chief Data Officers. I made the point that 2020 was an inflection point for data and analytics. We saw countless new data streams - related to COVID-19 data, the new census, shortened sports seasons stats, polls from the turbulent US elections, countless supply chain disruptions and many more. We also saw a new generation of players that leverage enterprise data go public and otherwise gain prominence - Snowflake, Palantir and C3.ai among them.
Workday is better known for its transaction capabilities in finance, hcm and procurement but it has gradually become an analytics powerhouse with acquisitions like Adaptive, Platfora, Gridcraft and others. During the pandemic they launched several bite sized apps which leveraged their analytics which I profiled in the Analyst Cam including VIBE for diversity management and Vaccine Management.
As Aneel Bhusri, the Co-CEO recently said "the future is about data, insights and predictions"
So it was nice to spend time with Pete, who has been the key architect of Prism Analytics which is the cornerstone of many of the apps. We also discuss his expanded role which extends beyond analytics, his world view of "data-infused applications", machine learning and the role of Workday partners and their domain knowledge in the creation of many more bite-sized apps.
In the 44th episode of the series we have Webb Armentrout, Group VP, Global Partners at Workday.
Workday has historically done a better job managing its SI ecosystem than many other vendors including some I have written books about. They certify at the individual consultant level and require re-certifications with every new semi-annual release. They have also kept their partner count relatively small to allow for better collaboration and management at the firm level.
We discuss how the pandemic, related WFH and need for virtual implementations severely tested the SIs, and how they have collaborated with Workday, its customers and often with each other during the trying period. Emily McEvilly, Chief Customer Officer had given me a preview in our conversation in November. (Toward the end, Webb brings up meeting at Concourse B at Atlanta Hartsfield airport. We had spent a few minutes before the formal conversation discussing our respective admiration for Delta Airlines which is based there)
We also discuss the likely changes as Workday partners leverage its Extend development platform, as Workday evolves to more solution selling, more verticals and countries as it marches toward a major milestone of annual revenues of $10 billion. The addition of Chano Fernandez as Co-CEO, the promotion of Emily McEvilly and other executive moves reflect the increased scope Workday is taking on.
Clearly the ecosystem will need to step up, and I will keep pushing for more automation in their delivery but the Workday track record to date has been reassuring and bodes well for a smoother evolution.
In the 43th episode of the series we have Jujhar Singh, Executive Vice President & General Manager, Salesforce Industry Clouds.
Salesforce has had significant vertical momentum, especially in the last year. See my interview with Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh last May, my Analyst Cam posts from their Summit last June where they showcased 12 "industry cloud" tracks - Part 1, Part 2 , Part 3 and my October note about Salesforce's "acrobatics"
Jujhar Singh does an amazingly rapid-fire update across many of those industries in the video below.
Bob Evans of Cloud Wars recently placed Salesforce as # 1 in his listing of Industry Clouds. He used revenues, vision and other rating factors.
I was already convinced of Salesforce vertical momentum last year, and Jujhar reinforced it this week, so I agree with Bob for 3 additional reasons
Salesforce's industry functionality is in a multi-tenant cloud. Most of the other vendor industry functionality and customer bases are still largely on-prem or in private clouds and other single tenant settings
Salesforce functionality reflects a more modern state of industries. Most other vendor industry functionality was developed over a decade ago or even further back and has been updated only mildly - spray painted as I like to call it. Their industry apps looked dated before 2020. With the pandemic forcing so many changes (see the many episodes of industry specific interviews I did in this series last year) many of their industry offerings look outright ancient now.
Salesforce has leveraged vertical application partners on its platform better than the others (and frankly, I would like them to do even better with these focused partners) - with players like Veeva, nCino, Vlocity and many others
Jujhar invited my audience to this year's Industry Summit coming up in June. I would highly encourage it - you can register here
In the 42nd episode of the series we have Raju Vegesna of Zoho Software.
While the COVID-19 pandemic and related WFH protocols have turned many of us into recluses, the big realization is you can WFA - as in Anywhere. We have seen an significant acceleration in relocations - for tax, weather, safety, many other reasons. We had Mark Brooks who has been working and living for ages across the world - Shanghai, Bali, Malta, now Dubai. Next, we had Tammie Hilend, CIO at the space tech company, Maxar who discussed how she has done her demanding job on the road in her RV
Zoho has long had a very different approach to talent - they build it versus buying it from other companies or prestigious universities. They have long located themselves in secondary cities in Japan, Netherlands, Mexico, the US. The CEO, Sridhar Vembu has long had a passion for Rural Revival - see my interview with him last year after he relocated from Silicon Valley to rural India.
Raju describes their move from Pleasanton, CA to Austin, TX. Quality of life and cost of living for employees are far more important to him than universities and airports are to other companies. Now, with Austin attracting so many other companies, he describes how they are shifting focus to even smaller towns in Texas and even more so in India.
In keeping with the rural revival theme, even the Austin location has become more of an organic, employee-nurtured farm.
He compares this distributed talent model to the move we have seen in computing - from a centralized, mainframe to a network model.
It is a fascinating conversation. He readily admits they don't have all the answers or that it will work for others, but post-pandemic, if we all don't explore such models and changes in lifestyle shame on us.
Coding + Farming just may be a winning combination!
In the 41st episode of the series we have Tammie Hilend, CIO of Maxar Technologies
While the COVID-19 pandemic and related WFH protocols have turned many of us into recluses, the big realization is you can WFA - as in Anywhere. We have seen an significant acceleration in relocations - for tax, weather, safety, many other reasons. Couple of weeks ago, we had Mark Brooks who has been working and living for ages across the world - Shanghai, Bali, Malta, now Dubai.
This time is Tammie Hilend who has been working from her RV as she travels around the US. Her company, Maxar is in space technology. Her COO, Jeff Robertson had presented at the start of the pandemic last year about the complex protocols they had to consider during the lockdowns especially when it comes to some of their sensitive, classified work.
Tammie describes her personal experience managing her demanding job from the road. With Starlink and many of Maxar's telecom customers generating excitement about satellite internet, it is timely to hear about her bandwidth around the road. As she says, managing around extreme weather has been more of challenge.
She also describes how in her other role managing facilities they are reimagining their "future of work" including work locations and hybrid formats.
It is a fascinating conversation. Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. We can ALL be digital nomads.
In the 39th (today) and 40th (tomorrow) episode of the series we have Phil Wainewright of Diginomica and Jeff Kaplan of THINKstrategies, two of the pioneering influencers in the SaaS/cloud marketplace.
In part 1 below, we take a walk down memory lane on how the SaaS, cloud infrastructure and platform economies have evolved over the last 25 years.
In part 2 tomorrow we will talk about how business models are evolving, new entrants, and how servitization has become a significant trend in every industry vertical, not just in enterprise technology.
While the COVID-19 pandemic and related WFH protocols have turned many of us into recluses, the big realization is you can WFA - as in Anywhere. We have seen an significant acceleration in relocations - for tax, weather, safety, many other reasons.
Mark Brooks has been working and living for ages across the world - in Shanghai, Bali, Malta, now Dubai. He explains his checklist on how he decides on places to call office and home for his family. He also describes the creative way he does virtual schooling for his daughters with tutors from around the world.
He also spends some time on his specialty - advising dating sites and how technology keeps helping that sector continue to grow at a nice pace and how those technologies will affect the future of work for all of us
It is a fascinating conversation. And one for employers and politicians everywhere to factor. People do vote with their feet. And their choices keep expanding around the world
In the 36th (yesterday) and 37th (today) episode of the series we have Dr. Robin Gaster, President, Incumetrics Inc. and Visiting Scholar, George Washington University Institute of Public Policy. We discuss various aspects of Amazon's growing empire from his new book, Behemoth, Amazon Rising.
In part 2 below we talk more about Amazon and other automation trends which accelerated during the pandemic. Throughout both episodes, we cover Amazon's amazing growth and its impact on retail, book publishing, data centers, ecommerce and many other industry sectors. The discussion is part admiration especially from a consumer pov, part concern from a societal pov about Amazon's ruthless efficiency.
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