deal architect

Analyst Cam: Limeade – all about employee well-being

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission) as part of my Analyst Cam series.

This time it is Dr. Patti Fletcher, CMO and Larry Colagiovanni, Chief Product and Technology officer at Bellevue, WA based Limeade.

There is a lot of talk about “employee experience”. Of course, everyone wants happy, productive employees but a better UX in a transactional system may make them a bit more productive, but by itself does not contribute much to employee happiness.  

Employers face a daunting set of challenges – coping with the “mass resignation” trend, employee burnout, trying to get the right mix of work-from-home and in physical office. They are responding with a variety of perks – Google offers employees free electric scooters to get them back to the office, many offer mental health aids in addition to many traditional benefits. Limeade helps employees navigate this menu of myriad benefits. Just as important via its "immersion" in ERP systems, employees have a personal reason to interact more often with the system.   

As Limeade founder and CEO, Henry Albrecht commented in Forbes “Why can’t there be a great company that does for human well-being what Intuit software does for financial health, aligning what's good for people and what's good for business toward a common mission?”

Patti and Larry go through how Limeade aims to deliver both – what's good for people and what's good for business

Analyst Cam: IFS Industry Solutions

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission) as part of my Analyst Cam series.

This time it is Antony Bourne, Senior Vice President of Industries at IFS. He presents an overview on 5 sectors they particularly focus on

• Aerospace and Defense
• Utilities, Energy, Telecom
• Construction and Engineering
• Manufacturing
• Services

While many other vendors can claim to be focused on these industries, IFS usually has a nuanced perspective. Services for many vendors means call centers or PSA – Professional Services Automation and project time and expense billing. The IFS perspective is much wider to include field services, digital twins and remote assistance to those technicians and to support outcome-based business models. Their aerospace customer base covers OEMs, operators, MRO vendors, national defense agencies – again a much wider definition.

Antony also talks about several strategic trends across these industries including:

• Servitization – where industrial companies are getting more revenues from post-sales services, adopting subscription and other business models and organizationally blending product and service organizations. (I had previously hosted Marne Martin and Mark Brewer of IFS on two episodes of Burning Platform on the topic here)
• Resurgence of Capex – as he points out 70% of industrial assets are over 25 years old so there is a growing focus on capex spend and harnessing the mountains of data that modern assets with sensors and software are generating
• Smarter Construction – Pre-fab concepts are allowing manufacturing concepts to be applied to that sector

I have invited his group to do a drill down across a few of their verticals. Antony whets our appetite in a 25-minute presentation – actually more of a back and forth. He did not need any slides. Nicely done.

Analyst Cam: Specright – making standards and specifications sexy

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.

This time it is Matthew Wright, Founder and CEO of Specright which provides specification data management to Fortune 1000 companies with complex needs.

They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ).

Specright was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year but as you will hear precision in specifications can have an impact in every  process which touches raw materials, ingredients, formulas, packaging and finished goods.

Matthew’s passion comes from a couple of decades in the packaging industry. As he describes in his book The Evolution of Products and Packaging, we have seen an explosion in SKUs and complexity in supply chains. As he says, existing ERP, PLM and other software were designed before complexity grew exponentially, and the lack of focus on specifications is the root cause of many supply chain issues we are seeing. BTW, Gartner identified them as a Cool Vendor in their Supply Chain category in 2020.

He presents on three customers and how they have benefited from better specs – one reduced scrap production, the second reduced spend on corrugate packaging and the third in sourcing a critical ingredient across multiple product SKUs. He also describes how they have helped industries set standards and work with other bodies which are tasked with defining them.

Very nicely done, and I am looking forward to reading his book.

Unit4 pioneers the “hybrid analyst summit”

Since Workday held its first Analyst Summit in 2010 - I had called their effort exhilarating - I have encouraged vendors to adopt a similar format. User Conferences are more for customers - I find analysts intrude on their time when we are invited to those events.

Since then, vendors have become increasingly creative in their summit formats. Plex used to combine them with customer plant visits. Workfront co-mingled one with a customer advisory board meeting. Others have used them to also showcase their new real estate - Infor and SAP in New York, Zoho in Austin.

During the lockdowns of the last 18 months, vendors moved the summits to virtual format. Recognizing every one’s digital fatigue, most vendors kept them short and spread them out. But as Jon Reed of Diginomica and I discussed - see starting at 26.15  here - the virtual format has been somewhat flat. I have compensated with lots of 1:1 conversations and shared over 300 of them in my Analyst Cam, Burning Platform and other video episodes. 

So it was good to spent time with Unit4 executives last week, first virtually, then in person in Boston. The virtual part was broadcast from their X4U user conference. The in-person portions were a dinner, followed by a 6 hour event at the very pleasant Intercontinental which harkens memories of the Tea Party in 1773. The access to Unit4 executives in all 3 segments was impressive and they had safety protocols in place with certification requirements, masks etc. Not overbearing, just prudent.

The content in the in-person day was particularly striking. CEO Mike Ettling described how he had focused Unit4 in his 3 year tenure- as he described it they had accumulated a variety of "hot dog stands" he had cleaned out. He presented on how they adapted to the pandemic. He discussed the ‘dikes’ they raised - operating principles to keep them protected. He had described some in this episode. 

He also discussed the move from Advent to TA Associates as their lead private equity investor earlier this year. In the middle of the pandemic, they had face to face meetings and due diligence with 15 PE firms before settling with TA. Off the record, he had described to me more of the intense 4 month process. PE firms are a mystery to most of us - this would make for a dramatic book. I hope someday he writes it. Or let’s me narrate it for him.

He then invited Morgan Seigler, a Managing Director of TA and co-head of TA's Europe Technology Group to present their perspective and expectations. As he told us, they see ‘riches in niches’ and are investing in a variety of vertical enterprise software vendors.

That was a good segue for later sessions which featured the product - an update on the ERPx rollout and the Industry Mesh they announced - see image below, with plans to verticalize for Unit4's target industries. It also included a customer section which profiled Buro Happold – a global firm with 1,700 staff who consult with architects and engineers - in line with Unit4’s vertical focus on service- and project-focused businesses. 

The variety in the sessions and the generosity in executive access truly stood out. Brad Everett and Antonella Crimi who head their corporate marketing and AR efforts did a really nice job coordinating the complex logistics of the hybrid agenda. Either in virtual or in person mode, I think they managed to engage over 50 analysts. 

I think every vendor can learn from the Unit4 event, but I should point out not every vendor had bought into the in-person summit format even prior to the pandemic. In fact, I got feedback from one they were offended that I had recommended they adopt the format. This vendor also turned down my offer to profile some of their execs in my video series in the last year. They appear comfortable with having analysts wander the halls of their user events. Travel should be a lot easier next year, but I do hope the hybrid format takes off and vendors get even more creative.  

 

Analyst Cam: Unit4 ERPx Briefing Part 2

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. 

Below is Part 2 of the presentation, Dmitri Krakovsky, Chief Product Officer of Unit4 made about the rollout of the ERPx version announced last October. Part 1 ran yesterday here. 

Analyst Cam: Unit4 ERPx Briefing

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. 

Dmitri Krakovsky, Chief Product Officer of Unit4 spent a generous hour briefing me about the rollout of the ERPx version announced last October. I am running Part 1 today and Part 2 tomorrow.

Dmitri starts with an update on the TA Associates investment in Unit4 with a valuation in excess of $ 2 billion.

Several things I liked in the presentation

• The new architecture reflects the seismic changes in the industry since Unit4 launched its first gen cloud in 2017 - lot more focus on microservices, ML etc. From a user point pov, there are digital assistants, smart automation, instant mini apps and a lot more mobility. You can see a lot of his influence from recent time at Google.

• There is a lot more thought on migrations and upgrades. His Intuit background shows up in a lot more user controlled destiny versus dependence on IT or SIs.

• I like that the first 15 early adopters are a microcosm of Unit4's global differentiation and focus on services verticals like nonprofits, higher education etc. I particularly liked the portion around industry specific "mesh" architecture.

Next up - hope to interview some of the early adopter customers.  Well, Part 2 before that, tomorrow.  

 

The Analyst Cam: Suplari briefing

As we have moved to virtual vendor briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short segments (with permission from vendors), as part of my Analyst Cam series. 

During the pandemic, a lot of attention has gone to the CHRO and the CIO as companies moved to WFH, as they plan on safely opening physical sites and as companies accelerate digital transformations. The Chief Procurement Officer, in some ways, has had to perform even more spectacular cartwheels. Most have helped to conserve cash and minimize supplier risk. Many are being asked to help find suppliers in new global locations and those for diversity and sustainability initiatives.  

With that background, I had a chance to catch up with Nikesh Parekh, co-founder and CEO of Suplari. I first met him two years ago when the company had just started. He walked me through a 20 minute presentation and demo below on what is branded as the Spend Intelligence Cloud.

Their service allows for aggregating supplier data to allow you to see spend across subsidiaries/locations/other tags. It aggregates spend from different sources - via PO and AP data from various ERP systems, via services like Ariba and Coupa, via procurement card etc.

I really like their library of 175 machine-driven insights. Some insights are tactical - for t&e compliance or potential fraud alerts. Other insights are more strategic - for supplier base consolidation, as an example. Nikesh mentions a relationship with consulting firms like Kearney for more of the strategic sourcing projects. New insights are being developed with a supplier diversity pov and for budgeting and forecasting processes.

At the start of the pandemic, specific insights identified opportunities to conserve cash, prevent non-essential spend, predict and forecast large cash payments, extend payment terms and enforce new policies. The service also allows for easy "case" set up and assignment to specific individuals and teams. That brings collaboration and project management to the sourcing/procurement function.  

I had expected they would mostly be focused on indirect spend. I was pleased to hear him say customers are starting to use services like his for their more complex, and clearly more strategic, direct spend with their Tier 1 and 2 suppliers.

Nice, crisp presentation

The Analyst Cam: TealBook briefing

As we have moved to virtual vendor briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short segments (with permission from vendors), as part of my Analyst Cam series. 

During the pandemic, a lot of attention has gone to the CHRO and the CIO as companies moved to WFH, as they plan on safely opening physical sites and as companies accelerate digital transformations. The Chief Procurement Officer, in some ways, has had to perform even more spectacular cartwheels. Think of how many supply chains have broken down (think PPE, toilet paper, meatpacking plants, anything sourced from China etc). Or how many customers have entered new markets to survive or thrive during the pandemic and how many new suppliers they have had to explore. Think also about new demands as companies accelerate diversity and sustainability initiatives.

I had a chance to catch up with Stephany Lapierre, Founder and CEO and with Matt Palackdharry, VP of Strategy at TealBook. The Toronto based company is helping companies develop what they call "Universal Supplier Profiles". Traditionally procurement has mostly relied on portals to collect information directly from suppliers and that gets stale quickly. With TealBook, the data layer is constantly maintained through AI and machine learning (harvesting data from over 400 million websites), so customers don't have to spend so much time maintaining their data, rely mostly on supplier-provided data or search for new vendors via their own web searches. The supplier job is also easier as they can build on what TealBook has already harvested.

I especially like that their focus is not just on indirect spend. With so many companies re-shoring or entering new markets, there is growing interest in new Tier 1 and 2 suppliers.

In the presentation/demo below Matt provides a product perspective (especially what he calls Autonomous Data Foundation in their stack)  with a number of very nice vertical (particularly biopharma) and global examples. Lots of discovery, diversity, sustainability support. As he says just about every Fortune 100 company is now a customer.

Later in the week, I will run an interview with Stephany about megatrends and heroics in the procurement function.

Burning Platform: Wall Street and Enterprise Software

Brian Sommer and I have recorded 12 episodes in this series - see index here.  For the next few episodes, I will be joined by guest analysts and industry observers.

Rob Kugel, SVP & Research Director of Office of Finance and Business Research at Ventana Research is the first guest and he talks to me about the wild ride on Wall Street during the pandemic. Nice to get his perspective which reflects his earlier career at Morgan Stanley and other Wall Street firms and his CFA certification.

We talk about whether the market is in synch with the state of the economy and how much attention enterprise buyers should be paying to Wall Street impressions of vendors in their tech spend analysis. We discuss how Wall Street innovations like SPACs and the increasing level of M&A activity will influence the tech economy and why Wall Street has been tough recently on certain vendors. We also talk about the pandemic's effect on financial and planning software he now tracks

Look forward to more guests who will similarly bring nuanced perspectives on enterprise tech.

Multi-generational HCM

Dan Patrick, the sports talk host; Home Depot and the recently announced union between Kronos and Ultimate Software inspire this post.

I have heard Dan tell the world his Sleep Number bed setting. I have heard people share their What Three Words as their address. Think of how many more health metrics we routinely track compared to the height, weight, blood pressure our parents did. Think of how many channels people can reach us via social media, email, mobile apps etc. Think of how many countries each of us has traveled to, the languages we speak,  and the wide range of skills, hobbies and interests we have. Now ponder this - how little of this makes it to the employee master in the "book of record" at our employers.

A decade ago I sent Dave Duffield, who has started several HCM companies over time, an email asking if he had an image of the employee master record at his first HCM company. I don't think his archives went back that far but I am willing to bet it was mostly name, date of birth, social security number, title, some vital statistics, organizational entity type fields. In today's instrumented world, the employee master could easily have 100X the number of fields. That's if we had no privacy restrictions and were willing to share all that with our employers. It would not be a stretch to say Facebook and FitBit know a lot more about employees than do our HCM systems.

I could have sent a similar email to Aron Ain and the Scherr Brothers. They are also veterans in our industry - Kronos is over 40 years old, Ultimate, 30 years. They have survived and thrived. And done it over and over.

When you talk about companies like Kronos, you invariably hear "yes, but they are legacy vendors". Tell that to more than 40 million people in over 100 countries who use Kronos products almost on a daily basis. (Ultimate, by the way, has over 50 million people records.)

Which brings me to Home Depot. As spring arrives, it is starting to ramp up hiring of 80,000 seasonal workers. That's not a typo. Lowes is not far behind. During the holidays, Amazon, UPS, USPS hire similar huge numbers. In the summer, camps do; in the winter, ski resorts do similar. Smart companies are learning to keep track of these seasonal workers - they actually are a nice source for more permanent employment. They are also learning to retain employees longer. I have called it the new Gen Y - as in Yold, the "young old" who are retiring late, or coming back into the workforce after retiring. Never before have we have had so many generations of workers walking our halls.

And that's just one dimension. I have written about the "clover-leaf" talent economy - in many companies, there is more talent in their suppliers, their franchisees, and their platforms than on their books.

Then there are growing number of machines in the workforce. In Silicon Collar I wrote about how automation - robotics, drones, wearables, bots are increasingly working side by side with humans, making them wildly more productive. When I wrote that book 5 years ago, I was disappointed to find few HCM execs to interview. In most of my case studies, plant managers and operational executives described their automation initiatives. That is evolving - more HCM execs and systems are becoming savvy about how automation aligns with their workers. They are factoring them as they evolve their budgets and their learning management systems. That's leading to more complexity and even more multi-generational workforces. And for HCM to manage them.  

People ask me if the new combined Kronos/Ultimate company to be called People Inspired is worth $ 22 billion. Honestly, I am not a banker and don't speculate much about valuations. What I do know is "legacy" is turning out to be far stickier than we would have imagined a decade ago. It is just too darned expensive to migrate away from them without new functionality which can retire extensions and add-on applications companies have bought or built around them. I also know legacy vendors have as much opportunity as newer ones to deliver functionality for the clover-leaf and man-machine world we have moved into. They typically also have bigger R&D budgets. And if they don't deliver, we will continue to "ring fence them" and "API" new functionality around them. Like our workforces, our HCM is destined to be multi-generational.

Brian Sommer and I are keynoting at the Select HR Tech show this June. We are presenting on the theme of  "Don’t Let the Past Dictate Your HR Tech Future". The event site describes us as the "“Penn and Teller” of HR software" - it's in Vegas, after all - "they’ve been tricking and gaming each other for three decades. You’ll be entertained and educated."

Three decades - yes, the two of us have seen a few generations of HCM in our time. We will share our thoughts on multi-generational HCM to go with our multi-generational workforces.