deal architect

Analyst Cam: SAP Verticals – Public Sector

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 Ulrike Kleifeld, VP Strategy, Global Public Services and Chris Atkins, VP Global Digital Transformation at SAP.

Ulrike starts off with some of the challenges government bodies face in nearly every country. The COVID pandemic accelerated digitalization in every industry but also exposed how much the public sector lags. This was followed by the Ukraine war and other geopolitical crises. We have economic burdens from the pandemic, and the energy crisis has only added to that. Disruptions have been coming in waves and governments are struggling to adjust to that “new normal”

They also address the loss of trust in government. I ask if it is lack of trust in politicians v  government agencies. They say there is a view that government is not agile or farsighted. Ulrike says “on the one hand we want governments to be cautious and risk-averse with tax payer funds, but we also need to help them accelerate their execution capabilities.”

Chris walks through the functional scope of their solutions across the value chain from policy and planning to public finance to supporting programs and services – the citizen facing part. He shares several customer examples. About the State of Arkansas he describes the amazing outcomes the project delivered: “they were able to achieve a 95% reduction in accounting processes, from a time perspective, going from four weeks to one click for many of their processes, a 91% reduction in cost allocation process from six months to 10 days. And, yes, you heard this right, a 1,150% improvement in creating their budget reports, what used to take days now take them minutes. And for the first time ever, they were able to submit their federal quarterly reports on time.”

I like that he represented multiple countries and the “end to end value business model for how they deliver value to their citizens”

Talking of different countries, they all have their own demands around data sovereignty, security clearances etc. Ulrike mentions one “In the US, we have the NS2 cloud, which is on US soil run by US personnel in a special secured environment that is FedRAMP certified.”

They do a really nice job covering a lot of ground about this complex but vital sector in about 20 minutes. 

Burning Platform: A 360 degree perspective on the Truly Zoho event

Earlier in the week, Sandy Lo and Pooja Mittal of Zoho discussed the elaborate planning and intricate logistics of the week long Truly Zoho event in Chennai and Tenkasi in South India. 

In this, the 84th episode of Burning Platform, we host David Fauser, a Zoho customer at Cimco Refrigeration in Canada and Rebecca Wettemann, an analyst at Valoir. Both were part of the entire week and provide a very entertaining recap.

In a world which become virtual during COVID, we review the additional payback accrued from making the physical trip (over 15,000 miles round trip) and the investment in time. We discuss the huge investment Zoho makes in its people – schools, hospitals, cafeterias and whether that mindset can be adopted in the West. We discuss how other vendors will be benchmarked based on our visit – most Zoho customers have ERP and other applications from other vendors. The trip was made with the backdrop of a series of layoffs in Silicon Valley. It was striking to see the loyalty of Zoho employees and the wide berth their executives give their staff – each was extremely articulate and unfettered in every discussion.  

David and Rebecca came back with very different perspectives given their customer and analyst personas, but both are extremely positive about the week. Lots of entertaining anecdotes from from the trip. Well worth your spending about 25 minutes with them below.

Zoho raises the bar – even more - for analyst summits.

I have always been a fan of Analyst Summits – a focused gathering of analysts where a vendor can showcase a variety of product, customer, investor and other perspectives. SAP used to take Gartner analysts to HQ at Walldorf in the late 90s.  They have opened them up to a broader group of analysts and made them more regional.

If you have read my Deal Architect blog over the last 20 years, you have heard how Workday pioneered the concept for the cloud world in 2010 and has continued to vary the format every year. Plex added customer plant and innovation lab visits around their summits. Others have combined them with Customer Advisory meetings. Zoho hosted us at a ranch in Austin last year.

The creativity of such sessions differentiates the messaging of such vendors from those of vendors who continue to invite analysts to their user conferences. Easier for them, to not customize the content but a bit unfair to their customers for analysts to steal executive access during such events.

Zoho is about to raise the bar for summits even more. They have invited a few analysts to Chennai, India.  It’s not just the distance people have traveled. In conversations with Sandy Lo, who runs Analyst Relations, the event logistics have taken extraordinary efforts to put together. Not that her previous events have been plain vanilla.

The content also promises to be very different, as Vijay Sundaram, Chief Strategy Officer provides in a sneak preview

“While you're here, you will meet employees and leaders, see our campuses in Chennai and Tenkasi, and engage with various Zoho entities—our product teams, Zoho Schools of Learning, our medical staff, maybe our organic vegetable store, and some of our in-house architects, artists, and musicians. With so much to see and digest in India in just one week, you may find yourself asking: "What does farming or medicine or architecture or rural renewal have anything to do with running a tech company?"

We are about to find out in the next few days. One angle we are sure to hear about – again from Vijay

“Big Tech is quick to rake in profits when the times are good, and quicker to lay people off when they are not. Nothing about this playbook seems sustainable or regenerative. The heart of the issue is many of these companies are too big to feel, and they've directly or indirectly lowered opportunities for their core constituent—their customers. We've seen the erosion of customer choice, customer privacy, customer flexibility, and many others.

Something is radically off.”

I have been sharing sneak previews of the unique traits of Zoho for over a decade now. Here are a few:

A scientific and spiritual conversation with the CEO, Sridhar Venbu

Zoho One  - a unique enterprise suite

Zoho’s focus on emerging global markets

Zoho’s design creativity

Sure I will have plenty more to share after this week. 

Analyst Cam: SAP – Think global, act local

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 Eva Zauke  Executive Vice President, Global Head of Enterprise Adoption at SAP and discusses the massive localization effort as the vendor has 585 local versions (including support for payroll processing in 104 countries) as it supports 200+ million users at 440k customers worldwide.

The pace of legislation their software has to help their customers stay in compliance with keeps growing with COVID, and now sustainability regulations around a growing number of plastic taxes and ESG reporting. In 2022, these were 1300 legal changes across the countries. And this is a growth of 10% year over year.


click on the image to enlarge

 She also says governments are becoming more “creative” and digitalizing compliance a lot more. They are also adjusting to business model changes as companies move to more subscription billings. As governments turn over in most democracies, they invariably bring new legislation and override previous legislation. In turn, customers are constantly evaluating new locations as they try to avoid high-inflation, supply chain bottlenecks and high-tax regimes and jurisdictions with what they consider onerous requirements. So beyond compliance, there is also a planning angle for the CFO. She covers a handful of real world customer scenarios.

She ends with a reminder that SAP was born global 50 years ago. In fact, I have heard, Hasso Plattner, one of the co-founders talk about their work with one of their first customers, ICI, the global chemical company. This video takes you down that memory lane.

Very nicely done in about 25 minutes.

The underappreciated telecom sector

I have had several reasons recently to think about the state of our connectivity.  In the last month, my wife, my daughter and son have been on separate trips to three continents. They have kept connected, informed and entertained at a fraction of what I used to pay on international trips just a few years ago. In the last couple of years, I have interviewed nearly 750 executives across 50 countries for books and video episodes via Zoom and Teams. Pre-COVID, I would have hopped on planes to get this level of executive access. On a recent weekend, I watched my alma mater, TCU play on a Saturday evening in Austin, TX.  I got up early the next morning to watch the Cricket World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, then a couple of hours later watched my NFL football team, the Bucs play the Seahawks in Munich, Germany.

It’s incredible how today’s telecoms and media companies have shrunk the world and democratized access to billions. As Hemingway famously said “it was gradually, then suddenly”. The industry has been turbocharged in the last few years.

Can you imagine if we got some similar payback and productivity from airlines or public utilities or healthcare?  Yet, telcos do not get much customer love. They don’t rate very high in terms of brand reputation or customer satisfaction.

It was nice to hear David Fan, GM of the Salesforce Communications Cloud present on the dynamic industry in the Analyst Cam series here. Even more, I was pleased to see this short report (just 3 chapters) that David sponsored titled "Trends in the Communications Industry". It is the result of  a survey of 500 industry experts and 6,000 consumers of wireless, cable and B2B telco services from around the globe.

The survey highlighted several trends and I have excerpted some key ones, many of which telcos need to monitor

The sector has become hypercompetitive, beyond just price

The survey reports

“When asked about what might make them consider switching internet service providers, respondents cite price and speed at the top. Unsurprisingly, with hybrid work models growing in popularity, reliability is also a big factor. In fact, more than 1 in 10 consumers say they'd consider changing internet providers for either better reliability (13%) or improved customer service (12%).”

and

“Fifty percent of wireless customers and 47% of cable customers believe they get the best service when they threaten to switch to a different provider. This indicates that more work needs to be done at addressing customer satisfaction throughout the lifecycle — not just when people threaten to leave.”

Hybrid customer experiences are still not optimized

“35% of those surveyed say they prefer to do business online and in stores. This means that optimization of physical experiences cannot be ignored. Customers want the best of both worlds. Providers need to plan for, and support, the joining of online and offline experiences. The ability to move from one channel to another is a key customer success factor.”

Customer satisfaction is driven by a handful of outcomes

While these expectations keep evolving, what keeps customers happy are actually pretty tactical. Here are some of their expectations of their cable providers.

Consumers are willing to pay more for wireless 5G, but have a fuzzy knowledge of what it does for them

The survey reports “only 44% of respondents were “very familiar” or “extremely familiar” with 5G technology. However, 67% of respondents said they would be willing to pay more for 5G.

5G could dramatically broaden telco ecosystems

Percentage of providers who think 5G would attract more partnerships and bundling options in the following areas

Developers could expand ecosystems even further

The report says

“Now that networks are being modernized and made accessible via APIs, the challenge becomes attracting developers who know how to build and connect applications with devices. Hyperscalers (companies, like AWS or Google Cloud, with the ability to scale computing resources on demand) have dedicated developer communities that could be great assets to traditional providers.”

B2B customers want collaborative and more digital experience

The survey showed

“B2B users report experiencing frustration when trying to manage accounts online (39%), make large purchases (36%), and request changes in service (36%). B2B users also reported frustration when using assisted digital services (31%) and self-service (34%) tools. Also concerning is that only half (53%) of procurement employees said they felt comfortable managing their enterprise accounts online without sales agent assistance.”

The report has plenty more interesting nuggets. Check it out and my Analyst Cam episode with David. It is a critical sector which is delivering very high value to us consumers and workers. Let’s engage more proactively with the sector while continuing to demand more from it.

Burning Platform: The enterprise suite does not always win - Zoho One is a standout

In the 78th episode of Burning Platform, we host Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist at Zoho, a repeat guest in this series

Zoho One – also branded as “the Operating System for Business” - is a suite of 50 and growing applications across sales, marketing, finance, hr, legal, collaboration and other functional areas – see the full list here (btw it does not list the 50+ mobile apps which are also included)

We discuss a major milestone in the evolution of Zoho One – its fifth anniversary.

In those 5 years, it has been adopted by over 50.000 customers. Notably, it has also penetrated markets like UAE, Nigeria, Kenya, Mexico and others that few enterprise vendors ever cover.

The glib statement in the enterprise applications market is “the suite always wins”. Yes, it is compelling to have an integrated solution with a common UX, single version of truth across the enterprise. The reality is first-gen ERP, CRM and other suites were inconsistent in their functionality by module, often cobbled together via acquisitions, attracted lots of Sis who were comfortable in HQ functions but not in operational areas the suite promised to cover, resulted in massive overruns. My view is that experience has made enterprise buyers much more cautious and back to buying at a much more modular level. With that backdrop, Zoho One has done very well.

Raju discusses many things Zoho has done right – “a dollar a day” pricing; organic, self-discovery of applications so users expand their use of the suite at their own pace, rather than being oversold what ends up becoming shelfware; and a focus on customers without much of a legacy application portfolio to migrate.

He also discusses what’s next in the evolution of this success story.

Crisply (and modestly) done in 16 minutes.    

The next energy transition

Mankind has been through multiple energy transitions. Our ancestors burned wood, used peat bog and other biofuels. The Romans were particularly ingenious at using water and wind power. Coal fueled the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s. The 1900s belonged to oil and gas especially as humans became much more mobile.

We are in the midst of another major energy transition as we all move to low-carbon futures. To me, the exciting thing is we will likely end up with a cocktail of energy sources – wind, solar, tidal, gas, nuclear fusion, upgraded biofuels, hydroelectric and geothermal combined with storage in the form of hydrogen fuel cells and electric batteries. And I could make that list much longer.

We should be celebrating this coming abundance. Instead, we are vilifying one source or another, using FUD to try and accelerate the transition to our favorite flavor. My projection - there will likely never be a single solution. Different countries will take their own paths. Just look at how they have been evolving in the last few decades, each with their own version of energy independence

• Germany deserves a lot of credit for maturing modern versions of wind and solar (wind mills and photovoltaic cells have been around far longer). And yet the majority of its energy still has come from its coal and from Russian gas. Going forward it will continue with its wind/solar but diversify with LNG logistics and a hydrogen future.
• The US image is dirty – yet between 1990 and 2020 its greenhouse gases stayed steady, even as its GDP went up 5X. The largest single contributor was that many of its utilities switched from coal to much cleaner gas. And that gas had its own remarkable story thanks to entrepreneurs like George Mitchell who contributed to the US version of energy independence
• France gets 2/3rd of its electricity from nuclear power. While much of the world conjures up images of Chernobyl and other disasters, the French reacted to the OPEC oil crisis in the 1970s with the brutally realistic assessment of “No oil, no gas, no coal, no choice” and embraced nuclear and continues with it.
• Norway has the highest per capita adoption of electric vehicles in the world. And these EVs are the “greenest” in the world. Over 90% of its electricity comes from hydroelectric sources. It is a country blessed with plenty of deep valleys and rivers. It is doubly blessed with plenty of North Sea oil and gas which it mostly exports – valued at over half of all of its exports.
• Iceland, Kenya and the Philippines (among others) get much of their energy from geothermal. Factoid – after solar, geothermal is the second most abundant source of energy available to humans.

Update - someone asked me what about the BRICS countries and others like Indonesia and in Africa. They have been trying out their own version of energy independence. Brazil pioneered ethanol from its cane decades ago. China has invested heavily in modern hydroelectric. Their challenge is they are still too heavily dependent on fossil fuels, particularly coal. They will have to innovate their own path to low carbon. They cannot pretend the rest of the world will make up for them. Their emissions more than offset the improvements we are seeing in some of the countries named above.

I have personally been dismayed by the demonizing of the oil and gas sector. In fairness, the industry has done a poor job marketing its contribution to our lives. Did you know over 6,000 items we use every day from lip balm to carpeting get their start in crude oil?

I worked in the oil patch in the 80s in Texas, Saudi, Holland, Bahrain among other places. It is an incredibly complex and brave industry. I say brave because they work in some of the most forsaken, hostile, risky places on earth. And have mind-bogglingly complex protocols for safety on rigs, tankers, refineries etc.

But importantly here’s why we will continue to need that sector to combat climate change. They have some of the only companies in the world that can run multi-billion $ projects, plan 20 years out, have tons of chemists, physicists, quantum computing wizards etc.

I have talked to some oil execs recently and it’s impressive what they are thinking about carbon capture/storage, LNG logistics, green hydrogen, geothermal etc. Low carbon is a definite focus.

The Ukraine crisis has reminded us once again of the essential need for energy independence. It is AND, not OR as we worry about emissions. Vice versa, for the BRICS and many other economies it cannot just be a focus on independence, it has to balance their massive emissions.

Go back to what I said earlier. In no previous transition has mankind had so many choices in energy sources. It’s a reason to celebrate, not bicker. That should be the best middle finger we can show Putin.

More Health innovation

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Digital Twin of the Human Body

AI and new drug innovation

Biophilic design for hospitals

The future of mRNA

Non-sleep deep rest

Analyst Cam: Empower – Digitizing the journey from linear to circular econo

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 Wilhelm Myrer, Founder and CEO of Empower.eco, an Oslo, Norway based startup. Empower is the last in the Sustainability cohort 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 ).

The US EPA defines a circular economy as one which “reduces material use, redesigns materials to be less resource intensive, and recaptures “waste” as a resource to manufacture new materials and products.”

In many ways, Norway, and Scandinavia broadly, epitomize the growing focus on the circular economy. Norway has an incredibly effective plastic exchange system - 97% of all plastic bottles are recycled, while most countries around the world barely get to 10%. Norwegian company, Tomra, has since inception in 1972, become an icon for the circular economy with its reverse vending machines which collect bottles and cans from consumers. Mark Brewer of IFS had described them here https://bit.ly/2KvjkXg

Wilhelm describes the basic principle which works for Tomra and Norway – reward consumers for each bottle returned with cash or credits and businesses with tax and other incentives. Enpower is helping companies digitize the flow from consumer through the recycling ecosystem using blockchain technology, providing detailed traceability, accountability, metrics and "product passports" along the way. The traceability is showing up in interesting ways to delight customers - he tells the example of how seats from a soccer stadium in Spain are being recycled and the end products will allow consumers to proudly brag about that origin.

While the major focus is on plastics, the concept can be applied to paper, glass, metals and so many other materials. 

Very inspirational conversation below.

Analyst Cam: Algramo – Redefining CPG plastic packaging

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series. https://bit.ly/34eWDMD

This time it is Carlos Oliveira, CTO of Algramo, which is helping CPG companies rethink packaging and refilling of cleaning, personal care, pet food and other products which are today mostly sold in plastic containers. Based in Santiago, Chile, Algramo translates to “by the gram”.

Algramo’s delivery mechanism is a vending machine dispenser where consumers refill in their reusable smart containers. Carlos says these containers can last up to 250 uses. RFID IDs in the containers and mobile apps help track consumption, container life and reuse patterns and also have a gamification angle. Carlos goes into some of the dispensing and sanitation technology.

The value propositions - Retailers save on shelf space. Producers like Unilever, Nestle, Colgate and Clorox are some of their customers who ship in bulk and save on packaging. Consumers pay for bite-size purchases at their point of need e,g, detergents are sold in public laundromats.  The world benefits from reduced plastic pollution. Carlos presents on data on their plastic, water and C02 savings

Carlos gave me a personal invite to go test his dispensers in Chile! But closer to many of us they are at the following locations if you want to support this creative contribution to sustainable world.

San Francisco

• Target, 115 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

NYC

• 259 Malcolm X Blvd, Brooklyn, NY 11233
• 141 Flushing Ave Building 77, Brooklyn, NY 11205
• 115 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94103, United States
• Brooklyn Navy Yard (Building 77) - 141 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn NY 11205
• Essex Market - 88 Essex St, New York, NY 10002

London

• Lidl, Stalling's Ln, Kingswinford DY6 7BG

They are also represented in Indonesia and soon will have presence in Mexico. Carlos explains how they decide on global expansion.

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 ). Algramo was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year.