deal architect

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.

Analyst Cam: Salesforce Verticals – Manufacturing Cloud

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 Achyut Jajoo · SVP and GM, Manufacturing and Automotive presenting an update on their Manufacturing Cloud.

Unlike other industries Salesforce has presented in recent Analyst Cam episodes, the Manufacturing Cloud is not new. It was launched in 2020. Salesforce is focused on the customer facing side of manufacturing – what it calls “digitizing the front and middle office”, not operational functionality for the shop floor or product lab that many ERP vendors target.

Achyut identifies that for most manufacturing businesses, less than 10% of revenue is net-new business. Most of the business is in “run rate, long term customer agreements, or you're bidding on long term projects and programs”. Most companies were using Salesforce as a CRM for net new business. 90+%  of the business was being done in Excel spreadsheets or by tapping into the ERP or other sources where long-term customer agreements are recorded. 

Some of the use cases the Manufacturing Cloud focuses on  – modernizing commercial operations, simplifying partner engagement and transforming service experiences. That translates to focus on functionality identified below

Achyut also identifies 4 “sub-sectors” they are focused on: a) complex equipment manufacturers, b) production parts suppliers (like automotive suppliers) whose products are inputs for other manufactured products and equipment. c) chemical manufacturers. d) distribution-oriented manufacturers that distributing their products through a  channel ecosystem.

He presents on 2 customers – Swissbit (sensors and chips) and Tenneco (automotive components).

He also asked me to pass along that Salesforce is hosting a Manufacturing Summit on December 1 in Chicago. If you're interested in connecting with the team at the event, you can find the agenda and registration information here.

 

 

Burning Platform: The year in industry events and travel

In the 81st episode of Burning Platform, we host Jon Reed of Diginomica and Brian Sommer of Techventive to discuss the good and bad in industry events we experienced this year and on the state of business travel.

I carved the recording into two videos.

Part 1 covers the slides all three of us presented. Jon kicks it off at 0.59 “I felt before the pandemic events were largely what I would call legacy and not creative enough. And I felt the same as we went into virtual events that most of those events were really passive viewer experiences that really weren't very engaging and very good. Have however, seen a little bit of progress.” He provides a score card in his slides on how hybrid events have evolved.

Brian, starting at 12.00 is entertaining as he describes the trials and tribulations of post-COVID travel. He has several hilarious slides and also useful advice on what events should aim to deliver for customers, prospects and partners (and also how partners could be effectively using the events) – and yes, us analysts.

I start at 24.08. I had much less travel than either Jon or Brian last couple of years, But I made up with over 700 virtual conversations – about 200 for books by execs at IFS and SAP my team has contributed to and another 500 in various video episodes of Analyst Cam, Burning Platform and New Normal. I also describe the events I was at in-person and some of my travel experiences.

Part 2 is more of discussion between the 3 of us. We cover what we like and don’t like about keynotes and guest speakers, whether we prefer dedicated analyst summits or use conferences, need for expanding ecosystems and their presence at events, showcasing differentiation products and business models and lots of other areas event planners will find helpful

 

 

Analyst Cam: Blink – Empowering Frontline Workers

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 Sean Nolan, CEO of Blink, which offers mobile access for frontline workers in a variety of verticals – “nurses, refuge collectors, retail staff, hospitality staff, aged care workers, anyone who doesn't sit behind a desk all day, they probably don't have a workplace device, like a laptop or a phone given to them so probably has got personal devices. Most don't have a workplace email address or sort of digital identity necessarily.”

He provides a use case at the UK transit carrier, Stagecoach – where drivers use his app to access Trapeze rostering, GreenRoad telematics and Oracle HCM applications. The more useful the applications. the more engagement of the frontline workers and more chances they will adopt even more digital functionality

I know I am a broken record asking vendors to verticalize but it is heart breaking  to hear so many essential workers are in his words “to a large part digitally disconnected from the organization.” His goal is to fix that but giving them access to a variety of relevant applications like training, benefits and even accident and near miss reporting, which he says is one of the more attractive use cases for their software.

Listen to his pitch and applicability in the verticals they are targeting. Nicely done in under 20 minutes. He was introduced to me by Workday Ventures, one of their investors.

Analyst Cam: Papaya Global – workforces without boundaries

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 Eynat Guez, co-founder and CEO of Papaya Global. Papaya offers a global workforce management platform in 160+ countries. Her elevator pitch: “Global payroll technology was broken. So we fixed it.” I was introduced to her by Workday Ventures, one of her investors.

As you listen to her, it becomes clear that payroll processing across so many jurisdictions is hairy enough. Their efficiently handling payments to employees, to taxing authorities, benefit plans etc. with the fragmented global financial services landscape, one pay cycle after another, is even more valuable to clients.

Eynat covers the fragmented competitor landscape – payroll outsourcers, HCM software vendors, Employer of Record service providers and firms that provide 1099 type contractors. One of her big advantages is a highly streamlined onboarding process for clients.

They have 1,500 clients. 30% of which are F5000 companies. Customers let them handle their processing, or avail of a technology licensing model. Eynat says the latter is growing significantly in popularity.

She talks about one of her clients CyberArk with over 2.000 global employees. She describes how Papaya consolidated what was being done by multiple providers.

Very crisply done in under 25 minutes.

 

 

Burning Platform: The state of US Healthcare

In the 80th episode of Burning Platform, we host Dr. Geeta Nayyar (“Dr.G”), SVP and Chief Medical Officer at Salesforce

Jujhar Singh, EVP & GM, Salesforce Industries recently gave us an update on Salesforce’s health and life sciences cloud from their Dreamforce event.

With Dr. G,  the conversation is more about how to fix US healthcare – we spend a fifth of our GDP on that sector and our health outcomes don’t reflect that. She identifies a slew of areas she would prioritize for tackling

We talk about how most enterprises turned on a dime at the start of COVID and how McKinsey says if we can sustain that intensity, we may have the most innovative decade ever. And whether that is likely to happen in healthcare, given its ossified nature.

We talk about the promise and frustrations of electronic medical records. We discuss why public health performed inconsistently during the pandemic and how we can build public trust in those institutions

Healthcare is stubbornly regional, even country specific in medical practices, regulations, even payer/provider structures and how we can move to benchmark more across countries. We talk about a consumer-led movement transforming healthcare and a proactive focus on wellness versus the traditional focus on treating symptoms.

Dr. G covers an incredible amount of ground in around 20 minutes. Must see TV!

Burning Platform: The demise of the mainframe has been greatly exaggerated

In the 79th episode of Burning Platform, we host Hari Candadai, SVP of Service Innovation and Thought Leadership at Origina. They are a third-party software maintenance company focused exclusively on providing IBM Support. As he says “Over the last decade Origina has perfected the third-party software maintenance model for IBM Passport Advantage customers around MQ,  Cognos, DB2, Informix, FileNet and  other products down the list.”

We discuss why we have for decades discussed the death of the mainframe and how it continues to survive and thrive especially in airlines, banks and other high transaction volume environments. IBM continues to breathe life with the latest z Series architecture and is reporting numbers which are delighting Wall Street.

However, that is no reason to put up with the high cost and shrinking talent in that world. We cover why third-party maintenance is attractive around IBM products – the lack of skills at customers and even at IBM (and how Origina has built its talent pool), the high cost for relatively stable environments (and how Origina can shave half off), and the need for interoperability with all the systems that keep on mushrooming around the backbone applications on the mainframe.

He goes into plenty of detail and spends some time describing their long journey with the utility. Southern California Edison.

McKinsey recently wrote “For many companies—and many industries—the COVID-19 pandemic set off a period of head-spinning change. They realized they were capable of moving faster than they ever thought possible. They went digital in a matter of days, not years. They offered new services almost overnight.

If companies sustain this newfound speed and agility, it’s conceivable that more innovation will happen in the next ten years than in any previous decade in modern history.”

That innovation will need money and staffing commitments. Another reason to consider a firm like Origina. Nicely covered by Hari in about 20 minutes  

 

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.    

Gartner and Oracle: Why I am missing their major events this week

Analyst Cam: Salesforce Verticals – Automotive

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 Achyut Jajoo · SVP and GM, Manufacturing and Automotive presenting on their new Automotive Cloud.

The world of mobility – cars, trucks, bikes and so many other forms of transport - is going through massive changes. It is moving from a hardware, engineering focused past to a software defined future. The acronym CASE – for Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electrified – summarizes the changing industry with new business models including vehicle features on a subscription basis, direct to consumer channels and the growing need for first-party data, new service delivery mindsets, and transformed supply chains with software, sensor, satellite support and battery charging and many other ecosystems.

Achyut does a nice job covering these trends, the variety of new providers and experiences in the sector and the niches which Salesforce plans to focus on. More details in their announcement here.

Very nicely done in 25 minutes. I have invited him back to come present with a couple of customers as the launch continues.