GET TO KNOW
me to focus as a CSO on proactively
managing CEO and board interactions
and expectations to ensure we’re moving
forward with ideas and actions that will
result in financial and operational success.
What do you think is the current hot
technology talking point?
The consumerization of enterprise
software. The essence of consumerization
is that individuals are gaining digital skills
while at the same time organizations are
increasing digital trust in technology and
software companies are delivering easierto-use
software. Triangulating on these
inputs results in the macro trend around
the consumerization of technology. Think
Dropbox, Slack and recently Zoom.
These products are architected as
enterprise-grade, yet they’re being
scaled by line-of-business citizen
developers. Companies that are going to
be successful moving forward will need
to put the customer experience at the
center of everything they do to ensure the
professional and citizen developer, as well
as the end-user experience, is delightful and
supports rapid time-to-value.
How do you deal with stress and
unwind outside the office?
Our family is very active, so we do a lot of
road trips that involve hiking, mountain
climbing and adventure-seeking in general.
We recently hiked the Grand Tetons in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming and found it
amazingly refreshing. With clean air,
beautiful scenery and great company any
office worries tend to melt away.
If you could go back and change one
career decision what would it be?
When I founded my B2C e-commerce
company in 2005, I failed to appreciate the
gravity and swiftness of the macro trend
in the shift from physical to digital. As an
example, our customer acquisition costs
favored targeted print and in-person trade
shows over digital marketing, but it was
short-sighted on my part.
I quickly started to see shrinking margins,
loss of market positioning, and top-line
contraction as the go-to-market routes
shifted. To top things off, the Great
Recession of 2008 arrived and my reliance
on dated business practices impeded my
ability to navigate the economic downturn.
While this was a painful experience, it was
invaluable. Today, I am acutely aware of
reading tea leaves, identifying macro themes
early and using them as tailwinds before
they become headwinds.
What do you currently identify as
the major areas of investment in
your industry?
Outside of the heavy areas of cloud, AI, 5G,
IoT and Blockchain, enterprise software
companies are investing a lot of time and
resources into making delightful customer
experiences. This follows the theme of
consumerization, but is focused on the
‘why,’ which is that software companies
need to start with the end-user optimal
experience that she/he should experience
and work backwards into the technology.
Low-code, human-center design, modern
U/I design engineering and many other
approaches represent investments being
made in this area.
What are the region-specific
challenges when implementing new
technologies in North America?
North America is a very competitive market.
US-based business executives have carried
personal consumption habits into corporate
procurement expectations. This means that
the immediate gratification of Amazon
delivering needed goods within two hours
has translated to business expectations
where companies such as Kofax are
expected to bring software that solves very
complex problems in a short amount of
time. Very challenging!
What changes to your job role have
you seen in the last year and how do
you see these developing in the next
12 months?
The Chief Strategy Officer role has
noticeably shifted from being a deep
technical role toward more of a value
creation, visionary evangelist and
customer success role. Moving forward,
I see this accelerating because so
much of a tech companies’ success is
predicated on making bold moves ahead
of the competition to create delightful
experiences for the customer…and that
encompasses much more than technical
product features.
What advice would you offer
somebody aspiring to obtain a
C-level position in your industry?
Think big, be bold, remain intellectually
curious and always seek out purpose. Some
of our greatest leaders and innovators have
had remarkable failures, but one thing they
share is an amazing level of resiliency to
continue innovating and staying ahead of
the market. To remain innovative requires
volumes of reading across a vast array of
subjects that allow you to connect dots and
communicate a future vision that others
only see once the picture is painted. This
will make you feel like an outlier in many
instances, but will get you noticed by the
right people, so have confidence that what
you’re doing matters. •
80 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com