The
Investors clearly believe
Q: What are some of the lessons that
A: The need for agility, to kind of change on a dime and incorporate new information and responses to problems. The companies that have (done that) really invested in agility by hiring software developers, listening to customers, not creating a five-year road map, but creating a sprint after sprint to keep getting better and better. The companies that evolved to incorporate these agile practices, those are the ones that really excelled and were able to meet the challenges and demands of COVID.
Q: What are some areas where you saw faster growth than you anticipated because of the pandemic?
A: One of them is the contact center. A few years ago, we launched a contact center product that is all software. It runs in the cloud, so the only thing the (call center) agents need is a computer, they just plug in a headset. There is not a hard(wired) phone, so they can really be anywhere. So when you had to send everybody home, they could actually keep working.
Another big area of acceleration for us was in health care. We're seeing the world’s medical systems turn to using electronic patient engagement much more than they have ever before, in particular, telemedicine. So, if you go to a doctor’s office, instead of going in and waiting in the waiting room and there is no place to sit and you are worried whether you are getting COVID just by being in there, you wait in a virtual queue. It's like curbside pickup for the doctor's office.
Q: Does it feel like the digital shift has been moving even faster this year?
A: This is the year of the great digital, not transformation, but acceleration. We did a survey of about 2,500 (business) decision-makers over the summer and we asked them: Has COVID impacted your digital plans? Unsurprisingly, 97% said yes, it has. But we wanted to quantify how it has changed those road maps. So we asked them how much do you think it has accelerated your digital road maps? And the average was six years. It’s not like we are going to undo all this stuff.
Q: Do you think the tremendous wealth being created by technology companies is alienating the rest of society?
A: My belief in building
This interview has been edited for clarity.
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