WEBVTT

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It's that healthy competition

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that I think is necessary in our industry

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to play the ecosystem

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and to make sure that
everybody gets a fair share

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and a fair contribution to
the value chain overall.

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Benny, great to have you with us.

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So, you've been leading commercial growth

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for IOT at scale now for a while.

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So, I wanted to start with this question:

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Growth has become much harder
to come by in recent years.

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What fundamentally changed?

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Yeah, thank you Freddie, for having me.

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I think this is a great starting question.

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Look, from my perspective,
growth has become more difficult

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because a lot of
customers that we usually,

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you know, use for our growth are currently

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in different phases.

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Like, IOT is no longer a
greenfield approach for them

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where they could just kind of experiment

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and scale it from there.

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They're more in the
optimization kind of phase,

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and I think cost constraints
across the industry,

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especially in the automotive
sector, as you know well,

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also drives a lot of initiatives
now on our customer side.

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So, optimization is a
big topic these days.

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And, of course, optimization
on the customer side

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many times doesn't go well with growth.

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And, on the other side,
we see that customers

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are a lot better educated
from a technical perspective

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when they come to the
table and negotiate with us

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because using AI and using
knowledge that's widely available

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puts them, of course,
in a fantastic position

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to point out where exactly
they need certain technologies

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from a company like ours.

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And that sometimes limits, also,

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the ideation and the innovation a bit

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because that comes, again,
back to the optimization part.

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They would now only shop
for what they actually need

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as a bare minimum.

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And I'm afraid that sometimes
kills the innovation.

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Understood, understood.

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So, consolidation is a theme.

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Now, where are traditional
go-to-market models

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falling short in allowing
you to counter these threats?

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Yeah, so, Freddie,

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I believe no one stays
alone anymore these days.

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So, those players that
are actually successful

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in our industry know how
to play the ecosystem.

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You have to be flexible, also,

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an almost on deal-by-deal cases,

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whether you compete with someone

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or you go into cooperation.

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It's that healthy competition
that I think is necessary

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in our industry to play the ecosystem

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and to make sure that
everybody gets a fair share

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and a fair contribution to
the value chain overall.

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Makes sense.

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Now, what's the biggest misconception

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that leaders still have
about revenue growth?

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Oh, the misconception
about revenue growth.

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Well, that's a good one.

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Look, Freddie, I believe
everyone in the boardroom

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looks at the sales leader

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when it comes to revenue growth, right?

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And, of course, as a sales
leader and the sales organization

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play a major role in revenue growth-

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that's not a question.

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But, really, they should look

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at the end-to-end operating model

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because a good pipeline and
a good sales organization

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cannot fix a broken operating model.

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So, that whole chain and
the whole delivery model,

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and operating and product as well,

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needs to enter that discussion
in revenue growth in the end.

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So, I will say this again:

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a broken operating model

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cannot be fixed by a
healthy sales pipelines.

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That's very fair.

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Now, in your sector, specifically in IOT,

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what separates the winners

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from those companies that are stuck?

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Yeah, so, I think here it
comes all together now.

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Ecosystem, like I said,
is a very important part.

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You need to understand who
you want to compete with

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and who you want to go
into corporation with.

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I think you also need to stay
very close to your customers

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because now that they
are so much more educated

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that they can prepare so much better

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for the conversations they
have with our organization,

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you also must ensure that you understand

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the requirements well enough

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so that you can only put
together what they really need

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and still leave a little
room for innovation so that,

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you know, future growth can also happen

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in times where optimization is, you know,

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the first topic on the
agenda of every meeting.

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So, this is something where you have to be

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very close to your customers in order

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to play that in the right way.

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And, I say, the other thing as well,

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is you should not think that new features

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that you're adding to your capabilities

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automatically lead to new revenues.

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You need to be very clear

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of what are the business outcomes

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on the long end of your solution

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to the C-level, to the CFO, to the CEO,

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without just, you know, talking about

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"there is a new feature,
there is a new country,

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there is a new capability we're adding."

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You always have to translate
it to your customer's language

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and make sure they understand
what's the real business value

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that actually comes out of your service.

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Understood.

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So, we've got so many different things,

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from consolidation to partnerships

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to making sure that you are plugged in

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to the entire lifecycle of
the product of the company.

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If you had to summarize in one sentence

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this new growth reality,
what would that be?

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So, one sentence is always difficult,

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especially when you talk
to a sales guy like me.

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Look, I think being a nice
player in the industry,

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knowing, again, who to compete with

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and who to cooperate with,

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but especially making sure

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that you have an end-to-end service

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and an operating model that serves

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what the customer expects from you.

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This is where clearly the
revenue growth will be.

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And this, again, will
be the differentiator

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between those that are stuck
and those that are important.

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So, I leave it with my closing statement,

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although I said it already,

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but a good revenue pipeline

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cannot fix a broken operating model.

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So make sure not only that
your sales organization

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but also the rest of the organization

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is in a good place to
deliver your services.

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And I think that's what differentiates us.

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I know that was a lot more than . . .

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It's okay.

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We connected it all.

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It was very risky from the beginning . . .

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Benny, thank you so much for
being here with us today,

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as always.

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(bright ambient jingle)