Latest / The DEX Show: A Show for IT Change Makers / "Victory Lap" - GARTNER DEX MAGIC QUADRANT SPECIAL ft. Andrew Robertson

Transcript

"Victory Lap" - GARTNER DEX MAGIC QUADRANT SPECIAL ft. Andrew Robertson · The DEX Show: A Show for IT Change Makers

0:00
Speaker 1: I've never watched cycling like on the TV. I've never
0:03
Speaker 1: watched the whole race. Is this true, right? That the
0:06
Speaker 1: pack that you describe it in a bike race of
0:09
Speaker 1: some sort, they kind of form like a little tank
0:13
Speaker 1: that they go faster because they're together, they will lean in.
0:17
Speaker 1: This is am I am, I am I being red.
0:19
Speaker 2: I'm no expert, but I think it's all about wind resistance.
0:22
Speaker 2: So unlike the Q, you know, the MQ, we've got
0:24
Speaker 2: a cluster of vendors who are probably all trying to
0:27
Speaker 2: you know, kill each other, like they're not, you know,
0:29
Speaker 2: cooperating at all in trying to chase the next thing.
0:32
Speaker 2: But in a bike race, yes, they're they're clustering, they're
0:34
Speaker 2: in behind, they're using wind resistance. So it's it's actually
0:36
Speaker 2: in a very difficult to stay in front less so
0:41
Speaker 2: in the MQ less So in the deck space, now
0:44
Speaker 2: we we we mustn't gloat, must we We must be
0:47
Speaker 2: we must be humble and grateful for this wonderful success
0:50
Speaker 2: that we've enjoyed, and and we are.
0:54
Speaker 3: Hey it change makers and welcome to the deck show
0:58
Speaker 3: with Tom mc grath. Let's get into it.
1:03
Speaker 4: And change makers.
1:04
Speaker 1: If there's one thing we love the Sex Show. It's
1:07
Speaker 1: a gardener magic quadrant. It's a it's a gardener Digital
1:10
Speaker 1: Employee Experience Magic quadrant. No less, and my goodness, we've
1:14
Speaker 1: had a phenomenal one dropped just a week or so ago.
1:19
Speaker 1: And when when a when a magic quadrant drops, there's
1:23
Speaker 1: only one person we look to call to discuss it with.
1:27
Speaker 1: He is mister m Q here at next Thing. He's
1:32
Speaker 1: he's my long term mentor and sometimes boss. He's the
1:35
Speaker 1: phenom phenomenal Andrew Robertson, Hey doing Andrew.
1:39
Speaker 4: I'm doing well term good intro, Thank you.
1:41
Speaker 1: For that great pleasure. And we're also joined by the
1:44
Speaker 1: wonderful Oriana and Dina Orianna, how are you doing?
1:47
Speaker 4: You good?
1:47
Speaker 5: Jane Well, happy to be here.
1:49
Speaker 1: And Dina who just made it through the door. We
1:51
Speaker 1: were just worrying about her, but she made it in Dean,
1:55
Speaker 1: how are you all good?
1:57
Speaker 6: All good? Connecting from Bangalore today? Right time differences?
2:01
Speaker 5: Ah?
2:02
Speaker 1: Yes, so you are you had you had four warned
2:03
Speaker 1: us and I assume we've all read and enjoyed the
2:07
Speaker 1: Magic Quadron. If everyone just can just nod and I know, yeah, okay.
2:11
Speaker 4: That's good to know, good to know.
2:13
Speaker 1: And look before we before we get into it once again,
2:18
Speaker 1: a big shout out to Dan Stewart and Robin for
2:21
Speaker 1: their incredibly hard work on this Magic Quadrant and others. Robin,
2:27
Speaker 1: we see you man. It was a former a former
2:29
Speaker 1: Dex Show guest now now co authoring a Magic Quadron.
2:32
Speaker 1: We see, we see you, and we're proud of you.
2:34
Speaker 4: Mate.
2:34
Speaker 1: Congratulations Andrew, welcome back to the Deck Show. For anybody
2:39
Speaker 1: who missed your previous appearance who doesn't know you already,
2:42
Speaker 1: big figure that you are in the deck space, tell
2:44
Speaker 1: us who you are and what your team looks after
2:47
Speaker 1: the next thing.
2:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, good to be back. I'm sorry I'm only on
2:50
Speaker 2: once a year. Maybe you can change that in the future.
2:52
Speaker 2: We could do it more often.
2:54
Speaker 4: But there is an absence. Andrew.
2:56
Speaker 1: If you've heard, you know there's a space on the show.
2:59
Speaker 4: You what you asked for.
3:01
Speaker 2: And so yeah, I'm a longtime next thinker. I'm coming
3:04
Speaker 2: up on eight years and I wear two hats, so
3:07
Speaker 2: I take care of analyst relations. So looking after Gardner Forrester, I,
3:12
Speaker 2: d C and others. I guess trying to drive a
3:15
Speaker 2: mutually beneficial relationship. We'd like to think, you know, we
3:19
Speaker 2: learn a huge amount from the analysts, but also I
3:21
Speaker 2: think they they I'd like to think they learn an
3:23
Speaker 2: awful lot from Next Think as well. So that's one side.
3:26
Speaker 2: And then also I head up the customer advocacy team
3:29
Speaker 2: here as well, where we try and put the customer
3:32
Speaker 2: at the center of everything we do. Build the customer community,
3:36
Speaker 2: get our customers talking to each other, whether that's on
3:38
Speaker 2: virtual events, physical meetups, big ambassador program that maybe we'll
3:42
Speaker 2: talk about a little bit later on. But yeah, two
3:44
Speaker 2: hats analyst relations and customer advocacy fantastic.
3:48
Speaker 1: Let's start with the former hat, as you say, and
3:53
Speaker 1: there's pop the former hat on for a moment. Look,
3:56
Speaker 1: if we, if we, if we're such big fans of
3:58
Speaker 1: the magic Quadron, it can hardly be a surprise. We're
4:02
Speaker 1: all Next Think is here and it has been under
4:05
Speaker 1: another phenomenal Magic Quadrant showing for next Thing.
4:09
Speaker 4: Right.
4:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the mq I'm not going to say magic Quadrant.
4:13
Speaker 2: I'm going to say MQ from here, I got it. Yeah,
4:17
Speaker 2: the MQ is is a big deal for us for
4:19
Speaker 2: a number of reasons. You know, we're in marketing, so
4:22
Speaker 2: we know the value of you know, really good high
4:24
Speaker 2: quality independent Third party content. You know that that's what
4:28
Speaker 2: we want, that's our lifeblood. And there's no one bigger
4:31
Speaker 2: than Gardner by a factor of probably ten. They are
4:34
Speaker 2: the biggest, most listened to, most visible analyst out there.
4:39
Speaker 2: So when they talk about DEX, people start to listen.
4:42
Speaker 2: So it's it's hugely important for us as a DEX
4:44
Speaker 2: vendor that that we are shown as positively as possible
4:48
Speaker 2: in that analysis. And what I also like about the
4:51
Speaker 2: Gardener MQ is that it's you know, everyone talks about
4:54
Speaker 2: the graphic, everyone wants to look at the graphic, but
4:57
Speaker 2: there's a huge robust methodology going on behind the scene,
5:00
Speaker 2: so they're not just looking at product, they're looking at
5:02
Speaker 2: the entire ecosystem required to deliver customer value. And I'm
5:06
Speaker 2: not just looking at the here and now. So of
5:08
Speaker 2: course that's important what vendor do I should I go
5:12
Speaker 2: forward to deliver value today right now? But they also
5:15
Speaker 2: take a longer term view as well, so what vendor
5:18
Speaker 2: out there is going to be the best partner for
5:20
Speaker 2: me as I start on or continue my DEX journey.
5:23
Speaker 2: So for all those reasons, really robust methodology really widely read.
5:28
Speaker 2: So it's a huge deal for us it is relentless.
5:31
Speaker 2: Unlike other vendors or other analysts. It is every year,
5:34
Speaker 2: it's not every two years. So it seems to come around,
5:37
Speaker 2: you know, very very quickly, and there's always a fear
5:39
Speaker 2: there's a bit of MQ fatigue. You know, this is
5:41
Speaker 2: the third year there's been a dex Tools MQ, but
5:44
Speaker 2: that's never the case. We always get hugely excited by it,
5:47
Speaker 2: and especially this year because we've had a great showing.
5:50
Speaker 2: So like the other two years previously, we're top top
5:54
Speaker 2: right on both axes, but probably more importantly, we've increased
5:58
Speaker 2: our lead over other vendors, clear white space between us
6:01
Speaker 2: and the other vendors. So really happy with that. A
6:05
Speaker 2: lot of Next thinkers involved in that, and it was
6:07
Speaker 2: a great result this year for us.
6:09
Speaker 1: And we actually you know that people's appetite seems to
6:13
Speaker 1: only grow year on year. Right, Well, we broke our website.
6:16
Speaker 1: I think we had so much traffic coming in after
6:19
Speaker 1: this publication.
6:20
Speaker 2: So that's across the board, Tom, you know, it's not
6:23
Speaker 2: it's it's our customers. Of course, they want to see,
6:25
Speaker 2: you know there they've put their faith in next thing.
6:27
Speaker 2: They want to see how we're performing. But it's also,
6:30
Speaker 2: you know, prospects people that have not yet purchased a
6:33
Speaker 2: Dex solution, whether they're about to do it or they're
6:35
Speaker 2: really just very early stage in their journey. We're finding
6:39
Speaker 2: all of those folk are consuming the NQ. It is
6:42
Speaker 2: are probably our number one download every year as well.
6:45
Speaker 2: So there's huge appetite in the market for Gartner, for
6:48
Speaker 2: the MQ, and especially for for Dex tools.
6:51
Speaker 1: And look, this sounds like a bit of a try question,
6:53
Speaker 1: but it is also a serious one. Okay, was I hallucinating?
6:58
Speaker 4: Andrew?
6:59
Speaker 1: What did they actually have to make the quadrant itself?
7:02
Speaker 1: A Q in the Q did have to make it
7:04
Speaker 1: bigger because suddenly the next think was.
7:09
Speaker 4: Further up in the top right, But the quadrant, I
7:12
Speaker 4: don't know. Did they make it a little bit bigger?
7:14
Speaker 4: Was I?
7:14
Speaker 2: So it's funny you say that. You're not the first
7:16
Speaker 2: person to say that. And there is a misconception that,
7:19
Speaker 2: you know, the Gardner vendor ranking is absolute, so all
7:22
Speaker 2: the vendors slowly but surely move to the right and
7:25
Speaker 2: move upwards. But that's not actually the thing, not so
7:29
Speaker 2: it's a you know, it's a relative ranking. So they
7:32
Speaker 2: take the weakest vendor and the strongest vendor, They put
7:35
Speaker 2: those as the pillars and then they measure everyone else. Now,
7:39
Speaker 2: in a maturing market like dex Tools, you would expect
7:43
Speaker 2: everyone to start clustering together. That's what normally happens in
7:46
Speaker 2: an MQ. But for reasons that hopefully we'll discuss a
7:49
Speaker 2: little bit more, it's actually elongated, so there is huge
7:53
Speaker 2: white space. You'll have noticed that we used cycling as
7:55
Speaker 2: our go to market theme this year because we felt
7:58
Speaker 2: looking down at the MQ here it looked like a
8:01
Speaker 2: classic bike race with a leader out in front and
8:03
Speaker 2: then the main bunch of the peloton trying to chase
8:07
Speaker 2: them down. So yeah, I wouldn't say that it's recalibrated,
8:10
Speaker 2: but every year, because it's relatives, it's all about how
8:13
Speaker 2: you perform versus your vendors, other your competitors, your other vendors.
8:17
Speaker 2: So this year, obviously we've performed everyone, which is fantastic.
8:21
Speaker 6: So Andrew, and just to echo what Tom was just
8:26
Speaker 6: saying earlier, we're the leader, so we expect to be clothing.
8:29
Speaker 6: We're expected to be proud, and that's what leaders do.
8:33
Speaker 6: They run with confidence. They get to have bigger targets
8:38
Speaker 6: and we aim higher. Always right, this is what we
8:41
Speaker 6: do at Next Thing. So that's just the fruit of
8:44
Speaker 6: the success that we have been suing throughout the years.
8:48
Speaker 6: So I have a question what our next thinkers, not
8:52
Speaker 6: least yourself right, particularly proud of in this year's showing.
8:57
Speaker 4: M good question, Yeah, question.
9:00
Speaker 2: I don't really like answering because I think the key
9:03
Speaker 2: to the Magic Quadrant it's a very holistic view of
9:06
Speaker 2: the space. So the minute you pick out individual things,
9:09
Speaker 2: you kind of lose the essence. You know, we're top
9:11
Speaker 2: of the magic quadrant, top right, because holistically we have
9:14
Speaker 2: the most complete ex solution, that said Gardner. Every year
9:18
Speaker 2: they pick out you know, three strengths for each vendor,
9:21
Speaker 2: and if you look at Next Thing strengths this year,
9:24
Speaker 2: I think they're hugely important. So they acknowledge our product,
9:29
Speaker 2: which obviously is the cornerstone of everything. I keep saying
9:32
Speaker 2: it's not just about the product, but of course that
9:34
Speaker 2: is the cornerstone, and they shout out next things, you know,
9:37
Speaker 2: the breadth and depth of our functionality, the extensibility, the
9:41
Speaker 2: ease of use, the ease that we can integrate into
9:45
Speaker 2: the wider environment as well. So for all those reasons,
9:48
Speaker 2: you know, having Gardner shout out to your product is
9:50
Speaker 2: hugely important. They also talk about our market responsiveness as well,
9:53
Speaker 2: so you know, not only do we create this category
9:56
Speaker 2: all those years ago, but we're consistently first to market
10:00
Speaker 2: with new features. So I think Gardner recognized that as well.
10:03
Speaker 2: We are ahead of the pack in terms of releasing
10:05
Speaker 2: new functionality, being absolutely up to date. And the final one,
10:10
Speaker 2: which Tom will love, is marketing. So for the third
10:13
Speaker 2: year in a row they've shouted out next think marketing
10:15
Speaker 2: is as a key strength which is super tohere and
10:18
Speaker 2: anything in particular. Oh now you're that's a leading question, sir.
10:23
Speaker 2: But yeah, you know you reference the three guys at
10:25
Speaker 2: the start of the show, and I know they all
10:28
Speaker 2: are big fans of this show, the Dex show. They
10:30
Speaker 2: all listen to the soul of the Cio. They all
10:34
Speaker 2: consume all of the content that you and team are producing,
10:37
Speaker 2: especially love the you know, the survey based reports that
10:41
Speaker 2: you're generating as well. So maybe in the big scheme
10:44
Speaker 2: of things, marketing is not as important as the other two,
10:47
Speaker 2: but we'll absolutely take it as well. I think it's
10:49
Speaker 2: great and a good shout out to you Tom as
10:51
Speaker 2: well that they've recognized you for the third year in
10:53
Speaker 2: a row.
10:54
Speaker 4: I recognize us.
10:54
Speaker 1: We're a team over here, and we appreciate you guys
10:57
Speaker 1: a great deal.
10:57
Speaker 7: In return, I'd like to build off of that and
11:01
Speaker 7: sort of ask you what comes next, right, Because when
11:04
Speaker 7: we have such a strong lead, when we're coming out
11:07
Speaker 7: with new features, how do you think that we're going
11:10
Speaker 7: to be able to maintain this momentum, keep that seat
11:14
Speaker 7: at the lead of the pack, especially with the way
11:17
Speaker 7: dex is constantly evolving?
11:19
Speaker 5: Where do you think our strategic focus should be can
11:23
Speaker 5: be building off of all this?
11:26
Speaker 2: Sure, well, you know everyone is talking about AI. It's
11:30
Speaker 2: very easy to say we are AI leaders. It's all
11:33
Speaker 2: over our roadmap. It's actually and it's been proven. It's
11:36
Speaker 2: very difficult to deliver it successfully, and lots of people
11:39
Speaker 2: are still struggling to deliver AI based functionality. But I
11:43
Speaker 2: think it's part of our heritage. If you look back
11:45
Speaker 2: to the founding of Next Thing all those years ago
11:48
Speaker 2: in Lausanne, AI was a core part of that, and
11:51
Speaker 2: I think we've always had that expertise, and I think
11:54
Speaker 2: that's been shown in the roadmap and in the products
11:57
Speaker 2: we've released in the last twelve months. If you look
11:59
Speaker 2: at the idea of putting an IT agent, you know,
12:02
Speaker 2: for every employee with Spark, providing a single enterprise view
12:07
Speaker 2: of how AI has actually been used in an organization.
12:10
Speaker 2: So with with AI Drive, and then bringing all of
12:13
Speaker 2: dex together and providing an AI native interface to that
12:18
Speaker 2: through through Workspace, there's three great examples where you know,
12:21
Speaker 2: we've been first to market and we've got it absolutely right.
12:23
Speaker 2: So I think that will continue to be the cornerstone
12:26
Speaker 2: we'll we'll build on that AI and Gartner shouted out
12:29
Speaker 2: in this year's NQ we're going to see AI you know,
12:32
Speaker 2: more use cases, wider usage, governance policy coming into play
12:38
Speaker 2: as well.
12:38
Speaker 4: So I think we're absolutely on the right track.
12:40
Speaker 2: As Tom said earlier, you know, there's no way we
12:43
Speaker 2: can be complacent at all, but I think the foundation
12:45
Speaker 2: is there. We've we've shown we can do it, and
12:47
Speaker 2: I think we can continue to roll out additional capabilities
12:52
Speaker 2: faster and better than other vendors. That's been the core
12:55
Speaker 2: of our success.
12:56
Speaker 5: I'm certainly glad to hear you say that, considering that's
12:59
Speaker 5: a lot of what I've been working on. What I'm
13:01
Speaker 5: continuing to work on is working with all of those
13:03
Speaker 5: teams to really continuously improve that. Right, we are looking into,
13:10
Speaker 5: you know, what are the needs that are arising for
13:12
Speaker 5: all these enterprises that they're using these tools, and it's
13:15
Speaker 5: exciting stuff and we're really iterating on all of it
13:18
Speaker 5: all the time. So I'm certainly feeling very excited and
13:24
Speaker 5: like we have a lot of opportunity there. So glad
13:27
Speaker 5: to hear that you think that that's a good place
13:31
Speaker 5: for us to keep our focus. Absolutely, Yeah, pivoting a
13:37
Speaker 5: tiny bit. I think we also saw Gartner published a
13:40
Speaker 5: Critical Capabilities Report last week and I think it's a
13:44
Speaker 5: really good companion piece to the MQ. So can you
13:47
Speaker 5: tell us a little bit about how those compare and
13:50
Speaker 5: how we did there.
13:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a great question. I'm delighted you ask me
13:53
Speaker 4: that because.
13:54
Speaker 2: The Critical Capabilities Report it kind of tends to get overlooked.
13:58
Speaker 2: Everyone wants to see the nice shine enview graphic. But
14:02
Speaker 2: if you think of the NQ is a very holistic
14:05
Speaker 2: view of the vendor, the complete vendor offering. The critical capabilities,
14:09
Speaker 2: as you say, is the companion piece, and it focuses
14:12
Speaker 2: very much on the product and on use cases as well.
14:15
Speaker 2: So it's a more kind of pragmatic approach. So if
14:17
Speaker 2: you are considering a DEX vendor, it allows you to
14:21
Speaker 2: go and say, well, what use cases do I want
14:24
Speaker 2: to deliver and what vendors are best matched to deliver
14:27
Speaker 2: those most successfully. So Gartner have this idea of critical capabilities.
14:30
Speaker 2: I think for DEX tools, they name fourteen or fifteen
14:34
Speaker 2: critical capabilities, so everything from remediation to DEX scoring, to
14:39
Speaker 2: analysis to personas, and then they allow you to wait
14:42
Speaker 2: all of those capabilities in order to deliver what they
14:45
Speaker 2: consider that the top five use cases for DEX tools.
14:49
Speaker 2: Will I be able to remember them? I hope so
14:51
Speaker 2: so endpoint operations, it support employee personas, experience analysis, and
14:58
Speaker 2: cost optimization. So they're the five that Gardner can consider,
15:03
Speaker 2: you know, the most important. But if you're a gardener client,
15:06
Speaker 2: you're allowed to go in and you can wait the
15:08
Speaker 2: capabilities anyway you wish, tailor it absolutely to your use
15:11
Speaker 2: case and it will spit out you know what vendor
15:13
Speaker 2: is best aligned with your immediate needs. And again selfishly,
15:17
Speaker 2: the great news is that next thing, as we have
15:20
Speaker 2: done in previous years, came out on top in all
15:23
Speaker 2: five use cases, so again really unusual in the gardener
15:26
Speaker 2: world for a single vendor to be you know, top
15:30
Speaker 2: on both MQ axes and also top in all five
15:34
Speaker 2: use cases, so there's no real ambiguity there. I've yet
15:37
Speaker 2: to find a way to wait it that we don't
15:39
Speaker 2: appear on top, but maybe it is possible. So you know,
15:43
Speaker 2: I would urge everyone, you know, absolutely use the MQ
15:46
Speaker 2: as your start point, but have a look at the
15:48
Speaker 2: critical capabilities. It's a really pragmatic document. As I say,
15:51
Speaker 2: you can tailor it to your needs and it gives
15:53
Speaker 2: you a really product centric view of you know, how
15:56
Speaker 2: you best approach the use cases that are most important
15:59
Speaker 2: to you.
16:00
Speaker 1: We're not just a we're not just a podcast production ven.
16:08
Speaker 6: A lot more a lot more so under to your point,
16:13
Speaker 6: since we're on the top right corner on all of
16:16
Speaker 6: the capabilities, right, and we know next thing is never
16:20
Speaker 6: going to settle for anything less than widening the gap, right,
16:23
Speaker 6: we need to keep on standing out, we keep on
16:25
Speaker 6: running between itself of course and the whole tech. But
16:30
Speaker 6: on a very very serious note, like how is that
16:33
Speaker 6: even done at this point? And how do you make
16:36
Speaker 6: sure we're welcome youing back more than not just next year,
16:40
Speaker 6: but all the coming years.
16:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a it's a tough one. I suppose the
16:46
Speaker 2: first thing I'd say to you is, you know, everyone
16:48
Speaker 2: automatically assumes that there's one month of drama every year
16:51
Speaker 2: that goes into delivering an NQ, and that there's an
16:55
Speaker 2: element of truth to that. But you know, we've we've
16:57
Speaker 2: got a long term relationship with Gardner, multiple levels within
17:01
Speaker 2: next thing, so you know, from pedro ceo, Sam, you know,
17:05
Speaker 2: chief product officer, they spend a lot of time with
17:07
Speaker 2: Gardner or product management or product marketing. So over the
17:11
Speaker 2: years we've we've built a very strong relationship. So sure
17:14
Speaker 2: there is a bit of drama every year, you know,
17:16
Speaker 2: come January when the NQ process starts. But I think,
17:20
Speaker 2: you know, we build that relationship. We have a very
17:23
Speaker 2: open and you know, trusting relationship with Gardner. We do
17:26
Speaker 2: kind of expose everything to them as well, so you know,
17:29
Speaker 2: we do ask for their advice, we do ask them
17:32
Speaker 2: for help as we're driving kind of road map forward.
17:34
Speaker 4: So I think that will continue.
17:36
Speaker 2: You know, I think we have a very good relationship
17:39
Speaker 2: with them and that as I'm sure other vendors do
17:42
Speaker 2: as well. But that's a good kind of start point
17:46
Speaker 2: and then you know, moving forward as I said this
17:48
Speaker 2: year was not necessarily revolutionary. It wasn't an evolution of
17:52
Speaker 2: the dex market, and I think that will continue to
17:55
Speaker 2: be the case in the next twelve months. Gardner, you know,
17:58
Speaker 2: talk about non ikey use cases, so we need to
18:01
Speaker 2: make sure that we're delivering value across the business, not
18:05
Speaker 2: just to it. They talked about you know, frontline workers,
18:09
Speaker 2: mobile workers, expanding the scope of decks as well, So
18:13
Speaker 2: that aligns very nicely with our roadmap and what we've done.
18:16
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, we'll we'll see more of
18:18
Speaker 2: that in the in the future, and AI will be everywhere,
18:21
Speaker 2: and I think, you know, people are a little bit
18:24
Speaker 2: nervous about governance and how do we keep AI in check,
18:27
Speaker 2: So big part of the next think roadmap is to
18:29
Speaker 2: make sure that is the case. And I think for
18:31
Speaker 2: all of our listeners who are going to be in
18:33
Speaker 2: Orlando for Experience in October, we'll see some really exciting,
18:37
Speaker 2: exciting announcements in that area as well. So I would
18:40
Speaker 2: have full confidence that we've got a really solid foundation,
18:43
Speaker 2: we have absolutely the right roadmap, and it's up to
18:46
Speaker 2: us now to continue to execute really, really well on
18:50
Speaker 2: all of those things.
18:52
Speaker 5: I guess then taking it a step outside of next Thing,
18:56
Speaker 5: since we've hiped our roadmap, A little bit curious, since
19:02
Speaker 5: we are kind of leading in this space, we are
19:05
Speaker 5: delivering on a lot of the things that companies are
19:08
Speaker 5: really looking for right now, I'm curious, do you think
19:11
Speaker 5: that next Think is also going to potentially influence or
19:16
Speaker 5: shape the deck space for competitors? What do you How
19:20
Speaker 5: do you see that influence.
19:24
Speaker 2: I think we've we've influenced that hugely in the last
19:27
Speaker 2: couple of years. And we, you know, because we have
19:29
Speaker 2: been first to market, because we've been first to market
19:32
Speaker 2: with you know, overall the right functionality. We've seen you know,
19:37
Speaker 2: a lot of our competitors, you know, reproduce that over
19:40
Speaker 2: time behind us. So I think we'll we'll continue to
19:42
Speaker 2: do that. And I think, you know, we want a
19:44
Speaker 2: strong dex market. We don't want to be the only
19:47
Speaker 2: vendor sitting up there top right, you know. We the
19:50
Speaker 2: market is maturing. We want you know, strong vendors as well.
19:53
Speaker 2: So absolutely, they'll continue to be competition. I think there
19:57
Speaker 2: will be some you know, copy cat activity as well,
20:00
Speaker 2: but I think we're we're okay with that. I mean,
20:01
Speaker 2: that's the constant challenge coming coming back to you know,
20:05
Speaker 2: being complacent. Will will never be complacent. So we're aware
20:08
Speaker 2: there's there's other vendors there, will you know, continue to
20:11
Speaker 2: work hard to stay ahead of them.
20:14
Speaker 1: I think, and you may have missed. But however, we
20:16
Speaker 1: do to be clear one to continue being the only
20:18
Speaker 1: vendor of the top, right, what did I say? We
20:22
Speaker 1: don't want to We don't want to be We don't
20:25
Speaker 1: want to be the only we do we do?
20:27
Speaker 2: We don't want to be the only dex vendor, you know, Mark,
20:31
Speaker 2: We you know there needs to be choice. We need
20:33
Speaker 2: to show that the Dex market is a is a
20:35
Speaker 2: mature one. But absolutely we want to be top.
20:40
Speaker 6: Yeah, you need a lot of a challenge, right, so
20:43
Speaker 6: you need competition. This is where you really become like
20:46
Speaker 6: the winner of them all Right, So initially you invented
20:49
Speaker 6: the market to let the market. You made something happen,
20:53
Speaker 6: and now you got everyone's buy and you go have
20:56
Speaker 6: to continue on growing, evolving, And I think that's the
20:58
Speaker 6: edge right of what we do. It's not just something
21:01
Speaker 6: you're doing super quickly or one more feature. It's the
21:04
Speaker 6: consistency and continuing to keep on adding more features, making
21:08
Speaker 6: them stronger, better, more efficient, up to power ai'ed like
21:12
Speaker 6: you mentioned Andrew, right, So all of these kind of
21:16
Speaker 6: things and features, we really make them actionable throughout the capabilities,
21:21
Speaker 6: and I think this is the edge, right, But it
21:23
Speaker 6: gets much better when there are competition in place. That's
21:26
Speaker 6: how you get to innovate more and more so looking
21:29
Speaker 6: forward for more competition. But then again, coming on the
21:32
Speaker 6: top of the right.
21:33
Speaker 4: Corner, well said Dina, You're absolutely right. Well have we have?
21:38
Speaker 1: We have we patted ourselves on my back sufficiently?
21:41
Speaker 2: I hope this hasn't. I don't mean to be smug.
21:43
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to be smug here. I hope maybe
21:46
Speaker 2: one one.
21:46
Speaker 1: Hour year we can we can pave a little bit
21:49
Speaker 1: in our success. But you're right, we must be smuggling.
21:51
Speaker 1: And look another thing your team looks after Andrew you
21:54
Speaker 1: mentioned it at the top, and is as much as
21:56
Speaker 1: we treasure the MQ visus there is this is I
22:01
Speaker 1: think an even more important piece, particularly for our customers
22:04
Speaker 1: and for the Dex community at large, which is looking
22:08
Speaker 1: after that community aspect of next thing, which so many
22:11
Speaker 1: customers have come to me and told me is such
22:15
Speaker 1: a decisive factor in what kind of bonds them to
22:19
Speaker 1: the organization, bonds them to decks, bonds them to the technology.
22:23
Speaker 1: For listeners who aren't perhaps familiar with that side of
22:25
Speaker 1: Next Thing, particularly if they're not customers, maybe give us
22:29
Speaker 1: a quick overview andery of it, of what it consists
22:31
Speaker 1: of in real terms.
22:33
Speaker 2: Sure, So, behind the scenes, behind the product, behind our
22:36
Speaker 2: guildt to market, there is a thriving Next Thing customer community,
22:41
Speaker 2: and we've worked really hard over the last few years
22:43
Speaker 2: to really to connect our customers together and they've asked
22:47
Speaker 2: for it repeatedly. They really value the opportunity to talk
22:50
Speaker 2: to each other as well, discuss their successes, discuss their
22:54
Speaker 2: their challenges, learn from each other, and actually they probably
22:57
Speaker 2: put more importance on math than you know, learning from
23:00
Speaker 2: from Next Think as well. So we put a number
23:02
Speaker 2: of different things in place to allow them to do that,
23:04
Speaker 2: whether it's gathering in virtual or physical user groups. We
23:08
Speaker 2: run many regional user groups throughout the year, all customer led.
23:13
Speaker 2: We try not to make them, you know, Next Think
23:15
Speaker 2: sessions where we're preaching, so it's very much the customers
23:19
Speaker 2: leading the conversation with their use cases as well. We
23:23
Speaker 2: then have an ambassador program, which I'd like to think
23:27
Speaker 2: is kind of across geographies, it's across products, it's across verticals,
23:33
Speaker 2: and we spend a lot of time with those ambassadors.
23:35
Speaker 2: We run monthly events, we give them early access to roadmap,
23:39
Speaker 2: we give them early access to our executives. We make
23:42
Speaker 2: a big fuss of them at Experience every year as well,
23:45
Speaker 2: and they really value that. In return, we ask that
23:48
Speaker 2: they speak openly and honestly about Next THINGK and the
23:51
Speaker 2: successes they've had. So, whether that's working with you and
23:55
Speaker 2: your team, Tom with some of the content we put out,
23:58
Speaker 2: whether it's putting our ambassadors on ste age, either on
24:01
Speaker 2: Experience on the main stage, but right down to the
24:04
Speaker 2: smaller regional events that we're running as well. So yes,
24:08
Speaker 2: I suppose it's selfish in a way. It is about advocacy.
24:10
Speaker 2: Success for us is we have our customers, you know,
24:13
Speaker 2: talking about their successes with Next Think. But underlying it,
24:16
Speaker 2: there's a lot of work that goes on and I
24:18
Speaker 2: think a lot of value that we deliver to the
24:20
Speaker 2: community in terms of how we get them to talk
24:22
Speaker 2: to each other, to learn from each other, and to
24:25
Speaker 2: share their stories, which they're very happy to do.
24:29
Speaker 1: Indeed, they're wonderful people to work with and that's absolutely
24:32
Speaker 1: since they said, how do you see Andrew the community
24:37
Speaker 1: space evolving in twenty twenty six or what's coming near
24:42
Speaker 1: on the horizon which really excites you in this specific area.
24:46
Speaker 2: Well, I mentioned Experience in Orlando in October, and I
24:49
Speaker 2: think that'll be a big Yeah. It's our big ambassador
24:52
Speaker 2: and community event every year as well, So again we
24:55
Speaker 2: make a big fuss of them. We give them a
24:57
Speaker 2: space where they can relax and meet each other, eat
25:00
Speaker 2: and drink. We run kind of various different cocktail and
25:03
Speaker 2: other kind of dinner parties as well, So we've always
25:06
Speaker 2: kind of lots on so first and foremost, i'd say
25:08
Speaker 2: experience is kind of something to be excited about. And
25:11
Speaker 2: then I kind of just mention that the coverage, I
25:13
Speaker 2: think we're always looking for for new ambassadors, new customers
25:17
Speaker 2: to join the family, to make sure that you know,
25:19
Speaker 2: if I want to talk to someone in my in
25:21
Speaker 2: my vertical, in my geography that's using the same kind
25:24
Speaker 2: of products that I'm using, then we can find someone
25:27
Speaker 2: within the community that can help you as well. So
25:29
Speaker 2: I think it's just going to be driving that on
25:32
Speaker 2: an ongoing basis. Make sure we have the right reach
25:34
Speaker 2: and we continue to give them the best possible experience.
25:37
Speaker 1: And with that, let's let's let's put in a plug
25:40
Speaker 1: for a wonderful experience event if people, if listeners haven't heard,
25:45
Speaker 1: this year it's October fifth to October seventh. There's only
25:48
Speaker 1: one experience proper. You know, we've traditionally done one in
25:52
Speaker 1: Europe in London, one in the US. This year it's
25:55
Speaker 1: only in the US, the JW. Marriott Grand Lakes Hotel, Orlando, Florida.
26:02
Speaker 1: But listen, although European customers and ambassadors and everybody in
26:07
Speaker 1: prospects that are more than welcome to come and join us.
26:10
Speaker 2: Now.
26:10
Speaker 1: In fact, we want a lot of people from Europe
26:12
Speaker 1: to come over. And I'm just going to say, Andrew, right,
26:14
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of you know, really you know,
26:18
Speaker 1: intellectual marketing about this event. You know, you're going to
26:21
Speaker 1: find out about automation, you're going to find out about
26:24
Speaker 1: AI and dex and the future of it, all of
26:26
Speaker 1: which is true, right, But it's also just to underscore
26:28
Speaker 1: it's also in Orlando, in Florida in October. Your band
26:34
Speaker 1: to have a pretty nice time, particularly if you're an ambassador, right,
26:37
Speaker 1: and you get you get in most cocktails and I mean,
26:39
Speaker 1: I'm just saying. I'm just saying that people don't seem
26:41
Speaker 1: to be emphasizing this aspect of it enough. Would you
26:44
Speaker 1: would you agree with me?
26:45
Speaker 4: Do you feel this? I will.
26:46
Speaker 2: It's going to be a super fun event. I think
26:48
Speaker 2: it's going to be. You know, people are going to
26:50
Speaker 2: learn a huge amount if we take it back to
26:52
Speaker 2: the analyst for a while. Not only will Dan Wilson
26:56
Speaker 2: and Q author be on stage as well, but remember
26:59
Speaker 2: Gardner not the only analyst that we work with, so
27:02
Speaker 2: Christy Punch from Forrester delighted that she will be there
27:05
Speaker 2: as well to look a huge analysts presence. They'll be
27:08
Speaker 2: on the Ambassador Hub as well, so you'll get a
27:10
Speaker 2: chance to meet them in person, not just hear them
27:12
Speaker 2: on stage.
27:13
Speaker 4: But you're absolutely right, there's.
27:14
Speaker 2: A huge amount of information to be had, but there's
27:17
Speaker 2: an awful lot of you know, fun to be had,
27:19
Speaker 2: new friends to be made, and as you say, Orlando,
27:22
Speaker 2: what's not to love.
27:23
Speaker 1: I'm not saying you get your manager to pay for
27:26
Speaker 1: your holiday in October. I'm not saying that. I'm not
27:29
Speaker 1: even suggesting it. I'm just saying there's a link in
27:31
Speaker 1: the show notes to find out a bit more about
27:33
Speaker 1: this wonderful event. And last year, you know, we had
27:35
Speaker 1: Neil de Gras Tyson who knows, who knows who might
27:38
Speaker 1: be with us this year Andrew to rown things off. Sir,
27:43
Speaker 1: you were a Next Thinker at least a year. I
27:45
Speaker 1: think before me, what is your favorite thing after all
27:51
Speaker 1: these years in twenty twenty six about being a Next Thinker?
27:57
Speaker 4: Good question.
27:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I joined Next Think in twenty eighteen. I
28:01
Speaker 2: guess you were twenty nineteen, were you? I was, indeed
28:04
Speaker 2: late twenty nineteen, And.
28:06
Speaker 4: I think you know what we both started.
28:07
Speaker 2: I mean, Next Thing was already highly successful, and it
28:10
Speaker 2: was you could argue it was a big company, but
28:11
Speaker 2: there was a real feel when we joined that it
28:14
Speaker 2: was there was a startup atmosphere, you know, there was
28:17
Speaker 2: a feel that you could go out, you could get
28:18
Speaker 2: stuff done, you could move really quickly, be very nimble.
28:22
Speaker 2: And I think we've done really well over those eight
28:25
Speaker 2: years to kind of maintain that. Of course, we've got,
28:27
Speaker 2: you know, much bigger, we've scaled. I think we've scaled
28:30
Speaker 2: very well. So I think we have all the benefits
28:33
Speaker 2: of being that bigger organization now. But I don't think
28:35
Speaker 2: we've lost that startup mentality. So I think that's the
28:39
Speaker 2: that's the thing I really value. Yes, we're working for
28:42
Speaker 2: a really big, successful organization, but you know there's a
28:45
Speaker 2: lot of people, you know, everyone on this call as well.
28:47
Speaker 2: We're getting stuff done, we're rolling up our sleeves and
28:49
Speaker 2: this opportunity to do that. We haven't really been held
28:52
Speaker 2: back by being bigger. So I love that startup feel.
28:56
Speaker 1: It's amazing how little it's changed in those years to
28:59
Speaker 1: work on.
29:02
Speaker 6: Deana is nodding, it's it's my ninth year anniversary today,
29:09
Speaker 6: congrat thank you. So I can I can test and
29:15
Speaker 6: comment on that as well. We we have it, we
29:17
Speaker 6: have that culture, we have the spirit of let's roll
29:20
Speaker 6: out sleeves, let's just go and do it now, right,
29:22
Speaker 6: And this is I think is a key success metric
29:25
Speaker 6: that you don't find in every organization, some one of
29:28
Speaker 6: the secret attributes, let's say, right, So it's it is
29:32
Speaker 6: as exciting. So this is my ninth tier again, super
29:36
Speaker 6: exciting as if it's still year one. Plenty of things
29:39
Speaker 6: to do, plenty of achievements and milestones. That's why I
29:42
Speaker 6: bring it on. All the challenges, are you going to
29:45
Speaker 6: crush them?
29:46
Speaker 4: Love? It.
29:47
Speaker 2: You're a true, true veteran, Tom, We're just babies.
29:50
Speaker 4: Compare time. We've fifteen years.
29:57
Speaker 6: Yeah, in a few years, it's going to be made
30:00
Speaker 6: many years ago where Ai was still a baby, right,
30:04
Speaker 6: we were still leading.
30:05
Speaker 4: It could be all being well, all being well.
30:07
Speaker 1: Well, Look, perhaps our listeners will forgive us this victory
30:11
Speaker 1: lap episode. If you've made it this far, then you
30:14
Speaker 1: kind of being so bad. But listen if you If
30:17
Speaker 1: you haven't read The Wonderful Magic Quadron yet, VMQ links
30:21
Speaker 1: in the show notes so you can. You can get
30:22
Speaker 1: your manager to book your holiday to Orlando, get a
30:26
Speaker 1: free copy of VMQ, and don't say we never give
30:30
Speaker 1: you nothing over here. Andrew, always a pleasure to have
30:34
Speaker 1: you on Oriana, Dina, thank you so much, see you
30:36
Speaker 1: all soon.
30:37
Speaker 5: Thank you, Andrew, thanks for buying.
30:42
Speaker 3: That's it for this week's Deck show. We'll be back
30:45
Speaker 3: next week, and if you don't already, be sure to
30:47
Speaker 3: follow the show so you don't miss an episode until
30:50
Speaker 3: next time.