>> Live from Atlanta, Georgia
It's theCUBE, covering Citrix Synergy Atlanta 2019.
Brought to you by Citrix.
>> Hi welcome back to theCUBE.
Lisa Martin with Keith Townsend day two
of theCUBE's coverage of Citrix Synergy 2019 from Atlanta.
We're excited to welcome Principle Analyst
of Creative Strategies Carolina Milanesi to theCUBE.
Welcome Carolina.
>> Thank you for having me.
>> So we were chatting before we went live
about some of the great announcements that came out
from Citrix yesterday during the general session.
And one of the things that we, Keith and I,
had been hearing over yesterday and half of today
is Citrix has really been this pivot
towards the general purposed user.
One of the stats that they shared yesterday
during the general session
was historically enterprise software has been designed
for power users, which makes up 1% of the population.
So, putting users first now,
something that we really heard yesterday,
wanted to get your thoughts on that.
>> That's my passion.
When I talk about enterprise,
the people that I really want to talk about
are the final user of the technologies.
And a lot of times not only corporation's design
for the power users but they design for the IT Manager,
which is even worse, right?
'Cause that is less than the 1% of a workforce.
And for things like security
and if you like the way that you can be productive first
which is not necessarily a bad thing
but that shouldn't come at the price of designing an app
and a tool that really speaks to the end user
and want the end user to be engaged.
And so it was fascinating yesterday during the keynote here,
Citrix talked about a service that Gallup run
and saying that 85% of a workforce
is disengaged today.
And they are because they often
not have the right tool for the job.
They don't have the right data
available to them to understand what the task is
that they're trying to achieve.
So, there is so much there
that I think something like workspace is helping
disenfranchise in a way.
And try and break into pieces
and make it more user-friendly.
That's the best way that you can think about
consumerization is making user-friendly tools.
>> So user-friendly and enterprise IT really go together.
>> Exactly.
>> I remember moving from Office 2003 to Office 2007
and thinking, oh wow why did I do this?
This is not user-friendly.
We have five generations of the workforce in the workforce.
>> Yeah.
>> So there is variant degrees of adoption.
What do you think, how do you think Citrix
is enabling not just the consumerization
or bringing consumer products into the workforce
but adaption across generations.
>> I think if you are starting with the user,
you are in a good space, right?
So, it doesn't matter if you're a baby boomer,
a gen z or gen x or a millennial
we all want a easy life.
We want something to be straightforward
and not to get into, in the way of as being productive
and getting the job done.
And so, I think if you're starting with that in mind
making sure that you understand the goals
that the company is trying to achieve
and then with the design you're attentive at that simplicity
baking in security so that security is at the core
of your designing your tool but doesn't get in the way.
I don't want to use the tool at work that is not secure
unless it's more convenient for me, right?
And that's how we always gone around
what was available in the consumer space
and we've brought into the enterprise
either as a device or an application.
And I think that putting simplicity first,
is allowing Citrix to avoid the issues
so that, the IT departments don't have to worry
about renegades that are going to bring in
something from the backdoor
but really embrace this technology
as a new way to think about how I work.
>> In along those lines, thinking about how I work,
I as an employee, you as an employee, Keith is an employee,
we all have habits and tools
and ways of interacting with different applications
that are really personalized to us.
And as consumers on the consumer part of our lives,
we have this expectation that we are going to be delivered
this customized personal experience.
Whether we are going on at Amazon to buy something
or Keith was saying the other day on Facebook
Microsoft surfs up an ad to him about not a Surface,
'cause they know he's bought one
but some additional value ad accessories
that might be beneficial to him.
So those are things that we kind of more and more,
I think across those five workforce
generations are expecting. >> Absolutely.
>> What are some of the things that you're saying
that Citrix is doing to enable that personalization at scale
in a way that is secure?
>> Yeah, by putting intelligence in the midst of all of this
because all the things that you're talking about
the example you're giving in my consumer experience,
are enabled by intelligence.
So artificial intelligence or machine learning
that look at what ad I looked at or what page I visited
and some of it is a bit stalking but that's all right.
From a user perspective, that stalking
is still giving me a benefit.
Now you take that into an enterprise environment,
it is much easier 'cause advertising
is not something that comes into play.
But when you're looking at what Citrix do
from an intelligence workspace
and so they are able for instance to look at,
say I join Citrix in the marketing department
and they're able on day one to show me what my colleagues
in the marketing department are using as their apps.
Their favorite apps, their workflow
so that from an awarding perspective,
my experience is already easier.
I'm not given a blank PC and I don't know where to go
and they tell you go in the internet, find what you need.
That's really overwhelming if you're just starting
a new position.
So being able to look at how applications are used
either at the team level or across organizations,
you can do this with analytics.
You can see organizations that can belong to same versicle
say they are in retail,
they have similar numbers of employees to yours.
This is how they work, that's their best practice
and you can learn from that and then customize
to your own needs.
>> So we've learned a new term yesterday,
tomo, total motivation.
The measurement of how motivated
or how not disengaged employees are.
So employee experience is becoming a big deal.
If I come to a new company
and I have to wait two or three days to get a laptop
or get my device,
that's a pretty bad indicator whether or not
I am going to be able to perform well in my function.
I'm starting to think are you saying really great examples
of enterprises that will make consumers jealous.
Like wow that enterprise experience
of computing is so great, I'd like to have that in my life.
There was somethings I saw on stage yesterday
that went like wow that would make build me so much easier.
Are you saying enterprises kind of inject some ideas
to the consumer space?
>> I think that we are starting to, right?
I've been in this industry for along time.
And I've been preaching for a long time
about how looking at consumers
and putting the user first is important.
We're just starting now to come around to the idea
that consumer satisfaction is important,
that consumer engagement, sorry, employee satisfaction,
employee engagement is important.
It dawned me yesterday that
if you're looking at consumer brands,
engagement is the first thing they target.
Because if you're engaged, you're going to be loyal.
If you're loyal, you're going to spend more money
within the brand and ecosystem that they represent.
But yet in the enterprise we are not that yet.
So, what you're talking about will happen, in my opinion,
especially with new technologies
we're thinking about deployment of 5G
or you're thinking about VR and XR.
There is a lot that in a way takes us back
to how technology used to be
which was not as affordable as it is today.
And so will be deployed in enterprise environment first
and then come to the consumer.
And so, along those line I see somethings that consumer
can look at and think, you know that would be nice
in my own life.
If you're looking at workspace
why cannot I use this similar solution to just organize
my kid's life 'cause I tell you, you know.
With all the afterschool activity and whatnot
between me and dad, we're pretty busy.
>> So you mentioned engagement
and some of the things that pop into my mind is the marketer
in the last day and a half
when they talk about employee experience
as how I'm hearing it from Citrix is this is a critical
catalyst for digital transformation.
Talking about the employee experience
from the very beginnings of even recruiting for talent
and writing job descriptions
to telling accusation to training, education.
You guys both talked about some of the onboarding things
that should be in place
to make that process pretty seamless.
But one of the things too that I think
govern terms of employee experience
is that like a marketing funnel,
naturally, becomes a opportunity, converted to a customer
but you want to turn that customer to an advocate,
turn those employees into advocates
so that you are able to retain them,
they add more value into the company.
That was something that I thought that was really,
pretty, I want to say revolutionary
but it was nice to hear Citrix
talking about employee experience
as it really relates to the essential telling,
attraction and accusation issues
that a lot of businesses face.
And one of the things you said,
looking at how they're using AI to look at tool efficiency
rather than productivity of each individual
is really a great way to foster that I would imagine
loyalty on the employee side.
>> It definitely is.
I think that, we talk a lot about being millennials
and in the fact that they are going to come into the workspace
and they are expecting a different way of working
because their relationship with technology is different
from the relationship that my generation has had.
They are comfortable with technology.
They use technology everyday
and they don't understand why it cannot be the same way.
But I think beyond that is not just about millennials,
I think companies really need to look more at,
if you like, digital transformation
and consumerization of IT
actually brings to the whole company.
And even being yes an employee for factor
but also a customer factor,
supporting your customer, increasing customer satisfaction.
And I think a lot of times we need to get away from
how we measure something new using old tools.
So you're trying to justify
why you should be deploying workspace
and you're trying to cut down on okay,
I'm going to save four hours a week,
how much is that going to cost me?
That's not it.
That is the wrong way of looking at what a new tool
and rethinking about your processes
is bringing as a value to your company.
And a lot of times this is soft,
it's not a hard number that you can put.
They're soft advantages that you're going to have
and like you were saying, satisfaction brings loyalty,
brings further every employee in your organization
is going to be an evangelist for you.
That, you can't put a price on that.
>> So in terms of customer I want to kind of rift off that,
if you're saying, cause one of the things
that they said yesterday
is with workspace intelligent experience,
we aim to give back every worker one full day a week,
which is two months a year. And my first thought was,
wow, how much is that going to save the company
because one of the things that Keith and I
have been talking about the last day and a half
that also was announced yesterday
was the 7 trillion dollars that companies waste
because of disengagement.
So that certainly is something that was attractive
and was a very strongly resonating message
but you're saying how should companies
be kind of looking at that?
Okay so, yes I'm going to be able to save
each person a full day a week, two months a year;
how is that going to one, turn them
into advocates for the company?
But what's the benefit that going to be
on the end user customer?
>> Well, I think that if you spend less time
fighting to get your job done and actually focusing
on doing a good job,
that's already going to benefit your customer.
Whatever customer it is, right?
It could be that you're able to research
whatever it is that you're doing.
Like if I look at my job, if I can cut down an hour a day,
I can spend that time reading in a benign form,
reading books or reading articles
that will add to my thinking,
engaging with my peers and discussing what is going on.
The same thing can be in an enterprise
where I have actually time to spend with my manager
and making sure that he knows if I'm happy or not happy.
Engaging with my peers to problem solving
or spend more time with my customers.
I think a lot of times
there is a little bit of a mentality
of, oh you're saving money so you're going to work less
and so why would I need to do that?
There is plenty of jobs to be done.
I think that saving that time and saving the aggravation
that pushing paper work or doing one thing
that could take three step in 15 steps
it's just not helping you.
It's not helping your morale,
is not helping how you've been interact with your customers
because you aren't happy.
And that transpire and transpire with your teams as well.
>> Let's talk about 5G and impact of 5G
on employee experience.
One, we're a little bit away from 5G becoming a thing
but when it's talked us about where it said today
and where potential of impacting employee experience
when it finally arrives.
>> Yes we are a little bit away.
We're starting to see deployment in markets
actually today was the launch in the UK
with EE and we have Verizon here in the US.
So we are getting started.
But for me the power of 5G is two falls,
yes on every employee will have the power of connectivity
anywhere and at any time,
which is good and bad
'cause potentially you're never disconnected ever
but the other side is we're talking
about the intelligence in that data.
There is going to be way more of that.
There is going to be more data available.
So if you're thinking from an employee perspective
of the availability of data and what that can do to you
as far as understanding your customer base and how to serve
and that is going to be exponentially bigger
just because so many more devices
are going to become connected.
And I think that for me is really what excites me about 5G.
Yes I can download a movie in one minute and five seconds
but that's not it, right?
It is really about first of all, new experiences like
augmented reality and what that bring to an experience
say in a retail environment,
experience environment, entertainment
but then the amounts of sheered data
that you can get from devices being connected.
>> So, it's that we're at the tip of the iceberg?
>> It is. >> Carolina thank you so much
for joining Keith and me. >> It was a pleasure.
>> On the CUBE I know that we can keep chatting
but we have to have you back
'cause this is a dot dot dot to be continued conversation.
We appreciate your time.
>> Thank you.
>> For Keith Townsend, I'm Lisa Martin
you're watching theCUBE Live from Citrix Synergy 2019.
Thanks for watching.
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