John Donahoe’s cloud company may be focused on transforming work, but the ServiceNow chief draws a lot of inspiration from some of the world’s top consumer-facing apps, he told CNBC on Friday.
“Over the last 10 years, in the consumer mobile revolution, technology has transformed our lives at home with cloud-based applications like an eBay or a PayPal or a[n] Uber on our mobile phones,” Donahoe, who spent 10 years at eBay, told “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer in an exclusive interview.
“But technology today at work is complex, frustrating, and with cloud-based platforms like ServiceNow, over the next five to 10 years, there is no reason why we can’t have the same kind of experiences at work as we have at home,” the CEO said.
Donahoe admitted that he’s “taking lessons” from his time at eBay and using “analogies in the consumer world” to drive improvements in the way companies use technology.
He stressed that at this stage in the data revolution, digital transformation is “no longer just a business buzzword,” but a “strategic necessity” for companies and governments.
“In the consumer world, let’s take if you have to reset your PayPal password,” the CEO said. “PayPal has your money, and yet you can reset your PayPal password in 20 seconds, safely and securely, on your mobile phone, no matter where you are, anywhere in the world. Think about at work — if you have to reset your email password, it’s brain damage.”
As a purveyor of digitization that helps streamline menial, yet difficult tasks like these, ServiceNow, which Cramer has anointed a “cloud king,” is benefiting hugely, growing earnings and revenues by double digits as of its latest earnings report.
“In this day and age, [employees] want to be able to have things happen in a self-help or automated fashion. That drives a better experience for the employee, that drives greater productivity and efficiency for the company and it drives a happier employee and happier provider at work,” Donahoe told Cramer. “That’s what ServiceNow enables, is transforming the experiences at work in the same way you have at home.”
And while ServiceNow’s $34.8 billion market cap has reportedly worried some of its competitors, according to Cramer, Donahoe said his company is staying focused on its customers by working with other cloud platforms.
In fact, many ServiceNow clients use “four to seven strategic platforms” to run their businesses including Salesforce.com for sales, Adobe for marketing, Workday for human resources and ServiceNow for information technology solutions, the CEO said.
“They want these to work together, so I think there’s going to be multiple winners. And if we’re customer-focused, we’ll find ways to work together to deliver the great kind of experiences at work.”
ServiceNow’s stock ended the day higher, up 0.28 percent at $195.63.
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