Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily news and commentary show, hosted by Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the Cloud.
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In this Cloud Wars Minute, Bob Evans discusses Carl Eschenbach, the new co-CEO of Workday. He elaborates on comments Eschenbach made at a recent investors conference.
Highlights
00:38 — Earlier this week, the two co-CEOs of Workday, Aneel Bhusri and Carl Eschenbach, spoke at a Morgan Stanley investors conference. Eschenbach joined Workday as co-CEO only three months ago, but has been on the board for the last five years.
01:01 — Eschenbach is setting a “more aggressive tone,” suggests Bob. At the investors conference, Eschenbach commented on Workday’s great culture and great people who “kick ass.” Bob notes that this comment captures the new feeling, sense of urgency, vitality, and aggressiveness that Eschenbach wants the company to have on the sales and go-to-market side.
01:32 — Both Eschenbach and Bhusri feel like the company has been terrific in its product development. Now, the co-CEOs want to elevate the urgency of what’s happening in sales. Eschenbach wants Workday’s sales organization to have more “giddy-up.”
02:19 — Eschenbach will be co-CEO with Bhusri for roughly the next year. In February of 2024, as Workday begins its new fiscal year, he will take over as the sole CEO. Bhsuri will move over to become the full-time executive chairman.
02:46 — There are four big areas that Eschenbach called out at the Morgan Stanley investors conference:
- Better results from international sales
- Sell more to existing customers
- Opportunities within Workday’s partners ecosystem
- Workday’s mission to become a $10 million company
04:13 — Eschenbach noted that he didn’t come into the organization to be a “caretaker CEO.” Rather, he is determined to make Workday a “high-growth company, one of the biggest and most-profitable enterprise software companies in the world.”
