In the Acceleration Economy Cloud Wars Top 10 CEO Outlook 2023 series, Bob Evans interviewed Frank Slootman, CEO of Snowflake. The company ranks #9 on the Cloud Wars Top 10. In this CEO Outlook moment, Slootman discusses the shifting balance from IT to the line of business and the impact this will have.
Highlights
00:10 — “They [customers] care about their problems, not ours,” Slootman notes, emphasizing how important it is to “speak their language” and understand their challenges and their opportunities.
00:51 — The balance is shifting from IT to business. Slootman points out that they’re working with IT departments less and with the line of business more, as the line of business has become more technically savvy.
01:18 — Both IT and business have important roles to play. However, there’s a balanced mix of business interests and IT interests, which Slootman considers to be “very healthy.” With this balance, companies like Snowflake need to “rerack themselves” and define why they are organized by line of business.
01:42 — A salesperson can’t be an expert at all things, Slootman explains. For instance, a salesperson would only be focused on public sector organizations or only focused on working with banks.
01:55 — Slootman holds one outside board position, which is with Instacart. One reason that he decided to join this board is that he wanted to learn about retail — digital innovations in retail, consumer packaged goods, and more. Although he didn’t have previous expertise in this area, he now has an opportunity to listen, learn, and ask questions. “I, too, have to move on from being your typical enterprise software product manager-type person,” he says.
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