Former US President John F. Kennedy once said, “In a crisis, be aware of the danger, but recognize the opportunity.” This is apt for businesses, as nothing in business stands still. The key question most organizations try to answer is how to build profitable and sustainable growth when competitiveness is ever-increasing.
The answer lies in building a sustainable competitive advantage, which gives a firm an edge over its competitors, allowing it to generate greater sales or margins and/or retain more customers. I think Vistex is in the middle of a most interesting transformation. Vistex is molting. It is still a service company, but it is trying also to provide a software suite in the cloud for companies of all sizes.
In the middle of a monsoon rain which flooded Phoenix, last Monday, I was rushing to airport to catch my flight at 2 PM. Luckily I was able to catch the flight for the Vistas 2014 held in Chicago Lowes O’Hare hotel from Sept 9th to 11th.
Vistex has created a mobile app called “VISTAS”, they leveraged this app extensively for all the communications. This app looks mature and useful. The three days I heard most of the buzz words from Vistex are “Cloud”, “Business centric Apps (BCA)”, “VIZI- new Vistex BI analytics tool”. Most of the sessions which I attended of Vistex Team, they tried their best to impress the customers with the offerings and new features from latest Version 6E. Most of the customers which I interacted were given me a very positive feedback about the new features on Version 6E. Some of them are very impressive about 6E’s launch pad and price simulation features. Though they want move forward with 6E but little bit skeptical about the hurdles of migrating from 6D to 6E. It’s very much common to hear these kinds of feed backs if the knowledge is limited or the resources are scarce. My expert session on Pricing with Kishore Pinnamaneni of Vistex was very useful. Looks like he has exceptional erudition and product knowledge on Pricing and their relevant areas. I had a very useful discussion on Price Simulation feature which they were talking in 6E, in a nutshell; price simulation gives you NGP (net gross profit) of a product by looking into your existing chargebacks, rebates and other discounts. This is like a Venn diagram with complex integration behind.
Keynote session on Sept 10th from Sanjay Shah (Founder and Chief Architect Vistex) with topic ” Stormwatch: Business Proselytism” was striking.
First few minutes of his presentation Sanjay rejuvenated the crowd with fun and then he slowly moved into providing the in depth of offerings and strategy for the future. Sanjay mentioned about their Customer base with 800 plus worldwide and new office locations. As you all agree that SAP took a while to put on weight in their balance sheet with cloud offerings, we need to wait and watch how Vistex moves forward with their cloud offerings. Some of the modules in Vistex like commissions in cloud have their own risks. I had an offline conversation with Raju Datla (Solution Delivery, Vistex) about the Vistex Cloud and risks associated with. He told me that Vistex is aware of the risks and other factors of cloud. Raju sounds very positive on Vistex Year on Year growth with increase market share.
Sanjay had given a live demo about the uses and features of using VIZI. Some of the mentions in the slide “what you can expect from Vistex” pointed in right and in right time. Vistex is really trying to leap forward in cloud and Vizi.But, the success in these depends more upon ‘whom you can do’ than on ‘whom you know’.
Sept 11th Keynote from Craig Karges (http://goo.gl/Oulm78) is extraordinary. It’s an interactive session with couple of magic kind of shows. He tried very hard to impress the audience to convey the message ‘Think different’ and ‘you can do it’.. His presentation skills are awesome.
Network events in the evening are O.K because I did not have any presumed expectations on them. Last day, in the afternoon I went to Art of Chicago museum to visit the conference hall where Swami Vivekananda. I am enthralled with the silence and history behind.
To sustain a shared vision, Vistex must invest time in listening to people, understanding their needs, unraveling their fears, Open product knowledge, engage the consultants more on Vistex VOICE like SAP SCN, anticipating their hopes and co-creating and communicating an image of the envisioned future that mirrors their aspirations. Shared vision, indeed, is the shorthand of authentic leadership. I hope Vistas 2014 might have helped Vistex to achieve their long term goals, still long way to pass on.
sivaayyala 