A Matter of Trust Project Partner
A Matter of Trust Interface Magazine speaks to Chad Kalmes, Vice President Technical Operations at PagerDuty, to see how the SaaS digital operations management pioneer is supporting digital transformation across the sectors and around the globe‌
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Andr ew Wo o d s Cr ai g D an iels
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ever has the pace of technological change been this fast and, going forward,
this slow, ever again. Every industrial sector is undergoing constant shifts and revolutions allowing them to compete, succeed, survive and thrive. There is an increasing reliance on technology at every turn and this ongoing movement toward digital operations has created a myriad of opportunities for business and products that can enable and enhance these shifts in operations. PagerDuty is a real-time digital operations company whose platform supports a lot of critical real-time use cases for its customers by sitting at the heart of whatever technology ecosystem that particular customer is using. PagerDuty responds to signals and data from all the different software applications and systems in that environment and helps to proactively and intelligently understand when something is not working appropriately. The platform then helps customers
incredible ROIs. Chad Kalmes is Vice President,
to focus resources in a real-time manner
Technical Operations at PagerDuty and
to solve those problems, before they
an experienced technology executive
actually become issues or outages. The
and management consultant. Kalmes
company is on a dramatic growth curve,
was drawn to PagerDuty in 2018 just as
with a raft of big-name clients such as
the company was advancing towards
Netflix, Peloton, DoorDash and Amex; no
an IPO. “I joined PagerDuty about a little
small wonder when its platform can offer
over two years ago, now, when they
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were just starting to make that turn from
PagerDuty is a cloud computing
a true start-up to a public company.
company that produces a SaaS digital
I joined to help them on that journey
operations and incident response plat-
of maturing their processes, thinking
form for customers to enable real-time
through what needed to change to make
support to across their operations. As
them more successful, and getting them
of 2018, the company had raised over
on that path toward public company
$170 million in venture funding and
readiness and ultimately the IPO last
has been recognized by Forbes on its
year,” he tells us.
‘Cloud 100’. Within the realm of digital w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t
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A major partner in PagerDuty’s success is the world’s leading CRM provider Salesforce, which is helping global sales teams during these uncertain times… Sales had been undergoing a digital transformation for a while prior to the advent of COVID-19, which has greatly accelerated this shift as human contact shifts from face to face, into screen to screen. A more challenging aspect to sales in the ‘new norm’, however, is not directly related to the conversations and interactions that seal the deal… Where there are opportunities for improvements beyond the initial selling process is not actually in the selling part, but everything after. “When you think about the quote-to-cash flow, the approvals of the deal desk, the pricing, the legal reviews and negotiations; they’re all operational, legal and financial functions, which, for the most part, are in-office operations,” explains Pascal Yammine, Senior Vice President & General Manager of CPQ & Billing at leading CRM provider Salesforce. “But now, they have to find a way to work in a remote model they’re definitely not accustomed to. And so, what we’re seeing as a result, is a much heavier push towards automation and intelligence to make those processes easier.” Questions sales teams may be asking right now, could be: “How do we automate the approval process? How do we use data to be more intelligent around knowing when to approve, and when not to approve, things? Or, what’s missing in terms of the order form?” According to Yammine, these are the areas where we often underestimate the complexity of working from home, or within remote operations. “That’s a big area for our customers to focus on.” “The hard part of ‘going digital’,” says Yammine, “means acquiring agility, flexibility and speed to change. Seeing how customers have been able to quickly adapt their business processes with new capabilities while keeping
people home with technology has been amazing,” he enthuses. “What’s really compelling for me is the agility that the Salesforce CPQ & Billing platform has provided companies in their business model. Customers who made the shift to recurring revenue subscription models three or four years ago, implemented Salesforce to help them through that three to four-year journey. And this year we’re seeing companies do it in a matter of months because they’ve had to. Not only are they able to adapt their business and their metrics, but they’re also able to adapt their business model. This platform has allowed them to stay healthy and actually excel during these times. That agility we’re seeing in the world is amazing to me. It’s one of those areas where you don’t know how much you can do until you’re forced to do it. And here at Salesforce, we’re thrilled, honored and humbled to be a platform for change.” Salesforce is also providing much needed support to enterprises for life ‘postCOVID-19’ with Work.com; a suite of apps that helps companies monitor their return-towork readiness, focusing on the logistics surrounding health and safety in the workplace and the staff who inhabit those spaces. “The focus of that suite is to arm stakeholders around the world with tools that help them handle the situation and get staff back to work safely,” says Yammine. “Because again, there’s no playbook for that and we’re learning and adjusting as we go.” So, with Work.com, and CPQ & Billing, Salesforce is providing an essential flexibility to the business model, by not only getting people back to work, but by also helping them to actually grow and optimize their revenue as we all look towards a brighter future.
transformation and the subsequent oper-
for building, maintaining, and supporting
ations, PagerDuty sees itself as Digital
those environments need to operate as
Operations Management, making sure
effectively as possible by responding to
that clients can get the right resources
problems as they arise.”
to tackle a problem as quickly as possi-
For companies that move to a DevOps
ble, and minimize the ultimate impacts to
engineering approach where the engi-
its business and its own customers. “So,
neers build, ship, operate, and maintain
the first use case, or where we typically
their code directly, or in traditional IT
find our initial traction with customers is,
operations organizations where there
maybe somewhat obviously, in depart-
are different functional groups within IT,
ments like Engineering or IT,” Kalmes
one of the biggest costs or risks comes
explains. “Essentially, those teams that
from downtime that either impacts your
are plugged into the digital ecosys-
customer’s ability to transact with you,
tem at their company. In the DevOps or
to access your services, to do what they
ITOps spaces, the teams responsible
need to do, or it shuts down an internal
“At PagerDuty, we know that we have to be at our best when our customers are at their worst” —
CHAD KALMES, VICE PRESIDENT TECHNICAL OPERATIONS, PAGERDUTY
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PA G E R D U T Y
business function, which again, has
positioned to do. And so rather than
costs operationally. “I think one of the
having them just sitting around, staring
really powerful benefits of our platform
at a screen or waiting for the phone to
overall is that we’re not trying to take
ring, we only bring that to their attention,
humans out of the equation. We real-
or involve them, when it’s necessary, and
ize the value of humans, but we want
not when they’ve got a lot of other valu-
to apply them in the most effective and
able things they could be doing for the
value-add manner possible,” he says. “I
organization.”
think a lot of companies only really want
One of the tenets Kalmes holds dear,
to bring in the experts, the humans into
from his previous consulting roles, as
the equation, when you actually need
well as his current position at PagerDuty
them to take action on something, or
is People, Process and Technology. “It’s
to apply critical thinking or judgment,
a very simplistic model, but still a good
to make changes to something that
way to think about tackling any chal-
really only a human is probably best
lenge or problem,” he explains. “The
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order of those three points is important
they try to find a way to make it work,
as well. People is there first because
versus going the other direction with
I do think, ultimately, any successful
their decision making. While, the People,
company, strategy, program is only as
Process, Technology approach is very
good as the people you’ve got power-
simplistic, I think it’s also very powerful
ing it. And so making sure you’ve got the
because it gives you a framework for
right people in the right roles with the
thinking about things in a way that sets
right skillsets before you hit Go is really
you up for success if you do it properly.”
foundational. Process being the second
According to Kalmes, PagerDuty’s
part there, addresses the need to take
ultimate goal is to liberate people to
a step back and make sure you under-
do their best and most valuable work.
stand the problem you’re trying to solve
“Ultimately, that applies to every function
and what the end state you’re trying
in the organization,” he explains. “If I look
to get to, is. You have to have a very
at how we apply the platform internally in
clear vision for what that strategy and
our own operations, we have critical deal
approach needs to be before you start
flow and operational procedures in the
to move on to technology, which is the last point.” Technology is of course integral to the decisions you make and how enterprises implement change. “If you’re starting from a strong foundation of the right people and the right approach and strategy, the technology should largely become somewhat secondary, and it’s really just there to improve and enhance the other decisions you’ve already made along the way. And I think where I’ve seen companies go off the rails or struggle is when they start with the technology. They find a cool tool or a piece of software they think is interesting, and 10
PA G E R D U T Y
“…letting perfect be the enemy of good is one of the worst things you can do.” — CHAD KALMES, VICE PRESIDENT TECHNICAL OPERATIONS, PAGERDUTY
organization where, if we’re trying to rapidly close a big deal or if certain service SLAs get out of appropriate bounds, we can make sure that we get people in realtime to focus on unblocking or fixing whatever is slowing that process down.” Ultimately as more and more functions in an organization become digitally enabled or digitally driven, there’s a story or a value-add use case for PagerDuty in those scenarios. PagerDuty adds more and more features over time to bring things like machine learning and automation increasingly to its customers, “that just helps speed up that decision making and that human interaction even more”. By focusing that response, PagerDuty can make companies far more efficient in what they do, and that of course raises the eyebrows at every strata of a company’s hierarchy. One study with IDC showed that over a three-year period, the company’s customers saw a 731% ROI, and an initial payback of their investment w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t
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in PagerDuty in as little as four and a half months. For many emerging organizations growing by 10-15% a year, they will definitely experience strains on its technology stack and operating environment. “They will then need to try to find efficiencies and ways to keep growing,” Kalmes reveals. “This is also particularly integral at companies at the start of that growth journey, pre-IPO to post-IPO where they’re growing at a 40-50% clip. And if you look at most companies, one of their largest expenses is ultimately headcount. Even small, incremental improvements in how you can make employees better and more effective at their jobs, and make sure that they’re spending time on the most value-add services they can provide, can have a big impact on the bottom line. That’s ultimately the power of what our platform brings to the table, and I think that’s reflected in that ROI study.” As companies experience growth, a genuine flexibility in operations becomes essential, and it’s that particular facet that appeals to Kalmes. “I think it’s a really interesting problem to try and tackle. I like that kind of challenge. You try to do yearly planning and have a roadmap of three to five years out, but you have to shift and adjust those plans on a quarterly basis, if not more frequently than that, to make sure you are continuously right-sizing your investments, your strategy, your operations, your technology stack to get you that agility you need to keep growing at that pace.” One sector PagerDuty is seeing a lot of potential in is finance and fintech. “If you look at how a lot of really big banks, investment firms, financial institutions operate, they’re still very tied to a traditional, in-office 12
PA G E R D U T Y
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“Even small, incremental improvements in how you can make employees better and more effective at their jobs… can have a big impact on the bottom line. That’s ultimately the power of what our platform brings to the table” — CHAD KALMES, VICE PRESIDENT TECHNICAL OPERATIONS, PAGERDUTY
culture with a lot of homegrown inter-
manner, without sacrificing that security,
nal systems that they’ve spent years
those controls, and the privacy protec-
building layers of security and walls of
tions they’ve put in place. I think that,
protection around, due to the very sensi-
as an industry transformation, it’s really
tive data they’re dealing with. But at the
interesting and exciting because it’s so
same time, the world is forcing them to
pervasive, and I think it’s just still so ripe
rethink how they can be more agile and
for potential improvement.”
flexible, and meet the demands of their
The customer journey is certainly seen
customers who are probably chang-
as a major selling point for PagerDuty
ing decisions or making decisions a lot
when attracting and servicing its clients.
faster and want a lot more access to
Its client journey enables customers
real-time information and services. All of
large and small, regardless of size, to
those institutions have to find ways to do
interact with PagerDuty in a way that’s
what they’ve done historically, but in a
purely digital. “We self-serve a lot of
faster, lighter-weight, more digital-native
their needs directly on the platform,”
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PA G E R D U T Y
Kalmes explains. “And so if you’re a really small company and have a hand-
your business around is critical.” Kalmes, a man with extensive expe-
ful of users and very basic needs, you
rience from working in professional
can go to our website and get up and
services cites the importance of ‘influ-
running in a matter of seconds. If you’re
ence’ when liaising with clients. “As
a larger organization and you want to
a consultant you don’t have the abil-
do a little bit more due diligence, you
ity to go in and force a company to
want to go through the traditional sales
do anything,” he says. “You’re not an
cycle and process, we can support that
employee there, you’re not a manager
as well. Very early on, we identified that
or a leader… However, you want that
Salesforce, as a platform and an ecosys-
company to improve, to get better, to
tem, was going to be a huge part in our
fix the problem they came to you with
journey and our real-time capabilities in
and you have to do that through influ-
that space. Finding those ‘foundational’
ence. You have to show them the value
partners and platforms that you can craft
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many people like change, but it’s critical to be increasingly good at changing. And you really have to do that through influence. So, it’s building relationships, it’s illustrating that you know the business and what they’re trying to accomplish, and then laying out a clear path or framework for them to get better over time.” Change management and the shift in work culture is a challenge but it’s a notion that PagerDuty thrives on when dealing with its strategic interplay with clients. “I think a core cultural aspect we have, is of questioning everything and not letting decisions of the past dictate how we react today - I think that’s critical. Facebook is famous for its ‘move fast and break things’ methodology.
versus making a good decision and then
While I think we’re probably not quite
being able to rapidly adjust and iter-
that cavalier, and even Facebook has
ate on that. As a company, we’re open
walked back from that a little bit, we do
and willing to take chances and go with
see the value in bringing a lot of diverse
something that we think is directionally
perspectives and experiences to the
good and iterate along the way, that’s a
table, and quite frankly in freeing people
competitive advantage at the end of the
up to try new things. Not all of those
day because we can move in a direction,
experiments or innovations are going to
make a few adjustments, and probably
be successful, but letting perfect be the
get to a pretty close to perfect solution
enemy of good is one of the worst things
much more quickly if we just get going
you can do. I think there’s a lot of traps
and get momentum on our side.”
that companies can fall into. Paralysis
Nowhere has the value of companies
through analysis and getting too caught
such as PagerDuty been felt than during
up in trying to make the perfect decision,
the global pandemic of COVID-19 as
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PA G E R D U T Y
companies have experienced remote
“Those companies have already
working and increased demand on digi-
thought through how they’re optimizing
tal offerings and operations. “I would
their operations and their technology
bet that the companies that are weath-
to power their business, and can make
ering this storm the best, that made the
those adjustments and changes as close
fastest shift from a work-in-office envi-
to real-time as possible. I think those
ronment to a work-from-home environ-
organizations were probably some of
ment, in some cases almost overnight,
the first to almost flip a switch and let
are those that were further along in their
their people work from home without
transition to digital operations. They’re
any hiccups. They’re probably also the
probably also those companies that will
ones that were immediately questioning,
not only weather the storm but come out
planning, forecasting what the impacts
stronger, better, faster, at the other end
of COVID-19 were going to be on their
– those that are more digital-native than
operations. They’re looking at all the
their competitors,” he explains.
metrics of their business in real-time and w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t
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understand what they have to do in order to adjust to meet their customers where they are today in light of the current environment. I think, again, the companies that are the most agile and the most able to adjust will probably continue to grow despite macroeconomic impacts and will probably come out the other end stronger.” A key part of PagerDuty’s relationships with its clients comes down to one simple, yet priceless word: trust. “Without it, there really is no business to be had,” Kalmes says. “Trust in the SaaS space, especially enterprise SaaS where it’s businesses relying on you to power part of their operations, trust is the number one thing you ultimately sell. You can have the greatest features, the coolest product, a really novel approach to something, but if ultimately you’re not a trustworthy company, you don’t operate in a manner that’s transparent and gives a sense of reliability and safety to your customers, they’re not going to trust you with the most critical workloads, the most critical processes and operating elements of their business, because it’s too important to what they do. At PagerDuty, we know that we have to be at our best when our customers are at their worst. That is a burden and a duty that we do not take lightly. So, I definitely can’t stress enough how critical trust is to that equation. If you don’t have that trust, I don’t think you’re going to be in business for very long.”
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Chad Kalmes Vice President Technical Operations at PagerDuty Chad is a proven executive with over 20 years of technology, security, and consulting experience. Throughout his career he has worked with companies to strategize, innovate, and implement successful operations for hypergrowth, public company readiness, and sustainable long-term scale, building successful teams spanning IT, Production Operations/Engineering, Security and Compliance, Business Intelligence, and Program Management. Chad was the top IT executive at both Twilio & PagerDuty and successfully led both through their IPOs. He currently serves as the head of Risk Management & Technical Operations at PagerDuty, the leading SaaS platform for real-time digital operations management and incident response.
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www.pagerduty.com