PRITHWI DASGUPTA:
From a function standpoint, uh… it’s very common these days, that CS teams, not all, but a fair number of CS teams are also tasked with, you know… driving adoption. Uh… what is your reaction to that?

JASON C. WHITEHEAD:
You know, I personally, I think CS teams, uh… they need to have some expertise to help do that. And that has to be part of their mission, because you know, as I was talking about user adoption is on the critical path to value creation and, and benefits realization and no adoption -> no value -> no renewals. I think the challenge is that most folks don’t know how to do that.

And I know from personally in my career, when I started out, uh… you know, I got a degree in information systems. I worked for consulting companies doing implementations, and it was very focused on go live and go home, map the process, get the system configured, launch, train users, get out there and then go into support mode. And that was great.

And it wasn’t until I went internally at, at a Texas Instruments where I was hired as internal staff member, that my boss came to me and said, your job is to make sure that people are using the system so we can prove to the executives… they were getting value.

And I realized that’s a very big… different job. And I, even with my previous experience and education, didn’t know what I needed to do to do that. um… and I think most folks just don’t have the skills and knowledge. And in my particular case, I went back to school and got another degree to learn how to do that.

But most folks don’t have that time or that option. And without having the expertise and confidence to help your customer drive adoption and to be able to give them true recommendations, I think a lot of CS folks are nervous and you’re kind of setting ’em up to fail.

SUE NABETH MOORE:
Yeah

PRITHWI DASGUPTA:
Correct. Correct.