Uppercut Podcasts By Upperedge

Workday's FY24 revenue saw an impressive increase, with total revenue reaching $1.90 billion and marking a 17% year-over-year growth. This growth was slightly ahead of Workday’s target and supported by an increase in net-new customers, ongoing focus on the healthcare sector and early renewals. In this podcast, Workday Practice Manager Erwann Couesbot gives a high-level overview of the recent earnings results. He also maps out what to expect from Workday in the coming year as they continue to accelerate growth internally and in the healthcare, higher education, and government sectors. Lastly, he covers how customers can prepare for their upcoming Workday negotiations and renewals given this information. Host: Erwann Couesbot: https://bit.ly/2WIKJdX Workday Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2TTLjEO

Salesforce’s FY24 total revenue came in at $34.9B, representing an 11% growth year-over-year. However, this did come in much lower than the 18% growth posted in FY23. Salesforce’s FY25 guidance also represents a continued decline in growth, as the midpoint of Salesforce’s forecasted revenue would represent roughly 8.6% growth. It is clear from the earnings call that Salesforce, and the Salesforce account executives, will be focused on getting customers to adopt both Data Cloud and the newly released Einstein Copilot. Salesforce will be pushing Einstein Copilot either as an add-on to the current Sales Cloud and/or Service Cloud subscriptions or an upgrade to the most robust and expensive “Einstein 1” edition (formerly “Unlimited Plus”). An “Einstein 1” adoption or upgrade also inevitably comes with Data Cloud adoption. In this podcast, Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what Salesforce’s earnings mean for customers and what customers should expect from Salesforce as they push through the

Microsoft announced their FY24 Q2 earnings yesterday. Total revenue was reported as $62B, better than the $61.1B analysts were expecting. The critically important Microsoft Cloud revenue, which includes Azure, O365 Commercial, LinkedIn, Dynamics 365 and other cloud product, came in at $33.7B, representing a 24% increase year-over-year. Microsoft’s go-forward success and revenue growth will continue to be directly tied to Microsoft’s ability get more customers to adopt cloud products, adopt AI solutions (Copilot for Microsoft 365, Copilot for Sales, Copilot for Service, GitHub Copilot, and Azure OpenAI) and migrate to the costly all-in Microsoft 365 E5 suite. In this podcast, our Microsoft Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses how enterprise customers can take advantage of Microsoft’s needs and focus areas to ensure the right deal is struck at the negotiation table. He also covers what enterprise customers should expect from Microsoft as they prepare for their renewal negotiations. Host: Adam Mansfie

ServiceNow’s Q4 subscription revenue came in at $2.37B, representing 27% growth year-over-year while also beating guidance and analyst expectations. ServiceNow also raised their full year FY24 subscription revenue guidance by $165M, now expecting somewhere between $10.56B and $10.58B, which would represent 21.5 to 22% growth. In this podcast, ServiceNow Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what customers should expect from ServiceNow over the course of the upcoming year as ServiceNow does everything it can to accelerate their Gen AI product adoption (specifically their “Pro Plus” SKU), while also continuing to upsell and cross sell their current customers and adding net new logos. He also shares how customers can leverage ServiceNow’s clear goals during their upcoming ServiceNow negotiations and renewals. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3ls6VDt

Microsoft made some pretty big announcements tied to their Copilot for Microsoft 365 offering. In this podcast, Microsoft Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, shares his thoughts on each announcement and what customers need to be thinking about as they consider adopting Copilot for Microsoft 365. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r Microsoft Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2V78ADX

Salesforce’s Q3 subscription and support revenue came in at $8.14B, representing 13% growth year-over-year, but fairly flat revenue growth when compared to other quarters in FY24. It also represents significantly lower growth when compared against the 18% growth posted last Q3. During the earnings call, CEO, Marc Benioff, made it clear that he and Salesforce are focused on: (1) Increasing profitability (2) Being the #1 AI CRM (3) Getting sales executives to be able to tell the stories of AI success (4) Delivering new products and new technologies (Unlimited Edition Plus, Data Cloud, Einstein GPT Copilot…etc.) (5) Delivering great implementations and making sure customers are successful (6) The Ohana 2.0 culture. In this podcast, Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what Salesforce’s earnings mean for customers and what customers should expect from Salesforce as they push through renewal negotiations. In addition, Adam provides his perspective on how best to prepare for Salesforce’s aggres

Salesforce’s Q2 FY24 total revenue came in at $8.6B, beating analysts expected $8.53B, and represented 11% growth year-over-year. Salesforce raised their full year FY24 revenue guidance from $34.7B to $34.8B, which would represent 11% growth year-over-year and beat the expected guidance of $34.65B. They stated recent price increases were accounted for in these numbers, but the increases did not have a significant influence on what they are now expecting for revenue. Elongated sales cycles, additional deal approval layers and deal compression were also factored into Salesforce’s revenue guidance. It was made abundantly clear that Salesforce is going to be heavily pushing Data Cloud and AI solutions, like AI CRM, onto their customer base. Both are seen as significant revenue and cloud expansion drivers for Benioff’s modern version of Salesforce: “AI + Data + CRM + Trust.” In this podcast, our Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what customers should expect from Salesforce leading up to t

Salesforce announced that they will be increasing list prices by an average of 9% across Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Industries and Tableau products. Salesforce’s last list price increase was over seven years ago, so it was only a matter of time. As further justification for the price increases, Salesforce also cited the fact that they have delivered 22 new releases, thousands of new features, including recent generative AI innovations, over the last seven years. In this podcast, our Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, shares insights into the specific price increases and the products these increases will affect. He also shares his thoughts on what this means for Salesforce customers, including what customers should do to get ahead of their challenging renewal negotiations with Salesforce. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r SalesForce Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2V78ADX

Oracle had an exceptionally strong quarter in FY23 Q4, showing considerable revenue growth across their Cloud Fusion (up 47%), ERP (up 28%), and NetSuite (up 24%) offerings. Over the past several quarters, Oracle has maintained steady growth numbers, especially for their cloud offerings, proving that they have caught up with competitors like Workday in the cloud market. The growth they are seeing in their cloud business is now outpacing the decline of on-premise environments as customers migrate to Oracle cloud. In this podcast, our Oracle Practice Leader, Jeff Lazarto, discusses how Oracle has been able to achieve such substantial growth and how their new Customer Success Service (CSS) offering could help them maintain that growth through value realization, higher renewal rates and portfolio expansions. Plus, he highlights some of the ways AI is being integrated into Oracle’s products. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p

Workday had another solid quarter in FY24 Q1. They announced a 23% growth in revenue, beating market expectations and their 20% target. However, with upcoming changes in leadership at the C-Suite level and an uncertain macroeconomic environment that’s causing elongated sales cycles, it will be critical for Workday to maintain the growth momentum they have built over the last several quarters. In this podcast, our Workday Practice Leader, Jeff Lazarto, highlights the key takeaways from the earnings call and ways customers can leverage Workday’s goals to achieve a more competitive deal, especially for Healthcare, Financial Services, and High Education customers which Workday’s sales reps continue to aggressively target. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Workday Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3A6KOXt

Salesforce released their Q1 FY24 earnings, and while they did beat their previously forecasted revenue target, they reported their slowest revenue growth since 2010 and stated they expect this slowed growth to continue. Salesforce’s total revenue for the quarter was $8.25B, up 11%. Salesforce also reiterated full year FY24 total revenue guidance of $34.5B to $34.7B, which would represent 10% growth. In this podcast, our Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what to expect from Salesforce as they navigate customer sales cycles and renewal negotiations. Salesforce is going to be focused on pushing customers to adopt more products through aggressive sales pitches that bring together logical product portfolios for the customer to adopt. This will likely include a strong pitch centered around Salesforce’s “AI + Data + CRM” strategy and Industry Cloud adoption. He also shares his thoughts on what customers should do to appropriately prepare for Salesforce’s playbook and approach to ensure th

ServiceNow’s FY23 Q1 subscription revenue came in at $2.024B, representing 24% growth year-over-year and beating the $1.996B analysts were expecting. ServiceNow also raised full year FY23 subscription revenue guidance, citing a pipeline that continues to look robust for the remainder of the year. ServiceNow closed 66 transactions in the quarter with over $1M in net-new ACV. This was up 27% year-over-year. ServiceNow also mentioned that 85% of its net-new ACV still comes from existing customers. In this podcast, UpperEdge’s ServiceNow Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what customers should expect from ServiceNow over the course of the upcoming year as it works to upsell and cross sell its current customers while adding net new logos. He also shares how customers can leverage ServiceNow’s clear goals during their upcoming negotiations and renewals. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3ls6VDt

Microsoft’s FY23 Q3 earnings were published yesterday, and total revenue was reported as $52.9B, better than the $51.02B analysts were expecting. Most importantly, Microsoft Cloud revenue (which includes Azure, O365 Commercial, LinkedIn, Dynamics 365 and other cloud products) was reported at $28.5B, representing a 22% increase year-over-year and coming in slightly ahead of expectations. However, Cloud revenue growth has slowed, especially when you consider it was 32% back in FY22 Q3. Microsoft’s go-forward success will continue to be directly tied to Microsoft’s ability get more customers to adopt Microsoft’s Cloud products. CEO Satya Nadella not only lead off his opening remarks with covering the Microsoft Cloud revenue growth but he also said one of the priorities Microsoft is going to focus on is “Helping customers use the breadth and depth of Microsoft Cloud to get the most value out of their digital spend.” In this podcast, our Microsoft Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses how enterprise cus

Oracle closed out another strong quarter with the following highlights from their FY23 Q3 earnings call: • Cloud growth was up 45% • SaaS offerings like FusionERP and NetSuite showed increases of 20% and 26%, respectively. • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s consumption rate was up 86% • IaaS revenue was up 57% With numbers going up across the board, Oracle’s continued cloud growth reflects the current industry trends, and their numbers withstand a tough macroeconomic environment. As Oracle continues to think strategically about their revenue and consumption growth, Oracle customers need to have a firm understanding of this strategy so they can leverage it at the negotiation table. In this podcast, our Oracle Practice Leader, Jeff Lazarto, maps out some of Oracle’s goals that customers can use in their negotiation strategy. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Oracle Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3jdtF7p

Workday fell short of expectations in their most recent FY23 Q4 earnings call, but their revenue was still posted as a 20% increase year-over-year and their overall growth projections throughout the next FY remain accurate. These numbers are a direct result of elongated sales cycles in an economic downturn, but Workday continues to leverage their current customer base to increase renewal rates. In this podcast, Workday Practice Leader Jeff Lazarto gives a high-level overview of the recent earnings results. He also maps out what to expect from Workday in the coming year as they continue to accelerate growth as well as how customers can prepare for their upcoming Workday negotiations and renewals given this information. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Workday Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3A6KOXt

Salesforce’s Q4 FY23 revenue came in at $8.38B, up 14% year-over-year and beating guidance ($7.93B - $8.03B) and analyst expectations ($7.99B / 9.2% growth). Salesforce’s full year FY23 revenue came in at $31.B, higher than guidance ($30.9B - $31B) and represented 18% growth year-over-year. Salesforce also provided full year FY24 revenue guidance of $34.5B - $34.7B that beat what analysts were expecting, but still showed a slowing growth of around 10%. During the earnings call, Salesforce, specifically CEO Marc Benioff, made it very clear that improving profitability is Salesforce’s highest priority. The goal is to make Salesforce the largest and most profitable software company in the world. In this podcast, our Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what customers should expect from Salesforce during the year ahead and beyond. He also shares how customers should approach Salesforce and how best to leverage Salesforce’s clear goals during their upcoming negotiations. Host: Adam Mansfi

Workday announced a 3% layoff of its workforce earlier this week. While these layoffs are significantly smaller than what we have seen from other major tech companies recently, there are still some important insights to gather from this reduction to their global workforce. These layoffs primarily affected the product and technology division, but Workday mentioned their plans to hire in their marketing and sales organizations and stated they do not plan to lay off more of their workforce in the immediate future. In this podcast, our Workday Practice Leader, Jeff Lazarto, discusses what these changes mean for customers in terms of where their product dollars are going, where Workday’s current focus is, and how to navigate Workday’s inevitably aggressive sales tactics following these layoffs. Host: Jeff Lazarto: https://bit.ly/37eCXdN Workday Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/3A6KOXt

ServiceNow’s Q4 subscription revenue came in at $1.86B, representing 22% growth year-over-year even though cRPO fell short of guidance. ServiceNow pointed out during the earnings call that cRPO (revenue that will be recognized in next 12 months) was impacted by fewer early 2023 renewals than is typical in Q4. ServiceNow mentioned that they outperformed their Net New ACV and renewal ACV targets for the contracts that were expiring in Q4. ServiceNow’s full year FY22 subscription revenue also beat guidance, coming in at $6.89B, up 24% year-over-year. In this podcast, ServiceNow Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses what customers should expect from ServiceNow over the course of the upcoming year as ServiceNow works to upsell and cross sell their current customers while adding net new logos. He also shares how customers can leverage ServiceNow’s clear goals during their upcoming ServiceNow negotiations and renewals. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r ServiceNow Commercial Advisory Service

Microsoft’s FY23 Q2 earnings came out, and total revenue was reported as $52.7B, lower than what analysts were expecting ($52.9B). This revenue represented only 2% growth year-over-year, the slowest rate of growth since 2016 . Microsoft’s net income was also down 12%. Most importantly, Microsoft Cloud revenue was reported at $27.1B, representing a 22% increase year-over-year. While the associated gross margin increased from 70% to 72%, their Cloud growth rate has been slowing. Microsoft Cloud revenue growth was 32% in FY22 Q2 and 24% in FY23 Q1. Microsoft’s go-forward success will continue to be directly tied to Microsoft Cloud, which includes Azure, Office365, LinkedIn, Dynamics 365, Power Apps, and other cloud solutions. In this podcast, our Microsoft Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, discusses how enterprise customers can take advantage of Microsoft’s focus on helping customers realize more value from their spend. He also covers what enterprise customers should expect from Microsoft in the coming q

Several key executives are leaving Salesforce, including Co-CEO Bret Taylor, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield, Tableau CEO Mark Nelson and Chief Strategy Office Gavin Patterson. This substantial executive level exodus is certainly catching the attention of investors, Salesforce competitors and customers. In this podcast, our Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, shares his thoughts on the executive departures and provides insights on what customers should do to get ahead of any impact they may have on their relied upon Salesforce solutions. Host: Adam Mansfield: https://bit.ly/3rPGp8r SalesForce Commercial Advisory Services: https://bit.ly/2V78ADX