 Live from Denver, Colorado, it's theCUBE. Covering Commvault Go 2019, brought to you by Commvault. Hey, welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of Commvault Go 19. Stu Miniman is here with me, Lisa Martin, and we are wrapping up two days of really exciting wall-to-wall coverage of the new Commvault. And we're very pleased to welcome a couple of special guests onto the program to help us wrap up our two days. We have Miranda Foster, the Vice President of Worldwide Communications for Commvault, and Al Bunty is here. The co-founder, former COO, and board member. Welcome, Miranda and Al, great to have you on the program. Thank you. Thank you. So a lot of energy at this event, and I don't think it has anything to do with the rarefied air here in the mile high city. Al, let's start with you. Well, there's other things in Colorado, you know. There are, yeah, they don't talk about it. I've kind of become things. I talked about that on stage yesterday. So Al, you have been with Commvault, as I mentioned, co-founder. What an evolution over the last 20 years. Can you take us back? Sure, Lisa. Yeah, and it's been, it's really kind of cool to see it coming together at this point, but if you go back 20 years when we started this, the whole idea was around data. And remember, we walked into a company that was focused on optical storage. We decided it would be a good company to invest in for two reasons. One, we thought they're really great people here, very creative and innovative. And two, it was a great space. So if we believed, we believed data would grow and that was a pretty decent thesis to go with. You were right. Yeah, and then it started moving from there. So I tell people I wasn't burden with facts. So I didn't understand why all these copies were being made of the same set of data. So we developed a platform and an architecture focused on indexing it so you'd just index it once and then could use it for many different purposes. And that just kept moving through the years with this very data-centric approach to storage management, backup, protection, et cetera. It was all about the data. I happened to be lucky and said, I think there's something to this thing called NAS and SAN and storage networks and all those things. And I also said, we have to plan for on scale on our solution of a million X. Now it was only off a magnitude of about 1,000 on that. But it was the right idea. You had to build something to scale and we came in and we wanted to build a company. We didn't want to just flip a company but we thought there was a long-term vision in it. And if you take it all the way to the present here, it feels really good to see where the company came from. It's a great foundation and now it will propel off this foundation with a similar vision with great modern execution and management. Yeah, Al, when we had the chance to talk with you last year at the show in Nashville, it was setting up for that change. So I want to get your view. There are some things that the company was working on and are being continued, but there's some things that Bob Hammer would not have happened under his regime. So I want to get your viewpoint as to the new convolts. What are some of those new things that are moving forward with a company that might not have in the previous days? Yeah, that's a good question, Stu. I think a lot of the innovation that you've seen here would have happened, maybe not as quickly. The company obviously acquired Hedwig. We were on a very similar path, but to do it ourselves. So you had kind of a modern, we need to get the market quicker with some real pros. I think that the evolution of redoing sales management, essentially, was probably the biggest shift that needed to be under a new regime, if you will. So Miranda, making these transitions can be really tricky from a marketing standpoint. Talk us through a bit. Some of the, how do you make sure, trusted, yet innovative, and new that you've accomplished at the show? Well, trusted is obviously the most important because the brand that Bob and Al built really embodies reliability for what we provide to our customers. I mean, that's what gives them the peace of mind to sleep at night. But I'll tell you, Sanjay has been with us for just eight months now, February of 2019, and it's been busy. We've done a lot of things from a point, Sanjay, transition with Bob and Al. To his point, we've acquired Hedwig. We've introduced this new SaaS portfolio, and you're exactly right. What we need to do is make sure that the reliability that customers have come to rely on Commvault for translates into what we're doing with the new Commvault. And I think we've done a really good job. We've put a lot of muscle behind, making sure, particularly with Metallic, that it was tried, it was trusted, it was beta tested. We got input from customers, partners, industry influencers. We really built it around the customer. So I think the brand that Commvault brings will translate well into the things that we've done with these new shifts and movements within the company. On that question, Stu, as well. I think Miranda is a good example of somebody that was with the company before, a tremendous talent. She's gotten new opportunities here, and she's run with it. So it's kind of that balance of somebody that understood the fundamentals and the way we're trying to run the business, and she's grasped the new world as well. And Rob, as well, right? Rob, in his new role. Yeah, that's another good point. So that was all part of the transitioning here, and Sanjay and the team have been very careful on trying to keep that balance. Change is really difficult anywhere, right? Dissect any element of life. And you look at a business that's been very successful. It has built a very strong, reliable brand. For 20 years, big leadership changes, not just with Sanjay, but all of the leadership changes, you know? Analysts said, Commvault, all right, you've got to upgrade your sales force. We're seeing a lot of movement in the area. You got to enhance your marketing. We're seeing metallic, headache, new routes to market, new partner focus, foci, focus this is. We're also seeing this expansion in the market. So what folks were saying, you know, a year ago, Commvault is answering in a big way, and to your point, in a fast way. That's not easy to do. You've been here nine years, you know, since the beginning. Can you give us a little bit of a perspective, Miranda, about some of the things that were announced at the show? How excited everybody is, customers, partners, Commvault folks, how do you now extend the message and the communications from go globally after the show ends? That's an awesome question. I'm really passionate about this. So, you know, Monday we announced Metallic. We announced a new head of channels and alliances in Mercer Row. We had crazy technology, innovation announcements with Activate, with the acceleration of the integration with HeadVig, with the momentum release that we put out today. We're also doing cool stuff with our corporate social responsibility in terms of sponsoring the new Business Avengers Coalition. That's something that Chris Powell is really championing here at the show and also within Commvault. So we're very excited about that. And then when you add people like yourselves, you know, the tech field day folks, because not everybody can be here, right? Not everybody can be at go. So being able to extend the opportunity for folks to participate in Commvault Go through things like theCUBE, through things like Tech Field Day and using our social media tools and just getting all of the good vibes that are here because as Al says, this really is an intimate show, but we try to extend that to anybody who wants to follow us, to anybody who wants to be a part of it. And that's something that we've really focused on the last couple of years to make sure that folks who aren't here can embrace the environment here at Commvault Go. Al, it's such an important piece that you're here helping with the transition. It talked about it's important that some of the existing talent, get new roles and do responsibility. Going forward, what's your role going to be and what should we expect to see from you personally? Somebody's got to mow the lawn. Sure. But yes, I'll stay on the board. We're talking through that. I think I'll be a very active board, not just the legal side of the equation. Try and stay involved with customers and strategies and even potential acquisitions, those kinds of things. I'm also wandering off into the university environment. My alma mater is a University of Iowa. I'm on the board there. And I'm involved in setting up innovation centers and entrepreneurial programs and that kind of thing. I'll keep doing my farming thing and actually have some ideas on that. There's a lot of technology, as you guys know, attacking that space. And like I said, I'll try to keep a lot of things linked back into Commvault. What Al can have confidence in is that I will keep him busy. So there's that. And then I will also put on the table, we agree to disagree with our college athletic loyalties. So I'm a big Kansas. But she's pretty good. Because we don't compete really, right? That's right. But if Iowa and Kansas were ever to play, then we would just politely disagree, yeah. Well that's good that you have this agreement in place. Al, I'd love to get some anecdotal feedback from you of some of the things that you've heard over the last three days. With all this news, all these changes, what are you hearing from customers and partners who you've had relationships with for a very long time? I think they're all really excited, and maybe I'm biased, but they like the idea that we're trying to not throw out all the old focus on customers, focus on technologies, continue the innovation. I'm pleased that Miranda and the team started taking this theme of what we do to a personal level, recovery and those kind of things. It isn't just the money in the business side. It's a really effect on a person's lives, and that resonates. I hear that a lot. Yes. I ask our bigger customers and they've loved us for our support, how we take care of them, the intimacy of the partnership. I think they feel pleased that that's staying, yet there's a lot of modern enmity, if that's a good word. I think foci was what you were looking for before, but I think it's the blend of things, and I think it really excites people. We've heard that a lot. You guys did a great job with having customers on stage, and as a marketer who does customer marketing programs, I think there's nothing more validating than the voice of a customer. But something today that I thought was a pivot on that, that Commvault did well, is Sonic Healthcare was on main stage, and then he came on to the program. And I really liked how he talked about some of the failures that they've been through. We had the NASA talking yesterday, NASA, 60 years young, very infamous, probably for failure is not an option, but it is a very real possibility, whether you're talking about spaceflight, or you're talking about data protection and cyber attacks and the rise of that. And it was really, I'd say, refreshing to hear the voice of a customer say, these are the areas in which we failed. This is how Commvault helped us recover, and how much better and stronger are they? Not just as a company at Sonic Healthcare, but even as an individual person responsible for that. That was a really great message that you guys were able to extend to the audience today, and we wanted to get that out on our program today. I loved that as well. I think that was good. I've also, back on driving innovation, I always felt one of my biggest jobs was to not punish people that failed. I, you know, with the whole engineering team, the bright people in marketing, I would be very down on them if they didn't try, but I never wanted them to feel bad about trying and never punish them. And one of the things Matthew said on main stage, first of all, I love, he's great. He's been a long time Commvault supporter. I love his sense of humor. He said, you know, Commvault came to me and said, can you identify, you know, your biggest disaster recovery moment? And he was like, no, because there's so many. Yes. Right? Like, there's so many, when you're responsible for this, it's just the unpredictability of it is crazy. And so he couldn't identify one, but he had a series of anecdotes that I think really helped the audience identify with and understand this is, these are big time challenges that we're up against today. And hearing his use case and how Commvault is helping him solve his hard problems, I think was really cool. You're right. I loved that too. He said, I couldn't name one. There are so many, that's reality, right? As data proliferates, which every industry is experiencing, there's a tremendous amount of opportunity. There's also great risk. As technology advances for good, the bad actors also have access to that sort of technology. So his honesty, I thought was refreshing, but spot on. And what a great example for other customers to listen to the, all right, to your point. If I punish people for failure, we're not going to learn from it. Yeah, you'll never move forward. So Miranda, so much that we learned this week at the show, some lot of branding, a lot of customers. I know some people might be taking a couple of days off, but what should we expect to be seeing from Commvault post go this year? Continued innovation. We're not letting our foot off the gas at all. Just continuing innovation as we integrate with HeadVig, continued acceleration with Metallic. I mean, those guys are aggressive. They were built as a startup within an enterprise company built on Commvault's enterprise foundation. Those guys are off and running. They are motivated. They're highly talented, highly skilled, and they're going to market with a solution that is targeted at a specific market. And those guys are really, really ready to go. So continued innovation with HeadVig, sorry, integration with HeadVig with Metallic. I think you're just going to be seeing a lot more from Commvault in the future. On the heels of what we consider humbled, proud leadership with the Gartner Magic Quadrants, the one-two punch with the Forester Wave. I think that you're just going to be seeing a lot more from Commvault in terms of how we're really getting out there and aggressive. And that's not to mention, Al, what we do with our core solutions. I mean, today we just announced a bunch of enhancements to the core technology, which is the bread and butter of what we do. So we're not letting the foot off the gas to be sure. The teams staying really, really aggressive, Stu. And the other thing I'd add as a major investor that I'm expecting is sales. Yeah, I love just your final thoughts. The culture of Commvault, because while there's some acceleration and there's some change, I think some of the fundamentals stay the same. Yeah, it's right, Stu. And again, that's why I feel we're at a good point on this transition process. You alluded to it earlier, but I feel really good about the leadership that's in. They've treated me terrifically. I'm almost part of the team. I love that they're trying to leverage off all the assets that were created in this company. Technology, obviously, platform architecture, support base, our support capabilities. I told Sandy today, I wish she really would have nailed the part about, and by the way, support and our capabilities with customers is a huge differentiator. And it was part of our original Stu knows, he's heard me forever. Our original DNA, we wanted to focus on two things, great technology, keep the great technology lead and customer support and satisfaction. So those elements, now you blend that, Stu, with really terrific Salesforce as Ricardo says, have you guys talked with Ricardo, I assume? But anyway, the head of sales is hiring great athletes, particularly for the enterprise space. Then you take it with a real terrific marketing organization that's focused on modern techniques and analytics and all those things. You know, it's in my opinion, as an investor especially, I'm expecting really good things. That bar's been set. Well, I can't think of a better way for Stu and me to end our coverage. Al, Miranda, thank you. This has been fantastic. You got to go, you got a long to mow, you got a vacation to get on to. And you need some word smithing with focus. You're right. And you have a flight ticket. I do. Yeah, in five hours. You guys are terrific. Thank you. This has been awesome. Hashtag new convolt for our guests and Stu Miniman, I'm Lisa Martin. You've been watching theCUBE's coverage of convolt go 19. We'll see you next time.