 Live from Atlanta, Georgia, it's theCUBE. Covering Citrix Synergy Atlanta 2019. Brought to you by Citrix. Hi, welcome back to theCUBE. Lisa Martin with Keith Townsend coming to you live from day one of our coverage of Citrix Synergy in Atlanta, Georgia. We're very pleased to welcome Citrix's Chief People Officer, Donna Kimmel, EVP and Chief People Officer. Thank you so much for joining Keith and me this afternoon. My pleasure, it's great to be here, Lisa and Keith. Thank you. This has been, I was telling you before we went live, Donna, this has been a great event. This is our first day of coverage, but the keynote really kicked things off very, in a way that's so relatable, just showing workforce and the fact, some of the stats you guys gave were staggering. The fact that power users are who software, enterprise software was designed for, but that's 1% of the users. Or things like $7 trillion is wasted a year and Keith's brought this up on a number of our interviews of wasted productivity. There's a huge need for employee experience to become a C-level business imperative. Talk to us about that from Citrix's point of view. Absolutely. You know, employee experience is incredibly important. When I think about the concept, it is really about people and technology together and we can't do great things in the workplace if we don't have the right tools at our fingertips and technology really supports that. But employee experience is also very broad. It's all encompassing. When we think about employee experience, it's everything from when somebody starts or applies to a company, what kind of experience are they having with that company? What is their interview process like? What is their pre-hire process like? What happens when they come for their onboarding? Are they experiencing the company the way that they should and then it's about their career journey? So employee experience is incredibly important and it's incredibly pervasive. But I think it also starts with understanding why it matters to companies. And I think when you look at why it matters to companies, companies can't be successful without people. It's people that are the ones that are driving results. It's people that are the ones that are collaborating and bringing the culture of that company to life. And it's people that are driving new product design and thinking about what customers need and putting customers first. And companies are successful because of the people within it. So we need to create experiences that make a difference. So as we talk about those experiences, when I think of Citrix, I think of Citrix in a traditional sense. You know, you front in Workday, you front in HRM from SAP, those solutions. So as Citrix starts to engage more with HR directly, talk to me about kind of that value conversation your Citrix is having with HR and how Citrix acts value versus a company that's specific focus is creating HR software. Exactly. So we're creating software that enables employees and people in an organization, talent and organization to be successful to do their best work on a daily basis. So though we are not creating HR software per se, what we are creating is employee experience and it's employee experience through the technology. So when employees have the right tools at their fingertips in a way that cuts out the continual searching. You know, as one of the things that we talked about this morning in the keynote was all about how much time is wasted. At least 25% of an employee's time is wasted searching or context switching between applications, not being able to use the applications to their fullest. And we recognize there's a fair amount that employees need to do that are very task oriented and you can automate those and bring them to the employee in a very intelligent way, right? Using the analytics, you also heard about that this morning as well. You know, the analytics get to know the employee. So it's more personal. So you get what you need to at your fingertips. You can do it more quickly, more easily and then really focus on some of the more critical things that are going to help you be successful as an employee. You bring up the personal aspect and I think personalization is becoming more and more a critical element of, because as consumers, we expect that. And so we're starting to see the influences of the consumerization of IT and it really is something that can be a big differentiator to attract talent and retain talent, which is also a business imperative. I'm glad though that you brought up, hey, employee experience isn't just, okay, this intelligent experience and I can have access to all my apps. It starts with the hiring process, the interviewing, the recruiting. We were talking about our different onboarding experiences, Keith and I were at lunch and how that really can set the tone of an employee with their employer and you're right. It's not just about the technology needs to be an enabler but it's got to start from even the recruitment. Exactly. When I step back and I think about employee experience, it brings me back to the concept of, the concepts that we've been talking about for a while now regarding the future of work. It's really about a company having the right culture, creating the right physical space and digital space and then also the technology that's used. And again, culture can be a real differentiator for an organization just like we know that the talent is a differentiator for companies. But when you think about the culture, it really speaks to what's important to human beings. What's important to employees? Are they socially involved? Is their product meaningful, right? Is what they're doing meaningful to the community, to the customers that they're serving? So are we tapping into what's meaningful to people? Are employees being given opportunities for flexibility and collaboration? Are they being given opportunities for choice? And that also brings me back to what you were talking about in terms of personalization. If we think about the workforce, we right now, at least at Citrix, we have about five different generations in our workforce. And you might be able to look across all those different generations and look for trends in different ways that generations might work. But the reality is, it's about the individual. It's truly about understanding that individual's choice for working, anywhere, anyhow, anyway on any device. That's what's really going to drive a difference. That becomes part of the culture. If you have the right, again, grounded values, you have the right environment that you're creating. That is part of the appeal to employees. And then you try to create the right space. And you want to create the right physical space because when employees are in the workforce and when they come into the office, you want it to feel like a place where they can collaborate, where they can change and move and move into private space if they needed or quiet space if they needed or opportunities for, as we say, collisions at the coffee machine, where all of a sudden new ideas come out because you're generating thoughts and conversation. So space, physical space and all of that movement also mimics our personal worlds, right? We get up and we move around to different kind of spaces throughout the day. We want our workspace to feel the same way. And then the other piece to that is technology. And are we creating the right technological tools that enable employees to have that freedom and that choice around the kinds of devices they're using and the spaces that where they're working in to really be able to bring their best selves to the workplace and contribute. Because ultimately, we want to be part of successful organizations. So it's a combination of all of those for me in terms of the question that you were just asking. So you're an EVP of a nice sized software company. And some of these things you've had to put into practice. The Citrix is a 30 year old company. I think I'm aging myself because I've done a few Citrix deployments early in my own career. As you start to pivot, you know you're part of these executive level conversations saying we're going to invest in AI and machine learning. And you look at this job market for AI ML data scientists. It's a tight market. It's really hard to attract this talent while Florida is lovely. That may not be the place for ML or AI talent. But more specifically, this type of talent might be spread across the world. What types of changes have you had to oversee inside of Citrix to attract and retain that talent? Absolutely. I think it's a great point because I think not only are we at Citrix doing it, but many other companies are looking at the same kind of question, which is where do we find the best talent and how do we enable that talent anywhere around the world to successfully contribute to our company? And because it is so challenging to find talent, we do need to be more flexible as organizations. We need to look at distributed office locations. We need to look at opportunities for people to be able to work from their homes. We look at a total labor force like gig workers in addition to contractors and employee base. So our technology enables that. And I think that's one of the great selling points of having people join Citrix is you are part of the movement of helping organizations be flexible. You're part of helping to drive that kind of employee experience so you can hire anyone from anywhere around the world in order to help you achieve the business results that you're looking for. In the four years that you've been EVP and Chief People Officer, how have you helped this culture to evolve? As Keith mentioned, this is a 30 year young company and cultural change is challenging again, but even if we think about it in our personal lives, change is hard. What are some of the key strategies that you've employed to help facilitate that cultural change? It's a great question. When I joined about three and a half years ago, we were embarking on a transformation at the company and part of that transformation was taking a look at where we needed to evolve from a product strategy perspective and from meeting our customer needs in a very different way. And the more we got out there and listened to our customers, it helps solidify what we needed to do from a strategy perspective. What we also realized is you'll never be able to accomplish your strategy without the right people. And you need the right culture and the right set of values that are going to underpin everything you do as a company. So we took some very strong values that were already part of Citrix and kind of modernized them, brought them into words that had meaning for our employees. So we did quite a few feedback sessions, surveys and things and gathered. And we really focus from a strong values perspective on integrity, respect, curiosity, courage and unity. And those words have incredible meaning for us in terms of what we're doing to not only transform the markets and the products and the markets that we're in but how do we transform our own workplace to continue to drive an employee experience that lives out those values in that culture. So it underpins everything that we do. So let's talk about lessons that can be applied from Citrix a big company to smaller companies because Citrix has customers across the spectrum from the small shop with less than 10 people to companies with tens of thousands of people. Is employee experience something that only large companies should consider or is this something that, you know, as entrepreneurs like myself only have a couple of employees, should I be thinking about employee experience in a specific way? Yeah, that's a great question. You know, when I think about why, again, why employee experience is so important, I think first it's because it's about people and it's about humanity and why it matters to any business regardless of your size is that it's about people first and people first are going to help any business be able to achieve its goals and its results. The technology that we're creating also is what we call general purpose. It is for individuals to enable individuals to be successful in their workplace. So I do believe strongly it is for any size organization and the principles ring true, whether you're a small business or whether you're a large business. I know my sister also, you know, has a small business and the team members that work with her are very small business. The team members that work with her need to feel that same vibrancy of what she's trying to create for her clients. And so I think it's the same for any size business. Culture, values, grounding, experience that you can create to enable those employees to feel like they're part of what you're doing and they're part of your success. We talked with Simon Bray earlier and I learned a new acronym, TOMO. Yeah. I love that, total motivation. Exactly. How do you measure cultural transformation within Citrix? What are some of those key, is there sort of like an internal NPS sort of survey or other things that you guys do to go, we're going in the right direction here. Do absolutely. It's no doubt challenging to measure. We do an employee net promoter score and we do an engagement score. So the net promoter score that we do on a quarterly basis and our full engagement survey we do on an annual basis. And since we started our transformation, you know, three and a half years ago, our net promoter score has gone up dramatically. And we are nearing the 50% mark, which is very high for employee net promoter scores. So we feel really proud about the constant movement in the right direction around that score and the same thing with our engagement scores. And we've become certified two years in a row through great places to work. So again, that movement in the right direction is telling us that our employees do feel connected to who we are, what we're doing and that they feel part of driving those solutions and those results. So I was looking at some of the Citrix revenue numbers over the weekend. Looks like a lot of things are up. Subscription revenue, SaaS revenue, Workspace revenue and employee satisfaction is up as well. Absolutely, and we're proud of all of it. You know, we talk in a very positive way. David, our CEO always talks about up into the right. And we are, all of our measures have been up into the right on a consistent basis from an employee perspective and from a business results perspective. And it takes every single employee to be able to do that. What are you most excited about as we wrap up here? I know we're sort of early in Synergy 2019, but like I was saying, we've had such an exciting start to our time here. What are you excited about when this is all done in terms of feedback that you're hoping and expecting to hear from the employees? You know, I think probably one of the most exciting things for me is to be in the field that I'm in, human resources, focusing on people and focusing on talent and recognizing that the product that we are putting out there is making a difference from an employee experience perspective. So being part of that, that vision, that mission, I think is incredibly exciting. So we can live it internally, as well as help our customers live it within their own environment. And that connection, I think, is incredibly powerful and really meaningful to be a part of. It can be such a differentiator as well if your customers see, ah, there's a Citrix on Citrix story and you're transforming using your own technology. That's one of the best brand validations that you can get, right? Absolutely. It helps us tell the story with our customers and it's a great selling point for new employees that are attracted to coming to work for us. Become part of the movement and the change of really driving employee experience and driving that partnership through technology. Donna, it's been so great to have you on the Cube with Keith and me helping to expand at least my perspective of employee experience. Thank you so much. Thank you, it's my pleasure. Thanks for having me. Oh, likewise. For Keith Townsend, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCUBE live from our day one coverage, Citrix Synergy 2019. Thanks for watching.