Leadership Series with Hector Lima, Chief Customer Officer - Citrix Systems

Hi. Great to be here, man, thank you.

Sure, so look, first and foremost, thank you very much for that. I know we haven't spoken live since I got this new role, but I'm over the moon. I've been here at Citrix so many years and to be in this seat is a privilege and I'm honored to represent the team. In terms of big goals, first and foremost, I inherited a great team. Coming from the customer experience and customer success side, what I'd like to do is really inject a little bit of that customer experience into the entire customer journey. So how do we make sure we put customers at the center of everything we do, really focus on their business problems and then expand from there. And with that, for folks like yourselves, it's important to bring the partners into that ecosystem and have them along for the ride with us. I think Citrix could still be the best business for you and your colleagues from around the globe. We were built on being a channel company and it is extremely important not only today but as we move into the future that we continue to build our foundation around our partners. In terms of goals, we are definitely doing a transformation within the company, moving our technology to a SaaS first model, and we think that's going to provide much more value to our customers: just-in-time updates, faster access to more features and functionality, more enterprise class stability and control. So there are many benefits that we see in addition to just the functionality of our product. We think we can provide a holistically better service. And again, the partners play a key role there because I know you're extending your services, putting together services from multiple vendors, maybe even multiple clouds. So in my opinion, we've elevated the level of the playing field of where we're doing the integration and the work for our customers. So those are some of the key things. We're in this transformation, we want to put the customer at the center of all that and make sure that we're the best partners that we can be to our channel.

Look out. You know me, I've got three relatively young boys that are very active and while it may not be weird, I am known to use my workspace in my car a lot. So unlike the Lamborghini here, I currently drive a big pickup crew cab, and I've been known to go in that back seat and just set up with my laptop and get it going. The car may not be that weird, but what is weird is how many times I try to find a quiet spot because you don't hear the horns in the airplane? So yeah, I've been known to pull over in the back of alleys, McDonald's parking lots, parks just to find some quiet space without any bumps so I can actually do my work.

That is true. I used XenDesktop in order to create an international hop. That's right, you can get back to watch my Heat that was running at home. Yeah, you're right, I've been known to do that exactly. So we certainly do a lot of creative things with the technology we have on hand. But all kidding aside, that's how powerful they are. It really helps you break down the boundaries, break down the four walls of the office, and it allows you to be a lot more productive both in your personal and professional life.

Marketplaces in general for us is my number one investment category. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. We're already seeing many customers migrate to the top three marketplaces but also to many of our distributors and co-sellers. You start thinking of the CDWs, the Arrows, the Ingrams, they all have their marketplaces as well. So not only do we see a business shift as more customers and partners are becoming more adaptive to buying in the marketplace experience, but we also see it as a growth opportunity to get into new customers that maybe don't know Citrix as well as they do today.

Look, the currency has changed and it has definitely moved. This move where primarily some of the bigger marketplace providers are bringing actually plays well for Citrix because we're such a known brand. The customer base they're attacking is also a customer base that is big for us as a market, so it's a great opportunity for us.

Before we get into analytics, I give Tim Minahan, our Chief Marketing Officer, a ton of credit because he was ahead of his time in seeing what was going to play out. He's been talking about secure experience and choice as three key pillars of our technology. If I go back to the pandemic, it followed that trend: first, get remote work out to as many people as possible; second, am I secure; third, experience and are our employees productive; and now it's shifted to choice with the return to office phenomena. Our technology helps along that entire spectrum. Specifically regarding analytics, the fastest coin product line – very proud to see analytics coming to the forefront, adding value to technologies we already have. Customers want more visibility to what's going on, and analytics gives them that capability. We're seeing the uptick.

What I love about that is the technology is empowering you to provide insights and make decisions on behalf of your customers, and in some cases even automate those decisions. Once you get to that level, the innovation is limitless because you can take it in any direction.

It's really about us being able to focus and unshackle ourselves from the public eye so we can complete our transformation and then start growing the business at an accelerated rate. I'm personally excited. As we get past the shareholder vote and beyond, we'll be able to share much more information. I think it's going to be a great next chapter for Citrix.

You've got it loaded already so there aren't many choices, but I still think one of our biggest value propositions is performance. We are the best in the market in our spaces about outperforming the competition, specifically for larger mission critical customers. What I'd like to see is analytics in action, really measuring and testing performance of this mobile workspace across all types of difficult environments. I would love to see the dynamics of how the environment changes and how performance fluctuates based on the elements you put this workspace through. Outside of our technology, if I was being selfish, we can never have enough displays. If we can integrate bigger displays or more displays, that would be great. And then last but not least, biometrics. I want the car to recognize who is driving and set up access to my workspaces and applications. If you're driving the car, it should recognize who you are.

For sure.

Playoffs are around the corner. The way it stands now, the only way we play each other is a couple rounds in. Sorry we took Kyle Lowry from you. I'm sure that hurt. It does, but you know we played a few days ago and you guys won last second, thank you for reminding me. All seriousness, I've been pleasantly surprised with the Heat. I really like what they put together. I think they got a shot. People underestimated how important fundamental basketball and teamwork is. Like you said earlier with your new job, you inherited a great team and that is more important than anything. You don't necessarily need the superstar. If you look at the Toronto Raptors, other than the year we won, we had Kawhi Leonard but I always say the 2019 Raptors were the luckiest team in the world because everybody had to get injured for them to win. But that's part of the game, they're still champs. I'm keeping my hopes up that we could meet later in the playoffs.

We'll definitely look forward to that. Thank you so much for spending the time. I know you're an amazingly busy guy and taking your time to do this means a lot to us and our colleagues and customers around the world. Thank you.

Thank you. It's a great experience. I'm very happy to be here. You've been a great partner, great colleague, and friend. I appreciate it. Anytime. Thank you.