Dan Zugelder on customer-centric culture
From Reinvent Culture for a Collaborative, Scalable, and Risk-Aware Future with Dan Zugelder of Dynatrace · · Revenue Reinvention: New Pathways to Profitability
“If we make our customers successful, we will be successful. Many companies sometimes start with themselves and think of their own products and success first, but at EMC, the culture was customer-centric, focusing on customer success as the path to our own success.”
On , Dan Zugelder, Executive Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer at DYNATRACE INC, spoke about customer-centric culture during Reinvent Culture for a Collaborative, Scalable, and Risk-Aware Future with Dan Zugelder of Dynatrace on Revenue Reinvention: New Pathways to Profitability.
About Dan Zugelder
Dan Zugelder, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at Dynatrace, discussed his first year in the role and the company’s approach to growth and customer success in a September 2024 podcast interview. He noted that Dynatrace, with approximately $1.5 billion in annual recurring revenue, has been on a significant growth trajectory since going public over four years ago. Zugelder emphasized a customer-centric philosophy, stating that "if we make our customers successful, we will be successful," and described using analytics for data-driven decisions on territories and product propensity. He also highlighted segmenting customers to tailor products and solutions, and cited a specific example of customizing the product for the banking vertical to help customers demonstrate business resilience to regulators. Zugelder addressed the evolving role of the Chief Revenue Officer, describing it as integrating marketing, sales, and customer success to deliver an end-to-end customer experience. He discussed prioritization of product development through business cases and collaboration with the CFO, with the primary investment lens being whether it delivers topline growth. Zugelder noted that balancing high-return but high-risk speculative opportunities against sure things with limited upside is one of the hardest decisions, requiring collaboration with the CEO and peers. He also mentioned a significant investment to set up a legal entity and office in a Middle Eastern country, validated by a strategic partner’s experience.