Sesh Tirumala on SaaS monetization
From S1:E1 - #RevenueCheckpoint - Sesh Tirumala, CIO, Western Digital #RevenueAssurance #RevenueLeakage · · xfactrs
“Many companies have a CTOA process and you've designed it linear from left to right, but in the world of SaaS the real fun happens when the customers have deployed the software. It's not the first time sale but once you deploy the software then it comes down to how do you monetize for usage based on the subscription modality and your monetization model.”
On , Sesh Tirumala, Chief Information Officer at Western Digital, spoke about SaaS monetization during S1:E1 - #RevenueCheckpoint - Sesh Tirumala, CIO, Western Digital #RevenueAssurance #RevenueLeakage on xfactrs.
About Sesh Tirumala
Sesh Tirumala, Chief Information Officer at Western Digital, has discussed revenue leakage and cybersecurity in recent podcast appearances. In a January 2025 podcast, he defined revenue leakage as an unintentional loss of revenue often caused by operational inefficiencies, system issues, or siloed departments. He stated that companies should connect different departments and processes, and that "all roads lead to data," emphasizing the need to examine data, improve processes, and automate. He cited examples such as discrepancies in usage-based billing and challenges in managing pricing and discounting as common sources of leakage. In a September 2024 podcast, Tirumala discussed cybersecurity, noting that when he joined Western Digital a year prior, the company experienced a cyber incident. He stated that a key lesson was that security depends on "people, process, and technology" and that "unless you get all three legs of the stool in order, you're never safe." He also described his responsibilities as including IT, security (with the CISO reporting to him), data and analytics, and factory IT systems. He identified risk and compliance, particularly cybersecurity, as his top priority and outlined a focus on operational excellence, employee experience, and exploring business model shifts such as as-a-service offerings.