How Adam Selipsky could make AWS even bigger

Amazon Web Services head Andy Jassy will bring back directors from Jeff Bezos later this year. So Jassy chose someone he trusts to replace him as the head of an Amazon unit providing cloud tools for hosting websites and applications.

Now it will be up to Adam Selipsky, who was Jassy’s right-hand man until a few years ago when he went on to become CEO of Tableau Software, to build on Amazon’s impressive leadership as- Yes.

AWS controlled 47% of the cloud infrastructure market in the first half of 2020, according to estimates from industry observer IDC, more than four providers combined: Microsoft, Alibaba, Google and IBM.

Like Jassy, ​​Selipsky saw AWS grow up and immerse itself in the details across many subjects. As far back as 2016, when he stepped down as vice president for sales, marketing and support, Selipsky sat in on Jassy’s back “chop” meetings to discuss proposals.

While Jassy was the last person to comment, Selipsky was in last place, said Jay Wampold, Pulumi’s head of cloud development startup marketing and former AWS product marketing director.

Amazon employees have for decades adhered to 14 guiding principles such as “customer obsession” and “bias for action.” People who know him said that Selipsky applied these principles, like Jassy. He is also well acquainted with Amazon’s practice of coming up with fake press releases and frequently asked question documents for potential results. Selipsky may not take long to remember the rhythm of working at Amazon.

But one thing that differentiates Selipsky from other candidates is that he ran analytics software company Tableau, both as a public trading company and as part of Salesforce. Under Selipsky, Tableau stock rose as it accelerated revenue growth and led a shift from selling one-time software licenses to memberships. It then helped sell to Salesforce in 2019 for $ 15.7 billion, which was the company’s biggest ever purchase at the time.

“Increasingly, organizations are demanding membership purchase options for all of their software, and data analysis is no different. It’s no wonder why, like a subscription, our customers get full power and simplicity of Tableau with lower risk, lower forward investment and more flexibility, “Selipsky told analysts on the 2017 conference call. The push succeeded: By 2019 came 84% of revenue Tableau from subscriptions.

Leading Tableau provided Selipsky with more information about the complexity of software sales for non-technical users, said Jay Heglar, chief business officer of Tableau’s competitive Domo and former AWS sales director who worked with Selipsky. Now, Heglar said, Selipsky can go back and try to increase acceptance of the cloud applications that AWS offers, historically not as popular as the computing products , low-level storage and database.

For example, having a Tableau meant contacting vendors who can access software into large accounts, Heglar said. Selipsky could ask Amazon to update its approach there to promote applications such as Amazon Chime video calling service – which is far from a household name like Zoom, or even Skype.

A job at Salesforce may have given Selipsky a new perspective on how to make AWS even bigger. Salesforce spent four times more on sales and marketing than on research and development in their last fiscal year, reflecting its emphasis on sales.

“Make it easy to do business. Make it easy to buy a platform,” said Manny Medina, Head of Outreach sales software startup and a member of the Amazon team that started as AWS. “Sell me a scene. Good old sale – you need a bit of Keith Block in that group.” Block joined Salesforce from Oracle in 2013 and was promoted to co-head with Marc Benioff before retiring in February 2020.

Medina said it would be helpful if AWS could sell customer technology even though it is not yet available – a sales strategy that Oracle has employed in the past. “If you want to grow, you have to make promises for things you don’t have yet,” one Oracle employee was quoted as saying.

Medina also said Selipsky could make a difference if AWS can make it simpler for consumers. This week a small cloud infrastructure provider called DigitalOcean, which builds on the simplicity of its billing services and practices, hit the New York stock exchange.

Selipsky has to contend with a reviving Microsoft.

When Selipsky left Amazon, Microsoft was still strengthening its portfolio with Azure services to match what Amazon could deliver, and Microsoft was still rolling out data centers around the world. to increase capacity. That’s not a big deal anymore. Microsoft has become more successful in persuading longtime Windows and Office customers to try Azure, in part by encouraging retailers to focus on getting customers to use it, instead of just paying for it.

Since 2016, Microsoft has also started using Amazon’s own behavior against it. Microsoft executives consistently say that companies don’t want to do business with an IT services company that competes with them in other areas – Amazon’s continued expansion from e-commerce to shipping, pharmacy, grocery stores and more.

Selipsky has to respond to that line of inquiry, just like Jassy. (Amazon has stated “for customers who have built meaningful offers with great functionality, we have yet to see these companies struggle to keep growing just because AWS offers something in that area as well. “)

Whatever Microsoft does, it works. Azure now seems to be close to eclipsing Office as Microsoft’s largest revenue-generating business. IDC estimates show that AWS lost market share in the first half of 2021 compared to the first half of 2020, while Microsoft gained a share. Alibaba and Google also took shares.

Microsoft has been compiling packages of products and coming up with enhancements designed for individual businesses, such as healthcare, manufacturing and sales. Amazon hasn’t just followed a specific strategy so far. AWS has gained some industry in slow-moving areas, such as financial services and healthcare.

“I think there’s an opportunity for Adam to break some of that as part of a direct strategy,” said Ed Anderson, a distinguished analyst at technology research firm Gartner. For example, AWS could stand to capture more dollars from businesses that have been slow to adopt the public cloud, such as financial services and health care.

His history at Salesforce will help here as well, as the company went deeper into their own business while Selipsky was there.

International expansion is another opportunity. Selipsky enters Amazon which is not always like the cloud outside of America. Alibaba has great control in China, and across Europe AWS has yet to be a major hit.

“European companies tend to be a bit more conservative and more open to conflict and change,” Anderson said. Europe has many smaller organizations that work with channel partners and like to continue to use products on do they know, Anderson said.

There is also the question of building new relationships within the ever-growing Amazon.

Since Selipsky’s departure, Amazon’s number has more than doubled to about 1.3 million.

At least Selipsky will get familiar faces when he goes back to AWS in May. He was involved in many key business gains, including negotiations with Capital One and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Heglar said. He was talented in becoming a leader within AWS and was willing to step in to defend his people at meetings when others were pushing back on their ideas, Heglar said. His daughter, Nina Selipsky, works at AWS as a content and action program expert.

More importantly, Jassy trusts Selipsky.

“It will allow Adam to do his thing,” Heglar said.

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