MIKE NEWMAN: Hello.
I'm Mike Newman, the
CEO of MediaPlatform,
which provides online corporate
communications, training,
and collaboration solutions
to leading organizations
worldwide.
I also happen to be the host
of Enterprise Communications,
E-Learning, and Collaboration,
an audio podcast about video.
During the course
of these podcasts,
I hope to introduce listeners
to companies and executives they
may not be familiar with,
to also provide deeper
insight into companies and
visual communications products,
and generally to have
some fun with some leading
minds in the visual
communications space.
Our first guest is a
very close friend of mine
and my former business partner
of Accordent Technologies,
Jeremy Pitts.
Jeremy is currently the
Chief Operating Officer
at Librestream, and
his resume includes
founding Accordent
Technologies, which
he sold to Polycom in 2011,
and running the video content
management overlay
team at Polycom.
Today, Jeremy and
I will be focusing
on a wide range of visual
communications topics,
including video collaboration
inside the enterprise.
Jeremy, welcome to the show.
JEREMY PITTS: Thanks, Mike.
I'm very excited to be here.
MIKE NEWMAN: So Jeremy, tell us
a little bit about Librestream,
and what attracted you to the
company in the first place.
JEREMY PITTS: That's
a good question.
I've been here just
about three years,
and a mutual friend had
introduced me to the company.
And this CEO, Kerry Thatcher
and I, got a chance to meet up
and we really hit it off.
And as I started doing some
research into the markets
that they serve, the products,
it really got interesting.
I came from a blue
collar background.
My dad was a union plumber,
mom was a hairdresser.
And it was
interesting coming out
of selling to mostly banks
and then insurance companies
to going to sell to oil and gas
companies out on the drilling
platforms, to sell to large
organizations like Caterpillar
Tractor, and these places
where they would use
the technology in the
manufacturing plants,
use video in field
service to really change
the way they do business.
And when I really
got to understand
what this company was
all about, I got excited
and signed on as the
chief operating officer.
MIKE NEWMAN: Sounds great.
And from like a
technical perspective,
obviously you're dealing with
some manufacturing companies.
It sounds like you're
probably spending
a lot of time in the Midwest.
What specifically
about the technology
made you believe, you
know, this is exciting,
this is a growing
market, this is
a place where you can
help companies change
the way they do business?
JEREMY PITTS: Well, it's
an interesting question.
As you know, and I don't have
to tell you, from both Accordent
and from MediaPlatform, we
spent a lot of our time selling
to people that had
computers and had desks.
So that was the people
at headquarters or maybe
large remote offices they had.
We might do a live webcast
for 30,000, or in some cases,
100,000 people.
Well, what I really got excited
is, what we're doing here
is the exact opposite,
which is neat
because it marries really
well with what MediaPlatform's
up to.
And by that I mean, so
these are people that
are on the manufacturing floor.
They do not have computers.
They don't have terminals.
At best, they have
smartphones or tablets,
depending on what they're
trying to accomplish.
Or they're out in the field.
This is maybe the largest
aircraft manufacturer
out in the field trying
to solve problems.
And how do they bring expertise?
And how do they shorten
the time to actually fix
a problem that's costing them
or a customer a lot of money?
And when I first
started at the company,
I got to travel to some the
best headquarters I've ever
seen-- John Deere in
Moline, Illinois--
and see just these amazing
traditional businesses.
And I have to tell you,
I fell in love with it
from the first day I met a
customer and hearing what
they're up to.
And I'll also say,
what's interesting too,
and I know that we were
able to do it at Accordent,
and I believe you spend a
tremendous amount of time
with your team at MediaPlatform,
but we really focus on the ROI
and how it affects business
and their operations.
So by that, what I
mean is, for instance,
we just published an article
with an oil and gas customer
where they're using our
technology in very difficult,
hard to reach places.
And they've taken,
in under one year,
they've taken their
downtime from 10% to 4%.
So they save 6%.
And when you start
to monetize that,
it's literally tens of
millions or hundreds
of millions of dollars.
And so it's really
impacting, especially
in oil and gas where business
is so difficult right now,
and every penny really
counts with the price
of a barrel of gas.
So we're getting to see,
really, like getting
in and with high
level C-level people
within large organizations
and helping them really
change their entire business
and how they look at customers
and servicing those customers.
MIKE NEWMAN: That's, I
mean, really interesting,
because it does go back
to our days at Accordent
and also my time
at MediaPlatform.
What it sounds like is you've
got subject matter experts
throughout an organization,
and it's just not only
corporate communications.
It's empowering people who can
fix very expensive equipment,
who can assess damage
to very expensive assets
in the organization,
and as a consequence,
really use video in a way
that enables the organization
to make very informed
and timely choices, which
is extraordinary.
And I'm wondering, and I think
you touched on this really
quickly, within an
organization like a Caterpillar
or a John Deere, who
are you selling to?
Is it someone we might
have some common ground
and overlap, like
a, I don't know,
a CIO, a CTO, someone who
heads up sort of streaming
and collaborative initiatives?
Who are you looking
for on the Rolodex?
JEREMY PITTS: Well, it's a
really interesting question
because it's evolving.
I think the space is
so exciting and really
become important to how large
businesses are figuring out
their field service and
maintenance operations.
So that said, we're
starting to see more C-level
like, definitely
CTO, definitely CIO.
But we're actually moving out
into actual lines of business.
So the heads of field
service, and these
could be SVPs of field service,
report directly to the CEO,
typically.
They can be head
of manufacturing.
I got to sit with one of the
largest auto manufacturing
companies in the
world with the head
of worldwide manufacturing.
And when I talked to my
counterpart at Cisco,
it was interesting
because they were
really excited to hear
that because they'd
spend a lot of time on
the technical side, where
we're spending a lot of
time on the business side.
And in fact, his comment was to
me something to the effect of,
I haven't been within three
levels of that person.
So we're getting these
really interesting meetings
with the people that
have the problems.
But at the end of
the day, and I think
Mike, you know this
both from your current
and previous experiences,
you've got to have IT under,
you've got to have them
part of the solution.
Trying to go around them
or trying to avoid them
is not going to happen
in today's environment
with security risks
and all those things.
So it's definitely putting a
tremendous amount of pressure
on the technical groups, the
VPs, the SVPs, and of course,
the CIOs to figure out
these types of solutions.
MIKE NEWMAN: So
I'm really curious.
You mentioned the
maturity of the space
and how it's
evolving so rapidly.
Is most of your time being
spent responding to RFPs
from global 2000
companies, or do you
find yourselves introducing
them to new solutions
where they may not have
thought about these things
historically, and some aspect
of it really impacts them,
and you know, resonates with
them and they take something
from nothing?
JEREMY PITTS: Yeah,
I think you've
kind of hit, on
the latter, you've
hit the nail on the head.
And you'll remember from
the early days of Accordent
where you were definitely
introducing a solution,
you were introducing concepts.
And we base the same
thing you probably do.
People think hey, this should
be simple and inexpensive
in a free Windows Media
Player, maybe on your side.
And for us, people say,
well, why wouldn't I
use Jabber or Skype or
you know, Apple FaceTime?
These seem like really great
ways for my field teams
to communicate.
So those are actually our
best sort of customers,
just like in the old
days of Accordent.
People that were
trying to do this,
it's really, really
hard when you're
in a very secure
environment, trying
to talk to secure, another
secure company that
is same size as you
are, in many cases.
And then, you're trying to
do this with low bandwidth
or near low bandwidth.
So we find ourselves more
than responding to RFPs.
We certainly get some of those.
We find ourselves introducing
and working with partners
like a Cisco to go
out to the world
and introduce this form of
collaboration, which lays down
really nice with TelePresence,
which lays down really
nice with time shifted
streaming, and the things
that you guys are doing.
MIKE NEWMAN: So
for the folks who
aren't familiar with
Librestream, I mean,
how would you describe
your solution?
Is it a hardware
driven solution?
Is it a software
driven solution?
Does it resemble traditional
web conferencing or enterprise
webcasting?
I mean, how do you
make someone who
is completely unfamiliar
with your company
understand it relatively easy?
JEREMY PITTS: Yeah, if I
figured that out, you know,
the elevator pitch still
takes about 20 floors.
But no, I'm just kidding.
It's really, we have
something very unique.
We have a back end platform.
So these are web, these are
back-end cloud services that
couples with software
that can sit on your PC,
an iOS device-- that can
be a tablet or a phone--
and an Android device--
tablet or a phone.
And then you can communicate
anywhere, anytime, ad hoc,
using the device
you already have.
Then we have hardware
that we create in-house.
And I'll give you some
examples why we do that.
Some of our customers are,
let's say, chip manufacturers.
And they've got to
see solder halfway
across the world on a very
small board, fine circuitry.
And so we build
these cameras that
actually can get you
such fine detail,
it's as if you were there.
And that's really important
in those types of scenarios
where you're looking
at 3 point font
and you're looking at
scratches and how deep
it is and things on maybe a jet
engine or something like that.
We also have
specialized cameras.
All of those are built
in-house because we
have certifications for
different explosion proof
versions.
So in pharmaceutical they
like that because they
deal with a lot of fine powder.
So you think of a pharmaceutical
as a manufacturer,
and so they use our
technology to ensure
that their manufacturing
process is the quality control
and bringing in
expertise and such.
They like explosion-proof.
When you're in
refineries, certainly
all sorts of oil
and gas on the rigs,
things like that,
those are all using
our special certified camera.
And then we also have
specialized hardware.
And this is really unique that
allows third party testing
equipment to plug
into our device
and utilize our entire security
platform, our low bandwidth
platform, and our workflow
for solving problems.
So I'll give you an example.
This might be someone who's
in front of a jet engine
and they need to see the
turbine blades in the engine.
So they'll put in what
they call a borescope.
It's like a snake-like camera.
These are very expensive
pieces of equipment, very,
it takes some training to
be able to use it and get
to the spot you want.
And previously, only
the person in front
of that screen on that
piece of equipment
could see what was wrong.
But when you plug it into our
product called Collaboration
Hub, it's another
hardware product we have,
you can actually stream that
securely anywhere in the world.
So now you can bring
expertise in to see,
to confirm what your
findings, or to say yes,
it's safe to fly, or no, we
need to make a change here.
And those become really
important when organizations
are moving to monetize services
as if they did product.
So changing the topic
a tiny bit out of that,
I wanted to point
out something I
was going to say earlier
was we're seeing customers
at an alarming rate-- these
are traditional companies,
household names
that you know of.
They build jet engines.
They build jets.
They're the oil and gas people
that pump it out or sell it
to you at the stations.
Or they're manufacturing
cars or heavy equipment.
In all companies
you know, they're
being asked at alarming rates
to change their entire service
models.
And it is shocking
to me, and I'll
give you an example and why
this platform is so important,
the hardware and the software.
I was in Germany
recently with a customer
and we were talking about
some of their experience.
And they said they spent
three years in Shanghai
with their organization
heading up service.
And during that time,
they became friendly
with a person that was head
of service for an elevator
company.
And this elevator
company was telling them
that their business model is
changing so rapidly in China.
So they are being asked to give
their equipment away at cost.
And they're being paid by
the building for every time
that elevator goes up and down.
So that is an extreme example,
an elevator given away at cost,
and the service and support
mechanism is, if it works,
I pay you.
If it doesn't work,
you're going to pay me.
And jet engines
are going that way.
They're called
power by the hour.
We're seeing all kinds--
air conditioning,
large air conditioning companies
for buildings and hotels
and such are getting
pressure, so extreme.
So you can imagine having
tools like hardware pieces,
like these cameras
I'm telling you about,
or the specialized
hubs that allow
you to plug in these
scopes and different tools.
And then our software
just on your iPhone,
it really changes the way
these people approach business.
It allows them to rapidly
change their business model,
and allows them to add in
products they previously
didn't think they
could support or they
had no expertise on supporting.
And it really helps
their business models
when you have this aging
population that is retiring,
every industry we're
running against--
and I don't know if you're
seeing the same thing--
they're having this issue
about retiring workers,
and they're losing
that knowledge.
There's no way to capture it.
There's no knowledge
management system
for just having 30 years
of experience in something.
And what we're able to do
with these technologies,
whether it's our specialized
cameras, that Collaboration
Hub, or our software that sits
on your iPhone or your Android
phone, we're able to
digitize that worker's day,
have them look at what's
going on with maybe
a new person in the field, and
help them adapt to this rapidly
changing environment.
I know that was a long
answer, but I think
it was probably worth saying.
And I'd be curious if you
see some of those same things
with aging workforce
in your business.
MIKE NEWMAN: Well, I think
it's a little bit different.
But what you said is
incredibly important.
It's that just as we looked
at the industrial age evolving
to sort of the knowledge worker
age and the services age,
I mean, you're
empowering organizations
to transition their
business model in ways
that highly leverage
their knowledge workers
and their subject
matter expertise.
And maybe, with
very little risk,
commoditized their
manufacturing business,
which was probably in some
cases going that way anyways.
And so they get these long
term relationships that
aren't driven by the hardware.
It's driven by
the subject matter
experts who are able to
service the equipment
and provide a very high level
of service with your solutions.
So I think it's an
incredibly important point.
Certainly, we share
your commitment
to being able to not only
collect, but sort of centrally
manage and preserve subject
matter expert knowledge.
Certainly, video
and collaboration
drive those types of use cases.
And I completely agree with you.
I know, in talking
to you, you've
been really excited about where
you see Librestream sitting
as, you know, this sort
of macroeconomic evolution
takes place.
And I can completely see
why you're excited about it.
I was going to ask you,
so in every industry,
there are buzzwords.
You know, there's
hype, there are
things people should
be excited about,
and those that maybe
grab their attention
but they shouldn't be so excited
about, whether it's Opex,
Capex, you gotta go cloud,
you gotta go on prem.
In your industry
specifically, if you
were advising
prospective customers,
you know, and they were
fighting through the noise
and their Google searches
and all that, what
are the buzzwords that are
bubbling up in your industry?
And what are the ones that
you, as an industry expert,
think may stick or
just passing fads?
JEREMY PITTS: Yeah, it's
an interesting question
because we're not
to the end yet.
But I'll tell you
some of the things.
So the idea of Sass has come on.
When we first created--
before I came on board,
we created this
Sass version to make
it really easy for organizations
to get up and going,
and really easy
for organizations
to work with their
customers without having
to deal with IT and security,
once the solution was in place.
So we just signed a
deal two weeks ago
with one of the
largest companies
in the world, certainly one
of the largest manufacturing
companies in the world.
And absolutely, when we started
this journey with this company,
Sass was not an option.
It had to be on those
servers, and we offer that.
But what it came down
to is the flexibility.
And because the
security is there--
and we can thank people like
Salesforce.com or Microsoft
Azure and things like that,
even Amazon Web Services-- Sass
is here to stay.
And I know you know
this, and we've
been talking about
this for years,
so it's not like
that's a new buzz word.
I will say Capex,
especially if you
think about oil and gas,
Capex versus Opex, I mean,
there is a hot topic there.
I mean, I was at an organization
in Houston a week ago
that said there will be no Capex
expense, period-- like end,
full statement-- next year.
We're in such a concern
of what's going on
with oil and gas market.
And we hear that in other spots.
And certainly with our software,
that becomes really easy.
On our hardware, we've had
some really creative things
that we've done to try to
help companies overcome it.
The buzzwords,
like Google Search,
you know, like someone
searching for us,
has been a little
more difficult.
So field collaboration
is number one.
Unified communication
in the field,
anything that has those types
of traditional buzzwords, which
is interesting because
we're certainly the field
part, that we stand out there.
But if you think
about TelePresence--
I mean Cisco has
got that covered,
they do a great
job-- and others,
that they've figured
out that stuff.
So it's, we've
almost had to accept
that it's going to be hard
to create like our own brand
new category.
And we've used a lot
of the same words
that I would say fit
into like TelePresence
and those types of things, field
TelePresence, stuff like that.
MIKE NEWMAN: So at the
risk of sounding cheesy
and completely in the
dark about your industry,
Google came out
with Google Glass.
That was not so well received,
certainly from a consumer
perspective.
I mean, is wearables a buzzword?
And if so, is it something
that's 10 years on the horizon?
Is it, you know, these
folks are in environments
that are so rigorous
and sort of demanding
that something like that
would be way too fragile?
I mean, do you have
an opinion on sort
of the wearables
industry, generally,
and as it relates
to your industry?
JEREMY PITTS: It's
interesting you
brought that up because
it's a really hot topic.
We hear about it and
see it every day.
You know, the third component--
we have software and hardware--
is we have third party
hardware that can run,
and we have partnered
with some wearables.
Here's what we found.
The concept of having
your hands free
when you're fixing a
problem really make sense.
Let's face it, I send you
out, you have your hands free,
I can guide you through
some very complex things.
And you can take care of that
and manage that while you're
on, speaking and
seeing things from me
and I'm seeing
what you're doing.
That concept makes a
tremendous amount of sense,
whether you're manufacturing
a car, an airplane,
or you're on an oil
and gas platform.
The problems that that industry
hasn't been able to overcome
are some of the basics, I mean,
simple things in some cases.
Battery life, how do
they work in the sun?
Because you can't see anything.
Health and safety in
a lot of organizations
have just said no.
I mean, it's like
driving in a car that
has a very tiny windshield
and very large pillars
that you can't see
are blind spots.
So having those on a
manufacturing floor
has been a very difficult.
That said, I think we're five
to 10 years away from having
the right solution there.
And I say that from
my own experience
and seeing that really nothing
has gone beyond the pilot phase
there.
And like I said.
We're partnered with them.
That can be the
front end vehicle
that our software runs on.
So we have a vested interest.
But I think those
other obstacles
will make it very difficult.
I sat in a presentation
a few months back
with the CIO of GE Corporate
and the CIO of Schlumberger.
Schlumberger actually invested
in a wearables company.
Both thought that it was
a minimum of five years,
but 10 years away.
So they shared my same opinion.
And they get to see a lot of
the things that are going on.
MIKE NEWMAN: I think
that's really great advice.
Because I'm sure, it sounds
like the prospects and customers
you're consulting
with, they're thinking
about making huge
investments that
will impact their bottom
line and probably want
to make those investments
at the right time
when the technology
is mature enough.
Very quickly, you know, I'm
sure a lot of the folks who
are listening to this
podcast are intrigued by what
you and Librestream are doing.
If they'd like
additional information,
what's the easiest
way to contact you?
And by the way, just for a
second part of the question,
are you going to be at
any trade shows coming up
this Fall, or maybe
early next year?
JEREMY PITTS: We
have some trade shows
that are really interesting.
We're at an aviation
event called MRO Europe.
We're at Field Service Europe,
both in Amsterdam this year.
We're at the Cisco
Partner Summit coming up.
I want to say that's in
November or late October.
So that's coming up quickly.
I think that's in San
Francisco this year.
So we're definitely there
through the end of the year.
I know they're very industry
specific events, if you're
in field service, aviation.
And then the Cisco
Partner Summit
is kind of a little
bit of everything.
But as far as contacting
us, obviously the website's
a really great area,
librestream.com.
And there's a contact area.
We make it really easy.
info@librestream.com.
And certainly, anyone who wants
to reach out to me on LinkedIn,
Jeremy Pitts, I'd love to answer
any questions, if there is any.
MIKE NEWMAN: So
Jeremy, we'll make sure
that contact information is
made available with the podcast.
And having witnessed
firsthand what
you and your team at Librestream
are doing, I just want to say,
congratulations.
It was really
interesting to watch
you go from Polycom into
Librestream, a company
headquartered in Winnipeg.
You're going from
Southern California.
It must have been an extremely
compelling business case.
And I think you've shared
that with us today.
So, thank you.
And I also want to congratulate
you for the honor, I'll say,
or the dishonor of
being our first guest
on our podcast series.
So, thank you.
And thank you also
to everyone that
took the time to listen in.
We'll be bringing you lots of
great guests in the future,
and we hope you'll
continue to listen.
Thank you.
