Hello, this is Nick Holland for Information Security Media Group, and I'm joined today by Kevin Schwartz, who's the principal for transformation strategy EMEA with Zscaler. Kevin, welcome. Hey, thanks, Nick. So Kevin, obviously interesting times.
There's been an absolutely incredible transfer of people working from an office environment to a remote environment with some very big changes as part of that. What I want to focus on, though, is clearly we're in the middle of that, but what's is it going to be like afterwards? I mean, what comes after COVID-19 would be my first question. That's an interesting question.
So I guess certain companies have been not planning or basically haven't expected just the pandemic and this sort of, you know, impact on them. So I would say we need to differentiate now in three different types of groups. So if I'm taking this as the example of the investments in terms of remote access. So one is basically they invest it into the existing infrastructure, and this is maybe locking them down of, for example, moving to items on the roadmap, like, you know, zero trust architecture.
The second ones maybe have increased their remote access or using the VPN now more heavily, but basically have a backup solution, which is maybe there, zero trust solution in future. And the third ones, which basically, you know, they said there is no real alternative in place. So how about we risk it all and basically going for a new solution in place and investing into it heavily and seeing what happens, what should we do? Right.
So I would say in terms of how does it look afterwards, I guess we're seeing customers that either are beyond or behind their roadmap by basically the decision that they felt during the pandemic times. So we've seen, I mean, again, it's an interesting time for things like investments in VPN infrastructure. Do you think that will stay or is this going to be downgraded again? That's a good question.
So I would say also in the sense of, you know, what what is going to happen afterwards is I see companies are maybe locked down into it now. So we will see again here companies that now invested into it heavily for a longer time or basically a longer period. I don't see them moving away from it, even if, you know, I mean, nobody likes VPN, but I don't see that changing for now. The second ones, which maybe what I described with having already invested into the future solution as a backup, have now a great chance of basically proving the solution working and maybe then have still the time of switching over.
The third type I described is basically, I guess now, yeah, they are moving ahead. Right. So they are totally on track. And basically, I guess those ones, from my perspective, got it right.
I don't see it anywhere moving down again from the amount of people that are working from home, etc. means people will work from anywhere. So those requirements, even after the pandemic, won't decrease. So you will need to have a high number of capacity for users dialing or getting into your private applications.
So we're talking about implementation zero trust. Zero trust is a phrase that we've talked about at length in other conversations with Zscaler. It seems to be really coming of age now in that we're moving now to this paradigm where we can see the importance of the remote worker. And, you know, companies that were ahead of the game have been able to treat their employees no matter where they are as, you know, within the network has been fundamental to their success in other ways.
So again, I mean, fundamentally, well, first of all, maybe define zero trust, which sort of briefly described that. But then talk about what is what is the way forward? Is it zero trust? Basically, for me, yes, it is.
It is the way forward. Right. So there's no other way around. Why?
I mean, zero trust implicates, you know, that I mean, or others, digital business transformation requires that systems, etc. You know, are basically everywhere. So or basically accessible by wherever they are. Right.
So things are moving to the cloud. So means with your old way of working or basically with your old understanding of trusting or not trusting is totally redundant. Right. So zero trust is for me the way forward.
And I guess many companies before the pandemic would have answered the same way. Right. So they had it on the roadmap. So people will continue to work from everywhere.
So even if we are now sort of lockdowns, what we discussed before in the questions, this will not go away. Yeah. So companies will need to address whatever is coming in terms of zero trust for them as the users are required for a lot of companies. This is a sort of clear concern about the financial situation when some projects are going to likely be cut off.
So where do you see that going with the current financial outlook? I mean, how do companies sort of triage what stays and what goes when it comes to projects that they're going to be investing in going forward? Yeah, it's a very good question. So first of all, I guess many companies are aiming still for moving into the cloud.
I also see discussions of basically building up their own infrastructure that will stay as an important investment for them moving forward. Why? Because they still want to ensure they saw the importance of having our capacity to run their own critical applications by themselves. In terms of the financial outlook, I believe strongly that we are basically running into a financial crisis or basically into a crisis that we can't yet estimate.
This is then, of course, as every IT project is going to be questioned rather than a focus of what is bringing me real value. I suppose transformation projects that we may have done a few years back by, you know, replacing the router with a new type of product and calling it transformation. Those days are going to be over. Right.
I guess we rather would like or basically companies are looking rather forward to invest into solutions that are transforming their business and generating value right away instead of, you know, let's say, nice to have or add on projects that are rather on the paper transformation. So let's talk about again. I mean, what do companies do to lock down to a certain technology now? Yeah.
So basically, I mean, again, to my favorite three types of differentiators. Right. So, of course, the ones that selected solutions like the one my company is offering have done it completely right. Right.
So just joking. I mean, it's we see it. I mean, based on that example, I can explain it simply the best. Right.
So they have either now locked down into the solution that they don't like, which on the roadmaps wasn't planned to be sort of the solution in future. Well, so bad luck. Right. So this solution will stay now with the topics that we discussed of a financial crisis.
I'm not seeing this being addressed soon. So if, for example, a company wanted to address zero trust by having a next or a different solution for remote access implemented, I guess those will be on their roadmap, you know, put far ahead. Right. So they are going to need to wait a bit more time.
Second type is where they had the backup. They are still the chance of moving into the solution that they want to and moving away of the solution that we sort of say called lockdown. And the third one said of now, you know, basically decided for the solution that they wanted to go anyway for as part of the roadmap. I mean, those are the ones that I would call my front runners.
So they are now seeing the solution. They are generating the benefits. This is how to say, I mean, this is just fantastic. They risked it all.
But luckily, they made the right step into the direction of the roadmap. And they're generating now, you know, the valuable benefits of the solution. Very good. So one final question is, again, a bit of a, I'd say, a very nebulous in terms of how this might work out.
Right. But it's I mean, my own personal hypothesis would be that this is a game changer in the way that people will travel and work going forward. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think, I mean, fundamentally, you know, is more remote work going to be established now?
Is that going to be the norm? Or again, what does it look like when we're through the pandemic and but now we've still got this, you know, we've got this remote workforce. We've got it, but we've still got clearly the overheads of office space and things like that. So what's how do companies right size at the end of this?
Yes, I guess a perfect question. So I guess after the crisis, everybody is, first of all, interested of seeing the offers and seeing their colleagues simply because they have been long enough with their families. But on a on a mid to long term, I see this shifting. Right.
So I guess many, many areas or many sectors have never worked from home or they never thought they could work from home. And they basically saw, OK, this is a valuable option to take. So I would say the offers as we know it or basically the work that we know it doesn't exist in future anymore. So this will change.
I guess we will now have a huge push in different types of working options, either be it work from home, be it, you know, working in a in an environment that is like, for example, we work or whatever reaches this offering. Right. Or we basically are now seeing a reduced amount of of office space, which is then shareable desk or whatever options are existing. Right.
In terms of traveling. I mean, I calculated myself. I would be normally in this time of the year already on flight number 40 or 50. I guess the importance of meeting face to face will will keep existing, especially in sales