Planview has announced its results for the full year 2023. It is almost two years since TPG and TA Associates bought the company from Thoma Bravo for 1.6 billion, and the company, led by Razat Gaurav, is heading in the right direction. While Gaurav did not comment in the press release his comment on LinkedIn inferred that his task is not yet done. He noted wrote, “Acceleration. Lots more to do ….. let’s go Planview!!!”
Besides the financial performance information, Planview also gave a brief review of the year. It listed customers that were either new or had expanded their footprint during the year. Planview also reviewed some of the product updates it released during the year and the analyst recognition it received for those products. It then revealed some of the changes to the leadership. This was not wholesale changes in leadership but rather promotions or an extension of responsibilities for the existing ones.
Financial highlights include:
- Total ARR surpassed $400 million, up approximately 5% from the $380 million in FY2022 and a new record high
- Recurring Revenue grew by 10%
- Billings grew 15%
There were some omissions compared to the previous year, which leaves some questions unanswered. Total revenue was omitted. In 2022, it was $410 million. With ARR surpassing $400 million, was this another transition year from on-premises deployments to cloud subscriptions? The second notable omission was the absence of retention; customer retention rose 6% in 2022. There is no mention of retention either as a total figure or its rise or fall during the year.
Looking forward, though Gaurav could be optimistic, ARR is rising, if slowly. There were 257 net new logos, and partners also continued to invest in their Planview teams with 126 professional services certifications awarded in 2023.
Customer growth is strong with stronger products
Planview also published a list of some of the new customers or existing customers that expanded their footprint with Planview.
“Apple Bank, Bausch & Lomb, Cisco Systems, Citibank, Colgate-Palmolive, ConocoPhillips, DANONE, Dexcom, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Dyson, Emirates Group, Exact Sciences, Fidelity, Fonterra, Franklin Templeton, GlaxoSmithKline, Ingram Micro, Johnson Controls, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, La Banque Postale, Lam Research, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Lockheed Martin, McKesson, National Grid UK, Novartis, Progressive, Omnicell, Publicis, Qatar National Bank, Regeneron, Schlumberger SIS, Siemens Financial Services, SPX Technologies, Stryker Corporation, Tesco Stores, T-Mobile, TUI InfoTec, University of South Australia, and Vanguard.”
While product adoption is strong, what wasn’t made clear is which of the portfolio solutions these organisations are adopting. For example, at the start of the year, Planview hoped to open up the US DoD market with its Value Stream Management solution, attaining IL4 Authorization. Was this what prompted Lockheed Martin to be added to the list?
Other product improvements saw the introduction of Planview Copilot, an advanced generative AI assistant for connected work across platforms. It further strengthened its AI capabilities with AI-enabled solutions, including Sentiment Analysis AI Assistants for summarization and reporting.
In October it launched Planview Roadmaps, enabling business leaders to better steer their strategy with visibility across all programmes and projects. It added Flow Insights, delivering real-time views of value stream capacity, ageing of work across planning intervals, and a new Flow Item Analyzer.
In July, it launched Digital Product Insights, combining portfolio management and agile planning with delivery insights from value stream management (VSM) and objectives & key results (OKRs).
Partnerships and Analyst recognition
There were also partnerships with RPA vendor UiPath, delivering an integration between RPA and Value Stream Management. It also extended its partnership with Amazon, with more Planview now listed on the Amazon Marketplace.
Industry awards followed with recognition by Gartner as a leader for Strategic Portfolio Management and Adaptive Project Management and reporting. There was similar recognition in the GigaOm Radar for Value Stream Management. Its solutions also appeared in several IDC MarketScape reports.
Looking Forward
The year also saw a scaling up of its global operations with the opening of a new global Capability & Innovation Center (CIC) in Bengaluru, India, to drive continued innovation and growth. It continues to hire with 33 open positions across the globe. Unlike other technology firms, it does not seem to have made cuts in the last year.
Gaurav promoted Matt Zilli at the start of 2024 to the role of President, Field Operations. He will now oversee all Sales, Alliances, Customer Success, and Services. It is a wide remit that makes him responsible for winning and retaining new customers. Zilli joined Planview when it acquired Clarizen, where he was CEO. He became Chief Revenue Officer after the acquisition, and this latest role could see him as a potential successor to Gaurav.
Gaurav has also aligned the regional leaders’ responsibilities with Zilli’s. Mike Haugen (Americas), Vishal Dhawan (APAC), and David Stevens (EMEA) will now oversee Sales, Customer Success, and Services. Their job title has also changed from Managing Diector to Chief Revenue Officer of their Region, inferring that the company is unlikely to be looking for a new CRO.
Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer Cameron Van Orman also picked up responsibility for its Automotive Solutions at the start of the year. He is accountable for the growth of ARR with the automotive OEMs and tier 1-2 suppliers. It’s a significant responsibility, and one questions whether he will retain all the other roles in the medium term.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Gaurav is honing the organisation as it continues its transformation. It appears as though 2023 was a year of steady growth but also a year when it perhaps moved closer to becoming a full cloud company. There is much left out of this announcement but everything appears headed in the right direction. 2024 will be an important year for Gaurav. The leadership changes are the final honing of the go-to-market changes, and with the product engine purring, the investors may want to see better growth rates. Does that mean more investment in marketing?
