Kaffee mit Pelin & Anna ☕

And we are back live. Taner, sorry, I have to interrupt you. But we are live. Good morning, Germany.

Actually, we should always start the session with Good morning, Germany.

But we are back live with Pelin. And today's guest is Taner from the Münchner Office, from the DACH Sales Team.

Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for taking the time this morning, on a Friday morning.

And yes, tell me briefly, what do you do at Cloudflare?

Where do you come from? And then we'll see.

Yes, gladly, Anna. What do I do at Cloudflare? As you said, I've been in sales at Cloudflare for hopefully two years now.

So now a good year and a half. I originally come from the cloud business itself, but I used to do things a little differently.

So I sold other solutions, so to speak. Solution sales, so to speak, in business software.

I did that for a long time, yes, six years plus. Before that, I studied computer science as a background.

And therefore, of course, the step to Cloudflare was a decisive move for me, also a desired move, because I thus also found the return to my roots again, so to speak, to the subject matter that I actually studied.

I'm not the software developer per se now. I can do that, or at least I was able to do that once.

But then I also realized that some are better at it.

And yes, you should support the people who are better at it and identify your strengths yourself.

And I saw my strengths more in sales, so that I can be here today, thank God.

And yes.

Very cool. And you just said you wanted to go to Cloudflare. I look back, almost six and a half years at Salesforce.

Yes, that's right. Did you already know us or how did it come about?

Because one and a half, two and a half years. Yes, that's a very good question.

I actually didn't know you at all, so we didn't know each other at all.

That was so Cloudflare for me. Okay, sounds nice. I also thought at first, this Flair, you really write how you pronounce the Flair, so F-L-A-R-I-R.

Because before, someone I've known for many years, also at Salesforce times, also made the change or the move in that direction.

And he called me at some point and asked if I didn't feel like it after such a long time, if I didn't feel like fresh air.

That would also suit me quite well. The solutions were very, very groundbreaking, also in the future, or in the near future, also very strongly developed, also in terms of the platform itself.

And of course I saw a lot of potential in it.

Because if we look at the market, how the technology market has developed over the last ten years, a lot has happened.

There are a lot of companies from Silicon Valley, from the USA in particular, but also European companies in our region, who came out of nothing and make strong solutions, bring a lot of benefit to companies.

And the whole topic of digitization, which is still accelerating today, due to the whole COVID issue.

And therefore, of course, I feel a bit obligated as an IT specialist, to advise our customers that we can make the whole digital issue safe and performant.

And that's a bit of my passion, because when I was 18, 20 years old, as I said, I was very, very strongly involved with the topic of computers.

I studied network and communication engineering, so to speak, and that always fascinated me back then, because I always wanted to be safer for myself, if I wanted to protect my computer, my individual computer, that's a completely different dimension, but if I wanted to protect it alone from any attacks, I noticed that it was all about performance.

And that's not the case here. And I wanted to take a closer look at that and be convinced of it.

And yes, I think it will be a few more years.

Especially the topic of digitization, on top of the agenda in Germany, I think.

You see that too, right?

Yes, digitization is a broad term. So many people understand a lot about it.

At the end of the day, everyone has their own point of view. Basically, it's just about, we are all digital.

We were digital five years ago, only the acceptance of companies was not so given, because you don't know, also feelings with the decision-makers.

Or you didn't quite know about the topic of cloud, data protection, private or privacy stories.

These are still topics that are very present in the market, which I think is good, because we have to discuss topics so that we can crystallize the challenges of it and also process and operate filters accordingly.

And I think this discussion is currently taking place very strongly in the market, especially now here in our DACH region.

Thank God, we also get support from the organization, because of course it doesn't help if you do a lot of sales and if you don't follow the backend or at least the other processes.

So I'm talking about legal, data privacy, sales, solution engineering, but also the topic of BDA, HR.

This is a system. A system needs a lot of gears, and these gears come together and it's fun to watch.

You said you've been around for two years now. That means you experienced the time before Corona at work and now during and hopefully sometime after.

What is the main difference in your work for you? I'm not talking about home office and office work, but how you work with customers before Corona and now with Corona.

What has changed the most? Is it more difficult? Is it easier?

What are the differences you see there? I'm basically a person who is very open to change.

Change is very, very normal for me. This change with Covid was a bit of a forced change, you have to say.

We already had certain home office regulations before that someone can work from home.

You've done that before. But after the Covid issue, at some point I reached a point where I said, man, it's not as nice as it used to be.

Of course, you miss the community of the entire team. I'm sure you two know one or the other example, when it comes to clarifying a little thing.

What are we doing today? We go into the chat or write or call or just try to do it via a digital channel, in the hope that it will happen as soon as possible, because then you hang around and wait.

Is the answer coming now? Is it urgent?

I think it depends. There is a bit of tension versus the topic in the office. I'll go over quickly.

Hand signs, facial expressions, you can't convey all of that in a digital form.

And therefore, from time to time, communication among each other, among the entire teams, is a bit challenging.

But I think we are now also in such a flattening phase, so that we can also think against normality again.

And that was one of the changes for me, for customers.

The biggest change I had to accept as a salesman was of course that I can no longer drive on site.

I am responsible for Austria and Switzerland and I have also liked to be on site with customers, because you like to look into their eyes, shake hands.

I don't know if that will be possible in the future, but when you are on site, you get a lot more from the business, from the environment of the customer and can therefore assess the situation much better, I think, and then offer solutions faster on the basis, which are then targeted.

Today, of course, you have the opportunity to go in through a web meeting.

And in the meantime, my experience is that if someone has the camera on, it feels like you are already on site, because you can see and meet the person.

When the camera is off, it's not so nice anymore. In the beginning, you may have been shy.

Many may have the camera off, but now I usually have the camera on when I talk to customers on the phone.

And customers too, so ... Is that a tip from you, how you can maintain customer relations well in times when you can't visit them, that you just always turn on the camera?

Yes, of course, that shows a bit.

There is trust, there is ... There is not just an icon behind it, any image that is just a static and static image, but there is really a person behind it.

I mean, otherwise there could also be a bot behind it, quite honestly.

Instead of a trained bot.

At some point it will definitely be you, but ... To be honest, I think this is such a topic in Germany.

Because I remember at the very beginning of this pandemic when we all went online, via Zoom and Google Meet, only with my German-speaking colleagues the video was always off.

With my English-speaking colleagues it was already on and off, so to speak.

Really? Yes, no idea. Maybe it's our mentality that we are a bit more shy when it comes to the video.

I think it also depends on what kind of background you have.

It took me a while to discover the virtual background.

Today it's not possible, but ... Yes, but Pelin, I think we have to make Corona a taboo topic in these chats.

Yes, okay, I just wanted to know what you think.

But you're right. I would say another thing. I also have someone who doesn't go to the office.

It's not always so advantageous when people come to my table and tell me what they need and stand there for so long until I've done it.

Then I prefer to work from home. But yes, that's true, it also has other advantages.

Okay, then I won't talk about Corona anymore. But Tana, you just mentioned that you are responsible for Switzerland and Austria.

We always say, okay, Dach region, market in Dach.

How is Switzerland and Austria different from Germany?

Are there any differences in your opinion? Yes, big, very big. One must not forget one thing.

Relationships between people or business partners build up very strongly through trust.

So that's the A and O. When you are in customer contact, you need trust. And to build this trust takes time.

And in three different countries it takes three different time spans to build this trust.

The Austrian market is, for example, very, very strong on relationships.

That means you may know each other from previous employers.

You may have done business together before, so to speak. That is my observation, that you need some time to build up such a relationship.

But if this relationship is built up, it is a very, very strong bond.

That's my impression. In Switzerland, on the other hand, it is also the subject of transparency and trust.

So, of course, transparency is always important somewhere, also with the Austrians, in quotation marks.

Nevertheless, I think, or in my opinion, it is a feeling of mine, many Swiss companies also focus on the topic of transparency.

How openly does someone talk to me? And this openness and transparency and honesty are highly appreciated by customers, among other things.

And it also helps to simply build up trust.

In Germany it was always, yes, you couldn't really assess that.

You still can't assess that today. So, basically, you can't say anywhere, the three countries simply differ in those points and that's it.

It's a little more.

So, building up trust and transparency is a bit of the topic. But you notice very directly that in the Swiss market, for example, you shouldn't overstate things.

It is as it is. The customer would like to hear it. You say it accordingly, of course, as it is.

And so you get your trust back and you can of course continue to build on it.

So, it's not... It's minimal, probably. Not like in comparison to, I don't know, France and DACH or UKNI and DACH.

I think sometimes there are extreme differences in terms of the market, in terms of the approach.

But I also have that with Switzerland.

I also had... Sorry. Sorry. I also used to, when I was still working as a newspaper, I worked with Swiss customers.

Once you've won their trust, you've always got orders.

But they also recommended you. And that's how you got into it.

If someone recommends you, the trust is of course even greater. That can also be the case in Germany, but in Switzerland it is much more important to be able to do business at all.

Absolutely. I wanted to add one more thing.

On the subject of sustainability and sustainability, companies are now also putting a lot of emphasis on it.

By sustainability, I mean a little bit in the direction I don't want to have different contact partners all the time.

So, if we were to approach this with a very fluctuating approach, today Mr.

Müller -Meyer called the next day or after half a year or 12 months later, it's another contact partner.

I think basically all companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have a general problem with it.

Or they don't like it that much. And of course that also has an impact on the subject of the structure of the relationship or the relationship, how quickly and when do we trust a customer?

But as an organization, we are also set up accordingly.

And yes, that's just going to be this fluctuation or this, as they say in the technical department, this disruption.

Today the colleague, tomorrow the colleagues. We also give our guests the opportunity to ask us questions.

Do you have any questions for Anna and me? Let's do that, Pelin.

I'm not prepared at all. Let's do it, Tana. But Tana, no trick questions, okay?

Sure. Our guests have... But both of you are in different roles. So now we have three different roles here today.

I would also be interested in what the two core topics or two core changes were, how you perceived it.

Are you in the context of a Cloudflare pandemic?

What were the two biggest challenges for you? So when I started, it all started last February.

That means I was still allowed to go to San Francisco and for me life was normal until then, because I was back and then I was only allowed to work from home.

That means I only got to know my colleagues personally last summer.

And until then I just worked from home, the processing and everything.

But I think that was solved quite well.

Everyone helped me online, my team. I was the first one in my team to be hired in Germany.

That means I only worked with London and with my supervisor here.

And it would have been all virtual anyway, even if I had been in the office now.

And they actually solved that really well. I also got a buddy who helps me with processing 2 instead, because everything was virtual.

And I thought Cloudflare really supported me well as a new hire.

But I still thought it was good that I was allowed to go back to the office.

Because then the team has grown and I have also employed people in our team.

And then it was of course much easier for me to train the people when they were also in the office than when I do everything virtually now.

That was my experience. Anna. Oh, and I met Anna when I interviewed her in London.

I also met Anna. We met again in London. Once before the pandemic or before the lockdown.

That was in March 2019. That's right, we were there.

Oh, wait. It was 2020. Yes, yes. At the quarterly sales kick-off. Exactly. These are the things I miss, you know.

And I have a tip here, an insider tip. Piano works.

As soon as you do everything in London. We were there. Top, top, top bar. Right, Tana?

So they play piano live and you can just different, I don't know, music wishes or songs.

You know what I wished for? Really? I wished for a song by Ed Sheeran.

And he played it. Yes, it was really nice. So from Rihanna to, I don't know, everything possible.

Are they open now? I'll come back later. For sure. When we go to London, then...

But yes, I miss such things. You know, that you get together as a team at the quarterly kick -offs or to see the team in the USA or in APAC alone in San Francisco.

You miss that. I was glad that I could still do that.

Because we were the last group that still had it. We did what we could and now everyone is going home.

But back to your question. For us, I see from the opportunities from the opportunities side flexibility from our side and from the candidate side to do everything completely virtually.

Because before, as Pelin already mentioned, we flew people to London.

And of course you have to calculate the time until someone flies in for the interviews, until the interview takes place.

And then, so to speak, the actual process was much longer than it is now.

In other words, now the turnaround times are much faster, we are much more efficient, because everything just happens via Google Hangout or Zoom.

And the candidates themselves, or most of us work from home.

You don't have to take half a day off, you just do an interview in the lunch break.

You know what I mean? Sorry, but that's how it is.

And of course, with this flexibility and also that we did everything virtually, performance.

So I think the first quarter during the pandemic we hired so many people.

I don't even know the exact numbers, but it was one offer after the other went out.

Or the only candidates for the interview probably.

I think the advantage, and that was also the point, because many have realized that, unfortunately, of course, we were hit by the pandemic and it went bad and is of course not advantageous for anyone.

But I think many have realized that Cloudflare simply offers a product portfolio that is relevant, even during the pandemic.

Accordingly, we also got a lot of applications, because people saw, okay, Cloudflare is still growing, we won't stop now or something, because we are in the pandemic, because our products are in need.

Accordingly, we also had a lot more applications.

I think the largest number of applications since months in this first quarter during the pandemic.

The disadvantage was of course that, and this was mainly seen in Germany or in the roof room, that the candidates were a little more careful.

In other words, candidates who we wrote directly and said, hey, wouldn't you be interested to take a look at Cloudflare and say, no, I'm waiting to see how it all develops, because you never know.

Accordingly, advantages and disadvantages, as always.

I think it's also a bit cost-effective. Yes, definitely.

And you can save a lot if you think about it, if you have invited people to London.

Arrival, departure, flight, time. That was a whole day. I have to say, I was there for my last interview and I thought it was really nice that I was there, because I could also meet other people from the team.

So I wouldn't be able to do it badly with people, but to be honest, I was glad that I still had the chance.

I liked to take the time and I hung on for a few more days and was there for a longer time, visited friends.

So you can get something out of it. But I haven't been working that's why I was a bit more flexible.

And for me that was actually a good option, because the office is also ...

I think the experience in itself, that you fly to London, for example, or come to the Munich office and meet people, I miss that.

I would wish that in the future at least partially in a kind of virtual, but also the possibility to come to the office and get to know colleagues before you start.

That's how it will be. Always stay positive. The knowledge is already there. Even when I talk to customers.

Sometimes there are companies that need a little longer to make a decision.

But I have now talked to many companies that also have a very Internet-heavy business.

And I am really surprised about the assumption that their potential Internet sales or Internet traffic that they then partially assume that this will ...

How do you say that in German? Just go down. Where I have to say, no, I don't think so.

Because people have now accepted it. Even the craftsman who may not be serving his customers on site, he too has long since abandoned the inhibition to inform himself digitally on a website or to do the shopping there.

But also, I say now, the senior customers, who have long since overcome the barrier.

Everyone somehow has the Corona app.

That is, everyone thinks very digitally. And I don't think that the assumption will be confirmed.

Because, as I said, the basic behavior of people has changed.

And this is now a new time in which we are.

I have to say, I have never ordered food so often in my life, although the supermarkets had never closed.

Actually, I have no reason to order food, but sometimes I'm just like that after work.

Or I just got used to it. There was a time in Germany when you were not allowed to go out for a walk and I didn't even want to go out shopping.

Because at the beginning almost everything was sold out, noodles, toilet paper and so on.

And then you got used to ordering food.

And unfortunately I still have the habit. I already have so many stamp cards everywhere in so many lives when I just order food all the time.

Which supplier still delivers toilet paper next to food?

Many. There are now also companies that just deliver food, so no food.

And that has now become a real trend. I don't want to name any names here, but there are also suppliers who say that the delivery will be there in 10 minutes and they have everything possible.

So you can just quickly select from the app.

I haven't tested it yet, but if I do that too, I don't think I'll go out at all.

Yes, I think you still have to optimize a bit in the concept, because you just don't get many things anymore.

Then you have a warehouse with 15 different articles and 10 of them cannot be delivered.

I don't know.

I think it only learns the articles that can be delivered. Yes, but back to the topic of digitization again.

I think it's a mega opportunity again, especially for Germany.

In some areas we are a little slower, I would say. But on the subject of delivery.

Interestingly, a few weeks ago, I don't know if we, I'm not naming any names now, but a natural goods supermarket, which is not that big, I think it's only in the Dach region, completely all goods or all shelves were empty.

And there was a note in the sense of we had a cyber hack, cyber attack, which attacked our logistical platform, and accordingly we can no longer deliver goods.

I immediately voted for Jens. I was like, I got a lead for you.

But who knows. But also such a topic. Jens, if you are watching now, I want an update for my BDR lead.

You mean you want a piece of the cake from the lead.

If it has become something. Yes, who knows. He brings us a song.

Yes, definitely.

That's how we got some customers. I also got customers who are in the industry and who didn't get along with the high number of traffic on the side because people just ordered so much online and then needed our help.

But they weren't necessarily attacked.

But that can also happen through an attack. But I don't think it will happen in the future.

Not completely as it used to be, but as a medium.

We saw a great increase at the beginning of the pandemic. Then it flattened a bit and then again.

I don't think it will reduce to zero again. There will definitely be digital acceptance.

But accordingly, the more digital we become, the more topics like security become more present and more important.

Absolutely. Final questions. Pirin, you always get trick questions.

What's on your agenda today? I would say it's the first weekend when the weather is good.

Do you have anything planned for the weekend? You have exactly two minutes to tell me.

One minute, Titana, and then we have to say goodbye.

If the weather is nice tomorrow, I will take a little walk. I will meet a certain dealer and then I will have a beer, a light beer, maybe with a pizza or with a spaghetti bolognese at Italiener Draußen.

With a certain dealer. I have a guess.

I'll tell you offline. Okay.

And Anna, what do you have? For us it's a bit more complicated here. I'm sitting somewhere else.

That's right, you're in Marlundenberg. It's a bit more difficult on the other side.

No, but from yesterday the shops are open. I see. That's why I think the weather will be better on the weekend.

And summer is finally coming.

I can't wait. It took a relatively long time here in Germany this year.

But let's see. Nothing big planned yet. Pelin, your answer? 30 seconds. I haven't planned anything great yet either.

But I'll do that when the day comes to an end.

I'll do that later. I always have to organize where I go to get tested. Folks, team, Tana, thank you very much for the conversation this morning.

Thank you both.

You can always drop by if you want. You can always drop by, also with colleagues.

And we'll see each other again in two weeks. If that's okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you for the invitation. Take care.