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The story that's currently unfolding at Lifesize sounds like something out of a CEO comic strip.
After pursuing another startup venture, a seasoned CEO rejoins his previous ailing tech company to set it back on course. And, in an ironic twist, he repositions the hardware-focused company entirely as a cloud-based teleconferencing system, in turn, flipping the mission, product, services, and employee understanding on its head. Not to mention revamping the internal understanding of the company culture and onboarding new employees to supplement the new direction.
Lifesize was the first video teleconferencing company to bring face-to-face remote communications to life. The hardware-focused company plowed the market 12 years ago and eventually was acquired by the hardware-giant Logitech. Typical to the usual tech cycle, the company began noticing that it was becoming less and less relevant in the space they had originally pioneered.
Simultaneously during this downhill track, CEO Craig Malloy had left Lifesize to pursue a new startup venture, Bloomfire. Away from entrenched processes and back in startup mode, every day held new challenges while providing a chance for enacting and testing different solutions. Bloomfire, which has since raised $20 million in funding, gave Malloy a much needed reawakening into agile methodology.
Upon return to Lifesize, Malloy’s knew, “how much we needed to change to be successful for the next 10 years. Running the new startup company reminded me of the pace and nimbleness you need competing in a new space.”
Repositioning the company’s product offerings likewise meant repositioning the workforce. It wasn't going to be an easy shift, but Lifesize decided to enter the cloud.
It's not surprising that completely changing a company’s message and identity with 400 employees and 20 international offices is quite a fragile situation. The employee base was full of a grandfathered team that had been accustomed to the outdated Lifesize operations and focus. Employees were well-versed in hardware, but a cloud-service solution was a completely different game.
Lifesize employees went from selling high-end project based products to affordable, simple cloud-services that anyone can use — completely different economics for a business, and a much different sell.
“We’re managing the rapid growth of the new product line, and rapid decline of the older product,” Malloy said. “Our competitors are all different, we have a whole new set of competitors to understand then we did a year ago.”
A typical workday became unrecognizable.
“We’ve had to reinvent ourselves while moving along and maintaining, we’re bringing new employees and positions to match our new product offerings,” Malloy said. "These positions are new to the usual Lifesize hiring script and include front-end web developers, and new operators of cloud services among others."
To regain rapport and onboard the hesitant staff, Malloy credits reiterating successes and proven results. “You cannot over-communicate showing progress and sharing as much as you can with the business,” he said.
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On top of the product change, Malloy introduced many of the workplace elements that have become popular today — communal, open work stations, which includes Malloy’s desk, and a casual dresscode.
With 1,000 subscribed cloud customers and a brand new space, Lifesize has begun making headway in its product and cultural transformation. “We’ve burned the boats on the beach and this is what we have to do.”
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