According to Sanjay Shah ’89MBA, there’s no denying that, from a business standpoint, technology has been a beneficial game-changer. “But it can do harm, too, because we sometimes rely too much on it, or fail to recognize its limitations. People think technology is the solution to all of their business problems, and it’s not. If applied incorrectly, it can actually cause far more harm.”
Shah, a tech entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of enterprise software company Vistex, addressed the topic Limitations of Technology? Weighing the Benefits and Harm during the 14th Donald M. Gruhn ’49 Distinguished Finance Speaker Series held on October 18, 2022.
Students, faculty, staff, and the community heard Shah speak about how technology, while pervasive and beneficial, can also have a downside. The presentation was held in Zoellner Arts Center’s Baker Hall.
Georgette Chapman Phillips, the Kevin L. and Lisa A. Clayton Dean of the College of Business, interviewed Shah about his life and career in a fireside chat format.
After earning his MBA at Lehigh, Shah held positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers and General Motors before moving to Germany to work for software giant SAP.
Working in research and development at SAP, Shah realized there were areas where the platform could do better. When it became clear that wasn’t a priority for SAP at the time, Shah went out on his own to start Vistex in 1999. For over two decades, the company has achieved unprecedented year-over-year growth, expanding operations globally and broadening its portfolio across 15 industries.
Vistex is an enterprise software company whose clients include Apple, Walmart, 3M, Viacom, Intel, and Bayer. Vistex software provides businesses with a clearer picture of revenue-generating programs that impact financial, marketing, and sales functions – and makes sure every dollar spent or earned is really driving growth and not just additional costs.
Shah discussed starting his company without capital from outside sources, a practice known as bootstrapping. “I was taught very early on by my family the importance of equity and ownership. I wanted to own as much of Vistex as possible.”
He said the technology that has disrupted his business the most is cloud computing. “The cloud made enterprise software accessible to anyone with a browser. It’s been a tectonic shift, not just in how we provide software and how it’s consumed, but also in how users pay for it.”
“The companies that provide and record this music now have to manage their revenue from all these streaming services. Billions – in some cases, trillions – of transactions have to be aggregated to determine what needs to be paid to the companies, and how do they pay the artists?”
He cited the music industry as an example of the good and bad of technology. Music, he said, has gone from the days when the widespread pirating of music was a problem, to songs now being streamed virtually everywhere.
Shah said Vistex helps companies like Universal and Sony manage their commercial relationships with streamers such as Spotify, YouTube, and Pandora. “Our software also helps them figure out how much they owe the artists – an insanely complex aspect.”
And while the technology involved in music streaming is very beneficial in many ways, Shah said there may be an overreliance on these systems to predict what consumers want to listen to – and perhaps pressure artists to make that kind of music. “Music is an emotional connection,” Shah said, “and I don’t think the technology will ever be there to establish emotional connections.”
During a question-and-answer segment that followed the discussion, Shah advised students that technology isn’t going to be a separate discipline anymore, but rather one that will be enmeshed in everything. “Learn how to apply technology to various business functions. And while you may focus on something academically, make sure you don’t do it at the expense of cross-functional skills, especially in the business world.”
Two important leadership lessons Shah said he’s learned over the course of his career are “one, be authentic – don’t try to be what others want you to be. And two, have pride of ownership – whether you’re mopping a floor or advising the largest companies in the world; if you put your imprint on something, and somebody finds something wrong with it, it should really, really bother you.”
Nathan Urban, provost and vice president of academic affairs, thanked Judy and Don Gruhn ’49 for their patronage of the series that brings industry leaders to campus to share their experiences.