My journey to Chamberlain Group...

As I complete my first two months as the new Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Chamberlain Group, I wanted to take a step back to reflect on the journey that led me here. As a business leader who grew up in ?the classic tech world (HP, Microsoft, Oracle, etc...), I’ve always believed that every company will eventually become a tech company, and more specifically, that every company will become a software company. This idea, though, needs to be taken even a step further: every company needs to become an experience company and they must leverage tech and software to achieve that vision.

Let me explain further by diving into my new world as CRO of ?Chamberlain Group. Chamberlain Group has more than 50 years of experience manufacturing garage door openers (GDO) and other access solutions (gates, docks, access) that are sold under the Chamberlain brand in retail locations ?and the LiftMaster brand in ?professional settings. In the Americas (North & South) we are the industry leader in GDOs and a major player for other access solutions, and we are a growing player in APAC and Europe. In 2014, Chamberlain Group introduced the myQ app to deliver access experiences through software and technology. Since then, myQ has grown and evolved into a platform with millions of users. Many of you might use myQ today to open and close your garage door from anywhere through your smart devices. While this is great progress, we are just getting started. And that is why I am excited about the opportunity ahead.

Before joining Chamberlain Group, I worked at Barco, a traditional visualization hardware manufacturer in the process of transforming to an experience company by wrapping technology and software around their core and new solution offerings. While both Barco and Chamberlain Group are industry leaders in their core traditional businesses, they are both also aggressively transforming by bringing improved value through experiences and capabilities to their products with technology and software. These transformations are like the transformations I experienced at Microsoft and Oracle as they moved from "on-prem" to SaaS, IaaS, etc... The impact is significant, the transformation is extensive, everything is impacted, and changes across all parts of the business, our partners, and ecosystems are required. This is not for the faint of heart.

Having said that, the opportunity is huge, the growth potential is game changing, and there is no looking back as end customers will never want to return to the old experiences once they understand and experience the new solutions. It’s inevitable. If we don't do it, someone else will. Oh, yeah, and it is fun!!

The opportunity ahead for Chamberlain Group and our partners is massive. Like any company moving to connected experiences, our opportunity to leverage connectivity and data to improve outcomes for our end customers is significant. Access as a Service will be delivered through one platform (one experience) and will provide end customers with visual confirmation (cameras), control (locks, pet doors, and garage door openers), and security (access control) across every entry point of their home. End-customers can choose to automatically load access credentials into their vehicles and other smart devices or securely share them with home service and delivery providers. And our partners will provide proactive maintenance and services giving end customers complete piece of mind. We can provide multi-family communities this same access as a service experience (on same single platform) controlling access to community gates and shared community resources (pools, common areas), while also managing access credentials for friends, family, and third parties (services, delivery, etc...). Think about managing all of this on one platform and in one application - it is powerful.

My LinkedIn network has a significant footing in the classic technology world and part of my macro point here is that as all companies become tech and software companies, our skills and experiences are transferable. I encourage my network to explore and look beyond the obvious (many of you already have).

I am clearly excited about the opportunity ahead for Chamberlain Group and I am a huge believer in the experience transformation happening across all industries and businesses. It is not easy but can be very rewarding. I look forward to continuing to get out of my comfort zone and helping Chamberlain Group in its next chapter of growth.