WEBVTT - Apttus' Krappe on Launching 'Max' AI Sales Technology (Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>This is taking stock with Gadlie Hayes and grim Box

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<v Speaker 1>on Bloomberg Radio, changing the way businesses operate. While that

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<v Speaker 1>is the focus of aptis, and here to tell us

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<v Speaker 1>more about aptus and what it does and how it

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<v Speaker 1>can help create value in a variety of industries, particularly

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<v Speaker 1>using artificial intelligence. Kirk Crape is the chief executive and

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<v Speaker 1>the co founder of Aptus. They're based in San Mateo, California,

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<v Speaker 1>and he joins us now. Kirk, thank you very much

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<v Speaker 1>for being with us. Thank you so much, very much

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<v Speaker 1>appreciated to tell him thank you now. I also want

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<v Speaker 1>to note that you are a noted author as well.

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<v Speaker 1>The book is called Intelligent Quote to Cash, and maybe

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<v Speaker 1>the best way to start is by you explaining the

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<v Speaker 1>title of that book and how it connects with Aptus.

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<v Speaker 1>I will, indeed so so netting it out. Quote to

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<v Speaker 1>Cash is the business process that connects typically your self

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<v Speaker 1>force automation tool to your financial tool. So you may

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<v Speaker 1>use self force for selforce automation s a people your

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<v Speaker 1>financial tool, and the process that connects them is called

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<v Speaker 1>quote to cash. And historically quote to cash hasn't really

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<v Speaker 1>been automated very much, and act as our business we

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<v Speaker 1>began about ten years ago where we assemble the product

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<v Speaker 1>footprint that does exactly that. So quote to Cash is

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<v Speaker 1>a series of apps that essentially connect those two systems.

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<v Speaker 1>The word intelligent has come about in the last eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>months because we began to realize more and more that

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<v Speaker 1>not only automating the process is of high value to customers,

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<v Speaker 1>but in fact there's so much data and insights trapped

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<v Speaker 1>in in this process that if you could have a

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<v Speaker 1>machine learning or an AI official intelligence type tool to

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<v Speaker 1>mind that data, you can dramatically improve the benefits ful

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<v Speaker 1>for clients, not just automating the process, but giving giving

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<v Speaker 1>insights and helping revenue much more significantly. So that's that's

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<v Speaker 1>the genesis of the intelligent quote and the new book. Again,

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<v Speaker 1>let's give the titless intelligent Quote to Cash by Kirk Krope,

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<v Speaker 1>who is our guest, the co founder and CEO of Aptus.

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<v Speaker 1>Very excited, of course, you are a dream Force this

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<v Speaker 1>week and you are launching MAX Artificial Intelligence Technology. Dream Force.

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<v Speaker 1>What there's over a hundred and seventy thousand people there

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<v Speaker 1>from over eighty three countries. So tell us about MAX. Yes, So,

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<v Speaker 1>so MAX is basically a female intelligent agents and what

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<v Speaker 1>she does is your work for you, and we're not

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<v Speaker 1>surprised that she's female, right, I know what to get

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<v Speaker 1>those comments actually, but but so so she will basically

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<v Speaker 1>execute anything you want. So, for instance, if you want

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<v Speaker 1>to create a quote for a customer, instead of going

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<v Speaker 1>inter application logging on selecting your products and going through

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<v Speaker 1>sort of a laborious clickthrough, you'll simply talk to Max

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<v Speaker 1>and say, Max, create a quote, and she will interact

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<v Speaker 1>with you. She would say for which customer, which products,

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<v Speaker 1>and she will go and do all the Monday tasks

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<v Speaker 1>that typically a sales person and somebody else might do.

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<v Speaker 1>So the whole concept of Max is to make your

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<v Speaker 1>interaction with your application conversational as opposed to physical hitting keyboards,

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<v Speaker 1>and have her really access to data the information performing

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<v Speaker 1>your task in a much more intelligent way, and she

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<v Speaker 1>is being unveiled to sweeps Kirk, I just wonder if

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<v Speaker 1>we could put a name on the customer. I've looked

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<v Speaker 1>at some of the examples, but you know, Trimble is

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<v Speaker 1>an example of one company that you've done business with,

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<v Speaker 1>or maybe you want to select another one, But just

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<v Speaker 1>give us an idea of a of a customer and

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<v Speaker 1>what you've done to help them change the way they

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<v Speaker 1>do business. So I mean to point out a single

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<v Speaker 1>name customer and talk about that would be probably very specific,

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<v Speaker 1>but let me give you broadly what we do. The

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<v Speaker 1>process we touch is revenue management. So if we perform

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<v Speaker 1>the quoting process better, that is the process where you

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<v Speaker 1>provide pricing to you customer. If we perform the contract

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<v Speaker 1>management process better, which is ultimately the blueprint for your

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<v Speaker 1>trading relationship. And if we perform the revenue management those

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<v Speaker 1>three things are quote to cash. These these have dramatic

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<v Speaker 1>impact to customers. If they reduced the cycle time, they

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<v Speaker 1>increase the actual revenue, reduced revenue leakage, provide all sorts

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<v Speaker 1>of other insights, So to pick one just top of

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<v Speaker 1>head would probably do it a great injustice. But largely

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<v Speaker 1>uh this revenue management process and small percentage improvements can

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<v Speaker 1>result in tremendous games for formit and out such company. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>you're looking to do an I p O potentially as

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<v Speaker 1>soon as next year, and you have said recently year

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<v Speaker 1>you think the elections, you selections, whether the US elections

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<v Speaker 1>are hurting everything, including the I P O market, that's

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<v Speaker 1>your view I'm originally from England, so I'm not as

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<v Speaker 1>in with with this sort of politics of the US,

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<v Speaker 1>but I will say we were actually at one point

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<v Speaker 1>thinking about ipeering this year. Uh and then just generally

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<v Speaker 1>election years typically end up not being the best years

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<v Speaker 1>necessarily to do that, so we we did decide that

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<v Speaker 1>we will delay our IPO to the first half of

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<v Speaker 1>next year. But there's also other reasons for that. It's

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<v Speaker 1>not purely election. That's one very small aspect. We're around

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred and fifty million revenue company. We're growing roughly

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<v Speaker 1>six year and years. We have great optics and great metrics.

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<v Speaker 1>But but close half of next year will be in

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<v Speaker 1>a poised position to really take advantage of all the

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<v Speaker 1>other things that we're doing in the marketplace, and hopefully

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<v Speaker 1>the cattle markets are are good at that point too. Well.

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<v Speaker 1>Kirk Crupper, thank you for joining us today. CEO, co

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<v Speaker 1>founder of Aptis. They have a new artificial intelligence technology Max.

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<v Speaker 1>She's very intelligent. She's debuting Salesforces Big Dream Force event

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<v Speaker 1>in San Francisco this week. Kirk's also debuting his new book,

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<v Speaker 1>Intelligent Quote to Cash. I'm Cafe Hazel and PM Fox

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<v Speaker 1>Sanks so much for joining us today. We'll see you

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<v Speaker 1>back here tomorrow. This is Bloomberg