What is THE Industry to be in? (Discussion) Are you considering the 10 Year technological future of your company?

My opinion is that THE industry to be 'in' is pretty much anything to do with AI/MachineLearning/Cloud/Big Data/Robotics


As I think that's where the innovation & money is headed, some great things being done in that space that is essentially wiping out the competition the same way CD's did to tapes, and MP3 did to CD's


This is what fueled my recent job move but I'm curious what your take is, are you considering the 10YR future of the company you join in this regard? Or is it not relevant?


To me I'd just rather be selling the best tech, the newest stuff, biggest impact, but of course with that comes the educational cost of teaching your prospects why the new way is THE WAY to do things now etc. etc.

How was your weekend?

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MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
9
Senior Account Executive
Anything security related is here to stay. Period. Companies focused on Cloud and Digital Transformation, even more so. 

That said, outside some of the big hitters. I don't know that 10 years with ANY tech company is in the cards for sales folks, these days...and I don't think that's a bad thing. I'm just wrapping my 2nd year with a company that's now 3 years under PE rule. The writing is on the wall, in some form or another. I'm confident I'll be at another company within 2 years. And I'm totally great with that. 
SaaSbod
Contributor
2
Sr Sales Account Exec
That's like saying transportation is here to stay, pretty broad. I don't see humans in infosec for much longer. 
MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
2
Senior Account Executive
Identify and access management. 
Application security. 
Identity governance and orchestration. 
Privileged access management. 
Cloud directory/data services. 
Threat detection services. 
API protection services 

InfoSec. It will always be around and there will be humans to sell it and humans to buy it. 
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
True to an extent
MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
0
Senior Account Executive
Thanks for that useless comment. Care to share why?
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
I can agree with what you've outline in there. Rightly put out that humans will be needed. But can't deny the fact AIs could replace too
And yeah, sorry about that useless comment🤐
MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
0
Senior Account Executive
AI is a major part of security sales already. It replaces slower, more antiquated technology. It’s a value add. It makes solutions more sellable. But humans will still be the ones purchasing it and administrating it...and humans will still be selling it. Are you actually thinking about comments these days? Or just trying to rack up the commission? 
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
For your question, with due respect, I'd say I read, think and only comment. I believe it ain't right to judge , please :)!

Racking up commission ain't the target either. 

If my comment felt so or had that kind of a perception, apologies!

Yes and thank you for that information you provided. AI makes solutions more sellable. 
MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
1
Senior Account Executive
Just food for thought. Glad the clarification helped. 
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
Okay and it definitely did @MMMGood . Have a good day/week
SaaSbod
Contributor
1
Sr Sales Account Exec
@MMMGood I've sold all the above and the major gap in all of these technologies is a human watchman. Yes, we always want a person sitting behind a keyboard somewhere, but those amounts will drop drastically. Half of the security industry now is enabling your IT team to act, when you remove that component you increase security. Also, there's always the question of who watches the watchmen. Fewer humans equal more security. And that's not even bringing up MSSP's and other services that are taking over the industry.  
MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
0
Senior Account Executive
I’m not arguing the fact that there will be fewer humans. I agree. 

The question posed for the original post was which industry is THE one to be in. I’m asserting that, regardless of how few people are maintaining the solutions, cloud security is here to stay and growing exponentially year over year, in perpetuity. 
MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
0
Senior Account Executive
We also might be saying the same thing @bunch. Lol
SaaSbod
Contributor
0
Sr Sales Account Exec
@MMMGood Oh for sure... I never realized I could argue with someone I agreed with until I got married. It's a real thing :) 
MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
0
Senior Account Executive
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
yupyup thats true, i think 2-3yrs is the average tenure right, whats the PE rule?
MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
0
Senior Account Executive
3-5
thegrinch
Politicker
0
SDR
I think the PE rule is price to earnings rules, correct?
MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
0
Senior Account Executive
Sorry. 

Pivate Equity. Our company was acquired by a private equity firm and have been under their “rule” going on 3 years. Typically I’ve seen those investments last 3-5 years before getting spun out via IPO or bought by a big tech stack; Microsoft/IBM/etc. 
RedHotCheetos
Good Citizen
1
Business Development Representative
Cloud is a *great* industry to be in. I came from InfoSec and it’s nice but it can be insanely competitive and a bit saturated. 

Lots of vendors in the space, so it helps to work for one that’s innovating in some way.
Meow
Executive
0
Inside Sales Representative
I guess this really depends on what kind of security services you provide. 
If it is end point protection or CIAM I definitely get you. 
But there are certain spaces where you only really have a handful of competitors which is nice
marebears007
Valued Contributor
0
Sr. Account Executive
I was thinking security would be a big industry as well, especially around ata and such. What is the PE rule?
MMMGood
Celebrated Contributor
3
Senior Account Executive
Pivate Equity. Our company was acquired by a private equity firm and have been under their “rule” going on 3 years. Typically I’ve seen those investments last 3-5 years before getting spun out via IPO or bought by a big tech stack; Microsoft/IBM/etc. 
marebears007
Valued Contributor
1
Sr. Account Executive
Oh wow, now I see! thanks for clarifying. :)
CastleIsland
Tycoon
0
Associate Account Director
I agree with this. As with anything innovative, creating new industries and concepts means new attack vectors for malicious cyber attackers and an increased need for the security to innovate and keep up! I have been in security since 2016 and I don't plan to leave anytime soon (under my own will).
SADNES5
Politicker
7
down voters are marketing spies
3D printing
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
big one
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
Sounds good . Yes
SalesPharaoh
Big Shot
3
Senior Account Executive
Well my best bet is that AI in terms of processing etc can be the future but the key is to join in the right time. 
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
2
Officer of ♥️
facts, get that equity
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
So very true. AI will rule. 
SalesPharaoh
Big Shot
0
Senior Account Executive
The problem is a lot of companies just through AI and that's while simply selling you solution algorithms 
Salespreuner
Big Shot
1
Regional Sales Director
Yeah. The intelligence in AI will be controlled by human still😎
CuriousFox
WR Officer
3
🦊
I think AgTech will be big.
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
Agtech? Agricultural tech? monsanto shit?
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
🦊
Ah yes - not that shit no.

I'm talking about sustainable farming. 
1nbatopshotfan
Politicker
1
Sales
I think you’re on to something here. Ag tech and alternative beef/fish and then farming of smaller fish. I follow this area kind of loosely and think it’s ready to pop. 
SaaSbod
Contributor
1
Sr Sales Account Exec
As if genetic engineering of food isn't the only sustainable farming? Just because the corporation using the tech is evil doesn't mean the tech is bad. 
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
Pretty sure it does, the seeds kill themselves after one harvest making you reliant, and if your monsanto crop drifts into ur neighbors non monsanto crop that neighbor now has to pay monsanto its pretty evil and a good way to destroy our agricultural system on top of the already terribly setup commercial growing ops that bleach the dirt of nutrients through constant pesticides and non rotational farming
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
Perfect 🔥
AE2SC
Good Citizen
1
Solutions Consultant
Yup love the alternative meat industry and sustainable farm. There's a ton of cool AgTech too that are helping make current farms more efficient but I see us moving to meat alternatives a lot faster. 
marebears007
Valued Contributor
1
Sr. Account Executive
My buddy just got a job for a VC firm specializing in AgTech and it seems to be a hot industry. People need to eat!
JDialz
Politicker
0
Chief Operating Officer
Check out AppHarvest. Huge client and it's generally awesome.
Senor
Contributor
3
CEO
I think most people would say tech related industries like AR/VR, AI/ML, tele-services, anything that has to do with getting insights out of data are the future. However, I think its important to consider industries that are not relatively sexy. For example according to IBIS world research the industry with the fastest growing  market cap is global
heavy duty truck manufacturing. I think we forget about the backbone of modern industry a lot and need to remember infrastructure needs to evolve to keep up with growing globalization demand.
Telehealth_2the_Moon
Notable Contributor
2
Director of Business Development
Check the username. Telehealth isn't as sexy as AI and such, but it's a massively untapped field. For a long time it was held back by outdated regulations, but Covid forced a re-evaluation that was long overdue. 
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
I hear its growing bigtime, are there any commision based companies that outsorce sales for companies like that? asking for a friend
SADNES5
Politicker
2
down voters are marketing spies
I feel this is a US centric option... Rest of the world can just go see a doctor... Any doctor. We even have 8-1-1 to call a nurse. Like "hey I got a weird rash? Should I go to emergency?" "Kid ate an entire jar of pb, do we get his stomach pumped?"
Telehealth_2the_Moon
Notable Contributor
1
Director of Business Development
Yes, this is very true depending on the type of telehealth. There's a range of settings where it can be used. The sexy, news getting part is the direct to consumer and employer benefit side is definitely US centric. The larger, more hidden piece is the hospitals and clinics side where it is used to provide access to specialists they otherwise couldn't recruit or have enough work for full-time.
Telehealth_2the_Moon
Notable Contributor
0
Director of Business Development
I haven't heard of much outsourcing for sales in the field. Doesn't mean it isn't happening though. It can be a more drawn out, complex sale, at least on the hospital and clinic side so the sales teams I know like to have people that are close to the company and understand the ins and outs of the markets. 

If you are looking for some places to jump in Array is a great recommendation. I don't feel weird about it since they provide behavioral health specifically which is a specialty we don't provide. They just got a chunk of funding from Health Velocity (VC behind Teledoc, Ginger, Livongo, etc.) and even before the funding they were the largest behavioral health telehealth company. Another one I've heard good things about working for is Eagle Telemedicine.
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
Im looking for a company my friend can contract to build sales 

awesome info btw telehealth is to the moon I would sign up
thegrinch
Politicker
0
SDR
Telehealth is not an untapped field. There's a ton of suppliers and its a very small transactional sale. Plus Zoom offers hippa compliant video chats now. 
Telehealth_2the_Moon
Notable Contributor
0
Director of Business Development
I don't think you understand telehealth very well in that case. There is a lot more to it than selling the platform to do video calls. Not everyone is selling SaaS.
JDialz
Politicker
2
Chief Operating Officer
Financial services is THE industry to be in.

My weekend was fucking fantastic, though. Thanks for asking! We finally got to go on our reward trip for 3x+ our production and returns goal.
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
Thats wtf is up, why financial, cause of the huge financial hack about to happen at polygon2021? 
JDialz
Politicker
1
Chief Operating Officer
Because we're in the middle of a $30T generational wealth transfer, but also because "emerging affluent" professionals are seeking out tax-advantaged investments at an exponentially increasing rate (thanks uncle Joe).
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
So essentially boomers are dying leaving millennials  with trillion to invest in passive income strategies?
JDialz
Politicker
1
Chief Operating Officer
*gif* BINGO
suhdude
Opinionated
0
Sales Rep
You securities licensed or doing primarily insurance products (mentioned ax advantaged so I'm assuming you're doing iul's/WL). I'm only insurance licensed and mostly doing annuities for income needs right now but considering getting into the managed money side of things longer term.
Chep
WR Officer
1
Bitcoin Adoption Specialist
I def think tech is the best industry, but tbh I see way to many companies offering AI solutions to help plan out your pipeline when I feel like I know how to use a CRM well enough to plan my pipeline. I don't need an AI helping me forecast out of my CRM when the whole point of my CRM is to forecast. Then again I've never used these so called AIs so maybe I'm wrong. Would love others thoughts on this and if they've found these tools useful
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
0
Officer of ♥️
yeah same, thinking of trying lavender out though
Chep
WR Officer
0
Bitcoin Adoption Specialist
Never heard of that will give it a google search!
slaydie
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
Health-tech I think is growing lots and same with Ed-tech. Both Health and Education are moving online.
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
0
Officer of ♥️
Yup both huge spaces that I’ve blown the fuck up in the last year
Indakitchenwhippin
Politicker
1
Channel Sales
I would definitely say the Internet of Things (IoT), surprised no one mentioned it. This will be a huge thing going forward and a relatively young market. This will result in tons of consumer behavior data as well as workable data to continue advancement in other fields (what works well what doesn't)
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
0
Officer of ♥️
BIG FACTS, should of mentioned that too it's obvious, IOT and CLOUD exploded last year
SDMHGWarrior
Tycoon
1
CEO
Cybersecurity is where to be. That and Edtech
Trinity
WR Officer
0
BusDev
Agree with your selections and would like to add cybersecurity.
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
0
Officer of ♥️
definetly, ai cybersecurity too
hunterminator
Opinionated
0
CEO/Voice Developer
Anything utilizing AI and Voice Technology. 
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
0
Officer of ♥️
yup
looper1010
Celebrated Contributor
0
Solutions Specialist
I don't think FinTech will be going away soon
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
0
Officer of ♥️
same, fintech, insuratech, zillow, airbnb, telehealth, the digitilization of things
AlexT
Politicker
0
Account Executive
While AI and ML are the next sexy thing I found that there is reluctance from clients from now in my niche. The automation of simple, time-consuming manual tasks is hot right now and in the near future. I bet AI and ML will be selling like hot cakes in 2 - 3 years when automation will have reached its limit. Or am I wrong? Anyone having a different experience? 
AE2SC
Good Citizen
2
Solutions Consultant
Not sure what niche you cover but I think AI and ML are already taking off. Most people see the value, in the vertical I cover, it's huge for getting analytics out faster and reducing manual reviews as you said. I think it's just a matter of time before everyone begins to understand how to couple it with human elements of review/analytics to empower them in their day-to-day. 
AlexT
Politicker
0
Account Executive
I didn't know it was taking off! Analytics makes sense in that perspective. 
AE2SC
Good Citizen
1
Solutions Consultant
I think the reason people are hesitant to utilize AI or ML is that it feels like they are removing the human element from their business processes, which I can understand (SKYNET am I right). Once companies being to understand that it's used to compliment what their employees are already doing and make them more efficient it should be used to help companies scale. It's definitely a learning curve for a lot of people in the older generations but any tech-forward company is on board with it and it should be fairly mainstream soon!
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
Yeah AI was here 10 years ago now it’s really here to stay
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
0
Officer of ♥️
Yeah I’m in AI and cloud right now
AE2SC
Good Citizen
0
Solutions Consultant
Hahaha I thought that said I'm an AI right now 
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
1
Officer of ♥️
Everyone is afraid to let go of what’s traditional but once AI shows that things can be done 10,000 times better the decision will be obvious
dell
0
Enterprise AE, Sales Manager
There is a lot of data showing that consumers will continue to purchase online and less sexy solutions like post-purchase consumer interaction, social commerce, payments solutions, etc will gain value as the pandemic changed consumer purchasing habits forever. 
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
0
Officer of ♥️
So what industry does that leave to grow fin Tech ad tech?
jlrdam
0
Founder
I have been giving this exact topic a lot of thought lately. It's going to take some time but I believe the future applications of blockchain technology are going to be HUGE. Where this industry is right now is where the internet was right before the dot-com crash. Most people believe blockchain is a speculative bubble right now, but I believe the truth is that it will be the next big platform of innovation similar to what the internet has been over the past three decades. 

If you start casually following the space now you will know more than the vast majority soon which could be a major advantage once SaaS and consumer-focused applications start to launch.

Another industry I foresee a lot of growth occurring in is the space industry as launching a payload into orbit is becoming cheaper - opening up the market to new use cases, customers, and applications. 
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
0
Officer of ♥️
Block chain will be the future of everything it’s more secure and decentralized it’s exactly what the people want
Blue_Turtle
Opinionated
0
sdr
I’m shocked nobody has mentioned machine automation. There’s not a single job that can’t be automated some day, and as that ramps up there’s going to be a lot of money to be had until we automate ourselves out of a job. Perfect example: the US manufactures more than we ever have, yet the total number of manufacturing jobs will never be what it was. I’m a SaaS SDR in sales intelligence currently, but eventually could see myself in either cloud or RPA sales.
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
0
Officer of ♥️
There’s already machine learning replacing a lot of sales reps although it has a ways to go that way is to go is being shortened every day
TheFemaleWolf
Opinionated
0
Director of Sales
Logistics: Pandemic Proof. 

Just make sure it's a very tech forward logistics company with a SaaS offering. I personally recommend something in the $100 mil - $900 mil revenue space and privately held. High growth, not a lot of red tape, solid cultures (usually) and better comp than the multi billion dollar guys. 
lorem
Old School Bravo
0
Global Marketing Manager
Honestly - everything that will remove human jobs.

Imagine that you're selling self-driving trucks to logistics companies. Removing the human driver would allow to halve their costs AND actually creates a more reliable and predictable workflow. The ROI is massive for them, at thus also for you if you sell it.

What else? Store clerks replaced with self-checkouts. Couriers replaced by drones. Et cetera, et cetera. 

Healthtech will be insane big, blockchain will make a big splash (but not sold traditionally I think), and while AI is a bit of a buzzword there's still gonna be a shit ton of AI-based companies completely dominating their traditional counterparts.
Cornholio
Opinionated
0
Account Executive
Renewable Energy or energy in general is increasingly important and becoming more complicated as technology improves at a faster rate each year. 

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