The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Rishi Nitya Jaluria - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst
: Nice to see some acceleration in the business. Wanted to -- Peter, in your prepared remarks, you talked a little bit about how there's
some shrinking footprints and deployments at some of the -- on the CRM side. Can you maybe talk about how long you expect this
headwind to last in terms of shrinking before it starts to stabilize?
And alongside that, you talked a little bit about it, but Commercial Cloud growth still accelerated in the quarter, which is really nice
to see, in spite of these headwinds. Can you maybe talk about what is driving that and maybe offsetting the shrinking footprints
and particularly what you're most excited about within Commercial Cloud and what you think is kind of a sustainable growth rate
for this business? And then I've got a follow-up on the CDMS side.
Question: Rishi Nitya Jaluria - RBC Capital Markets, Research Division - Analyst
: All right. Wonderful. That's really helpful. And then on the CDMS side, maybe you want to expand and talk a little bit about your
success in partnering with CROs because if we want the clock back a couple of years, there were definitely investor concerns that
CROs were going to be a little bit of a headwind to Veeva over time, and it clearly hasn't turned out to be that way. And now you're
talking about the traction you're seeing on CRO partner program and how that relates to CDMS. Can you talk a little bit about your
strategy with CROs, particularly as it relates to the CDMS side, and how you've been able to gain that momentum with that as a
channel?
Question: Karl Emil Keirstead - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst
: So Brent, Veeva beat this quarter on both revenue and billings. But relative to the last 3 or 4 quarters where you put up 4% to 6%
beats on revs and 7% to 10% beats on billings, this quarter was a little skinnier. And I'm wondering what changed to create that
result relative to your expectations.
Question: Karl Emil Keirstead - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst
: Great. And then if I could just ask you a margin question. So you indicated that the salary increase will occur over 5 months of this
fiscal year. So if we annualize that, should we think about the impact on next year's margins, all else equal, being a roughly $25
million impact? And then I guess if we layer that into our models and assume a reversal, if you'd like, of the COVID savings you're
experiencing this year, it feels like the more likely prospect is for margins to be down next year as a result of these 2 things. Is that
at least directionally the correct approach, Brent?
Question: Jackson Edmund Ader - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: This is Jackson Ader on for Sterling tonight. First question is on the strength in the SMB that you saw in the Commercial Cloud. How
should we be thinking about kind of the direction here of strength in SMB versus the headwinds on the enterprise side for the rep
count? Is there any worry that the strength in the SMB might feed its way into the same territory we're seeing in the enterprise?
Question: Jackson Edmund Ader - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: Yes. Okay. That makes sense. And then a quick follow-up on the second CDMS deal with the top 20 pharma. Just any additional color
you can give as to how this compares with the first. Is it a broader implementation, standardizing the trials on the Veeva platform?
Any additional color would be great.
|
