The maturation of cloud has moved both enterprise customers and support companies to embark on digital transformation. Cloud’s popularity has invited competition as many rush to prepare for the virtual space, and companies like Nutanix Inc. are working to provide solutions for customers at all levels of hardware and software processing.

“Everybody is talking about software-defined everything, and that’s not to say that hardware doesn’t play a role. It just becomes more invisible … with software running on top,” said Dheeraj Pandey (pictured), founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Nutanix. “A lot of things will move to pure software. … This aggregation has worked out well in our favor.”

Pandey spoke with Stu Miniman (@stu), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and guest host Keith Townsend (@CTOAdvisor), at the Nutanix NEXT US event in New Orleans. They discussed the intricacies of Nutanix’s software transition and how the company plans to remain competitive as customer cloud needs scale. (* Disclosure below.)

Maintaining authenticity at scale

Cloud is quickly becoming the standard for application development, driving support businesses to differentiate through the invention of their own innovative approach to virtualization. As Nutanix expanded its product and service offerings, its digital transformation had a more holistic effect on the company at large.

“There are multiple layers of digitization that need to happen. … We digitized a lot of hardware devices, but as a company we had to digitize ourselves,” Pandey said.

The ultimate goal of Nutanix’s digitization is to have the most streamlined system with the least disruption for customers. “The customer experience doesn’t have to change. … Further digitization is when nothing is visible on-prem for Nutanix, and … you can … sign up in a matter of seconds. That is the … epitome of digitalization for the company,” Pandey stated.

Pandey attributes Nutanix’s emphasis on efficiency to the company’s overall success in a competitive market. “Lots of startups … over-promise and under-deliver. … One of the things that has really worked in our favor [is] to be really methodical, robust with the way we build our systems,” he said.

As Nutanix expands rapidly into the cloud market, Pandey maintains that authenticity is key to the company’s success. “How do you keep reducing friction? It’s not just friction with customers and partners, also friction within. … If you don’t go and address it, you’re not a company; you’re basically a business that doesn’t understand culture,” he concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Nutanix NEXT US event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Nutanix NEXT US event. Neither Nutanix Inc., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE