Caroline Moreno is the VP of Sales for EMEA and General Manager for Southern Europe for liferay. A Madrilenian with a great experience in Open Source, which she has seen evolve and grow until it reaches its current level of development.
Carolina will be one of the star speakers atthe reference event in Spain for the entire Free Software and Open Source sector, which will be held on November 21 and 22 at the Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao. Taking advantage of her presence there, we have spoken with her.
Interview with Carolina Moreno, Liferay
Almost 20 years ago Liferay was born. How has it been “getting older”? It must not have been easy to remain a reference for so many years in a sector that changes so quickly
As an Open Source product it is true that we emerged in the year 2000 although our subscription model was established in 2008, so we really only have a little over 10 years of business adventure and we still feel pretty young and fresh in the software ecosystem. Although without a doubt, as you indicate, the digital transformation and the needs for innovation impose a good rhythm on our decision-making on a day-to-day basis.
You have shared a good number of years of this Liferay story. Do you remember how your arrival was in 2008? What was Liferay like at that time?
Liferay in Spain were 3 employees who worked remotely and in the world, just 50, with headquarters in Los Angeles and offices in a social premises assigned to one of the founders. Me I was looking for a job where I could fulfill myself personally and professionallyin this I consider myself more millennial than Gen X. This Open Source company, with a strong imprint of social commitment and that at that time was just a project in SourceForgeI found it interesting enough to spend a few months on it.
Something must have, because I have stayed here for 10 years.
What is the current reach of Liferay? How many users does it have in Spain? And in the world?
We are currently more than 800 employees worldwide, 100 of which are in Spain. Spain represents more than 20% of the turnover in EMEA and is the most important office in Europe, with probably one of the best engineering centers we have in the world. Liferay produces software for over 5 million downloads In the world, we have more than 1,200 clients with great references from the Fortune 500 and in Spain there are more than 112 of these clients.
What are Liferay users like? What kind of applications are the most common?
The traditional user type has been a technologist and expert in the Java and Javascript world. Normally, working for technology companies, consultants or integrators, and executing projects for large companies. These companies come from all sectors and in general they need web portals, social workplace solutions (evolution of intranets), corporate websites, partner or customer portals, mobility solutions or integration platforms to digitize their internal operations.
In recent years, and since we launched Liferay DXP (former Liferay Portal) along with the new Liferay Commerce and Liferay Analytics Cloud products, we have also seen increased demand from business and marketing users.
Additionally, there are users who use the software on a personal basis and in its open source version for relevant projects in Universities, Public Administrations and private companies.
You will be at Librecon in 2018. What do you expect from this event? How important is it in the Open Source ecosystem?
I would expect a reference event in Spain for the Open Source world, where it is still necessary to evangelize about the differences in this way of designing software and the culture that accompanies it. The Open Source effect is multipliermeans connecting ideas and growing together with others, which is ultimately the key to innovation.
More and more we see movements of companies that approach the Open Source world, or buy Open Source companies because they want your speed of innovation or because they cannot compete against them, but it is necessary to understand and accept the Open Source culture and values to really have a social, cultural and economic impact.
Imagine that we could travel back in time to 2008. What advice would you give to the Carolina of that time?
“Fasten your seatbelt, this is going to go very fast, and the trip is going to be worth it.”
And I would also tell him to always surround himself with as many talented people as possible and invest in them, because investing in people is probably one of the most important keys to business success.
Let’s do a bit of futurology, what headline about Liferay would you like to read in Marketing4eCommerce in a year?
It would be this:
“Liferay Commerce, the best Open Source eCommerce platform in the Spanish market”
In July 2018 we launched Liferay Commercea new e-commerce product, of course Open Source and with business subscription, for which so far we have received very positive feedback from analysts.
And a little more difficult: How do you imagine Liferay and open source will evolve between now and 2023? What will be the next big revolution in this field?
By then probably 30-40% of browsing sessions could be done without a screen. For us, this means evolving in the headless world, creating applications that are independent of the interface that each company needs to use (bot, voice, visual recognition…)
Additionally, all the innovation in understanding users, their behavior and their preferences, very much based on machine learning, is also key to our products. For example, the predictive analytics in our Commerce platform is key, and will be in the coming years, to make purchase recommendations within the platform or stock forecasts.
Cloud or PaaS services will also have an important component, such as the Liferay Cloud that we have recently launched. By 2023, I would expect a significant balance of customers from the on-premise world to the cloud worldwith the aim of reducing the cost of infrastructure, operation and simplification of its supplier management models.
Quick Quiz:
- What is the first social network you open in the day? Twitter
- iOS or Android? Android
- App or website? Both. It depends on the time of day and where I am.
- In which eCommerce and how long ago did you make your last online purchase? Amazon. A couple of days ago.
- And it was? Some oven mitts
- Last book read?
- Recommend us a fiction series: Battlestar Galactica
- What website have you come across lately that has surprised you for the better? The Metro intranet, “Andén Central”, which will be launched for its 100th anniversary in less than a year. A precious project for its more than 6,000 employees who are not physically in any office or in front of any device.
- What is your favorite thing to do that has nothing to do with digital? Assuming that it is “spending time with the family”, I would say that the second is “swimming in open water”
- Let’s spin a magic chain: Which acquaintance of yours do you think we should interview? Why? A Rodolfo Carpintier. Because he’s fantastic, as well as a business genius.
This article includes links from Amazon. Buying through them is a way to help us continue to grow 😉
Stay informed of the most relevant news on our news channel
Facebook Comments
Disqus