BlackLine, Inc. (NASDAQ:BL) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Owen Ryan: Look, I think a lot around this is focus and discipline for the organization and I think that what I’m very proud of what the team is doing is really sticking to where strategically we want to be. And so we’re winning at a higher rate. These customers that we’ve been able to acquire, we’ve been in a number of them in competitive situations and I think our team has demonstrated the value of what BlackLine can bring to the table. It’s been great to also be able to offer FRA as part of the solution in the mid-market. This is something that does truly give us a competitive differentiation. And so we’re actually quite bullish on this segment of the market as we move forward. Doesn’t mean we’ll be shifting our focus from enterprise to mid-market or vice versa. We’re focused on both equally hard, trying to drive more success for our customers.

Chris Quintero: Got it. That’s really helpful. And then you have also talked about kind of better monetizing some of your products given that they’re underpriced relative to the value that they add to your customers. So let’s maybe get your thoughts on what have been some of the key learnings from the testing of maybe different monetization models so far. And are you implementing any of those changes so far?

Owen Ryan: We continue to look at pricing as an organization, watching what others are doing in the marketplace as well as where customers perceive the value that we bring. We have a group internally led by one of our senior executives that focuses quite extensively on pricing, and I know there’s a review that we’ll be continuing to execute upon on that. And so I think the short answer is, there is continues to be opportunity for us to try to achieve the value for – achieve the pricing for the value that BlackLine brings, and we’re working on refining that message as we move forward.

Chris Quintero: Excellent. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question will be coming from Pat Walravens of JMP Securities. Your line is open.

Pat Walravens: Great. Thank you and congratulations. So, Therese, I know when you came back into this role, one of the things that you said you thought you could improve on and moving forward to figuring out was the SAP relationship and how to make it better. So what have you learned so far and what else can you guys do?

Therese Tucker: What we’ve learned so far is that we continue to believe that SAP is a very important partner to us. We know that the largest organizations in the world run SAP. They’ve also recently come out with a new program called GROW, which addresses the mid-market. And so we are evaluating that as well. It’s – I think there’s – I just came back from an event in EMEA where we did a joint marketing event with SAP at their offices in Paris. And it’s an excellent partnership. Okay. The combination of the Power of 3, when we have a partner involved and SAP and BlackLine, we really see the full value of BlackLine when it’s delivered. And we end up recognizing usually some very nice large deals from that. So I think the Power of 3 is one important thing that we continue to focus on.

Also, the new grow initiative, we’re looking at that as well for the mid-market. So they continue to be a great partner. It’s always fun dealing with a very large organization. It never is going to move as quickly as I would like it to move, but it’s good.

Pat Walravens: Okay, great. And if I guess as a follow-up, I mean, at 25% of revenue, is there a risk that it becomes too large and then that’s off-putting to other potential partners? How do you manage that?

Therese Tucker: I think you want to grow the other areas, right? I mean…