ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Derek Neldner, CEO and Group Head of RBC Capital Markets. And on behalf of all of my colleagues at RBC, I'd like to thank you for joining us for day 2 of our Technology Internet Media Telecommunications Conference. It is absolutely my pleasure today to be joined by Gina Mastantuono, Chief Financial Officer at ServiceNow, to discuss the company's ESG strategy, vision and goals. As CFO of ServiceNow, Gina oversees all aspects of finance, including accounting, risk, payroll, tax, investor relations and treasury, real estate and workplace services and importantly, for today's dialogue ESG. Prior to her time at ServiceNow, she was the CFO of Ingram Micro; and previous to that, she serves as the Chief Accounting Officer of Revlon. In addition to our leadership role at ServiceNow, Gina also serves on the Board of Roblox. Gina has been honored as one of CRM Powers 100 and has been listed twice on the National Diversity Council's top 50 most powerful women in technology. As many of you would be aware, ServiceNow's vision is to work flow a better world. And not only are they doing that in support of their clients, but importantly, they themselves are very much leading by example with a very comprehensive ESG strategy, including ambitious enterprise goals across climate and emissions, equitable opportunities and acting with integrity, including data privacy. In September of this year, ServiceNow announced their commitment to achieving net 0 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, 2 decades earlier than anticipated and previously communicated. They've also pledged to use 100% renewable energy for their office and data center operations by the end of this year. And ServiceNow's innovative Now platform has been refreshed with new and existing products to help their customers make a positive impact to their sustainability efforts. And we saw that with a great example this year of launching of multiple emergency response and safe work apps amidst the COVID-19 crisis. Just earlier in October, they announced a new modular solution to digitize and transform ESG strategy, again, enabling their clients to establish goals and KPIs, track progress, collect and audit data and create disclosures aligned with major ESG reporting frameworks. This year, ServiceNow is recognized as one of America's most JUST companies by Forbes and one of the most admired companies by Fortune amongst many other recognitions. Gina, it is truly a delight to have you here with us today. As I've had the chance to get up to speed on ServiceNow and importantly, all the ESG work you're doing, I would say, it is extremely impressive. And looking forward to a very thoughtful discussion on your sustainability journey, all the things your company is doing around ESG and how you're supporting your clients as they embark on their journey. So thank you very much for taking the time to join us today.

Thank you so much, Derek. I'm so excited to be here. So thanks for having me.

Great. Well, let's jump right into it. I'm going to start, Gina, just a little bit more on the business side before we go into ESG. But earlier this month, during your earnings call, I know your CEO, Bill McDermott, highlighted how ServiceNow has really transitioned into a platform company, providing a full suite of software solutions, again, in support of your customers as they move forward on their digital transformations. Can you spend a few minutes and just talk a little bit about the evolution of the company and its strategy under Bill and your and the executive team's leadership?

Sure. Derek, I joined ServiceNow right around the same time as Bill. He often says his first decision as CEO was hiring me as CFO. And I was already all in with ServiceNow. If you think about just the incredible company that we are born in the cloud, organically growing at such a great pace. And with an amazing culture with such amazingly differentiated products, but then came Bill, right? And we call ServiceNow a rocket ship, and Bill is definitely flying it. He's such an inspirational and optimistic leader, not only envisioning a glass half full, but also a glass that's 10x bigger than what you expected it to be. And so he really inspires us drive harder and to deliver bigger. And so that's been so much fun to be a part of. But the commitment to excellence that he drives really required a shift from point product solutions to real solution selling, right? And so customers care about the outcomes that we're driving for them, not our products. And so the sales conversations that Bill, our sales teams and our partners are driving don't really need to talk about a product at all. It's really starting with the conversation around outcomes, right? How can we demonstrate that we can solve the problems that our customers have and really drive the outcomes that they're looking to deliver. And so I'd say the evolution under Bill has been just incredibly focused on raising the conversation and being the trusted innovator for the C-suite really focused on that solution selling driving go-to-market strategies for not the $5.5 billion company we are today, but the $15 billion plus company that we're looking to be tomorrow. And it's about creating incredible products that our customers love. And at the end of the day, it's all about the people, right? Bill and I often talk about this incredible culture, hungry and humble and just what an amazing organization of dedicated, resilient people. And so we often say teamwork makes the dream work. And so from a strategic perspective, those are the pillars that we're all driving for.

That's terrific. Great overview. And obviously, it's been a very exciting time for the company. But I think that, that drive for excellence and focus on team is obviously inspirational, not just for your employees, but again, that solutions orientation with your clients is a real differentiator. So it's great to see, and it's obviously set you up for some very exciting things moving ahead. On that theme, Gina, of solutions, which I think is an important one, so many businesses and business leaders have just been through this unbelievably tumultuous period with the pandemic. Can you talk a little bit about how that has shifted your dialogue with clients, the solutions you're able to bring, the types of services products and how that shifted your -- really your client and product mix? And then building on that a little bit, one common theme as one of the pandemic is transitory in nature versus what is going to be enduring. And would love to hear again how you think about that in the context of ServiceNow.

Yes, it's a great question, Derek. The pandemic brought unimaginable changes and challenges to the world of work, right? And more than anything else, what we're seeing with our customers is the digital demands on them have just risen to a whole new level. And that's enduring and sustainable. I think digital transformation is no longer optional. It was a buzzword for a long time. Now it's critical, right? Digital workflows are really the way forward. Our customers are looking for technologies that are able to help them completely transform their operational models, right? Their workforces are more distributed than ever before. And that's not going to change post pandemic. I think the world of work and the future of work as everyone has been talking about is absolutely shifting. From a client mix perspective, you're clearly seeing our largest customers growing even larger. Our average deal size continues to expand. In the past 2 years, our customers paying us over $1 million in ACV has actually grown almost 28% CAGR. And so in Q3 alone, we closed 63 deals greater than $1 million, which was up 50% year-over-year. And we're seeing our top deals including more and more products. So in Q3 alone, all of our top 20 had 4 or more products, right? This is because this digital transformation, the ability to have 1 platform that can sit on top, all of your systems of record and really help drive productivity and efficiency across the enterprise is resonating so strongly and we absolutely expect those trends to endure and continue. From an internal perspective, when the pandemic hit, we quickly pivoted and mobilized our workforce remotely, literally overnight in 24 hours. I just have been so incredibly amazed by the resiliency of our people. And at the same time, we were able to so quickly pivot to support our customers during that time. And I remember vividly, it was early March. It was about a week before everyone went home, and the executive team -- Bill and I and our executive team were meeting and brainstorming ideas of how we can potentially help our customers during this unimaginable time. And literally, in a 4- or 5-hour session, we were white-boarding ideas, right? And in that session, we came up with the idea for the emergency response apps, which we were actually able to deliver in less than 2 weeks and at no charge, really to help our customers, new and previous customers really navigate their COVID-19 crisis management efforts. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services use ServiceNow to respond to COVID-19 and support their entire workforce remotely. That's just 1 example. So many other state and federal agencies were using it as well as private sector companies. Then fast follow, we released workplace service delivery to really help businesses manage the return to work, right? Over 900 customers have downloaded those apps, Uber, Coca-Cola, for example. And during 2020, we were actually issuing new products every 6 weeks. And so I think what you're seeing is that companies are leaning in, not only on managing the COVID response, but then we fast followed with the vaccine administration applications. And so companies are really looking at using it not just to manage COVID vaccines, but all vaccines moving forward. And so I think the platform is so uniquely positioned to help our customers during this time that the ability and understanding of how quickly you can innovate on the platform has resonated so strongly, and we don't see that changing at all.

So Gina, you touched on so many important themes there. I mean you've got this massive acceleration of digitization. You've got this theme of accelerated chains that businesses are all dealing with. And a great example of you go from sending people home and creating a way to support your clients in that, but then also then bringing people back and how do you help navigate through that with vaccinations and otherwise. I mean, the pace of change around this is just enormous. You gave the example of kind of the executive team white-boarding. I'd be interested as ServiceNow and your leadership team have navigated through that and tried to think about how can you be responsive to your clients, take advantage of some of the trends that are going on. Can you talk about some of the ways either the company or as a leadership team, you had to adapt to address that? And what lessons do you take away from that, that you try to hold on to as we hopefully move through into a post-pandemic environment?

Yes, I think the COVID environment has really require companies to operate in just newer and faster ways, right? It's about pivoting the business models and everyone is adapting to new employee and customer expectations. And I often talk about this, it's all about the people, right? And leading with empathy and compassion is the name of the game. No longer is IQ enough for leaders, right? You need to have the right IQ and EQ, right? And leading with empathy and compassion is such a big piece of that. Once you do that, everything else falls into place. And we believe that the workplace of the future is going to be distributed, right? It's going to be a hybrid environment. And managing those complex digital workflows with the hybrid workforce is going to be more critical than ever. And so for us, we really see the NOW platform as being the platform for digital business. And if you think about different industries, so pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca is working with ServiceNow to really allow scientists to focus on saving lives and not bureaucratic tasks. In sports, I love this. We supported the WNBA and the NBA's work in the Orlando Bubble to ensure safe restart and really get -- make sure that those sports athletes were safe. At the federal level, my goodness, the things that we're doing for Fed are just incredible. Veterans Affairs is using the platform to really modernize its operations and support our incredibly heroic veterans. U.S. Air Force deploying the NOW platform as part of their digital Air Force strategy. And so there's so much interesting things. And you see the platform is so well suited not only to operationalize and digitize any workflow, but really helping in a lot of these efforts to keep our families safe, to keep our heros safe, to keep our workers safe. It's been an incredible time for sure.

Absolutely. And I think the point to touch on that, it starts with the people and leading with empathy. And if you can get the support of your teams to work through this kind of environment where you need tremendous resilience, tremendous adaptability. It can be such a powerful force if you get people aligned around that.

Derek, it's been incredible, right? And if you think about how difficult it has been for people during this time and to see the innovation and the productivity. ServiceNow is very much a purpose-led company, right, making the world of work, work better for people and making the world work better also. They're so passionate about that, that it's just been incredible to see.

So pivoting a little bit, Gina, you're coming up on your 2-year anniversary as CFO. As I mentioned in the introductory remarks, you've got all the many responsibilities and accountabilities that go with being a Chief Financial Officer. But in addition to that, you've got the ESG role. Could you spend a minute, and I'd just love to hear, in your tenure as CFO, how is the role and responsibilities evolved and expanded? And then in particular, I would sort of love to hear the story of how ESG landed on your desk and your process working through your ESG strategy with Bill and the Board and others.

Yes. Derek, it's been phenomenal. I can't -- I actually can't believe it's been 2 years already. But the short answer in how ESG landed on my desk was really, it just makes good business sense, right? As the sponsor at ServiceNow, I have the pleasure of supporting the entire sustainability path, which for me is so exciting and such a passion of mine. But a lot of people are surprised by this because CFOs are usually so bottom line focused, right? And at the end of the day, Bill and I and the whole executive leadership team firmly believe that sustainability practices are truly tied to economic value, right? And you said it earlier, my responsibility as a CFO include all aspects of finance, but also workplace services, our supply chain and our real estate footprint which are also relevant when you think about sustainability. The other piece is ESG efforts are so cross-functional. I work so closely with all of my peers across the entire C-suite as we drive these initiatives. But as a CFO, I have a bird's eye view across the entire enterprise, right? And so that gives me a really good perspective throughout. And ESG is just like any other key business priority, it benefits from having really sound and strategic investment plans. And since I hold the purse strings, so to speak, I have the influence to drive the right investments across the company. And the numbers show very, very clearly the businesses that are investing in this space are really reaping the benefits. 92% of Americans are more likely to trust companies that support social and environmental issues. 25% to 55% reduced turnover for companies as strong ESG programs, and we all hear about the war for talent right now. So that's really compelling. And then, of course, as the CFO, higher stock returns, right, 5% to 10% higher stock returns for companies that are really focused in driving their ESG efforts. So in my opinion, when businesses decide to invest in ESG, it should be part of the and, and not the or, right? And then on a personal level, when Bill asked me to lead this, I was so excited because it just aligns with my beliefs, right? To champion these efforts across the company like ServiceNow is just so incredible because at the end of the day, how amazing is it that I can say that I really want to leave the planet better than when I found it, right? I want to live in a world where everyone receives equitable opportunity. I want to live in a -- I want my children and future generations to breathe clean air and drink clean water. I want to help communities in need, and this position at ServiceNow allows me to help drive that. I'm just so all in and humble and proud to be able to really have a role in keeping our planet healthy for generations to come and drive equitable opportunity for all. It's just been fantastic.

Well, that passion and enthusiasm certainly comes through in the work that you're leading with the ServiceNow team. Gina, I'd say, I've had -- in my role, I've had the privilege of speaking to a lot of different leaders across different businesses on ESG. As I've had the chance to get up to speed on what you've been doing, it is very impressive. And going through your Global Impact Report and your scorecards and all the different initiatives you're taking, both internally, externally with clients, it's a very comprehensive strategy. And I'd say that very, very sincerely. I'd love to hear what was the catalyst? Or what was the driver? How did -- what was the point in time where you and the leadership team decided we really need to lean in harder on a very important topic and lead in the context of ESG?

Yes, it's a great question. Last year, right, 2020 was just such a monumental year on so many levels, right? And I remember vividly a year ago coming out of a Board meeting. And the leader of global impact was 2 levels below the executive leadership team and it was really focused on community giving, which was important, but it wasn't a holistic strategy. So Bill and I came out of that meeting and Bill looked at me and said, we got to do more. Gina, you want to do this. And I was like, I would love to do this, fantastic. And so I've been leading the effort for almost 12 months. And boy, we've been super busy. But the first step for us was really to take a step back actually and analyze where we were because you need to know where you are starting from in order to really make progress and move ahead, right? Because we need to know where we need to get to and the steps to do that. So we put together everything we felt really passionate about from the environment to social justice and equality has really grouped them into 3 buckets. So we think about it as climate, communities and our values. We also really wanted to do something that was bigger than us and that was really differentiated. We didn't want to just talk the talk. We wanted to walk the walk, right? We wanted to be a force multiplier for others as they pursue their ESG strategies. And with our platform, we felt like we could really help our customers on their journey. And if we were able to do this with our vast ecosystem of partners, that force multiplying effect would just be amazing. For every 1 employee on our team, we have 10 in our partner ecosystem. And so that's just incredible. And so from what we're thinking about right now on the planet side, we're focused on decarbonization for our communities. We deepened our commitment to do more, accelerate our diversity, inclusion and equity journey. From a values perspective, it's all about trust and integrity. You talked about our first ever Global Impact Report that we reported out in May of this year. We now have 1 document that solidifies the strategy, but also establishes a baseline for us that really gives us a point where we can monitor our progress. And where all of our stakeholders, whether it's shareholders, customers or employees can really see how we're progressing, right? And what I'm really excited about is the fact that we recently received our Employee Voice Survey results, and this is where our employees provide feedback to us about everything, good, bad and the ugly. And ServiceNow employees overwhelmingly -- this is the first time we've put the question in there. ServiceNow employees overwhelmingly believe that ServiceNow's commitment to ESG is meaningful. That is just so incredible because it really shows me and the leadership team that ESG is becoming a part of who we are in the fabric of our DNA. It's what we stand for and believe in, not only for ourselves, but our customers, our shareholders, our communities, and that's just so inspiring.

I think you touched on 3 really important themes there that certainly resonate with me. One is it has to be a very comprehensive and holistic strategy. You can't just be focused on climate or social items or governance or transparency. It really has to be all encompassing. The second that you mentioned that I certainly where I see other companies being successful is that importance of a transparent baseline. And being honest about where you're starting from and then measuring progress from there. And then I think the third one that I think is so important is it has to be embedded in the culture, right? It just can't be -- it can't be a side of desk project. It has to be core to what the company is doing day in and day out. So that's really great to hear, and I think some important takeaways for people. So obviously, Gina, you've made tremendous progress over the last couple of years, in the last 12 months, in particular, but there's always more to do. So what are the key themes or items around ESG that are top of mind for you as you look forward to 2022?

Yes. We recently -- you talked about it earlier, right? We recently put out a very ambitious net 0 by 2030 strategy, which is just really exciting for us. And we are very focused on ensuring that we tick up our baseline so we know where we're going from. We're going to be setting science-based targets that are focused on internal reduction programs ourselves as well as supplier engagement initiatives. Using science as the guide, we've laid the groundwork to achieve our goals. And it's all about focusing on increasing energy efficiency in our data center and offices, sourcing fewer carbon-intensive materials for operations and traveling more sustainably. To make a real impact, though, on our carbon footprint, we needed to understand exactly where we had to focus our attention. So we actually commissioned a third-party assessment this summer to really see our baseline. Following that assessment, we actually evaluated the company's entire carbon footprint. And like many other companies, we identified that the vast majority of our carbon footprint actually comes directly from our value chain or Scope 3 emissions. And so when you see -- and for us, it's 93% of our carbon footprint traces back to our value chain. But that empowers us to take steps towards reducing that. So we've sent out a new corporate travel program, for example, that's focused on an absolute reduction of our Scope 3 emissions. But beyond business travel, which is a big piece of our direct footprint, we are absolutely collaborating and supporting our suppliers on their sustainability journeys, right? Because again, with 93% coming from our supply chain, if our suppliers are not involved in this, we'll never make headway. And so we are looking at a comprehensive supplier engagement model, which will be rolled out next year. I get a lot of comments like how are you going to do this, right? You can't control what your suppliers are doing, but diverse ethical and sustainable suppliers exist. It just takes the legwork to source them and to find them. And so we can also reduce supplier risk by acquiring data, right, and understanding the data about our suppliers, right? Point-in-time risk assessments that really helps identify and target us, gives us pinpoint areas to target when we talk to our supplier. And so data, I think, is a big part of sustainability going forward, especially as we think about decarbonization. And then, as I said earlier, a deep commitment to community, diversity, equity and inclusion. Our numbers look good, but we can always be doing better. We are really focused on digital readiness skills as well, thinking about ServiceNow ecosystem. We have this incredible program called NextGen, and it's all about getting training to marginalize and underrepresentative communities and bringing them into the digital environment and getting them employment not only at ServiceNow, but within our ecosystem. And so that's a program that we've been driving for 2 or 3 years now that's seeing fantastic progress. And then continuing to really focus on trust and integrity and transparency, continuing to update our Global Impact Report with our progress, so that all the stakeholders understand just exactly where we're focused.

You mentioned, obviously, in the case of your emissions footprint, the vast majority, if not almost all, really comes from Scope 3. And that's tricky because that's not directly within a company's control. And a lot of companies, you'll see are very focused on their Scope 1 and 2 emissions, but it's sort of easy for Scope 3 to be somebody else's problem. And so I think it's great to see how you're trying to tackle that with your suppliers and the procurement and otherwise. Obviously, another area from a business perspective is you're working very closely with your clients in terms of some of the new ESG solutions that you're providing as part of your platform, which is important because, again, it comes back to this concept if you have to have data on a baseline and track progress. So some of the services you can now provide to support your clients around that are obviously tremendously valuable. Can you sort of expand on the ESG product side a bit, Gina, in terms of how did it initially come to be? How does it fit with the broader ServiceNow strategy? And really what sort of led to the launch of that product?

It's a great question, right? So I've been focused on kind of the internal ServiceNow what we're doing for ourselves from our ESG journey, but we are as focused on what we talk about workflowing a better world and helping our customers in their ESG journeys. And our product strategy for so long has helped companies with ESG. Think about reams of paperwork no longer required as you automate your processes. Our risk platform, which has been in the market for years is all about helping customers manage all of the diverse enterprise risks in 1 platform. Think about how the platform enabled us to respond so quickly to emergency crisis in COVID. It's always been uniquely positioned to help our customers. But as we talked about earlier, ESG efforts are so cross-functional and often so ad-hoc and siloed and manual. All of the data that you need is in so many disparate systems, right? And so it's disconnected. And it's no way -- there's no way to easily plan, track or report the metrics. And I can tell you personally, when we were pulling together our first Global Impact Report, the amount of time and effort it took internally to get the data, make sure that like data was cleansed and accurate audit the data, it's complicated, right? And so our new integrated ESG solution is really all built to have transparency across the enterprise, so companies can plan, track and report so much more easily, which is going to help them improve their efforts, right? We talked about earlier, you need the data, you need the base plan, you need to be able to track that. If you can do it all in 1 system, 1 system that can tie directly to all those disparate systems that have the data, right, that's powerful. And so bringing together the power of the NOW platform with this new integrated ESG solution, along with our existing products and our part of the ecosystem, our goal is 100% to drive greater environmental, social and business impacts, right? And so we're really excited about the impact our ESG solutions are already having, not only for ourselves -- we're going to use our new ESG solution for our next year's report, which I'm so excited about, it's going to make things so much easier, but also for our customers and in their journeys.

That's great. And I think it's a great example of something you touched on earlier, Gina, when I asked about how did ESG land on your desk. But I think as you very, very nicely articulated, there's an element of doing what's right to ESG and supporting our communities and supporting the planet. But there is a business rationale, and there is a value proposition for businesses and shareholders. And when you look at how you're -- not just the internal work you're doing, but the work you're doing with new product offerings, supporting our clients, I think that's a great example of that. So really good to see. Maybe switching a little bit, Gina, to kind of the social side of ESG. And I know going through your Global Impact Report, I saw a specific -- I'm sure you had a hand in the entire report, but I saw a very prominent quote from you on the diversity and inclusion side, where you referenced that the future of work must be more opportunities for more people and everyone has the right to belong to participate and to reach their full potential. Can you talk a little bit about the equitable opportunity pillar of your strategy in particular? And some of the initiatives you're moving forward on to bring that to life, both internally, but one thing that also jumped out to me is it wasn't just sort of an internal diversity, equality and inclusion focus, but very much how you can have impact in society. So maybe you can talk a little bit about that pillar overall, but in particular, the internal aspect to it and then the societal aspect to it.

Yes. I talked earlier, Derek, about ServiceNow being such a purpose-led company. And our purpose is to make the world of work better for people. We truly believe that we have a responsibility to our planet, each other and the communities that we serve. We have a tremendous opportunity here, and it's -- it would just be so heartbreaking if we didn't take the opportunity to really help build a more inclusive world. And so the commitment is strong from my perspective, but from Bill and across the entire executive leadership team. And so 2021 really deepened our commitment to do more and really proud to say that our diversity efforts are meeting or exceeding our peer benchmarks, but that's just 1 measurement for us. The magic for us is really about creating an inclusive environment on the onset of an employee onboarding. Employee experience is so important to us and it's where the magic really happens. Another meaningful change for us, which we've been super focused on, we had been in the past years, but just continue is about pay equity. And because pay equity is so dynamic, especially in a high-growth company like ours when you're hiring 26% new heads every single year, you absolutely need to manage it on an ongoing basis and regularly perform pay analysis and adjustments. And so as a result, I'm so proud to say that we've achieved systematic pay equity company-wide. And our approach makes me feel really great about the fact that we'll maintain that pay equity over time. So really excited about that. I talked earlier about the NextGen program really designed to support marginalized and underserved communities, really offering digital skills training to help these participants find incredibly meaningful employment in our entire ecosystem. So looking forward, we're hoping to scale that program to over 10,000 participates in the next few years alone. So that's really exciting. And then we've also leaned into our volunteerism and community engagement efforts. We've made significant year-over-year progress. Last month, actually, we dedicated the entire month of October to a month of giving. We activated our entire employee base to give back to their favorite charities and to volunteer to get out there and actually volunteer their time and our year-over-year growth in volunteer hours is over 150%. So the entirety of the ServiceNow employee base is really rallying around this commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity. And then as you know, we also announced earlier this year $100 million racial equity fund, which RBC manages for us. And that's really about facilitating sustainable wealth creation through homeownership, entrepreneurism and neighborhood revitalization. And so we truly believe it's ServiceNow when we bring our whole company together, utilizing our collective resources, expertise and commitment to community engagement, the impact that we can create for our employees, our customers, our shareholders and the communities at large is just incredible.

Well, look, I think it's terrific because for a lot of organizations, when people think about D&I, I think understandably, there's very much a sort of internal focus on that initially and how do they make sure they have a diverse employee group and a very inclusive culture to allow everybody to contribute to their fullest. But I think as you touched on, Gina, that external element and what I take leading corporations and leaders within those corporations have as a responsibility to give back, both in terms of educational opportunities, training, digital literacy, community giving, and I love the fact you touch on volunteerism. That's something at RBC, we emphasize a lot in that. It's not just about -- sometimes giving back financially is easier to do. What's often precious for many people is time and volunteering your time to support organizations in different ways can be as or more impactful. And I think it's a great way to further embed the importance of giving back in your culture. So I'd really commend you on the comprehensive and balanced approach that you and your colleagues at ServiceNow have brought.

Thank you. I couldn't agree more about the volunteerism and I literally can talk for hours about how incredible you feel when you spend the time giving back. I get goosebumps like those days for me are just the best days. And I think our employees are feeling that more and more. And the October month of service was just absolutely incredible.

I couldn't agree more. So we've got a few more minutes here before we wrap up. And so I'll shift to a few lighter questions as we end. But a couple of different things, Gina, that I think to get your closing perspectives on would be great. Your newer taking on ESG responsibility, I think it is -- makes a ton of sense as you talked about why that should reside in the CFO role, but that's unique relative to a lot of different organizations. For many other leaders that may be earlier on sort of embarking on their ESG journey, any advice you share with people on secrets to success?

Well, I think it starts from what we talked about earlier. It's about really have a comprehensive strategy, not just focusing on one piece of it is really important. I think elevating the conversation to the C-suite and making sure that the person or people responsible for ESG are not 2, 3, 4 levels down in the organization because when that happens, they don't have the influence to really drive the cross-functional work that absolutely has to happen. And then the other piece, I think, is really making sure that you do the initial work upfront. You've got to sometimes take a step back to move forward, right, really understanding where you're starting from and being open and transparent about it. Listen, ServiceNow is early in our journey and we're really clear about that. But we've made enormous progress in 12 months, and you really can do that if you put the right focus in the right area. And then the last piece, I would say, is we've got to find a way to bring it into the fabric and the DNA of the organization because if it's sitting off in a silo off to the side and not part of the fabric of the organization, it's not going to get the traction that you need. And so find ways to get the whole organization inspired and behind it. And that's a lot of communication. That's a lot of opportunities for people to touch and feel the strategy by having these months of service where people can get out and actually do things for the community. It's making sure that they understand tangibly what ESG means. And at the end of the day, what the benefits are? While I love the fact that this is good for the planet and good for the people, I'm a CFO. And the fact that this is good for business is one of the reasons why it's so easy to drive, right? And so understanding that and having the organization understand that, I think, is really impactful.

Final question, but a two-parter for you. If you look back at the last 2 years as CFO, what are you most proud of? And as you think about the next 2 years or more importantly, the next 5 years or 10 years, what excites you the most?

Yes. I say this all the time, I am in my absolute dream job. I am most proud of our people ability to innovate during a pandemic with warp speed in service to our customers and communities has just been incredible. The ability to come together as a company in service to something larger than us. It just takes my breath away. And then what am I excited about? On a personal level, I'm super excited to spend some time with my family and friends and slowdown for a couple of weeks. I'm going to see some family over Thanksgiving that I haven't seen in 30 months. I'm so excited about that. And professionally, ServiceNow, we're dreaming big and we're being bold. There's nothing more exciting to me than that and our continued innovation and our focus on becoming the defining enterprise software company of the 21st century is just incredible. I truly believe we have an opportunity to make the world work better for all. And I'm just so proud to be part of the ServiceNow journey, and I thank you so much for having me here today.

Well, it's a great way to wrap up, Gina. Firstly, congratulations on the tremendous success that you and the whole team of ServiceNow have seen, both in terms of the vision and the business results. But importantly, to today's conversation, the tremendous progress and leadership that you're showing on ESG, which is critically important is really great to see. So I congratulate you on the success. I wish you all the best with the business in 2022 and very sincere thanks for taking the time to share some very insightful perspectives with us today. It's much appreciated.

Well, thank you so much for having me, Derek. It was a real pleasure. You have a great holiday as well.

Terrific. Take care.

Bye-bye.