New Splunk CEO Sees ‘Enormous Market Opportunity’ From Cyberthreats

With the “proliferation of digital,” information tech and security teams “are faced with an ever-evolving threat landscape,” said Splunk CEO Gary Steele on an earnings call Wednesday for fiscal Q1 ended April 30. The call was Steele’s first since taking over as CEO in mid-April (see 2203030065). Security teams also face “increased complexity from piling on more and more tools across hybrid and multi-cloud environments and the silos created by all these data sources and fragmented teams that lead to inefficient detection and resolution,” he said. “There is an enormous market opportunity to help customers navigate this new reality.” Steele’s first priority is to “increase internal speed and agility across our people and organizations,” he said. “Flattening” Splunk’s organizational structure “will help us do that,” he said. Splunk will not “backfill” the positions vacated by the departures of Teresa Carlson, president-chief growth officer, and Shawn Bice, president-products and technology, said Steele: “I will be hands on with the go-to-market and product leadership teams.” Splunk’s total revenue for the quarter increased 34% year over year to $674 million. It expects fiscal Q2 revenue to finish in the range between $735 million and $755 million, which would be a 12% sequential increase at the high end.