Careers at Kony
Mission
Kony seeks to assist commercial entities in efficiently and effectively developing and managing mobile applications through various software solutions and ancillary services.
Founding story
Kony was founded in 2007. The Company previously operated under the names Kony Labs Inc and Kony Solutions Inc. Kony completed its first round of investor funding in 2007, raising $20 million from investors including Insight Venture Partners. The Company has since completed a further six rounds of funding, including venture funding rounds, raising a total of $109.4 million from big-name investors such as SoftBank Capital and Telstra Ventures.
Kony has used its funding to develop an extensive portfolio of solutions, products, and services, and has established itself as a leading provider of enterprise mobility solutions. The Company has expanded its operations significantly, maintaining an operational presence across numerous markets in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, including offices in Australia, Hong Kong, India, and the UK.
Kony remains a privately owned company. Reports, however, have suggested that the Company plans to complete an initial public offering in the near future. Research identified no recent media references to the Company’s potential value.
Benefits at Kony
Business model of Kony
Customer Segments
Kony offers a range of enterprise mobility solutions to commercial customers across multiple business sectors. The Company’s service offerings are designed to serve software developers and designers, IT architects and managers, and business professionals operating across the following industries:
- Healthcare, including healthcare providers, medical service companies, and specialist healthcare insurance providers;
- Banking and Financial Services, including retail and commercial banks, professional service and accounting firms, and other financial service providers;
- Technology, including technology companies, and software developers;
- Consumer Goods, including producers and distributors of branded consumer goods;
- Manufacturing, including manufacturers of industrial equipment, automotive and home maintenance parts, and electrical components; and
- Energy, including energy producers and utility companies.
Kony names a number of its customers on its website. This includes companies such as KPMG, Warburtons, Schweppes, Scotiabank, Engie, Partners Credit Union, and Konica Minolta.
Kony is headquartered in the US, but serves a global customer base spanning markets across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Value Propositions
Kony provides value to its clients in the following ways:
- Its industry standing and reputation, with the Company established as reliable provider of enterprise mobility solutions, as evidenced by its ability to secure business from high-profile companies such as KPMG and Schweppes;
- Its global presence, with the Company serving a large domestic client base as well as customers across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, including through a number of locally based sales and administrative offices;
- Its proprietary technologies, with the Company utilising various proprietary technologies in the development and implementation of its solutions, making its service offerings unique within the industry;
- Its network of partners, with the Company working closely with a network of partners around the world – including market leading companies such as Accenture, AT&T, Oracle, Google, and Apple – that support the Company’s core development and delivery activities; and
- Its industry expertise and experience, with the Company employing specialist technical personnel across its operating units that ensure the Company’s solutions are effective, as well as a team of experienced industry executives.
Channels
Kony operates a website at www.kony.com, through which it provides information on its various products, solutions, partners, operating locations, and customers. While the Company offers certain solution and products to customers on a free trial basis, which can be accessed directly through the Company’s website, it does not operate a dedicated online sales channel. The Company does, however, offer an online client portal, through which customers can access tools and resources online.
Kony appears to make the bulk of its sales through its direct sales force, which is organised by geographic region. The Company’s sales personnel operate out of the Company’s network of sales and administrative office across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, including locations in the US, the UK, India, Germany, Brazil, Australia, and Hong Kong.
Kony additionally makes sales through a network of channel and distribution partners that assist in extending the Company’s sales and marketing reach and in developing integrated solutions. These partners include independent software vendors, systems integrators, and resellers.
Customer Relationships
While Kony does not make sales of its products and solutions on a self-service basis, it does offer certain products to customers on a self-service free trial basis. The Company also operates an online client portal, which enable customers to access resources, tools, and products through the Company’s website without interacting directly with members of its sales and service teams.
Kony makes the majority of its sales through its direct sales force, the embers of which consult closely with customers in order to ensure that they are provided the most appropriate and effective solutions for their individual circumstances. Where possible, the Company seeks to tailor and scale its offerings on a client-by-client basis, with a view to establishing long-term client relationships.
Kony offers ongoing support to its customers, who are able to contact dedicated support personnel over the phone or via an online contact form in order to access personalised assistance. The Company also offers a range of online resources, such as videos, white papers, and webinars through its Resource Centre, and operates an online community portal where users and developers can share ideas and collaborate on issues.
Additionally, Kony maintains accounts with social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+, through which it is able to interact directly with clients and publish regular company updates.
Key Activities
Kony is a provider of enterprise mobility solutions for commercial entities. The Company offers a range of solutions that are designed to assist business professionals, IT professionals, and developers in designing, building, integrating, deploying, and managing applications.
The Company’s portfolio of products and solutions includes flagship offerings such as Kony Visualiser, which helps users to define, prototype, design, and share web applications, and Kony Studio, which helps users build web and hybrid applications for phones, tablets, and desktops.
The Company also offers a range of ancillary support, consulting, and training services. Kony serves clients across multiple industries – including the healthcare, energy, technology, and financial services sectors – and across numerous international markets spanning the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Key Partners
Kony works in close collaboration with a network of partners spanning multiple sectors. These partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:
- Supplier and Vendor Partners, including suppliers of services, equipment, tools, and technologies that are utilised across the Company’s operating units in support of its core development and deployment activities;
- Integration Partners, including global and regional systems integrators, as well as specialist technology integrators and consulting firms, that help to ensure that the Company’s solutions are developed and deployed effectively across multiple channels;
- Channel and Distribution Partners, including the Company’s network of independent software vendors and resellers that assists in extending the Company’s internal sales and marketing reach, particularly in various international jurisdictions; and
- Strategic and Alliance Partners, including market leading companies across multiple sectors, with which the Company collaborates on various join projects, including in branding, marketing, and development.
Kony names a number of its key partners on its website. This includes global integrators such as AT&T, HCL, Mindtree, Accenture, and Cognizant, and specialist technology integrators such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, and Fujitsu.
Key Resources
Kony’s key resources are its proprietary technologies and intellectual properties, its software solutions and online portals, its IT and communications infrastructures, its sales and distribution channels, its physical offices network, its partnerships, and its personnel.
Kony utilises various proprietary technologies in the development and deployment of its solutions, which it protects in various ways, including patent law. Searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified several patent applications filed in Kony’s name, including applications entitled ‘Mobile application testing systems and methods’, ‘Exposing method related data calls during testing in an event driven, multichannel architecture’ and ‘Mobile application management systems and methods thereof’.
Kony additionally owns and or leases a number of physical properties around the world that comprise its network of sales and administrative offices, including locations in Australia, Brazil, India, the UK, and the US.
Cost Structure
Kony incurs costs in relation to the development of its technologies and solutions, the development and maintenance of its website an online portals, the maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the operation of its sales and marketing channels, the procurement of professional services, the management of its partnerships, the implementation of marketing and advertising campaigns, and the retention of its personnel.
Revenue Streams
Kony incurs revenue through the development and sale of enterprise mobility solutions to companies across the healthcare, energy, financial services, consumer goods, and technology sectors. The Company derives its revenue under sales and service contracts that are agreed on a case-by-case basis.
Kony remains a privately owned company and as such it is not obliged to publish its financial results online. Research identified media references from 2014 that stated that the Company’s annual revenue was at around $100 million.
Our team
info: Thomas has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Kony since joining the Company in 2014. He is responsible for leading the Company’s overall strategic direction and is the Company’s principal decision maker. Hogan is also the founder and chairman of SmartLeisure and is a member of the Advisory Board at CognitiveScale. Hogan began his career at IBM in 1982, where he held a number of roles of increasing responsibility over the course of 17 years, including a spell as Vice President. In 1999 he joined Siebel Systems, where he served for two years a Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Operations before being appointed Chief Executive Officer at Vignette in 2002. Hogan went on to work at Hewlett Packard for five years, serving as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and prior to joining Kony was Executive Vice President at CSC.
info: John has served as Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer at Kony since 2014. He is responsible for leading the Company’s various financial functions, including those of its accounting and internal audit divisions. Joyce is an experienced industry executive. He was formerly a long-serving employee at IBM, where he held numerous positions over the course of 30 years, including spells as Chief Financial Officer, Head of IBM Global Services, and Head of IBM’s Asia-Pacific operations. Following IBM, Joyce served as Managing Director at SilverLake, and prior to joining Kony served as Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer at Silver Spring Networks.
info: Bill has served as Chief Technology Officer at Kony since joining the Company in 2016. He oversees the Company’s technical operations, including the development of its solutions and products. Bodin is a computer programmer by training. He began his career in 1983 at Federal Express (now FedEx), where he served for a year as a senior programmer. In 1989 he joined IBM as a staff programmer. He went on to hold a number of roles of increasing responsibility at IBM over the course of more than 25 years, including spells as senior programmer, senior technical staff member, and Distinguished Engineer and Chief Technology Officer of Mobile Computing.