Careers at Workfront

Mission

Workfront seeks to help commercial marketing, IT, and other enterprise teams across multiple business sectors operate more efficiently, effectively, and reliably through a portfolio of cloud-based software solutions and related services.

Founding story

Workfront was founded in 2001 by Scott Johnson (“Johnson”), Abe Knell, Jason Fletcher, and Nate Bowler. The concept behind the Company was developed initially by Johnson who began developing a software package that would enable companies to better manage workflow and communications systems. Once he had a working version of the product, he brought on board his three co-founders, with whom he began to refine the software.

The four founders incorporated AtTask, Workfront’s predecessor company in 2001, following which they released a working project management tool designed for businesses. Johnson, however, decided to rewrite the Company’s software in 2003, with a rewritten product being launched in 2006.

The company began to gain some traction following the release of its software, and began to attract investor funding the following year, raising $7 million in its Series A round. The Company has gone on to raise a total of $95 million in four rounds of funding, including form investors such as Atlas Peak Capital, JMI Equity, and Greenspring Associates.

In 2015 AtTask rebranded as Workfront. The Company is currently one of the most well-established providers of enterprise work management solutions in the US, serving a number of high-profile clients across multiple industries, such as the healthcare, financial services, and retail sectors.

Benefits at Workfront

Business model of Workfront

Customer Segments

Workfront offers a portfolio of enterprise work management solutions targeted primarily at marketing, IT, and service teams within commercial entities across multiple business sectors. The Company’s customers include companies and organisations across the following business sectors:

  • Retail and Consumer Goods, including retail chains across multiple sectors, and consumer goods manufacturers and distributors;
  • Healthcare, including healthcare providers, life science companies, and medical service companies;
  • Technology, including technology companies, software developers, and IT service companies;
  • Financial Services, primarily comprising insurance providers and financial services firms; and
  • Advertising and Marketing, including advertising agencies, brand management firms, and other media and marketing agencies.

Workfront names a number of its clients on its website. This includes companies such as Cisco, Admiral, Warburtons, Dignity Health, Citrix, Ameritas, Sony, Dell, Vistaprint, National Geographic Learning, and ATB Financial.

Workfront is based in the US, which remains the Company’s key market. The Company also operates a Europe, Middle East, and Africa division, through which it sells products and services to an international customer base.

Value Propositions

Workfront provides value to its customers in the following ways:

  • Its industry standing and track record, with the Company established as a reliable provider of cloud-based enterprise work management solutions, serving a number of market-leading companies such as Cisco, Sony, and Dell;
  • Its diverse portfolio of products and solutions, with the Company offering a broad range of products and solutions, including solutions tailored to the needs of IT teams, marketing teams, and service teams across multiple industries;
  • Its international reach, with the Company serving an extensive domestic client base in the US, as well as numerous international clients across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and
  • Its industry expertise and experience, with the Company employing specialist technical personnel across its various operating units, as well as an experienced team of industry executives.

Channels

Workfront operates a website at www.workfront.com, through which it provides information on its various products and services, industry solutions, and operating locations. The Company does not appear to operate an online sales channel. It does, however, allow customers to arrange free product trials directly through its website. The Company also offers a mobile app that is available on iOS and Android devices.

Workfront makes the bulk of its sales through its direct sales force, which is organised by geographic region. The Company operates sales teams for the US and across the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, with offices in Utah, US and Basingstoke, UK. The Company’s sales personnel can be contacted over the phone or via an online chat service.

Workfront also reaches customers through a network of channel and referral partners. This includes companies that drive traffic to the Company’s website in return for commission and companies that provide sales and marketing services on the Company’s behalf.

Customer Relationships

Workfront does not sell its products and solutions to customers on a self-service basis. It does, however, enable customers to request product trials directly through the Company’s website and offers freely downloadable mobile apps.

Customers can also access the Company’s online portal independently, where they can utilise resources and tools without interacting directly with members of the Company’s sales and service personnel.

Workfront makes sales primarily through its direct sales force, the members of which consult directly with customers over the phone or online in order to fully ascertain their individual needs and requirements. The Company seeks to establish long-term relationships with its clients, offering its largest customers dedicated account management teams that maintain ongoing contact with the client.

Workfront provides ongoing support to its customers, who can contact the Company’s support and service teams over the phone or through an online chat service. The Company also offers a range of online resources, such as user guides and FAQs, as well as an online community portal, through which customers are able to interact with one another, share ideas, and collaborate on problems.

Workfront operates social media accounts with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Google+, through which it is able to interact with clients and publish company updates.

Key Activities

Workfront is a provider of cloud-based enterprise work management products and solutions that are designed to assist marketing, IT, and other enterprise teams across multiple business sectors operate more efficiently, effectively, and reliably. The Company offers a large portfolio of products, including its Workfront Enterprise Work Cloud, which enables clients to manage and collaborate on projects through the entire work lifecycle.

The company also provides specialist enterprise work management solutions for corporate application development, new product development, and IT project management office, as well as ancillary consulting, education, and support services. The Company is based in the US, and offers services to clients domestically and internationally, including across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Key Partners

Workfront works closely with various companies and organisations around the world in order to ensure that it provides effective and reliable solutions. The Company’s partners can be organised broadly into the following categories:

  • Supplier and Vendor Partners, including suppliers of services, technologies, and equipment that are utilised across the enterprise in support of its core development, delivery, and maintenance operations;
  • Affiliate and Referral Partners, including various websites and online businesses that promote the Company’s services and solutions and drive traffic to the Company’s website in return for commissions on sales;
  • Technology Partners, including technology companies, software and application developers, and IT service providers that assist in developing and maintaining the both the Company’s solutions and integrated offerings;
  • Channel and Distribution Partners, including various resellers, distributors, and sales agents that assist in extending the reach of the Company’s in-house sales and marketing operations, notably in international markets across Europe, Middle East and Africa; and
  • Strategic and Alliance Partners, including market leading companies across multiple sectors with which the Company collaborates on joint projects and provides joint services.

Workfront names a number of its partners on its website. This includes companies such as CapabilitySource, Extensis Portfolio, Aurotech Systems, The Bond Group, ESP for Oil and Gas, and AtAppStore.

Key Resources

Workfront’s key resources are its proprietary technologies, its products and solutions, its IT and communications infrastructure, its sales and distribution channels, its partnerships, and its personnel.

Workfront utilises various proprietary technologies in the development and delivery of its solutions. Searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office, however, identified no patent applications filed in the Company’s name, either as assignee or applicant.

Workfront additionally owns and or leases a number of physical properties in the US and abroad, which comprise its office network.

Cost Structure

Workfront incurs costs in relation to the development of its solutions and technologies, the development and maintenance of its online platform, the maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the procurement of services, the management of its partnerships, the implementation of marketing and advertising campaigns, and the retention of its personnel.

Revenue Streams

Workfront generates revenue through the development and sale of enterprise work management solutions to clients across multiple industries. The Company derives revenue through subscriptions to its various cloud-based solutions, as well as under service contracts that are agreed on a client-by-client basis.

Workfront remains a privately owned company, and as such it is not obliged to publish its financial results online. Research did not identify any reference to the Company’s recent revenue figures.

Our team

Alex Shootman,
President and Chief Executive Officer

info: Alex has served as Chief Executive Officer at Workfront since joining the Company in 2016. He is responsible for leading the Company’s overall strategic direction. Shootman is an experienced executive. From 1987 to 1999 he worked at IBM, including a spell as Director of Industry Solutions. In 1999 he joined BMC Software as Vice President of Sales and Services, a position held for more than six years before assuming the role of Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at TeleTech in 2005. This was followed by a spell as Senior Vice President of Sales and Services at Vignette Corp, and consecutive spells as President at both Eloqua and Apptio before joining Workfront in 2016.

Pete Childs,
Chief Financial Officer

info: Pete has served as Chief Financial Officer at Workfront since joining the Company in 2015. He oversees the Company’s various financial operations, including the activities of its accounting and internal audit units. Childs began his career in 1987 at KPMG, where he served as a senior auditor for two years. In 1989 he joined Primark Corp as Manager of Treasury Operations, where he stayed for just over five years before joining HCR ManorCare as Vice President of finance and Treasurer in 1994. Childs moved to Towers Watson as Principal Accounting Officer, and prior to joining Workfront served as Chief Financial Officer ta Cvent.

Joe Staples,
Chief Marketing Officer

info: Joe has served as Chief Marketing Officer at Workfront since joining the Company in 2014, taking responsibility for the Company’s global marketing operations. From 1982 to 1989 Staples served as Director of Customer Services at Wicat Systems, following which he served as a senior product manager at Novell. He went on to serve in several senior marketing executive roles within the technology and communications space, including spells as Vice President of Marketing at Callware Technologies from 1994 to 1996, Executive Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Captaris from 1996 to 2002, and Chief Marketing Officer at Interactive Intelligence from 2005 until joining Workfront in 2014.