Following Subscribed London 2016, Zuora took to the Westin Paris Vendôme, right between the Place Vendôme and the Tuileries Gardens, to share a message that would resonate among the hundreds of French business leaders who showed up on Friday for Subscribed Paris: La liberté.
Freedom is a fundamental value (outside the realm of business) in France, where Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité is the national motto. At Subscribed Paris, that value was translated for a business environment.
Zuora’s CEO, Tien Tzuo, spoke to the group about how society has moved away from ownership towards outcomes, a movement he calls “the most disruptive business model shift to date.” It is undeniable that consumers today, more than ever, want freedom from the shackles of ownership and desire the freedom to subscribe to outcomes they want, when they want them.
In France alone, over half the population has already moved on from traditional ownership, according to the Institut français d’opinion publique (IFOP).
So what do subscription companies need in order to attract, retain, and grow relationships with consumers who have fundamentally changed?
As it turns out, companies need freedom too.
Freedom to grow across market segments and geographies.
Freedom to experiment with different pricing, packaging, and payments.
Freedom to reinvent themselves, from traditional business models to subscription business models.
After the keynote, Zuora’s President, Marc Diouane, was joined by Jean-Baptiste Danet, President of Croissance Plus, a network of entrepreneurs leading an effort dedicated to the creation of wealth and jobs during an extremely difficult time for the French economy.
While discussing the major issues surrounding economic transformation in France, both agreed on the importance of digitization as a driver for economic growth (and for society itself, on a broader level) and stressed that having the right technological platforms to achieve this is key.
After all, “Digital contributes to the development of a world that values entrepreneurship.”
Next Philippe Van Hove, Zuora’s Area VP of Southern Europe, was joined onstage by a panel of leaders from companies old and new that are embracing subscriptions.
The panel brought together Philippe Lanternier, Chief Development Officer at Bureau Veritas; Thierry Rambaud, Global Individualization Director at Royal Canin; Emmanuel Poidevin, Founder of e-attestations; Pierre-Yves Noel, Director of Cloud Services and Subscription Business Models at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise; Eric Sebban, Founder of Visiomed; and David Vauthrin, Co-Founder & Head of Customer Success at Finalcad; to talk about strategies for monetizing business models based on recurring revenue.
Fifteen forward-thinking members from an extensive ecosystem of partners enabling the shift to the Subscription Economy offered product deep dives in the Napoléon Salon — a true juxtaposition of tomorrow’s tech against the historic hall awash with true Second Empire-style Parisian frescos.
The scope of companies and partners in attendance at Subscribed Paris is a testament to the reality that the Subscription Economy is here to stay. And France is no exception.
Vive la France!