New CEO to Execute Strategic Growth Plan for Digital River

By Gabriella Pirrone

July 17, 2018

API, Cloud, commerce, Digital River, ecommerce, eCommerce Platform, Exclusive Interviews, Microservices, SaaS, technology

Founded in 1994, Digital River is a leading provider for end-to-end cloud-commerce, payments, and marketing solutions to various companies around the world. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and with nearly 25 years of experience, the company also runs offices across the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America. Their solution combines a Commerce-as-a-Service commerce technology platform, commerce business infrastructure (CBI), and a suite of services to help businesses avoid the costs and risks of running an integrated global commerce operation in-house.

Last week, Digital River announced one of their board directors, Adam Coyle, was joining the team as Chief Executive Officer. Adam is a leader in the technology industry and has well over 25 years of experience.

To hear all about the announcement first-hand, I reached out to Adam and was fortunate enough to get a one-on-one interview to hear all about his new position and how he intends on growing the business and creating new opportunities for Digital River in the future.

Exclusive Interview with CEO Adam Coyle

What is it about Digital River that made you want to join the team as Chief Executive Officer?

Adam: “As a member of the board for the past three years, I have become comfortable with Digital River and the stellar team here. My experience in payments and the tech space, along with already being familiar with Digital River’s core business units, makes for a great fit. There is substantial opportunity in the business and I am thrilled to oversee the execution of our strategy.”

How do you intend to grow the business and create opportunities for Digital River employees, customers and partners?

Adam: “I plan to execute the strategic growth plan the company already has in place. We are expanding our product offerings through a combination of ongoing enhancements to our platforms, and continuing to focus on customer experience and service delivery excellence. We are listening to primary research to ensure we are offering the right products when and how customers want them so we can better serve existing clients and expand the markets in which we can offer our services.”

What is the future for Digital River and where do you see the company heading?

Adam: “We are part of one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy – which, in turn, means numerous opportunities for not only the company, but also for our employees, customers and partners. The future for Digital River is bright. While several potential scenarios could be a natural evolution for us, we will stay focused on the good work we’re doing and the activities that will have the greatest impact on our future success.”  

The press release describes you as “a leader with over 25 years of experience in the technology industry” With this deep expertise, what are some technology trends you think are most important right now or will become key in the near future?

Adam: “There is an increasing need for systems and services to interoperate across traditional boundaries – both physical and virtual. Customers increasingly want the ability to create technology solutions that represent the “best of breed” of various components, and that is forcing solutions providers to essentially partner in ways that seemed unthinkable ten years ago. Those partnerships include components of both technological compatibility – think open APIs and microservices – but also new ways of going to market. Couple this with the fact that, while SaaS has been around for quite a while, the distinction between what is “software” and what is “service” is becoming muddled. In an increasingly SaaS-ified world, “service” as a component of solution delivery is becoming vital, as clients seek more help in making decisions and mitigating risks based on the inputs and outputs of the technology solutions they employ.”

Providing Scalable Ecommerce Technologies & Services Worldwide

Last month, Digital River was named a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce for the second consecutive year for their “completeness and ability to execute”

James Gagliardi, VP and Chief Product Officer at Digital River commented on the news to say “Savvy brands recognize that global ecommerce requires them to operate like native businesses, providing shoppable, local commerce experiences that cater to unique shopper nuances and meet legal requirements for each country. It is difficult for organizations to achieve this at scale, yet this is exactly where Digital River excels and adds unmatched value for our clients.

In combination with our leading commerce technologies, we serve as a trusted advisor, guiding brands through the intricacies of ecommerce on a country-by-country basis.”

Digital River's SaaS commerce cloud is scaled for worldwide expansion. Being an agile and always on system makes it easy for speed to global markets.

Let’s take a closer look at their Commerce capabilities:

• Tailored Commerce Experience: A pre-configured platform for a full custom experience. The open architecture, tools and APIs make it simple to localize and contextualize. Get data insights to tailor content, promotions, pricing, payments and products for specific audiences. Built for global with 50 automatically configured locales so you can sell effectively in each market. 

• Multi-Locale Management: Straight out of the box, you can do global business virtually anywhere. In fact, with over 190 bank connections around the world and 26 languages. Each locale comes pre-configured with the right language, currency, payments, tax set up and fulfillment integrations. The result of all this insightful tailoring is a significant jump in conversions, sales and retention. When you know how to handle the country-by-country nuances, you expand your brand reach and multiply your opportunities.

• Global Commerce Fulfillment & Logistics: It’s no secret, online shoppers are calling the shots when it comes to fulfillment. To deliver on lofty expectations, plug into the global network of warehouses and logistics partners. We master complexities and equip you with ecommerce inventory tools to manage pre-orders, back orders, split shipments and reporting. Package theft, fluctuating pricing and inventory shortfalls—say adios to the unexpected surprise. We’re on point so you can be totally relaxed.

• End-to-End Order Management: Your shopper is seconds from making purchase. Simple, secure and seamless is their priority. Creating the best online order experience possible is our strongest point. We’ve even earned kudos from both clients and industry experts. Trust us with your orders and you tab the latest in shopping cart features, mobile checkout, intelligent inventory management and fraud prevention. Our reputation for proactive customer service makes the experience twice as engaging.

• Channel Partner Engagement: Can your ecommerce partner channel keep up with product innovation? Now you can sell subscription licenses B2B and through resellers with automated maintenance renewals and partner payments. This streamlines channel operations for every step in the process. Now you are moving at innovation speed.

Notable brands such as Microsoft, Adobe, HTC, Jabra, Lenovo, Logitech, Take-Two Interactive and VMware use the Digital River platform to meet shoppers’ localized ecommerce expectations across more than 190 countries with regionally nuanced page design, payment types, local banking relationships and digital marketing strategies. They also look to Digital River to reduce their global transaction risks by managing international tax collection, regulatory compliance, fraud and chargebacks on their behalf.

James also commented to say “Following two years of positioning in the Leaders quadrant, we believe that we continue to evolve our solution to enable global ecommerce for even more brands. We not only offer industry-leading, end-to-end ecommerce technologies, but also a componentized, microservices-based model. We believe this gives brands the flexibility to enhance their commerce system-of-record with a modular approach and continually evolve their commerce experiences and sales worldwide.”

Ending Notes

As I mentioned in one of my previous articles that I can’t stress enough about, its obvious that commerce capabilities are becoming more paramount in the ever changing and emerging content space. According to Statista, “In 2021, over 2.14 billion people worldwide are expected to buy goods and services online, up from 1.66 billion global digital buyers in 2016.”

It should come as no surprise that speed, convenience and accuracy define an optimal shopping experience. Customers increasingly value and appreciate the ability to buy items quickly and easily so I definitely appreciate companys such as Digital River who streamline the shopping experience and can help businesses avoid the costs and risks of running an integrated global commerce operation in-house.


 

Gabriella Pirrone

Gabriella is the Digital Marketing Assistant for CMSC Media. She brings a wealth of knowledge from not only a CMS perspective but also content, SEO and eCommerce. She enjoys everything social media and staying ontop of the latest trends in the digital marketing world.