Read what Bob Brzozowski, President at Techniplas North America thinks about shaping the future of transportation, using data-enabled cognitive tech for personalization and sustainable mobility, and leveraging wireless or the internet to enhance connectivity. Question : Thank you so much for taking our questions! Tell us a little about your business and your specific role? Answer From Bob Brzozowski : Techniplas develops and manufactures products, components, modules and parts for the automotive, electrical, and mechanical markets. We are based in Wisconsin, serving customers in the United States and internationally, with facilities in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Techniplas was founded in 1941, but more recently we are engineering products and services that are shaping the future of transportation. By continuously expanding the reach of our data-enabled cognitive technologies into everything we do, we deliver personalized, performance-enhanced and sustainable mobility. As president of Techniplas North America, I’m responsible for the company’s core business operations in North America. The work we do in digital and the connected world is on the edge of our business, without disrupting our core business. This way we can continue working with our customer base and continue to make money while we’re in this digital transformation. Our digital group in Ventura develops technologies, systems, programs and products. Once we can commercialize it and make it feasible for our manufacturing sites and trade partners, then we can move it from the edge of our business to the core. Question : When did you first realize that you had an issue that needed a digital solution? What was the nature of the problem you set out to solve? Answer From Bob Brzozowski : That awareness started to come in 2015 to 2016. We were in some workshops through Singularity University, and participated in workshops in San Francisco focused on Industry 4.0, algorithms that would predict failures in our equipment, and the acceleration of autonomous vehicles becoming reality. We recognized that there’s a race going on and others in our industry may not be aware of it at this point. EOM’s (Equipment original Manufacturer) were aware of it, but tier 1 manufacturers like ourselves weren’t, so we got a jump on it. Question : What were the challenges you faced at the time as you began the process of evaluating solutions? Answer From Bob Brzozowski : Our challenge is to recognize the parts we currently make that can participate in the move to further connectivity. So we are developing solutions to take the simple products we’ve been making for many years and integrate sensors and other components to connect to vehicles and to the rest of the world, whether that’s through wireless systems or through the internet. The challenge is in identifying which parts we currently make and what components or new technologies are available to acquire or develop to integrate into our manufacturing process, what algorithms we can develop to lightweight current products, such as topology algorithms we can create to reduce the weight of parts through computer redesign and topology optimization. Read the full interview of Bob Brzozowski, President at Techniplas on The Digital Enterprise.
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In this interview, Bob Fabbio, Founder & CEO at eRelevance Corporation discusses how an integrated approach to engage customers through numerous digital channels is important and how conversational interfaces are an important DX catalyst to engage customers. Question : Tell us about your product/business and your specific role. Answer From Bob Fabbio : I am the co-founder and CEO of eRelevance. eRelevance provides a game-changing suite of tech-powered consumer engagement services to small- to medium-size businesses (SMBs) to help them grow in a cost-effective way. Our services eliminate the need for SMBs to use complex marketing software or expensive marketing consultants. Our vision is to forever change small businesses by delivering big-company consumer engagement to small business as an affordable, turnkey service. We’re powering the growth of more than 1,300 SMBs by driving more demand from customers and prospects, lowering their advertising costs and improving lead conversion. Question : What is the core issue your product/technology aims to address and what sets it apart from the other players in the market? Answer From Bob Fabbio : SMBs struggle to grow in a cost-effective way. They spend time and money email blasting their existing customers to generate more business. But, unfortunately, these efforts don’t generate enough business. So, then they spend money on advertising to try to find new customers—only to learn this is an expensive way to grow a business. And irrespective of where the leads come from—customers or new prospects—their staff lacks the time and tools to follow up on a high percentage of leads. With our suite of services, we’ve uniquely changed the game for them in terms of their ability to grow and thrive by driving more demand from their customer and prospect databases, lowering their advertising spend, and improving lead conversion. Question : What’s the one industry, sector or role that your technology is most relevant to? Answer From Bob Fabbio : We are currently focused on elective healthcare practices and mortgage brokers and lenders. Question : What are some of the common challenges your customers approach you with? Answer From Bob Fabbio : Our clients typically operate with small staffs that lack the time and tools to keep up with the number of responses our consumer engagement campaigns generate. That’s why we recently launched eRelevance Connect, a follow-up service that quickly bridges the gap from customer and prospect interest to converted revenue. It ensures our clients don’t miss out on that crucial window when someone is highly interested in scheduling an appointment. Connect uniquely engages consumers to increase conversion and minimize lost revenue. Read the full interview of Bob Fabbio, Founder & CEO at eRelevance Corporation on The Digital Enterprise. Michael Friedin is the Chief Strategy Officer of Hot Paper Lantern, a consultancy that fuses deep expertise in marketing communications with technology solutions to help brands navigate the complexities of the digital economy. In this interview, Mike discusses the challenge of establishing a digital footprint and and how microservices and digital enablement are the future.
Question : Thank you so much for taking our questions! Tell us a little about your business and your specific role? Answer From Michael Friedin : The launch of Hot Paper Lantern is the fruition of our transformation from a media focused professional services firm to a diversified, modern agency. The main focus of the business now is consulting, marketing services and digital enablement. My role is Chief Strategy Officer – Global Digital Lead and Head of Innovation. Question : When did you first realize that you had an issue that needed a digital solution? What was the nature of the problem you set out to solve? Answer From Michael Friedin : I was brought in from Accenture in early 2016 as Chief Digital Officer to create and drive our digital transformation. Many agencies that work in our space have been undergoing massive change to their organization and operating models to compete with the competitive challenge of both consultancy growth and insourcing by clients. The initial business challenge was establishing our digital footprint and transformation road map, building out a strategy and standing up an organization with a unique and distinctive offering as a modern agency partner. This included upskilling talent, investment in our MarTech stack, and driving our brand credibility as a business partner that offered deeper capabilities in strategy, customer experience, marketing technology and analytics. We accomplished that which led to our spin off of HPL. The primary business challenge today is the shifting business landscape and that’s where we are placing our bet on Microservices and Digital Enablement: this includes faster and more agile product development, predictive analytics, and enhanced configurations to create novel, disruptive stacks. This is a result of over a dozen ventures and partnerships we have created in the last few years. Question : What were the challenges you faced at the time as you began the process of evaluating solutions? Answer From Michael Friedin : Volume and variety of needs, competitive benefit and skill set. It’s also a challenge to compete for talent in this market. Read the full interview of Michael Friedin, Chief Strategy Officer at Hot Paper Lantern on The Digital Enterprise. In this interview, Shyam Rao, Co-founder & CEO at Punchh discusses how outdated technologies can hamper massive revenue opportunities for retailers, how ROI must be realized in months not years and leveraging analytics to beat competitors to the punch.
Question : Tell us about your product/business and your specific role? Answer From Shyam Rao : Punchh is a marketing automation platform that gives brick-and-mortar retailers the same data-driven marketing and relationship management capabilities that make online companies like Amazon so successful. One of our main focuses is on the restaurant industry, working with 100 restaurant chains across the globe and representing more than $12B in annual spend on our platform. We help brick-and-mortar retailers of all types, including c-stores, gas stations, health and beauty, sporting arenas, and many others to transform customer relationships into revenue growth and higher customer lifetime value. As Co-founder and CEO of Punchh, I am committed to growing our company into a market leader for next generation marketing software. Question : What is the core issue your product/technology aims to address and what sets it apart from the other players in the market? Answer From Shyam Rao : We’ve built a suite of products that help retailers use their data to move customers up the value chain, to leverage the power of mobile and omnichannel experiences to first acquire, then grow relationships with customers in order to increase their lifetime value. There are really 3 different types of customers we’ve identified; Anonymous, Known, and Loyalist. For each type of customer you need different marketing tools. When a customer is Anonymous, you need to bring them in the door and get them to make that first purchase (eg. using Facebook or WiFi). Once they’re Known you can start tailoring their guest experience (eg. remembering they are vegetarian or offering individualized coupons). If they are Loyal, you want to make sure they stay loyal by giving them continuous rewards in their mobile app. Most brick-and-mortar retailers do not have the technological advances as e-commerce companies, like Amazon, do in order to know and understand who purchases their service or product. To solve this issue, Punchh’s all-encompassing platform manages the process of using mountains of data to build customer relationships and tailor every experience, at scale across hundreds of locations. Question : What’s the one industry, sector or role that your technology is most relevant to? Answer From Shyam Rao : Punchh is relevant to multiple types of retailers, but we would consider ourselves most relevant to retailers with a brick and mortar presence. While similar to a CRM platform, we provide a software for brick and mortar retailers to better connect with their customers and build ongoing relationships. Read the full interview of Shyam Rao, Co-founder & CEO at Punchh on The Digital Enterprise. In this interview, Steve Andriole, Thomas G. Labrecque Professor at Villanova University elaborates on the major drivers for digital transformation – fear and failure, the necessity to ‘see’ and uncover inefficiencies and how existing tech infrastructures may actually impede DX. Steve is the Thomas G. Labrecque Professor of Business Technology in the Villanova School of Business at Villanova University where he teaches strategic technology, innovation and entrepreneurialism. He is also the author/co-author/editor of 35 books on information technology, technology trends and business technology management.
Question : Tell us a little about your business and your specific role? Answer From Steve Andriole : I am a professor in the Villanova School of Business at Villanova University where I research and teach emerging business technology and digital transformation. I have also helped companies, government organizations and even universities adopt emerging technology to transform their business processes and whole business models. I have worked in industry as a Chief Technology Officer and a Chief Information Officer, and have consulted with companies, government organizations and universities whose business processes and business models need emerging digital technologies to stay competitive. Question : What is the typical nature of challenges you encounter from enterprises looking to move the needle on digital transformation? Answer From Steve Andriole : The most powerful motivation (to engage in digital transformation projects I’ve encountered) is fear. Many companies and organizations see digital technology as a weapon that can be used against them – or by them – to capture market share. But the same companies and government organizations are usually constrained by organizational change, cost and challenges integrating new technologies into existing (and resistant) technology architectures and infrastructures: many companies and organizations are constrained by massive investments in “older” technologies architectures and infrastructures, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and other applications that are decades old. Digital transformation is by nature disruptive and many companies, government organizations and universities are intimidated by change on any level, especially change that requires new investments and re-engineered business processes. There’s also often a lack of knowledge about emerging technologies – like AI, RPA, distributed ledger technology, Regtech, cryptocurrency, virtual/augmented reality and even IOT. When combined with only a modest modeling of existing business processes, the lack of knowledge about emerging technologies places many companies at major competitive risk – even if they fail to understand the nature or severity of the risk. Question : Using technology to effect transformation usually starts with a transformation of beliefs and mindsets. How do you consult clients and help them make that important shift in mindset to move ahead on a particular project or implementation? Answer From Steve Andriole : My approach generally begins with opportunity costs – what organizations are losing by failing to adopt new technologies. Yes, I deliberately leverage the “fear card” because it’s effective: Once they’re scared enough, the “pitch” shifts to opportunity gains with preliminary transformation ROI models. All of that said, if the key decision-makers suffer from a severe case of “if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t fix-it” the fear/opportunity approach will fail. So the “best” opportunities for digital transformation ironically often come from the most distressed companies and organizations. Read the full interview of Steve Andriole, Professor at Villanova University on The Digital Enterprise. In this interview, Thibault Van der Auwermeulen, Co-founder of ExpoPolis speaks about their technology challenges while building their solution, keeping pace with the tech advancements and combining elements of physical fairs with virtual fairs to bring insights and knowledge to a wide range of people beyond physical boundaries.
Read Full Interview: https://www.thedigitalenterprise.com/interviews/interview-with-thibault-van-der-auwermeulen-co-founder-of-expopolis/ In this interview, Brian Berns, CEO at Knoa Software, discusses visibility into employee interactions for improved productivity and how technology plays a crucial role in the daily lives of employees. Brian is a successful software industry veteran with over 20 years of executive experience. Prior to Knoa, Brian served as the President at Ericom Software, Division VP at FICO and SVP (North America) at Brio Software. Additionally, Brian has been the founding member of several successful software start-ups including Certona and Proginet. Brian has a BA from Yeshiva University and an MS from NYU
Read Full Interview: https://www.thedigitalenterprise.com/interviews/interview-with-brian-berns-ceo-at-knoa-software-sap-uem/ |
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March 2020
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