Agile Digital Transformation

Andrew Davis - Transformational leadership

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:00:00 +0100

Andrew Davis is the Chief Product Officer at AutoRABIT and the co-author of Flow Engineering: From Value Stream Mapping to Effective Action.

Andrew co-authored the book together with Steve Pereira, with whom they also host a podcast and whom we've previously had as a guest on our show and discussed flow engineering. In this episode with Andrew, we talk about the concept of transformational leadership, with him sharing his approach to training technical leaders.

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Jonathan Baker - The ins and outs of the M&A process

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 05:00:00 +0100

Jonathan Baker is the Head of M&A services at Punctuation, an advisory firm that specializes in small- to mid-sized marketing services firms.

In this episode, we explore the ins and outs of Mergers and acquisitions (M&A), diving into pertinent questions such as how buyers determine the value of a firm, knowing the right time to sell, and whether to prioritize the valuation itself or the terms of a specific deal. We also talk about the impact on employees of the M&A process and how to minimize that as much as possible.

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Anthony Maggio - Driving AI Value with In-House Citizen Development

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Anthony Maggio is the VP of Product Management at the leading low-code app building platform Airtable.

In this episode, we discuss how businesses can tap into the value of AI through in-house citizen development. We first define citizen development and its significance, then discuss the main challenges here as well as the importance of doing AI in-house. Finally, Anthony tells us more about Airtable’s key products & features which enable this.

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Johan Grönstedt - The Execution Revolution

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 08:00:00 +0100

Johan Grönstedt is a seasoned management consultant and the vice president and chief product officer at Howwe Technologies, as well as the author of The Execution Revolution.

In this episode, we discuss the digital components of strategy execution and large-scale business transformation. We talk about digital acceleration, the need to digitalize the CEO, the shift from the more and more obsolete traditional consulting models, and how AI can fit into all these changes.

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Martijn Moret - The risks of centralized data

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0100

Martijn Moret is a seasoned professional and entrepreneur with experience across various industries such as aviation and hospitality, and he's the co-founder of DataSquirrel.ai.

In this episode, we talk about the risks of data centralization. We discuss the main challenges and risks of centralized data, the myth of 100% data integration vs. the untapped 60%, and the specific challenges when it comes to working with AI. We conclude with Martijn sharing his hopes and expectations for the future.

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Alon Peleg - The ROI of artificial intelligence

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 07:00:00 +0100

Alon Peleg is the COO of aiOla, an AI speech technology that helps businesses streamline inspections.

On a previous episode, we already had aiOla’s co-founder & CEO Amir Haramaty as a guest, and we discussed the evolution of speech technology in transforming enterprise operations. In this episode with Alon, we talk more practically about driving real value and how to get a great ROI from your AI implementations.

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Sateesh Seetharamiah - Redefining growth with a platform-centric digital strategy

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 07:00:00 +0100

Sateesh Seetharamiah is the CEO of EdgeVerve, an Infosys company that's leading in the development of digital platforms.

In this episode, we discuss platform-centric digital strategies and how a platform-centric strategy can help a business unlock growth and drive innovation. We talk more broadly about the key features of a platform-centric strategy, discuss why it's so valuable for leading brands such as Amazon, and conclude by discussing the concept of "uberization".

Links & mentions:

edgeverve.com

Radhika Dutt - Responsible product development

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 08:00:00 +0100

Radhika Dutt is an accomplished entrepreneur and product executive, as well as the author of the book Radical Product Thinking.

In this second conversation with Radhika, we revisit some of the points & issues raised in the original episode by talking about responsible development of both physical and digital products. We discuss the opioid epidemic in the U.S., expand upon enshittification and talk about the importance of & approaches to radically rethinking OKRs.

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Mateo Zimmermann - Bridging the technology quotient gap in construction

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0100

Mateo Zimmermann is the Investment Manager at Cemex Ventures, the corporate venture capital and open innovation unit of leading sustainable construction materials and solutions company Cemex.

In this episode, we talk about the state of technology literacy, define the technology quotient gap and discuss how to bridge it in the construction industry. We also talk about the positive impacts of bridging this gap, and Mateo finishes with some success stories from their work.

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Chris Cooney - Modern state of agile

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Chris Cooney is the Head of Developer Advocacy for Coralogix, a SaaS observability platform that analyzes logs, metrics, and security data in real time.

In this episode, Chris returns to the podcast to discuss the modern state of agile. We talk about the difference between Agile versus agile and the conflicts that arise here, as well as the current industry trends and expectations about what the future holds.

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Alex Heublein - Navigating cyber risks while embracing new technologies

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Alex Heublein is the president of the US division of the IT innovation and digital transformation accelerator Netsurit.

In this episode, we explore how we can protect ourselves from the more and more advanced cyber security risks, with a particular focus on small and medium businesses that are often more heavily affected by cyber attacks. We also emphasize the value of outsourcing when it comes to cyber security and other IT priorities. Finally, we discuss the people element and the importance of cyber security training.

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Tony Bailey - Modernizing Legacy Applications and Infrastructure

Thu, 10 Oct 2024 08:00:00 +0200

Tony Bailey is the EVP at InterVision, as well as an industry leader with over 25 years of experience in cloud and hybrid go-to-market strategies, SaaS sales and marketing, scaling sales organizations and acquisition integration.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of data modernization in legacy environments. We break down some main strategies, considerations and challenges for effective data modernization, and Tony shares a couple real-life success stories.

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Michael Greenberg - Tactical AI

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 11:00:00 +0200

Michael Greenberg is the founder & CEO of 3rd Brain Digital Operations & Automation, a consultancy that helps businesses achieve explosive growth through cutting-edge digital operations, automation, and AI implementation.

In this episode, we talk about tactical AI and how it's shaping the future of work. We break down use cases and business areas where tactical AI is especially valuable, and Michael shares his playbook & hands-on tips for tactically implementing AI.

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Jason Monberg - Adapting to constant technology shifts to endure market value

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Jason Monberg has over 25 years of experience in the tech industry, and is currently the CEO of respected digital product development firm and consultancy Presence.

In this episode, we discuss how to adapt to constant technology shifts in order to endure market value. Jason shares the top lessons from his 25+ years of experience in the industry, highlighting the importance of patience, knowing the "why", good communication, and good relationships.

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Radhika Dutt - Radical Product Thinking

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Radhika Dutt is an accomplished entrepreneur and product executive, as well as the author of the book Radical Product Thinking.

In this episode, Radhika tells us more about her book and the idea behind radical product thinking, while sharing real-life examples of radical product thinking in action. We also discuss product diseases, digital pollution, the Hippocratic oath of product, and more.

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Kevin Dean - Gen AI Readiness: Preparing Your Business for the Next Wave of Innovation

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0200

Kevin Dean is the CEO & Founder of the HubSpot Elite Solution Partner agency ManoByte.

In this episode, we talk about how to best prepare your business for the impact caused by generative AI. We explain what GenAI readiness means and talk about the biggest challenges to being prepared. Kevin also shares what he's most excited about when it comes to AI, and finishes with practical tips to business leaders.

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Brian Fitzpatrick - Keeping up with the evolution of digital transformation

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 06:00:00 +0200

Brian Fitzpatrick is the CEO and chairman of Qredible, the world's first enterprise quality management ecosystem that's purpose built for high risk industries.

In this episode, we discuss the evolution of digital transformation and how businesses can successfully keep up with it. We also talk about Blue Ocean strategies and end the conversation on the problems with overusing business buzzwords.

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Nicholas Samstag - Family dynamics in business

Thu, 29 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Nicholas Samstag is a clinical psychologist and the host of the Mental Health In Business podcast.

In this episode, we discuss family dynamics in businesses and organizations. We explore the psychological implications of these dynamics for leaders and their impact on hiring. We also discuss the changes with remote work, and Nicholas shares his thoughts on the trend of marketing a company as a "family".

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Mike Connell - Digital DNA

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Mike Connell is the chief operating officer at the science focused digital transformation consultancy Enthought.

In a previous episode with Enthought's Alex Chabot-Leclerc, we discussed unlocking the potential of AI in R&D. In this episode with Mike, we talk about digital DNA, how it relates to and differs from digital strategy, what a healthy digital DNA should look like, and when it is particularly important.

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Rob Alvarez - Promoting collaboration using 3D, AR and VR

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 08:00:00 +0200

Roberto Alvarez is the Chief Revenue Officer at Vectary, an interactive 3D design solution for businesses.

In this episode, we discuss how to promote and boost collaboration at a company with the help of 3D, augmented reality, and virtual reality technologies. We also talk about spatial computing and differentiate that from 3D design, as well as discuss the importance of de-siloing and of security considerations.

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Chris Cooney - How data observability helps enable digital transformation

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 10:00:00 +0200

Chris Cooney is the Head of Developer Advocacy for Coralogix, a SaaS observability platform that analyzes logs, metrics, and security data in real time.

In this episode, we talk about data observability and how it helps enable digital transformation. We discuss why it's important to prioritize observability from the start, how to optimize observability-related costs, the importance of responsible data use, and the impact of AI technologies.

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Dave Burrill - Mastering IT communication

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0200

Dave Burrill is the CIO of the IT services firm Bridging Business & IT, with over 33 years of experience in the tech landscape.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of good communication between business and IT, and how to master master communication on projects in the digital world. We break down what good communication looks like in practice, explore how to improve business communication, and conclude with Dave sharing some real-life stories of how crucial communication is to the success of a project.

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Charles Cormier - Why mindset is key to successful entrepreneurship

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 08:00:00 +0200

Charles Cormier is an entrepreneur, founder, CEO at TopLeads & PodPire.com, as well as the host of the CEO Wisdom Podcast.

In this episode, we talk about the key role of mindset in successful entrepreneurship, with Charles sharing his own experiences & lessons learned from being an entrepreneur. We discuss the importance of being smart, the correlation between mindset and mental health, and the value of going of truth.

Links & mentions:

charlescormier.com/ceo-wisdom-podcast

Alma Kondili - Digital transformation as the foundation for AI transformation

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 08:00:00 +0200

Alma Kondili is an innovative digital leader with over 15 years of experience in driving change within the financial services and startup sectors.

In this episode, we discuss how doing digital transformation right is a prerequisite for success with AI adoption and transformation. We talk about the high failure rate of digitization initiatives and how it relates to AI adoption success rates. We also highlight the importance of data and of understanding the full scope of a digital transformation endeavor.

Links & mentions:

linkedin.com/in/almakondili

Chris Heard - How sales software has created a biased approach to buying software

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 06:00:00 +0200

Chris Heard is the CEO of Olive Technologies, providers of an AI powered platform that streamlines supply chain management software selection.

We have an interesting topic for you today, namely - how sales software inevitably entails a biased approach to buying software. We discuss the impact of the halo effect, and what we should do to empower users & customers in the right way.

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Marc Lustig - What is actually changing in an agile transformation?

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 12:00:00 +0200

Marc Lustig is the Transformation Leadership Coach at the professional training & coaching firm Scaled Intent Leadership.

In this episode, we explore what is actually changing in a true agile transformation, beginning with Marc sharing his own experience with agile. We discuss the concept of the learning organization and the responsibilities of leaders, and then Marc shares his recipe for driving meaningful, sustainable transformation.

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Austin Reed - Cultivating a strong mindset for resilience & innovation

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Austin Reed is a seasoned digital nomad with eight plus years of experience, as well as the co-founder and automation expert at Horizon Dev LLC.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of cultivating a strong mindset in order to stay resilient while also staying at the forefront of innovation. Austin shares tips and tricks for having a strong mindset, giving us an insight into his entrepreneurial journey and the key lessons he has learnt from it.

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Tim Brackney - Overcoming tech deficits in financial services

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:00:00 +0200

Tim Brackney is the CEO of Springline Advisory, a financial and business advisory firm dedicated to reshaping the accounting and advisory landscape.

In this episode, we talk about overcoming technology deficits in the financial services sector. We discuss why this sector often lags behind in technology adoption, the paradox of talent deficit, the impact of AI, and how accounting firms can catch up on innovation.

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Jen Swanson - How to implement digitization with low investment and high return

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Jen Swanson is the founder and CEO of Tuckpoint Advisory Group, a collective of digital transformation experts that are helping world class organizations with their transformation initiatives.

In this episode, we discuss how to get a high return with a low investment from digital transformation initiatives. We highlight the importance of such conversations in the current volatile era, the differences between digitally native and legacy firms, and strategies for not only achieving but also sustaining success with digital transformation.

Links & mentions:

linkedin.com/in/jgswanson

Edward Tsinovoi - The Next Wave of Internet Infrastructure

Thu, 30 May 2024 12:00:00 +0200

Edward Tsinovoi is the co-founder and CEO of IO River, the first comprehensive platform designed for managing multiple edge platforms.

In this episode, we talk about the next wave of internet infrastructure, focusing on the essential role of content delivery networks and how they have been evolving. We discuss why this evolution is important for the Open Web, and break down the concepts of Multi-CDN-as-a-service and the impact of Hyper Cloud vendors.

Links & mentions:

ioriver.io

Eric Siegel & Greg Kihlstrom - Leveraging agile to unlock the full potential of AI

Thu, 23 May 2024 11:00:00 +0200

Eric Siegel is a former Columbia professor, leading ML consultant & author of The AI Playbook, and Greg Kihlstrom is a CX and marketing technology transformation consultant, author & keynote speaker, as well as the host of The Agile Brand.

In this episode, Eric and Greg return to the podcast to discuss how tapping into agile principles would enable businesses and organizations to get more value out of AI and machine learning initiatives.

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Wessel van der Pal - Streamline digital transformation with a headless CMS platform

Thu, 16 May 2024 10:00:00 +0200

Wessel van der Pal is the co-founder and tech lead at the design and development agency take it_.

In this episode, we discuss headless content management systems and how they can help businesses streamline all of their digital transformation and digital strategy efforts. We focus more on the business aspects of headless CMS rather than on the technical implementation, discussing the benefits and challenges of going headless, as well as why non-developers at a company should care about headless.

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Rick Yvanovich - Discovering your mission

Thu, 09 May 2024 09:00:00 +0200

Rick Yvanovich holds numerous credentials and qualifications in business management, and he's also the founder of the professional services firm TRG International, as well as the author of Business as Unusual: How To Thrive In The New Renaissance.

In our second conversation, Rick turns the tables on Tim and interviews him about his own personal and professional development. We talk about discovering your life's mission and purpose, overcoming imposter syndrome, the importance of letting go in order to grow, and how positively transformative mistakes can sometimes be.

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Jonathan Gottfried - Developer Education

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 08:00:00 +0200

Jonathan Gottfried is the co-founder of Major League Hacking, as well as the podcast host of the State of Developer Education podcast.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of developer education in today's highly volatile digital world. We talk about the evolution of developer education, the impact of (generative) AI, as well as the role of hackathons and the lessons Jon has learned from founding and running MLH.

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Kimberly Eubank - Ready for Change

Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:00:00 +0200

Kimberly Eubank is a keynote speaker, advisor, coach and leading expert on digital transformation, as well as the Chief Digital Information Officer at Big Ass Fans.

In this episode, we talk about the importance of embracing and planning for change, focusing on Kimberly’s Ready for Change framework and how it can help companies and organizations succeed in the highly competitive digital world.

Links & mentions:

kimberlyeubank.com

Stephany Lapierre - How AI is turning uncertainty into opportunity in the supply chain

Thu, 11 Apr 2024 10:00:00 +0200

Stephany Lapierre is the founder and CEO of the leading supplier data foundation platform TealBook.

In this episode, we discuss how the innovation in artificial intelligence can be leveraged to turn uncertainty into opportunity in the supply chain sector. We talk about the opportunities AI brings to procurement & the supply chain, as well as the challenges and key considerations for effective implementation. One of the key points that we highlight is the importance of responsible data management.

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Matthew Kleiman - Leveraging AI & LLM without falling for the hype

Thu, 04 Apr 2024 13:00:00 +0200

Matthew Kleiman is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Digital Systems as well as the author of the recently released book Work Done Right.

In our second conversation with Matthew, we talk about making use of artificial intelligence, and in particular large language models, without falling for the hype surrounding these technologies. We revisit the concept of the "splashy technology syndrome", discuss how to identify those solutions that bring real value, and take a look at some examples of how Cumulus leverages AI.

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Anton Skornyakov - The Art of Slicing Work

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:00:00 +0100

Anton Skornyakov is a holder of the esteemed certified Scrum Trainer certification, co-founder and managing director of Agile Coach and author of The Art of Slicing Work: How to Navigate Unpredictable Projects.

In this episode, Anton breaks down the concept of slicing work and how it can benefit businesses and organizations. He shares numerous tips and insights from his just released book, along with tangible examples of slicing work in action.

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Greg Brooks - AI and the future of SEO

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 08:00:00 +0100

Greg Brooks is the Chief Marketing Officer at the data-driven SEO and link building agency SearchTides.

In this episode, we talk about the future of search engine marketing and optimization in a digital landscape driven by artificial intelligence. We take a look at the state of SEO before the public release of ChatGPT in November 2022, what has changed since then, and how marketers can best prepare for the future of SEO.

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Franz Karlsberger - Navigating the Challenges of Building a Business on Open Source

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 14:00:00 +0100

Franz Karlsberger is the CEO of the developer focused open-source application delivery and hosting platform amazee.io.

In this episode, we talk about navigating the challenges of building a successful business based on open-source technologies, with Franz sharing his first-hand experiences of leading amazee.io as well as his tips for making sense of the abundant landscape of different open-source software solutions.

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Nikola Mrkšić - Winning back trust in the time of AI

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 12:00:00 +0100

Nikola Mrkšić is one of the masterminds behind Apple's digital assistant Siri, as well as the CEO and co-founder of PolyAI.

In this episode, we speak about winning (back) trust in the age of artificial intelligence. We discuss the importance of trust for effective customer relationships, as well as look at the bigger picture with regards to the overabundance and hyper-refinement of AI-generated content where there are not yet well enough established standards and regulations.

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Andrej Safundzic - Managing the APPocalypse

Thu, 22 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0100

Andrej Safundzic is the CEO and co-founder of Lumos, an advanced SaaS management and identity governance platform.

In this episode, we discuss the APPocalypse, that is, the overabundance of digital tools and applications. We start with some history and how we got to this sprawl of apps, before moving on to discussing the impacts it has on both businesses and individuals. We also talk about the important lessons from product management and kaizen, as well as the key role of company culture in navigating the APPocalypse.

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Eric Siegel - Are we headed towards an AI winter?

Thu, 15 Feb 2024 06:00:00 +0100

Eric Siegel is a former Columbia professor, leading ML consultant and author of The AI Playbook: Mastering the Rare Art of Machine Learning Deployment, which has just recently been released.

In this episode, we talk about whether or not we're headed towards an AI winter and what implications this would have for the future of innovation in artificial intelligence and machine learning. We discuss the law of human-like autonomy and why it is important for these kinds of conversations, and conclude with a look into the future of AI innovation & development.

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Cody Schneider - Navigating career pivots through volatility

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 09:00:00 +0100

Cody Schneider is the co-founder of the AI SEO content engine DraftHorse AI, and of an advanced AI writer engine for podcasters, Swell AI.

In this episode, we talk about how to navigate career pivots through disruption and volatility, and Cody shares some of his personal experience with needing to make a sudden shift in his career.

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Lisa Carlin - How to design successful strategies & build internal communities for change

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0100

Lisa Carlin is a strategy execution specialist and scale up mentor, as well as co-founder of FutureBuilders Group, a network of Organizational Development specialists.

In this episode, we talk about designing successful strategies and building internal communities to drive change with significant benefits and as little upheaval as possible to the people. Lisa also shares a couple of her favorite success stories from her work which showcase her unique approach to strategizing and helping her clients.

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Jack Skeels - Reinventing management through unmanaging

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 11:00:00 +0100

Jack Skeels is an award-winning executive, frequent keynote speaker and published thought leader, the CEO & founder of AgencyAgile, and the author of the recently published book Unmanaged.

In this episode, we break down the concept of unmanaging, exploring how it differs from traditional management approaches and in what ways it resembles the agile approach to project management. We talk about the meeting shadow and how it affects productivity, the cost of overmanaging, i.e. manager tax, and explain both what unmanaging is and isn't.

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Matthew Kleiman - Work done right through systems thinking

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 09:00:00 +0100

Matthew Kleiman is the co-founder and CEO of Cumulus Digital Systems as well as the author of the recently released book Work Done Right.

In this episode, we talk about some of the key lessons and takeaways from Matthew's book, covering topics such as systems thinking and how it differs from systems engineering, the issues with having to do rework when work wasn't done right, and the Splashy Technology Syndrome and its consequences.

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Amir Haramaty - Evolution of speech technology in transforming enterprise operations

Thu, 28 Dec 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Amir Haramaty is the CEO and co-founder of aiOla, an AI speech technology that helps businesses streamline inspections.

In this episode, we discuss how the evolution in AI speech technology is transforming enterprise operations. We talk about the real-life applications of benefits of streamlined speech technology, and Amir shares the story of aiOla as well as some success stories of how it compares to existing off-the-shelf solutions.

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Eric Holtzclaw - Making Sense of the Modern-Day Marketing Maze

Thu, 21 Dec 2023 09:00:00 +0100

Eric Holtzclaw is the founding partner and chief strategist of the full-service B2B marketing firm Liger.

In this episode, we explore the modern-day marketing maze and how to best navigate it. We focus particularly on content marketing; on the core values, mission and vision of a brand; and on the abundance of MarTech available, as well as the changes in job roles and in the skills required for these new roles.

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Alex Chabot-Leclerc - Unlocking the potential of AI in R&D

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Alex Chabot-Leclerc is the Vice President of Digital Transformation Solutions at Enthought, a science-focused digital transformation consultancy.

In this episode, we discuss how the field of research and development (R&D) can tap into the power of new AI technologies in order to stay on the cutting edge of innovation. We focus primarily on how R&D jobs will be impacted, and how organizations can support their people to become digitally enabled and future-forward.

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Oliver Davies - The business case for test-driven software development & automated testing

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Oliver Davies is a software developer and consultant with 16 years of professional Drupal development experience, including working on drupal.org for the Drupal Association and being an Acquia Triple Certified Drupal Expert.

In this episode, we make the business case for test-driven development (TDD) and automated software testing, exploring why non-developers should care about a proper testing process, how developers can help them do so, as well as what kind of role generative AI tools might play in TDD.

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Emily Yorgey - Intentional UX in the age of persuasive & manipulative tech

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Emily Yorgey is a UX/UI designer at Modulous, a modern technology platform which aids in streamlining construction projects.

In this episode, we dive into the importance of intentional UX design in the current digital age which is dominated by persuasive and manipulative tech, drawing key insights from Emily's great article "How to build intentional UX in an era of persuasive technology" which has been published both by UX Collective as well as by Fast Company.

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Greg Kihlstrom - Continuous improvement of AI & customer experience

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 10:00:00 +0100

Greg Kihlstrom is a customer experience and marketing technology transformation consultant, author, and keynote speaker, as well as the host of The Agile Brand podcast.

In this episode, we talk about continuous improvement of AI and customer experience. We break down the concept of AI maturity and discuss how agility goes hand in hand with continuous improvement. We also speak about the need for responsible AI adoption, which Greg wrote about in a recent CMSWire article.

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Jan Pilhar - Unlocking the power of AI for enterprise-wide transformation

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Jan Pilhar is the Executive Director at IBM iX DACH and Co-Leader of their Digital Advisory Practice DACH.

In this episode, we talk about unlocking the power of AI for business-wide transformation, focusing more on the possibilities & challenges for larger enterprises versus small/medium businesses.

One of the key points in the discussion is also the question of "buy vs. build" when implementing AI models and what the best practices for enterprises will be in that regard. We close with tips on how to drive a more holistic rather than siloed AI transformation, as well as a few more general tips for streamlining your AI strategy.

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Nick Petroski - The impact of generative AI & LLM on the digital agency business model

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 11:00:00 +0100

Nick Petroski is the founder of Promethean Research, a boutique consultancy which helps digital agencies grow more reliably with higher margins and simpler operations.

In this episode, we discuss how generative AI and large language models are impacting digital agencies. We cover why and how the decline in agency growth started and how the explosion of generative AI since last year's public release of ChatGPT 3.5 further affected digital agencies and their strategies for the future.

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Matt Ellis - Digital transformation lessons we can learn from the 1972 Beetle

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 10:00:00 +0200

Matt Ellis is Senior Manager of the CIO Advisory Practice at BearingPoint, an independent multinational management and technology consulting firm.

In this episode, we talk about the 1972 Volkswagen Beetle and what modern-day digital transformation lessons we can learn from it, focusing on exponential growth and the costs of remaining on outdated legacy technology.

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Richard "RJ" Kedziora - Digital Health

Thu, 19 Oct 2023 10:00:00 +0200

Richard "RJ" Kedziora is the co-founder of Estenda Solutions, a leading company specializing in custom software and data analysis for healthcare and medical companies.

In this episode, we discuss the topic of digital health, starting by defining the term, then then covering topics such as regulated software development for healthcare, the current and future impact of AI, and concluding with examples of Estenda’s client work.

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Ryan Breen - Why digital optimization is the new digital transformation

Thu, 12 Oct 2023 08:00:00 +0200

Ryan Breen is the CTO of Fastr, creator of the first Frontend-as-a-Service platform, Fastr Frontend, with over 20 years of experience in scaling businesses and building products & teams.

In this episode, we discuss why digital optimization is the new digital transformation, with a particular focus on the field of e-commerce. We talk about why e-commerce project can never be considered "done", how to drive business value without overly relying on development, and conclude with the importance of continually engaging experiences.

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Ramiro Berrelleza - Redefining the developer experience

Thu, 05 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0200

Ramiro Berrelleza is the CEO and co-founder of Okteto, the leading platform for Development Experience Automation.

In this episode, we talk about redefining the developer experience. We cover both culture and technology, discuss the impact of AI tools such as Chat-GPT and GitHub's Copilot, and break down the concept of ephemeral development environments. In conclusion, Ramiro also shares an example of Okteto's client work.

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Peter Voss - What’s missing in today’s artificial intelligence

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 11:00:00 +0200

Peter Voss is the CEO and chief scientist of the advanced chatbot platform Aigo, as well as one of the people who came up with the term artificial general intelligence (AGI).

In the second conversation with Peter (our first one revolving around AGI), we discuss what's missing in modern-day AI technologies and how we can responsibly unlock their potential. Peter also shares insights and lessons learned from the development of Aigo, the chatbot with a brain.

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Rick Yvanovich - Future fit: Preparing for change

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 15:00:00 +0200

Rick Yvanovich holds numerous credentials and qualifications in business management, and he's also the founder of the professional services firm TRG International, as well as the author of Business as Unusual: How To Thrive In The New Renaissance.

In this episode, we break down the concept of being future fit and its vital importance for not falling behind in today's rapidly changing world. We discuss concepts like the philosophy of Kaizen and the growth mindset, and Rick concludes with tips from his latest book about using his castle metaphor to become the architect of your own life.

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Garik Tate - The State of AI and the World

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 11:00:00 +0200

Garik Tate is an AI Futurist, Serial Entrepreneur, AI Strategy Consultant, and founder of Valhalla.team.

In this episode, we discuss the state of artificial intelligence and the world. We take a closer look at the history of AI development, the AI wars and what they mean, and explore the biggest potential risks and benefits of further innovation in AI. Garik also shares his first-principles perspective on AI, based on Darwin and evolution.

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John Faber - Open Web & business composability

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 11:00:00 +0200

John Faber is a managing partner at the full service web agency Chapter Three which specializes in Drupal and in Next.js.

In this episode, we discuss the Open Web and what role composability can play in it. We talk about the importance of owning your own content and the advantages of open source over proprietary platforms in this context. We also discuss other key pillars of the Open Web, such as privacy and the changes going on there.

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Mike Lenox - Strategy in the Digital Age

Thu, 24 Aug 2023 11:00:00 +0200

Mike Lenox is an award-winning professor, consultant, author and speaker who teaches at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business.

In this episode, we discuss some of the key insights from Mike's latest book, Strategy in the Digital Age: Mastering Digital Transformation. We talk about why digital transformation is changing the nature of competition and why digital disruption is transformation's evil twin. We also emphasize the importance of addressing ethical and legal challenges for responsible digital transformation, and finish with a few key lessons for business leaders.

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Pari Natarajan - Digital Transformation 1.0 to 2.0: From digital plumbing to integrated experiences

Thu, 27 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0200

Pari Natarajan is the CEO of Zinnov, a global management and consulting firm with core expertise in globalization, product engineering and digital transformation.

In this episode, we talk about the evolution of digital transformation 1.0 to digital transformation 2.0, the current phase we're in now. We break down the concepts of digital plumbing and integrated experience, then discuss the role of sustainability in the future of digital transformation before concluding with some predictions for the future of automotive and entertainment.

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Chris Stegner - Product-led digital transformation

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 10:00:00 +0200

Chris Stegner is a visionary tech entrepreneur and the founder & CEO of the award-winning digital products agency Very Big Things.

In this episode, we talk about product-led digital transformation, covering the differences with product-led growth and the leadership mindset necessary for effective product-led digital transformation, as well as examples of successful product-led DT in practice from Very Big Things' work with their clients. We close with a look at procrastination and how it factors into the product-led digital transformation mindset.

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Juliana Marulanda - Tackling common project management challenges

Thu, 06 Jul 2023 11:00:00 +0200

Juliana Marulanda is the founder of the agency growth consultant ScaleTime with over 20 years of experience across Wall Street, the nonprofit sector, technology startups, and family-owned businesses.

In this episode, we discuss the most common challenges in project management and how to address them. We talk about the main changes from the pre-Covid era, the differences with in-house verses outsourced/distributed projects, diagnosing and preventing bottlenecks, the need for managers to adapt their management approaches, and the value of good project management tools.

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Barbara Turley - The importance of a healthy work-life balance in the digital age

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 10:00:00 +0200

Barbara Turley is the founder and CEO of The Virtual Hub, providers of virtual assistants that help businesses streamline their processes and optimize their growth.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of a healthy work-life balance in the era of digital transformation and remote work. Barbara draws from her own experience of founding and growing The Virtual Hub while raising her kids, and shares her unique approach to achieving and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

We also talk about the distinction of business versus focus, the power of laziness, and the benefits that virtual assistants can bring. We finish by discussing the four-day work week and how to approach it if we want to implement it right.

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Michael R. Wagner & Ian Evans - Powering Major League Baseball’s infrastructure with bare metal

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 08:00:00 +0200

Michael R. Wagner and Ian Evans are the co-founders of Metify, providers of the bare metal as a service platform Mojo which powers the digital infrastructure of Major League Baseball.

In this episode, Michael and Ian tell us more about Mojo and how it has benefited Major League Baseball. We first define the concept of bare metal, what kind of use cases it's best suited for, and why now is the right time to be talking about it.

The second half of the episode then focuses on Mojo and the MLB case study, in particular the key considerations when implementing the platform and what kind of specific benefits it has brought to MLB.

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Aron Clymer - How to do data right

Thu, 15 Jun 2023 08:00:00 +0200

Aron Clymer is the founder and CEO of the full-stack data analytics consulting firm Data Clymer which helps companies become data driven.

In this episode, we talk about how to do data right, with Aron sharing his unique approach to data analytics based on his background in science. We discuss how to empower your team to become data heroes, the importance of the cloud and of visualization, and we finish with a look at privacy and what the future holds in that area.

Links & mentions:

dataclymer.com

Peter Evans - Modern day solutions to modern day problems

Thu, 08 Jun 2023 08:00:00 +0200

Peter Evans is the CEO of Xtract One Technologies, a leading technology-driven threat detection and security solution which prioritizes the patron access experience through the use of AI.

In this episode, we explore how modern day problems require modern day solutions, focusing on the physical security context and how new technology innovations such as AI can help here. We also talk more generally about the relationships between problems and solutions in the digital world, and how to approach the development of new technologies to minimize the risks of them creating new problems down the line.

Links & mentions:

xtractone.com

Janne Kalliola - Green coding

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 09:00:00 +0200

Janne Kalliola is the founder and chief growth officer of the digital services agency Exove. He has recently published a book about sustainable coding, Green Code.

In this episode, we talk about the need for more sustainable coding practices, drawing on the main points from Janne's book. We discuss the impact of different data-intensive technologies, the differences between software versus hardware, the benefits of cloud computing, and the negative impact of advertising, before concluding with some key sustainable coding tips for businesses.

Links & mentions:

exove.com

Bar Geron - The missing puzzle piece in B2B digital transformation

Thu, 25 May 2023 09:00:00 +0200

Bar Geron is the CEO and co-founder of Balance, providers of a leading e-commerce B2B payment solution.

In this episode, we talk about why payments are the missing piece of the puzzle for B2B digital transformation. We focus majorly on how to translate the unique trustworthiness of the in-person B2B sales process to a digital experience, and we also discuss important lessons to take from B2C as well as what the future of B2B payments will look like.

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Jeffrey McGuire - The value of value-based strategizing

Thu, 18 May 2023 10:00:00 +0200

Jeffrey "jam" McGuire is the co-founder of the B2B content marketing agency Open Strategy Partners and an active member of Drupal and other open-source communities.

In this episode, we talk about the value of value-based decision making in a business strategy, focusing on the importance of trust and broadcasting trust signals. We cover this in the context of an open-source software project, a services-based agency model, and a product-based model.

In addition to trust, we also discuss other communication best practices such as empathy and clarity, which are both key in the context of the outward customer experience as well as the internal employee experience.

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Zeljko Plesac - Solving collaboration challenges in digital product development

Thu, 11 May 2023 08:00:00 +0200

Zeljko Plesac is the Infinum Alliance Director at the digital agency Infinum.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of good collaboration in modern digital product development and the key challenges to tackle here. We also cover how product management tools can help, with Zeljko telling us a little bit about Productive, the platform they use at Infinum, and how it compares to other similar technologies.

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Le'Rhone Walker - Digital transformation or digital adaptation?

Thu, 04 May 2023 10:00:00 +0200

Le'Rhone Walker is the Vice President of Technology of the Healthcare division at the digital transformation consultancy Bounteous.

In this episode, we explore the concept of "digital adaptation" and how it relates to the better known terms "digitalization" and "digital transformation". We talk about the importance of showing value quickly, of the mindset shift required to unlock the full potential of technology, and how an (open) digital experience platform can help. Le'Rhone also shares a number of client stories showcasing the value of this kind of approach.

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Peter Voss - Artificial General Intelligence

Thu, 27 Apr 2023 08:00:00 +0200

Peter Voss is the CEO and chief scientist of the advanced chatbot platform Aigo, as well as one of the people who came up with the term artificial general intelligence (AGI).

The focus of this episode is on artificial general intelligence. We discuss a recent research paper on sparks of artificial general intelligence in GPT-4 and the recent petition by experts to halt AI development for six months. We also explore what the future holds with regards to AI and its connection to humanity, asking the question: are we ready for AGI?

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Sam McAfee - Drive transformation by aligning your leadership

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 10:00:00 +0200

Sam McAfee is a Silicon Valley veteran, founder of the change management consultancy Startup Patterns and author of a book with the same name, Startup Patterns.

In this episode, we talk about the importance of aligning your company's leadership team in order to truly drive change and transformation. We focus on the key role of the CEO as coach and how CEOs can become empowered in that, and we also discuss the importance of mindfulness and of empathy, both for oneself and for others.

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Smarthveer Sidana - People and Culture: A People-led Digital Transformation to Scale Business

Thu, 30 Mar 2023 11:00:00 +0200

Smarthveer Sidana is the CEO of the HRTech SaaS platform HireQuotient, bringing his vast experience in both technology innovation and management.

In this episode, we talk about what a people-led digital transformation should be like. We discuss the impact of societal disruptions on company culture and people-led processes, as well as how companies can transform these disruptions into opportunities and adapt. Smarth also tells us more about his sales funnel-based approach to people management and shares some predictions for the future.

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Darshan Pindoria - Mental health in the age of digital transformation

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 10:00:00 +0100

Darshan Pindoria is the founder of the psychology services agency Deep Psyc, coming with a background in both IT and life coaching.

In this episode, we talk about mental health in the age of digital transformation. We discuss topics such as social media/device addiction, the effect of the overabundance of stimuli and convenience on the human psyche, burnout, and more. Darshan particularly highlights the decline in mental strength and the importance of finding and nurturing your own style in life to better tackle the challenges of the modern way of life.

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Louwki Coetsee - Balancing people, processes, and systems for successful digital transformation

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 10:00:00 +0100

Louwki Coetsee is the Group Vice President of Sales & Client Value at the IT innovation and digital transformation accelerator Netsurit.

In this episode, we talk about the importance of balancing people, processes, and systems for effective digital transformation. We discuss the impact of Covid and related disruptions, best practices for leveraging new technologies and driving innovation, and the key leadership traits for a successful, balanced transformation.

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Nitin Mittal - How to win big with artificial intelligence

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Nitin Mittal is the award-winning Head of the AI Business at the leading professional services company Deloitte.

Nitin has recently published All in on AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence on Harvard Business Review with co-author Tom Davenport, and he joins us in this episode to tell us more about the book and share some of the key insights and lessons learned.

We discuss the need to shift our perspective of artificial intelligence, the importance of an ethical, responsible approach to AI, and more, with Nitin also sharing examples of companies that are positioning themselves as AI pioneers and winning big with AI.

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Marcus Charalambous - The future belongs to digital-first companies

Thu, 02 Feb 2023 09:00:00 +0100

Marcus Charalambous is the president and CEO of Backbone, creators of the digital experience platform Expresia.

In this episode, we talk about the concept of a digital-first company and what makes such companies so well positioned for winning in the digital transformation age, as well as how they can continue to dominate in the future.

We break down the chief reasons why so many digital transformation initiatives fail to succeed and highlight to need to be future ready to allow yourself to be the future disruptor rather than the one getting disrupted.

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Dinesh Varadharajan - Citizen developers and no-code/low-code tools

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Dinesh Varadharajan is the Chief Product Officer at Kissflow, providers of a unified low-code and no-code work platform.

In this episode, we discuss the concept of citizen development and its role in the digital business landscape. We talk about the most common obstacles of citizen developers and how they can most efficiently collaborate with their companies' IT departments. We also discuss no-code/low-code platforms and how these can both empower citizen developers as well as help business through economic uncertainties.

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Tim Bottke - The financial returns of digital transformation

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Tim Bottke is senior Strategy Partner at Monitor Deloitte and Associate Professor for Strategy and Digital Transformation at SDA Bocconi business school.

In this episode, we talk about how businesses can get actual financial return on investment out of their digital transformation efforts. We support the discussion with insights from Tim's recently published book Digital Transformation Payday: Navigate the Hype, Lower the Risks, Increase Return on Investments, which hit the number two spot on the WSJ bestseller list mere days after its release.

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Kavita Ganesan - Ethical AI

Thu, 12 Jan 2023 08:00:00 +0100

Kavita Ganesan is the founder of Opinosis Analytics and the author of The Business Case for AI, with over 15 years of experience in the field of artificial intelligence.

This is the second conversation we've had on the podcast with Kavita; in the first one, we talked more generally about artificial intelligence and how can businesses can start leveraging it. This time, we focus on the question of ethics in AI, discussing topics such as bias propagation, plagiarism, responsible AI implementation & government regulation, and more.

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Naveen Poonian - Manufacturing and digital transformation predictions for 2023

Thu, 29 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0100

Naveen Poonian is the CEO of iBASEt, a global leader of manufacturing software solutions also recognized by Gartner in their magic quadrant for MES (manufacturing execution systems).

In this episode, Naveen shares what key business and digital transformation trends we're likely to see in manufacturing in 2023 based on their current market insights and client experiences.

We discuss inflation and how manufacturers are tackling it; the supply chain crisis and the key role of data; cloud adoption and new security considerations; and the importance of focusing on attracting and retaining younger generations of workers in the field of manufacturing.

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Sagi Rodin - How product-led growth is transforming B2B

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0100

Sagi Rodin is the co-founder and CEO of Frontegg, a user management platform for B2B software as a service apps that helps companies adopt a product-led growth approach.

In this episode, we talk about product-led growth and how it's affecting B2B business processes. We cover the importance of focusing on user experience, key changes in sales and marketing tactics, and the impact of product-led growth in practice, with Frontegg as a great example.

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Maya Huber - Digital transformation in HR

Thu, 15 Dec 2022 09:00:00 +0100

Maya Huber is the CEO of the recruitment platform TaTiO which helps companies streamline their hiring process.

In this episode, we discuss digital transformation in the field of HR. We discuss the most important technology innovations in HR, the main HR challenges, AI usage and adoption, and how everything relates to the future of work. Maya also tells us more about TaTiO and how it can help companies with competencies-based recruiting.

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Guillaume Portalier - Evolution of B2B customer experience

Thu, 08 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0100

Guillaume Portalier is the co-founder and COO of Waalaxy, an advanced lead generation platform for LinkedIn and email.

In this episode, we discuss how customer experience in B2B has evolved from the days of traditional physical marketing and commerce to what it looks like now in the digital transformation era. We take a look at the importance of personalization and how to make sure you remain customer-centric in an omnichannel reality. In this context, we also talk a lot about the need for streamlined chat support.

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Wyndham Plumptre - Identifying macro risks and their impacts in supply chains

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 09:00:00 +0100

Wyndham Plumptre is the founder and CEO of the digital transformation consultancy Future Arc who have partnered with some of the world's leading organizations and businesses.

In this episode, we discuss how macro events affect supply chains globally. We begin by explaining the different tiers of supply chains and the difference between micro and macro risks. After that, we highlight some of the biggest current macro risks, i.e. the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine, before moving on to the impact of digitalization and concluding with a look into the future.

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Brant Cooper - Rethinking horizon planning for effective digital transformation

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0100

Brant Cooper is the founder and CEO of Moves the Needle, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Entrepreneur, as well as the author of the more recently released Disruption Proof.

This is the first episode featuring a returning guest; we spoke with Brant back in the spring of 2021, already teasing Disruption Proof. This time we have a discussion focused on horizon planning, how it has changed and how to redefine it to be as suitable as possible for the digital transformation era.

We tie the two conversations together by revisiting the balance between exploitation and operation, and how horizon planning factors into this – which is also a key message in Disruption Proof.

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Erez Berkner - Cloud computing

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0100

Erez Berkner is the co-founder and CEO of Lumigo, a monitoring and debugging platform for modern cloud applications.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into cloud computing. With over 16 years of experience working in the cloud, Erez tell us about the history and development of cloud computing, with modern cloud computing focused majorly around serverless and Kubernetes.

We also discuss the key considerations, challenges and most common misconceptions about the cloud, as well as how it impacts the developer experience.

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Fred Fowler - The importance of solving the right problems for digital success

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 09:00:00 +0100

Fred Fowler is an agile coach and a scrum expert holding the prestigious Professional Scrum Master Level III certification. He has worked with companies such as Apple, Oracle and Uber, and is the author of Advanced Scrum Case Studies and other books.

In this episode, we talk about the importance of solving the right problems for succeeding in the highly competitive digital landscape. We explore how to uncover the right problems to solve and how swift market changes can lead to unintentionally working on the wrong solutions. Throughout the episode, Fred highlights the value of Scrum methodologies in finding and staying up-to-date on the real customer needs to provide fitting solutions.

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Preethi Madhu - Making your digital vision a reality

Thu, 20 Oct 2022 09:00:00 +0200

Preethi Madhu is the CEO of the digital transformation consultancy Greyamp Consulting, with 20+ years of experience in helping leadership and CxO roles achieve their digital vision.

In this episode, we talk about how companies should go about making their digital vision a reality and what the most important factors impacting these efforts are. We discuss digital readiness, the digital workforce, the importance of strategizing, the role of leadership, and agility. Preethi brings the discussion home with a couple of client examples that highlight and substantiate these key factors.

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Beck Besecker - 3D & the future of retail

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 08:00:00 +0200

Beck Besecker is the co-founder and CEO of Marxent, the 3D enterprise platform for retailers and manufacturers.

In this episode, we talk about 3D product design and how it factors into the future of retail. As Marxent are mainly focused on 3D solutions for the home and for the office, the discussion largely takes place in this context; we discuss the evolution of 3D design, with home being one of the slowest adopters of modern digital technologies, as well as the considerations and challenges of adopting 3D.

Links & mentions:

3dcloud.com

Darshan Mehta - Succeeding with digital marketing in a constantly changing world

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0200

Darshan Mehta is the founder of the insights platform iResearch, and of ConnectQik, a mobile app which facilitates quick and meaningful connections.

In this episode, we discuss how the field of digital marketing needs to adapt in order to stay on top of all the uncertainty and disruption of the 21st century. For the most part, we maintain a big-picture perspective, then go into more detail on customer centricity as a basis for effective innovation, and on the top considerations for MarTech adoption.

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Corey Vilhauer & Deane Barker - The Web Project Guide

Thu, 29 Sep 2022 13:00:00 +0200

Corey Vilhauer is the Director of Strategy at Blend Interactive, and Deane Barker is the Senior Director of Content Management Strategy at Optimizely. They are authors of The Web Project Guide and hosts of a podcast that dives deeper into specific aspects of the web project process.

In this episode, we discuss the multifaceted nature of a web project. Corey and Deane first tell us the origins of their book and their podcast, after which we tackle some of the key factors impacting the web project process, from the overall complexity of the web, the importance of content strategy and client relationships, to agility and the placement of the web project into a broader digital context.

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Mirko Swillus - Organizational models

Thu, 15 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0200

Mirko Swillus is the Vice President of Engineering at Staffbase, a leading platform for internal business communication.

In this episode, we talk about organizational models and the importance of having a model that's closely aligned with the DNA of your organization to see sustainable success.

We discuss the key role of leadership and the importance of involving the right people in the right processes to best distribute talent and avoid bottlenecks. Mirko also tells us more about Staffbase as an inherently agile company and how they are approaching all this.

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Izhak Paz - Digital transformation in construction

Thu, 08 Sep 2022 09:00:00 +0200

Izhak Paz is the founder and CEO of SafeGuard, a ConTech and safety company utilizing machine learning to prevent construction accidents.

In this episode, we talk about digital transformation in the field of construction. We first define the term "ConTech" and give some examples, then continue with a look into the evolution of the field and the challenges to transformation at scale. We spend some time discussing the role of artificial intelligence in preventing construction accidents and improving worker safety, before concluding with some future predictions for digitalization in construction.

Links & mentions:

safeguard.co.il

Chris Byers - Empower Digital Maturity Through No-Code

Thu, 01 Sep 2022 11:00:00 +0200

Chris Byers is the CEO of the no-code workplace productivity platform Formstack which has recently released a report on the state of digital maturity in 2022.

In this episode, we begin by discussing the most important insights from this report, leading into the breakdown of the four pillars of digital maturity and how Formstack are approaching it. In the second part of the episode, we focus on no-code tools: how they can help companies reach the four pillars, what the challenges to their implementation might be, and how we can expect them to continue evolving.

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Erez Naaman - Digital transformation in diagnostics

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 08:00:00 +0200

Erez Naaman is the CTO and co-founder of Scopio Labs, a company specializing in hematology that's revolutionizing diagnostics through artificial intelligence and full-field morphology.

In this episode, we discuss the topic of digital transformation in diagnostics, with a special focus on the impact and the future potential of artificial intelligence. We talk more generally about laboratory medicine and the role of diagnostics there before diving deeper into the obvious impacts of COVID and the accelerated digitalization (not to be confused with digitization, which Erez also points out and explains).

Links & mentions:

scopiolabs.com

Kavita Ganesan - Strategies to Introduce Artificial Intelligence to Your Business

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 08:00:00 +0200

Kavita Ganesan is the founder of Opinosis Analytics and the author of The Business Case for AI, with over 15 years of experience in the field of artificial intelligence.

In this episode, we talk about strategies and challenges of implementing artificial intelligence. We go through the history of AI evolution and adoption, discuss the best practices and the role of data, and take a deeper dive into the necessity of further work on trust-based, ethical AI.

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Andrew Walker - Digital transformation in manufacturing and distribution

Thu, 14 Jul 2022 08:00:00 +0200

Andrew Walker is the CEO of Shift7, a leading B2B digital agency for manufacturers and distributors.

In this episode, we explore how manufacturing and distribution are embracing digital transformation. We discuss the most important trends, the differences between B2C and B2B, and the need to focus on the customer experience. Andrew closes with an example of how a toy manufacturing client of theirs was able to embrace digital transformation as part of their corporate transformation.

Links & mentions:

shift7digital.com

Vladimer Botsvadze - The Importance of Social Media for Growing Your Business in the Digital Era

Thu, 30 Jun 2022 10:00:00 +0200

Vladimer Botsvadze is a leading business & technology consultant as well as the No. 1 digital marketing thought leader who has been endorsed and featured by Forbes, Bloomberg, etc.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of leveraging social media for growing a business in the era of accelerated digital transformation and hyper innovation. We cover the strategies and skills for succeeding with social media, the considerations for multichannel marketing, and some of the main challenges and negative aspects of social media usage.

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Vitaliy Katsenelson - Key leadership lessons & traits for the digital era

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 09:00:00 +0200

Vitaliy Katsenelson is the CEO of the investment management services company IMA and published author of several books, most notably the just released Soul In the Game: The Art of a Meaningful Life.

This is a somewhat special episode in that the insights and lessons it conveys can be invaluable for anybody who wants to improve their life, not exclusively in a leadership and/or technology context.

We discuss how digitalization has been changing society, the value of Stoicism and the importance of aligning what you say with what you do, and Vitaliy spices up the discussion with a lot of fascinating stories and concrete examples from Soul In the Game.

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Maziar Adl - Product management, digitalization & the supply chain crisis

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 08:00:00 +0200

Maziar Adl is the co-founder and CTO of Gocious, an intelligent product management software platform for discrete manufacturers.

In this episode, we discuss how manufacturing product management is impacted by the ongoing supply chain crisis and the accelerated move to digital, and how product managers are adapting to these disruptions.

We discuss the role of agility in this context and explore the differences between project and product managers. In closing, Maziar highlights how manufacturing is embracing software and how this requires hardware and software teams to start working together more closely.

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Steve Hartert - Winning with customer experience

Thu, 26 May 2022 08:00:00 +0200

Steve Hartert has over 30 years of marketing management experience and he is currently the Vice President of Enterprise Operations at the online form builder Jotform.

In this episode, we talk about customer experience and the changes it has undergone since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. We discuss the key roles of data and the company culture in providing a good experience to customers, and Steve shares some of the best examples of customer experience wins that he's seen throughout his career.

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Hemant Elhence - Bringing microservices to front-end development

Thu, 19 May 2022 08:00:00 +0200

Hemant Elhence is the president of Excellarate, a global technology services company with more than 20 years of experience across major industries.

In this episode, we discuss the microservices approach to software development and how companies should go about implementing them to streamline the experiences on the front end. We start with a brief history of microservices-based development before going into the nitty-gritty of its benefits and challenges, and concluding with a look into what future trends we can expect in this field.

Links & mentions:

linkedin.com/in/hemantelhence

Elad Simon - Is product management a key to agile digital transformation?

Thu, 12 May 2022 07:00:00 +0200

Elad Simon is a former Google executive and the CEO of Craft.io, a product management platform tailored specifically to product managers and product development teams.

In this episode, we discuss product management as an integral component of agile digital transformation, which is the result of the increasing demand for top quality software across all industries. We explain the differences between agile and waterfall software development before going more in depth into product management best practices, support by Elad's first-hand tips and with a special focus on the minimum viable product (MVP).

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Cameron Van Orman - Toward the future of enterprise agility

Thu, 05 May 2022 08:00:00 +0200

Cameron Van Orman is the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Planview, a global leader in strategic portfolio management and enterprise agile planning.

Agile has undergone quite a transformation in recent years, going from a purely IT function to now being implemented to some extend in a majority of industries and companies.

In this episode, we discuss how enterprise agility, as well as the ways in which businesses implement it, has been changing over the past few years and what the currently dominant trends are. We bust the myth of agile not relying on any planning, and we take a closer look at value stream management as well as objectives and key results.

Links & mentions:

planview.com

Liam Martin - Collaboration in the era of digitalization & remote work

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 08:00:00 +0200

Liam Martin is the co-founder and chief marketing officer of the SaaS platform Time Doctor, and the author of the book Running Remote published by HarperCollins.

In this episode, we discuss collaboration in the current remote-first, highly digitalized business landscape, with a special focus on automation and asynchronous communication as two trends to keep top of mind. We also take a look at the impact these changes are having on workers' work-life balance and make some predictions for future developments in this area.

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Ivan Stegic - Leading with empathy

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 08:00:00 +0200

Ivan Stegic is the founder and CEO of TEN7, a Minneapolis-based technology studio specializing in Drupal, with a mission to Make Things That Matter.

In this episode, we talk about one of the most essential people skills and/or leadership traits of the current era – empathy. We start off by defining what it means to lead with empathy and how to display empathy towards external stakeholders – user, customers, clients, etc.

In the second part, we focus on empathy for internal stakeholders, so, the employees that actually interact with and create experiences for the first group. Ivan closes with some of his first-hand tips from the 15 years of leading TEN7.

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Rudi Asseer - How digital transformation can enhance company culture

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0100

Rudi Asseer is the CEO at IMI People, the largest mechanical installation company in North America managing over 1000 expert technicians in a human-first environment.

In this episode, we talk about how digital transformation can help enhance the culture of a company. We discuss the importance of people skills and the most essential leadership traits for realizing this, with empathy being number one. Rudi also tells us more about their SaaS platform Rhonda which is able to power an ecosystem of optimized employee engagement.

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Andre Achtstaetter - Cryptocurrency & NFTs

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 08:00:00 +0100

Andre Achtstaetter is co-COO at adorsys, an integration and technology partner that supports banks, financial service providers and FinTechs in creating new digital services in the open finance sector.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into two related digital trends which have been gaining a lot of traction recently – cryptocurrency and NFTs. We talk more generally about blockchain and decentralized technologies, before going more in depth about the use cases and the future potential of these two technologies.

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Anne Stefanyk - Digital transformation for nonprofits

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0100

Anne Stefanyk is the founder and CEO of the San Francisco based digital agency Kanopi Studios that helps mission-driven clients on their digital transformation journey.

In this episode, we discuss digital transformation for nonprofit organizations. We talk about the main pitfalls and benefits of digital transformation for nonprofits, and discuss the key steps they need to take to properly transform. Anne also gives a more practical example of Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and why Drupal was such a great fit for their digital strategy.

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Sally Shaughnessy - Integrating agency and client teams

Thu, 20 Jan 2022 08:00:00 +0100

Sally Shaughnessy is the Vice President of Client Services at the Denver-based digital consultancy Aten Design Group.

Aten has over 20 years of experience working with notable clients from a variety of sectors, and in this episode, Sally shares some of the key lessons and resulting best practices for managing joint projects.

We take a look at how to find the right clients and/or agency partners, how to form stronger long-lasting partnerships, how to manage the stakeholders of joint projects, and other elements of a successful client-agency partnership.

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Lee Frederiksen - Digital maturity

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 09:00:00 +0100

Lee Frederiksen is an award-winning business strategy expert and a pioneer of research-driven marketing, currently acting as the Managing Partner of the US marketing firm Hinge.

In this episode, we discuss the concept of digital maturity, breaking down what it means to be digitally mature and how that differs across businesses and industries. We explore the close connection between digital maturity and digital transformation, as well as the differences between B2C and B2B approaches. Like in many of our episodes, we also take a look at the key role of the people in reaching digital maturity and what trends are dominating here.

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Younes Hairej - Culture considerations for effective digital transformation

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 10:00:00 +0100

Younes Hairej is founder and CEO of the Japanese company Aokumo Inc. which helps organizations drive innovation and transformation through modern technologies and approaches.

In this episode, we talk about the important role of culture for effective collaboration and transformation. We focus especially on the impact of the Covid crisis and the importance of finding common ground with vendors / service providers. Having led several IT teams for different Japanese companies, Younes is deeply familiar with the concepts that make Japanese culture so unique and that they follow at Aokumo.

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Jaime Ramírez - Financial crime risk management

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0100

Jaime Ramírez is the founder and CEO of Preventor, a US-based company focusing on ID verification and financial crime risk management.

In this episode, we discuss financial crime risk management. Jaime talks about when and how he got into this field, and how it has evolved over the years. We place a particular focus on the most recent developments throughout the crisis and take a look at what this increase in digitalization will mean for the future of how financial institutions operate and manage risk.

Links & mentions:

preventor.com

Heather Smith - Intersection of humanity & human emotion with technology

Thu, 18 Nov 2021 09:00:00 +0100

Heather Smith is the co-founder and CEO of StoryFile, a technology company which enables future generations to connect and interact with their loved ones through their story-telling app.

In this episode, she shares more about the mission and foundation of StoryFile. We discuss the biggest challenges and wins of the StoryFile journey, then talk more generally about the importance of genuine human connections and what role technology can play in facilitating them. This is something that's become all the more relevant during the crisis, as people have at the same time gotten used to relying on technology, while having a greater appreciation for genuine interactions.

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Brad Tornberg - Business fitness

Thu, 04 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0100

Brad Tornberg is the founder of E3 Consulting Partners and published author of Business Fitness Revolution, as well as a Microsoft Certified professional with over 35 years of experience in management and software consulting.

With the major upheavals to work and society, also entailing the great resignation of employees mass quitting their jobs, businesses need to change as well if they want to keep up with this new more flexible, hybrid and employee-centric reality.

In this episode, we discuss how focusing on business fitness can help leaders rethink and revamp their company culture. We touch upon the role of digital technology, discuss tips for preventing burnout and finish with a note on the transition to hybrid work and what the key elements of success are here.

Links & mentions:

btornberg@e3businessconsultants.com

Raj Sundarason - The Great Resignation: What are the best ways forward?

Thu, 28 Oct 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Raj Sundarason is regional vice president and chief evangelist at WalkMe, leading international Digital Adoption Platform provider. He has over 20 years of experience in driving digital initiatives for a number of notable brands, which he shares in his just released book The DAP Strategy.

A huge societal and business trend that we're seeing this year is the great resignation, realized as huge numbers of people leaving their current jobs in hope of better opportunities.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the causes and solutions to the great resignation. We discuss the dramatic changes to the nature of work as a key factor, as well as the role of the company culture and re-skilling in employee satisfaction. Finally, we focus on the importance of not only using the right tools, but being keenly familiar with using them in a right way; and this is where digital adoption platforms come into play.

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Thomas Young - Conflict between technology, marketing and sales

Thu, 21 Oct 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Thomas Young is the owner and CEO of Intuitive Websites, as well as a Vistage speaker and published author of several books.

With 25 years of experience in driving business initiatives, often centered around marketing and sales, Thomas truly has his finger on the pulse when it comes to conflict and alignment between sales and marketing.

In this episode, we explore this conflict more in depth, with an additional dimension of technology and digitalization. We discuss the impact of digital technology and Covid on sales and marketing strategies, how brands are adapting their digital strategies to keep up, and what to do about leadership approaches that negatively impact alignment.

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Daniel Rayner - Process Pioneers & Business Process Management (BPM)

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 10:00:00 +0200

Daniel Rayner is the managing director of GBTEC APAC and host of Process Pioneers, a podcast focused on business process management (BPM).

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the topic of business process management and its connection to agility and digital transformation. We also explore the impact of Covid on the adoption and perspective of BPM. We close with Daniel's top five takeaways from the Process Pioneers podcast and tips for business owners on successfully implementing BPM.

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Jeff Kupietzky - Driving customer acquisition and engagement

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Jeff Kupietzky is the CEO of Jeeng, a privacy-first customer engagement and monetization partner for any kind of content creator.

In this episode, we discuss the importance and tactics of driving online customer acquisition and engagement, which has only grown in importance since the start of the Covid pandemic. We talk about the need to focus on both acquisition and engagement, the impact of Covid, the value AI strategies can add here and why brands should strive to own their own audience. We also emphasize the importance of privacy compliance in all of these efforts.

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Rahul Bansode - Digital transformation challenges and opportunities

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 12:00:00 +0200

Rahul Bansode is a digital transformation specialist currently working for Kyocera Document Solutions America as Program Manager for Business Transformation.

In this episode, we talk about different attitudes and approaches to digital transformation and break down the reasons for either their failure or success. We focus on the key role of the CEO in driving digital transformation initiatives, reinforcing this with the example of Satya Nadella's transformation of Microsoft. We also discuss Rahul's recently released book Digital Roadmap which further develops on these topics.

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Linda Kahangi - The New CIO Playbook

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Linda Kahangi is the Chief Information and Operations Officer at Nomadix, a US provider of networking technology solutions for hotels and MDUs.

IT departments have been heavily affected by the Covid pandemic, especially at those organizations which previously hadn't made a strong effort to digitize. In this episode, we discuss how CIOs can navigate this new digital reality, help their teams succeed in it and protect their companies from future disruptions.

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Bonnie Crater - The CMO Guide to C-Suite alignment

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 09:00:00 +0200

Bonnie Crater is the president and CEO of the California-based marketing performance management company Full Circle Insights.

The roles and responsibilities of C-suite executives have transformed significantly in the past year, and alignment has never been more crucial to the functioning of a company. In this episode, we discuss what this change means for the Chief Marketing Officer and how they should drive agility and alignment in their organization. We focus particularly on data and on the alignment between sales and marketing as two key factors in this.

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Michael Paige - Paving ways to digital transformation

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Michael Paige is the Chief Technology Officer of the award-winning digital experience agency R2integrated.

As an Adobe Summit and Adobe Virtual Summit speaker with over 25 years of experience in the digital space, Michael has a keen understanding of what works and doesn't work in the digital realm. In this episode, we discuss key strategies and approaches for succeeding with digital transformation, focusing on organizational extensibility, dos and dont's of personalization, and the importance of the human aspect in the digital.

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Sophia Matveeva - Succeeding with digital transformation for non-technical professionals

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Sophia Matveeva is the founder of Tech For Non-Techies, an online learning community and media company helping non-technical professionals succeed with digital.

Coming into tech with extensive business expertise, she has contributed to leading brands such as The Guardian and Financial Times, and has lectured at renowned institutions such as London Business School.

In this episode, we discuss how important it is for non-technical professionals to learn to speak tech if they want to efficiently collaborate with digital experts and drive digital transformation.

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Alex Trup - The importance of customer-first digital marketing

Thu, 26 Aug 2021 09:00:00 +0200

Alex Trup is the co-founder of Rolo Secure Chat, a new messaging app focused on privacy and security, with the chats being End-to-End Encrypted (E2EE) by BlackBerry.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of customer-first digital marketing and its different elements and approaches. We talk about dark UX patterns, targeted advertising and its evolution, globalization and multinational marketing, and the growing role of data. Alex also presents how Rolo is changing the game, as well as some more privacy-focused analytics platforms.

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Liliana Ashton - Lessons learned from driving digital transformation for renowned global brands

Thu, 05 Aug 2021 07:00:00 +0200

Liliana Ashton is a change and transformation management consultant and the founder of BreatheNow Hub, whose mission is to help companies boost employee wellbeing through breathwork.

Having run highly successful digital transformation projects for well-known brands such as Shell and Michelin, Liliana has extensive expertise from a whole range of industries and is now applying the key lessons learned throughout her career to focus on the employee and workplace wellbeing. She has also just started the Wow @ Work podcast which deals with the recent transformations to the nature of work.

In this episode, we talk about the main digital transformation challenges of large companies and how to tackle them, as well as what led Liliana to focus more on the people aspect of digital transformation by founding BreatheNow Hub.

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Howard Tiersky - Overcoming resistance to change for successful digital transformation

Thu, 22 Jul 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Howard Tiersky is the founder and CEO of the digital transformation agency FROM, leading digital transformation influencer and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

Being receptive to change is an essential trait of the highly digitalized 21st century marked by huge societal shifts and a rapid pace of technological innovation. Yet as human beings, we have a natural tendency to resist change and stick to tried and tested methods we're more comfortable with.

In this episode, we talk about how overcoming this resistance to change is key to succeeding with digital transformation, and what executives and companies need to do to start embracing change instead.

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Aleks Tomczyk - Revolutionizing the probate process with the Exizent platform

Thu, 15 Jul 2021 11:00:00 +0200

Aleks Tomczyk is the founder and Chief Operations Officer at Exizent, a UK-based fintech / legal tech company focused on digitally transforming the probate process.

In this episode, Aleks tells us more about Exizent, how it was founded and the recent partnerships they've formed with Arken.legal and Experian. We discuss how the integrated Exizent platform will benefit users and help eliminate the common challenges of estate management. Considering the unique period in time in which all this is taking place, we also talk about Covid's current and future impact on Exizent and the field in general.

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Prateek Dayal - Why digital transformation can’t succeed without data privacy considerations

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Prateek Dayal is the Chief Strategy and Product Design Officer at Aqilliz, a privacy-focused marketing company specializing in blockchain solutions.

The recent updates to privacy regulations, coupled with the drastic increase in digital usage and data due to Covid, have been making people more and more aware of how their data is being used. Brands are keeping up, emphasizing their commitments to safeguarding privacy, and privacy has thus become a core tenet for digital-first brands. In this episode, we talk more in-depth about why privacy is so crucial to success with digital transformation and what companies can do as new privacy restrictions get implemented.

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Evgeny Shadchnev - Executive coaching in a digital-first world

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 09:00:00 +0200

Evgeny Shadchnev is an executive coach and founder of Makers, Europe's first developer bootcamp. He makes use of the lessons learned from Makers to help leaders thrive in the digital age.

In this episode, we talk about how coaching has evolved in the age of digital transformation, particularly focusing on the impact of Covid and the rise of remote work. We adopt both perspectives, discussing both new methods and challenges for coaches, as well as new leadership trends and new key skills needed for CxOs to succeed.

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Paul Oppong - How Project Management can adapt in the transformation age

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Paul Oppong is a project management and business transformation consultant who currently works for Sensei Project Solutions as project and portfolio management consultant.

In this episode, we discuss the significant changes of the transformation age and the need for businesses to adapt to these changes. We focus on the field of project management and how it has been particularly effective due to the challenges of remote work. Paul also shares some examples from his work with clients before finishing with some future predictions and tips for project managers to thrive in the digital-first world.

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Scott Bales - The Future is Now: Professional services need to embrace digital agility

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 12:00:00 +0200

Scott Bales is Vice President of Enterprise Solution Engineering and Delivery at the time intelligence company Replicon.

Overseeing the service delivery group at Replicon, Scott has unique experience from both ends of the spectrum and thus really has his finger on the pulse of the key challenges of service providers and the benefits agility can offer them. In this episode, he talks more in-depth about why companies and organizations providing professional services need to embrace agility in order to better position themselves in a digital-first world, and how they can enable that with the right use of technology.

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Steve Pereira - Flow Engineering

Thu, 03 Jun 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Steve Pereira is the founder of the value stream consulting company Visible which helps boost productivity and efficiency of its clients' teams through a framework called flow engineering.

In this episode, we diver deeper into the concept of flow engineering, exploring how it compares to similar approaches such as Agile and DevOps, and taking a closer look at value stream mapping which is a key component of flow engineering. Steve explains how he arrived at this specific approach and why it is so well positioned in the fast-changing digital environment in which we're living today.

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Tom Goodwin - Digital transformation in the debt collection industry

Thu, 27 May 2021 08:00:00 +0200

Tom Goodwin is Head of Growth at the UK fintech startup Just, the enforcement market integrator who is driving innovation in the debt collection sector.

Debt collection is one of the industries which suffered a huge blow with the restrictions necessitated by Covid. Early on into the pandemic, however, Just got the idea of enabling part of the debt collection process to be done through a video call, and in January 2021, they won their court case which now allows this to happen.

In this episode, we talk more in-depth about the court ruling, the impact it is having and will have on the industry, and the general state of digital transformation in debt collection.

Links & mentions:

Brant Cooper - The most common misconception about digital transformation

Thu, 20 May 2021 09:00:00 +0200

Brant Cooper is a renowned entrepreneur and keynote speaker, New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Entrepreneur and the CEO and founder of Moves the Needle.

Dedicated to helping startups and entrepreneurs succeed with digital for over two decades, Brant truly has his finger on the pulse of the most common digital transformation trends and pains, as well as a less obvious but nonetheless important misconception about digital transformation: that digitization is all there is to it.

In this episode, we attempt to bust this myth by showing how true digital transformation requires a change in mindset rather than just the adoption of new tools in order to truly transition into the age of the digital. We discuss the importance of a good balance between people and technology, adopting more people-focused approaches, and embracing uncertainty in business planning and decision making.

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Steve Clark - Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) in a post-Covid world

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 10:00:00 +0200

Steve Clark is the Head of Digital Growth at Tangent, a Digital Product & Design Agency from London, UK which helps renowned British and international brands realize their digital transformation needs.

This episode focuses on Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) and how the field is being impacted by the rise of digitalization and e-commerce usage due to Covid. We discuss how customer experience must adapt in order to accommodate huge amounts of new users and new buying trends of customers, as well as how and why direct-to-consumer brands can differentiate themselves and take advantage of these newly emerging trends.

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Nick Christensen - Tackling the pandemic with a dedicated Amazon team

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 10:00:00 +0200

Nick Christensen is the Head of SEO and Analytics at the UK brand performance agency Threepipe Reply and the Managing Partner of their specialist Amazon team Emergent.

In this episode, we talk about how and why Threepipe formed Emergent and discuss the specifics of selling on Amazon. We take a look at the differences between Amazon versus other similar platform, the habits and needs of Amazon shoppers, and how the rise of data is necessitating more and more powerful marketing software. Nick also includes some key pieces of advice for brands that are getting started with or trying to grow their reach on Amazon.

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Florian Schwendner - Why open source is the best option for your digital footprint

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 09:00:00 +0200

Florian Schwendner is the Director of Partner Management for Central Europe at the digital experience company Acquia which is based on the open-source Drupal CMS.

In this episode, we talk about why businesses should opt for open-source technologies for their digital presence. We discuss Drupal as the top choice among enterprise open-source CMS, with companies such as Pfizer being strong supporters of the project, and why the market is moving more towards open solutions lately. We also break down the differences between a content management system and a digital experience platform, and take a look at what Acquia brings to the table as an open DXP.

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Edmund Frey - The explosion of e-commerce due to the Covid pandemic

Thu, 01 Apr 2021 09:00:00 +0200

Edmund Frey is the Chief Revenue Officer of Spryker Systems GmbH, a Germany-based commerce technology company that produces the Spryker Cloud Commerce OS.

One of the most significant changes we're seeing lately in the digital industry is the explosion of e-commerce that began in 2020 with the Covid-mandated lockdowns. In this episode, we talk more about this, from the history of the evolution of e-commerce to the changes in commerce and customer experience in a post-Covid future. Edmund also shares some examples of how Spryker has empowered clients during this period and talks about how their business model is uniquely positioned to respond well to this rise in e-commerce.

Links & mentions:

Mike Taylor - Blockchain technology and digital transformation

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 09:00:00 +0100

Mike Taylor is a project manager at Verum Capital, leading blockchain advisory firm based in Zurich, Switzerland which has been bringing the blockchain closer to global corporates, international institutions, governments and start-ups.

In this episode, we discuss blockchain technology and how it has evolved and found new uses that address important real-world issues. Mike describes a few of Verum Capital's projects that he feels are especially impactful, such as their work for Georgia's Ministry of Justice. We close with a look at how the Covid pandemic is affecting blockchain adoption and what new use cases there can be in light of all the disruption of 2020.

Links & mentions:

Andrew Beaney - How Agile can enhance collaboration in a post-pandemic world

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 09:00:00 +0100

Andrew Beaney is managing consultant at Box UK, an award winning enterprise software development company based in Wales, UK.

In this episode, Andrew describes a project for a leading UK university which Box UK started working on just before the Covid pandemic hit and in which agile methodologies turned out to be extremely beneficial to the client's team. Kanban was chosen as the most suitable methodology for the project, with regular retrospectives and asynchronous communication being key factors of success, in particular the latter due to the pandemic and most people working from home.

Links & mentions:

Monte Zweben - Machine learning and its value in business and society

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 10:00:00 +0100

Monte Zweben is the CEO of Splice Machine, a data and machine learning company from California, and the host of their ML Minutes podcast.

In this episode, we talk about the benefits of machine learning, with Monte giving some great practical examples of ML solving real-world problems across different industries. We also talk about the culture of innovation and experimentation in this field, focusing a little bit more on one of the latest and biggest recent trends in machine learning. We finish by addressing the changes in the digital industry due to the Covid pandemic and what potential impact they could have on machine learning.

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Robert Craven - Growing your digital agency in times of disruption

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 09:00:00 +0100

Robert Craven is one of the UK's top experts and speakers on growing digital agencies and the founder of the Grow Your Digital Agency Initiative.

Due to the nature of his work, Robert has seen first-hand how digital agencies have been affected by the Covid pandemic and he provides his deep and varied expertise in this episode. We cover the impact of the first wave of the pandemic and the key lessons learned there. We also take a look at how the accelerated digitalization which we've witnessed since early 2020 is opening up new opportunities for agencies, and if and when niching is still a viable strategy. We close with some practical tips for agencies to adapt to and succeed in the new digitalized business landscape.

Links & mentions:

Philipp Melab - Enterprise-level decoupled CMS with Gatsby

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 08:00:00 +0100

Philipp Melab is the lead software engineer at the Switzerland-based digital agency Amazee Labs that specializes in creating high-end digital experiences utilizing Drupal, React and GatsbyJS.

Recently, Amazee Labs have put Gatsby to great use on several of their projects for enterprise clients, either integrated with a data source such as Google Sheets or as part of a decoupled CMS solution. In this episode, we discuss how enterprise CMS differs from standard CMS and what "decoupled" CMS means. In the second part of the episode, we focus more on the GatsbyJS framework; Philipp explains how they found it and decided to start using it, then he describes a few of their recent interesting projects with Gatsby.

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Cyril Coste - Growth mindset and de-siloing for effective digital transformation

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 11:00:00 +0100

Cyril Coste is one of the top B2B influencers and experts in digital transformation. Based in the UK, he has served as consultant and advisor in many important digital transformation initiatives, in addition to founding and running several initiatives of his own.

In the first part of this episode, we discuss the importance of having a growth mindset in business and what it means for a company to be growth-oriented. The second part focuses on how overcoming common organizational biases is key to successful de-siloing. We tie things together by taking a look at how having a growth mindset can help with de-siloing and how the Covid pandemic and the rise of remote work have affected these two topics.

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Taco Potze - Open Social, the open-source online community platform

Thu, 28 Jan 2021 09:00:00 +0100

Taco Potze is the founder and CEO of Open Social, an open-source SaaS platform for building and managing online communities.

In this episode, released just over a week after the launch of Open Social's new website, we talk about the platform's recent developments and their plans for the future. We discuss the choice of open source technologies for the platform, the redesign and the seed investment they received back in the summer which is enabling the new developments. Finally, we focus on the upcoming version of their platform, which will feature a decoupled architecture and makes use of powerful Facebook-backed technologies such as React.

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Sylvain Moreau - Digital transformation in cultural institutions

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 08:00:00 +0100

Sylvain Moreau is the Chief Sales Officer of Drupal projects at the French digital agency Axess, and he specializes in large Drupal websites for institutions.

In this episode, we discuss how cultural institutions approach digital transformation. We start off with some of the key considerations of main benefits of digital transformation for these institutions, then Sylvain talks more in-depth about the numerous French cultural institutions they've worked with and the main trends they've seen, such as the digitalization of artworks. In the final part of the episode, we focus on their collaboration with Paris Musées, for whom they've recently completed one part of a major project.

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Josh Forte - Personalization and its value in customer experience

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 08:00:00 +0100

Josh Forte is an e-commerce and digital marketing professional and Online Channel Manager at Comporium, a communications and home security company from South Carolina, US.

In this episode, we talk about personalization and how it factors into customer experience and digital experience in general. Josh and Tim discuss examples of personalization done right, compare different software for personalizing online experiences and go over the challenges posed to personalization by recent updates to online privacy. Finally, we discuss how the mass digitalization coupled with the explosion of e-commerce due to the pandemic has impacted the state of personalization.

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Tom Norman - Community and community management

Thu, 17 Dec 2020 09:00:00 +0100

Tom Norman is a community management professional who has been helping people and businesses build online communities for the past five years and now runs the Kickstart Your Community project.

In this episode, we dive into the importance of community in the digital sphere. We discuss the emergence of community as a key player of the industry in the past decade and cover some of the key considerations and benefits of a strong online community. Tom shares some key lessons learned from a particularly challenging recent project and provides some essential words of advice for successful community management.

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Baddý Sonja Breidert - Content strategy

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 08:00:00 +0100

Baddý Sonja Breidert is the CEO and co-founder of the European digital agency 1xINTERNET as well as a board member of the Drupal Association.

In this episode, we talk about content strategy and its role in digital strategy. We start with why a content strategy is so crucial at a time when content reigns, then we cover the key prerequisites for devising a content strategy, its value for businesses and its changing nature in an omnichannel, post-Covid digital reality. Baddý illustrates her points with some great practical examples and introduces tools that they frequently leverage at 1xINTERNET, such as content templates.

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Kaleem Clarkson - The Remote Employee Experience (TREE)

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 09:00:00 +0100

Kaleem Clarkson is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Blend Me Inc., a US consultancy which helps businesses optimize their remote employee experience.

In this episode, we discuss the remote employee experience, its recent transformations and its value to businesses in times of COVID-19 and the mass digitalization which the pandemic has triggered. Kaleem presents all the key steps of the employee experience through their TREE framework and excellently supports his points with rich practical examples. In addition, he addresses some common misconceptions and shortcomings when it comes to the employee experience and recommends more optimal ways of doing things.

Links & mentions:

socialarchitect.xyz/team
jobmatchassessment.com/about
gallup.com/workplace/242252/employee-experience
youtube.com/watch?v=NagGNgVODC8 (Matt Westgate's talk from DrupalCon Denver)
npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this
blendmeinc.com
twitter.com/kaleemclarkson
linkedin.com/in/kaleemclarkson

Florian Lorétan - Boosting developer happiness with DevOps

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 07:00:00 +0100

Florian Lorétan is a European technology advocate and public speaker. As the CTO at the digital agency Wunder, he has helped foster a DevOps culture and implement processes to enable his developers to perform better.

This is what this particular episode is about, namely, how leveraging DevOps can improve the work of developers by allowing them greater autonomy and enabling them to achieve true mastery of the technologies and practices they use. We discuss the basics of DevOps, the workflows, some of the key considerations, its overlap with agile software development, and some on-point practical examples of DevOps in action.

Links & mentions:

David Biden - Robotic process automation (RPA)

Thu, 22 Oct 2020 08:00:00 +0200

David Biden is the CEO of the UK automation company human+ and the managing director of automation at the recently established technology group Foundry4.

In this episode, we discuss RPA, or robotic process automation, and how implementing it in the right way can have organization-wide business benefits. As their name implies, human+ are strong believers in bringing automation closer to humans, so their work does not just revolve around technology, but also up-skilling workers and helping companies digitally transform more fully by helping them adopt this shift in mindset.

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Brad Smith - Alignment of sales and marketing

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 09:00:00 +0200

Brad Smith is a digital consulting expert from the UK and founder of Succeed Digital Consulting, which helps agencies better position themselves in the market and grow their digital business.

In this episode, we discuss how important it is for sales and marketing teams to be aligned and work towards the same clearly outlined goals in order to truly bring value to a business. Brad describes the steps needed for alignment of sales and marketing, also including some concrete examples and addressing some of the main pitfalls that can cause a misalignment.

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Simon Wakeman - Automation and conversational AI

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 09:00:00 +0200

Simon Wakeman is the Chief Operating Officer at the UK technology group The Panoply and former Chief Growth Officer at GreenShoot Labs, a digital agency specializing in chatbots and conversational AI.

In this episode, we talk about the role of automation in digital transformation, with a focus on conversational AI and similar technologies. We explore how they can help humans perform more efficiently, discuss some of the challenges that hinder widespread adoption of automation, and take a look back through the years at how much AI and chatbots have improved since their early iterations.

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Julio E. Proano - Data-driven decision making in a digital strategy

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 12:00:00 +0200

Julio E. Proano is the senior manager for social media channel strategy at the healthcare company Novartis. He is fascinated by data-enabled technological innovations and consequently a big proponent of data-driven decision making.

This episode explores the importance of being data-driven in a digital strategy, highlights some of the main pitfalls for marketers when analyzing and acting on data, and addresses some of the concerns for data collection going forward. Julio also describes a very interesting and innovative use case of a data-driven application and some of its additional potentials.

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Vicki Young - The role of brand in digital transformation

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 12:00:00 +0200

Vicki Young is the owner and CEO of Nalla Design, an award-winning branding agency from London that has been solving complex branding challenges from companies such as EY and Informa.

This episode emphasizes the key role that a company's brand plays in its digital transformation, which encompasses the entire business rather than just being limited to design. Vicki highlights the main benefits of a strong brand and addresses both the challenges that can arise as well as the main considerations to tackle these challenges.

Links and mentions:

William Makower - Digital transformation lessons from the public sector for the private sector

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 11:00:00 +0200

William Makower is the founder and managing director of the UK digital consultancy Panlogic Ltd. which has worked frequently with the UK government since the company's establishment in 1999.

This episode discusses the lessons that the private sector can learn from the public sector in terms of digital transformation. Due to Panlogic's work within the public sector, William offers first-hand experience, interesting case studies and actionable advice to businesses in similar situations who may be facing some challenges.

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