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Innovation is not having a eureka moment but a continuous process requiring countless brainstorming sessions with contributors from across the organization. Establishing a formal, proven process is vital to creating an innovation culture - from framing a problem definition to making a fast prototype and launching the final product. Innovation is the lifeblood of companies like Vivera Pharmaceuticals, a science-driven pharmaceutical, medical device, and medical technology company headquartered in Southern California. Founded by Paul Edalat, Vivera has five divisions, each focused on a specific healthcare vertical, with a vertically integrated structure that has created an agile and responsive model.
Corporate organizations have always been on the lookout for innovative business models to dominate the market they are in. For instance, OnCentive, located in Birmingham, Alabama, is one of the innovative start-ups helping small and midsize businesses maximize their profitability through business incentives and tax credits. The company pairs its expertise with state-of-the-art credit technology to identify tax credits and incentive opportunities for clients.
Besides an innovative business model, organizations need a competent leadership team that understands the values of innovation. Helping leaders
to quickly accelerate growth through productivity tools and platforms is Growth Stack Inc. Led by its founder and CEO, Kevin Petersen, Growth Stack has developed the right mix of experienced operators, free-thinkers, and skilled practitioners that can supercharge companies and take them to the next level.
This special issue featuring the 10 Most Innovative Companies of the Year 2023 is about companies Vivera Pharmaceuticals, OnCentive, and Growth Stack Inc. We have also included an exclusive story on Third Marble specializes in getting businesses on page one of Google with Search Engine Optimization Services and Google Ads Management. We hope our efforts will help entrepreneurs and professionals understand innovation's deeper meaning and implement it in their journey forward.
Enjoy Reading.
Sarath Shyam
PHARMACEUTICALS THE PRESCRIPTION DISPENSING INDUSTRY
REVOLUTIONIZING
Automation Software to End Repetitive Tasks & Make Digital Transformation a Reality
64
Employees of the Future – Where is the Employee Market Headed
Enhancing Transformation by Bridging the R&D and IT Divide
David G Sherburne, Independent Consultant, David G
According to you, what will be the biggest trends shaping the future of enterprise technology in 2023?
I think there are two major trends and then two minor ones. First, the continuation of AI and Blockchain; we’re going to continue to see how we use those technologies more to answer real business problems, now that we’re
really getting our arms around what we can do with them.
I think the Metaverse and how we collaborate and how we shape the future of the office, that is going to be quite interesting and something that we really need to watch.
The last one is Diversity and Inclusion. There’s no question in my mind that wherever
The Metaverse and how we collaborate and how we shape the future of the office, that is going to be quite interesting and something that we really need to watch
Kristie Grinnell is senior vice president and chief information officer (CIO) for DXC Technology. She is responsible for leading business transformation including defining IT strategy for new digital capabilities, streamlining current operations, and improving overall efficiencies and performance of DXC’s IT environment – all with the goal of enabling DXC to provide excellence and innovation to its customers worldwide.
AstrongsupporterofacademicSTEM programs for young women, a recipient of the 2018 Women inTechnology STEM Leadership award, Washington Business Journal’s 2020 Women Who Mean Business Award, a 2020 Capital CIO of the Year ORBIE Award Winner, a 2021 National CIO of the Year ORBIE Award WinnerandmostrecentlyTop100Women in Tech and Top 100 Leaders 2022 from Technology Magazine. Kristie earned her BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and holds an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.
In a recent interview with the team of Digital First Magazine, Kristie Grinnell reveals the biggest trends shaping the future of enterprise technology, her career trajectory, personal aims, and ideals, and a lot more. Following are the excerpts from the interview.
we bring Diversity & Inclusion, that means we have more innovation. Because we’re all not thinking alike, that will continue to drive more innovation and really be able to shape the enterprise technology as we go forward.
impact on the workforce and how we work. It’s something we need as allowing us to work differently – from home, from the office, from the airport; whatever the case may be, and having full access and full function to the way that we work.
The second one is, when you think digital, you need to start to really think about how do you automate those tedious, redundant tasks so that you can allow others to really be focused on the true value add of why we need a human in the role, which then allows the enterprise to have to adapt and evolve the roles in the office.
The third is about data, because the more we can bring data to life through technology that is able to calculate and compute it for us, that is able to bring it to the surface based on what we’re working on and be really smart like AI and ML do, then we can have better insight and better information to make good business decisions and create better business outcome.
Brief us about your outset story of your career.
It all begins with the environment I was raised in. My dad always told me that I could do anything I wanted to, and he instilled a confidence in me that anything was possible. I will always remember a motto my dad lived by, “Raise your daughters to be a doctor, not to marry one.”
In what ways have digital technologies changed the workforce and what measures should enterprises take to adapt and evolve?
The first one is how, through COVID, we saw digital technologies really accelerate their
Growing up, of course I did not think I would one day become a CIO and they really didn’t exist back then. My first job fresh out of college, we didn’t have email yet. I have an engineering background from the University of Pittsburgh. I worked for General Motors
I always lead with my core values. And my core values must match with my corporate values to be successful. Not just in words, but in action
as a manufacturing engineer for three years with the responsibility of ensuring that production in Detroit was not shut down — which is very relevant to what I do today. The work was challenging and rewarding but what I ultimately learned was that I liked working with people more than being behind a screen designing machines. That led me back to business school and eventually to a role at PWC while the e-biz bubble was starting to grow. From there, jobs progressed and opportunities unfolded, my family blossomed, and I eventually transitioned into internal IT, and now into my CIO role here at DXC Technology.
Along the way, I had mentors who really challenged me to think about what’s next, what are my strengths, what do I need to work on; that sort of thing. It’s also about having an open mind to look at all the doors that were being opened and closed for me and then choosing, do I want to walk through that door? Do I want to knock on the door and make sure it opens for me? Or do I need to do something in my career to ensure that that next door opens for me?
What motivates you to work in tech, and what do you think is the “next big thing?”
What motivates me every day is that at DXC, we’re solving real business problems for our customers and I, as CIO of DXC, am solving our own business problems as well. No one day is alike. And that to me is exciting! I always like to solve problems.
The next big thing is continually keeping up with the pace of technology and keeping up with your talent to be able to do so.
As the Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer, what are your primary roles and responsibilities at DXC Technology?
It is my responsibility as CIO to work across all of our business lines, offerings, delivery and back-office functions to ensure we operate as a frictionless business. That means looking across people, process, technology, and data and collaborating across teams to deliver business value, provide business insight and solve business problems.
Can you please walk us through the major accomplishments throughout your journey?
First and foremost, the biggest accomplishments at all the roles I’ve taken is putting the right team of talented people around me, so that we can be successful overall. That allows me to see everything as accomplishments the team does, not my own
What are the aims and ideals that guide you as an individual and a professional?
I always lead with my core values. And my core values must match with my corporate values to be successful. Not just in words, but in action.
Where or whom do you seek motivation and inspiration from? How?
It’s the people who are around me, every day. It could be my kids; it could be the team. It could be articles I read about people I know. It could be people in my professional network; it could be in my personal network. Just
watching them be curious; trying something new and achieving something great.
What’s a leadership lesson that you’ve learnt that’s unique to being a female leader?
I don’t think this is unique to being a female leader, but I do think female leaders tend to bring more empathy into their leadership style, which can really help them to be successful and bring the most out of their teams.
What advice would you give to women who want to pursue a career in tech.
I would give the same advice to everyone and that’s “Just do it and always be curious.” The best way to prove you’re the right one for
the role, is to just do it. And if you’re always curious and continually learning, you can always find that next thing.
How important is it for you to give something back to the community?
It’s incredibly important. Whether that’s me being a role model for others in STEM, the next pipeline coming up in STEM, or just giving back overall, I think it’s important to give back to show our youth the way through example. That why I’ve been Girl Scout Leader to two Girl Scout Troops; I’ve coached softball; I’ve coached field hockey; I’m super involved in the youth programs at my church. I do all those things so I can give back to my community so that I can be an example.
The best way to prove you’re the right one for the role, is to just do it. And if you’re always curious and continually learning, you can always find that next thing
Prescription drug abuse continues to play a significant role in the burden of disease in the United States and severely impacts the economy. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), over 16.7 million people aged 12 and older in the United States abused prescription drugs in 2012. Last year, according to the CDC, there were nearly 75,673 overdose deaths that involved prescription opioids.
With the intention to curb these alarming numbers and save lives, innovative companies like Vivera are developing smart devices and promising solutions with the goal of preventing prescription drug abuse from occurring in the first place.
Vivera is a science-driven pharmaceutical, medical device, and medical technology company headquartered in Southern California. With its day-one mission statement of putting patients first, Vivera innovates with the patient journey in mind. From the opioid crisis to mental health and beyond, Vivera strives to
fulfill its purpose and promise toward patientcentric research and development that puts the total health of the patient front and center. The Company always finds ways to give back and serves underrepresented and underserved local, national, and global communities.
“Our foremost mission is to enhance the lives of millions of patients through the ceaseless development of life-changing therapies,” shares Paul Edalat, Chairman, Founder, and CEO of Vivera.
In 2004, Paul witnessed the declining health of his younger brother, Peter, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Like many patients diagnosed with cancer, Peter was prescribed medication by his doctor to help manage his chronic pain and suppress the unwanted side effects of the cancer treatment. Unfortunately, Peter became addicted to this medication. Paul and his family helplessly watched him battle cancer and addiction. Two years after his initial
Innovation is the lifeblood of Vivera. With five divisions, each focused on a specific healthcare vertical, Vivera’s vertically integrated structure has created an agile and responsive model
diagnosis, Peter lost his battle with both. During this grief-filled time, Paul identified the need for an effective dose-controlled solution for prescription medications.
A former athlete with over three decades of brand and product development experience in the nutraceutical industry, Paul honored his brother’s legacy by shifting to the healthcare industry to prioritize people over profit. By connecting passion with purpose, Paul established Vivera to improve patients' lives. “At Vivera, we’re ensuring Peter’s legacy lives on by developing innovative products pertaining to opioid deterrence and cessation and nonaddictive solutions for pain management,” reveals Paul.
Innovation is the lifeblood of Vivera. With five divisions, each focused on a specific healthcare vertical, Vivera’s vertically integrated structure has created an agile and responsive model.
Vivera Technologies is home to ZICOH, a patented, intelligent drug delivery solution for prescription medications, and MDZone, a HIPAA-compliant telemedicine portal that allows patients to access a healthcare professional remotely.
Vivera BioSciences includes TABMELT, a novel, patented, and patent-pending sublingual drug delivery system. Vivera holds an exclusive license for its pharmaceutical use.
Vivera Advanced Diagnostics focuses on health and wellness testing. This division includes LabPort, a Lab Information Management System (LIMS) developed to streamline the testing and results reporting process for laboratories and patients.
Vivera Medical Devices includes prescription dermatology products. Vivera Medical Supplies was created to support healthcare professionals throughout the pandemic. There was a shortage of PPE at the beginning of the pandemic, and the Company responded by offering in-stock disposable face masks 100% Made in the USA.
Vivera developed ZICOH intending to end prescription misuse and improve patient prescription adherence. It’s programmed to deliver preset dosages to the registered patient according to the provider’s orders. ZICOH continuously logs medication delivery history, so healthcare providers can monitor how well patients adhere to their prescribed medication regimen.
With a launch around the corner, ZICOH is set to disrupt how prescription drugs are prescribed, managed, used, tracked, and traced across the entire value chain.
Vivera is committed to the continued research and development of innovative therapies across the spectrum. Backed by a team of medical experts and staff, the company develops revolutionary therapeutics and
devices with the patient experience in mind. With 35 patents pending, granted, and licensed, Vivera is working to change the future of drug delivery, medical device, and medical technologies at home and across the globe with its extensive intellectual property portfolio.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when numerous companies were shut down, Vivera pivoted to provide COVID-19 testing. The Company provided laboratory testing and rapid screening and testing services to first responders, healthcare providers, schools, Tribal communities, and local government. The Company donated thousands of tests and personal protective equipment to underserved communities and partnered with the local government and federally qualified healthcare centers to provide free testing and vaccine clinics over the course of the pandemic.
Vivera has a positive and supportive work environment that helps everyone grow to their fullest potential. The Company offers its employees numerous opportunities to advance in their careers, including mentorship. Paul, who several amazing mentors have guided, believes in passing the torch of knowledge to his young team at Vivera. He is passionate about motivating and guiding his team to give their best, achieve goals, utilize the newest technologies, and collaborate to make a difference in patient lives across the globe.
In the future, Vivera will continue to fulfill its purpose and promise towards patient-centric research and development that puts the total health of the patient front and center. With a global intellectual property portfolio, the Company also plans to expand its footprint and the distribution of its unique, cutting-edge technologies and pharmaceuticals to the MENA region and beyond.
With 35 patents pending, granted, and licensed, Vivera is working to change the future of drug delivery, medical device, and medical technologies at home and across the globe with its extensive intellectual property portfolio
Robotic process automation (RPA) is a software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage software robots that emulate human’s actions interacting with digital systems and software. Just like people, software robots can do things like
understand what’s on a screen, complete the right keystrokes, navigate systems, identify, and extract data, and perform a wide range of defined actions. But software robots can do it faster and more consistently than people, without the need to get up and stretch or take a coffee break.
RPA is noninvasive and can be rapidly implemented to accelerate digital transformation. And it’s ideal for automating workflows that involve legacy systems that lack APIs, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs), or database access
Mohamed Hamed is the Chief Technology Officer at Ceramica Platino. He is a seasoned technology consultant with over 24 years of experience in IT and security. He has held several executive management positions and lead numerous teams throughouthisprolificcareer.Hisareas of expertise include IT infrastructure solutions in Artificial intelligence / Internet of Things (IoT) / Machine learning / digital transformation, with all Microsoft Systems & Applications, Oracle Applications and SAP Applications. Right from hospitality, manufacturing, Fintech, Medical, Food, Travel and Booking, LMS to E-commerce, Mohamed has worked in diverse industries and created strategies, road maps and executing projects and program, running day to day operation, for large companies, medium sized, and startups. He has also been a recipient of numerous awards and recognitions namely CIO50MEA, Global CIO world, CIO Leadership, Top 10 Excellence in Digital Innovation, CIO1000 Asia & APAC, CIO100MEA, etc.
Robotic process automation streamlines workflows, which makes organizations more profitable, flexible, and responsive. It also increases employee satisfaction, engagement, and productivity by removing mundane tasks from their workdays.
RPA is noninvasive and can be rapidly implemented to accelerate digital transformation. And it’s ideal for automating workflows that involve legacy systems that lack APIs, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs), or database access.
Among global executives, 63% say RPA is a major component in digital transformation.
RPA robots can ramp up quickly to match workload peaks and respond to big demand spikes.
Advanced robots can even perform cognitive processes, like interpreting text, engaging in chats and conversations, understanding unstructured data, and applying advanced machine learning models to make complex decisions
3. Improved compliance
92% agree RPA has ‘met or exceeded expectations’ for better compliance.
4. More value from personnel
60% of executives agree RPA enables people to focus on more strategic work.
5. Major cost savings
RPA drives rapid, significant improvement to business metrics across industries and around the world.
6. Higher accuracy
57% say RPA reduces manual errors.
7. Boosted productivity
• 68% of global workers believe automation will make them more productive.
8. Happier employees
• 57% of executives say RPA increases employee engagement.
Why is RPA Transformative?
RPA technology is changing how the world gets work done.
Software robots—instead of people—do repetitive and lower-value work, like logging into applications and systems, moving files and folders, extracting, copying, and inserting
data, filling in forms, and completing routine analyses and reports. Advanced robots can even perform cognitive processes, like interpreting text, engaging in chats and conversations, understanding unstructured data, and applying advanced machine learning models to make complex decisions.
When robots do these types of repetitive, highvolume tasks, humans are freed to focus on the things they do best and enjoy more: innovating, collaborating, creating, and interacting with customers. Enterprises get a boost too: higher productivity, efficiency, and resilience. It’s no wonder that RPA is rewriting the story of work.
This is the story of work. It started a long time ago, on a Monday. As people got better at work, they built tools to work more efficiently, they even built computers to work smarter, but still they couldn’t do enough work! The more work they did, the more work they created, and not the good kind. One day a very smart person figured out how to put the fun back in work, this is their story.
Today, RPA is driving new efficiencies and freeing people from repetitive tedium across a broad swath of industries and processes. Enterprises in industries ranging from financial services to healthcare to manufacturing to the public sector to retail and far beyond have implemented RPA in areas as diverse as finance, compliance, legal, customer service, operations, and IT. And that’s just for starters.
RPA has become so widespread because it is broadly applicable. Virtually any high-volume, business-rules-driven, repeatable process is a great candidate for automation—and increasingly so are cognitive processes that require higherorder AI skills.
To build and manage an enterprise-wide RPA program, you need technology that can go far beyond simply helping you automate a single
To build and manage an enterprise-wide RPA program, you need technology that can go far beyond simply helping you automate a single process
process. You require a platform that can help you create and manage a new enterprisewide capability and help you become a fully automated enterprise™. Your RPA technology must support you end-to-end, from discovering great automation opportunities everywhere, to quickly building high-performing robots, to managing thousands of automated workflows.
the World?
1. Rapid, significant return on investment (ROI)
2. Minimal upfront investment
3. No disruption to underlying systems
4. Low code build environment
5. Scalable and enterprise-ready
Cthat small businesses can indeed make a country stronger. At Third Marble, Chirs and team engineer affordable Google solutions to grow their client’s businesses. He says, “We rarely hear about how small businesses affect the U.S. economy, but did you know that 65% of all new jobs in the last 15 years came from small businesses? If we can support growth, we expect more
THIRD MARBLE SPECIALIZES IN GETTING BUSINESSES ON PAGE ONE OF GOOGLE WITH SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION SERVICES AND GOOGLE ADS MANAGEMENT
Chris Fawcett, Founder and President of Third Marble Marketing
THIRD MARBLE MARKETING’S MISSION IS TO HELP LOCAL ECONOMIES GROW ACROSS THE COUNTRY BY MAKING GOOGLE ADS AND SEO AFFORDABLE AND ACCESSIBLE TO LOCAL AND SMALL BUSINESSES
pizza shop. He agreed, and the website was up and running in no time. However, the pizza shop owner said he wasn’t getting any phone calls from his website. Chris advised the pizza shop owner to try online marketing because he knows that having a website without advertising is like printing business cards and not handing them to anyone. “A few weeks later, the pizza shop owner called me with questions about a contract he was about to sign. The pizza shop owner was approached by a salesperson from an online advertising company that wanted to charge him USD 1200 a month on a 12-month contract for Pay per Click advertising.
I couldn’t believe it – there’s no way there are that many searches for pizza in one month for that small geographic area.”
Chris tried numerous strategies to advertise the pizza shop online, including search engine optimization, email marketing, social media, and pay-per-click on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. He recounts, “After only a few weeks, it became very obvious that there was only one truly effective strategy – one that was cost-effective and didn’t consume hours of the owner’s time each week –Google Ads.” Yahoo and Bing didn’t generate enough clicks for small companies like a local pizza shop to make managing the campaigns worthwhile. Facebook and email marketing were too time-consuming for the owner and didn’t help generate many new customers. Chris adds, “Since Google Ads was generating 80% of all the traffic to the website, and budgets and resources were limited for the pizza shop, we decided to drop all other online marketing except for Google Ads.”
Working with the pizza shop was a revelation for Chris. “What fascinated me the most – I had a hard time even spending USD 300 per month, let alone USD 1200. How could that “reputable” company charge a little pizza shop USD 1200 per
month? Were there other small businesses that needed this kind of help too?” he shares. Soon, Chris started asking other local business owners if they ever got business from their websites and had a positive experience with an online marketing company. Though their experiences varied, one typical response was No. “So, I started advertising a few more local companies online using Google Ads, and the results were the same as the pizza shop – more new customers and positive ROI,” recounts Chris.
Seeing the opportunity to start a small business that could help small business owners everywhere, Chris left his job and started Third Marble Marketing. “After a while, it became obvious that too many internet advertising companies out there are taking advantage of small business owners. In fact, the horror stories continue to come about “reputable” companies – including mis-billings, over-charges, lawyer calls, and the most frequently heard story: “I paid them all this money, and they said they drove all this ‘traffic’ to our website, but we haven’t gotten one phone call yet,” adds Chris. So, he vowed to make Third Marble Marketing a resource to help the small, local business owners grow their businesses by providing an affordable internet marketing strategy that effectively generates customers, NOT “traffic.”
Third Marble specializes in getting businesses on page one of Google with Search Engine Optimization Services and Google Ads Management. It helps clients with almost any kind of budget, from USD 300 to USD 20,000+ a month, with Google Ads. The company has experience with search, display, remarketing, shopping, and YouTube ads. They specialize in
local search engine optimization and can help their national and e-commerce website clients.
Chris says, “Third Marble Marketing’s mission is to help local economies grow across the country by making Google Ads and SEO affordable and accessible to local and small businesses. Especially now, their potential customers are turning to Google to find businesses like theirs. Like many business owners, if they do not have the time to research and work fulltime on their website to get to page one, our proven processes could be the simple, affordable answer.”
“Our best marketing strategy will always be word of mouth. With our high retention rate of clients, business owners often suggest us to other businesses. We are very thankful to have such amazing clients who put their trust in us and think to suggest us to others,” says Chris. In addition, they’ve seen success with Google Ads, their own SEO efforts, and LinkedIn ads.
When a business owner hires Third Marble, they’re hiring a team of Google Ads and SEO experts to apply their affordable, proven process to their business’s Google Ads and SEO efforts. They've spent over ten years streamlining their process so they can pass the savings onto them.
Third Marble hires folks who believe in their vision of helping local economies
grow by engineering an affordable online marketing option with Google. Chris adds, “I consider myself lucky to have people working at Third Marble who care about each of our client’s goals and understand how important our services are to their business.” They are so hyper-focused on Google that they know every update and change, so they can pivot if/ when necessary. “It makes it easier to continuously train the entire team. We typically have a company-wide training session at least once a week,” says Chris.
Chris adds, “Transparent reporting. I have heard so many horror stories or seen reports from other companies that don’t seem to report anything or, at the very least, aren’t clear. Our reporting is generated directly from our client’s Google Ads account and spit out in a way that makes sense.” It also reflects data fluctuations from the previous month, so you can easily track if your cost per click has increased, for example.
When clients sign up for Third Marble services, their account is assigned to an Account Manager. That Account Manager meets with the client to understand their marketing goals and dispurses that information to the rest of the team. Whenever the client needs to change their account, all they have to do is email their Account Manager. Then they will determine the best way to accomplish
THIRD MARBLE HIRES FOLKS WHO BELIEVE IN THEIR VISION OF HELPING LOCAL ECONOMIES
GROW BY ENGINEERING AN AFFORDABLE ONLINE MARKETING OPTION WITH GOOGLE
what the client needs with Google. With good communication from the client on their leads and changes in their business, Third Marble can create a campaign that will work for them.
“Efficiency. Our business is built around the Henry Ford assembly line concept. We have specific departments that perform specific tasks in accounts. This allows us to be efficient with our work, which keeps our overhead costs down and our pricing affordable for our clients,” says Chris. They also have their pricing designed to
perform Google Ads management or SEO work, but if the client needs a little extra collaboration or help outside of those areas, they have options to make that happen for them too.
“We are a ‘Process-Based’ service vs. a “Project-Based” agency. Most full-service digital marketing agencies adopt a "project-based" approach to marketing management. It requires a team of people, perhaps each one is an expensive specialist, that meets regularly to figure out what custom plan is needed to achieve your marketing
goals. These excessive meetings take time and cost money. This approach means that every client is a ‘project.’ They have project management tools and software and require a project manager. Projects have a beginning and end, but the steps between the beginning and end are not yet defined. You have to pay a project team to create all the steps to achieve your goals. A project-based service can deliver a customized result at a much higher price,” Chris adds.
A "process-based" service, like Third Marble, doesn't need all the overhead. Processes have a beginning and end, and the steps between the beginning and end are already defined. A process saves time and energy by not reinventing the wheel with every new customer. Companies that provide a process-based service are more efficient and can deliver a more repeatable, predictable result for a lower price.
Chris says, “A team of USA-based Google experts manage our Google Ads accounts. Our three service level plans are designed so the customer can better customize their preferred service, with the ability to upgrade or downgrade at any time.”
Their Expert Google Ads Setup Includes: Creating or linking to your Google Ads account, keyword research, all ad copywriting, ad extensions, and addition of our initial negative keyword list we developed with our over ten years of experience.
Regular Ongoing Optimization by their Team of Experts Includes: Adjusting keyword bids, bid management strategies, keyword matching, managing negative keywords, reviewing search terms for new keywords and negatives, mobile/desktop ratio optimization
THIRD MARBLE’S EXPERT GOOGLE ADS SETUP INCLUDES: CREATING OR LINKING TO YOUR GOOGLE ADS ACCOUNT, KEYWORD RESEARCH, ALL AD COPYWRITING, AD EXTENSIONS, AND ADDITION OF OUR INITIAL NEGATIVE KEYWORD LIST WE DEVELOPED WITH OUR OVER TEN YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
level view of clicks, the average cost per click, the average click-through rate, conversions, conversion rates, and monthly spending. We also include the previous month's data so you can see if there are any trends from month to month.” For national accounts, it will even show you where in the US your clicks are coming from. It highlights the keywords that are driving the most traffic and conversions. Which ads are driving the most traffic and so much more.
“Our standard is to reply to emails and calls within one business day. So, our clients are never left hanging regarding their accounts,” adds Chris.
and bid adjustments, geo-targeting adjustments, ad Extension adjustments, ad copy optimization and A/B testing ads for higher response rates.
“We were obviously impacted by COVID in the spring of 2020, but we were able to recover by about Sept of that same year. 2021 was a huge growth year for us, and 2022 looks very good. In the second half of 2022, we've been hearing more stories about failing businesses, so we have some concerns about the beginning of 2023. We have definitely felt the slowdown in our prospecting efforts in the last few months,” says Chris.
During the recent slowdown, they have been refocusing on improving their internal processes to help them become even more efficient in what they do.
Chris says, “Our monthly report is about 10 pages long. Our favorite highlights include a high-
Third Marble’s team is constantly training together. Google Ads is continuously changing and updating; as a result, they have to make sure they update their processes as needed. “So, our entire team gathers once a week to review accounts that need a bit more attention or be trained on new tweaks to our process to keep up with the changes,” says Chris.
In addition, even though their team works remotely most of the time, they come together in the office at least once a week. While also peppering in a team outing at least once a quarter. “Most recently, we rented a party bus to drive around the local neighborhoods with fantastic Christmas light displays. Fun times included snacks and karaoke on the bus when in transit to the next neighborhood. During our meetings, we include time for “headlines,” where the team can share a highlight from their week at work or personal life. It’s been an excellent way for the team to learn how their co-workers enjoy their time when not working on Google Ads,” he adds.
Third Marble’s mission is really to help US-based small business owners. So, they're following a few trends right now. First, many people quit their jobs and started small e-commerce companies. They have picked up dozens of new e-commerce companies in the past year that were started due to COVID disrupting someone's career.
Chris says, “We're also looking to expand more into programmatic ads, specifically geofencing ads on mobile. We think the number of ways local businesses have to advertise is shrinking rapidly. Having a presence on mobile will become more important very quickly. To help expand our existing services, we're also restarting our sales force expansion. We tried to start in early 2020 but abandoned it when COVID hit. People want to do business with people, so we plan to grow our sales team in 2023.”
“We just lowered our prices in December 2022. There aren't too many businesses that can say that. We've been investing in systems and processes to further improve our efficiency and passing those savings on to our customers,” says Chris.
They also want to expand into programmatic ads. Chris adds, “Plenty of clients have asked us about it, so expanding our offering into what our customers ask about makes sense. We've been researching this space and have found one of the best Demand Side Platforms (DSP) for our client's needs. We hope to have this new service up and running by the end of Q1 2023.”
They're also creating classes for their clients and prospects. “There are so many small business owners out there with questions about how Google works and how it can help a small business grow that we decided to start offering online classes and 1 on 1 help sessions. Look for more of these classes in Q1 of 2023 as well,” Chris concludes.
10 MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES OF THE YEAR
2023
Website:
https://www.else-corp.com/
Headquarters: Milan, Italy
Key Person: Andrey Golub, Co-Founder & CEO
About the Company: ELSE Corp offers technological solutions for Virtual Retail and Cloud Manufacturing to fashion brands, retailers, manufacturers and designers.
Website:
https://growthstackinc.com/
Headquarters: Nevada, USA
Key Person: Kevin Petersen, CEO
About the Company: Growth Stack Inc acquire, manage, and build industryspecific software businesses which provide specialized, mission-critical software solutions that address the particular needs of its customers.
Heliogen
Website:
Headquarters: California, USA
Key Person: Bill Gross, Founder & CEO
About the Company: Heliogen is developing a concentrated solar solution utilizing unique advanced computer vision software to precisely align an array of mirrors, reflecting sunlight to a target on the top of a tower.
OnCentive
Website:
https://www.oncentive.com/
Headquarters: Alabama, USA
Key Person: Shannon Scott, CEO and Co-Founder
About the Company: OnCentive simplifies the process of identifying and qualifying for business incentives and tax credits; maximizing your business’s profitability, and putting your hard-earned money back in your hands so you can use it to grow your business.
Website:
http://www.itechart.com/
Headquarters: New York, USA
Key Person: Sergei Kovalenko, Co-Founder
https://heliogen.com/ https://www.plenty.ag/
About the Company: iTechArt is a toptier, one-stop custom software development company with a talent pool of 3500+ experienced engineers.
Website:
Headquarters: California, USA
Key Person: Matt Barnard, Co-Founder & Director
About the Company: Plenty is a new kind of farm for a new kind of world. It is on a mission to bring healthy food to the world while protecting the environment.
Website:
Headquarters: Singapore
Key Person: Wei Chieh Lim, Chief Executive
About the Company: Swarmnetics provides cybersecurity assessment services including vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, secure code review, secure configuration assessment and managed private bug bounty programs.
Website:
https://viverapharmaceuticals.com/
Headquarters: California, USA
Key Person: Paul Edalat, Chairman, Founder, & CEO
About the Company: Vivera's core verticals include medical device, advanced diagnostics, medical technologies, medical supplies, biosciences, and neurosciences divisions, each working synergistically to support Vivera's core mission of putting patients first.
Website:
https://www.twelve.co/
Headquarters: California, USA
Key Person: Etosha R. Cave, Founder
https://www.swarmnetics.com/ https://wayray.com/
About the Company: Twelve is a chemical technology company developing technology to convert CO₂ into profitable chemicals, such as plastics and transportation fuels.
Website:
Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland
Key Person: Vitaly Ponomarev, CEO & Founder
About the Company: WayRay develops holographic AR technologies for connected cars. WayRay's in-house R&D center and prototyping facilities create holographic optical systems, complex mechanics, electronics, and software.
Over 3,000 state & federal incentive programs are offered by the US government to reward business owners for basic business functions like retaining employees, job creation, innovating internal processes, and more. Too often, the large organizations get benefitted the most who need it the least from these government programs simply because they
have the resources, personnel, and expertise to do so. Most small and midsize businesses are neither aware of these incentive programs nor have the resources.
Located in Birmingham, Alabama, OnCentive is one of the innovative start-ups helping small and midsize businesses maximize their profitability through business incentives and tax credits. The company pairs its expertise
Shannon
with state-of-the-art credit technology to identify tax credits and incentive opportunities for clients. So far, OnCentive has secured over $3 billion in tax credits and incentives, with $0 returned to the IRS.
The journey of OnCentive began when CoFounders, Shannon Scott and Frank Brown, identified the need for a service-first approach to tax credits in the incentives industry. Shannon is considered one of the premier experts in the credit industry and often consults the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees on business incentives and tax credit programs. Frank has been involved in the tax credit industry for 30 years, specializing in tax credit and incentive work, and after 8 years in private practice started TaxBreak in 1997, a tax credit consulting firm.
Located in Birmingham, Alabama, OnCentive is one of the innovative start-ups helping small and midsize businesses maximize their profitability through business incentives and tax credits
“Our mission is to help American employers take advantage of the thousands of state and federal credits and incentives and help clients achieve maximum profitability,” reveals Shannon Scott (CEO & Co-founder, OnCentive). While many companies dabble in tax credits, OnCentive's sole focus is tax credits.
OnCentive helps employers capture government incentives & recovery programs, like the Covid-19 Employee Retention Credits, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, Research and Development Tax Credit, Disaster Employee Retention Credit, State & Geographic Incentives, and many others.
OnCentive is led by a team of CPAs, tax attorneys, and credit experts with 150+ years of combined tax experience who resonate with the company’s dedication to helping American employers grow their bottom line.
According to Shannon, client satisfaction and maximizing profitability to grow their business is OnCentive’s number one goal. Therefore, OnCentive’s team works towards maximizing their clients’ profitability so that they can put their hard-earned money back in their hands to grow their business. Following mentioned are some of the recent client testimonials vouching for OnCentive.
looks for innovative ways to penetrate the marketplace to increase brand awareness and knowledge of tax credits and business incentives to make them accessible to businesses of all sizes in all industries
Arc of Tuscaloosa said, “The OnCentive team helped our non-profit raise hourly wages to attract and retain employees through a challenging labor market. The services we provide our clients are critical to the community. Thanks to OnCentive, we are able to remain competitive as an employer. Their team is great to work with and, without a doubt, will help you maximize the amount your organization can recover.”
Likewise, Don Benoit, Owner of D&T Crawfish, shared, “If it wasn't for their expertise and understanding of the qualification criteria, we would have never attempted to apply for this credit. Do yourself a favor and let them walk your company through this simple process to gain a big reward!”
For OnCentive, having a strong partnership and partner management program has been the key to its continued success. The company also looks for innovative ways to penetrate the
marketplace to increase brand awareness and knowledge of tax credits and business incentives to make them accessible to businesses of all sizes in all industries.
OnCentive’s CEO & Co-founder, Shannon Scott, shares that Trak Capital, their investment company, has recently acquired and launched additional companies to build out a complimentary suite of HR technology brands that focus on profitability and compliance. The suite of brands includes tax credits and business incentives, ACA compliance, unemployment claims management, and I-9 verification. Trak Capital is constantly looking for new solutions to fill gaps in the profitability and compliance space. Therefore, in early 2023, Shannon and his team are planning to make an exciting announcement that will unify these technologies for businesses of all sizes in all industries.
The thought of applying technology to maximize profitability - often aimed exclusively at the search for savings or cost cuts - is, right now, archaic. We are entering the era of Society 5.0, in which there is no innovation without a sustainable perspective and the purpose of each new implementation is to find a mechanism to improve people’s lives.
The concept of Society 5.0 emerged in Japan just five years ago and is based on four previous stages: a society focused on hunting, then on agriculture, then on industry, and then on information. In this new evolution, the most important aspect is to put technology at the service of people.
Focusing on the short term is no longer viable: organizations whose strategic plan continues to focus on earning more money are
Companies that show ethical and transparent behavior and that carry out concrete actions that generate a positive social or environmental impact are quickly becoming the “best places to work.”
Miguel Teixeira is the CEO for the multinational consulting firm NTT DATA,fortheAmericas,whichincludes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and the United States. He holds a degree in Computer Engineering from Higher Technical Institute of Lisbon (Portugal) and has done several postgraduate courses in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Project Management at Lisbon Catholic School of Business and Economics.Miguel has more than 20 years of experience in IT and consulting, local and international project management in companies such as Eurociber (Portuguese consulting firm), Tietoenator (the largest Nordic consulting firm) and has developed the bulk of his career in everis now called NTT DATA.
ceasing to be attractive not only to customers, who increasingly seek to consume products and services from brands that display values to which they relate, but also to investors, who tend to choose responsible companies to invest their funds, and, most importantly, to talent.
The purpose of an organization is what generates motivation, meaning, and belonging in its staff. Companies that show ethical
In a crisis of enormous proportions, we managed to build resilience, accelerate digital transformation, or develop vaccines extremely quickly. All these achievements were only possible due to new technologies
and transparent behavior and that carry out concrete actions that generate a positive social or environmental impact are quickly becoming the “best places to work.” Indeed, a study of 26.000 LinkedIn applicants from 40 countries found that 74% need to feel that “their work is important.” This is in line with Mercer’s analysis that identified “purpose” as one of the top three priorities for talent when choosing where to build their career.
In this regard, Society 5.0 incorporates an additional challenge: finding the right balance between personalization - that is, giving each person the working conditions they need to unleash their full potential - and collaboration - which, despite the diversity of work set-ups, everyone can work together and in pursuit of common goals. The answer to this dilemma is “resilient generosity”: being generous with others stimulates the generosity of others with oneself.
A recent Gartner report estimated that, by 2025, employee-related metrics, such as wellbeing, burnout, or brand satisfaction, will outweigh other financial ones, such as ROI, by 30%.
The technological advances of recent years have given us the tools to make the vision of society 5.0 possible. The maturity of artificial intelligence, the new use cases that appear every day around blockchain, the ability to connect practically any object through the internet of things, the unlimited speed of the new 5G telecommunications technology, and the power to process the enormous volume of data that is generated and obtain insights and actionable knowledge from
it, just to name a few of the most relevant innovations, open the doors for us to create unforgettable experiences for people, generate unprecedented efficiencies, or launch products and services in record time.
But they are also the basis for creating smart cities in which citizens do not have to spend hours to complete a transaction or commute between two locations, rethink the educational system, take the health system to new levels of excellence, or guarantee the safety of the inhabitants of a certain region. New technologies are the key to developing and testing renewable energies, medicines and treatments, waste recycling and recovery strategies, reducing the carbon footprint, promoting inclusion and diversity, multiplying and making food production and distribution more efficient, taking care of natural resources or, something that is critical in regions like Latin America, where the gap is still significant, solve social inequality. They even serve to predict environmental catastrophes or climatic episodes.
Efficiency and experience must never be at odds: if a new technology is capable of solving millions of customer queries in a minute in an automated way through a robot but does not provide an option to speak to a human being in extraordinary events, then that is not a solution designed for a world 5.0.
We live in a world of uncertainties: inflation is well above desirable levels, even in countries that have been keeping it under control for years; Europe is experiencing a warlike scenario after seven decades, which stirs
not only the ghosts of war, but also energy problems and a looming recession. Even in these contexts, new technologies, designed under the umbrella of Society 5.0, open up opportunities for improvement and solutions. We witnessed concrete results during the pandemic: the companies that had made the most progress in terms of digitization were the ones that obtained the best results; schools were able to continue operating thanks to digital educational platforms; people flocked to video calling solutions to continue working from home; medical appointments continued remotely. In a crisis of enormous proportions, we managed to build resilience, accelerate digital transformation, or develop vaccines extremely quickly. All these achievements were only possible due to new technologies.
But there is also what constitutes the true center of Society 5.0: human beings. They are the ones who provide the talent to build the solutions and are also the ultimate beneficiaries of the Innovations.
It is not a utopia: it is a potentially tangible reality that requires a strong commitment and a lot of involvement from governments, the private sector, academia and, of course, individuals. The challenges are enormous: a significant cultural change is still required, given that we have been focused on shorter-term approaches for a long time, but also solving technical issues - such as all those linked to cybersecurity - and regulatory ones - especially those related to sharing information and taking care of data privacy. The race has already started. And the stimulus to reach the goal is nothing less than a better quality of life for each person in this world.
Medium-sized businesses and enterprises seldom have the means to automate and acquire investments for tools to accelerate growth. Growth Stack Inc is one such opportunity provider that helps businesses grow to compete with the players in their field. The company understands that savvy entrepreneurs worldwide are adept at identifying and building new fintech, adtech,
and productivity software. Once these SaaS products have passed the proof-of-concept stage, it’s not uncommon for the product to grow beyond the founders’ core competencies. By infusing capital and adding infrastructure, Growth Stack Inc. can work with the founders and leverage its expertise to quickly accelerate growth. This enables SaaS businesses to realize their full potential while delivering solid returns to investors.
Kevin Petersen, CEO
A Silicon Valley native, Petersen began his career as #13 with staffing industry startup, On Assignment. During his 8-year tenure in a Marketing Director role, sales grew from $7 million to $65 million annually, while the footprint expanded from 10 regional offices to more than 25 offices with international coverage. Petersen stayed through the IPO in 1996 [NYSE: ASGN], while the company continues to operate today in 26 countries at a $4 billion market cap. Upon leaving On Assignment, Petersen leveraged his IPO and marketing experience to launch a consulting service coupled with a trade show marketing agency. His agency’s first client was Fortune 500 company, Kelly Services where he helped to grow brand recognition for its Kelly Scientific Resources unit. He continued consulting for more than 20 years with some emphasis on the finance industry focusing on big data and propensity modeling to support product launches.
Devin is a growth strategist who has worked with over 500 businesses on their growth strategies generating tens of millions of dollars in sales. In addition, he is brilliant at making connections that open doors for strategic partnerships, cobranding initiatives, client relationships and more. As an entrepreneur, Devin has owned an online marketing agency, manufacturing company, co-working space, cat café, and consulting company. His diverse background and large network allow him to solve problems quickly and often in unique ways.
Technology Executive with 20 years of experience in Software development, architecture and people management. Vast experience working with product development companies such as i2 Technologies (now JDA Software – implementing world class supply chain software for companies such as Honda of America, Lockheed Martin, Samsung, Shell and other Fortune 500 companies), Vitech Systems Group (whose V3 software is designed to address the unique needs of insurance, retirement and investment organizations).
His primary focus is on Agile development and delivery using cutting edge technologies and hosting SaaS businesses in AWS cloud. Achieved key several milestones in the world of software development, management, delivery and proven experience in managing technical teams of size 50+.
Aloke is a Partner and Advisor at Growth Stack where Pre- acquisition, he’s involved in sourcing companies and applying a custom Diagnostic model to identify the full value potential of a target asset. Post acquisition, he may take on the role of Interim Chief Revenue officer to build a scalable Go to Market strategy, which can include key hiring, territory and compensation plan mapping, and the building out of sales and customer success playbooks. Aloke’s career has included building and managing direct sales teams and international reseller channels in roles such as VP sales at large public companies such as salesforce.com, and Internet Infrastructure company Tucows, to CRO roles at private companies such as Dominion voting and Private Equity platform Axial.net
Over 30 years’ experience with many different industries across the world. Everything from Aviation, Real Estate, Commodities and Financial. Sales, marketing, brokering deals and negotiations are his forte. Alam has brokered ($500+mm) and created strategic partners and joint ventures as well as initiating Acquisitions for many years and is now a key part of the Growthstack Inc executive team driving our acquisitions division. He has been with Growthstack Inc since October 2020.Based in London UK. Works and travels across Europe, USA, Middle East and the Far East.
Growth Stack Inc’s early investments were in adtech and martech solutions that help customers grow. Today the organization focuses more on productivity tools and platforms that increase speed to market. Many productivity tools will make life much easier, and enterprises can’t go without them, so the team at Growth Stack is focused on the ones that will best increase speed to market. Growth Stack has had a multi-channel and multi-year plan that helped accelerate growth. Many tech founders first focus on relatively easy sales, including social media and automated inbound/ outbound funnels. So they realized that adding podcasts, webinars, and developer Q&A sessions early helps to create deeper connections between customers and the brand.
Growth in IT has been phenomenal as companies continue looking for ways to automate and
As Growth Stack Inc continues to monitor, inquire, research, and view the world as a whole, Mr. Petersen seeks out the best opportunities to broaden the SaaS world and the tech world and find the products with the best impacts for businesses and individuals
improve efficiencies. Cost reductions are not usually the primary driver when companies invest in their IT infrastructure. So, decisionmakers are more often driven by increasing sales and fulfillment speed to their customers. In this regard, Growth Stack Inc. invests in
the sales and productivity tools companies need to optimize.
Growth Stack expects customers to realize the apparent return on investment (ROI). “We once had a customer tell us that they had positive ROI just seven days after subscribing to one
of our software-as-a-service (Saas) platforms and that their early gains paid for their annual subscription with us,” shares Kevin Petersen, CEO of Growth Stack. Another venture that Growth Stack acquired in 2014 generated a 100% return in its first year. Similarly, in 2016 the company grew to USD 100k/MMR in the first 12 months and an eCommerce program that exceeded USD 1.1M in product sales in the first 12 months. “These are the kinds of wins we strive to deliver. We aim to make every endeavor a win-win for our customers and us. We haven’t failed on this motto yet, and for that, we are very proud,” he explains further.
Growth Stack strategically looks for SaaS investments that will deliver returns in the mid to high 20 percent range, and some high-margin SaaS products can do much better than that. “We have been stair-stepping the marketplace for the past eight years and are actively working on our first eight and nine-figure acquisitions,” says Mr. Petersen. The lower middle market is the right place for Growth Stack as the company focuses on accelerating growth for mid-stage companies that are ready to scale. Today Growth Stack has a private market valuation of approximately USD 6.5 million with about 11 million shares outstanding. The Team’s acquisitions in the pipeline will take them beyond USD 100 million pre-market valuations in 2023.
Employee satisfaction is highly correlated with customer satisfaction, and Growth Stack knows it. Everyone on the team is motivated by helping customers succeed and operate more efficiently. The “ah ha” moments drive the
energy and company culture. With employees around the globe, Growth Stack Inc maintain the same beliefs, goals, mission, and thesis, making them the incredible company they are.
Employees at Growth Stack understand that It is important to listen to customers about what is working for them and which new features they want to prioritize in future product releases. “We rely heavily on our customer success team to listen to customer feedback during the onboarding process and document how products can be improved. We work to ensure that Growth Stack Inc. gives exposure to the best privately held tech companies. Growth Stack = 4 years to $5 billion market cap,” explains Mr. Petersen.
Growth Stack has been networking with tech founders worldwide since their launch in 2013. Early on, Mr. Petersen purchased a content site from a woman in Japan. Growth Stack Inc also made its first seven-figure acquisition, a Ukrainian business, and plans to continue acquiring companies and talent from around the globe.
“We are looking at investments that have broader impacts like improving supply chain efficiencies or crowd safety products,” Mr. Petersen says. A number of industries are still long overdue for meaningful tech adoption heading into 2023. As Growth Stack Inc continues to monitor, inquire, research, and view the world as a whole, Mr. Petersen seeks out the best opportunities to broaden the SaaS world and the tech world and find the products with the best impacts for businesses and individuals.
Like many before me and many after me, I inadvertently found myself in the data infrastructure technology industry, a world hidden from our typical educational resources and pathways. It was a new and exciting world that nurtured my growth while powering our world. During my time, I’ve had the opportunity to lead large-scale global technology organizations
via M&A, global expansion, implement new business models, and technology innovation, all the while learning the changing landscape. The great thing about this space is that there is always room for learning and expansion because of its digital nature. Why? Because there is no room to go backwards in the digital world.
Lately, I’ve found myself reflecting more on my path to where I am today. I’m proud to say that I’ve accomplished many things and am lucky
In fact, it is most likely that the average person doesn’t even know what a data center is, much less the entirety of the digital infrastructure industry
NabeelMahmoodisaTechnologist, Futurist, Influencer, and a Keynote Speaker. Nabeel has 25-plus years of experience leading large-scale global technology organizations through seasons of explosive growth via M&A, global expansion, implementing new business models, and technology innovation. His areas of expertise include Big Data, Cloud, ERP, IoT, AI, ML, RPA, Mobility, and Data Centers. Nabeel is a strategic CXO identifying opportunities that are being underpinnedbyemergingtechnologies and is an advisor to CIOs, CTOs and CEOs across a number of industries. Heservesonmultipleboardsofprivate and publicly traded companies.
It is imperative that we start to put down roots and create educational programs that directly address the digital infrastructure industry
to be given a third chance at life. The milestones I’ve achieved in my career would not have been possible without the education and support I received from the people around me. I didn’t get a degree in data centers, or anything remotely related. Still, I can do what I do because of the education; the tribal knowledge so generously imparted to me when I stepped into the industry. I reflect now on those opportunities given to me and feel their calling. They are calling me to take the education I received and make it accessible to as many people as possible. This knowledge that powers the industry lives on through the brilliant minds of its leaders, but there is no formal pathway that is readily available to those that show interest in stepping into the industry. People go to school to become a doctor, a scientist, an accountant, etc., but no one goes to school to become a data center leader. In fact, it is most likely that the average person doesn’t even know what a data center is, much less the entirety of the digital infrastructure industry.
Take the modern-day child. They’re no strangers to video games, the internet, or the next big social media app. In fact, most might even know what a cloud is, but what happens after that? Where does the knowledge of a cloud lead? Do they know that the cloud is housed in a data center, or that our world would cease to operate at an optimal level without a data centre? Their precious video games and TikTok videos would be rendered obsolete. The current answer is most likely not. So how is it that this industry powers the world but is not widely known? A quick search on the internet will show that there are but a few places that offer any kind of education regarding the industry. Though the industry is teeming with talent, full of forward thinkers that strive to continuously improve our digital world, that talent
will soon retire, and we will be faced with the inevitable: a whole gap in a generation where this knowledge will be lost.
It is imperative that we start to put down roots and create educational programs that directly address the digital infrastructure industry. We need to allow the younger generation to understand that this industry is the foundation of the world as we know it. More importantly, this industry is a possible career path for them as they discover their interests. Children are impressionable sponges, constantly soaking up information in front of them, then taking that knowledge learned and creating something spectacular. If we can show them at a young age that their interests and advancements in the digital world are contingent upon the industry that powers it, imagine the incredible leaders just waiting to take charge and lead the world.
By taking the tribal knowledge within the industry and funnelling it into structured educational programs, we’re creating a sustainable ecosystem for the younger generation to carry the torch into the next facet of the digital world. By teaching the younger generation the foundations of what the industry entails, from something as simple as “What is a data center and what does it do?”, the possibilities become endless.
I have started focusing on getting these programs created through my 501c3 nonprofit and working with other organizations with the same goal. Collectively, our resources are more substantial, and our reach is broader. I urge everyone to give back, whether in resources or donations, to organizations dedicated to educating the younger generation. We will define our future as long as we can provide education and exposure to the next generation and the leadership of tomorrow, enabling us to support human development. The future is ours to create.
Some of the major challenges that face businesses today are dealing with the rapid change in pace of new technology advancements and the maturing abilities of companies to leverage data. Organizations led by offices like the traditional
Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) are taking the brunt of the efforts to deal with these challenges. These organizations are having to manage evaluating new technology, facing a rapid acceleration in new product and service launches, dealing with new sales models
The behavioral nuances of leaders will become the silent driver of change when combining cultures that have strong impressions of on another
With over 25 years of experience spanning product commercialization, executive level ITand R&D leadership, and independent consulting, David brings an experienced perspective to many transformation initiatives. A consultant, writer and speaker, David is constantly immersed in programsthatdeepenhisknowledge, experience, and perspective on technology driven transformation. David works closely with resources at all levels and across functions to understand the issues and align the necessary people and functions with appropriate technologies to successfully transform a business.
(transitioning from selling a thing to selling a service), maintaining compliance, ensuring security across a connected environment, and maturing use of legacy and newly available data sources. To address these challenges CIOs and CTOs should consider the complimentary nature of their respective organizations and join forces in areas where there is overlapped responsibility and functional synergy. However, in many companies this idea is a monumental challenge due to the cultural differences inherent in how these
organizations evolved. Joining forces in these areas can help break down barriers. Working towards combining the strengths of both traditional organizations can help companies keep pace in today’s rapidly changing digital world.
Cultural change is always the most challenging aspect of any transformation endeavor. Driving cultural change can be difficult to succeed at because it is a byproduct of executives engaged in leading change. Understanding the reason behind the natural
Working together on standard architectures for both product and IT is a very common need for both organizations and usually requires very specialized people who think in a very abstract way
resistance to change can help executives focus on changing the behaviors of the people and not view the people as the root cause of the problems they are facing.
Information Technology (IT) organizations have evolved from a control and cost out function. They were built around managing outcomes and maintaining consistency within the environment to maximize reliability and minimize costs. They were focused on managing the environment and hired people who manage things very well. Research and Development (R&D) on the other hand was predicated on finding new and innovative ways to address emerging needs in the marketplace. Change and absorption of new innovative ideas and technology was the way to out innovate the competition. These organizations were built with people who thrive on change, the next technological advancement, a new market challenge or disrupting the status quo in the market. As design and engineering
technology progressed the most powerful and expensive IT requests usually came from the R&D organization. If there was any resistance from IT then R&D was fully capable of building IT for themselves, usually in a less controlled way. These organizations were never really forced to work together, like manufacturing and R&D which have similar conflicts but must launch products together.
This diagram represents the reality in many companies today. There exists a great divide between R&D and IT. The organizations can’t effectively work together. They have very different strengths as represented by the wide areas of the triangles. Going forward R&D and IT will be forced closer together due to changes in products being caused by connectivity and data availability.
Changing the impression within each organization of the other is the first step. The behavioral nuances of leaders will become the silent driver of change when combining
cultures that have strong impressions of one another. A visible partnership at the top is paramount to forming a true partnership across both organizations. Creating a quiet forcing function for change starts with leaders visibly modeling the emerging partnership and providing guidance to middle level managers along the way. CTOs and CIOs must get to know each other intimately and join forces visibly to enable change. Separate IT and R&D organizations that refuse to collaborate will impede true digital transformation efforts in established companies.
Finding the best opportunities for breaking down the resistance to working together is important. Setting the expectation for collaboration starts at the highest levels and trickles down throughout the organizational structures. Starting with highly visible areas like strategic planning, funding and oversight can be a way to bring the senior levels of each organization together and allow them to collaborate by working together, sharing resources and budgets. The best minds can be commingled together during strategy offsites, planning sessions, business overviews, think tanks, and the like. Creating opportunities for casual interactions after these sessions can go a long way to breaking down barriers because we all have more in common than we sometimes like to admit. Leaders that are funding key activities together and expecting common results from cross functional teams can be a strong incentive for people to be more open to change.
Adopting a common philosophy and methodology for project and program execution early on is important when merging cultures and expecting positive results. Combining Project and Program offices to create a delivery process and IT
A relatively new opportunity that requires mutual participation is the Internet of Things (IoT). This is an important area to combine forces to determine the best solutions to implement in this early maturity space
platform that encompasses the needs of both groups can remove unnecessary baggage associated with completely separated and uncommon methods. Taking the time to understand the oversight needs of both groups can help managers design a common process with appropriate deliverables for each group. It is important to remove excuses for resisting change, and this is an area that often trips up teams when asked to work together for the first time.
There are some key overlapping areas of responsibility that can be exploited to help encourage partnerships and get early wins. These areas leverage the strengths of each organization and if successful can drive success deeper down into the organization. The following areas are opportunities where resources can be combined to help merge cultures and address specific problems.
As products become less of an island and more part of a connected ecosystem that streams data back to the company protecting the equipment at the edge from intrusion is an area where R&D and IT can innovate together. There are opportunities for implementing security and network technology and evaluating options where both parties have a stake and can be rewarded for providing solutions to a common problem that every company faces in today’s connected world.
Maintaining compliance and meeting regulatory obligations is becoming more challenging as access to, and storage of, information becomes more sophisticated from a process and technology perspective. Both organizations share this responsibility alongside the compliance and quality arms of the company and can join forces on projects that originate from addressing audit findings together.
Evaluating new technology coming from the marketplace has become a major challenge due to the pace of new advancements. Dealing with the rapid pace of technology change is an issue for both groups. IT has been transitioned from on premises to cloud, computing capacity has become almost infinitely scalable, and access to data is unprecedented. For R&D software development has evolved, products are connected and constantly being transformed. There are so many tools and opportunities that exist today that were almost unimaginable years ago. These rapid changes have caused inside of many established companies a mountain of technical debt as new innovations replace legacy approaches. Teaming on technology evaluations, sharing research services, discussing trends, prototyping together, and cleaning up technical debt can become the foundation to developing an innovative and collaborative culture that solves real world problems.
Products are constantly changing. The pace of change is accelerating. Today “things” are connected and can evolve over time. They can be offered as a service. Products may be the basis for collecting data and providing new data-based functionality. They can call home for help and be repaired remotely. Organizations must be agile and maintain control during an unprecedented time of revolutionary innovation. Built into these challenges is a monumental opportunity for collaboration. The scope here is large, and teams can address together everything from how connectivity augments products and services, investigate new opportunities to analyze data, evaluate novel service
approaches, or provide new interfaces to enable better experiences internally and externally.
Capitalizing on and being successful in these overlapping areas of responsibility can truly change the impression of people that in the past have naturally been at odds. Rewarding success in public can encourage more collaboration and integration helping to collapse the barriers that exist deep within these organizations.
In addition to overlapping areas of responsibility there are many technical functional areas where the organizations can interact with one another. These additional areas can be leveraged to transfer knowledge between organizations or allow individuals from one organization to work within the other and gain a new perspective. Leveraging these opportunities can comingle the best and the brightest minds and help the company become more innovative.
Working together on standard architectures for both product and IT is a very common need for both organizations and usually requires very specialized people who think in a very abstract way. Developing and maintaining standard architectures are important for maintaining business effectiveness, security, and compliance as well as for producing high quality products and services. A well architected infrastructure for enabling connectivity and harnessing new data would be a success for both organizations as one example. There are many opportunities to work through processes, tools, and infrastructure options together to analyze the best possible solutions. Success in this area can drive alignment across both functions.
A relatively new opportunity that requires mutual participation is the Internet of Things (IoT). This is an important area to combine forces to determine the best solutions to implement in this early maturity space. Collaboration and agreement on which platforms are best suited for the company and determining what data sets to capture should involve both parties. Working together can lead to standardization in this key area and deliver a platform that is secure and scalable. This platform will become the foundation for many digital transformation activities like selling services, collecting data, evolving product features, providing insights, maintaining security, and updating software. It will enable the company to address many digital challenges rapidly. It also enables within engineering the ability to understand product performance in the field by truly closing the design loop with use data. Businesses like service can benefit from increased exposure to information to become more proactive and efficient when servicing their customers. These are just a few examples of what benefits a collaborative effort in this space can bring to the business. It could be a big win for both organizations.
Internal process improvement projects can also provide an opportunity to work closely together and for people to better understand how the respective organizations work. Senior Executives have the challenge of having to deliver new products and services more rapidly as the marketplace accelerates. Working to streamline the product delivery process lifecycle from concept to customer can benefit the company in measurable ways
and allow IT to help enable R&D speed. Working on processes and IT automation systems in the areas of Application Lifecycle Management, Low Code Development, Product Lifecycle Management and Quality Management together can provide opportunities for IT and R&D to make large contributions to the companies’ ability to be agile, fast, and controlled. It will surely bring R&D to the table.
As these efforts begin to succeed, the divide between the organizations will close. Leveraging the strength of both organizations will enable better evaluation and assimilation of new technologies, continuously improve internal systems, drive better internal and
external architectures, and speed up the release of new products and services to the marketplace.
As the thinking matures about the current wave of technological change, IT and R&D functions will become more attached than ever before in history. Progressive and forward-looking executives must play a key role in a company’s digital transformation by engaging their respective organizations and creating the collaborative environment that will be necessary for success. Allowing these organizations to behave as separated or as competitive entities will hamper a company’s ability to transform into a more agile digitally mature player in the marketplace.
improvement projects can provide an opportunity to work closely together and for people to better understand how the respective organizations work
The labour market has always been subject to change, but probably never at such a pace as it is today. Since the Covid pandemic, we have known that maximum flexibility is required from both employers and employees. Home office and location-independent work offer
new opportunities that those involved, both companies and employees, have to face.
What defines the employee of the future?
Five criteria:
Fixed working hours are gradually being made more flexible. The job has to be done,
Fixed working hours are gradually being made more flexible. The job has to be done, the when is up to the agreement between employer and employee
Charlotte de Brabandt is a world-renowned Technology and Negotiation Keynote Speaker & Host with ample global industry experience in the field of automotive, timepieces, technology, pharma, consumer goods and medical devices. She is a published author, TEDX speaker, ISM 30 under 30-Megawatt Winner and a key member of the (ISM®) Thought Leadership Council. She is an expert in the field of retaining and motivating generations in the work force, furthermore the future of leadership. She talks about the fundamentals to thriving and succeeding in the new technologicallyadvancedworldaround us by becoming conscious, having clarity, understanding how to properly communicate and surrounding yourself with the right community.
the when is up to the agreement between employer and employee. The employee of the future prepares for this possibility, has a workplace and the appropriate equipment where he wants to work. This is of course only possible to a limited extent in production plants.
The fax is dead - or should be. E-mail also belongs in the museum. New communication channels via modern telephony, simultaneous chats and video talks enable individual exchange without delay in real time.
Knowledge is important, but worthless without constant learning. Many areas of the working world are changing explosively these days. The future-oriented employee is willing to continue his education and to pass on his knowledge to colleagues. The management of existing and learned knowledge is more important than ever.
Patriarchal structures with the domineering boss are outdated or will be outdated. Communication
Knowledge is important, but worthless without constant learning. Many areas of the working world are changing explosively these days
at eye level and employees as colleagues and not as competitors characterize the workforce of the future. The employee of the future is part of it.
The modern ways of acquiring knowledge create opportunities for career starters from outside the industry. The employee of the future can familiarize himself with his work area and knows where to get information if he needs professional help. The bottom line is that this enables a broad range of specialist knowledge, which basically opens up all professional opportunities for every employee.
The classic job advertisement with an enormous wastage will only have its place in unskilled jobs. The new media of the digital age with the numerous work-specific search models dominate the search for employees. This is supported by the direct approach, where the potential new employee can be recruited directly.
The Covid pandemic has shown it: in entire professions, such as gastronomy, employees have left and changed their job. This lack of employees can only be remedied by suitable framework conditions because these employees are still there. Without active initiative on the part of companies, staff shortages can occur, but companies have the power to prevent this.
With these challenges come new opportunities of technologies to support the staff shortage.
Clearly, the Metaverse will have, and is already having, a major impact on the labour market. But in which area and to what extent is not so easy to answer.
The Metaversum opened up great growth opportunities for staff in retail, the consumer goods industry through new business areas and marketing channels that enable innovative brand experiences for customers and interested parties.
The corona pandemic has significantly intensified this development towards digital worlds and projects.
The first target groups are users who grew up with gaming and e-commerce and react enthusiastically to new technological developments. But the other age groups also represent an exciting market.
The employee of the future who is ready to face new challenges knows his worth. These employees are not on every corner. The more commitment a workspace requires, the more effort companies will have to make to provide a comfortable environment with acceptable offerings. Payment is just one of several criteria. Respect, appreciation, and the best possible participation in company decisions for the employees are further criteria. The modern company that can offer such a positive and future-oriented environment will also be able to get committed employees.
Ultimately, however, politics must also change old-fashioned labour market laws and adapt to the changes of the new age. Oldfashioned laws damage the future viability of German companies.
What are the 4 key pillars to ensure success in implementing digital transformation in an organization?
What is the most difficult part of the digital transformation journey?
For the last couple of years, digital transformation has been the main topic in all technology or industrial forums and events.
However, no one made a clear definition of digital transformation meaning and what its recipe of success. I led the IT in different industries and organizations, including the United Nations, Lafarge, GB Auto and finally in ADES Arabia holdings. Despite the clear differences between each organization either from its objectives or its business processes,
Despite how mature the organization is or how successful in its field, if culture change is not managed properly, this could be very harmful to the transformation success
Eng. Wissam Al Adany is the Group Chief Information Officer of ADES Arabia Holding, one of the PIF investments. He has 27 years of rich and extensive experience in digital transformation within multinational organizations, including over 4 years of international tenure in Brazil & Kazakhstan. Eng. Al Adany has a solid background in building IT strategies and transforming IT into a business enabler.
Prior to ADES Arabia Holding, Eng. Al Adany was the Regional Chief Information Officer of the United Nations for MENA, Eastern Europe and Central Asia CIO of GB Auto, and a Country IT Director for Lafarge.
In2022,hereceivedtheworld’sCIO200 award as a legend CIO in Africa and selected as the best CIO of Automotive in MENA by the Global CIO Forum. Also, he had the “CIO of the Year” award from IDC in 2021 & 2020.
In an exclusive interview with Digital First Magazine, Mr. Wissam Al Adany revealsthe4keypillarsbehindsuccessful implementation of digital transformation, whatmakesADESArabiaHoldingunique, hisprofessionaljourney,successmantra, andalotmore.Followingaretheexcerpts from his interview.
digital transformation had the same meaning to me, it is all about using technology tools/ innovations to transform the business from the traditional model to a new digital model by introducing new digital revenue streams, cost reductions or a better customer experience.
The second important point is that digital transformation is not an IT project. It is a business transformation using digital solutions and tools, which means every business unit should be part of it, and it includes a massive culture change.
The third and most important fact about digital transformation is that it is a journey, not a project. It means it is a direction that the corporate decides to take and must finish to gain the benefits.
After understanding the digital transformation concept, there are four main pillars that ensure having a successful transformation. The first pillar is having a clear Digital Strategy that matches the business strategy and corporate objectives. For example, if the business strategy is about doubling the growth rate in 2 years, the digital strategy should be providing digital solutions that provide new digital revenue streams or providing a better customer experience to increase returning customers.
The second pillar is managing the culture change properly. This pillar needs a complete engagement from all management starting from the corporate CEO at the top and moving down to cover all management and middle management team. They need to clearly understand the objective of the transformation and they must embrace it and take ownership of all transformations taking place in their business units.
The third pillar is having a clear transformation plan. This plan should be designed in a way that matches the corporate’s ability to digest the change, its investment capability, and shows the way to measure each project success and its post implementation KPIs.
Finally, the most important pillar is having the right team who can implement the plan. This team could be internal or subcontracted based on the corporate model, but it is very important to hire the right caliber not only from the technical perspective, but from the discipline and attitude perspectives as well. Team is everything, having the proper team can help mitigating plenty of risks and be ready to handle any sudden plan changes.
Having all these pillars ready can save you plenty of challenges and
minimizes risks, but still, we must admit that digital transformation is one of the most challenging journeys in an organization’s life. Some of the challenges that frequently faced is culture change. Despite how mature the organization is or how successful in its field, if culture change is not managed properly, this could be very harmful to the transformation success.
In the World CIO Summit, you shed light on the topic ‘Digital Transformation impact on Business Growth & Customers Satisfaction’. Can you brief us about it?
In the old days, the highest IT maturity level in any organization was to be a business enabler. Reaching this level means that this corporate has an
A CIO should be thinking as a businessperson, which means he/she should always be business driven not technology driven
Information Technology team who is ready to support the business growth, and future business plans. In modern corporates, technology has become a core business function. It means corporate can use technology solutions to generate new revenue streams or even build a new business line that never exists in the corporate. It depends on the Digital strategy objectives and to which level it matched the business strategy.
For example, while being a Regional CIO for the UN, World Food Program, we have provided different solutions to enhance our customers experience, people who needs food and support, like providing them with a digital card secured by blockchain to provide them with the money support then need remotely and securely. While in GB Auto, we have provided a new consumer finance business line by developing a BNPL system.
Please tell us about yourself and your background. How did you get into the digital transformation space? When I look back, I feel surprised being an engineer today. This was not part of my future plans. Since I was a kid, I always dreamed of being a famous neurosurgeon. But at the last minute while selecting my major, I decided to go for the engineering field. I still do not know why I did it, and how, but today I feel that it was one of the best decisions I made in my life.
Then, I graduated from the faculty of engineering as a communications and electronics engineer. After 4 years of working in the IT field, I decided to move forward in my academic career to enrich the areas of weakness I had as an engineer. So, I had my MBA, major Finance from the American university. Currently, I am working on my
Lafarge, United Nations. I believe it is all about dedication, hard work and loving what you do.
What sets ADES Arabia Holding apart from other market competitors?
There are many aspects for any organization to be successful in its field. It starts by having a clear management vision about where this corporate is heading and how it will reach there. Also, the passion about achieving this vision, which you can feel when you meet with the management. In addition, having a qualified management team who is capable of implementing this model. In ADES Arabia Holding all these aspects were there. This was the main differentiator between ADES Holding Arabia and its competitors. This what made ADES moved from an Egyptian drilling company to the world’s largest offshore drilling company and getting the trust of ARAMCO to be its main drilling partner.
What parameters should the new CIOs’ keep in mind while defining the right strategy and time to implement new technologies?
Doctor of Business Administration, which I believe is an essential step in my managerial career. Regarding my professional career, I had a clear plan and objectives in front of my eyes. I worked all the time to achieve it, and I did. I worked for all corporates I dreamed of being part of it, like GlaxoSmithkline,
A CIO should be thinking as a businessperson, which means he/she should always be business driven not technology driven. Their main objectives is how to use technology to solve business problems, support the employees doing their job in a better way and enhance customers satisfaction. He/She should be the main person in the organization who can speak two languages: business & technology. Accordingly, he is the main person responsible of transforming the business strategy into a successful digital strategy.
People are different and each one has his own recipe of success that fits his capabilities; however, I believe that any person who would like to be successful he/she has to have two important things: A dream to achieve and the passion to achieve it
You have been a recipient of numerous awards and accolades over the years. Out of them, which achievement is special to you and why?
Each award I received was very special to me. The award is about recognition and appreciation, which are the most amazing rewards you can get after completing your work. However, the one closest to my heart is the first time selected as the CIO of the Year by IDC, for many reasons. First, many of the top talented CIOs were competing for it, and it was an honor being selected as the
best among them. On the other hand, it was announced the same day of my birthday, so it was an amazing birthday gift.
A business transformation expert, two times recipient of ‘CIO of the Year’ award, ranked amongst ‘Top CIOs in the MENA’ region, and a keynote speaker: a successful career journey of almost 3 decades. Can you please share the secret sauce of your success with our readers?
People are different and each one has his own recipe of success that fits his capabilities; however, I believe that any person who would like to be successful he/she has to have two important things: A dream to achieve and the passion to achieve it.
Being a dad, what is the one quality you would like your children to inculcate from you and why?
Faith, I always tell my daughters to have faith in their capabilities, to have faith in their dreams. We exist in this world to make a difference, and success is about the difference we make in others’ lives. We should not be competing with each other; we should be helping each other to reach a bigger goal, make an impactful change and a better world. One piece of advice you would like to give to the budding digital transformation consultants.
If I have the privilege to give an advice to my colleagues, I will remind all us that we are lucky to be part of the new era of the technological revolution. It is our golden chance to change the world in all aspects and in all fields.
We exist in this world to make a difference, and success is about the difference we make in others’ lives
