The 30 Most Influential Business Leaders in Tech 2019

Vol. 07 Issue. 08 2019

The 30 Most Inuential

Business Leaders in Tech 2019 The Art of Leading Attributes of a Good Leader

Imparting Wisdom Successful Personality Traits to Learn from Elon Musk

Industry Lessons Role of Laboratory Information Management System in Manufacturing Sectors

Steve Dertien An Impeccable Tech-Savvy Pro in the Digital World

E Fostering the Integration of Technology & Business

B

usiness leaders understand business & IT-oriented leaders understand technology, perhaps, this misconception has been misguiding the contemporary world. But this is no longer the case. The lines are now blurred between business & technology, which implies that cannot exist without the other. In the current scenario of the corporate world, technology is the core to the business strategy, as it touches all parts of a business and helps drive reachability and promote differentiation amongst competitors.

A perfect balanced integration of technology in businesses, helps and promotes the brand to reach out to more customers steadily. Irrespective of the size of an organization, technology always has had important effects on business operations. With every passing decade it becomes quite important for every organization to cope up with the customers’ increasing demands. Technology has both tangible and intangible benefits which helps to produce more efficient outcomes. Innovative tech implementations or infrastructure not only boost the efficiency but also affirmatively effects on the relationships in business sphere.

Through a quote— “Our industry does not respect tradition-it only respects innovation,” Satya Nadella, CEO of a tech-giant Microsoft exemplifies, IT or software sector prefer appreciating innovation rather than tradition. This ideology should be accepted by every industry as technology has always proved to be a boon than a bane. Many business leaders are striving to achieve such advanced composition of technology-based businesses to develop more stable business infrastructure.

In this special edition of July, “The 30 Most Influential Business leaders in Tech 2019,” Insights Success appreciates such impeccable leaders and feels pride to feature them in this issue. These leaders have portrayed remarkable

“

The excellence of innovation is beautifully portrayed,

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when even a round peg fits into a square hole.

Bhushan Ghate

leadership in theirs’ respective fields. Filled with overarching enthusiasm towards technology, these leaders paved a way for their organizations en route to success.

Experience polishes one’s natural born skills, and true leaders continuously evolve and improve not only the businesses in which they operate but their own careers as well. Here is the cover of the edition presenting one such avid leader, Steve Dertien, a Division Vice President for PTC’s office of the CTO. He is the man behind creating and evangelizing PTC’s technology strategy and advising customers on how to best deploy PTC’s solutions against the backdrop of increasing demand, globalization, IT infrastructure, security, scalability, and performance.

Let’s unveil such alike, inspiring interviews and stories of many such significant women business leaders in this special edition and spread a word about their contribution in making this world a better place. Also, flip through the CXO standpoints presented by some of the leading industry experts to taste the glimpse of industrial revolutions.

Enjoy the read…

10 Cover Story STEVE DERTIEN: An Impeccable Tech-Savvy .Professional in the Digital World

Articles 24

38

50

The Art of Leading

Imparting Wisdom

Industry Lessons

Attributes of a Good Leader

Successful Personality Traits to Learn from Elon Musk

Role of Laboratory Information Management System in Manufacturing Sectors

32

56

Tech-Know Insights

Incentives Solutions

What a tech CEO can teach your business about digital

Rethinking the Products of Today for a Better Tomorrow

CONTENTS 18 AimĂŠe Madden: Tackling the Healthcare Workforce Crisis

20 Daphna Nissenbaum: Disruptive Leader for a Good Cause

26 Hriday Ravindranath: Using Technology Innovation as a Tool for Business Transformation

28 Leticia Latino van-Splunteren: Leading by Example

36 Marc Rippen: A Visionary on the Verge to Create a Difference‌

42 Nicolas Genest: Success through Teaching and Empowerment

44 Paul Ford: A Decisive Leader in Financial Services Industry

48 Rocelo Lopes: Expert in Crypto-Currency and Blockchain Technologies

54 Sara Brown: A Keen Marketing Leader

56 Srinivas Kilambi: Expertise Leader in the Digital World

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Executive Editor Kaustav Roy

Managing Editor Anish Miller

Assistant Editors Jenny Fernandes Bhushan Ghate

Visualizer

Art & Design Director

Associate Designer

David King

Amol Kamble

Iresh Mathapati

Senior Sales Manager Co-designer

Co-designer Shweta Ambilwade

Business Development Manager

Kshitij S

Peter Collins

Marketing Manager

Sales Executives

John Matthew

David, Kevin, Mark

Technical Head

Business Development Executives

Jacob Smile

Steve, Joe, Alan, Vishal

Technical Specialist Aditya

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza

SME-SMO Executive Prashant Chevale

Research Analyst Calvin Jones

Database Management Stella Andrew

Circulation Manager Robert Brown

Technology Consultant David Stokes

sales@insightssuccess.com July, 2019 Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

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Cover Story

Steve Dertien Division Vice President

PTC

STEVE DERTIEN An Impeccable Tech-Savvy Pro in the Digital World

E

xperience polishes one’s natural born skills, and true leaders con nuously evolve and improve not only the businesses in which they operate but their own careers as well. One such leader is Steve Der en, a Division Vice President for PTC’s office of the CTO. He is the man behind crea ng and evangelizing PTC’s technology strategy and advising customers on how to best

deploy PTC’s solu ons against the backdrop of increasing demand, globaliza on, IT infrastructure, security, scalability, and performance.

He joined the organiza on in 2000, and since then has elevated his career from a solu on architect to the chief architect in this world-class company with a market cap exceeding $10 billion USD.

and Steve is central to those discussions.

Steve also founded the PTC Reality Lab, a research and innova on lab at PTC that focuses on exploring and developing technologies that support the convergence of the physical and digital worlds, a concept key to PTC’s vision and represented in the company’s logo. The PTC Reality Lab, built in the spirit and likeness of the MIT Media Lab, researches the new, the uncharted, the world’s next technologies that enable the future of industrial innova on.

“

Be Bold, Ambitious &

Driven in your pursuits.

During the course of his career at PTC, Der en has led projects around customer implementa ons, product quality, compe ve analysis, and research and development. Witnessing Steve’s success in each area, a brilliant mind, and a commitment to excellence, PTC’s CEO Jim Heppelmann promoted Der en to lead the Office of the CTO in 2018.

Technology with Value; Research with Promise PTC’s product por olio consists of its market leading CAD and PLM solu ons and newer high-growth offerings in IoT and Augmented Reality (AR). The company counts over 35,000 customers using its solu ons. PTC is constantly priori zing and balancing investments, innova ons, solu ons, features, industries, and geographies –

Steve approaches the challenges of his posi on with though ulness and wisdom, yet intrinsically understands the need for speed and flexibility. "Not to sound too cliché, but good leaders can bring agility into what may seemingly be an impossible set of constraints or organiza onal challenges and guide the organiza on through those challenges," says Steve.

Learning Never Stops Steve believes that one must always be learning. He suggests an individual should observe what trends are forming in direct, adjacent, or macro environments. Personally, he consumes both technical and business news in myriad forms, as well as embraces one or two personal research projects a quarter to keep his awareness sharp. He also reviews the trends – business, financial/economic, technical, opera onal, and more – that are impac ng other industry ver cals and peer groups. Steve exemplifies the true professional by guiding, mentoring, and nurturing his team members so that they thrive, and innovate, and help take the company to its next growth level.

Steve in LWX19 Keynote

He is excited to be leading a team that is focused on the world’s latest technology, such as augmented reality, the internet of things, addi ve manufacturing, ar ficial intelligence, and GPU-based compu ng. He is also thrilled to be driving the renaissance in

CAD technology. Steve feels that there’s an incredible intersec on of technologies that are coming together in amazing new ways that will help shape the future ways that people work and the products that they deliver and service.

An Advice for New Buds Steve suggests new employees must confidently advocate for transforma onal ini a ves in their respec ve organiza ons. "Be bold, ambi ous and driven in your pursuits,"

“ Build innovative solutions that connect and transform the way customers engineer, manufacture, operate and service their products / processes.

says Steve. He also states that every ďŹ rst-mover technology advantage has a far shorter life today than it did a decade ago. It goes without ques on that having customers engaged in the work that one is involved with validates and bolsters the value drivers

and the outcomes to which a market leading company should aspire.

On a personal level, Steve is ac vely involved with STEM programs, and his own kids are also engaged. And professionally, he looks forward to

expanding his experience beyond technology in both opera onal and ďŹ nancial processes.

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Nicolas Genest Success through Teaching and Empowerment

A

s technological innovation evolves at an accelerated pace, yet many are striving to attain skillful traits to function and contribute to society to their full potential. It is increasingly true with computer programing and data interpretation.

Nicolas Genest, Founder and CEO of CodeBoxx, inherently understands this difficulty and went on to propose a solution to the problems posed by the changing human labor landscape.

Through his venture CodeBoxx, he teaches individuals with many diverse backgrounds, the tools and practices to become first-class developers and he offers them opportunities to gain significant experience through series of projects. By collaborating with many start-ups, Nicolas and his team help aspirants with potential find the right position within their elite circle of renowned enterprises.

With a keen early interest in technology, he graduated in Technology Management in 1999. His journey started in Quebec City, Canada where he embraced the early days of emerging Business Intelligence with a startup of his own. Later he added a Business and Public Administration degree in 2009 to the resume. His career so far took him to Paris, New York and San Francisco.

Audiences to Target In an interview, Nicolas states that the company adapted its training programs so they become a suitable alternative for three main groups of people:

18 |July 2019

Dropouts of traditional school system: Many college/school dropouts are not compatible with the pace and approach of the classical school system yet they undeniably possess a certain potential, which could contribute significantly to volatile technological trends. The gap in the skills of today’s workforce forces big corporations alongside small startups to show greater pragmatism in their search for valuable and capable collaborators. CodeBoxx has become a reliable alternative source for quality profiles in technology, some of them coming with a less educated background.

Immigrants: Immigrants are the important contributors to local workforces and many aspire to improve their conditions. CodeBoxx is a four-month boot camp enabling such individuals to get a shot at a better job without taking on too much risk. The supportive nature of the program in the way it is delivered and the design of a truly result-oriented classroom enables focus and productivity through which immigrants learn how to fit in, how to build and leverage a network of peers but, most of all, how to stand out on the modern technology stage.

CodeBoxx has already changed the lives of many immigrants in the Quebec City region.

People re-orienting their career: The Fast-paced nature of the Boot Camp lowers the barrier to entry and enables experienced individuals to find modern ways to learn new skills. Some are seeking ways to grow faster in their

existing job by offering their employer new capabilities they can build on, some others have an idea in mind and lack the tools to make it a reality in a digitally native era. In all cases, CodeBoxx enabled many adults to reconnect with a continuous learning mindset and they fill their head with new valuable sources of information that will benefit them for the rest of their career. Many got new jobs right out of the program.

Portraying the Role of Forerunner Nicolas claims that, at start, he lacked entrepreneurial talents but he believes that an entrepreneurial zeal emerges when one finds a calling. He also believes that responding to such callings and making them a cause moving forward is an accomplishment in itself. Looking back on this successful three-time CTO experience, he strongly feels like he needed to experience the weaknesses and opportunities of the technology landscape in order for him to understand how to reshape human capital. He is now committed to doing the hard things as he changes the course of one individual at a time. He exemplifies the above statement by quoting, “The way it is meant to be”.

To tackle various situations, Nicolas advices that one needs to surround oneself with the right people. An efficient leader must promptly identify the character traits that people possess which will make them fit for a certain context or task at a given moment of the lifecycle of a business endeavor. www.insightssuccess.com

A Walk of Self-Evolution Nicolas always tried throughout his career to remain on a constant learning process and currently, he is pursuing a Business Analytics Course with Harvard Business School.

He also mentioned that he completed his Business and Public Administration degree while serving a full time job at Microsoft. Another way of staying up-to-date on trends has been through a weekly collaboration on a popular podcast where he shares his thoughts on technology.

Thursdays come back often and the steady sustained rhythm forces him to stay tuned to new services, new players and new products of his landscape.

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I will never join an endeavor that doesn’t trigger passion within me because I know that passion is meant to fuel my quest for a greater impact over the world.

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Moreover, a leader needs to put him or her in a position where he/she can trust by default. In other words, clearly state the definition of success and reinforce that statement with the pillars of a culture that will empower everyone to aim for the company’s current, mid-term and longer-term goals.

“What makes you a good overall executor is a general awareness of what is going on everywhere within your company coupled with a general awareness of what the best and greatest do to solve the problems you are likely to face” says Nicolas.

This awareness puts him in a position where he can always be helpful by highlighting what matters, making relevant suggestions and save a tremendous amount of time by putting people in charge on the right path right away.

A Glimpse into the Future of CodeBoxx In the near future, Nicolas states that he wants to secure the growth and footprint of CodeBoxx Technology by allowing a greater number of people to simultaneously seize the opportunity to start a career in technology and introduce the best graduates to a growing number of pragmatic partners and companies.

He also suggested that CodeBoxx Ventures was also an important part of the endeavor for him because this branch of the company incubates and helps jump-start ideas, which might become the unicorns of the next decade. CodeBoxx could also contribute to bringing back some balance to a developer community that has become excessively elitist to Nicolas’ taste and too much aware of its influence. He has witnessed many times situations where, for the sake of attaining technical purity, many entrepreneurs saw their companies high jacked by technologists losing sight of what the company was in it for. Through CodeBoxx, Nicolas aspires to bring balance to such phenomenon.

www.insightssuccess.com

Nicolas Genest Chief Executive Ofcer

July 2019| 19

Aimée Madden Tackling the Healthcare Workforce Crisis

G

reat leaders have a knack of using technology and resources to address fundamental challenges within industries. One such business leader in technology entrepreneur is Aimée Madden Founder and CEO of CliniShift.com, who shares her journey in and contribution to the global healthcare industry.

Below are the highlights from our recent interview with Aimée Madden:

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Always ask yourself, how can we make our solution even better, and always keep in touch with a client even if they say no to you today, someday it will be a yes.

Kindly elaborate on your journey in becoming the business leader.

There has always been a big focus and passion for healthcare in my family.

My father is a physician and has always encouraged me to challenge the status quo and learn how to be more creative in my thinking.

After many years as a healthcare leader impacted by the healthcare workforce crisis, I decided in 2015 that I was going to address the problem head-on and set about developing an innovative technology solution - one which would drive transformational change. CliniShift.com was born and we remain determined and focused on disrupting the global healthcare industry through technology.

How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to appeal the target audience?

When designing the CliniShift technology platform I was acutely aware that the healthcare world needed something innovative, agile, and seamless to introduce and imbed into the organization. These factors really influenced how we designing the system. The industry was and still is awash with clunky, complex and confusing software with which staff does not fully engage. My aim was to differentiate our solution in the marketplace, through ease of use, using modern coding and language conventions so that clinical staff would enjoy interacting with our mobile applications, with practically no user training, in a similar fashion to popular social media applications CliniShift technology was designed as a bolt on solution to a health facility’s permanent roster or scheduler. We are very focused in what we provide as an organization that makes us very effective and successful at what we offer our clients. In other words, we are not all things to all

20 |July 2019

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people. We know the pain points of workforce management and the limitations of communication mechanisms between staff and management across the healthcare environment (hospitals, community and social care) and our technology is able to leverage this to our advantage. We really worked hard early on to get our most valuable product out to friendly clients so that we could get early adopters and further develop our platform in support of their challenges and requirements.

In particular, we wanted to set the standard and become the market leader in contingency/bank shift management. Our high compliance, market leading conversion rate and technology focus strongly differentiates us from the competition. Furthermore, we are unique in our bespoke approach to our clients supporting our customers effectively through the challenging change management process to ensure early momentum, true transformational change and excellent return on investment.

What attributes are required to compete and sustain against cutting-edge competition?

As Founder and CEO I have a clear vision for the direction of the organization, which I discuss and communicate with our board, senior management team and staff. I learned early in my career that ambiguity does not support effective execution or facilitate staff empowerment. Furthermore, I would add that hiring good experienced people enabling you to build collective capability is always a good strategic decision. great, experienced and empowered people will give you extra space which will help you to achieve your goals a lot faster than thinking you can do it all as a leader.

What are your thoughts on the role of a leader with regard to achieving success?

As a leader of a tech company you must always be aware of your competitors, forge relationships with them but here’s the key point, never allow yourself or your team be distracted or discouraged by them. If you are confident that you have a strong tech solution with a good track record of delivering high quality projects and services to clients then stay focused on that. In business there are often more bad days than good ones, so grow a thick skin and try to remain as non-emotive about your business and clients in order to stay ahead of the curve and celebrate achievements with the team.

Aimée Madden Founder & CEO

contact building but also in researching the market and identifying future trends so that we can further enhance our technology to effectively support our clients.

What will be your future endeavors and/or where do you see yourself in the near future?

Over the next two years we have a well-defined global strategy for CliniShift, which includes further developing and growing our platform across the North American, European and Asian markets. We are constantly adding new features and developing new products in supporting our loyal clients. I am a strong advocate of continued personal development; I am currently completing my PhD in Healthcare Public Policy at the Nursing School, Trinity College Dublin. This will assist me to further contribute to the academic work that has been done to date and support the development of a more stable, sustainable and affordable healthcare ecosystem for the future.

How do you upgrade yourself with volatile technological trends to boost your personal growth?

I am a believer in attending as many industry relevant conferences and trade shows as possible. These events have always been effective for me, not only for networking and

www.insightssuccess.com

July 2019| 21

Attributes of a Good

Leader

24 |July 2019

www.insightssuccess.com

The Art of Leading

L

eadership is about using the power of a position to empower a group of people in order to attain a common goal. A leader’s task is to implement the plans that usually look good on paper, through a delegated team, in a specific time with an ongoing motion. She/he may use the traditional method or may think out of the box. It depends on the leader as how to do it; the ultimate motive is to get the job done.

Although, each and every individual has a different approach on leadership, some might say it is about setting examples, some might say it is about sharing the authority; what matters is, taking the right decision when it is most needed.

Leadership varies from one organization to another. An organization is a dynamic body and creates new probabilities every now and then. And with new probabilities, come new challenges.

Although, it is impossible to overcome every challenge, the business environment has adopted certain leadership styles for the efficiency of business: The Participative Leader Participative Leadership is the process of sharing authority with the work force in order to get optimum efficiency. The team, after getting access to certain powers, works responsibly to accomplish the goals set by its leader. The shared leadership also helps in case of any requirement of change, as the employees adapt quickly in such environment.

Incidentally, this style of leadership fits best in a scenario when there is a limitation of time.

The Transformational Leader A transformational leader inspires the team through effective communication and an intellectual environment.

However, these individuals require

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more detail oriented managers to successfully implement their strategies.

Transformational Leadership is considered among the most effective employees of the organization. One of the examples of this type of leadership is when a leader is assigned on a higher level for effective environment.

The Transactional leader The transactional leadership, as the name suggests, enables the leader to incentivize the team corresponding to their performance. The team gets rewarded when it attains the goals and the Leader has the power to review the results and act accordingly when the team fails to do the same. The goals and the strategy to attain them are decided by the leader and the team itself.

The Situational leader Situational leadership is a theory that the best leader will adapt to the required leadership style according to need of the hour. A Situational leader may adopt democratic style while discussion business with senior executive, but may switch to transactional at the time of team review. However every individual has a natural style of leadership and it may be difficult to switch roles at a certain point of time.

Qualities of a good leader There is an old proverb that says, “Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man to Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime.” So is the case with leadership. One of the basic qualities of a Leader is to pass on the leadership skills.

Following are some of the qualities of a good leader:

communication grows. Especially, when it comes to leadership, there is no scope for lack of communication. A Leader who fails to develop this skill is looked up as incompetent, because it is his job to send the message loud and clear. Although, it is also important to listen as it is an integral part of communication.

Integrity C.S. Lewis said, “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Be it giving credit to one of the team members or be it admitting a mistake, a leader wears integrity as a badge of honor. They do what is right, no matter what. Ÿ

Empowerment As mentioned earlier, Leadership is about using the power of one’s position to empower a group of people in order to attain a common goal. A good leader shares his authority with the team in order to get the job done. By doing this, he shows confidence in the team and obliged by the gesture, the team works with full enthusiasm to accomplish the goal. Ÿ

Decision making There is risk in decision to making.

Great leaders take great decisions when the stake is high and it is the success of those decisions that make them great. To add up, a good leader takes right decision at the right time.

In conclusion, a good leader can be defined by the dynamics of his style in leadership, the values that he brings to the organization, the methods he uses to make the best of the resources, and the kind of decision he makes in the given situations. At the end it is about the attitude of an individual to bring the change for good. Ÿ

Communication Skills Communication is the basic requirement for efficiency in a business. As the level of hierarchy elevates, the requirement of Ÿ

July 2019| 25

Rocelo Lopes Expert in Crypto-Currency and Blockchain Technologies

I

n an Interview with Insights Success, Rocelo Lopes, CEO of Stratum Blockchain Tech, shares his journey and his contribution in the Crypto-Currency and Blockchain Technologies. He is innovative and pioneering in the development of technologies using cryptography. He is responsible for the development of Bitcoin’s first vertical operation in Latin America, which ranges from mining to solutions for the end user. Rocelo Lopes has cryptography in his DNA. Below are the highlights of the interview between Rocelo Lopes and Insights Success.

Kindly elaborate on your journey in becoming the business leader.

My journey started when I was very young, a little boy actually. My family came from a poor region in the northwest of Brazil, and when I was a kid, we moved to São Paulo, looking for opportunities. Since then, I always liked to study and to discover new things. My father, seeing that, taught me how to work in little jobs, like shining shoes to selling potatoes on the free market. When I was 14 years old, I was selected to work in a company where I had the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship and new technologies. After that, in the ’90s, I’ve started to provide services to other companies such as IBM and Microsoft.

Allying my range of knowledge on entrepreneurship and new technologies, I started to study cryptography, founded Othos Telecom in Brazil and South Africa and became a reference in encrypted telecommunication. Nowadays, we still have operations in more than 20 countries around the world. But, in 2013, I received a payment from one of my clients in bitcoin. I didn’t know at the time what I was dealing with. But, it caught my attention and, again, I started to study about that and then I saw a huge opportunity - it was a coin, but cryptographed! It was when the payment I receive almost multiplied in 10 times its value. So, I founded CoinBR in Brazil and started operations also in South Africa. Soon after, I founded CoinPY, which is a bitcoin mining farm in Paraguay, because of this country policies and the low cost of electricity.

26 |Julu 2019

In 2017 because of CoinBr’s need for growth and internationalization, Stratum was created. From a Hong Kong venture capital firm, a capitalization model through the transfer of technology, customer portfolio and the guarantee of exclusivity in operations of fiduciary currencies was designed. During this transitional period, the operation was called Stratum CoinBR, since both sides company and investment fund - decided to choose a name without borders. In 2019, the operations were separated: Stratum and CoinBR became business partners. Stratum is the operator of all crypto-currency transactions, portfolio management and funds. CoinBR is the partner that represents the interests of the group in Brazil and South Africa.

How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to appeal to the target audience?

We are always trying to stay ahead, creating new features or developing solutions based on what we already have. In

Rocelo Lopes CEO Stratum Blockchain Tech www.insightssuccess.com

“

“

Since I was a kid, I’ve always worked hard and been curious about learning new things and I hope I can inspire people.

blockchain and cryptocurrencies technologies, is easier to innovate, because it’s a new area, new technology, so we are building the future here. We are creating solutions for those who don’t want to be at the traditional banking and investment markets anymore. For cryptos, for example, we have a SmartWallet, where you can buy, sell, transfer, and also pay your bills and taxes, recharge credits on your prepaid credit cards and prepaid cell phones. Along with that, we have also alternatives for those who are starting in the cryptocurrencies market or just want to diversify their investments, so we can make it easier for them.

What attributes are required to sustain in the cuttingedge competition?

Long sight view, creativity and having no fear to try, to do new and to talk to the regulation leaders. Knowing always that you can do hard, that you can do best.

What your intakes on roles of a leader are with regards to achieve success?

A leader is the one who guides the team towards the future, towards your sight, your vision. I’ve learned to delegate functions and to trust my team is doing their best. Also, I do my best to provide healthy offices, a good place for people to work. In all of my business, I provide job opportunities for those who are starting a career in life, but also, I bring people from the conventional financial market who no longer wants to be part of the old way to do things, to charge taxes and to dismiss clients who don’t fit in the system. Innovate for innovation.

How do you strategize your game plans to tackle the competition in the market?

Definitely focusing on the clients needs, providing usable and good solutions for the customers. We achieve that when we think ahead, when we see clients where no one else have seen before (or didn’t try to reach them).

your advice to overcome them?

We have so many barriers in any kind of business, rules to follow, governments trying to block what they don’t understand, lots of taxes (and high ones), among other challenges, that I believe that the key is to trust your internal voice, knowing that your work is building the future. My advice is: give people opportunities (not only jobs, but investment and entrepreneurship opportunities for the clients either), do what is right to you and show them why is right. My father once told me: "You have to go there, conquer the world, do your best, try to do your best, and for sure you’re going to succeed". I always keep that in mind.

How do you upgrade yourself with volatile technological trends to boost your personal growth?

I’m always reading the news, attending to blockchain and cryptocurrencies events around the world - often I’m being invited to speak in events in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. I take these opportunities not only to talk about my company and my projects but also to learn about new features, what has been developed in other countries, I talk to different people and other leaders too. I never stop studying. I never get tired of being curious and productive.

What will be your future endeavors and/or where do you see yourself in the near future?

More than ever, we are getting more and more global.

Although, as Brazilian banks are shutting down exchanges bank accounts, we are being pushed to innovate again. So I can only say: we’ll have big news soon.

As per your opinion, what roadblocks or challenges are faced by leaders in a corporate business? And what is

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July 2019| 27

Marc Rippen A Visionary on the Verge to Create a Difference…

M

eet Marc Rippen, the CEO of Alertgy

Marc is a visionary, a highly skilled creative engineer, a talented scientist, marketing professional and successful businessman, who thinks out of the box.

His unique ideologies and polished abilities led him to achieve many milestones during his arduous journey.

His contributions to improve the lives of diabetics through technical innovation has played a vital role in evolving healthcare as well as redefining the technological sector.

Insights Success admires such profound leaders and takes pride in featuring such leaders in its special issue “The 30 Most Influential Business Leaders in Tech 2019”.

Into the journey of Marc…

Marc has always been a leader, starting as President of Phi Theta Kappa Mu Epsilon (PTKME) in college, then as an army officer, followed by a Program Manager on DOD Applied Research and Development for DARPA, and now as the Founder and President of Alertgy. Leadership quality has always been one of his strengths.

While in college, under his direction, the Phi Theta Kappa Mu Epsilon Chapter was able to win the National award for Most Improved Chapter. He and his team did this by implementing 28 |July 2019

a large peer teaching program which positively impacted the students to improve their grades and understand difficult subjects. He emphasized many people’s contributions and efforts for the work done but was the person working behind the scenes to share the vision and execute a program that really benefited a lot of students.

In the military, he acquired advanced training to further sharpen his leadership skills by leading troops far more experienced than he was, to accomplish difficult and dangerous missions. Such experiences helped to shape him to be a better leader.

Marc states that the most important lessons he learned were to lead by example, to respect others, to be humble, to be ready to make and execute decisions at the right time, to take care of people, and most importantly. to do the right thing for the right reasons.

Marc has always wondered what the purpose of his incredible life’s journey was as everything seemed to be, well, disconnected. He quotes, “In starting Alertgy my mission was to save the lives of diabetics, to make their lives easier, give them more years to enjoy their lives and their loved ones, and to help diabetics manage their disease better… Painlessly.”

He has now been able to finally connect the various dots and understand his life’s purpose.

He remembers that it all started with him saving his wife from going into a diabetic coma one Sunday morning in 2016 and became determined to do something about it.

Marc says that Alertgy has developed and demonstrated an incredible technology that will save millions of lives and eventually will be able to make this technology available to the estimated a half billion people on this planet currently diagnosed with diabetes.

Ironically, by volunteering to be a part of Alertgy’s internal development clinical trials, Marc discovered that he was also type 2 diabetic, was severely hyperglycemic and at a major risk of having a stroke. As a result of that experience, he understands how serious diabetes could impact a person’s health.

“During a routine trial test of the device, my A1C level, which is a measure of how much of your hemoglobin protein in the red blood cells are coated by glucose, was 12.8 which is dangerously high. Any number over 7 is bad. I was, in fact, one of the 9 million Americans who have diabetes but don’t know they have it,” “A Team” Approach for Success Marc compares the similarities of leading a military group and leading a business. As an example, in today’s military, having various specialized people with a highly defined mission www.insightssuccess.com

and detailed method of execution, is key. Like an “A Team” Special Forces unit, where everyone is specialized and an expert in their function, they work seamlessly as a team, with each member selected for their ability for out of the box thinking, allowing that unit to achieve the near impossible mission they have to execute. An organization like Alertgy, that is structured like this, can stay well ahead of the competition. Marc also states that large organizations, while rich in resources, suffer from “paralysis by analysis” and thus find it almost impossible to really innovate.

Guiding through Shared Vision Marc believes that articulating visions clearly to others is one of the biggest challenges faced by every leader and states that one must be able to translate his/her vision to a team of experts in business, technology, and engineering, many with very niche specialties, which is challenging. He says that clear channels of communication are the most important factor in success.

300 Spartans who shut down the Persian Horde, a small force with innovative leadership and true spirit can overwhelm an army of thousands.

Marc visualizes the business world as a global battlefield and looks forward to developing strategic partners with his strongest competitors. By quoting, Virgil “Opportunity favors the bold”, he suggests that one must focus on the timely execution of innovative breakthroughs, to keep ahead of the fray, and achieve the mission of the organization; bringing dreams to life, making the impossible practical while improving the lives of billions of people.

In Marc’s experience, organizations should delegate operational strategy and execution down to the lowest level possible. “Full authority must be given with full responsibility. Anything less gets men or ventures killed,” says Marc.

His role as a leader is to provide clear vision, communication and to surpass all the obstacles that block his teams on their way to success. The result is a strong ‘esprit de corps’. This is a major force multiplier; like the

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As Virgil says “Fortune favors the bold”

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Marc Rippen CEO of ALERTGY, INC.

www.insightssuccess.com

July 2019| 29

What a tech CEO can teach your business about digital About the Author Pam Bateson is an expert coach and mentor in business, training others to Masters level qualiďŹ cations and supervising coaches. She has worked within the healthcare, retail, hotels, construction, media, agencies, education and public sector. She specialises in Coaching, Mentoring, Employee Engagement, Change Management, Learning and Development and Organisational Design. She has worked with all levels in organisations from graduates to the CEO. She has designed change programmes that connect projects, outcomes, training and coaching. The performance outcomes have been outstanding. She is CEO and Co-founder at Thrive Partners.

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www.insightssuccess.com

Tech-Know Insights

Pam Bateson CEO & Co-founder

Thrive Partners

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am Bateson set up Thrive Partners, an on-demand coaching company, three years ago. In this article, she shares her point of view on how important humans are in a more digital world, what she’s learned as a tech CEO, and what this means when you’re looking to use tech in a way that’s both disruptive and works for customers.

www.insightssuccess.com

July 2019| 33

In October 2015, I gave up a successful career as a management consultant and coach to set up Thrive Partners. Lots of people thought I was crazy. I was approaching 50, with two children still at home. But for the decade running up to that decision, I’d been thinking about a better way to deliver coaching – supported by digital, to share more widely the coaching tools I’d used to help clients for many years.

This was the business I set out to build three years ago. Today, we’re working with 25 clients on five continents – delivering our own brand of on-demand coaching, backed with insights for the whole business. The learning curve has been steep – particularly for someone who, by their own confession, didn’t have a lot of experience in learning technology. So here, I wanted to share some of the things we’ve learned – and what it might mean for your business.

Dream big I didn’t really set out to build a business that would be considered disruptive, but my background as a lean engineer and coach did mean that we ripped up the rulebook when it came to the coaching industry. We scrapped the idea that you needed to meet face to face, and that sessions had to last an hour, or even two hours. And we made it a lot easier for people to access a coach to answer the questions they had there and then – increasing access so people could chat to an expert within an hour.

Working with my co-founder, we then rebuilt the industry by asking the biggest questions we could imaging.

What if we could make coaching available to whole organisations? What if we could get listening as valued as speaking? And what if we could help organisations learn as quickly as individuals?

I found these questions irresistible: I wanted to do for coaching what Uber had done for getting a taxi, Netflix had done for home entertainment, and Tinder had done for dating. It’s these 34 |July 2019

big dreams that have galvanised our success in the last few years – and which has set us in the right direction for the future.

Build for modern users Despite big dreams, we’ve also made our fair share of mistakes! A lot of them mistakes happened when we took our attention away from our end customers. It sounds obvious to see it there on the page. But it can be easy to lose sight of the customers that matter most, especially when, as a tech CEO, sometime we get preoccupied with a shiny piece of new technology.

So, what to consider first when it comes to users? The main thing to bear in mind is that they expect experiences that are easy and fast to access – a shift brought about by what we call the ‘Amazon Prime Mindset.’ In this era, clunky user experiences reduce the chances of uptake of services. In short, if your technology can’t match or exceed the quality of digital experience people get in their everyday lives, then you’ll need to go back to the drawing board.

Create wins for the many So, if users come first – who else can we harness the power of technology for?

Our answer? Everyone else in the system.

Early on in the development of our MyThrive platform, we realised that delivering digitally would enable us to do more than just scale and facilitate coaching in global organisations; it would also mean we could spot trends and patterns within communities of users, in organisations or society at large. Just as carefully listening has a powerful and transformative role in one-to-one coaching conversations, carefully listening to and analysing anonymised version of the conversations we host has a powerful and transformative role within whole organisations.

The whole-system insights we produced has helped to make sales processes smoother, improved communications and created more opportunities for people to learn.

Keep it human With suicide being the biggest killer of men under 45, loneliness sweeping through developed economies in epidemic proportions and a third of all young people suffering from anxiety, I strongly believe that we have a duty to keep talking to each other as a society.

We believe that keeping the art of conversation alive in this digital age is essential; only humans can master creativity, empathy, humour and imagination in a way that’s compelling.

Information is everywhere, so we’re using technology differently – to offer real human experiences at scale, at any time of the day, whenever our clients need a conversation, for everything you can’t Google.

And what of the future? Curiously, even the structures of artificial intelligence and machine learning look set to mimic human patterns. It’s still early days, but leaders in this space talk of ‘deep learning’ with AI – by layering up different tools that connect in the same way as our brain’s neural networks.

And so, the next three years?

My recent experiences have led us to ask even bigger questions than we did to begin with – which I suspect will lead to our next irresistible set of adventures! What if we could transform learning management systems into learning ecosystems?

What if any community of learners could connect with any community of teachers? And what if a better understanding of outcomes from learning could help both individuals, organisations and society to thrive?

I for one believe there are exciting times ahead.

www.insightssuccess.com

Leticia Latino van –Splunteren Leading by Example

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n an interview with Insights Success, Letica Latino van Splunteren shares about her jouney and her contribution as a CEO through Neptuno USA, Corp. Leticia is a recipient of the 2018 Women in IoT award by ConnectedMagazine and has been featured as one of the prominent women in Telecom by TowerXchange, the Wireless Industry Association, NATE and AGL magazine. Besides, she also plays a role of an active member for the SmartCity Council TaskForce, WIA City Networks Task Force and was recently appointed to the FCC Broadband Advisory Committee. She is a mentor with the National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) where she helps young women that want to start a career in Telecom.

Neptuno, her company, was also a finalist in the 2019 WeInnovate!

Program promoted by WBENCCertified Women’s Business Enterprises (WBEs) to showcase their company’s expertise in areas of innovation that are critical to WBENC’s Corporate Members. In addition, Leticia is a big advocate of nurturing “Human Connections” through her Back2Basics Podcast and through the #Time2Reconnect movement, which she created.

Below are highlights of the interview between Leticia Latino-van Splunteren and Insights Success:

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Kindly elaborate your journey in becoming the business leader.

I am a believer that Leadership comes in our DNA, we obviously grow into it during our leadership journey, but the chip has to be there somewhere. From a very young age I was usually trying to lead something, call it the student movement, a fundraiser or a group vacation. As I started my professional career, that was no exception, I was always looking for opportunities to lead an initiative and usually it involved creating something from scratch, that’s what I enjoy the most.

After several years in Merrill Lynch and then at Nortel Networks, I decided to join the family business which my father founded in 1972. It wasn’t until the early 2000’s that I felt the timing was right to capitalize on the experience I had gained and that I realized Neptuno was a great platform to do just that.

How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to appeal the target audience?

We had always been very Latin America focused because our largest factory is in Venezuela. Unfortunately, the political situation that the country has been into for the past two decades, have called for a change of focus, both in terms of market and offering. They say that you can have good things as a result of a bad situation, and in our case is true. We were prompted by circumstances to re-invent ourselves as

a company. We went from an engineering and steel manufacturing company, to a technology company.

We made it our priority to implement technological advances in our industry, and we now have added services such as 3D Reality Capture Site Surveys, IoT Asset Tracking and Smart City related infrastructure to our portfolio.

We also started to get involved in artifical intelligence.

What attributes are required to sustain in the cutting-edge competition?

In my opinion Curiosity to never stop exploring, humbleness to never believe that what you have is the best, genuine relationships and Integrity to ensure the Industry’s trust.

What are your intakes on roles of a leader with regards to achieve success?

I know it sounds cliché, but I think Leading by Example is what ensures success. I believe in inspiring by actions rather than words because unfortunately among the many good things that the digital era has brought, it has also brought a lot of unverified information and companies and people portraying to be things that they are not. Social Media personas can be misleading, so I personally take what I read with a grain of salt, I am more attuned with getting to know the person, or even asking about them to get a sense of how the person is www.insightssuccess.com

“ Success is inevitable, just show up and do the work.

perceived by others. I think a true leader has its reputation as its greatest asset.

How do you strategize your game plans to tackle the competition in the market?

I usually worry more about what WE are doing than about what others are doing. I think is disrespectful to the customer to fill their heads with depositioning arguments about a competitor. I normally ask questions to address the customer’s pain points and try to differentiate from competitors from that angle. I just provide all the info for thorough analysis; customers are smart enough to make the comparison themselves.

As per your opinion, what roadblocks or challenges are faced by leaders in a corporate business? And what is your advice to overcome them?

I believe that we are focusing too much in growth, we all want to grow so much and when I talk to sales people they usually complain that their quotas are impossible to reach, and every year it gets worse. We need to listen to the market and to the customer, and understand what’s really going on, because at some point or the other bubbles burst.

What will be your future endeavors and/or where do you see yourself in the near future?

We are committed to become a key player in the Smart City movement, not only as an infrastructure provider but also to help create citizen and community awareness about the changes that our infrastructure has to undergo for our cities to transition into this new era.

Leticia Latino van -Splunteren

CEO Neptuno USA, Corp.

www.insightssuccess.com

July 2019| 37

Successful Personality Traits to Learn

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Elon Musk L

egends never need an introduction. They tend to be victorious despite of their uneventful histories. They stick to captivating traits such as Discipline, determination and self-belief which help them accomplish wonders in the long run. One such example of an extraordinary person is Elon Musk, a South African Business Magnate, Investor and an engineer.

Musk is the founder, CEO, and chief architect of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and product designer of Tesla Inc.; and co-founder and CEO of Neuralink. As of February 2018, he is the 53rd-richest person in the world and has a net worth of $20.8 billion, which is far more than the net GDP of Greece taken into consideration.

While each entrepreneur possesses a unique set of traits that makes him/her successful, this Tech founder has a few traits much different from any other ordinary CEO, which has allowed him to build some of the world’s most respected and innovative organizations. Musk once quoted, “When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.”

Let’s have a look on these personality attributes and characteristics that make him a contender for the most innovative intellectual entrepreneur of the century alive.

Hard-work and Characteristic Work Ethics Elon Musk is a hard-working innovator, working for about 100 hours a week, and has been productive since many years. He may even be considered as the hardest working

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employee of the company, setting standards for his colleagues to follow and implement. Since the field of work lies inside his radius of interests, he enjoys it to every moment and bit when it comes to learning and execution.

Strong Risk Tolerance Founding a start-up involves a great deal of uncertainty and risk. A study found that after 10 years of being in business, 96 percent of the start-ups fail. Going by the statistics, Musk must have faced the same odds against him, when he had decided to leave an otherwise comfortable life to start a risky and uncertain business venture.

For instance, Musk left his PhD program at Stanford University to find a company called Zip2 with his brother in the year 1995. Later, the company was sold to Compaq computers, profiting Musk a bit over $20 million.

Following this, Musk once again took a great risk by investing millions of dollars to found a company called X.com, one of the world’s first online banks.

‘Always Be Learning’ Attitude An astounding and less-known fact about Elon Musk is that he is self-taught in programming and in many advanced level subjects. He read and understood a variety of books, which helped him gain endless and persistent knowledge and understand diverse concepts.

The best piece of advice on learning and implementation is to constantly think about how things could be done in a better manner and question self to seek the answers.

www.insightssuccess.com

Imparting Wisdom

Feedback Loop It is of prime importance to recognize the present symbol or otherwise ‘status quo’ in the market as an organization and re-position accordingly. Musk solicits constant feedback of the companies and executes ‘self-analysis.’ He induces efforts and divergent strategies to improve customer feedbacks and strives towards perfectionism.

For example, he seeks out his critics and tries to converse with them. This habit of self-reflection at regular and considerable periods is pivotal for any entrepreneur or organization to succeed in the long run.

Tendency for Vertical Integration Vertical integration is a strategy where an organization or a firm acquires business operations within the same product vertical. Both Tesla and SpaceX embrace this concept. For example, Tesla not only produces electric cars; they also generate public awareness about their cars via Tesla showrooms across various countries. And SpaceX does not only have the primary goal of rocket propulsions; they develop their own rocket architecture as well.

Faith in Self and the Founding Team Musk undoubtedly possesses a profound belief in his own capabilities as well as the potential-seeking factor of its founding team. He does not hesitate to gamble on large scale unless he is genuinely aware of the expected endresults.

www.insightssuccess.com

It is equally essential to maintain clarity of doubt in any large scale organization. Under his supervision, Musk encourages in creating a positive and comprehensive environment across his firms.

Preferring to Stand Out From the Crowd Musk elects to bring up innovation at every level of his understanding. He tends to impart theoretical knowledge at the base level, applying changes and executing the same on the practical level. He relies more on transitional aspects such as research and development, thereby increasing the probability of ground-breaking inventions.

Tesla Motors, a far headed firm headed by Elon Musk, is anti-ordinary. Its compelling marketplace has become a one-stop destination for potential buyers where they can interact about product specifications. They also have video testimonials that far outperform in the sales-dominated industry.

There is no ambiguity that Musk, by far, has been a pillar of inspiration for budding entrepreneurs and investors because of his prolific and optimistic approach towards life All these traits possessed by Musk, in some manner or the other, coincide with most of your habits. The only thing that stands as a potential barrier between these two is identifying your strengths and working on them on a continual basis. Go on, apply these traits into your daily life, and you may become the next big CEO the world is in need of today!

July 2019| 39

Srinivas Kilambi Expertise Leader in the Digital World

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eaders today need to understand and utilize the algorithmic power of AI that supports machine learning and deep learning. Successful business leaders have a keen understanding and the ability to see the market forces affecting their industry. And, leaders who understand what AI is capable of & other emerging developments are more successful. One such leader, leading by example is Srinivas Kilambi, the Founder and CEO at Keydabra Inc. He has specialties in machine learning, biotechnology, nanotechnology, digital user experience, bio-refineries, biomass, solar, and clean water. He was a Former CEO at Verdecem, Renmaix, Dilato Inc., and Reliance Bio-Refinery Industries Ltd.

Srinivas Kilambi CEO & Chairman

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Chase Excellence in your profession as success always follows excellence

Below is his story, Srinivas holds the Educational Qualification of B.Tech: Chemical Engineering from IIT Madras, CFA from ICFAI, MS: Environmental Engineering from Clarkson University and PhD: Chemical Engineering at the University of Tenessee- Knoxville. He started his journey with a startup project in 1989, where he was the founder of India’s first biochemical company, Chemopol Complex India Pvt. Ltd. He was awarded the state’s

www.insightssuccess.com

best entrepreneur for this project. The project involved the separation and recovery of biopolymers from the shells of crabs and prawns. His second startup started in 1996, where two of his PhD patents converted into a viable technology.

Its focus was to separate and recover heavy metals from wastewater using liquid membranes. The company had its IPO (NASDAQ: CXOT) in 1997 and even had a “green shoe”. He was the Founder of Dilato Inc in 2000, which was his career’s third startup. Dilato Inc was into an expert system for design and engineering companies and was later acquired by an Indian Company. He was also the founder of Sriya Innovations, his fourth startup in 2007. The company could convert biomass to sugars in seconds while competing technologies took five days. His technology received over $100 M in VC funding from Kleiner Perkins, BASF, Bill Gates and others. It was in 2011, where he started his fifth company Verdecem Inc. Verdecem’s technology could make cement without a kiln at 1200 C lower starting temperatures and with over 33% savings in energy and GHG emissions. The organization received VC funding from Kleiner and from the world’s largest cement company. His current startup is Keydabra, which focuses on using AI & ML to enhance digital user engagement and conversions. In between, 2003-07, he was the CEO of Tatas and Reliance Industries “Renewable Energy Businesses”.

Impressive Achievements Srinivas is a visionary strategist entrepreneur with a passion to accomplish things. Being a trustworthy, creative, and well connected he has certified with many honors and awards in his career. In 2011 he won North American Green Technology Innovation Award. He was an Innovation Finalist in 2010 at World Economic ForumPioneer Technology. TiE (The IndUS Entrepreneurs) Winner in 2009, and 2010 TiE Global Profile, GA (Greater Atlanta) Top 5 Innovation Award & Most Breakthrough Technology Award and many more. He also has some patents in his name like Green Fertilizers, Solvo-Thermal Hydroloxis of Xylose, Modified Supported Liquid Membranes, Supported Liquid Membranes, and Green Building Material.

towards final/desired goal/s. According to Srinivas, the best way to diversify your organization’s offering is to invest in technology heavily and especially in futuristic technologies like AI. Recognizing Technological Trends Be ready to change and innovate 24x7. Most leaders refuse to change even when they know that the only thing that will remain constant is the necessity to change and innovate to succeed. There should be a constant desire to learn new technologies and stay ahead of the curve/peers. Invest your time heavily in AI/ML/Blockchain and other advanced technologies. His immediate goal is to get Keydabra to a short term $10 Million revenue and $100 Million valuation in 3 years.

Leaders’ Role in Assistance The leader should “lead by example”, should be passionate, committed, innovative and industrious. The leader should earn respect rather than command respect. A Leader should follow and achieve excellence in the chosen field/profession, says Srinivas.

Key Attributes Sustaining Competition The CEO says, know, understand, respect, learn, and never underestimate your competition is the key mantra to beating your competition. “Always be ahead of the learning and technology curve. 24X7 innovation is the key and should be adopted wholeheartedly,” says leader.

About Keydabra Machine Learning/Deep Learning is the real buzz in the Information Technology world right now. Founded in 2019, a privately held company, Keydabra unlocks opportunity in the field of Information Technology and Services. It is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. The company uses advanced proprietary machine/deep learning algorithms to automate and improve digital, social, & mobile apps user engagement and optimize online conversions. Keydabra’s data scientists are developing technology to build better digital platforms.

Self-Diversifying Organization’s Offerings “The most important step is to understand and appreciate your target audience/markets needs and aspirations,” says Srinivas. Once, you have done that then you can have a Go to Market strategy which can not only meet but also exceed those needs and aspirations. A Great idea is only 20%; efficient and successful execution of the idea is 80% www.insightssuccess.com

July 2019| 43

Paul Ford

A Decisive Leader in Financial Services Industry

A

good leader has the right personality, the right set of skills, knowledge, and an understanding for the industry concerns. Leaders develop vision, inspires other people, and ultimately provide strategy in business success.

They rise to the challenges of the global crisis with a good combination of teamwork, power, and appropriate style of leadership. The reason behind the failure of banks to meet the requirements of the global financial crisis was blamed on poor leadership.

During such a situation, a visionary leader looks for the best people available for his/her team, set priorities, and start to deal with the most important crisis issues as they occur quickly.

With over 25 years of experience in Operational and Financial services, Paul Ford, the Founder and CEO of Acin, is on a journey to take the company to its utmost stature. He completed his academic studies, BSc. in Business Administration at the University of Bath. Prior to creating Acin in 2016, Paul founded Anchura Partners in 2010 and grew it to be a highly successful consulting business.

Previously, he was the Chief Operating Officer of the ultra-high net worth business at Barclays Wealth and held various C-level positions at Credit Suisse in Europe, Middle-East and Africa.

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Financial Crisis Leader Financial institutions operate in a dynamic environment and competitive conditions. A lot has been already been written about the causes of the global financial crisis, about the CEO’s and CFO’s ineffective supervision and control in financial institutions. The problem the company resolves can be resumed by reference to the fact that financial institutions have reached a critical point. As the financial institutions have reached a critical point post the financial crisis in 2008, the banks have spent billions in building systems and hiring staff to demonstrate that they are in control of the operational risks within their business. With over 25 years of experience in financial services, Paul’s leadership builds a culture that is honest about the company’s present situation, where everyone is encouraged to use their brains to generate the best ideas. His team addresses issues within operational risk which pose a threat to the health of banks.

Lessons Learned through Experiences Finance involves many types of risks market, interest rate, credit, liquidity, financial, and operational.

Keeping an eye on the ball of operational risk is the most basic of all lessons Paul has underlined. Paul says, “As an engineer by training, I was

always uncomfortable administering to the symptoms of operational risk, I have been determined to find the ’cure’ – in Acin we have that answer”. Prior to entering corporate life, he enjoyed a successful military career with the British Army; Mr. Ford was a Captain in the Royal Engineers. This engineering background has continued to shape throughout his career and how he thinks about challenges, approaches, and solutions.

Organizational Management Acin’s highly advanced system of risk identification, management, and mitigation enable connected firms to achieve the highest degrees of protection at an industry level. The Networked Defence Model is a nextgeneration risk management platform.

The company has developed a transformation approach and methodology for operational risk management. Paul’s core challenge for Acin is to combine technology, data standards, and content to measure, manage & mitigate operational risk – this relies on Acin’s comprehensive data standards platform.

Strategizing the Market Competition Acin works and is in production with major client banks in the USA, across Europe and in Asian firms, serving a market size of £1.6bn per annum revenue opportunity. In the longerterm, Paul aims to help firms reduce www.insightssuccess.com

the amount of operational risk capital needed, and to replicate this across the industry. Acin’s ultimate goal is to help financial institutions reduce their operational risks so that they can be held to an industry standard and demonstrate to regulators that they are in control of their business. Acin has also been recognized as one of the most innovative Regtech companies in 2019.

Achieving Success through Data Standards Data is exploding, and more and more unstructured data is generated – some of it useful, some of it a distraction. Data evolves all the time, so the company is constantly engaged.

As the world’s leading company in risk and control data standards, benchmarking and controls data analysis, Acin enables firms to demonstrate that they are “in control” and provide greater assurance across the industry. The comprehensive data standards platform helps firms to simplify and mitigate operational risk.

What sets Acin apart is its centralised database of control designs smart-mapped to the risks faced by the individual business or function within a financial institution. Data is standardised, available, and reliable – at an industry level.

More radical still, is Acin’s ability to connect firms together to create the industry’s first risk and control defence network. With a dataset of risks and controls that is more comprehensive than that of any one institution and continuously updated via the network, this significantly strengthens each firm’s existing “three lines of defence”.

About Acin Founded in 2010, Acin is the world-leading risk and control data standards, benchmarking and controls data analysis company. With offices in London and New York, the organization’s clients include some of the world’s largest financial institutions. It is specialized in risk and controls, regulatory programs, governance, control frameworks, and data standards, etc. The industry enables financial institutions to access standardized controls data seamlessly, allowing agile data-driven risk management and decisionmaking. It relies on a centralized database of control designs smart-mapped to the risks faced by each individual business or function within the organization.

Acin sets the standard for the industry, unlocking the full value of controls data for its clients.

Resilience, Decisiveness and Perseverance-the most important attributes.

Paul Ford Chief Executive Ofcer

www.insightssuccess.com

July 2019| 45

Hriday Ravindranath Using Technology Innova on as a Tool for Business Transforma on

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n an interview with Insights Success, Hriday Ravindranath, the chief technology and informa on officer of BT’s Global unit, shares his insights on his entrepreneurial journey and global experience in complex IT transforma on, strategy, global sourcing, OSS/BSS implementa on and business improvement. Hriday has also been recognized as one of the youngest Global CTIOs in the industry.

Below are the highlights of an interview: Can you please elaborate on your journey to becoming a business leader?

I have an MSc in Ar ficial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh and also an MSc in Major Programs from Oxford University. I have more than a decade of global experience in the telecommunica ons sector, specializing in complex IT technology to lead change and digital transforma on. Prior to my current role, I held various senior posi ons in the CTIO team growing organically over the years. BT is a great place to work with plenty of opportuni es to learn and grow.

How do you diversify your organiza on’s offerings to appeal to your target audience?

It is the role of the CTIO to help organiza ons navigate through unprecedented digital transforma on.

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This is the role I am playing for BT’s Global unit, where we are restructuring the business from the ground up by crea ng brand new business models focused on growth products. Simultaneously, we are consolida ng current systems, reducing complexity and swea ng exis ng assets.

The reason CTIOs are best posi oned to do this is because we can iden fy risks to the current business and spot market trends that could disrupt our industry and markets by exploi ng technology advancements such as cloud and so ware defined networking.

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The principles that underpin these outcomes are: Ÿ

Focus on experiences and moments in the customer journey that truly ma er to them. Ÿ Ensure all IT/Business transforma on programs are underpinning these digital experiences. Ÿ

For us, these are: Ÿ Human centered on-demand services that are personalized and simple to use for customers Ÿ Highly automated closed loop remedia on Ÿ Commercial flexibility (e.g. pay-asyou-use models) Ÿ Digital business models

Easy integra on in partners’ ecosystems enabling extended enterprise business models Ability to quickly leverage innova on from the broader ecosystem, enabling speed Significantly lower cash requirements reducing the cost of IT and enabling more rapid innova on Flexible IT model where cost scales with the volume of users or business Digital opera ng models Enabling intelligent workflows Enabling data-driven decision data and differen a on through data and insights Enabling internal process simplifica on and re-use of assets, pla orms and opera ons Leveraging our best of breed solu ons and transforming for the Digital Age

What a ributes are required to sustain a cu ng-edge against compe on? Ÿ A Digital Na ve business Ÿ Failing fast and being agile Ÿ Laser focus on the end customer Ÿ Crea ng a learning culture How do you strategize your game plans to tackle the compe on in the market? Ÿ Focus on business needs, not technology, and understand how technology is evolving www.insightssuccess.com

Exploit emerging technologies rapidly to stay ahead Relentlessly challenge the status quo Taking calculated risks Crea ng a rich partner ecosystem Bring in, keep and nurture talent

Follow the latest tech news and stay connected with inspira onal leaders. Ÿ Apply relevant learning into business prac ces, such as adop ng the right technology to propel the business forward.

What roadblocks or challenges are faced by leaders in a corporate business? What is your advice to overcome them? Ÿ Trust, transparency and leading by example are key to building confidence within a team. Ÿ Finding the right talent in a demanding ecosystem: Inves ng the right amount of effort (i.e. iden fying talent), me (i.e. communica on) and resources (i.e. compe ve packages and latest tools to enable recruitment, development and reten on) Ÿ Adop ng change into business: It is important to communicate well and frequently to the team on the purpose of change to ensure the team is aligned with the overall vision. It is also important to provide them with the right tools and opportuni es for training and upskilling to enable a smooth transi on. Ÿ Accountability and workforce empowerment: Ensure that employees are empowered to make decisions on the spot to meet customer needs and beat the compe on. If they have to wait for a blessing from above, by the me they get the answer, the customer will have moved on and the problem will have changed. Ÿ No upward feedback: There is a need to create a culture of transparency and prac ce constant feedback to ensure con nuous improvement. Ÿ Culture issues, especially with global teams dispersed across various geographical loca ons. We need be empathe c and learn from differing cultural values. Ÿ Difficult People: There will always be people on your team, in your organiza on, and in your working life who are difficult to work with. We need to adopt different styles of working to ensure cohesive collabora on.

What will be your future endeavors and where do you see yourself in the near future?

My future endeavors include con nuing to transform our business to support the future needs of our global customers as they evolve their digital transforma on strategies. To con nue to create versa le, fresh and energe c leaders who will become digital champions and change agents. They will be key in disrup ng our complex and evolving organiza on. In the future, I look forward to working with agile and incredibly diverse teams that are fully engaged in con nuous learning. The skills we will require in 3 to 5 years from now will be drama cally different from our requirements today.

How do you upgrade yourself with vola le technological trends to boost your personal growth? Ÿ Take a top-down and bo om-up approach to stay ahead. Ÿ Always set aside me to learn. “Change is the end result of all true learning.” No ma er what type of learning, whether if it’s through a webcast or on the job prac cal experience, it is important to consistently invest in me for learning. Ÿ Peer to Peer networking, open discussions for brainstorming, learning and understanding the latest technological trends. Ÿ Stay current and read the latest research reports. There is no shortage of digital resources to help you iden fy new technologies in the market. Ÿ Know what is trending in the open-source community. www.insightssuccess.com

Ÿ

“ Aim high, Hriday Ravindranath CTIO, BT Global

be bold and

enjoy the

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Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

journey!

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Laboratory Laboratory

Role of

Information Information

Management System in Manufacturing Sectors

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ven if an organization offers an outstanding series of creative products, it has to ensure that the quality is up to the mark. Being compassionate about quality management is quite essential for a business venture to become a promising manufacturer. Thus, quality is more likely to be a necessity rather than a want. It do plays a salient role in supply chain that has strengthened manufacturer’s belief of implicating information systems especially in laboratories for quality inspections on finished products and goods.

Similar to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) has brought a disruptive change in traditional methods of supply-chain management. This technology acts as a reporting tool which allows researchers to input and store crucial data regarding the sample, such as schedule records, test-sample tracks, and also sample’s materialistic properties. Thus, it is quite obligatory for an organization to implement an adequate information system in an attempt to overrule all quality-related issues. Also, it often utilizes barcode generation for scanning in-process goods as well as finished products in an attempt to consume less time.

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Outlook on LIMS Utilizing to its full-potential LIMS operations customarily depend on the manufacturer and its requirements. Yet, there is a standard protocol on which the system mostly relies. It is deliberately designed to monitor and function on the various aspects of product quality management i.e. sample management. It handles the detailed records of each sample, and maintains accuracy in reducing the possibilities of the information getting mixed up in labs.

LIMS maintains the record of each and every unit, from a supplier to the researcher handling that sample. With such systems, the information tracking gets quite easier and could be fully automated, reducing the need for laboratory administration.

Implementing LIMS for workflow management aids a manufacturer to streamline the decision making process in the laboratory. The self-oriented system can automatically assign scientists regarding their tasks and even suggests the type of instruments required as per stated in the standard experiment module. Once the testing is completed, the system identifies and supplies www.insightssuccess.com

Industry Lessons the sample for the further process.

Besides, many LIMS automatically cover ups various processes such as maintenance, inventory management and reporting. It is often useful for the instruments like centrifuges which generally face countless wear and tear, leading to variations in the readings. Such variations not only aect data analysis auditing but also, disrupt the calibration of the instruments. The use of LIMS system might vary from one organization to another, as the requirement of most of the industries is quite dierent.

www.insightssuccess.com

July 2019| 51

Equipment Calibration and Maintenance No industry can afford a failure in the quality checks.

Thus, many organizations spend loads of monetary assets over the laboratory maintenance and instruments calibration. With the LIMS system, an organization can surpass over unnecessary damages and monetary-cuts in laboratory. Apart from that, LIMS system must include maintenance records of the instruments used in testing, in an attempt to perform orderly preventive maintenance.

Due to the regular utilization, some instruments starts to show distortion that further affect the tests results. In case of depth micrometer, the instruction follows that it may require calibration every month or after every 50 uses. A manufacturer can improvise LIMS system, by including additional calibration instruction sheet which can be utilized by maintenance department thereafter.

Brief on Functions commonly found in LIMS Reporting: Irrespective of any category, every sector requires a prompt method to process out the reports.

Report helps organizations to analyze data and make further decisions based on it. From the ‘most used instruments’ to ‘lab-processing time’, it include all the required information flow from one unit to other.

Through implementing LIMS, organizations take a follow up and process audit trails of received information from such units. Yet, the level of difficulty varies with reports, as some may require higher custom coding to run while other export on Adobe PDF and MSWord.

EMR/EHR: Electronic Health Records is separate software, but some LIMSs includes EHR feature built-in mostly including patient reception queries and billing processes. Organizations mainly prefer on utilizing an all-encompassing system instead of software with singular capability. Integrating LIMS with such functions facilitate clinics with huge benefits while monitoring and maintaining a laboratory. It manages every bit of aspects

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such as data tracking over time, continuity in healthcare, reduced costs, gamut information, technology of prescriptions and result orientation.

Workflow Management: Automate workflows have often become a trail in businesses due to its ability to maintain a steady flow between various processes without any extra human efforts. Instead of focusing more on reducing work, it saves time taken for tasking complicated tasks. Hiring or Installing LIMS aids one to codify existing methods and procedures and could delegate the decision-making to the software. Say, if installed, it can take over on assigning jobs to scientists and can also pick out instruments, as per requirement. It only requires a strong command structure through which LIMS can operate much deliberately.

ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning software attains potential to manage inventory and like EHR, it is also self-processing software. Collaboration or say, integrating ERP into LIMSs is more favorable due to its high allowance in monitoring alerts over low-supplies, auto-calculation of storage capacity and location management. Through implementing LIMSs, one can surpass issues related to data transcription errors, turnaround time, WIP status, and statistical analysis and COA generation.

Aftermath of LIMS-integration in laboratories has been witnessed to be more efficient and been claimed as a reliable system by various manufacturers. Though the digital transformation has never failed to surprise the markets with its potential to bring out disruption, its many fruitful benefits are yet to be explored. One of such—mobile-friendly LIMS, is predicted to shift the traditional laboratories by delivering more compact experience to the manufacturers which sooner or later going to be trail among the lab-owners and manufacturers. Currently, it is focusing on improving environmental, petrochemical, health-care, bio-technology companies and R&D institutes.

www.insightssuccess.com

Daphna Nissenbaum A Disruptive Leader for a Good Cause

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n an interview with Insights Success, Daphna Nissenbaum, CEO and Co-Founder of TIPA®, elaborates on her impeccable approach on giving back to society through innovative technology. Today, the world is in need of avid leaders who take initiative in offering services to create a better society to live in, and Daphna is a perfect example.

Insights Success understands the potential of such leaders and is honored to feature her in its special issue “30 Most Influential Business Leaders in Tech, 2019”.

Below are the highlights of the conducted interview: Kindly elaborate on your journey in becoming a business leader During my career, I developed a passion to start a project of my own, something that would really influence the world. The idea sparked from an argument I had with one of my kids about the plastic bottles he would take to school – some days he would return them to be reused, while other days he wouldn’t. I said to him ‘we have to think about what we do with our packages.’

There are so many discussions surrounding the matter of plastic packaging. I thought to myself, ‘the world will need a package that is not based on plastic, one that will break down by itself post-consumption.’ I went out jogging and challenged myself to work out a solution, thinking the idea is somewhere right in front of me. The right things usually happen to be intuitive and natural. The resulting vision was to develop a package that acts just like organic material, like an 54 |July 2019

orange peel, a package that disappears by its own natural composition.

During this nascent stage of the company, I understood two things immediately. First, that flexible packaging is the primary pollution culprit today and therefore our energy should be directed towards this market.

Second, that pursuing such an endeavor will not be easy; it will take time, effort and money to develop a solution.

Our goal at TIPA® has always been to develop fully compostable packaging.

Along the way, there were people trying to persuade us to compromise and to make partially compostable, or recyclable products. But even though there was a risk of losing the company, we stuck to our core idea and weren’t swayed by where the industry was trying to push us.

Apart from developing a new technology, the building of a company is a major task. A key success factor in building a company is to hire the right people. Having an idea is a small step, working on it and sticking to it is important too, but hiring the right people is essential to growth. It is

important to understand that you cannot do it alone, and to find the right people to partner with.

How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to appeal to the target audience?

From day one, the basis for the technology, as well as the business, operational and sales models were to change the market. It would have been much easier to develop specific applications and to focus on selling them to target audiences, but our goal was not to target specific areas but rather to create a technology that could be utilized by everyone for every application, and in this way, to become a market leader and to change the market paradigm around our solution.

Our films and laminates serve as building blocks for a solution, meeting every area in the market.

The goal is to be as transparent as can be to the existing industry and to provide a solution that is intuitive and seamless to adopt. We designed our products to emulate conventional plastic with formulas that mimic polyethylene and polypropylene, the two most used materials in flexible packaging. Thus, we can easily replace www.insightssuccess.com

A key concept in TIPA® is to manufacture globally by partnering with plants that exist all over the world, thereby reducing carbon footprint as well as unifying what may be referred to as a fragmented community of manufacturers.

By understanding the concerns of the stakeholders in the market, we help to galvanize the market by focusing on areas that require solutions.

What attributes are required to sustain in the cuttingedge competition?

Key success factors are to stick to your mission even if it’s not easy, and at the same time to be ready to change course if you see that something is not working. As a small company, we act as a speed boat, going steadily in one direction but we must be ready to change course without hesitation if necessary, all the while sticking to our core truth.

“

My vision is for packaging to be treated like organic waste.

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what exists in the market, and offer a clean alternative.

TIPA® solutions are built to fit conventional plastic machinery and existing supply chains, making the switch to compostable flexible packaging easier than ever.

Another key attribute to succeed in business is to understand that everything is about teamwork and to put energy into building a strong and cooperative team. I make sure that the people I work tightly with are experts who understand their field much better than I do, and I give them the freedom to operate. The people who work with me are my partners. Listening and being open to their criticism and suggestions at any given moment is critical. Once you create an environment where people are free to express what they think, even though at times there will be disagreements, you have built an engine for growth.

What will be your future endeavors and where do you see yourself in the near future?

The company will continue growing as a market leader in the space of compostable solutions, remaining at the forefront of change with cutting-edge technology. TIPA® will continue to penetrate the market, collaborating with companies from all over the world using our products and applications, changing the future of flexible plastic packaging by replacing it with fully compostable solutions.

I will continue leading this company, helping it reach new heights and driving an impactful change in the market.

Daphna Nissenbaum CEO & Co-Founder www.insightssuccess.com

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Sara Brown A Keen Marketing Leader

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very business requires a marketing person who is comfortable in any business environment. Without that skill, a marketer simply won’t be able to build the necessary relationships for business and its objectives. Sara Brown, a dedicated marketing professional from the US, is a highly skilled communications professional with extensive experience in delivering results in executive, internal and marketing communications, and public relations.

Currently, Sara is Vice President of Marketing for MultiTech. She is responsible for brand strategy and product marketing, as well as all global marketing and communications. Sara has more than 20 years of technology marketing experience, with twelve focused on Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and the Internet of Things (IoT). In addition to her experience in the technology sector, she also worked as a Senior Copywriter at Ogilvy, a premier advertising agency. Her long resume also includes working for IBM, Wavecom/Sierra Wireless and Telit Wireless Solutions. She has consulted with numerous global technology companies and was recognized as a Woman of IoT in Marketing in 2016.

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Sara started her career in 1994 as a reporter at Capitol Hill and later in the trade press covering mergers and acquisitions in the broadcast industry.

After moving to North Carolina, she switched to public relations and marketing.

Communication Solutions for Industrial IoT MultiTech offers a broad portfolio of communications solutions designed to provide the customer with a choice of bearer technology in order to enable the exact right fit for purpose. For 48 years, MultiTech has worked closely with customers to understand individual use cases and customize its offerings to better suit the customer’s needs.

MultiTech designs, develops and manufactures data communications equipment for the industrial Internet of Things (IoT). The company’s commitment to quality and service excellence means customers can count on its products and people to address their needs. In addition, the company’s history and dedication to innovation ensures that it stays ahead of the latest technology.

Dynamic Attributes of Tech Individuals Curiosity: Sara believes a natural curiosity is critical to succeed in tech.

Curiosity about the technology itself.

Curiosity about what’s happening in the market. Most importantly, curiosity about how to overcome the “big picture” problems of our world.

Creative Problem-Solving: Creative problem solving refers to the process that involves breaking down a problem and generating new ideas to find effective solutions. It is one of the important attribute of any tech individual.

Sara explains, “It begins with the belief that even the most challenging problems can and will be solved. From there, the ideal tech individual can draw the stick-to-it-iveness to try and try again until a solution is found.”

Business Acumen: Business Acumen is a crucial attribute that helps businesses to build credibility and deal with a "business situation" in a manner that leads to a positive outcome.

Sara explains her views about business acumen as, “Real success comes from tailoring technology to address the specific pain points of target customers and getting the word out that their problem has finally been solved.”

Lifelong Learning: Engaging with people from other cultures and backgrounds has given Sara an www.insightssuccess.com

®

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Market Leader in designing, manufacturing and providing global data communication solutions.

Sara Brown Vice President, Marketing MultiTech

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appreciation of different thought processes. More importantly, it is a great way to hone in on those universal human needs, feelings and desires – essentials for any marketer. Having worked across industries and countries, as well as product and service types, Sara has learned that an understanding of those universal drivers is portable.

We all respond to a set of motivators, whether selling entertainment, charitable causes or technology.

Emerging Tech Enthusiasts Sara also has a word of advice for tech enthusiasts. She says, “echnologies can be learned and mastered, while relationships require tending. I’m not just talking about personal life I’m talking about applying relationship principals to professional connections as well. Looking back, mastering BASIC or BetaMax or POTS, while impressive, isn’t super useful today.

Relationships, on the other hand, if well-tended, are likely to outlive technologies and survive your entire career.” www.insightssuccess.com

July 2019| 57

Rethinking the Products of Today for a Better Tomorrow

Celia Pool Co-Founder DAME

58 |July 2019

www.insightssuccess.com

Incentives Solutions

T

he world is finally waking up to the single-use plastic crisis.

Over the last 10 years we have created more plastic than the whole of the last century combined. Half of the plastic we create is used just once, and then thrown away, taking 500 years to decompose. By 2050, the oceans are predicted to contain more plastic than fish. The plastic crisis is now too big for recycling alone to fix.

Global governments, businesses and consumers need to collaborate quickly to make impactful change before it’s too late. However, change is difficult when environmentally damaging habits have become so entrenched and often appear more financially appealing.

Technology is helping in this fight.

Reusable water bottles are now widespread, and apps that help you locate drinking water refill stations are now emerging. At the same time, reusable coffee cup technology is addressing the half a trillion disposable coffee cups discarded every year. Such items are gaining increasing social currency with consumers, who are keen to display them as markers of their environmental conscience. This revolution is encouraging, but what about the products that people aren’t so willing to talk about?

100 billion menstrual products are thrown away globally every year.

These are single-use, mostly made of plastic and cannot be recycled. You can choose not to have a coffee, you cannot choose not to have a period. Reusable options (e.g. menstrual cups, cloth pads) have been on the market for decades, yet the adoption rate has been slow. The primary barrier to entry is the fear of habit change.

So how do we bring about a revolution? The answer is keep it simple. And take time to consider consumer psychology. As humans, we abhor change. We are creatures drawn towards the comfort of the known. By www.insightssuccess.com

keeping habit change to a minimum, consumers are much more likely to adopt a new idea.

This was our philosophy at DAME when we created the world’s first reusable tampon applicator. We ensured the design was familiar and intuitive, so women did not have to compromise on their convenient, established rituals. We knew that hygiene could be a significant barrier to entry, so we worked with leading micro-biologists and medical engineers and used the best medical grade, antimicrobial materials on the market. As a result, the consumer only must rinse the applicator in cold water after use to keep it clean. Simple steps, minimal habit change.

However, it is challenging to tackle an issue that has such little awareness.

Menstruation has historically been shrouded in shame, fear and discretion.

It is not a topic openly talked about.

This is a problem with feminine care as a whole: it is frequently dismissed and the women trying to address it are critically underfunded. In 2017 female founders got 2% of the $85 billion VC investment pot. About 8% of partners at the top British VC firms are women.

According to Harvard Business Review, stereotypes about female entrepreneurs persist: women are overly cautious, shy away from growth, have insufficient resources and consequently their ventures underperform. Yet there is no performance data to support these stereotypes.

How are products used by women supposed to change in line with human and environmental needs, when they aren’t given appropriate recognition or have women involved in all stages of the process? Women need to be given more of a voice if we are to create meaningful change. The world of AI is already highlighting the need to diverse away from male, white, Western coders if we are to avoid

unconscious bias in the robots of tomorrow. Amazon had to abandon an AI recruitment tool that was discriminating against women, instead favoring prospects who mirrored Amazon’s existing male engineer workforce. At DAME women have been involved in every stage of the journey, not as a token gesture but as an absolute necessity.

However, our overarching business strategy goes beyond issues of inclusivity to incorporate a wider mission. DAME was founded on the belief that business can be used as a force for good. We use this core value to guide every decision we make in the business, bringing great clarity to our route forward. By communicating our genuine and authentic commitment to this mission, we hope that our message will quickly be picked up by those eager to join a movement for change.

To date, we have seen this happen not only with our consumers and the press, but with employees. People are increasingly drawn to companies doing good. 75% of millennials would take a pay cut to work at a socially responsible company.

All this strengthens our resolve at DAME to continue to tackle critical problems that are not openly acknowledged, that are significantly underfunded, and that have historically been controlled by giant monopolies.

Today we are focusing on menstrual products, but our vision is to revolutionize the entire bathroom.

These are big mountains, but having strong guiding principles makes the navigation much easier.”

-Words by Celia Pool Co-Founder of DAME For more information visit wearedame.co

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