™ www.mirrorreview.com December 2020
PROSPERING IN THE PANDEMIC
TECH FOR THE FUTURE
Converging Technologies Balancing The Future
TACTIC TO THRIVE
Influencer Marketing A Tactic Expected to last for Years
John Kalix CEO
SOC Telemed Industry-leader in Acute Telemedicine Technology
IMAGE CREDIT: Kuba Zelichowski
EDITOR’S LETTER
How technology ai
ided through pandemic?
T
echnological advancements are determined to be a revolutionary step towards the transformation of the business landscape. However, the year 2020 tested the capability of organizations and our progress in the adoption of technology.
We faced the wrath of one of the greatest health and economic crisis in recent history. The impact of the pandemic was drastic but the helping hand in these tough times was 'technology'. Companies that adopted the advanced tech tools in their ecosystem were more likely to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Our latest issue “The 20 Prospering Companies in the Pandemic, 2020” is the story of such successful ventures who thrived despite the challenges of the pandemic.
“You can't control the uncontrollable, but you do have a say in who you work with every day and how you focus that energy to succeed,” inspiringly asserts John Kalix, CEO of SOC Telemed. He has stressed the fact that despite the crisis, one has to be focused on their goal. Drawing from this inspiration, SOC Telemed was striving to find unique and innovative ways to navigate all the complexity while maintaining teamwork and leadership. Furthermore, we have also covered The Brandon Agency's dramatic impact on sales and how they tackled to overcome client losses from traditional channels; SegWitz's expansion for meeting the increasing demand amidst crisis; and AVTECH Software scaling to growth whilst keeping employee health as a priority. These stories will not only motivate you but give you a fresh perspective on how to turn the situation in your favor and detour towards success. This year has been reflective of how we need to modify our traditional business operations. Acknowledging this sudden shift, our writers have penned an informative article describing how converging technologies outline a compelling future for humanity in the section “Tech for the future”. Whereas, “Tactic to Thrive” will inform the readers about the marketing strategy that will make the businesses thrive despite the crisis. Technology holds much more potential than we have discovered. While there were debates regarding the traditional and modern business approach, the pandemic proved that the adoption of digitalization has become vital to thrive.
Vidya Joshi Editorial Coordinator
PUBLISHER
ARCHANA GHULE
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VIKRAM SURYAWANSHI
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COVER STORY
12 | December 2020
PROSPERING IN THE PANDEMIC
SOC Telemed Industry-leader in Acute Telemedicine Technology
John Kalix
Chief Executive Officer
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COVER STORY
T
he COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered how medical practitioners provide care to patients. Medical centers are responding to the pandemic through a rapid adoption of digital tools and technologies such as telemedicine and virtual care. Thus, telemedicine and virtual care are gaining ground in the healthcare landscape as an approach to maximize the efficiency of healthcare delivery.
SOC Telemed's foundation is based on clinical providers who closely understand the challenges and scope of telemedicine. It is on a mission to provide time-sensitive access to care when patients are at their most vulnerable. The company has experienced tremendous growth since its inception and its technology platform continues to raise the bar in the field of virtual health. PROVIDING LIFE-SAVING CARE
In today's rapidly-evolving telemedicine space, one organization that distinguishes itself with its industryleading telemedicine technology and deep clinical experience is SOC Telemed. The company was founded in 2004 by a group of physicians with a vision that highquality specialty clinical care could be delivered at scale through technology.
14 | December 2020
SOC Telemed's clients include 18 of the 25 largest health systems in the nation, enabling 850 facilities in 47 states to manage complex, acute workflows and provide life-saving care. Its telemedicine platform, Telemed IQ, delivers three core services including:
PROSPERING IN THE PANDEMIC
We are in a truly unique position to change the way healthcare is delivered at a fundamental level. •
TELENEUROLOGY The company offers industry-leading teleNeurology services and is the largest provider of teleNeurology services and solutions to U.S. Hospitals. Its neurologists can provide coverage anywhere in the hospital. It provides a variety of teleNeurology services and solutions: TeleStroke and Emergency Neurology, Inpatient Neurology, and EEG Interpretation. These services enable patient retention and increased neurological admissions, decreased physician burnout, increased quality of neurology, and improved standardization and efficiency.
•
TELEPSYCHIATRY SOC Telemed is the largest provider of telePsychiatry services and solutions to U.S. hospitals. Its experienced psychiatrists provide mental health coverage in emergent cases as well as inpatient psychiatry consultations for admitted patients. SOC provides both on-demand and scheduled telePsychiatry on the Telemed IQ platform. These services provide benefits such as improved care for mental health patients, higher patient satisfaction, and increased throughput in the ED.
•
TELEICU SOC's teleIntesivists work with a local clinical team to
create a care plan for any critically-ill patient in the hospital. They provide consistent and rapid response access to board-certified critical care specialists that focus on evidence-based, best-practice-driven care. The company offers services including Critical Care OnDemand and Proactive Patient Assessments through SMARTRounds, via the Telemed IQ platform–that provide benefits such as improved care for critically-ill patients, improved quality for the ICU, and reduction in costs. STRENGTHENING RESOURCES In the current pandemic, telemedicine is having a moment in the spotlight. Telemedicine's perception with consumers shifted from a “novelty” to a necessity as many individuals needed safe access to screening for COVID-19 symptoms, to visit their primary care doctor, manage chronic diseases, and more. This increased attention is positive for the Telemedicine market and providers—such as SOC, as it offers a different, but critically important model. The company works directly with hospitals, offering highquality specialty clinical care 24/7, 365 days a year. As the pandemic progressed, the telemedicine leader focused on strengthening its resources. It is continuing to invest heavily in its robust, scalable telemedicine infrastructure to connect patients with specialists when care is needed at hospitals. Moreover, SOC increased the level of staffing to address the increasing demand in the market and is considering other specialties that would benefit from its technology and processes. SOC Telemed's expertise and platform are extendable to other clinical areas and service lines as well. “Looking ahead to the addressable market, we are considering other complementary specialties that would benefit from our technology and processes,” said John Kalix (Chief Executive Officer at SOC Telemed). In order to access more growth capital to meet the intensified needs, the company debuted on NASDAQ in November 2020 listed as TLMD. With the increase in demand, the company strives to continue to expand its resources and better serve hospitals across the U.S. OUTSTANDING SERVICE AND ATTENTION During the crisis, customers' reliance on SOC Telemed increased. Moreover, its associates also rose to the
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COVER STORY
Quality
Insights
Our patient-centric approach is focused on clinical outcomes
We pair sophisticated analytics with Lean Six Sigma principles
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Scala
We are built grow rap seaml
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to help you pidly and lessly
Innovation
Flexibility
We invest to drive technological and clinical advances
Customize your solution with any clinician, any device, at any care site
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18 | December 2020
PROSPERING IN THE PANDEMIC
Together, we are finding unique and innovative ways to navigate all the complexity due to the pandemic while maintaining teamwork and leadership. challenges posed by the pandemic. “They have done a terrific job, with encouragement from management, but largely of their own volition, capabilities, and instinctive leadership skills themselves,” added John. The company takes pride in the way it responded to the pandemic and was able to deliver high service levels despite the demands and urgencies of the crisis. Going into the fourth quarter of 2020, SOC Telemed saw record bookings year-to-date. With outstanding service and attention, SOC Telemed's team is positioned toward continued growth. COMMITMENT TO THE CORE VALUES As an organization, SOC preaches the virtues of virtual care—knowing that the same or better quality can be delivered regardless of the environment. SOC's physicians have always been remote for the most part. However, this wasn't the case for the company's corporate employees, all of whom are living through the crisis while adapting to becoming an entirely remote workforce and maintaining the company's leadership position.
SOC Telemed is successfully managing the unique challenges each employee faces while working from home, whether it is dealing with managing children who are learning remotely or putting in the effort to stay connected across different functions in the organization. “Together, we are finding unique and innovative ways to navigate all the complexity while maintaining teamwork and leadership. Everyone has done a great job,” states John. John credits the success of SOC's employees partly to their commitment to the company's core values. SOC's core values include following the golden rule—be respectful, show empathy, as well as the importance of staying patientfocused. The company ensures it always keeps patients first in everything it does, offers a seamless care process, and strives for patient satisfaction. ACUTE CARE: THE FUTURE OF TELEMEDICINE The pandemic underscored the importance of telemedicine broadly and made it clear that the business model of many hospitals is no longer viable as presently constructed, in the absence of elective procedures. The present economic reality demands a different strategy where health systems do more to optimize their spending and weather the economic storm with efficiencies gained. Furthermore, the importance of acute care is expected to be significant in the near future. As a publicly-traded company, SOC Telemed aims to further its vision of transforming healthcare by enabling patients to have increased access to the highest quality of care via a technology-enabled platform. Moreover, as hospitals struggle with acute capacity management, physician scarcity, and cost optimization, SOC's virtual care model is expected to be a critical component of the healthcare industry's ability to deliver better care to patients. START WITH THE 'WHO’ John believes that during these interesting times, business success is about finding the right team that shares the passion, vision, mission, and values of the company. Adding to this, he asserts working extra hard to stay connected and being genuine is crucial to thriving in this remote working world. “You can't control the uncontrollable, but you do have a say in who you work with every day and how you focus that energy to succeed,” he concludes.
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The 20 Prospering Companies in the Pandemic COMPANY NAMES
INFO
Amrev Media, Sunandini Verma, Founder
Amrev Media is revolutionizing businesses through marketing and technology and hold expertise in web developemnt and marketing. www.amrevmedia.com
Aptum, Susan Bowen, CEO & President
Aptum is a global hybrid multi-cloud managed service provider delivering complex solutions across a fully-managed, high-performance network. www.aptum.com
AVTECH Software, Michael Sigourney, Founder and CEO
AVTECH created to help monitor IT networks and facilities to help prevent downtime and data loss. www.avtech.com
Command Legal, Sam Crawford, Co-Founder & COO
Command is building customized law firm websites & effective SEO strategies that bring high-value traffic and help solo attorneys and small firms get new clients. www.command-legal.com
ConvrtX, Josh Adler, CEO
ConvrtX is an award-winning venture studio that scales software startups to dominate markets through comprehensive and scalable business strategy. www.convrtx.com
Enjoy Technology, Ron Johnson, CEO
Enjoy is the next generation of the retail store. It helps today’s premier companies navigate the shift from brick and mortar to online commerce by bringing the best of the store to customers' door. www.enjoy.com/en-us/
Flutura, Krishnan Raman, Co-Founder & CEO
Flutura is an AI Platform Company focused on improving two core business objectives of "Asset Uptime" and "Operational Efficiency". www.flutura.com
Hawk Host, Tony Baird, CEO
Hawk Host leverages its extensive knowledge of web hosting and software development to create reliable self sustaining solutions. www.hawkhost.com
Microcis Software Solutions, Saifuddin Sepehr, CEO
Microcis is an industry-leading web and mobile app development company known for delivering innovative and award-winning solutions for the government and private sector entities. www.microcis.net
Mobylogix, Arslan Nasir, CEO
Mobylogix is a top-rated software engineering and marketing company that provides scalable and robust IT solutions across various industries and platforms. www.mobylogix.com
The 20 Prospering Companies in the Pandemic COMPANY NAMES
INFO
Primafelicitas, Anurag Yadav, Co-Founder & CEO
PrimaFelicitas is a Blockchain Development Company that is helping small businesses grow by using the latest digital solutions, trends, and technologies. www.primafelicitas.com
RootQuotient, Rajagopalan, Founder & CEO
RootQuotient is a group of highly talented individuals in the field of technology who came together with the dream of building a great technology entity which would impact lives of millions positively. www.rootquotient.com
SafeBrands, Charles Tiné, CEO
SafeBrands offers a personalized and high-quality service to thousands of clients and holds expertise in comprehensive domain. www.safebrands.com
SankalpSoft Solutions, Sanket Kapole, CEO
SankalpSoft Solutions is leveraging its expertise in IT Solutions and integrates new tech in its products and services to help businesses grow. www.sankalpsolutions.com
SegWitz Tech, Mukesh Maran, Founder & Director
SegWitz aims to be the leading IT services company in Malaysia. Building on its technologies, competencies, and customer interests, the company strives to create value for its stakeholders and customers. www.segwitz.com
SOC Telemed, John Kalix, CEO
SOC Telemd offers world-class TeleNeurology services. It is on a mission to provide time-sensitive access to care when patients are at their most vulnerable. www.www.soctelemed.com
The Brandon Agency, Scott Brandon, CEO
The Brandon Agency focuses on aligning its clients’ business objectives with their brand strategies creating overall corporate marketing strategies. www.thebrandonagency.com
W3infotech, James Mathew, Co- Founder
W3infotech is one of the leading domain registration and hosting companies. Its accredited domain services are efficient and affordable. www.w3infotech.com
Webapper, Patrick Quinn CEO
Webapper Services LLC believes that there is a better way to manage outsourced technology services and is on a mission to empower the clients to thrive using leading-edge cloud software technologies. www.webapper.com
Webbingstone, Amr Zaki, Co-Founder & CEO
Webbing Stone is a digital marketing agency providing different services like Social Media Management, PPC to generate leads, Web Development, Graphic Designs, and more. www.webbingstone.com
environment conditions such as temperature or humidity were proximate to thresholds that could cause downtime and hardware failure. Presently, it is one of the most advanced, easyto-use, reliable, and affordable environment monitoring solutions available.
Offering the New Gen Environmental Monitoring
Currently, the industry is undergoing several changes due to the COVID-19 crisis, and to keep up with these changes, AVTECH Software has launched two free tools that any organization can use to help them better understand the importance of monitoring to help protect against costly downtime and data loss. •
T
he most unprecedented crisis of 2020 has been the COVID-19 pandemic. It has managed to alter the set goals and roadmap of industries, causing economic disruption throughout the world. The greatest threat to organizations is the one that is unexpected and therefore unplanned for. Planning is the core foundation for any solution or recovery from the threats that organizations face. The longer it takes to build a resolution the greater is the threat and damage. For more than three decades, AVTECH Software has been focused on proactive “Business Continuity” planning and preparation. AVTECH has successfully overcome all the hurdles while other manufacturers of similar products have not managed to stay in the market over the years. Established in 1988, the company was created to help monitor IT networks and facilities to help prevent downtime and data loss. Its solutions soon gained ground against their competitors, making AVTECH one of the leading developers and manufacturers for environment monitoring. AVTECH's rapid growth was also recognized by the Small Business Administration as the Rhode Island Exporter of the Year 2018. It has been one of the finalists for the Disaster Recovery Institute International Product/Service of 2020 award for its unique and innovative services. These accolades are truly a testament to the hard work and effort that AVTECH puts into their products and services. RELIABLE AND COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS The award-winning portfolio of solutions from AVTECH has been protecting the most important data centers in the world. No data center can afford unexpected downtime, and AVTECH's hardware monitors have quickly become an industry standard. Their Room Alert line of environment monitors was first introduced in 1998 and has been widely adopted by IT and facilities managers who needed to be warned if
22 | December 2020
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Business Continuity Plan Checklist: A free download for anyone who wants to either check their own organization's plan to make sure they are not overlooking any critical areas that could lead to downtime, or anyone that has not yet put together a documented plan on their own. Downtime Calculator: This tool allows organizations of any size to quickly understand how costly even one hour of downtime can be. By using the interactive sliders to match some criteria in the calculator with their organization, within a matter of seconds, any organization can see what their actual true cost of downtime will be whether they are down for an hour, a couple of hours, or even multiple days.
“We've seen Room Alert become the standard for worldwide organizations to help monitor their data centers, warehouses, telecom installations and so much more,” says Michael Sigourney, Founder CEO of AVTECH Software. AVTECH is also prepared for the launch of Room Alert Manager—the newest generation in environment monitoring software that offers alerting, graphing, reporting, firmware updates, and so much more for its monitors and sensors. SCALING COMPANY GROWTH AVTECH's operations are overseen by a great leadership team. Michael shares a wide history
PROSPERING IN THE PANDEMIC workflow. As a result, the staff members were provided with additional monitors, office chairs, laptops, VoIP phones, and more where needed to ensure that they were able to be productive and comfortable while working remotely.
Michael Sigourney | Founder & CEO
AVTECH remains ‘‘committed to helping
PRIORITIZING SELF-CARE
‘‘
stop the spread of COVID-19 during these uncertain and unprecedented times.
While working remotely, the team was connected with Microsoft Teams and has been using the platform for company meetings and daily communication. This ensured that the whole team was on the same page while maintaining social connections. Michael also especially highlighted the efforts of facilities management and fulfillment teams who had to stay in office throughout the pandemic. These two groups were always present physically in the office to ensure that the products are shipped and the office remains clean and sanitized for the employees who might need to return to the workplace. “They have done outstanding work to help service our customers and we couldn't be prouder of their efforts,” adds Michael.
with some of AVTECH's international sales partners and resellers granting him insights for expansion in international markets. In the pre-COVID era, Michael would travel overseas to expand AVTECH and Room Alert brand messages outside of North America. Even after the pandemic hit, he was active in scaling the growth of the organization. He adds, “Thanks to technology and the Internet, I am still able to meet with so many people over video calls to talk to them about Room Alert and how it will help their organization.” PREPPING FOR THE NEW NORMAL Technology has also benefitted the team of AVTECH by allowing them to stay together and work closely with each other from remote locations. The AVTECH team already anticipated the lockdown after noticing the worsening conditions around the world due to COVID19. To be prepared for a long period of remote work, the team was asked to work from home for a few days prior to the offices being closed for healthy and safety reasons. AVTECH ensured that the team was well equipped with the technology required to maintain a smooth
Michael deliberates that being separated from the co-workers can be difficult at times for everyone —especially the ones with whom you work daily. Acknowledging the tough times, Michael ensured that the management team would always be available to listen to any concerns and address them as soon as possible. Alongside this, the internal systems and processes were frequently monitored so they would not hinder the productivity of employees. The employees' well-being was kept at utmost priority. Since the start of 2020, the routines and schedules have been upended due to the pandemic, leading AVTECH to give its staff the ability to modify their schedules when needed. This helps the employees to pay attention to their homeschooling children or go out on a walk in the nice weather as part of their self-care routine. Based on the productivity and sales increases shown by the team while working remotely, AVTECH has ensured that their company culture has remained in place even when faced with the worst pandemic in nearly 100 years.
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Tactic to Thrive
24 | December 2020
M
arketing is the backbone of business. A business can neither be started nor completed without marketing. Social media marketing has risen as one of the best marketing strategies in recent days. Faster communication and wider reach are the prominent advantages of social media marketing. In the recent decade, this type of marketing has grown up excessively. Out of several kinds of social media marketing; one is Influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is basically a form of social media marketing which involves endorsements and product placements for influencers, people and organization. It mainly uses influencers of a particular field to endorse their brands in the market and sell their particular product. Influencer content may be called as testimonial advertising. Here the influencers play the role of a buyer himself. This results in effective branding of the product thus effective marketing also. Social Media Marketing: A Brief Considering the needs of marketing and effective reach towards people, Social Media Marketing came into the mix, followed by its various techniques. Influencer marketing is one of the techniques of social media marketing. It is a form of collaboration. The business collaborates with an influential person to promote product, service or a campaign. Celebrity endorsements were primarily the prominent way towards influencer marketing. But now a days, the social content creators are also offering value for brands. These people have their separate fanbase and a number of followers who can help in the overall sale of the product, marketing of the product and also the overall reach
of the product. People often tend to get attracted towards a product if it is being endorsed by an effective influencer. Every influencer has his group of die-hard fans, and he uses their trust on him to sale a product. A seller or a marketer also might give a special discount code just for the influencer's audience in order to track how effective the campaign is. Content marketing and social media marketing work in a parallel way. Most of the influencers have their own social media channels, they are expected to bring the crowd by using their social media influence, also some sort of content is either created for the influencers or it is created by the influencers. They are expected to write effective content which would lead to the sale of the product. The Resources of Information The need of marketing is increasing day in and day out. This need is leading towards newer ways of marketing. Influencer marketing is one of those most effective ways. There are many resources of influencer marketing also. Influencer Marketing Hub is an important and one of the most effective resources for the same. An influencer marketing hub is a platform for various influencers, agencies, influencer marketing platform reviews, tools, templates and case studies. They provide reviews on different leading influencer marketing platforms. These reviews are very helpful from both the agency point of view as well as the influencer's point of view. The provided information is reliable and factual. They also provide a lot of industry related information. The information helps in a lot of reviews about relevant industries. It provides listings of micro influencers and the impact they had on the
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Tactic to Thrive
marketing field. They are also helpful in several case studies regarding marketing. These hubs also calculate the wages that they expect to get from these social media platforms. In general, it bridges the gap between influencers and the brands. The hubs also measure the estimated cost of a marketing project, predict and compare between multiple estimations and decide the best one. The Platforms for Influential Marketing Influencer marketing has come along very fast as an effective and one of the most preferred tactics for brands to connect with their target audiences. Often, the target audience can be same for a number of brands. To counter this scenario, influencer marketing is used. In order to create, launch, strategize and optimize the campaigns and to reach much more audiences effectively and fast. Many brands use several influencer marketing platforms. To find the right influencers for a specific brand, monitor campaigns and measure the results, influencer marketing platforms are used.. These platforms have proved to be one of the most important aspects of the social media marketing. There are a number of influencer marketing platforms such as Upfluence, AspireIQ, NeoReach, Fanbytes etc. These platforms have provided opportunities for industries to bring a more optimistic approach towards influencer marketing. Bringing a Change: Influencer Marketing Companies Just like the influencer marketing platforms, the companies also hold a key in effective influencer marketing. These companies help in developing a partnership between influencers and the brand for campaigns that involve product placement, content development, speaking engagements and more. They can also customize a campaign based on what the brands are looking for and what they want to get out of it. These companies are a medium for communication between a brand and the influencer. It helps the brands to widen their wings and find the specific influencers according to their requirement. Several influencer marketing companies are such as Kairos Media, Viral Nation, Go Fish Digital, Mediakix, etc. These companies are one of the most trusted influencer marketing companies in the world according to https://shanebarker.com/blog/influencer-marketingagencies/ . Indeed these companies are a valuable asset to influencer marketing and also social media marketing.
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From a Strategical Point of View Like everything else, one should not rush into influencer marketing without planning or forethought. Time is a very important aspect in this phenomenon. To utilize the maximum time one has, he has to use a bag of strategies. No marketing is complete without a strategy and influencer marketing is no different. These strategies include concepts such as defining target audience, setting different objectives, find the suitable influencers, go and meet the methods for approaching the influencers, etc. These strategies are the guidelines to good influencer marketing. These strategies largely depend upon brand awareness, customer loyalty, audience building, engagement, sale and parallel factors. Guest Posting, Social Media Mentions, Influencer Takeover, Brand Ambassadors are some of the influencer marketing strategies. They may vary according to the scenario. Similarly, the kind of influencers such as Bloggers, Social Media Stars, and Industry Experts also might vary according to the product and the situation. Taking Social Media Marketing by a Storm: Instagram Influencer Marketing Instagram has been the fastest growing social media app since last couple of years. It has taken over all the other social media apps which were on top for most of the time. The influencer marketing is a part of social media marketing, and so is Instagram Influencer Marketing also. In recent years, Instagram users over the globe have begun making a live from paid posts and collaborative marketing campaigns. This app offers a perfect space for brand ambassadorship, with influential users authentically recommending products and services to their loyal audience. The influencer space is estimated to grow to $5-10 billion industry by 2020. Thus instagram influencer marketing is a marketing force which is only expected to grow over the years. The world stands on the brink of another industrial revolution. Marketing is a field which is as important as any other fields. With the inventions of new management techniques, influencer marketing yet seems to be one of the most effective one and promises to be the same in future also.
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•
Empowering Businesses with Tailor-made Tech Solutions
T
echnology has become an integral part of almost every business today. While some businesses are using technology to scale up and grow rapidly, some are still unaware of the massive untapped potential of technology. Thus to bridge this gap and open up a plethora of opportunities for businesses, Mukesh Maran (Founder and Director) founded SegWitz in 2019. SegWitz is a Puchong, Malaysia-based IT company providing custom software solutions for startups, SMEs, and corporate clients. Prior to founding SegWitz, Mukesh was offering his IT consultancy and web development services since 2017. He consulted several companies that had outsourced their development to a vendor. He also helped companies that faced problems with their software projects, fixing them and bringing them back on track. However, when the demand started growing, he started hiring developers and established SegWitz. Since then, SegWitz is on a mission to help businesses utilize technology to their advantage.
Service Desk, Infrastructure, Optimization, Coding, Support. Custom Mobile Apps Development: UI/UX Design, Development, Infrastructure, Advisory, Optimization, Coding, Support.
These solutions are provided by SegWitz's team of passionate developers who thrive on rolling up their sleeves and solving the problems with technology to meet the business needs. Being the Founder and Director, Mukesh spearheads the team. His main role is setting the direction of the company as well as directly dealing with the clients. Moreover, he is in charge of sales as well. He works alongside several mentors and business coaches that help and guide him to make key decisions. He is leveraging his experience in software development and programming to drive SegWitz towards unparalleled growth. HELPING BUSINESSES GO DIGITAL The devastating outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the software landscape. Several businesses and individuals have realized the importance of technology as a powerful tool that can help reduce costs and increase revenue by creating a new selling channel. Due to the pandemic restrictions, several companies started selling online by developing new mobile apps or web apps.
CUSTOMIZED IT SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS SegWitz aims to be the leading IT services company in Malaysia. Building on its technologies, competencies, and customer interests, the company strives to create value for its stakeholders and customers. Thus, it focuses on the intersection of its client's emerging needs, acceleration of business, and technological change, and provides customized services and solutions allow businesses to streamline workflow and improve productivity. These solutions include, •
Custom Web Development: Web UI/UX Design, Development,
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Consequently, unlike other companies, the crisis benefitted SegWitz significantly. The company saw an increase in its revenue during the lockdown. Moreover, several companies hired SegWitz for consultancy, mobile application development, as well as web application development. To cope with the increasing demand, the company had to expand. Thus, it started hiring more developers.
PROSPERING IN THE PANDEMIC remote working tools in place and an already trained team to use them. Regardless of the changes made due to the pandemic, SegWitz's team put its client's project quality in the first place and ensured optimum work quality. PROJECTS LINED UP FOR THE FUTURE
Mukesh Maran | Founder & Director
pandemic has opened ‘‘upTheopportunities for the new
‘‘
entrants. Those who take advantage of these opportunities will succeed. Those who don't will suffer.
On the contrary, a number of software developers and programmers lost their jobs during the lockdown. As a result, they shifted towards freelancing and started offering their services at an affordable (lower rate) price. Thus, SegWitz stopped making business websites and shifted its focus towards custom web app and mobile app development. “SegWitz has a great team of passionate web app and mobile app developers and we are directing our resources and experience in providing our expertise for businesses to digitize,” said Mukesh. UNMATCHED WORK QUALITY
Mukesh believes that in the near future, more companies are going to set aside a budget to invest in bespoke software to digitize their operations and/or to find a new business model or to start a whole new tech startup. Preparing for the future, SegWitz is currently planning several new packages including—SegWitz ReInvent, SegWitz ScaleUp, SegWitz Digitize, and SegWitz Startup. SegWitz ReInvent will offer web app redevelopment and mobile app revamping services. As a lot of custom softwares used by companies are out to date and have numerous bugs, SegWitz is providing its expertise to rebuild such softwares. SegWitz ScaleUp helps emerging businesses leverage technology to grow. Moreover, SegWitz Digitize digitizes and/or automates business operations to enhance quality and reduce error rate as well as reduce costs. Lastly, SegWitz Startup helps startups that are in the idea stage to build web/mobile apps to start. SegWitz did an in-depth study on its client base and realized that the aforementioned are the packages the company is experienced with. “Therefore, once the world gets back up from the COVID era and economy starts booming, it will be the right time for SegWitz to start pitching for the right companies,” added Mukesh.
Remote working has become an integral part of the new normal. SegWitz was prepared for the transition to remote working as the company had the work from home culture even before the pandemic. Hence when the lockdown was imposed, the company was able to continue with its current projects as it had the required
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COMPREHENSIVE MARKETING SERVICES
Fueling Growth with Data-driven Marketing Solutions
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oday's marketing world is undergoing dramatic changes due to the rapid advancements in technology. These changes have created a unique marketing intersection where brands, consumers, technology, and data all converge. The Brandon Agency, a Charleston SC-based integrated marketing and communications firm, is sitting in the middle of this convergence. The Agency leverages creativity, technology, data, cross-disciplinary thinking, and next-generation storytelling to help its clients grow. As one of the only 24 agencies worldwide to be certified as brand strategists, The Brandon Agency focuses on aligning its clients' business objectives with their brand strategies to create overall corporate marketing strategies that deliver the best results. GROWTH AND GEOGRAPHIC EXPANSION The Brandon Agency was established at Myrtle Beach in 1959 by Cecil Brandon. Cecil was a highly creative visionary and was before his time in helping turn Myrtle Beach into one of the most popular tourism destinations in the world. Cecil's son, Scott Brandon (CEO at The Brandon Agency), joined the company in 1993 and added core competencies and services such as web development, public relations, organic social media, SEO, and analytics. Later in 2004, the agency made a bold move by opening an office in Charleston, SC and moving its headquarters there. Thereafter, The Brandon Agency acquired expertise and clients in the B2B, CPG, Financial, Healthcare, Telecom and Travel sectors through organic growth and key acquisitions in 2013, 2014, and 2015. The growth and geographical expansion have helped The Brandon Agency become one of the largest independent agencies in the Southeast.
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Known as an agency with business minds and creative hearts, The Brandon Agency is a digitally-centric, data-driven integrated marketing and communications firm on a mission to develop and execute revolutionary business-building ideas that help its clients grow. The company provides a bouquet of marketing services including, • Brand Strategy • Media • Pay Per Click • eCommerce • Analytics • Content • Social Media • Public Relations • Email Marketing • Search Engine Optimization It also provides Conversion Rate Optimization, Interactive Web Development, and Retail Experience marketing services. The Agency specializes in high growth industry categories such as Healthcare, B2B, Outdoor Leisure, Financial, CPG, Travel and Tourism, Telcom and Utilities. THE COVID-19 CONUNDRUM The COVID-19 outbreak has changed the marketing landscape altogether. The pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the sales channels of The Brandon Agency's clients. Many of its clients have boosted their directto-consumer efforts with great success. Likewise, with its ability to pivot quickly and focus on the clients' efforts utilizing their owned media assets and AI-assisted paid digital buys, The Brandon Agency has managed to overcome client losses from traditional channels. Furthermore, the pandemic hit the company with challenges such as business development and pitching. As calling on prospects and getting face-to-face meetings was difficult, the company relied on its inbound marketing efforts and made sure it was easily
PROSPERING IN THE PANDEMIC these uncertain times, “Team members want to know what's happening and how we're doing. They also want to know that their leaders care for them as people, not just employees,” he added. During this crisis, The Brandon Agency's team has stepped up notably. Working from home, the team members have kept up the volume of work and been there for each other. The Brandon Agency takes pride in the fact that it went through the crisis with no layoffs, no furloughs, and no pay restrictions. A “LEVEL UP”
Scott Brandon | CEO We have maintained ‘‘ the “Level Up” theme throughout the pandemic and have not abandoned our commitment towards growth.
‘‘
discoverable for those looking for help. These additional efforts paid great dividends and as a result, this year, The Brandon Agency added the most number of new clients in its history. AMPLIFYING THE SERVICE PORTFOLIO As the pandemic highlighted the need of direct-to-consumer strategy, The Brandon Agency fortified its talent in the paid digital media, development, SEO, and analytics teams. The company also incubated a specialized Amazon marketing team within the agency to help its clients increase sales. Moreover, on the B2B side, it is continually working on honing its knowledge and skills to assist its clients in leveraging their CRM tools better. “We are becoming experts at using Salesforce, Paradot, etc.,” added Scott. STEPPING UP IN THE CRISIS As a leader, Scott believes that transparency, empathy, honesty, and communication were the keys for The Brandon Agency to thrive in
The pandemic has enforced the transition to remote working. While some organizations struggled to adapt to the transition, The Brandon Agency was quick to adjust to the shift. As the company has offices in four US cities and one abroad, it had been using Zoom for meetings and web-based project management systems long before the pandemic. Its technology was set up for anyone to work from anywhere. Alongside technology, the company maintained a competitive, tough, smart, fun, and responsive culture to combat the crisis. Besides technology and culture, The Brandon Agency's theme going into 2020 was “Level Up”. It wanted to take its skillsets across the agency to a new level – one that would help it attract larger clients. The company has maintained the theme throughout the pandemic and has not abandoned its commitment towards growth. The theme has helped the company to stay focused throughout the year. TECHNOLOGY: THE DRIVER OF CHANGE Scott believes that technology will continue to be the driver of change in the industry in the near future. “Not only the technology available to us as marketers with AI and predictive capabilities but the technology available to the consumers and how their use of technology impacts how they consume media,” he added. As the digital commerce channels continue to expand, The Brandon Agency is focused on growing its expertise to address these challenges.
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Tech for the future
CONVERGING TECHNOLOGIES
BALANCING
T
echnology is unpredictable. It carries surprises for the generations. Once it was the rise of the radio, then it was the advent of the internet. Few years back, people were using radio, television, telephone, camera, music player, and computer separately, but today the internet has converged all these entities in one place: mobile phones. Yes, the converging technologies! The acceleration and convergence of exponential technologies are transforming businesses, industries, and lives. These converging technologies are reshaping every industry and society. It makes sense that the decade to come will be filled with radical breakthroughs and world-changing surprises.
The future is faster than one thinks Technology has been upgraded far more quickly than anyone could have imagined. Through converging technologies, every major industry is about to be completely reimagined. The impact of these technologies—underlined by their capabilities—will address unmet needs, create new solutions, and drive unlikely players from diverse industries to work with each other. For entrepreneurs, innovators, leaders, and anyone sufficiently enthusiast, the opportunities will be incredible. Some of the converging tech scenarios can be seen in the fields such as; Advanced Foods, Robotic Farming, Manufacturing X.0, Gen-Z Packaging, and many more. Converging technologies in these fields can forecast the future as follows:
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ADVANCED FOODS Technology over the years has changed how to produce and find foods. Key driving factors encouraging the development of advanced foods can bring massive changes ahead. Improved food security and enhanced food quality are the need of the hour. Converging technologies aim to help improve the efficiency of food with increased sustainability. The use of machines in the food industry ensures quality and affordability. For instance, in the European food industry, the number of robots per 10,000 employees raised from 62 in 2013 to 84 in 2017.
ROBOTIC FARMING Robots are expected to be installed at farms to transform the agriculture industry. Through leveraging a converged ecosystem of advanced technologies in agriculture, it can improve the costs, yields, and value of farm produce. By quantifying agriculture, technology convergence will help overcome traditional farming challenges and provide new growth opportunities. Farmers turning to technology (agricultural robots or agribots) is seen as one of the key trends that will deeply influence agriculture in the coming years. A study suggests the permanent robotic fixture on many farms is expected to reach $12.8 billion market value by 2022.
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Tech for the future
MANUFACTURING X.0 Industry 4.0 is the digitization of the manufacturing sector. The convergence of operational technologies and informational technologies that spells industry 4.0 is the key industry initiatives supporting the development of Manufacturing X.0. Artificial intelligence and hybrid blockchain technology are the main models of manufacturing X.0. Together they are called the 'New Internet,' which includes smart energy management, track-andtrace, and remote monitoring of products.
GEN-Z PACKAGING Gen Z values sustainability. Gen Z packaging is an advanced packaging solution for real-time tracking with maintained authenticity. It cares deeply about the environment and the brand and expects others to do the same. For example, in 2010, Puma was the eco-OG when they eliminated the shoebox and introduced the reusable “Clever Little Bag.” As of 2018, Gen Zs have approximately contributed about $143 billion in total spending power.
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Predicting the future During the next decade, industries will experience more upheaval and create more wealth than they have in the past years. In this gripping and insightful roadmap to the near future, many leaders, entrepreneurs, and courageous individuals will find how wave after wave of exponentially accelerating technologies impact both, their daily lives and society as a whole. But what happens as AI, robotics, virtual reality, and sensors crash into 3D printing, blockchain, global gigabit networks? How will these convergences transform today's legacy industries? What will happen to the way people raise their kids, govern their nations, and care for the planet? The science of technological convergence will reinvent every aspect of human lives, taking humanity into uncharted territories and reimagining the world as they know it. Being able to see around the corner of tomorrow and being agile enough to adapt to what's coming, has never been more important, such as: Ÿ
Convergence will explore breaking technologies that are currently on exponential growth curves, examining where they are today and where they're going. Quantum computing, artificial intelligence, networks, robotics, virtual and augmented reality, 3-D printing, blockchain, materials science and nanotechnology, and biotechnology are some breakthroughs.
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The technologies will focus on key industries like shopping, advertising, entertainment, education, healthcare, longevity, business, and food to show how they are reshaping the world.
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The converging technologies will take the bigger picture, looking at a series of environment, economic, and existential risks that threaten the progress people are about to make. The advancements then expand their view from what's in store in the next decade to the full century,
TECHNOLOGY MAKES THE
WORLD A NEW
PLACE focusing on five great migrations—economic relocations, climate-change upheavals, virtual worlds explorations, outer space colonization, and hive-mind collaborations—to show how they will serve as powerful innovation accelerants and how technology can help solve the world's biggest problems. Conclusion: Humans have been trying to bargain existential risks. They are basically trying to make sure that society will not kill itself accidentally with technology. Converging technologies outline a compelling future for humanity. They set a clear vision of the transformation of every major industry. They aim to transform every industry this decade. Every entrepreneur and leader must understand the transformation and opportunities to plan and prepare as they offer this decade a hopeful and powerful vision of the future.
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