WWW.THEENTERPRISEWORLD.COM | AMERICAS EDITION | APRIL 2022
CEO | KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY HAL LAB
Dr. Tigran Haas
A Leader Inspiring and Bringing the Best in People
Top 5
SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS To Watch In 2022
From Editor’s Desk A
n entrepreneur is the one that visualizes the future and success, realizes his vision and takes step to working towards it. Knocking off the hardships, keeping a straight head an entrepreneur is the one that inspires his employees and his peers to achieve the great milestones in their journey.
This issue of The Enterprise World of Top 5 Successful Entrepreneurs to Watch features the stories of such select entrepreneurs who with their dedication, their zeal and excellence have surpassed all the hurdles that came their way and have emerged as the great story-tellers of their successful ventures. Inspiring others and themselves at every step, here are all the successful entrepreneurs that have been featured. For the cover story read aboutDr. Tigran holds advanced and multiple degrees in Architecture, Urban Planning + Urban Design, Environmental Science and Regional Planning. He has written over 100 scholarly articles and 10 books and has educated future corporate project managers on a master’s level for over a decade. Positioned at the intersection of architecture, urban planning, urban design and urban studies, KTH’s Centre for the Future of Places CFP was an agora, a meeting place for leading thinkers, practitioners and researchers in urbanism who are pursuing solutions to the city’s key urban development challenges, with a particular focus on public space systems. Leadership Talks with The Enterprise World include the stories ofChristopher Carter of Approyo. Approyo provides deployments, migrations upgrades for any SAP core instance. The company acts as a reliable partner delivering SAP projects on time and on budget. The process behind Approyo’s services begins with a tailored roadmap fit to each clients’ business needs. After an SAP project is complete, Approyo offers their managed cloud services, such as hosting, monitoring, and 24/7 SAP Basis support. Approyo’s global team of SAP experts works around the clock to ensure that all of their clients’ systems are running efficiently and securely. “I started Oliver Sanderson in 2011. I left a great job, sold my car to consolidate my savings, and set up an office in the dining room. What started as one woman on a laptop has grown into an international business at the cutting edge of executive search, working with big clients, winning awards, and making a difference internationally!”, says Natasha Makhijani of Oliver Sanderson. Ulrich Walder on his successful stint says, “The company was founded as a start-up and found around a dozen of investors right at the beginning to put the ideas into practice. Both technologies exist today as prototypes and, in the case of the mobile applications, have also already proven themselves well in practice. Just over a hundred apps in a wide area of application (insurance, project management, architecture, communication, art and culture, events, tourism and nature) have been created and experienced hundreds of thousands of downloads.” Paul Guenther of Knowledge Hub Media. Knowledge Hub Media is a b2b advertising company with demand generation and content syndication serving as our core competencies. We’ve had a lot of major accomplishments over the years, including making the Inc. 5000 list three years in a row (Inc Magazine), and, being honoured as an Entrepreneur Magazine Entrepreneur 360 company… The 360 best privately owned companies in America – also three years in a row.
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Leaders in Spotlight
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r. Tigran holds advanced and multiple degrees in Architecture, Urban Planning + Urban Design, Environmental Science and Regional Planning. He has written over 100 scholarly articles and 10 books and has educated future corporate project managers on a master’s level for over a decade. Positioned at the intersection of architecture, urban planning, urban design and urban studies, KTH’s Centre for the Future of Places CFP was an agora, a meeting place for leading thinkers, practitioners and researchers in urbanism who are pursuing solutions to the city’s key urban development challenges, with a particular focus on public space systems. Leadership Talks with The Enterprise World include the stories ofChristopher Carter of Approyo. Approyo provides deployments, migrations upgrades for any SAP core instance. The company acts as a reliable partner delivering SAP projects on time and on budget. The process behind Approyo’s services begins with a tailored roadmap fit to each clients’ business needs. After an SAP project is complete, Approyo offers their managed cloud services, such as hosting, monitoring, and 24/7 SAP Basis support. Approyo’s global team of SAP experts works around the clock to ensure that all of their clients’ systems are running efficiently and securely.
“I started Oliver Sanderson in 2011. I left a great job, sold my car to consolidate my savings, and set up an office in the dining room. What started as one woman on a laptop has grown into an international business at the cutting edge of executive search, working with big clients, winning awards, and making a difference internationally!”, says Natasha Makhijani of Oliver Sanderson. Ulrich Walder on his successful stint says, “The company was founded as a start-up and found around a dozen of investors right at the beginning to put the ideas into practice. Both technologies exist today as prototypes and, in the case of the mobile applications, have also already proven themselves well in practice. Just over a hundred apps in a wide area of application (insurance, project management, architecture, communication, art and culture, events, tourism and nature) have been created and experienced hundreds of thousands of downloads.” Paul Guenther of Knowledge Hub Media. Knowledge Hub Media is a b2b advertising company with demand generation and content syndication serving as our core competencies. We’ve had a lot of major accomplishments over the years, including making the Inc. 5000 list three years in a row (Inc Magazine), and, being honoured as an Entrepreneur Magazine Entrepreneur 360 company… The 360 best privately owned companies in America – also three years in a row.
12. Dr. Tigran Haas
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42. Paul Guenther
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36. Ulrich Walder
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30. Natasha Makhijani
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24. Christopher Carter
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COVER STORY
Dr. Tigran Haas A Leader Inspiring and Bringing the Best in People
CEO, KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY HAL LAB www.theenterpriseworld.com | 13
COVER STORY
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rban planning and designing is a concept that helps cities grow in various ways. With proper planning and designing of the cities, it gives more space for the population to grow and also manage all the resources so that all the people of the city are happy. These are some of the most basic things that are included in urban planning and designing. With technologies evolving every day, there still remains a lot that needs to be explored and implemented in urban designing space. Featuring for the Cover Story of The Enterprise World's this issue of Top 5 Successful Entrepreneurs To Watch In 2022 is Dr. Tigran Haas, a teacher, a professor and a leader that is bringing out the best in people. About Dr. TigranDr. Tigran holds advanced and multiple degrees in Architecture, Urban
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Planning + Urban Design, Environmental Science and Regional Planning. He has written over 100 scholarly articles and 10 books and has educated future corporate project managers on a master's level for over a decade. He has also developed three masters' programs and taught over 35 courses at graduate & post-graduate level. Dr. Tigran holds Three Post-Doc Fellowships from the University of Berkeley California, University of Michigan Ann Arbor and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston Cambridge. His forthcoming books will be published by Routledge, Rowman & Littlefield,
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Rizzoli, Edward Elgar and Atheneum Scholars Press. He has also been a Former Director of International Centre for the Future of Places (CFP) at KTH, Stockholm and the former Director of the Civitas Athenaeum Laboratory (CAL). From 2016-2021, Dr. Tigran headed the centre, an international network hub and clearing house on research within public spaces. He is currently an Associate Professor of Urban Planning + Urban Design at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Digital Futures KTH
Faculty and Executive Board Member and a Guest Research Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT in Cambridge, in the Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU). Dr. Tigran's Journey at the Research CenterPositioned at the intersection of architecture, urban planning, urban design and urban studies, KTH's Centre for the Future of Places CFP was an agora, a meeting place for leading thinkers, practitioners and researchers in urbanism who are pursuing solutions to the city's key
COVER STORY urban development challenges, with a particular focus on public space systems. Faced with new social, economic, political, cultural and environmental challenges, the question of the value of public space in planning and maintaining cities is critical to the future of urbanism. “As a permanent mission, the CFP places a spotlight on public space and the public realm, and more specifically, the shifting of attention from object to places, as an essential aspect of urbanism and urbanization. Within that mission we have explored the interrelationships between urban form, human behavior, urban society, and social life, sustainable urbanism and housing in the wake of emergent global
transformations looked upon through the cross-cutting lens of public space. Also, CFP's mother Institution and Hub is the “MIT of the NORTH”, KTH – Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm Sweden. Since its inception in 1827, KTH has developed into one of Europe's leading technical universities and an important arena for knowledge development. As Sweden's largest university for technical research and education, KTH brings together students, researchers and faculty from all over the world. Together with business and society, KTH is working on sustainable solutions to some of humanity's greatest challenges: climate change, the energy supply of the future,
urbanization and quality of life for a rapidly growing, aging population. KTH's research and education covers both science and all branches of technology as well as architecture, industrial economics, social planning, history and philosophy. The innovative climate promotes versatile solutions and the university's education creates a new generation of engineers, architects and teachers. Finally, their world-class ties, affiliations and research cooperation were also one of the reasons for this success and will further be strengthened with the international ties and upcoming work with UCL Bartlett in London and LCAU at MIT in Boston.
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COVER STORY “We continue to develop the cooperation with UN Habitat and our other university partners such as TU Wien, LSE London, University of Chicago, University of Miami and ETH Zürich.” Strengthening the ties between research and practice by supporting researchers to cooperate and to practically implement their research results is a central aspect of what the university is focusing to do in the coming years. After the work in the center where they have assembled the best urbanism network in the world and best clearing house on public spaces and urban places research, Dr. Tigran is looking forward to forming and leading perhaps a second research lab in his career, A City Research Lab called HAL. “Cities are an amazing place with limitless opportunities, problems, challenges and source of ideas.” The Centre and Dr. Tigran are recipients of 15+ awards for leadership and management from CEO Europe Magazine, ACQ Global Awards, CV Magazine Award, CIO Views Award, CIO Times, CXO Fortune, Insight Success, Silicone Review, Finance Monthly CEO Awards, World's Leaders Magazine Awards and others. “In my work in Academia over the last 25 years, I span and cover one of the largest urbanism networks in the world.” Key Achievements of Dr. Tigran's JourneyLeadership is definitely a complex journey of self-transformation, a journey travelled by an individual who has been handed over the responsibility of guiding people towards achieving a certain business objective. Teaching Project and Strategic Management and Project Leadership for over 8 years has
helped Dr. Tigran understand some of these things much better and the period of 5 years running a research centre and 5 years of a Lab before that plus being director of three educational programs has also helped immensely. Getting things done from the project and research team you have in place is just one part of the job of a leader and the team has to be assembled in the best possible way where the issues of competence, equality and professionalism are crucial but also the finesse to know where each person can contribute the most. “At the outset of my leadership role, I started to expand and build new
networks and brake barriers of what is possible and impossible.” Where the inner great relationship with the team and employees is crucial and is sine qua non for the sustainable longevity of the enterprise. Winning their trust, gaining honest feedback, achieving friendships and developing mutual respect is crucial. Finally, as advice to others, ability to learn from the past and from mistakes is crucial; strong communication skills and building sustainable relationships on all levels; listening, understanding and doing; optimism and risk taking to a specific degree; reading people and adapting them to necessary task in the organization; anticipating problems
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and thinking outside the box; eliminating threats and psychopathic personalities. “Regardless of the hurdles, don't lose faith in your idea and your vision, fight to the bitter end if you see a great innovative, just, explorative and good idea.” The Road AheadAfter the success of a five-year sequel of the centre, the future looks interesting as the institute will be focusing more on either continuing the path they have set till now, or turning the ship into another, slightly less (un)charted destination. One thing is sure, that in the next two years the focus will be on the critical issue of humanizing cities within rising smart and new experimental urbanisms, but also issues of livability, comfort, health, aesthetics of cities and open public spaces.
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“We will continue to look into this on micro, meso and macro level (house, neighbourhood, district, city and region).” The main issue is that cities are getting more complex and the challenges are rising on a daily basis with multiple converging crises that seek answers for new theories, tools and approaches. The Research Lab – HAL halcyon Civitas Laboratory will try to answer these calls as it goes into the next period, being a successor to the Centre for the Future of Places CFP. Tackling New Challenges of the PandemicWith extreme pressure on physical and mental health, leaders need to tap into their own emotional intelligence to make sure their teams come out of the pandemic stronger. University and college campuses such as at KTH and MIT, Dr. Tigran's 2nd place of work
and KTH's partner university, are places where students study, socialize and live in close proximity to each other. They are also the nexus for social and cultural hubs where students are brought together from all corners of the world and where social and human capital is produced. Due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus and the unprecedented impact it's had on the society, they had to adapt to teaching, researching and networking online and most importantly, to do everything they can to protect the lives of their students and faculty. Maximizing online learning and teaching, developing robust but flexible systems, gathering information and applying the best practices have been some of the hallmarks of this difficult period, as well as great collegial and comradeship throughout. The higher education sector has withstood pandemics and turbulent
COVER STORY
economic times in the past and it will withstand them again, preparing to be adaptable, resilient and sustainable in the long run. In a network society, city of bits and the new digital age, universities are better placed, more than ever, to provide students with an easily accessible online version of their courses. “We have to learn and adapt, and we also need to prepare for the tougher challenges ahead of us, as unfortunately, there will be many more of these to come.” Innovation is the Key“Innovation is the core value, fundus and keystone of the new Lab as well as it was of the Centre for the Future of
Places that has been established to promote sustainable urban development by shifting the urban discourse from objects to places in order to promote healthy and livable cities, within the disciplines of Urban Planning and Urban Design. The Lab and the centre that preceded it, envisioned a networked community of leaders actively working across sectors, frontiers, and disciplines to build a more just, sustainable, and prosperous world. The task of the Centre was to take a holistic approach in defining, classifying and establishing the public space as an independent academic research field. This means that the center systematically linked together
knowledge from all disciplines related to the field of public space, such as urban planning, urban design, environmental psychology, urban sociology, architecture, urban economics, human geography and others. The focus on public space served as a cross-disciplinary innovation framework to merge the knowledge from the different disciplinary silos; thus, creating links between the experts within them, to create a holistic understanding of the city that serves as the basis for practical and effective action, which will require extensive international cooperation.”
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CEO, Approyo
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CHRISTOPHER CARTER Assisting Companies in Using the Big Data
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echnology is rapidly changing and impacting business in new ways. If companies aren't adopting new technology, they are losing ground and not innovating. The SAP landscape continues to evolve and SAP customers need to keep up with these changes. Featuring in The Enterprise World's this issue of Top 5 Successful Entrepreneurs To Watch In 2022 is Christopher Carter, CEO, helping change businesses and impact in new ways. In this interview, let us unfold his journey. Brief us about your journey at the company, what inspired you to start the company? With a love for technology, I began my journey when I attended the Georgia Institute of Technology. In college I began working with SAP and realized how much I enjoyed working with innovative solutions. I eventually went on to own my own business which I later sold. I was in retirement for a very short period when I heard about SAP's announcement of SAP HANA. I saw great potential for this solution and decided to jump back into the SAP space, thus creating Approyo.
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What are the initial challenges you faced and what are the reasons behind company's longstanding success?
Being a successful leader, please share your views on current business scenario across globe after Covid19 pandemic.
At the start, one of the main challenges Approyo faced was finding the right clients. It was difficult to find clients who had complete understanding of the cloud, so it was seen more as a “risk” than a step toward innovation. A lot of companies were satisfied with their old legacy systems, so we really had to work toward educating our clients and proposing every benefit of moving to the cloud. Eventually, people became more and more interested in its capabilities, and solidifying our services and expanding our proof of success through new customers is what pushed us to be a leader in the SAP industry.
Covid-19 has dramatically changed the business world and plenty of companies are still recovering from it. Now more than ever companies are realizing the value that an advanced cloud platform can bring to their business. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Approyo continued to support our clients through providing migrations, deployments, and managed services to help them navigate the new working world. Supply chain demand has risen while container ships are behind schedule. Having a successful cloud solution such as SAP S/4HANA in place allows companies to track their shipments and update their stock accordingly to streamline the process. Positioning ourselves as trusted partners who can help our clients navigate these times and challenges has contributed to our own success.
What are the products or services the company focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market? Approyo provides deployments, migrations upgrades for any SAP core instance. The company acts as a reliable partner delivering SAP projects on time and on budget. The process behind Approyo's services begins with a tailored roadmap fit to each clients' business needs. After an SAP project is complete, Approyo offers their managed cloud services, such as hosting, monitoring, and 24/7 SAP Basis support. Approyo's global team of SAP experts works around the clock to ensure that all of their clients' systems are running efficiently and securely.
Why it is said that the workforce plays a vital role in every business's growth? Please tell us about your team. Approyo's team is globally and remotely located. We have employees throughout the U.S. as well as India, Brazil, and Europe. Our technical team has hundreds of combined years of experience in providing successful migrations and projects across multiple industries. Many of our employees hold different certifications, and we offer education and learning opportunities for them to gain new skills to extend our services even further.
How do you decide to take the company a step further?
Can you please brief us about your professional experience?
We decided we wanted to move into working with other global cloud providers, expanding our partner network, and overall broadening our solutions portfolio. To differentiate Approyo from the competition, we thought it was valuable to our clients to create our own AI monitoring tool to allow clients to have continuous business with no downtime. Recently we released a new advanced analytics and business Intelligence monitoring tool that allows us to track all our clients' applications, servers, databases, etc. under one platform.
Christopher Carter is the CEO and Founder of Approyo. With over 25 years of experience in the SAP industry, Chris has been globally recognized as a leader in the technology industry space. Being recognized by Hadoop World, SAP Users Group, Cloud Expo, SAP TechEd, etc. he has made a name for himself as a self-made entrepreneur and educator. He is also known as a technology and security expert, as you will see him on TV and radio shows speaking about subjects concerning top technology news stories in the U.S. He is also a
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member of the Forbes Technology Council, where you will see he posts insightful articles, continuing to educate on the importance of data security. At Approyo, he manages the executive team and creates an all-encompassing vision for the mission of the company to be successful year-over-year. What are the key achievements of your business journey? Seeing Approyo receive the recognition it has within the SAP ecosystem, being able to hire from among the most talented in the space, and the relationships I've built along the way are my most meaningful achievements to date 'Innovation is the key to business growth', Please share your views. I've seen too many companies perish for want of innovation. In most cases it's not a lack of ideas or effort but an absence of an accommodating mechanism to innovation that proves fatal. Our own pivotal growth moments have resulted from adaptations to unforeseen circumstances—less because we had the best ideas for the moment than that we had the right structure and openness to ideas that could push us forward in those moments. Any client experience you would like to highlight? We have had many clients over the years, from providing only SAP Basis support to implementing full cloud migrations onto SAP HANA. We have experience in a broad range of industries, including hospitality, manufacturing, supply chain, technology, etc.
Cost of Ownership, gaining operational efficiencies from geographic consolidation, providing centralized governance, and high availability and flexibility of SAP on Azure. With continued support, they can now leverage advanced support, development, testing, and security with automated backup and data recovery. Because the brand is such a large enterprise in the travel and hospitality industry, this implementation not only benefits the industry as a whole but benefits millions of customers around the globe looking for a great experience in their travels. A global designer and manufacturer of small firearms and light weapons needed a partner to seamlessly migrate their cloud environment to SAP. With their new U.S. entity, they needed an architecture scalable to fit their expansion, while complying with U.S. regulations. Post-project, they needed a partner who would provide expert SAP Basis support, to ensure quality operations in the future. The results of the SAP HANA migration resulted in better visibility into their data, simple reporting, real-time analytics, and overall enhanced performance of their SAP landscape. The company experienced improved governance, monitoring, and efficiency of their financial operations, as well as optimized supply chain management to better understand their inventory. They also benefitted from improved compliance and security of their data.
Here are two examples of projects that prove our SAP expertise: A global hotel brand needed to upgrade, migrate, and offload daily management of their existing SAP infrastructure. The company needed a partner to help them undergo a cloud migration and consolidation of their SAP systems. Approyo's Center of Excellence crafted a complete Azure cloud migration roadmap, including rightsizing and consolidation of infrastructure, lowering their Total
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Natasha Makhijani An Ambitious Leader Dedicated to Retaining Talents
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eing the ambitious leader, Natasha comes from a very strong entrepreneurial background. After serving in multiple roles in various companies, Natasha decided to take on her dream job of starting her own company- being the Executive Search Firm.
Featuring in The Enterprise World's this issue of Top 5 Successful Entrepreneurs To Watch In 2022, let us unfold Natasha's journey with this interview.
thing to do, but I took the risk. I knew it was the right thing to do, and I have never looked back. I started Oliver Sanderson in 2011. I left a great job, sold my car to consolidate my savings, and set up an office in the dining room. What started as one woman on a laptop has grown into an international business at the cutting edge of executive search, working with big clients, winning awards, and making a difference internationally!
Brief us about your journey at the company, what inspired you to start the company?
What are the initial challenges you faced and what are the reasons behind company's long-standing success?
I left a comfortable job as a recruiter to go it alone and set up my own company. It was a leap of faith, but it was always a dream of mine to build something important and lead a team. I come from a very entrepreneurial community, and I knew that I could make a wider impact as a business leader. People questioned whether it was the right
The first two years are especially difficult when starting a new business – you need to get your systems and processes in place, build a good team, refine your market proposition, and begin to establish a reputation. Each of these steps is extremely challenging, and financial pressures can overwhelm some entrepreneurs at this stage.
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We overcame these challenges by hiring great colleagues, focusing on brand building, and working around the clock on our first assignments to make the best possible impression on our early clients. Several of those early clients have stayed with us ever since, and every successful assignment led to numerous referrals and new business leads. Things snowballed quickly, but it was all about making a strong start. Being specific with your market proposition is probably the most important part of the initial journey as an entrepreneur. What are the products or services the company focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market? Oliver Sanderson is an executive search firm with a difference, combining experience and expertise with innovation and fresh thinking. Specializing in permanent and interim assignments across a range of industries, we solve recruitment
headaches and D&I challenges for our clients, going the extra mile to ensure success. HR and Business Change have become particular specialisms of our research team in recent years. Our pioneering digital solutions set us apart from the competition. With our innovative suite of digital apps, including Snapp – the world's first voice-technology enabled mobile jobs platform with exclusive Amazon Alexa integration – we are leading the way in discovering the next generation of business leaders. Being a successful leader, please share your views on current business scenario across globe after Covid19 pandemic. The global pandemic has had a major impact on our daily business operations, but we have managed to survive and thrive since the first lockdown. Our firm has had to adapt to meet new challenges, becoming more flexible in our delivery models and transitioning to digital platforms through our in-house recruitment software Snapp and the OS Executive app. Thanks to our flexibility, we have managed to grow and expand our team. In my view, the recruitment industry has already undergone a process of transformation triggered by the pandemic. We are now seeing a candidate-led market – talented candidates are in demand, and they are now setting their own terms, especially with regard to flexible working arrangements. There is no longer any obligation to commute, or spend the whole working week in the office, and companies are building diverse, multi-talented teams
Founder & CEO, Oliver Sanderson
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operating across different countries and different time zones. There is now a bigger global talent pool to choose from, but the competition for talent is also increased. So it's a candidate-led market, and the recruitment businesses is booming across many different sectors. Why it is said that the workforce plays a vital role in every business's growth? Please tell us about your team. Our team has driven our growth from day one, and I work hard every day to keep my team motivated and engaged with our vision and our journey. As a leader, it is vital that I am always challenging, supporting, and inspiring
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them. At Oliver Sanderson, no two weeks are ever the same – we are always working on new roles with new organisations, and making new connections and relationships with candidates. It is this aspect of our work that ensures that we are constantly learning, keeping the working week fresh and challenging. We set monthly and annual targets to hit for our team across a number of areas, from sales to social media engagement. But we also support each other, understanding that growth isn't always linear, and we sometimes learn more from failure than from success. Dialogue is crucial – daily conversations, feedback and brainstorming sessions. These help us
stay connected and supported together, constantly learning, and constantly striving to improve as individuals and as a team. Can you please brief us about your professional experience? After graduating with a Bachelor's degree from City, University of London and a Master's from DePaul University in Chicago, I began my recruitment career on the Graduate Scheme at Hays. Fast-tracked into management roles, I achieved four promotions in four years and took a team from billing £10,000 to £80,000 a month. From Hays I moved to Michael Page, where I worked on a hybrid desk
across permanent and interim senior leadership roles. There I was given responsibility for growing Michael Page's Public Sector division from its offices in London. I was soon the company's number one biller in HR across the UK. But I always wanted to pursue another path – the entrepreneurial route. Having set up executive desks at both Hays and Michael Page, I switched my focus to establishing a business of my own. That's when Oliver Sanderson was born, in 2011.
What are the key achievements of your business journey? I am lucky enough to have celebrated a number of achievements throughout my business journey. A major highlight has been watching Oliver Sanderson become established in the UK and beginning to grow overseas – having set up the company from my dining-room table, it is so rewarding to see how far we've come! Other successes include winning exciting new client relationships with major
businesses like British Airways, Aviva, and Engie, and winning awards. I won a CEO Today Global Award 2021, and our firm was shortlisted for the Global Recruiter Awards 2021 and the APSCo Awards for Excellence 2021. Snapp was named Best Tech Innovation at the Global Recruiter Awards 2021, won an APSCo Award for Innovation 2021, and was featured in the Mayor of London's TechInvest programme. 'Innovation is the key to business growth', Please share your views. Innovation is the key to business growth, and it is vital to foster innovation through suitable business processes. At Oliver Sanderson we are constantly learning, and we have systems and ways of working in place to foster creativity and innovative thinking. One of our specialisms is in digital recruitment - we are pioneers of digital innovations in executive search and recruitment. I co-founded Snapp, the world's first voice-technology enabled mobile jobs platform with exclusive Amazon Alexa integration. If you ask your Amazon Alexa device to “Find me a job”, the search will be powered by Snapp. The platform recently featured on the Mayor of London's TechInvest programme, an initiative delivered in alliance with the UK Business Angels Association to showcase London's most groundbreaking tech start-up businesses.
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CEO, AIONAV
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Ulrich Walder Accelerating Growth with Technology
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uccessful entrepreneurship comes to those who play their cards the right way. With the world rapidly shifting towards digitization, so much that assets too are digital, technology solutions are found on every street. But to understand the needs of the clients and tailor the solutions that way is one trait of a leader. Featuring in The Enterprise World's this issue of Top 5 Successful Entrepreneurs To Watch In 2022 is Ulrich Walder (CEO) of AIONAV Systems. In this interview let us find out more about his prominent leadership and the company. Why it is said that the workforce plays a vital role in every business's growth? Please tell us about your team. Without a strong and dedicated team, innovations in IT are no longer possible today. The idea for a new technology is born quickly, but the implementation into a market-ready product today requires a huge effort. Even if one is able to manage this effort technologically, many IT projects fail in Switzerland and Europe. The reason is primarily that there is a lack of awareness of the necessities of the digital revolution. This in turn results in a lack of subsidies and financing. It is therefore advisable to have partners or your own employees from the areas of financing and marketing on board right at the start of forward-looking IT projects.
What are the key achievements of your business journey? I could mention many extraordinary projects all over the world in which I and my teams were able to achieve technological masterpieces. They have always involved encounters with extraordinary personalities from all walks of life, from the arts and sciences to military and civilian leaders. Many have become lifelong friendships and have outlasted the short-lived recognition of technical achievements. The deeper insight into foreign cultures, especially my work in China shortly after the Cultural Revolution, broadened my horizons, but above all made me aware of the value of our Western democracies. My current commitment to a democratic, fair and independent use of new technologies has grown out of this. Any client experience you would like to highlight? Many of our customers have revolutionized their business models or created great works with our technologies. My best experience, however, was a training session for socalled lost young people, whom I was able to teach how to create apps in a social institution. Seeing their self-confidence grow because they were able to create something that others had to study for years for was heart-warming, as was working with refugee children who
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created apps for their parents to help them navigate their new culture in Europe. Brief us about your journey at the company, what inspired you to start the company? After a successful career as an IT entrepreneur, Division Commander of the Swiss Armed Forces and Professor of Building Informatics at the Technical University of Graz (Austria), I founded AIONAV Systems AG as a pure technology development company. Its purpose is to put the results of university-driven research into practice. Two technologies are in the foreground. On the one hand a fully autonomous indoor positioning system for First Responders based on inertial MEMS and on the other hand a new technology for mobile applications without programming
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and with the possibility to publish content independently. Both technologies and their practical implementations have received several international awards and some have been patented. What are the initial challenges you faced and what are the reasons behind company's long-standing success? The company was founded as a start-up and found around a dozen of investors right at the beginning to put the ideas into practice. Both technologies exist today as prototypes and, in the case of the mobile applications, have also already proven themselves well in practice. Just over a hundred apps in a wide area of application (insurance, project management, architecture, communication, art and culture, events, tourism and nature) have been created and experienced hundreds of thousands of downloads.
The success is based on the fact that we never see technology as an end in itself, but want to generate a broad added value with it. For example, very sophisticated apps can be created by non-professionals and this they can do ten times faster and by factors cheaper than programming conventional native apps What are the products or services the company focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market? The autonomous indoor positioning system consists of a small sensor mounted on the foot that, starting from a known point, directly sends the relative coordinates of the moving person to a local or central visualization device, e.g. to a smartphone app with the corresponding maps. The app creation is done with the AIONAV App-Studio. The design, the desired functions and the multimedia content, as well as maps and plans are stored in a freely structured database. No programming knowledge is necessary. One or more databases are then connected to the AIONAV app player (for iOS or Android), resulting in a single app (1 DB) or a cover app (1+ DBs).
These apps can be published in the known app stores, or used as a cover app, e.g. for internal company purposes. The cover apps have their own QR code reader with which any AIONAV databases can be loaded or updated. The apps run offline with interfaces to the web if required. How do you decide to take the company a step further? The company has reached a point after 10 years where we have to decide whether we want to continue running it as a for-profit company or whether we want to make the developed technologies available to the public. The loss of digital sovereignty of entire states and the fact that ever larger parts of our society are disconnected from the digital revolution have moved us to take the second path. At the moment, we are negotiating with various possible sponsors (foundations, government research agencies) who want to overtake and grow up the 30 personyears of development already invested.
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THE FUTURE OF ENTERPRISE SECURITY Focus on to Protect Themselves and their Customers
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t's no secret that not only are the threats to your company more numerous than ever before, but they are also becoming more sophisticated. You may have invested in expensive enterprise security solutions in the past only to see them rendered useless in a matter of weeks. The industry is at a crossroads. What do you need to be doing today to protect your customers and your business?
This blog post will explore what enterprises should focus on when it comes to security. It will also give you valuable tips on how to stay ahead of hackers by using advanced protection technology that can detect known and unknown vulnerabilities. We'll discuss risks, prevention methods, and show you how to protect your customers with the best practices for today's market.
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The Evolution of Threats to Enterprise Networks Company networks have faced an evolving threat landscape in recent years, alongside a rapidlyexpanding list of threats. The number of high-profile data breaches has grown significantly over the past few years. In 2016, the largest breach of data in history took place when hackers stole the records of almost 150 million Verizon customers. Earlier that same year, Equifax suffered a massive data breach affecting over 140 million people. Many other companies have suffered cyberattacks and security breaches as well. Even in the face of these breaches, there has only been a nominal increase in cybersecurity awareness. Worse, many companies don't have effective systems or processes in place, such as a small and medium business password manager. A core issue is how rapidly the cybersecurity landscape changes, and how difficult it is for businesses to keep pace. Every new trend, from the rise of the cloud to the decline of physical devices, prompts various
security upgrades for organizations. The reality is that any enterprise should both be aware of the myriad threats that exist and also understand the mindset that is necessary to address them.
detect threats like malware and illegal software. They can also detect all the software on a device to determine if they have been infected or if they have been attacked.
With that in mind, here are three major trends that have influenced the way we think about cybersecurity and the things that businesses should consider when it comes to safeguarding their customers and their businesses.
2. Data is the New Oil
1. IoT Goes Mainstream The Internet of Things essentially a catch-all term for any Internet-connected device or appliance that wouldn't ordinarily connect to a network — has seen explosive growth in recent years. IoT devices have become more commonplace than ever as we increasingly embed connectivity in everything from traffic lights to fridges and microwaves. This also means that devices in the business and consumer sectors are becoming increasingly sophisticated at collecting and sharing data. On the one hand, this means that, armed with effective analytics, organizations can learn more about both themselves and their clientele than ever before. On the other hand, this means that even a small business may have to contend with an overwhelming threat surface, one in which anything could be an access point for a hacker. And yes, that includes the kitchen sink. For example, AI-powered intelligent security systems can
Success now hinges on data; availability, governance, orchestration, and analysis, for both the public and private sectors. This is especially true for the Fortune 1000. Moreover, many organizations now rely on their ability to generate and manage data — it is the key to understanding customer behavior, predicting what to sell, and determining how to market against competitors. It is impossible for any human being to effectively organize and evaluate the vast quantity of data generated by even a small or mid-sized business. Instead, the role of human actors in this new ecosystem is to ensure the data is available and accessible for analytics tools. With that accomplished, they can unlock insights about everything from product intelligence to flaws in their security posture.
3. Machine Learning in Pentesting Artificial intelligence and machine learning have some incredibly compelling applications in the cybersecurity sector, and penetration testing is arguably at the top of that list. Pentesting typically requires an immense amount of manual labor. Through machine learning, security professionals can augment their own expertise with tools that automatically probe for weaknesses, becoming progressively better at doing so through trial and error. Unfortunately, pentesting isn't the only application of this technology—it can just as easily be weaponized in the hands of cybercriminals. Technologies that Will Shape the Future of Cybersecurity in 2022 Over the next few years, there will be several new technologies that will impact cybersecurity in ways neither seen nor predicted. From artificial intelligence to blockchain to IoT, the entire face of the security landscape is changing. And it will continue to change well into the future, evolving in ways we neither expected nor predicted.
Orchestration alone isn't enough, either. Criminals are well aware of the value contained in corporate data. As such, in addition to availability, modern businesses must ensure all data is encrypted both at rest and in motion.
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Paul Guenther Offering Innovative Media Solutions
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he most important goal of B2B marketing is to make other businesses aware of your business. This helps you build your brand value and reach out to your potential customers. To acquire the right leads and then convert them needs innovative marketing strategies. These strategies can help you reach out to the right people and be seen. Featuring in The Enterprise World's this issue of Top 5 Successful Entrepreneurs To Watch In 2022 is Paul Guenther, Founder, and CEO of Knowledge Hub Media, offering promising and innovative media solutions to his clients. In this interview, let us know more about Paul and Knowledge Hub Media. Can you please brief us about your professional experience? As for my personal story, it starts out at Penn State University in the Fall of 2002. At the time, I was pretty unsure about what I wanted to do. After some time, I determined that I wanted to go to law school, and decided to major in Crime, Law & Justice. I got my B.S. in the spring of 2006, which was immediately followed by a (short) stint in Law School. I was doing a part-time night program, and at the time, I was honestly just not ready for it. I was working full time during the day, going out with my friends at night, and not at all focused on what I should have been focused on. Whether or not it was a blessing in disguise, I'll never
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Founder & CEO, Knowledge Hub Media
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know… But I ended up going back to school in 2008 to get my MBA with a concentration in Marketing Management (Wilmington University). During that timeframe, somewhere in 2009, I started working on what would become “IT Knowledge Hub” – which is now of course known as Knowledge Hub Media. Once I had my MBA completed in 2010, it was o ffto the races with the company. I worked pretty tirelessly throughout most nights to get the thing up and o ffof the ground. Everything from sales to marketing, to accounting and website development. I was truly a one-man shop back in those days… But (very) fortunately for me, over the next couple of years, I was able to bring my first few employees on – Anthony and James running Sales, and Chris, who filled my first Client Services role. I had also gone back to school by that point to get my Doctorate in Business Administration – finally finishing my dissertation and graduating in January 2020.
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What are the key achievements of your business journey? Knowledge Hub Media is a b2b advertising company with demand generation and content syndication serving as our core competencies. We've had a lot of major accomplishments over the years, including making the Inc. 5000 list three years in a row (Inc Magazine), and, being honored as an Entrepreneur Magazine Entrepreneur 360 company. The 360 best privately owned companies in America – also three years in a row. On top of this, we were named one of the most innovative advertising technology companies of 2020-2021 at the InterCon awards conference and have appeared in many big-name magazine publications over the years. We have also been featured on several radio programs and podcasts and have even been the subject of chapters within a couple of different book publications (non-fiction books, of course).
Brief us about your journey at the company, what inspired you to start the company? Knowledge Hub Media is a b2b advertising company with demand generation and content syndication serving as our core competencies. We've had a lot of major accomplishments over the years, including making the Inc. 5000 list three years in a row (Inc Magazine), and, being honored as an Entrepreneur Magazine Entrepreneur 360 company… The 360 best privately owned companies in America – also three years in a row. On top of this, we were named one of the most innovative advertising technology companies of 2020-2021 at the InterCon awards conference and have appeared in many big-name magazine publications over the years. We have also been featured on several radio programs and podcasts and have even been the subject of chapters within a couple of different book publications (non-fiction books, of course). As for how the company got started… what was originally IT Knowledge Hub – now of course known as Knowledge Hub Media – was established in 2009. Ever since its inception, the company been a prominent player in the B2B advertising space. Our core competency, however, is lead generation – or “demand generation” and “content syndication,” as it's better known across the industry. We leverage content syndication via assets like white papers, webinars, case studies, and the like, to generate highly targeted leads for our clients. Most of our clients are in the software and technology industry – and when they're not, they are usually advertising/media agencies working on behalf of the former. Most of our clients are promoting technology platforms and software solutions that they are looking to find net new customers for. What are the products or services the company focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market?
our clients. Most of our clients are in the software and technology industry – and when they're not, they are usually advertising/media agencies working on behalf of the former. Most of our clients are promoting technology platforms and software solutions that they are looking to find net new customers for. How do you decide to take the company a step further? We do have something pretty new and innovative that should be coming out by mid-Summer… But for now, it's still a secret! Until then, we'll continue to offer the same high end, highly targeted content syndication and demand generation services that we've always offered. Any client experience you would like to highlight? Let's face it… The customer is always the most important thing. That's just the reality of it, and also why I will say that offering a great customer experience is really our #1 goal. It always has been. Without customers you don't have business, and by proxy, you don't have a business. Enhancing the custo,mer experience is always at the top of our list, and at the end of the day, we always want to make sure that everyone is completely satisfied. It usually comes down to a few things: responsiveness, quality of the product, and customizability. When a customer has a question, we're there to answer it immediately – even in cases when we don't yet have a complete answer. Over the 12+ years that we've been doing this, we've evolved our practices and QA/QC measures to ensure only the finest in data quality – in terms of both data integrity and lead scoring mechanisms. Then there are the customizations… Where some of our clients are happy to stick with more traditional means and lead delivery methods, some like us to use custom API integrations, lead import systems, and form post technologies. We are always happy to customize a product – with regard to both targeting and delivery technology – to go above and beyond the customer's expectations.
Ever since our inception, we have been a prominent player in the B2B advertising space. Our core competency, however, is lead generation – or “demand generation,” as it's better known across the industry. We leverage content syndication via assets like white papers, webinars, case studies, and the like, to generate highly targeted leads for
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