#AskTheCEO Podcast

Ajay Kabra is the senior leader, evangelist, and main contributor to the Agile space for Xebia, a Global Technology Strategy and Consulting firm with Full Stack Software Engineering, Product Development, and Digital consulting capability to enable the digital transformation of enterprises using the latest technology and methodologies. Over the years, Xebia has organically built domain knowledge across industries and used a platform engineering mindset to help fortune companies digitize. Contact Ajay: Web: https://xebia.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajaykabra/ Contact Avrohom: Web: https://asktheceo.biz Facebook: AvrohomGottheil Twitter: @avrohomg Instagram: @avrohomg INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: [00:34] Agile is a big buzzword nowadays; however, it’s not as simple as people may think. What are some of the complexities behind agile, and what might people not understand about it? [00:52] Agile has been on the market for nearly 25 years. [01:08] Agile demands that management give up the control to the team – decentralize your decision-making. [01:20] One of the challenges with Agile is that the senior leadership is afraid of giving control to the team. [02:00] Agile is, more than anything, a mindset shift. [03:01] What is the right mindset business leaders need to have in order to succeed with agile? You mentioned discipline. Can you share some examples of success? [07:18] One of the ways Xebia sets itself apart as an industry leader in software development is with its customer training. What is the right way to train clients in new technology? [08:00] The right way to implement solutions for your clients is to co-create them. [11:00] To train customers effectively, you have to sometimes engineer a crisis so that they learn how to react. [13:15] Besides serving clients, Xebia is also very active in the agile community. For example, Xebia organizes the Agile NCR event, which is held annually in the APAC region. Can you share with us a little bit about Agile NCR, as well as some of the upcoming exciting endeavors you will be launching here in North America in the near future? [13:45] A core value of Xebia is to share knowledge. [18:30] How do people connect with you to learn more about Xebia? Ajay: You can connect with Xebia at our website: https://xebia.com, and with me, personally, on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajaykabra/. [21:37] Do you have any parting words of wisdom to share with the audience? Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Wbmc5w8fhUA

Himanshu Arora is the Global Business Head for Low Code/No Code, Automation, and Integration practice at Infosys. He is a trusted digital transformation advisor, speaker, and certified storyteller and has helped many customers “Think, Adopt and Live” various types of transformation journeys in his 23-year career. Contact Himanshu: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/himanshu-arora-982a365/ Contact Avrohom: Web: https://asktheceo.biz Facebook: AvrohomGottheil Twitter: @avrohomg Instagram: @avrohomg INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: Avrohom: Low-code No-code is a new term in today's software development world, and everyone is talking about it as if it's the next greatest thing. What is low-code no-code and why is it so helpful? Himanshu: As an industry, we are at an inflection point where we must prepare our businesses to adapt their code as rapidly as our customers shift their needs. Especially after the pandemic, everybody wants to go to the digital transformation and make changes happen, without realizing that the fundamentals have shifted. We need more problem finders than we have the solvers in the equation, right now. And, hence the need today is to go ahead and get the right need for this transformation, and that's exactly where these low-code no-code platforms come in. These platforms come in because they can visually aid the application development. They can bring a lot of acceleration with the pre-packaged templates, the pre-packaged workflows, the hyper-automation, and the integrations. And then, they can really increase the speed. [03:07] Where does Infosys come to play, and how do you help your clients? [04:27] I really liked the part about governance and cybersecurity. As you know, everyone is very conscious of their security needs, given the daily occurrences of data breaches at companies of all shapes and sizes. Can you elaborate on the cybersecurity aspects? [09:21] What are 3 areas where we can leverage low-code no-code to move the needle in the software development industry? [11:37] Himanshu, how can people connect with you? [12:33] Do you have any parting words of wisdom that you’d like to share with the audience? Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Qpv4TEFMf9Q

Helen Yu is the Founder & CEO at Tigon Advisory, where she drives growth for the largest technology companies in the world and is a board advisor to fast growth SaaS companies. She serves as Vice-Chair and Board Director at the Global CyberSecurity Association. Contact Helen: Web: https://tigonadvisory.com/ Twitter: @YuHelenY LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tigonhyu/ Contact Avrohom: Web: https://asktheceo.biz Facebook: AvrohomGottheil Twitter: @avrohomg Instagram: @avrohomg INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: [01:04] I’m happy to have obtained your latest book, Ascend Your Start-Up, conquer the 5 disconnects to accelerate growth. This is such a relevant topic, with over 63,000 startups in the United States alone, and more than 69% of startups being launched as home-based businesses, the allure of having your own business is very great. However, a concern on many people’s minds is that most small businesses fail in the first year of business. How can start-up founders know that they’re on the right track to ensure success? What kind of metrics should they be looking at? [03:00] Success means different things to different people. [04:25] Once you discover your Why, you’re 25% of the way towards your success. [05:00] In your book you talk about the effort involved in climbing a mountain — and the task you were given by your grandmother that inspired you to rise to the challenge. Do you think that having a sense of purpose is vital for start-ups? [05:55] Purpose gives us a destination and the motivation to get there. [06:29] What makes someone qualified to become an entrepreneur? Is there perhaps a certain kind of person that is tailor-made, in terms of drive and temperament, for running a start-up, and conversely, are there people who should never do it? [08:43] Failure is really part of the journey to success. [08:47] It’s not about how many times you failed, but rather what lessons did you learn from failure. [09:27] One challenge for so many start-ups is knowing how to scale. What’s your advice for successfully making the shift? [14:00] What inspired you to write this book? [16:13] How do people connect with you? Helen: You can connect with me via my website https://tigonadvisory.com/. I’m also very active on Twitter at @YuHelenY, and on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tigonhyu/. [16:39] Do you have any parting words of wisdom that you’d like to share with the audience? Watch this episode on YouTube; https://youtu.be/YJPQLqklZQI

To download IBM's study on the Importance of On-Premises Infrastructure For A Future-Ready Hybrid Cloud Strategy: https://ibm.biz/asktheceoforresterstudy2021 Joe Cropper is a senior technical staff member at IBM, supporting Power Systems and Hybrid Multicloud Solutions. Contact Joe: Twitter: @jwcroppe LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-cropper/ Contact Avrohom: Web: https://asktheceo.biz Facebook: AvrohomGottheil Twitter: @avrohomg Instagram: @avrohomg INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: [01:27] The global pandemic put our current IT infrastructure to the test. It highlighted the fact that now, more than ever, we need to prioritize infrastructure refreshes. IBM just published the findings of an IT Infrastructure study conducted by Forrester Consulting, which addresses this topic in great detail. What challenges are you witnessing as businesses determine where to invest, and do you have any tips you have to overcome them? [02:16] The biggest challenges are that companies are trying to figure out where to invest, how they can get their competitive edge to accelerate what they’re doing, and the sheer number of options. [03:00] Public Cloud is important, but we also need a good strong on-prem infrastructure and refresh cycles. [04:15] The Forrester Consulting study talks about some of the inherent challenges with public cloud, where 46% of those surveyed stated that public cloud doesn't meet security needs, and 56% of those surveyed stated that data resiliency is challenging for some apps. What are you seeing in the market with your clients? [05:00] IBM is taking a lot of the concepts of Cloud, such as OPEX pricing, and applying it to on-prem solutions. [07:45] Let’s talk a bit about vulnerabilities—including factors such as cybersecurity, compatibility, and availability. In the Forrester Consulting study, 70% of businesses surveyed delayed an infrastructure refresh more than once, within the last 5 years. What kinds of risks are businesses taking with this delay? [08:15] Technology evolves at such a fast pace, yet infrastructure currency is absolutely a necessity when it comes to maintaining a good healthy posture for security. [10:00] What risks are businesses taking from a cybersecurity standpoint by delaying their infrastructure refresh? [12:18] Where can people go to learn more about the 2021 Forrester Consulting thought leadership paper commissioned by IBM on the “Importance of On-Premises Infrastructure For A Future-Ready Hybrid Cloud Strategy”? Joe: Please visit: https://ibm.biz/asktheceoforresterstudy2021. That URL is case-sensitive, so be sure it is all lower-case. On that webpage, you can download the full study, view an on-demand webinar, read a blog recap from an external thought leader, and discover more hybrid cloud solutions and resources. [13:05] How do people connect with you? Joe: People can contact me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-cropper/. I’m always happy to connect with people and answer any questions. [13:32] Do you have any parting words of wisdom to share with the audience? Watch this episode on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/q71xWwW1I9Q

Kai Hermsen is the Global Coordinator for the Charter of Trust with Siemens, where together with his team in the Central Cybersecurity department, he ensures internal implementation of the Charter of Trust and is driving Siemens external Cybersecurity engagements with Charter of Trust partners and stakeholders like the World Economic Forum. Contact Kai: Twitter: @HermsenKai LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaihermsen Contact Avrohom: Web: https://asktheceo.biz Facebook: AvrohomGottheil Twitter: @avrohomg Instagram: @avrohomg INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: [00:41] Can you briefly summarize what is the Charter of Trust and where is it being used today? [01:04] The Charter of Trust was founded as an initiative among companies that wanted to make an impact in the world of cybersecurity. [01:49] Get away from the siloed mentality and work together to solve problems. [02:33] 2020 has seen headlines dominated by cybersecurity. We’ve had data breaches in all sectors, by prominent brands, such as Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Honda, Zoom, Marriott, and so on. What’s worse is that hackers are shutting down hospitals with debilitating ransomware! The thing is, that many data breaches are caused, not by ineffective firewalls or cybersecurity protocols, but through human weaknesses that were exploited via social engineering activities, such as phishing. And before anyone passes judgment on the people that fall for these tricks, I myself have seen many of these emails, and they look pretty convincing. How can businesses better protect their consumers, and themselves, from these types of attacks? [04:01] 2020 has taught us two important lessons in cybersecurity: (a) Cyber threats are real, and if you don’t protect yourself, you’re putting yourself at risk. (b) What happens online has an impact on the real world. [04:37] Humans are the weakest link in cybersecurity. How can we turn that around and make it into a strength? [04:59] Just like humans are the weakest link in cybersecurity, they’re also your front-line protection. [05:13] Cyber security has the power to safeguard our digital business models and make them sustainable. [08:16] Identity theft has become a business, and that’s why cyber literacy is so important. [09:07] Let’s look at the same challenge from the perspective of the consumer. According to a market analysis by Digital Commerce 360, US eCommerce sales in Q3 of 2020 was 37.1% higher than the same period in the previous year. This shows that people are doing more online digital transactions than ever before. This type of activity requires a massive amount of trust. Unfortunately, you can’t trust everyone, and even the most trustworthy companies are vulnerable to phishing attacks like we discussed earlier. What kind of protection can we put in place to be able to sustain this kind of growth? [11:45] Trust is not just about security. It’s principled behavior in all of digital. [14:00] What protections are there for consumers to shop online and be protected from identity theft? [16:42] Self-sovereign identities give the consumer the power to grant identities when they go online. It’s like having a virtual identity. [18:34] What do you think is the next step for Siemens regarding the Charter of Trust? [20:59] How can people connect with you? Kai: The best way to reach me is via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaihermsen/. I’m also available on Twitter at @HermsenKai. [21:33] Do you have any parting words of wisdom to share with the audience? [21:39] The virtual world and the real world are completely interchangeable. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wchY963rIaA

Jay McBain leads Forrester's research and advisory for global channels, alliances, and partnerships. Contact Jay: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaymcbain/ Twitter: @jmcbain Contact Avrohom: Web: https://asktheceo.biz Facebook: AvrohomGottheil Twitter: @avrohomg Instagram: @avrohomg INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: [00:58] 2020 has triggered many dramatic changes for businesses. We’ve seen many businesses rapidly shift to a work from home paradigm. We’ve also seen a paradigm shift to online or virtual events, among many other dramatic changes that took place this year. One significant change, that you mentioned in your article titled “What I see coming for the Channel In 2020”, is that Indirect sales will shrink every year for the next decade.” This is hard to take in because everything that I’ve learned over the years, is that you need a strong indirect sales team to scale and grow your business. Does this spell the end of the channel? [01:45] There is actually a lot of opportunity for the channel; however, like any other mature industry, what’s happening on the transactional side of the channel is that it’s a race to the bottom. [02:20] Professional services is where the margins are in the channel. [04:00] Learn how Salesforce is structuring its channel partner organization to double its revenue from $20b to $40b within the next 4 years. [05:58] In your article, you mentioned that the channel model is evolving what is known as a “trifurcated channel”, or in plain English, a model which is divided into three branches. When I think of a channel partner, I’m thinking of sales and service. Can you elaborate on this new model? [06:34] 75% of global trade is done indirectly. [07:24] It’s critically important that you build the 3rd part of the channel, the one that influences your buyers early and often. [09:23] 76% of CEOs think that their current business model will be unrecognizable in 5 years. That means every single business! You’re going to become a subscription-based business. There is a high likelihood that you’re going to become a tech business. [10:56] We’re all familiar with the term “Customer Experience”. You talked about a growing trend in the B2B channel, called “Partner Experience”. What does that mean, and why is it important? [13:05] What does the future of marketing look like for B2B Emerging Technology companies? [15:42] For our listeners who are channel professionals, or for those that might be considering working in the channel, what kind of future can they expect for their careers? [17:08] How can people connect with you? Jay: People can connect with me via Twitter at @jmcbain, or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaymcbain/. [17:41] Do you have any parting words of wisdom that you’d like to share with the audience?

Connect with Foxit Software on the Azure Marketplace: https://bit.ly/2MALLQS Kai Wille is the Director of Strategic Alliances at Foxit Software, a company that helps insurance companies create efficient documents while reducing costs via industry-leading, enterprise-scale document conversion and compression technology. As part of this discussion, we shared how their partnership with Microsoft, their use of Azure, and the Azure Marketplace has empowered them to scale and grow their business. Contact Kai Web: https://www.foxitsoftware.com/enterprise-automation/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100005/ Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaiwille/ Twitter: @foxitsoftwareea Contact Avrohom: Web: https://asktheceo.biz Facebook: AvrohomGottheil Twitter: @avrohomg Instagram: @avrohomg INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: [00:34] When I think about insurance companies and documents, the image that comes to mind is rows and rows of files cabinets with lots of paper folders and paper documents. With a picture like this, you can only imagine what it takes to file and process an insurance claim! While this might have worked well in the past; nowadays, we’re generating data at an exponential level, so insurance companies really need to take a serious approach to their digital transformation strategy – and many of them are doing just that. On that note, what are the challenges that insurance companies struggle with when trying to go digital? Kai: What we find is that most companies in the insurance space are somewhere along the way towards digital transformation. So, what I mean by that is that they absolutely, still have those rows of file cabinets, but at the same time they tend to have also already digitized millions of documents. The first challenge is lacking customer intelligence. And so, the problem here is that when your documents are still on paper, or maybe you've scanned them, and so now you have image files, like tiffs and jpegs that are not searchable. Then you really don't have access to the information in your documents. And so that means, any kind of modern AI and analytics applications to really know your customer, will be incomplete. And so that means, that organizations are potentially in danger of thinking they know their customer when they really don't. [02:00] The challenge with just scanning and digitizing documents is that you don’t have access to the information it contains. [05:05] An additional few seconds of opening files can cost large companies hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. [09:06] Digital Transformation and AI are not a choice, because your competitors are already doing it. [09:26] What can businesses do to overcome some of these challenges? [10:04] When scanning documents, make sure they’re searchable so they’re usable by AI and analytics applications. [14:25] Foxit Software recently launched a new offering on the Microsoft Azure marketplace, called Foxit Document Transformation Services. Tell us about it and how it addresses some of the challenges we just discussed. [16:00] How would a company use your solution with Azure? [17:48] How can customers find out more about Foxit Software, and procure it through the Azure Marketplace? Kai: You can access it via this link: https://bit.ly/2MALLQS. [18:21] How do people connect with you? [18:57] Do you have any parting words of wisdom that you’d like to share with the audience? #AskTheCEO With Kai Wille

Connect with Buurst on the Azure Marketplace: https://ter.li/9pk8qh Garry Olah is the CEO of Buurst, a company that provides trusted cloud native tools for data control, performance, and availability on many cloud platforms. Their virtual storage appliances help customers migrate on-premises data to the cloud, better manage that data, and allow applications to run at the same high performance that customers expect from their on-premises storage infrastructure. As part of this discussion, we shared how their partnership with Microsoft, their use of Azure, and the Azure Marketplace has empowered them to scale and grow their business. Contact Garry: Web: https://buurst.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/softnas/ Twitter:@buurstdata Personal Twitter:@GarryOlah Partner with Buurst: https://www.buurst.com/partners/ Contact Avrohom: Web: https://asktheceo.biz Facebook: AvrohomGottheil Twitter: @avrohomg Instagram: @avrohomg INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: [01:16] Cloud is now a mature technology, and many businesses are moving their mission-critical applications to the cloud. One of the byproducts of Digital Transformation and moving to the cloud is the large amount of data that’s generated by all of our connected devices. Because cloud is so commonplace, we tend to take for granted – as we should – things like low latency access to our virtually unlimited ubiquitous cloud storage of our data. However, as a technologist, I can appreciate that a lot goes on under the hood to make these things work properly. What are the challenges that businesses struggle with when migrating mission-critical applications to the cloud? Garry: Beyond the usual challenges of migrating large data sets to the cloud (latency, performance, how to actually move Petabytes of data), 90% of the world’s data has been created in the last two years, and that amount is projected by analysts to double every two years. At the current cloud storage prices, corporate IT budgets won't be able to keep up. Furthermore, even companies who are not price-conscious still struggle with achieving the performance they demand from mission-critical applications as they move those applications from on-prem data centers to a cloud storage environment. [04:02] How can businesses leverage cloud in the right way? Garry: There are obvious ways cloud storage products can help mitigate these issues. Features meant to enhance cost-efficiency include deduplication, compression, thin-provisioning, etc. For customers worried about performance, running application workloads with higher instance and VM sizes will help increase performance. [04:12] 90% of the world’s data has been created in the past 2 years. [04:17] Within the last decade, data has doubled every 2 years. [06:26] Buurst recently launched a new offering on the Microsoft Azure marketplace, called SoftNAS. Tell us about it and how it addresses some of the challenges we just discussed. Garry: Buurst SoftNAS frontends native Azure storage (managed disk and Blob) to overcome Azure storage limitations. The SoftNAS virtual appliance also allows for greater flexibility to better customize an application's performance versus price and can go beyond the capacity caps of Azure. [09:43] How would a company use your solution with Azure? Garry: The SoftNAS virtual appliance is available through the self-service Azure Marketplace or through a BYOL Azure Marketplace listing. The deployment through Azure Marketplace does not change how the underlying software functions. [11:44] How can customers find out more about SoftNAS, and procure it through the Azure Marketplace? Garry: You can access it via this link https://ter.li/9pk8qh. [12:50] How has partnering with Microsoft helped Buurst scale and grow your business? [14:00] How do people connect with you? [14:35] Do you have any parting words of wisdom that you’d like to share with the audience? #AskTheCEO With Garry Olah