Innovation and the Digital Enterprise

Baseball changed forever once data and statistics were added to the toolkit. Ari Kaplan, Director of Strategy at DataRobot and one of the people responsible for revolutionizing sports analytics, joined Patrick and Shelli on today’s episode of Innovation and the Digital Enterprise. Ari took time to explain the role of AI in analytics, the importance of citizen data scientists, and how data can impr...

To be effective, a product manager in the SaaS space must be a visionary with an engineering degree. It takes deep knowledge of technical processes and a desire to help customers achieve the outcome they want. Dustin Kirkland, Chief Product Officer at Apex, has been in the product space for more than 20 years. Dustin joined Patrick and Shelli for a discussion on what it takes to develop a product...

Nicolas Chaillan is the first ever Chief Software Officer for the United States’ government at his post with the US Air Force. As an agency tasked with both innovation and national security, the Air Force has its work cut out for it. On this week’s edition of Innovation and the Digital Enterprise, Nicolas shares his thoughts on why employers should give paid time for continuous learning to remain...

To innovate, a company doesn’t necessarily have to rush out and invent a new product. Innovation starts when all stakeholders are working as a cohesive unit and have identified a common mission. Matt Kelly , a partner and Business Designer at Do Tank, believes that to be successful, a company needs to take some time to do some business modeling that allows them to increase efficiency and ensure th...

To increase diversity in technology, step one is acknowledging that there is a problem. Step two is to put in greater effort to create new pipelines of applicants. Thulasi Kethini, CTO of Shiftgig, believes that there are highly qualified women ready to take on leadership in the tech space but most tech companies don’t take the time to go to the places where these women can be found. On this week’...

Arrive Logistics is one of the fastest-growing freight brokerages. Logistics, perhaps more so than many other industries, is seeing a big shift toward technology beyond traditional IT. Michael Senftleber , CTO at Arrive Logistics, is one of the people leading this charge. Unlike many professionals in the logistics industry, Michael came from a product background. On this week’s edition of Innovati...

Over the course of the last 48 months, the H-1B visa program has been greatly diminished, largely by executive order. This program allows foreign students who study in the United States a path to a green card. Dick Burke is the CEO of Envoy Global, a tech leader specializing in immigration services. He is our guest this week on Innovation and the Digital Enterprise. Dick believes that America need...

Changing the culture of an organization is not something that happens overnight. Collaborative design and cross-functional teams can take years to get right. So how do you make the changes necessary to get everyone on the same page? According to Scott Prugh , Chief Architect and SVP of Software Engineering at CSG, using mistakes and miscommunications as a learning tool is key. Today on Innovation...

The law is as old as civilization. But the legal industry has been very slow to adapt to digitalization. Relativity, a SaaS eDiscovery platform, is looking to change that. Andrew Watts is the CIO of Relativity and joined Patrick and Shelli this week for a discussion on the digitization of law documents and tools. Andrew talked about how the industry is adapting, why it’s so important for lawyers a...

Burnout can cripple any organization and for many technology firms, it’s the standard by which business is conducted. Dr. Mik Kersten believes that the key to happy software engineers (and the executives that manage them) is to create flow using a framework. Mik joins Patrick and Shelli for a discussion on flow diagnostics, how teams respond to being measured, and why it’s important to understand...

Nag Vaidyanathan is the EVP and CTO for OneMain Financial. Nag’s organization is over a century old, but when the pandemic hit, the company had to accelerate the pace of its digital offerings. One challenge that Nag has been seeing good results with is creating a user experience that mirrors in-person branch services. This week on Innovation and the Digital Enterprise, Patrick and Shelli talk to N...

When it comes to attracting talent, Thomas South believes it’s not necessarily about being specialized or competing based on benefits packages alone. Rather, he believes that creating a mission-driven culture is key to recruiting employees that will thrive in your organization. As EVP of Northern Trust, Thomas oversees teams of wealth managers with extensive knowledge of the financial industry. Wh...

Scott Kitun is a rock star in the Chicago startup and investment world. His company, Technori, is Chicago’s largest media platform for entrepreneurs and has seen billions invested in its first decade. He is our guest this week on Innovation and the Digital Enterprise and joins Shelli and Patrick to talk about the current state of Chicago’s investment landscape. Listen as Scott shares his thoughts...

For a new company, success can seem so difficult to attain. But there is a pattern to success that can help you navigate the growing pains of a fledgling business. Les McKeown is the bestselling author of Predictable Success: Getting Your Organization on the Growth Track - and Keeping It There, and has started more than 40 businesses in his own right. Les joined Patrick and Shelli to discuss the l...

The education industry has long been ruled by gatekeepers which have prevented any meaningful innovation in the digital space. Jason Dole, CTO of World Book, wants to change this. Jason has spent his career working in the startup space and it’s that spirit of innovation that he believes will help drive meaningful change at such an established brand. He joined Patrick for a discussion that touched...

When it comes to the logistics of delivering goods across the globe, there are hundreds of touchpoints. FourKites is a supply chain management platform enhanced by machine learning that aims to make this process easier. Vivek Vaid is FourKites’ Chief Technology Officer and our guest today on Innovation and the Digital Enterprise. Vivek talked to Patrick and Shelli about how when it comes to techno...

Let’s say it’s almost lunchtime and suddenly you receive a text from your favorite local restaurant with a coupon. You read the text and think, “That does sound pretty good.” You head there for lunch, show your coupon, and get your discount. In a nutshell, this is what Vibes, a platform that helps marketers drive experiences and meaningful customer connections, is all about. Today, Pat and Shelli...

Ann Madea has spent her career managing and motivating her teams as a CIO of global firms. She has also dedicated herself to the advancement of women and girls in the fields of STEM. She joined us on Innovation and the Digital Enterprise to discuss how she builds trust to ensure all members of her team feel comfortable speaking up and how to successfully stay the course when managing large-scale p...

Risk management has never been viewed as sexy. It’s a necessary component of every organization, but not necessarily something that CEOs are excited to work on. Matt Kunkel of LogicGate has a novel approach however: make risk a revenue driver. Matt joined Patrick on Innovation and the Digital Enterprise to talk shop about risk and how privacy issues have made it more interesting and necessary than...

Over the last few decades, as things have increasingly gone digital, we’ve lost the human interaction behind satisfying sales experiences. Matt Coughlin of XSELL Technologies is passionate about the science of sales. After working with Disney and other big brands, he realized that customers were hungry for digital intimacy. This week on Innovation and the Digital Enterprise, Matt is talking to Pat...

According to Ryan Jeffery, Founder and Co-CEO of Ignite , the difference between a leader and a manager is that a leader doesn’t need a title. When people switch jobs due to dissatisfaction, most of the time it’s not about the work itself but conflict with the manager. But when you create a culture that is inclusive and inherently motivational, you hit that magic spot of work satisfaction. Ryan jo...

Many believe that to succeed in business, you must be a pessimist and always anticipate the worst. But according to Kristi Zuhlke , the CEO of Knowledgehound, grit and being optimistic are not mutually exclusive concepts. Kristi joins Shelli and Pat and gives a window into the life of a serial entrepreneur. She explains why entrepreneurs are passionate about solving problems, how she stays confide...

After being the only woman in the room for years at her corporate job, a string of tragedies made Alison Vorsatz reconsider her purpose. This led her on a transformational journey to Africa and ended with her finding a job at Fairygodboss where she gets to realize her dream of empowering women. Alison joins Pat and Shelli to talk about her journey and shares insights on what it means to work on yo...

The seeds of innovation cannot germinate in a culture in which people feel they need to ask permission. The ability to fail — and share that failure — is one of the most important tenets of any company that has a chance to improve according to today’s guest, Gene Kim. Gene has been studying high-performing technology companies since 1999 and has authored several books on the topic. On this week’s...

In a corporate environment, a leader’s main task is to keep their team running efficiently and productively. However, in the startup world, a leader needs to jump in and help out at every level. It was this kind of environment and mindset that best informed the leadership style of our guest today, David Hoag . David is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for OCC , the world’s l...