Top 50 Best companies of the year 2023_Final_7_2023_compressed Flipbook PDF

Volume 1

Innovative companies to watch 2023

QZ Asset Management

C REA T I NG V A L U E B E Y O N D W E A LT H

BLAKE YEUNG CEO

TO MAKE YOUR NEXT MOVE WITH CONFIDENCE,

YOU NEED REAL-TIME FINANCIAL INSIGHTS

68% of CFOs say they need real-time financial processes to prepare for the future, but only 16% have them in place Gravity’s multi-company accounting software brings all your entities together into one database on the Microsoft Power Platform, an open platform with built-in business intelligence and consolidated financial reporting

Accelerate your business growth Better. Smarter. Accounting.

Schedule a demo at GoGravity.com

Cover Story

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BLAKE YEUNG

CEO

QZ ASSET MANAGEMENT Creating Value Beyond Wealth 16

ABACUS SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION:

ADVANCED COMMERCE:

ADVANTECH SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS:

Powering the Next-Gen Supercomputers

Online Merchandising Redefined

Providing Integrated warehouse management and freight logistics

AIRSPAN:

AMBHAR GLOBAL SPIRITS:

ASCEND DIGITAL SOLUTIONS:

Pioneer in open RAN for 5G and beyond

Crafting the taste of tradition with hand-tailored Tequila

Transforming the digital future of Africa

TABLE OF CONTENTS 32

CANON BUSINESS PROCESS SERVICES: Leveraging Innovation & Advanced Services to Help Clients Succeed

COLD CHAIN TECHNOLOGIES: Transportation of Pharmaceuticals made easier

EVOLVING SOLUTIONS, INC: Enabling Modern Operations in a Hybrid Cloud World.

CAVISSON:

COBBLESTONE SOFTWARE:

Revolutionizing Customer Experience Management

Breaking Barriers in the Contract Lifecycle Management Space

CROOW: Leading the Way in Video Production Software

EXECUTIVE GLOBAL TRANSPORTATION SERVICES: Managing Shipment Logistics with convenience

DISTRICT PARTNERSHIPS AND CONSULTING: Leading the Path of Inclusivity & Diversity

GEMINOS: Powering the next generation with Causal Artificial Intelligence

TABLE OF CONTENTS 61

INNOVATION VISTA:

JONAS CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE:

LIFE AFTER HATE:

Innovative Tech Consulting beyond efficiency

Providing automated accounting solutions to enhance operational efficiency & mitigate cost overruns.

Helping people exit a life of hate

LOGENIX INTERNATIONAL:

LOGIX BPO:

MILESTONE INC.:

Bringing Critical Supplies to Challenging Environments

Global RPO & BPO Stang Solutions

Bringing Visibility with SEO-First CMS, Schema, Local, and FAQ Platform

MINESOFT:

NICHOLSON MCBRIDE FISHER:

NOVAE:

Global patent information solution provider

Enhancing Organizational Performance

Pioneer in Fintech Solutions

TABLE OF CONTENTS 96

101

PERLE SYSTEMS:

POSTBIOTICA:

POWER 4 ALL:

Innovative Network Connectivity for the Modern World

An innovative biotech ensuring physiological well being

Building a better tomorrow for all

104

PROXYMITY: Connecting investors via a unique digital pathway

113

107

QUALITY ONLINE EDUCATION GROUP: Building confidence to converse and learn

116

110

SAFEFOOD 360°: Innovative software delivered by food safety experts

119

SELFLY STORE:

SENSOBRIGHT:

SEQUOIAAT:

Redefining automated retail solutions

Redifining the global tactile sensor market

Solutions for the Smarter World

TABLE OF CONTENTS 122

SKILLGIGS, INC.: Job Matching Made Easy

132

SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS, CORP: Ensuring improved management solution for businesses

141

126

SKYLINE ROBOTICS: Redefining Window Cleaning

135

129

SMART CONNECTIONS CONSULTING: Striving to Transform Cities

138

THORNDYKE:

TIER44 TECHNOLOGIES:

Your independent verification partner for DOOH

Leader in DCIM solutions

144

148

TRITON NETWORKS:

WAVE HDC

WINMATE INC.

Integrated Network Solutions

Revolutionizing Healthcare Data Automation

BEYOND CSR, CREATE SHARED VALUES

Note

EDITORIAL hether it is a small improvement in efﬁciency or a disruptive new product, innovation can take your company to a superordinate level. Innovators in the businessworld create new products, methods, and ideas each day. An organization need to come up with solutions others cannot, providing an endless stream of value to the companies and managing to look at problems differently. Innovation plays a very vital role in the growth of the company; it helps to scale up and add more employees and doing that allows an organization to take on more customers and grab a bigger share of the market. Regardless of the size of the business, innovation makes it easier to grow. If you innovate, you can grow your business even if it is a small start-up. The same is true for a fortune bigger and huge company. A big organization can take even more of the market share if it manages to innovate. It is easy for innovative companies to grow.

out from the competition even more, and meet its customers' needs in ways they never imagined. That is when your company will reach an entirely new level. A company ﬁts inside a speciﬁc niche or industry, and it is far from alone. Let us say, for example, you manufacture a food product. Tons of companies also manufacture food products; thus, the company need to stand out in some way. The only means by which it can be made successfully is through innovation. Maintaining the status quo is normal. The company assume that since it worked for them in the past, it will work for them in the future. The status quo only works for so long. If you are going to keep your doors open, you must innovate, the company needs to take the risks that come with innovation so you can enjoy all of the rewards.

Innovative companies to watch 2023

Innovation also helps in attracting talented and the best people for your organization. Unless your company has a history of creating, you are not going to attract someone who is going to create the next big thing. You need a culture of innovation to recruit great talent as Innovators want to be challenged and encouraged to create regularly. With the best team, an organization tends to experience more growth, stand

Happy Reading!

Ben Johnson Editor

QZ Asset Management

CRE AT I N G VALUE BE YON D WE ALT H

BLAKE YEUNG CEO

CEO and Publisher The CEO Views Innovative Companies March 2023 Editor Ben Johnson Web Development & Maintenance Kevin Parker Client Service Manager Shawn Johns Project Manager Tracy Watson Graphic Designer George Miller Business Consultant Crystal Thomas

[emailprotected]

Corporate Office CEO Views 39304, GENEVA DR FARMINGTON HILLS MI 48331 Follow us on:

https://www.facebook.com/ceoviews/

https://twitter.com/TheCEOViews

QZ Asset Management has successfully harnessed the advantages that Big data and Artificial Intelligence provide to reach its business goals.

COVER STORY BLAKE YEUNG, CEO 12 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Creating Value Beyond Wealth sset & Wealth Management is seeing explosive growth due to the rising wealth of high-net-worth people and the general afﬂuent and a clear trend to deﬁned contribution retirement savings. It involves developing and implementing investment strategies, selecting and managing investments, and reporting on the performance of those investments to clients. Since it is difﬁcult for individuals to manage their assets, asset management companies manage investment portfolios for individuals and institutions. These portfolios may include a variety of assets such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and other securities. These companies play a key role in helping investors manage their ﬁnancial assets and achieve their long-term ﬁnancial goals. QZ Asset Management is one of the world’s leading asset managers providing investment services across a broad range of traditional and alternative asset classes for all clients. For more than ten years, QZ Asset Management has managed its clients’ wealth and served them as trusted and holistic advisors. Blake Yeung, CEO of QZ Asset Management, was with the CEOViews team to share their story on how they are trying to achieve their organizational goals. Inspiration QZ Asset Management has successfully harnessed the advantages that Big data and Artiﬁcial Intelligence provide to reach its business goals. The founders were inspired by the successes of AI when pitted against the human mind, in the cases of Deep Blue, AlphaGo, and many others. It was clear then that artiﬁcial intelligence was outstanding in www.theceoviews.com

several aspects – (i) ability to process immense data, (ii) pattern recognition and unbiased interpretation of such data, and (iii) ability to ﬁnd the most optimal solutions to complex problems. These are qualities that management at QZ Asset Management would look for in ideal candidates for investment managers, and the machines were winning! They quickly realized that this would become the inevitable future of ﬁnancial investments. They must advance traditional investment services onto a Fintech platform to create a user-friendly channel for institutional and retail clients. Thus they began their journey to develop dedicated investment AI technology, and soon BDAI technology was created. Vision and Mission QZ Asset Management’s mission and vision were to build their own massive database and state-of-the-art algorithms so they could have a wide range of variables

“

QZ Asset Management has successfully harnessed the advantages that Big data and Artificial Intelligence provide to reach its business goals.

March 2023 13

in investment, as well as their correlation and suitability to our vision and strategies. They have been pretty successful thus far, and the BDAI technology had been very well received in Fintech summits around the world prior to COVID-19. Delivering results with consistency & efficiency While it is easy for an organization to churn great numbers for a quarter, maintaining the same for a longer duration is very difﬁcult. QZ Asset Management has been delivering great results consistently for years now. They have a stellar reputation for their BDAI technology and therefore are constantly invited to conferences to share the cutting-edge technology and its application in investments. Initially, they aimed to outperform the markets in A-Shares trading, and now they are deploying BDAI in many more asset classes and across other disciplines. As a pioneer, they are more than happy to provide solutions to government, quasi-government and central banks when they need such services. They simply focus on doing what they do best – using AI technology to produce the best investment outcomes. Their AI works 24/7 with automated procedures and proprietary algorithms for self-learning, and they let it do the heavy lifting. They then focus on providing the human touch, on spending their time, effort, and cognitive thoughts on understanding clients’ needs and objectives and serving them better. This segregation of tasks has allowed QZ Asset Management to perform very well over the past years. Achieving momentum in the market In a very short span of time, QZ Asset Management was able to gain momentum in the market. Without a doubt, 14 March 2023

the biggest reason is due to the success of our BDAI technology. It is a credit to the QZ team, including their algorithm experts, mathematicians, and ﬁnancial professionals. They are the unsung heroes for all that they have achieved so far. It factors down to everyone pulling in the same direction, having a uniﬁed vision, dedication, and commitment to reach the same goals, and the management is truly blessed to have the support of these amazing people. Role of technology Traditional asset managers and hedge funds employ investment managers that actively manage their funds, and this is problematic in two ways – ﬁrstly, fund performance is highly dependent on the skill level of the manager it employs, and this is very inefﬁcient, as they know because humans are highly susceptible to errors in judgment. Secondly, they simply cannot scale without experiencing some form of performance deterioration. That is why an AI-based system works best in a turbocharged environment like this – BDAI has taken over 95% of the ﬁnancial analysts’ work in QZ and facilitates automated investment decisions, which means QZ Asset Management is super-efﬁcient with low management fees and has grown tremendously over the years. Their key approach to success is in maintaining and growing the database. For AI to be effective, it must have all relevant data that can contribute to market movements, such as fundamentals, technology, and valuation of the constituents of the market. Furthermore, they have identiﬁed and labeled key indicators as leading, coincident, and lagging so BDAI could react accordingly. These can be further divided into smaller variables and assessed with various www.theceoviews.com

factors. More works have to be done to make standard operating procedures immaculate. Unique capabilities and services Speaking about their unique offerings, Blake said, “We are a savvy investment ﬁrm with the ability to forge trust, turbocharge technology and create hyper-relevant customer experiences at scale. Our major business is to provide managed investment services to institutional and retail clients that consistently outperform the market”. Growing a big database for optimizing the algorithms is the most complicated part. Safe to say, they have tried our BDAI in A-share in China successfully, and it is working in S&P500 too. QZ BDAI is their core value, and it should have all the merits for contributing to the growth and development of QZ Asset Management. Upcoming market trends When asked about what could be the trend in the near future, Blake said, “App-based investment services will continue to grow and be popular, especially in emerging markets where there is a large unbanked population with a high mobile penetration rate. People are now learning to no longer rely on large and cumbersome banks for ﬁnancial services. Instead, the digitization of money is creating huge streams of data on what customers actually do with their money, paving the way for personalized and hyper-personalized intelligent services such as QZ BDAI to offer customers helpful insights and relevant ﬁnancial products and services in the future”.

www.theceoviews.com

Challenges QZ Asset Management has faced skepticism throughout its journey, from being one of the ﬁrst early adopters of AI technology in investments to questions about how one can sustain the business during the ongoing pandemic. Instead of letting these challenges knock them down, this has provided them a platform and opportunity to better themselves. Everything that has transpired since the beginning of 2019 has been nothing short of phenomenal. They have shown that technology and online strategy are robust and capable of producing excellent results even during the most difﬁcult of times, and people worldwide are starting to see that. Technology is revolutionizing the delivery of ﬁnancial services and has greatly impacted the way the world operates. Through advanced analytical tools and automation, QZ Asset Management can make more informed investment decisions and provide its clients with real-time updates on their portfolio performance. As technology continues to evolve, it will continue to adopt and integrate new tools and strategies in order to provide the best possible service to clients.

Technology is revolutionizing the delivery of financial services and has greatly impacted the way the world operates. March 2023 15

ABACUS SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION:

AXEL KLOTH

Powering the Next-Gen Supercomputers

Founder, President, and CEO

lead over traditional solutions. Axel Kloth, Founder, President, and CEO of Abacus Semiconductor Corporation (ASC), was with the CEOViews team to share the story of their entrepreneurial journey. he semiconductor industry has been a crucial part of the modern world, with applications from computing and communication to healthcare and transportation. Semiconductors, also known as microchips, are electronic devices made from materials such as silicon using microscopic switches called transistors that are used to control the flow of electricity in various types of electronic equipment. The semiconductor industry is comprised of IDMs (integrated Device Manufacturers), fabless semiconductor companies that design and engineer the chips, and the so-called fabs that fabricate the chips. In total, it is responsible for designing, manufacturing, and selling these microchips, which are the building blocks of many electronic devices we use daily. The industry is constantly evolving, with innovations and technologies being developed all the time, and it plays a vital role in driving the global economy. Abacus Semiconductor Corporation is one such organization involved in developing several processors and memory subsystems that are intended to reduce complexity and cost while maintaining a performance 16 March 2023

Inspiration and mission Axel has been not only involved in developing components that makeup supercomputers, but he has been using them for a few decades now. He felt that the user experience did not always mirror the theoretical peak performance of these systems. As such, he had incentives to improve the real-world performance of these systems in the hands of real-world users running real-world applications. He wanted to ensure that the functional performance of supercomputers running applications that typical users deploy matches the theoretical peak performance benchmarks indicated as closely as possible. He then set out to solve the scale-out problem, and in the beginning, only a small number of scientists and users confirmed their findings. Over time, that number has grown substantially, encouraging him to continue. Engineers and marketing as well as sales at ASC received excellent feedback on where the problems of current systems were and what users looked forward to solving in next-generation designs. In 2022, they saw that more and more articles were being published that made the lack of scale-out public, and an ever-increasing number of users and scientists confirmed that they were on the right path. The Department of Energy also invited them to partake in finding new ways to improve supercomputer performance with a focus www.theceoviews.com

on integrating accelerators into the system in a useful and efficient manner. Role of innovation A novel idea often requires a novel toolset or some other fresh thinking around it to make it work and implement it. Luckily, they early on decided to use a new processor Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) – RISC-V – as the programmable element in their technology, and with it came a novel design tool. As a result, they are implementing a new kind of processor with a new kind of toolset to build a novel system architecture for accelerated supercomputers that overcome the prior scale-out limitations. Most often, we as humans go down the same path despite the fact that circ*mstances have changed, and those changed circ*mstances would require a different set of actions. Overcoming this momentum is paramount to making novel ideas work and ensuring a successful implementation. As a result, everyone at ASC uses new technology internally, including design tools. Particularly engineering still uses the established tools for design verification and other tasks, such as those that are not yet covered by novel tools, but they monitor and are open to any changes. Innovation is also a management challenge, and Axel feels there is a need to strike a delicate balance between being focused on getting things done and pure experimentation. Just focusing on getting things done will revert the company to old thinking. However, experimentation alone will not produce a product on time. So one has to find out where they need to stir up things and change and where they have to follow normal procedures. Providing effective solutions ASC provides the processors, I/O frontends, memories, and accelerators that make up the supercomputers of the future, and they work with all interested parties that provide operating systems, compilers, and applications so that their common customers have a solution that fulfils their computational needs. Adding more to it, Axel said, “We listen a lot, and we take feedback seriously. We also work with others, even if they can be considered competitors. If company A has an existing product that customers love, and that product could be even better if it were integrated with our technology, we do not hesitate to license out whatever it takes to make the customer even happier with a solution that is even better than what they have today. In most cases, our customers will not be the end users of our technology. As a result, we listen to our customers and our end customers and end users”.

www.theceoviews.com

“

THE LARGEST TRENDS IN THIS DOMAIN ARE THE USE OF ACCELERATORS IN HPC, PREMIERED BY NVIDIA WITH ITS CUDA, AND THE NOTION THAT QUANTUM COMPUTING WILL BE ABLE TO SOLVE A NEW CLASS OF PROBLEMS ~25 YEARS FROM NOW.

”

Staying ahead of peers

Competition in the semiconductor industry has always been fierce, and it is very important to stay ahead of the competition. As a startup, ASC is very agile and nimble and must react quickly. Further adding to this, Axel said, “If we see a $100M opportunity, that’s huge for us. We will jump on it. If a large semiconductor company with an annual revenue of $70B sees a $100M opportunity, it will pass. Why? We can focus 100% on that opportunity. It takes 700 projects with $100M each to get to $70B annual revenue. That’s 700 project managers on a good day. They simply can’t and won’t take on another PM for this. On the other hand, we are 100% focused on that opportunity. It is just a numbers game”. Also, Axel feels that funds and employees are crucial to staying ahead of the competition. It is hard to find excellent people, and once you have them on board, you must make sure they never get bored. If they get bored and stop learning, they’ll leave, and you’ll need to find another employee, get them trained, and keep them busy. That costs time, money, and energy. Future technology Semiconductors are considered crucial for the days ahead. The largest trends in this domain are the use of accelerators in HPC, premiered by NVIDIA with its CUDA, and the notion that quantum computing will be able to solve a new class of problems ~25 years from now. In other words, everyone is sandwiched between the technology that is available today and inadequate and the quantum computing revolution beginning in 2040 to 2050 for commercial deployments. In between, there are lots of challenges one has to solve. With its able team and decades of experience, ASC is set on a mission to solve these and become a leader in this space.

March 2023 17

ADVANCED COMMERCE

Online Merchandising Redeﬁned The merchandising industry has experienced signiﬁcant growth in recent years, driven by several factors, including the expansion of e-commerce and the increasing importance of branding and marketing in the retail sector. Effective merchandising can help to drive sales and increase customer loyalty, as it helps to create an appealing and convenient shopping experience for consumers. As a result, merchandising has become an important element of the brick and mortar retail industry and plays a crucial role in the overall success of a business, however while all other industries are adopting technology, it hasn't been the same for online

merchandising with both cost and ease of use providing barriers to entry when considering online merchandising software. Advanced Commerce understood this gap and is addressing the same with its unique merchandising platform. Andre Brown, CEO of Advanced Commerce, was with the CEOViews team to share details on how they are making it possible. Story of inception and mission Andre has been involved in eCommerce for a long time. He co-founded Attraqt and served as the CEO for 15 years. During this time, Attraqt grew from zero to the leading online merchandising platform in Europe. They signed a lot of

Effective merchandising can help to drive sales and increase customer loyalty, as it helps to create an appealing and convenient shopping experience for consumers.

ANDRE BROWN, CEO 18 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

well-known clients, and if you walked through any major shopping center, every third or fourth store would be one of Attraqt's clients. He also oversaw the acquisition of Fredhopper, Attraqt's largest European competitor. In 2018, Andre left Attraqt to work on his new business, Advanced Commerce. He have taken all their learnings from 15 years in the online merchandising industry and used them to create a unique, market-leading platform called GrapheneHC, which he is extremely proud of. Journey At Advanced Commerce, the business journey has been about accelerating eCommerce technology growth. As the physical boundaries of ﬂoorspace have been removed in the digital world you often ﬁnd increased product catalogs in online stores with the notion that more choice equals more sales. If you’ve ever tried picking a new series or ﬁlm to watch on Netﬂix you’ll recognise the paradox of choice - the more choices there are, the harder it is to make a decision. This, coupled with reducing customer attention spans means the decisions we take about what to show ﬁrst in our online stores has become incredibly important. That’s where merchandising comes in and ultimately, this is what GrapheneHC does. It gives retailers all the tools they need to visually merchandise their online store and provide a curated product display sequence that is controlled and can be personalized to the shopper, meaning customers ﬁnd the right product quickly and easily, which in turn has a waterfall effect on increasing conversions, average order values, and revenue. They have built GrapheneHC to become the gold standard of online merchandising and outperform the competition in speed, breadth of functionality, and price. Personalized shopping experience Andre feels that personalization is widely publicized now. Shoppers expect personalization and respond better to brands that offer it. That's why GrapheneHC gives retailers all the tools they need to ensure every product they show to each individual customer is relevant to them. As discussed, shoppers’ attention spans are short, so retailers have to engage their shoppers right from the point of arrival whilst also catering to changes in behavior that trigger additional merchandising strategies. Everything can be, and is, a trigger that tells us about the shopper and their preferences - the referring URL, search phrases used, call to actions interacted with, pages visited and products viewed, and much more - they give retailers the tools they need to easily build an unlimited amount of triggers and merchandising strategies that can transform their shopper's online experience with them. Bringing innovation to the market Our online merchandising platform, GrapheneHC, helps retailers and shoppers navigate the paradox of choice by providing all the tools required to visually merchandise an online store with the same care and attention you would apply to a brick-and-mortar store. Unlike other merchandising platforms that operate a simple boost or bury merchandising function, GrapheneHc allows retailers to create a merchandising blend based on a number of product, onsite and external attributes and then deﬁne exactly where they want that blend to apply - to a whole category or as granular as to a single cell, and by combining multiple merchandising blends together create a merchandising strategy that delivers relevant products as you would in store. Furthermore, they provide the ability to apply a

www.theceoviews.com

merchandising strategy based on a persona that results in highly personalizing a customer's experience in real-time, and delivering the most relevant products, increasing the chances of conversion. Standing out from the competition. GrapheneHC is fast, accessible, and easy to use. In today's age, speed is key, as customers expect fast website speeds, and conversion rates drop as speed slows. GrapheneHC combines its impressive features with fast speed, making it a market leader. Enterprise-grade software is usually only available to enterprise-grade companies and retailers and usually requires a technical degree. However, GrapheneHC is an easy-to-use, enterprise-grade merchandising platform that is priced to be available to retailers of all sizes so that every retailer can compete online. These points clearly make it a market's favorite giving it a clear advantage in the market. Challenges Challenges are an integral part of any business. Speaking about the challenges they faced, Andre said, "It is worth mentioning the impact of COVID on the industry. While it presented a challenge for some, the challenge for the industry was actually keeping up with the increased demand". Businesses are looking for new ways to effectively merchandise their online stores and increase their average order value and customer retention which is especially relevant during the current cost of living crisis. Future trends Personalization is an upcoming market trend in eCommerce, as the average customer will only view the ﬁrst three pages of an eCommerce site. The decisions that retailers make about what to show ﬁrst are important for conversion rates and increasing market share, especially in a time of cost of living crisis when every shopper counts. Marketing teams often spend hours segmenting audiences and crafting ads for a speciﬁc audience but then send everyone to the same website with the same product sequence. Andre feels retailers that recognize this disconnect between marketing and merchandising will see the most growth. You can learn more about Advanced Commerc’s merchandising platform, GrapheneHC, and their newly launched GrapheneAI a joint product with a leading real-time personalisation technology speciﬁcally for fashion and apparel, at www.advancedcommerce.io

“

Personalization is an upcoming market trend in eCommerce, as the average customer will only view the first three pages of an eCommerce site.

March 2023 19

Advantech Supply Chain Solutions Providing Integrated warehouse management and freight logistics

or companies dealing with the business of supply chain management of food products, sustainability, efficiency and infrastructure has always been a primary consideration. From storage to packaging and distribution, ensuring systemic approach towards management can help bridge the gap. Effective warehousing and transportation logistics streamlines the company’s supply chain. Advantech Supply Chain Solutions identified the management pattern and followed the same with its food-grade warehousing and transportation logistics services based out of Toronto, Canada. Adam Gueran, President and COO of Advantech Supply Chain Solutions spoke with the CEO Views team to share insight into how they are driving the organisation to thwart market competition. Inception and Mission Adam Gueran and his partner Victor Rabba started their journey in 2019 as they set out to be the premier food grade warehouse in the GTA. They bought the assets and took over the lease from a company that had been in business for 25 years and with a good lease and a couple of clients quickly turned the business around within a few months. Journey Adam from the beginning has not only focused on the business growth but also their primary focus was on customer service. So, in a short time they opened a full-service freight company. Speaking about their business journey, Adam shared, “It has been exciting 20 March 2023

and we really hit the ground running. We were in a great spot when we opened in 2019 as we focus on the food industry. With our extensive contacts between us, we have grown from 150,000 square feet to over 1,500,000 square feet in a short time.” With buildings covering all areas of need as such, ambient, cooler and frozen they have been able to handle the needs of some of the biggest food companies in the world and have branched out into B.C. Now Adam is looking at Calgary as well as Halifax for the coming year. Workforce Advantech Supply Chain Solutions is committed to provide exceptional warehousing and freight services through the best systems and by engaging the best people with over 20 years of experience. Adding more to it Adam shared, “Mark MacLean, Vice President of Operations in the warehouse comes with so much experience and he wants to share his valuable insights with warehouse stuff for smooth work process. Christina Cranston, Vice President of Operations in the freight side has been around the transportation world for a long time, having run some of the largest brokerages in Canada. Because of her experience we have been able to start from zero and grow the freight business with ease.” Providing exceptional services Advantech Supply Chain Solutions focuses on end-to-end supply chain involving a complete

www.theceoviews.com

“

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, the goal always remains to ensure that all activities are well-organised, managed and maintained.

integrated process by providing clients everything they need from warehousing ambient, cooler, freezer storage, pick pack, kitting, destuffing containers to freight services including truck load LTL and drayage in major ports across North America. To optimise routing, the team focus on freight analysis and develop the best business plan for the food clients dealing with the major retailers. Standing out among competitors In an increasingly competitive marketplace, the goal always remains to ensure that all activities are well-organised, managed and maintained. A single mistake or miscommunication can lead to consequences effecting the speed and efficiency of services. Adam shared, “We know logistics from end to end and departmental heads of our management team are all industrial experts with years of experiences. Our business growth is simply to provide client services. In the warehouse market clients often get neglected and miss treated by competitors . We go above and beyond to provide clients different ways to get there goods moved, stored and deliv-

www.theceoviews.com

Adam Gueran

Victor Rabba

COO/President

Co-founder

ered to their clients in ways that are cost effective and with the level of service that make them stand out to their customers.” Industrial expertise Knowing and understanding market trends is crucial for advancement. Industrial knowledge is the key to ensure a successful implementation in business especially in this dynamic industry. It can be something as simple as listening to and identifying the client needs. Industry expertise is a point of difference that makes the business stand out in the crowd. And when you tailor your services to different industries, you require different set of actions. Advantech Supply Solution though mostly works in the food industry, they also deal with packaging, electronics and some of the largest retailers in Canada. Adam believes, “it is because we listen to our clients

March 2023 21

“

Knowing and understanding market trends is crucial for advancement.

and identify their needs, which my competitors don’t, it gives our clients flexibility and comfort knowing we will work and grow with them.” Technological advancement As market is rapidly transitioning to e-commerce platforms that operates 24/7, focusing more on automated technological operations is becoming crucial than relying on costly human labours. Technological advancement boosts the logistics of operations, automatically eliminates the concept of errors and improves the productivity and efficiency of service for end customers. Adam feels that their systems are the big reason that help them to move the volumes and grow at the pace where they can set up and onboard a client in just a couple of days.

22 March 2023

Future trends With the rising cost of raw materials and global headwinds, the emerging market trend that the warehouse sector is currently witnessing is the rental increments. Adam thinks the biggest challenge in the sector is going to be the enormously high rent for space. The spurring demand for warehousing spaces has phase up the spike in the curve for newer trends in standardise spacing and warehouse capacity. With an integrated system of operation and management, Advantech Supply Chain Solutions is heavily focusing on customer satisfaction by improving, innovating and providing effective warehouse and freight services, taking advantage of every opportunity to expand.

www.theceoviews.com

Airspan

Pioneer in open RAN for 5G and beyond

ERIC D. STONESTROM Chairman and CEO

Inception and mission Founded in 1998, Airspan from the very beginning has aimed to be a technology driver in the world of wireless. Uniquely positioned in a number of countries from early on, it has marketed technical expertise to partner with real disruptors in mobile networks, as well as to deliver outstanding service to future-facing network buildouts from Tier 1 carriers to aviation installations. They started on the tail-end of 2G era and since then, have continued to fulﬁl their mission of innovation and excellence to take on the 5G era across public networks, private networks and more recently ﬁxed wireless. Success Stories

G ecosystems are full of emerging technologies making digitalisation more accessible with speed, reliability and scale, already unlocking signiﬁcant potential for dynamic industries. Further increasing the potential beneﬁts, Open RAN is evolving to be the future telecom backbone by improving competition, cost and network ﬂexibility. Airspan, an US-based hardware and software provider for 5G networks, has been a pioneer in end-to-end Open RAN solutions. Eric D. Stonestrom, Chairman & Chief Executive Ofﬁcer of Airspan was with the CEOViews team to share details about their Open Ran Innovation.

Airspan provides a broad array of end-to-end RAN solutions for private networks, public networks, and fixed wireless access. www.theceoviews.com

Airspan started off with WiMax, a FWA technology, which gave them valuable insight to jump into a bigger market when the fourth generation of mobile phones kicked in. They disrupted the market with small cells (low power radios), which helped to address coverage gaps, like specially indoors, and also to boost aggregate capacity in hot spots. The secret sauce of success was to bring equipment that was easy to install and maintain. Airspan grew with big names like Reliance Jio and Sprint, delivering more than 800,000 4G radios world-wide. In 5G, the market widened even further with private networks opening an entirely new market beyond March 2023 23

carriers. For the last 4 years, Airspan has been developing 5G radios for the new markets and has successfully positioned as the key partner for Private Networks and for densiﬁcation of public networks. Open RAN solutions Airspan provides a broad array of end-to-end RAN solutions for private networks, public networks, and ﬁxed wireless access. In 5G they jumped onboard with Open RAN, a new disruptive architecture that disaggregates the software from the hardware, allowing more and more customization. For the private and public networks, Airspan has created a modular approach of radios, capable of bringing a totally disaggregated architecture or an all-in-one approach Open RAN. In ﬁxed wireless access, the recently introduced 6-series provides plug-and-play gigabit speed across access points (A6), backhauls (B6x), and clients (C6x). Additionally, the ACP (Airspan Control Platform) software suite is a highly-conﬁgurable NMS, designable and upgradable to deliver a single-pane-of-glass answer to manage any 24 March 2023

network. Finally, the world class support team is both remote and on-site across almost every continent, deploying and providing continuous service to the networks they help customers to build. Speaking about how they manage to work across dynamic markets, Eric shared, “It is our extensive engineering efforts that have put us at the forefront of Open RAN interoperability, we’ve been able to deliver not only products that are well-suited to very diverse markets and use-cases, but also a portfolio of hand-tailored solutions that address unique challenges in 5G networks. Naturally then, working across numerous types of networks and markets has been our clear direction forward, drawing on real experience from research through global implementation.” Approach Being an active member of the standards association, who drive this technology, Airspan gets a future look of what features are coming next. Apart from that, they attend many industry events and collaborate in panels to discuss the current market challenges. On the other side, the extended network of ﬁeld experts from sales to engineers, work with customers to www.theceoviews.com

understand the challenges they are facing. With these sources, Airspan drafts a successful roadmap that targets products that can solve real market problems. As a disruptor there are a lot of trial-and-error cycles that streamline the process of selection of products and services that best serve the market, adapting close customer service relationships into research and development potential. Airspan also creates annual targets for each product and service and track them. A ﬂexible, market-tuned team can work with the targeting strategies and guide development from there. Competition Airspan is in a distinctive position as a US-based provider of end-to-end network solutions for 5G and can deliver both the hardware and software components of cutting-edge wireless, as well as the service. Airspan is among the few American ﬁrms that is well-equipped to deliver whole solutions to the RAN market. The technology is innovative, the scale is global and they have a number of syncretic business units, like FWA, to help reach where others can’t necessarily. Challenges Speaking about the challenges they face in meeting dynamic market trends, Eric said, “The main challenge is to align expectations between the technology’s “hype” and the reality of what the ecosystem can bring today, tomorrow, and beyond. It’s important to sit with the customer and discuss what is feasible to do now and how to future proof our products or services in the coming years adopting new features from the technology as it develops in this industry.”

CBRS in the US, UK or Germany. Airspan have developed a series of products and services addressing new market opportunities including in the ﬁxed wireless access market related to the new WiFi 6E spectrum. As more and more networks are coming online, use-cases continues to spring up across all levels of both the goods and services economy. Airspan has been leading the charge on 5G RAN hardware and software and has contributed to lay a strong foundation for the technology to mature and commercialize. With these considerations and optimistic view of network adoption, Airspan expects an exciting next phase in this generation: upscaling. Eric adds, “a common mission and a shared vision has been our key. Even as technologies develop and markets shift over the years, we’ve been able to unify and develop behind certain key ideas. Once that’s in place, we can drive the business with all of its component parts working for each other.” Keeping a close watch on market and valuing strong relationships with customers have had a big impact on their strategy. Shared fundamentals in protocols, systems and standards have led to a healthy competition ecosystem to develop newer and better ideas. With that, and a little luck, comes success, Eric believes.

Future Vision 5G is the ﬁrst generation of cellular networks that not only targets public networks, but also brings features dedicated speciﬁcally for private networks. This opens a myriad of new opportunities to address, together with the support from governments worldwide providing dedicated frequencies for enterprises, like www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 25

Ambhar Global Spirits Crafting the taste of tradition with hand-tailored Tequila

he growing likeability for ﬂavoured spirits has nudged liquor companies to experiment with new variants. Tequila, a Mexican distilled spirit made from the fermentation of blue agave plant, has emerged as one of the fastest growing spirits in the category and manufacturers are coming up with innovative ﬂavours to keep the trend growing for artisanal spirits. The surging trend of co*cktail culture has also led to the formulation of interesting tequila- based co*cktails offering exceptional beverage experience to consumers. Ambhar Global Spirits is a tequila company, committed to provide the highest standards of hand-tailored tequilas. Jaime Celorio, Founder and CEO of Ambhar Global Spirits was with the CEO Views team to share details about how they keep up their legacy of delivering highest quality tequilas. 26 March 2023

JAIME CELORIO CEO and Founder

COMPANY OF THE YEAR www.theceoviews.com

“

The brand serves a a wide range of products to deliver joy and luck through every sip of hand-tailored bottle of Tequila.

Mission and legacy Owned by Iqleen Virdi, the ﬁrst Asian American woman to own a Tequila company, Ambhar Tequila is committed to create the best Artisan Tequila, with the highest quality of Agave, a traditional detailed distilling process and an innovative aging touch to satisfy the most sophisticated spirit drinkers. Ambhar upholds the mission to spread joy and luck through every hand-tailored bottle of artisanal sipping Tequila. They deeply believe ‘luck is contagious’, and that luck will spread to every individual that experiences the Ambhar Tequila. Jaime was introduced to the Agave ﬁelds in the purest form of Tequila at the age of 7 (just a sip). As a native to Mexico and a businessman who has travelled the world, Jaime takes pride in his heritage and has introduced people to the proper way to enjoy Tequila. With new investors joining in, with proven success in several industries including technology, Healthcare & Real Estate. Ambhar Global Spirits has identiﬁed a new business plan

www.theceoviews.com

”

for the on and off premise creating new tasting experiences. Art of processing using ancient recipe

To provide the best quality Tequila, they combine ancient recipe and techniques that have been passed down through generations. The jimadores, farmers specialized in harvesting agave plants, follow the wisdom and expertise passed down through generations to identify exactly when to harvest each agave at ideal maturity. As tradition dictates, all harvesting and preparation is done by hand and the agave hearts are steamed, roasted, mashed and fermented according to ancient recipes. Using cooper stills, the best conductors of heat, they create a more even distillation for better taste and quality. Product range The brand serves a a wide range of products to deliver joy and luck through every sip of hand-tailored bottle of Tequila.

March 2023 27

Dragonfly collection The dragonﬂy collection is the ancient guardian of the blue agave ﬁelds, known as symbol of joy, prosperity, good luck and the tradition of Mexican culture. The collection includes Tequila Plata, an exceptionally clean, silver tequila made from blue agave, with salty-sweet aromas of mellowed lime and pineapples, Reposado, an ultra-premium tequila with a perfect balance of fresh agave, vanilla and salted caramel, and, Anejo, an aged tequila resting in premium whiskey oak barrels, inheriting ﬂavours of soft and silky mixtures of vanilla and candied citrus peel. Soon, Ambhar is going to launch Cristalino and Extra Anejo Special Luxury Editions. Competitive industry

IQLEEN VIRDI Owner & Chairwomen

In a highly competitive industry, Ambhar, operated by a well experienced diverse team of people from around the world, honours the heritage, different values, culture and believes in transforming and redeﬁning the experience of sipping an ultra-premium Tequila. Driven by passion, high energy, commu- Global Spirits has managed to overcome the industrinication and vision, they always think of new ways to al challenges and led to the fast growth and success of the company. provide premium sipping experience. What stands out?

Future Vision

Speaking about how they foster creativity and innovation to stand out from the crowd, Jaime said, “We use special barrels for our aging process for the quality and uniqueness of our artisanal bottles and our new development of technology enable experiences with our dragonﬂy collection, which is our Guardian of Agave and the symbol of joy and good luck.”

Ambhar has recently announced its Research and Development Division, that is responsible for the launch of new products and to make sure that all new product development is in line with the pillars of the brand including the new dragonﬂy editions. The company has recently partnered with one of the most recognized distributors in the nation, who have a great track record of building new brands.

In the age of mass production, Ambhar marks the return of artisan hand tailored tequila. Born from Supply chain normalization and inﬂation had been ancient recipes and distilled in small batches from the main two challenges for the ﬁrm’s growth. But 100% blue agave, Ambhar Tequila has become one with patience, persistence and productivity, Ambhar of the most widely known ultra-premium tequilas. Challenges

28 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

ASCEND DIGITAL SOLUTIONS

Digital transformation has taken the globe by storm. Countries are adopting digitisation to streamline operations to achieve a competitive edge in global marketplace. The pandemic has further pushed businesses over the technology tipping point transforming the digital roadmap for the future. Africa is on an exciting journey to digital dominion. At the destination is a continent burgeoning under an information and knowledge economy, with increased financial inclusion and socio-economic empowerment for every one of its citizens. Ascend Digital Solutions works to make this vision a reality. Ascend Digital Solutions is a trusted partner to public institutions across Africa in enabling the real potential of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Harkirit Singh, CEO of Ascend Digital Solutions was with the CEOViews team to share details about how they are serving the critical requirements of Africa

www.theceoviews.com

HARKIRIT SINGH, CEO

March 2023 29

and bringing in digital transformation. CEOView: Ascend Digital Solutions is a trusted partner to public institutions across Africa in enabling the real potential of the 4th Industrial Revolution. How did it all begin? What was your mission at the outset? Harkirit Singh: Africa is on a new journey of growth, socio-economic empowerment, and digital transformation. This is a journey that is destined to transform the face of Africa. Ascend Digital made the conscious decision to be a part of that journey focussing on solutions that accelerate digital infrastructure and meaning connectivity working with technology partners globally. Right from launch, our mission was and still is to upskill and prime local talent to serve the critical requirements of Africa’s burgeoning knowledge and information economy. CEOViews: Ascend Digital Solutions Limited has been recognized as the, “Most Innovative companies to watch 2023.” How was your journey so far? Harkirit Singh: The journey has been a learning process for Ascend, our strong teams and our partners who share our commitment to realize a Africa digital transformation. Delivering mobile voice and data services through a shared wireless open access network to every mobile user in a rural community for the first time brought a lot of excitement to the people. We also had a bit of challenge getting our clients to accept some of our innovative products using solutions such as wireless optical communication (wireless fibre) to connect the unconnected. Our team of dedicated and experienced industry professionals share in the vision and mission of the company and this shared belief provides the energy and drive to deliver our digital solutions and connectivity for all in Africa agenda. CEOViews: What innovative services does your firm provide to enable Africa’s connectivity and e-government goals? Harkirit Singh: Through our smart infrastructure venture we have upgraded the national backbone, metro fibre, tier 3 data centres and LTE Fixed wireless access. Ascend Digital Solutions has enabled a national wide area network ensuring all the government offices and 30 March 2023

agencies are seamlessly connected to deliver e-government programs that revolutionize socio-economic development. We have also partnered with government to deliver universal access broadband by deploying a full scale shared mobile network to cover rural communities in Ghana bringing seamless internet and voice communications to over 1.4m people and businesses. As part of our corporate social responsibility we partnered with the government of Ghana to develop a covid tracking app which enabled the tracking of covid-19 cases during the pandemic. The investments in digital infrastructure, fixed and mobile networks will reduce digital divide and increase financial inclusion. This will allow for a reliable network for delivery of seamless e-services focused on health, education, agriculture, medium small scale enterprises and hospitality to grow beyond the urban centres to rural areas. CEOViews: What does it take to become a trusted networks and IT services provider to public institutions across Africa? Harkirit Singh: To be trusted, one needs to deliver on their promise and exceed expectations. Ascend Digital Solutions has ensured that it listens to the needs of all the stakeholders and work in collaboration across public and private enterprises to deliver within the agreed timeframe. We anticipate the needs of our customers and the with help of strategic partners, we provide solutions that satisfy our customer’s digital needs. We constantly challenge each other to think outside the box with the customer at the core of every decision-making. CEOViews: How you manage to stay abreast with new developments globally? Harkirit Singh: Ascend Digital Solutions has a global mindset with a focus to deliver localised solutions. We continuously learn from ourselves and our partners, challenge our thinking and consistently look for smarter and efficient ways in providing solutions. Innovative mindset, exceptional customer experience and speed to market are the keys to our success. We work with global technology partners and participate in key industry forums to stay ahead of the curve, trial new innovative solutions in our core markets and design innovative financial models to unlock the value of underlying assets that helps to accelerate the development & expansion of digital infrastructure. www.theceoviews.com

CEOViews: How does your firm foster innovation in thought and technology to catapult digital revolution in Africa? Harkirit Singh: First we offer an open culture where everyone is free to think and be creative. Secondly, we have an enabling environment that does not conform to the status quo of a corporate organization. We work in cross-functional teams, challenge and reward ourselves via healthy competition and promote inter-functional coordination. This way, team members do not box themselves into functional units. We all see ourselves as one big team with a common goal. Collaboration and responsibility are two of our core values and we live this to the latter. At Ascend Digital Solutions, no idea is “stupid”. We look for the nugget in every idea and turn this into value proposition that transforms the lives of our clients. We solicit feedback on a rolling basis right from the ideation stage through to execution. Each new idea is presented to the cross-functional team where the idea is critiqued in a constructive way. Once we are satisfied, we roll out on a pilot basis and follow up with the customer for feedback. Furthermore, we seek periodic feedback from our clients. Their satisfaction is our goal and the most valuable performance indicator. CEOViews: What challenges did your firm come across throughout its journey so far? Harkirit Singh: We had extreme challenges in our journey starting from the Covid lockdown, rising interest rates, inflation, currency fluctuations and global security issues threatening our survival. However, we stayed on course true to our strong belief and values that every hurdle will bring us closer to our goals. We were able to convince our stakeholders and partners and get their commitment to deliver as per the plan. Our reliance on the infrastructures of our partners

www.theceoviews.com

such as the mobile network operators and tower companies occasionally affected our speed to market. We adjusted our execution timelines to accommodate the relatively slower pace of some partners and our internal teams worked hard to augment any gaps in service delivery to meet the committed timelines. CEOViews: What according to you is the success factor for Ascend Digital Solutions? Harkirit Singh: Every business must learn to put the customer first and listen to them. No organization will survive without the customer. Hence, they are the reason we are in business and their satisfaction should be our primary focus. Secondly, we must invest in our people. They help us deliver value to our customers. They must feel a part of the company’s journey. Once you do these two and do them well, profitability and growth will follow. Surely, there are other key structures and processes that need to be put in place. However, at Ascend Digital Solutions, we regard these two to be key success factors. CEOViews: What type of future vision do you have for your firm? Harkirit Singh: Our vision is to be the digital catalyst reducing broadband usage gap through technology and financial innovations leapfrogging Africa into the 4th industrial revolution. We envision Africa to be the technology playground in the near future with its vast natural and human resources transforming itself to be the world’s largest digital platform. It will only be possible through high speed connectivity - reducing digital divide, igniting a revolution towards mass entrepreneurship & innovation, access to low cost capital and developing solutions in Africa and for Africa.

March 2023 31

CANON BUSINESS PROCESS SERVICES

CEO Views has named Canon Business Process Services (Canon) as one of the “Most Innovative Companies to Watch 2023.” This is the fourth year in a row that the publication has recognized Canon for its inventive approach. This includes a ﬂexible, integrated service delivery model that enables Canon to manage services on-site at the client’s location, off-site, and offshore. Canon combines this adaptable methodology with the latest technologies to automate business process workﬂows and support digital transformation initiatives.

32 March 2023

JOSEPH MARCIANO, President & CEO www.theceoviews.com

For over 30 years Canon has been helping clients enable business agility, leverage digital technology and lead an increasingly evolving workforce. Canon solves these challenges by leveraging its experienced team backed by Six Sigma expertise and best-in-class technology.

“Programs for Innovation,” which recognizes a company’s ability to implement solutions that produce new forms of value for customers.

Significant Business Challenges

Several of these advanced programs are designed to meet speciﬁc industry needs. This includes Canon’s digital transformation services for insurance companies. The purpose of these services is to help major insurance companies advance their client relationships through innovation and digital transformation.

“Businesses have faced signiﬁcant challenges and undergone incredible changes over the past few years, and this won’t slow down in 2023,” says Joe Marciano, president and CEO of Canon Business Process Services. “Organizations are dealing with the after effects of the global pandemic, economic challenges, as well as rapidly-developing technologies.” Regarding the latter, Marciano points out that accelerated digital transformation is one of the most pressing concerns. “Deploying digital technologies to improve customer service, create more efﬁcient supply chains, deliver products and services that are more aligned with customer needs, and streamline manufacturing processes are all on the table,” Marciano adds. To help organizations grapple with these challenges, Canon continues to apply innovative thinking and its wide-ranging expertise in delivering services that span people, processes, technology and data in any combination that is appropriate for client needs. This mindset continues to garner industry recognition for Canon. As one example, the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) has named Canon to its Global Outsourcing 100 list for the past 17 years in a row. According to IAOP, the Global Outsourcing 100 is an essential reference for organizations seeking relationships with the best outsourcing companies. Canon earned additional IAOP Global Outsourcing 100 recognition last year by receiving top honors in ﬁve special judging categories. These categories include

Meeting Specific Industry Needs

Insurers are streamlining operations. This can include developing a digital transformation roadmap, aligning resources, and using a phased implementation approach. Also, some larger insurers are jumpstarting their digital transformation by outsourcing inefﬁcient processes. Canon’s special focus is to help ﬁrms achieve these goals and better prepare for the future by implementing a comprehensive solution that includes claims processing and underwriting support. Here is one case in point. A leading insurance company engaged Canon to help streamline claims processing. The Canon team assumed management of data entry and related activity for hundreds of processing tasks. These include indexing medical bills, scanning and indexing claims, and processing explanation of beneﬁts statements and W9 forms. Canon also implemented ofﬁce services and a digital mail system to support the company’s move to a more agile work environment. Results have been signiﬁcant. Projected cost savings are expected to exceed millions of dollars annually due to workforce optimization approaches and automation. Improving the efﬁciency of business process workﬂows has trimmed a claims process from 17 to ﬁve days.

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 33

Internal Logistics Services for Healthcare Another industry-speciﬁc program is Canon’s internal logistics services for the healthcare industry. Healthcare providers require an efﬁcient ﬂow of supplies and equipment to effectively perform daily functions. Following is one example of how Canon’s solution is helping a leading hospital meet this challenge while better supporting clinicians and improving patient outcomes. The hospital concluded that while its Receiving and Central Supply operation was essential to the business, the operation’s recruiting, training, and corporate support systems were more tailored to healthcare professionals than logistics specialists. To better ensure that the right parts are available in the right places, at the right time, the hospital selected Canon to manage its receiving, central supply, and inventory replenishment processes. Canon implemented best practices in inventory management, data tracking, recruiting, and employee development. This improved processing times, provided vital business insights, and gave the hospital greater scheduling ﬂexibility. Canon helped to build lean workﬂow management systems, improve the replenishment process, and develop point-of-use storage systems for high-use items. One result was that, with an improved ﬂow of material throughout the hospital, the healthcare leader could focus its attention on launching a new ERP system. Canon participated in training sessions for the software, adjusted schedules to aid the transition, and updated processes to accommodate the new system. Following implementation, Canon resumed its continuous improvement projects to drive efﬁciency, quality, and safety.

CANON STAFF IS SPECIALLY TRAINED TO DELIVER WORKPLACE EXPERIENCE SERVICES TAILORED TO SPECIFIC CLIENT REQUIREMENTS. One major industry leveraging these services is the ﬁnancial sector. A leading company, for example, wanted to establish an outstanding workplace experience in three new ofﬁces they were preparing to open, including their new global headquarters. They needed a partner to create an environment that helped treat employees like valued guests. This meant expanding and rethinking their workplace events, building a hospitality team, and overseeing new agile workspace and ofﬁce supply programs. The company tapped Canon to help get the job done. Two key reasons motivated the ﬁnancial leader. One, the company liked Canon’s personalized approach, which enables Canon teams to anticipate individual employee needs and deliver the ﬁnest in guest services. Two, Canon staff is specially trained to deliver workplace experience services tailored to speciﬁc client requirements. “These examples demonstrate how we utilize innovation and advanced services to help our clients address current challenges and better prepare for the future,” says Joe Marciano. He adds that whatever their business needs, Canon’s mission is to help ensure that its clients are ready to prosper in the days ahead.

Elevating the Workplace Experience A third program that Canon has tailored to several major industries is the company’s workplace experience services. Organizations are creating work experiences that engage employees in a way that motivates them to want to work, whether at home or in the ofﬁce. And because today’s workers expect conveniences and administrative support that remove workplace friction, companies offering these programs have a competitive edge in attracting and retaining the best talent. Canon Workplace Experience Services include reception, host and concierge services, hospitality services, and technology enablement.

34 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

CAVISSON

Revolutionizing Customer Experience Management The founders of Cavisson have extraordinary expertise in mission-critical enterprise applications that have gone on to become massive successes within the industry. Having worked closely with end users, it became apparent to us that customer experience is paramount to the success of any enterprise application. In addition, we have determined that the basic ingredients of delivering an exceptional customer experience are: quality, performance, reliability, and availability. We also understand the limitations of the traditional siloed approach, which utilizes individual products for quality, performance, chaos testing, and service virtualization, as well as different aspects of observability. Due to a lack of coordination and cohesion among these siloed tools, the

traditional approach is grossly under-equipped to ensure exceptional end-customer experience. For instance, a siloed approach to quality engineering results in a lack of functional testing automation. While there has been some progress on this front in terms of test execution, the test case and script-creation processes remain fully manual. Furthermore, enterprises end up creating thousands of test cases over time for a particular software module, but the process for determining which tests should optimally be executed in case some “change/fix” is made is still entirely manual. One can execute all the tests, but at times, doing so may be resource/time intensive. Meanwhile, a partial selection of test cases may be dangerous.

Cavisson’s integrated and AI-assisted solution addresses this issue by automatically: Creating test cases by learning new usage patterns from real end user actions in production Identifying “newly discovered” test cases Creating test scripts and intelligently tagging them with the functionality and software module down to individual lines of code

Anil Kumar, Founder, Chairman & CTO www.theceoviews.com

The traditional approach towards delivering satisfactory customer experience falls way short due to lack of coordination and cohesion among point products. March 2023 35

Identifying the test cases to be executed based on software changes using the above intelligence Monitoring both the functionality and code-level execution during testing by integrating end-to-end observability and helping identify the causes of failed test cases As this illustration depicts, the entire quality assurance and observability ecosystem becomes highly integrated and automated, taking its effectiveness to a whole new level. This would simply be impossible if the usage patterns discovery, code-level observability, test script creation, and test execution were not deeply interconnected and automated. That’s the reason a completely new ground-up approach was needed to solve this multi-dimensional challenge. This was just one example. In yet another scenario, the observability and resiliency components of our solution work in tandem to performance testing to help recreate real-life scenarios in pre-production environments. They predict potential production performance and resiliency issues, as well as determine the root causes behind such issues. This revolutionizes the entire customer experience management space. Innovation has been the driving force behind our product’s development and evolution over time from the very beginning. We started by creating performance-testing and service-virtualization products to target the fundamental gaps we observed in the performance-testing space. It is more of a rule than an exception that certain issues are seen only in production, despite performance tests being executed successfully. To further complicate matters, if a certain “fix” is planned to resolve a production issue, a basic question arises on how to verify its efficacy if that production issue is not reproducible in a pre-production environment. To tackle this, we built a proprietary solution, InternetTrue™, which serves as the building block of our performance-testing product’s core. InternetTrue™ is a cross-discipline simulation involving networks, operating systems, and database advances to help simulate real-life traffic patterns, load models, concurrency, extreme scalability, and much more, resulting in the high-fidelity recreation of production scenarios in a lab environment. After developing InternetTrue™, we recognized that once issues surface, it is critically important to identify the root causes of those issues in order to identify possible actionable inputs and improve upon the efficacy of applications. This is what elevates simple performance testing to the level of performance engineering.

36 March 2023

We combine latest advances in High Performance Computing and Data Science with proprietary algorithms to provide magnitude times proficient and unparalleled analytical capabilities. To achieve this, we incorporated several innovative concepts to our processes and added various aspects of application observability, including infrastructure, applications, databases, logs, and user-experience monitoring with data enrichment and extreme proficiency at its core. The core of this innovation is KeyData™, which combines several proprietary algorithms and procedures in big data, high-performance computing, and machine learning to collect, manage, and infer from real-time data. This solution has helped identify and resolve issues, which had previously been unaddressed by legacy systems at several Fortune 100 enterprises. We further expanded our observability solution by adding synthetic monitoring and the voice of customer capabilities with deeply interconnected co-relation parameters to provide a novel end-to-end observability platform for enterprise production environments aimed at drastically reducing the mean time to detect and restore (MTTD & MTTR), via our built-in auto-remediation capabilities. Next, we added chaos engineering capabilities to support the most innovative and varied chaos experiments. However, the real power came by deeply integrating these facets with performance testing and observability. We’ve also recently added an AI-assisted, automated testing and validation module aimed at providing a highly effective and versatile experience management ecosystem. For us, it was not about recreating or even improving upon an existing product in this space. Our goal instead was to create a solution from the ground up to meet the challenges faced by enterprises in an increasingly distributed and complex software landscape. We’ve built an extremely scalable, enriched-data collection platform with state-of-the-art proprietary algorithms and continuously trained AI models that legacy solutions simply cannot provide. It has taken several thousand engineering person years to create our current experience-management platform to provide protection to our customers’ mission-critical enterprise applications.

www.theceoviews.com

With some of the brightest minds in the application performance space and by leveraging cutting-edge research and advances in data science and computing, we have created a highly innovative solution to provide protection to our customer’s mission-critical enterprise applications. Our technology not only ties together all the aspects of performance engineering, but is also highly optimized to consume minimal resources while providing unmatched insights. For example: One of the most used constructs in decision making is calculating percentiles, which is possible since our procedure is at least 100x faster and more proficient than any known implementation. Another common construct is to identify matching patterns while searching for the root cause of errors. In a typical scenario, this process results in matching across millions of metrics. Our highly proficient algorithms co-relate 20 million metrics/sec on a single core to draw inferences. Meanwhile, current solutions end up either limiting such an automated function or leaving it to the users to achieve the

We see our founding principles behind the experience management platform getting validated with Gartner suggesting Digital Immune Systems as a top trend of 2023.

www.theceoviews.com

task manually, leaving the majority of issues unresolved. Finding co-related metrics may help narrow down millions of metrics to tens of metrics, thus helping engineers apply their system knowledge to determine the root cause. However, let’s consider a scenario in which it is observed that response time, database write counts, and CPU utilization are co-related. Such a co-relation does not suggest any causal relationship among these metrics. Our product’s AI assisted algorithms provides a causality relationship via directed graphs, helping identify the “real root cause.” Gartner recently introduced the Digital Immune System1 as one of the top technology trends of 2023. Furthermore, Gartner outlines quality, performance, chaos engineering, and availability as essential components of the digital ecosystem of a healthy enterprise, which effectively validates our founding beliefs. While we’ve referred to this as “experience management” from our beginnings as a company as opposed to “digital immunity”, it suffices to say that we are ready to provide a working solution that covers all these aspects and ensures the success of enterprise applications.

https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/what-is-a-digital-immune-system-and-why-does-it-matter

March 2023 37

he contract management space has gone through a great turn of events over the past few years. Apart from the typical contract lifecycle management (CLM) challenges, a lack of transparency on claims, irregular usage of standardized terms and legal language, and decentralized storage methods have all been raging issues plaguing the contract management space. For organizations, it is not only the matter of running the risk of falling behind a ﬁerce competition, but also the case of compromising on security, integrity and accessibility of the contract. The need-of-the-hour for organizations is to do away with outdated/stale methods and solutions and start adapting to advanced and all-encompassing solutions. One such provider is the Princeton, New Jersey-based CobbleStone Software. Why CobbleStone®? Founded in 1995 by Mark Nastasi, CobbleStone has been offering state-of-the-art contract management systems with a mission to deliver the most advanced, cost-effective, and user-friendly contract and procurement management software applications that enable employees to do their best work. From the words of Mark, CobbleStone Software has stayed true in its mission to exceed the expectations of its clients by delivering the best-of-breed products that continue to evolve to meet clients’ changing needs through continuous growth and innovation. The ﬁrm has also been exemplary in showcasing its integrity towards its loyal client base by taking the pledge to respect and understand the needs of its clients by striving to deliver on its core values of utmost sincerity, humility, courtesy and wisdom when catering to its clients. 38 March 2023

MARK NASTASI, Executive VP & Founder

www.theceoviews.com

“Our mission was created to help organizations avoid violations of agreements while providing a better solution to manage contracts and obligations”, says Mark. Since then, the ﬁrm has lent its ardent focus to expand on areas that have been the most challenging for its clients. The ﬁrm’s ﬂagship offering, CobbleStone Contract Insight® is one-of-a-kind scalable enterprise contract management software that helps streamline the contract lifecycle management process from beginning to end. Through a user-friendly interface, the software leverages out-of-the-box features for contract data ﬁeld tracking, key date alerts, risk management, contract drafting, contract review, and industry-speciﬁc contract type tracking. Organizations can thus integrate their internal processes seamlessly with other mission-critical applications and help ensure ease-of-use, smooth transitions with high adoption rates, and rapid time-to-value. A Multi-Faceted Solution Designed to adapt across all industries of varied sizes, CobbleStone Contract Insight can be hosted on the cloud or deployed on-premise. The software offers a plethora of advanced features including intelligent workﬂow automation, a contract repository that is secure and easily searchable, ad hoc and custom contract management reports, system dashboards, and calendars for enhanced visibility. To enable and attain clarity and security on contracts, CobbleStone Contract Insight offers intelligent contract term, clause, and data extraction and classiﬁcation, robust protection of sensitive data, comprehensive assessment of employee accountability, and usage of contract artiﬁcial intelligence tools along with advanced risk assessment and compliance tools that include OFAC search compliance.

management solution and is thus a multi-faceted offering that provides contract management tools built upon a foundation of contract AI and machine learning. “We are constantly evolving our contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution, and we are dedicated to releasing multiple system updates per year to refresh our user interface and our tools to meet industry demands”, says Mark. CobbleStone’s VISDOM® - a powerful contract management tool backed by articial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) - systematically analyses contracts originated by internal or external paper to transform the documents into building blocks for improved contract oversight, proactive opportunity realization, and risk mitigation. CobbleStone Software has designed its ﬂagship offering around various industry verticals including government, healthcare, legal, pharma/life sciences, education, ﬁnance, energy/utilities, and many other prominent industries. Because of this varied applicability, the ﬁrm has designed its CLM software to be extremely ﬂexible and conﬁgurable according to a vast array of industry needs. “We seek to consistently provide learning opportunities for new and current clients on a regular basis. By hosting user conferences, masterclasses, online group trainings, integrations and connectors, worldwide data centers, and educational webinars, we aim for users to experience the full beneﬁts of CobbleStone Contract Insight”, says Mark. Keeping Pace with Time In terms of leveraging the relevant technology trends, CobbleStone leaves no stone unturned to satiate its clients’ needs and preferences. For this very reason the ﬁrm has partnered with the bigwigs in the ﬁeld of technology, including Microsoft, HubSpot, and many other giants to best enable its clients.

Along with being a contract lifecycle management solution, the software is also a vendor and e-procurement “Many of our clients prefer our web-enabled SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) hosting option. We do also offer

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 39

locally deployed hosting. We are acclaimed for our low-friction and convenient integrations and connectors.” To best serve the interest of its clients, CobbleStone has classiﬁed its offering, CobbleStone Contract Insight for both large and small enterprises. CobbleStone offers 3 versions of CobbleStone Contract Insight with a variety of features offered in each - allowing organizations to choose the one that ﬁts their unique needs. The solution is scalable and evolves with organizations’ growth. CobbleStone Contract Insight Enterprise Edition provides an end-to-end enterprise-level, user-friendly, and web-enabled contract management system with in-demand features. CobbleStone Contract Insight Express Edition is an end-to-end entry-level, SaaS contract management system that delivers the features and functionality organizations require with a seamless migration path for expanded features and functionality. CobbleStone Contract Insight WorkGroup Edition is a cost-effective, on-premise (deployed) contract management system that delivers the features and functionality organizations need to get started for better contract management. This edition is available as a deployed solution on-premise or on an organization’s corporate cloud. “We aim to consistently offer features and tools that are industry-leading and ultimately helpful for users in contract management. Recently, we have rolled out CobbleStone Auto-Redline - a feature that is powered by VISDOM artiﬁcial intelligence with machine learning. 40 March 2023

CobbleStone Auto-Redline provides users with the ability to streamline contract processes as well as automate the inclusion of clauses from their approved clause library. As such, organizations can virtually ensure that favorable clause language is included in contracts. The ability to automate the redlining process is part of what makes CobbleStone a key differentiator.” Future Steps CobbleStone is paving the digital way, and is keen on exploring more opportunities to leverage artiﬁcial intelligence to enhance its prowess in the contract lifecycle management space. Currently, CobbleStone is leveraging many features under VISDOM powered by AI and ML. Through IntelliXtract™, the solution bestows its users with the power to look into contracts and agreements to ﬁnd key terms, legal phrases, conditions, and other legal text. The Theory Calculator - another feature under VISDOM - provides users with recurring automated data analyses and on-screen recommendations to provide helpful guidance throughout the contract administration process. Going forward, CobbleStone strives to go above and beyond industry standards by consistently providing users with supportive features and tools to help with their contract management processes. The ﬁrm is currently working on a 1,000,000 contract clause project to feed real-life clauses of ranging types into its proprietary VISDOM AI, with over 700,000 contract clauses already fed.

www.theceoviews.com

ADGS Deep Technologies made in QATAR

[emailprotected] www.adgs.com

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 41

Cold Chain Technologies Transportation of Pharmaceuticals made easier he global pharmaceutical landscape has witnessed a growing transformation with the emergence of new technologies and efficient manufacturing approaches. Constant progress in the field of medicines has opened up new ways to target different health maladies and clinical trials have created new opportunities for market growth. But to preserve drug safety and efficacy, they need to be kept within specific temperature and humidity ranges. The smallest temperature variation can put patient’s health at risk. So, storing and transporting pharmaceutical products is an exacting task. The drug supply chain should maintain a quality system setting and ensure the drugs are stored and transported according to labelled temperature, humidity exposure guidance. Cold Chain services offertemperature-controlled storage and distribution facilities to maintain the quality of drugs. But the shipment of temperature sensitive products isn’t just about being safe. It is about being smart. Cold Chain Technologies (CCT) offers the smartest solutions to meet the needs. With over 50 years of experience in the cold chain, Cold Chain Technologies has evolved as a leader in the development and delivery of cost-effective thermal packaging solutions that protect the integrity of temperature sensitive products. Ranjeet Banerjee, CEO of Cold Chain Technologies was with the CEOViews team to share details about how they help organizations to manage a smarter cold chain. How it all started Cold Chain Technologies was founded in 1967 to support the temperature sensitive shipping industry in protecting its critical product loads. Since then, CCT has built a solid infrastructure based on science and engineering for the development of exceptional thermal assurance packaging solutions. The team invariably test the designs to ensure they are robust for their utilized applications and make sure that they can be produced efficiently as well as reliably in high volume, automated 42 March 2023

manufacturing. Initially CCT started their business in the food industry and then in later years, pivoted towards the life sciences, when it was evident that there was a gap in the marketplace for robust, resilient, qualified range of thermal packaging shippers to support transportation of drugs requiring cold chain management. The combination of taking a design, repeatedly testing, and ensuring superior and repeatable manufacturing execution has contributed to CCT being an industry leader. CCT is purpose-driven to maintain the temperature of drugs, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals because their secure delivery impacts the lives of people around the world. Industrial and Social Benefits In the life sciences industry, the storage and shipping of pharmaceutical products is a high-stakes game. The risks are immense, and the industry annually suffers huge losses due to failures in temperature-controlled logistics. Cold Chain Technologies recognizes that the current lack of visibility during the transportation of drugs and biologics create a lot of waste and often results in product safety and efficacy issues. CCT is working to improve the visibility and assurance of in-transit life science products through the recently launched digital platform, CCT Smart Solutions. Tracking with CCT Smart Solutions Through this digital platform, customers can easily track the location of their parcels or pallets as it enables real-time monitoring. This improves the reliability of the logistics and the ability to prevent or reduce challenges that a company may encounter while the product is in transit. Reducing negative impact on environment Additionally, CCT is deeply committed to reducing negative impacts on the environment by investing in the development and growth of reusable and sustainwww.theceoviews.com

CCT is working to improve the visibility and assurance of in-transit life science products through the recently launched digital platform, CCT Smart Solutions.

able thermal packaging solutions. Through their extensive portfolio of sustainable offerings coupled with CCT Smart Solutions for tracking and decision support, CCT is reducing the negative impact on the environment and helping the life science industry achieve a reduction in CO2 emissions, landfill waste, and more. Extensive Portfolio of thermal packaging solutions Each CCT solution begins with the real world-need of their clients. The team of experts understand the logistical challenges of the products and apply unrivalled engineering expertise in every stage to choose the smartest solutions to ensure those challenges are met. CCT TRUEtemp Naturals® In 2022, CCT expanded its award-winning TRUEtemp Naturals® portfolio through the launch of seasonal solutions. The CCT TRUEtemp Naturals® portfolio utilizes proprietary design and manufacturing technologies to provide pharmaceutical-grade, time-temperature performance in an eco-friendly, 100% curbside recyclable and repulpable solution. CCT TheraShield CCT very recently announced the launch of CCT TheraShield, a broad range of advanced, reusable thermal packaging solutions directly linked to the CCT Smart Solutions portal to support the needs of the cell and gene therapy industry. This portfolio will be available in various temperature profiles, sizes, and has been tested against the most robust industry standards. Additionally, CCT TheraShield leverages the company’s substantial experience in managing ultra-low www.theceoviews.com

Ranjeet Banerjee, CEO

temperature shipments with reusable services, which were highlighted throughout the distribution of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. CCT Thermal Covers CCT Thermal Covers, powered by Tyvek ®, offer premium protection for the life science market’s cargo during short term cold chain breaks, which typically occur during tarmac exposure. These thermal covers are highly reflective and simultaneously waterproof as well as breathable unlike any other thermal cover in the marketplace. It protects the cargo not only from heat but also allows moisture to escape quickly from a covered load, which prevents mold growth or secondary packaging to become wet and/or damaged. Beyond products, CCT continues to innovate their services and is one of pioneers in offering robust reusable solutions; “ready-to-use” conditioned shippers; integrated solutions linked with data loggers for tracking and visibility and various digital tools that help March 2023 43

customers plan, create, track, and optimize their shipments. An award-winning journey As the business is focused on the life science industry, quality is at the heart of everything the company does. CCT is compliant with the various testing and qualification standards required to operate in the industry and asked for by the customers. Speaking about their journey of success, Ranjeet said, “I find success where there are opportunities to create shared value for both the organization and society. It is not just about financial growth and metrics; it is about really creating societal value through innovation. At CCT, we also understand that the medications, samples that we help transport while maintaining cold chain, impact people’s lives. Hence, we work closely with our customers and partners to help them choose the “right” solutions that balance their needs for performance, cost, compliance, and sustainability.” CCT has amongst the largest thermal chamber testing facilities in the industry to support the testing and qualification of our solutions. Their sites and processes are audited regularly by the relevant organizations and customers. CCT also recently was awarded a Silver Rating by EcoVadis for improving sustainability and ESG initiatives and is now ranked in the top quarter of companies in the industry.

Acquiring talent in a competitive market CCT has many talented leaders who are continually having conversations with customers, industry leaders, and internal experts to prioritize unmet demands in the market. This process assists in prioritizing the focus and work. They are constantly challenging themselves to launch these innovative ideas into compelling features, functionalities, products, digital offerings, and services. Future Goals CCT is on a journey to transform cold chain management for the life science industry. Speaking about their plans for the coming days, Ranjeet said, “Our goal primarily is to provide assurance from the manufacturing plant to the recipient of the drug or biologic. Today, the industry lacks visibility during the transportation of important drugs and biologics. That absence creates a lot of waste as well as may potentially have product safety and efficacy issues. CCT’s approach has been to combine products, services, and digital tracking capabilities to make that transformation happen – from “visibility” to providing “assurance.” As a company, CCT is focused on redefining the next generation of condition monitoring by driving innovation as well as nurturing the company’s culture through regularly recognizing its people and teams.

Through this digital platform, customers can easily track the location of their parcels or pallets as it enables real-time monitoring.

44 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

CROOW

Leading the Way in Video Production Software

With the rise of digital marketing and the increasing importance of video content, the video production industry is experiencing significant growth. Businesses are recognizing the impact that engaging, high-quality video content can have on their marketing efforts, and as a result, demand for video production services continues to rise. In

this landscape, CROOW has positioned itself as a leading provider of innovative software for video production project management. CROOW was founded with the goal of streamlining the video production process and improving collaboration between team members. Through its flagship product, CROOW Studio, and its project management software, CROOWpm, the company is empowering businesses to deliver high-quality video content more efficiently and effectively than ever before. David Capece, CEO of CROOW, was with the CEOViews team to share details on how their journey has been. Inception and mission

DAVID CAPECE CEO

www.theceoviews.com

Prior to CROOW, David Capece had founded and built the INC 5000 company Sparxoo, which was a digital agency and video production company. During his growth journey at Sparxoo, David realized the need for increasing workflow efficiencies in the agency and video production industries. In 2019, David and a small team began working on collaboration and other workflow tools, and by early 2021, the foundation for CROOW was established. This provided the opportunity to disrupt the video production industry, leading to the creation of CROOW's flagship product, March 2023 45

CROOW Studio. In February 2022, Sparxoo was sold to another agency, and David moved to focus on CROOW full-time in April 2022. He raised a Seed Round of financing soon after to support the growth of CROOW. The aim of CROOW is to bring collaboration and efficiency to the creative and video production industries, where there are currently gaps between the different talents and roles that hinder the output quality. The CROOW software helps in designing workflows that align the team and eliminate time-consuming and inefficient back-and-forth communication. This leads to increased productivity, as the time spent on low-value communication, such as searching for a logo file or making basic selections, can be used to produce better work. Streamlining communication CROOW is a company with two video production products: CROOW Studio and CROOWpm. CROOW Studio allows clients to easily select from pre-formatted customizations and saves time in the pre-production process. CROOWpm is a video production project management platform that streamlines video production and helps teams grow business while reducing overhead. The company's 2023 priority is to expand the nationwide adoption of CROOWpm to empower agencies, marketers, and video production teams to create and share stories efficiently. CROOW aims to be the premier collaboration platform for the video community. CROOW software streamlines workflows and empowers team collaboration, eliminating time-consuming and inefficient back-and-forth communications. CROOW's software platform has been incubated through agencies, marketing organizations, video production teams, and in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Beyond the platform's best-in-breed project management features, 46 March 2023

CROOW was founded with the goal of streamlining the video production process and improving collaboration between team members. CROOW really shines with advanced collaboration and business intelligence designed for video production. It helps leaders manage upcoming work, optimize resources, and minimize low-value tasks. Standing out from the competition As an innovative brand that is positioned to lead the video industry forward, often times they craft the trends with partners. To help put themselves on the

www.theceoviews.com

cutting edge of video production and related industries, they constantly read blogs and white papers, listen to experts, and watch and scroll on social media. Of course, they often have collaborative sessions with client and video production teams where they can filter through the noise to see what's most important. One thing that they do every year is put together CROOW's guide to video trends which we share freely with everyone (the 2023 video trends guide is here).

CROOW places great emphasis on establishing a strong and positive company culture.

Company culture CROOW places great emphasis on establishing a strong and positive company culture. As a relatively new company, it has made a proactive effort to establish its five core values, which are central to building a thriving organizational culture. These values are "Grow Forward," "Empower Collaboration," "Brighten Humankind," "Own Results," and "Bring Energy." The company believes that these values will set the foundation for long-term success and contribute to a positive working environment. "Grow Forward" encourages employees to adopt a growth mindset and reach beyond their comfort zones. "Empower Collaboration" stresses the importance of bringing people and ideas together through technology, relationships, and processes. "Brighten Humankind" embraces diversity and fosters open authentic connections. "Own Results" holds employees accountable for outcomes and encourages them to overcome obstacles. Finally, "Bring Energy" inspires employees to bring passion and energy to work every day, actively work as a team, and have fun along the way. The company prides itself on staying true to its tagline of "Unite & Conquer." This means that employees work collaboratively and take accountability for their results. As a startup, the company values innovation and entrepreneurship, which is reflected in its team. The company fosters a culture of positivity and encourages ideas. However, it also recognizes the

www.theceoviews.com

importance of execution and progress. One of the company's guiding principles is "eating your frogs." This productivity mindset, which was passed down through Mark Twain, states that if you have a difficult task to do, it is best to tackle it first thing in the morning and tackle the biggest one first. Future ahead As an early-stage company, CROOW is adopting a streamlined version of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) as it gains momentum in the market. The company is seeking a harmonious balance of structure and flexibility as it aims to transform the creative and video production industry through enhanced collaboration and reduced effort. CROOW's flagship product, CROOW Studio, is already highly regarded by emerging industry leaders for its ability to deliver high-quality video at an affordable cost and within a timely manner. Meanwhile, the company's CROOWpm product is receiving positive feedback as the future of video production project management software. With its focus on improving workflow and collaboration, CROOW is poised to be a key player in the growth of the video production industry, helping businesses to keep pace with the increasing demand for video content.

March 2023 47

Johnathaan Pannell President and CEO

District Partnerships and Consulting Leading the Path of Inclusivity & Diversity

Human Resource (HR) consulting is an essential aspect of the business world, playing a vital role in the success and growth of organizations. The HR industry has become increasingly important in developing a company's strategy, and culture as the workforce continues to evolve. The industry is undergoing significant changes, as technology advancements and shifting workplace dynamics are driving new demands and opportunities. Companies will continue 48 March 2023

to seek out HR consulting services to navigate the ever-changing landscape of work, ensuring that they attract and retain top talent, foster a positive work environment, and comply with the latest labor regulations. District Partnerships and Consulting (DPC) is a renowned global HR and DEI consulting firm that provides top-notch services to its clients. With a focus on employee well-being, Diversity and inclusion, and data-driven decision-making, the company is well-equipped to handle the challenges and opportunities of the evolving HR industry. Johnathaan Pannell, President & CEO of District Partnerships & Consulting, was with the CEOViews team to share how they are bringing changes in the HR industry. www.theceoviews.com

Mission While Johnathaan was working with different organizations, he found that a lot of the employers needed to be equity centered. As an expert in this field, he felt the need for companies to lean more toward this mindset. For this reason, he started DPC to be a voice for employees and employers in a way that helped promote their business morale and their productivity. DPC currently addresses three major HR issues at the workspace, Diversity, equity, and inclusion. Jonathan's innovative approach to consulting puts the client's business needs first while incorporating effective strategies to get results.

Johnathaan has been in the HR/DEI arena for nearly a decade and brings a wealth of knowledge to his consulting work. Johnathaan has served in the capacity of HR Business Partner, Talent & HR Manager, and Interim Director of HR. In these roles, Johnathaan has served as a thought partner to Executive Leadership & the Board of Directors on key organizational systems that produce meaningful change within the organization. Offerings DPC also provides various strategy solutions besides Diversity, equity, inclusion, human resources, and executive consulting services. One of their prominent solutions is Future proof talent retention services. They offer expertise in dealing with complex talent retention issues through their strategic roadmap, where they

Employees are more powerful than employers, and that is what we need. Uh, we invest and believe in the power of our people.

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 49

Our clients have experienced a change in morale and a sense of belonging. Staff is happier and more excited to be at work because of the improved morale. create, re-evaluate, and implement an effective retention strategy that reduces workload, compliance risk, and cost. They are helping companies determine how their success as an organization might triple down to the employees and believe in the power of their staff. Speaking more about their executive search consultancy Johnathaan said, "we basically get hired to find leaders of organizations, whether it's a director of HR, a director of finance, or a technology leader. Companies define their staff for them, and based on these criteria, we find the best candidates suited for those positions and cultures. We believe that people hold power to be happy. They hold power to succeed, and so we invest in the power that they have. I think employees are more powerful than employers, and that is what we need. Uh, we invest and believe in the power of our people." Impact When asked about the changes that the organization could see after adapting to the employee-centric management approach, Johnathaan said, "Our clients have experienced a change in morale and a sense of belonging. Staff is happier and more excited to be at work because of the improved morale. We deliver collaboration, integrity, and results. These are the service values that we have, and that is how we connect with our clients." 50 March 2023

The dynamics of the HR industry have been changing rapidly, and for the management, it becomes very much important to pay attention to market trends to provide the best services to clients. One trend that the management at DPC is closely monitoring is the role of Chief Diversity Officers in organizations and their effectiveness in promoting Diversity, equity, and inclusion. They are currently looking at how effective they are in their role and if those roles will be around for a long time. Culture at DPC For any company, its culture plays a pivotal role in deciding its path. Adding more about the same, Johnathaan said, "Our company has a great remote work culture. Our employees feel heard and are passionate about the work they do. This translates into our client work as we have a good understanding of what a positive workplace culture should look like." DPC's short-term goal is to continue providing its clients with top-notch services and developing new systems to help them with their DEI initiatives. In the long term, they hope to establish a research nonprofit focused on market trends and DEI research. Very recently, they won an award for being named the Top DEI Company of the Year in November, and they hope to carry this success story for a longer time in the future.

www.theceoviews.com

he cloud is no longer an outlier but an essential part of business transformation strategies. Cloud has been, and continues to be, is a strategic key to unlocking growth. Still, some organizations struggle to overcome the barriers of cloud to fully adopt it into their infrastructure. Hybrid Cloud offers a way to address these obstacles to create adaptable, efﬁcient operations. Evolving Solutions has deﬁned an approach, with Modern Operations at its foundation. This approach enables businesses of all sizes to take full advantage of the opportunities that the cloud has to offer – and evolve and thrive in any situation.Evolving Solutions CEO Jaime Gmach sat down with the CEOViews team to share details on how they help business accelerate their growth. Introduction Evolving Solutions is a technology solutions provider that helps clients modernize and automate their mission-critical applications and infrastructure to support business transformation. Their business is focused on client-centric consulting and delivery of technical solutions that enable modern operations in a hybrid cloud world.

JAIME GMACH, Chief Executive Ofﬁcer www.theceoviews.com

Since its inception, the team at Evolving Solutions has kept its March 2023 51

clients' goals at the forefront of everything they do. They deliver technology solutions that are closely aligned with clients' business objectives, providing them with the agility and innovation to succeed in an ever-changing world. This means that the company is constantly expanding and advancing to better meet client needs. Most recently, this has involved building and investing in transformative technology areas including modern networking, observability, hybrid cloud, DevOps, and automation and orchestration. Journey & Legacy Evolving Solutions has been in business for 27 years and the pace of technology change is faster than ever. The name Evolving Solutions is meaningful as it represents the company's reputation for expertise and shared values with clients and vendor partners. It also highlights the company's recognition that change is constant, especially in the technology industry. The success and growth of Evolving Solutions is attributed to the talented people it hires, develops, and supports. The company has an employee tenure above industry norms and continues to seek out top talent. In 2022, Evolving Solutions was recognized as a Star Tribune Top Workplace, ranking #6 in its category. The Top Workplaces program recognizes the most progressive companies headquartered in Minnesota based on employee opinions measuring engagement, organizational health, and satisfaction. Approach Evolving Solution’s overarching approach is driven by the theme of Modern Operations to enable a future-ready business. The organization deﬁnes Modern Operations as the processes, skills, and tools required to ensure a hybrid cloud environment is stable, available, reliable, secure, and performing as expected. It’s the capabilities IT teams have been delivering for decades, transformed to address the complexity of an environment that takes advantage of the 52 March 2023

Evolving Solutions is a technology solutions provider that helps clients in modernize and automate their mission-critical applications and infrastructure to support business transformation.

innovation cloud provide. A Modern Operations approach has four areas of focus in addition to the platforms required: Data Protection, Automation, Observability and Data Access and Connectivity. To succeed at IT transformation, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, many of the disciplines are the same, but teams need to learn to do them with code. This requires learning new skills, adopting tools and processes that may seem foreign at ﬁrst, but are well aligned with the historical mission of an operations team. Second, it’s a proactive approach to supporting the innovation of an organization. A modern operations environment is easy for developers to consume and ﬁts within their process. This reduces the last-minute changes and costly adaptations needed to support a new application – even those that get “thrown over the wall.” The result enables a future-ready business is one that can evolve and thrive in any situation, especially unexpected and impactful events. Future readiness is based on agility, resilience, standardization, and leveraging technical tools to develop capabilities that address organizations’ needs based on market and customer demand changes. www.theceoviews.com

Evolving Solutions provides strategic value to their clients by utilizing an approach that ensures technology investments fuel innovation, drive business efficiencies, and enable teams.

Hybrid-Cloud Approach Cloud is not a place. Cloud is a set of disciplines™ is more than just a tagline for Evolving Solutions; it is how their teams work. Evolving Solutions starts with the belief that Hybrid Cloud environments enable modern operations. Hybrid cloud is a combination of a private cloud (on-premises data center) and public cloud instances that allows data and applications to be shared between them. It offers the beneﬁts of leveraging existing technology assets and investments while also incorporating additional capabilities from public cloud providers or as-a-service vendors. This cloud model provides the ability to scale capacity up or down to handle business demands for the with the security, ﬂexibility, resilience, and cost-efﬁciency businesses require to survive, compete, and grow. The Future According to Gmach, the last few years have taught us that disruption is the norm, and the pace www.theceoviews.com

of change is on a continuous cycle of acceleration. Organizations need a partner with a perspective and approach that can help them evolve and thrive in any situation – especially the unexpected. Evolving Solutions provides strategic value to their clients by utilizing an approach that ensures technology investments fuel innovation, drive business efﬁciencies, and enable teams. The hybrid cloud environment provides data resilience and security, integrates automation, captures the power of artiﬁcial intelligence (AI), and focuses on ﬁnancial optimization. This is complemented by a strong set of ecosystem partners to enhance their capabilities and allow them to deliver comprehensive, cutting-edge solutions that help drive their clients' businesses forward.

www.evolvingsol.com March 2023 53

Stay connected to home with myQ® smart access solutions.

We all want the freedom to go about our day without added stresses or distractions. With help from myQ® connected devices, that’s possible. Learn more at myq.com

myQ® Powered Solutions

Smart Garage™ Door Openers give homeowners complete control of their garage, experiencing unrivaled convenience and security of their home’s largest access point.

Yale | LiftMaster Smart Locks are key-free so you never have to worry about getting locked out. Simply use your entry code or smartphone to unlock the door.

Smart Garage™ Control adds smartphone control to most existing garage door openers.

myQ® Pet Portal safely gives your furry family member the freedom and autonomy to take care of its most basic need.

Smart Garage Camera™ lets you see and hear what is happening in your garage, from anywhere in the world, using your smartphone.

myQ® Connected Garage for a safer and more personalized driving experience, seamlessly enjoy the convenience of garage control from your in-vehicle touchscreen.

Key by Amazon lets Prime members receive Amazon packages conveniently inside their garage.

© 2021 The Chamberlain Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Chamberlain, the Chamberlain Group logo, myQ and the myQ logo are registered trademarks of The Chamberlain Group, Inc. | 300 Windsor Drive, Oak Brook, IL 60523 | CORP83609

54 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

DR. WILEY K. GRAYDON President/CEO

EXECUTIVE GLOBAL TRANSPORTATION SERVICES: Managing Shipment Logistics with convenience www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 55

emand for transportation and logistics services has been instrumental in meeting global trends of market growth as they continue to provide convenient freight management process. Transportation brokers with their knowledge and expertise, formulate, manage and track-and-trace loads before moving. freight from the origin to destination. Executive Global Transportation Services is a transportation brokerage firm providing convenient shipment services to industries and individuals nationwide. For more than fifteen years, it has managed to cater to the industry needs with specialized shipment solutions, delivering freight services with consistency and efficiency. Dr. Wiley K. Graydon,President and CEO of Executive Global Transportation Services, was with the CEOViews team to share how they achieved new heights with knowledge and dedication. Story of inception Whether be it in the field of music, education, or transportation, Dr. Graydon’s vision and approach towards every endeavour has always been to exceed expectations of what is expected and to deliver those results with great enthusiasm, impeccable presentation, and unbridled customer service. Dr. Graydon started his Conservatory of Music School at the age of twelve and surpassed expectations by his innate connection with students of all ages. In 2008, he started Executive Global Transportation Services, headquartered in Casselberry, Florida with an approach to provide exceptional customer service in the Freight Brokerage Industry. With an instinct to understand every aspect of the industry from top to bottom, Dr. Graydon initially started driving for trucking companies as a company driver, visited various manufacturing companies so he could understand their challenges, day to day operations, and even learned to operate a forklift. Later, Dr. Graydon started operating his transportation brokerage firm, Executive Global Transportation Services. His first-hand experience with the truckers and shippers gave him valuable insight in understanding the business pattern and with that knowledge he proceeded to surpass customer expectations with authentic level service. Delivering service with consistency and efficiency While it is easy for an organization to build trust, keeping a long-term approach is tough. Executive Global Transportation Services continues to validate their innovative approach of servicing

Executive Global Transportation Services is a transportation brokerage firm providing convenient shipment services to industries & individuals nationwide. 56 March 2023

customers with a team of six dedicated agents per customer. Regardless of the freight season, whether freight resources are plentiful or slow, the agents groups anticipate, solve challenges, and provide customers with transportation forecasting results. With each team focused on specific customers, they are able to cater to individual customer needs and within the competitive environment, provide fast and consistently efficient solutions for each customer. Offering convenient shipping service options With over 15 years in the freight industry, Executive Global Transportation Services has managed to build a large network of carriers in US, Canada and Mexico that ship Full Truck Load (FTL) and Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) freight, providing same day expedited transport. For heavy-haul shipments, they provide specialized transportation service. Moreover, they offer transportation for both heavy and low volume freight in remote and rural areas with dedicated transport options. For a www.theceoviews.com

fast and great customer experience, the team readily assist and provide quick responses through phone or email to urgent customer requests. Idea of innovation At Executive Global, the team is not only open to new ideas, but is an incubator that continuously encourages new perspectives. They constantly strive for ways to improve their success, efficiency, and the synergy of the group, which is a win for innovation and customers alike. Speaking about how they progress with new ideas, Dr. Graydon said, “All new ideas are brought to the office community square for examination, discussion, and test implementation! The one who developed the idea can then benefit from the feedback on the most important metrics like how it improves our customer service, and if it streamlines our process in providing the said service.” Most innovative project- Over more than a decade in the industry, Executive Global has successfully generated and implemented ideas with progressive potentials. But to talk about the most innovative thought, Dr. Graydon said, “It has to be the transportation of cargo designed for utilization in Space. The thought that the cargo we transport will literally be used in vehicles that are trailblazing our civilization into the next frontier, Space Exploration, we think is the quintessential embodiment of innovation.” Driving success from first-hand experience Dr. Graydon has over 30 years’ of experience in entrepreneurship, not only in the transportation sector, but also in the music and education industry. He started out in the music industry as a concert pianist and jazz band leader. But along the way, he started providing services for professional musicians. From finding venues, artist management, tour consulting, providing consistent work, and understanding and negotiating contracts, Dr. Graydon’s experiences and managing style heralds from his first-hand accomplishments and experience in the music industry.

www.theceoviews.com

Dr. Graydon does not limit himself here, but has gone on to accomplish more. He started the Master Mentor Program to educate business owners and entrepreneurs towards the upper echelons of success. The program is Ultra-Exclusive, and is focused on training Mentees to think offensive financially, and become members of the Deca-Millionaire Community. Challenges The Transportation industry is very dynamic and changes rapidly. Instead of only forecasting the market, which can be a frustrating and disparaging task, the team in Executive Global mainly collect, brainstorm, and prepare solutions for various market challenges. Talking about how they deal with the challenges, Graydon said, “if the available freight transporters are scarce in an area where our customer needs to move freight, we use our robust carrier network to pre-emptively send available carriers to the vicinity, by pre-arranging a dedicated or one time backhaul of our customer’s ready freight.” Future Vision With his continued vison of exceeding expectations with great enthusiasm, impeccable presentation, and unbridled customer service, Dr. Graydon not only plans to expand the FTL and LTL division of Executive Global, but to also continue the company’s expansion into other vital transportation sectors such as Organ and Space Transport. Executive Global aims to be an innovator in of all of the world’s transportation needs. Executive Global Transportation Services, with a nationwide network of quality carriers offers convenient and reliable shipping options to industries and individuals. They specialize in unique shipment solutions for customized need and with a dedicated team of logistics professionals, are compiling innovative business strategies to provide the best possible service to clients.

March 2023 57

GEMINOS

Powering the next generation with Causal Artificial Intelligence New approaches to AI and machine learning have made rapid strides in the last decade. Unlike conventional machine learning algorithms, new approaches based on causal reasoning are opening wider paths to business growth. Causal AI helps to measure the impact of an intervention and allows companies to respond to situations acting as a

powerful tool for decision making. However, causal reasoning hasn’t yet been widely explored and applied to business problems. Geminos has taken a step ahead and designed The Geminos Causeway platform to address this challenge, thereby bringing the power of causality to business solution development, with a particular focus on digital transformation. Stu Frost, Founder and CEO of Geminos, was with the CEOViews team to share details about how the platform is driving transformation with causality-based AI solutions. Story of inception and mission Stu Frost, Founder and CEO of Geminos, has 30 years of experience in founding and leading successful data management and analytics startups and over the years has developed a deep knowledge of the market needs. After creating some of the leading startups in the lloT market and seeing that the world’s major industrial companies are starting to invest in digital twin and related technologies, Stu founded and took the helm of a new company, Geminos.

STUART FROST CEO

58 March 2023

With years of experience in delivering AI solutions to a number of industries, Stu witnessed a recurring pattern in that traditional AI solutions are hard to deliver and scale and suffer from bias, lack transparency and explainability. As a result, 87% of projects fail to deliver value which is simply unacceptable. Geminos’ mission is to fix this set of problems. At Geminos, the world class management team is dedicated to providing industry-leading AI solutions, to usher in a new era of industry led by artificial intelligence. www.theceoviews.com

Adding to that, Stu said, “In researching potential solutions, we came across Prof Judea Pearl’s work on causality and decided to build a platform that could enable customers to bring the power of Pearl’s causal science to solve business challenges. The great news for us is that 60% of CIOs and data science leaders are planning to make significant investments in Causal AI.” Journey Geminos has established deep roots in the industry. Speaking about how their journey has been so far, Stu said, “Some of the team members have worked with me on and off for almost thirty years, so we have a very good sense of the kind of company culture we need to create. We also have a very strong vision and a huge addressable market, with very limited competition to date. We’re also getting incredible validation from our early customers in terms of product/market fit, which is always a key for startups.” Causality based AI solutions Classic machine learning solutions look for patterns in data and try to make predictions based on those patterns. The problem is that they generally find correlations in the data and don’t have an understanding of true causal relationships. The algorithms also tend to be monolithic black-boxes that lack explainability and transparency. Geminos’

approach is different. Customers use causal models (basically cause-effect chains) to understand the business problem. These models can then be populated with data to test assumptions and create a direct specification for data scientists to build a solution. Once a solution is deployed, Geminos Causeway can monitor the performance of the business process, identify problems, reasons for occurring, and suggest potential mitigations. Geminos Causeway platform Geminos Causeway is an end-to-end AI solutions development platform, underpinned by Causal Science. The product enables customers to bring the power of causality to real-world business problems. It is not rooted solely in old-fashioned machine learning but rather a causality-based approach that can make better, more effective decisions to drive business forward and digitize even complicated processes. It uses causal models to remove complexity and increase explainability by providing a common language between data scientists and the business. What makes it different?

Classic machine learning solutions look for patterns in data and try to make predictions based on those patterns. www.theceoviews.com

By constantly reviewing new papers and open-source libraries, Geminos is incorporating new ideas into the roadmap. While most peers are focusing on more traditional approaches to AI solutions development, Geminos’ business model offers a low risk, easy-to-use product that abstracts the complexities of Causal AI. Geminos focuses on helping customers March 2023 59

build highly effective business transformation solutions that leverage the power of Casual AI. Dynamic market trends It’s a constant learning process, especially for a high growth startup. But Geminos has been fortunate to find the market fit quite quickly without having to pivot too much. Speaking about the market challenges Geminos faces while meeting demands of the users, Stu said, “We’ve had to do quite a lot of work to create an abstraction layer that makes it much easier to apply causal science to business problems, which in turn lowers the barrier to entry for our customers. We have a great advisory board and set of customers that we bounce new ideas off. At the end of the day, it’s all about establishing product/market fit and we are heavily focused on proving and growing that metric.”

Future Vision The market opportunity for these products is enormous. At present, Geminos is focused on proving product/market fit and creating tremendous value for the initial set of customers. The basic business model of Geminos is to offer the product for a low-cost monthly subscription to business analysts and data scientists that are early adopters of Causal AI and then upsell to their companies as they start to deploy solutions. As for the future vision, Geminos has an ambitious product roadmap, focused on bringing more of the value of causality to customers. In particular, one area the company is exploring the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Bard to help customers flesh out their causal models.

GEMINOS HAS AN AMBITIOUS PRODUCT ROADMAP, FOCUSED ON BRINGING MORE OF THE VALUE OF CAUSALITY TO CUSTOMERS.

60 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Innovation Vista Innovative Tech Consulting beyond efficiency Across the Consulting industry it is always a fair idea to keep the revenue engine moving, especially in an unprecedented environment where digital transformation is booming. Most consulting ﬁrms have emphasized the importance of digital change and have been formulating strategies and deriving solutions that ﬁt the complexities of IT infrastructure, improving performance, scalability and revenue. Innovation Vista, with a network of C-level IT leaders, have been providing innovative industry-relevant solutions for clients’ most strategic decision points, by combining capabilities of innovation and tech consulting. Jeff Roberts,Founder and CEO of Innovation Vista met with the CEOViews team to share details on how they help business accelerate their growth. Inception and mission After 5 tenures as CIO for midsize companies, Jeff decided to launch Innovation Vista, to bring IT leadership services on a contract basis to small and midsize companies. Over the years they have build a consulting network of over 300 successful former C-level IT leaders, choosing the best ﬁt for each client’s needs and tech vision based on technical expertise and industry experience. They further empower these expert consultants with award-winning innovation framework and a subscribed best-practices library of IT solutions to guide quick and insightful actions.

www.theceoviews.com

Approach Thinking beyond traditional IT goals, the company has developed a unique approach to technology innovation that goes beyond efﬁciency. Innovation Vista provides proven C-level IT leaders to serve clients across the full spectrum of IT capabilities as a progression in tech maturity, from being able to run systems reliably, to connecting them for efﬁciencies, and ultimately, to opening new business model capabilities via Digital Transformation. Combines innovation and technology Operating globally across all major verticals, via white-label partnershipsand direct to clients,Innovation Vista combines capabilities of Innovation ConsultingandTechnology Consulting ﬁrms. Leveraging IT anddigital capabilities, they empower clients’ IT departments togenerate revenue and become proﬁt centers. These capabilities enable some clients to transform their business models and disrupt their industries. Through technology consulting, they try to improve the performance, stability and capabilities of the organisation and help clients in applying the optimal combination of technologies to solve business problems and take advantage of business opportunities. Their innovation consulting helps to discover and develop new ideas for products, services, supply or delivery chain, at times surfacing new ideas to revamp the client’s entire business model. March 2023 61

“

Thinking beyond traditional IT goals, the company has developed a unique approach to technology innovation that goes beyond efficiency.

Standing out from peers In addition to looking for technical skills and experience relevant for clients’ goals, Innovation Vista matches them with a consultant who has experience in their sector, so they walk in the door knowing the basics of the industry and can understand how the client is seeking to differentiate themselves. Speaking more about what differentiates them, Jeff said, “Unlike most of our competitors, we don’t have a bench of a few consultants that we place like square pegs in round holes; instead we have anetworkof over 300 proven, experienced C-level leaders from whom we can choose the best ﬁt for each client’s industry, strategy, and culture in an affordable consulting relationship that leverages their expertise for real innovation.”

JEFF ROBERTS Founder and CEO

models.

Talking about the ﬁrm’s culture, Jeff said, “We have a very empowered culture, being blessed with an expert team of consultants who bring with them vast experience and skills. While we support them with the materials and subscriptions, it’s important to us to minimize the interference between those consultants and our clients. We are very selective regarding our CIO consultants, whom we are willing to put on our team. Besides having a technical background, they Innovation and culture must have an innovative mindset to think as much as Innovation Vista has a proprietary framework a business leader as a technology leader.” focused on surfacing opportunities for IT and data to have an impact on revenue. There are often valuable Bringing top-ﬂight IT leaders within reach new ideas of efﬁciencies for clients. Unlike other One of the strongest value propositions they bring to ﬁrms, Innovation Vista helps clients positioned and clients is the leverage on the experts’ time. These are interested in top-line innovation to go “beyond top-ﬂight IT leaders who’ve succeeded in the C-suite efﬁciency” to monetize their IT and data creating across their career. Clients generally don’t have the new revenue stream to accelerate existing business 62 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Thinking beyond traditional IT goals, the company has developed a unique approach to technology innovation that goes beyond efficiency.

budget to hire them full-time, but the value they deliver on those “highest leverage” decision points is more than worth their investment. Jeff feels that only the most experienced and most conﬁdent of CIO consultants understand the power of this model and are willing to take fractional roles. Future vision Speaking about their plans for expanding, Jeff said, “We continue to grow organically as more small and midsize organizations hear about our unique approach. Growth via acquisition is a future possibility, but strategically, it would need to be a good match on capabilities and approach with how we operate today.” www.theceoviews.com

Jeff believes that the true secret of effective innovation is to combine the expertise of consultants with the ideas currently locked in the heads of the client’s employees. In doing so, they avoid the most common consulting mistake of coming in as a “consultant know-it-all”. Creating an innovative vision needs ideas from both an expert consultant and the client’s staff who live and breathe the work every day. Innovation Vista helps clients to achieve optimization and efﬁciency with their innovation and technology and based on their unique approach, are worthy of inclusion in our list of “most innovative companies”. March 2023 63

Jonas Construction Software Providing automated accounting solutions to enhance operational efficiency and mitigate cost overruns. he global construction industry is experiencing new opportunities in the last few decades and has no choice but to adopt to innovation and technologies for sustaining business profits. Most construction projects experience cost overruns resulting in significant impact on the national economy growth. Businesses are realising the need of the moment and looking for integrated solutions to handle the financial pressure.

Jonas Construction Software helps to protect the profits of construction and services businesses by providing an all-in-one, integrated software solution. This integrated solution increases operational efficiency between the field and back office. Because operational and financial data immediately flow through this integrated system, clients can use the most current and accurate financial and WIP reporting to make informed decisions to mitigate risks and improve their profitability. With a mission to empower clients to know the true state of their costs for any project or service contract at any given moment, the company provides unique construction accounting software for construction and service businesses that is fully integrated with service management software and project management solutions. Neil Ashizawa, Chief Product Officer of Jonas Construction Software was with the CEOViews team to share details on how they are helping their clients make informed business decisions to improve their profitability and operational efficiency.

CEOViews: Jonas Construction Software develops integrated software that changes the way construction businesses operate through cutting-edge technology and delivering true value to customers. How did it all begin? What was your mission at the outset?

Neil Ashizawa Chief Product Ofﬁcer

“

Business is practical philosophy at work.

64 March 2023

Neil Ashizawa: It all began about 3 decades ago when Jonas Construction realized, with the proper software solution, a more effective way to perform accounting for construction businesses could be a reality and can provide tremendous power to the construction marketplace. That is when, we built a solution that improved upon “general accounting solutions” and “manual accounting practices” by automating the accounting of labor, materials, equipment and subcontracts. In doing so, we helped construction businesses gain much more efficiency and accuracy with their project accounting by automating their manual accounting practices and reducing the chances for human error.

CEOViews: Can you explicate in brief about the software solutions your firm provides?

Neil Ashizawa: Initially we launched an accounting software solution built specifically for construction businesses, but our journey led us to subsequently build solutions for service management, reporting and analytics. We also leveraged mobile and cloud technologies to enhance the power of our software for our clients, extending accounting automation to the field. In doing so, we now help field personnel using mobile

www.theceoviews.com

them with these fundamental business concerns, our solutions tend to help a majority construction subcontracting businesses.

CEOViews: How you maintain the standards of your software devices with their onsite operational efficiency while increasing the entire company’s efficiency as well. We call this “siloed” and “enterprise” operational efficiency, respectively.

CEOViews: What are the different innovative aspects of your firm? Can you give us a little briefing about them?

Neil Ashizawa: To ensure we are helping our clients and prospects in the most effective manner, we have a unique and innovative way we analyse our standing in the marketplace, the marketplace’s ever-shifting dynamics and the competitive landscape. We understand that our solutions and strategies directly affect the marketplace’s demographics, economics and politics. We also understand that the marketplace’s dynamics directly affect our solutions and strategies. So, there is a reciprocal relationship between us, our competitors and the marketplace which helps us to establish and prioritize what we bring to market, and when we bring them. And, of course, the solutions we do bring to market must have competitive marginal utilities, which is of utmost importance. CEOViews: How does Jonas Construction Software deal with the need for software solutions for different types of industries so efficiently?

Neil Ashizawa: We efficiently provide software solutions for different types of construction industries, such as the vast sub-verticals of mechanical or specialty contractors by focusing on their business concerns. Our clients, who may reside in various sub-verticals of the subcontract construction business industry, all share concerns regarding operational efficiency, effective reporting and protecting profits for their job projects, maintenance agreements and single work orders. So, as long as we continue to focus on helping

quality?

Neil Ashizawa: The standards we hold for our software’s quality is very high. What’s important to understand are the thoughts, actions and intentions of how we accomplish this. The first thing we understand is the nature of software makes zero-defects impossible to attain; but that doesn’t stop us from trying to achieve this standard. We are in constant “learning mode” every time we release a new software. We perform retrospectives to assess how we can be more effective. We also assign accountability within the team and try new actions to improve quality. Ultimately, the key is to have the right teammates all collaborating and helping each other to push our quality standards as high as possible. It’s a never-ending challenge that we gravitate towards. CEOViews: What upcoming market trends do you predict in your industry? How do you manage to stay updated to meet the dynamic market demand?

Neil Ashizawa: We stay updated on our industry trends by researching the construction market, speaking with prospects and clients, and constantly and effectively communicating with all other teammates within Jonas, i.e., Sales, Marketing, Professional Services, Account Management and Support. Today’s marketplace is too rapidly moving, technologically advanced, operationally complex and globally competitive for one team to be able to effectively anticipate market trends. It requires the entire company communicating and coordinating action with each other to effectively anticipate market trends.

CEOViews: What methods does your firm implement to progress towards the business goals?

“

The standards we hold for our software’s quality is very high. What’s important to understand are the thoughts, actions and intentions of how we accomplish this.

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 65

“

We don’t tell our staff to 'think creatively'; rather it’s a by-product of collaborating as a team with the right teammates.

Neil Ashizawa: We identify the business concerns of the marketplace, build the solutions and services, that include competitive marginal utilities, to help the market take care of those concerns and then offer the help in the form of sales and marketing. When we offer the help, we explain our solutions and their marginal utilities. When the marketplace accepts our offers of help by becoming clients, we know we are progressing towards our business goals.

CEOViews: How do you foster creative and innovative thinking? Can you disclose to us some basic things that according to you, help in the process of innovation of a company?

Neil Ashizawa: Fostering a creative and innovative team is the result of everyone working together as one team, while individually growing careers. You see, every teammate has their own knowledge and artistry that all other teammates rely upon to achieve the team’s ultimate objectives. So, everyone is an essential and valuable part of the team and is expected to think creatively and innovatively. Put another way, we don’t tell everyone to “think creatively”; rather it’s a by-product of collaborating as a team with the right teammates.

CEOViews: What type of working culture do you maintain in your firm? What does it take to build a great team?

Neil Ashizawa: To build a great team requires everyone to have the knowledge about the strategic objectives of the business, the responsibilities and the tactics we all must fulfill to attain these objectives and the desire to help each other as a collective team. What it takes to build a great team is to select the right teammates. As mentioned earlier, the marketplace is very competitive. To compete successfully requires everyone collaborating and helping each other to fulfill our business objectives. That also means the right teammates are passionate about the future, ambitious about their careers and excited for all there is to learn.

66 March 2023

CEOViews: What challenges did your company face to build software solutions for clients and their array of business concerns?

Neil Ashizawa: Building software is a never-ending series of cascading challenges. The fundamental source of most challenges is the desire to build solutions for so many of our clients and their array of business concerns, but not being able to build them all right away. So, we must be very strategic in the order in which we build our software/ services solutions and when we bring them to market. That is, for every solution we build to help our clients, the solution sets the launching point to build the next solution. This relationship makes it very important to build solutions in proper order at proper time-to-market. CEOViews: What type of future vision do you have for your firm? Neil Ashizawa: If we continue to build our software solutions to empower our clients to increase operational efficiency, make effective business decisions and protect profits, there is technological innovation we can bring to the market to help our clients even more. I won’t go into the specifics as they are part of our future vision that we cannot wait to launch.

CEOViews: What according to you are the most important habits that should be followed by peers in your industry to run their firms?

Neil Ashizawa: One of my mentors explained to me that, “business is practical philosophy at work.” I am constantly formulating new practical philosophies or augmenting existing practical philosophies to continually improve the effectiveness of my thoughts and actions. This is a habit everyone should follow.

www.theceoviews.com

Life After Hate Helping people exit a life of hate

No one is born hating another person. Peak of pain, repressed anger and frustration teach people to hate. But if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love also. There is only the need to offer a clear pathway out. That’s the goal the violence intervening community, Life After Hate has been working on. It is committed to help people disengage from violent far-right groups and hateful online spaces, to connect with humanity and lead compassionate lives. Patrick R. Riccards, President and CEO of Life After Hate, was with the CEOViews team to share how they are helping people escape violent extremism. Inspiration Life After Hate was built by individuals who had formerly been violent-right wing extremists. As they tried to get out of that life and redeem themselves, they largely had to do it alone. Twelve years ago, in 2011, a number of them came together and determined there was a need for an organization that would help those like them, exit a life of hate, so the organization was born. It has evolved from what was largely a peer support group to an organization with licensed health care professionals and social workers, along with former extremists, committed to violence intervention. Journey and legacy

PATRICK R. RICCARDS President and CEO

www.theceoviews.com

When incidents of violent extremism in the United States rose to its peak, people started understanding the need for an organization like Life After Hate. Patrick shared, “We have charted new territory from the very start

March 2023 67

because when we began, no one was doing this sort of work. We believe in redemption. If we cannot provide violent extremists the opportunity to redeem themselves, we force them deeper and deeper into lives of hate, giving them no hope for change. Now we can look at millions of individuals who are consuming our messages and public education campaigns, realising there are paths to second chances. We are looking at the individuals we are counselling and supporting each day.” Innovative Approach to Interventions At Life After Hate, innovation is driven through three commitments. First, they believe in data. Their focus remains in analysing client ﬁles to ensure the efforts are directed towards work with greatest impact. Second, they focus in transparency, knowing that they must share the data, good or bad or ugly, with the ﬁeld to improve the entire industry. And ﬁnally, they prioritize in bringing together licensed mental health professionals and social workers trained in both identifying and addressing risk. The process of intervention is complex and long term. The multidisciplinary team model that combines formers and mental health practitioners, work to identify what individuals need to leave hate and violence and set and manage goals to restore their lives.

“

Life After Hate is built on five core values: compassion, empathy, integrity, redemption, and accountability. 68 March 2023

How it works The process is divided into two stages- disengagement and deradicalization. Disengagement helps people distance themselves from the violent far-right. Deradicalization uses conversation to change a person’s thought process and way of thinking so that they no longer encourage extremist ideas. After learning the background and interests of clients, the team steer them towards activities that can drive them away from hate-based

www.theceoviews.com

communities. The range of services offered includes individualized education, support groups and job training designed to steer people away from extremist groups. Core Values Life After Hate is built on ﬁve core values: compassion, empathy, integrity, redemption, and accountability. These are values that former violent extremists must ultimately embrace and embody to leave their lives of hate behind. These values also resonate in the way the organization is run on and in employees and their way of approach to clients. Decision tree By instituting a decision tree, the team determines whether to proceed with a new idea or not. They maximize the impact of work while being responsible stewards of money. Why it matters None of us want to be judged based on our worst day or our lowest moment. But for those who have been a part of violent extremism, their worst experiences are often how society perpetually views them. Those who truly want to exit a life of hate are some of the bravest individuals out there who are choosing to give up a life, a family, a place of belonging, often the only home they know, to do better and be better, without knowing if society will accept them back. Adding more to that, Patrick said, “Our job is to help them through each step. No matter how dark the present may seem, Life After Hate helps individuals ﬁnd a path forward, seeing that change is possible, necessary, and welcomed.” Labour-intensive work brings in challenges It can be incredibly challenging to spend days and work with violent extremists. It can be mentally and emotionally exhausting. But they do that having believe in compassion and second chances. According to Patrick, because of the complexity of work, there is a need to constantly collect information that allows to improve the programming and the impact www.theceoviews.com

on work. There is also a constant need to redeﬁne what ‘going to scale’ looks like in the ﬁeld that is so dependent on one-on-one counselling and support. Looking at new ways can provide scalable engagement initiatives that can better educate the nation on this important work. Clients here come in various stages of disengagement and it can take months or years to completely disengage and reintegrate into society. By interrupting violence committed to advance political, social, religious, or ideological beliefs, Life After Hate is able to carry out the vision of moving towards a world that allows people to change and contribute to a society without violence. Future Vision Life After Hate has ambitious plans for growth in 2023 and beyond. As demonstrations of hate and intolerance continues to grow, the idea of how violent extremism operates, how it recruits, how it deploys its recruits, how it attacks those who disagrees with, is constantly changing to meet the realities of politics, technology, and civic obligations in our nation. So, in addition to continuing to focus the outreach efforts on extremists themselves, this year they will be launching speciﬁc education initiatives targeting friends and family, law enforcement, and military veterans. Through video stories, social media, and other engagement tools, they will increase awareness of violent extremism and how to effectively deal with those considering exiting such a life. Life After Hate, with a group of dedicated social workers, peer advisors have committed their heart and soul in helping individuals seeking to escape from the path of violent extremism. They listen with open minds to the journeys and experiences of others and from their own experience and rehumanization, ﬁnd a way out for redemption. Driven by compassion, they are aimed to create an environment that supports change and healing. Life not always gives a second chance, but Life After Hate does. March 2023 69

Logenix

International

Bringing Critical Supplies to Challenging Environments

he logistics industry plays a crucial role in

modern economies, facilitating the movement of goods and materials from one place to another. The industry has become increasingly important in recent years due to the growth of e-commerce and globalization, but it also faces a number of challenges, such as rising costs, supply chain disruptions, and environmental concerns. As a result, logistics companies must constantly adapt to changing market conditions and employ innovative solutions to remain competitive. Logenix International is a global logistics and supply chain management company that specializes in providing customized solutions to complex transportation and logistics challenges. With over 20 years of experience, Logenix has established a reputation for excellence in the industry, offering a broad range of services, including freight forwarding, warehousing, customs brokerage, and project logistics. The company operates in some of the most challenging and remote regions of the world, delivering mission-critical supplies and equipment to support a wide range of industries, from healthcare and disaster relief to oil and gas and government contracting. Ron Cruse, President & CEO of Logenix International, was with the CEOViews team to share the details of how they are creating an impact in the logistics industry. 70 March 2023

RON CRUSE

President & Chief Executive Officer

specializes in providing customized solutions to complex transportation and logistics challenges. www.theceoviews.com

Inception Logenix International was founded in 2001, shortly after the tragic events of 9/11. Ron, previously the founder of another company, had sold it and was enjoying retirement until the world was abruptly transformed by the terrorist attacks. With a new understanding of the importance of logistics in this new world, the company was established as a prime competitor in the industry. Drawing on their expertise and knowledge, they quickly got involved in the reconstruction and building activities in Afghanistan and Iraq. As a result, Logenix International became a key player in the rapidly evolving post-9/11 environment.

Logenix International intelligence network tracks the transport means and specific capabilities in each country to help clients navigate the difficult logistics environment. The company is the largest provider of medicines and medical supplies for public health in the developing world, which involves navigating complex clearance processes. Logenix has gained expertise in over 140 countries and has successfully operated in challenging regions across Africa, The Middle East and Asia.

Speaking more about how they operate, Ron said, "We have separate departments that handle, depending upon the type of product and the type of service that we're offering. So the intelligence gathering is basically the same for all products in terms of what's going on, such as civil strife and clearance requirements. Then within the departments, we have departments that are specifically health-related, peacekeeping security-related, and disaster-related".

Offerings

Challenges

Logenix International is a leading logistics provider for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies in the developing world. They have extensive knowledge of the strict clearance guidelines for medicines in each country and specialize in temperature control for air and ocean transport. Their Pharma Plus division handles highly sensitive products that require specialized packing, routing, and clearances. Logenix is currently customizing the newest version of its logistics tracking system, which continues to include external communication capabilities such as EDI and API, as well as integrating internal communication with clients. The state of the art Logenix technology help lead the evolving needs of the industry.

The pandemic posed a significant challenge for the company. Since the Chinese borders were closed, transport routes were shut down, and entire countries lost access to critical medicines. Logenix had to develop alternate routes, such as delivering medi-

www.theceoviews.com

Problems are an integral part of the business. The Logenix International senior staff have faced numerous challenges while operating in the developing world. While Legenix started its operations after the Soviet war, it learned about the transport infrastructure in a vast territory. After 9/11, they had to navigate the changing security regulations and operate in dangerous countries like Iraq and Afghanistan while meeting the client's requirements.

March 2023 71

cines through India to Nepal and Bhutan, further security regulations after 9/11, and during the pancomplicated by infrastructure and topography chal- demic. lenges. Labor shortages, customs shutdowns, and inflation continue to be ongoing challenges. Despite the ongoing challenges, Logenix is committed to serving its clients and continuing to gather Innovation the necessary information, hire experts, and mainTechnology plays a crucial role in the success of any tain a culture of excellence. As India grows and organization. Speaking about how they leverage major firms move their supply chains out of China, technology for their advantage at Logenix, Ron said, Logenix is well-positioned to continue its opportu"Our IT platform, the logistics tracking system, is a nistic approach and expand its services in the homegrown, customized system that connects our developing world. entire operation. It can communicate messaging to international standards our clients might need, including EDI messaging or API integration and messaging, which makes it a capable system. Internally, it contains 30 years of logistics thinking and logic. We're able to communicate around the world, and anyone looking into a shipment can see exactly what the last staff person was doing and what might need to be done. We believe it's a state-of-the-art industry program".

Conclusion Logenix International is a preeminent transit and logistics provider for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies throughout the developing world. Their expertise in temperature control, specialized packing, routing, and clearances make them the largest provider of medical supplies for public health in the developing world. They specialize in navigating the challenges of operating in the most difficult regions, even in the most difficult of times such as after the collapse of the Soviet Union, during the changing

72 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Logix BPO Global RPO & BPO Staffing Solutions Employees are the most valuable assets; they give a company a competitive edge making sure to make the business reach its full potential. So, hiring the right people for the right position is a crucial task. Businesses that want to function effectively with minimal loss of resources, partner with outsourcing companies delegating business processes to them to improve organizational efficiency. Today, the outsourcing industry has matured to a great extent and hosts an array of models catering to the needs of the industry all around the globe. Logix, a Business Process Outsourcing company cultivates strategic frameworks to build remote teams to grow business operations of clients. Anthony Godley, Founder and CEO of Logix BPO was with the CEOViews team to share details about their remote staffing solutions.

About Logix Logix was launched with a vision to create a business that rewards committed people with an excellent culture, a comprehensive benefits package that not only provide the staff members with added incentives to perform, but also extended to families and an exciting and challenging working environment. At Logix, the team provides a range of Business Process Outsourcing solutions across a wide range of Virtual Assistant disciplines. From turnkey Customer Support, Real Estate Management, Payroll and Finance Support, to Digital Marketing and Retail Assistance, the mission is to develop Virtual Assistant teams for clients to help business grow. Anthony feels this would be the basis of high performance that would bring something different to the BPO industry with high retention rate. www.theceoviews.com

Remote recruitment specialist teams The global RPO service of Logix is utilized by partners all around the globe. From recruitment, management of teams to providing insurance, holiday pay, benefits and legal compliance, the outsourcing giant acts as the Professional Employer Organisation (PEO). The operational recruitment teams operate 24 hours a day, five days a week from Monday to Friday and support any shift pattern as per global partners. However, the team operates from the state-of-the-art facilities in the Philippines, headquartered from Cebu City.

Solutions As an established Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) business, Logix builds and manages skilled remote teams across Finance, Digital, Real Estate and various other industry sectors. Apart from that, the company provides Virtual and Executive Assistants, and manage Inbound and Outbound Call Centre teams from Contact/Sales Centre. As an RPO they manage skilled remote Sourcing Special, Recruitment and HR teams.

We do operate in a competitive space. But we also operate in an industry sector known for poor labor standards. March 2023 73

Anthony Godley,

Effective employee retention increases business productivity. The staff retention rates for Logix are extremely high.

Founder and CEO

Building an affordable, talented, and committed workforce Employee performance is critical to the success of any business and to achieve the business goal requires a team of talented and committed people. Effective employee retention increases business productivity. The staff retention rates for Logix are extremely high. This not only protects the investments from partners but is also a sign of a committed workforce. The key to commitment is staff salaries, which are significantly higher than industry standards. But even at higher rates, the amounts are considerably lower in the Philippines compared to local workforces around the world. The teams do not suffer from motivational issues because they are well paid, well incentivized and are provided with a rewarding work environment.

Process of outsourcing with Logix Explicating about the process of outsourcing with Logix, Anthony said, “The process starts with a discovery call with myself or our head of sales. During this call, we understand business objectives, and 74 March 2023

start to formulate the types of staffing needs that are going to be required. Our internal talent acquisition teams then produce shortlists of well vetted and highly talented people to present to the partner. Unlike a lot of our competitors, we like our partners to select their team members rather than enforcing team members into their teams; unless they ask to take care of this for them. Once team members have been selected, we build the team, onboard them into our client’s dashboard, providing any training our clients need. We onboard the team into the Logix systems and processes, ensure objectives and KPIs are understood and integrated into processes. Set up the IT and operational infrastructure. We then launch teams into 30, 60 or 90 daily rolling campaigns.”

Reducing employment cost of clients Through their outsourcing solution, Logix ensures businesses to save more than 50% on the salary cost alone, as well as removes the additional costs associated with developing an in house-team. Even with the elevated staff salaries, typically staffing costs are www.theceoviews.com

between 55% and 70% lower compared to local hiring, and operational costs reduce between 80% and 90%.

Innovative techniques to stand apart Outsourcing is a highly competitive sector and gaining recognition in the crowded space is a tough thing. Speaking about the innovative efforts Logix puts in to stay strong against peers, Anthony said, “We do operate in a competitive space. But we also operate in an industry sector known for poor labor standards. We have competitors that are known for their churn and burn mentality to staff and we simply do not stand for it. Even during the planning stages of the business, the culture and key virtues were a significant part of the objectives. We pay our staffs much better than many of our competitors, listen and act on their feedback, provide a great cultural, working environment, incentives, and opportunities to grow. Other than being a fantastic employer, we have IT and operational infrastructure to rival any global competitor. We are constantly innovating, testing new software, trialling new processes, tracking our competitors and improving the skills of our leadership teams to ensure we stay one step ahead of our competitors. However, it is the retention of agents, in an industry known for high www.theceoviews.com

Logix ensures businesses to save more than 50% on the salary cost alone, as well as removes the additional costs associated with developing an in house-team. attrition that sets us apart.”

Upcoming Market trends Businesses across industries are adapting to the new trends and technologies. With changes in customer expectations, chatbot use is on the rise. Chatbots are helping streamline call centre team processes and are proving valuable in collecting data for agents, therefore lowering the time an agent spends on an individual call. This in turn increases the call volume rate. Chatbots can also take over certain functions and agents can deliver time on higher value tasks. Anthony anticipates it to play a crucial role in future BPO industry. Logix strives to become the trusted outsourcing partner for businesses by building remote teams that reduce staffing costs by 70%, allowing business to be more profitable and competitive.

March 2023 75

Milestone Inc. Drives Online Discovery and Customer Acquisition. FREE Wi-fi

ilestone drives online discovery and customer acquisition with our proprietary digital presence platform (MPC). The Milestone platform combines Website CMS, Schema Manager, Local listings, Reviews management, FAQ Manager, and Analytics in one easy-to-navigate space. In addition, Milestone offers Performance Marketing Services for clients with content, design, SEO, paid media marketing, and analytics needs. Over 2,000 companies across hospitality, retail, fintech, and automotive industries trust Milestone to drive online growth. Milestone is proud to be a trusted partner to large enterprises, mid-market companies, and SMBs, including Marriott, US Bank, One Nevada Credit Union, VMWare, Nissan, McDonald's, Motel6, Preferred Hotels, Sun Outdoors, and SeaWorld.

ANIL AGGARWAL CEO 76 March 2023

Annually, over 300 million visitors use websites developed on the Milestone CMS, 540 million consumers click on content powered by Milestone Schemas, and 3.7 billion consumers search for businesses powered by Milestone Local. The Milestone platform is amongst the highest-rated MarTech platforms with awards and recognition from Forrester, G2, Adrian Awards, US Search Awards, Search Engine Land, CMS Wire, and many other organizations.

www.theceoviews.com

MILESTONE INC. Bringing Visibility with SEO-First CMS, Schema, Local, and FAQ Platform Anil Aggarwal, CEO of Milestone Inc., was with the View CEO to share details on how they are addressing technology challenges. The Problem Of the major challenges most brands face is how to get online content discovered by their target audience. Better discovery of content leads to higher engagement and conversion from online channels. When customers search online for products, 80% of the time is spent in the discovery phase and only the final 20% in engagement and conversion. The challenge for content discovery comes primarily from three areas: § Most content management systems are meant for developers to create content efficiently. Often, they are not focused on how the end consumer of content is going to find the content. Further, they are not technically optimized for driving organic content discovery. § Often, content is distributed amongst multiple marketing platforms, making it difficult to drive consistent content visibility

across multiple search channels. It is also very inefficient for brands to maintain consistency and accuracy. This is a significant problem for brands with multiple content sources for different channels, such as websites or their Google Business Profiles (GBP). § One of the key issues brands face is identifying the content that is important for their consumers to make decisions. The content on the brand site is typically not adequate for what their target audience is searching for. § Mid-market brands are often not able to afford an enterprise-class content management system. Alternatively, they are unable to leverage high-quality professional service agencies to deliver the right experience to their customers due to budget constraints. And even if they do, coordination across all teams to achieve a global presence with a consistent brand identity is a tall ask. To make up for this lack of organic content visibility, brands spend significant amounts on paid advertising. While paid advertising is one of the most effective channels, it is expensive. Not surprising, according to the Nielsen Consumer Trust Index, 92 percent of consumers trust organic, user-generated content (UGC) more than they trust traditional advertising1. Milestone Solution Milestone recognized that the key reason most businesses have a website is to drive business. Website discovery is critical to driving business, and while paid advertising can be used effectively, it's critical to get visibility through organic search. Organic search leads to a higher return on investment and more effective use of paid advertising dollars. Milestone developed a suite of tools and platforms for brands to drive higher organic visibility. Milestone CMS Milestone CMS is the world’s only SEO and discovery-first content management platform. Some of the key characteristics

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 77

of the platform include: 1. Milestone hybrid: The headless architecture offers the perfect solution for the mid-market to large-sized enterprises, especially where the technical maturity of the organization is not high. 2. Search and embedded website discovery technology is natively built into the platform resulting in high indexability and crawlability of content. 3. SEO-enabled asset library 4. Full funnel analytics with customizable views for corporate and regional users. 5. AI/ML-driven insights for performance and website health. 6. Natively built best-in-class mobile experience, including progressive web apps. Milestone offers an end-to-end website development flow with enterprise-class infrastructure and security features which is a big need for mid-sized organizations with low technical maturity. The agility of the platform enables organizations to maximize their web presence with low investment in resources with ease. Milestone Schemas Milestone Schemas is an extension to the Milestone CMS platform that is used by brands to optimize discovery on websites that are on 3rd party platforms. Schema enables brands to tag all their content with structured data so that search engines can understand the content on the website. Search has evolved from focusing on keywords to understanding natural language, with users turning to mobile, tablet, and desktops. Through these massive behavior shifts; we have found that structured data markup has shaped how search engines understand website content. Milestone Schemas platform leverages entity optimization to build knowledge graphs using schemas & entity attributes. Milestones clients drive a 28% average increase in traffic from organic channels; scaling schema markup offers the fastest time to success in SEO. Also, find below some of the challenges that brands face to scale schema implementation: ¢ Tackling the complexity of entity search algorithm and architecture optimization. ¢ Keeping up with Schema.org and Google attribute revisions that lead to errors -- Search engines ignore pages with errors. ¢ Having significant website IT resources and technical know-how for the deployment phase and ongoing maintenance. ¢ Ability to demonstrate and report on impact. The failure of schema projects is often due to error-prone deployment and the lack of teams equipped to handle challenges. Successfully scaling schema projects can be done through deployment with a nested architecture that is followed

by ongoing schema management and regular error monitoring. Milestone FAQs Another module within the Milestone Content Platform enables brands to curate and manage their verified FAQs at scale. Customers seek answers from search engines, websites, and their networks. Search engines are surfacing direct answers to user queries. FAQ platform enables brands to restructure content on their websites in FAQ format and distribute the answers not only to their website but also their Google Business Profiles (GBP) and chatbots. Investing in relevant answers and FAQs drives the highest CTR and improves search visibility, ranking on SERPs, impressions, and clicks. Milestone Local Milestone recognized the importance for local businesses to reach their audience via hyperlocal content and near me searches. To improve SERP visibility and reach a local audience, Milestone Local is an ideal platform for managing your business profiles on Google, Apple, Bing, and Facebook. The Milestone Local platform enables multi-store brands to manage and update content on their profiles from a centralized platform. The platform enables advanced features such as making and scheduling posts, updating images, and responding to reviews. Milestone Analytics Milestone analytics platform provides full-funnel performance reporting. The biggest benefit is to multi-location brand as the platform offers easy-to-configure brand level reporting as well as local and regional views for each of the locations or for regional heads. Conclusion Milestone is a pioneer in content management solutions with heavy focus on search and discovery of content. Brands typically experience significant increase in revenue performance, search visibility, and leads upon using Milestone platform. Over 2000 brands and businesses use Milestone platforms to drive engagement and revenue. The platform has won numerous awards winning the best MarTech platform award in hospitality industry from the prestigious Adrian Awards and several awards for its search capabilities and the ROI driven by Search Engine Land, US search Awards, etc. To learn more about Milestone's products and services, contact [emailprotected] or visit https://www.milestoneinternet.com/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/nine-out-of-ten-consumers-trust-ugc-more-than-traditional-advertising/

78 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Minesoft: Global patent information solution provider Patents are an important economic tool to encourage innovation and growth. As technological developments are creating new waves in the global market, businesses are increasingly using patents to protect inventions and for competitive intelligence. Minesoft provides convenient information solutions including a global patent database, legal alerts services, document delivery and

custom workﬂow solutions. Ophir Daniel and Ann Chapman-Daniel, Co- Founders of Minesoft were with the CEOViews team to share details about how they are maintaining their legacy in business growth. The journey from its inception The company’s history spans over 20 years of innovation and development. Ann and her husband Ophir,

Minesoft develops a range of innovative products that can deliver different kinds of patent intelligence. ANN CHAPMAN- DANIEL Co- Founders www.theceoviews.com

OPHIR DANIEL Co- Founders March 2023 79

started Minesoft as a small family-run business with an overriding desire to remain proﬁtable. From day one they competed with larger international corporations and other smaller ﬁrms specialized in the same sector, and managed to carve out a niche expertise which helped to win clients over. Their ﬁrst own-label product in 2000, was a legal status tracking tool for patent documents. “This was a tiresome task back in the day, like looking for a needle in a haystack, but the person looking needed to be a patent specialist.” Explained Ann Chapman-Daniel, “we know we managed to save people many hours of time checking meticulously through patent registers!”

time that the company’s efforts have been noticed. In 2009 and 2015, Minesoft won the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise for outstanding achievement in rapidly growing export markets in the ﬁeld of Intellectual Property (patent) Information. Already in 2023, Minesoft has been recognised as one of the Best Legal Tech Solution Providers to Watch in 2023 by The Enterprise World and one of the World’s Best Workﬂow Solution Providers in 2023 by Worlds Leaders.Speaking of these recent wins, Ann and Ophir said, “Success comes with a deep sense of responsibility. This legacy can only be maintained by paying attention to the needs of the sector in a more concentrated way.”

In 2003 they began a close cooperation with RWS PLC, a publicly quoted UK specialist translation company, one of the biggest corporate translation companies in the world today. Together, they built up a collection of about 150 million patent documents in many different languages. Today, Minesoft has established their niche in the ﬁeld of professional patent searching and has clients all around the globe.

Idea of Innovation

Maintaining legacy CEO View has recognized Minesoft as one of the ‘Most Innovative companies to watch’, and this is not the ﬁrst 80 March 2023

Minesoft develops reliable and powerful digital solutions to access the technological and scientiﬁc information which is often only available in patent documents. The company invests a lot of time and effort in designing and developing the search tools according to feedback received from users, so they are equipped to handle the multiplicity of data and sources. Ann explained, “Giving unfettered access to this data helps to drive innovation globally and supports advancement in the scientiﬁc and technological ﬁelds, whether it’s a new pharmaceutical drug or technolowww.theceoviews.com

access to sophisticated tools and services, like PatBase, for retrieving and analyzing patent data to help drive innovation worldwide. Market trends

gy for electric vehicles… building on these ideas can change the world for the better.” Minesoft works with R&D departments in multi-national corporations unlimited corporate or departmental wide access to an express based search system (PatBase Express) as well as a fully integrate workﬂow tool called Pat-KM is required, which links legal, business and R&D professionals within a framework to simplify and manage internal IP knowledge. People and culture At Minesoft, the people and culture depend on two factors. Firstly, putting customers ﬁrst. This is exempliﬁed in the fact that Minesoft has the highest retention rates in the IP market and their product development is strictly inﬂuenced by customer feedback. Secondly, and equally important, is valuing employees. Many people at Minesoft have been with the company for extensive periods and for some, the majority of their careers. The company strives for close relationships and high levels of trust, developing an atmosphere of mutual respect. Ann and Ophir believe that it is important for businesses to have a positive role in the global community. The company has partnered with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in the ASPI programme, an initiative to give researchers in developing countries free or low-cost

www.theceoviews.com

Today, all kind of users want easy-to-query databases and the ability to seamlessly create everything from board level presentations to detailed invalidity reports. Search and analytics platforms need to allow users to quickly go from initial query to intelligent graphical output, just as easily as to create search results ready to submit to worldwide patent ofﬁces. Minesoft has constantly innovated its solutions to allow professional searchers as well as business executives to quickly gain the ability to answer business critical questions in the timeliest manner. Search platforms should be built for users, by users, irrespective of what background these user communities have. Minesoft has tried to strike the balance between development cycles, all the while listening to clients’ feedback. Future Vision In the next 10 years, the company will continue to grow further and faster after a recent recent investment from MLM 2 and Warburg Pincus. At present, Artiﬁcial Intelligence is a big buzzword in the Online Publishing Industry and Minesoft is designing new ideas in this area to further automate and streamline products. Adding more to the that, Ann and Ophir said, “Right now, we are hosting about 150 million patent (sci-tech) documents and the number is increasing every week. Such a large body of research material needs to be made accessible to companies who are working to pioneer new solutions.” Search speeds are getting exponentially faster, the computer industry and data delivery mechanisms (including the Internet) are developing themselves each day, so Minesoft is looking forward to continue this legacy with the introduction of some of the most powerful AI patent searching available in the industry.

March 2023 81

Nicholson McBride Fisher Enhancing Organizational Performance usiness psychology and development programs have become increasingly important in today's business environment, as companies realize the value of developing their employees' skills and knowledge to drive growth and success. Employees participating in learning and development programs are more engaged, motivated, and committed to their work, resulting in better job satisfaction and higher retention rates. Investing in learning and development programs that incorporate business psychology can help improve employee productivity, morale, and performance. Nicholson McBride Fisher is one such company that is helping organizations with their management development programs. Helen Fisher, CEO and Co-Founder, was with the CEOViews team to share details on how they are working towards this.

The beginning Nicholson McBride Fisher was the first of its kind in Europe. Over the last 30 years, it has provided services including people development, leadership development, and coaching, in addition to profiling for selection and assessment. The primary focus of the consultancy is to apply organizational psychology to business challenges, with an emphasis on practical rather than theoretical approaches. To achieve this, the company

82 March 2023

uses a range of tools, such as workshops, 1:1 or team coaching, 360 feedback, development centers, psychometric tools and assessments, simulations, and more. These tools help to illustrate where the organization currently stands and how it can improve its leadership abilities. Over time, the consultancy has shifted from running local in-person sessions to global virtual programs and a combination of the two. They work with both groups and individuals, depending on the specific needs of the client.

Offerings Nicholson McBride Fisher helps their clients develop innovative thinking by addressing cultural and behavioral barriers to innovation. They assist in dispelling myths surrounding innovation and provide prompts such as triggers for innovation, idea generation, unconscious problem solving, and pattern breaking to help clients become more innovative. Nicholson McBride Fisher guides their clients on how to nurture innovation in themselves and others. The company also focuses on leadership and management development, tailoring its approach to meet the specific needs of the organization. This may include helping leaders become more politically savvy or encouraging teams to use the three Es: energy, engagement and exploration, to increase the team’s effectiveness and boost performance.

www.theceoviews.com

The company focuses on leadership and management development, tailoring its approach to meet the specific needs of the organization.

Approach When enhancing a client’s innovative thinking, Nicholson McBride Fisher helps them approach challenges with a fresh perspective. Examples of techniques might include ‘reverse assumptions’ (identifying assumptions around an issue and then reversing these), ‘other worlds’ (getting clients to view issues from the perspective of a famous or fictional character), or using metaphors, stories and images to express the issue at hand. Sharing an example, Fisher said, "We worked with one team to help them use metaphors and images to think about how they work. They came up with the image of a ship lost in the fog to express how hard it was to work through a difficult project. They then used data analytics to help navigate that project and identify new sales opportunities that they hadn't seen before. Another team we worked with used reverse assumptions to shape their thinking on which part of their business they were going to focus on in the next financial year." www.theceoviews.com

Helen Fisher CEO and co-founder By challenging themselves to think differently, they identified new areas of focus that they hadn't considered before. Overall, their approach is flexible and client-driven, providing clients with tools that help them to think more creatively and challenge their assumptions. They encourage employees to take different perspectives and approach problems from new angles, often leading to innovative solutions.

Client base Nicholson McBride Fisher serves a wide range of client sectors, catering to any size and scale, but their key clients are global blue-chip corporates. The company has a significant presence in the professional services sector (including global law firms such as Allen & Overy, Clyde & Co, Latham & Watkins, or Mayer Brown, as well as Accenture) and with financial services organizations (examMarch 2023 83

ples include the Bank of England, Moody's and Morgan Stanley). Nicholson McBride Fisher operates globally, running sessions in person with clients from San Francisco to Hong Kong and everywhere in between, as well as working virtually across all different time zones. As they work with global organizations, one of the challenges they face is balancing local needs with global ones. They help clients create a common language that can be used across the entire organization, while also catering to the requirements of local teams.

Work culture At Nicholson McBride Fisher, the work culture is a combination of independent work and group contributions, building on each other's strengths and different styles of working. The company values fresh ideas and an informal working environment, and the culture revolves around constant learning and client needs. The team listens to clients to gain specific insights into their requirements, while spreading best practices across their sector. Everything they do is linked to client needs, and they encourage clients to measure the effectiveness of their initiatives within their organizations. The team reviews client satisfaction, understanding, degree of learning, and return on investment in monthly account meetings.

84 March 2023

Plans for the future Nicholson McBride Fisher's future plans revolve around helping organizations become more successful through their people (rather than just focusing on the wellbeing of the individual). To achieve this goal, the company plans to stay cutting-edge, expand its offerings, and develop new approaches that meet the evolving needs of the sectors it serves. The focus is on continuous learning – with clients and each other – while spreading best practice and remaining at the forefront of this constantly evolving industry.

Nicholson McBride Fisher helps their clients develop innovative thinking by addressing cultural and behavioral barriers to innovation.

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 85

Pioneer in Fintech Solutions

he ﬁnance industry plays a crucial role in the modern economy, providing individuals and businesses with the tools they need to manage their resources and plan for the future. In recent years the industry has seen a surge in innovation, with new technologies and business models transforming how we save, invest, and borrow money. Novae is one such company which is redeﬁning how this sector functions. Reco McDaniel McCambry, President & CEO of Novae, spoke with the CEOViews team to share his story and how and why Novae is changing the way we manage money. CEOViews: Novae is a ﬁnancial technology, consulting, and training company based in Conyers, GA. You offer consumer and business credit building, consumer and business loans, consumer ﬁnancing for businesses, and other ﬁnancial services for consumers and small businesses. How did it all begin? What is your mission? Reco: Prior to starting Novae, I was consultant in the direct sales industry and a motivational speaker. Many of the people I spoke to were excited about improving their lives and their ﬁnances, but did not have a plan or the necessary knowledge to do so. I couldn’t ﬁnd any other direct sales companies that I felt conﬁdent referring people to so that’s why and how Novae was born. Our mission is not only to inspire people to get more out of life, but also to educate them on how to go about it and then provide them with opportunities to make it happen! The company's goal is to provide people with the knowledge and tools they need to ﬁnd success in their personal life primarily and then in their business and by becoming their own bosses. Novae has expanded its services to include ﬁnancial services like online banking 86 March 2023

RECO MCDANIEL MCCAMBRY President & CEO and Buy Now, Pay Later for businesses and consumers, with a focus on serving those who have historically struggled to access those services. As a result, Novae has been identiﬁed by Inc 5000 as one of the fastest-growing businesses in America for two years in a row. CEOViews: Novae has been recognized as one of the "Most Innovative companies to watch." How has your journey been so far?

www.theceoviews.com

Reco: The journey has been amazing. It hasn't been easy− working a lot of late nights−but it's so rewarding. We've had hiccups and moments of doubt, just like any other business. But in recent years, we’ve discovered who we really are as a business and learned more about our core competencies. This has helped us take the services we offer to the next level. I'm always so excited when we roll out a new product and I know it's going to help people prosper. CEOViews: What do you provide to your customers, afﬁliates, and white-label partners when they choose to enroll with one of your programs? Novae: We just do our best to provide the resources, guidance, support and education that they need to succeed. The results are ultimately down to the effort the individual puts in, of course. But we try to make it as easy as possible for them to ﬁnd the best opportunities to improve their personal situation and expand their businesses. We have a lot of resources and knowledge that we've curated over the years to try to give people the sort of advantage you'd get from an experienced business mentor in your industry. CEOViews: How do you innovatively accelerate the revenue of businesses with business credit building, business loans, consumer ﬁnancing for businesses? Reco: We’ve developed an optimized method for building business credit so new businesses and consumers can access credit lines and loans as well as grants, to help them grow and scale their businesses. We also offer consumer ﬁnancing, particularly for industries where the customer can beneﬁt ﬁnancially from the investment in the long run to combat historical inequalities and break the cycle of ﬁnancial insecurity. Novae has a network of knowledgeable and successful people and offers a variety of opportunities for businesses and consumers through independent sales professionals and experts. CEOViews: How do you handle consumers from all these different sectors so innovatively? Reco: One word – Fintech. We use the power of APIs and other proprietary software to build the best possible resources and then automate them as much as possible. This makes it easy for new afﬁliates to use on their own schedules at their own pace. In this way we're able to juggle all of these synergistic products which can build on and beneﬁt from each other with a relatively small administrative team. CEOViews: What innovative entrepreneurship opportunities does Novae offer? Reco: Novae offers an Afﬁliate Program, Co-Brand Program, and White Label Partner Program which are open to anyone from young adults to retirees. We offer specialized knowledge and research on how to run a proﬁtable business www.theceoviews.com

The company's goal is to provide people with the knowledge and tools they need to find success in their personal life primarily and then in their business and by becoming their own bosses. in a speciﬁc niche and target market, and provide their afﬁliates with the necessary tech and marketing help to start promoting their Novae business immediately after joining the program. In addition, recently we have rolled out with a Co-Brand Program that allows any business owner who wants to leverage Novae’s products and services but keep their brand front and center can do so. The company can leverage our credibility and instantly increase their income potential. The goal is to make it as simple as possible for our partner programs to start earning money quickly and build conﬁdence and cash ﬂow. CEOViews: Can you tell us about Novae Online Banking's services? What innovative features does it offer its users? Reco: Novae Online Banking is a new service that allows anyone to create an FDIC-insured bank account completely online. We’ve partnered with retailers in underserved neighborhoods to allow customers to deposit cash into their online bank accounts at local stores, making it easier for people in these areas to access banking services. This is particularly important for people who may be unbanked or underbanked, as they may not have access to physical bank branches or may not be able to take time off work to visit them. This service is aimed at helping people in these March 2023 87

Reco: Novae University is a business and financial education program that aims to provide a comprehensive education, including traditional business knowledge and "soft" skills like social skills, public speaking, and networking.

neighborhoods to access ﬁnancial education and business opportunities, allowing them to invest in their own ﬁnancial futures and build wealth. CEOViews: Novae also provides innovative programs to small businesses. Can you tell us more about those? Reco: Novae is developing a grant search engine that allows small business owners to search a large database of grants being offered by governments, and state and private think tanks to stimulate small businesses. The grant search engine is designed to make it easier for small business owners to identify and apply for grants they may be eligible for. We are also planning to roll out an AI-driven credit-building solution that automates the process of building credit and automatically disputes errors on credit reports. We are also excited about the potential impact of other new products, such as the Buy Now, Pay Later program and Novae Online Banking, which can help small business owners and those who may not have had a bank account before. Our goal is to make these resources as accessible and easy to use as possible. CEOViews: Can you tell us more Novae University's approach to connecting with and changing the lives of people across the country? Reco: Novae University is a business and ﬁnancial education program that aims to provide a comprehensive education, including traditional business knowledge and "soft" skills like social skills, public speaking, and networking. It’s designed to be accessible to people who may not have time to attend a traditional university and may be working multiple jobs. The program is not academically accredited, but it is based on the experiences of real-life business owners and focuses on the skills and knowledge needed to succeed as a business owner. The goal is to provide a real-world 88 March 2023

education that is efﬁcient and accessible for people. CEOViews: What type of innovative technologies has your ﬁrm implemented so far to allow you to carry out your work processes smoothly? Reco: Novae uses proprietary algorithms to offer various services to its customers and afﬁliates, such as "instant decision applications" for loans, which allow members to see whether they've been pre-approved or declined within seconds of applying through one application that submits to multiple lenders through the website. We have software that tracks sales for afﬁliates and their sales teams, allowing them to see what's working and what's not. Our goal is to automate as much as possible and make it as quick and easy as possible for business owners to use best practices and access the data they need to grow their businesses. The emphasis is on making small improvements that add up to make a big difference. CEOViews: What upcoming market trends do you predict in your industry? Reco: The growth of ﬁnancial technology will continue to make it easier for people to move money and make optimal ﬁnancial decisions. The ability to conduct business virtually and remotely will open up new opportunities for small business owners and self-employment. Companies that can ﬁnd ways to provide tools to small business owners will be the key players in the digital economy. Lastly the biggest game changer is coupling our business model of multi-level, word of mouth marketing with ﬁnancial technology. Because almost everyone in the US has a phone, now all the services that are available in major cities are readily available in rural areas around the country, all due to ﬁntech! Fintech is the future! Novae is the future! www.theceoviews.com

Easy-To-Use | All-In-One | Safety Focused

Field Safe resolves the field worker data gap by connecting workers to head office in real-time. Instant access to data helps CEOs and their organizations improve worker safety while uncovering additional business efficiencies and cost savings.

Lone Worker Monitoring – With Field Safe, your workers are never truly alone. Know where your people are; understand what they are working on; keep them safe and connected. Geofencing – Operate by priority. GPS identifiers enable the real-time sharing of asset status and performance along with team member location and certifications, so you can costeffectively take corrective action as a need arises. Real-Time Documentation – Easy data capture from any mobile device drives user adoption, faster completion of forms, and results in more accurate data being collected. N

Journey Management – Assess and track your workers’ journeys to identify the level of risk, mitigate potential in-transit threats, and quickly respond to incidents. Safety Ticket Management – Manage and understand the status of your workers’ certifications and training. Set up reminders to ensure their expertise is current.

Field Safe has a number of solutions designed to keep workers connected and safe, while optimizing your operations and lowering costs. Learn

more by visiting our website or call us at 1-800-497-7614.

www.theceoviews.com

www.fieldsafesolutions.com

March 2023 89

Top 50 Innovative companies to watch 2023

A company’s ability to innovate is tied to its performance. Companies that see innovation as a top priority tend to grow more. They encourage all employees, partners, and suppliers to take an active role in innovation. These organizations have welcomed new ideas and new approaches. They have looked to the future to anticipate the customer’s future needs and also redeﬁne the rules of the game and challenge complacent competitors. These ﬁrms empower their customers with information and more control over the purchasing process and embrace new technology, and creative approaches to strengthen their competitive advantage. They have allocated resources to ﬁnd, develop, and implement new ideas rewarding innovative efforts to attain their ultimate goals. Thus, the current edition of The CEO Views brings to you “Top 50 Innovative companies to watch 2023”. The list highlights the tremendous Companies that focus on innovation to ensure the company’s innovation system is sufﬁciently nimble to identify and seize the best opportunities quickly and decisively. These ﬁrms proved that innovation is possible in any organization, providing management support, and empowering and enabling teams who can cultivate ideas that spring from a culture that encourages innovation leading to the company’s growth while inspiring several other peers. 90 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Company

Management

Description

Axel Kloth, President & CEO

Abacus Semiconductor Corporation (ASC) is a fabless semiconductor company addressing the more-than-order of magnitude gap between the theoretical peak performance of supercomputers and the real-life performance that users of today’s supercomputers experience.

Raechelle McLean, MD

Accelerer’s foundational premise is based on expediting business outcomes by working with its clients to plot a practicalpathway to tangible outcomes and measurable returns.

Andre Brown, CEO

Advanced Commerce brings GrapheneHC to retailers, a revolutionary new merchandising platform designed to provide retailers with all the tools they need to merchandise their online stores effectively.

Adam Gueran, President & COO

Advantech Supply Chain Solutions is a boutique food-grade warehousing and transportation logistics service company based out of Toronto, Canada.

Africure Pharmaceuticals africurepharma.com Mauritius

Sinhue B Noronha, CEO

Africure is a Pharmaceutical Company that is committed to improving African health by creating a series of Manufacturing Assets and developing Technical Capabilities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Airspan airspan.com Boca Raton, FL

Eric D. Stonestrom Chairman & CEO

Airspan is a U.S.-based provider of ground-breaking, disruptive software and hardware for 5G networks, and a pioneer in endto-end Open RAN solutions that are interoperable with other vendors.

Jaime Celorio, CEO & Founder

AMBHAR Global Spirits is a beverage manufacturing company that is reinventing the perception of tequila by creating perfection.

Ascend Digital Solutions Limited ascenddigitalsol.com Ghana

Harkirit Singh, CEO

Ascend Digital Solutions is a trusted partner to public institutions across Africa in enabling the real potential of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Avantor, Inc. avantorsciences.com Radnor, PA

Michael Stubblefield, President & CEO

Avantor, Inc is a Fortune 500 company and is a leading global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries.

Canon Business Process Services cbps.canon.com New York, NY

Joseph Marciano, President & CEO

Canon Business Process is an Outsourcing and Offshoring Consulting Service that helps clients enable business agility, and digital transformation and lead an increasingly evolving workforce.

Abacus Semiconductor abacus-semi.com Pacifica, CA Accelerer accelerer.com.au Docklands, Victoria Advanced Commerce advancedcommerce.io Mayfair, London Advantech Supply Chain Solutions Advantech SupplyChain.com Toronto, ON

AMBHAR Global Spirits ambhar.com The Woodlands, TX

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 91

Company

Management

Description

Cavision Software cavisson.com Santa Clara, CA

Anil Kumar, Founder & Chairman

Cavisson Systems Inc., having its headquarter in Santa Clara, CA (USA), is a leading provider of performance intelligence platform that ensures exceptional customer experience and business efficacy of mission-critical applications.

CobbleStone Software cobblestonesystems. com Princeton, NJ

Mark Nastasi, Founder

CobbleStone Software is a best-of-breed, global provider of enterprise contract lifecycle management (CLM) and eProcurement software.

Ranjeet Banerjee, CEO

Cold Chain Technologies (CCT) is a leading global provider of reusable and single-use thermal packaging solutions for the shipment of temperature-sensitive material, principally serving the life sciences supply chain leveraging unrivalled engineering expertise in every stage.

Guy Mincey, Founder & CEO

COCOREONYX is an IT services and IT consulting firm that was created to deliver the value, quality and integrity our client demands.

David Capece, CEO

CROOW is a creative project management software built to enable clients, agencies and in-house marketing teams to streamline processes, get approvals moving, centralize access to files and assets, and improve communication.

District Partnerships & Consulting districtpartnerships. com Alexandria, Virginia

Johnathaan Pannell, President & CEO

District Partnerships and Consulting (DPC) is one of the leading global HR and DEI consulting firms with a team of experts, conveners and thought leaders who align business and people strategies to create a thriving workplace for employers and employees.

Evolving Solutions, Inc evolvingsol.com Hamel, MN

Jaime Gmach, CEO

Evolving Solutions is a technology solutions provider that helps clients modernize and automate their mission-critical applications and infrastructure to support business transformation.

Executive Global egtsinc.com Casselberry, FL

Dr. Wiley K. Graydon, IV, President & CEO

Executive Global is a transportation Brokerage, arranging to ship to a variety of customers nationwide. They have been operating since 2008, and are headquartered in Casselberry, Florida.

Stuart Frost, CEO

Geminos Software is an industry-leading AI solutions provider whose business model offers easy-to-use product abstracting complexities of Causal AI with a focus to help customers build highly effective business transformation solutions leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence.

Jeff Roberts, Founder & CEO

Innovation Vista is an IT consultancy providing tech strategy & leadership services to small and midsize organizations on a contract basis.

Cold Chain Technologies coldchaintech.com Franklin, MA COREONYX coreonyx.com Herndon, VA CROOW croow.com Tampa, FL

Geminos Software geminos.ai Irvine, CA Innovation Vista innovationvista.com Houston, TX

92 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Company Jonas Construction Software Inc. jonasconstruction.com Markham, Ontario Jones Sign Company jonessign.com De Pere, WI Life After Hate lifeafterhate.org Chicago, IL Logenix International logenix.com Fairfax, VA

Management Barry Symons, CEO

Jonas Construction Software develops integrated software that changes the way construction businesses operate through cutting-edge technology and delivering true value to our customers.

John Mortensen, President

Jones Sign Company is an international sign company with over 500 employees dedicated to helping its clients get the best and most visible signage for their needs.

Patrick R. Riccards, President & CEO

Life After Hate is a leader in the violence intervention community. They are the first organization in the U.S. that counters violence by intervening at the source: Helping individuals exit hate groups and online hate spaces.

Ron Cruse, President & CEO

Logenix is a transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage provider that performs successfully on time and on budget, to and through the world's most challenging regions, more often than any other logistics company in the world.

Anthony Godley, Founder & CEO

Logix BPO is a Remote Staffing Company working with partners around the world to build and help manage their global remote teams.

Anil Aggarwal, CEO

Milestone is an advertising services company that helps businesses create, organize, and amplify their digital information. By enhancing their digital presence, they make information more accurate, consistent, and visible and help the clients be everywhere their customers are.

Ophir Daniel, CoFounder

Minesoft has fast become an established leader in the field of Patent Information, working with industrial corporations, patent attorney firms and patent authorities around the world.

Helen Fisher, CEO & Co-Founder

Nicholson McBride Fisher is a global business psychology consultancy that helps people fulfil their potential to enhance the organisations performance by gathering feedback against success criteria, on current performance and future potential from a full range of individual’s stakeholders, colleagues, clients, team, line manager, peers and suppliers.

Reco McDaniel McCambry, President & CEO

Novae, is a financial technology, consulting, and training company based in Conyers, GA offering consumer financing, business funding, and credit building.

Joseph Perle, CEO

PFounded in 1976, Perle Systems designs and manufactures highly reliable device networking, media conversion, and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity hardware.

Logix BPO logixbpo.com Maroochydore, Australia Milestone Inc. milestoneinternet.com San Jose, CA Minesoft minesoft.com London Nicholson McBride Fisher nicholsonmcbridefisher.com Gracechurch St., London

Novae novaemoney.com Conyers, GA Perle Systems Inc perle.com Princeton, NJ

www.theceoviews.com

Description

March 2023 93

Company Postbiotica postbiotica.com Milan, Italy POWER 4 ALL power4all.org Pasig City, Philippines Proxymity proxymity.io Liverpool St., UK Quality Online Education Group qoeg.ca Markham, ON QZ Asset Management qzinvest.com Guangzhou, China Safefood 360° safefood360.com Dublin, Ireland Selfly Store selflystore.com Helsinki, Finland Sensobright Industries sensobright.com Beaverton, Oregon SequoiaAT sequoiaat.com Santa Clara, CA SkillGigs skillgigs.com Houston, TX

94 March 2023

Management

Description

Gianpietro Florenzano, CEO

Postbiotica is an innovative microbiota biotechnological company proprietary to a new technology platform called PBtech®.

Angelo Valenton, Founder & CEO

POWER 4 ALL provides much needed access to simple yet cutting edge solutions to CLEAN POWER and CLEAN WATER through the design, engineering, supply and distribution, construction, installation and commissioning of inventive and field-tested technologies.

Jonathan Smalley, COO & CoFounder

Proxymityis the leading digital investor communications platform that connects issuers, intermediaries and investors in real time.

Xuye Edward Wu, CEO

Quality online education group Inc. is a leading E-Learning company that provides comprehensive online lessons to students in different parts of the world.

Blake Yeung, CEO

QZ Asset Management is one of the world’s leading asset managers firms, that provides investment services across a broad range of traditional and alternative asset classes for all types of clients, including individuals, third-party intermediaries, and institutional investors.

David Richardson, Business Director

Safefood 360° provides food safety management software for industry-leading food businesses everywhere in theworld.

Aslak de Silva, CEO

Selfly Store by Stora Enso is a powerful end-to-end solution for unmanned retail. It combines the traditional retail experience with the latest developments in IoT to create a completely new way of serving customers.

Dr. Utku Buyuksahin, President & CTO

Sensobright Industries LLC. is a technology-oriented small business company that owns over 100 International patents in the tactile sensor field with an innovative concept.

Aju Kuriakose, CEO

Sequoia Applied Systems is a software development company with products that work not just and work perfectly – responsively, reliably, rapidly and with integration. The solutions we build, help our customers drive their businesses.

Kashif Aftab, Founder & CEO

SkillGigs, Inc. is an eCommerce talent marketplace that pairs skilled healthcare and technology job seekers with AI-matched work opportunities.

www.theceoviews.com

Company Skyline Robotics skylinerobotics.com Tel Aviv, Israel Smart Connections Consulting smartconnections.io Bill Pugh, Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Management Michael Brown, CEO & Chairman

Skyline Robotics is the world's first at-heights industrial automation company that enables the automation of multiple service sectors.

Bill Pugh, CoFounder & Managing Partner

Smart Connections Consulting is a strategy and technology consulting firm with years of experience in broad areas of technology and solution innovation.

Josh Halgrimson, President & CEO

Supply Chain Solutions is a supply chain sourcing, management, and consulting company specializing in technology-enabled business processes.

Jason Cooper, CEO & Co-Founder

As an independent verification partner for DOOH campaigns, thorndyke delivers better campaign measurement and centralized campaign reporting for advertisers and media owners. With years of experience in building ad technology and verification products, thorndyke allows plays and impressions to be reported on independently, at the right time and screen providing evidence-based metrics for better buying decisions.

Clemens Pfeiffer, CEO

Tier44 Technologies is a Premier ServiceNow Technology Partner and leading developer of Data Center Management software for large enterprises, government agencies, and managed service providers.

Robert W House, CEO

Triton brings comprehensive voice, data, MPLS networking, communication, and cloud solutions to companies with a single location or organizations with a larger distributed footprint.

Hugo Braam, CEO & Co-Founder

Virtuagym is a leading tech company providing innovative fitness software for gyms, personal trainers, and corporate health services.

Jordan Levitt, President & CEO

Wave HDC is healthcare's data curator for providers, billers, and auditors. Wave’s data curation identifies, sanitizes, and verifies patient data for accuracy across multiple platforms.

Ken Lu, Chairman

Winmate Inc is a Computer Hardware Manufacturing Company that has been the global leader in developing advanced rugged mobile technologies for industries operating in some of the most challenging environments.

Win Weber, Chairman & CEO

Winston Weber & Associates (WWA) was founded in 1985 with the goal of having a global perspective and providing leadership thinking with practical, implementable solutions.

Supply Chain Solutions

supplychain solutionscorp.com Minneapolis, MN

Thorndyke thorndyke.ai Sydney, Australia

Tier44 Technologies tier44.com Santa Clara, CA Triton Networks tritonnet.com Dallas, TX Virtuagym virtuagym.com Amsterdam, NH Wave HDC wavehdc.com Tampa, FL Winmate Inc. winmate.com.tw New Taipei City, Taiwan Winston Weber & Associates winstonweber.com Tampa

www.theceoviews.com

Description

March 2023 95

Perle Systems Innovative Network Connectivity for the Modern World

JOSEPH PERLE CEO Edge connectivity is a vital part of the global technology landscape. This industry is responsible for providing the hardware and infrastructure necessary for creating and managing local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) that are essential for connecting devices and enabling communication in various contexts, from small businesses to large enterprises. With the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the increasing reliance on cloud-based services, efﬁcient and secure networking solutions are more critical than ever. According to recent market research reports, the Ethernet and Device Networking Hardware industry is experiencing steady growth, with a CAGR of around 7% projected through 2026. This growth is driven by factors such as the increasing adoption of wireless networking solutions, the growing demand for

96 March 2023

cloud-based services, and the rise of virtualization technologies. However, the industry also faces several signiﬁcant challenges, such as the need to keep pace with constantly evolving technological advancements, cybersecurity concerns, and the rising costs of raw materials and production. Additionally, as the demand for more efﬁcient and sustainable networking solutions continues to increase, companies in this industry will need to balance innovation with environmental responsibility. Perle Systems addresses these issues with its wide range of products. Joseph (Joe) Perle, CEO of Perle Systems, shared their entrepreneurial journey with the CEOViews team. The inception of the organization The company started off by providing customized data communication solutions for large enterprises. With a focus on developing products for

www.theceoviews.com

mission-critical applications, Perle Systems soon gained widespread knowledge and expertise in this area. In time, the company was able to develop standards-based device connectivity products that expanded its market presence. Today, Perle Systems is a company that offers a range of data communication and networking products for different markets. Despite the competition in this ﬁeld, the company remains committed to differentiation. By focusing on developing innovative products that help customers stay ahead of the technology curve, Perle Systems is able to provide ongoing value to its customers. Evolution of the company Perle Systems has come a long way since its inception, developing its own products and expanding its market presence. As Joe explains, the company's focus has remained on developing high-end products for mission-critical applications such as connections between companies' head ofﬁces and their remote branches. What sets Perle Systems apart from its competitors is its focus on reliability and security. By implementing the latest industry, regulatory, and cybersecurity standards, the company’s products are usable worldwide. With a strong focus on the high-end market, Perle Systems continues to differentiate itself by providing innovative solutions for the most demanding customers such as data centers, telecommunications providers, ﬁnancial institutions, and utilities. Product offerings Perle Systems offer a range of products like cellular routers, ﬁber media converters, out-of-band management console servers, and industrial switches.

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 97

With the massive shift towards remote work, there has been a signiﬁcant increase in the demand for Perle products. As more and more people have had to work from home, there has been a corresponding need for secure, reliable remote access to central IT resources. Joe notes that the company's products have been well-positioned to meet this need. When it comes to network infrastructure products, Perle Systems stands out from the competition. Perle's philosophy is to make complete products that include all the features that are possible within practicality. By including as many features as possible in their products, Perle ensures that their customers can have conﬁdence that the products will still operate if they decide to upgrade their network in the future. In addition, Perle releases as many variants as possible within a product family, which makes it easy for customers to buy the models they need for their network upgrade from one manufacturer. This approach makes it easy for customers to learn and manage their network infrastructure and sets Perle apart from the competition. Organization culture The company takes pride in its meticulous approach when it comes to product releases. They do not take shortcuts and ensure that all issues are addressed before a release. Reliability is one of their strengths, and they continue to uphold this as they expand their

98 March 2023

product line. At Perle Systems, the customer is at the heart of everything the company does. From the engineering and development of products to the level of customer service, the team strives to ensure that its customers are completely satisﬁed. With decades of experience in making console servers, the company has a culture of innovation that allows its engineers to freely explore and develop new ideas that will help its customers. As Perle Systems continues to grow, the company is planning to expand its product offerings, all while maintaining its focus on providing networking remote access solutions. With a lifetime warranty on its console servers, Perle Systems stands behind its products, and the team is dedicated to delivering reliable, secure, and cutting-edge products to its customers. The company's commitment to customer satisfaction and innovation has made Perle Systems a unique player in today's technology world.

Perle's philosophy is to make complete products that include all the features that are possible within practicality.

www.theceoviews.com

® An innovative biotech ensuring physiological well being

Postbiotica® is an innovative biotech providing to patients safe and natural products that offer effective physiological interaction between microbiota and host, ensuring a natural well being. Gianpietro Florenzano, CEO of Postbiotica® was with us to share details of their company. Vision of the organisation Postbiotica® was founded in 2016 by two researchers, Prof. Maria Rescigno (outstanding microbiota research expert, Full Professor of General Pathology and Vice Rector Responsible for Research at the Humanitas University and President of the Board of Postbiotica®) and Giuseppe Penna (Senior Scientist at Humanitas University and R&D member of Postbiotica®). They worked hard for years to understand in depth the positive effects of microbiota on health and identiﬁed postbiotics as the protagonists of the interaction of microbiota on human and animal health, positively interacting with immune system. Maria Rescigno was the ﬁrst, in a publication in 2012, to use the term 'postbiotic' to deﬁne the metabolites produced by bacteria and able to interact positively with the immune system of the host. Today Postbiotica® is able to replicate the process of production of postbiotics by bacterial strains selected for certain characteristics in a natural reproducible process. It also puriﬁes the postbiotics, separating them from the bacteria, and from their fragments, from which they are originated. Postbiotica® makes available the active metabolites useful for the body, eliminating the latency times due to the release of these metabolites in the body by probiotics, and potential risks of inserting live bacteria into the body. Process of PBTech® technology used by the company

GIANPIETRO FLORENZANO, CEO Postbiotics, the evolution of probiotics as a result of years of scientiﬁc research, increasingly attracting worldwide the attention of scientists and clinicians, becoming the key ingredient in human and animal health products and improving health conditions through a natural pathway. Postbiotic products are following a steep growth in the market and experiencing a dynamic change in consumption practise. Biotech companies are thus reimagining their production process with respect to product innovation and in-depth research. www.theceoviews.com

PBTech® is a proprietary process developed by Postbiotica® over the years in a tenacious way. It ﬁrst selects the appropriate bacterial strains of the microbiota to perform a speciﬁc function. Subsequently, through innovative fermentations, under strictly controlled conditions, bacteria are induced to produce postbiotics in way they would in human or animal body under physiological conditions. Then it proceeds to the puriﬁcation of postbiotics from bacteria. Use of innovative techniques to spread awareness about microbiota Today many people are aware that their well-being depends on the state of health of their microbiota.

March 2023 99

And, surprisingly, not only the well-being of the intestine, but also that of numerous vital organs of the body, including that of the brain (the gut-brain axis is now a scientiﬁcally established certainty). Gianpietro Florenzano said, “Postbiotica® provides further knowledge on microbiota through both conventional communication channels and digital and social platforms, by introducing recent acquisitions on identifying postbiotics as the real protagonists of the interaction between the microbiota and the organism that hosts it. This new frontier of science opens new perspectives of well-being making people aware of the scientiﬁc rigour of discoveries.” Innovative PostbiotiX® series Postbiotica® has recently reached the goal of bringing to the market its ﬁrst ﬁnished products, the PostbiotiX® series. PostbiotiX® series- The products of the PostbiotiX® series, including PostbiotiX Immuno®, Postbiotix Restore®, Postbiotix Motility®, Postbiotix Slowing® and Postbiotix Comfort®, are safe to use and are formulated in a unique way that allow immediate effectiveness and direct action on the immune system. Each of them includes postbiotics alone or in addition to other speciﬁc and useful ingredients. Just to give an example, PostbiotiX Immuno®, in addition to the postbiotics, contains vitamin C that helps the immune system to function better, and vitamin B6 that helps reduce fatigue. The others Postbiotix® products provide help to speciﬁc frequent conditions in case of intestinal distress. The products of the PostbiotiX® line represent the natural evolution of probiotics, exceeding the limits of conservation, considerable individual variability and latency of clinical response, safety, application limitation and associability with other useful ingredients. They are gluten free, lactose free and bacteria free. Application- Postbiotics do not contain live bacteria, attenuated bacteria or fungi, and can be easily stored for many months at room temperature. They can be administered in parts of the body where a harmless probiotic could hardly be applied (such as the eye, or mucous membranes in acute inﬂammation, or in newborns), and can be associated in combination with virtually any other ingredient without known negative interference. Maintaining dynamic market demands The Postbiotica® technology (PBTech®) produces different postbiotics from different bacterial strains, and postbiotics functionally different from the same bacterial strain by modulating the conditions of the production process. It is capable of producing wide range of new postbiotics following new scientiﬁc evidence on the activity of microbiota bacteria. But, going even further with imagination, it is able to routinely make in-depth analysis of each microbiota to produce general postbiotics for everyone as well as individual personalised postbiotics for speciﬁc needs of patients around the world. Last but not the least it allows to obtain a completely natural product therefore meeting the modern 100 March 2023

concept of sustainability, representing a priority global challenge for all citizens of the world. Challenges The most important challenge is to solve people’s health problems naturally without causing any harm. Postbiotics represent a new category with which health professionals and people will have to become familiar, overcoming the habit that until now has led them to use traditional products. Then only people can succeed in adopting a new natural standard of health, in a physiological way, recovering well-being, and preventing numerous pathological states that worsen the quality of life. In the words of Gianpietro Florenzano, “We want to differentiate ourselves from traditional products, and for now I think we are succeeding, even though we know the road will be long. Of course, it’s not all that simple. Our PBTech® process is very sophisticated and therefore we have the constant challenge of keeping costs under control to be able to offer our innovative products at an affordable price to the public.” Upcoming market trends In healthcare sector, it will increasingly move towards the super personalization of therapies, whether in the ﬁeld of rare diseases, oncology or in any other area of health. In the ﬁeld of microbiota science, as scientiﬁc insights become wider and more robust, applications that are unthinkable today will multiply, such as in oncology, neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system, and so on. Everything that will be made available to doctors and patients will be increasingly supported by accurate and valuable scientiﬁc evidence. Gianpietro Florenzano also shared, “I like to imagine that the road to innovation stems, as it did for Postbiotica®, from a long and robust path of scientiﬁc research dedicated to the interpretation of people’s unmet needs.” Postbiotica® paves the way for research by combining sustainability and natural products that not just strives for a healthy living but for a total physiological well being.

“

Postbiotica is an innovative microbiota biotechnological company providing to patients safe and natural products that offer effective physiological interaction between microbiota and host, ensuring a complete physiological well being.

www.theceoviews.com

Building a better tomorrow for all A billion people in the world still lack the basic access to electricity and clean water, the essentials for improved living conditions. These are among the key drivers to poverty eradication, leading to economic growth. Renewable energy has emerged as a powerful tool to strengthen the reliability and expand the reach of electric grids to improve energy access and technology on the other hand, is opening new ways to bring in creative solutions to fill various gaps. POWER 4 ALL provides access to simple yet cutting edge solutions to clean power and clean water through field-tested innovations. Angelo Valenton, Founder and CEO of POWER 4 ALL was with the CEOViews team to share details about how their

Building Blox are rapid deploy systems that can address the most basic human needs

www.theceoviews.com

innovative technologies are helping in sustainable community development.

How it all started? It was in 2013 when Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful typhoons ever recorded, lashed through the Philippines with over 230 kph winds and leaving more than 6,000 people dead, 2,000 missing and over USD 3 billion in damages. Angelo and his team became involved among the massive and desperate humanitarian efforts through logistics support and supply of emergency power and other reliefs. During aftermath assessments they realized how crucial access to basic human services was for recovery, build and resilience and

Angelo Valenton, Founder and CEO March 2023 101

endeavoured since to develop and provide technologies that support existential needs particularly for the most vulnerable sectors of society through POWER 4 ALL.

Journey Every journey is both exciting and uncertain and not without the many bumps along the way. For POWER 4 ALL, there have been a string of failures and frustrations into getting the right value propositions off paper and on the ground and to convince relevant players to accept the ideas. Angelo shared, “At some point, though, when you push hard enough and long enough you break through. At present, several of our technologies and solutions have been used for various purposes including community development, poverty alleviation, business continuity, across a number of countries.”

some of the most creative and advanced technologies in renewable energy as well as in water and waste water treatment. The company now has been putting in a lot of R&D into water recycling and reuse as a sustainable solution to water resource management. A recent potable water reuse facility, one of only a few in the world, designed and commissioned by them, treats effluent from a sewage treatment plant to produce safe drinking water. The vision is to make this approach to water supply management become more and more relevant for household, commercial and industrial settings. Power 4

They have enrolled some

Clean Power and Clean Water for all

of the most creative and

At POWER 4 ALL, the team is engaged in the social business of designing, engineering, supply and distribution, construction, installation and commissioning of inventive and field-tested solutions for Clean Power and Clean Water. They have enrolled

advanced technologies in renewable energy as well as in water and waste water treatment.

102 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

All has recently launched a range of off-grid service delivery modules called Building Blox®.

Building Blox® These are rapid deploy, self-powered plug-and-play modular systems that can address the most basic human needs from power, water access, healthcare, food security and education. Angelo Valenton with a proto-type of Building Blox® WXS (for water access). A self powered system that turns seawater into safe drinking water.

Evolving to be a leading partner in community development Talent helps to develop business ideas, while passion fuels to drive to success. The team at POWER 4 ALL, possess both talent and passion to see things through. By essentially utilizing the technologies, they promote to bridge the gaps in accessing power and clean water, the basic necessities of well-being and uplifting lives. Speaking about the hurdles they overcome along their journey so far, Angelo said, “Initially, our

POWER 4 ALL envisions a future where everyone can get their hands on enabling technologies that improve lives and elevate experiences.

www.theceoviews.com

biggest hurdles were access to resources as developing our kind of technologies is not cheap. Next would be creating a voice that is amplified enough so that the awareness for these solutions reach the people and organizations that need them.” By following globally established standards in design, build, safety and quality systems POWER 4 ALL ensures that the solutions delivered, are scalable and built to last. However, they pay a lot of attention and look at things they have already done, then, stare at the wide empty space to see what is possible from a zero-reference point. Not having baselines and standard rules help to elevate creativity and innovation within the solutions.

Future Vision POWER 4 ALL envisions a future where everyone can get their hands on enabling technologies that improve lives and elevate experiences. With a hope to continue creating solutions that can propel people regardless of their geography, situation or ideology, the team of experts strive to improve and transform lives of the most disadvantaged. People and purpose are at the heart of their operations and POWER 4 ALL makes it look easy. The impact is measured in the way the target communities are able to lift themselves up through a sustainable approach with the help of technologies. Angelo believes, “having a strong appetite for taking risks, a stomach for struggle, urge to create new stuff and making a difference, maintaining a good moral compass and leaving the world a bit better than how you found it, allows you to confidently tell yourself that you did your part.”

March 2023 103

Proxymity

Connecting investors via a unique digital pathway ommunication is the key to success in business, especially when handling worldwide operations. To better understand the business structure and appropriate expectations for company stocks, investors and intermediaries expect a high level of communication and candor from the companies. Digital communication has further streamlined the process of building investor relations for over a decade now as companies are now arming themselves for a digital transformation. Proxymity, an investor communications platform has taken an approach to serve this need by connecting investors via a unique digital pathway, creating more efficient, accurate and transparent solutions throughout the ecosystem. Dean Little, Co-Founder of Proxymity was with the CEOViews team to share their story.

Inception and mission Shareholder communication has traditionally been inconsistent, inefficient, and outdated. Providing the technology to streamline this process, linking issuers, intermediaries and investors digitally, felt like an over-

due development, and out of this necessity Proxymity was born. The unique offerings that Proxymity provide, has had great traction since it was started in 2017. More and more organisations are seeing the benefits of changing the way they communicate with investors, especially in the wake of SRD II. From the beginning, Proxymity’s vision was to deliver these benefits for the whole industry, rather than be owned by one company. To support this vision, in April 2020 some of the world’s largest financial institutions joined together to invest in the platform and establish Proxymity as an independent business.

Story of Legacy Trusted by the world’s largest financial institutions, Proxymity is the leading digital investor communications platform, serving over 25 markets world-wide. Maintaining the legacy of success means constantly innovating and staying in touch with what the users require to improve communication between all parties. Part of this is to provide a simple and intuitive product which can make people’s lives easier.

A digital pathway between issuers, intermediaries and investors

The digital-native platform, built on highly scalable technology, provides full compliance with the latest regulations. 104 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Dean Little,

Jonathan Smalley Co-Founder

Co-Founder

Proxymity connects the world’s ecosystem of issuers, intermediaries, and investors digitally in real time, bringing unprecedented transparency, efficiency, and accuracy to traditional paper-based processes. The solutions give public companies confidence that their AGM/EGM agendas are transmitted as “golden source” and provide institutional investors with the time to research and vote on corporate decisions, as well as actual digital confirmation that their votes have been received. The digital-native platform, built on highly scalable technology, provides full compliance with the latest regulations such as the Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II).

Cyber security and quality processes Proxymity ensures to provide a secure and compliant infrastructure for the benefit of the customers and partners who expect the highest level of cybersecurity and data compliance. Proxymity secured SOC 2 Type 2 certification to commit to the best practice and it’s Cybersecurity and Technology team proceeded with the next step in demonstrating the company’s commitment towards privacy, compliance, security, availability, processing integrity and www.theceoviews.com

Digital solutions Proxymity acts as a unique digital pathway between issuers, intermidiaries and investors on a web-based platform. confidentiality by preparing a platform and business process to achieve the more rigorous SOC 2 type 2 certification.

Proxy voting platform Proxymity’s proxy voting platform, Vote Connect, has been approved for use by the world’s major banks and is now serving over 25 markets, delivering a continuous “golden source” record reconciled throughout, revolutionising traditional paper-based processes with digital transparency, efficiency and accuracy.

Communication is the key Speaking about how they manage to stand out from March 2023 105

the peers in the industry, Dean said, “A large part of this is speaking to and listening to people in the industry. This means understanding both what investors and companies or asset managers are looking for and how this is changing. Greater awareness around ESG is a good example, where many younger investors are looking to hold companies accountable or demand structural change once they have invested. This is where we can provide a basis for communication. Facilitating this exchange of information is only going to become more important in the coming years.”

Innovation and culture A culture of innovation identifies the changing values and fosters productivity and profitability within the business environment. For Proxymity, innovation is not only built into their processes but also in their culture that is built around values of Collaboration, Respect, Trustworthiness, being Revolutionary and staying Customer-focused. The values are reflected in the disruption and innovative awards Proxymity has won in 2 short years. Adding to that, Dean said, “We encourage all the teams to think and question if there is a better, smarter way to do what we do. It makes for a dynamic and creative environment. We have a well-established new product development process that I aligned with our development roadmap. This activity is a part of our QA processes.

106 March 2023

Future Vision Fundraising and launching a company in a lockdown world and hiring at scale to deliver for the customers have been challenging for Proxymity. But they listened to the voice of their customers and worked to remain authentic to the purpose of the organization by ensuring support and collaboration. Proxiymity continues to serve the mission by staying proactive, listening to both customers and colleagues and maintain the environment where everyone is enabled to contribute new ideas and concept. With automated, digital solutions Proxymity acts as a unique digital pathway between issuers, intermidiaries and investors on a web-based platform.

We encourage all the teams to think and question if there is a better, smarter way to do what we do. It makes for a dynamic and creative environment.

www.theceoviews.com

Quality Online Education Group Building confidence to converse and learn

EDWARD WU CEO

team to share details about how they are achieving their goals. nline learning platforms are emerging as a recognized pathway to education opportunities a s students are seeking for convenient, ﬂexible and innovative learning methods. The modern teaching techniques are more activity-based and engage new learners to actively participate in the learning process through conversation, interaction and participation and help to build skills beyond academic curriculum. Quality Online Education Group is one such e-learning platform, that is trying to provide native English learning experience through a modern teaching approach that makes learning fun. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, QOEG is run by a results-driven team of executive strategists and seasoned experts in education, focusing on developing the conﬁdents in students to be proﬁcient at learning English. Edward Wu, Chief Executive Ofﬁcer of Quality Online Education Group was with the CEOViews www.theceoviews.com

Inception Quality Online Education Group (QOEG) was founded in August 2018 with a single believe that high-quality education can change the world. The best motivation for the development and application of technological innovation is when it is for the betterment of society, to help people in ways that were previously impossible. The latest advances in connectivity and cutting-edge analytics provided the ideal technological bedrock for Quality Online Education Group to build its rapidly growing Online Education program throughout Southeast Asia – a region that has an incredible hunger for English Education. K-12 online English program is their ﬁrst product, targeting non-native English-speaking countries.

March 2023 107

Vision to provide native English learning experience The further one moves from afﬂuent city centers, the higher the difﬁculty arises to ﬁnd a quality native English tutor. Through high-speed online access, Quality Online Education Group connects highly qualiﬁed, experienced teachers directly from North America, all having proper teaching credentials and certiﬁcations, into the homes of students and their families. Encouraging students to ‘converse to learn’ Being able to read and write a language doesn’t necessarily contribute in effective personal development, unless one is using it to communicate. In academic institutes, English is taught as a ‘language subject’ and students learn the technicalities of the language, through memorization and passing examinations. This mindset is obviously deeply ingrained in the psyche, and oft-times even the student and their family don’t realize that this is what is holding back their immense potential to express themselves in English. Quality Online Education Group endeavors to encourage students to speak up and learn through practice. Approach that combines Education and Entertainment One of the ﬁnest teaching methods is to make learning fun and engaging. Based on the English curriculum structure, QOEG follows ‘Edu-tainment’ approach that blends education with entertainment to provide students a fun learning experience. The platform encourages students to learn English by conversing in English, through gamiﬁcation. Students are invited into a fun learning environment where they use English to participate in games and compete to win, interact in English with original animated characters and settings, and collaborate with fellow students and tutors in English. As the cherry on top, QOEG prepares students before each session and reviews with them after each session, with the aim to increase their frequency of language usage and the effects of their learning experience. Use of Artiﬁcial Intelligence to improve skills Lack of opportunities to practice English communication skills hold back student from developing language proﬁciency. QOEG uses artiﬁcial intelligence to improve their listening and speaking skills. For instance, in a fun-to-play exercise, the system plays a recording of a phrase, and the student uses a smartphone to repeat that phrase. The system will provide a score and identify which word they can improve on, with a color system to identify speciﬁc areas for improvement. Through such activities, students can practice anytime and anywhere they want. But, unlike just another mobile app, the student’s practice activity is collected, and the data is analyzed and super108 March 2023

Quality Online Education Group is one such e-learning platform, that is trying to provide native English learning experience through a modern teaching approach that makes learning fun.

vised by the student’s tutor for assisted guidance. In terms of accessibility, these activities, as well as the classroom sessions, can be accessed on the computer and smart devices. Evolving technological trends Since past two years, online education has traditionally evolved as an alternative pathway. QOEG have embraced and integrated innovative technologies in providing a cutting-edge virtual English-based learning environment to the other side of the world, especially being able to reach as far and as deep into the more remote regions. Additionally, with a passion for innovation, they have incorporated Artiﬁcial Intelligence and Big Data to improve each student’s learning experience, and consequently the student’s results. Through predictive analysis and behavior learning analysis, they personalize the curriculum package for an individual student, to provide optimal learning results. Lastly, the maturity of listening and speaking AI algorithms that is able to take different accents and tones into account, will support in international expansion. Driving innovation with products QOEG provides a complete package and not just real time online tutoring sessions. They provide pre and post exercise options through custom-built mobile solutions supported by teaching assistant. AI Tutoring- AI based tutor assists students across multiple learning contexts and helps in evaluating coursework. A pre-class exercise leverages AI technology of voice recognition. The student can follow the recorded phases by tutors and can keep practicing using the mobile device. The AI system will provide a score of the pronunciation and highlight exactly the words needed to be improved. Other

www.theceoviews.com

than that, academic materials, pre-reading, picture books, videos and songs are also provided for the students. 1:4 Tutoring- It offers a 25 minutes tutoring session where no more than 4 students in a class participate in the real time online session. With a few students together in a class, students are engaged more during the learning process. Learning management system- A custom built learning management system helps to capture students’ learning behavior to target the areas of improvement. Google glass- QOEG have developed a marketing tool for online English learning using VR technology where a student can wear a google glass to go into a virtual campus, talk to different avatars in the campus and can enter different grade classrooms to attend class. What’s different Speaking about how, from a business operations strategy perspective, QOEG stands out in a competitive market, Edward Wu said, “We have a successful and proven business model with very low marketing expenses and sales costs, compared to other major players in the industry, and yet our model allows us to easily replicate our operations to other regions or countries.” QOEG have three major tutor bases worldwide, in North America, Philippines, and South Africa. In addition to the tutors, these bases also include teams of teaching assistants, who support students during the pre-class and post-class sessions. Client Testimonials Client testimonials are valuable for business to accumulate. An eight-year-old student who has been studying with QOEG for over two years, was initially enrolled when he almost lost interest in learning English, because of having difﬁculties in memorizing new vocabulary and refused to practice phonics. But last December, he passed the PET (Preliminary English Test) exam with Grade A, attaining a full score of 170 in Speaking. Speaking about how he get from there to here, Edward Wu said, “After he enrolled with us, we put our behavior analysis technology to work, and analyzing his learning

style, we found that he was more of a “kinesthetic learner”, which meant that he learned better when engaging all of his senses! In pre-class, he was assigned to read-along tasks of cartoons and books that interested him, as per the recommendations provided by historical data. Also, by using AI speaking and recording features in mobile app we collected and provided data to teachers to support him in practicing and thinking in English. In-class, the teachers used tailored materials to carry real-life conversations with him, to help him regain interest in learning English, and to build his self-conﬁdence. In stark contrast to his previous struggles with dry, technical instruction, he found that learning English is fun, it is more like learning by doing, rather than by memorizing. In post-class, he was assigned reading, listening, and writing tasks to help review and reﬂect on his growing command. That’s how he succeeded.” Future Roadmap QOEG is focusing on four main areas of development. On the technology side, a key initiative in enhancing the platform is to further leverage big data and artiﬁcial intelligence. This will improve the ability to identify students’ learning behaviors, with consequential beneﬁts in the personalization of the learning experience, ultimately maximizing the student’s learning results. Second, with the aim of international expansion, they are focusing to expand the market to Europe and Southeast Asia. Adding new product line is another way to gain momentum. QOEG has recently launched Mathematics program and plans to expand the product line to non-English subjects. Lastly, they focus on mergers and acquisition. They have successfully acquired an online education company in 2020 and will be looking for the right opportunity to expand. Public education system often fails to teach children how to conﬁdently communicate in foreign language. Quality Online Education Group has the leading-edge programs that are strategically designed to build conﬁdence and enthusiasm for learning English.

Quality Online Education Group has the leading-edge programs that are strategically designed to build confidence and enthusiasm for learning English. www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 109

Safefood 360°

Innovative software delivered by food safety experts he food industry is experiencing signiﬁcant growth in recent years, as urbanization have spurred an zinterest in convenient packaged foods and fast food. But to meet the surging demands, food industries should focus heavily on the safety of the food and comply with food safety regulations. Any little compromise can result in expensive recalls and widespread damage to the reputation of the company.

The mission of Safefood 360° is to be the leading provider of compliance and professional services to the food industry. With an aim to become the one stop shop for everything related to food safety and supply chain transparency, Safefood 360° ensures that food businesses around the world are always aligned with current food safety industry compliance standards.

Safefood 360° provides food safety management solution for industry-leading food businesses by integrating food safety, supplier quality and compliance management in one cloud-based platform. Chris Domenico, Territory Manager, of Safefood 360° was with the CEOViews team to share details about how they are making it possible. Inception and mission Many food businesses still rely on paper-based systems, which makes it challenging to manage compliance issues and potential hazards in food products. Realising this problem, the founders of Safefood 360° set out as a group of food safety experts to design a robust software solution to this problem, drawing on industry knowledge to address known pain points for food businesses leaders and managers, and avoid potential hazards in the future, helping to create a safer world for the customer.

110 March 2023

CHRIS DOMENICO Territory Manager

www.theceoviews.com

“

The mission of Safefood 360° is to be the leading provider of compliance and professional services to the food industry.

Journey Ten years ago, Safefood 360° gathered people from different aspects in the food industry, including food scientists, quality assurance professionals, consultants and auditors, to create up-to-date solutions to ensure product safety. With global food standards constantly updating and trends consistently shifting, the key to their solutions is to evolve with them to stay ahead of standard updates and trends for ease of clients. Digitalization is not new, but often food businesses are just coming around the curve with API upgrades and stable internet connections, needing to have instant and detailed status of their supply chains and internal compliance. Safefood 360° ﬁts these needs within the niche market of the food industry. Innovative food safety software designed by industry experts Safefood 360° provides Food Safety and Supplier Quality Management software for industry leading food businesses around the world. Designed by food industry experts, the platform covers all aspects of food safety compliance with world class technology that puts data and business intelligence at the center of the solution. www.theceoviews.com

Safefood 360° offers over 35 modules that are designed for various applications in food sites. This enables food safety managers to beneﬁt in all operations within a manufacturing site. The software covers all aspects of GFSI and ISO standard requirements to help protect business’ brand reputation and secure their supply chains. The best-in-class software, engineered to run in the cloud from inception, is backed by Microsoft and utilises the Windows Azure platform for a global network of high-performance data centres. The interface is developed using pure ASP, XHTML, and JavaScript – requiring no third-party plug-ins – allowing software access from various operating systems, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android. Safefood 360° has a dedicated service team that takes care of the heavy lifting when it comes to system conﬁguration, data accuracy, language packs, enterprise customization, and in-app support. Unlike other systems in the market, Safefood 360° provides dedicated technical support with food safety and systems expertise. The team oversee implementation, conﬁguration, training, and provide consultation on best practices within the food safety industry. This ensures that users can fully realize the value of the solutions and make the most out of their investment in a digitized system. Solutions to ensure supplier quality compliance Speaking about how the software provides full compliance against all areas of requirement, Chris said, “We keep our software updated as new standards and regulations are released (for example, with BRCGS Global Standard for Issue 9 released this past August, we preload the standard and have checklists available for the transition between Issue 8 and Issue 9). Safefood 360° digitizes the processes for the client to ensure access and control is managed on a single platform. Customers can manage their food safety, supplier scorecards and risk assessment into one March 2023 111

platform. With a separate supplier portal, we provide a clear, intuitive workﬂow design for supplier auditing, assessment and view of performance at a glance. Whether our client is a single site or complex multi-site operation, Safefood 360° provides a solution to ensure all areas of the compliance process can be viewed at any point in time, with embedded workﬂow frameworks and automatic notiﬁcations to further maintain compliance.” Standing out from the competition LGC ASSURE brands work closely with GFSI, leading brands, regulators, conformity assessment and the accreditation community, and food business operators to ensure that Safefood 360° is up to date with the latest issues and trends. These interactions and fora inform and drive the product roadmap to ensure it delivers value and remains relevant. Speaking about how they manage to stay ahead of competition, Chris said, “We listen to both quantitative and qualitative research data to measure progress and adjust as needed. We always follow market trends, but also take into account the voices of our current customer. We have a dedicated client services team that send out regular NPS surveys so that we can evaluate our current standing and improve, evolve and progress our solutions. We provide innovative software solutions created by food safety experts with our professional services team to complete a full package, giving the client the best return on investment.

ment and greater prediction of supply chain risk. The use of additional data sources – ESG, cultural, combined with external data sources and published data will provide actionable insight and more intelligent assurance. With over 35 modules to meet the industrial trends and demands of current and future clients, Safefood 360° provides visibility of needs within food safety by integrating supplier quality, and compliance management in one cloud-based platform.

Safefood 360° provides Food Safety and Supplier Quality Management software for industry leading food businesses around the world.

Future Steps As part of LGC ASSURE, a group of leading brands that provide supply chain assurance solutions, Safefood 360° have years of experience working with most of the leading global brand and food business operators worldwide. The sister company, BRCGS, introduced the ﬁrst food safety standard over 25 years ago which has been proven to have made the industry safer. Safefood 360° is now moving beyond compliance to provide real-time assurance in order to drive performance improve112 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Selfly Store Redefining automated retail solutions Automation is reshaping retail business models and making shopping more convenient. Driven by consumers’ demand for a hustle free, fast and seamless shopping experience that is both cost saving and time efﬁcient, intelligent vending machines are becoming the new sales channel for retailers.

ASLAK DE SILVA CEO Selﬂy Store by Stora Enso is one such company that is redeﬁning the working of retail industry. It is an end-to-end solution for automated retail that combines the traditional retail experience with the latest developments in loT, machine learning and AI to satisfy consumer expectations. Aslak de Silva, CEO of Selﬂy Store, spoke with the CEOViews team to share details about their innovative business journey. Inception and Mission Selﬂy Store’s story started at the FinnishSwedish corporate Stora Enso, one of the oldest companies in the world, with its roots in copper mining, evolving into a leading renewable materials company whose survival has mostly depended on innovation of new products as well as new business models– one of them coming to be Selﬂy Store. Selﬂy Store was started in 2016 by two employees at Stora Enso who set out to create RFID (radio frequency identiﬁcation) tags from renewable, paper-based, materials instead of the conventional plastics. www.theceoviews.com

Selfly Store provides its customers with award winning intelligent vending solutions. March 2023 113

business, developing the hardware and software to meet the consumer and merchant needs.

In 2017 they also discovered that the paper-based RFID tags could be used to fulﬁl a growing customer need for additional sales channels, which could be operated remotely for 24/7 without the need for staffs. Consequently, a novel type of vending machine was invented, which would carry almost any type of product and identify them with RFID tags. In addition to the hardware, a cloud solution was developed to provide the merchant with real-time data of items in the cabinet as well as analytics to guide sales and operations decisions. Today, Selﬂy Store is present in 21 European countries and is completely changing the game of grab-and-go shopping. Selﬂy Store consumers can enjoy fun, convenient, and frictionless shopping experiences, while merchants can leverage all the beneﬁts of being able to operate data-driven micro stores remotely. Journey

Aslak de Silva said, “Our journey has not followed a straight path, and we have learnt a lot along the ride. We do believe in a growth mindset, where failing and making mistakes is not only allowed, but also encouraged, and failing fast is even better. This way we can quickly learn what works and what provide our customers value.” Unique Shopping Experience Selﬂy Store provides its customers with award winning intelligent vending solutions. Their aim is to provide the most convenient, fun, and data-driven grab-and-go shopping experience on the market by combining the best of brick-and-mortar with e-commerce. The Selﬂy Store cabinets provide opportunities of physical micro markets where basically any item can be stored. But with real-time data, analytics dashboards, and soon AI functionality to automate and optimize sales and operations, as well as discounting and promotion engine, their merchants at the same time can utilise the capabilities mostly known from the e-commerce world.

For Selﬂy Store, the journey has been about diversifying the business goal to foster new ways of innovation.

Consumers are provided with unique experiences like:

They started out in the renewable RFID tag business, which was later divested. Selﬂy Store as an independent brand and legal entity was established in 2021 which provide their customers with renewable RFID tags through their partner network, while focusing on the core

The sleek cabinet design and inviting cabinet screen makes shopping fun and effortless. Consumers use contactless payment methods, can select several products in one go, and are able to touch and feel every product before selecting.

114 March 2023

Convenient, fun, and frictionless buying

www.theceoviews.com

Powerful discounting engine In addition to expiry date tracking and mark-downs, there is a variety of other discounting options. Examples include bundle discounts (combining several items at a favourable price) and scheduled discounts (valid for certain time periods). Latest software updates and value adding apps Merchants always get the latest software updates and new feature releases to their Selﬂy Store intelligent cabinets.Moreover, the Selﬂy Cloud has an API enabling merchants to integrate value-adding apps and services including loyalty programs, menu overview, and special offers for consumers. Challenges

Unique multi-temp technology They offer three versions, Selﬂy Ambient, Selﬂy Fridge and Selﬂy Freezer to suit all products. Moreover, the cabinets ensure even temperatures from bottom to top shelves, so consumers receive top-quality products. Built for purpose and with highest quality Their products are developed and manufactured in Finland. Every detail of the product is engineered from scratch for RFID technology, leading to superior item level detection and reliability for both merchant and consumer. Flexible product selection Items of nearly every size, shape, durability and material can be sold. Moreover, the assortment can be changed at any time, with minimal effort, to boost sales and delight customers. Accelerating sales and reducing food waste For merchants, Selﬂy Store solutions help accelerate sales and eliminate food waste: Sales optimisation and advertising All Selﬂy Store intelligent cabinets are connected to the Selﬂy Cloud, which provides real-time data on item level. Product selection, stock-levels, prices, locations, sales and replenishment can be optimised remotely through analytics. Advertising can be done directly on the screen of the cabinets manually or by automated triggers such as lunch hour bundle promotions, happy hour discounts, or closing expiry date, just to name a few. Food waste reduction Selﬂy Store offers a unique expiry date tracking feature for fresh food items. Through the Selﬂy Cloud, automatic discounting rules can be set to eliminate the risk of food waste. www.theceoviews.com

Retailers are experiencing new challenges due to shift in consumer behaviours. Consumers want to be entertained when shopping, and ease and convenience is essential for a great consumer experience. Many consumers prefer self-service shopping because of time savings, shorter ques, and they can shop at their own pace. Besides, contemporary consumers are changing their food consumption patterns and are looking for healthier options and fresh food, meanwhile, foodservice retailers are struggling with food waste which contributes up to 10% of the world’s greenhouse emissions every year. On top of this, many business owners are suffering from labour shortages while expectations on service availability, preferably 24/7 coverage, is increasing. Intelligent grab-and-go shopping, or intelligent vending will be a given accelerator to meet consumer and merchant expectations and demands. Selﬂy Store is well positioned to lead the transformation of merchant’s being able to provide consumers with data-driven, fun, and convenient shopping experiences. Future vision Selﬂy Store envision a future where people’s needs are predicted in advance, enabling them to ‘selﬂy’ preferred goods at the right time and place, with zero waiting time and food waste. Strategically placed Selﬂy Store cabinets in hotels, restaurants, workplaces, public spaces (car charging stations, gyms, airports, hospitals etc.) will make shopping convenient, time efﬁcient, and more easily available than other alternatives to disrupt the disruptors (Uber Eats, Foodora, Wolt, Deliveroo). By 2023, the Selﬂy Store solution will also include predictive analytics with AI and Machine Learning algorithms to advice merchants in their business decisions. Selﬂy Store has already crafted a framework for customer experience, along with values and desired behaviours and have accelerated the trends of intelligent vending, to help bridge gaps and leverage opportunities in other industries. March 2023 115

Sensobright

Redifining the global tactile sensor market

ising demand for automation and robotics in commercial and industrial electronic market are bringing in new trends of technological developments and improvements in sensor features, thus driving the global tactile sensor market to greater heights. Tactile sensor that acquires data through human haptic touch technology, continues to grow as industries are shifting towards digitalization and automation. Sensobright, a technology-oriented company, owns over 100 international patents in the tactile sensor field with an innovative concept and aims to advance it, translating it into a next-generation scientific product and a technology for commercialization. Prof. Dr. Utku Buyuksahin, Founder and CEO of Sensobright was with the CEOViews team to share details about how they making a difference. Inspiration and mission It is an undeniable fact that visual, auditory and chemical sensing capabilities of machines have long surpassed that of human eyes, ears, nose and tongue in terms of sensory abilities. Whether it’s speed, accuracy, magnification, spectrum, separation, or any other parameter, it is possible to find a commercially available sensor superior to human ability in any of those areas suited to one’s requirements. The only area that human senses remain unchallenged was touch sensitivity, that was until Sensobright came along in 2018. Prof. Dr. Utku Buyuksahin teamed up with Inventram and KOC Holding (a global fortune 500 company) to ramp up commercialization and developed tactile sensor technologies. Sensobright Industries LLC’s Istanbul branch and Portland Headquarters are formed in 2018 and 2020 to develop 116 March 2023

“

we have a game changer technology in a huge market which is driving us to the top with solid steps.

tactile sensors and production technology of the system. With the mission to change the status-quo, Sensobright was set up to equip any machine with touch sensing capabilities far beyond human ability, breaking the last barrier of human sensory superiority over machines. Bringing innovation to market Innovation has been at the core of Sensobright’s culture since its initiation. Raised from ground up on innovative patents, Sensobright strives to innovate further by transforming the novel technologies into real world solutions for dynamic industries. Fingertip Tactile Sensor (FTS)It is designed at the size of a fingertip with 317 electro-optical receptors per square centimeter (vs average of 241 nerve endings per square centimetre in human fingertips), which translates to 0.3mm receptor pitch compared to 1mm nerve pitch in human fingertips. The FTS can map the shape of touching objects in three dimensions, which is achieved through high-density placement of high-sensitivity receptors paired with simultaneous multi-touch feature. In addition to revolutionary touch sensing www.theceoviews.com

working environment allows MSS to operate under extreme environmental conditions including high temperature (even at automotive grade), high humidicapabilities, FTS can register temperature and even ty, high magnetic interference and vibrations. Its novel proximity objects, can display high-resolution videos technology makes MSS immune to most common sensor noises and enables it to even register contact and does not interfere with magnetic fields. through thick industrial gloves on a wet surface for Magic Silicone Sensor (MSS) example. It is a thin and dark-colored patented silicone pad designed to digitally quantify the size and intensity of any incoming contact. It is essentially a non-energized touch surface that provides data when pressure is applied to it. As such, MSS can count, track, follow multiple objects in contact and even provide gesture controls through touch. MSS can be manufactured in sizes as small as one square centimeter to the size of a dining table, flat or curved, uniform or otherwise. Unlike energized touch surfaces working with resistive or capacitive principles, MSS can also be integrated under any flexible material to convert even soft surfaces into a multi-touch control surface. Not having an energized surface exposed to the

Game changer technology Speaking about the first and the only product over human tactile sensing resolution that Sensobright have, Prof. Dr. Utku Buyuksahin said, “We are developing cutting-edge tactile sensor technologies which can be applied to different fields, penetrating into well-established industries like robotics, automation, automotive, aerospace and medical instrumentation. As we have the first and the only product over human tactile sensing resolution, we have a game changer technology in a huge market which is driving us to the top with solid steps.” Till now, Sensobright has been supported by govern-

Prof. Dr. Utku Buyuksahin, Founder and CEO

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 117

Sensobright is continuously improving the spatial density and sensitivity resolution of the sensors with every interaction.

mental institutions, universities, technology companies and were invested near ten million dollars from Global Fortune 500 Companies. Filling the gap in tactile sensing in robots, Sensobright holds the patents of one of five human senses.

of highly skilled people (3 out of 4 engineers having PHDs) with a combined experience of over 170 years, who overcome challenging technical roadblocks by engaging in solution-oriented discussions with a multi-disciplinary approach.

What makes Sensobright different in the industry?

Future Vision

Miniaturization of sensors is one of the driving trends of the sensor industry and the innovative technology of Sensobright provides the most miniaturized tactile sensor in the market. Adding to this, Prof. Dr. Buyuksahin said, “I believe we’ve already established the FTS and MSS having the technical edge in terms of sensitivity, fidelity, flexibility and environmental resilience with respect to commercially available tactile sensors.” Combination of this technical edge with miniaturization advantages, Sensobright’s technologies represent the state-of-the-art among modern tactile sensor capabilities.

Sensobright has redefined the tactile sensor industry by technologies such as equipping robot hands with tactile sensors to a level of touch sensitivity exceeding human ability or converting leather armrests of a car into a touch-based control surface. At present, Sensobright has been working on laparoscopic surgery devices, equipping cold steel apparatus with tactile and temperature sensing ability to detect cancerous tissues during laparoscopic surgery as well as sensing any internal bleeding with the help of AI software. The type of future Sensobright envision, focuses on developing a game-changing, real world application of the technology for a wide variety of industries.

Bringing together a team of experts Prof. Dr. Buyuksahin feels that anyone with enough financial resources can put together a great team but the challenge is to keep them together and work in synergy to achieve great heights. This requires a commitment driven team who develop a firm conviction to the company’s mission at both individual and collective levels. Sensobright brings together a group 118 March 2023

Remaining firmly committed to the ultimate goal, Sensobright is continuously improving the spatial density and sensitivity resolution of the sensors with every interaction, with primary focus on developing implementation and customization solutions of products for different industries, applications and customer requirements. www.theceoviews.com

The Internet of Things (IoT) industry has seen tremendous growth in recent years, and its importance continues to increase as more and more devices become connected. The IoT has the potential to transform businesses, governments, and everyday life by providing valuable insights and automating

processes. However, the IoT industry needs help to securely manage and extract value from the vast amounts of data generated by these connected devices.

equoiaAT is a service-based IT company that specializes in IoT solutions. The company leverages its expertise in the IoT industry to help clients fully realize the potential of their connected devices. Whether it is through connected products, smart homes, or industrial IoT, SequoiaAT provides end-to-end solutions that are designed to solve clients' unique challenges. With a focus on innovation, reliability, and security, SequoiaAT is helping businesses to stay ahead of the curve and maximize the beneﬁts of the IoT. Aju Kuriakose, CEO of SequoiaAT, was with the CEOViews team to share details on how they address the challenges in IoT spaces with their talented engineers.

to help companies develop new products and software. The company cultivates an environment of innovation and collaboration, believing that the best ideas come from working together and that different skills and experiences lead to the best solutions. SequoiaAT aims to create a company that provides software services with the mindset of a product company, not just as a service or consultancy organization. The company strives to have the genes of a software services company but the DNA of a product company, with a focus on a change in mindset in the way they work.

Idea and mission SequoiaAT was founded with a passion for innovation and new ideas, www.theceoviews.com

AJU KURIAKOSE CEO

Mission Speaking about their mission, Aju Kuriakose said, "Our journey so far has been a rewarding one,

March 2023 119

SequoiaAT was founded with a passion for innovation and new ideas, to help companies develop new products and software.

despite the challenges we have faced along the way. We have been incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to work with some of the most innovative companies in the world and to tackle some of the most complex problems that affect and change people's lives on a regular basis. To be recognized as one of the most innovative companies to watch has been an incredible honor and a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team." SequoiaAT is constantly striving to push the boundaries of what is possible and create innovative solutions that help its customers succeed. The company is passionate about its work, and its team of engineers is always seeking new ways to improve its services. SequoiaAT is dedicated to innovation and positively impacting its customers and the world. They are eager to continue their journey and see what the future holds, conﬁdent that their commitment to innovation and team dedication will drive them forward. Innovative capabilities SequoiaAT stays ahead of the competition by continuously innovating and developing new 120 March 2023

products and services that meet the needs of its customers. The company specializes in custom software applications tailored to their client's needs, utilizing the latest technologies such as AI, machine learning, and blockchain. Their team is experienced in developing innovative solutions that integrate with existing systems and databases. They understand the importance of integrating key capabilities and resources to stimulate innovation, which is essential for long-term success. SequoiaAT is committed to providing the best products and services, transforming knowledge and ideas into new products, processes, and systems for its customers' beneﬁt. With a dedication to innovation, ﬂexibility, and adaptability of services, they are conﬁdent in remaining competitive in today's markets. Helping businesses Sequoia AT has strong expertise in building Embedded system applications, Web and Mobile applications, Cloud-based applications, IoT, Machine learning, and AI-based application, etc. Innovation is a central aspect of SequoiaAT's www.theceoviews.com

company culture. The company strives to be innovative in all aspects of its operations, from hiring and engaging with its team to conducting business with its customers. They don't just talk about innovation but actively practice it in their daily operations. The team members go beyond technology-based solutions, engaging deeply with customers to understand their business challenges and proactively providing innovative ideas and solutions. SequoiaAT believes that innovation is crucial to staying competitive in today's market and providing the best possible service to its customers. Building strong relationships with customers The ﬁrm's engineers are dedicated to establishing strong relationships with clients and crafting their products to perfection. They aim to understand client needs and provide solutions that meet their expectations. The engineers continuously seek to enhance the client experience, from design to ﬁnal product. They take pride in their work and prioritize quality in every project. They stay updated with industry trends and technology to deliver the best solutions to clients. The team aims to create an emotional connection with clients, making them feel like they are dealing with a person rather than just a business. They emphasize the importance of displaying their human side in communications. With team members located in various regions and working in different time zones, the ﬁrm is always available to clients, providing 24/7 responsiveness. They utilize modern communication tools to engage with clients in real-time.

for specialized skills, such as data science and DevOps. All of these changes will profoundly affect how we work and the services we provide. We must stay ahead of the curve and embrace these changes in order to remain competitive in the ever-changing landscape of technology." Knowing how dynamic the technology industry has been, SequoiaAI begins by identifying emerging trends and technologies that could potentially beneﬁt their business and our customers before investing into any big technology. They then assess the potential of each trend or concept by conducting a comprehensive analysis of its competitive landscape, customer demand, and potential return on investment. Additionally, they consider the scalability of the technology, its potential for disruption, and the resources required to implement it. Ultimately, they decide on whether to invest in the technology or concept based on our ﬁndings. Overall, their dedication to innovation and impacting customers has been unparalleled. They offer innovative IoT solutions that address the challenges in the industry, providing end-to-end services to meet clients' unique needs. With a strong focus on building strong relationships with customers and delivering quality work, SequoiaAT is poised to continue making a positive impact in the IoT industry.

Future trends As technology continues to evolve, it is clear that the domains we work in will be greatly impacted. Speaking about what the future of the industry would look like, Aju said, "We see a shift towards cloud-based solutions, increased use of artiﬁcial intelligence and machine learning, edge computing, 5G networks, blockchain technology, predictive analytics, and connected devices. Furthermore, there is an increased focus on security and privacy, as well as an increased demand for IOT-enabled products and services. This will increase the demand

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 121

Job Matching Made Easy

he stafﬁng industry is constantly evolving, with new technologies and strategies emerging to help companies ﬁnd and attract top talent. In today’s fast-paced and competitive job market, companies face a growing challenge in ﬁnding the right people to ﬁll vital roles in the technology and healthcare sectors.

Against this backdrop, SkillGigs, Inc. has emerged as a leading player in the talent marketplace, connecting job seekers with opportunities in these high-demand ﬁelds. The company’s innovative approach is revolutionizing how companies ﬁnd and hire the best talent, and is poised to have a major impact on the industry as a whole. Kashif Aftab, CEO & Founder of SkillGigs, spoke with the CEOViews team to share the company’s story. Inception story Kashif Aftab previously worked at a traditional stafﬁng company. The company had a large database of candidates, but it was an inefﬁcient process requiring recruiters to call, email, and text candidates. Often, they still couldn’t ﬁnd the right ﬁts for job openings when they needed them. This often resulted in frustrated clients, particularly in the healthcare industry, where jobs needed to be ﬁlled urgently.

KASHIF AFTAB, CEO & Founder 122 March 2023

Kashif realized that their existing systems were not equipped to handle the just-in-buying process of the 21st century, and decided to go out on his own and build an online talent marketplace, SkillGigs. The platform allows employers and job candidates to interact directly while fulﬁlling all regulatory and safety requirements. This is known as direct sourcing, which is what SkillGigs provides to its employer partners. www.theceoviews.com

Journey

that is well-matched and backed with enriched data.

SkillGigs Inc. is now recognized as one of the “Innovative companies to watch in 2023”. Speaking about how their journey has been, Kashif said, “We have seen exponential year-over-year growth the last few years. This was the result of a variety of factors, including the stafﬁng and supply chain issues provoked by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we had grown incredibly quickly even before the pandemic. We see this as a testament to how necessary our technology is, as well as how hungry companies are for a more disruptive, direct stafﬁng solution. The greatest metric that reﬂects the impact of SkillGigs’ innovations is our revenue growth. In 2022, SkillGigs saw 400% year-over-year revenue growth and 300% compound annual growth rate (CAGR)”.

What’s in it for employers

What it does SkillGigs uses its patented 3D Resume algorithms to help job candidates build skill listings that effectively showcase their abilities and experience to potential employers. The platform also offers personalized job openings to candidates based on their interactions with the platform. Candidates with completed proﬁles on SkillGigs are more likely to have their information viewed by employers and receive interview requests. The platform also features a bidding system, allowing for bidirectional negotiations and transparency in compensation discussions. This system is well-received by both employers and job candidates, with candidates being ﬁve times more responsive to job opportunities that include a compensation bid. In summary, SkillGigs helps job candidates market their skills effectively, be selective about job opportunities, and negotiate fair compensation directly with employers while providing employers access to ready-to-go talent www.theceoviews.com

Employers using SkillGigs have direct access to active job seekers looking for contract work and do not need a third-party agency to make a connection. The talent pool is constantly refreshed with pre-screened engaged candidates. Employers can see accurate data on market compensation and submit pay bids directly, shortening the interview process. Candidates have already indicated an interest in the position, eliminating the need for recruiters to call or text into an outdated database. Standing out from the competition SkillGigs’ biggest differentiator is their patented 3D Resume technology. Instead of a traditional “2D” resume that just lists your job history chronologically without much detail, the 3D resume is skills-forward and stands out much more to employers as it provides a visual brand for talent. The company’s proprietary AI algorithms use these skills to match talent with job postings and send them opportunities that might be a good ﬁt. SkillGigs prompts new candidates to create a skill listing and choose a speciﬁc job title. They can also specify the type of job they are looking for, whether

SkillGigs uses its patented 3D Resume algorithms to help job candidates build skill listings that effectively showcase their abilities and experience to potential employers. March 2023 123

it is a contract, permanent, or corp-to-corp placement. The platform allows candidates to set a desired salary and hourly rate and has complete transparency. It also includes a bidding functionality for direct communication between employer and candidate, where both can initiate bids. Candidates can personalize their results by adding skill listings, specialties, and locations they would like to work in. It is also a one-stop shop for credentialing, allowing candidates to upload necessary credentials to speed up the hiring process. Role of AI SkillGig’s AI technology does the heavy lifting by matching job candidates’ skill listings to job openings, so employers don’t have to do any guesswork to see if a candidate might be a good ﬁt. Their proprietary algorithm learns from a candidate’s preferences for jobs, delivering them more personalized, tailored job openings based on their interests the more they interact with the platform. AI also helps employers and workers make sense of pay data and understand what certain skills are

worth. This takes a lot of the mystery out of salary negotiations! Future trends Kashif feels that direct sourcing is the future, and the future of work is now. The difference between a direct sourcing talent platform like SkillGigs and a traditional job board or recruiting ﬁrm is that the former is built on the principle of intelligent matching and bases all matches on skill concentration. The right direct sourcing partner will help you build a skill density requirement for every position and use AI to assess every job candidate’s personal experience with that skill before even presenting them with the job opening. Closing his remarks, Kashif advised his peers in the industry to hire the right people from the start and not be afraid to innovate in spaces that are stagnating while working effectively with established players in the space.

SkillGigs prompts new candidates to create a skill listing and choose a specific job title. 124 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 125

Skyline Robotics Redefining Window Cleaning

The $40B window cleaning industry is at a crossroads. While it has been around for over a hundred years, the process of cleaning windows has remained relatively unchanged. But with the growth of high-rise buildings and the increased size of window surfaces, the industry faces new safety and stafﬁng challenges. Cleaning windows at such heights can be incredibly dangerous and puts workers and the public at risk of injury. The frequency of injuries and even severe injuries caused by falls from heights on building facades is a signiﬁcant concern for the window cleaning industry.

There has been very little effort made to secure the life of workers. Sensing an opportunity here in this segment, Skyline Robotics is leveraging cutting-edge technology in robotics, automation, and artiﬁcial intelligence, developing products that reduce human intervention in such high-risk jobs. Michael Brown, CEO of Skyline Robotics, was with the CEOViews team to share details on how they are bringing a change in this industry. The Ozmo window cleaning system utilizes the same hoisting equipment found on the roofs of high-rise buildings, allowing it to be implemented on any existing skyscraper for window cleaning purposes. By doing so, it eliminates the risk for human window cleaners and allows them to control and monitor Ozmo's performance from a secure location. CEOViews: What is the business problem Skyline is solving?

MICHAEL BROWN CEO 126 March 2023

Michael Brown: Ozmo is a cutting edge-solution designed to take humans out of high-risk situations. Beyond safety, we are addressing several industry needs, including labor shortages. 74% of window cleaners in the USA are over the age of 40, www.theceoviews.com

The device utilizes lidar to measure the distance of the glass it aims to clean and employs force sensors to prevent accidental breakage. but only 10% are between the ages of 20 and 30. Additionally, there are concerns that robots will take jobs away from humans. We at Skyline Robotics want to help lead the charge of creating a collaborative working relationship between humans and robots. Ozmo, while autonomous, is still operated by humans. However, we use a computer on the rooftop rather than hanging high above the ground. Ozmo is considered the leading industrial tool for automated window cleaning. The company combines the expertise of its engineers with innovative AI technology to design a robot that serves as an indispensable tool for building facade maintenance. This solution makes the cleaning process more practical and three times faster compared to traditional methods. The robot's "brain" comprises custom-built AI systems and machine learning solutions, allowing it to work with precision, continuously adapt and achieve peak efﬁciency. Its ﬂexibility and competence are what make Ozmo a game-changer in the window cleaning technology industry, as they are unmatched. www.theceoviews.com

CEOViews: What are Ozmo's capabilities? What does the robot do? Michael Brown: Ozmo is the world's ﬁrst high-rise window-cleaning robot. Combining artiﬁcial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision with state-of-the-art robotic control and an array of sensors, Ozmo offers a smarter, faster, safer, and more economical alternative to human window washers. The device utilizes lidar to measure the distance of the glass it aims to clean and employs force sensors to prevent accidental breakage. Its built-in algorithms maintain a stable robotic hand even in strong winds, and the device can recalculate the optimal cleaning route hundreds of times per minute. Ozmo offers several advantages over human window washers; Ozmo is faster: 3 times faster than traditional window cleaning. Ozmo is safer: Humans supervise from above and are March 2023 127

kept out of harm's way as robots do the cleaning. Ozmo is cleaner: Skyline's technology ensures Ozmo provides consistent, high-quality cleaning – never missing a spot. Ozmo saves businesses money: Ozmo reduces onsite labor costs by 75%, cutting the highest operational cost signiﬁcantly. CEOViews: Where has Ozmo been deployed to date? Michael Brown: The ﬁrst Ozmo robots are being deployed in New York City, the mecca of skyscrapers. We recently announced a key investment from commercial and residential real estate giant Durst Ventures, an afﬁliate of The Durst Organization, which owns some of New York's most notable skyscrapers, including One Bryant Park, One World Trade Center, and 151 West 42nd Street. In addition to NYC, we aim to bring Ozmo to buildings across the world. The initial focus of Ozmo is on windows, but the company is exploring potential product extensions in inspections, masonry, painting, and more. The ultimate goal is to use the technology to create a proﬁle of a building's "façade health." CEOViews: How do you manage to stay up on your industry trends? Michael Brown: Companies must adapt strategies to stay relevant and survive in the current market. To ensure this, our innovation team stays up to date with industry trends and we have also assembled an advisory board made up of real estate experts in both development and operations, including the largest building maintenance company in NYC, one of the largest real estate facilities companies, and a facade access specialist. The Ozmo R&D and business development teams regularly receive feedback from operators and customers, promoting collaboration between the business and R&D aspects of the company. CEOViews: As the CEO of the company, what has been your biggest challenge? Michael Brown: Raising funding in the current economic climate has been a signiﬁcant challenge for us at Skyline Robotics over the past six months. This is partly due to the state of the capital markets, which various economic factors, including market volatility and uncertainty, have impacted. As a result, investors are becoming more cautious with their investments, making it more

128 March 2023

challenging for Skyline Robotics to secure the necessary funding to grow and scale its operations. Another challenge that Skyline Robotics has faced as a result of being ﬁrst in the market is the uncertainty of its classiﬁcation. Investors are unsure whether the company is primarily focused on hardware, software, or both. This lack of clarity can confuse potential investors and make it more challenging for Skyline Robotics to secure funding. CEOViews: Are robots going to be a bigger part of our future, or a trend? Michael Brown: Robots are deﬁnitely the future, and, with new robots being introduced across all industries, that future is now. Facilitating human-robot collaboration will be a key challenge, but as we have shown at Skyline Robotics, we are successfully creating new career opportunities for a human-robot workforce. The future of robots is rapidly approaching, and Skyline Robotics is at the forefront of this movement. The challenge will be facilitating human-robot collaboration, but the company is already creating new career opportunities for a human-robot workforce. The initial focus of Ozmo is on windows, but the company is exploring potential product extensions in inspections, masonry, painting, and more. The ultimate goal is to use the technology to create a proﬁle of a building's "façade health. Additionally, Ozmo should enhance ESG compliance strategies by providing insight and analytics too.

The device utilizes lidar to measure the distance of the glass it aims to clean and employs force sensors to prevent accidental breakage. www.theceoviews.com

growing adoption of connected and managed services is likely to further propel areas of engagement in smart cities, helping them to realize reduction in the digital divide. Smart Connections Consulting, a global strategy consulting and technology solutions firm, has targeted to implement strategies and solutions to serve this need. Bill Pugh, Co-Founder of Smart Connections was with the

Bill Pugh, Co-Founder he growing need for digital transformation across industries is driving market growth, primarily for consolidating technologies. Global cities are making use of cutting-edge technologies to drive economic growth and sustainable developments, transforming themselves as ‘smart cities.’ The www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 129

CEOViews team to share details about how they are accelerating the journey of smart cities.

Idea of Inspiration and mission

Bill Pugh, Co-Founder of Smart Connections has a strong background in delivering Smart Grid, Smart City and loT innovations for more than 25 years. Having worked for Silicon Valley start-ups focused on Smart Grid and Smart City solutions, he realised a clear gap in the approach to enabling these groups to transfer their services to citizens and end customers. This set the ball rolling for Smart Connections. Smart Connections fills the gap of digital transformation by understanding the problem the agencies, cities and utilities are trying to solve and partnering with them to leverage the appropriate technologies to help them realize the desire outcome.

various areas of technology and solution innovation, Smart Connections has a concise yet challenging mission of improving operational efficiencies and creating secure, ethical strategies for all clients and customers.

Having its roots firmly planted in delivering solutions in

‘Smart’ Journey towards success It has been quite a rewarding journey for Smart Connections so far. Working with standard bodies, consortiums to help shape the delivery of technology has been hugely important. Speaking further about their business journey, Bill said, “Early on we needed to establish a trusted reputation as ethical thought leaders, and I feel that we have done a good job so far. We have implemented solutions that have enabled cities to realize operational efficiencies, leverage data to improve decision making and embarked on campaigns to help bridge “Digital Equity” conditions by partnering with organisations like Elevate our Kids and Global Cities Team Challenge. Ultimately, we recognized that this is not a sprint, it is indeed a marathon, you can’t have a “Smart City” without having a “Smart Grid” and all other areas of interest are derived from that, like, electrification, sustainability, resilience, underserved and unserved communities. As citizens these “Smart” initiatives are things that should not happen TO you rather it should happen FOR you.”

Solutions that add value to client’s outcome KPI’s Smart Connections Consulting is heavily focused on baselining the goals of our partners/customers. Understanding what problem they are trying to solve, we execute solutions that are measured through holistic KPI’s that are not siloed. This has resulted in Smart Connections finding a number of core areas we have developed solutions for. Security- Solutions for securing the critical infrastructure as well as data sharing which enables vertically integrated organizations to have control of their respective datasets and share with other organizations. 130 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Single Pane of Glass - for network monitoring and management irrespective of the type of networks being used. Smart Connections helps reduce the cost to bring on the next interoperable application and apply rules and policies to reduce the risk of security threats. Digital Twins for just about any streaming data that requires high levels of visibility and insight. Connectivity solutions to help solve digital equity initiatives. Software for utility grid resilience. Having done this for the last decade, Smart Connections has spun up a full services business that delivers 24*7 monitoring and management for customers.

Innovations with a smarter approach The approach is to help clients/partners realize their “Digital Transformation” goals. It is not so much about the technology but about understanding the challenges needing to be solved. Our Innovation is in the use of technology, establishing interoperability and flexability . Smart Connections customizes their core solution elements to deliver on the specified KPI’s with a focus on reducing friction as the partners/clients’ needs, change and growth.

capabilities along with a real sense of humor. Building a great team is about transparency, open communication and allowing all to contribute.”

What’s different about Smart Connections Smart Connections Consulting is heavily engaged and working with current and new standards bodies which are pertinent to the market. It is not much of a traditional consulting or service company but brings together a strong mix of technologists, developers and market experts with a broad partner ecosystem. This provides a larger systems approach and sets them apart market wise. Smart Connections is more of a standard based solution delivery organization, actively taking part in industry conferences, looking at new startups and new solutions being offered. The team measures themselves by industry standard implementations, RFC’s and framework best practices. Apart from that, Smart Connections Consulting does not accept proprietary options and all elements of compliance are made part of the delivery KPI’s.

Challenges

This type of framework requires the understanding of several methods to drive ‘Interoperability’ at a cost that will not break the bank, but inspire further adoption because of the efficiencies gained. Innovation comes from several areas and not just in pure technology.

Speaking about the challenges the company face to meet the demands of the dynamic market trends, Bill said, “The largest obstacle we had to overcome was related to navigating lengthy procurement processes, budgets and overall cross departmental communication. These digital transformation programs need to be far more cross departmental and that along with the introduction of new processes, technologies and training takes time. We are in it for the marathon!

Inclusive work culture

Future Vision

Smart Connections Consulting is a minority owned company with an inclusive work culture. From the beginning it has been a founding principal of the company to bring on the best talent for any position. Adding to that, Bill said, “We look specifically for passion, technical and business

Smart Connections Consulting has plans to extend their solutions into several other areas, especially higher education institutions, targeting the use of Open Standard, their own API’s and SDK’s. The company also plans to drive more engagement through their partner ecosystem to create stronger Public Private Partnerships (PPP) for utilities, cities and communities. Adding to the overall vision, Smart Connection will be increasing awareness through training for the new and existing customers and will work to engage in a healthcare digital transformation initiative.

www.theceoviews.com

With years of experience in broad areas of technology and solution innovation, Smart Connections Consulting understands the initiatives and objectives of its clients/partners and develops a realistic strategic plan that cut across as many organizations as possible leveraging existing critical infrastructure, process modification and data to deliver the desired results. March 2023 131

Supply Chain Solutions, Corp Ensuring improved management solution for businesses

Keeping pace with the global market trends and technological advancements, supply chains are looking for ways to improve sustainability by tailoring to suit the individual client needs. Transportation and logistics operations remain a signiﬁcant force in supply chain management with accurate, quick and strategic approach streamlining the management process. Supply Chain Solutions is a logistics sourcing, management and consulting company which is a leader in creating value added services to businesses across a vast array of industries. With sophistication, expertise, and technology it acts as an extension of the logistic arms of their clients. Josh Halgrimson, President & CEO of Supply Chain Solutions. Corp in a conversation with the CEOViews team shared details on how they strive for sustainable business growth. 132 March 2023

Story of Inception and Mission Traditionally, the transportation and logistics industry is heavily focused on transactional based offerings. Effective transportation management is often the competitive differentiator and requires a well plotted strategy. The business proposition of Supply Chain Solutions is simply a different go-to-market strategy having a two-pronged approach. It addresses not only hard dollar savings but likewise puts an emphasis on soft dollar end. Josh believes that a well-developed logistic strategy, supported by SOP’s and KPI’s can not only obtain short term goals, but can create streamlined efﬁciencies and opportunities for sustainable and continual improvement. The company also focuses on data analysis to better www.theceoviews.com

understand the need and to formulate strategies accordingly. “With good data, you can make good decisions”, says Josh Halgrimson. Journey

For Josh, the journey was simply about going to the market with a different offering that focuses on providing a better client experience and not just only moving one’s shipments. Traditionally, the sales process is somewhat disingenuous where the seller pushes the consumers for products that they might not need. For Supply

Supply Chain Solutions works with clients to deeply analyse their supply chains to identify inefficiencies. Chain Solutions, it is a genuine process where they work to develop concepts and methods based on each individual client need through a consultative approach. Josh said, “Our focus is not only on what we can achieve today, but on a sustainable continual improvement process. Companies don’t simply hire us to move their freight, but task us to make them better. With the combination of technology and the expertise of our associates, we better understand the client’s supply chain and collect relatable data to make better decisions.” Idea of Innovation Supply Chain Solutions works with clients to deeply analyse their supply chains to identify inefﬁciencies. After collecting a baseline of data, www.theceoviews.com

JOSH HALGRIMSON CEO

new strategies are developed that streamline systems and internal processes that help to enhance the services with maximising revenue. The transportation management solution is designed to meet speciﬁc needs of the client. Through the discovery phase, Supply Chain Solutions is able to identify areas of need along with additional opportunities that help drive the needle for the client. Supply Chain Solutions leverages their state-of-the-art technology to provide the client with the visibility and reporting they need to truly understand their spend. It not only helps in developing key performance indicators for the clients, but also practices what is preached. Each department from Business Development, Operations, Customer Service to March 2023 133

Finance and Accounting has their daily and monthly KPIs on boards, visible to all for tracking the matrix of the success. Accomplishing regular internal KPIs translates to a quality customer service. Collaborative engagement and the urge for doing better, drives the company to obtain new heights. It heavily focuses on KPI and SOP development and makes sure to keep pace with internal expectations. STANDING OUT FROM PEERS Through research and development from training, seminars, tradeshows to executive associations, Supply Chain Solutions strongly focuses on continual improvement. Adding to that, Josh shared, “Our industry is heavily transaction based, asking for RFPs. But our focus is our clients and we look for developing a supply chain strategy that fosters continual improvement with improved visibility and better strategies that will not only drive hard dollar savings but also soft dollar savings. Many logistics providers hire employees and provide minimal training which translates into the customer experience. We put a strong focus on the individuals we hire, it’s a strategic approach. We want to make sure they are a ﬁt for us but likewise that we are a ﬁt for them. I prefer quality over quantity and this helps to create a good internal work environment. Our overall turnover is less than 5% company wide over the last two years.” CHALLENGES Josh feels that because they are not focused on transaction based model, they do not experience similar issues on capacity and buying pressures that other logistic providers go through. He said, “Yes, depending on the market will dictate some possible pivots on strategies, but because of our model we do not experience similar challenges of the transitional logistics provider.”

134 March 2023

FUTURE VISION For a sustainable business growth, expansion is a major consideration. Proper scaling and reach can catapult a business to success. Supply Chain Solutions has set their sight on expansion and opened a new ofﬁce in Chattanooga TN, which was operational as of February 1. They have a goal of 5 new ofﬁces in 5 years, all while being strategic on location and timing. With a simple go-to-market strategy of innovation and continual improvement via technology and expertise, Supply Chain Solutions constantly strives to develop a strategic procurement process through enhanced KPIs, SOPs and data analysis. It offers consulting services, sourcing and management for businesses of all size by understanding the intricacies, regulations and best practices involved.

For a sustainable business growth, expansion is a major consideration.

www.theceoviews.com

thorndyke Your independent verification partner for DOOH

Media buyers are continuously exploring new paths of innovation to target consumers more precisely. With dynamic real-time content, more creativity and better visibility, DOOH advertising is bringing in new opportunities to drive more engagement and improving campaign outcomes. DOOH advertising, a digital take on out-of-home ads, is powered by digital signage technologies and helps to connect brands with audiences by displaying the right

message at the right time and place.

The DOOH industry is the last of the digital mediums to have any form of independent verification and to ensure its success and credibility as a channel, needs third party verification more than ever. Third-party verification provides an independent assessment of campaign performance; was the ad delivered to the right screen, state and time of day, and did it get the correct exposure? thorndyke with years of experience in building ad technology and verification, has developed into an independent verification partner for DOOH campaigns and works directly with media agencies and brands. Jason Cooper, Co-founder and CEO of thorndyke was with the CEOViews team to share details about how they are delivering better campaign measurement to brands with DOOH verification. CEOViews: thorndyke delivers independent 3rd party DOOH verification for advertisers and media owners. DOOH is one of the last digital mediums to be measured. How did you develop this idea? What was your mission at the outset? Jason Cooper: We saw the evolution of verification from our time working on building digital www.theceoviews.com

measurement solutions for desktop and mobile. Online verification has been around for more than 12 years now, and during that time we saw a growing sophistication with fraud and other issues concerned with brand safety and media quality. We noticed DOOH (digital out of home) did not suffer from these issues and offered a fabulous platform for brand messaging. However, there was no independent verification that the advertiser was getting what they paid for. Our mission is to bring this transparency to this medium through verification and independent measurement, and ensure advertisers can track ROI and media owners are held accountable.

“

We saw the evolution of verification from our time working on building digital measurement solutions for desktop and mobile.

”

March 2023 135

CEOViews: How are you improving the medium’s credibility? Jason Cooper: Actually, we are improving the medium’s credibility through transparent, accountable results that are independently measured. When that happens, trust and transparency grow, outcomes are improved and investment in the medium increases – everybody wins. We have also got some fabulous clients who believe in what we do and encourage us to drive forward new ideas and product innovation. CEOViews: What are the different types of innovative services provided by your firm to its clients? Jason Cooper: We have clients from both media owner and agency side and have a 360-degree view of the market requirements taking into account both side. For the media agency and advertisers we are able to independently verify campaign spend and performance, starting with the simple questions, did the ad actually play, whether the ad played on the right screen, on the right day, time and in the right state. Having that information delivered in real time through a centralized reporting dashboard means that campaign performance can be optimised in-flight and media owners can be held accountable to results and delivery. CEOViews: thorndyke states that they are a believer in independent measurement and are excited about the DOOH opportunity. What is this DOOH opportunity all about? Jason Cooper: DOOH commands less than 8% of total global advertising investment. However as a medium it doesn’t suffer from some of the issues that have plagued digital advertising, namely fraud, brand safety and viewability. There are still issues with accountability and accuracy on delivery, however as a medium it tends to be safer from the brand safety perspective, there are no ad 136 March 2023

JASON COOPER, CEO & Co-Founder

“

we have been able to establish ourselves as a solid, trusted and credible source of truth.

blockers or paywalls so reaching the audience in some ways is easier. That coupled with a huge creative canvas for messaging, presents a powerful medium for a brand. However, how we go about increasing that 8% investment requires independent measurement that will help advertisers quantify their investment.

www.theceoviews.com

CEOViews: How does your firm measure progress screens and 3rd party verification where the media on new ideas? Any special procedure to do so? owner allows tracking tags inside the screens in Jason Cooper: In some ways we are lucky as we order to perform measurement. And now we are have been building digital measurement products seeing programmatic trading take off, a centralised for over 15 years now from ad servers, rich media way of buying media which means new plumbing is solutions to verification platforms. In this sector, being established. Previously, media owners had we’re answering a lot of those same questions constraints of allowing verification. It was seen as a regarding campaign performance: ROI, accountabil- threat and would expose inefficiencies with perfority and maximising the investment in the medium. mance and delivery. However, over the past few So, we have been able to produce products that years, media owners have started considering verifiaddress these questions and improve decision cation as beneficial. It has increased their credibility as a trusted channel providing an independent making. assessment of performance. CEOViews: In what ways do your innovative ideas CEOViews: What type of future vision do you have assist your customers? for your firm? Jason Cooper: It really comes down thinking about the customers first and foremost. We understand Jason Cooper: We have a solid foundation for the problem we are solving, how we are empower- growth. Over the last few years, we have been able ing them to make better buying decisions and then to establish ourselves as a solid, trusted and crediassist them with forward planning and improve cam- ble source of truth. We are now all set to expand on that success with North American firmly in our sight. paign outcomes. We are scouting locations in New York and will be CEOViews: What type of working culture do you making a move very soon. The platform is in place maintain in your firm? What does it take to build a for success and we are enormously excited about great team? the opportunity. Jason Cooper: As a team we know each other’s strengths and we have been able to naturally slot into positions we are familiar with and excel at. My role as a leader is about providing our team a platform to grow and learn, empowering them to become autonomous and make decisions to increase success. Our technical team explores new technologies and frameworks that can improve efficiencies. I think people are happier when they are able to express themselves, explore and experiment with new ways of doing things.

Our technical team explores new technologies and frameworks that can improve efficiencies.

CEOViews: What challenges did your firm come across in meeting the dynamic market trends in the DOOH sector? Jason Cooper: There has been rapid changes in the DOOH sector over past few years with digitisation of

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 137

CLEMENS PFEIFFER President and CEO/CTO

Tier44 Technologies Leader in DCIM solutions

Tier44 Technologies provides several innovative solutions and has more in the pipeline. 138 March 2023

There is a growing demand for data center management automation among enterprises and software advancement and technical modernisation are the keys to unlocking these new efﬁciencies. The complexity of data centers continues to increase, and organisations must adapt to meet the rising challenges of efﬁcient www.theceoviews.com

management. Tier44 Technologies has developed new approaches to address the cause. It is a leading developer of Data Center Management Software and has partnered with the ServiceNow platform to extend the native capabilities of ServiceNow in DCIM to enable monitoring, baselining and graphical visualization of data center conﬁgurations and to automate standard operating procedures. As an embedded application, fast and seamless implementation is possible. Clemens Pfeiffer, CEO of Tier44 Technologies was with the CEOViews team to share their business story. Story of Inception and Mission Based in Santa Clara, California, Tier44 Technology was started in 2014 with the goal to build applications on ServiceNow by utilizing the knowledge and experience of the founders in data centres management, IT devices and applications. Since its inception, the team has kept looking for innovative approaches and unique capabilities to bring to ServiceNow users to improve operational efﬁciencies. Through automating tasks wherever possible, implementing “digital employees” where appropriate, reducing the number of clicks performed to complete a task and by eliminating data inconsistencies, they have succeeded in advancing the ability of users of ServiceNow to enable end-to-end management of a company’s data centres. Over time, Tier44 Technologies has become the leading ServiceNow technology partner for Data Center Management speciﬁc applications and services to organizations using ServiceNow. Its certiﬁed solutions provide visibility, actionable intelligence, analytics and automation to help CIOs, IT directors, and facility managers to dynamically optimize capacity, and manage service levels and power consumptions within and across an organizations data centers. Journey For Tier44 Technologies, the journey toward success has been quite interesting. The company has won multiple awards. But Covid somewhat derailed the progress, which can mainly be attributed to missing in-person ServiceNow user group conferences. These “Knowledge” www.theceoviews.com

conferences were a great lead generation opportunity, and they were great for leveraging the excitement around ServiceNow. With over 20,000 people in 2019, there is a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm coming from such a conference, something an “online only” version could not generate. So, to present new innovations, ideas and learn from other organizations about new priorities and requirements, the team is looking forward to the in-person conference in Las Vergas this year. Approach Tier44 Technologies provides several innovative solutions and has more in the pipeline. Offerings include award-winning applications via the ServiceNow store for visualization, rack elevation views and capacity aggregation of space, power, and network ports, and an add-on module for monitoring and data collection from a variety of IT and data center facility components directly into ServiceNow. Tier44 also provides implementation services within ServiceNow for modules like IT Asset Management, CMDB, discovery, custom application development, UI builder components and ﬂow designer-based workﬂows. There are graphical views like ﬂoor plans, and rack elevation views that Tier44 has added to ServiceNow. These graphical elements are natural extensions to the default forms/tables and basic charts provided by ServiceNow to greatly increase data center asset observability and management functions. New modules around monitoring and data collection are planned, including some related to Tier44’s patented dynamic power management which enables data centers to dynamically adjust the operation of large server farms to match variable demand, which can result in huge power cost savings while reducing the carbon footprint of an enterprise. Welcoming new ideas Ideas usually come from potential or existing customers during discussions about their speciﬁc use cases. Hearing about them gives a chance to validate these ideas with some other customers to see if it is something March 2023 139

generic or just for a speciﬁc customer need. If similar requirement comes from multiple organisations, then the team investigates ways to build it, and if it is for a speciﬁc customer, they offer it as a one-off implementation. ServiceNow as a platform As a platform ServiceNow provides unlimited opportunities for innovation but at the same time limits the process of implementation of certain solutions. Over the time ServiceNow has become more and more ﬂexible to allow partners to create a wide variety of innovative solutions, not just by Tier44 but by other ServiceNow technology partners as well. Staying ahead of competition Innovation is all about doing things nobody has done before. Adding value to the users require the right mix of potential, technology, experience, and implementation. An expert team with a strong technical background and willingness to listen to customer needs and an affordable price point can drive signiﬁcant value to the user. Tier44 combines these and ﬁgures out ways to implement something innovative with a great user experience and then packages it up for release on the ServiceNow store.

main challenge is about ﬁnding the right organizations, requirements that we can meet to generate value, and development/rollout cycles.” Future vision Tier44 Technologies has been in business for several years now but they believe they are still in the early stages of opportunity, and have a variety of innovations yet to be released. Adding more to that, Clemens said, “We will continue adding better products to the store as we implement more capabilities. We will also increase our services so we can support more service partners and help us identify additional innovative solutions.” Tier44 Technologies is a Premier ServiceNow technology partner, building all its solutions on the ServiceNow platform for large enterprises, government agencies and managed service providers. It provides strategic value-added solutions to users by utilizing data center facility components and hands on technical improvisations. This is complemented by implementation services to enhance observability and management functions, delivering comprehensive, automated, cutting-edge solutions to companies.

Tier44 is an application developer but also provides consulting services on a limited basis to selected organisations and partners either by being a sub-contractor to a service provider or helping a service provider to learn how to best use and setup the Tier44 application. Dynamic market trends Dynamic market trends are somewhat limited in scope by the ServiceNow roadmap. When asked about what could be the future trends, Clemens said, “With the adoption rate of ServiceNow and the fact that over 50% of F1000 organizations already use it we are working within a steadily expanding SAM. We have seen this in the past with SAP and others, when such platforms and ecosystems materialize, if you can innovate quickly you might be able to leverage this growth. The

140 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Triton Networks: Integrated Network Solutions

“

Triton has become a digital transformation leader with a focus on customer needs. We have developed a strong culture built around the customer experience, and we have been recognized as innovators throughout our industry.

”

ROBERT HOUSE

RON LOVERN

CEO

Executive Vice President

echnology and Communications are transforming at a rapid pace within the telecommunications industry. Additionally, security and network services have already begun to overlap, creating an even more complex business landscape for businesses. Today's business communication platforms must have the flexibility and agility to meet the demands of current and future business environments. Triton Networks,

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 141

LLC. (Triton) continues to build on its traditional voice, data, network, and internet services to keep pace with the ongoing digital transformation in the Market to meet those network and security challenges that businesses encounter on an ever-increasing basis. Robert House, CEO of Triton, was with the CEOViews team to share details on how they are helping their clients with its product and services. CEOViews: Triton Networks brings comprehensive voice, data, networking, mobility, communication services, and cloud solutions to companies with a single location or organizations with a larger distributed footprint. How did you develop this idea? What was your mission at the outset? Robert House: Historically, larger service providers view customers as a nuisance with a dollar sign. The care they provide is tied directly to the amount of money spent. We felt that Triton could fill a massive void in the marketplace based on the customer experience. Everything we do in our business model is focused on providing a customer-first approach. We conduct business differently. We push ourselves to be more proactive and creative in the marketplace by providing the highest service standards and a customer-first solution model. CEOViews: Triton Networks has been recognized as the,' Most Innovative Companies to Watch." How was your journey so far? Robert House: So far, the journey has been quite exciting. We have been fortunate to have been recognized over recent years as Innovative Leaders in the Market by our peers and Digital Thought Leaders

within our industry. Triton has become a digital transformation leader with a focus on customer needs. We have developed a strong culture built around the customer experience, and we have been recognized as innovators throughout our industry. Our customer experience focus drives us forward to create new and innovative solutions to meet our customer's growing business demands, which in turn makes additional technological value for us in the overall Market. CEOViews: What innovative ideas do you bring to small and medium-sized businesses through a wide range of voice, data, and network solutions? Robert House: Triton can provide a complete communications framework for small and medium-sized businesses over a securely managed network service. We eliminate the typical lack of network visibility, multi-vendor management, and unpredictable third-party costs by providing an end-to-end view and complete management of the communications stacks. With the ability to bring various solutions, our customers have multiple options available with a centralized billing system and our customer care single point of contact concierge service. CEOViews: In what ways do your innovative ideas assist your customers? Robert House: Triton makes the complex simple. We provide multiple real-time networking, security, monitoring, and analytic tools, to provide various options

Triton can provide a complete communications framework for small and medium-sized businesses over a securely managed network service. www.theceoviews.com

and approaches to review. By delivering innovative solutions individually to each customer, we also offer the flexibility and agility to approach each situation with a unique solution. By design, Triton is able to deliver any Telecommunications solution available in today's marketplace while considering the potential future demands of individual businesses. CEOViews: What are your different types of products and services? Can you give us a little briefing about them? Robert House: Triton provides managed voice, network, cloud, and data center solutions while proactively monitoring these services with our 24x7 Network Operations Center (NOC). In addition to these traditional services, Triton provides next-generation cyber security, Mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), Device endpoint management, and monitoring services. We provide cloud and application integration in a secure communications platform for seamless collaboration and file sharing, ideal for today's remote work environments and multi-channel communication between individuals and groups. We also do this all on a centralized billing platform for easy customer management of a single invoice. CEOViews: Can you explicate in brief about your firm's 24/7/365 Network Monitoring? Robert House: We do this by deploying measures to proactively open trouble tickets and providing a fully integrated 24/7/365 NOC facility. Our team actively manages any issues to resolution on behalf of our customers. Triton has a vast array of service provider options across North America that they aggregate into a single customer solution, providing one invoice with simple billing and a proactive care group that monitors a customer's network 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. CEOViews: What challenges did your firm come across throughout its journey so far? Robert House: Customer ability to have a complete end-to-end view across a customer's network. A securely managed network service provider is critical in today's business environment. Triton provides a unique business model built for the customer journey. Triton www.theceoviews.com

provides a fully secure network monitoring and management service unique within the industry. We are part of a select and unique group of fully secure Managed Network Service Providers (MNSP) in the industry. CEOViews: How does your firm always manage to provide practical, creative solutions? Robert House: Triton has always been a forward-thinking Telecommunications company. Our proven approach to "high touch" personal customer care enables Triton to consistently deliver the best available solutions and care to their customers. This approach is what drives our team to continually innovate and develop solutions built around current needs as well as future business opportunities. We continually research across our industry to develop partnerships and ideas to create solutions built specifically around a customer's business. Triton provides the ability for these organizations to stay in sync, up to date, and on the same page by eliminating the gaps in their communication, both internal and external. CEOViews: According to you, what are the upcoming market trends in your industry? Robert House: As network services and business security merge as part of the growth in our industry, Triton is actively working on solutions to meet current and future business concerns. We recently brought in a recognized industry leader in Ronald Lovern to focus on the market trends, next generation technology, and other tools that will keep Triton at the forefront of our Industry. Under his leadership, Triton Networks has developed Triton One Solutions® service platform to address the increasing network and security gaps within the industry. Triton One Solutions® is a fully secure integration platform for business communication services. It provides a secure network end-to-end with management and monitoring capabilities across a customer's entire business communications stack. Triton has also invested in our own private IOT Mobility platform under Triton Connected Communities, that was developed to meet our customers upcoming growing wireless and cellular network needs. When you think networks, think Triton.

March 2023 143

Wave HDC Revolutionizing Healthcare Data Automation Effective healthcare data management is crucial for improving patient outcomes, reducing costs, and optimizing healthcare delivery. However, this industry faces challenges like data fragmentation, privacy concerns, and regulatory requirements. The traditional data management tools and techniques may not be adequate with healthcare data's increasing volume and complexity. Advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain can address these challenges and ensure that healthcare data is managed effectively and curated efficiently.

Wave HDC is confident in delivering the best products to their customers.

Wave HDC is currently addressing the challenges involved in the management of healthcare data with its well-crafted tech stack. Jordan Levitt, President & CEO of Wave HDC, was with the CEOViews team to share their story on how they are bringing tangible change to healthcare.

The Story of Inception Speaking about what prompted them to start Wave HDC, Jordan Levitt said, "Many of us have a history with larger clearinghouses, and we watched what they didn't fulfill, but they were constantly managing to budget, lacked R&D resources, and employed a lipstick on a pig model. When we built Wave, we already had a roadmap; the industry had already spoken, and we were listening and poised to act. No lipstick, zip ties, nor duct tape were needed".

144 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

Mission Wave HDC's mission is to curate patient and insurance data as early as possible, without human intervention, with the goal of reducing fraud, waste, and abuse. Through their efforts, they have achieved unexpected process and financial efficiencies, leading to the development of a fully autonomous platform that solves a wider range of problems. Although the value they provide has broadened and evolved over time, their commitment to their original mission remains unchanged.

Role of Innovation Wave HDC has achieved remarkable success in automating data verification and fixing processes. Their products have surpassedinitial expectations by verifying and fixing a significant number of data sets

Jordan Levitt, President & CEO

in real time. The company has even expanded its services to include good faith estimates in the ambulatory space, working primarily with partners to continue to add value to their offerings. Despite being similar to an eligibility clearinghouse, Wave HDC operates as a data aggregator, processor, and billing triage solution. Their products have been designed to eliminate the need for human intervention, saving clients both money and staff rework immediately. The company has leveraged modern tools and data democratization to streamline its production process, allowing it to achieve results within days or weeks while its competitors take a year or more to do so. This approach helps clients avoid fatigue, unfinished implementations, and wasted effort with little-to-no benefit. www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 145

Wave HDC recognizes that its service component is just as important as its products. They work closely with clients and vendor partners to ensure that their solutions are tailored to their needs and that they are getting the maximum value out of their fully automated offerings. Wave HDC is revolutionizing the healthcare industry by fostering innovation and collaboration, creating more efficient and effective processes that benefit everyone involved.

Company Culture At Wave HDC, the company culture is one that encourages employees to take pride in their work and in the company as a whole. The virtual open-door policy ensures that any concerns are addressed, and working managers minimize any frustration with executive leadership. The company strives to create a workplace that employees will love, and this starts with the hiring process. During interviews, Wave HDC evaluates candidates to ensure they are positive contributors to the team and will love the work they do. Once employed, the company focuses on maximizing employee engagement and recognizing their unique contributions in ways that cater to their individual styles. At Wave HDC, the emphasis is on continuous effort and improvement, creating a positive and supportive workplace culture. Speaking about how they address their clients' demands in the current dynamic markets, Jordan Levitt said, "In nearly all cases, our clients wanted one thing from us: more. More automation; more functionality; more reporting; and so on. We focus on provid-

Wave HDC's mission is to curate patient and insurance data as early as possible, without human intervention, with the goal of reducing fraud, waste, and abuse.

ing more, sometimes for less, especially during inflationary times. Interestingly, they don't have to ask because issues with prior processes or vendors are eliminated. Do good; get asked for more".

Differentiating Factor Wave HDC distinguishes itself from its competitors by avoiding the pitfalls of being stagnant or overly profit focused. Some competitors have siloed development or a lack of innovation, which prevents fresh ideas from coming to fruition. Additionally, the "content marketing arms race" often favors larger companies with bigger budgets, but Wave HDC focuses on investing profits back into research and development. While they may only sometimes win the marketing game, Wave HDC is confident in delivering the best products to their customers.

What's ahead? As Wave HDC moves forward, they plan to expand its reach across the healthcare industry by investing in data science, integration, and automation. Thus far, their success has resulted from their ability to integrate seamlessly with various healthcare sectors. With their dedication to innovation, it's clear that Wave HDC will continue providing cutting-edge solutions that enhance the healthcare experience for providers and patients. Wave HDC does the hard work, so their clients can have it easy. www.theceoviews.com

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 147

BEYOND CSR, CREATE SHARED VALUES n 2024, Winmate Inc. is about to reach a historic milestone and start its first 30 years. After 30 years of development, Winmate Inc. has evolved from being a hardware supplier to providing comprehensive system integration solutions. As a result, it has become the leading brand of rugged industrial computers worldwide. As part of its commitment to building an excellent brand image through innovation and macro-thinking, Winmate Inc. announced that 2022 would be its ”first year of the brand”. A wide range of business activities has become a part of Winmate's scope in recent years. The company has actively developed intelligent co*ckpit solutions, intelligent buildings, public safety solutions, and environmentally friendly renewable energy solutions. Also in the same year, Winmate's ESG sustainability website was awarded the top 5% of excellent enterprises.

Keeping this belief in mind is Ken's way of life. “Altruism“ has always been Winmate's guiding philosophy. It is a fundamental component of sustainable corporate management. Winmate integrates sustainability into its daily operations. “Our goal is to balance the environment, society, and governance through continuous practices and close cooperation with stakeholders.“ Winmate's sustainability aspects include environmental protection, social inclusion, corporate governance, and innovative value creation (ESG) in order to achieve its vision and mission. 148 March 2023

“Our goal is to balance

the environment, society, and governance through continuous practices and close cooperation with stakeholders.

” As a result of continuous rugged tablet use in vehicle and warehousing, as well as medical tablet orders starting to be shipped in 2022. Winmate's revenue hit a high, and profits can also reach a high at the same time. Revenue and profit will rise as the company continues to write new chapters in vehicle and medical tablets. Since winning a five-year large order for Mercedes-Benz Vehicle Inspection in 2019, the company also has won several orders from luxury car brands, Bosch, Siemens, and other major manufacturers. Winmate has also won orders relatwww.theceoviews.com

ed to petrochemical, marine, and semiconductor industries. For corporate sustainable development, Winmate adheres to the business philosophy of ” altruism” as a leading manufacturer and provider of rugged computer and IPC products. Under the vision of “Sustainability Through Innovation,“ Winmate has gradually realized concepts such as low-carbon manufacturing and circular economy in our value chain, and has adopted six strategies: Sustainable Supply Base, Green Product, Recycling, Decarbonization, People with Purpose, and Labor Welfare to fulfill the mission of “Trusted Innovation Partner for Technology, Sustainability, and Better Lives.” Adhering to the company’s vision, Winmate will continue to cooperate with various partners, exert sustainable influence, and lead the way for a prosperous future for all.

Revenue and profit will rise as the company continues to write new chapters in vehicle and medical tablets.

KEN LU Chairman | Winmate Inc.

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 149

150 March 2023

www.theceoviews.com

March 2023 151

AWARD-WINNING LIGHTING SOLUTIONS Our architectural lighting solutions stand out for their distinctiveness and efficiency. Our projects are impressive and surprising. Superior fixtures for intense emotions. www.griven.com

SHALI CENTRAL MOSQUE 2021 IALD AWARD OF EXCELLENCE WINNER

Top 50 Best companies of the year 2023_Final_7_2023_compressed Flipbook PDF - PDF Free Download (2024)