The 10 Most Impactful Data and Analytics Service Providers of 2022

ISSN 2582-127X

MAY 2022

THE

MOST IMPACTFUL

DATA AND ANALYTICS

SERVICE PROVIDERS OF 2022

Shawreen Shah Co-founder and Chief Strategist

Shikha Shah Founder and CEO

Quilytics At the Forefront, Presenting Data Analytics and Automation in a New Light

D

ata analytics is becoming an important part of modern businesses. Most organizations are realizing the potential of investing in robust big data analytics tools that promise cost savings, increased revenue, and productivity gains. More than 90% of the global businesses are investing in their organization's digital transformation initiatives, and data analytics is playing a huge part in this. The data analytics market potential growth difference will be US$196.47 billion from 2021 to 2026, as per the latest market analysis report by Technavio. The report also identifies the market to witness an accelerating growth momentum at a CAGR of 13.54% during the forecast period. The extensive use of modern technology in company operations is notably driving the data analytics market growth, although factors such as the integration of data from different sources may impede the market growth.

EDITORIAL

Gartner defines the data and analytics services market as composed of consulting, implementation, and managed services for decision, analytics, and data management capabilities. These are executed on technology platforms that support an organization's fact-based decision-making for digital transformation. Services may include commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions and proprietary assets, focusing on business use cases and outcomes, as well as information infrastructure and governance. Data and analytics service providers also offer asset-based consulting via domain-specific solutions or integrated platforms composed of their own packaged applications, repeatable methods, and reusable analytic frameworks. These solutions can be delivered as both on-premises and cloud-based managed services.

Data and analytics service providers are helping to shape the future of information technology. Businesses require data solutions that can serve any number of different use cases, and in the case of data analytics services, it can range from consulting to deployment assistance and much more.

Today, almost every business across industries is heavily pouring capital towards data analytics by shifting their focus on accumulating, processing, and utilizing data to improve effectiveness in business processes. Most data and analytics service providers (ESPs) have well-established capabilities and similar services and solutions.

Differentiating between these providers is becoming more challenging, making the selection process more complicated.

Data Analytics allows the staff to look at the information in a particular context and create smarter business choices to attain improved products and services. The usage of advanced analytical processes for business automation and task optimization is more in 2021. It's no surprise that data and analytics have become crucial tools across various organizations worldwide.

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COVER STORY

08

Quilytics Shikha Shah: Founder and CEO Shawreen Shah: Co-founder and Chief Strategist

ARTICLES 24

What's the Next Step for the Data-Driven World?

2022 and Beyond

54

Tips to Inculcate Data Analysis in Businesses to Drive Accurate Insights

CONTENTS

18

28

iManage

GridBeyond

Van Richardson

Brian Gahan

34 Katapult

40 Koniag Government Services

Orlando Zayas

Kevin Wideman

56

46 Yegertek Sajid Azmi

62

Yssy and Co

James Lancaster

Frederico Samartini

Renew IT

Shikha Shah Founder and CEO

Shawreen Shah Co-founder and Chief Strategist

8

COVER STORY

Quilytics At the Forefront, Presenting Data Analytics and Automation in a New Light

Q

uilytics is a new-age emerging venture offering Business

Analytics and Advanced Analytics Solutions to companies in

Digital Marketing, Supply Chain, eCommerce, Retail, Finance,

Healthcare, and other fields. It is a US-based end-to-end data analytics consulting firm that specializes in understanding business data and providing meaningful insights. Team Quilyticssuccors organizations by gathering data and leveraging it in the most sophisticated manner. It aids companies to achieve a competitive advantage by making critical decisions utilizing relevant business data.

The solutions provided by Quilytics are structured mainly into two suites:

9

“At Quilytics, Natural Language Processing is used to draw meaningful insights in tracking sentiments, leads, customer satisfaction, etc. Machine Learning Algorithms are used to build automated category-classification models for procurement companies which helps eliminate hours of manual effort.”

Shikha Shah Founder and CEO Shawreen Shah Co-founder and Chief Strategist

10

Enterprise Technology Suite: Enterprise Technology

Conversions, Leads, and Click-through Rates;

Suite includes Data Governance, Data Management,

metamorphosing them into a one-stop-shop solution.

Data Visualization, Business Intelligence, and Analytics

This empowers clients to look into trends and gain a real-

Reporting. The alliance with business partners begins

time view of their business KPIs and enables them to

with building an automated data ingestion system. This is

enhance their growth strategies.

done by integrating suitable APIs from siloed digital media/ CRM / Procurement platforms and housing data

Advanced Analytics Suite: In synergy with Enterprise

in databases like Microsoft SQL Server, AWS, Google

Technology capabilities, Quilytics also provide Advanced

Cloud Platform, etcetera. The team possesses

Analytics solutions using Decision Trees, Clustering, and

capabilities of extracting granular-level data from

Regression Analysis. Advanced Analytics Suite

multiple cloud-based / digital platforms like Facebook

constitutes Customer Segmentation, Life-Time Value,

Ads, Google Analytics, Salesforce, SAP Ariba, Net Suite,

Sales Projection, Spend Forecasting, Audience Targeting,

Epicor, IQVIA, and many others. This is followed by

and more. This enables brands in identifying added

wrangling the stored data and transforming it into a

opportunities like boosting lower funnel conversions,

readable version for better comprehension. The next

increasing sales, targeting significant audience

step is to design performance dashboards, which allow

segments, generating maximum savings, etc.

users to scrutinize important metrics like Sales/Revenue,

Spearheading Analytics with a Unique Approach Every business is born to solve a problem or optimize a

Besides providing analytics services, Shikha focused on

process. Analytics is a tool that streamlines and

adding value to her client's business. She had recognized

optimizes an operation in any domain- Manufacturing,

that customer retention was paramount to succeed in

Supply chain, Marketing, eCommerce, or Customer

the consulting business. As the ongoing partnership

service. Today, data analytics is imperative for businesses

grew, Co-founder Shawreen, realized that there is a

of all sizes. Lack of internal automation for overseeing a

potential to scale this service into a business. He laid out

large volume of data, insufficient techniques of data

a plan with details of what is essential to form a company.

management, and plenty of manual processes for

Mission, Vision, Service, and Operation were identified

reporting is an ongoing concern of many companies.

to be the four pillars of their business. That seeded the

Shikha Shah, Founder and CEO of Quilytics has a solid 8

inception of Quilytics. Quilytics empowers brands to

years of experience working in analytics consulting

make intelligent decisions through their fully

companies at multiple levels. She observed these basic

programmed technology solutions. The company

challenges in utilizing data to its full capacity up-close. As

specializes in growing business value through a powerful

the pandemic dawned and work became remote, she had

combination of quality and analytics. Quilytics is on a

an epiphany to leverage her experience as an

mission to help companies leverage data, in the most

independent consultant. Hence, she collaborated with a

privacy-focused manner, enabling them to make

Supply chain consulting firm to offer data analytics

informed decisions and provide real-time value in driving

services as a freelancer to streamline their procurement

their business forward.

data.

11

The Powerful Duo Converting Challenges into Opportunities Founder couple Shikha and Shawreen Shah were living a

and has worked at organizations like Zycus infotech,

standard immigrant life in the US. Both were busy

Global eProcure, Crossix Solutions, and Merkle

managing their jobs and domestic responsibilities. The

(Dentsu), who are market leaders in analytics. Shikha is a

pandemic made them realize that they need to have a

natural communicator and a compulsive doer. She works

secondary income and that is when Shikha considered

at warp speed and can delegate everyday tasks most

leveraging her analytics skills as an independent

seamlessly. She believes that her role is not just to handle

consultant. Shawreen saw the success of the first client

client projects, but also to create value for them. Shikha

as the stepping stone to building a formal business. The

works at the forefront with a focus on client relationships

couple recognized the risk of starting a venture in a

and also manages employee engagement.

foreign country. They had worked in the US for a few

Co-founder and Chief Strategist, Shawreen, has two

years, but conceptualizing a business was a road less

graduate degrees in the field of Engineering and had

travelled for working immigrants and hence posed a risk

been working in the scientific field as a Drug

in several ways. Right from company registration to

development scientist. Becoming an entrepreneur has

accounting, from pricing strategies to business

been a life goal for him. Shawreen is an avid planner and

development, it was going to be a huge learning curve.

resource manager. He operates with absolute clarity

But the couple recognized that this newfound

about how Quilytics needs to evolve to become a market

opportunity was a gateway to their dream of

leader in its segment. He has his hands full with a diverse

entrepreneurship and have not looked back.

set of responsibilities like handling pricing and growth

Founder and CEO, Shikha has a solid background in

strategy, managing the marketing team, and working

Analytics. She holds two graduate degrees in this field

closely with the accounting team to supervise finance.

'Data Modeling' at the Heart of Business Decision-Making Shikha reveals that Quilytics helps clients to derive

predictions for its clients. Natural Language Processing

measurable conclusions by integrating data modeling

is used to draw meaningful insights into tracking

with business decisions. The company has capabilities to

sentiments, leads, customer satisfaction, etc, claims

leverage data science in four different areas namely,

Shikha. She says that Machine Learning Algorithms are

Predictive Analytics, Forecasting, Machine Learning, and

used to build automated category classification models

NLP.

for the clients which helps eliminate hours of manual

She adds that by leveraging structured and unstructured

effort. Similar algorithms are used in pharmaceutical

data, Quilytics predicts trends, future sales, customer

companies to obtain Incentive Scores for their medical

lifetime value, etc. This helps brands plan their strategies

representatives.

ahead of time and take tactical decisions. The firm also drives high-level operational value by generating demand forecasts, cost planning, and inventory

12

Real People, Real Results: Bestowing Tailored Solutions Quilytics champions providing custom solutions based

integrating it into a combined storage system. Shawreen

on different market segments, presumes Shawreen. He

states that what stands out is the way this is executed for

adds that the company focuses on reshaping business

diverse corporations. Every deliverable is custom built

processes through advanced analytics and automation.

by understanding specific business problems and

The solution suite offered by Quilytics is completely

catering to the definitive needs of the client, hence

tailored depending on client requisites. The team of

leading to the mantra of the company “We take your data

experts is proficient in handling the massive amount of

personally”. He highlights that these tailor-made

data from various sources (ranging from digital

solutions blended with statistical insights make Quilytics

marketing, supply chain, retail, and healthcare CRM) and

unparalleled in its space.

Turning Customer Acquisition Pains into Purposes Shawreen utters that Quilytics has faced its fair share of

consumes a lot of time, but it is also very targeted and

challenges. He adds that Shikha and he had recognized

relevant. Quilytics has now undertaken organic and paid

early on that building a startup from scratch will continue

digital marketing and the founders are hoping that it will

to generate challenges at every step. But they also

create some buzz and awareness for the relevant

realized that solving them one at a time will not only

audience. Quilytics is also completely bootstrapped.

make the company stronger but become profound

According to Shawreen, the company revenue is

learning lessons. Shawreen states that the biggest

continuously invested back in the business to fuel

challenge Quilytics has faced and continues to tackle is

growth. This has its challenges as the founders

new customer acquisition. The root cause of this

continuously have to work to keep the company lean and

challenge is getting in front of the relevant customer.

make it efficient. This majorly limits the number of

Shikha continues that professional networks have

employees that can be hired. But it also makes the

proven to be the most successful tools for the founders

founders more independent and has full control over all

to reach potential customers. It is manual and hence

decisions.

13

Getting Better and Ahead with Remarkable Achievements Shikha reveals that a unique success story of Quilytics is

Quilytics also partnered with a janitorial and cleaning

with a technology-based fashion apparel company. This

company based out of California for providing spend

company reported losses of over 50% in their

analytics solutions, asserts Shikha. A testimonial from

eCommerce revenue due to the pandemic. At this

their VP Procurement enhancing the performance

juncture, the company partnered with Quilytics to attain

s t a t e s “ S h i k h a a n d Q u i l y t i c s t e a m h ave b e e n

a thorough understanding of its target audience to

instrumental in helping us organize our data in an

increase online sales. To assess how the investments

environment where no order previously existed. They

influenced conversions, Quilytics developed strategies

worked with all our internal stakeholders to help them

using advanced analytics, accessing their historic data,

layout an incredibly detailed action plan to achieve our

and provided solutions to invest in statistically

goals and objectives. They utilized raw data sources to

significant channels to enhance conversions and build

scrub, sync, and standardize the data and established

brand recognition. She adds that by allocating budgets in

dashboards that helped us build our strategy. We are

the right media channels and incorporating relevant

grateful for their expertise and work ethics and would

strategies provided by team Quilytics, the client

recommend them to any organization needing data

witnessed an uptick of 20% in their revenue in the first

support”

few months of the engagement.

Desired Vertical and Horizontal Changes According to the founders, the journey for Quilytics has

position the company in a strategic manner for which

just started and there is a multitude of possibilities and

they envision hiring new talent to thrust the company in

opportunities that are in store. The main focus is to gain

that new direction. Both are aware of the opportunities

more brand awareness along with new customers.

and risks involved with integration strategies, too. The

Shikha adds that they envision the company to grow both

vision is to pave a path of forwarding integration by

vertically and horizontally, but in a planned and

building fully programmed, sophisticated and easy-to-

structured manner. This means Quilytics will target

use product(s) for data automation. The team is also

acquiring new clients in need of analytics solutions

passionate about extending its footprint in potential

within Marketing, Supply Chain, Fashion, eCommerce,

partnerships with product companies for providing high-

Retail, Fashion, etc. for the next two years. The founders

end product support along with analytics consulting.

also have plans to carve out a niche and gradually

14

Quilytics

GridBeyond

Shikha Shah Founder & CEO Shawreen Shah Co-founder & Chief Strategist

Brian Gahan

Quily cs is a new-age emerging venture offering business analy cs and advanced analy cs solu ons to companies in digital marke ng, supply chain, eCommerce, retail, finance, healthcare, and other fields. It is a US-based end-to-end data analy cs consul ng firm that specializes in understanding business data and providing meaningful insights. Team Quily cs helps organiza ons by gathering data and leveraging it in the most sophis cated manner.

THE

CIO GridBeyond is a global leader, providing intelligent energy technology solu ons for industrial, commercial, ins tu onal, and u lity partners. Be it for renewables, or ba ery storage, their pla orm uses automa on and AI to give its customers the ability to trade and op mize the posi on of their assets in the energy markets. GridBeyond helps in improving their bo om line whilst facilita ng the transi on to netzero.

www.quily cs.com

www.gridbeyond.com

iManage

Katapult

Van Richardson

Orlando Zayas

CIO

CEO

MOST IMPACTFUL

DATA AND ANALYTICS

SERVICE PROVIDERS OF 2022

Koniag Government Services

Yegertek

Kevin Wideman

Founder & CEO

Sajid Azmi

CEO iManage is an innova ve company that helps legal and professional services organiza ons and their knowledge work professionals work more produc vely. The company’s solu ons can build connec ons based on the context of the content, which fuels deep insights, informed business decisions, and collabora on.

The company innovates to solve complex professional challenges and enable be er business outcomes.

Katapult is an eCommerce-focused financial technology company that serves nonprime consumers.

Katapult partners with high-end tech retailers to provide a leasepurchase solu on so that nonprime consumers have the same buying power as prime consumers. The company’s mission is to provide financial inclusion. Katapult believes people are more than their credit score, and nonprime consumers deserve equal access as the prime consumers.

www.imanage.com

www.katapult.com

Yssy and Co

Renew IT

Koniag Government Services (KGS) is an Alaska Na ve Corpora on with more than 4,200 Alaska Na ve Shareholders. The mission and vision of the company are rooted in Alaska’s na ve values. The Alu iq value of caring for the community is embedded in everything that the team does in every service, decision, and investment reflects the KGS commitment to living the Alu iq culture.

Yegertek has cra ed a niche for itself in the MENA region, through proprietary full-suite offerings like Puzzle. Yegertek was founded in 2017, to emerge as a leader in the omnichannel customer loyalty, customer experience, and the analy cs space. It’s the brainchild of Sajid Azmi, born out of his 20 years of professional experience across IT, retail, and healthcare.

www.koniag-gs.com

www.yegertek.com

Fractal

Tableau

Frederico Samar ni

James Lancaster

Pranay Agrawal

Mark Nelson

Chief Execu ve Officer

CEO

Co-founder & Chief Execu ve Officer

CEO

Yssy and Co is a technology pla orm that implements services to integrate products and so ware from over 100 mul na onal companies to digitally transform its clients. In contrast to what is currently offered by its compe tors, Yssy’s range of services is by far the largest one in the country, which includes cybersecurity, data science, analy cs, digital applica on, cloud, managed services, and IT infrastructure.

Renew IT is an ITAD (Informa on Technology Asset Disposi on) company that provides lifecycle asset services for IT hardware. The firm offers asset lifecycle fleet management for smartphone devices, laptops, desktop PCs, and DataCentre de-installa on work that also aims toward sustainability. The main focus of Renew IT is laid on zero-landfill ewaste and crea ng innova on around sustainability.

Fractal is one of the most prominent players in the ar ficial intelligence space. Fractal's mission is to power every human decision in the enterprise and brings AI, engineering, and design to help the world's most admired Fortune 500® companies. Fractal has more than 3,000 employees across 16 global loca ons, including the United States, UK, Ukraine, India, Singapore, and Australia.

Tableau helps people see and understand data. Tableau’s selfservice analy cs pla orm empowers people of any skill level to work with data. From individuals and nonprofits to government agencies and the Fortune 500, tens of thousands of customers around the world rely on Tableau’s advanced analy cs capabili es to make impac ul, datadriven decisions. The company offers successful business forecasts driven by data.

www.yssy.com.br

www.renewit.in

www.fractal.ai

www.tableau.com

Van Richardson CIO of iManage

18

Enabling Automated Information Technology with Advanced Artificial Intelligence

T

he emergence of remote working amid the

communications. Advanced AI and powerful document

COVID-19 pandemic has created dramatic shifts

and email management can create connections across

in how organizations communicate, collaborate,

data, systems, and people. Crucially, iManage solutions

and operate. With the massive volumes of data and

can build connections based on the context of the

knowledge within organizations today, finding, sharing,

content, which fuels deep insights, informed business

and mining critical knowledge for reuse – especially

decisions, and collaboration. Underpinned by best-of-

when working remotely– is time-consuming and can

breed security, the company innovates to solve complex

drain productivity. Modern organizations understand

professional challenges and enable better business

that the benefits of effective knowledge activation

outcomes for its global customers.

extend beyond empowering their workers for greater

In a nutshell, iManage helps legal and professional

efficiency – also translating into delivery of higher

organizations work more productively, smarter, and

quality services for clients. iManage is an innovative

securely, focusing on 'making knowledge work,'

company that helps legal and professional

recognizing that knowledge is the engine that drives

servicesorganizations and their knowledge work

performance, outcomes, and value to the customers.

professionalswork more productively. Van Richardson leads the Enterprise Information Technology and

A Multi-Talented Leader

Workplace Solutions for the company.

Van has been working in the IT sector for more than 20 years and has led the department of Enterprise

A Successful Provision of Cloud-Enabled, Advanced AI

Information Technology and Workplace Solutions.

Solutions

Everything that involves internally supporting the

CIO of iManage, Van Richardson explains that iManage's

company's global business is within his responsibilities.

cloud-enabled, secure, platform for knowledge work

He also provides technological support to the

enables organizations to uncover and activate the

engineering organization to enable efficiency in their

knowledge that exists inside their business content and

work.

19

“I learned years ago that having the business on your side to accomplish shared goals will go a long way.

Removing barriers and bureaucracy in technology processes is very critical to the success of the technology leader.”

Van Richardson CIO iManage

20

Va n' s m a n d a t e i s w i d e - ra n g i n g . H i s a r e a s o f

collaboration tools and 4 instant messaging platforms.

responsibility within the organization include

This complexity added major confusion to the workforce,

infrastructure (network, datacenter, cloud, servers, and

and there was a growing need to reduce the friction. Van

systems), global service delivery (service desk and end

met with business leaders across the organization and

user support), corporate IT security (firewalls,

took pulse surveys on use cases and user sentiment.

encryption, system hardening, policies and procedures),

Within 3 months, the company consolidated to 1 tool in

collaboration (Office 365, Zoom, VoIP), business

each area, reducing the number of video tools by 80%,

applications, data, and business intelligence. Within

and the number of messaging tools by 75%, which helped

these domains, his biggest priorities are the security of

to deliver greater efficiency, collaboration, and user

the company's endpoints, protecting data in flight, and

satisfaction.

end-user training.

The likelihood for teams wanting to use tools that they

Van received both a bachelor of science, with a

are familiar with – which are oftentimes cloud or SaaS

specialization in business, and an MBA, with a

products – is increasing. Team members want to use the

specialization in information technology, from Capella

same tools that they use at home and in their personal

University. Currently, Van is pursuing a Doctorate in

life. So, Van implemented a SaaS management tool that

business administration, with a specialization in

allows him to integrate with SaaS providers and look for

information technology, from the University of Phoenix

utilization. It gives Van a view into duplication, as well as a

and expects completion by 2022. Overall, Van's

view of spending that is being expensed. This allowed him

education has been a blend of business and IT, which has

to standardize on common tools, eliminate costs to credit

served him well in his current role.

cards that aren't in line with the standard, and implement processes to manage the onboarding of new tools within

The Journey Towards Becoming a Successful CIO

the enterprise.

Van describes the technology initiative he led to make the organization entirely remote in response to the

Using Smart Communication to Combat Covid-19

COVID-19 pandemic as a purposefully orchestrated and

Challenges

collaborative effort. In preparation for successfully

On the IT front, one of the first things Van did when the

addressing the new work paradigm, he met with business

initial stirrings of COVID-19 were being reported was to

stakeholders and teams to understand the

conduct some initial assessments of the company's

requirements. He also implemented systems, processes,

systems – including video conferencing, IM, VPN, remote

and tools to handle the new way of working. The

access, and other key technologies – to make sure that

company coordinated with its vendors within various

they operated as expected and would be fully

geographic regions to ensure it had the appropriate

performant. According to Van, these third-party tools

technical resources to handle the organization's needs.

have been invaluable, but the company is also well-

Van led virtual 'IT Café' sessions to aid the workforce in

positioned to support remote working and collaboration,

getting used to working remotely throughout the

simply by the nature of its core product offering –

pandemic. Based on the work, the team was voted Team

iManage Work 10.

of the Year by the company's global organization.

As described by Van, the company had 5 video

With iManage Work 10 emails and documents from

21

disparate sources can be organized, managed, and stored

experience and business expertise to quickly make

in one repository as a single source of truth that is

decisions and delegate as needed. Van asks, “Who wants

available from any device, any location at any time. The

to be the leader of the ship and immediately hit

SaaS platform provides access to critical document and

resistance?” He described that he has learned that

emails with best-in-class security and governance,

business stakeholders are more willing to support IT

allowing organizations to be more agile, collaborative,

initiatives if they understand the reason for the

and responsive to business demands. These capabilities

direction. Better yet, they want to be a part of setting the

aren't only game-changing for customers, who

course. If done successfully, they will be the company's

increasingly want greater flexibility in endpoints and

champions while the leader focuses on meeting the goal.

mobility, but for iManage users as well.

As the company has transitioned to making remote

Innovation as a Tool to Bring Positive Changes

working 'business as usual' during these unusual times,

Van stated, "Whether it was leading the IT team at ITT,

communication has been key: educating the workforce

Grubhub, or my current home at iManage, innovative

about the tools that are available to them and how they

technology enablement has been and continues to be a

should use them. Everyone needs a little education when

passion of mine." He sharedthat he focuses on bringing

the normal routine is upended. Van's role as CIO is

his diverse expertise to support fast-paced and energetic

understanding what the people need and then working

environments. Van has a passion to develop and lead

collaboratively to deliver on that. Like People Ops or

successful teams, and most importantly, he has a passion

Finance, IT impacts everyone in an organization.

to learn. He looks forward to continuing to be an agent of

Van emphasized that the IT team provides the

change, a force for innovation, and a positive example for

foundation for everyone to get their jobs done. When the

everyone he interacts with.

company has done its job properly, its ability to react to situations like COVID-19 or to turn on a dime from office-based work to working from home can take place

Automation at the Top of Future Prospects

much faster because the company has done its

In Van's words, "I have no shortage of priorities for the

homework and has prepared in advance. That's how the

coming year! Automation is at the top of the list."

company, as an organization, can ensure that everyone

According to him, anything that can be automated should

stays safe in the face of the current COVID-19

be automated. This includes routine tasks, like the

challenges, even while it maintains a focus on what drives

systems' deployment, as well as an intelligent response

it as a company.

to threats, and service request management. Van's other priorities include continuing to rationalize corporate

'Right Decision at Right Time' Makes a Successful

applications by removing duplication and finalizing

Leader

standard offerings, ensuring a secure and safe return to

According to Van, a leader must make informed

the office once the pandemic has receded, and finalizing a

decisions. He also notes that he learned early on that

corporate move-to-Cloud strategy. Van believes that

leaders can spend too much time looking for the right

being a technology leader requires a unique perspective

answer and miss the opportunity to course-correct

that focuses on transparency and partnerships with the

immediately. Over the years, he has learned to use his

business.

22

WHAT'S THE NEXT STEP FOR THE DATA-DRIVEN WORLD? 2022 AND BEYOND

P

erhaps the most dramatic outcome of the digital

collect more data than ever before as they've raced to

revolution is the amount of data that is now

transform their businesses and make data-driven

collected and analyzed. IDC calculates that in

decisions. This has spurred all kinds of personalized,

2010 the world created about two zettabytes (ZB) of

connected objects, such as industrial machinery that

digital information. If that were put into 1 GB thumb

saves money by signaling when it needs maintenance.

drives, laid end to end, it would make a line that could

And it has spurred services that combine digital

stretch across 184 million football fields. That sounds

information from traffic information, and social network

impressive until you consider that the World Economic

graphs. It has also brought greater efficiency to things

Forum figures there will be 44 ZB collected in 2020.

like supply chains and consumer marketing, to name just

This growth in data produced and collected is

a couple of examples. This explosion also pushed other

profound—and as COVID-19 has caused disruption to

organizations to re-evaluate their strategies and look to

economies, businesses, and lives around the world, it has

cloud infrastructure to provide relief from legacy tools

become more urgent to not only marvel at the scale of all

that could not keep up with the growing needs of the

this data but also to understand how it's being put to

business.

work.

Automation and the World of Security A Look-back into the Data Landscape

The data analysis that's possible today can provide us

The past decade's data explosion created a virtuous

with a new understanding of how to stay safe and how

circle of data analysis and action, leading to new insights,

we, as a society, can perform better in the future. As all of

data creation, and data analysis. We've seen companies

us struggle with rapid changes, the ability to perform

24

cheap, fast, and flexible analyses of the newest and most

Image Data and A Look into The Future

reliable information becomes even more critical to the

By 2025, more than 50% of the data will be collected on

way we work. Serverless and no-ops cloud deployments

the edge, on 41,6 billion IoT devices, including

will continue to automate many kinds of computing

6billionsmartphones. Much more will come from

infrastructure, allowing customers to focus on running

sensors, cameras, and the like. Of course, your

their businesses instead of managing infrastructure. As

smartwatch will also be on this list. On top of that, edge

businesses require more and more real-time decision-

devices without an internet connection will be out there.

making, streaming data becomes paramount to make

The massive wave of image data available will not only

real-time business decisions. With the continued

bring the data but also technology to use this on a grand

democratization of machine learning, which can now be

scale. Anyone will be able to do a lot of computation on

accessed with as little as a cloud API or a pre-trained

images cheaply and easily, again changing the dynamics.

model, data analysts can quickly operationalize

It will probably bring OCR to a level where no paper

technology-driven initiatives that would have been

documents will be flying around. At least that's what your

prohibitively costly or time-consuming, just a few years

customers & suppliers will expect. It will bring the

ago. Additionally, scalable, flexible pricing and service

identification of objects on images to a pretty close to a

options help more businesses analyze and react to a fast-

perfect level.

changing world.

25

Brian Gahan CIO of GridBeyond

28

Changing The Dynamics Of Energy Tech Sphere With Seamless Solutions

G

ridBeyond is a global leader in providing

development of their energy trading and optimization

intelligent energy technology solutions for

platform, and his team has already delivered an initial

industrial, commercial, institutional, and utility

pilot release earlier this year.

partners. Whether it is for renewables, battery storage, or flexible industrial processes, their platform uses

From Experience to Experts: The Synoptic View on

automation and AI to give its customer the ability to

Learning

trade and optimize the position of their assets in the

Brian says that spending the early part of his career in a

energy markets in real-time. GridBeyond helps in

major multinational technology company was a great

improving their bottom line whilst facilitating the

w ay t o g e t t h e f u n d a m e n t a l s o f l e a d i n g - e d g e

transition to net-zero.

technological design and delivery. He states that HP was ahead of the curve and he and his team were completing

A Technology Veteran in the Energy Trading Industry

digital transformation and cloud migrations well before

Brian Gahan is the CIO of GridBeyond. He started his

they became mainstream. Brian also had the opportunity

career at HP where he played a variety of technical roles

to work with some amazing leaders throughout his

initially in product development and factory automation

career, which taught him that the real value of an

for the Inkjet division. He later became the global head of

organization is in its people and that the way to grow

IT for the Graphics and 3D services business, where

value and create a high-performance workplace is to

Brian was more focused on strategy development,

invest in talent development, diversity, and culture.

customer experience, and delivery of customer-facing services. Brian also spent a few years in the regulated

Product and Tech Development as Core Attributes of

energy sector, implementing a cloud migration and

CIOs

digital transformation program as head of IT at Flogas (a

Brian believes that the CIO's core responsibility is to lead

DCC company) before joining GridBeyond as CIO last

IT in advancing the business strategy. He adds that

year. His role in the company is heavily focused on the

strong commercial orientation helps to ensure

29

“Significant innovation opportunities are emerging to combine advances in information technology with those in renewable technology, and provide an effective pathway to meet our climate action targets for the energy sector”

Brian Gahan CIO GridBeyond

30

technology investments yield the appropriate

sustainable solution is matching the supply with better

organizational benefits.“The biggest driver of long-term

demand-side flexibility and storage – solutions to which

value in business is people capabilities” says Brian. He

are central to GridBeyond's strategy.

trusts the concept of recognizing, acquiring, developing, and retaining the best talent which when combined with

The Three Concurrent Technology Trends

a p o s i t i ve c u l t u r e a n d c o l l a b o ra t i ve w o r k i n g

Brian says that three concurrent technology trends are

environment would result in higher performance and

facilitating the development of technology solutions to

better business outcomes.

help society achieve the ambitious carbon reduction

Brian asserts that the role of the CIO is to structure the IT

targets.

organization effectively, and hence he believes that a

1. Developments in native cloud services and scalable

CIO must be keen on building strategic supplier

cloud compute power are simplifying product

partnerships that ensure connectivity to the latest

development, and supplying the capabilities to build AI

technology developments.

solutions that adjust for supply and demand changes in real-time.

Amalgamation of Business and IT to Bestow Innovative

Brian says that technology product development

Solutions

nowadays has evolved much like the development of an

Brian mentions that the capability of identifying and

F1 car has. The growth in the availability of cloud services

delivering the core differentiators which drive success

has meant that many of the building blocks for a product

for energy market stakeholders are vital catalysts of

are often readily available either as cloud-native services

product adoption. To successfully achieve this, one needs

or configurable PaaS or SaaS solutions. The challenge for

to be able to bring the business and IT teams together so

the platform architect, therefore, becomes more of

that the strong domain knowledge can be combined with

selection and integration of the right components, whilst

the leading-edge technology to deliver a differentiated

simultaneously keeping the internal core talent focused

offering that meets the customer needs.

on going deep on building the 5-10% secret sauce where it gives a competitive edge.

Entwining Supply and Demand for Successful Migration

“This has leveled the playing field for smaller companies

Brian states the ability to match supply and demand has

who can create enterprise-grade products and services

become the holy grail of successfully migrating to

that can dynamically scale to match the degree of market

renewables. He mentions a sample analysis of the Irish

success,” states Brian.

grid over a seven-day period in November 2021 where the demand on the grid fluctuated between 3.2 GW and

2. IOT evolution means the previously dark energy assets

6.6 GW, whilst for the same period the wind availability

in everybody's homes, vehicles, and businesses are

fluctuated between 1% and 75% (0.064 GW and 2.7 GW)

becoming SMARTER and more connected.

of that demand. The traditional fail-safe approach has

Brian claims that IoT capabilities provide connectivity to

largely been to have supply match demand by curtailing

SMART devices such as EV's and heating and cooling

wind and hydro when there's excess and bringing on gas

systems, commercial processes, generation assets, etc.

power stations that emit 350 to 400 tons of carbon per

so that more accurate data can be collected and more

GWH when there's a deficit. Brian points out a more

control appliedover when these assets contribute to or

31

pull from the grid. He adds that GridBeyond's market-

Keeping up with New Technologies to Foster Business

leading IoT platform can integrate with and automate

Needs

the control of the commercial load, generation and

“In tech, the early career is all about learning new

battery storage assets to respond to shifts in supply or

technologies and choosing where to specialize,” reveals

demand.

Brian. He kick-started his journey in robotics and automation but soon he gravitated more towards data

3. Advances in the development and maturity of data

and business intelligence. According to Brian,

science tools mean that its now possible to better

technologies were a little different back then but the

forecast load, generation and storage, and transition to

fundamentals of designing to business needs and

proactive demand response.

transforming data into knowledge haven't changed. “Every

The data science technology ecosystem in Python and R

opportunity certainly brings new challenges, and

has led to rapid experimentation and faster innovation

technology is ever-changing so in IT as in most

and Brian feels that open source and community-based

professions it's all about lifelong learning,” adds Brian.

approaches encourage sharing and collaborative development, which allows R&D results to spread from

Good Will for Emerging Leaders

experiments to actual data products sometimes in a

Brian expresses that as IT is becoming more and more of

matter of weeks rather than years.

a team sport, it equally requires the leaders to become

Lastly, Brian credits certainly deep learning approaches

much more team and business-centric than they

that have leveraged scalable cloud compute power to

previously were. He illustrates the example of the data

become highly refined by using thousands of hidden

science capability, which is a collection of several

layers. “This allows deep learning networks to capture

statistical, technological, and business skill sets

complex mappings, and do time series forecasting and

distributed among many individuals rather than a single

classification which are key to effective energy

role. To make all these capabilities work effectively

optimization solutions,” adds Brian.

together requires the right type of talent and working

32

environment. “While hiring technology professionals,

trading and optimization platform for generation assets

collaboration and team working skills are as critical to

and commercial batteries was released earlier this year

high performance as technical proficiencies,” remarks

in UK and Ireland and is gaining a lot of traction in the

Brian.

market. “We also have a slimmed-down version running in Texas and we are going live with a major customer in

A Key Insight on Data Centres

Japan in Q1. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we will

Brian discusses the perception that data centers are

further develop the feature set, scalability, and learning

causing problems for the grid for the fact they create a

capabilities of the product whilst expanding to all asset

significant additional load, but he argues they can be a big

types and target markets including behind-the-meter

part of the solution. The geographical redundancy

microgrids,” he highlights.

inherent in data center design means that at critical

Brian further adds that the market to date has been

times they can easily shift their compute load to a

mainly focused on the large infrastructure owners and he

different region whilst in parallel allowing their on-site

feels that technology developments and regulatory

generation to export to the grid.

changes mean that consumers will soon be starting to

Brian emphasizes that society needs data centers as they

play an increasing role in contributing to the transition.

are the engine of the knowledge economy and run the

Consumers and businesses will have the systems to

technology that balances the grid. “When you consider

choose to charge their EV's at times that are likely to

these factors in the round, co-locating data centers in

provide financial and environmental benefits. “In time,

regions where there is a large renewable supply is a

significant deployment of EV's and 'vehicle to grid'

pretty progressive move” adds Brian.

technology with the right incentives will mean EV's exporting power to balance the grid at peak times

Above and Beyond

instead of gas power stations. This approach allows

As evidenced by COP26, there are major changes in the

environmentally conscientious consumers to become

public agenda and political landscape afoot claims Brian.

net contributors to reducing the carbon footprint of the

Climate change is happening now and there is a major

grid,” states Brian.

shift to investment in renewable and smart grid technologies, storage, and flexibility. While talking in the same context, Brian mentions that the GridBeyond

33

Orlando Zayas CEO, Katapult

34

Changing the Dynamics of Fintech Ecosystem with Market-Best Solutions

F

inancial technology is now a buzzword in the

reach ownership or lease items as quickly as possible.

business market. Over the years, financial

Since its inception in 2014, Katapult has strived to

technology has evolved in significant ways by

partner with quality retailers who align with its mission

leading the transformation of companies towards a

to bring more financial access to the consumers that do

customer-centric business. The disruptive trend has

not qualify for traditional financing. Katapult's lease-to-

utilized innovation, inventive cultures, excess to data,

own solution allows the retailers to reach an entirely new

and progressed analysis to change the financial

consumer base typically ignored by the conventional

ecosystem within the past decade. Katapult is one such

prime lending partners by broadening the retailers'

e-commerce-focused financial technology company that

demographic base, thereby allowing the retailers to offer

serves nonprime consumers. It partners with retailers,

and advertise their products to a wider demographic

including Wayfair and Lenovo byprovideing a lease-

spectrum. Retailers who choose to partner with Katapult

purchase solution, so that nonprime consumers have the

are rewarded with a wider customer base, increased cart

same buying power as prime consumers.

amounts and decreased abandoned carts where

In an interview with Analytics Insight, Orlando Zayas,

retailers experience a more customer loyalty and return

CEO of Katapult, explains how the company has

shoppers.

impacted the banking sector, starting from payments to infrastructure and access to financial services.

A Distinguished Leader and Thought Executive Orlando Zayas, CEO of Katapult, is a distinguished

A Journey to the Heart of Financial Inclusion

executive and thought leader in the fintech and e-

Katapult was founded with a core mission to provide

commerce space. Orlando's consumer insights have

financial inclusion. At Katapult, it is something more than

been featured in the Business Insider, Bloomberg,

credit score and the consumers here deserve the same

Forbes, and many more publications.Orlando joined

access to high-quality products as the prime consumers.

Katapult in 2017 and has played a pivotal role in

The company treats its customers with dignity and

contributing to the growth of the company's revenue

respect and works with each customer to provide

from US$17M to US$247M in 2020 ever since. In

payment schedules that work best for that person to

addition, he recently led the company through its public 35

“Today, FinTech is one of the most significant developing spaces, and the innovation in the market reaches new levels almost daily. FinTech increases a business's competitive edge, empowers consumers, and democratizes access to financial services”

Orlando Zayas CEO Katapult

36

debut in June.

development support to improve conversion rates

Making a Soaring Impact on Consumer-Centric

and cart amounts.

Services

Ÿ

Katapult is a waterfall payment partner to Affirm,

Katapult is helping consumers to achieve access to

meaning that if someone applies for a loan with Affirm

finance or to lease and ultimately buy items when they

and is declined, they are automatically sent to

need them. Katapult supports retailers' growth

Katapult for the opportunity to apply for a lease-

strategies by helping the retail partners reach a new

purchase option. This increases options for

consumer segment, which was previously out of reach.

consumers and creates new sales opportunities for

Currently, 30% of the US population is considered to be

the retailer.

the nonprime consumers, which means that they do not have an access to these traditional financing solutions.

Impressive Recognitions and Accolades

For example, if anyone is a nonprime consumer and his

Ÿ

refrigerator breaks unexpectedly. In that case, he needs to replace it quickly but does not have the cash flow to

Startups in NYC to watch in 2021 Ÿ

buy a new refrigerator. In this situation, he may not qualify for a credit card or loan, but can apply for lease purchase with Katapult, and upon approval, he can shop

Katapult was named as one of the Best Fintech Katapult has achieved a 4.4-star rating out of 5 stars on TrustPilot with over 14K reviews.

Ÿ

Katapult became a publicly-traded company in June of 2021.

with Katapult's retail partners to replace his refrigerator.

In addition, Katapult provides certain customized payment options to fit his budget and payment schedule so that he can make monthly lease payments on his refrigerator until he reaches the ownership.

AGlimpse at the Future Data-Driven Marketplace From Orlando's perspective, Katapult will continue to focus on the underserved nonprime consumers by providing a financing solution to access high-quality products they need to live their lives. “There are many

Answering an Unmet Challenge with Fintech Solutions

opportunities for new offerings, partnerships, and an

Talking about the impact of Fintech, the executive of

expansion of access to the growing number of online and

Katapult says, “Today, Fintech is one of the most

omnichannel retail activities,” says Orlando. . Consumers

significant developing spaces, and the innovation in the

are showing their willingness to adopt these new

market reaches new levels almost daily. Fintech

technologies and their preference for new ways to

increases a business's competitive edge, empowers

interact and pay, but they want great experiences,

consumers, and democratizes access to financial

trusted partners, and transparency. In summary, this

services.”

creates significant opportunities for merchants relying

Emracing a Culture of Innovation

driven approach and grow their marketplace.

Innovation helps in rebranding a product or company. It

“There is a massive market opportunity that continues to

helps in bringing solutions to the existing problems. In

expand with the adoption of digital transaction types.

the voice of an executive, Katapult is involved in

From an industry standpoint, there is a rising wave of

on traditional programs, to embrace the digital and data-

providing innovative solutions for the clients. Ÿ

Ÿ

focus and adoption of e-commerce, POS financing and

Katapult continues to provide innovative products

digital servicing strategies that are garnering more

with new releases scheduled for early 2022.

attention,” concludes Orlando

Katapult provides retailers with marketing and

37

Kevin Wideman CEO, Koniag Government Services

40

Delivering Impeccable Technological Solutions in IT Operations with Dedication and Desire

K

oniag Government Services (KGS) is an Alaska

one-stop partner, KGS alignsits vision with the

Native Corporation with more than 4,200

customers' missions to ensure success.The best-in-class

Alaska Native Shareholders. The mission and

facilities management and integrated logistics support

vision of the company are rooted in Alaska's native

includes securityand intelligence, and occupational

values. The Alutiiq value of caring for the community is

health.

embedded in everything that the team does in every service, decision,and investment reflects the KGS

A Strategic Leader with Business and IT Vision

commitment to living the Alutiiq culture.

Kevin Widemanis the CEO of Koniag Government

KGS and its subsidiary companies demonstrate success

Services with over 30 years of experience in leadership

by providing high-quality products and services to

positions. Kevin focuses on revenue growth, strategic

government agencies, healthcare providers, and higher

planning, operational excellence, and customer delivery.

education institutions. It brings forward-leaning

He specializes in transitioning and building a business

solutions that are designed to solve complex mission and

culture based upon high-quality customer service,

business challenges in enterprise IT, professional

recognition of outstanding employee performance, and

services, and operations management.

the common pursuit of company goals. Kevin'sextensive

KGS designs technical solutions that improve IT

background in information technology, program

operations and demonstrates expertise in cloud,

management and development, and systems

cybersecurity, application development, and data

engineering has empowered him to position KGS as a

analytics products and services. The company'sfull-scale

leader and sought-after partner within the Government

consulting, solution engineering, and program

Information Technology Services industry.

management services improve efficiencies and reduce

Since joining KGS in September 2018, Kevin has led the

operational costs. The team supports leadership

company's growth from performing US$100+ million in

organizations with financial management, strategic

annual revenues to US$500+ million projected for FY

consulting, and human capital solutions. Recognized as a

2022, with corresponding net profits that are growing

41

“We are a resilient nation; history shows how we face challenges head on, stay strong throughout, and emerge bruised but triumphant. We continue to persevere during this pandemic. The light grows brighter daily as we move toward the other side.”

Kevin Wideman CEO Koniag Government Services

42

exponentially. He drove the company from130

KGS'sculture is one of the best Kevin has ever

employees to an incredible team of more than 1700

experienced in the GovCon space. The company fosters a

today.

culture of taking care of people and having each other's backs, which contributes to the very low turnover rate.

The Inspiration Behind the Initiations

He adds that KGS faces adversity head on and deals with

Kevin has worked for some of the greatest small business

issues when they happen with full transparency. There is

CEOs in the industry. He was fortunate enough to work

always a solution to any problem, so the team challenges

in the executive cabinet of Roger Mody, the most

and empowers leaders to be solution-oriented.

successful 8A CEO; Deepak Hathiramani and John

Kevin gives a recent example when the healthcare costs

Hassoun are two other CEOs that he had the benefit of

were rising 2% per employee, which meant each member

learning from. He has also worked with some CEOs that

ofthe team would have had that much more taken out of

helped inform him on how “not” to lead.Additionally,

their check. Instead of passing that along to

Kevin has progressed from working as an engineer to

employees,KGS covered the cost as a company. It is

increasing levels of leadership. That has given insight into

something Kevinis very proud of; company growth

the demands placed upon everyone in the chain of

enabled KGS to cover the cost increase.

command.

Internal Implementation as the Catalyst of Innovation Envisaging the Challenges Head on with Courage

Kevin highlightsthat his team innovates along with

Kevin mentions that the biggest challenge he faced was

customers by implementing the same solutions

cultural change. Changing a culture that people have

internally that they provide services for. As an example,

grown comfortable with is very challenging. People will

he cites that the team works on a lot of robotic process

buy into the vision.But the more things change, the more

automation (RPA) for customers and internal processes,

they want them to stay the same.

including automating business development and finance

Today, after three years of transformational changes,

activities at KGS. The lessons learned and improvements

43

that are made internally are innovations that the team

they are not following you”states Kevin.

members bring to customers as well,sharingthe benefits and approaches that make a project successful.

Key Advice to Aspiring Leaders Kevin suggeststhat the aspiring leaders to always

Technology and Intelligence at the Heart of Business

remember that CEOs are leading human beings. “It is fine

Development

to lead with a passion for success; however, one needs to

“Technology innovations today are making the industry

also lead with compassion for employees. A leader just

faster with more contextual relevant data,” says Kevin.

can't talk it,you have to walk the talk,” says Kevin.

He adds that the sheer amount of data that is created every day makes these technologies essential in today's

A Robust Roadmap for the Future

business environment to get from data to intelligence.

Kevin believes that the government contracting industry

"To lead in this environment, one must be flexible and

has some major challenges in the road ahead including

open to change, infusing disruptive technologies where

pandemic-related issues, global competition,

they make sense to take time and errors out of business

contracting hurdles, and aging technology platforms.

processes,” emphasizes Kevin. The role of a leader is

KGS meets these challenges head-on by offering creative

more now than ever about the enablement of a team and

solutions to keep agencies ahead of the curve. He

giving them a platform to think creatively and own

highlights that as the company continues to grow, the

process improvements using automation, he

team is constantly re-investing in innovation like

underscores.

communities of practice for agile, DevSecOps, and cyber, as well as hosting annual 'Innovation Spike' competitions

Essential Traits for Positive Growth

to allow the staff a platform for infusing results-based

According to Kevin, the ability to listen and communicate

innovations back into the government. Kevin concludes

is one of the vital traits of a leader. “Only when you listen,

that the company is also constantly working in

can you hear ideas other than your own. Effective

collaboration with the government on contracting

communication skills are attributes that every leader

solutions to make the process more seamless and less

“must” possess. If people are not listening to you, then

costly.

44

Sajid Azmi Founder and CEO of Yegertek

46

Taking Disruptive Tech Towards New Horizons for the Betterment of Customer Experience

N

amed after the German word for “warrior”,

inspire collaboration among his teammates has been

Yegertek is a company with an energetic

instrumental to the success that Yegertek has achieved

approach to optimizing customer

thus far.

engagement. The company leverages the Microsoft CRM ecosystem and disruptive technologies like AI and ML to

An Experienced Leader with A Good Drive

offer customized solutions for retail, healthcare and

Sajid Azmi is the Founder and CEO of Yegertek. He is also

education, amongst other dynamic industries. It

a committed believer in the transformative power of

specializes in e-commerce and enterprise mobility

tech-driven innovation. Being a serial entrepreneur and

solutions, enabling clients to effectively engage their

a seasoned corporate leader, Sajid brings 20 years of his

employees as well as customers through granular,

experience across multiple verticals to the table. With

contextualized and data-driven insights. Yegertek has

Sajid at the helm, Yegertek has already built a formidable

crafted a niche for itself in the MENA region, through

reputation as a leader in customer engagement

proprietary full-suite offerings like Puzzle, which is a

technology, facilitating the capture and segmentation of

first-to-market clienteling solution.

customer data to derive actionable insights.

Yegertek was founded in 2017, with a vision to emerge as

According to Sajid, the inspiration to start Yegertek goes

a leader in the omnichannel customer loyalty, customer

way back to his engineering days when he developed a

experience, and the analytics space. It is the brainchild of

penchant for service- and innovation-driven businesses.

Sajid Azmi, born out of his 20 years of professional

This drive took him to Infosys, where he worked as a

experience across IT, retail and healthcare. Since 2017,

Project Manager for seven good years, honing his IT

he has helmed Yegertek's strategy and vision by taking

skills. This was followed by stints at fashion brand

the pre-seed stage company to its growth phase. As the

REDTAG and Geant Hypermarkets ME, which fostered

CEO, Sajid continues to have hands-on involvement in

his retail expertise that would later help him formulate

Yegertek as it gears up for an expansion into Saudi and

Yegertek's omnichannel value propositions. Sajid also

African countries. His ability to drive cohesiveness and

co-founded MyMedicNow, a digital platform for medical

47

“The pandemic and the accompanying increase in digitalization have rewritten the rules of customer engagement.

Today, success hinges on transparency, quantifiable value, and customer experience, wherein the customer is kept at the centre of all innovation. So, in a way, the rules are simpler than ever.”

Sajid Azmi Founder and CEO Yegertek

48

services, doctors and patients that is geared towards

they never thought they could.”

streamlining healthcare journeys. So, Yegertek was the

Sajid says that he aims to be the latter, who can grow

culmination of a steep learning curve across IT, retail and

along with the team. He also believes empathy and

healthcare. And as a lifelong learner, the intention and

humility to be the two main attributes of a good leader.

efforts will continue to take Yegertek to greater heights.

Sajid thinks that it is also important to prioritize personal development and be self-aware, which enables leaders

Balancing Between Challenges and Opportunities

to empower their workforce and inspire loyalty in return.

During the Pandemic

“Within the pandemic context, resilience, empathy and

Sajid admits that, like any start-up, the initial challenges

c r o s s - c u l t u ra l c o m m u n i c a t i o n s h av e b e c o m e

Yegertek experienced was facing the established

prerequisites to good leadership,” adds Sajid.

competition and making the right decisions. Also, early on, getting the right talent who understood customer

Embarking a New Trajectory in Hyper-Personalization

and technology intersection better took effort. But the

According to Sajid, customer loyalty and engagement is a

biggest challenge and opportunity to the company,

dynamic space that is characterized by innovations and

according to Sajid, was the pandemic and lockdowns,

ever-evolving end-user sentiments; there are no

which he claims helped the company reconsider the

prescribed rules of engagement. That being said, Sajid

goals in the second year of operation and pivot to ensure

articulates that segmentation and hyper-

success; not wilt and wither like many start-ups did

personalization continue to be the cornerstones of

during these times.

Yegertek's solutions portfolio. “Increased digitalization and accompanying surge in big data offer the recipe for

Persuading and Inspiring People: A Priority in

personalized services,” expresses Sajid.

Leadership

He further adds that social listening and analytics

Sajid mentions that his approach to leadership is inspired

provide actionable insights to optimize a range of retail

by a timeless Steve Jobs quote: “Management is about

functions, deliver targeted solutions, and ensure life-

persuading people to do things they do not want to do,

cycle engagement. Yegertek embarked on a new

while leadership is about inspiring people to do things,

49

trajectory of hyper-personalization with its proprietary

first company. So, the current momentum in digital

clienteling solution, Puzzle.

transformation bodes well for our operations.” He also pinpoints that the same can be said about the industries

Disruptive Technologies, The New Norm of the Tech Era

with considerable exposure to digitalization. Sajid

Sajid states that AI, automation and the likes are no

further asserts that there is a top-down governmental

longer “disruptions”; they're the new norms that need to

push, end-user interest, and healthy competition in the

be embraced and viewed positively. He opines that they

private sector, which are providing tailwinds, resulting in

are making inroads into every facet of life by creating

the investors' inclination to deploy capital in digital

opportunities for higher efficiencies and productivity. At

businesses.

Yegertek, the core team expects AI analytics to be

“Even Yegertek secured fresh funding from NB Ventures

powered through Microsoft CDP, based on Customer

recently. So, the business ecosystem could soon reach

Insights integrated CRM and its loyalty solution

pre-pandemic levels of activity. And Yegertek intends to

Engage365, which are expected to find greater

emerge on top of the value chain as this transformation

application and adoption in 2022 and beyond.

plays out,” adds Sajid.

Sajid states that the uptake will be greater for

A Thumb Rule for Future Executives

technologies, which will enable businesses to

Sajid suggests a general thumb rule for future business

personalize their customer journeys across touchpoints.

executives, "Always address the pain points of

“Leaders have a pivotal role in ensuring the adoption of

customers. Even if you're a product-driven company,

appropriate, fit-for-purpose technologies, which can add

customer-centricity cannot be ignored," he mentions. At

true value to operations. Incidentally, leaders can make

the same time, he pointed out on the equal emphasis of

these decisions using data-driven insights,” mentions

the employee experience (EX) “A good EX has a direct

Sajid.

bearing on CX,” says Sajid.

“Your success will hinge on your ability to strike the right

Digital Transformation at the Heart of Future

balance between these priorities. Also, you should trust

Explorations

your people, be your toughest critic and always get a

Talking about the future, Sajid claims, “We are a digital-

good night's sleep!" concludes Sajid.

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TIPS TO INCULCATE DATA ANALYSIS IN BUSINESSES TO DRIVE ACCURATE INSIGHTS

M

odern technology is fast-evolving, making

analysis in your business. Data enables professionals to

businesses more efficient and productive.

understand what methods the company needs to adopt

Of all the advanced, disruptive technologies

to advertise their products effectively to make a bigger

that the global industries have now integrated into their

impact on the target audiences and at what scale they

processes, data analysis has emerged as one of the most

should be advertised. Here are certain tips that you can

important technologies. With the help of data analysis,

take to make sure you can effectively integrate data

companies can now access data-driven tools and

analysis into your modern businesses.

business intelligence software that will enable business leaders to know more about their customers than they

Explaining data goals effectively

ever did before. Data analysis is performed by data

Data has been creating a huge hype in the industry. But

analysts by presenting numbers and figures. It also

choosing the right tools might not just be enough.

involves a much more detailed approach through

Leaders can start setting clear goals about what the

recording, analyzing, disseminating, and representing

management really wishes to achieve, and ensure that all

data findings in such a way that it will be easy to interpret

employees, technical and non-technical personnel, are

and make decisions for the business. With data analysis,

on the same board. Teaching employees about the

leaders can make decisions quite easily based on

upcoming technologies is quite crucial for the business

customer trends and behaviour prediction, increasing

because it will not only integrate productivity but will

operational profitability, and driving effective decision-

also encourage more employees to learn about these

making.

modern technologies.

Leaders who wish to adopt data analysis for their

Analyzing business needs rather than the technology

businesses can analyze the causes of specific events

To effectively integrate data analysis, businesses need to

based on the data generated, and understand the

focus more on their needs rather than moulding the

objectives and directives that are exactly involved in the

business according to the technology being used. Data

business. They will also acquire technical insights into

management and analytics teams can deal with large

the business that will make it easier for the management

volumes of data and perform complex analytics tasks

to track the market and industry trends. There are also

that were not possible even a couple of years ago.

several other reasons why you should include data

Businesses must avoid mismatches between the flow of

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data and decision-making to make sure the business runs

complex. Hence, the integration of the cloud technology

accurately.

will make it way easier for businesses to manage the data and cut expenses for storing them. Cloud vendors also

Avoid paying attention to data myths about collecting

p r ov i d e a f f o r d a b l e d a t a s t o ra g e f a c i l i t i e s a s

more information

commodities, typically making it cheaper than buying on-

Sometimes data scientists and analysts feel

premise storage devices.

overwhelmed by the vast amounts of data that the tools generate. Nevertheless, data experts say that not all data

In a nutshell, there are several relevant practices that can

needs to be processed by humans. Businesses can also

help businesses integrate data analytics successfully, but

attempt to automate data analytics. Machine learning

eventually, it is most important for business leaders to

algorithms and enterprise AI systems can take

understand the need and process involved in data

advantage of the huge volumes of data more efficiently

analytics. Big data and its surrounding technologies are

than humans can.

assets for any business, and if leaders fail to recognize business-focused analytics, it is pretty likely they will

Deploy cloud technology for big data systems

eventually damage valuable information.

The process of managing data is becoming more

55

Frederico Samartini CEO, YSSY and Co

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Architecting Connectivity and Digital Transformation in a Safe and Sustainable Way

D

igital transformation is no more a buzzword. It

27.001(Cybersecurity), ISO 27.701 (Data Privacy) and

has become a key topic for discussion around

ISO 37.001 (Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption).

the globe. Organizations starting digital

Additionally, Yssyis the only company in its segment to be

transformation in their businesses should be aware of its

certified as a B Corporation by B Lab in the US. For this to

approaches and different concepts. To provide these

be granted, to become a company that benefits the world

services with extensive expertise and support, Yssy& Co.,

through its positive impact on the environment, society,

a technology platform in Brazil, implements services to

governance, business and employees, Yssyundertook a

integrate products and software from over 100

three-year challenge to shift the company's direction

multinational companies to digitally transform its

towards the demands of the planet.

clients.

In contrast to what is currently offered by its

A Strategic Leader Spearheading Business Revolution

competitors, Yssy's range of services is by far the largest

FredericoSamartini is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

one in the country, which includes cybersecurity, data

of Yssy and Co. He has abachelor's degree in electrical

science and analytics, digital application, cloud,

engineering and also possesses three master's degrees:

management services and IT infrastructure.

an MSC in operations research and neural networks, an

Yssy is a word in native Brazilian Indian Tupy-Guarani,

MBA and a master's in finance from the London Business

which means to put in a queue or to organize. It is what

School.

the company strives for, believes in and proposes to its

At Yssy, Frederico's role as the hands-on CEO stretches

clients.

starts from strategic thinking to routine management.

Furthermore, Yssy is the most highly certified company

He says that for a leader who is working at a company

in its segment. Apart from being a great place to work,

that is fast transforming itself, growing two digits a year

Yssyis also certified with ISO 20.000 (Service

and bringing onboard new staffs every week, it is very

Excellence), ISO 14.000 (Environmental Management),

important that the CEO be aware and present daily

ISO 9.000 (Quality Assurance), ISO

organizational challenges. Frederico also adds that

57

“There is a disconnection among executives and technology. The first understands business and finance but shows a lack of comprehensive knowledge in tech. While tech professionals are too specialized and miss the broader view of a company.”

FredericoSamartini CEO YSSY and Co

58

cultural strength, enforcing values, leading through

science and analytics, management services, processes

motivation and guidance to excel are some of the most

automation, software development, connectivity and IT

important attributes of his role.

infrastructure.

Frederico mentions that Yssy's organizational chart is

Multifaceted Experience at the Core of Being a Good

split into different business units (BUs) that are highly

Head

specialized in each one of these services. The company

Frederico mentions that he has had the opportunity to

has its alliance team that ensures all these BUs are

work in a wide range of industries, including mining and

working and thinking together while attending a client.

metals, food and beverage, financial sector, management

Bolstering this structure, Yssy has partnered with over a

consulting, and IT and telecommunications. He has also

hundred multinational tech companies that sustain the

worked through different organizational life cycles,

company's delivery.

including the fast pace start-ups and mature and

He highlights that the market scenario in Brazil is of

distressed companies.

companies focusing on only one of those business units

Frederico believes that this multifaceted experience has

and within it, with a limited number of multinational

helped him considerably as a CEO because the distinct

partners. There are more than six thousand integrators

perceptions that he brings from previous companies and

in Brazil, but none with as vast an offering as Yssy.

from other sectors or life cycle stages are useful when

However, the challenge to convince the market that Yssy

sorting out problems.

is excellent in everything it does, and also necessity as tech complexity on the cutting edge makes it necessary

Conquering Challenges to Conceive a Wider Impact

for the team to possess players who have a broader

Fredericoreveals that he has faced several challenges

overview to align and connect the most of what is

throughout his journey. But one big battle he fought was

available.

making a strategic decision that he took at the beginning of his mandate and is questioned to date.

Creating an Effective Team, a Must-Have Attribute of

He remembers a saying in Brazil that is largely accepted

an Executive

by IT professionals which says, "A company who does

Frederico pinpoints that the most important attribute

everything does everything poorly.”

for budding executives is the capacity to find and

While starting his journey with Yssy, Frederico, together

convince the right people to join their teams. And for

with the shareholders and the management team,

those executives to become great leaders, it is primordial

decided that the company had to become a technology

that they have the social skills to motivate and engage

platform. Through the platform, the team wanted the

their team to get the best out of each one of them.

clients to find the services necessary to help them

Considering the soft skills mentioned above as the most

digitalize their businesses. A “one-stop-shop” where

important ones, he also believes that leaders need to

their businesses could be helped along on most of their

possess technical knowledge while remaining up to date

digital journeys.

with what is happening in the world at large to guide in a

Now, after M and A transactions, Yssy& Co. has become a

better way and make timely decisions.

group of five companies with different tech provisions. It provides cybersecurity, digital application, cloud, data

Introducing a Distinct Approach to Innovation

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Frederico opines that innovation is not always about

He adds that individuals now have an access to

creating something new, but mostly it is about

applications that enables them to make decisions,

presenting the same thing in another way. In Yssy`s case,

acquire food or clothes from their mobiles. They now

he says that the company offers a bundle of adjacent

have an access to international films or courses in leading

services to make the clients' lives easier.

universities online from their homes or wherever they

Frederico underlines that Yssy offers cyber security

are on the street.

services to protect its client's infrastructure security,

Many people do not have the patience to wait and hence

web security, software coding security and cloud

want immediate responses to their touch on the screen.

security. Therefore, it is not necessary to contact many

Frederico says that because of this particular reason, it is

suppliers to have total protection. Also, the automation

absolutely necessary to have processes and tasks

team steps in to digitize all the steps necessary to be

automated. “It is impossible to have a human being on the

taken in case a vulnerability emerges.

other side processing huge amounts of information and

With Yssy, the clients do not need to hire ten or more

performing all the tasks necessary to render a digital

suppliers to implement any change, the company experts

function. So, companies will need to automate their

can guide them along the whole journey, states

services to increase productivity and to keep up with the

Frederico.

pace and demand,” he adds.

Frederico says that while at the same time, given all this

Beyond Horizons: Sailing with Time and Technology

velocity, it is necessary to implement strategies of

Frederico presumes that the industry is changing rapidly

computing edge and cloud where digital services are

as the pandemic has forced everybody to isolate

decentralized and placed closer to the consumers,

themselves. There are many changes coming over in the

whether they are individuals or client companies, they

next few years, but Frederico would like to concentrate

will need services with no latency and almost an

at least on four of them: manage modern micro-services,

immediate processing of their needs.

edge computing, hyper-automation, and the increased

“The same service, for instance, a photo app on a mobile,

use of technology by a higher number of people (item

will offer different photo editing features where each

most highly influenced by the COVID19 pandemic).

one of them may be processed on different servers that

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are allocated in different data centres around the world.

“This sector is going to feel the demand for broader

These microservices, together with a 5G infrastructure,

knowledge on how to deploy the technology. This must

will change more and more how we do things,” Frederico

be planned and implemented with a holistic view of all

asserts.

the possibilities that tech can offer,” claims Frederico.

Fostering an Amazing Digital Framework for the Future

Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Leaders

Frederico believes that integrators like Yssy& Co. will

Frederico advises that daily decisions and routines can

need to go through a market consolidation because

overwhelm a CEO's agenda. Sales, finance and

digital services are becoming a colossal complexity. It

operations take too much of the time available, and most

requires companies like Yssy to offer services to connect

CEOs are not spared, or given the time to acquire

all the available technologies.

knowledge in technology and how it can change their

He adds that, Yssy, for example, has cyber security as one

businesses. Additionally, digital transformation needs to

of its main services, because if providers do not have

shed its light on the strategic thinking regarding their

expert knowledge on how to protect their clients, it

specific sector or businesses.

would be impossible to develop an app for them.

So, Frederico believes many CEOs are aware of the

Software houses that do not have a cyber team, generally

digital importance in their decision-making processes,

leave many vulnerabilities in their code that may put the

but they are not investing enough time in that. “For

app users at risk. Moreover, to develop this app, it is

example, it is still very common to observe HR opening

necessary to think about modern architecture with

positions for C-level, but none present any kind of

microservices and the topology of edge computing plans.

requirement regarding technology skills” concludes

Therefore, he believes that developing an app will

Frederico.

require many other technical skills that go beyond programming.

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James Lancaster CEO, Renew IT

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Giving Life to Old IT Hardware through Sustainable Recycling

R

enew IT is an ITAD (Information Technology Asset Disposition) company that provides lifecycle asset services for IT hardware. The firm offers asset lifecycle fleet management for smartphone devices, laptops, desktop PCs, and DataCentre deinstallation work along with the provision of sustainability reports to go towards the company's carbon zero goals. The main focusof Renew IT is laid on zero-landfill e-waste and creating innovation around sustainability.

The company buysredundant IT hardware when companies replace their existing fleet and ensure that the data is sanitized by NIST 800-88 standards by making sure that the hardware finds a new home or in the other case, it is made sure to be is broken down with all the metals and plastics responsibly, which is later separated and fed back into the supply chain for remanufacturing.

Renew IT works with SMEs, large corporate clients, Schoolsand Universities globally, ensuring they get a higher return on investment for their redundant IT hardware whilst not compromising the security of their data. The company is Australian owned and founded in 2008 where is has organically grown over the last 13 years. In 2021, Renew IT acquired one of its leading competitors, Verser Technology Lifecycles. This acquisition has expanded the firm's service offering and capability. With more feet on the street, thecompany provides more Renew IT staffed field services to all its

customers nationally. With 7 processing facilities throughout Australia and New Zealand, a facility soon to open in Vietnam, and over 300 employees across the globe, Renew It is one of the largest ITAD companies in the Southern Hemisphere.

A Leader Re'NEW'ing and Recycling Since 1990's James Lancaster is the CEO of Renew IT. He started his journey with Renew IT in 2007 from his kitchen table.

The purpose was to promote the reuse of used equipment and avoid it finding its way into the landfills. “A lot of the equipment which was disposed by the peoplehas served its purpose for them, but still had another life to be had in the hands of another user,” says James. He has been doing this since the 1990s when sustainability and responsible recycling wasn't even a thought. It was clear to him as to how many waste companies were contributing to the impact on the environment and the most obvious thing to him was “the best form of recycling is to reuse”.So, he created a business model around it. Today James oversees the running of all the facilities, engaging with all his team members daily. James loves to play by his hands,not just in the senior management but also on the kit in the warehouse with the tech guys too.

Multi-Tasking to Support Every End of Business When James started his journey in the industry, he was

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“We, as a society are still at the very beginning of solving the problem of ewaste.Through collaboration with the UNSW that we have been able to get SurfaceMine off the ground and begin to realize the value in feeding the supply chain through e-waste in our industry.”

James Lancaster CEO Renew IT

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cleaning equipment in the warehouse by handling all the equipment as it rolled in through the doors that's fresh off someone's desk. When James began the business, it was just him, wearing all the hats for many years, he would go out to the customer sites and do the collections himself like doing the data destruction, cleaning, packing and shipping it out. In fact, James saysthat he doesn't think there is a job within the organization that he hasn't done himself because he has always been very hands-on, he has a very granular understanding of what a customer wants, even sometimes when they don't. “Once you understand every facet of your business, you're in great shape to pick the right team around you and build out from there,” claims James.

Being Personable: The Ideal Quality of a Leader James believesthat leaders have to be personable so that the employees can approach and communicate. If they are not approachable, James notes that one cannot find out about problems, often until it's too late. So, heasks emerging leaders to be positive and to inspire people, park their ego and show humility.

Entwining Collaboration with Innovation to Create Great Products James mentions that working very closely with the University of New South Wales has helped him start his journey in sustainable solutions in e-waste.From this, he states to have started SurfaceMine. The innovative work that comes out of this collaboration to magnify on a larger scale in the facilities, that way he says the customers can see first-hand how by working with Renew IT they are now part of the solution when it comes to solving the problem of e-waste.

Moving from Data Centers to Cloud: A Disruptive Initiative In particular, for Renew IT, James has seen a large number of corporations which have been moving to the cloud by clearing out their data centers. He affirms that Renew IT has been able to assist in this process by

deinstalling, securely destroying the data, and by breaking the unsaleable equipment down responsibly.

“Of course, we still realize a lot of value in reselling most of the equipment, especially, if it's less than five years old, but for some of the older legacy equipment that's shipping costs outweigh the value, our work with SurfaceMine and the UNSW is invaluable,” James adds.

F a c i n g P r i m a l C h a l l e n g e s w i t h Te n a c i t y andPerseverance James believes that starting as a small player in the industryis both a blessing and a curse. He struggled at first to get a foot in the door as no one had heard of him but through sheer tenacity and perseverance, the opportunities slowly presented themselves, which allowed him to show his point of difference and provide a greater more flexible level of service.

The Road Ahead For Renew IT, James mentions that the focus is on listening to their customers' needs and servicing accordingly. He notes that the customers are heading towards carbon zero objectives and Renew IT wants to help them in this process. “We have increased our service capabilities, including break-fix to assist in this process.

As offices have moved to more hybrid environments we have adapted. Now providing 24/7 services so no matter what time of the day someone needs to speak to us, they can,” James said.

A Piece of Advice for Emerging Leaders Jamessays that he improves his performance by asking,“How can I best be of service to my company and team?” He says the answer will involve, leading by example, not being afraid to get your hands dirty, and not letting your ego overshadow your humility. James adds if leaders can show people that, then people will want some of what they have.

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