IT Visionaries

The imagery has been etched in our minds for decades. Thieves and vandals riding into town on the back of their horses with one mission in mind: robbing a bank to steal your cash. This is the bad actor archetype, and it has stayed much the same for years. But the problem is, Hollywood’s depiction of those events are no longer accurate in today’s digital world. Nobody is physically robbing banks anymore, because they don’t have to. “If you're a bad guy, you rob a bank and you're going to get caught immediately. And that person is definitely getting caught. But if you look at what cyber attackers are doing now, they're looking for ways to digitally impersonate someone or get to your employees. From there, they can get to your network, or your data. So then they can hold you hostage without really physically harming you, and you could lose tons of money.”  Fleming Shi, the CTO of Barracuda Networks, a security software platform that is designed to prevent those robbers from accessing your accounts or your business. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Fleming discusses the evolution of cyber attacks and how botnets are infiltrating your system much like a virus finds its way into your body, and why fighting off those attacks is the biggest challenge facing cybersecurity teams today.Main TakeawaysBuilt with a Security Mindset: As cybersecurity threats become more advanced and personalized, the onus to protect the user should no longer fall solely on security teams. Instead, application developers must start building their cloud applications with security in mind. If they don’t, the bad actors will continue to find vulnerabilities within systems based on the way they are built. Not All Bots Are Good Bots: Bad bot personas are bots that are identified as malicious based on their pattern of behavior. These bots often disguise themselves as user-agent bots, which search sites in order to rank them, then infiltrate your network and mine for your data. How to Spot A Thief: One of the most effective ways to spot  “bad bots” is to follow their behavior patterns. Typical bot activity peaks during the early morning and late at night, which may indicate if that bot is a safe bot or a cybercriminal.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every day, millions of truckers grab their keys, hop in their semis, start their engines, and head out on the open road to pick-up and deliver billions of products to millions of stores across the U.S. The trucking industry is an integral piece of what fuels America’s economy. And businesses around the country rely on these trucks to pick-up and receive orders on time, especially as the need for on-demand products and delivery has risen in conjunction with the rise of online shopping and mobile technology. So why then has the shipping industry been so slow to change and adopt new technologies? Grant Goodale, is a former Amazon employee and now the CTO of Convoy. When he learned that 40% of trucks you see on the road are often carrying empty loads because of a poor booking process, he and his partners asked themselves a simple question: how do they disrupt the trucking industry with software that optimizes the user experience and eliminates this inefficiency?“We built what was probably the smartest pricing engine in the industry to help us understand all of those variables, all of those inputs as to what a trucking job should cost so that we can get the best pricing from shippers for a given job, and then help carriers get the right price for the work that they're doing.” On this episode of IT Visionaries, Grant discusses how Convoy has optimized the booking experience for shippers and drivers with its software, and how that new process has helped not just the bottom line, but the environment as a whole. Plus, Grant explains why the trucking industry has been slow to adopt new technologies, and some tips for early-stage start-ups on how to extend your runway.Main TakeawaysLost in Time: Most trucking companies employ less than six trucks, which means these small businesses often don’t have staffing for sales, marketing, or a website. Because of the structure of these businesses, most drivers were booking and negotiating jobs on Load Boards, which meant companies had to physically post jobs, drivers had to call to negotiate rates and book gigs themselves, all assuming the physical postings were up-to-date. It is a system in clear need for optimization.Better for the Environment: 40% of the trucks you see on the road are empty trucks shuttling between jobs. Because a majority of drivers don’t book their next job until one delivery is completed, their routes are not optimized, which means more time on the road and more time between jobs. If drivers can cut back just 1% from that 40%, they can eliminate nearly 380 million gallons of diesel gas used each year.Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew: As a start-up, every new job you take on chips away at your supply. Make sure you are as cautious about your supply fragmentation as much as possible to make sure you aren’t overextending yourself or your business’s capabilities.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s true what they say, “finding a job is a full-time job.” After all, as the hiring process becomes more global and recruiters are constantly inundated with an influx of applications, on the other end of that equation are the candidates submitting those applications, who grow weary as the days go by with no response.As with most things, processes change over time, but, with some technical exceptions, the hiring process has mostly remained the same. Until now. Vivek Ravisankar felt called to address the pain points of hiring after speaking with a recruiter. a“I remember walking up to a recruiter one day and asking, ‘Hey, can you tell me how this whole recruiting process works?’ He pulled out his Macbook and he had two folders: pass and fail. He would look at a resume for 10-15 seconds and determine which folder [the resume] was actually going to go into. I was thinking, ‘Man, you have way too much power in your hands.’ But I can also understand and empathize with them because if you're Amazon, you don’t have a better way to do it either. So that was a trigger point. This needs to be fixed.”The fix came in the form of HackerRank, a platform that helps developers put skills over pedigree. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Vivek explains what that means, and how it helps developers stand out from the crowd. Plus he explains  the dangers of utilizing A.I. throughout the hiring process and why distributed workforces are great for company diversity.Main TakeawaysSupply and Demand: As companies continue to trend towards software companies, developers currently remain one of the most sought after candidates. However, that trend is drastically changing as the number of companies that employ developers rise.A.I. Is Not A Magic Pill: When it comes to the hiring process, A.I. should be used as a way to streamline your workflow, but not as an indicator of if a person is fit for a particular job or an identifier of their hard skills. Instead, use the technology to identify if candidates have similar skills to past hires and then sort them into individual piles to accelerate the process.Whatcha Going to Do With all That...Data: Data is what fuels HackerRank’s platform insights. In order to build a comprehensive candidate profile, the company conducts hundreds of thousands of challenges and assessments a day. The data that is then gathered, sorted and distributed to help construct a candidate profile, but is also used as a learning tool for each applicant to better understand where they rank amongst their peers.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When Netskope CEO and founder Sanjay Beri left his role with well-known Juniper Networks, he knew the internet and the way that we protected ourselves virtually was changing. The issue is that while Sanjay knew companies needed to leave their old security tactics behind, convincing members of the C-Suite that they needed to invest in new security measures is a very difficult task. So he showed them why.“Without them telling us anything, we basically uncovered all their shadow IT, all their data that was being filtered not by malicious people, but by their own employees who just didn't know better,” he said. “It's so apparent that people don't know where their data is and by showing them where their data is they realize how exposed they really are.”Sanjay is working to make security more proactive, less reactive, and more educational via his new venture with Netskope. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Sanjay discusses how companies can uplevel their security techniques, why SaaS applications are leaving your data unprotected and exposed in areas you might not realize, and why it’s time security companies start educating their peers on best practices.Main TakeawaysLost in Translation: Every 10 to 15 years, the language of the internet changes. As that happens, your SaaS application must change with it. Software that is 15 years old, is unable to understand the new intricacies of the internet, which leaves companies and users vulnerable to various threats.Living on the Edge: Your security needs to live where your employees reside — which recently is at the edge — so that no matter where employees work, your system is there to protect them. With so many employees working remotely in 2021, most of a company’s data and documents are living in the cloud, even if your company is not cloud-native, so necessary security needs to be put in place to protect it.Here to Educate and Protect: Security teams have a responsibility to not only protect their end-users, but they also must be educating the end-users on why and how they are putting themselves at risk. The purpose of this educational philosophy is so that users can understand the risks once they have been briefed, and you can then take action to minimize risk.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Have you ever wondered about how your favorite newsletter ended up in your inbox? Who sent it? Why was that email scheduled for that particular time? What is being tracked when you click that open button? Most likely, those questions haven’t crossed your mind, but that doesn’t change the fact that the digital trail a simple email creates can have a lasting impact on your online persona. Welcome to the world of email marketing, specifically the Mailchimp universe, which includes an all-in one marketing platform that delivers more emails daily than the average consumer can fathom.“We didn't send two billion emails on Black Friday, we delivered two billion emails. What's really interesting for Mailchimp as a platform is that delivery is hard and it's a big part of it but that's really where the story begins. At least when it comes to the email side of things, because delivering it starts it, and then they open it, which gets tracked. They click it. And then when they click it, and they go out to do a thing, they now land on a Mailchimp property. All of those activities the user is taking is going to drive their marketing properly.”Eric Muntz is the CTO of Mailchimp, and on this episode of IT Visionaries, he dives into the ins-and-outs of how the email delivery giant has expanded its offerings in an effort to democratize marketing tools. Eric also touches on why email delivery is just the beginning of any marketing journey and how Mailchimp effectively scaled from a few thousand users to millions of users.TakeawaysJust the Beginning: Email delivery is just the beginning when it comes to the world of email marketing. When you open up an email, that email collects various forms of data and multiple user touchpoints. From the link a user clicks on to determine if the email is secure, to the potential landing page where a person winds up, it all creates multiple responses within the Mailchimp platform, which will then trigger follow-up emails, promo codes, etc. Thundering Herd: Thundering Herd in technology circles refers to the amount of stress that is placed on servers that have traditionally been passive but are now being asked to carry high-traffic loads in a short amount of time. Think of ecommerce sites that get bombarded the second a highly anticipated product goes up for order. In order to avoid crashes and stresses on your infrastructure, you have to constantly be backing up and batching your servers. Started From the Bottom Now We Here: When you’re rising through the ranks of your organization, one of the most important skills to learn is how you go from working on a product to understanding how you can give your team the tools to effectively do their jobs. Likewise, when hiring a staff, it’s important to really focus on the applicants that are just as excited about the project and product as you were when you joined the company.---IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As the Senior Vice President of Product for Conga, Eric Carrasquilla knows two things: No. 1 products can fundamentally change the workflow of any business. And No. 2, more times than not, customers will tell you what they need, even if they don’t necessarily know how to describe it.“We keep going back to this Apple example, the famous one related to the iPod… No one asked for your entire music catalog in a deck of cards. They asked for a bunch of other stuff. But Steve Jobs, being able to come back and say, ‘I understand the problem you're trying to solve.’ You don't want to lug all this stuff around and it's difficult to go through and do, so what about this?’ And having people go, ‘Oh, yes, it's what I need. And didn't know what to ask for.’” That's the challenge faced by anyone in the business of product development: to deliver revolutionary products and services, without having to be asked to do so. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Eric details how his team goes about meeting that challenge by developing services with the customer experience at the forefront. Plus, he explains the importance of working hand-in-hand with your developers.Main TakeawaysMight Not Be the Product they Want, But it’s the Product They Need: One of the defining features of any company is how it listens and gathers information from its clients. When it comes to product development, this is key. Your clients might not always be able to convey to you the exact problem they need to be solved, but through discovery, research, and multiple conversations, similar themes will begin to emerge that will help your product team understand what needs should be addressed.This isn’t Monopoly: As a product team, it’s important to understand that your department does not have a monopoly on good ideas. Remember, ideas can come from all departments — clients, R&D, product, etc.. Don’t back yourself into a corner and think that only your team knows how to solve problems. Siloed and structured approaches rarely succeed.Acquired Remotely: When you are going through an acquisition, the first thing you need to ask yourself is how do our products complement each other? What areas of the acquiring company are useful and how can we integrate those into our network? When you are doing this in a remote environment, communication is of the utmost importance. You should be constantly over-communicating with your teams to make sure you are achieving the best result, but also making the transition as easy as possible.---IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Let's be frank. Security and the steps we take to protect ourselves are never top-of-mind. In fact, most users tend to operate under the mindset that bad things happen to other people and companies, never hitting too close to home. Until it does… Maybe it’s an email you click on, or a message that contains sensitive information you pass along to a coworker that ends up in an unsecured inbox. Regardless of the method or point of entry,, bad actors, or hackers will eventually attack if and when they can.“More and more people go into it with the same logic as when people are buying burglar alarms for [their] home. It usually sells greatly when a home in your neighborhood gets broken into. You hear about it and then say, ‘Maybe I should actually protect myself.’ Whenever something like that happens, then those circles start to resonate with it just unfortunately, they need to get burned in order to learn about it.”Alan Duric isn’t one of those kinds of people though. Alan is the CTO and COO of Wire, and he lives with three key terms always top of mind: Security, end-to-end encryption and prevention. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Alan discusses some of the leading trends happening in the security space — including addressing the age-old issue of how users should be more proactive and less reactive. Plus, Alan details why email continues to be the most troubling form of communication.Main TakeawaysYou are The Weakest Link, Goodbye!: Despite all the forms of cybersecurity, email attacks still remain the weakest link because it is tough to regulate and prevent outside actors from infiltrating a system. Instead, passing sensitive information back and forth through email, consider using encryption-protected messaging services.A Little Proactive and Less Reactive: The time is now for companies to take a hard look at how they are protecting themselves and evaluate all options. With various forms of security, including zero trust, encryption, etc. One of the biggest problems when it comes to security understanding the risk vs reward factor. So, Can you Hack this? One of the leading benefits of full end-to-end encryption is the ability to protect every message and every video conference — sending or receiving — from being attacked. When each individual form of communication is encrypted with its own unique key, it’s as if that message is being protected inside its own individual fortress.---IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The idea of virtual reality has captivated humans for the longest time. After all, the ability to live a second life, free of the physical obstacles that the real world presents is a dream worth falling into. But what if there was a bridge between the powers of virtual reality and its ability to impact the real world? That’s the mission that Ammad Khan, the CEO and Co-founder of IrisVision, set out to make possible.“I have always believed that technology has the tremendous potential of really changing the way we do things every day. And it's become really evident, since the launch of the smartphones in our lives and using the platform capability on the smartphone that so many of the things that we previously could not even think of have become possible.”One way the impossible is becoming reality is through the work of IrisVision, which uses the powers of virtual reality tools to enable people who have been declared legally blind the ability to see again. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Ammad discusses the power of the IrisVision software and provides case studies on how the product is working in the real world. Plus, he details the company’s go-to-market strategy and why it was integral to develop multiple prototypes before making the product widely available. Main TakeawaysBut First, Science: Founded in 2016, IrisVision is based on Dr. Frank Werblin’s research around retinal functions. Werblin and Khan, who possessed a background in mobile technology, worked together to find a software solution for helping individuals with low-vision see again. Virtual reality, combined with the increasing use of technology, allows the eyes to put together pixels, in order to make blurred vision more clear. Test, Test, Test: Before you send any product to market, you need to make sure you have a sound basis for how the product works and perform multiple use cases. Rushing a product to market without understanding how it performs under varying variables could be disastrous. Make sure you take the proper time to prototype your device so when it hits shelves, you’re off and running---IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office wants to modernize its technology stack, but to accomplish its ambitious goal, Jamie Holcombe, the CIO for USPTO has two main objectives: snapping out of a spell that binds people to age-old projects, and scaling its current way of doing things.“What I saw was the ability to actually outsource a lot of our infrastructure, and that means not actually having the data center that we currently do in Alexandria, although it's very efficient. What we need to do is have resiliency. And so what I'd like to do is create the ability for our applications to work in the cloud on the internet, instead of having to come to the USPTO data center. And so that's what we're doing right now. We've stabilized our core applications to the point where in COVID-19 we've been able actually to increase our productivity metrics. It's unbelievable how great we're doing in this limited environment.”On this episode of IT Visionaries, Jamie details how his office is bringing its technology stack into the 21st century and how they are expediting the time it takes for a patent to get approved through the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.Main TakeawaysYou Better Check Yourself: The discovery process is integral when you are looking to deploy any kind of artificial intelligence or machine learning techniques. Before deploying these algorithms, you need to make sure that you are creating the necessary feedback loops and understand what the data is telling you and where your deficiencies are in your algorithms.Clean-Up Your Room: Before you embark on any digital transformation that affects your customer, you have to make sure that your house is in order first. This can mean updating your network’s infrastructure and finding new ways to manage your data. Same Old Song and Dance: Just because your department or office has been around for hundreds of years, does not mean your processes are perfect. When you have employees that stick around, that’s great! But make sure you are continuously challenging your team to think about new ways and processes to streamline your approach.---IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The old saying, “look good, feel good,'' fits Stitch Fix perfectly. The direct-to-consumer, online personal styling service has boomed due to its ability to not only match consumers with trendy and comfortable clothes, but to make it a personalized experience for each buyer.“At the end of the day, we want to be rooted in personalization. First and foremost, it's important for us that [consumers] not only come to Stitch Fix to complete a transaction, but that you really think about us as your partner style.”From curating stylish experiences, to matching each individual with their own personal stylist, Stitch Fix and taken eCommerce and the subscription model to the next level. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Tatsiana Maskalevich, the Director of Data Science at Stitch Fix, takes listeners into the algorithms that help curate those experiences and the science behind it all.Main TakeawaysKnow Your Data: With so many avenues to collect data on the internet, the collection process is not the difficult part. The hardest part is how you turn your data into actionable insights that can benefit your customers’ experience. In order to manage your data appropriately, you must be constantly creating feedback loops so you can best understand what is working and what is not working.It’s a Preference Thing: The customer experience is the number one pillar for any successful company. When you are creating curated experiences for your customers, you need to constantly be listening to what works for them and what does not work. Create a great experience by constantly giving your customers reasons to engage with your platform through quizzes and games or other interactive features.Rooted in Data:  One of the keys to building a successful data-centric platform is through the individuals constructing it. The algorithm you construct has to accomplish two things: It needs to continuously be learning about the person inputting that data, and it needs to continuously be relaying information back to the source. Focus on the foundation and infrastructure of your algorithm first, then experience second.---IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.