IT Visionaries

When Alex Krug was an executive at Behance, he noticed that quite a few tools had been developed to help encourage signups and onboard customers, but once they were working with the product, there was very little help offered. This was a problem he thought he could help solve, which is why he founded Baton. Today, as the founder and CEO of Baton, Alex is helping people streamline their actual workflow with automation and on this episode of IT Visionaries, he explains exactly what that looks like. Plus, he dives into his entrepreneurial journey and what it means to grow a company. Like so many startups, the idea for Baton stemmed from a pain point that founder and CEO Alex Krug experienced first-hand. During his days as an executive with Behance, which was later sold and acquired by creative giant Adobe, workflow.   Main Takeaways   Ouch! That Hurts!: When you’re looking to help companies scale, you need to identify their pain points. Understand the problems that are preventing them from growing. Don’t just throw more people at a problem in order fix-it. Think it through and fully understand the solution. Once you understand those problems, you can help that company grow.   Post-game: A lot of platforms are built to onboard clients and geared toward customer retention. Baton is designed to streamline the post-sale process to help companies automate and streamline their workflows. The A-Team: When attempting to grow a company, employee retention is of the utmost most important. If you can keep a team together long enough to see your original mission through, you’re on a pathway to success. --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 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 Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools.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 company has a breaking point. A moment when an organization realizes it is overwhelmed by an avalanche of inbound calls and emails that bombard personnel with the same rudimentary questions over -and over again. It’s a vexing problem that resembles a scene from Groundhog Day, where team members feel as if they are constantly reliving the same day. But what if there was an easy data-powered solution to this problem? David Karandish is the CEO of Capacity, a company on a mission to solve those pain points through the power of A.I. On this episode of IT Visionaries, David details how the Capacity platform is eliminating common issues by using conversational intelligence and he explains why not all chatbots are serviceable.  Key Takeaways Does Not Compute: Not enough companies are using full-fledged platforms for their A.I. needs. When companies rely on single-use chatbots, those services are not able to escalate conversations to the next level. Instead, there is forced human interaction that otherwise is not needed with conversational intelligence. Build vs. Buy: When embarking on a digital transformation, the first question should always be if you should build your own software or simply buy an out-of-the-box solution If the software is not core to your business, don’t invest resources into it. Evolution of A.I.: The next step for A.I. is to become less reactive and more proactive. As more companies begin to utilize A.I. technologies, the wealth of data produced will continue to grow. Over the next few years, A.I. can go from simply answering questions, to being able to solve tasks for users. --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 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.

What happens when you combine A.I. with human intelligence? One answer is that you get Unbabel, a machine translation service on a mission to solve one of humanity’s most vexing challenges: language barriers. At Unbabel, the ultimate goal is to be able  to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world regardless of their native language. But to achieve that lofty goal we need data, we need translators and we need them to work together. João Graca is the Co-founder and CTO of Unbabel and on this episode of IT Visionaries, he discusses how his company is working to bring those two sides together to get closer to a future when we can rely on machine translation. Key Takeaways A Long Way to Go: While there has been a lot of progress with machine translation, there still is a long way to go. Translation services, like Google Translate, have the ability to comprehend words and sentences, but understanding full phrases and rare words remains a struggle. Unbabel works in real-time with machine translation and in-house translators to efficiently translate emails and marketing materials We Need Data and Need it Now: One of the biggest challenges when it comes to machine translation is the lack of data, especially in uncommon languages. Data from popular languages are used to help decipher sentences and phrases. When we don’t constantly have an influx of data, that challenge becomes greater. You Just Don’t Understand: if we don’t utilize both data and translators to grow machine translation, the intelligence will continue to be stagnant. The biggest issue right now is companies hiring in-house translators, which is not efficient, doesn’t increase the amount of open source data, and is incredibly expensive for companies. --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 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.

Jeff Ton is honest and direct when he says nobody grows up wanting to be a CIO. If you ask Jeff, he’ll say he thought he’d be a rockstar, touring the backroads of the country in a van, playing gigs on weeknights. That was always the plan...until an impulse purchase of a Commodore 64 changed Jeff’s path forever. Jeff is now a multi-time CIO, currently serving as an IT Strategy Advisor at InterVision and the Founder of Ton Enterprises and he joined IT Visionaries to take us through his journey. On this episode, Jeff provides insights into the role of the CIO and divulges some of the key questions current CIOs are trying to find answers to, including those surrounding diversity.  Key Takeaways Embed Yourself in the Business: In order for IT professionals to advance their careers, they need to begin taking on a larger role within the organization. That includes having a better understanding of how the business operates and how technology is deployed across all departments. Go Where the Talent is: In order to diversify your teams, you need to go where diverse candidates are. It’s important to familiarize yourself with alternate avenues to pursue candidates that are outside the traditional recruiting grounds, and it’s even more important to know how to connect with those candidates. Once you find those team members, the next step is to make sure they feel empowered in their workspace. A Man with a Plan: If you’re a new CIO, you need to have a 60- to 90-day plan, but understand that plan will change. During those first few months, you are going to do a lot of learning on the job. Have honest conversations with your team members and stakeholders and understand how they can help you succeed in your new role. --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 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.

Ryan Graciano remembers the early days of Credit Karma like they just happened. Born in the midst of a financial crisis, Credit Karma’s rise to significance didn’t seem certain, and Ryan remembers thinking to himself numerous times, “Are we going to make it?” Today, Credit Karma serves more than 100 million users, and provides consumers with tools that empower them to take the biggest financial steps in their lives. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Ryan discusses the early turbulence the company endured, how he leads through trying times, and how Credit Karma is helping in more ways than just by providing credit scores. Key Takeaways Confidence Breeds Success: Be confident in your product. If you aren’t confident and passionate about the product you are bringing to market, the trying times will be much more difficult. Ryan details how Credit Karma, born in the midst of the financial crisis, overcame their trials and tribulations For the Long Haul: As a CTO and company leader, you have to constantly be thinking about what comes next. When obstacles arise, you need to have already discussed with your leadership team about possible alternatives. If you are not actively thinking about how things will fail, your company will fail. Teamwork Makes the Dream work: The most important thing for any co-founder is having a solid support system. When Credit Karma started, Ryan was a one-man crew. Once the company began to expand, he focused on people that could magnify his skills while also expanding the product. Invest in good people and listen to your team and have faith in your decisions --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 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.

Derek Weeks has spent his entire career teaching, educating, and fostering relationships. From his first job with Atari teaching people how to use its consoles, to his role today as a Vice President and DevOps advocate at Sonatype, Derek works to educate others. Derek joined IT Visionaries for a conversation centered on the growth of the DevOps industry and how he is helping to grow that community through All Day DevOps, an online 24-hour conference featuring more than 100 speakers. Key Takeaways   A Growing Industry: Five years ago if 1,000 people attended a developer’s conference it was considered a success. Now, more than 40,000 developers routinely attend All Day DevOps conferences. More Widely-Adopted, But Not Flawless: The use of open-source code continues to rise in popularity due to its velocity and efficiency, but it’s not without vulnerabilities, downloads that included encrypted code, or malware  Seeking Clarity: Many companies still fail to understand exactly what DevOps is, where DevOps can be used, and the benefits of the DevOps industry. Therefore, a lot of education still needs to happen internally as well as externally.  --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 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.

More than likely you have uttered the phrase, “Yeah, I’ll just Dropbox that to you.” The turn of phrase has become so popular thanks to the capabilities Dropbox has offered to the masses. People around the world can share and store documents, pictures and information simply by dragging a file into a folder. But how does that file get stored, and how do those precious items live in a space that seems almost endless? Andrew Fong is the Vice President of Infrastructure at Dropbox, and on this episode of IT Visionaries, Andrew dives into the nitty-gritty of how he helps keep those mementos accessible anywhere. Plus he describes how a small task force formed in 2013 shaped the future of Dropbox forever and the importance of scale. Key Takeaways Keep Your Data Close and Your Servers Closer: By building its own data servers, Dropbox was able to eliminate its reliance on third-party servers like AWS. When you control your servers, you’re able to manage the amount of data you intake and, in return, how you use that data.  Core Strength: Think about the items that are core to the foundation of your business and then invest in those things. For Dropbox, one of those core functions is the need for its system to be reliable and durable. If you don’t understand what the core principles of your business are you can’t invest in the right things Time to Reload: Once a project is up and running, you need to make sure your team remains invested and energized. Don’t wait too long to switch things up. If team members are excited about other opportunities, give them those chances. --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 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.

Alistair Fulton has always considered himself a mechanic. After all, his job as the Vice President and General Manager of Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Business is to utilize the tools provided to him in his toolbox and give customers the appropriate solution. The only difference is his toolkit helps millions of people across the world stay connected through a variety of different technologies. Fulton joins IT Visionaries to provide a referendum on the state of the IoT, and he discusses why the biggest challenges facing his community are themselves, and why LoRa (or Long-Range wireless solutions) and 5G are no longer seen as competitors, but allies. Key Takeaways Handy Dandy Toolkit: One of the most common mistakes made collectively by the IoT community is that they don’t fully appreciate that each tool — or form of technology — is another part of the toolkit  Tough Choice: One major issue surrounding IoT is the number of vendors that offer end-to-end solutions that don’t operate under a single ecosystem. According to Fulton, the IoT space is littered with failed use cases where companies can’t work together because the systems are not compatible. Same Team: There is a misconception that LoRa and 5G can’t work together, but in reality the two systems commonly work together to achieve different goals. --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 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.

Venture capital funding for clean energy technology companies has declined in recent years, but one new fund is looking to buck that trend. Dan Goldman is the Co-Founder & Managing Director of Clean Energy Ventures, and he is trying to be a catalyst, and change the narrative by providing those companies with the resources they need to make long-lasting positive impacts. Dan joined IT Visionaries to discuss the process Clean Energy Ventures goes through when selecting new companies. And he explains what differentiates Clean Energy Ventures from other VCs and looks into his crystal ball at the future of the clean energy industry. Key Takeaways Lack of Funding: There are not enough companies funding clean energy technologies. If you want to advance climate change solutions, successful and profitable companies need to begin investing in the space. Dan dives into the strategies his company is utilizing to fund these ventures A Proven Formula: There is less risk to investing in clean energy than people think. In the past it has been proven that clean energy technology companies that are well-supported perform better and actually produce highly-scalable technologies. Demystify the ROI: If an investor does not understand how he or she will see a return on investment, there is no chance that they will put money into a venture. To secure funding, especially in the clean energy space, it’s critical to explain clearly how those funds will be turned into goods, service, or impact that will lead to a return. --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 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.

Business incubators or accelerators have helped launch some of the greatest companies of our time and one is hoping to fund the next unicorn looking to save our world. Dawn Lippert is the CEO of Elemental Excelerator, a company investing big money in the hopes of a better tomorrow. Dawn joined IT Visionaries to discuss the work her company is doing in places like Hawaii, California and Asia.And she underscores the importance of investing in communities and why we cannot afford to stop funding a solution for climate change. Key Takeaways Move the needle: In order to push the needle forward with climate change, you have to work across three key areas — technology, policy and communities where you can succeed and grow  All in the Community: Focus on the communities you are investing in. In order to have a full understanding of what technologies are needed and how they can best be utilized and scaled, you have to build relationships with those communities Keep the Momentum Going: The climate change industry cannot afford to take a year off when it comes to funding. There is a strong need to continue to invest in these companies in order to prevent the stunting of technology growth --- IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Customer 360 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.