I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Joseph Rajadurai who leads Cognizant's Travel and Hospitality practice - that includes airlines, cruise lines, hotels and restaurant clients.
He discusses the varying impact of COVID-19 on each of the segments - you will be surprised how well some of them are bouncing back.
He also discusses the impact of travel restrictions on his consulting practice.
I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Andre Blumberg, Senior IT Director at CLP Power. Based in Hong Kong, he is the first executive in this series who did the interview from his corporate, not home, office. He is able to speak from the vantage point of being in the recovery/reopen stage, while most of US is still planning for that. Hong Kong and Asia also benefited from their experience with SARS in 2003 and Andre describes that advantage.
He describes how energy consumption patterns have evolved over the last few months - consumer v. commercial, across Asia-Pacific. He also describes the 3 Ds driving their business - decarbonization, decentralization and digitizing - and how the crisis has influenced their thinking
He also describes their recent annual shareholder meeting - a hybrid physical and streamed one. Only 50 shareholders were picked via raffle to be physically present. Directors on the board were split to provide physical distancing.
Just because they are a utility, they don't waste energy. Half way through our conversation the lights in the board room went off. The motion sensor had not detected enough activity in the room. That's ironic since Andre is an ultra-marathoner - full of energy!
Very educational talk. And hopeful to all of us stuck in home offices and eager to get back to physical worksites and on the road to watch him talk from his corporate office.
I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Aneel Bhusri, CEO of Workday.
He talks about leadership during this crisis and likely changes in executive suites as healthcare becomes a major market opportunity and bigger HR challenge for every entity. He talks about conversations with fellow leaders on how best to re-open work places as the economy wakes up. He describes acrobatics in his customer base like running a million-person payroll and financial closes with nobody in the office. He also describes how cloud applications have scaled very well during the crisis and easily supported work-from-home efforts of customers.
Aneel is one of the nicest guys in the industry and while he credits his mentor and co-founder, Dave Duffield for that trait, his calmness comes across throughout the recording. Workday has done backflips for its employees and customers during the crisis - he describes some of each.
There is a definite feel-good, "be kind to each other", "have fun" vibe during the conversation. It is a small detail in the conversation, but I particularly appreciated his generosity with the Zoom background of Giorgio's Pizzeria, one of his favorite comfort-food places and his hope they survive the crisis.
I could almost hear 'Peaceful, easy feeling" by the Eagles playing as I was talking to him. Enjoy
I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Phiroz Darukhanavala, who goes as "Daru", the ex-CTO of BP. He talks about the impact of COVID-19 on the oil and gas sector. While the industry has been riled by negative prices (Yes!), disappearance of demand from airlines, cruise lines and driving, Daru says the industry has faced other "shocks" before, usually on the supply side. This time is demand driven. The sector in the past has bounced back and has been more efficient each time.
He also talks about why the US shale sector will persist, albeit with potential consolidation of many of the smaller players. He also touches on the impact this may have on the renewable energy sector.
From the outside, the energy sector looks in deep trouble. When you talk to execs like Daru, you hear of acrobatics and resilience. They have absorbed other shocks before and they will adjust to this "new normal".
It's drama in a corporate setting! A decade of change in a few weeks!
I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Jeff Robertson, COO of the space technology company, Maxar which specializes in manufacturing communication, Earth observation, radar, and on-orbit servicing satellites, satellite products, and related services.
They are obviously into rocket science and it shows in the way they have approached the crisis. Jeff also heads the COVID-19 response team for Maxar.
When asked about acrobatics, he says "In some of our US government customers that traditionally have only done their missions in classified space where everyone has to come together in a special office - we are now able to help them serve their mission but do so in a commercial space, leveraging our cloud computing capabilities and remote operations... with our imagery, mapping and analytics capabilities keeping those important missions moving."
About re-opening :"We were very conservative in entering this crisis - we moved very quickly to new protocols and work from home than most governments and companies". He calls them "red protocol, limited isolated operations". He says the "return to the work site" protocols are "incredibly more complicated". You should hear what he has to say as every executive is grappling with similar back to work issues.
I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Tara Gambill, Sr. Director of Enterprise Systems at MOD Pizza. MOD stands for Made-on-Demand. MOD is known for its artisanal pizzas, cooked ultra-fast in stone ovens. As Tara says "it's Pizza as a Platform" - the founders were purpose driven, people oriented and that company culture continues that even after a decade+ since it was founded.
She talks about how MOD Pizza has coped with varying restrictions on restaurants across 28 states where they have stores and food supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 crisis.
She also discusses how her completely SaaS IT environment which includes SAP S/4HANA in the public cloud, SAP SuccessFactors and Microsoft Teams has helped with work from home demands and scaling volumes.
I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Tamas Hevizi, Global Head of Private Equity at Automation Anywhere. He covers three very timely topics.
How bots, ML and other automation are helping with the massive volumes we are seeing during the COVID-19 crisis at banks processing emergency loans, the healthcare system handling tests, state unemployment offices handling applications and many more scenarios.
Using his long experience at SAP at Value Realization, he provides commentary on how to justify value from technology in a recessionary market.
Finally, he talks about the Private Equity market he has been part of for much of his career - how it has evolved in the last decade and how it is likely to change during this period.
I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Jay Smith, CIO at TracFone Wireless, the leading US prepaid wireless provider. He discusses the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on his business and that of the broader telecom market.
The market for work, learn, play for bandwidth at-home has exploded, that from many work physical facilities has declined. He also talks about the next-gen market with smart cities, smart homes, smart autos and 5G networks.
He also discusses how they transitioned their own staff to work from home. Finally, he discusses plans to re-imagine the workplace, not just bring employees back, as they prepare for the economy re-opening.
I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Marty Groover, Partner, C5MI. C5 in the company name comes from his background in the Navy. He also spent years at Caterpillar and is now a big advocate for Industie 4.0 - digital factories and the industrial Internet of Things.
He talks about changes in US manufacturing with global trade winds and enactment of the War Powers Act. He also talks about the new type of talent we will need. He next talks about predictive maintenance in asset-intensive industries like energy and utilities. He also talks about the next-gen auto sector with electric and autonomous vehicles.
I have been doing video interviews with a number of CIOs, software executives and practitioners about acrobatics they have been seeing in various vertical sectors during the COVID-19 crisis and the "New normal" they can expect as the economy wakes up.
This time it is Bill Shea, a VP in the Cognizant Health Care practice.
As Charles Dickens would say "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". The COVID-19 crisis has been horrible in terms of human toll. But it is also leading to a frenzied pace of development of tests, vaccines, contact tracking tools and other innovations. It is opening the healthcare sector to a whole range of new entrants. It is also leading to questions why when nearly a fifth of the US economy is focused on healthcare, why its supply chains have broken down and outcomes look so dire.
Bill covers a lot of ground around pop-up hospitals, retail healthcare, digital adoption (finally), value-based care, on-demand healthcare and consolidation in both the provider and payer side of the industry. He also discusses the impact of work from home and travel restrictions on the consulting and outsourcing market he is part of.
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