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 Brad Keywell, a serial entrepreneur who has built a variety of companies including Groupon and is now CEO of Uptake. Uptake leverages sensory data and machine learning to help asset-intensive customers like the US Military and in industries like Mining and Railroads operate complex assets like locomotives and turbines with more precision and predictability.
He talks a different language than most enterprise software executives. He talks "ready built", "time series data", calls "operators" his customers, terms his software as "doctors for machines" which generate "health scores"
We also talk about why so many supply chains broke down during the crisis and why pandemic modeling was chaotic, and how we should be able to improve them in the future. He says we face "clarity of need" and promises "assurance of maximum productivity and reliability".
I particularly liked the respect he shows to Sam Zell, a mentor for over 3 decades.
It's certainly not time for "business as usual" with long projects and large teams in an age of restricted travel. It may be a much better time for what he calls an "entrepreneurial driven platform" that "delivers outcomes to industry"
