“I think one of the crucial components of [disruptive technologies] is the people. Ultimately it is the people who drive things forward and make critical decisions using the data.”
Quick Wins interview with Biren Gandhi, a senior key level technology executive based out of Silicon Valley. A former Facebook & Cisco technologist, Biren provides our listeners with a deep dive on disruptive technologies such as Internet of Things (IOT), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and fog computing. In this informative discussion, Biren provides definitions of the various technologies and shares insights on some of the key ways technology will continue advance into 21st century.
AMA (Ask Me Anything) interview with Michael Beddows, a seasoned consultant, serial entrepreneur, and founder of the IT Consulting Group & Enterprising Group.
“Good consultants deliver value, but great consultants teach their clients how to deliver value for themselves.”
Michael shares his career journey going in and out of consulting and serial entrepreneurship as the founder of multiple start-ups. He discusses four types of consultants – contractors, advisors, freelancers, and coaches- and how he did work in data mining, customer relationship management, content management, knowledge management, and enterprise collaboration. Michael now advises clients on customer experience and user experience.
Christie and Michael discuss the importance for consultants to have coaches as part of their career support system to go from good to great. Michael shares his new venture, Enterprising Group, a peer to peer learning network for enterprise practitioners on various topics. The first component of the Enterprising Group is called the IT Consulting Group, which focuses on providing coaching services to teach professionals how to be an IT Consultant.
“How can you achieve your 5-year plan in the next 6 months?”
Michael provides additional advice for younger consultants
Do not be intimidated by older, more experienced professionals
Begin working on your long term career plans now instead of later
Keep an eye on the impacts of artificial intelligence
Naresh turned down an offer from a leading management consulting firm to join a startup company and several years later, launched his own company. In this episode, Naresh and Christie touch on a myriad of topics including:
How taking a big risk in turning down the management consulting offer from a prestigious firm to join an unknown startup paid off
Naresh helped the Houston Rockets basketball management team select 2007-2008 draft picks in a remote internship through the use of digital and predictive analytics
Embracing and exploiting the opportunities digital and its disruptive effects will have across every industry
