Podcasts about bpo

Legendary venture capitalist Vinod Khosla joins Mukesh Bansal on SparX, for one of the most wide-ranging and provocative conversations on the future of technology, investing, and humanity. Vinod makes bold claims: AI will replace doctors within 5 years, colleges as we know them are obsolete, space-based data centers don't make sense, India's IT and BPO industry faces an existential threat - and yet, AI may be the greatest opportunity India has ever seen. And ultimately, AI will free humanity from servitude to survival.In this episode, Vinod shares his contrarian investment philosophy, including why he wrote a $50M check to OpenAI in 2019 when it had no product, no revenue, and no business plan — and why he sent an apology letter to his LPs along with it.

Send us Fan MailThe onslaught of customer AI agents.In the next 9 to 12 months, your customer will be able to say “hey Siri, call my subscription company and cancel my plan, then chat with the ABC airline and move my flight from Tuesday to Wednesday.”The AI agent launches the call or chat. It acts on their behalf.Think about what that does to your cx volume. Interactions are going to skyrocket. This is when and why AI in your contact center stops being optional. You'll need it just to handle the sheer volume of bots coming at you.So the question becomes whether you have an AI front door. Something that can answer these calls, do the basic triage, and hand off to a human only when it actually needs one.You can still have human service for human callers but you will need Ai to handle the Ai. IMO Sla will become less and less of a core metric as bots will wait in queue and won't care. How we operate will change too. All you centers with retention lines and agents. How do you downsell or save a bot told to cancel?And it's going to be really bad at first. Customers will not be happy with the bot outcomes. They will call you back to try to fix. It will get better but it's going to be a rocky start. Volume are going up. This is one of the main things we're thinking about at Expivia. And it's exactly what we're getting ready to help our BPO customers handle.The bots are coming. The centers that planned for them win. The ones that didn't get buried. Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. Click here:expiviadigital.comFollow Tom: @tlaird_expiviaJoin our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeekConnect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geekLinkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube ChannelOttoQA: try.ottoqa.comExpivia: Expiviausa.com

The BPO Industry Isn't Dying. But It May Need to Reinvent Itself Faster Than Anyone Expected. Yuma AI CEO Guillaume Luccisano argues that customer experience providers must evolve from labor arbitrage specialists into AI orchestrators and systems integrators—or risk becoming irrelevant. For years, critics of the business process outsourcing industry have predicted its demise. First it was robotic process automation. Then conversational AI. Then Generative AI. Yet the industry survived every previous wave of disruption because technology changed the way work was delivered rather than eliminating the need for the service itself. In episode 420 of the CX Files, Guillaume talks to Mark Hillary about these changes and how BPOs may need to adapt. https://www.linkedin.com/in/guillaumeluccisano/ https://yuma.ai/ -------------- Summary: Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the impact of AI on the BPO industry, featuring Guillaume Luccisano, CEO of Yuma AI. Luccisano argues that traditional BPO models are outdated, emphasizing AI's potential to automate 100% of customer service within 2-3 years. He highlights Yuma AI's success in deploying AI agents since 2023, achieving automation rates up to 89%. Luccisano predicts a significant shift in the job market due to AI, suggesting BPOs must evolve into systems integrators to survive. He also notes the cost efficiency of AI, with interactions costing under $1 compared to $4-$8 for human agents. ---- The BPO Industry Isn't Dying. But It May Need to Reinvent Itself Faster Than Anyone Expected. Yuma AI CEO Guillaume Luccisano argues that customer experience providers must evolve from labor arbitrage specialists into AI orchestrators and systems integrators—or risk becoming irrelevant. For years, critics of the business process outsourcing industry have predicted its demise. First it was robotic process automation. Then conversational AI. Then Generative AI. Yet the industry survived every previous wave of disruption because technology changed the way work was delivered rather than eliminating the need for the service itself. But according to Guillaume Luccisano, founder and CEO of Yuma AI, this time may be different. Speaking on Episode 420 of the CX Files podcast, Luccisano argued that the traditional BPO model—selling customer service through large pools of human agents—is facing a challenge unlike anything it has encountered before. His view is stark: AI is no longer just helping agents do their jobs better. It is increasingly capable of doing the job itself. And if that trend continues, the industry will need to redefine its purpose. The End of the "Cost Per Interaction" Era Luccisano's company specializes in AI-powered customer service automation for retail and e-commerce brands. He claims some clients are already automating the vast majority of customer interactions. What has changed, he argues, is that AI is no longer limited to answering questions from a knowledge base. Modern AI agents can access customer records, understand context, follow workflows, execute transactions, and complete tasks. In other words, they are moving beyond information retrieval and into operational execution. This matters because the traditional BPO business model has largely been built around charging for human effort—whether measured in agents, hours, seats, or interactions. If AI can handle increasing volumes of customer contacts at a fraction of the cost, then the economics begin to shift dramatically. A contact that once required several dollars of human labor may eventually be resolved for a few cents in computing costs. Even if those figures are debated, the direction of travel is becoming difficult to ignore. The Problem Isn't Technology. It's Incentives. One of Luccisano's most interesting observations is that many outsourcing providers are already talking extensively about AI. The question is whether they are deploying AI to genuinely transform operations or merely adding enough AI to satisfy customer demand while protecting existing revenue streams. That creates an uncomfortable tension. A provider whose business depends on thousands of agents has little incentive to aggressively deploy technology that could reduce the number of agents required. As Luccisano noted, many providers find themselves caught between serving today's business model and preparing for tomorrow's. The challenge is not technical. It is organizational. And perhaps even existential. Why Investors Are Nervous The sharp decline in the share prices of several publicly traded CX providers has fuelled speculation about the sector's future. Luccisano believes investors are not simply reacting to hype. They are attempting to price in a future where customer service becomes significantly more automated, more efficient, and therefore less dependent on large labor-intensive operations. Whether investors have overreacted remains open to debate. But the market is clearly asking a difficult question: What happens to a company built around managing tens of thousands of customer service agents when customers increasingly expect AI-driven efficiency? The answer remains uncertain. But it is a question every provider now has to confront. The Hidden Complexity Most Critics Ignore To his credit, Luccisano does not dismiss the value that BPOs create today. Customer interactions are only one piece of a much larger operational puzzle. Large CX providers manage compliance requirements, regulatory obligations, security controls, multilingual operations, workforce management, governance frameworks, quality assurance, and complex integrations across dozens of markets. Replacing an individual customer service interaction with AI is one thing. Replacing the entire operational framework surrounding customer service is something else entirely. This is where many simplistic predictions about the "death of BPO" fall apart. The institutional knowledge accumulated by major outsourcing firms still has value. The question is whether that value can be repackaged. From Outsourcer to Systems Integrator Perhaps the most important idea from the conversation was Luccisano's belief that the future role of the BPO may look less like a labor provider and more like a systems integrator. Rather than selling headcount, providers could sell expertise. Rather than managing agents, they could manage AI agents. Rather than staffing operations, they could design, orchestrate, govern, optimize, and continuously improve AI-enabled customer experience ecosystems. This is a subtle but profound shift. It moves the provider higher up the value chain. The emphasis shifts from execution to orchestration. From labor to outcomes. From workforce management to intelligent systems management. Ironically, this would bring some BPOs closer to the role that companies like IBM, Accenture, and other major technology integrators evolved into years ago. A Difficult Transition The challenge, of course, is that transformation is easier to describe than to execute. Reinventing a startup is one thing. Reinventing a global organization employing hundreds of thousands of people is another. Many of today's largest CX providers are highly successful businesses with established customer relationships and predictable revenue streams. That success can become a barrier to change. The dilemma is obvious. How aggressively should a company invest in technologies that could cannibalize its own business? History suggests that incumbents often struggle with precisely this problem. The Bigger Question Perhaps the most controversial part of Luccisano's argument extends beyond outsourcing entirely. He believes AI is creating a broader economic transformation that will affect many knowledge-based professions, not just customer service. Software engineering, consulting, administration, legal services, and customer experience are all beginning to feel the effects. If he is right, then the debate is no longer about whether AI will change customer service. The debate is about how quickly institutions can adapt to a world where intelligence itself becomes abundant and inexpensive. The Future May Belong to the Adaptable The most important takeaway from this discussion is not that BPOs are doomed. In fact, Luccisano repeatedly acknowledged that some providers will survive and potentially thrive. But survival may depend on abandoning the assumption that customer service is primarily a labor business. The providers that succeed could be those that become trusted advisors, AI operators, governance experts, and systems integrators. The providers that fail may be those that continue selling people when customers increasingly want outcomes. The outsourcing industry has reinvented itself before. The question now is whether it can do so again—at the speed AI demands.

David Rickard is a partner at Everest Group. He is based in the UK. David recently visited Ethiopia for the Elevate Africa event. In this conversation with Peter Ryan David gives his take on Ethiopia and Africa more generally for CX and BPO.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwrickard/ https://www.everestgrp.com/ https://www.weelevateafrica.org/ --- Africa has been talked about as "the next big thing" in outsourcing for at least two decades. South Africa became a serious global CX delivery location. Egypt built a powerful multilingual BPO proposition. Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, and several other markets are now attracting attention as buyers look beyond the traditional offshore giants. But Ethiopia is starting to enter the conversation in a more serious way. In Episode 419 of CX Files, Peter Ryan interviewed David Rickard, a partner at Everest Group, shortly after David returned from the Elevate Africa conference in Ethiopia. The conversation was valuable because David was not offering a promotional pitch. As an analyst, his job is to look at both sides of the equation: the opportunity and the obstacles.

Outsourcing podcast Get the full show notes for this outsourcing podcast here: outsourceaccelerator.com/591   Michael Bian, CEO of SixEleven BPO, returns to the Outsource Accelerator Podcast for another appearance as the company marks its 20th anniversary.  From a 20-agent operation in Davao to an 8,000-strong workforce across 10 offices in the Philippines, Michael reflected on what it takes to scale a BPO over two decades — and how his playbook is holding up against the AI wave.   References: Website: https://www.sixelevenbpo.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/six-eleven-global-services-and-solutions   Start Outsourcing Outsource Accelerator can help you transform your business with outsourcing. Get in touch now, or use one of the resources below.   Business Process Outsourcing Get a Free Quote - Connect with 3 verified outsourcing experts & see how outsourcing can transform your business Book a Discovery Call - See how Outsource Accelerator can help you enhance your company's innovation and growth with outsourcing The Top 40 BPOs - We have compiled this review of the most notable 40 Business Process Outsourcing companies in the Philippines Outsourcing Calculator - This tool provides you with invaluable insight into the potential savings outsourcing can do for your business Outsourcing Salary Guide - Access the comprehensive guide to payroll salary compensation, benefits, and allowances in the Philippines Outsourcing Accelerator Podcast - Subscribe and listen to the world's leading outsourcing podcast, hosted by Derek Gallimore Payoneer - The leading global B2B payment solution for the outsourcing industry   About Outsource Accelerator Outsource Accelerator is the world's leading outsourcing marketplace and advisory. We offer the full spectrum of services, from light advisory and vendor brokerage, though to full implementation and fully-managed solutions. We service companies of all sectors, and all sizes, spanning all departmental verticals. Outsource Accelerator's unique approach to outsourcing enables our clients to build the best teams, access the most flexible solutions, and generate the best results possible. Our unrivaled sector knowledge and market reach mean that you get the best terms and results possible, at the best ALL-IN market-leading price - guaranteed.

Chez Swan, la croissance vient majoritairement de l'usage plutôt que de la signature de nouveaux deals, même si un nouveau deal reste évidemment un générateur de croissance. Elle vient des transactions, des virements et des cartes que les clients existants génèrent au quotidien. Pour absorber ce volume sans bloquer un seul utilisateur final, il faut un métier rarement raconté en détail : l'Ops Ops, ou "OPS Excellence". Camille Biscay nous ouvre les coulisses de ce poste, où le forecasting des opérations devient le nerf de la guerre d'une fintech d'embedded banking.Camille a un parcours atypique. Bachelor en sciences politiques au Canada, philo, puis marketing chez Germinal et Batch, RevOps chez Pigment, et aujourd'hui pilotage des opérations d'une plateforme bancaire européenne. Avec un autre consultant dans son équipe, elle gère 13 flux d'opérations (transaction monitoring, KYC, customer care, support) et le staffing de plus de 150 personnes au jour près, sur un service délivré en marque blanche à des clients comme Pennylane.Ce que tu vas apprendre dans cet épisode :Pourquoi le forecasting devient critique quand ton business model repose sur les volumes de tes clients (B2B2B), et pas uniquement sur la signature de nouveaux clients, et l'impact que ça a sur la structuration des opérationsComment construire un forecast et une capacity planning ultra précis avec des Excel, en jonglant entre macro (plan de recrutement à 12-18 mois) et micro (planning jour par jour avec le mois de mai en "bête noire" à cause des ponts)Pourquoi Camille n'a pas encore complètement déléguer la création de son forecast à l'IALa conviction forte de Camille sur la posture d'un ops : "L'Ops qui n'a pas de champion en interne est tout seul et n'est pas écouté. Ton impact est zéro, ton évolution, c'est zéro"Notes complètes, ressources et captures de l'épisode : [lien]Chapitres :[00:00:00] Présentation de Camille et de son parcours, de Sciences Po à Ops Ops[00:15:42] Swan, qu'est-ce qu'une plateforme d'embedded banking en B2B2B[00:19:23] Le département opérations chez Swan, 13 queues à piloter[00:27:37] Sélection des clients et avant-vente, préparer la capacité d'onboarding[00:35:57] Construire un forecast à 12-18 mois avec 5% de variance acceptée[00:43:51] BPO, freelances, CDI : le staffing en flexibilité[00:56:32] Construire un modèle de forecast sans tomber dans le perfectionnisme[01:13:15] Pourquoi pas l'IA aujourd'hui[01:17:40] Le conseil clé : trouver des champions en interne, ne pas rester dans son équipeHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Cześć, dzień dobry Witajcie w kolejnym odcinku podcastu „BSS bez tajemnic”! Dzisiaj wracam do Was na gorąco po konferencji Follow The Leaders 2026, organizowanej przez Pro Progressio. W tym solowym epizodzie podsumowuję swoją prezentację i bez owijania w bawełnę zestawiam nasze wyobrażenia z globalną rzeczywistością.Gdzie naprawdę znajduje się Polska na światowej mapie sektorów BPO, GBS oraz GCC? Choć w kraju chętnie myślimy o sobie jako o potędze ustępującej tylko Indiom, zagraniczne raporty, m.in. z Outsourcing World Summit w Chicago czy filipińskiego stowarzyszenia IBPAP, pokazują zupełnie inny wizerunek. Jesteśmy tam postrzegani jako lokalizacja o wysokich kosztach i niskiej dostępności talentów. Dodatkowo mierzymy się z problemem ujemnego przyrostu naturalnego.W odcinku analizuję także dane firmy Hallo Inc. dotyczące zatrudnienia w Polsce oraz omawiam kluczowe trendy rynkowe. Z tego nagrania dowiesz się:Dlaczego rynek nowoczesnych usług dla biznesu w Polsce ustabilizował się na poziomie ok. 500 tysięcy etatów?Jakie obszary rosną najszybciej (pik automatyzacji procesów, analityka, GCC oraz badania)?Dlaczego model SSC i czyste transakcje odchodzą w przeszłość?Jakie znaczenie dla inwestorów ma Nearshoring i budowanie biznesu opartego na zaufaniu?Nie żyjmy w bańce wielkości! Czas przestać sprzedawać Polskę przez pryzmat niskich kosztów, a zacząć oferować elastyczne rozwiązania, takie jak mix ludzi, automatyzacji i sztucznej inteligencji (AI).Chcesz otrzymać pełną prezentację z Follow The Leaders? Napisz do mnie na adres e-mail podany poniżej lub zeskanuj kod QR widoczny na nagraniu!  ****************************  Nazywam się Wiktor Doktór i na co dzień prowadzę Klub Pro Progressio https://proprogressio.com/pl/dzialalnosc/klub-pro-progressio/1 – to społeczność wielu firm prywatnych i organizacji sektora publicznego, którym zależy na rozwoju relacji biznesowych w modelu B2B. W podcaście BSS bez tajemnic poza odcinkami solowymi, zamieszczam rozmowy z ekspertami i specjalistami z różnych dziedzin przedsiębiorczości.Zapraszam do odwiedzin moich kanałów na:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@wiktordoktor Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wiktor.doktor LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktor/ Moja strona internetowa - https://wiktordoktor.pl/ Możesz też do mnie napisać. Mój adres email to - kontakt(@)wiktordoktor.pl   ****************************  Patronami Podcastu “BSS bez tajemnic” są: Marzena Sawicka https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-hillway-training/Przemysław Sławiński https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/ Damian Ruciński - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-rucinski/ Szymon Kryczka https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/Grzegorz Ludwin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gludwin/ Adam Furmańczuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-agilino/ Igor Tkach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortkach/ Damian Wróblewski - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianwroblewski/ Paweł Łopatka - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawellopatka/ Wiktor Doktór Jr. - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktor-dokt%C3%B3r-jr-916297188/Agata Stolarz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/agata-stolarz/Hubert Antczak - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hubert-antczak/  Wspaniali ludzie, dzięki którym pojawiają się kolejne odcinki tego podcastu. Ty też możesz wesprzeć rozwój podcastu na: Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktor Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktor Buy me a coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor Buycoffee.to - https://buycoffee.to/wiktordoktor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bss-bez-tajemnic--4069078/support.

Outsourcing podcast Get the full show notes for this outsourcing podcast here: outsourceaccelerator.com/590   Frank Prempeh, CEO of Corpshore Solutions, returned to the Outsource Accelerator Podcast to discuss the BPO's expansion into Uzbekistan, where it became the first Canadian outsourcing firm to set up. From the country's deeply multilingual workforce to AI-driven demand for non-English data annotation, Frank lays out a clear case for Central Asia as the next major outsourcing destination.   References: Website: https://corpshore.solutions/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/corpshore-solutions   Start Outsourcing Outsource Accelerator can help you transform your business with outsourcing. Get in touch now, or use one of the resources below.   Business Process Outsourcing Get a Free Quote - Connect with 3 verified outsourcing experts & see how outsourcing can transform your business Book a Discovery Call - See how Outsource Accelerator can help you enhance your company's innovation and growth with outsourcing The Top 40 BPOs - We have compiled this review of the most notable 40 Business Process Outsourcing companies in the Philippines Outsourcing Calculator - This tool provides you with invaluable insight into the potential savings outsourcing can do for your business Outsourcing Salary Guide - Access the comprehensive guide to payroll salary compensation, benefits, and allowances in the Philippines Outsourcing Accelerator Podcast - Subscribe and listen to the world's leading outsourcing podcast, hosted by Derek Gallimore Payoneer - The leading global B2B payment solution for the outsourcing industry   About Outsource Accelerator Outsource Accelerator is the world's leading outsourcing marketplace and advisory. We offer the full spectrum of services, from light advisory and vendor brokerage, though to full implementation and fully-managed solutions. We service companies of all sectors, and all sizes, spanning all departmental verticals. Outsource Accelerator's unique approach to outsourcing enables our clients to build the best teams, access the most flexible solutions, and generate the best results possible. Our unrivaled sector knowledge and market reach mean that you get the best terms and results possible, at the best ALL-IN market-leading price - guaranteed.

The LSE Middle East Centre hosted the launch of Richard Barltrop's paper, 'Sudan's Current War: A Longer View on Peacemaking and Prospects'. This hybrid event launched a new paper examining the ongoing war in Sudan, which broke out in 2023. Drawing on lessons from the history of peacemaking in Sudan and comparative insights from other civil wars, the paper reflects on pathways toward ending the conflict, including the urgency of de-escalation, the need for sustained, long-term peacebuilding efforts, and the importance of Sudanese leadership and ownership in shaping a durable peace process. Richard will be joined by discussants Raga Makawi and Abdel Salam Sidahmad, and the event will be chaired by LSE's Laura Mann. Meet our speakers Richard Barltrop is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre researching contemporary approaches to peacemaking and peace processes. He has worked for the UN in the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa and is the author of Darfur and the International Community: The Challenges of Conflict Resolution in Sudan (IB Tauris, 2011). Abdel Salam Sidahmed is Chairperson of the Sudanese HR Monitor (SHRM) and an academic and human rights specialist with a PhD in Political Science. He previously served as Senior Human Rights Advisor to the Sudanese Prime Minister and Minister of Justice during the transitional government (2020–2021). Dr. Sidahmed brings over two decades of international human rights experience, including nine years with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, where he served as Regional Representative for the Middle East (2013–2021). Prior to that, he spent ten years at Amnesty International (1995–2005) as a Researcher and later Program Director for the Middle East and North Africa. In academia, he served as Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada (2005–2011). Raga Makawi is a Sudanese British researcher on Sudan's civic politics and social movements at the London School of Economics. She is the ex Editor at African Arguments curating topical themes on the Sudan's, the larger Horn and the general political and social affairs of the continent at large. She is co-author of the book Sudan's Unfinished Democracy: The Promise and Betrayal of a People's Revolution and is currently working on a number of publications in edited volumes including; the sudanese revolution and authoritarianism, the sudanese social movement contribution to security sector reform and new civic formations and the future of peace politics and political settlements in Sudan. Meet our chair Laura Mann is a sociologist whose research focuses on the political economy of development, knowledge and technology. Her regional focus is East Africa (Sudan, Kenya and Rwanda) but she has also worked on collaborative research on ICTs and BPO in Asia and has conducted fieldwork in North America as part of a project on digitisation within global agriculture.

Stephanie Reeves Millner is a Global EVP at TP. She is based in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. It is worth noting from the start of this podcast episode that Stephanie is talking in a personal capacity in this interview. CX and BPO processes are usually seen as a cost to most businesses. Stephanie argues that there are a number of strategies that can be used to drive up revenue, protect existing revenue, and increase customer loyalty. Applying all these strategies together can turn a CX cost center into a revenue generation center - moving from planning service to sales. In this conversation with Mark Hillary, Stephanie explains this service to sales concept. She also talks her her use of LinkedIn video to promote and share her own ideas - why is it so valuable to share raw and unfiltered content full of original ideas? https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniemillner/ https://www.tp.com/   Summary: Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the shift from viewing customer interactions as a cost to recognizing their revenue-generating potential. Stephanie Reeves Millner, a global EVP at TP, emphasizes the importance of human engagement in customer care, highlighting revenue protection, creation, trust, and loyalty. She advocates for a brand performance engine over a cost center, focusing on retention, repeat purchases, and lifetime value. Millner also discusses the role of AI in augmenting human decision-making and the need for agents to have autonomy in upselling. She shares her experience with videos on LinkedIn, which have gained traction and provided valuable insights to her audience.

This episode is brought to you by our sponsor, Optinizers (https://www.optinizers.com/) — helping entrepreneurs scale smarter with world-class virtual support.Andy Cheng is an entrepreneur, business strategist, and former President of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) Los Angeles Chapter who has built and scaled multiple multi‑million dollar businesses. In this episode, he's joined by Trisha, a Filipina operator and Head of Recruitment at OptiNizers, to break down how scrappy founders can stop doing everything alone and finally build the right support around them. If you've ever felt stuck at the same level—working nonstop but not really moving forward—this conversation will show you a different way to grow.In this episode we'll cover…- The moment you know you can't “DIY” your business anymore and what to do instead  - Why Andy believes your first hire should usually be an executive assistant—and how that unlocks both your business and personal life  - The difference between “connecting the dots” and truly empowering remote talent, especially Filipino professionals  - How Trisha went from BPO employee to a founder's right-hand operator helping scale a team from 2 to 20  - The most common mindset blocks founders have around delegating, and practical shifts to start letting go  - Real examples of what Filipino remote talent can own for you—EA, operations, bookkeeping, video editing, and more  

This episode is brought to you by our sponsor, Optinizers (https://www.optinizers.com/) — helping entrepreneurs scale smarter with world-class virtual support.Andy Cheng is an entrepreneur, business strategist, and former President of the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) Los Angeles Chapter who has built and scaled multiple multi‑million dollar businesses. In this episode, he's joined by Trisha, a Filipina operator and Head of Recruitment at OptiNizers, to break down how scrappy founders can stop doing everything alone and finally build the right support around them. If you've ever felt stuck at the same level—working nonstop but not really moving forward—this conversation will show you a different way to grow.In this episode we'll cover…- The moment you know you can't “DIY” your business anymore and what to do instead  - Why Andy believes your first hire should usually be an executive assistant—and how that unlocks both your business and personal life  - The difference between “connecting the dots” and truly empowering remote talent, especially Filipino professionals  - How Trisha went from BPO employee to a founder's right-hand operator helping scale a team from 2 to 20  - The most common mindset blocks founders have around delegating, and practical shifts to start letting go  - Real examples of what Filipino remote talent can own for you—EA, operations, bookkeeping, video editing, and more  

This week's guest, Sal Andolina, is the BPO's hottest switch-hitter in his permanent position of clarinetist, bass clarinetist and saxophonist. He has been a full-time member of the BPO for the past 21 seasons. His association with the Orchestra began in the late '70s when he was a standout performance major at the University at Buffalo as a full-scholarship student on the clarinet. Upon completion of his degree at UB under former BPO clarinetist James Pyne, Andolina pursued advanced clarinet studies with Stanley Hasty at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester and coaching with the legendary Benny Goodman in New York City. In addition to appearing as a soloist with the BPO, Andolina has been featured with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Fresno Philharmonic, the Arts Nova Chamber Orchestra and the North American New Music Festival. More significantly, Andolina has been featured on at least 15 studio recordings, including his prized CD: "Like Benny to Me," a tribute to Goodman. Note, this episode was originally recorded on April 9, 2026 where we talked about his association with Michael Tilson Thomas. Sadly Mr. Thomas passed away on April 22, 2026.

The Enlightened Family Business Podcast Ep. 159: The Story Only Your Family Can Tell with Roy Moëd & Yvette Conn   In this episode of the Enlightened Family Business Podcast, host Chris Yonker sits down with Roy Moëd and Yvette Conn, co-founders of Lifebook Memoirs, for a rich conversation about why documenting the stories of family business founders may be one of the most underutilized tools in the entire legacy planning space. Roy's journey into this work began with a deeply personal moment — repeatedly shutting down his blind father's stories until it was almost too late — and evolved into a global enterprise that has now chronicled over 20,000 lives across the world. Yvette, with her background in financial markets and business commentary, brings the lens of the family enterprise: how the unrecorded stories of founders get distorted over generations, how family myths quietly become sources of division, and how a book chronicling the origin of a family business can give an entire management team a living framework of values to build on. Together, they explore why so many people believe their story isn't worth telling, what it actually looks like to capture a 100-year-old family business history, the surprising emotional and relational benefits that emerge when stories are finally put to paper, and why a book — not a video — remains the most powerful medium for preserving a family's truth. This is a quietly profound episode for any family business leader who has ever wondered whether the story of how it all began still matters. Episode Chapters ·       5:28   Meet Roy Moëd and Yvette Conn ·       6:07   The Genesis: A Blind Father and a Secretary Who Listened ·       9:34   From Memoir to Family Business Stories — How Lifebook Evolved ·       11:07  Who Am I to Have My Story Written? The Self-Worth Question ·       13:00  The Aha Moment: Why Every Story Is Worth Telling ·       17:42  The Value to the Reader — Not Just the Subject ·       19:00  How Founders' Stories Give the Next Gen Permission to Try and Permission to Fail ·       20:40  Passing On Values, Not Just Value ·       22:08  When the Family Story Gets Distorted — and Why It Causes Division ·       24:46  Capturing Stories of Founders Who Are No Longer Alive ·       27:21  You Can't Ensure Your Memory, But You Can Ensure Your Memories ·       30:42  How This Work Has Enriched Their Own Lives ·       37:11  What Families Ask: How Much Time Does This Actually Take? ·       39:46  Using the Book Project as a Legacy Role for a Retiring Founder ·       42:39  Why a Book Beats a Video ·       43:40  Resources and Farewell   Websites ·       lifebookmemoirs.com ·       chrisyonker.com   About Roy Moëd Roy Moëd is the co-founder of LifeBook Memoirs, which he launched in 2010 alongside his wife Yvette following extensive research at the Toronto Brain Health Institute. The company officially launched in October 2011 and secured venture capital funding in 2012. Today, over 20,000 people worldwide own a LifeBook. Roy's entrepreneurial journey began in 1978 with the founding of Pourshins Limited, which he built — starting with just £4,800 — into an international enterprise employing over 600 staff across four factories in four countries. He later re-engineered the company into a global virtual logistics and BPO provider before selling it to gategroup in 2007. Beyond business, Roy is a passionate philanthropist and advocate: he founded a polo club in Windsor, participated in the London to Sydney air race to raise money for charity, volunteered with Crisis at Christmas, and assisted with refugee relocation efforts at the Polish-Ukrainian border. He has been an active YPO member since 1991 and is deeply involved in the Parenting Community, creating forums and events focused on ageing parents. About Yvette Conn Yvette Conn co-founded LifeBook Memoirs in 2011 after a distinguished career in financial markets. After earning her Economics degree from the University of Bath, she entered the City of London — then still heavily male-dominated — and rose through the ranks at Laurie Milbank and later Investec, becoming one of the first female partners in the City and a member of the London Stock Exchange. Today, alongside her role at LifeBook, she leads the company's prestigious OPUS Division, which works with individuals, families, and founders to capture their life journeys and preserve their legacies for future generations. Yvette's rare combination of financial rigour and emotional intelligence allows her to guide clients through the storytelling process with warmth, discretion, and authenticity. As she puts it: "While a balance sheet tells you what a family owns, a story tells you who they are."

Nathan Muniz is the founder and owner of 247Secretary.com. The business is based in Florida, USA, but has contact center operations in the Philippines. Nathan talked to Mark Hillary from the floor of his contact center on his approach to telling the world about his business. He walks the floor and talks to real people doing their job. No studio. No scripts. No "AI transformation" buzzwords. Just real agents, real calls, and real insight. And here's the uncomfortable truth: That raw, unfiltered content is doing more for his pipeline than most enterprise marketing teams with million-dollar budgets. Prospects are literally saying: "ChatGPT told us to talk to you." Let that sink in. While everyone else is using AI to churn out generic content, Nathan is using reality to train the AI engines. Authenticity is the key word here. Nathan lets people see his business up close and the online viewers love it, but the AI audience is even more important - because these AI tools are telling people about Nathan's business. https://247secretary.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/bdcoutsourcing/   Summary: Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss Nathan Muniz's innovative marketing strategy for his BPO, 247Secretary.com, in the Philippines. Nathan's approach involves posting authentic, behind-the-scenes videos on LinkedIn, which has attracted clients through AI recommendations like ChatGPT. This transparency has led to significant engagement and new leads without traditional lead generation efforts. Nathan emphasizes the importance of showing legitimacy, especially for offshore BPOs, and highlights the value of original content over glossy marketing. He also notes the ongoing demand for human agents despite AI hype and advises businesses to be transparent about their operations to build trust and credibility.

Tego jeszcze nie robiłem. Ten podcast nie dość, że jest nagrywany totalnie spontanicznie, na lotnisku, to jeszcze na smartphonie.Wracam właśnie po dwudniowej konferencji w Chicago, gdzie rozmawialiśmy o outsourcingu i o centralizacji usług. I tak powstał kilkuminutowy odcinek w spartańskich warunkach.Zapraszam. Posłuchajcie.Wspominam tu też o wydarzeniu jakim jest Follow the Leaders, a o nim przeczytacie więcej tu https://www.followtheleaders.p...Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bss-bez-tajemnic--4069078/support.

Cześć, Dzień dobry! Czy sprzedaż to tylko domykanie transakcji? Moim gościem w dzisiejszym odcinku podcastu „BSS bez Tajemnic” jest Karolina Koszyk, Starszy Menedżer ds. rozwoju i sprzedaży w PKF BPO Sadowska-Marczewska. Karolina od 10 lat współtworzy sukces grupy PKF Polska, zarządzając procesami sprzedaży.W tej rozmowie, niespodziewanie jak dla mnie zaczynamy od roli Karoliny w rodzinnym biznesie drzewnym, przechodzimy przez branżę modową, aż po sektor nowoczesnych usług biznesowych. Z naszej rozmowy dowiecie się, dlaczego Karolina uważa, że sprzedaż to relacje, szczerość i czas.W odcinku poruszamy tematy:Fundamenty sprzedaży: Jak doświadczenia z dzieciństwa i nauki ojca wpłynęły na jej podejście do klienta?Relacje ponad produkt: Dlaczego w branży BPO sprzedaje się kompleksowe rozwiązania, a nie pojedyncze usługi?Rola edukatora: Dlaczego uświadamianie klienta o zmianach w prawie jest obowiązkiem nowoczesnego handlowca?Długodystansowość w biznesie: Dlaczego procesy sprzedaży w BPO potrafią trwać ponad rok?Jeśli interesuje Was outsourcing księgowości, kadr i płac lub chcecie zrozumieć, jak budować zaufanie, którego efektem jest wieloletnia współpraca, ten odcinek jest właśnie dla Was. Zapraszam do słuchania!  Linki:Karolina Koszyk na Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/karolinakoszykPKF BPO - https://pkfbpo.pl/  ****************************  Nazywam się Wiktor Doktór i na co dzień prowadzę Klub Pro Progressio https://proprogressio.com/pl/dzialalnosc/klub-pro-progressio/1 – to społeczność wielu firm prywatnych i organizacji sektora publicznego, którym zależy na rozwoju relacji biznesowych w modelu B2B. W podcaście BSS bez tajemnic poza odcinkami solowymi, zamieszczam rozmowy z ekspertami i specjalistami z różnych dziedzin przedsiębiorczości.Zapraszam do odwiedzin moich kanałów na:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@wiktordoktor Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wiktor.doktor LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktor/ Moja strona internetowa - https://wiktordoktor.pl/ Możesz też do mnie napisać. Mój adres email to - kontakt(@)wiktordoktor.pl   ****************************  Patronami Podcastu “BSS bez tajemnic” są: Marzena Sawicka https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-hillway-training/Przemysław Sławiński https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/ Damian Ruciński - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-rucinski/ Szymon Kryczka https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/Grzegorz Ludwin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gludwin/ Adam Furmańczuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-agilino/ Igor Tkach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortkach/ Damian Wróblewski - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianwroblewski/ Paweł Łopatka - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawellopatka/ Ewelina Szindler - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewelina-szindler-zarz%C4%85dzanie-mark%C4%85-osobist%C4%85-0497a0212/Wiktor Doktór Jr. - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktor-dokt%C3%B3r-jr-916297188/Agata Stolarz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/agata-stolarz/Hubert Antczak - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hubert-antczak/  Wspaniali ludzie, dzięki którym pojawiają się kolejne odcinki tego podcastu. Ty też możesz wesprzeć rozwój podcastu na: Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktor Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktor Buy me a coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor Buycoffee.to - https://buycoffee.to/wiktordoktor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bss-bez-tajemnic--4069078/support.

Doug Houghton, director of global channels at Alkira There’s a line from this episode that’s worth leading with: “Networking is not sexy until it doesn’t work.” That’s Doug Houghton, Director of Global Channels at Alkira, and it’s a pretty concise summary of why his company exists. Alkira was founded by the team behind Viptela – the startup that essentially created the SD-WAN category before being acquired by Cisco. The lesson they carried out of that experience is that SD-WAN, for all its promise, still ran into the limits of underlying infrastructure. You ended up with disparate networks, latency constraints, and complexity that didn’t disappear – it just moved somewhere else. What they built in response is Network Infrastructure as a Service (NIaaS) – a cloud-native, consumption-based global backbone that abstracts multi-cloud connectivity into a single managed plane. The pitch to partners is concrete: consolidate 50 physical firewalls into virtualized functions, reduce total cost of ownership by 40-70%, and do it without a rip-and-replace cycle. The timing matters, and Houghton is direct about why. AI workloads – distributed large language models, agentic workflows reaching across multiple clouds simultaneously – demand a level of network elasticity that legacy infrastructure simply wasn’t designed for. Alkira’s argument is that they’re the smooth road that makes AI-driven infrastructure actually work in practice. For Canadian partners, Alkira has real resources on the ground: a solution architect based in Toronto, a dedicated channel account manager, and publicly referenceable Canadian customers including contact center provider ContactPoint 360. The Connect Partner Program, launched in March 2026, puts approximately 20 percent total margin on the table across base discount, rebates, MDF, and POC SPIFFs – with average initial deals around $500,000 USD and typical expansion of 4x in year one. Canadian partners interested in the conversation can reach the team at partners@alkira.com. Read Full Transcript Robert Dutt: Hello and welcome to In The Channel from ChannelBuzz.ca, bringing news and information to the Canadian IT channel community for the last sixteen years. I’m Robert Dutt, editor of ChannelBuzz.ca and your host for the show. If you were around when SD-WAN was the big disruptive idea in networking – the promise of simplifying branch connectivity, cutting costs, getting smarter about traffic – you probably also remember it didn’t quite deliver everything it promised. Not because the technology was bad, but because the underlying network architecture couldn’t keep up. You still ended up with complexity. It just moved somewhere else. That problem is essentially the founding insight behind Alkira. The company was built by Amir Khan and Atif Khan, the same team behind Viptela, the startup widely credited with creating the SD-WAN category before Cisco acquired it. What they learned in that experience is that SD-WAN, without a proper global backbone, just creates a different set of headaches. So they started fresh and built what they call NIaaS – Network Infrastructure as a Service – a cloud-native, consumption-based approach that abstracts the complexity of multi-cloud connectivity into something you could stand up, as my guest today puts it, with just a username and a password. The timing is not accidental, because what AI demands from a network – elasticity, low latency, the ability to reach distributed workloads almost anywhere instantly – is exactly what legacy infrastructure wasn’t built to handle. My guest is Doug Houghton, Director of Global Channels at Alkira. Doug has been in the channel a long time, knows the technology in a way that might genuinely surprise you coming from a channel chief, and has a lot to say about what it all means as a real business opportunity for Canadian VARs and MSPs. Let’s get right into it, my chat with Doug Houghton. Doug, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Doug Houghton: It’s my pleasure. Thank you for having me on today, Robert. Robert Dutt: So you were part of the team that built up the SD-WAN market at Viptela back in the day. What did you learn there that told you the next big thing was going to be NIaaS, and why now? Doug Houghton: First off, that’s a great question. I felt a bit like a passenger in a car racing a thousand miles an hour when we were doing software-defined wide-area networking. What we learned was that without organizing your cloud infrastructure properly, your cloud bill gets ridiculously large – especially if you keep your control element decoupled from your data plane in the cloud with all these workloads churning. But what we really learned, and what’s applicable to what we’re now doing at Alkira, is that SD-WAN truly did deliver on its core promise. It allows customers to influence traffic based on link quality and improve the user experience. If you’re on a phone call and it starts to get goofy, you can move over to a better-performing link in real time without dropping the call. That’s powerful. And the same with data traffic. What I hadn’t fully thought through was what happens as global companies start to adopt SD-WAN and disaggregate across locations in Southeast Asia, China, Latin America, and everywhere else. The latency back to the control element isn’t easy to contend with. So you ended up with organizations making decisions that effectively created four separate, disparate networks for latency purposes. And that was not part of the original promise. What we learned was that you need a global backbone that’s high throughput and low latency. The edge can still be SD-WAN – there are real things in SD-WAN that people still want, whether that’s WAN optimization, deduplication, caching, policy-based routing, forward error correction. All of that still has practical application, and site-to-site communications are still needed in many use cases. But Alkira was built inside the cloud first, employing the same principle of decoupling control plane from data plane for scale. By abstracting the cloud infrastructure, we were able to remediate the latency that those four geographically dispersed networks created. We’re the global backbone – that middle mile with high throughput and low latency – and then you connect these clusters of SD-WAN networks together and all of a sudden the promise of SD-WAN gets a lot more consumable. You have a singular network managed from a singular control plane and element management orchestrator, and you can still get all the benefits of SD-WAN at the local sites. Robert Dutt So in plain language, a Canadian MSP or VAR is used to selling network hardware or managing someone else’s infrastructure. How is selling, deploying, and managing NIaaS different from what they’re already doing, and what makes that distinction important? Doug Houghton: Let’s take a half step back and talk about what NIaaS actually is. It’s Network Infrastructure as a Service. What Alkira does is abstract the cloud infrastructure and build a routed overlay on top of it. We think of it as a virtualized colocation facility that connects and normalizes communications across your entire network. For managed service providers and service providers, our solution accelerates bringing their customers to cloud applications, cloud workloads, storage, and everything else the cloud promises. The way I explain it to my mom – and I’ve told this joke once already today because I’m sitting in a partner’s office right now – is this: if you went to Russia, Japan, Argentina, and San Francisco all in one day and had to transact in each place, and you could speak the native language in each one, that would be ideal. What we focused on was normalizing communications regardless of the cloud service provider, colocation provider, data centre – private or public – or whatever type of router is at the branch office. As an MSP or service provider that comes in, what we give to our customers and partners is a username and a password. That lets you come in and – for your old-school folks in the audience – essentially etch-a-sketch your network together. You can turn a couple of knobs, and it’s not that we’ve cranked the amp up to eleven, we’ve just removed all the numbers and automated everything. It just knows what you want to do. It’s a routed BGP overlay with the control plane abstracted from it, so the forwarding plane can route around things like the CrowdStrike outage, or losing an AWS region – which happens more frequently than AWS would like to admit – or any cloud service provider incident. The multi-cloud reality has accelerated adoption, but it presents a new problem: you’ve got an AWS expert on staff, but you don’t have an Azure, GCP, OCI, or Alibaba Cloud expert. Those are all different languages. When I tell my mom that we normalize the communications between all the assets in the network and make it easy to connect to all of them, she gets that. For the MSP looking to monetize something new or add another revenue stream, we offer a couple of compelling things. In the middle of our stack, we place a solution inside the cloud – sitting in a VPC, VNet, VCN, or Google VPC – right in the middle of all the cloud, SaaS, and WAN workloads. We’ve pleased a lot of customers by lowering total cost of ownership through the consolidation of network services they already have in their environment, in the form of virtualized network functions. Take a Palo Alto firewall deployment – say you have fifty Palos out there, all talking to Panorama, with a security engineer managing policy centrally. Instead of having fifty firewalls on the ground, you consolidate them. You go from the ground – five to ten milliseconds to the nearest public cloud PoP – hop onto the Alkira fabric, and terminate that traffic on a virtual port on our exchange point. In the middle of that exchange point, sitting in a VPC or VNet, you place a Palo Alto virtualized network function. You get the IP address of the Panorama server, and if you didn’t tell the security engineer anything had changed, they would not know. The form factor changes, but not how they interact with Panorama, how they build policy, or anything about how they secure the traffic. That remains exactly the same. We virtualize the instance and place it on a global high-throughput, low-latency backbone inside our exchange point. We deploy exchange points in HA pairs, anywhere from 100 Mbps to 40 Gbps. The customer or service provider consumes one, and we maintain the other on their behalf – because every thirty days we’re fixing bugs and doing maintenance. We swing production workloads to the backup, do the work on the primary, then reverse the order, all while keeping these customers up and running. Because we’re delivering this as a service, it has to always be on. One of the most important architectural decisions we made from the start was ensuring those two exchange points are always running active-active in a full mesh configuration, buttressed by hundreds of other exchange points globally distributed – all synchronized and aware of each other’s states. Robert Dutt: You’ve said that legacy networks can’t handle what AI demands, specifically in terms of elasticity. Can you unpack that a little? When an MSP’s customer starts deploying language models or agentic workflows, what is it that actually breaks? Doug Houghton: Good question, and I’ll give you an honest answer. I’ve started to fall in love with Claude – I think it’s one of the coolest things in the world. I can do all sorts of creative things with it. But Claude isn’t talking only to me. He’s a bit of a flirt – he goes to a lot of different places to get knowledgeable about various things and produce the outcomes I’ve asked for. And those other places are where you run into problems. I used to say the three biggest AI providers are GCP, AWS, and Azure. That’s still largely true. But the likes of Anthropic and other AI labs are distributing LLM workloads everywhere. Without the right network underneath that, it’s like buying the hottest car and driving it down a pothole-filled road. What we offer is a high-throughput, low-latency, elastic network. If you need to turn it up in a heartbeat, you can. We helped complete the S&P Global and IHS Markit merger network integration in about a tenth of the time they expected, because we’re natively segmented. Think about those two networks as large datasets that AI agents need to access. You have to secure the traffic, and you need it to be elastic – able to reach anywhere, instantly, to produce the outcome the agent was asked for. The ability to go anywhere on a road that’s smooth as glass, in the hottest car possible – that’s what we offer. Our network infrastructure solution is an abstraction: a forwarding plane that goes everywhere, and your imagination is really the only limitation. Speed, elasticity, and securing access – even for agentic, self-directed workflows – it’s still a critical element. And nobody – I said this earlier today, so I’ll say it again – networking is not really sexy until it doesn’t work. If I have to get in and route-peer and manually configure transit gateways, I’m going to punch myself in the face repeatedly. I just don’t want to do it. It slows everything down. I can automate it with Terraform, sure. But I want to consume it now. I want to prompt it now. I want the outcome now. Robert Dutt: You’ve launched Alkira NIA, your AI co-pilot and network infrastructure assistant, along with an MCP server last year. It’s interesting – you’re essentially putting AI on top of the infrastructure that’s enabling AI. What does NIA actually do for an MSP’s day-to-day operations? Doug Houghton: Maybe I have a limited imagination, but I still use it like a utility. NIA is great because it allows you to search through all our documentation in a more organized way. We have amazing documentation – there’s a lot of it – and when you’re looking for a specific configuration or something captured in a knowledge base, that tool is really useful. But continuing the utility theme: how do I do something? If I want to create a micro-segment to distribute to a bunch of business units, or build an isolated Layer 3 routing table and get it to various business units, and then set up billing with specific billing tags for each segment – I know how to do that because I’ve done it many times. But a new user may not. You can use the NIA agent to search the documentation, search previous implementation notes, best practices, all of that. That’s real value. But you can also ask it something like “why is the sun bright” and it won’t return the answer you expect. I’ve done that too. Robert Dutt: Let’s talk about the Connect Partner Program and the economics. You’ve got the Partner Profit Stack – tiered margins, quarterly rebates, MDF, SPIFFs, the Connect Pipeline Fund. It’s a full toolkit, and it’s stuff partners have seen before. What’s the real math? What does a Canadian MSP at the Premier tier actually walk away with on a typical deal after they’ve done the work? Doug Houghton: Usually about nineteen percentage points – maybe a little more. On the pre-sale side, when we get into a POC, our Premier partners can earn a $1,000 SPIFF. We close about 85% of our POCs, so there’s real value in that. Add in the rebates and MDF access, and the total haul is closer to 20% on each deal. Worth mentioning: we’ve been a 100% channel company since May 2022. My partner David Klubinoff, my technical counterpart – we worked together at Viptela and we started the Alkira channel together. It took a couple of weeks to convince our CEO that going 100% channel was the right call. I think he’s a believer now. We’ve driven significant revenue for the company, and our partners are our thought leaders – out in the market talking about our solution and solving customer problems. I was in Chicago yesterday doing a technical enablement session with thirty-plus SAs and SEs. We had the classic SD-WAN questions, and a lot of questions about segmentation and M&A. There’s enormous consolidation happening in insurance, healthcare, and other sectors, and the overlapping IP address problem that comes with mergers is something MSPs face all the time. We’ve entirely simplified that. You build a NAT policy right in the solution and the overlapping IP issue is resolved within an hour. In the case of S&P Global and IHS Markit, they thought their merger network integration was going to take a couple of years. The issue was largely the overlapping IP addresses – IHS couldn’t talk to the HR applications at S&P, and vice versa, plus all the other interdependencies. You need a fast way to solve the overlapping IP problem before you can even get to the real work. That’s been a core design element of our solution from the very start: take care of the small things, and people can move faster and get to market faster. Our biggest MSP – and this is a publicly referenceable customer – is CEDA, a French-based organization that provides managed network services to 95% of the world’s airlines. For them, it means being able to turn up a new customer faster, connecting on-premises assets to their control elements so they can begin actually managing that network. Speed, and the efficiencies and cost reductions that come from it – that’s what it does for all MSPs. If you’re consolidating fifty firewalls into virtualized functions, you’re making a good commission, getting MDF support, quarterly rebates, and a SPIFF when you engage us collaboratively on a POC. All of that happens at an accelerated rate. I’ve been screaming from the mountaintop about our solution for about four years. Invariably, you’d walk into a room, say “Hi, I’m Doug Houghton from Alkira,” and they’d say “Who?” That’s starting to happen a lot less, which is a genuinely nice thing. Over the last twelve to twenty-four months, the business has grown exponentially, the diversity of our partner ecosystem has increased, and partner margins have been very healthy. The tiered structure was really about celebrating partners who have invested in us. Honestly, I’m waiting for the day my boss tells me to stop incentivizing partners – because when that happens, I’ll know we’ve hit the apex. Our partners will be generating so much revenue that someone gets uncomfortable with what we’re paying out. I can’t wait for that day. Some of the more interesting things in the program came from actually listening. I went around and talked to a bunch of partners about their ideal partner programs and built from there. And one of the realizations – I thought it was significant – was what we were actually doing on the post-sale side. We white-glove every implementation right now, because it’s critically important to us. We haven’t lost a customer, and we intend to keep it that way. But that doesn’t scale forever. So the question became: why don’t we help our partners productize the post-sale work? We built a product catalog, a pricing calculator, and a new partner portal we’re about to release, with its own AI agent for searching market assets. The product catalog was a light bulb moment. We pay healthy margins on the pre-sale side at every tier of Alkira Connect. But we had never touched the post-sale side at all. We’re largely automated and NIaaS is as simple as possible to consume – a username and a password. My thirteen-year-old could configure a network, and she’s really smart. But there’s still some implementation work. You still need to build policies in Panorama. There’s still DDI work. There are still services that partners can benefit from – and all partner types, MSPs, VARs, master agents, sub-agents, service providers, now have a post-sale commission opportunity. Robert Dutt: You mentioned services – you’ve got services attach plays around modernization assessments, segmentation design, migration sprints. Starting from zero, how long does it realistically take a partner to get their first deal with those services attached through the door, and what does the ramp look like? Doug Houghton: There’s a lot in that question. Let’s take a half step back. We have virtual sales and go-to-market training – three modules – and then five or six technical training modules. We’ve got a lab-in-a-box environment, foundational and advanced technical training, and DDI training. Partners typically start there. Then we run regular in-person and virtual sessions – one partner has regular office hours with me, my SE counterpart David, or our architect Christopher Arenas, and we just invite partners to come and ask questions. Getting partners genuinely comfortable with the technology is the most important thing we do, because nobody goes out and sells anything unless they’re confident they can explain how Alkira solves their customer’s problem. That’s what I’m doing in Chicago today. Our customers tend to be fairly large. We’ve got our first Fortune 10 customer now. The more complex the network, the larger and more global the deployment – multiple countries, security vendors, firewalls, DDI providers, load balancers, service providers, colos. We sit right on top of all of that. The average sales cycle is about 190 days – a little over six months. A newly enabled partner might encounter an M&A overlapping IP use case, recognize the problem, and say “I think we can solve this with Alkira.” They go through a POC together with us, the customer commits, and that first deal closes around 190 days. A little class week: it’s actually 190 and a half. The average deal size is about $500,000 USD. We then see significant expansion: typically 4x growth in the first twelve months after the initial close, and around 8x in the second twelve months. Real incentive to stick with it. We’re loyal – if the customer doesn’t kick the partner out, we go to bat with that partner on every expansion deal. We land, then expand, with the same partner. BNSF, one of our other public references, has expanded several times to address more and more use cases. The solution gets sticky and customers are genuinely surprised by how easy it is. On the post-sale side, we come in and help with implementation, especially early on. But we’re reaching the point where more capable partners can handle it themselves. We’re building a post-sale certification for Alkira right now. In the meantime, we ride shotgun through the first couple of implementations – virtually in Slack or in person – until partners are fully up to speed. All partners have access to our Slack channel, along with our entire solutions architecture and SE staff. One partner working on a Fortune 10 engagement has a great habit of putting a subject header in Slack and starting a conversation. He’s been on services at this customer for three or four months – a significant engagement. He’s the one who originally described the network as a “spaghetti mess,” which I still chuckle about. I actually built the product catalog based on those Slack headers – pulled them together, socialized them with a group of partners, got input, and built from there. To directly answer your question: you’ve got to get through that first deal, and we’re going to ride shotgun with you through the first couple of implementations. The partner learns, gets comfortable, can monetize it, and can deliver independently from there. We have no illusions about going back to being a direct company after May 2022. It’s ride or die – 100% channel, and we enable our partners to solve their customers’ problems and support them while they do it. Because our partners have been our biggest growth engine. Robert Dutt: You’ve talked about a goal of doubling revenue through partners. What does the ecosystem look like when you get there? This sounds like it could primarily be a GSI or large integrator play, given the customer complexity you’re describing. Or do you genuinely see a path for mid-market MSPs and VARs to build a meaningful NIaaS practice? Doug Houghton: Another tough question. Yes, I do have GSIs as partners. We have a fairly robust and diverse partner ecosystem, and we see small shops rising up while larger shops are moving a bit more slowly, honestly. We’re still in that brand awareness honeymoon period – people are realizing our technology is compelling, getting themselves enabled. Some large partners we’ve recently brought on are still ramping. The biggest and most established organizations aren’t yet as capable as they will be, but we’re working diligently on that. Some of our smaller partners, on the other hand – I’m thinking of a friend of mine in Utah who is just an absolute champion. He knows our solution better than almost anyone. He closed six or seven deals in the past year, supported the implementations, did it largely on his own, because he’s curious, motivated, read all the documentation, and has been through full implementation cycles with us. He works at a ten-person shop. They just happen to have really good customers, and he knows the solution cold. So we’re at different stages with different partners in terms of maturity. The answer to your question is genuinely both. The small shop in Utah and the large national partner dedicating more resources as they see more customer problems Alkira can solve – we see wins across both. In the networking space, a six-month sales cycle is about as fast as it gets. I’m giving you a username and a password and you’re going in and connecting all of a customer’s assets together. The path exists for partners of every size. Robert Dutt: You’ve called out Canada specifically in your expansion plans, alongside the UK, EU, and the Middle East. What does that look like operationally – localized support, a Canadian channel team – or is it more of a global platform available to Canadian partners? Doug Houghton: Let’s talk personnel. We have a dedicated rep in eastern Canada, based out of New Hampshire, and a brilliant solutions architect just outside of Toronto. We’ve got a channel account manager – very capable teammate of mine, Savannah Stone – and the entire global solutions architecture staff accessible via Slack. We recently closed a very significant logo in Canada – a large insurance company – and our publicly referenceable Canadian customer is ContactPoint 360, a contact centre and BPO provider. They wanted to connect their Latin American operations back to Canada and couldn’t find an effective way to do it without us. We route them through the US West region, and the results have been excellent. We’ve also added CDW Canada as a partner, and I’ve got a value-added distributor that helps with field events. It’s not a massive footprint yet – it’s a bit of “they come first, then we build” – but there is a tremendous amount of opportunity in Canada and in Latin America that I’m genuinely excited about. Nobody’s told me no yet on spending budget, so here we go. A great story on the Canadian side: a gentleman named Chris Thelosinos, an architect and consultant who works with others in our space, is a member at a wine shop in Toronto. During the Toronto International Film Festival last year, we hosted a wine event right next to TIFF. I don’t drink alcohol, so it was entirely about the conversations for me – and I had the best time. We had significant customers come out, and the demand for simplicity, ease of implementation, and everything Alkira does well was just as strong in Canada as anywhere else. The market need is real. We talk about global backbone as a service all the time. Connecting China to San Francisco carries a distance and time tax, but it’s easy to configure. For organizations navigating geopolitical complexity around China access, or needing GPU connectivity in and out, we just abstract the Azure and AWS mainland China instances. They operate the same way as their Canadian or US equivalents. And you can consume it pay-as-you-go – stop using it, stop paying for it. That’s a compelling model for MSPs looking to grow into different regions. Robert Dutt: Last question then. For that Canadian MSP who’s listened to this and is thinking, “This sounds like a real opportunity” – what’s the one thing you’d want them to take away and act on? Doug Houghton: I’d ask them to go to partners@alkira.com and send us a note. And I will ply them with all sorts of content – videos, learnings, deal registration information, everything they need to get started in the space. Tongue in cheek, and also completely seriously: partners@alkira.com. If you’re looking to grow your business as a managed service provider – managed network, managed security, managed load balancing, managed DDI, managed connectivity – we’re a really great place to start. Because it’s never unpopular to walk into a customer and solve their problem quickly and say, “I can help you with X, Y, and Z, and I can do it in the next couple of hours – and that’s going to drive a total cost of ownership savings of 40 to 70%.” Nobody ever kicks you out of the office when you say something like that. Robert Dutt: Amazing. Doug, I appreciate you taking the time. Thank you very much. Doug Houghton: Robert, thank you for the engaging conversation. I hope your listeners get some good stuff out of it. Robert Dutt: There you have it – Doug Houghton from Alkira. I’d like to thank Doug for his time, and honestly for being one of the more entertaining guests I’ve had on in a while. “Networking is not sexy until it doesn’t work” is a line I’m going to be thinking about for a while. Thanks to you for listening as well. If this conversation sparked something – whether it’s curiosity about NIaaS, the AI infrastructure angle, or what roughly 20% total margin on a $500,000 average deal could do for your business – Doug made it easy for you to take the next step. Drop a note to partners@alkira.com. That’s the front door. And from what I heard today, they will absolutely get back to you. Here’s the thing that stuck with me most in this conversation: the argument that the AI moment isn’t just a software or services play. It’s going to force a reckoning with network infrastructure that a lot of organizations have been deferring for years. The partners who treat that reckoning as an opportunity rather than a fire drill are probably going to look very smart in about three years. If you’re finding the In The Channel podcast from ChannelBuzz.ca useful, the best thing you can do is follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and most major directories. And if you’re enjoying the show, ratings and reviews are genuinely appreciated – they help other people in the Canadian channel find us. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Luke 24:13-35 NRSVUE Sermon Part 2: Christ in Our Conversations So for this part two, our theme of our preaching is “Christ in our conversations.” Sabi nga sa Matthew chapter 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” But of course, we also honor and value ‘yung mga intimate at personal conversations natin with God through prayer. While it is true na mas yumayabong at nabibigyan ng buhay ang ating mga conversations with each other and the community. After all nga ‘di ba, bilang isang Metropolitan Community Church, community is our middle name. Tama ba?. I also believe na mahalagang pagtuunan din natin ng pansin and a good practice ‘yung pagiging self-aware. Ang matutong makinig sa pansariling pangangailangan, to listen to our bodies, to affirm ourselves first na hindi kasalanan ang pagiging bakla, so that we can also affirm others. We need to resolve our own struggles before we can do that for other people. The famous line: you cannot pour from an empty cup. And we have clarity in our personal lives to inspire that capacity to others. Shit ba? Paborito na ni Joseph?. Mga kasita, we miss you, Chang. So we know that God, through Jesus, has always been with us in our journey. At napakinggan din natin ang isa sa mga pinaka-life-changing na holy conversation moment doon sa ating gospel reading , kung saan, after nilang mag-sharing about scripture ng breaking of bread ay bigla na lang naglaho ‘yung stranger na kasalubong nila patungong Emmaus. At sa punto ring ‘yon, na-realize nila na it was Jesus, that it was him all along. Christ is present in our conversations. Hindi lamang tuwing linggo sa ating praise and worship, kundi sa mga ordinary moments in our lives. Hindi lamang sa mga masasaya, lalo’t higit sa mga masasalimuot at difficult conversations that we have to deal with. Naalala ko ‘yung chika ko, paniniwala ako nung bago ako dumating sa MCC sa Open Table. Pansin niyo ba na sa mga moments na when we have personal conversations with God, may mga times na tayo lang ‘yung nagsasalita, where we cry out to Jesus. We give thanks, we ask forgiveness, and may mga moments naman na tayo ay tahimik lang and letting our hearts speak the prayers that our mouths couldn’t utter. Parang ‘yung mga moments na ‘yon na siya naman ‘yung nangungusap sa atin. Man through words, pero alam mo at ramdam mo ‘yung healing, ‘yung kagaanan ng loob, at sa mga ganitong moments natin tila mas nararamdaman ang kanyang presence sa ating buhay. So last week ay na-mention ko ‘yung tungkol sa mga naging struggle ko sa work recently at kung paano ko binaka ‘yung feeling of being overwhelmed. I mean, I am glad that I was able to get through it, but I am also aware that it’s not the same for everyone. Some people may still be in that situation or perhaps find themselves in the loop na paulit-ulit lang or paikot-ikot lang. Sa dami ng aking iniisip—trabaho, travels, at iba pang ganap as an extrovert at natural people person. At the same time, ‘yung mga gampanin sa ating simbahan as pastor in discernment, in that journey, I stumbled upon ‘yung podcast of Coach Pia Acevedo. Kilala niyo ba si Coach Pia? So si Coach Pia is a life coach, author, and a leadership trainer with over two decades of experience in coaching and counseling. She helps people cut through confusion and live with clarity, purpose, and intention so that they can focus on what truly matters. Isa sa mga magandang napulot ko from her ay connected sa pagiging present. Hindi man lingid sa kaalaman ng lahat na marami sa ating mga akla ay mga breadwinner. Imagine as a queer person who is already struggling to fight discrimination on top of the fight for the same rights as our straight allies. Isa pa sa mga dagdag na challenge ang pagiging breadwinner. Hindi ko na alam kung ilang beses ko nang na-tackle ang topic na ito. I think deserve na nito ng isang preaching series at malalang holy conversation moments at kasama na sa mga listahan ng mga personal advocacies na malapit sa aking puso. Pero habang wala pa tayo doon, I suggest you can grab muna ‘yung copy nung books from Coach Pia. Nag-promote pa, not sponsored. So I’m yet to finish ‘yung first book and ito ‘yun. Ito ‘yung unang “Focus on What Matters”. I’m yet to finish this and plan to start ‘yung isa pa, ‘yung “Moment to Moment”, right after. I hope na makatulong ito upang magkaroon tayo ng clarity sa dami ng ating mga iniisip. So anyway, I’m sure nag-aantay na kayo kung ang haba na ng sinabi ko at wala pa ako doon sa main point. Ito na nga, bilang isang breadwinner na bakla, at another example is sa ating mga straight allies na as a parent, sa mga kapatid nating OFWs na nagtatrabaho at kumakayod , ginagawang araw ang gabi para lang makapagpadala ng pera sa kanilang mga mahal sa buhay. ‘Di ba nga sila ‘yung mga sagot natin sa tanong na, “Para kanino ka bumabangon?”. “Para sa pamilya, para sa future ng mga anak ko.” ‘Di bale nang magkalayo kami kaysa naman sama-sama kaming mamatay na dilat at gutom. At dahil sa dami na nating iniisip, siyempre wala na tayong capacity para sa maliliit na bagay. Tama ba?. No more time to play with the kids after work dahil madalas pagod na lang sa trabaho kung ‘di pa rin sa commute. Buti kung ganun lang, pero minsan mas malala. At personally, ganito ‘yung eksena ko nung mga unang taon ko sa BPO industry bilang isang breadwinner. Napansin ko na sobrang mainitin ang ulo ko at ang dali kong ma-trigger, ‘yung angil sa mga tao kahit na wala pa naman silang ginagawang masama or kahit sa mga maliliit na bagay. Kayo rin ba may ganitong eksena? Let’s pause for a moment at balikan ‘yung mga sandali ng ating mga buhay na tayo ay napasabi ng, “Ang dami ko nang iniisip, dumagdag pa ‘to.”. Ito ang isang manifestation ng kawalan ng clarity. Akala ko ba para sa kanila ka bumabangon, pero sila rin ‘yung unang nakakaramdam ng mga angil at frustrations mo sa buhay. And si Coach Pia reminds us that when we don’t do our inner work, we don’t just suffer alone. The people we love encounter a compromised version of us. ‘Yun ‘yon. Meet the compromised version of you. Imagine that you’re in front of the mirror ng mahiwagang salamin, boy, for a few moments. Look at that compromised version of you. Do you like what you see?. And imagine kung ano na kaya ang extent ng damage that it had cost you and your loved ones. So paano natin matutulungan ‘yung ating compromised version? What does it take to achieve clarity and focus sa ating mga buhay?. So sa book na “Focus on What Matters,” Coach Pia talks about the need for inner work, which is a journey that starts by laying the groundwork for clarity through practices like self-mastery, self-development, and self-commitment. She talked about habits that we can commit to in order to achieve personal clarity. And for today, I’d like to share to you about M.I.C.K. abbreviation siya. That stands for motivating, inspiring, cheering, and being kind to ourselves. It is both a habit that we can commit to and a muscle we exercise because, again, we can’t pour from an empty cup. And these intentional habits will help us fill our cup. So number one is ‘yung letter M, Motivation. Motivation habit is any regimen or routine that you know works well for you. It involves committing to routines, no matter how trivial, that bring out the best in you. Through these personalized activities, we nurture ourselves and anchor on the stability they provide. An example could be making your bed in the morning, listening to music, and preparing breakfast. One more example could be dedicating a time to exercise, let’s say three times a week. So how do we know if a habit or activity is worth committing to?. We know when we feel something is missing if we skip it, and when we distinctly feel recharged by integrating it into our schedule regularly. Motivation habit serves as a fuel to our tank. By committing to these habits, we experience a steady rhythm that keeps us grounded, whether these are daily, weekly, or monthly habits. Next is your Inspiration, your I. If motivation muscle provides the structure for self-care, inspiration muscle naman brings a wave of joy that refreshes us. Unlike motivation habits which follow rhythm, inspiration habits are done less frequently but offer a full recharge. It enables us to stay connected to what makes us feel alive, providing a surge of deep joy in moments when it is needed. Tapping our sources of inspiration which ignite our natural creativity can foster positive energy and overall well-being. And sabi ni Coach Pia, among doon sa mga clients niya, travel is the most common source of inspiration. We can only take trips every so often, but when we do, there’s infusion of new energy. Traveling reconnects us to the natural enthusiasm and joy reminiscent of childhood. And to activate inspiration muscle is to take ownership of your need for mga picker-upper choices and activities that infuse you with the surge of energy. Other than travel, this can also range from planning a trip or to simple pleasures like enjoying a YouTube video or tuning into a podcast. Mga ka-eme. May mga ka-eme ba dito? Yes. Or listening to music that swiftly recharges you to become your best self. Learning something new or engaging in hobbies that awaken your creativity can also serve this purpose. Even revisiting ‘yung mga old hobbies that once sparked joy can once again ignite your enthusiasm for life and tap into the best version of yourself. As clarity is a personal journey, only you yourself are capable of choosing the inspiration that you need. An inspired person feels alive. Whatever brings you inspiration is a non-negotiable in your life. Next naman is ‘yung C which stands for Cheer. Picture yourself as your own personal cheerleader. The cheer muscle involves encouraging ourselves to push past our limits, especially in our adversity. Cheer is a non-negotiable habit we put in place to help us manage stress. We can proactively anticipate stressful times and plan ahead by intentionally plotting activities and inserting habits into our schedule. This will help us manage the demand of our hectic schedule. Sensitivity toward ourselves is crucial in strengthening our cheer muscle. Start exercising sensitivity and observation skills. Look at your calendar and anticipate which specific meetings, social events, projects, or deliverables you know will trigger your stress, anxiety, or heaviness. Kumbaga paghahandaan mo na siya. Pag alam mo mas-stress ako sa week na ‘to , kailangan gumawa na ako ng mga habits na magre-recharge sa akin. This approach provides you with the support needed to manage potential heaviness or disengagement. Since we know ourselves best, let’s prepare ourselves for anticipated stress and activities. Just like a cheerleader motivates the team during the final seconds of a game, we cheer for ourselves to stay resilient and persevere towards our goals. Even when the going gets tough, our cheer muscle enables us to face life’s challenges well-prepared as they often come relentlessly unexpected. A strong cheer muscle enhances our resilience, enabling us to bounce back more quickly from stressful situations. Last naman is ‘yung Kindness. Kindness is your capacity to be nurturing, kind, patient, and compassionate towards yourself just as you would a loved one or a best friend. The strength of our kindness muscle should allow you to be intentional in your caring for others as you would care for yourself. One strong measure of the strength of your kindness muscle is our capacity to forgive ourselves, forgive others, or ask for forgiveness for when we feel we may have hurt. And kindness is the most difficult muscle to strengthen. As often than not, we did not grow up with strong models of people around us living a life of kindness, nurturing patience and love for ourselves. Nabanggit ko rin ‘to doon sa ano natin, parang hirap para sa atin na maging forgiving of ourselves. From a young age, we are also taught to prioritize the needs of others. Yet, our ability to care for others hinges on how well we take care of ourselves. Showing kindness to ourselves is important, especially when we face setbacks or disappointments. It’s about offering ourselves the same support and encouragement that we readily give others. Strengthening our kindness muscle means taking the time to pause, relax, and rest. Doing anything that nurtures you, like eating well, enjoying your favorite food, and getting plenty of sleep is essential. We must accept that we cannot always meet our own expectations and let go of attachments to specific outcomes. By forgiving ourselves when we falter, honoring the progress we’ve made, and staying open to learning from failures, we create a space for us to grow into the best versions of ourselves. Being kind to yourself is also a non-negotiable in your life. So ano siya, pwedeng magkakahalo siya, ‘yung mga what motivates you can also inspire you. Pwedeng-pwede siyang pumasok doon sa alin sa mga iyon. So our internal guide has a big say in how we make decisions. It’s all about progress, learning, and embracing our imperfections along the way. This journey of growth allows us to center ourselves and focus on what truly counts in life. The more we nurture this process, the better we become at self-care and connecting with our genuine selves. So I hope that you also learned something as much as I did nung sa book na ‘to at marami pa. Ipapa-hiram ko kasi hindi pa ako tapos. At ‘yun sa part na nai-share ko sa inyo about sa “Focus on What Matters” by Coach Pia, ito ‘yung mga simpleng bagay na pwede nating gawin para sa ating mga sarili to move from a compromised version to the best version of ourselves. Pero hindi natatapos doon ang lahat. As we strive to become the best version of ourselves, mahalaga ring pag-usapan ang pagse-set ng boundaries. Beep beep. Baka may matamaan sa pagse-set ng boundaries. Minsan parang profound pakinggan kasi nung boundaries at hindi siya ganoon ka-common sa kultura nating mga Pilipino. Pero just because it’s not common doesn’t mean hindi na natin ito dapat pagtuunan ng pansin. Halimbawa sa pagiging breadwinner, dahil ikaw na ‘yung naghahanap-buhay, mahalagang mag-set ka ng boundaries through shared responsibility sa inyong mga bahay, mga tahanan. I-delegate mo ang mga simpleng gawain upang kahit papaano ay mabawasan ang iyong iniisip. Some might say na madaling sabihin pero mahirap gawin , lalo na para sa ilan na bukod sa pagiging breadwinner ay magulang din, or to be specific, nanay. Mahirap talagang iwalay ang pagiging nanay sa pagiging provider as a mother. Pero mahalaga na naiintindihan ito ng mga tao sa paligid mo. Oo, nanay ka , maghahanda ka ng pagkain, mag-aasikaso ka ng gamit ng mga anak mo, but it’s also important to set boundaries. Tandaan mo na kailangan mo rin ng sapat na pahinga para makapag-focus ka sa trabaho na siyang nagbibigay ng kakayahan mong mag-provide para sa iyong pamilya. Kailangan itong ma-communicate. Kailangan ng maayos na usapan kung paano mas mapapagaan ang inyong sitwasyon. At isa lang ito sa marami pang mga halimbawa. Iba’t iba ‘yung dynamics ng bawat isa. Pero ang punto ay ito: Huwag mong piliting saluhin ang lahat. Matutong manghingi ng tulong kapag kailangan. Alam ko hindi ‘to madali, but I hope you are able to do so and have these conversations. After all, wala namang hindi nadadaan sa maayos na usapan. So now let’s go back to the journey ni Cleopas at isa pang disciple. Let us be reminded of their enthusiasm when they realized that they had been in conversation with Jesus all along. This story reminds us that God is always with us sa ating paglalakbay, that we can be that other disciple na unnamed. Hindi man tayo ever makapaglalakad kasama ang historical Jesus, ‘di ba, o baka sa panaginip, pero ano ba ‘yung pangako? That we have each other. We experience Christ in our many conversations with our families, with our loved ones, with our chosen families like here sa ating simbahan, at lalo na when we are intentional sa ating pakikinig at pagiging in solidarity sa iba’t iba pang community lalo na sa mga maralita. As I close this part two, keyword “close,” napaisip rin ako baka lumalayo na ako sa theme na “Christ in our conversations.”. Pero I had a Holy Spirit activate moment. I feel that this is a perfect opportunity to also talk about self-love —ang matutunang makinig sa kung anong sinasabi ng ating mga katawan at isip. After all, magkaugnay ang pagkakaroon ng personal clarity sa ating buhay at ang pagkakaroon ng meaningful conversations sa ating kapwa. By building these small habits for ourselves ay mas mapapayabong natin ang ating mga conversation at ang pag-unawa sa journey ng bawat isa, dahil hindi naman tayo pare-pareho ng kwento, and that’s the beauty of our diversity. Maaaring hindi tayo pare-pareho ng ating pinagdadaanang struggle pero pareho lang naman ang ating pinaglalaban. At sa bawat pakikipag-usap natin sa iba, we find Christ in their stories and hope that they find Christ in us and through us. Napapalalim ang ating pakikipagbahagi at pakikisangkot sa pakikinig ng kanilang kwento. We hold the power to carry these stories and share them with others. And being with Open Table MCC for almost 10 years now, marami na akong nakasama, nakasalamuha, nakadaupang-palad, nakausap at narinig ng mga kwento—ang mga Lumad, ang mga persons deprived of liberty sa QC Women’s Penitentiary , ang mga magsasaka sa Lupang Ramos, ang mga batang PLHIV na nasa pangangalaga ng Duyan Foundation at Project Red Ribbon, at ang ilan sa mga communities na naabutan ng tulong ng Pride Cares, mga nasalanta ng bagyo sa Rodriguez, Rizal at iba pang naabutan ng tulong through our partnership sa iba’t iba pang LGBTQIA+ organizations. Ang kanilang mga kwento ay patuloy kong dadalhin at subukang maibahagi sa marami pang pakikipag-usap, lalo na sa panibagong responsibility as pastor in discernment. Ganito rin ang sinasabi ko sa mga students who come and be in immersion with us. Iilan lang sa kanila ang bakla at may katulad na kwento sa atin, pero ibinabahagi natin ang ating mga kwento in the hope na dalhin nila ito as they go on in their lives hanggang makarating na sila sa kanilang adulting journey, sharing the good news sa mga kapwa nila estudyante who still struggle to resolve their sexuality with their spirituality, to tell them about the small church where you can come as you are in your most authentic self, where you can express your love of God in the most fantabulous and flamboyant way. Amen ba? At bilang Easter people, dahil hindi lang natapos ang kwento sa muling pagkabuhay ni Kristo, let us be reminded that we are the continuation of the story. Galing kay RD ‘yan at lagi kong panghahawakan ‘yang narinig ko sa preaching niya. Ayan, nawala na ako. And with that comes the power na magpatuloy at bilang Open Table MCC to have meaningful conversations, even difficult ones, to take part in the call for ceasefire and to put an end to meaningless war. Conversations that continue to create safe spaces, and our participation in the wider work of justice and peace through Jesus who proclaimed a radically inclusive love for all people, at ‘pag kinakailangan ay harapin ang mga usapang mahirap lalo na sa mga kakilala or kapamilya natin na patuloy nagbubulag-bulagan at pumipili at naghahalal ng mga leader na corrupt at sangkot sa katiwalian. Hindi man ito madali, I hope that we’re always reminded na parte rin sila ng pinaglalaban, that there’s more that unites us than separates us. Let us also be intentional sa pangangamusta sa mga mahal natin sa buhay knowing always that Jesus is present in our conversations to speak with love and compassion. At kung ikaw naman ‘yung may kinikimkim sa loob mo kung ano man ‘yan, I hope that the Holy Spirit touches your heart so you can find the courage to have that conversation, one that could inspire, heal, and transform you and others, knowing that God, Jesus, will be there with you. Amen. The post Easter: The Walk To Emmaus Part 2 appeared first on Open Table Metropolitan Community Church.

Jak można spędzić czas na lotnisku? No cóż, ja go spędziłem nagrywając dla Was podcast o północy w Istambule. A co! Można? Oczywiście, że można! Warunki spartańskie, ale dałem radę, a powód ku temu był taki, że byłem w drodze do Chicago na konferencję OWS26 i postanowiłem opowiedzieć… ale nie o tej konferencji, ale o Follow the Leaders, które pod koniec maja 2026 zawita do Trójmiasta. Zobaczcie i posłuchajcie co z tego wyszło. Nagranie spartańskie, nagrywane i montowane na kolanach.Więcej informacji o Follow the Leaders znajdziecie tu - https://followtheleaders.pl/pl/  ****************************  Nazywam się Wiktor Doktór i na co dzień prowadzę Klub Pro Progressio https://proprogressio.com/pl/dzialalnosc/klub-pro-progressio/1 – to społeczność wielu firm prywatnych i organizacji sektora publicznego, którym zależy na rozwoju relacji biznesowych w modelu B2B. W podcaście BSS bez tajemnic poza odcinkami solowymi, zamieszczam rozmowy z ekspertami i specjalistami z różnych dziedzin przedsiębiorczości.Zapraszam do odwiedzin moich kanałów na:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@wiktordoktor Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wiktor.doktor LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktor/ Moja strona internetowa - https://wiktordoktor.pl/ Możesz też do mnie napisać. Mój adres email to - kontakt(@)wiktordoktor.pl   ****************************  Patronami Podcastu “BSS bez tajemnic” są: Marzena Sawicka https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-hillway-training/Przemysław Sławiński https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/ Damian Ruciński - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-rucinski/ Szymon Kryczka https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/Grzegorz Ludwin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gludwin/ Adam Furmańczuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-agilino/ Igor Tkach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortkach/ Damian Wróblewski - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianwroblewski/ Paweł Łopatka - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawellopatka/ Ewelina Szindler - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewelina-szindler-zarz%C4%85dzanie-mark%C4%85-osobist%C4%85-0497a0212/Wiktor Doktór Jr. - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktor-dokt%C3%B3r-jr-916297188/Agata Stolarz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/agata-stolarz/Hubert Antczak - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hubert-antczak/  Wspaniali ludzie, dzięki którym pojawiają się kolejne odcinki tego podcastu.  Ty też możesz wesprzeć rozwój podcastu na: Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktor Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktor Buy me a coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor Buycoffee.to - https://buycoffee.to/wiktordoktor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bss-bez-tajemnic--4069078/support.

Gary Slade is the Chief Commerical Officer at TP EMEA. He has many years of BPO and CX experience and he previously led the UK/Ireland operation at TP as CEO. In this conversation with Mark Hillary, Gary is talking about BPO stability and how this is becoming an important new measurement that companies need to focus on. If you are looking for a BPO partner then how do you know if they will still be around in 5 years? There is so much M&A activity, Private Equity takeovers, and BPOs that rely on a single client or geography... how can you be sure that you are choosing a reliable partner who can support your future growth plans? Is stability becoming the new BPO battleground? https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyslade1/ https://www.tp.com/ Summary: Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the importance of stability in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services, highlighting Gary Slade's (TP EMEA CCO) views on the shift from cost to reliability. They note the volatility in geopolitics and fuel crises, which emphasize the need for BPOs to be resilient and financially stable. Slade emphasizes the importance of geographic diversity, industry experience, and technological investment. He also discusses the impact of private equity on service quality and the need for total cost of ownership considerations. The conversation concludes with the importance of BPOs demonstrating long-term stability and adaptability to future disruptions.

Oh, yes. There will be blood. Spring Into Sequels continues with 2005's SAW 2. A group of strangers awakens inside a sealed house rigged with intricate traps, forced to confront their past misdeeds in order to survive. Meanwhile, detectives race against time on the outside as they attempt to stop the elusive Jigsaw killer and understand the rules of his latest game. Also this week: This film's terrible :talk to the manager: haircut, Ben loves cool raves, Lance has a new BPO movie idea, and who is Jigsaw's favorite member of the Jackass crew? All this--and a whole lot more--on this week's episode of NEON BRAINIACS!! "Those who do not appreciate life do not deserve life." ----- Check out our Patreon for tons of bonus content, exclusive goodies, and access to our Discord server! ----- Saw 2 (2005) Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman Written by Leigh Whannell and Darren Lynn Bousman Starring Leigh Whannell, Shawnee Smith, Erik Knudsen, Franky G, Glenn Plummer, and Donnie Wahlberg ----- 00:00 - Intro & Opening Banter 03:11 - "Project Hail Mary" Non-story Spoiler Talk 08:37 - Banter Continues 26:33 - "The Shpiel" 50:28 - Film Breakdown 01:55:44 - Stump The Brianiacs & Outro

In this episode of the BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast, Jeremy Au sits down with MK Bertulfo, the visionary founder of Filipina Homebased Moms (FHMoms). MK shares her raw and inspiring journey transitioning from an overworked, underpaid BPO call center agent in Manila to building the largest online community for work-at-home mothers in the Philippines, now boasting over 540,000 members globally. We dive deep into the realities of the freelance economy, bridging the gap between international employers and Filipino virtual assistants (VAs), and navigating the intense pressures of startup growth and "mom guilt." MK also breaks down the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence and shares her strategies for upskilling freelancers to prevent them from being left behind by AI agents, pushing them to eventually become SaaS entrepreneurs themselves. Whether you are a startup founder looking to hire remote offshore talent, or a professional aiming to scale an organic community into a profitable tech platform, this conversation is packed with actionable advice and localized Southeast Asian insights. 00:00 - Introduction to FHMoms & MK Bertulfo 02:44 - Surviving the BPO Call Center Industry 06:33 - The Transition to Being a Virtual Assistant 10:20 - Juggling Motherhood, Freelancing, & "Mom Guilt" 13:50 - Building FHMoms: From Facebook Group to Tech Startup 17:45 - Bridging the Gap Between Employers and Remote Talent 25:14 - Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Virtual Assistants? 31:30 - The Future: Transitioning from VA to SaaS Entrepreneur 34:55 - Overcoming Early Backlash & Staying Brave Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/mk-bertulfo-fhmoms-virtual-assistants Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at https://www.bravesea.com WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VakR55X6BIElUEvkN02e TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter X : https://x.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea English: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Bahasa Indonesia: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Chinese: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts #Philippines #VirtualAssistant #EdTech #Startup #Founder #Podcast #southeastasia #techpodcast

Stop Being a Crybaby: Are You Working the Deal or Waiting for a Miracle?The year is 2026, and the real estate market isn't what it was last year, let alone five years ago. If you find yourself struggling to close deals or complaining about a lack of funding, it's time for a serious reality check. In this episode, Scott Carson dives deep into the "mental side" of the business, stripping away the excuses that keep investors paralyzed. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a new realtor looking for distressed opportunities, the message is clear: Your success is directly tied to your marketing volume.Scott takes us back to his darkest days in 2009—living in a $400-a-month room, eating canned beans, and facing foreclosure himself. He didn't wait for a bailout or a "funding Jesus" to descend from the clouds. He hustled, expanded his market, and turned a desperate situation into a $35,000 wholesale win. If you're tired of being "sick and tired," this is the wake-up call you need to get off the sidelines and back into the game.Key Takeaways for the 2026 Market HustleExpand Your Horizons: Stop looking for deals in one tiny backyard. If your local area is dry, use the internet to market across multiple states where the inventory is actually moving.Fire Your "Old" Money Partners: If your previous investors refuse to fund distressed assets, sub-two deals, or non-performing notes, they aren't your partners anymore. You must go out and create new funding sources through aggressive networking.The 80% Rule of Sales: Most success happens after the fifth contact. Sending one email blast and giving up isn't marketing; it's laziness. You have to "carpet bomb" your message across Facebook, LinkedIn, and email databases.Leverage Case Studies: Even if you've only done a few deals, use them as proof of concept. Share your wins and your "near-foreclosures" as case studies to attract new investors.Show Up Where the Money Is: Stop avoiding the "scary" places. Go to local foreclosure auctions and REIA club meetings. The people bidding there have the cash you need; you are just one connection away from your next deal.Stop the Political Blame Game: Your bank account doesn't care who is in the White House. If you spend more time complaining about politics than you do skip-tracing leads, you are the reason you aren't succeeding.Dumbify the Deal: When presenting to new partners who don't understand the note business, break it down on a whiteboard. Show the numbers, the BPO, and the potential yield in simple terms.Conclusion: No Free LunchesAt the end of the day, you are where you are because of the decisions you've made. There is no "free lunch" in real estate. You have to be willing to make sacrifices—maybe that means stepping back from coaching soccer for a season so you can spend those two hours marketing your business.Remember Scott's $35K win: he didn't have the money to buy the note, but he had the "hustle jacket" on. He got the contract, marketed it everywhere, and closed the gap. Stop feeding yourself the "bullshit" that you aren't smart enough or good enough. Get beyond your comfort zone, take massive action, and remember: Chimichangas are for winners.Ready to get to work? Reach out to Scott, and let's see if you're ready to handle the tough questions.Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes PinterestGet Signed Up For the Next Note Buying Workshop HERE!

Introduction What happens when the insurance industry's dominant agency management platform decides manual data entry is no longer acceptable? Applied Systems is betting its product roadmap on a three-ring strategy they call the "digital round trip," combining embedded AI, strategic acquisitions, and platform overhauls to eliminate the operational drag that costs agencies thousands of hours per year. This deep dive unpacks the core strategy shifts, the specific technologies driving change, and the leadership decisions behind a platform serving 37,000 agencies and 300,000 users. Key Topics The Digital Round Trip Framework - Applied's three concentric rings: core agency management (Epic), carrier collaboration (Ivans, Cytora), and embedded AI. Each ring represents a strategic investment layer aimed at turning Epic from a system of record into a system of action. Cytora Acquisition and Zero-Training AI - How Cytora's "agentic team" of seven LLMs running at different temperature settings extracts structured data from unstructured inputs (emails, PDFs, voice calls) without pre-labeled training data, cutting submission prep from hours to minutes. Epic AutoFill for Benefits and Commercial Lines - AI-powered extraction that reads SBC documents and complex vehicle schedules in seconds, saving an estimated 30 minutes per plan and 2-3 hours per commercial submission in manual data entry. Epic Max: The Natural Language Copilot - Applied's AI assistant targeting the 2-3 hours per day agency staff spend searching for information. Goal: recapture 12,000 hours (equivalent to 6 FTEs) in its first year through instant natural language queries with auditable source chains. BPO Disruption - Applied's aggressive stance that AI should replace outsourced data entry, directly challenging the business model of agencies spending $500K+ annually on BPO for routine tasks. Agency Valuation and M&A Implications - How AI adoption and system consolidation make agencies more attractive to acquirers. Clean data, lower operating costs, and standardized workflows command premium multiples. Notable Quotes "Their strategy comes from clients saying, we're spending way too much money outsourcing stuff that the software should just do." "The initial fear of AI seems to be turning into FOMO on AI. Because if your competitor is saving 2 hours per person per day, you literally can't afford not to adopt." "An agency that uses this tech to streamline workflows, clean up its data, lower operating costs becomes way more attractive to buyers. It's the after photo." "Automating the simple decisions is becoming table stakes. Using AI to master the triage and routing of the most complex risks to the human brain might be the real competitive advantage in the next decade of insurtech." Resources Applied Systems: Applied Systems: https://www.appliedsystems.com/ AppliedNet Conference: https://www.appliednet.com/ Host & Organization: Joshua R. Hollander on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuarhollander/ Horton International (USA): https://www.horton-usa.com/ Insurtech Leadership Podcast (LinkedIn Showcase): https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/insurtech-leadership-show Subscribe & Review If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe on your favorite platform and leave a review. The Insurtech Leadership Podcast is available on YouTube, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

लोकसभा में महिला आरक्षण और परिसीमन बिल पर बहस तेज, प्रधानमंत्री मोदी ने वोटिंग से पहले अपील की, वहीं राहुल गांधी ने इसे “एंटी-नेशनल” बताते हुए विरोध किया, दिल्ली में जैकलीन फर्नांडिस ने ‘एप्रूवर' बनने की मांग की है, यूपी के संभल में मस्जिद पर कार्रवाई हुई, नासिक में BPO कर्मचारी निदा के परिवार ने आरोप खारिज किए, सरकार ने सोना-चांदी आयात के नए नियम जारी किए, सीरिया से अमेरिका ने पूरी सैन्य वापसी की, होर्मुज स्ट्रेट को लेकर फ्रांस-ब्रिटेन पहल कर रहे हैं, जबकि पाकिस्तानी टैंकर ने स्ट्रेट पार किया. सिर्फ 5 मिनट में सुनिए शाम 4 बजे तक की बड़ी ख़बरें.

In this episode of the BSS World Podcast, I sit down with Grzegorz Baran from Transcom to discuss the shifting landscape of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Global Business Services (GBS). As we navigate 2026, the traditional model of focusing solely on FTE costs and facilities is no longer enough to ensure business stability.Key Insights from This Episode:Geopolitics & Risk: Why the "elephant in the room" can no longer be ignored. We explore how global conflicts and regional instabilities impact site selection and business continuity.The Rise of Friendshoring: Discover why companies are moving toward hybrid models and "friendshoring" to mitigate risks associated with single-location dependencies.Legal & Security Complexities: From the nuances of GDPR across different European borders to the necessity of cybersecurity certifications and penetration testing.Culture & Context: Why cultural alignment is crucial for Customer Experience (CX) and why certain processes are returning to Europe from traditional offshore hubs.The Polish Advantage: An analysis of why Poland and CEE remain powerhouses in the sector due to efficiency, high education standards, and cultural proximity to the Nordic and German markets.ESG in the RFP Process: Understanding how carbon footprint and sustainability have become non-negotiable factors for modern global partners.As Grzegorz says in our talk - "Business should be separated from geopolitics... that was the universal model we worked in for years. In my opinion, it is no longer like that."  ****************************  My name is Wiktor Doktór and on daily basis I run Pro Progressio Club - https://proprogressio.com/en/activity/pro-progressio-club/1 - it's a community of many private companies and public sector organizations that care about the development of business relations in the B2B model. In the Good Morning BSS World podcast, apart from solo episodes, I share interviews with experts and specialists from global BPO/GBS industry.Visit my social media channels:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/wiktordoktorHere is also link to the English podcasts Playlist - https://bit.ly/GoodMorningBSSWorldPodcastYTLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktordoktorYou can also write to me. My email address is - kontakt(@) wiktordoktor.pl  ****************************  This Podcast is supported by Patrons:Marzena Sawicka https://www.linkedin.com/in/marzena-sawicka-a9644a23/Przemysław Sławiński https://www.linkedin.com/in/przemys%C5%82aw-s%C5%82awi%C5%84ski-155a4426/Damian Ruciński https://www.linkedin.com/in/damian-ruci%C5%84ski/Szymon Kryczka https://www.linkedin.com/in/szymonkryczka/Grzegorz Ludwin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gludwin/Adam Furmańczuk https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-agilino/Igor Tkach - https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortkach/Damian Wróblewski – https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianwroblewski/Paweł Łopatka - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawellopatka/Ewelina Szindler – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewelina-szindler-zarz%C4%85dzanie-mark%C4%85-osobist%C4%85-0497a0212/Wiktor Doktór Jr - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wiktor-dokt%C3%B3r-jr-916297188/Agata Stolarz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/agata-stolarz/Hubert Antczak - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hubert-antczak/  Once you listen, give a like, subscribe and join Patrons of Good Morning BSS World as well. Here are two links to do so:Patronite - https://patronite.pl/wiktordoktor  Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/wiktordoktor Or if you liked this episode and would like to buy me virtual coffee, you can use this link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wiktordoktor - by doing so you support the growth and distribution of this podcast.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/good-morning-bss-world--4131868/support.

Is open source the true future of Artificial Intelligence? In this episode of the BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast, Jeremy Au sits down with Eugene Cheah, CEO and Co-Founder of Featherless AI. They dive deep into the architecture of the RWKV model, the intense global competition between open source and closed source AI, and how China is aggressively pushing an open source strategy to bypass chip constraints. Recorded with a focus on the Southeast Asian tech ecosystem, this episode breaks down the immediate impact of AI on the global south, specifically highlighting the vulnerability of the BPO and call center industries in the Philippines. Eugene also shares his extraordinary journey from building UIlicious to securing a $1M investment in San Francisco with no pitch deck, and his ongoing work with the Linux Foundation and the World Trade Organization to bridge the global AI language divide. Discover tactical insights into startup bootstrapping, macroeconomics, and the entrepreneurial mindset required to navigate the hyper-competitive deep tech space. Tune in to learn how to future-proof your business and stay ahead of the AI curve in Southeast Asia. 00:00 - Introduction & Featherless AI 02:59 - From UIlicious to AI Research 05:45 - RWKV & the Transformer Alternative 07:13 - Spinning Out Featherless as a New Company 09:10 - Fundraising in San Francisco 16:15 - Open Source vs. Closed Source AI 21:52 - China's Open Source AI Strategy 23:57 - Advantages & Disadvantages of Open Source 28:06 - Inference as a Service & Model Variety 32:13 - The Future of AI: Reliability & Specialization 36:35 - Personal Growth & Navigating AI Politics 39:01 - Policy Advice for Southeast Asia & Global AI Impact 43:39 - Multilingual AI & Closing the Global Divide 48:44 - Being Brave: Founding Story & Closing Reflections Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/eugene-cheah-featherless-ai-open-source-ai Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at https://www.bravesea.com WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VakR55X6BIElUEvkN02e TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter X : https://x.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea English: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Bahasa Indonesia: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Chinese: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts #Singapore #China #Philippines #AI #ArtificalIntelligence #MachineLearning #Technology #TechNews #VentureCapital #Startup #Podcast #southeastasia #techpodcast

In this episode, Aaron Opalewski discusses the evolving staffing market, focusing on different contract styles, market trends, and strategic service offerings like RPO, BPO, and SOW. He shares insights on how staffing companies can adapt and grow in a changing industry landscape. Key  TopicsStaffing market trends from 2022 to 2026Different styles of staffing contracts (temp, contract-to-direct, direct hire)Growth of service-based staffing solutions (RPO, BPO, SOW)Chapters00:00 Introduction to Sparking Success00:29 Current Trends in the Staffing Market02:46 Types of Staffing Contracts07:12 The Shift Towards Services in Staffing11:59 Building Trusted Advisor Relationships17:23 Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Chris Chance is the Senior Vice President for East Africa at CCI Global. He is based between Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. CCI Global is headquartered in the UAR, but has extensive operations across Africa - they aim to be the largest and most respected BPO in Africa through a combination of offering innovative services with a focus on impact sourcing and community uplift. In this conversation with Mark Hillary from his base in Ethiopia, Chris talks about the creation of the Outsourcing Alliance of Kenya (OAK) - what does it mean for the region that we are seeing stronger organization around promotion for CX and BPO? Beyond the new alliance, Chris talked about the increased development of services from Africa - with a new wave of countries even coming up close behind the ones he is working in. https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrischance/ https://cciglobal.com/ Reports mentioned in the podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/david-rumble-4a4a09b_elevateafrica-gbs-globalbusinessservices-activity-7435711466642608128-owOl/ https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ethiopian-investment-holdings_elevateafrica2026-ethiopianinvestmentholdings-activity-7434521009770323969-LPhl/ https://www.storydoc.com/11ba14bd4fd414f857a280044f096bcc/800e1f-ee50-f41c-6572-bbe14876d62/691346c299a86062dbbd6c6c https://genesisgbs.com/2026-abridged-east-central-africa-gbs-benchmarking-market-report-download/   Summary: Mark Hillary and Peter Ryan discuss the emergence of Kenya and other African countries as significant players in the CX and BPO sectors. Chris Chance from CCI Global highlights the Outsourcing Alliance of Kenya (OAK), which aims to unify the industry and align with Kenya's 2030 vision. Kenya's BPO sector has grown 10% annually, generating $700 million in revenue and creating 40,000 jobs. Chance emphasizes the importance of leveraging local skills, such as Kenya's expertise in mobile money, and the shift towards value-led delivery models. The conversation also touches on the broader African market, including emerging and nascent markets, and the need for organized, accessible information about these opportunities.

Avoid the mistake of blaming the market every time a hire does not work out, or you will keep repeating the same costly cycle without ever fixing the real problem underneath it.In this episode of The Wize Way Podcast, Ed Chan sits down with Bren Ward to cut through the noise on what is actually driving the people challenge in accounting firms right now.✅ Why AI will not make accountants redundant, and the historical proof that efficiency gains have always created opportunity rather than unemployment ✅ The real reason you cannot find good people, and why its less related to labor shortage than you think.✅ Why flat team structures are the root cause of most hiring failures, and what a deep and narrow team blueprint looks like instead ✅ How hybrid and remote work can maintain or even lift productivity when you stop managing by feeling and start managing by numbers ✅ The BPO versus direct hire debate, and why Ed is a firm believer in the direct offshore model ✅ Why chasing unicorn candidates is costing you more than you think, and what a championship team structure delivers instead ✅ How to tailor your recruitment and testing process to the specific role you are hiring forTune in to hear where Ed stands on AI's real impact on the profession, how recruitment has shifted from the traditional model to where it needs to be today, and why getting your team structure right is the foundation everything else is built on.________________  PS: Whenever you're ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm:   1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 96 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to Hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here

Stop Chasing Vendors and Start Closing Deals Are you tired of spending more time vetting vendors than you do analyzing deals? In the fast-moving 2026 real estate market, your success is defined by the strength of your team and the speed of your due diligence. Whether you are closing your first note or managing a portfolio of hundreds, having a reliable "boots on the ground" network is the difference between a high-yield win and a costly mistake. In this episode, we are pulling back the curtain on a massive national database of experts—honed over 25 years in the industry—to help you streamline your workflow and keep your overhead low.Key Topics & TakeawaysComprehensive Due Diligence Outsourcing: We are rolling out a "one-stop shop" for the essential tasks that often bog down investors. From pulling Broker Price Opinions (BPOs) and conducting thorough title work to skip tracing and lead generation, you can now leverage an established infrastructure to handle the heavy lifting across all 50 states.National Reach with Local Expertise: While Texas remains a powerhouse for investment, our network extends far beyond Austin. We discuss how to access localized experts—including mobile notaries, realtors, and title reps—who understand the specific nuances of their markets, ensuring your due diligence is accurate and culturally relevant to the asset's location.Cost-Efficiency and Competitive Pricing: One of the biggest hurdles for individual investors is the high cost of retail due diligence services. We break down how our leveraged relationships allow us to provide these professional services at a fraction of the cost you might be paying elsewhere, directly impacting your bottom line and increasing your ROI on every deal.A Call for Quality Vendors: This isn't just for buyers. If you are a real estate professional—a realtor, BPO agent, or service provider—we are actively looking to expand our referral network. We discuss how quality vendors can integrate into our ecosystem to provide value to a growing community of active note and REO investors.Personalized Strategy Sessions: Moving into the final stretch of the year, we are offering direct consultations to help you compare your current due diligence costs. By booking a strategy call, you can identify exactly where you are overpaying and how to refine your systems to ensure you are ready to "kick ass" through the rest of 2026.Your Path to the Top Starts with a Phone Call The year is already moving at lightning speed, and there is no room for "lazy" systems in a competitive market. If you want to close more deals with less stress, it is time to tap into a proven network of professionals who are dedicated to your success. Don't let paperwork and vendor management hold you back from the lifestyle you've been building. Watch the full video to see how these new services can transform your business, then head over to book your strategy session. Let's work together to make the rest of 2026 your most profitable chapter yet. We'll see you at the top!Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Stop Chasing Vendors and Start Closing Deals Are you tired of spending more time vetting vendors than you do analyzing deals? In the fast-moving 2026 real estate market, your success is defined by the strength of your team and the speed of your due diligence. Whether you are closing your first note or managing a portfolio of hundreds, having a reliable "boots on the ground" network is the difference between a high-yield win and a costly mistake. In this episode, we are pulling back the curtain on a massive national database of experts—honed over 25 years in the industry—to help you streamline your workflow and keep your overhead low.Key Topics & TakeawaysComprehensive Due Diligence Outsourcing: We are rolling out a "one-stop shop" for the essential tasks that often bog down investors. From pulling Broker Price Opinions (BPOs) and conducting thorough title work to skip tracing and lead generation, you can now leverage an established infrastructure to handle the heavy lifting across all 50 states.National Reach with Local Expertise: While Texas remains a powerhouse for investment, our network extends far beyond Austin. We discuss how to access localized experts—including mobile notaries, realtors, and title reps—who understand the specific nuances of their markets, ensuring your due diligence is accurate and culturally relevant to the asset's location.Cost-Efficiency and Competitive Pricing: One of the biggest hurdles for individual investors is the high cost of retail due diligence services. We break down how our leveraged relationships allow us to provide these professional services at a fraction of the cost you might be paying elsewhere, directly impacting your bottom line and increasing your ROI on every deal.A Call for Quality Vendors: This isn't just for buyers. If you are a real estate professional—a realtor, BPO agent, or service provider—we are actively looking to expand our referral network. We discuss how quality vendors can integrate into our ecosystem to provide value to a growing community of active note and REO investors.Personalized Strategy Sessions: Moving into the final stretch of the year, we are offering direct consultations to help you compare your current due diligence costs. By booking a strategy call, you can identify exactly where you are overpaying and how to refine your systems to ensure you are ready to "kick ass" through the rest of 2026.Your Path to the Top Starts with a Phone Call The year is already moving at lightning speed, and there is no room for "lazy" systems in a competitive market. If you want to close more deals with less stress, it is time to tap into a proven network of professionals who are dedicated to your success. Don't let paperwork and vendor management hold you back from the lifestyle you've been building. Watch the full video to see how these new services can transform your business, then head over to book your strategy session. Let's work together to make the rest of 2026 your most profitable chapter yet. We'll see you at the top!Watch the Original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call With Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!

Your Opportunity to Become the Bank We've got an exclusive look at a fresh "cherry-pickable" tape featuring 47 unique assets across the country. If you've been looking for a way to put "lazy" assets to work or grow your Self-Directed IRA (SDIRA) with double-digit returns, this is the breakdown you've been waiting for. We aren't just looking at spreadsheets; we are diving into the actual photos, neighborhoods, and equity positions of these properties so you can bid with confidence. Detailed Key Topics & TakeawaysDiverse Asset Mix Across 15+ States: This tape includes a strategic mixture of performing mortgages and Contracts for Deed (CFDs) in states like Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, and Missouri. Many of these assets are owner-occupied with significant "emotional equity," meaning the borrowers have a strong incentive to stay and keep paying. The Power of Small Balance Investing: One of the most exciting aspects of this tape is the availability of assets with lower unpaid balances (UPB)—some in the $10k to $50k range. These are perfect for individual investors who want to buy for their own portfolios without the complexity of splitting equity with funding partners. Targeting High-Yield Returns: While the seller is generally looking for around 75% of the UPB, there is room to negotiate on smaller balances to ensure a legitimate return of 12% to 16%. We break down how to calculate these yields to ensure your investment meets your financial goals. Due Diligence and Visual Analysis: We've gone beyond the data to provide current photos for roughly 40 of the 47 properties. This visual breakdown allows you to assess the "pride of ownership"—looking for new roofs, landscaping, and well-maintained exteriors—before you ever spend money on a BPO or title search. Professional Bidding Etiquette: We emphasize a "no joker broker" policy. This session teaches you how to act as a professional investor, bidding for your own portfolio rather than trying to middle-man deals, which ensures you maintain a strong reputation with sellers and funds. Take Action Before the Deadline:The note market in 2026 is moving fast, and fresh tapes like this don't stay available for long. Whether you are interested in the fast eviction process of an Indiana Contract for Deed or the steady cash flow of a performing Florida mortgage, the time to conduct your due diligence is now. Watch the full breakdown to see the specific asset details, and make sure your bids are submitted by the Wednesday deadline to get priority. Don't just watch from the sidelines—go make some offers and start building your legacy as a lender! Watch the original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call with Scott HERE!Sign up for the next FREE One-Day Note Class HERE!Sign up for the WCN Membership HERE!Sign up for the next Note Buying For Dummies Workshop HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the Note Closers Show community today:WeCloseNotes.comThe Note Closers Show FacebookThe Note Closers Show TwitterScott Carson LinkedInThe Note Closers Show YouTubeThe Note Closers Show VimeoThe Note Closers Show InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Your Opportunity to Become the Bank Welcome back to Note Night in America! We are kicking off 2026 with an exclusive look at a fresh "cherry-pickable" tape featuring 47 unique assets across the country. If you've been looking for a way to put "lazy" assets to work or grow your Self-Directed IRA (SDIRA) with double-digit returns, this is the breakdown you've been waiting for. We aren't just looking at spreadsheets; we are diving into the actual photos, neighborhoods, and equity positions of these properties so you can bid with confidence. Detailed Key Topics & TakeawaysDiverse Asset Mix Across 15+ States: This tape includes a strategic mixture of performing mortgages and Contracts for Deed (CFDs) in states like Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, and Missouri. Many of these assets are owner-occupied with significant "emotional equity," meaning the borrowers have a strong incentive to stay and keep paying. The Power of Small Balance Investing: One of the most exciting aspects of this tape is the availability of assets with lower unpaid balances (UPB)—some in the $10k to $50k range. These are perfect for individual investors who want to buy for their own portfolios without the complexity of splitting equity with funding partners. Targeting High-Yield Returns: While the seller is generally looking for around 75% of the UPB, there is room to negotiate on smaller balances to ensure a legitimate return of 12% to 16%. We break down how to calculate these yields to ensure your investment meets your financial goals. Due Diligence and Visual Analysis: We've gone beyond the data to provide current photos for roughly 40 of the 47 properties. This visual breakdown allows you to assess the "pride of ownership"—looking for new roofs, landscaping, and well-maintained exteriors—before you ever spend money on a BPO or title search. Professional Bidding Etiquette: We emphasize a "no joker broker" policy. This session teaches you how to act as a professional investor, bidding for your own portfolio rather than trying to middle-man deals, which ensures you maintain a strong reputation with sellers and funds. Take Action Before the Deadline:The note market in 2026 is moving fast, and fresh tapes like this don't stay available for long. Whether you are interested in the fast eviction process of an Indiana Contract for Deed or the steady cash flow of a performing Florida mortgage, the time to conduct your due diligence is now. Watch the full breakdown to see the specific asset details, and make sure your bids are submitted by the Wednesday deadline to get priority. Don't just watch from the sidelines—go make some offers and start building your legacy as a lender! Watch the original VIDEO HERE!Book a Call with Scott HERE!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join Note Night in America community today:WeCloseNotes.comScott Carson FacebookScott Carson TwitterScott Carson LinkedInNote Night in America YouTubeNote Night in America VimeoScott Carson InstagramWe Close Notes Pinterest

Savanna and Tyler are answering YOUR questions in this week's Q&A and Savanna is breaking down the best anti-aging products for volume loss, including her honest first impressions of the new Skin Better Science launch that she says makes your skin look like you got filler without the needle. She gets into why this one is different from every other hyaluronic acid serum on the market, plus covers everything from BPO and retinoids to acne, pigment, and building the ultimate summer skin kit.Shop here now: https://www.savannaboda.com

Youtube Video Version: youtube.com/watch?v=8yt83zi517E&feature=youtu.be Use my link for 10% off for best worldwide esim ($27 a month unlimited data): https://pangiapass.com/a/bold Find Me Here: https://linktr.ee/bold.perceptions Travel / Lifestyle Consultation, DM Me On Instagram: bold_perceptions ~ Subscribe to win a free flight.... when I hit 5k subscribers I will buy a random person a one way flight to experience solo travel themselves. & I will help you plan the adventure. Plugg technologies website: https://plugg.tech/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plugg_technologies/ ~ Plugg Technologies is a premier nearshore staffing partner that bridges the gap between high-growth U.S. companies and the elite talent pools of Latin America. Specializing in "white-glove" staff augmentation, Plugg provides a seamless, end-to-end solution for hiring top-tier remote professionals—including software engineers, AI specialists, and BPO experts—who operate in North American time zones. By combining deep regional expertise with a rigorous vetting process, the company empowers businesses to scale their teams rapidly while achieving up to 70% in cost savings compared to domestic hiring, all without sacrificing quality or cultural alignment. What truly sets Plugg apart is its comprehensive, people-first approach to the entire employment lifecycle. Beyond mere recruitment, the firm handles the complex logistics of international hiring, including payroll management, legal compliance, and hardware procurement. Their dedicated "Cultural Care Managers" ensure that every new hire is successfully integrated into the client's workflow, fostering long-term partnerships rather than just filling vacancies. With a decade of experience and a commitment to transparency, Plugg Technologies serves as a strategic advisor, helping companies navigate the global talent landscape with confidence, agility, and ease. ~ #travel #travelblogger #nomad #wifimoney #digitalnomad #latinamerica #nearshoring #remotework #podcast #entrepreneur

Mark Hodges is the Principal Percussionist of the Grammy Award–winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. An accomplished recording artist, he has appeared on more than 60 recordings with the BPO and has also recorded extensively with the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra. He has toured internationally across multiple continents, performing both standard and contemporary repertoire. Alongside his performing career, Hodges is deeply committed to education. He serves on the percussion faculty at the Eastman School of Music and SUNY Buffalo State University, and is a highly sought-after clinician, adjudicator, and lecturer. Mark's work also extends beyond the concert hall and classroom. He is the founder of Druminar, a Buffalo-based program that uses music-driven, hands-on experiences to support corporate training, leadership development, and team building. Through Druminar, Mark works with organizations to strengthen communication and collaboration, partnering with Fortune 100 companies, national banks, international manufacturers, and nonprofit organizations. Hodges holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music/ Case Western Reserve University, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, as well as a Master of Business Administration from Capella University. Mark visited the Flamingo Lounge on

Artificial intelligence has moved from experimentation to enterprise adoption in under two years, with industry estimates projecting AI services revenues of $10–12 billion in FY26 and rapid growth thereafter. Yet, this moment of expansion coincides with layoffs, automation, and the vulnerability of entry-level roles in India's IT and BPO sectors. It also coincides with India's top tech firms contracting AI products into their workflows. Is this transformation or disruption? Are we witnessing productivity gains, structural shifts, and early signs of displacement, all at the same time? And what does this mean for India's services-led growth model? Guests: Kishan Sundar and Alaganambi Welkin Host: Kunal Shankar Producer: Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EP 106 – NRL Part Deux, Accessories is where we stop talking about rifles and ammo and start talking about everything that actually supports the shot. This episode is all about buying time and building a system that works under pressure. We break down why handheld rangefinders just aren't cutting it anymore in blind stages and why laser rangefinding binos with onboard ballistics have become the standard if you want to stay competitive. It's not about flexing expensive gear. It's about eliminating wasted movement, wasted seconds, and unnecessary mistakes. From there we get into the rest of the support setup. Tripods, bags, bipods, pack layout, and even pants. What actually helps you move faster, build better positions, and see what's happening downrange. We talk through why a quality tripod isn't optional, why lightweight bags solve more problems than people admit, and how small details in your setup can either buy you time or cost you the stage. We also pull back the curtain a bit on the industry side, touching on Federal Excise Tax, complete rifles vs barreled actions, and why some business decisions in the firearms world aren't as simple as they look from the outside. The theme is simple. Time is your biggest enemy. Build a setup that gives you more of it. Sponsors: Silencer Central-  https://bit.ly/LRTSIcentral Their educated staff is continually updated on new government regulations for the successful purchase and registration of silencers for your needs. Because of you – Silencer Central has grown to become one of the largest Class 3 dealers. They make it their mission to obtain inventory quickly, expediting communication and approvals from the Administrative Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). They aim to simplify your silencer purchasing experience.   Born Primitive/ Outdoor- https://glnk.io/p9vpq/precision-disciple use code LRT15 for 15 % off all BPO apparel. Designed, owned, and tested by Navy Seals this stuff is the answer. Go take a peek and see what they have! Modular Driven Tech- https://bit.ly/MDT_LRT The Chassis and accessory source! USED WORLD-WIDE BY HUNTERS, COMPETITION SHOOTERS, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MILITARY PERSONNEL. A PASSION FOR PRECISION, INNOVATION, AND A CONSTANT DRIVE TO HELP THEIR CUSTOMERS. Utah Airguns- https://utahairguns.com/ Discover the best selection of air guns, optics, and accessories at Utah Airguns. Shop top brands and find everything you need for your next adventure in one convenient location.   Contacts: Email: cole@teampoi.com Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/longrangetactics/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/longrangtacticspodcast FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1046057499086896

Episode 398 - S17 E4: Filipino Identity Abroad: Family Land Wars, AI Virtual Assistants & More!

In this episode, the hosts break down a highly optimized, $34M freight brokerage specializing in weird, mission-critical loads—one of the best businesses they've seen, and totally out of reach for most buyers.Business Listing – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ir1uPXvP33JxMYO-AkT5Qv3DsjmL2o_j/view?usp=sharingWelcome to Acquisitions Anonymous – the #1 podcast for small business M&A. Every week, we break down businesses for sale and talk about buying, operating, and growing them.Looking to build a professional website in minutes? Try Wix: https://wix.pxf.io/c/6898629/3115214/25616?trafcat=templateHubSpot is the backbone for how businesses scale without chaos. Try them out here: https://go.try-hubspot.com/OeG9Vr

Rob Joubert is the founder and CEO of Boomerang BPO. He is based in Cape Town, South Africa. 2025 was the 20th anniversary year for Boomerang, so at the end of the year Peter Ryan called Rob to talk about BPO and CX trends and what it takes to build a successful BPO operation from the ground up. 20 years into the journey, what has Rob learned about what clients want from a BPO partner in the 2020s?  https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-joubert-89176011/ https://boomerangbpo.com/  

Jamie Cuffe is solving one of AI's hardest problems: getting conservative, regulated industries to trust autonomous agents with mission-critical work. At Pace, he's building AI that replaces traditional BPOs in insurance, handling everything from email triage to claims processing with 50-75% cost savings. Drawing on his experience at Retool, Jamie emphasizes the importance of "closing the distance" with customers through forward-deployed engineering and being "the rock" that clients can rely on. He shares how focusing on top-tier insurance carriers and maintaining exceptionally high standards is enabling Pace to capture a meaningful share of the $400 billion BPO market while building a durable business model - at AI-native velocity. Hosted by Lauren Reeder and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital

Last November, Leigh Hopwood, CEO of the CCMA (Contact Centre Management Association), was on the CX Files talking about the 25th anniversary of the European Contact Center and Customer Service Awards (ECCCSAs). https://cxfiles.libsyn.com/cxfiles/leigh-hopwood-ccma-25-years-of-the-ecccsas At those awards on November 25th 2025, The Best Customer Service Into Europe award was won (gold) by TUI working with Transcom. https://ecccsa.com/2025-winners/ Peter Ryan recently called Leo Ooms (TUI) and Dario Bakovic (Transcom) to talk about the award and what it takes to build a BPO partnership that can win a prestigious 'Best in Europe' award... --- Leo Ooms Head of Customer Services BPO TUI Group https://www.linkedin.com/in/leoooms/ https://www.tui.com/   Dario Bakovic Head of Global Accounts EMEA at Transcom https://www.linkedin.com/in/dario-bakovic/ https://transcom.com/

Deep Dive in DDH is a three-part limited series where experts in the field of DDH have been invited to discuss the controversies in the management of hip dysplasia. Episode 1 was published in August and discussed management of DDH in infants under 6 months of age. In Episode 2, we are joined by Eduardo Novais at Nemour Children's Health in Jacksonville and Salil Upasani of Rady Children's Hospital and discuss the controversies in the management of developmental hip dislocations in the operating room including the process to decide between closed and open reduction, the use of concomitant osteotomies, adjunctive imaging, and casting protocols. Hosted by Will Morris (Scottish Rite for Children). Music by A. A. Aalto. Referenced Publications: Novais EN, Hill MK, Carry PM, Heyn PC. Is Age or Surgical Approach Associated With Osteonecrosis in Patients With Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip? A Meta-analysis. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2016 May;474(5):1166-77. doi: 10.1007/s11999-015-4590-5. PMID: 26472583; PMCID: PMC4814411. Schmaranzer F, Justo P, Kallini JR, Ferrer MG, Miller P, Bixby SD, Novais EN. Hip Morphology on Post-Reduction MRI Predicts Residual Dysplasia 10 Years After Open or Closed Reduction. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2024 Jan 17;106(2):110-119. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.23.00333. Epub 2023 Nov 22. PMID: 37992184; PMCID: PMC12205695. Morris WZ, Chilakapati S, Hinds SA, Herring JA, Kim HKW. The Clinical Significance of Infolded Limbus on Postreduction Arthrogram in Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip. J Pediatr Orthop. 2022 Apr 1;42(4):e309-e314. doi: 10.1097/BPO.0000000000002070. PMID: 35132011. Morris WZ, Hinds S, Worrall H, Jo CH, Kim HKW. Secondary Surgery and Residual Dysplasia Following Late Closed or Open Reduction of Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2021 Feb 3;103(3):235-242. doi: 10.2106/JBJS.20.00562. PMID: 33252590. Gans I, Sankar WN. The medial dye pool revisited: correlation between arthrography and MRI In closed reductions for DDH. J Pediatr Orthop. 2014 Dec;34(8):787-90. doi: 10.1097/BPO.0000000000000187. PMID: 24787303. Novais EN, Hollnagel KF, Bixby SD, Ferrer MG, Williams DN, Kim YJ, Schmaranzer F. Predictive value of post-reduction gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in detecting avascular necrosis after closed and open reduction for developmental dysplasia: A minimum 5-year follow-up study. J Child Orthop. 2025 Jul 6;19(4):329-338. doi: 10.1177/18632521251350524. PMID: 40630930; PMCID: PMC12230044. Paez C, Badrinath R, Holt J, Bomar JD, Mubarak SJ, Upasani VV, Wenger DR. Ligamentum Teres Transfer During Medial Open Reduction in Patients with Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip. Iowa Orthop J. 2021;41(1):47-53. PMID: 34552403; PMCID: PMC8259203.

Send us a textHenry Motte de la Motte is the Founder and CEO of EDGE Tutor, a global tutor outsourcing company supporting over 50 leading education and training organizations. Under his leadership, EDGE Tutor has scaled to 1,000+ teachers across 30+ countries, delivering millions of live tutoring sessions with a focus on quality, reliability, and human-centered learning.

EP 104 NRL Hunter Rifle & Ammo Options cuts through the forum noise and sponsor answers and gets straight into what actually works when you're building a rifle to perform. We break down the NRL Hunter division structure and weight limits so you're not guessing at the scale, then lay out Power Factor in plain terms and why it matters, including how it can decide a tie when points are equal. From there we dig into rifle and cartridge choices that give you the best blend of control, consistency, and real match results, not just good-looking numbers on paper. The theme is simple: build a rifle you can balance and run hard in awkward field positions, and pick a cartridge you can manage well enough to stay in the glass and spot impacts. We also hit why chasing max velocity and overbore trends usually turns into pressure problems, lost impacts, and a long weekend of fighting your own setup, especially when weather and round count start stacking up. If you're trying to decide what to run this season and want fewer problems and more hits, this episode will square you away.   Sponsors: Silencer Central-  https://bit.ly/LRTSIcentral Their educated staff is continually updated on new government regulations for the successful purchase and registration of silencers for your needs. Because of you – Silencer Central has grown to become one of the largest Class 3 dealers. They make it their mission to obtain inventory quickly, expediting communication and approvals from the Administrative Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). They aim to simplify your silencer purchasing experience. Born Primitive/ Outdoor- https://glnk.io/p9vpq/precision-disciple use code LRT15 for 15 % off all BPO apparel. Designed, owned, and tested by Navy Seals this stuff is the answer. Go take a peek and see what they have! Modular Driven Tech- https://bit.ly/MDT_LRT The Chassis and accessory source! USED WORLD-WIDE BY HUNTERS, COMPETITION SHOOTERS, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MILITARY PERSONNEL. A PASSION FOR PRECISION, INNOVATION, AND A CONSTANT DRIVE TO HELP THEIR CUSTOMERS. Utah Airguns- https://utahairguns.com/ Discover the best selection of air guns, optics, and accessories at Utah Airguns. Shop top brands and find everything you need for your next adventure in one convenient location.   Contacts: Email: cole@teampoi.com Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/longrangetactics/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/longrangtacticspodcast FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1046057499086896

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #274, we welcomed Dave Rennyson, President & CEO at SuccessKPI based in the Washington, DC area. SuccessKPI is an on-demand insight and action platform that removes the obstacles that agents, managers, and executives encounter in delivering exceptional customer service.SuccessKPI is trusted by some of the world's largest government, BPO, financial, healthcare, and technology contact centers in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.In this episode, Dave and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #274 Highlight Reel:**1. Why the best organizations & teams invest in constant training efforts 2. How music and business are wildly similar 3. Leveraging & investing in AI over the next 1,000 days 4. Understanding the power of your data architecture  5. Tomorrow's leading tech-companies will bring solutions, not headaches Click here to learn more about Dave RennysonClick here to learn more about SuccessKPIHuge thanks to Dave for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Check out the CXC Healthzone, an intelligence platform that shares benchmarks & insights for how companies across the world are tackling The Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback & how they are building an AI-powered foundation for the future. Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

What happens when a founder treats AI like hiring Albert Einstein—brilliant, but useless without a clear brief? In this vivid conversation on The Proven Entrepreneur Show, host Don Williams reconnects with long‑time friend Rodolfo Salazar from San Salvador, El Salvador, and together they chart a journey that begins with surf breaks near Surf City, detours through global boardrooms, and lands on a playbook any growth‑minded leader can use today. You'll step into Rodolfo's world as he moves from early entrepreneurship to executive roles at Sprint, Telefónica, Microsoft, and Dell, then into the contact‑center universe with a major BPO that ultimately ties to Convergys—an experience that reveals how large‑scale service operations can transform a country's economy. When a values test at the top levels forces a hard choice, Rodolfo chooses character over comfort, exits the corporate ladder, and returns to building. That decision sets the stage for IdeaWorks, then a post‑pandemic rebirth as Q‑DOX (spelled Q‑U‑D‑O‑X)—a growth company designed for a world where change arrives faster than most leaders' planning cycles.Across the episode, Don and Rodolfo unwind a deeply practical theme: identity‑first AI. AI, Rodolfo insists, is not your identity; it's your instrument. He illustrates this with a memorable story: if you ask “Einstein” to bring you pupusas from Galerías del Escalón and give him no context (what a pupusa is, where the mall is, which route to take on Waze), you'll get clever nonsense instead of useful action. Leaders, he argues, must supply context, constraints, and clarity—precisely the same foundations they owe their teams. That mindset folds into a broader operating model: stop buying isolated tactics and start assembling a growth ecosystem that compounds—website and messaging, content engine, analytics, automation, and AI co‑pilots working in one feedback loop. Rodolfo is candid about the scars too: the time he tried to scale offices across multiple Central American countries at once. The “cookie‑cutter” expansion failed because every market carried different partners, people, and variables. The fix was counterintuitive but powerful—centralize what must be controlled, open commercial presence thoughtfully, and scale only what the system can sustain.If you lead a company—owner, founder, or top‑management—this episode will feel like a field guide. You'll hear how to bake a DNA of change into your culture so the brand evolves deliberately, not reactively. You'll come away with a leadership stance that AI can't replace: clarity in communication, empathy for customers and teams, and creativity born from trial and error. You'll also hear how E‑E‑A‑T‑style credibility—first‑hand experience, proof, and transparency—earns trust with customers and, increasingly, with the systems that surface your content. Along the way, Don and Rodolfo name‑check the places and forces that shaped the journey—El Salvador, Latin America, cross‑border work from the U.S. to Singapore, and the contact‑center industry's outsized role in lifting entire job markets—while weaving in cultural details that make the story human.Come for the origin story, stay for the operating system. If you've wondered how to harness AI without losing who you are—or how to build a growth marketing engine that keeps learning—this conversation delivers a rare blend of philosophy, playbook, and humility. Press play, and let two seasoned operators show you how identity guides strategy, strategy guides prompts, and prompts guide results.Entities & Mentions:Host: Don WilliamsGuest: Rodolfo SalazarCompanies: iDigital Studios, QDOX, Microsoft, Dell, Telefonica, Sprint