Podcasts about epam continuum

“Can we use generative AI in a way that teaches us something that we might not have known otherwise, and in that learning… create something that actually has the potential to increase agency for all inside of the system?” Good question, Angela Stockman! It is, in fact, one of many good questions that Stockman, the author of *The Writer's Guide to Pedagogical Documentation,* raises as our guest on *The Resonance Test.* In this episode, Stockman joins Kristen Heist, Senior Director of Innovation Consulting at EPAM Continuum, and our Brian Imholte to dig deep into Gen AI and education. Part of that digging involves the art of *asking questions.* Heist says that while building a tutor with input from educators, teachers have been “pushing us to design tools that follow the principles of Socratic method” and not just giving the answers to students. Stockman agrees saying that teachers don't want to see “learners leaning on AI tools just to generate answers or to produce work in ways that you know undermine their opportunity to sharpen their own saw.” The hope is that students will become keen enough to create whole new ways of doing things—and that teachers will, too. Part of teachers' craft, says Heist, is “learning what works for their students, learning what their students understand, learning who their students are.” But the reality is that teachers are extremely time-constrained. And this makes personalization a challenge. Stockman says that for teachers “who are working with sometimes over one hundred students in a single day,” personalization is “kind of unrealistic”—but a GenAI tutor can truly help. The real focus is where GenAI tools can, as Heist says, “elevate the teacher's craft,” as opposed to replacing what they're currently doing. And let's not forget data! Stockman says that AI is “helping us scoop the data out of their lived learning experiences. We don't have to bring learning to a halt in order to assess what's going on and it can help us with the interpretation of massive amounts of qualitative data.” If you have questions about GenAI and EDU, and you know you do, listen up. Host: Alison Kotin Engineer: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

We're talking about the lab of the future! Better than that… we're *building* it. In this episode of *The Resonance Test,* two of the builders are giving us a tour of sorts! Listen as Sridhar Iyengar, Founder, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer and Chairman of Elemental Machines, and Chris Waller, EPAM's VP and Chief Scientist, chew the scientific fat about creating a collaborative model cell and gene therapy laboratory. Waller says the lab of the future seeks to “reinvent the way we look at equipment and utilize equipment in a laboratory setting that's used to manufacture cells” by making it, as we say, real. “We're building out that facility at the EPAM Continuum office in Boston and partnering with folks like Elemental Machines” to enable “the transformation that we're looking for in these laboratory settings.” Creating such a next-gen lab is a very complicated task, says Iyengar. “Unlike many other disciplines that are primarily software driven or even mechanically driven, the life sciences have a much greater degree of variability.” To minimize this variability, they're putting an Amazon Go level of scrutiny on lab processes. AI, Iyengar says, “can spot patterns across an enormous number of variables and dimensions, much more than any human being can do… To do that you need lots of data, so you can cancel out the noise and you can find the signal in the noise.” The key step here, he adds, is to collect “as many dimensions of data as possible and make it computationally available.” Iyengar says that capturing the context around how lab data is collected is essential for making generative AI a useful lab tool. GenAI, he says, “creates something when you give it a prompt,” but in this case “the prompt has to include the context in which that work was carried out.” He reports being hopeful about GenAI's role in the lab, “but I think we're still a few years away.” At present, says Waller, the EPAM Continuum facility enables us to give the future a test run. The lab “allows us to bring our clients, our members of the [Pistoia] Alliance [and] our technology partners together in a safe space to work collectively to derisk the introduction of new technologies into these laboratory settings and show us the future.” Iyengar adds that when he walks people through the lab, “You see their eyes light up and say, ‘Ohh, I get it; that means we can do XYZ!'” Listen to these two and you'll soon be having your own XYZ thoughts. Host: Alison Kotin Engineer: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

Earth Hour 2024, the "Biggest Hour for Earth" of the year, takes place on March 23rd. Since the World Wildlife Fund launched the event in 2007, Earth Hour has symbolized a commitment to the planet by simply turning off lights for one hour. However, despite its noble intentions, awareness of the movement was limited, with only 52% of the global population aware of the event. Our guests today, Phil Wilce and Antonia Simon, are Creative Director for Europe and Senior Experience Consultant, respectively, for EPAM Continuum, a research and strategy firm that worked with the World Wildlife Fund to reinvigorate the campaign and its outreach efforts as the climate crisis becomes more pronounced.The project represents an opportunity to explore how to tell stories about the environment and humanity's impact on nature, something everyone listening to Sustainability In Your Ear thinks about in work and life.The project's cornerstone was identifying a new target audience, "the inactive middle," a group of people of all ages and backgrounds characterized by a lack of action driven by eco-anxiety and eco-fatigue. The strategy focused on transforming Earth Hour from a singular event into a gateway for nature-positive action, and a significant part of the design was introducing the "Biggest Hour for Earth" as a critical message. Some enjoyable new activities around Earth Hour in 2024 include an in-world Fortnite experience built to bring young people to the program.You can learn more about Earth Hour at https://www.earthhour.org/ and about EPAM at https://www.epam.com/

Kord Brasher sits down in this episodes and shares his experience working at places such as UnitedHealth Group, EPAM Continuum, Catapult Thinking, and now Compeer Financial.

DTC brands, especially Chinese giants like Shein, have been big news for all sorts of reasons over the last couple of years: their remarkable growth, but also challenges around their sustainability and quality. Is this an evolution that will continue to evolve, one that more established brands will be able to incorporate in the long-run, or a flash in the pan?Senior tech reporter for The Drum is joined by Andy Griffiths, associate director for growth, Space & Time; Miro Jin, head of EPAM continuum for China, EPAM Continuum; Lingzi Zhang, digital strategy director, Landor & Fitch; and Jessica Chapplow, commerce managing partner at Reprise Digital, to discuss: Talking points:DTC saw a boom time during the pandemic, and has rapidly accelerated innovation in that space. What have been the biggest trends of the past few years in and around DTC?How has the rapid rise in new DTC brands changed how we think about brand comms?What advertising mediums are working especially well for DTC brands?The perception seems to be that many new DTC brands will flame out in a short period of time - where has this perception come from, and how accurate do we think it will be?What are the panel's predictions for future trends in and around DTC marketing? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the economy turns sour, do shoppers still value sustainability when making decisions about what to buy? We welcome back Dan Smythe, Vice President of Retail and Hospitality Consulting at EPAM Continuum, to discuss the final installment of their Consumers Unmasked project. The four-part study of shoppers' values and the important factors in their buying decisions has trcked consumer sentiment in the U.S., Britain, and Germany as the pandemic peaked and began to pass. Over the past year, we've had members of the EPAM Continuum team on the show to discuss, and Dan last talked with me in March of 2022.The last phase of Consumers Unmasked focused on qualitative responses -- real comments from consumers -- in contrast to the quantitative surveying in stages 2 and 3. The fourth report is full of insights, both from the respondents and experts at EPAM and other organizations. Whether you are at a company interested in consumer values or are a shopper who wants to understand how to express your environmental commitments to companies, there is something useful for everyone in the report. You can learn more about EPAM and find the report at https://www.epam.com/consumers-unmasked-4

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Steve Abel from EPAM, a dedicated, results-oriented executive with a proven hands-on track record and superior ability to build highly effective teams to deliver success within all levels of an organization. EPAM is one of the best-kept secrets, voted one of the leading and fastest-growing information technology companies in the world. EPAM today leads the charge in the field of global digital and physical transformation and digital platform engineering services. The company has over 61,000 employees across 6 continents and 50 countries. In this episode, Sabine and Steve cover three main topics: Changes in the way innovation is delivered today, repairing broken processes with the right engineering mindset, and the requirements for building the business of tomorrow. KEY TAKEAWAYS The way technology solves problems today is from point solutions to point solutions. This is a flawed way to solve the technology problem and build highly effective business models. Imagine if there were tools that had 95% of what a business needs to operate. You would only buy things that are available as part of the packages. As an insurer, you would be able to gain benefits as you would need fewer specialists to determine whether to buy, build, or partner. Pull widgets that could be your integration engine. Could be cheaper than what is available, and you could rebuild in a bespoke way that is unique. I was in a stable job at KPMG. When the pandemic hit, I worked on a project with no real choice but to deliver tech assets quickly. Then I decided to do some investigating and discovered EPAM. They loved my idea and then thought about new technology in new ways to solve the client's problem with purpose in a different way. EPAM is multi-sectors, and I sit within the insurance business unit. How do startups grow? One option is to use cloud-based assets that ease the creation of reusable assets. This is a profound change in how people think about technology and business; cloud-based tooling, data mash-up, etc. We can unlock the power of these tools and bring them together as a unified landscape. Insurance carriers are struggling with geospatial data (for instance) because of their legacy systems and the way each carrier goes about integrating data into systems. Each carrier wants to know if they are getting unique information from you, but they don't need the dashboard or data very often. They want to process an algorithm that gives them an answer. BEST MOMENTS ‘A lot of commercialized software is not fit for purpose. Still, businesses operate thousands of spreadsheets. This is not right for the employees and gives poor customer service.'‘I love to wake up and ensure that customers do every day what they do best with others.'‘If you have not thought on how to do so. Hire an expert to think through the problem in a new way for you. You will get to the optimum outcome faster and likely cheaper too.'‘Get the right tools and get the approach right. I can ensure you, you will be impressed them.' ABOUT THE GUEST Steve Abel is a transformation executive with a dedicated, results-oriented executive, a proven hands-on track record and superior ability to build highly effective teams to deliver success within all levels of an organisation. Specialties: Program Management, Insurance, Operations, Shared Services, Enabling Technologies (Oracle, SAP, Workday, PeopleSoft, HFM, etc.), Business Process Reengineering, Finance Leading Practices (e.g., Procure to Pay, Record to Report), Insurance products and data, actuarial platforms (AXIS, Prophet, MG-Alfa, PolySystems, etc.), digital enablement, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud solutions, business, and technical architecture. Steve worked with large companies such as Capco, EY and KPMG. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenabel/ Email: steven_abel@epam.com  EPAM: Since 1993, EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) has leveraged its advanced software engineering heritage to become the foremost global digital transformation services provider – leading the industry in digital and physical product development and digital platform engineering services. Through its innovative strategy; integrated advisory, consulting, and design capabilities; and unique 'Engineering DNA,' EPAM's globally deployed hybrid teams help make the future real for clients and communities around the world by powering better enterprise, education, and health platforms that connect people, optimise experiences, and improve people's lives.  In 2021, EPAM was added to the S&P 500 and included among the list of Forbes Global 2000 companies.   Selected by Newsweek as a 2021 and 2022 Most Loved Workplace, EPAM's global multi-disciplinary teams serve customers in more than 50 countries across six continents. As a recognized leader, EPAM is listed among the top 15 companies in Information Technology Services on the Fortune 1000 and ranked four times as the top IT services company on Fortune's 100 Fastest Growing Companies list. EPAM is also listed among Ad Age's top 25 World's Largest Agency Companies for three consecutive years, and Consulting Magazine named EPAM Continuum a top 20 Fastest Growing Firm. Website: https://www.epam.com/  ABOUT THE HOSTSabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, and commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers and accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.comThis show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Home, they used to say, is where the heart is. Now it's also where people do an enormous amount of shopping. We learned all about this in the most recent installment of our *Consumers Unmasked* report, and our experts—Jen Jones, the Chief Marketing Officer at commercetools, and Mario Crippa, Head of the Physical Experience Practice EMEA at EPAM Continuum—employ these insights to fuel an animated conversation with *Resonance Test* producer Ken Gordon. The group talks about a number of relevant issues including how small local retailers are transitioning in the post-pandemic world. “Many local retailers built strong relationships with their customers and their communities throughout the pandemic,” says Jones adding that they must be sure to “build on that and extend that relationship into our post-pandemic world” because “We all know that consumers have very short memories.” This is seconded by Crippa, who says that after the pandemic, “We all need a little a little bit of human touch, some human contact,” and that small local business are well-positioned to reach out. They definitely have the ability “to come up with better propositions or sharper positions,” to “show off their values, what they believe in.” As an example, Jones talks about a local restaurant that sold curbside family pickup meals during the pandemic: ”They've sort of shifted that to a pick-up-on-your-way-home-from-work [offering] and have a nicely prepared meal with instructions.” Jones and Crippa think through the falling value of being able to physically view products. Crippa says “the entire way to create desire has changed,” with the advent of product drops and the continuous digital campaigns consumers encounter. “People just click ‘buy.' They feel like they're missing out, so they buy. They buy immediately.” Jones suggests that smart online retailers employ a combination of “emerging technologies, which are continuing to improve and evolve, plus great customer service” and that together this “can basically eliminate the need to see something in person.” The conversation also looks at how Amazon—“one of the very few companies that is basically a bank of consumers desires,” Crippa says—has been approaching home shopping (“They're testing, testing, testing to see what sticks and then rolling it out to a bigger market,” says Jones). They even touch on gaming. Says Jones: “people are leaving their houses again doing other things like concerts and travel; that would take you away from being at home gaming.” So many insights, at no cost to you! Bring them into your home. Just hit “play.” Host: Alison Kotin Engineer: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

Erica Moreti, Head of Strategy & Innovation and Physical/Connected Experience at EPAM Continuum discusses the third Consumer Unmasked report. EPAM surveyed 3,000 Americans, Britons and Germans in late March and early April this year to understand how people are reacting to events as lockdowns end and global conflict appears to be on the rise. How are shoppers reacting, and will they give up the sustainable living priorities that were taking hold as the pandemic began? We talk through the role can subscription services play in reducing wasteful purchases and shipping-related greenhouse gas emissions.Erica explains that the evolution of how people think and act when shopping is accelerating as new challenges reshape our values -- change itself is becoming a familiar part of everyday life. Could that set the stage for a transition to a low-carbon, environmentally responsible economy? From the pandemic and political extremism to the Ukraine war and spikes in the price of gas, housing and food, people have endured enough change for one of their great-grandparent's lifetimes in less than half a decade. But events just keep coming. Can we use these disruptions to invent a better future? The fourth Consumers Unmasked survey will be released soon. You can find out more at https://www.epam.com/

In this episode, join Theo F Piletsky, Vice President, Strategy & Business Consulting, EPAM Continuum as he discusses the need for advanced analytics for the office of the CFO. We'll dive deep to understand why the CFO's Office should focus on leveraging AI-based cash flow forecasting.

Head of Innovation Delivery at EPAM Continuum, Heather Reavey, shares how to be a sought-after collaborator with human-centered design teams. We have an interesting chat about ownership, and how it's so important for the Storyteller to steer the video ship...while at the same time allowing for co-creation. Also some really cool thoughts about how the level of fidelity of the video, illustration or animation you're making can drive the participation factor of the idea. Thank you for this amazing conversation Heather!Heather ReaveyEPAM ContinuumFREE Storytelling for Innovation MasterclassFall 2022 Round of Storytelling for Innovation Waitlist

Rebecca Pinn, director of innovation strategy at EPAM Continuum, describes how non-clinical technologies such as TV monitors and wearable smart objects can enable a more human-centered approach to inpatient stays.

Today we get a look inside working at an innovation consultancy with Creative Director / Motion Designer, Robert Hodgson. He shares his journey shifting from broadcast and VFX over to R&D and now this new territory of innovation. We cover what it's like to shift your mindset into making your work "not look so good," the different types of skills used at EPAM Continuum - 2d character animation, 3d animation, live-action, VR, even MetaHumans!  Robert has built an incredible visual storytelling capability that will inspire you to either want to do this work yourself or add this arsenal of talent to your own innovation team!EPAM Continuumviewpoint creativeDraperSign up here for my FREE 3 Day Workshop Series, May 10th-12th, 2022Enrollment ends May 13th, 2022 on my program, Storytelling for Innovation Accelerator

It's 2022: Are you ready to jump on a plane? Are your customers? What might it take to make all of us comfortable with the idea of traveling, once again, across the globe? We've been thinking about such questions because we've been prompted by the insights from *Consumers Unmasked: Stage 2,* part of our longitudinal, international research initiative. In this episode of *The Resonance Test,* Jasmin Guthmann, Senior Director of Global Partner Marketing at Contentstack and Daniel Smythe, Vice President of Retail & Hospitality Consulting for EPAM Continuum, sojourn deep into the topic of contemporary travel. Guthmann herself admits that it's a tense moment for travel: “I've just come off my first long haul flight myself and the level of anxiety added is incredible.” To offset this, she says, the travel industry must provide “as much certainty as possible.” But the travel challenges aren't just about pandemic fear and uncertainty; they also include economics. Learning that 44% of *Consumers Unmasked* respondents said they couldn't afford a vacation, Guthmann said: “That's pretty dire,” adding: “I don't think discounts will be the way to go” and that young travel customers “need highly attractive offers,” personalized and customized offers, at “the right price for what [they] want.” Together, Guthmann and Smythe talk intelligently about taking customer experience seriously, the personalization tech can play, staycations and remote work, the importance of privacy for today's travelers, and travel must do to attain, especially for young customers, “that more playful vibe again.” Host: Macy Donaway Engineer: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

The search is on! All over the internet, in conference rooms, on ill-lit Zoom calls, anxious executives are straining to understand the still-obscure concept of Web3. The term dares you to define it and to explain why organizations should care—and that's what we're here for, on the latest episode of *Silo Busting.* Our experts, Alexandra "Sasha" Pitkevich, EPAM's Blockchain Lead, and Érica Moreti, Head of Strategy & Innovation and Physical Experience for EMEA for EPAM Continuum, answer some essential questions from Producer Ken Gordon about the technical and business implications of Web3. They begin by building off of Gavin Wood's famed definitional haiku: “Less trust, more truth.” Pitkevich talks about Web3 as a place “where the infrastructure and the data are owned by the creators of this infrastructure.” Moreti sees it as a “decentralized ecosystem based on the blockchain” in which platforms and apps aren't “owned by a central gatekeeper anymore but rather by the users themselves, who would earn their ownership stake by helping develop and maintain those services.” They dig into those often-tossed-around terms *centralization* and *decentralization.* Pitkevich says that our internet is current running on a “centralized concept, where the majority of the users are coming to one server, one database.” As for decentralization, Moreti talks about a system that's “distributed in the homogenous way to a connected network of people and devices.” Together, they address the confusion people have between Web3 and the metaverse. “When we're speaking about multiverse, we are speaking about a huge interactive presentation layer of internet,” says Pitkevitch, adding: “When we speak about Web3, we are speaking to the complete internet infrastructure,” in which all the layers—presentation layer, middleware, the back end—are, you guessed it, *decentralized.* It's a good, useful dialogue. Their conversation addresses the essential context around Web3: the economic implications and business opportunities, the challenges of digital identity, and the power of communities. If you need an introduction to Web3, you must listen to these two. Host: Kenji Ross Engineer: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

In the brand-new book, *SuperSight: What Augmented Reality Means for Our Lives, Our Work, and the Way We Imagine the Future,* David Rose writes: “*SuperSight is this decade's convergence technology.* It inherits the last thirty-plus years of enabling technologies like machine learning, computer vision, wearables, edge computing, 5G wireless, deep personalization, affective computing, and new interaction paradigms like gesture and voice—packaged in the familiar wear-all-day form of glasses.” In the brand-new episode of *The Resonance Test,* Rose—a friend and former EPAM Continuum colleague—unpacks that statement with producer Ken Gordon, pulling out a long chain of colorful conversational insights. SuperSight is an integrated technology, Rose says, that can “orchestrate and help simplify and tune and customize a lot of other systems, as long as there's open standards for how things talk to each other.” Operating at systems level can help us with in a variety of almost magical ways, such as personalized digital coaching, enhanced accurate medical diagnosis, and augmented learning. But it's not all good news—or a simple story. Rose walks through though the garden of dramatically named SuperSight Hazards—Social Insulation, State of Surveillance, Cognitive Crutches, Persuasive Persuasion, Training Bias, and SuperSight for Some—taking the time to explain the real dangers of this developing tech. Rose shuttles us all around the SuperSight universe, talking about creating prototypes to help people with handwashing during the pandemic (one of which involved “using cuteness to seduce people into washing for 20 seconds”), the possibilities of glanceable commerce (will we go from eye tracking to the shopping cart?), the challenges of diminished reality, SuperSight city planning, even using AR to read his book. So listen to this SuperSight-flavored conversation. It'll augment your intelligence. Host: Kenji Ross Editor: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

What is the power of story? In this episode, Sam is joined by Jon Campbell, Head of Innovation Capability at EPAM Continuum, to learn about the value of storytelling in design. They chat about how designers convey stories to bring impactful designs and how storytelling is used in the prototyping phase. Later on in the show, they are joined by Debbie Millman, designer, author, educator, and host of Design Matters. Debbie shares her earliest interview experiences and how her process has changed over the years. Together, they discuss how podcasting has evolved and why design matters to them.    For links to resources we discuss on this episode, visit our show page: From the Archive: The Power of Story

Caroline Scheinfeld is an Experience & Visual Designer at EPAM Continuum. Listen for a conversation on user centered design, usability testing, women, humanitarian efforts, wellness, and cannabis. Contact Guest: Caroline Scheinfeld Instagram: @httpcaroline Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ckscheinfeld/ Side Project: @69andsunny.tv & website coming soon! --- Webflow Affiliate Link --- https://webflow.grsm.io/GDLPodcast Contact Host: Emily Giordano Email: emily@greatdesignlead.com Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-giordano/ Company Site: www.greatdesignlead.com Personal Site: www.emilygiordano.com

Earth911 talks with Buck Sleeper, director of innovation consulting at EPAM Continnum, a company that specializes in developing products and services. EPAM's recent NXT 2021 Trends Report points out several important trends that can help pivot the economy toward greater sustainability, including new hybrid of global and local economic activity  fueled by digital communities and a new generation of national and global government regulations that emphasize adaptation to climate change. The firm works with companies in healthcare, financial services, consumer goods including food packaging, makeup, and consumer technology, and other industries, as well as on projects to reduce poverty and improve sanitation and access to water around the world.The survey also found that 79% of consumers feel that low- or zero-waste packaging is a priority when making a purchase. In fact, 20% of respondents said they’d be willing to eat the packaging that their food comes in while another 20% want to be able to repurpose packaging for other uses. Sleeper says EPAM clients are shifting their priorities toward achieving sustainability and, because customers can n0w express their preferences through smartphones and the internet, they are now helping shape the products they'll buy. Take a few minutes to hear what EPAM Continuum learned and how you can use your growing influence to shape a sustainable economy.

As the world prepares to hang an open-for-business sign on our collective door, we're at a threshold moment, one Albert Rees, VP and Head of Business Consulting at EPAM Continuum, has dubbed “Pre-Post-COVID.” In this episode of *Silo Busting,* he discusses the concept with Jason Peterson, EPAM's Chief Financial Officer, and Larry Solomon, our SVP and Chief People Officer. The trio look at the current talent market, data's role in pre-post-COVID, and what it all means in the complicated context of acquisitions. Peterson nicely sums up our transitional situation by noting that during the pandemic our leaders paired “modern data technologies” and Microsoft Teams meetings so they could “quickly interpret the data and then make decisions. And so we were *way* more nimble than we were previously and I think you'll continue to see us [become even] more nimble in this post-COVID world.” Host: Albert Rees Engineer: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

The dining experience has endured a seismic shift during the pandemic. What have experts learned in the last year, and what does the future hold? Taking on the topic, host Barbara Castiglia welcomed Buck Sleeper, Director of Retail and Restaurants at EPAM Continuum.Sleeper, an architect by trade, now focuses on experiment design at EPAM, specializing in restaurants and other verticals. The company has been an innovator and thought leader in the area, and Sleeper has a keen eye for the dining experience.As the pandemic began, Sleeper wrote an open letter to the industry. “Everything was shutting down, and there was a helpless feeling. My letter focused on three points—lifting up employees, supporting communities, and expanding offerings,” he said.By expansion, he noted pivoting to curbside and delivery, and succeeding would require both function and feeling.He believes curbside is here to stay, but increasing human interaction is still a challenge. The delivery conundrum is weighing heavily on restaurants, with rising costs associated with it. Sleeper urged restaurants to be “transparent about costs.” That honesty can also build loyalty.Sleeper also spoke about research from the EPAM group on currents of change, which identified six major trends ahead. He said, “One is the isolation impact of the pandemic, and restaurants can learn from this by understanding the context of how people are dining now.”He also added that outdoor dining is here to stay—“It's a little bit of Paris to downtown America.”He also feels optimistic about the future post-COVID, noting that people will want to connect and celebrate, and there's no better place to do that than over a shared meal.

Peter Senge—the renowned architect of systems thinking and author of the 1990 classic, *The Fifth Discipline*—doesn't love the word “system.” “I always try to kind of demystify the word ‘system,' because that's a bit of a problem we've always had,” he says on the most recent episode of *The Resonance Test.* “System is an off-putting word.” This is, in fact, one of many surprises nestled in his lively conversation with Rick Curtis, Senior Director of EPAM Continuum, and Paul McCormick, a Principal Consultant at EPAM. Senge's holistic and humanistic worldview plays nicely off of Curtis-and-McCormick's pleasantly British style of inquiry. He speaks in mini-lectures about systems thinking (of course), adaptivity, innovation, competition, collaboration, and data in a slightly hoarse but consistently positive voice. Senge is both informative—he teaches us that Latin root for the word “compete” means “striving or seeking together”—and a skilled, off-the-cuff aphorist. Press play and hear him say (among other things): “Deep change never starts with a majority. Revolutions always start with small numbers. The real changes always start on the periphery of the mainstream.” “Even direct competitors have to work together to create healthy market conditions, which in turn can allow them to compete.” “What we often call human nature, I would call habit—collective habits of thinking and acting. And that's culture.” “You can throw away the word ‘system' entirely and just talk about [how] we live in webs of interdependence, where my wellbeing depends a lot on yours, and we're continually influencing each other.” “The basic element is awakening people's intuitive understanding that we always live in an interdependent interconnected reality.” “Competition and collaboration are natural sisters. They go together. And that's true in business just as well.” Host: Kyle Wing Engineer: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

Dustin Boutet, our Travel and Hospitality Vertical Lead, thinks about seniors and their driving habits. A lot. Joseph Coughlin, Director of the MIT AgeLab and author of *The Longevity Economy,* happens to share his obsession… and he's been pondering it since before Boutet had a driver's license. Which is we had the pair take *The Resonance Test* out for a spin together. Coughlin clears up some common misconceptions with his to-the-point pronouncements. On the topic of age and driver safety, he says, “Birthdays do not predict anything. In fact, birthdays do not kill; health conditions do,” adding sensibly: “I think that we really need to think about driving performance and wellbeing across the lifespan.” He talks about how today's cars designed for a “pilot,” and a specific one at that: “about 5'10”, 27-year-old male, both in terms of the structure of the vehicle as well as the toys and the technologies behind the dash.” Together the pair circle around Silverkey, the EPAM Continuum concept project that aims to keep older drivers on the road safer and longer, the AgeLab's work on BMW's iDrive, and those tricky conversations (Coughlin calls them “exceedingly conflictual, emotional conversations”) families must sometimes have around senior driving. Things get philosophical, fast. “Driving is far more than getting from point A to B,” Coughlin tells Boutet. “That would be a nice, easy urban planning problem to solve. In fact, it's about independence and security.“ Hop in, and get an earful about what it means to age in the passenger seat. Host: Kyle Wing Engineer: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

The three most important letters in the alphabet right now are PPE. The personal protective equipment shortage is a major problem. The tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic will be multiplied, exponentially, if doctors and nurses can't get the necessary masks, gloves, and gowns to shield themselves as they treat patients. What's needed is a fast and effective response—and this requires both innovation and cooperation. These two elements can be found in the GENTL Mask project, EPAM Continuum's open source PPE effort. In this episode of *Silo Busting,* we're proud to tell the story of the GENTL Mask. Jit Agarwal, VP of Enterprise Products for EPAM, speaks with Rich Ciccarelli,, Senior Director of our Made Real Lab™, and Duncan Freake, Senior Mechanical Engineer, two leaders of the GENTL Mask initiative. It's a tale of speed, skill, and scale. “Good Enough, Not Too Late [GENTL] has been the guiding principle of a lot of our decisions here,” says Freake, explaining both the project's ethos and name. “We set out to design something that would really provide meaningful protection and not take months to develop or be based on equipment that would not be set up until June.” Listen and learn how the GENTL Mask was briskly prototyped in our Made Real Lab, the role partnerships play here, and the open source nature of the project. We hope it will inform and inspire you. Host: Macy Donaway Editor: Kip Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

For some people—too many of ‘em—“automation” inspires little more than fear and loathing. That's bad news for both companies and consumers. The good news: EPAM Continuum consultants understand intelligent automation deeply, and are skilled at explaining its manifold benefits. No one gets IA better than Albert Rees, SVP and Head of Business Consulting at EPAM Continuum. In this, the premier conversation of our brand-new podcast, *Silo Busting,* Rees and Chris Michaud, VP and Head of our Innovation Practice, kibitz about IA: its history, its role in business transformation, and its customer-centered outcomes. Consider Rees on banking and automation: “The problem statement all along was ‘I don't want to go in the branch. I don't want to be sold the mortgage every time I want to make a deposit. I don't want to deal with the lines. I don't want to deal with that stinking deposit slip, right?' So all that stuff said: The experience has to change. I can assure you there's automation, from scanning that check through your phone, all the way through, ‘It's showing up now in your account,' two seconds later.” So listen to the episode, share it with an automation-averse friend or client, and change that person's understanding of IA. It's the intelligent thing to do. Host: Macy Donaway Editor: Kip Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

Rita McGrath, a distinguished professor at Columbia Business school and well-respected author, prides herself in being able to see around corners (her most recent book : *Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen.*) Similarly, we've long backcasted our way through the innovation space. So when we got together, for a Resonance Test chat, numerous future-facing remarks were dropped into the mix. “A lot of times the people that see an inflection point really early are not in the Strategy Group,” said McGrath, adding: “They could be out at the periphery. They could be on a loading dock somewhere.” In this conversation McGrath thinks it out with the perspicacious Toby Bottorf, Senior Director and Head of Client Engagement at EPAM Continuum. Listen closely—what you hear today might just prepare you for tomorrow. Host: Pete Chapin Editor: Kip Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

What happens when a renowned futurist joins EPAM Continuum? Here's what happens: things get *interesting.* You feel this immediately by listening to a just-recorded conversation between our new colleague, David Rose—author of *Enchanted Objects,* former MIT Media Lab savant and Warby Parkerite—and our less-new but equally articulate colleague, Toby Bottorf. What's special about Rose? It's not just his informed outlook on augmented reality (“The new term is ‘spatial computing,'”) or his colorful experiences in tech and business. Yes, Rose casually deploys a variety of interesting words in conversation—“the topology of your face,” “pupillary distance,” “e-com funnel,” “a Louis XV gold sapphire brooch,” “vomiting rainbows on the plane of your face” and “pre-attentive processing”—but that's not it either. *It* is the multiple possibilities Rose's optimistic imagination brings to our work. “I tend to think that there are more journalists, whistle-blowers, and people who are willing to be alarmist in the world, rather than people who are trying to create the desirable future states,” he says. “And so I'd like to focus on the positive valence stuff.” We're with him! Listen up, and you just might be, too. Host: Pete Chapin Editor: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

Lee Moreau is Vice President of Design at EPAM Continuum, a global design and innovation consultancy based in Boston. He is also a visiting lecturer at MIT where he teaches design strategy and innovation.

This episode features a conversation with Ken Gordon, community strategist for EPAM Continuum, a global innovation design firm. An accomplished writer and self-described humanist, Ken's views on the medical humanities, doctors on Twitter and creativity made for a fun conversation. We hope you enjoy this tour of topics with one of Twitter's most interesting minds. Show Notes: Keep Going by Austin Kleon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Sheehan is a passionate guy. As the President and CEO of Primo Water—North America's leading single source provider of water dispensers, multi-gallon purified bottled water, and self-service refill water—he brings an undeniable sense of mission to his company culture, the retailers he works with, and thirsty customers. “I don't care about being right, I care about getting it right,” he says, adding: “It doesn't matter where the ideas come from.” That passion electrified his recent *Resonance Test* conversation with Kenji Ross, Senior Design Strategist at EPAM Continuum. Sheehan has strong opinions on many topics, among them: corporate values, Primo's culture, (“If you have a big ego, Primo's not a great place for you because we aren't shy to tear apart some ideas,”) being a public company, and the hiring process (“We're pretty picky about the people who get to carry our flag,”). Sheehan gets particularly jazzed about getting out and talking with customers—“Let's really go to talk to Nancy Jones at the Walmart on 2 Main Street”—to find out what really motivates them. The insight from this customer experience work, he says, “has been a thousand light bulbs for us."

Heather Figallo, the Head of Design, Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Southwest Airlines, wants to “raise the expectations of the type of experience you should have when you're traveling in commercial aviation.” So do we. The digital wayfinding project EPAM Continuum did with Figallo and her crew was very successful and we learned a lot from it. “I've never had something with 96% customer satisfaction, 94% employee satisfaction,” Figallo says, adding: “I've never seen something like that.” In the latest episode of The Resonance Test, Figallo and Lee Moreau, our VP of Design, take a payload of project insights and launch them into the world. The conversation has stops in a number of fascinating places: human-centered data, innovating in the highly regulated airline industry, responsible prototyping, and Southwest's sui generis culture. Moreau and Figallo make it clear both Southwest and EPAM Continuum put their whole hearts into the digital wayfinding project, and the result was a very human outcome: “The real magic was turning data into knowledge and turning data into something personal.” Host: Pete Chapin Editor: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon