Podcasts about rfps

Scott Ensign, Chief Strategy Officer at Butler/Till, joins Ari Paparo to discuss the advantages of being a 100% employee-owned agency, the rise of agentic AI in media buying, AdCP adoption, and the future of pharmaceutical advertising. Learn how Butler/Till is leveraging AI-powered workflows, healthcare expertise, mobile gaming inventory, and programmatic innovation to drive growth in a rapidly evolving media landscape. Takeaways Butler/Till operates as a 100% employee-owned ESOP, giving employees ownership stakes and allowing the agency to remain independent and agile. The agency is a women-owned and women-led business, with roughly two-thirds of employees being women. Thanks to its status as an independent agency, Butler/Till can operate with agility, making faster decisions and investing strategically without outside shareholder pressure. Butler/Till takes a product-focused approach, building technology and solutions around client needs rather than creating products solely for commercialization. Pharmaceutical advertising is shifting away from broad-reach TV campaigns toward addressable, data-driven digital media channels. Even if pharmaceutical advertising regulations change, opportunities will remain through disease-state education and targeted healthcare professional outreach. Mobile gaming remains an undervalued advertising channel, particularly for reaching healthcare professionals during everyday moments. Butler/Till participated in one of the industry's earliest agentic AI-powered media transactions using AdCP technology. Agentic AI can automate traditionally manual workflows such as RFPs, publisher negotiations, and media planning. The agency views AI primarily as a tool for accelerating work and solving talent shortages rather than replacing employees. Chapters00:00 Introduction to Scott Ensign and Butler/Till00:41 What makes Butler/Till unique as an employee-owned agency01:24 The history behind Butler/Till's ESOP structure02:25 Independent agencies vs. holding companies03:47 Product development and technology investments at Butler/Till04:33 Why Butler/Till hired a Chief Product Officer05:08 How clients approach AI and workflow innovation06:33 The changing landscape of pharmaceutical advertising08:31 Regulatory concerns and the future of pharma marketing10:44 Reaching healthcare professionals in the digital age12:15 Why mobile gaming is an overlooked advertising opportunity14:19 Butler/Till's early agentic AI and AdCP media transaction16:25 How buyer and seller AI agents could negotiate media deals19:28 Why pharma is a strong fit for agentic media buying21:24 Expanding AdCP into audio and offline media channels23:01 AI, efficiency, and the future of agency work23:57 Butler/Till's growth, hiring plans, and closing thoughts Guests: Ari Paparo, Scott Ensign Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Singh, sales director at Turning Point Technology Services Josh Singh didn’t arrive at Dell Technologies World simply as a partner – he arrived as someone who spent nearly eight years on the vendor side, in Dell sales roles, before crossing over to Turning Point as the company’s sales lead. That dual perspective shapes everything about how Turning Point operates. The Vancouver-based solution provider, founded in 2012, runs exclusively on Dell in the data center – a deliberate, all-in single-vendor bet that Josh frames not as a constraint but as a competitive advantage. Nearly half of the team is ex-Dell, which means when a customer needs an answer fast, Turning Point knows exactly who to call inside Dell’s notoriously complex internal matrix. That navigational fluency, Josh argues, is the kind of differentiation that doesn’t show up in a spec sheet but shows up every time there’s urgency. Turning Point recently formalized that depth by opening what Dell designates as its first official solution center in Canada, in their Vancouver office, giving the team and their clients hands-on access to the full portfolio – including the GB10 for deskside AI development. On AI, Josh’s read is that the “AI factory” framing was right directionally but too large a first step for most of the Canadian market. Dell’s move toward more modular, consumable AI infrastructure – starting at one or two servers, proving a use case, then scaling – is what actually unlocks adoption for SMB customers. Small wins first, then the appetite for something bigger. On security and resilience, Josh drew a clear line: backup is the last line of defense, and if that last line gets hit – or gets frozen by a ransomware insurance claim – you’re rebuilding from scratch. Dell’s Data Domain and its proprietary DDBoost protocol, alongside Veeam, form the core of what Turning Point puts in front of customers who need to actually recover, not just theoretically recover. And rounding it out: the supply chain disruption, compounded by Broadcom‘s reshaping of the virtualization market, is forcing Canadian organizations to plan differently – more external awareness, more budget flexibility, earlier commitment. That’s a challenge across the industry, Josh notes. But for partners who can guide customers through it, it’s also an opening. 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. We’re continuing our series from Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas. This week, we’re deep on the partner perspective. Today’s guest brings a point of view you don’t usually get. Nearly a decade inside Dell Technologies, followed by a move to the partner side – specifically to a partner that has made one of the most deliberate, all-in single-vendor bets you’ll find in the Canadian channel. Josh Singh leads the sales team at Turning Point Technology Services, a Vancouver-based solution provider founded in 2012 that operates exclusively on Dell in the data center. Not mostly Dell, not primarily Dell – exclusively. In a channel where diversification is almost reflexively treated as risk management, Turning Point went the other way, and they did it right at the beginning of Dell’s channel investment cycle, which turned out to be good timing. Josh brings to that an unusual lens. He spent almost eight years in Dell’s sales roles, where he learned early that the channel was the key to his success, and that knowing how to navigate Dell’s internal matrix is an advantage that translates directly into faster, better outcomes for customers. Roughly half of Turning Point’s team is ex-Dell. They recently opened what Dell designates as its first official solution center in Canada, right there in their Vancouver office. We talked about what it actually means to make the single-vendor bet and why it’s holding up. How the AI adoption conversation is changing for SMB customers who weren’t ready for the Dell AI Factory, but might be ready for something smaller. The security and data resilience story, and why backup shouldn’t be confused with business continuity. And what the supply chain situation, plus Broadcom’s disruption of the market, is doing to how customers have to plan. Let’s get right into it. My chat with Josh Singh. Josh, thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. I’m sure it’s been a busy week. Josh Singh: It has been a busy week, and thanks for having me. Robert Dutt: I guess to open it up, I want to start with a question that frames the perspective that you have at an event like this. Turning Point made the explicit call to go all-in on Dell on the infrastructure side, as I understand. A lot of partners diversify, carry multiple vendors, pick and choose their spots. What’s the logic behind that bet? What does a week like this one – where Dell’s making a lot of big moves around AI and the direction of the partner program and all that – feel like for a shop that’s tied its future to the Dell story? Josh Singh: Very good question. I’ve been asked this numerous times, and it’s clear you’ve done your research on us. As you said, Robert, we are 100% Dell-exclusive in the data center. We do have other technologies that are complementary to Dell to give our clients an end-to-end ecosystem of technology, but we have doubled, tripled, and quadrupled down on Dell in the data center. Turning Point was formed in 2012. Three founders – Lee, Sean, and Lauren – they came from a value-added reseller that sold a multitude of technologies. What they found out at the time was Dell had a portfolio that covered the end-to-end, especially in the data center. They branched out, all three of them from [Seven Group – verify company name], and they formed Turning Point. They just realized that Dell was at the beginning of their partner program. You’ll see a legacy fabric still embedded in some aspects of Dell Technologies where they still are partial to selling direct, but they have put a large amount of emphasis and investment in the channel over the last fifteen years. Turning Point was formed at the very beginning of that cycle. Since then, we have had no regrets. Dell has really come to the table as a really solid partner for us, allowing us to offer our clients the end-to-end data center strategy with Dell Technologies. Robert Dutt: Your lens is unique too in that you have some time at Dell EMC – a viewpoint that a lot of partners don’t have in terms of having seen both sides of that fence, especially around the same vendor. What does that vendor-side time teach you about what Dell actually needs and wants from partners, and the reality of what Dell values in a partner? Josh Singh: Yeah, that’s a really good question. I spent almost eight years at Dell in various sales roles. I learned very quickly, and early on in my Dell sales career, that the channel was the key to my success. The core reason why is I’m one individual. I have a solutions engineer, I have some overlays, and we manage a pretty large territory. I found that if I could just introduce a channel partner into the mix, I could lob it over the fence, play quarterback a little bit, get enough updates from the channel partner so I can update my leadership – because that’s really important. But I was able to scale my business significantly when I started to work with the channel. Actually, Turning Point was one of those channel partners that I worked very closely with. So it’s a bit of a full circle moment for me to come back and I lead the sales team at Turning Point. Robert Dutt: I have to imagine the Dell team is happy to have you, because clearly you’ve got that lens for exactly what they are looking for from you as a partner. Josh Singh: Yeah, you know, every vendor has their own methodology and go-to-market culture. And so it does help. Actually, almost half of Turning Point’s team is ex-Dell Technologies employees. So that really gives us a unique perspective on how Dell wants to sell, how to update Dell, what’s important to them – what’s important to each level in the organization, from the sales rep to the manager, to the director, to the senior director, to the president. So we understand what is important to Dell Technologies. And also, for our customers, it’s really important to pick the right technologies. But as we all know, this world is moving so fast and our customers need answers, and they need us to be on their requests in a really time-sensitive way. And so, typically with most vendors, you know your account executive and that individual is the key to the organization. When you come from Dell, you all of a sudden know how to navigate the matrix of Dell. And so when a customer has a question, you know exactly who to call. You can pick up the phone and get that answer in a much more time-sensitive way than navigating the matrix of Dell, which can be large and daunting. Robert Dutt: So the secret sauce is as simple as spending more than half a decade inside the company itself. Josh Singh: Simple. Yeah, easy peasy. Robert Dutt: Big week for AI infrastructure here, and the Dell AI thesis – in so much as they’ve for a while been pulling on the idea of running AI models on-prem and on their infrastructure – was really amplified this week. Between that, desktop agentic AI, and the whole server and storage announcements underneath that, how does what was announced here resonate with what you guys are doing now and what your customers are asking for in terms of technology and how it’s delivered? Josh Singh: Yeah, no, that’s a really good question. So I’ve been at Dell Technologies World almost every year, and I’m finding a big difference in the talk tracks this year. AI was a concept, it was a lot of buzzwords, it was a lot of fluff, to be honest with you as well. Everyone’s trying to chase what AI means to them. But I think this year is the first year where I started to see concepts materialize into practicality, whether it comes to data locality or infrastructure, or really how to go to the next steps of adopting AI. The Canadian market is more pragmatic in their approach to adoption of technology – a little laggard, but not in a negative way, just a bit more conservative. And so what Dell Technologies World enables me and us to do is learn from people actually deploying AI in a much more meaningful and scalable way, for us to then be able to go back to Canada and start to talk about potential use cases, potential outcomes – because it is a very daunting topic, AI, sometimes it can be very overwhelming. So Dell Technologies World allows us to take some key facts about AI, bring them back into our local market, and then help them through that journey. And also, we’re meeting a lot of experts here as well. So it’s not just that we take these concepts and go back to Canada and try to do it ourselves – we’re really supported by the Dell channel ecosystem as well, to help our clients evolve in their AI journey. Robert Dutt: What are the ideas that you’re hearing that specifically are making you think, “All right, this is going to change something in how we do business internally, or this is something I have to take to customer X, customer Y, customer Z,” because it maps to what they’re thinking about or where they should be thinking? Josh Singh: Yeah. I think Dell, when they first wanted to address AI, they came out with the Dell AI Factory, and that was the message. So for a lot of Canadian organizations – which are largely SMB – adoption of an AI Factory is not consumable. It’s too large. They need to prove the model out. And then as soon as they get some small wins and successes, then they can scale out, because the smallest AI Factory was large for them. And this is what we noticed, actually, in the last twelve months. So what Dell is doing now is making it a bit more economical, a bit more consumable – in the AI data platform, starting at one server, maybe two servers, a little PowerScale, and then using that to prove out a use case. And then once we prove out a use case, our customers say, “Hey, there’s really something to this AI thing that everybody keeps talking about.” Now they can really start to invest in a much more scalable, larger way. So I think what Dell has released – very small products with the GB10 all the way up to that massive AI Factory – I mean, you saw when Michael Dell came out with Jensen, and he came out on stage and showed the entire portfolio of AI with a small little itty-bitty – not quite Raspberry Pi size, but not too far from that. Robert Dutt: Really, yeah. Josh Singh: And then having Jensen talk about the next model and how much more powerful that next model is – 100x, 100x, 100x, all the way up to that big AI Factory. So I think it just allows us to be a bit more practical in AI adoption rather than, “Mr. Customer, you have to adopt an AI Factory and that’s how you’re going to achieve AI.” So yeah. Robert Dutt: Has some of the stuff they’re talking about – deskside AI, and specifically deskside agents – when you talk about a GB10 and the lower end of that, and even for more casual users, they would make the case down to the AI-enabled PC – how does that kind of map with how your customers are approaching AI, given that they aren’t going to be going out and buying even a bottom-end, full-on AI Factory experience as a day-one thing? Josh Singh: Yeah. So at Turning Point, we have our data center – it’s actually a solution center. Dell has multiple across the world. There was none in Canada. So actually, with Dell leadership, we opened up Dell’s first solution center in Vancouver in our office. There was a big unveiling with the president of Dell Canada, all Dell leadership came out, and we stood up our solution center in conjunction with Dell. So in that solution center, we have every piece of technology that Dell has – from PowerStore to PowerScale to ObjectScale. And we recently adopted the GB10 so we’re able to actually learn it, use practical use cases that actually help Turning Point, and then we can actually know how to speak to our customers as an adopter ourselves of the GB10 and some of the use cases. So anything from OpenClaw to using different language models and trying to help business productivity in that manner. We serve customers in almost every single vertical. So we are working with healthcare – we’re doing some work right now with healthcare and looking at different use cases when it comes to X-rays and things like that. And then we also work with legal, looking at contractual ways to actually pull out data from thousands or millions of contracts to find commonalities to help an organization improve their operational efficiency. So we’ve got our system in our solution center and we’re actually going through those use cases ourselves so that we can better serve our customers. Robert Dutt: Given that you’ve got that data center and you’ve got that – choose your own analogy, eat your own dog food, drink your own champagne – approach to things, how have you guys approached AI internally, and what have you learned from how you’ve done that over the last year or two? Josh Singh: So it’s a good question. Admittedly, we are a little bit at the beginning of that journey as well. So at Turning Point, as well as many of our customers, we were a bit overwhelmed with what AI meant. And so we have a practice when it comes to consultation to navigate what AI means for them. We do specific workshops to get a client to understand what they want out of AI and to conceptualize what AI is capable of doing. Now we’re really getting into how product is going to help that. So this is the next iteration of our AI journey to help our customers – going over and beyond the consultative nature of how AI works and models and inferencing and all those buzzwords that customers understand but don’t really understand. And then we’ll take whatever is the output from that workshop, and now with our solution center, we’re looking to actually take the results of that and try to replicate it using product and technology and actual outcome. Robert Dutt: How often do you find that the outcome of the workshop – “this is what AI would do best for you” – maps with what they came in thinking AI would do best for them? Josh Singh: It’s fascinating to see, actually, because in a lot of SMB organizations, there is no AI data scientist, there is no AI leader. So it’s essentially decision by committee. And that committee could be a storage admin, a network admin, a compute admin, an application admin, all the way up to leadership, cybersecurity, of course, for governance and compliance. So seeing the different perspectives in these AI committees is really interesting – to watch the customer look at each other and each individual have their own expertise and go, “Oh, that’s interesting. Oh, that’s interesting. Why did I know you viewed the world through the lens of this?” And so coming in with these workshops, it’s typically not one outcome. It’s actually allowing a conversation between these committees at our customer organizations to really help push what AI means for each of those individuals. And then they branch out, actually not with Turning Point but internally, to foster more discussion. And then we come back in and help prod and push in certain areas with our AI knowledge. But really, it’s more contextual. It’s not really about language models and things like that. It’s more about blue sky – like, what do we want to do? And what’s success for you, and what’s success for you, and what’s success for you? You’ll notice that success for each of these individuals is very different. So it’s been fascinating for us to watch. Robert Dutt: It’s funny how often some of these things do – for all the technology behind it – come down to breaking down internal silos. Josh Singh: Yes, yes, yeah. It’s a big part of our job. We help bridge technology to business, to legal, to cybersecurity, all the way up to business goals. So it’s really – it’s an honor to work in this industry and see those conversations play out. Robert Dutt: We saw some fairly significant changes to the partner program and the rollout of the Modern Partner Platform – in terms of the agentic AI stuff that’s rolling into the partner portal and the partner experience, deal registration improvements, a whole bunch of things – especially where you guys are at as a boutique, exclusively Dell-focused operation on the data center side. What did you see in there that really caught your interest – “okay, that’s going to make my life better”? And in a more art-of-the-possible mode, what do you think AI appearing in partner platforms is going to mean in the long run in terms of what you can do, and what you can get from the overall experience you have with key vendors like Dell? Josh Singh: Yeah, good question. So they haven’t fully rolled out the One Dell Way platform yet – they’re chipping away at it. First is with CSG on the client side, and they’re starting that internally. So we haven’t actually seen the result of a lot of that change yet. But I do know theoretically what the plan is for that, and I think it’s going to be really advantageous for us. We are seeing a little bit of the benefits right now where human intervention – as vendors start to consolidate a bit more in sales and back office – the role of the sales rep is changing. There are a lot of tasks that that sales rep now has to do. And so they can sometimes be the bottleneck of operational efficiency. Let’s talk about deal registration, for example: they will get an email, and if they’re busy in meetings, by the time they get to that email and press OK, it could be twenty-four, it could be forty-eight hours, it could be seventy-two hours if that person’s out of town. So then you have to chase – and with how fast IT is moving with our customers, we can’t afford to wait that long. So we’re starting to see a bit more intelligence and automation in how deal registrations are approved. It is a bit of a complicated topic because the channel relies on Dell’s ability to recognize who our accounts are, who our loyal customers are. And so there have been some conflicts since then. But I do see that Dell is on it and they are working it out. And I do love the transparency and honesty from Dell in owning up where mistakes were made and correcting them in the field. So I am seeing some AI adoption when it comes to the partner program, but it’s not fully rolled out yet. So I am looking forward to seeing what they come out with. Robert Dutt: In terms of future state – whether it’s stuff that they’re already discussing or stuff that’s just possible but not yet on the roadmap – what would be the most impactful for you and your organization to move to a more automated, more agentic motion with a key vendor like Dell? Josh Singh: Yeah. I’m sure you’ve heard of Dell Sales Chat. It’s basically their version of GPT, but it references all of Dell’s information – presentations, documents, white papers, service briefs, and things like that. So the Dell rep just types in a query into Dell Sales Chat, and an answer comes out while referencing all Dell documentation. What I really want to see is Dell enabling that for the channel. And so I’ve talked to Dell leadership – specifically people that own this product – and that is the plan. And so I’m really, really excited for that, because especially when we respond to RFPs in public sector, it’s a very time-consuming endeavor. And so for us to be able to type in queries on very specific questions that public sector has about technology would be really valuable. And I do know that there are compliance and governance issues as well. The labeling of documentation has to be accurate – otherwise, the channel would get access to potentially confidential data from Dell Sales Chat. But that’s the biggest thing that I’m waiting for Dell to offer the channel. Robert Dutt: Cool. I wanted to talk a little bit about security and data resilience, because that was another theme here at the event – an area where you guys have a fair bit going on with vCISO and MDR, cyber recovery, all that kind of stuff. Basically, how does the Dell cyber resilience narrative from this week connect with what you’re already doing? Does it strengthen the story you’re telling clients? Does it give you new opportunities? How are you viewing the message here? Josh Singh: Yeah. So I actually come from the security and resilience team at Dell – that’s my most recent role there. So it’s near and dear to me and my heart, and I am seeing a lot of product updates when it comes to security. That’s really exciting for me to see, actually. So Dell has a security and data platform in Data Domain, and there are other partners in the ecosystem like Druva and others. There are some partnerships with CrowdStrike and other MDR companies. And that’s what I really appreciate about Dell – they did have Secureworks for a period of time, which got spun off, but I do appreciate Dell constantly looking at where their gaps are from a technology perspective and then partnering up with other vendors to complete the end-to-end strategy. As I mentioned, each individual product in the technology portfolio – they are releasing a lot of security updates and functionality embedded in PowerStore, more in Data Domain when it comes to immutability and things like that, and PowerScale anomaly detection in each of the different products, end-to-end encryption with secure [HPAs – unclear; possibly “HBAs” or “APIs” – verify]. So there’s a lot of attention right now when it comes to security. And to come back to AI – AI is really cool and it can create a lot of really cool outcomes. That’s if you’re wearing a white hat. If you’re wearing a black hat, it can be equally exciting for them as well. And so Dell has to keep up now with not just asking what are the positive outcomes that can drive more efficiency and unlock human progress, but what are the black hats going to be doing with AI, and how do we respond? Robert Dutt: I was sharing a detail this week that backup infrastructure is kind of a primary target for attacks. Curious – does that kind of match with what you’re seeing? And how do you, especially with customers who are newer to you or just going through the process, help them reconcile what they think they’re protecting with their backup versus what they actually have in terms of protection? Josh Singh: Yeah, this is – I mean, every backup vendor says the same thing. This becomes really difficult, actually, to undo a lot of the conditioning from a lot of the backup vendors. I joined DPS – which is now the SRP, the Security and Resiliency Platform, at Dell – for a very specific reason. I actually used to also work for Secureworks. And I realized that talking to people about managed security services was resonating at the time. But the answer was always, “Hey, we just go back to our backup target and we restore, we recover, we’re up and running within a couple of hours.” So I thought, I could spend the same amount of time with a different team and a different product and achieve much more success, because that’s what most organizations are relying on. So they really rely on backup. Now, backup should not be confused with business continuity. Backup is the last line of defense – and it really is the last line of defense. So when you have a last line of defense, you need to make sure that that is locked down. If you don’t trust your last line of defense, it doesn’t really matter what you do on top of that. You can spend millions of dollars per year operationally on subscriptions and monitoring and things like that. But if you don’t trust your last line of defense, you are hooked. And so Dell’s backup product, Data Domain, is the most secure, purpose-built backup appliance out there in the market – hands down. It’s not even a comparison, from my perspective – and it could be a biased perspective – against other competition and other vendors that also play in the same area. There are just so many features in Data Domain when it comes to immutability and governance and compliance and DDBoost, which is a proprietary protocol – it’s not CIFS, it’s not NFS. A bad actor can scan a CIFS or NFS directory so easily and then just encrypt it. So while we do work very well with PPDM – which is Dell’s backup software – we also use Veeam as well. And so the Veeam-to-Data Domain story is very powerful, and it’s really good for the SMB market as well. So we’re constantly looking at the market and seeing what’s compatible, what plays well with Dell products, and we’re introducing that into our ecosystem as well. Robert Dutt: All right. To wrap it up – sitting where you sit as a partner who’s made a pretty significant single-vendor bet on Dell, what’s the one thing from this week that you sit back and go, “Yeah, that validates the decision”? And also, was there anything that gives you pause – that makes you go, “Okay, I need to learn more about that before I’m sure that we’re aligned”? Josh Singh: Yeah. I mean, I can’t deny that we haven’t been forced to think about more vendor adoption. And as every company needs to iterate and evolve and stay on top of industry trends, we need to constantly be surveying other technologies. And we do. We look at NetApp all the time. We look at Pure. We look at HPE constantly. And what we’ve noticed is we don’t need to take on a different vendor. And especially – one thing I will say about Dell, and I’m not sure if this is an answer to your question, but I do have to mention this – Dell’s supply chain is second to none. So we’re in this world right now which is shifting aggressively to shortages and components and things like that. And that’s where Dell’s really shining right now – in their ability to go to different geographic areas and fast-track product from other areas. So that’s just one thing that I have to plug Dell for: very impressive about what they’re doing there. But from a Dell perspective, they’re constantly innovating. All the thought leaders of the world – in different companies and different partners and vendors – they’re all here. And so if we have that big bet on Dell and they’re constantly innovating and adding new partnerships and are at the forefront of innovation, then that means we are too. And if we are, then we don’t need to look anywhere else – and we’re going to double down on the bet. Robert Dutt: To go back to what you were saying about the supply chain situation – it’s no doubt wild times trying to get infrastructure for everyone on the planet right now. And we hear pretty clearly from Jeff Clarke the idea, the message to customers: put your hand up early – really early, if you can – because that’ll give you the best chances of getting what you want when you want it. If you’re thinking two years out or something, how are you approaching timelines and guidance to customers on – okay, so you want to be here at some point – speccing that out in light of the uncertainty of availability, the uncertainty of price, all the fun stuff that’s going on right now? Josh Singh: We’re living in that world right now and it’s changing the way customers have to respond to their stakeholders in their organizations. Back in the day – and by back in the day, I mean six months ago – a customer needed compute and they would buy compute and they would get it within three weeks, likely two. Now we’re looking at two months, three months, sometimes six-month delays, depending on if they need very specific components. So it is a little bit like the COVID days, where there was a big push to remote connectivity. Now customers are looking at public cloud again in a bigger way because they need immediate resources. So what we’re trying to do as an organization is say, “Yes, you could go to the cloud – that is an option. It always has been an option and always will be an option. But is that the right thing for your organization economically, from a security perspective, from a latency perspective?” There are so many more considerations, especially in the Canadian market with data sovereignty. And so the shift of parts shortages – and this wouldn’t be a current interview unless we talked about Broadcom and the changes they’ve made in the market as well. These two very big changes in our market are now affecting the way that organizations have to respond to their stakeholders and the immediacy of resources. So planning now is critically important. The way that customers are now trying to secure budget within their organizations is changing, because they need to be a bit more adaptable and flexible to what’s externally offered. Previously, it was internal operational methodologies on how they adopted technologies. Now they’re being affected by the external. So they have to be a bit more flexible and adaptable as to how they need to support their growing environment – by way of data, by way of compute resources, and especially AI. Now that I need GPUs and memory and CPUs, which are now in shortage, it is a very big challenge. But it’s not a Dell challenge, it’s a customer challenge. It’s happening across the entire industry. So that’s a good thing for us. If it was a Dell challenge, then we’d have a challenge ourselves and be in a bit of a corner. But it’s a global challenge right now that we are constantly seeing changes to. And I suspect we’ll continue to see changes for the rest of the year. Robert Dutt: It’s wild times when you hear folks who are very intelligent on these things saying this is going to be a multi-year kind of cycle. I guess AI giveth, AI taketh away. Josh Singh: Yes, yes. And geopolitics – we’ve got some leaders in the world right now that are making decisions that are affecting our geopolitical climate as well, which is then downstream affecting IT. So it’s interesting times. Exciting times. And I think we’ll look back on today just like we looked back on COVID – we’ll get through it. We’re all in it together. Robert Dutt: Here’s hoping the war stories end up good at the end of the day. Josh Singh: That’s right. Robert Dutt: Thanks for taking the time. I appreciate it. Josh Singh: Thanks very much, Rob. I appreciate it. Thank you. Robert Dutt: There you have it, Josh Singh from Turning Point Technology Services. I’d like to thank Josh for his time in Las Vegas. The full-circle element of his story – spending years inside Dell, working alongside Turning Point as a channel partner, and then joining the company he was selling through – comes through clearly in how he talks about the business. And I think that perspective showed throughout the conversation. A few things I’d like to take away from this one. First, the single-vendor bet argument. A lot of partners hedge on vendor relationships as a form of risk management, but Turning Point went the other way. And the case Josh makes is essentially that depth beats breadth – that knowing how to navigate a large vendor’s internal matrix quickly is itself a competitive advantage for customers. When someone needs an answer today, knowing exactly who to call inside Dell and getting it done in hours instead of days is a real differentiator. Doesn’t show up in a product spec, but it does show up in the relationship. Second, the AI adoption ladder. The AI Factory is the right concept, but maybe too large a bite for most of the Canadian market. What’s changing now – and what you heard Josh describe with the solution center and the GB10 pilots – is AI becoming consumable at the entry level. Small win, prove the model, scale it up. That’s how it actually gets adopted in the mid-market and SMB space, and the partners who figured out how to structure that journey are the ones who are going to win those accounts. And third, backup is the last line of defense, not the first. Josh put it plainly: if you don’t trust your last line of defense, it doesn’t really matter what you spend on top of it. And if your backup infrastructure gets hit with a ransomware attack – which is increasingly the whole point of the attack – and you’ve filed an insurance claim on top of that, you can’t touch it until the insurance company is done with their analysis. You’re building from scratch. That air gap, clean recovery point is the whole game. Not a nice-to-have. If you’re enjoying the show, please follow or subscribe wherever you listen. We’re on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, the usual suspects. And if you have a moment to leave a rating or review, please do. Until next time, I’m Robert Dutt for ChannelBuzz.ca, and I’ll see you in the channel.

Writing an RFP can feel overwhelming, especially when you're tasked with creating one for the first time. In this episode of Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO, Jaime Hunt sits down with Louis Miller to demystify the RFP process and share practical advice for higher education marketers navigating agency partnerships, procurement requirements, and major marketing investments. Drawing on years of experience from both the campus and agency sides, they explore what separates effective RFPs from frustrating ones, how institutions can attract stronger vendor responses, and why clarity around goals, timelines, and budgets leads to better outcomes. Whether you're preparing for a website redesign, brand refresh, media campaign, or another strategic initiative, this conversation offers actionable guidance for creating RFPs that drive real results. Guest Name: Louis Miller, Executive Partner, Electric Kite Guest Social: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louismiller/ Guest Bio: Louis Miller is an Executive Partner at Electric Kite, a full-service creative marketing agency specializing in helping higher ed partners tell their stories in engaging ways. He is also General Manager of Volt, where higher ed marketers go to sharpen their skills to be the force that pushes their institutions forward. . He has worked with partners from the Ivy League to K12 and everything in between. Prior to his current roles, Louis held marketing and digital strategy roles at Comcast and Audible.com. - - - -Connect With Our Host:Jaime Hunthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jaimehunt/https://twitter.com/JaimeHuntIMCAbout The Enrollify Podcast Network:Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you'll like other Enrollify shows too! Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"Within five years of calling us charlatans, that hospital system was sued for multiple millions of dollars by their participants... You can go from charlatan to change agent fast."Is history about to repeat itself in the health benefits world?My guest this week is Jay Gepfert, Managing Partner of Culpepper RFP. Jay spent his corporate career on the retirement and 401(k) side of the industry, where he witnessed a massive fiduciary paradigm shift 15 years ago. Driven by regulatory changes and a wave of aggressive class-action lawsuits, traditional retirement "brokers" were forced to stop taking undisclosed kickbacks, disclose 100% of their compensation, and legally sign on as fiduciaries for their clients.Now, Jay warns that a “tsunami” is hitting the health insurance space. With major lawsuits filed at the end of 2025 targeting plan sponsors and major brokers over voluntary benefits and PBM conflicts, employers can no longer hide behind the "we've always done it this way" excuse.In this episode, we break down exactly what it means for a benefits consultant to legally act as a fiduciary, how hidden compensation and broker overrides create toxic conflicts of interest, and how Jay's firm helps employers run rigorous, process-driven RFPs to audit their vendors and protect themselves from massive legal liabilities.If you are a CFO, HR leader, or benefits consultant trying to navigate the new era of ERISA compliance and Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) enforcement, this episode is a stark wake-up call.Thank you to our 2026 sponsors!ParetoHealth: ParetoHealth empowers midsize employers with a long-term solution to reduce volatility and lower overall health benefits costs. Visit https://www.paretohealth.com/fully-insured-vs-self-funding-with-paretohealth-spencer-podcast/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=SelfFundedwSpencer to learn more.Samaritan Fund: A program that connects those who need help to the support they need. We are proud to offer the Samaritan Fund Program. Visit SamaritanFundProgram.com to learn more.Vālenz Health: We're Vālenz Health, your partner in improving health literacy, reducing plan spend, and delivering high-value healthcare. Visit ValenzHealth.com to learn more.Imagine360: Imagine360 helps self-funded employers save on healthcare with smarter health plans. Cut expenses by 20-30% with custom solutions. Contact us today at Imagine360.com.Episode Chapters(00:00:00) Intro(00:01:40) Meet Jay Gepfert and Culpepper RFP (00:03:30) Origin Story: Transitioning from 401(k)s to Health Benefits RFPs (00:06:54) The 401(k) Paradigm Shift: How Retirement Got Cleaned Up (00:08:50) The 2025 Wave of Health Benefits Fiduciary Litigation (00:13:49) Voluntary Benefits and the Commission Tsunami (00:17:19) What it Actually Means to be a Fiduciary for a Plan Sponsor (00:19:05) Mandating Your Broker Becomes a Fiduciary Consultant (00:21:05) Flat Fees, Eliminating Hidden Comp, and Disentangling Commissions (00:27:24) Exposing Toxic PBM Conflicts of Interest (00:30:19) The Customer Experience: Running a Modern Fiduciary RFP (00:35:08) Why Process and Documentation Matter More Than Perfection (00:38:13) The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) & Gag Clauses (00:41:18) The Catalyst: When Will the Market Finally Shift? (00:44:14) The Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit: From Charlatan to Change Agent (00:48:56) The 5 Questions That Eliminate Status Quo Brokers (00:56:18) The Ideal Plan Sponsor: Proactive vs. Reactive (00:58:54) Shifting the CFO Mindset & Unlocking the Bottom Line (01:04:01) Big Picture: The Breaking Point of Employer-Sponsored Care (01:06:40) Closing ThoughtsKey Links for Social:@SelfFunded on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SelfFundedListen/watch on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1TjmrMrkIj0qSmlwAIevKA?si=068a389925474f02Follow Spencer on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-smith-self-funded/

"Within five years of calling us charlatans, that hospital system was sued for multiple millions of dollars by their participants... You can go from charlatan to change agent fast."Is history about to repeat itself in the health benefits world?My guest this week is Jay Gepfert, Managing Partner of Culpepper RFP. Jay spent his corporate career on the retirement and 401(k) side of the industry, where he witnessed a massive fiduciary paradigm shift 15 years ago. Driven by regulatory changes and a wave of aggressive class-action lawsuits, traditional retirement "brokers" were forced to stop taking undisclosed kickbacks, disclose 100% of their compensation, and legally sign on as fiduciaries for their clients.Now, Jay warns that a “tsunami” is hitting the health insurance space. With major lawsuits filed at the end of 2025 targeting plan sponsors and major brokers over voluntary benefits and PBM conflicts, employers can no longer hide behind the "we've always done it this way" excuse.In this episode, we break down exactly what it means for a benefits consultant to legally act as a fiduciary, how hidden compensation and broker overrides create toxic conflicts of interest, and how Jay's firm helps employers run rigorous, process-driven RFPs to audit their vendors and protect themselves from massive legal liabilities.If you are a CFO, HR leader, or benefits consultant trying to navigate the new era of ERISA compliance and Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) enforcement, this episode is a stark wake-up call.Thank you to our 2026 sponsors!ParetoHealth: ParetoHealth empowers midsize employers with a long-term solution to reduce volatility and lower overall health benefits costs. Visit https://www.paretohealth.com/fully-insured-vs-self-funding-with-paretohealth-spencer-podcast/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=SelfFundedwSpencer to learn more.Samaritan Fund: A program that connects those who need help to the support they need. We are proud to offer the Samaritan Fund Program. Visit SamaritanFundProgram.com to learn more.Vālenz Health: We're Vālenz Health, your partner in improving health literacy, reducing plan spend, and delivering high-value healthcare. Visit ValenzHealth.com to learn more.Imagine360: Imagine360 helps self-funded employers save on healthcare with smarter health plans. Cut expenses by 20-30% with custom solutions. Contact us today at Imagine360.com.Episode Chapters(00:00:00) Intro(00:01:40) Meet Jay Gepfert and Culpepper RFP (00:03:30) Origin Story: Transitioning from 401(k)s to Health Benefits RFPs (00:06:54) The 401(k) Paradigm Shift: How Retirement Got Cleaned Up (00:08:50) The 2025 Wave of Health Benefits Fiduciary Litigation (00:13:49) Voluntary Benefits and the Commission Tsunami (00:17:19) What it Actually Means to be a Fiduciary for a Plan Sponsor (00:19:05) Mandating Your Broker Becomes a Fiduciary Consultant (00:21:05) Flat Fees, Eliminating Hidden Comp, and Disentangling Commissions (00:27:24) Exposing Toxic PBM Conflicts of Interest (00:30:19) The Customer Experience: Running a Modern Fiduciary RFP (00:35:08) Why Process and Documentation Matter More Than Perfection (00:38:13) The Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) & Gag Clauses (00:41:18) The Catalyst: When Will the Market Finally Shift? (00:44:14) The Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit: From Charlatan to Change Agent (00:48:56) The 5 Questions That Eliminate Status Quo Brokers (00:56:18) The Ideal Plan Sponsor: Proactive vs. Reactive (00:58:54) Shifting the CFO Mindset & Unlocking the Bottom Line (01:04:01) Big Picture: The Breaking Point of Employer-Sponsored Care (01:06:40) Closing ThoughtsKey Links for Social:@SelfFunded on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SelfFundedListen/watch on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1TjmrMrkIj0qSmlwAIevKA?si=068a389925474f02Follow Spencer on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencer-smith-self-funded/

A new free tier for the measurement platform. Sponsored by SpotsNow. SpotsNow is the AI operating system for podcast advertising. RFPs, vetting, outreach: handled with custom agents. Your sellers close 30% more. Book a free demo at Spotsnow.io https://podnews.net/cc/3530 Visit https://podnews.net/update/bumper-free for the story links in full, and to get our daily newsletter.

Learn how to leverage B2B thought leadership, adapt to the new LinkedIn algorithm, and survive the rise of AI filters to outpace your competition. The game of B2B marketing has completely transformed. It's no longer just about pushing content out into the void; it's about navigating a shifting ecosystem where buyer discernment is at an all-time high and AI algorithms act as the new gatekeepers. If you think you can simply drop a link, log off, and watch the leads roll in, you're missing the massive shift happening right now. In this episode, Charles Gaudet sits down with Justin Rowe, founder of Impactable and one of the most brilliant minds in digital advertising, to unpack the exact playbook for building authority on LinkedIn and YouTube. From navigating the newly updated LinkedIn algorithm to understanding how "AI filters" are vetting your business before a human ever does, this conversation breaks down the high-level strategies needed to capture demand and scale your business beyond seven figures. KEY TAKEAWAYS: The Rise of the AI Gatekeeper: In enterprise sales, a staggering 75% of RFPs now pass through an AI filter before ever reaching human eyes. If your digital footprint lacks frameworks, original thought, and proof, you risk being suppressed by the "AI gods" before you even get a meeting. Cracking the "LinkedIn 360 Brew" Algorithm: Pushed in February 2026, LinkedIn's newest algorithmic update heavily penalizes "post-and-bounce" behavior. To maximize organic reach, leaders must treat the platform like a physical networking event: engage for 20 minutes before posting, publish, and linger for another 10 to 20 minutes to reply to the community. Organic Amplification to Evergreen Ads: Stop guessing what content to put money behind. Spend six months building an organic motion, identify the specific posts driving DMs or comments from your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), and pluck those out to sponsor as evergreen client-acquisition assets. Drowning Out the "AI Slop": AI has made it easier than ever to churn out surface-level content, resulting in a wave of generic digital slop. Real competitive advantage belongs to leaders who focus on the "white space"—sharing unique points of view, contrasting frameworks, and real operational experiences that competitors can't replicate. Curating an ICP Network vs. Accepting Hodgepodge Requests: Growing an audience organically isn't enough if it's filled with people trying to sell to you. True channel growth requires intentionally sending 15 targeted connection requests a day to your exact ICP while maintaining a strict filter on who you let in. The Bingeable ROI of YouTube vs. The LinkedIn Feed: While LinkedIn is ideal for text-based text posts and high engagement, its feed eventually buries even your best work. YouTube demands a harder, longer grind for B2B channels, but its playlist structure creates a "bingeable library" where a single discovery can lead a prospect to consume 10 videos in one sitting. RESOURCES MENTIONED: Impactable: Learn more about scaling B2B results via Impactable.com Impactable YouTube Channel: Access the free, high-value LinkedIn Ads Beginners 101 Playlist. YouTube Channel Follow Charles Gaudet and Predictable Profits on Social Media: Facebook: facebook.com/PredictableProfits Instagram: instagram.com/predictableprofits Twitter: twitter.com/charlesgaudet LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/charlesgaudet Visit Charles Gaudet's Wesbites: www.PredictableProfits.com www.predictableprofits.com/community https://start.predictableprofits.com/community Enjoyed the episode? Growing a business can be hard, but it shouldn't be a struggle. Make sure to rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode of top-level growth strategies! Mixing, editing, and show notes provided by NEXT DAY PODCAST

It has an average annual growth of 321%. Sponsored by SpotsNow. SpotsNow is the AI operating system for podcast advertising. RFPs, vetting, outreach: handled with custom agents. Your sellers close 30% more. Book a free demo at Spotsnow.io https://podnews.net/cc/3530 Visit https://podnews.net/update/fastest-growing-goalhanger for the story links in full, and to get our daily newsletter.

Brigitte Sachse of Bee Video Productions returns for her third visit to talk shop with Dario and Kyrill. We get into how Bee Video landed a documentary series on TVO ("The Nature of Design"), why animation became their secret weapon, and the recurring theme of the whole episode: diversifying your work, your income, and even your project timelines so you never have all your eggs in one basket. We also dig into whether AI video is actually a threat (spoiler: not yet), the great raw-footage-and-project-files debate, the pain of government RFPs, public pricing, SEO, and a couple of brutal "client didn't pay us" war stories — plus the copyright-strike trick that gets you paid.

Charles Hoskinson recently addressed the challenges facing Cardano in a candid video, highlighting the limits of his influence and the realities of on-chain governance. In this episode we explore what the shift to community-driven decision making really means for the ecosystem, the treasury funding debates, and why several projects are struggling in the current market.We break down the governance era, the role of D-Reps, Project Catalyst learnings, and the practical difficulties of reviewing dozens of technical proposals. The discussion covers why executive function is needed, how allocated budgets and RFPs could improve the process, and what it will take to steer Cardano through the current bear market while retaining talent and research capacity.0:00 Intro1:45 Charles Has No Control4:20 The Governance Era Shift8:10 Treasury and Funding Reality12:30 Why Projects Are Failing16:45 D-Reps and Voting Challenges21:10 Lessons From Project Catalyst25:40 Improving the Process29:15 Where to From Here33:50 Wrap UpKey Takeaways:- Charles Hoskinson has no direct control over Cardano governance, treasury, or protocol changes after the Genesis keys were burnt.- On-chain governance has moved decision-making power to the community through proposals and voting.- Multiple projects including TapTools and JPEG Store are facing closure due to difficult market conditions and lack of sustainable funding.- The Cardano treasury once held significant value but has declined with market conditions; spending decisions are now fully community-driven.- D-Reps (Delegate Representatives) help voters delegate their voting power when they lack time or expertise to review proposals.- High volume of governance proposals (around 99 recently) makes informed voting difficult for many participants.- Project Catalyst provided valuable early learnings on on-chain governance before the current system launched.- Suggestions for improvement include allocated budgets per vertical, RFP-style bidding, and clearer strategic direction.Links & References:- TapTools - YouTube: https://link.learncardano.io/7iia6DWebsite: https://link.learncardano.io/bQ68RcX/Twitter: https://link.learncardano.io/3a1QtvDisclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only. Nothing constitutes financial advice.DISCLAIMER: This content is for informational and educational purposes only and is not financial, investment, or legal advice. I am not affiliated with, nor compensated by, the project discussed—no tokens, payments, or incentives received. I do not hold a stake in the project, including private or future allocations. All views are my own, based on public information. Always do your own research and consult a licensed advisor before investing. Crypto investments carry high risk, and past performance is no guarantee of future results. I am not responsible for any decisions you make based on this content.

You've heard the show - now, buy the shoe!. Sponsored by SpotsNow. SpotsNow is the AI operating system for podcast advertising. RFPs, vetting, outreach: handled with custom agents. Your sellers close 30% more. Book a free demo at Spotsnow.io https://podnews.net/cc/3530 Visit https://podnews.net/update/podcast-shoes for the story links in full, and to get our daily newsletter.

... and the Six Colors show has already hit $100,000. Sponsored by SpotsNow. SpotsNow is the AI operating system for podcast advertising. RFPs, vetting, outreach: handled with custom agents. Your sellers close 30% more. Book a free demo at Spotsnow.io https://podnews.net/cc/3530 Visit https://podnews.net/update/apple-history for the story links in full, and to get our daily newsletter.

In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we explore how lived experiences shape leadership and influence the way impostor syndrome shows up at work. My guest this week is Natanja Craig-Oquendo, Executive Director of the Boston Women's Fund. Natanja shares her journey from a childhood grounded in community organizing and allyship to leading mission-driven work focused on social, gender and economic justice. She reflects on how early messages about identity and belonging shaped her sense of what was possible and how those messages continue to influence her inner dialogue today.In our conversation, we talk about the power of representation, the impact of environment on confidence and how focusing on service can shift attention away from self-doubt. Natanja also introduces the idea of “imprint vs. impact,” reminding us that while impact builds over time, imprint happens in every interaction through how we show up and support others. We also discuss what it takes to lead with honesty and humanity, why creating space for real conversations matters and how to move away from compartmentalization toward more authentic leadership.About My GuestNatanja N. Craig-Oquendo is CEO of Boston Women's Fund, where she is redesigning philanthropy to follow community leadership — not override it. Guided by the principle “do nothing about us without us,” she has spent more than 20 years shifting power toward the communities most impacted by inequity. Since joining the Fund in 2020, she has tripled grantmaking, expanded partnerships from 6 organizations to 22, grown the operating budget from $300,000 to $2.2 million, and increased the endowment from $2.1 million to $3.5 million. She advanced multi-year grants of up to five years, pioneered a “Request for Conversation” model to replace traditional RFPs with trust-based engagement, and launched the Seed Funding Grant to expand access to capital for Black leaders and grassroots innovators.She is equally proud of building an organizational culture that supports the full human — where caregiving is not penalized, boundaries are respected, lived experience informs decision-making, and sustainability replaces burnout as the measure of commitment. In 2025, she co-led Carrying the Weight, Leading the Change, a research report developed with UMass Boston, and founded Horizon Collective, a leadership initiative for women and gender-expansive leaders of color. ~Connect with Natanja:Website: www.bostonwomensfund.org~Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:https://www.kimmeninger.com/challengeLearn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroupJoin the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6Join the Facebook group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumansSchedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-sessionConnect on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/Website:https://www.kimmeninger.com

No - say the experts. Sponsored by SpotsNow. SpotsNow is the AI operating system for podcast advertising. RFPs, vetting, outreach: handled with custom agents. Your sellers close 30% more. Book a free demo at Spotsnow.io https://podnews.net/cc/3530 Visit https://podnews.net/update/podcasting-cooked for the story links in full, and to get our daily newsletter.

Government contracts can pay 2.5x more than residential jobs, yet many service businesses overlook them entirely. In this episode of Masters of Home Service, host Adam Sylvester sits down with Anatoly Nazarov, owner of N&P Cleaners, to unpack how small businesses can break into government contracting and start winning profitable bids. From finding bids to understanding RFPs, Anatoly shares what contractors need to know before getting started. Show Notes: [00:26] Where can small businesses find government contracts? [01:07] RFQs and mandatory bid meetings  [01:50] Inside a 100-page government RFP packet [03:38] How does government contract bidding work? [04:32] How long does it take to win a government contract? [05:07] Government contracts vs commercial jobs [06:27] How long do government contracts last? [07:47] The cash flow delay behind government contracts [08:40] How Anatoly and his wife built a woman-owned cleaning business [10:08] Can government contracts become passive income? [11:59] Common mistakes new government contractors make [12:43] How government contractors cover payroll  New to Jobber? Masters of Home Service listeners can claim an exclusive discount for Jobber at https://bit.ly/4olKiNR

The latest Gartner Market Guide for Telecom Expense Management Services makes clear that TEM is no longer just about invoice processing, inventory and dispute management, or wireless optimization. The category is expanding into broader technology expense management, cloud, SaaS, UCaaS, IoT, utilities, and even emerging areas like AI license sprawl and API consumption.  Tony Mangino is joined by Theresa Knutson, head of the TC2 IT Cost Management Practice, to review the key updates compared to 2024's Gartner Market Guide and to provide additional market input and insights based on TC2's work with its clients on  competitive RFPs, TEM implementations and TEM health check reviews. 

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the world of sales, from automating CRM updates and RFP responses to generating outreach emails and analyzing negotiations. But as AI becomes more autonomous, a bigger question has emerged: what parts of sales should still stay human? In this episode of Today in Tech, Keith Shaw speaks with Ray Meiring, CEO of QorusDocs, about the future of AI in enterprise sales, the rise of agentic AI workflows, and why trust, empathy, and human relationships still matter in high-stakes business deals. The discussion explores how AI is transforming RFPs, automating administrative work, accelerating prospecting, and even preparing sales teams for negotiations. But it also looks at the growing risks of over-trusting AI, the creepiness factor of hyper-personalized selling, and why complex enterprise deals may still depend on handshakes, conversations, and human judgment. Topics include: • Agentic AI and autonomous sales workflows • How AI is changing enterprise RFP processes • Why AI works best for transactional tasks • The future of buyer-to-seller AI interactions • Trust, empathy, and emotional intelligence in sales • The risks of AI-generated communication • Why trade shows and in-person relationships may matter even more Subscribe for more conversations on AI, enterprise technology, cybersecurity, and the future of work.

Show Notes: Mehdi Frikha, founder at  mzx.ai, explains that mzx.ai builds a crew of agents for all knowledge workers, including colleagues in the Umbrex network.  Generating Brand Proposals from RFPs He introduces the first agent, Hector, which generates brand proposals from RFPs or client pitches, from as little as half a page of information. He explains that you input your output language, preferences about proposal approach, the target, the tone etc. Users can include their own PowerPoint template,  and the agent will provide a proposal that is 100% branded and 100% compliant with context, objectives, and the firm's approach. Integrating Firm Knowledge Mehdi mentions that the product is more targeted towards the European and Middle Eastern markets, where long proposals are common. He confirms that the agent can integrate the firm's knowledge, CVs, credentials, and any proprietary databases to generate a full proposal. The final product is fully branded and can be up to 40-50 pages, including all necessary elements to win the RFP or project.  Demonstrating the PowerPoint Output Mehdi demonstrates the 41-slide PowerPoint output, which is a technical proposal for an economic development strategy for AIDO(Abu Dhabi Investment Office) and offers to make the  41-slide PowerPoint output available for viewers. He explains how users simply send the request to the agent. The agent delivers a comprehensive 41 slide presentation based on the information sent.  Mehdi demonstrates how the agent presents the context and objectives of the project including the importance of AI in translating Abu Dhabi's national ambitions into localized investment. The proposal includes global benchmarks, structural drivers, competitive windows, and institutional timing. The proposal also addresses economic and market risks, environmental spatial constraints, and demographic and talent challenges. Structuring the Proposal Mehdi explains that the overall approach to the project is laid out in phases, which can be customized based on the RFP or the firm's preferences. The agent can provide guidance on the structure of the approach, including the number of phases and steps. The detailed version of the approach in this demonstration is 11 pages and can be used as a more detailed project plan. Agent Attention to Detail  Mehdi highlights the attention to detail, including real bullets, semantic selection of icons that reflect the content of the page, and consultant-compliant quality. Mehdi mentions that the agent can be trained to include details such as a placeholder slide for pricing or investment, and any necessary disclaimers in the proposal  in the future. Mehdi introduces the next agent, which translates PowerPoint presentations automatically, including complex slides with timelines and Gantt charts. He demonstrates the translation feature, which translates slides and injects the content in the right place, including right-to-left languages and timelines that read right to left. It has the ability to mirror complex slides and the potential time-saving benefits. Mehdi shows how the platform can generate research reports on any topic, using the request for an overview of nuclear submarine coolant pumps as an example. The Platform Pricing Structure In the demonstration of the third agent, Mehdi explains that the entry subscription will be $20, allowing 120 slides. Enterprise offers will be available for firms that want to deploy the platform in a private cloud, ensuring data security. Mehdi provides the website for sign-up and mentions that there is a closed beta available for interested users, and he mentions that there are many agents in development and invites feedback from Umbrex members for new product ideas. Timestamps: 01:51: Details of Hector's Proposal Generation  03:47: Examination of the Proposal Example  05:34: Customization and Detailed Approach 08:56: Additional Features and Pricing 11:04: Translation and Research Report Generation  20:00 Future Developments and Pricing Structure  Links:   Website: https://mzx.ai/ Proposal permalink: https://umbrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Proposal_example_Economic_Development_Strategy_for_Al_Dhafra_Region_English.pptx Report permalink: https://umbrex.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Report_example_Nuclear_submarine_reactor_pump_manufacturers_overview.pptx This episode on Umbrex: https://umbrex.com/?p=287037 Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com. *AI generated timestamps and show notes.  

Todd Caponi is the author of The Transparency Sale, The Transparency Sales Leader, and The Four Levers of Negotiating. He advises revenue teams on decision science, transparency, and how buyers actually make decisions. In this episode, Todd challenges one of the biggest assumptions in business: that more information leads to better decisions. Drawing from buyer psychology and real-world sales research, he explains why buyers actively seek out negatives, why perfect pitches create skepticism, and why transparency accelerates trust.   Why You Have to Check Out Today's Podcast: Discover why more information often makes buying decisions harder. Learn why buyers seek out negatives before positives and how transparency can increase trust, shorten sales cycles, and improve win rates. Master the shift from persuasion to prediction so buyers feel confident moving forward instead of getting stuck in analysis paralysis.   "We don't buy when we're convinced. We buy when we can predict." — Todd Caponi   Topics Covered: 01:03 – Why Negotiating Pricing Feels So Unnatural. Todd shares the negotiation breakthrough that led him to embrace transparency instead of traditional sales tactics. 05:18 – Why Buyers Trust Imperfect Solutions More Than Perfect Ones. The consumer research that changed Todd's thinking—and why buyers actively seek out negatives before making decisions. 08:50 – Transparency vs. Honesty: The Difference That Changes Sales Outcomes. What transparency really means and how proactively sharing weaknesses can accelerate trust. 12:15 – The Long Game Wins the Short Game. A debate on incentives, trust, and whether transparency actually benefits individual salespeople. 15:11 – Do Buyers Make Emotional or Logical Decisions? Todd explains why feelings often drive decisions before logic enters the picture. 20:24 – Why B2B Buyers Still Behave Like Consumers. Buying committees, RFPs, and the hidden emotional biases behind supposedly rational decisions. 25:14 – Buyers Don't Buy Products—They Buy Predicted Futures. Mark introduces a powerful framework for understanding how buying decisions really happen. 31:42 – More Information Doesn't Help Buyers—It Makes Decisions Harder. From mail-order catalogs to AI, Todd explains why information overload increases decision friction. 32:35 – The Case for Radical Pricing Transparency. Todd's practical framework for pricing conversations built around volume, commitment, cash flow, and predictability.   Key Takeaways: "Transparency is without asking, I'm going to tell you the truth." — Todd Caponi "The long game wins the long game—but it wins the short game too." — Todd Caponi "More information has never made buying easier. It's always made it harder." — Todd Caponi "True salesmanship is the science of service." — Todd Caponi (quoting Arthur Sheldon)   People & Resources Mentioned: Arthur Sheldon - Early sales philosopher and author of The Art of Selling (1911), whose principle that "true salesmanship is the science of service" remains relevant today. António Damásio - Neuroscientist and author of Descartes' Error, referenced during the discussion on emotion, logic, and decision-making. Northwestern University Research - Consumer behavior research that revealed buyers actively seek out negative reviews and trust products with balanced ratings more than perfect scores. The Transparency Sale - Todd's bestselling book exploring how openness and honesty accelerate buying decisions and improve sales outcomes. The Four Levers of Negotiating - Todd's latest book on transparent negotiation and value creation.   Connect with Todd Caponi: Website: https://toddcaponi.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddcaponi/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com  

And how to listen to a load of them. Sponsored by SpotsNow. SpotsNow is the AI operating system for podcast advertising. RFPs, vetting, outreach: handled with custom agents. Your sellers close 30% more. Book a free demo at Spotsnow.io https://podnews.net/cc/3530 Visit https://podnews.net/update/trailers-that-work for the story links in full, and to get our daily newsletter.

Will Kmart come down, an indoor pool go up and what’s the north side library worth? Those are a few things we talked about with Mac Kiel in studio, helping preview committee week in La Crosse. The Copper Rocks project is again going before committees. That’s the plan to tear down the old Kmart and create both a business and residential area on that lot. Will Kmart come down this summer? We also discuss selling the north side library process, where committees are looking at making the building a “surplus property” and accepting “RFPs” (requests for proposal). In between all that, we looked at the city survey for building a $33 million indoor aquatics center through referendum. WIZM’s Brad Williams also joined to give us an update on the City Plan Commission, which had met just before the show.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Power plant water and steam chemistry does not fail in isolation. A mistaken unit, an unused analyzer, an overdesigned pretreatment system, or a misunderstood condensate return problem can ripple across equipment, permits, production, and safety. In this Part 2 conversation with Bradley Buecker of SAMCO Technologies and Buecker Associates, Trace Blackmore continues a practical discussion on the details that shape industrial water decisions. Brad shares field stories from combined cycle plants, package boilers, wastewater permitting, membrane systems, and decades of technical writing.   When Small Errors Become Expensive Problems Brad opens with a story about a wastewater permitting issue where parts per million and parts per billion were confused in a discharge permit. The result was not just a paperwork problem. Once the stricter limits were accepted by regulators, meeting those limits would have required more complex and expensive wastewater treatment equipment. That story is a reminder for water professionals reviewing RFPs, permits, and engineering specifications. Precision matters before a project is built, not after the limits have already been approved. Brad also discusses PFAS with appropriate caution. He does not present himself as a PFAS expert, but he connects the conversation to zero liquid discharge, brine concentrators, crystallizers, and the unresolved question of what happens to solids when contaminants are concentrated rather than discharged.   Membranes, Discharge, and the Changing Water Balance Looking across more than four decades in the industry, Brad points to membranes as one of the major changes in power plant water treatment. He discusses how reverse osmosis extended ion exchange demineralizer run times, and how microfiltration and ultrafiltration improved water quality going to RO systems. However, Brad also makes clear that better pretreatment does not remove every operational question. RO reject remains a substantial discharge stream. Meanwhile, the movement away from once-through cooling toward cooling towers has changed how plants think about water consumption, evaporation, discharge, and resource availability. For professionals managing water in power and industrial systems, the episode reinforces a practical lesson: every improvement has a system-level consequence that must be understood.   The Real Cost of "Lean and Mean" Brad uses the phrase "lean and mean" to describe how some combined cycle plants are staffed. In one example, a plant had a comprehensive online chemistry monitoring system installed, but it had never been turned on because the staff did not have the experience to maintain or interpret it. In another case, a groundwater-based makeup system included seven-layer multimedia filters even though groundwater typically has very few particulates. Brad could not make a categorical conclusion without a full analysis, but the story raises an important question: are we solving the actual water problem, or simply buying equipment? He also shares a case from an organic chemicals plant with four 550 PSI package boilers. The plant returned 80 to 90 percent of its condensate, but total organic carbon levels were far above the ASME recommended limit for that pressure boiler. Foam in the saturated steam samples helped point to carryover into the superheaters, where scale was building up inside the tubes.   Learning, Mentorship, and Leaving the Industry Better Beyond the technical stories, Brad's message is clear: professionals who keep learning are better prepared to make sound decisions. He encourages newer water treaters to study strong water treatment handbooks, talk to experienced people, and physically connect chemistry data to the equipment and processes in the plant. For those nearing retirement, Brad offers a different kind of challenge: pass along what you know while there is still time. He and Trace discuss how sharing experience strengthens the next generation instead of threatening the people who already hold knowledge. The episode closes with a reminder that water is central to manufacturing, power generation, and daily life. Keeping the lights on and protecting water resources both require people who understand the systems behind the scenes. Listen to the full conversation above. Explore related episodes below. Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!   Timestamps  02:16 — Trace introduces Part 2 of his conversation with Bradley Buecker and sets up the continuation of a technical discussion on power plant water and steam chemistry. 04:10 — Trace asks Brad about a case where an engineering firm confused parts per million and parts per billion in wastewater permitting. 05:38 — Brad explains how NPDES discharge permits shape what a new plant must control before construction and operation. 06:35 — Brad describes how some constituents with typical PPM limits were submitted as PPB, creating a much stricter compliance problem. 07:18 — Brad explains why trying to meet unnecessarily low PPB limits can require exotic wastewater treatment equipment. 07:51 — Trace pivots the conversation to PFAS, and Brad responds carefully by acknowledging the importance of the issue while noting that he is not a PFAS expert. 08:34 — Brad connects PFAS concerns to zero liquid discharge, brine concentrators, crystallizers, and the question of what happens to concentrated solids. 11:27 — Brad identifies membranes as one of the major industry changes he has seen across more than four decades. 11:44 — Brad explains how RO systems placed ahead of ion exchange demineralizers extended operating run times in power plant makeup water treatment. 12:35 — Brad notes that membrane systems still create discharge challenges, including substantial RO reject streams. 13:23 — Brad discusses the shift away from once-through cooling and how cooling towers changed the water consumption picture for power plants. 16:14 — Trace asks Brad about the phrase "lean and mean," opening a discussion about staffing, expertise, and hidden operational risk. 17:25 — Brad shares a case where a comprehensive online chemistry monitoring system had never been turned on because the plant lacked the right technical support. 18:31 — Brad describes a groundwater-based makeup system with a seven-layer multimedia filtration setup and raises the question of whether the equipment fit the actual water source. 20:39 — Brad introduces a case involving four 550 PSI package boilers at an organic chemicals plant producing superheated steam for process use. 21:30 — Brad explains that 80 to 90 percent condensate return, high TOC readings, and foaming in saturated steam samples pointed toward carryover into the superheaters. 23:29 — Brad summarizes the risk of cutting too deeply: being lean and mean can cost more in the long run. 23:55 — Brad reflects on the importance of continuous learning and shares his regret about not pursuing a master's program in environmental science. 25:19 — Trace shares his father's advice to leave the industry better than he found it, and Brad connects that idea to sharing safety-critical knowledge. 29:25 — Brad advises newer professionals to learn the basics, study reliable water treatment handbooks, and connect lab work to real plant systems. 35:32 — Brad thanks retiring professionals and encourages them to pass along practical knowledge to younger people while they still have time. 37:23 — Brad explains what people outside the industry should understand about water's role in manufacturing, power generation, and daily life.   Quotes  "Those are very important because if something goes south chemistry-wise at a power plant, you need to know very quickly." "You can be lean and mean, but it can cost you a lot more in the long run." "If you have any ambition or interest at all, continue learning." "If you pass along your information and give younger people a chance to do something, give them some responsibility, it just pays off much more."   Connect with Bradley Buecker  Email: bueckerb@samcotech.com   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradley-buecker-705b9021/  Website: Water & Wastewater Treatment Solutions | SAMCO Technologies   Guest Resources Mentioned   US EPA - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)  Buecker & Associates, LLC - Consulting and Technical Writing  Beware of Flow-Accelerated Corrosion – Brad Buecker, Kiewit Engineering Group  Muck Rack – Brad Buecker Articles    Scaling UP! H2O Resources Mentioned  AWT (Association of Water Technologies)  Scaling UP! H2O Academy video courses  Submit a Show Idea  The Rising Tide Mastermind  477 Rethinking Power Plant Water and Steam Chemistry with Brad Buecker (Part 1)    Words of Water with James McDonald Today's definition is the standard SI unit for the amount of substance, defined exactly as 6.02214076 x 10^23 elementary entities, such as atoms or molecules.  Can you guess the word or phrase?    2026 Events for Water Professionals  Check out our Scaling UP! H2O Events Calendar where we've listed every event Water Treaters should be aware of by clicking HERE.     

Felipe Carvalho is Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Camu — an AI workflow automation platform. Previously, Felipe spent 10 years building the global go-to-market organization at Pipefy alongside founder Alessio Alionço, scaling a horizontal workflow platform that serves Volvo, Capgemini, IBM, Accenture, Visa, Santander, Itaú, and thousands of other SMBs and enterprises across Brazil, the US, and beyond. Before Pipefy, he built and scaled the fundraising function at Hospital Pequeno Príncipe — Brazil's largest children's hospital — raising over $20M and growing a team of 50.In this TJC Operators episode, Felipe shares the brutal sales lesson from Pipefy — why selling everything to everyone is a GTM trap that hides inefficiency through inbound demand, and why outbound exposed it overnight. He walks through the "who would be crazy not to buy this" framework from Seth Shaw (former CRO of Airtable) that reshaped Pipefy's outbound motion, how Camu got from 1–2% to 17% to 33% conversion by progressively narrowing focus to a single ERP (SAP Business One) and one specific workflow (invoice intake), why charging monthly with no strings attached was the cleanest way to validate true product-market fit, the Sean Ellis "very disappointed" PMF survey methodology and how Camu hit high-50s on a V1 product, why saying no to massive enterprise RFPs is a superpower in the early days, how Felipe now manages 68 active opportunities solo by using Claude and AI to automate 50–70% of sales back-office work (CRM updates, ROI calculations, proposal generation, deal-power scoring), the FCA (Fact, Cause, Action) framework Pipefy used to run monthly results meetings and why analyzing wins matters as much as analyzing losses, why "building a plane is different from flying a plane" — and why founders should nail the sales playbook themselves before hiring senior enterprise sellers, the shift from selling software-as-a-service to delivering recurring impact and how risk has moved from buyer to seller in the AI era, and the lesson he most wants Brazilian founders to learn about building credibility before the market gives it to you.Subscribe to The J Curve Insider newsletter for deeper insights and follow Olga on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Jeff and Jim are back with the May 2026 mailbag, answering listener questions from Amsterdam, Mumbai, Austin, and Berlin. Topics include navigating IAM vendor acquisitions, defending against AI deepfakes in remote onboarding, governing contractor and third-party identities, fixing the leaver process in IGA, and tackling a decade of IAM technical debt. The episode closes with unpopular industry opinions: why RFPs are procurement theater, why rip and replace should be normalized, and why one-throat-to-choke vendor thinking usually backfires.IDPro new member discount: https://idpro.org/idac/Connect with us on LinkedIn:Jim McDonald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmcdonaldpmp/Jeff Steadman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsteadman/Visit the show on the web at http://idacpodcast.comCHAPTER TIMESTAMPS00:00 Intro and SNL nostalgia03:25 AI model roundup: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and usage limits10:16 Identiverse 2026 and IDPro member discount14:53 Q1: Navigating vendor acquisitions (Isabelle, Amsterdam)24:00 Q2: AI deepfakes in identity verification (Rajan, Mumbai)32:32 Q3: Contractor and third-party identity governance (Caleb, Austin)43:00 Q4: The leaver process and IGA scope gaps (Anonymous)51:10 Q5: Tackling IAM technical debt (Tomas, Berlin)57:00 Normalizing rip and replace01:01:00 RFPs, one throat to choke, and other hot takes01:08:00 Wrap-upKEYWORDSIAM, identity governance, IGA, vendor consolidation, acquisitions, deepfakes, identity verification, contractor management, non-employee identity, technical debt, rip and replace, RFP, joiner mover leaver, leaver process, Identiverse 2026, IDPro, IDAC, Identity at the Center, Jeff Steadman, Jim McDonald

The old gated-ebook playbook stopped working around 2018, and slapping AI on top of it isn't going to bring it back. In this episode of Content to Close, Matt Zelasko, founder of growth agency Radish and self-described "Tom DeLonge of RevOps," makes the case that most teams are using AI to do the same broken things faster, then blaming AI for the falling engagement that was already happening. Matt walks through why content is saturated, why "intelligence" is the wrong word for what an LLM actually does, and why understanding how the technology works (it's speculating what comes next) is what finally unlocks its real use. He shares his shift from prompt engineering to context engineering ("what else do you need from me?"), why he turned down a client who wanted an AI agent to write case studies but said yes to one who wanted an agent to write RFPs, and how creative people can use AI without losing the ideation work that makes the output good. If you're tired of AI hype and want a sharper view on where it actually belongs in revenue generation, tune in.About MattMatt Zelasko runs Radish, a horizontal growth agency that helps clients "do more rad shit" and take the next step in their growth. He's spent longer than he'd like to admit in the agency, marketing, and RevOps space, and is better known on LinkedIn as "the Tom DeLonge of RevOps." Matt is opinionated, willing to be proven wrong, and believes you can take the work seriously without taking yourself seriously. Before running Radish he worked as a copywriter, and still leans on old-school habits like writing 50 to 100 taglines by hand before reaching for any tool.Show Notes- Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewzelasko/Text us what you think about this episode!

Large Language Models can generate a lot of text - but is it any good? Carl and Richard talk to Vishwas Lele about his ongoing efforts at pWin.ai to build tools for responding to government RFPs. Vishwas focuses on the quality problem - both the quality of the incoming RFP and the quality of the responding proposal. How do you determine the key requirements of an RFP reliably? And when it comes to the response, how do you provide measurable results for a response? The conversation digs into a change in workflow that benefits the RFP process regardless of tooling - and gives hints to the patterns of success with LLMs!

In "The 2026 M&A Rebound: Why Logistics is Primed for a Banner Year with Logisyn's CEO Ron Lentz", Joe Lynch and Ron Lentz, CEO of Logisyn Advisors, discuss how $4 trillion in untapped capital and industry consolidation are driving a major wave of logistics exits. About Ron Lentz Ron Lentz is a founding partner and CEO of Logisyn Advisors, recognized as a logistics subject matter expert with over 40 years of industry experience. His deep knowledge of capital markets, combined with an extensive global network spanning logistics firms, private equity, family funds, and debt financing, enables him to help clients maximize returns across all M&A services. Ron's expertise covers key logistics sub-sectors, including e-commerce fulfillment, asset-light logistics, final-mile delivery, 3PLs, specialty hauling, air cargo, and freight forwarding. His career includes international executive leadership at Ryder Logistics, over a decade of C-level assignments, and a track record of transforming Fortune 500 companies, startups, and turnarounds into high-performing businesses. About Logisyn Advisors Logisyn Advisors is an M&A advisor specializing in the transportation and logistics sector. The firm's customers include global freight forwarders, customs house brokers, domestic forwarders, trucking companies, logistics software providers, and many other companies across the industry. Logisyn provides a variety of M&A services, including buy-side advisory for companies looking to grow through acquisition, sell-side advisory for entrepreneurs looking to exit and capitalize on the businesses they've built, and enterprise valuation services for managers looking to gain a better understanding of the value of their business. The company has a proven track record of advising executives navigating the M&A process and is actively engaged with leading companies across the logistics industry. Key Takeaways: The 2026 M&A Rebound: Why Logistics is Primed for a Banner Year In "The 2026 M&A Rebound: Why Logistics is Primed for a Banner Year with Logisyn's CEO Ron Lentz", Joe Lynch and Ron Lentz, CEO of Logisyn Advisors, discuss how $4 trillion in untapped capital and industry consolidation are driving a major wave of logistics exits. The Power of "Logistics-First" Specialization: Unlike "industry agnostic" investment banks, Logisyn only hires former operators who understand the intricate day-to-day realities of the supply chain. Ron emphasizes that a generalist banker can cause a "generalist penalty," where the unique operational value and specialized assets of a logistics firm are lost in translation during a deal. The $4 Trillion "Dry Powder" Catalyst: A massive driver for the 2026 rebound is the estimated $4 trillion in global private equity "dry powder." Much of this is older capital that firms must "use or lose," creating a high-pressure environment for acquisitions in fragmented markets like transportation. The "Six Ps" of Market Readiness: Ron lives by the mantra: Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Success requires "staging the house" by cleaning up these financials 12–24 months before an exit. Asset-Based Logistics is Primed for a Bull Run: While freight brokerage is facing a "leaner and meaner" period due to AI and fee transparency, Ron is incredibly bullish on asset-based carriers. As driver shortages persist and capital costs for equipment remain high, those who actually control the trucks will hold the most leverage in the coming year. Cultural Compatibility is the #1 Deal Killer: Citing PWC data, Ron highlights that cultural alignment is the primary reason mergers succeed or fail. For entrepreneurs, selling isn't just a financial transaction; it's "giving up their baby." A successful M&A advisor acts as much as a counselor as a banker to ensure the legacy remains intact. The "Jigsaw Puzzle" Strategy for Buyers: Strategic acquisitions in 2026 are moving away from simple "growth for growth's sake." Buyers are looking for specific "jigsaw pieces"—such as a niche cold chain specialty in the Southeast or a robust tech stack—to create a "pure play" offering that doesn't require a "fixer-upper" effort. The Death of the "Country Club" Broker: The complexity of modern logistics—from AI-driven RFPs to real-time WMS integration—means owners can no longer rely on a general business broker or a "golfing buddy" to sell their company. To maximize the 8x to 10x multiples, founders need advisors who can navigate the deep-dive diligence of tech-savvy private equity buyers. Learn More About The 2026 M&A Rebound: Why Logistics is Primed for a Banner Year Ron Lentz | Linkedin Logisyn Advisors | Linkedin Logisyn Advisors Customer Testimonials Logistics M&A Club Events The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube

From the overhaul of the Federal Acquisition Regulations to the push for consolidation and centralization, these three requests for proposals demonstrate how agencies are implementing and accepting the Office of Management and Budget's prioritization of reforming federal technology and acquisition management. In his reporter's notebook, executive editor Jason Miller writes about how the RFPs from Commerce, Treasury and GSA are demonstrating the changes happening. Jason joins me now to discuss.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Large Language Models can generate a lot of text - but is it any good? Carl and Richard talk to Vishwas Lele about his ongoing efforts at pWin.ai to build tools for responding to government RFPs. Vishwas focuses on the quality problem - both the quality of the incoming RFP and the quality of the responding proposal. How do you determine the key requirements of an RFP reliably? And when it comes to the response, how do you provide measurable results for a response? The conversation digs into a change in workflow that benefits the RFP process regardless of tooling - and gives hints to the patterns of success with LLMs!

In this episode, Raghu Nandakumara sits down with Andrew Rubin, Founder & CEO of Illumio, for a candid conversation about the next phase of AI-driven cybersecurity risk. Just weeks after a major AI breakthrough sparked shockwaves across the security industry, Andrew shares his immediate reaction — from the sobering implications of machine-speed vulnerability discovery to a frank assessment of why the cybersecurity industry's fundamental model may already be broken. The conversation explores what actually changes in an era where vulnerabilities could be discovered and exploited faster than any human-driven operation could manage. Andrew argues that while segmentation as a concept is decades old, its role as a critical backstop has never been more urgent. If attackers begin operating at machine speed, defenders must rethink not just their tools, but their entire operating model — from how they assess risk to how quickly they can respond. Raghu and Andrew discuss: Why the cybersecurity industry has spent more every year while outcomes have gotten worse How AI creates an asymmetric threat unlike anything defenders have faced before Why patching alone won't solve the problem — and the COVID vaccine analogy that explains why The shift from prevention to resilience as the new security north star What the SolarWinds story reveals about how organizations miscalculate tail risk Why segmentation becomes one of the few reliable backstops in a model-driven world How the era of 12-month RFPs and POCs may be coming to a swift and necessary end Stay Connected with our host, Raghu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raghunandakumara/ For more information about Illumio, check out our website at illumio.com    Resources Mentioned: Hard Truths in Cybersecurity: Fear, Liability, and the Industry's Biggest Lies | RSAC 2026 Panel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88XjfZBYIw0

In this CEO edition of the Events Demystified Podcast, host interviews Debbie Garcia, CEO of Virsitour, about how the pandemic wiped out her commission-based planning income and pushed her to build the tool she needed for virtual sourcing. Debbie shares her winding path from media production in New York and Nashville into events, the lack of systems and “tribal knowledge” in planning, and how Virsitour centralizes visuals and sourcing for hotels, venues, services, and destinations so planners can make informed decisions before sending RFPs. She discusses bootstrapping the platform while running an agency, the costs of outdated processes in time, money, and missed life moments, and leadership lessons on resilience, boundaries, burnout, trusting experts, and building personal routines like meditation, calendar discipline, and focusing on top priorities.

In this episode of Friday Fiduciary Five, Eric Dyson talks about the challenges of ERISA fiduciary training, emphasizing the need for meaningful education that moves beyond simple "box-checking" exercises. He highlights the Behavioral Governance Institute's innovative approach to learning, which utilizes a Special Purpose Avatar (SPA) to facilitate interactive, high-retention training.Eric describes a specific scenario in which he used the avatar to assess and sharpen his expertise regarding 408(b)(2) disclosures, benchmarking, and RFPs. By providing scenario-based quizzes and real-time feedback, the avatar ensures a practical, hands-on understanding of complex regulations. Eric encourages service providers and plan committee members to adopt these modernized training methods to better fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities.Connect with Eric Dyson: Website: https://90northllc.com/Phone: 940-248-4800Email: contact@90northllc.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/401kguy/ The information contained herein is general in nature and is provided solely for educational and informational purposes.It is not intended to provide a specific recommendation of any type of product or service discussed in this presentation or to provide any warranties, financial advice, or legal advice.The specific facts and circumstances of all qualified plans can vary, and the information contained in this podcast may or may not apply to your individual circumstances or to your plan or client plan specific circumstances.The opinions expressed by guests on the Be More Than a Fiduciary podcast are not necessarily the same as the opinions held by 90 North Consulting, or of Executive Director Eric Dyson.

 Organizations invest a significant amount of time and resources conducting major RFPs, renegotiations, and technology transformations. The project delivers meaningful improvements on deal commercials, cost reductions and operational gains.  However, once the deal is done and everyone goes back to their "day jobs", a surprising amount of the value starts to slip away. In this 10-minute episode of Staying Connected, Tony Mangino is joined by TC2's Julie Gardner to discuss how disciplined lifecycle services can preserve deal value between major sourcing events. If you would like to learn more about our experience in this space, please visit our Lifecycle Services webpage. Follow us on LinkedIn: TC2 & LB3

https://youtu.be/aQyHwoGfy50 Max Kryzhanovskiy, President and CEO of MOS Creative, is driven by a desire to set an example for his children and show what's possible through technology, persistence, and innovation. As the leader of a tech-forward agency that builds websites, apps, and AI-enabled platforms, Max helps businesses move from idea to execution by creating digital products that solve real problems and scale over time. We explore Max's MVP Framework — Define the problem, Determine target market, Prototype the product, Build the MVP, Test and obtain feedback, Iterate — a practical approach for transforming ideas into scalable digital products. Max explains why founders should avoid overbuilding too early, how AI is accelerating prototyping and development, and why businesses must balance automation with authentic human connection. — Drive Growth Using AI Agents with Max Kryzhanovskiy  Good day, dear listeners. Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint Podcast, and my guest today is Max Kryzhanovskiy, the President and CEO of MOS Creative, a company that builds websites and apps that drive growth. They were also the first company in Baltimore to launch a mobile site. Welcome to the show, Max.  Thank you for having me.  Let me ask you this—what is a mobile site? Is it a mobile phone site, or is it something different?  I mean, now it probably doesn't matter as much anymore, because everybody obviously has a website that works on a smartphone screen—or a responsive websites. But before mobile websites came out—or I should say, when smartphones first came out—we had to adjust for smaller screens. We were all used to bigger screens on a computer, and then once we started having different screen sizes come out before responsive, we were the first company to have a mobile website in Baltimore. And we actually built a web application specifically to create them ourselves, and then also went to market to offer it to other clients as well. So a mobile website is just like it sounds, a website that’s specifically designed for mobile.  That’s cool. So it sounds like you are very much a tech-forward company, and you are at the edge of technology. And as we were logging on, you said that you would be recording this on your phone because you actually have AI agents running on your computer. Does that mean you have AI agents as part of your team? What kind of agents do you have? Is it still an experiment, or is it already in execution mode?  It's in execution mode, but we're always experimenting. We like to think we're ahead of the curve, but with AI, we're all experimenting to a certain extent, right? Something new comes out, we try it out, see if it works, and see how it can be applied to your business—what kind of outcomes it can give you. So I'm all about AI. It's amazing. It's an amazing tool. But I think AI is becoming a lot more than we thought it was going to be—and also a lot less at the same time. Meaning, when AI launched—for example, when ChatGPT came out to the broader market—I mean, obviously AI had been around for a while—but when ChatGPT launched its chatbot platform publicly, we were amazed by how much work it could done. So it went from zero to a hundred. “Oh my God, it can do all of this,” right? But now, for example, with the more recent models—4.5, 5.0—the improvements are much smaller.  It's not a hundred percent or a thousand percent better anymore. Now it's maybe five or ten percent better, but the cost keeps increasing. I just read somewhere that even Claude said Claude Code won't be included much longer as part of the regular plan. So now it's only in the $200 higher-tier plan, plus you have to buy additional tokens. So it's really becoming more like, “Hey, yeah, we can do this for you—but you're going to end up paying something similar to what you'd pay a team.” At first, it was more like, “Let's get into the market. Let's get a lot of people interested.” But now, obviously, they have a lot of money behind them—investors, VCs, public market pressure—and they need to bring in revenue. So I think things are going to change very soon. AI is going to become a lot more expensive because the infrastructure and resources it requires are expensive. So eventually, those costs are going to be passed on to users. Yeah. And I noticed that ChatGPT started to do some ads as well. They’re probably going to go that direction, and who knows what that’s going to bring. But that's not our topic today. Today, it's about something else—frameworks. But before I go to the framework question, I'd like to ask you: what is your personal “why,” and how are you manifesting it at MOS Creative? Well, I'm a family man, so my “why” is to see my kids grow up to be amazing human beings—and hopefully to show them a great example of what can be accomplished in sports and in business. So my “why” is also to be a good person. Success can mean different things to different people, but for me, I love the hunt to get to a certain level of success. And then it's kind of like—us as humans, or at least a lot of people—we reach a certain level of success and we don't really celebrate it. It's more like, “Okay, let's get to the next level.” So my “why” is to show my kids that anything is possible if they really want it. Why I got into this space—it was exciting. You could see how quickly technology was moving, the kind of innovation that was possible, and it excited me. So that was one of the main reasons I got into technology. But the other reason was because I was in a different business, and we created technology that helped us grow. And I thought, “Oh wow, this is a completely different way to scale a business.” So technology became the direction we took. Yeah, I love it. I think inspiring our kids is a huge driver for many people, and it totally makes sense. Technology is exciting. I'd like to switch gears here and ask my other common question on this podcast, because this podcast is all about frameworks—business frameworks—how we can help listeners understand things, simplify things, and see different perspectives. So my question to you is: what is your favorite shortcut to success—or framework? And I don't mean “shortcut” in a negative sense, but rather a framework that allows you to understand things differently, make decisions, serve clients, and create valuable outcomes. Whatever it is—something that has worked for you, and is simple enough that you can explain it to listeners in three to five steps. Well, I believe in always being open to learning. It's not specifically a framework—it's more of a mindset: understanding that we don't know everything, especially now, with how quickly things are changing. I mean, a lot of people say that AI is going to make humanity a little dumber than we are. But actually, I learn a lot from it as well. If I'm doing something and I think, “Oh, this is a great way to speed up the process,” then I use it. So let's say, for example, a client asks me a question. There are different ways to approach it. If I already know the answer because I have specific experience with it, I can answer it, right? That doesn't always mean the answer is going to be correct.  I can research it, or I can get an answer from AI and then verify it through research and experience to make sure the outcome is actually what it says it's going to be. The learning part is making sure you're always open to figuring out whether the steps you've taken before are the right steps—or whether they can be optimized. I'm a big believer that everything can be optimized, especially now. There's almost no question that can't be answered quickly. Maybe there are some deep philosophical questions—but for the most part, especially in business, work, or even life, you can get answers very quickly. For example, I had a kind of vertigo-type feeling, and I was wondering what exactly it was. I entered specific prompts into ChatGPT, and it actually broke things down really well for me. Then I went to a doctor. First, I checked with a friend of mine who's a nurse, and she said, “This is probably what you have.” And she started asking me questions. I thought, “This is funny—these are exactly the same questions ChatGPT asked me.” And her husband said, “You know what? That proves that medicine is basically a set of questions. As you answer one question, it leads to the next.” So it's like a dynamic questionnaire. And by the time I got to the doctor, I already had a good idea of what it potentially was, and I knew what questions to ask so I could understand the next steps to fix it.  Yeah.  So what I'm saying is there’s always a way to improve. I'm a big believer in that. It doesn't matter what you're doing, because in this age, everything moves very fast—regardless of the business you're in. That's true. It's interesting that you say ChatGPT can answer any question. It's true—sometimes it hallucinates, but it still gives you an answer. Yesterday, I went to a presentation, and the president of Great Game of Business talked about this. He said, “Today, the answer is everywhere. So it's not a lack of answers—it's a lack of good questions.” So what we really have to come up with are good questions to ask. That's the bigger challenge now—not finding the answer. And I thought that was a really interesting insight. I agree. It's the same thing, right? It relates to prompts as well. If you have a good prompt, you're going to get a better answer. If you ask a good question, you're going to get a better answer. So yeah, I agree with you. Listen, AI isn't a complete solution, but it's a huge help—especially if you're just starting out. Yeah. So what drives your business? Is it technology? Is it trends? Is it something else? What drives it?  It's kind of a mix between technology and growth marketing. What that means is we work with clients all the way from ideation to scaling. We've also had several clients successfully exit. So clients come to us and say, “I have an idea. How do I take it to the next step?” Obviously now, there are AI builders and AI platforms that can help take a high-level idea and turn it into some kind of prototype—or at least a basic flow. But ideally, we work with clients from the idea stage all the way through design, development, launch, and driving traffic to the product. So the perfect client fits into that category. They might have an idea for a web application, mobile application, or software product.  They come to us and they're not really sure what the next steps are—or they've done some research For example, I spoke to a prospective client the other day. She worked with a developer who tried to build the product using an AI builder. For some reason, something didn't work out, and now she's back at square one. So now we have to review what she actually wants to build, determine the best approach, and figure out what phase one, phase two, and phase three should look like. So that's kind of how we work. For our clients, it's not just, “Let us develop it for you.” It's also about the creative side, the messaging, and the user experience. It's about making sure that when someone downloads the app—or visits the website or web application—it serves its purpose. It's a problem-solving product. It needs to solve a problem so users keep coming back again and again. And then we help grow it to new audiences. That's when it starts to scale and become exponential. Does that make sense? Yeah. So I’m wondering, you work from the idea forward, or you work from the outcome backwards? What’s the approach?  That's a great question. Not everyone knows the outcome right away. When someone has both an idea and a clear outcome, it works better, right? Because then you can help them get to that outcome. But overall, the outcomes are usually very high-level. You know: “I want to build this web application or software because I'm targeting this audience.” Okay—but what does that really mean? What problem are you solving? To be honest with you, ninety percent of people don't really know what problems they should be solving at the initial stage. So, talking about frameworks, we work with them to define which problems they should solve first. Because most startups—or even profitable companies trying to add new technology into their workflow or business—often don't know what one or two problems they should solve for the MVP before going all in. Yeah. Okay, so step one is to define the problem. What's step two?  Make sure you have the right audience for that problem. That's a big issue. A lot of times, people try to serve everyone. You don't want to go too broad, and you don't want to go too narrow. If you go too narrow, you're going to hit a ceiling before you even go to market.  So you determine the audience for the problem you're trying to solve, right?  Correct.  And then what's the next step?  Once you determine the audience and define the problem, the next best step is to create some kind of prototype and actually take it to that audience to test for product-market fit. Meaning: get feedback. Again, it doesn't have to be a fully working product. But go to that audience and get feedback like: “Yes, this solves my problem,” and “Yes, I would pay for it.” Or even better—for them to actually exchange some money to join a waitlist or gain access to an early version of the product, so they can test it and provide feedback. That's the best-case scenario. Because once you have that input, it becomes much easier to make adjustments. It doesn't matter whether those adjustments are in the design or in the actual working product—you're refining it for that niche audience. Yeah, that makes sense. So you design the prototype or minimum viable product, then you test it and get feedback. Then what do you do?  Well, I want to clarify something. Designing a prototype and having a minimum viable product can be two separate things.  Okay.  You can design a prototype. Again, it can be designed in Figma, using an AI builder, or even just as a workflow or user flow. Obviously now, things are a little different because you can build prototypes much faster. That doesn't mean they're going to be production-ready. But a minimum viable product is usually focused on solving one or two specific problems for that market. It's a problem-solving product that actually works—meaning it's much closer to being production-ready. Yeah.  So those are two separate things. There's a very big difference between them.  Yeah, because now you have vibe coding, and with tools like Lovable—or whatever platform you're using—you can create a prototype quickly. But it's not necessarily going to work, and then you still have to build the actual working product. Correct. Yes, I agree. Then you test it, expose it to the target market, and gather feedback. And then what do you do? Do you iterate? What's the next step? You iterate, yeah. So at that point, ideally, you have product-market fit, you've received great feedback from users, and—best-case scenario—they've even paid you some money. Then you either expand on what has already been built, or you go all in: invest more money into it and start building a production-ready product. And once you have that, you may realize that you also need to improve the user interface. That happens a lot—especially if you vibe-coded it. The output usually isn't the best when it comes to user interface design or user experience. So you may need to redesign the interface, properly develop it, and then take a production-ready application to market. And then it goes back into the cycle of iteration. Meaning, you keep gathering feedback. This is why I often recommend not adding too many features in the beginning. Focus on one or two core features—one or two main user flows within those features. That's it. Forget about everything else. Yeah. And then you can add features later.  You can always add features later. Most of the time, if you add too many features in the beginning, you'll probably end up cutting at least 40% of them because people just won't use them. And I'm not talking about core features like sign-up, sign-in, forgot password, onboarding, authentication—that kind of stuff. Obviously, you need those. But you still have to figure out who your audience is. Do you need SMS login? Do you need email login? Do you need both? Do you need social logins? You have to make sure you clearly understand your audience—but you don't need everything all at once. You may eventually need all of it, but not in the beginning. Yeah, that's true. So you've worked with other businesses, which means you're primarily a business-to-business agency, right?  Business-to-business, business-to-government—we've also built business-to-consumer apps as well. But usually, our client is a business-to-business.  Yeah. So here's my question: In B2B, how do you gain people's trust so they'll even engage with your product? I understand there's a funnel—but how do you get businesses into the top of that funnel? How do you create that initial trust so they engage? What does it take? Many things. Content helps, obviously. Creating content like this, creating videos—I create videos on a regular basis talking about what's out there, what's possible, what's good, what's bad. Kind of the everyday life of an agency, and the type of work we do. We also post projects on different directories and platforms. A lot of previous clients come back to us, and we get many client referrals. We rank pretty well for SEO and AEO, so a lot of people find us through ChatGPT. Especially because that's one of the services we offer. People find us when searching for things like “best app developers” or “best website designers” in our specific area. We're not targeting nationwide rankings—that's much harder and a much longer-term strategy. But in our area—Maryland, Howard County, Columbia—we rank very high.  And what does it take to rank high in AEO—in AI search?  It's the same approach we take to rank in Google. Google obviously owns Gemini, and now there's Google AI Overview. It's really a real-estate play. If you have a website that's properly structured for Google—with some adjustments for semantic search, like adding question-and-answer content to every page, especially product and service pages—you improve your chances significantly. You also need a properly configured robots.txt file with clear descriptions, so when search crawlers reach your site, they can immediately understand the structure and know where to go. When you see sources cited in AI search, that's exactly what those systems are reading from your site.  You also need the right technical setup: Your website has to be fast. You need proper H1, H2, and H3 structure across the site. So overall, it's about having a properly structured website. If you follow strong SEO fundamentals, with additional improvements specifically for AEO and GEO—because now it's not just SEO anymore, it's SEO, AEO, and GEO—you'll usually appear in ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI search tools. And your Google Business Profile and Google Maps listing are properly optimized—which has changed a lot recently on Google's side as well—you'll also show up more often in local AI search results. So isn't it true that AI search looks for different kinds of signals than traditional SEO? I've heard, for example, that backlinks are less important in AI search than they used to be. They're not as important for AI search, but backlinks still carry a lot of weight. Again, you have to think about this as two separate systems, right? There's Google Search—with Google AI Overview and featured snippets—and then there's Google Maps. You don't need a website just to appear on Google Maps. You mainly need a properly optimized Google Business Profile. And you can still show up in AI search that way. Having a website does help, because it sends another signal to Google, but it's not as critical. The most important thing—and I'll answer your question for both cases—is consistency and structure. For Google Maps, if you have a properly maintained Google Business Profile with constant updates—blog posts, videos, photos, and business updates—that teaches Google AI what your business does. So you want updated product pages, images, descriptions, and location details if you're location-based.  All of that educates Google, which helps you rank higher on Google Maps. And like I said, Google Maps ranks very well in AI search. Now, if you also have a website, that's even better. And on your website, it helps to embed your Google Map as well, because that reinforces another signal from Google Maps. For example, some of our clients have multiple locations, so we include Google Maps with all their locations on the site—and that helps. Then you also create location pages, just like you create product pages or service pages. Google—and AI systems in general—don't really rank entire websites. They rank individual pages. That's why top-of-funnel content is usually blog posts or educational content answering someone's problem. Then that written or video content leads users to a service page or product page. That's basically how it works. Does that make sense? Yeah, that's very interesting. So if I want to increase my AI ranking… one of my clients told me that if your clients post about you on Reddit, that can be really powerful and help drive AI search visibility. Is that true? Reddit and Quora are very powerful. Very powerful. They rank very high. Listen, I'll give you a simple example that anybody can use. If you go to Quora or Reddit and look at the questions people are asking—for example, let's say you search for “app development”—you can filter by questions and literally see what people are asking. If you answer those questions in a natural way, related to your service or product, and include a backlink—not in a salesy way, but naturally—that's a very strong backlink. And speaking of backlinks: they're still relevant. Maybe they don't carry as much weight as they used to, but they're still very valuable.  Because when Google or AI systems evaluate content—and when you search in ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and see sources—those sources are essentially citations and backlinks. So if your website has strong citations and is properly structured, it absolutely helps you get discovered. You just need to make sure everything is set up correctly so Google—or any other search system—understands what your content means. But yes, to answer your question directly: Reddit and Quora are excellent for visibility because they're high-authority websites with massive traffic and very strong domain ratings. Yeah. That’s great. So Google Maps, Reddit, Quora, they are big drivers. That’s great.  Huge drivers. I mean, listen, there are many others—but social media has become huge over the past two years. Before, if you made a Reel on Instagram, you wouldn't be able to find it through Google search. But in the past couple of years, they opened that up. Why do you think they did that? Because they understand the value of content. Just like YouTube—where you can find videos through specific keywords—they want Instagram videos to be discoverable through Google Search and AI search. And then those searches lead people back to their platform. If someone who isn't already an Instagram user discovers content they like—a creator they like—they may sign up for Instagram because of it. So yeah, all of this ties back to backlinks and discoverability. It's really about how you use those backlinks. I mean, YouTube has been a huge driver for people looking for answers or trying to learn almost anything. So yeah, that's kind of how it works. It's one big spiderweb. Yes. It’s interesting. So basically, the more content I have and the more content other people post about me in credible sites, whether it’s Reddit, Quora, YouTube, social media, and they all point to my website or web pages, then the more it’s going to be discoverable by AI. That’s kinda makes sense.  You're definitely going to become more discoverable. But again, if it's just “Steve Preda,” that alone may not be valuable unless someone is specifically searching for your name. Now, if people are responding to or discussing how to apply a specific framework—and someone is searching for that framework that relates to your content—then it becomes relevant. Does that make sense?  Yeah. Yeah, understand. Yeah. Absolutely. Let me ask you this. If you could have a magic wand and fix one thing inside your company in the next 12 months, what would that be?  That’s an interesting question. I don’t know. I think I'd be very interested in applying more AI agents so they can help drive the business and support more growth. Overall, I just want healthy growth—making sure we're happy with the work we're doing, and that our clients are happy with the work we deliver. Because that leads to better outcomes, longer-term relationships, and healthier growth for the company. I mean, my ultimate goal at some point is probably to grow the company and eventually sell it. If we're happy with what we're doing, and our clients are happy with the work we're delivering, I think that growth will happen organically. Yeah. And what do you need to make the company sellable in your perspective?  Having strong, scalable systems—and AI is going to help with a lot of that.  So do you believe that a company with only AI employees—at the extreme—could still become a very valuable company? No, I'm not saying we should rely only on AI, and I'm definitely not planning to let go of any employees. What I'm saying is that AI can help with certain smaller tasks that sometimes get missed or forgotten. That's a perfect fit for AI. For example, even during conversations—if a project manager is handling several clients at once—we usually need updates on what was discussed. Yes, AI can record the conversation, but more importantly: what are the actionable next steps? And from those action items, what has already been completed, and what still needs to be done? Those are the kinds of things AI agents can help with—tasks that don't necessarily require a human. That way, time isn't wasted and can instead be used more effectively to make sure things are getting done and that we're reaching the outcome you mentioned earlier. What is your opinion about controlling AI agents? What is the level of risk? Not just about someone maybe doing a prompt injection and kind of hijacking your agents, but losing control of the agents in terms of complexity. So do you see a risk there that someone could kind of unleash these agents and somehow not be able to control them, or the quality of their work? Could they not control that? Or something changes and the agents get impacted—maybe a software update or something like that? Is this a thing, or is that not a concern? I think there should definitely always be guardrails. For example, right now we're building a platform with AI to gather RFPs, review them, score them, and actually create outputs—like the structure of the RFP. But before they get submitted, an actual person reviews them. I think there should always be final approval by a human—unless it becomes such a perfect system. I mean, it's software, right? At a certain point, can something go wrong? Yes. Especially with updates—unless you own the full process from beginning to end. Yeah, I think there's always a risk, but there's always a risk with software.  There should definitely be some guardrails, no doubt about it. I don't think it should be the last step before a human approves it and actually—for this RFP example—submits the response to whatever platform. I think a human should always review and approve it to make sure everything is working properly. But I think you can save a lot of time. For example, instead of us doing two or three RFPs a month, we can do ten or fifteen. I mean, the quality isn't really changing. It's structure. It's answering what they're asking for. So if it fits the criteria we're looking for, we still spend time reviewing it. I mean, we got an RFP the other day that was 150 pages. It would probably take two days just to read it. And at a certain point, you're like, “You know what? This isn't a good fit.” So it saves time. It just creates more efficiency. But there should definitely be guardrails and structure for sure, and a human should be involved in the loop. That I agree with you on. Okay. It's a big topic. One of the thoughts is that at some point AI is talking to AI. Like in hiring—you see these big recruiting companies using AI to filter resumes, and then applicants use AI to write resumes that fit what the filters are looking for. And at some point, the authenticity or credibility of those resumes begins to fade because it's all prearranged. So then the whole purpose of filtering employees starts to diminish. Do you think this kind of thing might happen with RFPs too? Maybe. Very possible. I wouldn't be surprised if it's not happening already. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely very possible. There are already several platforms that find RFPs. They work a little differently. We're building specifically for our own purpose. I do want to document the process to kind of show, “Hey, here's what can be done.” But yeah, it's very possible, for sure. Listen, if you're relying on a regular process to get a job, then you're probably not going to get the job. There are a lot more people looking for work right now. I don't know if you heard about Microsoft—and I think Tesla too—but companies are letting people go left and right. Microsoft is offering long-term employees buyouts. And by long-term employees, I mean people who are probably older and maybe not as knowledgeable or experienced with AI.  It's like, “Hey, let us buy you out so you can retire a little earlier.” So this is happening. If you're going through the same regular hiring process as everyone else, you're competing against 500 or 1,000 other people for the same job. Obviously, it's an employer's market right now, not an employee's market. If you're trying to get a job, it shouldn't just be through the regular process. It should be through people you know. Networking is going to have even more value. Personal connections matter, and people knowing, “Hey, this person actually spoke to me the right way.” You should also know how to use AI, because that's going to give you an edge in getting a job. But actually speaking to someone should happen through networking and connections. Yeah, that's my feeling too—that human interaction is actually going to increase dramatically in value. Because authenticity… that's really the only way to verify authenticity: being face-to-face with someone, a real physical person. That's fascinating. Yeah. But I'll tell you—like I said, I post videos on a regular basis. My mom asked me the other day, “Max, are you using AI, or is it really you?” I said, “No, it's really me. It's not AI.” So it's funny because AI is getting so good that you're not always sure what's real anymore. And even with RFPs—it's not just about submitting proposals or resumes. Personal and human connection is going to become more valuable than ever. If I personally knew every buyer putting out an RFP, I'd rather talk to them directly, one hundred percent. Because it becomes a completely different process.  Yeah, that's spot on. Love it. So, great information. I love the framework: define the problem, determine the audience, create a prototype, build the MVP, test it, and then iterate. That's how you build a digital product—whether it's a website or an app. So if you're out there looking for a solution, Max Kryzhanovskiy and MOS Creative may have the solution for you. So if people would like to connect with Max Kryzhanovskiy and MOS Creative, where can they reach you? People can reach us through our website: www.moscreative.com. They can also find me on LinkedIn under Max Kryzhanovskiy or MOS Creative. They can fill out a form on our website or email us at info@moscreative.com. Fantastic. So if you want an AI-driven platform, definitely reach out to Max. So Max, thank you for coming and sharing your ideas. And I love that you have such a strong vision for AI and that you're actively experimenting within your company, which means your clients will benefit from that as well. And if you enjoyed this conversation, then stay tuned, because every week a successful entrepreneur comes on the show and shares their ideas and frameworks. So thanks for coming, Max—and thank you for listening. Thank you. Important Links: Max's LinkedIn Max's website Max's email: info@moscreative.com

Law firms sell experience — but for decades, harnessing and operationalizing that experience has been a largely manual, chaotic process. In this episode, recorded live at the Legal Marketing Association annual conference in New Orleans, host Bob Ambrogi sits down with Jason Noble, president and chief of product strategy at Ikaun, to talk about how his company is changing that. Ikaun is a managed service and technology platform that helps law firms streamline the proposal and RFP response process — from capturing and organizing matter experience data to using AI to assemble and draft competitive pitches. Jason explains how the platform works, how the arrival of generative AI transformed what was previously possible, and why Ikaun positions itself as a managed service rather than a self-serve SaaS tool. Jason and Bob also get into the bigger picture of how law firms are responding to AI-driven changes in the competitive landscape, whether the billable hour can survive in an AI-augmented world, and whether the RFP process itself will look the same in the years ahead — or whether we're moving toward a future where agents are submitting and responding to proposals with minimal human involvement.   Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out.   Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, MerusCase and LollyLaw; the e-payments platform Headnote; and the legal accounting software TrustBooks. Briefpoint, eliminating routine discovery response and request drafting tasks so you can focus on drafting what matters (or just make it home for dinner).   Chapters   (00:00) Introduction to ICON and Legal Tech Innovations (02:30) Jason Noble's Journey and Background (05:20) The Evolution of ICON and Its Focus (07:09) Experience Management in Legal Firms (10:30) Gathering Experience Data in Litigation (11:48) How ICON's Platform Works (14:05) The Impact of AI on Proposal Processes (18:07) Current Landscape of RFP Responses (20:31) Differentiating ICON from Competitors (22:45) Knowledge Management vs. Experience Management (24:01) Tailoring Solutions for Law Firms (25:49) Qualities of Successful Law Firms (27:24) Law Firms' Response to AI Integration (29:54) Pricing Strategies in RFP Responses (31:21) Competitive Landscape and AI's Influence (33:27) The Future of Billable Hours (35:50) The Future of RFPs and AI's Role (39:33) Client Satisfaction and Future Directions   If you enjoy listening to LawNext, please leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.  

Government procurement has long been known for being slow, complex, and paperwork-heavy. From navigating lengthy RFPs to managing compliance requirements and proposal deadlines, both agencies and contractors often face a process that can take months—or even years—to complete. But artificial intelligence is beginning to change that.AI is rapidly transforming how organizations approach procurement by automating repetitive tasks, improving data analysis, and helping teams make faster decisions. In the government contracting world, this could mean dramatically reducing the time spent reviewing solicitations, drafting proposals, analyzing requirements, and identifying potential risks.Joining the podcast is Akash Mandavilli, CEO and Co-Founder of GovEagle. Akash is a 2x founder with previous experience in AI from Meta and federal sales from IBM. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens behind the scenes before a project bid is even accepted? The delivery outcome component of major programmes is fascinating, but a lot occurs long before procurement, design, and development get underway. Taking a step back, and behind the curtain, Riccardo, Shormila, and special co-host Evgenia Jilina, Colliers' Transit Regional Sector Director, dive deep into what happens before the Request for Proposal is published. The three infrastructure professionals explore the competitive, resource-intensive work that happens upstream: strategic positioning, RFQs and RFPs, partnership decisions, and the internal calculus of whether a proposal is worth the investment of pursuing at all. They break down why “winning” a project is rarely about a single submission moment. Preparing a proposal can cost millions, pull top talent off active work for months, and take months or even years—a lengthy span of time where assumptions, teams, and even the market can change. They make the case that capture planning is so much more than paperwork—it's the training plan behind the goal: the structure that helps organizations choose which opportunities to chase and show up with the right partners and narrative when it counts. Together, the panel tackles the uncomfortable tension at the heart of public procurement. It's a system designed to prevent influence, yet meaningful early interactions help clients clarify needs and bidders understand the real problem. In the end, a strategic but authentic engagement approach inevitably weighs into the final decision. Real success is so much more than a lucrative “win”: it's a mutually beneficial relationship where client, bidder, and the public recipients of the infrastructure all triumph. Key Takeaways: Why capture planning is essential to success, not a waste of time and money;How organizations decide which pursuits are worth prep that costs millions, months, and their best players;What successful early engagement looks like before an RFQ or RFP is issued;Why early conversations should be reframed as “engagement” rather than “influencing”;How to build bid teams around strengths and gaps instead of searching for a unicorn.Quote:“The stakes are high…you're expected from day one to start on a project that's bigger than the GDP of some small countries.” - Shormila CharterjeeThe conversation doesn't stop here—connect and converse with our community via LinkedIn:Follow Navigating Major Programmes: https://www.linkedin.com/company/navigating-major-programmes/Read Riccardo's latest at www.riccardocosentino.comFollow Riccardo Cosentino: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cosentinoriccardo/Follow Shormila Chatterjee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shormilac/Follow Evgenia Jilina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ejilina/  

Ready to find out if your brokerage is built to survive the next wave of digital disruption? What does the future of the spot market look like when instant pricing APIs and AI-driven automation become the industry standard? In this episode, Bill Driegert of DAT joined the show at the 2026 TIA Capital Ideas Conference to talk straight about the digitalization of freight! We highlight why operational excellence must come before automation, the shift toward app-centric carriers, and why even the most "old-school" brokers need to start experimenting with different tools to audit their P&Ls and optimize their RFPs!   About Bill Driegert Bill is the EVP of Convoy Platform at DAT and oversees the shipper and carrier business segments. He was previously the EVP of Trucking at Flexport and the co-founder and Head of Operations at Uber Freight, Uber's logistics business. Bill began his career in freight as the fourth employee at Coyote Logistics (acquired by UPS), where he grew the role to Chief Innovation Officer. Prior to joining Uber, he served as COO at Pillow Homes. He also spent time at Amazon as Director of Planning and Innovation. Bill holds an M.A. in Supply Chain from MIT, an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. from Southern Methodist University.  

On May 31 – June 2, in NYC, the industry-defining NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference is taking place. In this Suite Spot episode we are pulling back the curtain on what to expect at this year's landmark event. Joining us on the Suite Spot is Alexi Khajavi, President of Hospitality, Travel, and Real Estate at Questex. In this exclusive preview, Alexi breaks down the 2026 NYU IHIF agenda and shares why this year's gathering is more critical than ever for hospitality leaders, hoteliers, and investors.  Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree here with another hospitality event preview with a very familiar guest, very excited about this conversation. It’s spring, so right around the corner, we know what’s next, one of the premier events of the hospitality event calendar. Here to talk with me, a frequent guest, Alexi Khajavi, Questex, President, Hospitality and Real Estate. Alexi, thank you so much for joining me again here on the Suite Spot. Alexi Khajavi: Ryan, great to see you. Great to be back. Ryan Embree: Yes, it has been too long since we last spoke. We were out in Denver together at the Hospitality Show there on stage. Alexi, you were talking about everything that happened over the course of an entire year. I feel like from October to where we sit right now, in the middle of spring, it’s felt like a complete change. Whirlwind. I’m not even sure if when this episode’s released how much there could be even more change, but since then, so ground us. Give us a little sense of the state of hospitality and the sentence EE everything that you’re feeling right now. Alexi Khajavi: What we saw each other end of October in Denver, just at the conclusion of the hospitality show. And I guess, yeah, to your point, every day is, like an like a year or or seven years for that matter. So, six months on I mean, some consistencies, and I suppose the consistency is the volatility just in the geopolitics, macroeconomics, local state of affairs. And that does have a knock on effect on, on tourism and hospitality certainly. But some of the themes are consistent and that is that it is a, a continued challenging operational environment. rev pars have which we talked about rev pars, we were starting to see some normalization after they had been really on a only an up into the right performance for the prior three years. We started seeing that slowing down in Q3, Q4 of last year. And that has continued. One of the, the aspects, and a lot of people are talking about it, is a Ks shaped economy. And so you’re still seeing some, some interesting and pretty exciting, RevPAR ADR growth on the luxury side of that upper part of the K, if you will. And in the lower K of the market, you’re, you’re seeing increasing and continued challenges. Right? And I think everyone is sort of asking two questions around that, which is one is how much more runway of growth does the luxury market have? And then in on, on the sort of upper upscale midscale and economy, is the economic conditions going to encourage a trading down of the consumer. Speaking to David Pepper, for example, from Choice yesterday, they are seeing some positive RevPAR growth in that upper upscale, which, they’ve got a lot of hotel stock in. So I think the question is and we’re seeing some data that the customer is still traveling. They still see both on the leisure sh leisure side from the experience economy, travel as not being discretionary and not being something that they’re willing to give up, but something that they may trade down for make it more economical, domestic tourism, and drive to staycations those types of things versus the international travel, which certainly was in demand for the last three years. Corporate travel, I think that’s, that’s directly tied to GDP and the economy. But again, corporate travel has actually been coming back. It lagged leisure tourism recovery. So that’s been, performing quite well. Again, business is done face to face. It’s why we do live events in the, in, in, in the sectors in which we serve. So, continued operational challenge, questions around demand, a lot of impact from AI on demand, and how that demand is coming to your brand.com or to your property website, how they’re searching. SEO is in massive disruption. So, it’s not a typical recovery at this point. It’s, it’s fragmented, it’s bifurcated. It depends what part of the market you are in. There’s divergent recovery that’s sort of replacing that, that high tide lifts all boats. That uneven demand is translating into really kind of diversity of performance. And so it depends what markets you’re in. So the operating side is, is is tough. It is becoming harder and it is becoming more expensive. And yet there are some tools out there, AI and others, and technology generally that’s offering a lot of opportunity for optimization, efficiency, productivity in those areas, which will flow through to the bottom line. And then we’re also seeing, kind of a bifurcation in the capital markets. On, on, on the big side, there is a ton of capital that is chasing hospitality, moving from other asset classes whether it be office or retail or industrial. And they’re moving into hospitality for all the reasons that it’s operational real estate. It’s a tailwind market from the experience economy, despite the fact that we are cyclical, right? It goes up and down, but there’s a ton of liquidity. There’s a, there’s a wall of money that’s chasing, the asset class ranging from your owner operator franchisee, which is looking to grow from three properties to 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, whatever it may be, to institutional capital, which really never looked at a hospitality in general. So that’s creating more diversity in the type of investors which is coming into the market. So again, all of that challenge could unlock the transaction market. And then with those transactions, we see this regeneration of capital CapEx is deployed, and that’s really good for the industry. I mean, nobody likes to see falling net operating incomes, in running hotels. But that being said, it means that people have to be hyper-focused on how to run those hotels more efficiently. Why we run the hospitality show. And at the same time, NYU coming up, a lot of new capital coming into the market, a lot of capital chasing that, trying to figure out where the deals are, where to deploy that capital. And again, that’s why we have events like IHIF EMEA in Berlin, which was a few weeks ago. And to your point, NYU IHIF coming up in five weeks. Ryan Embree: It’s so many storylines in our industry right now that we’re chasing. We’d even touch on the upcoming summer, summer World Cup and events like the Olympics here in a couple years that are also gonna have a massive shift in international travel, which has been down. So again, so many challenges, but also think opportunistic time right now in hospitality and being at a spot like NYU is one of those places to capture those opportunities, to learn more about that from your peers, to have those conversations. Networking, I mean, I’ll, I’ll turn our attention there with some impressive numbers from the event. 2200 delegates, 450 plus C-suite executives, 400 plus investors, and $132 billion in assets under management there. So it’s impressive, like I said, impressive feat and number that you have all gathered in, one of the hospitality meccas of the world, which is New York City. What makes this event different from other hospitality events, and why is it a really a can’t miss for, for hoteliers investors this year? Alexi Khajavi: Yeah, I would say it’s a couple of things. One which you touched upon, which is, New York City financial capital of the world, it is the gateway city for the us it is, a hospitality driven economy. But it’s also one of the most thriving, financial market economies, in the US and certainly the world as well. So, that if you were to think, where do you hold an investment forum in any sector, but for that matter, in hospitality, New York, no better place, right? The money is there, the banks are there, the professional services are there, the brokers are there and many of the, the top brands are on the Eastern Shore board from DC and Maryland, up to the city here. So, it is just simply having it in New York. Second, it’s got a 40 year history associated with the New York University and the School of Hospitality and the John Tisch Center of Hospitality. It’s the only event where a portion of every dollar and revenue spent there goes towards supporting the next generation of hospitality professionals. So, we continue to partner with NYU and the School of Professional Studies. There, it’s an incredible partnership, which we’re just privileged and delighted to continue. And the fact that labor and talent is a massive challenge for the industry that, that you’re, you’re supporting a school which is turning out some of the most talented future hospitality professionals in the world by attending or sponsoring that’s goodwill. And, and we’re just delighted to be able to support that. So, that, again, I think is another anchor for why NYU is just such a special event and is different from a lot of the other good events that are, that are out there. And then lastly, NYU is part of a global portfolio of hospitality investment forums. And so, we have our event in Berlin. We have an event in Manchester, UK. We have an event in Athens, Greece, which is focused on the branded resi and the resort, segment, which is international and frankly, one of the fastest growing segments in hospitality. And then we have our Asia event in Hong Kong. So, we’re able to still bring in that global capital, those global operators that want to do business, want to bring their brands, want to deploy capital, want to invest in the us. So it’s not just a New York show, it’s not just a US focused show, but it’s a North America event where how do operators, how do investors, and how does the ecosystem of professional services come in and facilitate and drive deals to invest in the US and North American hotel market and all those things coming together, make it vibrant, make it diverse, make it one of the most active deal making conferences in the circuit. It really is for the investors to connect, with each other, but also the rest of the segments and the stakeholders, as it’s very diverse and fragmented industry. So deals get done. I mean, it was just on a in a conversation, a few weeks ago talking about a deal that’s been, announced since then. But they met in New York last June and really kicked off those conversations there at New York. And that ultimately consummated in a deal, in the fourth quarter of, of, of last year. We know that that’s what our value proposition is, and we know that’s why people spend their time with us and invest in, in NYU and we expect it to be even more vibrant and active on the deal making side, this June. So it should be should be a good event. Ryan Embree: That’s why I was gonna say, I had the privilege of attending for the first time last year, and I think the biggest difference for me was just the energy and the buzzing, and it just, it felt like what you said, it felt like deals were moving forward, whether that was the first time someone was connecting and networking, or whether it was something where these, these deals are not done in a vacuum or a silo that they take time, they take effort, and they take meetings like this, right? This connection, sometimes it’s, especially in a challenging market, can be the thing that brings a deal across the finish line. So it was palpable in the air when we were at that event last year. And it was a, it was a who’s who in hospitality too. You turned one way as a brand leader over here. Next is a president of asset management company. It really was an an extremely impressive event. I wanna get your thoughts, Alexi. You mentioned the sister events, the IHIF emea, which just wrapped up here at the end of March, obviously completely different markets that we’re talking about, but I still think holistically, there’s probably some lessons, feedback and sentiment that you could probably share that will translate into NYU, right? And some of those themes that are gonna make it there. What was your kind of, I guess, overall sentiment about the event and how just the energy and hotelier’s feeling was around that event? Alexi Khajavi: Yeah, I mean to go back to the start of the podcast, every day, there’s been something else. There’s been a, a ton of volatility in the market, a lot of uncertainty in, in the world. We still have a, a conflict, going on in, in Europe with, Ukraine and Russia. We now have a conflict happening in the Middle East. You’ve got macroeconomic conditions of still tariffs and the inflation that is causing interest rates still remain elevated, albeit they’ve, they’ve come down, over the last sort of 12 months. Elevated however, to historical, all of that creates uncertainty in the market. And as an investor said in, in Berlin, we can, we’re very good at penciling in risk and quantifying, the impact of that risk on both present day valuation. And a 20 year IRR, what is harder to pencil in is volatility and uncertainty. The certainty of risk is fine because you can quantify, the impact that that risk will have on the business. What you can’t is the uncertainty. And so with that, what we saw in Berlin, however, is that really is driving a lot of engagement around the expertise and the speakers and the sessions. We really pride ourselves on not having the same speakers every year saying the same things. We always leave a portion of our programs sort of unfinished, if you will, or, started but un unfinished because, because of that volatility in the market. So we saw a huge amount of engagement with people in the, in the sessions, in the rooms, which is interesting because at the end of the day, it is a deal making conference. And people are in meeting rooms, they’re up in suites they’re in the lobby and they’re, they’re engaging with each other, they’re there to do business. But we saw a lot of engagement, increased engagement with the sessions that we had. We then saw those individuals that were in a session often go out of the session and engage with each other and engage with speakers. And so one of the things that we’re doing is creating content fueled networking. So, a session will then lead to a round table where the speakers will stick around and the delegates or the folks that were in that session as an audience are able to then continue that conversation and go deeper and get into an actual conversation rather than just sort of a q and a that’s, that’s tagged on at the end. So it really created a, I think, a huge amount of engagement and peer-to-peer conversations. And really, I think people seeking a perspective. When, when you’re in a volatile market, really the most important thing you can do is to, to talk to your peers, to talk to your competitors, to talk to your mentors and get different perspectives to try and create some fidelity of what didn’t work or what has working, or what are the things that you’re trying out that’s really exciting. I mean, we really love that because, an open market, a transparent market, and an engaged market on the buy side and the sell side is a more informed market. Everybody needs that, right? It just makes markets more efficient. It make every, makes everybody better operators, and it creates a transparency as to where those opportunities are. And that’s, that is a, a tide that does lift all boats. The other thing I would say, Ryan, is, is that there’s always this question in an, an investment forum, like IHIF, like NYU as to what the sentiment is. And we’ve been tracking investor sentiment for the last five years now, since, January of 2020, which was an interesting time to first sentiment. Yeah. And it’s interesting because it certainly went down during COVID, no news flash there. It quickly rose up from 22 to 21 to 24, and then it’s leveled off since then. And it’s kind of just, a few index points gone, gone up or down depending on all of this volatility Liberation day last year, which was the first day of April, if I’m not mistaken, which was actually right during IHIF was created a lot of pessimism. It, however, was replaced with some optimism as interest rates fell down. So the sentiment to that question was, was actually quite positive. I think maybe through just the density of volatility or the consistency of volatility. People are somewhat getting used to it and separating noise from substance. And, and really there are the, there are more deals coming to market. We are seeing a diversification of capital coming into the market, lot of high net worth, lot of family office, a lot of institutional capital, sovereign wealth pension funds. And what that’s creating is more demand. So you’re starting, when we talk to the brokers, you’re starting to see a number of underbids in terms of a mandate comes to the market. A transaction occurred, but there was 6, 7, 8 under bidders in that transaction that shows interest, it shows appetite and it shows that the bid ask gap to a certain extent is narrowing. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean in all cases that valuations have come down. I think buyers would like them to, but at the end of the day, I think capital, and we’re seeing capital become more confident and have more conviction in the market, but that also there are regeneration opportunities through CapEx deployment, through repositioning and through other levers that they have to pull, that they can take an asset that is performing at x and through CapEx and better operations and better plans, better brand, make it X plus y. And that was really the sentiment coming out of Berlin that the market is opening up, that there is a diversity of capital coming into it that’s creating a lot more demand and through a number of different sort of challenges, or let’s just say realities on the operator side, you are seeing a higher interest in selling. And I think that that will start to, to narrow the bid ask gap and look the unlocking of the market. We’ve been waiting for it for two, three years. It’s been a challenging market, but I think everyone’s seeing some optimism. I think the wishlist is, is that we reduce the amount of volatility in the market, but that’s an uncontrollable from your and and my perspective, we don’t have much control of that. Ryan Embree: Yeah. But I think the industry’s skin is, is thickening to that, right? And we’ve talked about that, how it’s our new normal is the constant state of change. And I also think it’s something, I’m not sure if we’ve talked about or thought about this too much, but we really saw worst case scenario just six years ago of being like, where everything dropped to none. When we’re assessing risk, we’re a lot more battle test. This industry is a lot more battle tested than maybe previous than it had previously. So some of these uncontrollables, like you mentioned, that yes, they are headwinds, yes, they are challenges, but it’s those investors right now that see opportunities that assess that risk and say there could be some really, really great upside at a at a time right now. And one of the places also where there is a lot of uncertainty, but I would, I would almost phrase it in the sense of a, of a positive uncertainty is the impact that AI is gonna have on our business in the future. And the gains and dividends that we can yield from those have really just scratch the surface. And we talked about this, and I wanna bring that into the conversation ’cause it’s hard to not talk about it anymore, right? It, I think we don’t go a, a podcast episode without bringing it up and people filling out their bingo cards on AI and technology. But I want, I wanna take us back to where we were a year ago, and maybe we can do this an exercise. Alexi, what would you grade right now, our industry, which historically has been maybe on the lighter end of the spectrum of a technology adoption, but what would you, what grade would you give it? Because I think we’re at this weird inflection point where hoteliers and brands and management companies and really everybody’s starting to look and saying, alright, we’ve implemented some ai. Where are the dividends? Where are the results? How do I measure these successes? What, what grade would you give and how do you think we can improve there? Alexi Khajavi: You know, that’s a, that’s a great question because it’s not an easy one to answer. Sure and not to cop out of giving you a specific answer, I would give it a a non-applicable, because the reality is, is that technology as a whole, in terms of using technology as a tool to optimize the hospitality market, I would certainly give ourselves a c plus. I think that’s historically been where we have failed for many reasons, which we can we don’t need to go into right , we know, we know that. But I think, I think AI right now is there is an overestimation of its impact on the near term, and there’s an under appreciation for its impact on, on the long term. Love that that’s, that’s quickly, quickly changing. I mean, if you, to your point, if you just look at the last six months, massive wholesale change, and I, so I think that that’s changing very quickly that people are starting to appreciate this. This is enormous, both in its capacity to be a force of good as well as its capacity to be a, a force of bad, to sort of broadly call it as such. But that being said, I think there’s sort of two themes around ai. One is on the, on the sort of operational side, AI has, has largely, I think been distributed as a individual choice through the industry and the departments. And the overall, whether you’re on the brand side or the operator side or the investor side, I know that there are mandates and there are committees and everybody’s sort of got their own playbook to how they’re using ai. But at the end of the day, it’s gonna come down to any individual that’s using it or not using it in their respective role. And that’s all over the map. Some people are using it, some people are not. And, and frankly, I think those that are using it are going to be better off for their r and d and just their effort to try and figure it out. Because the more you use it, the better off you become at using. It’s, it’s a tool like any tool, right? You, you need how to use how to use that tool in order for it to do the job you want it to do. So in that case, I think we’re probably no different than some other industries, which are certainly spending a lot of money on it and trying to figure it out. The other aspect of it though, that I think is really interesting is that it is already changing, particularly those frontline manager roles. A GM, for example, that is using AI will have more time to do the things that a GM should be doing, rather than all of the back office stuff, which AI can do at scale and at pace, and to a high degree of quality with oversight and q and a being done, not just to let AI go do all those things, but that, that frees up your general manager to go do the things that really drives guest satisfaction. Respond to RFPs, take care of guests, drive revenue, be present in the local market so that you’re capturing demand drivers, in your local city or wherever you may be. So, I think if that individual GM is using AI effectively to free them up to do what a GM really should be doing, and probably why that person went into being a GM in the first place, then I think we’re gonna start to see the progress. But we haven’t really started to measure it yet. I also see on the positive side, other industries, IE healthcare are also realizing that AI is doing a lot of back office work at a very high level, or high degree of, of quality. And that’s now freeing up their own people. And what they’re finding is, is that maybe we should be engaging, empowering those roles in a hospital or healthcare broadly to be taking care of patients in a more human hospitable way. And so, in some degree, I think the long-term impact will be that other industries are now going to start looking at hospitality as being a, at the vanguard of driving human powered experiences that will drive back to revenue and premiumization and ultimately profits. So we’ve always looked to other industries for, God, we’re, so, we’re Luddites, how do you do this? What, how do teach us in hospitality? I, I think we’re going to start to see other industries look to us to, how do you actually take care of a guest, a customer for that matter? How do you do that to create loyalty to, to a, to increase average order value or ticket receipts. So I think that’s the opportunity to answer your question in terms of one area that I think is directly and already being deeply impacted is distribution and search. Search is been a, a topic of discussion for the last 30 years. And we’ve largely gone through this used SEO to fine, the white hat, the black hat the right levers to pull your all tags, your meditechs, I mean, the whole thing, right? Brand equity, la la, la. Well, AI replaces all that in one fell swoop, and nobody really knows how that’s going to play out. But on the sort of doomsday perspective, it completely wipes out your brand equity online in a search engine. On the positive side, it reinforces it because AI is simply pulling from algorithms and behaviors on the internet to sort of drive, it’s, it’s results. But again, we don’t know the answer to that. And I think already revenue management, sales and marketing distribution, those are the areas where I think in the next six months, we’re gonna be having a conversation that is gonna be completely different than the conversation we’re having today. And we’re gonna be focusing a lot on that because that is one of the areas that today is being completely upended. Ryan Embree: I one hundred percent agree with you. I think that’s where a lot of the hunger and the appetite and thirst for knowledge right now of why maybe there’s more engagement in those sessions than you’ve seen before, is because I think people are starting to, if they haven’t already started to understand the gravity of where we’re at in this inflection point and the massive disruption that this is going to cause and do not want to be left behind. And I think you’re right. There was a fascinating point you made in there about the GM and their role, and we all, the big fears around AI are, are AI replacing jobs? And I would say when it comes to hospitality, it could really upend what the, the role of a job, right? Your GM might start looking a lot more like the GM of 40 years ago when you first got into hospitality, or where you weren’t having to do those tasks. And we almost have to learn this new job. It might be the same title as general manager, but you’re doing completely different things, which is a fascinating topic to talk about because we’ve been training these young hospitality professionals in the way of what a GM is today. That role could look completely different here in the next three to five based on the, on the speed and acceleration of these, of AI tasks that they’re doing. So it, I could talk about it all the time. We do talk about it all the time, I feel like, but it’ll be very interesting to see that impact that it’s making. I wanna switch back to NYU, and this is one of my favorite questions because there’s so much intention in these, in these shows, and that’s why I love doing these episode, these preview episodes, because you get to, to learn all the work that goes in, you’ve told me before you start on these events, day after, sometimes even now hours after that first one ended. So this year’s theme sharpening the edge. Talk to us a little bit about how the team settled on this and, and the story behind it and how you’ve incorporated it into the programming a little bit. Alexi Khajavi: Yeah, I mean, sharpening the edge is, an ode to the investment, nature of the event. It’s a deal making conference and it’s in New York. And so it’s a very sort of public market Wall Street saying, where do you find your edge or where do you find your alpha compared to another investor? If all you’re doing is chasing, the broad returns of a market or an asset class for that much, or for that matter, then you’re, you’re gonna be, at the whipping end of the overall broader market. It’s not a good place to be in a volatile market like this. And it doesn’t drive the outsized returns that investors are looking for. So it really is a tip of the, the cap to where we are. We’re in New York, we have a lot of Wall Street, public Market, New York Stock Exchange, synergies there, Sarah Eisen from CNBC, comes up and moderates the CEO panel. Most of the CEOs head down for interviews, on Wall Street and CNBC and Squawk Box and so forth. And we have that partnership still with CNBC this year. So, but as you shift it to what’s happening in the capital markets as it relates to real estate and more specifically to hospitality, private equity has been the dominant capital type in hotel investment. And that’s been the case for the last decade. And today that’s really no longer the case. It’s PE is still extremely active, but it’s more diversified in terms of across investor types. So we’re seeing, again, as I said, family offices, high net worth, a lot of sovereign, a lot of institutional capital that is growing materially, that is looking to hospitality to, to deploy capital. And with that, you’re seeing a lot of opportunities around value add. PE is really your value add investor, right? They’re looking for an underperforming asset or an asset that has the ability to perform at a higher level that’s sharpening the edge, that’s driving alpha. And so PE is really looking at this as a great opportunity as institutional capital comes in and is looking for stable, more stable returns, securitized assets, and an annuity like return over a longer hold period. It’s a great opportunity for private equity to exit in a market in which it’s been tough to exit. That being said, global hotel and fund allocations in hospitality and real estate has been tough, but it’s growing and it’s coming back. And so you’ve got a lot more money coming back into the market. And, and that’s really, a positive thing. We having events across Asia, Europe, and the us it allows for us to drive that cross-border capital. US capital has been less active, but despite all the challenges, we still see a lot of, international capital, which wants to invest in the us. So that kind of diversification of capital is a real, real positive for the market. It, it means more liquidity, it means more exit opportunities to get off, on the off ramp for PE or any other investor. As more capital comes in, it offers more opportunities to exit. It provides or, or enables less sort of seasonality, if you will, in the marketplace, right? There’s less of that volatility in the marketplace as all as well. So really the sharpening the edge is about having the education, the networking, and the quality of people in the room that have the money are looking to deploy and know how to create alpha. Getting those individuals together to hear from each other, engage with one another, and ultimately, build relationships with the ecosystem that helps a deal get done, transact that transacts, underwrites that deal, and then drives that alpha from an operating value creation perspective. Those are the folks that are in the room at NYU. Ryan Embree: And you’re right in the middle of it. I mean, I remember waking up at the, the marquee and seeing Chris Nasetta on CNBC and a few hours later seeing him just a couple hundred feet up on stage in front of me. I mean, that’s the possibilities right there. Alexi Khajavi: And talking to people, right? I mean, this is the beauty of the hospitality industry is there’s really good people, right? They’re just, at the end of the day, you may be running a public company, and on TV, you’re sitting there talking to a franchisee of a Hampton that wants to meet the CEO. So it really kind of creates this very magical engagement where the fifth floor, sixth floor, seventh floor, eighth floor of the marquee are just a hive of activity with the best and the brightest from a franchisee to Chris Nasetta, to your point, there’s not many places that create that access and that transparency and cross engagement from such a diverse, but focused, sector, as NYU. So it’s a real, real special place to be. Ryan Embree: A thousand percent. And last year you used this forum to really get us fired up for some of the sessions in educations. And now you’re talking about, especially with your experience here earlier in the year, people being more open to that, being more thirsty and, and hungry for that information, looking up and down the programming. Because we know you spoke to last year the detail and depth that your team goes to create these panels, and sometimes even putting on stage opinions that differ, that go head to head to one another, to try to get that friction to try to get a rise out of that engagement. Looking up and down the agenda this year, which sessions, if you had to pick a few, do you have your eyes on? Alexi Khajavi: Well, there’s some, some obvious ones, but always at NYU, we’ve got some, some exciting ones as well. And the first one, our first session actually Monday morning, Anthony Scaramucci, the Mooch, who is an investor himself actually owns a restaurant as well, but certainly, podcaster and just an expert, on the economy, politics, the Trump administration having worked, I think 10 days, there, if I’m not mistaken. So, he’s gonna kick us off. We always have a marquee name that’s relevant to the industry, but he really has his finger on the pulse as to, one, what are all the geopolitics and the macroeconomics, in the overall state of the economy and the country, what impact is that having on the investment markets on where the opportunities are? Alexi Khajavi: And as he runs a restaurant what is he seeing? What does he think specifically of the hotel space? So I think that’s, again, that’s, that’s just not something that you get at any of the other hotel investment forums, but you get that and you’ll get it right, served with breakfast on Monday morning. So we kick off big and we kick off bold on Monday. Obviously Monday has, is a great day. We have the CEO council on Monday as well. Or sorry, the CEO panel that’s the five top brands, again, interviewed by Sarah Eisen, which they have a great rapport with. And that really does set the tone for what they’re seeing as the opportunities. Clearly they are on top of demand and where RevPAR and ADRs and occupancies are going, how they’re performing and what the differences are by chain scale. There will be a lot of conversation around how much gas in the tank does luxury have I’m sure you’ll hear differing views on that. And then are we gonna see a return to some of the midscale and upper upscale, as potentially people trade down but still travel and where’s economy, where’s extended stay? We’ve also seen these brands make some interesting investments in new concepts, graduate hotels, which is last year, yo hotels glamping and branded resi. That’s a big day. In fact, we’ve got a full day of content on branded resi with active developers developing properties right now that are branded resi mix of hotel, mixed use, retail, hospitality and so forth. And then capital markets. Capital markets our Cap Talks session is probably one of our most popular, and that’ll be a mix of both active US investors as well as foreign capital, international capital investors, sovereign Wealth, as well as private equity, which continue to look to deploy capital in the US. Alexi Khajavi: We then have Danny Meyer, who’s the founder, and CEO of Union Square Hospitality, Shake Shack. And obviously a number of other incredible Union Square restaurants in the city here. But and then you’ve got your breakouts where you will be focusing a lot on the investment development market. Asset management is a key thing, how do you drive Alpha through the operations of these hotels? So there’s a ton of content. We’ve left a lot of time for networking. We know that’s where the deal making is the eighth floor, which is the lobby level. We’ve extended the event to include the Broadway Lounge, which is this beautiful lounge overlooking Times Square. We’ll have, food and beverage in there throughout the days. Great space to network amongst all the delegates, including the ninth floor where we’ve got Marriott and Hilton taking that space. So it’s just a ton going on. And the program’s out, it’s 90% there. We still got a few couple of marquee names that we’re going to announce over the next few weeks. But really, if you’re gonna be, if you’re in hospitality, investment development and operations where you’re driving Alpha, there really is no other place to be on the first and 2nd of June. You’ve gotta be there. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I can attest to it again, first time last year have the privilege of attending officially announcing the Suite Spot will be back at NYU this year. We can’t wait. Our associate producer’s gonna be traveling with me this time. This is her first time. And there is even a first timers meet and greet that you do as well at the event, which I had the privilege of partaking in networking last year. What type of tips for any hoteliers investors that might be considering or even attending the first time, what, what one piece of advice would you drill down for this event as the best piece? Ryan Embree: I would definitely get on the app. I know that the serendipitous meeting, which to your point, you bump into the CEO of Hilton or Marriott for that matter, is great. And that’s, there’s good value in that, but we have about 70, almost 80% of all delegates are on the app. That’s great. And that’s a great place to find people and to be found and it also gives you all the other information as the agenda speaker bios, but it allows for you to reach out to other delegates. So I would definitely do, that’s, something that can be sometimes just overlooked or just not not done. And then I would go to the Sunday evening reception if it’s your first time that’s at the marquee, six o’clock, we get about 500 people there. A good mix of veterans and, and first timers. I would certainly do that. I would try and plan out your days ahead. It’s amazing how with all that, with all everything that’s going on, you can easily kind of get sidetracked. So if there are some sessions that you wanna see, you can bookmark them in the app and make sure that you, you don’t miss those. But, I would, get some sleep, stay hydrated and be prepared to have some full days of education, networking and just a whole lot of fun. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And some of the receptions that are after hours at the end of the day, are absolutely amazing too. And I know you have sponsors that kind of do that, sometimes onsite, sometimes offsite, encourage, those to attend that in full force as well. Hospitality, we definitely know how to, to host a party, that’s for sure. So Alexi, we appreciate you hosting us here on the Suite Spot and previewing this year’s 2026 NYU. We are counting down the days until June. Thank you again to my audience to learn more information. Obviously visit the website, make sure you register. Any final thoughts before we wrap up today, Alexi? Alexi Khajavi: No, just very much looking forward to seeing you there and the other 2400 people that will be joining us. So, looking very much forward to it. And appreciate your time. Ryan Embree: All right, thank you, Alexi. Thank you for listening to The Suite Spot and hope to see you at NYU in June in New York City. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Change management decides whether your MES or digital transformation project lasts, or quietly gets shut off six months after go live.Vlad Romanov and Dave Griffith sit down with Logan Terry, who leads digital transformation at LSI, to dig into change management as the deciding factor in any automation or MES rollout. Logan defines change management as a methodical approach to moving an individual, team, or organization from a current state to a desired future state. The closer a system sits to where decisions are actually made, the more change management it requires, which is why MES is the single hardest place to land a project successfully.Much of the episode digs into why change management is rarely scoped properly. In competitive RFPs, the integrator who includes a robust change management line item often loses to the lowest bid, and end users frequently do not know how to evaluate that line item even when it is offered. Logan starts every client engagement with a direct question: what does your continuous improvement practice look like internally? If the client cannot sustain the change after handover, the project is on borrowed time no matter how clean the FAT and SAT looked.Logan walks through one of the most useful failure stories on the show this year. His team delivered a technically perfect OEE dashboard for a production line. Six to nine months later, every terminal was shut off. The postmortem surfaced two missed details. Maintenance was never folded into the design, and a single failed photo eye broke throughput calculations with no manual reconciliation path, which destroyed operator trust in the data. The second miss was behavioral. Showing a 30 percent OEE against a 90 percent ideal demotivates the floor, while reframing the same number as 80 percent of a realistic 36 percent target turned out to be a cleaner motivator.Looking forward, Logan sees vendors moving away from monolithic 14 function MES suites toward modular, use case specific deployments, which compresses change management scope from twenty five workflows to five or six. On AI, he argues that managing generative agents in production is closer to managing a team of people than managing software, with continuous validation replacing one time qualification. He cites the line that AI does not make bad data worse, it makes it more convincing. LSI now uses AI assisted coding agents and React based prototypes to shrink design cycles from three or four weeks of Figma work down to three or four days.About Logan TerryLogan Terry leads digital transformation at LSI, a multinational systems integrator with roughly 400 resources across 13 North American locations and offices in Asia Pacific. A mechanical engineer by training, Logan spent a decade in PLC, HMI, and SCADA development before moving into digital transformation consulting and joining LSI in late 2024. His work spans advanced SCADA, MES, analytics, and BI integrations.LSI: https://www.logicalsysinc.com/Timestamps0:00 Introduction2:15 Logan's background and the LSI digital transformation practice7:25 Defining change management9:00 Why MES requires the most change management13:00 How young engineers stumble into change management24:30 Starting with decisions and workflows before technology35:00 Internal CI capability as a project gating factor43:30 OEE dashboard turned off six months after go live46:30 Behavioral psychology of how operators read numbers54:50 Modular MES replacing monolithic platforms58:00 Generative AI and continuous validation1:11:00 AI assisted prototyping shrinking design cyclesAbout Your HostsVladimir Romanov is a co-host of The Manufacturing Hub Podcast and the founder of Joltek, an independent manufacturing and industrial automation consulting firm specializing in modernization strategy, digital transformation, and workforce development. Joltek works with manufacturers and investors to de-risk modernization and build the internal capability to sustain results.Connect with Vlad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimirromanov/Want to go deeper? Vlad and the team at Joltek have covered related topics here:Digital Transformation in Manufacturing: https://www.joltek.com/blog/digital-transformation-in-manufacturingManufacturing Execution Systems and Business Strategy: https://www.joltek.com/blog/manufacturing-execution-systems-business-strategyDave Griffith is a co-host of The Manufacturing Hub Podcast and founder of Capelin Solutions, an industrial automation firm helping manufacturers adopt smart manufacturing technology. He brings 15 years of experience in industrial automation and digital transformation.Connect with Dave: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegriffith23/Subscribe to Manufacturing Hub: https://www.manufacturinghub.liveLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/manufacturing-hub-networkYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ManufacturingHub

This week on the GovNavigators Show, Adam and Robert sit down with the GovNavigator Network's Josh Martin, former Chief Data Officer for the State of Indiana turned founder and AI practitioner, for a candid, highly practical conversation about what AI can (and can't!) do in government today.Josh shares how he's building AI-powered tools to solve real-world problems, like instantly preparing for vendor meetings or streamlining procurement reviews, and explains why AI's biggest value isn't replacing people, but accelerating decision-making. He also offers a clear-eyed warning: agencies that over-automate without human oversight risk serious errors, hallucinations, and reputational damage.We dive into how governments can responsibly adopt AI, the importance of understanding data and prompting, and why “personal responsibility” is the missing ingredient in most AI strategies. Josh also reflects on his transition out of government, what he misses, and where he sees the biggest opportunities for innovation across the public sector.Show Notes:Partial DHS funding measure passedHouse Oversight advances nine anti-fraud billsDoW strikes new AI deal with major companiesNew EO pushing fixed-price contractingWhat's on the GovNavigators' Radar?May 2-4: Professional Services Council Annual ConferenceMay 5: AGA's Performance Counts SummitMay 6: Service to America MedalsMay 14-15: ACT-IAC's Emerging Technology & Innovation Summit

In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I welcome back Dennis Woodside, CEO of Freshworks, to unpack the growing conversation around the so-called SaaS-pocalypse and what it really means for the future of software businesses. There is no shortage of dramatic headlines suggesting SaaS is under threat, but Dennis offers a far more practical perspective. He explains that this is less about the collapse of software and more about a major reset in how software is judged, bought, and valued. As AI changes customer expectations, businesses are no longer willing to pay for incremental features or vague AI claims. They want clear outcomes, measurable ROI, and platforms that can prove they belong inside an AI-augmented tech stack. We discuss how the traditional seat-based pricing model is shifting toward consumption, outcomes, and usage-based models. Dennis shares why software companies without a strong AI strategy risk being squeezed out. At the same time, those with mission-critical systems of record and deep workflow intelligence are better positioned to thrive. He explains why deterministic software still matters in a world obsessed with generative AI and why the future belongs to platforms that combine trusted operational data with secure, embedded AI experiences. Dennis also shares how customers are changing the way they evaluate software, with many now using tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini to compare vendors, analyze RFPs, and arrive at buying decisions far earlier in the sales process. This shift is forcing software vendors to rethink marketing, product design, and customer engagement from the ground up. We also explore the balance between governance and experimentation, why AI adoption must happen from both the top down and bottom up, and why speed, not just cost reduction, is becoming the real business driver. Dennis shares examples of how organizations are redesigning workflows, accelerating engineering output, and freeing up high-value talent from repetitive work. As he puts it, most companies are no longer asking if they need AI; they are asking how fast they can make it part of everything they do. If you have been wondering whether the SaaS model is broken or simply evolving into something smarter, this conversation offers a sharp and realistic look at what comes next. How is your business thinking about durability in an AI-first world, and are you building to last or simply building to grow? Useful Links Connect with Dennis Woodside on LinkedIn Learn more about  Freshworks  Refresh 2026 Event Follow on LinkedIn Visit the Sponsors of Tech Talks Network and learn more about the NordLayer Browser.  

Adam Stoker and Caleb Sullivan tackle how AI is disrupting destination marketing—especially the value of vendor partnerships. They explore why traditional models (like media commissions and rigid RFPs) are breaking down, and call for a shift toward strategy, trust, and real collaboration. Caleb also shares ideas for rethinking the RFP process to focus on problem-solving and partnership, not just price and paperwork. Subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠! The ⁠⁠⁠⁠Destination Marketing Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ is a part of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Destination Marketing Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠⁠. It is hosted by Adam Stoker and produced by Brand Revolt. If you are interested in any of Brand Revolt's services, please email ⁠⁠⁠⁠adam@thebrandrevolt.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ or visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thebrandrevolt.com⁠⁠⁠⁠. To learn more about the Destination Marketing Podcast network and to listen to our other shows, please visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.thedmpn.com⁠⁠⁠⁠. If you are interested in joining the network, please email ⁠⁠⁠⁠adam@thebrandrevolt.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.

In "The Rise of Freight Orchestration with GoodShip's Derek Netelenbos", Joe Lynch and Derek Netelenbos, VP of Partnerships at GoodShip, discuss how an orchestration layer unifies fragmented data to shift logistics from reactive manual tasks to proactive, AI-driven strategy.  About Derek Netelenbos Derek Netelenbos is the VP of Partnerships at GoodShip, the all-in-one platform for freight orchestration and procurement, built for transportation teams, by transportation teams. Derek brings extensive experience building and scaling partnerships and revenue organizations across the logistics and technology sectors. Prior to GoodShip, Derek held leadership roles at Parade, Metafora, Convoy, Groupon and Expedia, where he built and led high-performing teams across sales, sales operations, business development, account management, and strategic partnerships. About GoodShip GoodShip is the all-in-one platform for freight orchestration and procurement, built for transportation teams, by transportation teams. GoodShip unifies freight data, surfaces real-time insights, and helps teams move from reactive decision-making to coordinated, data-driven execution. With the recent launch of Laney, the industry's first AI Transportation Analyst, teams can ask questions about their network and receive in-depth answers in seconds through an intuitive, conversational interface. Learn more at www.goodship.io. Key Takeaways: The Rise of Freight Orchestration In "The Rise of Freight Orchestration with GoodShip's Derek Netelenbos", Joe Lynch and Derek Netelenbos, VP of Partnerships at GoodShip, discuss how an orchestration layer unifies fragmented data to shift logistics from reactive manual tasks to proactive, AI-driven strategy. The "Orchestration" Solution: GoodShip acts as an orchestration layer that unifies disparate data from TMS, ERP, WMS, and visibility platforms. This allows teams to move from reactive, fragmented decision-making to coordinated, data-driven execution. Automated Scorecarding: One of the biggest pain points discussed was the manual effort required to create carrier scorecards. GoodShip automates this process, providing a "single source of truth" that both shippers and carriers can view simultaneously to ensure transparency and performance alignment. Laney, the AI Analyst: GoodShip introduced Laney, an embedded AI agent that allows users to ask complex, unstructured questions about their freight network. Instead of sifting through pivot tables, users can ask Laney to simulate scenarios—like the cost implications of reallocating volume from an underperforming carrier. Modernizing the RFP Process: Traditionally, RFPs were "root canal" events done once a year due to their complexity. GoodShip streamlines procurement, allowing shippers to run more frequent (e.g., quarterly) mini-bids with high-fidelity data, which reduces risk for carriers and leads to more resilient pricing. Expansion to LSPs and Brokers: While GoodShip started with a focus on shippers, the platform has officially expanded to help Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) and brokers. This helps the "sell side" respond to bids more efficiently and manage their own carrier networks with better intelligence. Rapid Deployment via Flat Files: To avoid the long implementation cycles common in logistics tech, GoodShip specializes in ingesting "flat file" data (spreadsheets, scraped emails, etc.). This allows them to go from contract signing to full deployment in just three to four weeks. Data as an Asset: Derek emphasized that every company's historical operating history is a "gold mine" of insights. Orchestration is the process of mining that data to uncover hidden efficiencies that were previously buried in tribal knowledge or disconnected systems. Learn More About The Rise of Freight Orchestration Derek Netelenbos | Linkedin GoodShip | Linkedin GoodShip Learn more about Shipper offering Learn more about Broker offering Meet Laney, GoodShip's AI Transportation Analyst Insight to Action with Ryan Soskin The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube

Dan Nestle, founder of Lilypath, joins Sandy Carter on The Marketing Companion to unpack a shift most professionals have not noticed yet. AI systems are now interpreting, ranking, and recommending people before any human ever clicks a profile. Dan calls this Authority Intelligence, a new category he built Lilypath to define. Inside the episode, Dan and Sandy cover the Gemini Deep Research moment that exposed how badly AI can misread a real expert, why LinkedIn has quietly become the number one cited domain for professional queries across six major AI platforms (per Profound, LinkedIn, and Semrush data), and what "broken" looks like when your authority signal is off: silent inboxes, irrelevant pitches, recruiters missing you, RFPs going to competitors, and a stranger suddenly getting credit for ideas you have championed for years. Dan also shares the one concrete action every senior leader should take this week to fix how AI reads them, plus a Lilypath discount for listeners. Use code COMPANION20 at checkout. Brought to you by Semrush, the platform powering the search and AI visibility data behind this conversation, and Brevo, the all-in-one CRM and marketing platform helping growing teams turn authority into pipeline.   00:00:05 - Welcome and Sponsor Mentions 00:00:54 - Guest Introduction: Dan's Early Career in Japan 00:01:57 - Dan's Career Evolution and the Founding of Lily Path 00:05:47 - Introducing Lily Path and Authority Intelligence 00:07:23 - The Genesis of Lily Path: Optimizing for AI Interpretation 00:12:42 - The New Era: Domain Knowledge vs. Coding with AI 00:16:06 - Authority Intelligence: Taking Control of Your AI Narrative 00:21:23 - LinkedIn's Evolved Role as AI's Professional Truth Source 00:27:17 - Maintaining Human Relevance & Actionable Steps for Professionals 00:36:06 - Special Offer, Conclusion, and Contact Information

Would you like access to our advanced agency training for FREE? https://www.agencymastery360.com/training Are agencies becoming obsolete? We don't think so. However, the traditional agency model isn't just evolving, it's breaking. Today's featured guest believes the core of every business is dying and that agencies that want to adapt and win need to adopt the mindset of rebuilders. He shares why agencies have been in decline for over two decades and what it actually takes to rebuild a business that survives AI, commoditization, and shifting client expectations. Tactics alone won't help because, at its core, this shift is about identity, positioning, and stepping into a new role as someone who doesn't cling to the old model but actively creates the next one. Jonathan Lewis is the President of McKee Wallwork, a brand strategy and implementation firm. Starting as an unpaid intern, Jonathan worked his way up to eventually acquiring the agency from its founders. Over the past decade, he's led the firm through a major repositioning, moving away from traditional agency work toward upstream strategic advisory. His perspective is shaped by firsthand experience navigating succession, industry decline, and the current AI-driven disruption. In this episode, we'll discuss: The declining agency model Why identity is the real problem Moving upstream The rebuilder mindset Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Toggl: Most agencies are losing 15–30% of their profit every year: lack of time tracking, messy manual timesheets, scope creep, untracked revisions, and all those "quick" client requests that never get billed. Toggl has created a fast, interactive way to uncover exactly where your margins are leaking. Start your investigation now at toggl.com/smartagency and use the code SMARTAGENCY10 at checkout for a 10% off annual plans. The Agency Model Has Been in Decline for Years Most agency owners think the pressure they're feeling is recent, but it's not. Jonathan makes a strong case that the traditional agency model has been declining since the early 2000s, starting with the collapse of mass media dominance and accelerating through the rise of the internet, social media, and now AI. The old model was simple: control distribution, create decent creative, and scale results through reach. That model is gone. Today, agencies are fighting for perceived value in a world where clients question everything: speed, cost, necessity, and even whether they need an agency at all. This shows up in commoditized RFPs, price pressure, and constant comparison to cheaper or faster alternatives. The frustration many founders feel isn't personal failure; it's structural misalignment. They're trying to win using a model that no longer works the way it used to. The Real Problem Isn't AI, It's Identity A lot of agency owners are blaming AI for the disruption. That's not the real issue. The deeper problem is identity. Most agencies are built by craftspeople, designers, developers, media buyers who tie their value to the tools they use. When those tools become automated or commoditized, it creates an identity crisis. If your value is "I build websites" or "I run ads," you're in trouble. Because now those things can be done faster, cheaper, and in some cases better, without you. Your value is not the tool. Your value is the thinking before and after the tool, the judgment, the strategy, the ability to define what should be built and why. Moving Upstream: From Execution to Worldview In 2018, Jonathan and his team made a critical shift. They stopped trying to compete on execution and moved upstream into strategy, specifically, helping clients define their worldview. This is where things get interesting. AI can generate outputs. It can execute tasks. But it still depends on inputs, the prompt, the context, the perspective. That's where agencies have leverage. Instead of being the ones producing deliverables, they became the ones shaping direction. Helping clients answer: Who are we? What do we stand for? Who are we actually trying to reach? What matters most? From there, everything downstream becomes easier, whether it's done by internal teams, AI, or external vendors. This shift moves the agency from vendor to strategic partner. And more importantly, it removes them from the commodity trap. AI Is a Multiplier, Not a Replacement Jonathan takes a grounded view of AI. AI increases productivity dramatically. But historically, when something becomes more accessible, demand increases. Lower cost per unit doesn't eliminate demand; it expands it. The opportunity isn't in resisting AI. It's in integrating it while strengthening the human layer around it. You can use AI to analyze markets, generate insights, and accelerate content creation, not to replace thinking, but to enhance it. The real advantage comes from combining: Pattern recognition (AI) Judgment (human) Perspective (worldview) Agencies that only use AI for execution will get commoditized. Agencies that use AI to amplify strategic thinking will gain leverage. The "Rebuilder" Mindset Jonathan wrote a book around the idea of becoming a "rebuilder" because that's how he sees people getting through these times of reckoning in the business. Every major shift, from the internet, social media, COVID, and AI, breaks existing models. Most people respond by resisting, waiting, or reacting. Rebuilders do something different. They accept that the old model is broken and take responsibility for creating the next one. That means: Rethinking how you create value Redefining your role in the business Rebuilding your offer, positioning, and delivery model Leading your team through uncertainty instead of avoiding it It's ownership at a different level. And it's the difference between agencies that survive disruption and those that disappear with it. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.

This week I Talk About The Craziness Of Proposals & RFPs

Right now, the insurance industry is treating AI like a magic bullet. Agency leaders are buying up flashy tech tools, hoping artificial intelligence will magically fix their RFPs, streamline client onboarding, and turn rookies into top producers. But there is a harsh reality most agencies are ignoring: if you apply AI to a broken or non-existent process, you are only going to fail faster.My guest, Corey Frasure - our resident "AI Mad Genius" at Complete Game Consulting - joins me to cut through the AI snake oil. We discuss why you must treat AI like a "5-year-old with a 180 IQ," the legal and brand dangers of letting AI be your "thought leader" instead of your thought partner, and why you absolutely must document your agency workflows before you attempt to automate them. We also pull back the curtain on how we built 48 highly specialized AI coaches for our own training platform. If you want to use AI to actually scale your agency instead of creating chaos, this episode is your blueprint.▶▶ Sign Up For Your Free Discovery Callcompletegameu.com/agaCONNECT WITH ANDY NEARY

If you want to know how to win government contracts without chasing massive RFPs, this episode breaks down a smarter, more effective strategy for small businesses entering federal contracting. Many entrepreneurs believe that landing large contracts is the fastest path to growth—but in reality, bidding on big RFPs can slow you down, drain resources, and reduce your chances of winning. Instead, this episode highlights how micro purchases and relationship-based contracting can help you build momentum faster. In this conversation, you'll learn: Why large RFPs often work against small businesses How micro purchases create low-risk opportunities to get started The importance of relationships over lengthy proposals in GovCon This episode is perfect for beginners looking to win their first contract or businesses tired of losing bids on large opportunities. Learn how to position yourself strategically and start winning smaller, faster deals that build long-term success. If you want to learn more about the community and to join the webinars go to: https://federalhelpcenter.com/ Website: https://govcongiants.org/ Connect with Encore Funding: http://govcongiants.org/funding

  Have you ever wondered how to strike that balance between managing your team and ensuring success for your clients? Today's featured guest is here to talk about what it actually takes to evolve from doing the work to building a team that can win without you. The conversation cuts through common agency myths, like hiring better clients first or relying on RFPs, and instead exposes the real drivers of growth: team strength, leadership evolution, and structural leverage. Matt Kovacs is the president of Blaze PR, a boutique agency for lifestyle brands hungry for a piece of the market share. Kovacs brings a grounded, operator-to-leader perspective shaped by years of building and scaling a lifestyle PR agency across industries like CPG, restaurants, and real estate. His focus is on people, systems, and the subtle shifts that move an agency from founder-reliant to team-driven. In this episode, we'll discuss: Which comes first, better clients or a better team? The founder evolution from doer to developer of people How Matt's team is integrating AI Subscribe Apple | Spotify | iHeart Radio Sponsors and Resources E2M Solutions: Today's episode of the Smart Agency Masterclass is sponsored by E2M Solutions, a web design, and development agency that has provided white-label services for the past 10 years to agencies all over the world. Check out e2msolutions.com/smartagency and get 10% off for the first three months of service. Toggl: Most agencies are losing 15–30% of their profit every year: lack of time tracking, messy manual timesheets, scope creep, untracked revisions, and all those "quick" client requests that never get billed. Toggl has created a fast, interactive way to uncover exactly where your margins are leaking. Start your investigation now at toggl.com/smartagency and use the code SMARTAGENCY10 at checkout for a 10% off annual plans. The Real Constraint: Founder-Centric Teams Most founders believe their growth problem is external, more leads, bigger clients, better positioning. But the real constraint is internal: everything still runs through them. Matt describes the shift from doing everything to stepping back into leadership. In the early years, he was deeply embedded in delivery, client work, and execution. That's normal. But the shift could only happen once he changed his willingness to let go. The turning point came when the agency had enough team strength and client quality to create space. That space allowed him to focus on mentoring, business development, and strategic oversight instead of execution. This is where most founders stall. They try to grow while staying embedded in delivery. The result is bottlenecks everywhere. Sales slows down. Team development stagnates. Clients remain dependent on the founder. When this happens, growth doesn't break the bottleneck. It amplifies it. The Misdiagnosis: "We Need Better Clients" What should come first, better clients or a better team? A common belief among agency owners is that landing bigger clients will solve their problems. Kovacs challenges that directly: better clients come after a better team, not before. Without a strong team, bigger clients actually make things worse. They increase pressure, expose gaps, and force the founder to stay involved at an even deeper level. Instead of elevating the agency, they trap it. This is why agencies experience the "rollercoaster": win a big client, scramble to deliver, neglect everything else, then lose momentum. The sequence is wrong. It should be Stronger team → better client experience → higher-quality clients. Not the other way around. And that shift requires a founder to stop thinking like an operator and start building like an architect. The Hidden Cost of Not Evolving If you stay stuck in delivery, your team never fully develops, clients remain tied to you, and eventually, growth slows. This is where many agencies plateau between $1M–$3M. They have revenue, but no real structure. They're busy, but not scalable. And the founder becomes the most expensive, and least scalable, resource in the business. The Structural Shift: From Doer to Developer of People Kovacs' approach to leadership is focused on understanding people. For him, managing a team isn't one-size-fits-all. Some team members need daily interaction. Others need autonomy. Some respond to recognition. Others to responsibility. This level of awareness is what separates managers from leaders. But the deeper shift is this: the founder's job becomes developing people, not producing work. For instance, he recently stepped back during a major pitch and allowed a junior team member to lead a critical part of it. She had developed deep expertise through personal interest, and instead of controlling the outcome, he created space for her to step up. They won the account, but more importantly, this gesture strengthened the entire organization. When founders hold onto control, they limit the ceiling of their team. When they create opportunities for others to lead, they expand capacity, without adding headcount. The New Environment: AI Won't Save You Matt explains how his team is integrating AI carefully, with guardrails, reviews, and intentional usage. It's a tool to enhance output, not replace thinking. He understands that AI amplifies whatever system already exists. If your agency is chaotic, AI makes it faster chaos. If your agency is structured, AI becomes a force multiplier. This is why some agencies will compress timelines, increase margins, and outpace competitors, while others fall further behind. The difference isn't the tool. It's the operating model behind it. Do You Want to Transform Your Agency from a Liability to an Asset? Looking to dig deeper into your agency's potential? Check out our Agency Blueprint. Designed for agency owners like you, our Agency Blueprint helps you uncover growth opportunities, tackle obstacles, and craft a customized blueprint for your agency's success.