People Changing Enterprises

Meet Tim and Harrison, the tech leaders behind LADbible Group's relentless innovation. They discuss how the company has repeatedly reinvented itself to stay ahead in the ever-changing world of social media. Recorded live in LADbible's Manchester offices, the episode captures the energy of a team committed to embracing change, shedding technological debt and creating a culture of continuous improvement.

Creating change is hard. Creating change inside a traditional bank? That's a whole other level of hard. Today's guest is Priscila Bezerra, Head of Martech and Digital Acquisition at Banco Itaú. In this episode, she unveils the secrets behind instituting change inside a century-old banking institution with over 100,000 employees.

Priscila shares invaluable lessons on embracing a startup mindset, taking calculated risks, and identifying strategic starting points in a composable transformation journey. Hear her advice from a four-year transformative journey that is helping to redefine traditional banking. This episode is a masterclass in innovation and change management.

Timestamps:
01:16 The challenges of innovation in a century-old bank
04:25 Building the martech foundation at Banco Itaú
06:03 Deciding where to start with composable: Overcoming cultural and operational hurdles
11:37 The Importance of "the people part" in technology transformation
18:00 Creating a startup mentality in a traditional bank
21:24 How the perception of martech has shifted inside the business, four years later
24:49 The importance of preserving the "startup" mindset after initial successes
28:52 Advice on maintaining personal motivation and choosing your battles

Outlet shopping centers aren't the first industry you'd think of for being on the forefront of digital transformation. But Jasper de Jong, Group Director for Digital and Media at VIA Outlets, shares why it's more important than you'd think for this business to switch to a composable ecosystem. Learn how Jasper set the strategy for transformation within VIA Outlets, how he got buy-in, and what he sees as the key drivers of digital growth for the retail industry as a whole, and for the outlet shopping business specifically, to maintain a competitive edge. 

01:02 Introduction to VIA Outlets

02:02 The (digital) customer journey of an outlet shopping center visitor

03:01 Digital differentiation strategy for VIA Outlets

06:55 The role of data 

08:00 Key drivers for going composable

12:58 What does Jasper wish he'd known before he started?

15:40 Selling in composable to stakeholders

21:20 Advice for others starting a digital transformation 

Earth Reiser, Director of Strategy and Innovation at Topgolf Callaway Brands, offers advice on goal-setting, the importance of having a strategic vision as a business, and how to bridge the gap between this vision and actionable objectives. She also shares why she's excited about the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI), discussing how she leverages it in her work today, and its potential for increasing organizational efficiency.

01:06 The Importance of clear goals 

04:06 The balance between top-down and bottom-up goal setting

06:09 The power of sharing goals 

07:51 The promise and opportunity of AI

11:12 Examples of using AI in professional settings

Earth Reiser, the Director of Strategy and Innovation at Topgolf Callaway Brands, offers advice for navigating the murky waters of customer data and analytics, and how brands need to be mindful of customers' desire for privacy. She discusses the implications of the increasing call for privacy across various platforms, and why it's important to gather and use data ethically for decision making. Earth also offers advice on marketing analytics, and the art of asking the right questions when using data, without collecting data for its own sake.

Earth Reiser, the Director of Strategy and Innovation at Topgolf Callaway Brands shares insights on the company's transformation journey. Earth shares how Topgolf Callaway Brands restructured its technology and business model around empowering its employees and customers. She provides advice on bridging the gap between business and technology, balancing a north star vision with the necessity for flexibility, and building a strong composable strategy. Listen in to learn why a monolithic structure isn't always a bad thing, how to help companies embrace change, and why a 'one size fits all' approach isn't right for every organization.

01:25 The Topgolf Callaway journey to transformation 
05:22 How the brand decided to go composable
08:01 How the company aims to serve the modern golfer not just today, but in the future
09:33 The importance of flexibility in business
11:36 How to embrace change
13:59 Advice for companies looking to go composable

In this episode, we check in with some of our first guests, sharing what they've been working on over the past year - and their advice for anyone looking to embark on a transformation in 2024. Bob Howland, Chief Digital Officer at Dawn Foods, explains how composable technology helps their company to effectively cross-pollinate content between their e-commerce and corporate sites. Jon Richards, Head of Digital at Golfbreaks, shares how composable architecture provides time-saving benefits. Danielle Diliberti, CEO of Sommsation, talks about the fast-paced innovative advantages of building a digital marketplace using composable technology. Andreas Westendörpf, CTO of Emma Sleep, shares how their composable stack helped them handle high business spikes during the holiday season. Along with these insights, the guests offer advice for organizations looking to begin their composable transformation journey.

Timestamps:
1:02 Bob Howland on the benefits of Dawn Foods merging onto a single composable CMS
02:48 Jon Richards on the benefits of composable transformation for Golfbreaks
04:07 The Golfbreaks portal project (CXAs award finalist)
05:44 How Sommsation, a digitally native business benefits from composable (Danielle Diliberti)
8:27 How Emma Sleep leveraged composable to thrive and innovate during the holiday season (Andreas Westendörpf)
12:16 Advice for composable transformation: Strategic planning
14:45 The value of quick wins
16:33 Bridging business and technology - before you begin
18:59 Remember the long game

A year recap of customer experience transformation: the Contentstack team reflects on 2023's major changes in tech and comms landscape, and offers advice for the year ahead. Discover what's next for personalization and AI, and how businesses can make their composable initiatives more successful given all the changes that have shaped the year behind us. This episode features:

• Jasmin Guthmann, Head of Corporate Communications, Contentstack
• Vasu Kothamasu, GM and Head of Engineering, Contentstack
• Nishant Patel, CTO, Contentstack
• Conor Egan, VP Product, Contentstack
• Neha Sampat, CEO, Contentstack

Timestamps:

• 0:59 How has business to customer communication changed over the past year? (Jasmin Guthmann)
• 2:34 The challenge and promise of personalization (Vasu Kothamasu)
• 4:24 How the AI landscape changed in 2023 (Nishant Patel)
• 6:16 Is this the year of true hyper-personalization? (Nishant Patel)
• 7:46 Practical implications of AI for businesses (Conor Egan)
• 9:47 Unlock efficiency with automation (Conor Egan)
• 11:28 Why composable is the way forward, and how to make composable transformation successful (Vasu Kothamasu)
• 13:57 Navigating periods of significant change (Neha Sampat)
• 15:59 Advice for businesses heading into 2024 (Neha Sampat)

How do you introduce agile to a business, or an area of the business, that's unfamiliar with it? Damir Dimitrovici, Senior Website Manager at FREE NOW led a digital transformation of the technology stack at FREE NOW in just five months, while also introducing agile practices. He shares his experiences, lessons learned and what he would do differently. Tune in for advice on change management, digital transformation, and the balance of trust and responsibility when leading a project in a large organization.

01:01 Damir's role in transforming FREE NOW
01:29 The importance of transparency and collaboration
02:12 Building trust and respect in the team
04:43 The useful concept of MLP (Minimum Lovable Product)
06:17 The importance of documentation and decision logs
07:44 The pressure of being a product manager
08:43 Staying aware of culture when leading change

Damir Dimitrovici, Senior Website Manager at FREE NOW, transformed FREE NOW's marketing site from a monolithic system to a headless setup in a short five months. Damir explains what key decisions he made, how the move prepared the European mobility company for the future, and his top advice for composable transformation. 

Timestamps:
01:08 About FREE NOW 
02:25 The drivers for transformation at FREE NOW
03:56 Key decisions in the transformation process
06:17 The benefits of a composable architecture
14:48 Lessons learned from the transformation
15:44 The importance of documentation
16:56 Future plans for FREE NOW