TechSperience Solutions

Host: Penny Conway

CoHost: Tyler Meckes

CoHost: Rob McIntosh

May 30th marked a historic flight for Elon Musk's SpaceX company and the U.S. space prog;ram.   As the first privately-funded, reusable rocket reached for the stars, Americans have something to cheer about amongst all of the chaos of the last 3 months.  Today we talk space, satellites and the significance of technology on this episode of What the Tech Just Happened!  

Host: Penny Conway

Guest 1: Orin Wentworth Senior Channel Manager

Guest 2: John Fuhrman Partner Alliance Manager for Cloud

Description: The first wave of the pandemic triggered the acceleration of digital transformation, creating a playground of opportunity for cloud IT platforms. Your host, Penny Conway, is joined today by Orin Wentworth and John Fuhrman to talk about what forces are shaping communication and APIs in the new modern enterprise and how you can navigate them within your own organization. 

Reach out to the Connection Team.

Email us at [email protected] 

Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, and Blog

Key takeaways:

[1:21] Orin Wentworth introduces himself.

[1:55] John Fuhrman talks about himself and his role at Connection.

[2:49] UCAS: Unified Communication As a Service

[3:44] CCAS: Contact Center As a Service

[5:14] The need to create something that the customers need and enjoy interacting with.

[5:48] The evolution of call centers.

[8:49] What communication can be happening among organizations and consumers to ease business? How are they deciding when to use people or systems to attend the needs of consumers?

[14:45] The new way of the IT decision-makers: The opportunity to plug in to get towards the end result.

[16:08] We can bring you the prettiest service in the world but if you don’t have the internet, it just won’t work.

[18:08] The matter of connectivity.

[21:06] Guaranteeing the equivalent of an HD television to cell phone calls.

[23:18] The preparation for the future of communications.

[26:29] 80% of organizations will make the transition to UCAS or CCAS within the next 18 months.

[29:51] Everything you need in a single subscription to do your job well.

[30:58] Connection is offering support for hybrid environments.

Host: Penny Conway

Co Host: Tyler "Marbles" Meckes

Co Host: Rob McIntosh

Guest: Sam Harrington: Connection Web Merchandising Tsar

This week's What the Tech Just Happened focuses on the all New HP Reverb G2 VR headset.  An exclusive pre-order only available through Connection.  Learn all the latest on this revolutionary headset, how to pre-order and have some fun with the What the Tech Just Happened gang. 

Host: Penny Conway

Guest: Pam Aulakh, Vertical Alliance Manager for K12 at Connection Public Sector Solutions 

Description: This is a unique opportunity to sponsor thought leadership on the future challenges in K-12 and how Connection, with our partners, can support customers with solutions. Pam Aulakh joins the podcast with an extensive background in K-12 Education & Technology. Prior to joining Connection, she held many roles in Brevard Public Schools as a Teacher, Technology Integrator, and Manager of EdTech Training.

Today’s episode is the third and final segment of this series where Penny Conway, your host, continues the conversation with Pam Aulakh, this time to talk about how teachers became the new students since they will have to learn what new skills will be required for teachers post-pandemic and the professional development they will need in order to get them there. 

Reach out to the Connection Team.

Email us at [email protected] 

Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, and Blog

Key takeaways:

[2:02] Pam Aulakh shares her professional background.

[3:20] How to prepare teachers for a complete online learning-teaching experience.

[5:20] Teachers adapted to the online setting as a survival response since there was no other choice, and they will be able to easily incorporate these technologies into the classrooms in the future.

[6:46] Teachers won´t be fired as a result of not understanding the technology, but universities are preparing new teachers to be technology savvy.

[7:50] New pedagogies for teachers working in a remote situation.

[9:30] Paula Aulakh talks about the different ways in which teachers will assess the students’ learning.

[11:55] Key certifications and courses for teachers’ professional development for distance learning.

[12:30] Teachers are spending 70% of their time troubleshooting technology.

[13:35] Students should take responsibility of their own learning while using technology as an aid.

[16:00] We want to create a generation of thinkers and problem-solvers.

[17:30] Key takeaways from the Cares Act that schools should look into in order to build a professional development plan for the new normal.

[19:53] We are all learning on this together. 

Host: Penny Conway

Guest: Pam Aulakh, Vertical Alliance Manager for K12 at Connection Public Sector Solutions 

This is a unique opportunity to sponsor thought leadership on the future challenges in K-12 and how Connection, with our partners, can support customers with solutions. Pam Aulakh joins the podcast with an extensive background in K-12 Education & Technology. Prior to joining Connection, she held many roles in Brevard Public Schools as a Teacher, Technology Integrator, and Manager of EdTech Training.

In this second episode, Penny Conway, your host, is continuing the conversation with Pam Aulakh to address accessibility while social distancing. Asking the questions of how we can address accessibility and equality challenges in a distance learning environment.

Reach out to the Connection Team

Email us at [email protected] 

Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, and Blog

Key takeaways:

[1:29] Pam Aulakh introduces herself and shares her background.

[4:00] How have the schools adapted to the students that need special attention?

[4:30] Pam Aulakh talks about the struggles and challenges of providing one on one assistance to students while keeping social distancing. 

[6:50] Pam Aulakh talks about the tools that schools should take advantage of to assure education is accessible to every student.

[9:53] The matter of delivering training for the teachers, parents, and students to be able to understand and use the technological tools that assist distance learning.

[10:30] The future of students with special needs.

[12:10] Pam Aulakh suggests how schools should manage the funding from the CARES Act to provide equity for every student to meet their learning needs.

[14:07] How to evaluate which device is most appropriate for each student.

[15:49] The motivation behind the CARES Act funding is for schools to develop a fully functional remote plan.

Host: Penny Conway

Guest: Pam Aulakh, Vertical Alliance Manager for K12 at Connection Public Sector Solutions 

This is a unique opportunity to sponsor thought leadership on the future challenges in K-12 and how Connection, with our partners, can support customers with solutions. Pam Aulakh joins the podcast with an extensive background in K-12 Education & Technology. Prior to joining Connection, she held many roles in Brevard Public Schools as a Teacher, Technology Integrator, and Manager of EdTech Training. Pam Aulakh talks in this episode, about how to build a return strategy, which means creating flexibility to transition from in-classroom to distance learning while minimizing disruption.

Reach out to the Connection Team

Email us at [email protected]

Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, and Blog

Key takeaways:

[1:34] Pam Aulakh introduces herself, her background, and talks about what brings her to the podcast.

[3:30] How quickly and effectively schools adapted to distance learning?

[5:29] The parents’ role in enabling education from home.

[6:42] Distant education really is a community effort.

[7:40] The role of states in finding out what are the parent’s concerns on regards to supporting the students on remote learning.

[9:17] Top three aspects that a school district should consider to take advantage of the Cares Act to manage the foundings of microbrands and help them build the plan.

[11:07] How are schools supporting students who do not have access to a device?

[14:55] Equipping and strategizing for a possible return to school.

[15:40] What will the “new normal” for education look like?

[18:26] 60% of teachers were already assigning online homework at home.

[19:11] Districts are bringing equity and opportunity for every student.

Host: Penny Conway

Guest: Jim Stevens, Channel Sales Manager, National at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company

Data Centers more than ever need to be secure and equipped to help companies analyze their current business models through data insight and analysis. The world is facing the strike of COVID-19, organizations across the USA are adapting to the “new normal” and looking in the rearview mirror all at the same time, many are asking the question about how they are going to manage and secure data in the future while also managing their cash flow.

Today, Penny Conway, your host is accompanied by Jim Stevens to help you develop a data center strategy as they discuss iLO Advanced Management, Silicon Root of Trust capabilities, Cyber Catalyst and Hybrid IT from now and beyond.

Reach out to the Connection Team.

Email us at [email protected] 

Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, and Blog

Key takeaways:

[1:12] Jim Stevens talks about his background, his professional expertise, and what brings him to the podcast.

[3:29] Jim shares his expert definition of VDI and how it can contribute to people working from their homes.

[7:11] VDI makes sure that all your end users are highly productive, have access to all their applications, and very secure systems regardless of the device they are using.

[10:10] How HPE is preventing securities issues in your devices. 

[11:58] HP offers the only server in the world that checks for security threats all the time.

[13:26] If you are running an HPE server you can even get additional insurance.

[15:10] Managing the entire environment with an HPE server: Nimble.

[17:22] SimpliVity Hyperconverged by HPE reduces 90% of the data in real-time. 

[18:23] Jim explains how Synergy by HPE provides a solution for composability.

[20:11] Jim talks about the crucial importance of connection.

[21:35] Cost saving and time-saving at the same time.

[22:52] Which data should you send to the cloud?

[26:21] It is a really exciting time for a change.

Host: Penny Conway

Co Host: Tyler Meckes

On this week's episode of What the Tech Just Happened, Tyler and Penny discuss the winners and losers in the retail space during Covid.  Digital Transformation has transformed retail and forced a quick adoption rate by customers turning this industry upside down.  Listen in as we look at current stats, trends, trials and tribulations of mom in pops to retail moguls. 

Host: Penny Conway

Guest: Sean McCann, Sr. Manager Higher Ed Alliances at Connection

In times of COVID-19 students have been following distance learning modalities for the past two months, and now, getting closer to the end of the school year, Inside Higher Ed recently reported that up to 29% of college students could make the decision to defer college until the pandemic is over. In today’s episode Penny Conway, your host, is talking with Sean McCann about how higher education can prepare to survive what could be the biggest gap year in History.

 Reach out to the Connection Team.

Email us at [email protected] 

Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, and Blog

Key takeaways:

[1:17] Sean talks about his role at Connection.

[1:50] Higher Ed division has an institutional side and a student side, both needed to go through preparation in order to be ready for the current educational needs.

[4:18] In the past there used to be a negative perspective about online learning.

[4:56] Online education leaves higher margins of profit but the challenge is that it is more difficult to scale.

[6:14] Sean talks about how colleges are reimagining their campuses.

[8:55] Sean explains how the reduction of students is going to affect the school’s budget.

[12:27] Most of the students have remained in schools for the end of the semester.

[13:12] Sean explains different possible outcomes with regard to education this upcoming September.

[13:46] Higher Ed has reduced its reliance on data centers.

[14:45] Sean gives his personal recommendation to people who are making switches with regards to higher education as a result of the new scenario imposed by the pandemic.

[16:55] COVID is giving schools an opportunity for growth and change, the ones that don’t improve and adapt won’t survive.

[19:19] Students are customers and now the quality of customer service is more important than ever.

[20:48] The new perimeter is one of the major security concerns that schools are dealing with now.

[22:40] Is the pandemic positive for E-Sports?

Host: Penny Conway

CoHost: Rob McIntosh

The Covid-19 crisis rages on and Work From Home continues to evolve.  On this week's episode of What the Tech Just Happened, Penny shares her smart home adventures and speaks to some of the security risks as it relates to our ever changing home office.