As part of our The Thought Leader’s Voice podcast series, we are thrilled to be in conversation with Prashant Shukla, an ideas entrepreneur and experienced thought leader in technology strategy.

Based in Boston, USA, Prashant is Principal Director for Research at Accenture, a global professional services company. He designs and leads cross-enterprise research programs that anticipate and identify key business, market and technology trends.

Prashant has led many impactful thought leadership projects throughout his tenure at Accenture. Among major research issues and ideas he has worked on are Crowd Capital, Missing Middle, Human + Machine, Digital Decoupling, and Future Systems.

He has lectured at universities, including Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has been published in business publications including the Harvard Business Review.

Join us as Prashant shares the imperatives and strategies for growth and scaling innovation in enterprise technology. He also sheds light on how company executives can pave the way for better business outcomes.

Key Takeaways:

• A recent study by Accenture shows that leading companies that amplified their technology investments during the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly extended their growth advantage over competitors, growing revenue at five times the rate of lagging companies.

• The research highlights the practices adopted by leaders in tech investments and innovation in comparison to laggards. What differentiates the leaders from the laggards? Why are they stronger positioned for growth, and how do they approach and scale innovation differently?

• How are leading organizations reframing their mindsets regarding technology and innovation – and demonstrating growth even in these challenging times?

• What temptations does the industry often succumb to when it comes to technology growth? Where do companies need to direct their efforts, investments, and budgets?

• Why do companies need to provide employees with a better experience? And what impact does setting the right culture have on business outcomes?

• What are the key challenges that businesses will need to address, and what are the key trends on the horizon to look out for?

We are thrilled to be in conversation with our very own VP of Sales – Thought Leadership, Gurpreet Purewal, in our podcast series, The Thought Leader’s Voice.

With over a decade of experience in strategic sales and marketing roles with global organizations, Gurpreet has been at the heart of growth teams leading technology, legal and financial services segments. Gurpreet knows how to drive sales growth, and his approach focuses on aligning the client’s marketing objectives to their business needs to achieve the desired outcomes.

His expertise lies in consulting on campaign strategy, media planning, market research, thought leadership, marketing activation and events, while staying ahead of industry trends, opportunities and challenges.

Gurpreet is particularly interested in sustainability and corporate purpose, business growth in times of economic instability and inequality, business ethics, and sustainability in times of financial and geopolitical pressures, focusing on the importance of human connection in a digital business world. In this episode, we hear Gurpreet’s insights as he shares his expertise on how technology businesses can reap the benefits of sustainability, drawing from some fascinating findings from the recent iResearch Services report, ‘How Sustainable is the Technology Sector?

We are excited to be in conversation with Douglas Hamandishe, guest speaker on our podcast series, The Thought Leader’s Voice. Douglas is a Clinical Consultant for Alcidion, Expert Representative for IT & Digital Development at the Royal College of Nurses, and a proven Chief Clinical Information Officer.

Douglas has a real passion for patient empowerment, digital transformation, and bringing innovative technologies to the hands of healthcare professionals. He has implemented large-scale IT transformation projects in health and social care for the NHS and private software companies. He is passionate about finding and implementing solutions to some of the biggest challenges within the NHS, such as patient flow, cybersecurity increasing user adoption, user experience, and benefits realisation.

Douglas also has a strong background in broadcasting, communications, and engineering. His own podcast series, Centric Health Media, is a clinically led interactive media platform bringing incisive insights and sharing best practices in digital healthcare to both a health and social care audience.

Join us as Douglas sheds light on the roadblocks to industry advancements and the need to deploy the right infrastructure, technologies, and workflows to provide the best clinical safety and patient care.

Key Takeaways:

· The Covid-19 pandemic, shifting working models, and new technologies have brought forth multiple challenges for the healthcare industry. How has the sector landscape changed, and what are the key challenges from both an operational and clinical viewpoint?

· Are tech innovations helping to ease these challenges? What are the prerequisites for technology to be used effectively and ensure the best level of patient care, empowerment, and outcomes?

· Is there a need for an intervention to reinvigorate and enforce processes and procedures that will build the foundation for better health outcomes? Do the Government and policymakers have a role to play in this?

· How has a digital divide created hindrances in social care and services and access to healthcare?

· What other health inequalities exist, and how can upskilling of various participants push the industry forward?

· How has digital data helped the industry, and what transformation do we need when it comes to healthcare data, the backbone of driving real digital transformation and patient outcomes in the field?

· Current industry challenges demand problems to be solved at a large scale. Looking at the bigger picture and dealing with changes in workflows, processes, and mindsets is required. What practical steps can enable this transition and what roles are needed to implement change? What leadership style does the industry need, what tools are required, and what constitutes a good leader within the healthcare field?

As part of our The Thought Leader's Voice podcast series, we are thrilled to be in conversation with Archana Venkat on B2B marketing that takes care of profits and people.

One of India's leading B2B marketers, Archana Venkat is the Chief Marketing Officer at Trilegal, with a reputation for creating competitive advantages and driving sustainable growth through strategic initiatives.

Archana has led marketing teams for prominent financial services, legal, and technology companies to drive innovation and maximize profitability and growth.

Archana is passionate about empowering women and enabling them to advance in their careers. She is the author of Seize Your Career, a book that documents the experiences of women in white-collar positions. She has also created an assessment-based framework for career management called the Happy Hexagon and has founded a support group for women professionals in Bangalore.

Tune in to the podcast to listen as Archana shares new perspectives and insights on B2B marketing, how teams can be more effective, and how leaders can be change agents.

Key Takeaways:

• What are the secrets of running a successful B2B marketing department, and how can teams achieve a better return on investment?

• What role do partnerships play in the marketing process? What is the most significant value that partnerships can bring to a marketing team?

• How has the Covid-19 pandemic driven companies to pivot their go-to-market strategy?

• What are some important factors of consideration for effective content marketing and brand building? How can content be delivered strategically in different stages of the customer journey?

• What does it mean to follow ethical principles in marketing? What benefits does this bring to a company both internally and externally?

• What are the biggest barriers women face in advancing their careers, and how can they overcome them? Can marketing leaders better integrate women into their teams? How can women be supported to progress into leadership roles?

We are excited to be in conversation with Paolo Sironi on unlocking innovation in banking and finance, as part our The Thought Leader’s Voice podcast series.

One of the most respected FinTech experts worldwide, Paolo is the Global Research Leader in banking and financial markets at the IBM Institute for Business Value. He provides business expertise and strategic thinking to a network of executives at financial institutions, start-ups, and regulators, driving C-level conversations about business model adaptations in platform economies.

Paolo founded start-up Capitects – acquired by IBM – and headed up the quantitative risk management department at Banca Intesa Sanpaolo. He is a celebrated author of several books on digital transformation, quantitative finance and economics, including his latest bestseller, ‘Banks and Fintech on Platform Economies: Contextual and Conscious Banking’. He is also a keynote speaker at major international events.

Tune in to the podcast for Paolo’s thought-provoking and future-forward insights on driving innovation in banking and financial services, and on how firms can differentiate themselves within competitive markets.

Key Takeaways

• The financial services sector has seen a massive shift during these times of volatility and is having to adapt to regulatory shifts, geopolitical pressures, digital transformation, and changing customer demands. How can financial services leaders optimize their businesses to deal with these shifts?

• How can banking and financial services leverage technology in their business models? Is there a need for a different outlook and tailored vision of how technology needs to be integrated within the ecosystem?

• The macro-economic and regulatory environment impacts how different financial services business models operate. What are some of the key factors that can help firms differentiate in this context? What is the best approach to materialize this?

• How can humans and technology be leveraged within the framework in a way that improves stickiness with customers? What are some key elements in driving innovation?

• Who are the stakeholders responsible for transformation, and how do they need to adapt to achieve this?

• What are some prerequisites for building a sustainable ecosystem with a firm foundation?

• How can banks and financial services approach ESG, and what is a key takeaway for marketers?

As part of our The Thought Leader’s Voice podcast series, we are excited to be in conversation with Jenna Pipchuk, who speaks on a seismic shift to unify B2B sales and marketing.

With over 20 years of experience in technology, Jenna is currently the Chief Sales Officer and Executive Vice President at SMART Technologies, a provider of hardware, software, and training solutions to educators and business professionals worldwide. She started her career in Product Management and is now responsible for global sales at SMART, where she has helped to bring many successful products to market.

During the pandemic, Jenna and her team at SMART Technologies forged a novel, groundbreaking path for SMART. By identifying the behaviour of digitally dominant B2B buyers and to meet the customer where they are, the team completely dismantled traditional sales, marketing, success, and service teams, and restructured into what they term as the ‘Unified Commercial Engine’ (UCE). In this episode, Jenna shares with us details about the UCE model, what contributed to its success, and how this has been woven into the fabric of the organisation.

Key Takeaways:

• What is the ‘Unified Commercial Engine (UCE)’ and why did SMART Technologies build this model? What results have this restructure driven for the company?

• How is the UCE approach contributing to the evolution of the industry, job roles and individuals?

• How has the UCE shift impacted employee satisfaction and engagement? What were the findings when measuring this pre- and post-restructure?

• Would this model work across all sectors and business types, or would it lend itself more naturally to some industries than others?

• Over and above ‘The Commercial Engine Pods’, SMART created three centers of excellence – one focused around Data and Analytics, one for Customer Insights and Positioning, and one for Creative and Digital Experience. How did each facilitate the UCE, and the organisation overall?

• Are there particular steps that SMART Technologies is taking to ensure that the model continues to be robust and aligns with the next stage of growth, and to allow for any potential changes that may be needed given the continual evolution of buyer behaviour?

We are excited to be in conversation with Navjot Sawhney on ‘Sustainable Tech for a Greater Good’, as part of our The Thought Leader’s Voice podcast series.

This series explores how independent thought leaders bring their ideas to scale within the business world as they share powerful, thought-provoking insights with our listeners. Our objective remains to amplify the voices of business leaders who share their thoughts on solving some of today’s most pressing challenges.

We are thrilled to be joined in this episode by Navjot Sawhney, Founder of the Washing Machine Project, TEDx speaker, and Member Board of Trustees at Engineers Without Borders UK.

The Washing Machine Project’s (TWMP) sole purpose is to alleviate the burden of handwashing clothes. Realising that 70% of the world’s population lacks access to an electric washing machine, TWMP is working on an accessible, portable, and affordable washing machine solution to eliminate this predicament faced by women in low-income and displaced communities.

Navjot is passionate about helping others, with a particular interest in International Development. With over five years of professional engineering experience at global technology companies, Dyson and Jaguar Land Rover behind him, now is the perfect time to combine this desire to help people with his Engineering skills.

Key Takeaways:

• What are the origins of The Washing Machine Project (TWMP)? How did Navjot’s background and skills play a role in giving life to this project?

• What are the current plans for the project, and what initiatives are TWMP working towards in the coming months?

• The power of research in effecting positive change

• Strategic partnerships are crucial to this mission, enabling TWMP to use engineering for good. How have partnerships powered this project?

• Now is the time for action, in so many ways. How can the corporate world help make a difference?