Centric Commemorates presents a conversation about understanding and celebrating Juneteenth in this special edition of our Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks podcast. Monday, June 19, marks the celebration of Juneteenth, which became a federal holiday in 2021. The holiday now reflects an even more widespread recognition. Team members Maurice Faison, Blaiden Kirk and Dr. Jodi Merriday join our Couch Convos podcast host John Kackley for an insightful discussion on Juneteenth. They dive into why – an...
Jun 19, 2023•35 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, our automation experts discuss what went wrong with Taylor Swift’s latest concert ticket sales. In November 2022, tickets for Taylor Swift’s latest concert tour went on sale on Ticketmaster. Huge demand swamped the website during the “pre-sales” period, crashing it and resulting in considerable outcry about customer service, a near-monopolistic business, and other concerns. We are only now seeing how many lawsuits people are filing. In this po...
Jan 19, 2023•33 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we sit down with some of our finest innovators to discuss their ideas for this year’s CampIO. Every year Centric Consulting hosts CampIO, an internal tech conference where our consultants can get together to share crazy ideas, amazing projects and good times. In this podcast, we visit with Eric Galluzzo, the organizer, and this year’s two winners for top presentations, Becky Gandillon and Jeff Aalto. Join us to hear about their amazing project...
Nov 17, 2022•53 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we talk about organizational change management and how it works within your business, no matter where you are in your change journey. To other roles in a transformational project, organizational change management (OCM) can feel like a discipline on its own little island. It’s certainly connected to the rest of the project, but how? We talk with Mark Paulson, Senior Manager for People and Change in Chicago, about how OCM best practices mesh wit...
Nov 03, 2022•30 min
In this episode of our Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we sit down with a consultant recently recognized by Consulting Magazine as Women Leaders in Technology. In this podcast, we’re celebrating some of our finest consultants, recognized in 2022 by Consulting Magazine among the Women Leaders in Technology: our Chicago operating group’s Anelia Schmitt and Hilary Lee. We wanted to get a take from these leaders on the challenges women face in consulting today and what they have learned fr...
Sep 29, 2022•47 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we sit down with Modern Software Delivery expert Pete Walen to talk about using test automation to support software development. A lot of software testing is repetitive, and therefore a great candidate for some sort of automation. Automation on its own doesn’t solve all your problems, however. You need to design it around the needs of your business environment and the business solution you’re implementing. And even then, it can have surprising...
Sep 08, 2022•47 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we sit down with a few members of our Innovation Lab to talk about their latest accomplishment – the Centric Virtual Assistant. Our Innovation Lab is familiar with developing meaningful, realizable solutions for our clients and our company. In 2021, we faced a new challenge: could we use the Lab’s innovation process to drive a project that could build teamwork, relationships and skill-building with our technologists worldwide? In this discussi...
Aug 17, 2022•42 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we sit down with our Insurance experts to talk about using a security logging framework with Guidewire. Guidewire is an industry leader core tool in the insurance space. As a Guidewire partner, Centric often works with clients to adapt Guidewire to their unique needs. Recently, we teamed up with a client to add a security logging framework to their implementation of the system. In this discussion, we talk to Sean Neben, our National Insurance ...
Jul 27, 2022•27 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we discuss the various uses of Microsoft Teams as a collaboration tool and learn how businesses can use it as a full digital hub for remote and hybrid employees. The business world initially warmly welcomed Microsoft Teams due to its strong integration of chats, calls and collaboration. The subsequent pandemic and virtualization of many work environments led to an explosion of growth, and with that came many new ideas about how to use it. For ...
Jun 29, 2022•36 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we talk to two of our Salesforce specialists about using Salesforce Lightning to build out their own version of Wordle. Some of our more recent podcasts have touched on a hot topic in the tech world – citizen development. Now we’re talking about what a business user might want to implement within a broader platform and how difficult would that be to create? We’re looking at a concrete example of citizen development in action to answer these qu...
Jun 08, 2022•21 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we’re looking at how company culture can determine business success. Company culture is a common topic of discussion these days and has been for quite some time. As early as 1951, businesses noted culture as a concept, and arguably, we can associate it with earlier industrial organizations such as Ford Motor Company in the early 20th century. Much of the discussion, however, has evolved into either: Company culture is a goal of its own – basic...
May 25, 2022•38 min•Ep. 42
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we talk to our experts about the importance of people, process and technology working together for business success. People, process and technology can combine to provide your business with a complete solution to your most complex problems. While all three of these offerings can do wonders for your organization and can make complex or challenging problems easier, combining the three brings you to an even stronger solution that will truly trans...
Apr 28, 2022•44 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we sit down with Noah Grayson to talk about how customer journey mapping can benefit your business. With brick-and-mortar shops, websites, apps and social media, companies have more ways to interact with their customers and business partners than ever before. That sounds like a situation rife with opportunity, but it's also a recipe for disaster if you don’t cohesively design the overall experience with the customer experience in mind. In this...
Mar 31, 2022•30 min
In this episode of Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks, we sit down with Becky Gandillion to talk about the intricacies of small (and big) data. Do you think data is kind of dry and dull? Or do you believe data is the bread and butter of life? It doesn't matter because either way, we have a podcast that’s right up your alley! We visit with Becky Gandillon, a Data Analysis Manager from our St. Louis practice, to discuss how you can use different types of data in unique and creative ways. Do you find...
Mar 03, 2022•38 min
In this episode of our Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we’re talking about how leaders need to rethink their leadership styles in the remote and hybrid workplace. It's now early 2022, and many of us thought we'd be back in the office full-time by July of last year. It seems we were wrong about that! But what we weren’t wrong about is how many people enjoy working remotely. In fact, according to the Qualtrics Future of Work in 2021 Report, 80 percent of us like doing work - at least some of the time ...
Jan 20, 2022•23 min
In this episode of our Centric podcast, we reflect on our DEI initiative, Centric Together, and our first year since its conception. It's been a year since we met with Jen Barnes and Maurice Faison and discussed the launch of Centric Together, Centric's initiative to go beyond Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) to ensure an unmatched employee experience for every one of us. In this episode of Centric Biz and Tech Talks, we look back at the last year: What did we accomplish? What did we learn...
Dec 23, 2021•38 min
In this edition of our Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we talk with our experts about the ins and outs of citizen development, taking an even closer look at how citizen developers can benefit your business. What is Citizen Development? At a high level, it is implementing supporting business processes using enterprise tools developed by end users rather than IT. Various forms of this have been around for a long time, but as tools grow in sophistication, so do the options available to these citizen de...
Nov 19, 2021•27 min
In this edition of our Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we share our “Citizen Development: How Business and IT Teams Achieve More” webinar. In this edition of our podcast, National Modern Workplace Practice Lead Joe Hartsel, Senior Manager for Modern Workplace Brit Kwait, and Senior Architect Jo Karnes discuss how citizen development is improving productivity, accelerating innovation, and freeing up IT groups to focus on the most business-critical applications and solutions. Would your company be bet...
Aug 19, 2021•52 min
It's the rise of the hybrid workplace, but implementation may not be as easy as you think. In this episode of our Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we discuss what you need to do to prepare for a hybrid model. 2020 saw an unprecedented change to how we work in the industrialized world, with many people working from home - or at least away from the office - early returns suggest that productivity soared. In this episode of Centric Biz and Tech Talks, we talk with our President Larry English about what ...
Jun 29, 2021•36 min
In this episode of our Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we talk to our leadership team about this past year and look at how we will navigate what’s next as a company in 2021. 2020 has been an epically strange year, but has this epic strangeness impacted Centric Consulting? In this episode of Centric Biz and Tech Talks, we talk to our leadership team, the legendary Four Amigos, about what we've gone through in 2020 and our positioning for the future. We pride ourselves on our culture, and in this talk...
Dec 01, 2020•22 min
This year has taught us the importance of flexibility. Sometimes that need for flexibility overflows into who you select to be on a project team. In this episode of our Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we discuss how to tackle the difficult subject of staffing changes for your company's benefit. How do you know when to replace someone on a project? When do you remove someone from your team and bring in someone else? When has someone contributed all they're going to contribute to the team? In this ins...
Nov 19, 2020•21 min
In the latest edition of our Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we go deeper into the world of data and analytics. Now, more than ever, D&A needs to integrate with new technologies. Data and analytics is a hot topic in the business world, so what are the key things we can learn at the front of the curve? In this episode of Centric Biz and Tech Talks, we talk to Carlos Cruz (along with his work-from-home "interns") about how organizations expect more from their data environments. They're looking for...
Oct 22, 2020•13 min
In this episode of our Couch Convos: Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we look at how companies can successfully migrate their business data into the cloud. Moving applications, infrastructure, and data from your premises and into the cloud has become increasingly popular. Companies typically look to this migration for benefits in the application and operational flexibility, but is that the limit of available benefits? And what about the costs and barriers to this migration? In this episode of Couch C...
Sep 24, 2020•32 min
In this episode of Biz and Tech Talks, we hear from Traci Whetzel about Salesforce's role in the world of CRM tools. Over the years, Customer Relationship Management tools (CRM) have become ubiquitous, and Salesforce has been leading the charge. A pioneer of software as a service, Salesforce is a major player with its CRM tools and more. In this episode of Centric Biz and Tech Talks, we listen to Traci Whetzel talk about her background with Salesforce and what she's learned from it. What does it...
Sep 02, 2020•28 min
In this episode of our Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we talk about planning for disaster recovery and maintaining business continuity. In different ways, in both businesses as well as personal arenas, we've all been dealing with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in recent months. From a business point of view, this hasn't fit the classic scenario for disaster recovery. Disaster recovery usually focuses on data centers, systems, and infrastructure, but this scenario has been more focused on pe...
Jun 25, 2020•41 min
In this episode of our Centric Biz and Tech Talks, we share our “Using Microsoft Teams to Enable Remote Work” webinar. In this edition of our Centric Biz and Tech Talks podcast, Office 365 Teamwork Lead Michael McNett, Microsoft Certified Senior Solutions Architect Veenus Maximuik, and People and Change expert Phil Swettenham (Centric Alumni) talk about how to deploy Microsoft Teams rapidly while driving employee adoption and maintaining company culture and engagement. To meet the urgent need fo...
May 28, 2020•1 hr 1 min
In this episode of our Centric Biz and Tech Talks, we talk to Michael McNeal about Marketing Automation. How do you define marketing? Maybe you think it's a continuous cycle of campaigns to customers, with metrics tracking hits, responses, and - hopefully - sales or revenue. Maybe, if you're especially savvy, you successfully target a campaign at high-quality leads. But often time, it's no more than a guess. Well, welcome to the 21st century of marketing! In this episode of Centric Biz and Tech ...
Apr 30, 2020•36 min
In this episode of the Centric Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we talk to participants and attendees from our Expedition: Data event. Data science and machine learning are gathering speed, moving from the technology sphere into day to day business. Last year, Centric Consulting organized a machine learning hackathon at its spring meeting so its consultants could learn, experiment, and get even more excited about the new technology. It was a great success, but what could our Data & Analytics team...
Mar 26, 2020•16 min
In this episode of Centric's Biz and Tech Talks, founder and president Larry English shares insights from his book about building community while working virtually. Companies have been making use of flexible work arrangements, remote staffing, and virtual teams for years, but until the recent pandemic, few companies have leaped to commit to these in a major way. For organizations trying to make that leap, there's not just the question of how to make the change, but how to make it succeed. In thi...
Mar 24, 2020•13 min
In this episode of the Centric Biz and Tech Talks podcast, we talk with Centric Consulting founder Larry English about reevaluating your business strategy. It's a cliché the world is changing faster than ever before, but that doesn't make it any less true. You work hard to establish your strategy and build on it, but in the whirlwind we live in, what's the best way to manage your business strategy and keep your business on the right path? In this installment of Centric's Biz and Tech Talks, we v...
Jan 23, 2020•25 min
