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Seth Adler•ssonetwork.b2biq.libsynpro.com

Business

Examining simplification, standardization & centralization to create value.

Last refreshed: July 16th, 2025 at 6:45 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

Ep. 145: Martin Felder, Linde

Martin Felder is the head process automation center at Linde Global Services. He discusses his role with Linde as well as their journey into RPA. Instead of taking the typical low-hanging-fruit approach, Martin tackled Linde’s impending future when deciding where to implement RPA first. He explains the whys and hows of this, including how he got the C-suite to sign off—and fund—such a huge initiative. As Linde is a global enterprise, Michael next discusses the pain points, mistakes, and happy ac...

Jan 20, 2020•29 min

Ep. 144: Lee Coulter, IEEE

In this episode, IEEE’s Lee Coulter discusses the notion that the future of every successful company will depend on the transformation into a technology services business—even pizza. This far-reaching conversation covers the entirety of the current “data chasm.” Lee kicks the discussion off by justifying his aversion to the term RPA. He notes that organizations start with task automation before moving onto intelligent automation, a process that gets lost in the blanket term RPA. Lee says, “Where...

Jan 13, 2020•50 min

Ep. 143: Dmitry Popov, Mann + Hummel

Dmitri Popov, global service management lead for Mann + Hummel Group, joins us today to discuss scaling RPA. Dmitri himself admits that such a process is painful, in part because of the few successful enterprise examples for which to model after. Dmitri points to IBM as a company who has done it well. Next, Dmitri discusses how to leverage shared services in the most efficient way, exemplifying R&D and certain purchasing aspects. One of the most difficult components of implementing RPA acros...

Jan 06, 2020•31 min

Ep. 142: Roland Haefs, Henkel

Roland Haefs, with Henkel, discusses enterprise evolution and the shift from having purely transactional relationships to becoming a true business solutions provider. It takes strong leadership and an entrepreneurial spirit to pull off such a transformation, which Roland details. In order to demonstrate his point, Roland lays out Henkel’s approach to the shared services process of master data management. Next, the conversation turns to RPA and AI more specifically, including its role in shared s...

Dec 30, 2019•23 min

Ep. 141: Kai-Eberhard Lueg, Siemens

In this episode, Kai-Eberhard Lueg, Global Business Solutions expert with Siemens, discusses the future of automation. Specifically, commerce is experiencing a new type of customer expectation that involves an increase in personalization and speed. While these two concepts seem counterintuitive, digitalization and shared services make it possible. Digitization is only as effective as the foundation it was built on, however, so Mr. Lueg details the best way to move forward on firm ground. Finally...

Dec 23, 2019•25 min

Ep. 140: Dr. Ayanna Howard, Georgia Tech University

Dr. Ayanna Howard is a chair of the School of Interactive computing at Georgia Tech, an academic, and a startup founder. While her talents are as vast as her pursuits, she sums up their relation as interactive computing. In her words, “Interactive computing is really this theme that the human is center to everything that we do when we think about computing and artificial intelligence.” Dr. Howard pursues interactive computing for the greater good, including robotics in healthcare and education. ...

Dec 16, 2019•35 min

Ep. 139: Michael Xiao, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois

Michael Xiao starts this conversation a little off topic with Daoism. Or is it? As the conversation goes on, the philosophies behind Daoism get compared to the way humans navigate technology in an almost primal way. Programs like Facebook are designed to be addictive, giving those types of platforms a negative connotation. But at Blue Cross Blue Shield, where Michael works, their approach to AI is for the greater good. However, in order to move any legacy company in the direction of digital tran...

Dec 09, 2019•46 min

Ep. 138: Tomorrow Today 2

Barbara Hodge opens this discussion with why the world needs more English majors. She makes the point that, while STEM majors are on the rise, data is nothing without a story behind it. Today’s workforce needs to be adaptable, well-rounded, and, yes, technologically savvy. What gets overlooked is the importance of building a narrative. As our world becomes increasingly automated, our jobs as humans will be to influence. We must know the data, interpret it in a way that makes sense, and communica...

Dec 02, 2019•17 min

Ep. 137: Delphine Bernard (Digital Workforce vs. Carbon Based)

A digital workforce is useless without a plan. Delphine Bernard discusses the steps it takes to make sure your AI is working for you. She stresses the importance of a solid planning phase. During this time, an enterprise should be answering questions such as, what do I want my bots to do? What processes do I want to automate? Next, simulate scenarios with KPIs and ROI. Make sure to have backups in place if bots fail. Delphine outlines the importance of building a strong digital workforce before ...

Nov 25, 2019•7 min

Ep. 136: Juan Araya, Stryker (8 Keys to Success)

Juan Arya discusses his eight CoE keys to success. Juan doesn’t mince words when it comes to the importance of building a strong, nuanced team and fixing what’s broken. He also discusses why it’s critical to build and sustain capabilities. He reminds us that, while success comes in sets of sprints, ultimately, the race is a marathon. Goals and metrics are another key for Juan, but the numbers are a moot point without the right performance management. Finally, Juan focuses on sustaining and build...

Nov 18, 2019•17 min

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