Tag Archives: digital transformation

Kamales Lardi: Humans, Business, and Technology



Kamales Lardi is a digital tech expert, business advisor, speaker, teaching fellow, and an author. She  recently published a book called The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation. Kamales is globally recognized as an influencer and Thought Leader in Digital Transformation. She has been advising multinational companies across various industries in Europe, Asia and Africa for over a decade. In this episode, Kamales talks about what an effective digital business transformation looks like, how technology affects humanity, how to use tech for good, and how a diverse ecosystem of players increases business success.

Highlights:

Q: What is your background and how do you use your knowledge of both technology and business?

Kamales is from Malaysia originally. She did her MBA in the United Kingdom, and she now lives in Switzerland. She started out in tech working for Anderson Consulting (a.k.a. Accenture) performing technology implementations for large corporations and found she needed to have a deeper understanding of how businesses work and that’s when she got her MBA. Since then, she has been helping companies use the application of technology to increase business value.

Q: What is your book The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation about?

The transformation part is taking the business on a journey to be successful in the digital economy. That involves taking the people in the organization on the journey. It goes beyond change management and cultural change to creating an ecosystem of players that help the organization become successful in the future. The players are located both inside and outside the organization and include business owners, management teams, employees, customers, partners, collaborators, educational institutions and so on. Kamalesh describes the ecosystem model and how the different players contribute.

Q: How are generational shifts affecting tech?

Kamales describes how bridging generational divides is a part of digital transformation efforts. She discusses how different generations of people have different values and demand different things from companies, such as stability and purpose, and what that means for companies.

Kamales also talks about diversity as part of an effective digital transformation strategy and many other things, including the importance of artificial intelligence (AI), and how technology is affecting humanity. Listen to the episode to hear the full interview.

Words of Wisdom:

The new generation of people knows there is an alternative to the 9-5 job.

Technology has not only triggered a change in behavior, but also it has triggered a change in mindset.

I am a technology optimist. I believe in the transformative capabilities in tech, the good in tech.

There is a darker side to technology if we don’t apply it well. A diverse ecosystem provides checks and balances.

There are hype cycles of technology, but there are no “silver bullets.”

Technology can allow us as humans to focus on deeper interactions.

Contact Kamales Lardi:

Book: The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation (Wiley) is currently available on Amazon

and wherever books are sold.

Website: www.kamaleslardi.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kamaleslardi

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kamaleslardi

 


Lynda Roth: Leading Transformational Change



Joanie has a conversation with Lynda Roth, a consultant who bridges IT expertise with business and lean management.  Lynda founded LJR Consulting Services to provide assessment of existing business and IT processes and educate business executives about information technology options and lean business process to help them creatively reduce cost and improve profits.  Lynda also has a book coming out soon called Digital Transformation: An Executive Guide to Survive and Thrive in the New Economy.

Highlights:

Q: You’re not a typical IT consultant. What do you do?

“I generally work with executives.  I don’t get into the tech anymore.  I’m generally brought in to a board member or executive I’ve met or through someone who referred me.  They usually have some sort of a problem and they don’t know how to define it and they don’t know what to do next.  That’s where I start.  Let’s evaluate what your problem is and then I find out what to do.  I organize and manage the whole thing and bring in all the resources.”

Q: You started out as an accountant.  How did you get into this line of work?

“My father desperately wanted me to be an accountant when I got out of school.  I thought it would take too long.  At this time, colleges were just starting to have technology in their curricula.  My guidance counselor suggested I look into that.  They had a few IT courses and business courses.  I got a 2-year degree, got a job, and satisfied my need to move out of my parents’ house.  I went back to accounting school at night and got that degree, but I was already making more in IT than I would as an accountant.”

“I started my own software company in the 80s and had my own digital disruption that caused the business to fail.  And then I started my own consulting business to help other companies transform.”

Lynda’s story of her own digital disruption is compelling.  Listen to the episode to hear it and what she learned.

Lynda also tells stories from her book about transformations that changed whole industries before digital was even a thing.  Her lessons are powerful and directly relate to today’s transformative world.

Words of Wisdom:

You need to re-imagine your business today.

In the 21st century, you have to throw out the rule book of what you’ve done before.

Sears was the Amazon of their day.

Why did everybody gravitate toward the automobile?  Because it was faster than the horse.

Contact Lynda Roth:

Website: http://www.ljrconsultingservices.com/

Telephone: 818-216-7264

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndajroth/

Look for her book on Amazon.