Derived from nearly 25 years of experience Seisan Consulting, LLC has culminated into a market leader in providing customized web, mobile and geospatial solutions. For over two decades, Seisan has built a rock-solid reputation for partnering with businesses and providing outstanding programming and consulting services. Their talented team of developers and designers takes as much pride in assisting clients through the crafting and implementation of smart, scalable web, mobile and geospatial applications as it does in delivering them on-time and on-budget. “As a result, our client roster features an impressive list of big players throughout the United States and Europe across a wide spectrum of industries,” says Charles Durham, Principal/President of Seisan.

Seisan was founded in Lancaster, PA in 1992 as a custom software development firm by Charles Durham and Curt Tomlinson. They take great pride in being the development partner to firms such as Verizon, Intel, Ernst & Young, Weight Watchers and numerous others alongside being an award winning firm that specializes in web and mobile application development services to the private sector as well as the United States Federal Government. Under Charles’ steadfast leadership Seisan keeps their client’s needs at the forefront of what they do and offer innovative solutions by consulting with them on the ever-changing realm of what is possible. “Our team has a deep focus on learning and innovation, hosting and participating regularly in developing our own proof of concepts through ‘hack-a-thons’ and other tech challenges. It is through this focus on innovation that we are better able to develop holistic solutions,” adds Charles.

” Seisan isn’t your average technology company and that’s by design. While we share common ground with the best organizations in the world – including an intense focus on innovation and smart business practices – we retain that small company feel “

Seisan has successfully launched numerous large projects requiring highly scalable architectures that can handle thousands of concurrent requests. The company has also worked with diversified development teams and engineers at adapting and understanding their development methodologies and processes to effectively enhance their programming, system or product. The company analyzes how a client’s current enterprise architecture is being utilized and how best to implement the solution and take a technology agnostic approach using the best available tools and technologies. In an instance, by uniting their proven geospatial and system integration expertise,Seisan designed and developed a robust series of custom software applications to streamline Flagger Force’s—a leading traffic control company—manual business processes. Seisan provided a automated tracking system utilizing in-vehicle GPScoupled with a user-friendly dashboard to monitor thatdisplays real-time statuses and enable quick resolutionto issues in the field.

“Seisan isn’t your average technology company and that’s by design. While we share common ground with the best organizations in the world – including an intense focus on innovation and smart business practices – we retain that small company feel,” says Charles. “Our strategy is quite simple. We hire driven, innovative individuals who can think broadly and deeply and who can challenge the status quo. In doing so, we believe they bring greater value to our clients. We believe that our team means everything.”

Seisan leverages an agile development methodology and utilizes leading-edge technologies, taking pride in equipping the clients with capabilities that were otherwise unattainable due to budget or time constraints. It is pertinent to mention that the company is passionate about delivering immersive solutions that exceeds the clients’ visionand empower them to meet their goals.

There is no coincidence that Seisan is a leading-edge technology company today. Borne out of curiosity and furthering knowledge of what is possible with what is available, Seisan continues to push the boundaries of commercial applications for emerging technologies. “While there are others, as a ‘tip of the spear’ effort, we are prototyping and implementing Internet of Things (IoT) Development, Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence / Robotic Process Automation / Computer Vision, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality along with 5G / EDGE Computing,” adds Charles.

Carolyn April, Senior Director, Industry
Analysis, CompTIA

Every once in a while, a reality check hits you. Is my kid really Harvard material? Will I ever fit into my 10-year-old clothes again? Am I honestly cut out to run this bed and breakfast? It’s what we do as human beings — second-guessing, tinkering, course-correcting.

Reflective thinking is also the smart way to operate a business, though not always a pleasant exercise. Just ask practitioners in the IT channel. Their current reality check revolves around whether cloud computing is having a positive or negative impact on them. No black or white answer there. In fact, CompTIA’s 6th Annual State of the Channel study exposes more confusion than conclusion. On the one hand, 4 in 10 channel firms say cloud and its business potential is the No. 1 reason to be optimistic about the channel’s future. On the other, a third of channel firms cite cloud as a main reason to think negatively about the days ahead.

The disconnect speaks to one of the most notable takeaways from this year’s study: the channel still isn’t all that comfortable with cloud. In fact, they are less sure about cloud’s impact than they were two years ago. It seems, after several years of aggressive cloud activity, the channel has entered what we like to call the “refinement” phase with cloud.

Consider the data. This year just 37% of channel firms described the cloud’s impact on the channel in the last five years as “extremely positive.” That is a stark reversal from 2014, when 63% offered such a glowing assessment. Perhaps even more telling is the portion of respondents that say that cloud has had at least a partially negative impact on the channel. In 2014, 8% fell into the naysayer category; in 2016, the somewhat-discontented camp grew to 21%. Another indicator that channel firms are feeling less comfortable with their cloud decisions to date can be found in how they self-assess their business’ maturity level with cloud. In 2014, for example, 57% of respondents pegged their cloud business as mature and strategic; this year that number dropped to 34%. Instead, the bulk (49%) of channel firms described their current experience with cloud as somewhat mature, while another 14% said their cloud efforts remain in pilot stages. Encouragingly, of the group that reported low levels of cloud maturity, nearly 8 in 10 said they are confident or somewhat confident that they are on the right path with the cloud efforts.

A further stress point for the channel has been the self-service aspect of cloud solutions. End customers today are able to easily click-to-provision a SaaS application or compute capacity directly over the Web from a public cloud provider such as Amazon Web Services or Google. Likewise, many channel firms have feared that vendors selling cloud solutions would begin doing so via direct sales, siphoning off potential revenue for the channel and diminishing their relevance with end customers.

There may be some truth to these concerns. When asked how cloud computing has impacted their relationship with their end customers, this year’s responses mark yet another downward shift from those provided in 2014. While 7 in 10 channel firms said cloud had generally strengthened their ties with end customers two years ago, 6 in 10 did so this year. What is more troubling, however, is the increase in those that believe cloud has weakened customer bonds: 17% felt that way in 2014, 24% do so today.

All of this data suggest an element of “having bitten off more than one can chew” by the channel. Firms that two or three years ago dove headlong into a number of different cloud offerings or business types are now, in hindsight, realizing that they did not foresee some of the challenges. Did they pick the proper cloud business model to fit their skills, size and customer demographics? Did they choose the right cloud vendor partners to work with? Did they determine the right pricing strategy and calculate time to ROI effectively? Falling short in any of these areas could lead many a channel player to pump the brakes a bit before determining how next to proceed.

One other thing to consider: how a company found its way into cloud. The study found that 29% of respondents attribute their path to maturity to being a “born in the cloud” company. These cloud natives are not encumbered by legacy hardware and other on-premises solutions portfolios. As such, they do not need to undergo the costly and difficult “business transformation” process that many traditional channel players are currently struggling with in order to adopt cloud.

Clearly, the cloud market is not going away and will continue growing rapidly. For the SaaS space alone, Gartner is forecasting growth of 20.3% in 2016, to $37.7 billion. And despite all its challenges, the channel itself is seeing its cloud revenues growing at a faster pace than legacy lines of business. But growing pains are growing pains. And if this year’s study results show anything, it’s reality check time for the channel.

Alex DeBarr has been passionate about association’s success for more than 10 years as the President and CEO of Naylor Association Solutions. Naylor has provided member engagement and non-dues revenue solutions to the association marketplace for nearly 50 years. The company’s offerings, including a full print and digital product suite, event and exhibition services, software-as-a-service(SaaS), consulting and marketing—serve the communication, member/stakeholder engagement and non-dues revenue needs of trade and professional associations. How does DeBarr effectively lead an organization with a wide range of products? “The key has been having a vision for expanding the business to address the needs of our association clients, getting buy-in and enabling feedback and participation from the management team; and having the patience and/or drive to execute the right plans,” says DeBarr.

Naylor is unique in the association service industry owing to their mix of solutions and focus on helping associations achieve more while keeping member dues low. “All of [our] solutions help associations develop or drive member engagement—and most can be monetized via the sale of advertising, sponsorship or exhibits, which provides valuable non-dues revenue,” explains DeBarr. Associations that earn non-dues revenue are better able to keep member dues affordable while still improving their membership value through expanded programming and professional development.

” The key has been having a vision for expanding the business to address the needs of our association clients, getting buy-in and enabling feedback and participation from the management team; and having the patience and/or drive to execute the right plans “

For example: The New York State Association of Fire Chiefs (NYSAFC), which advocates and provides hands-on education for 10,000 emergency service professionals in New York, was facing difficulties managing their quarterly member magazine, SIZE UP. Pursuing advertising dollars while developing editorial content and graphic design was difficult with their limited staff which was further stretched by the demands of hosting an annual conference that includes equipment exhibits, workshops and training to assist firefighters in addressing ongoing and new challenges in their field. After NYSAFC shifted ad sales and some of the production duties for SIZE UP to Naylor, their communications staff could start focusing more on the development of other programs and projects. NYSAFC’s annual conference has grown by 25 percent over nine years, and thanks to Naylor’s outstanding events team boasts an exhibitor retention rate of 75 percent.

Being a competitive team sports athlete and coach most of his life, DeBarr has strengthened the company on the principles of focus, discipline and how to deal with pressure. “I never ask people to do something I wouldn’t do, and I try to lead by example in positive ways,” he says. DeBarr advises would-be entrepreneurs to have a vision, research it to make sure it is practical and achievable—then attack it. Being prepared to change plans as customers needs evolve – and knowing what those needs are by asking them in statistically valid ways – is essential. “There are millions of great ideas out there,” he added. “Yours has to involve serving a client need in a way that helps them and can be done profitably.”

One evolving client need Naylor has recently addressed is the desire for easy app integrations with member software. The company has recently introduced the Naylor Marketplace, which enables their 1,200 association management software customers access to a growing number of software add-ons like email, resume builders and surveys via one-click integration. “This is an industry first,” DeBarr states. “By providing this access we are helping our customers utilize our products more effectively and efficiently. We have had a significant positive response to this since we launched in late October, and we are adding to the app store tools every week,” he adds. With DeBarr quarterbacking, expect to see Naylor continue to grow in the future.

Our editorial staff recently asked Marty Reed, CEO of RANDA Solutions, to give us a fly-over of his view of some of the important issues (both obstacles and opportunities) facing Education, especially in working with data at all levels of the education cycle. We also asked him to tell us what RANDA is currently working on. Here are some of his observations.

“Education systems are transforming and the need for how institutions acquire, manage and utilize data makes a tremendous difference in their productivity. RANDA has been a 20-year pioneer in providing administrators and teachers a variety of education-intelligence to create actionable solutions along this entire continuum. Breaking down data silos, automating workflows and uncovering countless truths that are hidden inside existing data systems allows educators to discover the necessary keys to student learning and teacher effectiveness.

RANDA was built on the thesis of “lightbulb” moments–opportunities for software and local Subject-Matter-Expertise (SME) to come together to create brilliant new solutions. We are always innovating to create data strategies and alignment tools that enable Teacher Effectiveness to rise to the top.”

Reed has become known amongst many state-wide administrators as a ‘trusted advisor.’ We asked him how that positioning empowers educators:

“We work with our state-level educators to not just listen, but to truly hear what’s happening in their classrooms, schools and districts. From there we work hard to identify key trends that allow us to go forward and develop strategies that build better solutions. This often begins by augmenting paper processes but hopefully moves on to creating software that disrupts the status-quo of antiquated or 1.0 methodologies, to creatingnew and better solutions for our customers. We constantly review and evaluate how these new solutions can be implemented as seamlessly and effectively as possible.The ad-hoc moniker that drives our development teams is simple: workable solutions that increase productivity and reduce stress.”

” Our first goal is to make all required data as easily visible and consumable as possible. “

Reed goes on to say, “RANDA does not apply these technologies until they are proven in other markets. We do not think our children’s education is a place to experiment with potential bleeding-edge technologies. We adopt and deploy these innovations only after they have been tested and make sense. Educators are in too many spotlights already–they require dependable technology partners. This is a big part of earning the right to being called a trusted advisor.

RANDA approaches every solution as an iterative and mature process. We work with each customer to help them travel from where they are to their own next-best-version of themselves. We use a lifecycle of innovation approach broken down into logical and doable next steps. We are always sensitive to each state or district’s population and context and try to pace accordingly. Onboarding new technology from innovation to adoption–with all of its inevitable pivots and changes–is as much an art as it is a science.

We asked Mr. Reed to expound on this ‘innovation-to-adoption’ process:

“At RANDA we always think of the customer first: what are the goals that they have agreed upon; which parts of the available data do they want to be able to take some form of action upon; how do they prefer to see and consume their available data? Each case is unique. Each group thinks differently about these questions. Our first goal is to make all required data as easily visible and consumable as possible. We have discovered that when you can do that, the essential (but often hidden) linkages in the data will reveal themselves. Certain data, which at first-glance, may not look correlative, actually turns out to be crucially related—but only when viewed in the right context. These links and relationships—that only the data can provide—become the invaluable asset necessary to build solutions that improve practices and student outcomes.”

Finally, we asked Marty to give us a quick look behind the curtain at one of the innovative projects that RANDA is currently working on,

“RANDA is currently working on rolling outCourse Code Master (CCM). CCM will solve a very discreet problem that is pervasive across all states and districts—how to accurately map educational courses, at classroom levels, all the way through the chain from local schools to all consuming systems.”

Sounds interesting, is there more?

“We are energized by how RANDA can add a next piece to the Ed-Fi and IMS Global interoperability chain. We are working to standardize the interfaces between education systems in providing in-line translation for those systems to consume the data in the way they need to be consumed—no longer bound by how the source system produces it. This allows both sides to adhere to diverse standards, but now—with universal translation—be able to see and understand the data in its own preferred context.

Thank you, Marty for such a candid glimpse into this important work of accurate and consumable data delivery that you and RANDA specialize in. We know that it will be helpful to our readers.

Matthew Sekol, Director, Microsoft and
Cloud Practice, Arraya Solutions

Over the past few years, there has been a rise in nationalism across the globe. Citizens and countries are starting to step back and reflect on what is going on internally within their borders and leaving the rest of the world to deal with their own problems. It is as if the Me decade (the 1970s) is playing out across each country. Everyone wants to divorce global alliances and focus on themselves.This movement comes at an interesting time. Never before has our economies been so tied together. As the internet evolves and reaches more and more people, the complexity of living in a digital world is growing. After all, the internet is no longer about just delivering web pages or emails. The internet has enabled the cloud, and this has transformed the internet to a delivery method for experiences and services across a world-wide audience.Think about the cloud like a modern automobile. No one country manufactures everything that makes up an automobile. You might have a chassis from the US, seats from China, and an engine from Germany. The services we enjoy on the internet have evolved in a similar way through the cloud. An cloud application you use could be delivered regionally or from the country where the company resides. Your personal information for that application could be on-premises or in a secure facility in a digital privacy friendly country.The cloud is where nationalism begins to break down. Cloud providers have created the ability to host data wherever a company chooses. A company doesn’t necessarily need a physical office in a foreign country to operate and reach customers anymore. This global reach flies in the face of nationalism, but it is the reality in which modern businesses operate and it allows them to grow.Digital privacy laws, woefully outdated in the United States, can be manipulated with this new rise of nationalism. There’s been a troubling movement in the US to attempt to force US based technology companies, like Microsoft, Amazon and Google, to provide data from non-US datacenters. I’ve written about this at length in a previous article if you’re interested.These companies certainly aren’t the only ones operating on a global scale, nor is this operating model something new. Companies have been operating across borders for hundreds of years. Yet, the ease of technology is used as an excuse for governments to request intangible data in ways they cannot get to tangible assets under the guise of self-interest, or nationalism.

In an Amicus filing, several tech companies expressed their strong opinion of the US government’s attempt to force Google to turn over emails stored in a non-US datacenter. The filing outlines how other nations view this as an “extraterritorial act on the part of the U.S. Government.”

As with most technology, the telecom industry is continually changing. MPLS and VPNs have been the technology to rely on in the network connectivity industry—that is slowly fading out. The two common mistakes that network providers make are deploying Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLs) that utilize Layer 3 Technology or Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that traverse the public Internet opening their clients up to security breaches. Massive Networks eliminates this by delivering One Pipe Multi-Connect—a built-in state of the art technology that is provided through a Layer 2 platform taking business-critical data off the public Internet. Massive Networks has been designing, procuring, building, and managing networks for twenty years as a company. “Our relationships with the major providers are invaluable, but what makes us unique is the number of interconnects we have done with local and regional vendors,” says Paul Mako, CEO and Kevin Flake, COO of Massive Networks who bring a refreshing approach to the telecom industry, with their seasoned experience.

According to Mako, high-cost MPLS or security vulnerabilities with VPNs tend to take up a majority of a departments budget, regarding Network connectivity. “This isn’t the case with our solution at Massive Networks. In fact, on average, we’re about 30% cheaper than a traditional MPLS Network. Additionally, the private line connectivity offers the added security any medium to large business should be concerned with,” he explains. Massive One Pipe Multi-Connect Solution can penetrate existing infrastructure and merge multiple and dynamic streams of data through a single pipe. This approach provides clients with superior performance from bandwidth-intensive services like voice, data, web services, video, and backups. Massive Networks offers various services; each one can be actively bolted on at any time, regardless of what the client is currently utilizing.

” Our relationships with the major providers are invaluable, but what makes us unique is the number of interconnects we have done with local and regional vendors “

Massive Network’s success is attributed to having a superior IP network and core infrastructure that is redundant across multiple Networks, multiple ISPs, and fiber providers. As an example, Massive Networks can deliver multiple network solutions on various fiber providers in a single building. With Massive’s proprietary one port, many connections” technology a company can benefit from faster speeds, less latency, better security, as well as save money in the process. In an instance, one of the company’s renowned client’s VOIP and Video Conferencing systems suffered from dropped calls, low call quality, echoes, hissing and gaps in conversation caused by ISP performance problems. Massive Network’s private 10 Gig backbone can enable office to office VOIP connectivity, dedicated LAN solely to VOIP and Video Conferencing traffic, while the external callers benefited from the Premium Blended Internet optimizing VOIP paths through the routed Internet.

Massive Network’s primary goal is to increase their penetration of fiber lit-buildings from 2 million to 5 million. Additionally, Massive Networks would like to expand its Cloud Marketplace reach within the private and hybrid cloud sectors from 6+ providers to one hundred. Massive Networks stands apart from the crowd through its unique technology offerings.There aren’t too many companies offering what Massive Network provides. “We can navigate through the competitive arena by offering all, if not more, of the services. Instead of having to manage multiple vendors, we make it easy for IT Managers, Directors, and administrators to work with by offering everything. It’s a no-brainer, really!” concludes Flake.

Massive Networks

Management

Paul Mako,
CEO

Description

Massive Networks provides one pipe multi-connect solution, premium-blended-internet-connect, megalan-gigalan-connect, cloud-exchange-connect, data-center-direct-connect, private-network-transport, voip-connect, saas-connect, peering-exchange-connect and cloud-backup-service.

Data is being produced at an unimaginable rate and with the right Big Data tools, organizations can store, manage, and analyze this data – and gain valuable insights that were previously unimaginable. Seeing the need for a company that could provide cost effective, strategic solutions using the best of SAP, cloud and big data analytics, Christopher Carter started Approyo in 2011. Approyo is a leading global SAP technology solution provider making it simple for companies to implement SAP and Cloud solutions. Carter has been associated in the Big Data and SAP industry for almost 25 years and is experienced in working with businesses around the globe, assisting them in their journey to the usage of Big Data in the forms of Hadoop (Cloudera and Hortonwork’s) and SAP HANA. He has incorporated the same knowledge in Approyo, supporting firms who are looking for knowledge to grow through current business process, where even 1 percent increase can lead to millions of dollars in business flow.

CEO Chris Carter launched the 1st ever SAP solution on a VM/Cloud in 2002. By doing so it opened the door to showcasing the world that an ERP solution like SAP could be put into a VM and spread across the landscape. Approyo’s strategy is based on the platform eco-system trend that is becoming prevalent in the tech world. “We have seen the success of this model with Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android and Salesforce’s Force.com. Using this strategy based on a platform and its eco-system, a large number of developers are able to build their businesses cost-effectively without the time-to-market disadvantages,” adds Carter. They support companies making their shift to the SAP HANA platform by developing ready to deploy and secure predictive analytics solutions.

According to Carter, the first solution they made was a success in their minds because it got clients and drove revenue. “But today I look at it as ancient technology. We have grown the product so much sense then and have been able to have others preach the word on how SAP in a cloud can benefit them today, where in 2002 it was more difficult to persuade,” adds the steadfast CEO. It took them time and help to get moving, it also took one CTO with the faith to try their SAP clouded solution who gave his trust to Approyo which lead to gaining customers and enhancing their products effectively.

“Every time SAP adds a new solution, we want to be the 1st to get it in a Cloud and to offer it to the world”

The biggest asset of Approyo Network is CEO Chris Carter and the team which brings a wealth of relationships in the SAP ecosystem. They have used these relationships to build business and partnerships throughout the years. Approyo knows they have expertise with over 25 years of Big Data and technology knowledge, a dedicated team of hardworking experts, global presence and unique technology. Their Cloud environments are built from the ground up for SAP HANA, S/4HANA, SAP Leonardo and other technology solutions to allow fast implementation and increased flexibly for customers of all shapes and sizes.

Approyo is truly business partners to their customer working hand-in-hand to grow with SAP and SAP HANA. They help uncover new business opportunities through the use of Big Data and SAP HANA. “We work with some of the best of breed technology partners in the SAP ecosystem. We work strategically with these organizations to grow our businesses. Every time SAP adds a new solution, we want to be the 1st to get it in a Cloud and to offer it to the world,” adds Carter

With rich experience in business, molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine, Guanghui Hu, the President & CEO at Admera Health believes that the future of medicine is in one’s DNA. Admera is a commercial-stage company that provides advanced molecular testing and digital health services to fundamentally change the way diseases are screened, diagnosed, treated, monitored, managed, and prevented. “Personalized medicine is where the entire healthcare industry is headed. We are unique in that we can offer our services globally, providing the technical (sequencing/wet lab) or professional (DNA sequencing interpretation), either individually or with each other,” says Hu.

Admera started as a clinical services division within GENEWIZ in late 2012 and became an independent entity in July 2014, launching their first product, PGxOne™ Plus, in September of 2014 and adding cardiology and oncology lines in 2015. Admera utilizes proprietary next generation sequencing (NGS) technology platforms and advanced bioinformatics. Admera has acquired the necessary experience, knowledge, and proprietary algorithms to accurately perform high complexity molecular testing and interpret medically actionable results. These results are then presented to physicians in an easy to understand but thorough report.

” Personalized medicine is where the entire healthcare industry is headed. We are unique in that we can offer our services globally, providing the technical (sequencing/wet lab) or professional (DNA sequencing interpretation), either individually or with each other. “

According to Hu, in genomics, it’s all about how one interprets the genetic variants that really matters. Hence, Admera additionally reports four interactions that may critically alter drug response: drug-drug, drug-food, drug-alcohol, and drug-lab. Admera also personalizes the report for the physician through four different types of reports: for the psychiatrist, for the oncologist, for the cardiologist, and for the general practitioner.

Admera’s oncology portfolio covers three distinct types of genetic tests currently being utilized by oncologists, making them peerless compared to other service providers. These tests include: solid tumor gene mutation analysis for targeted therapy (OncoGxOne and OncoGxSelect), liquid biopsy testing for targeted therapy selection and therapy resistance monitoring (LiquidGx), and PGxOnco for traditional chemotherapeutic therapy and supportive care. Admera’s cardiovascular portfolio is unique in that they are able to present disease free survival (Kaplan-Meier) curves in over 33 disease states to the cardiologist. This is a powerful tool to help counsel the patient. “The old way of treating a patient (trial and error) is purely reactionary. By utilizing our tests, we can be preemptive and save the patient from potentially poor reactions and unnecessary procedures, allowing patients to save money, time, and subjectivity,” adds the visionary leader, Guanghui Hu.

According to an ailing patient who wants to maintain anonymity, “The PGxOnePlus test proved to be an invaluable resource to my treatment decision. My pain medications were not working. After taking the genetic test, I learned that I am a poor metabolizer and I was not taking the best medication for me. Now I know what medication will work for me. I highly recommend this test for everyone.”

Admera Health has developed a streamlined process for requesting collection supplies, submitting samples, and receiving actionable patient-specific reports. On the front end, Admera offers multiple sample collection types, making it easy to find a method that works best for physicians and their patients. For high volume practices, an auto replenish program is available to ensure that their practice never runs out of supplies. On the back end, they offer full EMR integration as well as their own physician portal where the physician can perform order entry and receive results.

Admera aims at solidifying their current industry leading service lines with clinical studies and introducing new service lines in major disease areas. To strengthen their future, Admera is also partnering with a company to provide a test for autism. “The test will assist in diagnosing autism and we are hopeful that we can also help current individuals with autism better manage their prescriptions,” adds Hu.

Ultra-distance running and cycling sports require a tremendous amount of pre-planning, practice and training. Although these are individual endurance sports, they often involve large teams that help manage and support the athlete through the multi-day events. Often, the team’s capabilities and execution define the outcome for the athlete. Being a long time participant in such competitive events has helped Ron Whitmill understand how important team dynamics, goal setting and preparation are to success. Ron understands that having a good plan and executing that plan is vitally important – not only for sports, but also for building an organization.

As CEO and co-owner, Ron helped build NuCompass Mobility into a globally renowned relocation company. NuCompass differentiates itself from the competition by providing cutting-edge technology, in conjunction with high-touch service delivery, in a meaningful way for its customers. The core philosophy at NuCompass is that technology and services depend on each other and – when executed correctly, make each other better.

“We’re passionate about giving our clients and their transferring employees the best possible customer service experience. We’re driven every day to find new solutions that are easy-to-use and improve the overall experience. That means we will always be evolving.”

While the relocation industry as a whole has been slow to adapt to new technologies, NuCompass has always had a strong emphasis on changing the landscape of relocation through technology. Throughout Ron’s 20-year tenure, the company has won multiple awards for their initiatives – from being the first to market with mobile apps to offering inventive self-service options for transferring employees.

As corporate clients migrated to new HR and talent management platforms, NuCompass developed its own cloud-based platform, called CoPilot™. CoPilot automates the relocation process, integrates with suppliers and other HR ecosystems, and provides extremely accurate reporting and tax compliance. With CoPilot, NuCompass is able to customize and scale service delivery to fit each client’s relocation program requirements.

NuCompass delivers a wide range of US Domestic and Global Mobility services that assist corporations in relocating their employees around the world. Services include destination and departure services, such as home sale, temporary housing and household goods moves.

The company is always working to improve the experience for transferring employees and reduce costs for its clients. As an example, NuCompass recently launched a more efficient process for performing household goods surveys. Most relocation firms order traditional surveys, which involves van line staff going to the relocating employee’s home to physically inspect all belongings. To eliminate this time consuming and intrusive process, NuCompass integrated with an online video survey application, which enables transferring employees to video chat with a surveyor to easily capture what’s needed for an accurate estimate. This method not only reduces stress for relocating employees, but also provides faster quotes and lower costs.

NuCompass has an excellent team of professionals that are skilled in their roles and work toward a common strategy and mission. With a transparent and balanced communications style, Ron ensures all departments are current and relative to each other. He promotes a success-oriented, accountable and collaborative environment that fosters a teamwork approach, facilitating rapid technology development. “Our ability to keep people long-term sets us apart. My job is to tap into that talent to make sure everyone is heard and contributes, so we get all points of view on the table,” says Ron.

Similar to his endurance sports teams, Ron also strives to maintain a culture of integrity, grace and compassion in the office. He finds ways to continually explore and nurture the company’s vision – testing it against client demands every day and being willing to consider solutions that others might find unconventional. According to Ron, “We’re passionate about giving our corporate clients and their transferring employees the best possible service experience. Every day, we’re driven to find new solutions that are easy-to-use and improve the overall experience. That means we will always be evolving.”

Samir Bhatia, CEO of Brightleaf Solutions has culminated to be one of those rare leaders who also naturally serves as an inspirational mentor. Owing to his strong experience in Business Development, Bhatia exhibits special qualities including sturdy interpersonal skills and a unique capacity for empathy. These qualities most notably translate in his ability to motivate a team to care about its project and be invested in project’s success. For the steadfast CEO being successful is a combination of a good idea, sound execution, ability to put oneself into the weeds and rise out of them changing as the market dictates. “You will run into ups and downs. It is how you handle it. It is how you let your team know how to handle it. Take the downs as opportunities. Easier said than done, but this is a strong trait of a CEO. Take the ups as stepping stones to a higher ground!” says Bhatia.

The proactive, result oriented, responsible and technically sound leader makes it a point to put all his energy and time to get a job done. By thinking outside the box, he has taken his company, Brightleaf— offering technology powered service to extract information from users contracts using a proprietary semantic intelligence/natural language processing technology—into a very well recognized name in the Contracts Management space. “The industry knows us now as being the company that can do the data extraction cheaper, faster and exceedingly (decidedly?) better than anyone! We have positioned Brightleaf to add value to these companies,” adds Bhatia.

” You will run into ups and downs. It is how you handle it. It is how you let your team know how to handle it. Take the downs as opportunities. Easier said than done, but this is a strong trait of a CEO. Take the ups as stepping stones to a higher ground! “

By developing technology using the latest Natural Language Processing (NLP), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities, Brightleaf’s software has aced much of the extraction work. Utilizing a highly trained team of lawyers in India, Brightleaf checks the data extracted by the proprietary software, and uses a stringent /proven. Six-Sigma process to provide perfect data extracted from the client’s contracts, a must when dealing with critical information upon which the client’s company relies heavily. “The CLM software vendors come to us as we are highly focused, best in class and add tremendous value not only to the end client, but also to the CLM vendors, who, at one time, used to shy away from answering the client’s question of ‘What do I do with my legacy contracts?’,” he explains. In an instance, for a Class 1 Railway client, Brightleaf extracted information from their Track Maintenance agreements. Being a firm, which is at least a century old, they had millions of miles of railway track and Brightleaf found out that they were maintaining certain tracks when the obligation had shifted and the other party should have been doing so. This amounted to 8+million dollars of yearly revenues were not being billed for decades. Brightleaf’s perfect extraction helped the client “find” this revenue and they are now starting to enforce these contracts.

Bhatia has a unique talent in bringing the cost down on any regular expenses for the company. In addition to being loyal and innovative he is also an inspiring person who motivates his team to work hard and achieve more. He mentors and develops his team, guiding them on how to optimize their jobs and gives them opportunities in different areas to keep them motivated. Bhatia adds, “People stick with you if they are constantly learning, not only in their area of expertise, but in other areas as well. This helps the employees, as well as the company to exceed all goals. The company for the future is adding multiple language capabilities to the software and constantly enhancing the software for better extraction results, for better quality control process enhancements. “Strive to be the best you can be. Give it a 110%. Live, eat breath the company—these are the qualities of a true CEO and leader,” adds Bhatia, who has been motivating numerous entrepreneurs around the globe through his strong belief in values and dreams.

Bhatia’s team members call him the “Soothsayer”. As he always looks to the future goals as the strategy, and works backwards to align the tasks to the strategic goals. In his thinking process, he envisions obstacles, often predicting them before they happen, and putting in processes to mitigate that risk up front. They ask him, “How did you know this was going to happen?”. It comes over years of experiencing all the ups and downs, he adds.

He looks forward to the enhancement of the technology and his service offerings outside of contracts. Bhatia adds, “The vision to extract data-points from multiple documents can be extrapolated to many verticals. For example, in the Financial sector, we have done pilot projects to extract the salient information from Microsoft Word and PDF documents; items such as trading party, settlement date, NAV value, number of shares traded etc. These then get uploaded into the client’s financial systems that track these trades, much like the information that we extract from contracts gets uploaded into CLM systems. Even beyond the Financial vertical, there is much need in Healthcare, Bio-tech/Pharma, manufacturing, and many other verticals. The sky is the limit”, he adds with a gleam in his eye.