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On this weeks episode of Women Talk Tech, we speak to Liz McLachlan about the importance of mentorship and sponsorship. Liz is the Managing Director, Ecosystem Partners and Platforms responsible for leading all facets of the Accenture Ecosystem in Canada. This includes setting strategy, forming and managing partnerships, supporting sales around Accenture’s assets and driving the Accenture Innovation agenda with the Ecosystem Partners.

Growing up, Liz was an athlete and wanted to be a sports journalist. In university, she played varsity soccer and pursued an English and Political Science degree. Liz had hopes of going to journalism school but ended up in Western Canada after university working in sales. Liz discovered that she could be very good in sales based on her skill set. Upon her return to Toronto, her first job was at Bell Mobility Paging and this was the start of a phenomenal career in tech and telecom for Liz.

Liz speaks about her 20-year journey in the technology, software and telecommunications industry and her move to Accenture. It is at Accenture that she is actively working on diversity and inclusion issues. Liz strongly believes that companies can’t just publish their diversity and inclusion numbers in a case study and leave it at that. Companies need to document the culture inside of the company so women can figure out what the look and feel is, what roles they see themselves in, if there are role models from a racial point of view, and more.

“I think it’s really important to have role models and get a feel for the culture of the company before you join it so you can see what a day in the life of this company is like, because it’s one thing to publish policy, but it’s something different to get a feel for what it’s actually like inside the company.”

Liz says that what ultimately drew her to Accenture was that she was able to quickly identify a sponsor who would help her on the path to partnership. Mentorship and sponsorship are important tools that all women should be identifying to help them move forward in the tech sector. These are cornerstones for women to find their way in a company and more businesses should be formally putting these programs in place.

Women Talk Tech has launched a 2020 Action Plan that addresses what companies can be doing right now to attract more women to tech and keep them there. Liz’ podcast and her support of sponsorship and mentorship are timely as this is one of the four key cornerstones in the Women Talk Tech 2020 Action Plan.

If you are a leader in a tech organization, we strongly urge you to consider formal mentorship and sponsorship programs for women as part of your 2020 objectives.

Available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play Music.

ABOUT LIZ MCLACHLAN

Liz is a Managing Director for Ecosystem Partners and Platforms and Accenture Canada. Prior to Accenture Liz spent nine years with TELUS where she managed some of the most high-value, strategic business partnerships such as Accenture, Avanade, Microsoft, IBM, HP, and Dell EMC.  Liz is passionate about diversity and inclusion and is an active speaker and volunteer in the LGBTQ & Women’s Communities in Toronto. She was a founding member of the TELUS LGBTQ Employee Resource group called ‘Spectrum’ and was a member of the national leadership committee. While at Telus, Liz co-chaired the TELUS Women’s Employee Resource Group for the GTA Chapter from 2014-2015. She was an active Advisor to the Board for the not-for-profit organization, ‘Out on Bay Street’ (now known as Start Proud), for three years as a senior advisor. Liz used her experience developing corporate partnerships to act as the Director of Development and Partnerships at OutSport Toronto, a non-for-profit organization promoting LGBTQ sports leagues in the Greater Toronto Area from 2013-2016. She was the keynote speaker at “Lesbians Who Tech” Conference in 2018 in Montreal, a Presenter at WXN Summit, Keynote Speaker at Ivey School of business WIMS Conference, and in 2018 and was Master of Ceremonies for Accenture’s International Women’s Day in 2018 and 2019 in Toronto. You can connect with Liz on LinkedIn here.

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“I don’t think you’ll see a displacement of people. I think you’ll see a re-training of your live resources to do more.”

This was Ruth Zive’s response when we asked if artificial intelligence and its application to things like customer support would displace people. Ruth is in an interesting position to see first hand how AI is enhancing customer experience. Ruth is the Head of Marketing at Ada, an AI-powered chatbot company that helps enterprises automate support activities so customers will be happier.

Ruth is mother of five, one of which is a child with special needs which makes her an active special needs advocate. She is also a yoga enthusiast and a dog obsessed chocoholic. Like other guests on the podcast, a career in tech was never something Ruth thought of when she was in high school. She pursued a path of English and Literature in University. Ruth was introduced to the tech sector later in her career and absolutely loved the fast paced and exciting environment she found when she entered tech, even more so as she is with a company on the cutting edge of tech.

Ruth talks about Ada, what an AI chatbot is, and how artificial intelligence can enhance the customer experience. Ruth also discusses her perspective on where artificial intelligence is heading in society and why we shouldn’t fear automation. Ruth believes there is a negative connotation around AI because it has been perceived to replace jobs. Ruth believes it can enhance what people are doing, not replace them.

“I think what’s going to happen, specifically in customer service, is platforms like Ada introduce automation and we will see the role of the customer agent and live agent changing. We believe strongly at Ada that live customer support is critical but what we see now is access to those live resources is fractured. We wait on the phone for hours trying to reach a live person. That’s an infuriating experience and if you automate the interactions that are automatable, you create much better access – which means that your live resources can have more meaningful engagement with their customers.”

Don’t forget to check out the Women Talk Tech 2020 Action Plan Report to help develop a program in your organization to advance women in tech.

Available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play Music.

ABOUT RUTH ZIVE

Ruth is a skilled and metrics-driven marketing strategist who believes in evidence-based revenue growth through the coordination and alignment of marketing and sales processes. Ruth has worked for two decades serving clients in the technology, financial services and non profit industries. Ruth believes successful brand building is ultimately about storytelling – understanding your prospect’s pain, and communicating how can resolve it. Everything else follows from a compelling story. You can connect with Ruth on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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On this weeks Women Talk Tech Podcast, we spoke to Rani Pendse who is a Senior Partner Development Manager at Microsoft Canada about the key to diversity. Rani is originally from India and began her career in science and research after attending the University of Sydney and The Michener Institute. Rani struggled with a lot of adversity geographically and challenges in having career changes from an industry vertical perspective. She slowly started to fall in love with tech when she realized it was just like science and she could make a huge impact.

Rani does a lot of work with start-ups, and start-ups are sometimes perceived to be the domain of young and mostly male environment. Throughout the podcast, Rani speaks about her observations around diversity in the start-up world and offers advice for start-ups.

Rani also offers listeners three key pieces of advice to “be your own hero”:

1. Take action: There are days when we wish someone or something could magically make our troubles disappear. Instead of waiting for some hero to come along, we need to use adversity to motivate us into taking action. For example, once Rani was told she was too qualified for a junior role and won’t get the senior role because she was a female.
2. Persevere: Know your yourself (strengths/weakness) and your champions/detractors. Trust that you have the power to learn from every outcome, take action, persevere and keep getting better. For example, “I take on new challenges because I know I will do everything I can to do a good job of it.”
3. Do good: Choose to help others because it is the right thing to do and we all win when we work together. This also creates the network that will counter really big challenges. For example, “I mentor others, share knowledge and help where I can, even if there’s no return on investment.”

Don’t forget to check out the Women Talk Tech 2020 Action Plan Report to help develop a program in your organization to advance women in tech.

Available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play Music.

ABOUT RANI PENDSE

Rani is a Partner Development Manager at Microsoft Canada, helping tech start-ups stay relevant and accelerate growth sustainably. From product marketing, product management to partnership development, Rani has garnered a myriad of experiences to look at challenges through different lenses. She is a graduate of the University of Sydney and can still be found with a book in her hand every day. You can follow Rani here on LinkedIn.

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Available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play Music.

On this week’s episode of Women Talk Tech, we spoke to Suzanne Gagliese, who is the Vice President of Canada’s One Commercial Partner Group at Microsoft. Suzanne is responsible for a team whose mission is to help business, innovate, grow and achieve their full potential by leveraging the technology solutions offered by Microsoft partners and powered by Microsoft technology. She has also taken a leadership role in regards to diversity and inclusion at Microsoft which she is proud about. Aside from Microsoft, Suzanne has had an impressive 30-year plus career in tech and has held roles at Fujitsu, HP Enterprise Services & IBM Global Services.

Suzanne’s tech career started with her mom. Her mom worked for a company called Ontario Hydro. From the time she was 16 until her mom retired, she started in the mail room but ended up working in technology when she retired. She would often take Suzanne into the office so Suzanne was introduced to tech very early. This led her to take her first programming class in high school and she absolutely loved it.

Throughout the episode, Suzanne shares her journey in tech and why it’s important now more than ever to have more women at the table. With technology, specifically AI being rapidly developed, we need a diverse set of skills in the field and need women at the table to help develop these algorithms. Suzanne also speaks about the good changes that are already happening in the tech sector and shares advice for companies who have a diversity and inclusion goal.

An incredible piece of advice Suzanne provides listeners in this podcast is:

“….And I think that’s one of the greatest strengths or pieces of advice that I would give to somebody is you can let something influence you or you can look past it, push past it, break through it. If I look back on my career at some of my toughest moments, I’ve had to find it in myself to be able to move through it. And let me tell you, when you come out the other side, it’s pretty empowering to know that you can overcome anything that gets thrown in front of you. Those are the biggest moments.”

ABOUT SUZANNE GAGLIESE

Suzanne Gagliese is a highly-accomplished leader and sales executive with more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry, Suzanne has deep knowledge and expertise across a wide range of vertical industries, the Canadian channel and customer engagements spanning from the intelligent cloud to the intelligent edge. Most recently Vice President Services at Microsoft Canada, Suzanne previously held the role of Vice President of Sales for Fujitsu Canada. She spent much of her 30+ year career at HP Enterprise Services, where she held several increasingly senior roles including Canadian sales leader, client executive for large Canadian financial institutions, Canada/US business unit director, and director of infrastructure services division. Prior to HP Enterprise Services, Suzanne spent 10 years with IBM Global Services, in both technical and sales roles. Suzanne’s passionate about helping people achieve more, whether that’s customers, partners or team members. A strong advocate for women in technology, she volunteers her time mentoring women early in career and is the executive sponsor for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at Microsoft Canada. You can follow Suzanne here on LinkedIn.

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Available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play Music.

I was the only female owner in some of these packs and thought this was not right – we need to get more women in technology and how do I get this message out? It was after my 500 miles that I decided to come back and write a book.

On this episode of Women Talk Tech, we speak to Linda Rose who is internationally recognized as an advisor, speaker, author and expert in the IT Consulting & Services industry. Over her career, she has founded and sold four companies – two of these were for 100% cash. She has over 30 years of experience across management consulting, cloud computing, SaaS, and financial services. Linda is the author of her new book, Get Acquired for Millions: A Roadmap for Technology Service Providers to Maximize Company Value. It is an insider’s guide to designing the most lucrative exit strategy and a “go-to” book for Technology Service Provider business owners. Linda is an active advocate for Women in Tech and has been awarded the Microsoft Women of Inspiration award, the CRN Women of the Channel and Microsoft SMB Cloud Partner of the Year. Additionally, Linda is donating proceeds from sale of her new book to The WiT Network and Women in Cloud until September 15, 2019.

Throughout the podcast, Linda talks about her career trajectory and how her dots connected. Linda ended up wanting to control her own destiny and have flexibility to be a mother and this prompted her to start her own business. Linda speaks about how companies need to be more progressive in regards to motherhood and that stage in their lives. Linda also speaks about her book “Get Acquired for Millions” and her very interesting story behind writing those 100,000 words.

(Hint: It may have taken Linda 500 miles to write this).

“When you hike 15-20 miles a day, every day, and you are out alone for days at a time. You have time to think. Your phone doesn’t work. You’re on GPS but you don’t want to use your battery to play music or listen to podcasts because you needed to get used to the next stretch where you can recharge your phone. You have so much time to think and it was during those 500 miles that I decided I need to get this message out on what this means and how to increase value. Because if you’re going to spend 25 years building a company, when you’re done – you should sell it for something you can be proud of, retire on and provide for your family who has given up for you while you built this company.”

ABOUT LINDA ROSE

As a CEO and CPA, Linda’s led companies to develop recurring revenue models to increase value and growth, all while maintaining more than a 97% customer retention rate. Her unique exit strategies now help business owners maximize their companies’ valuation. Linda has been recognized for her professional achievements, including the Microsoft Women of Inspiration award, the CRN Women of the Channel and Microsoft SMB Cloud Partner of the Year. She is an active advocate for Women in Tech and sits on various technology and academic boards. Learn more at https://rosebizinc.com. You can follow Linda on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Chioma Ifeanyi-Okoro is still a connector and so much more. Her journey in tech started after a career in banking and a short stint at a tech company. With a desire to create change and using technology to create connections, she founded My African Corner , a media technology platform dedicated to accelerating black founders. Essentially, what she’s doing is connecting people with resources to grow their businesses or help professionals get found for the positions they want.

Chioma coaches, motivates and inspires people to start new businesses, streamline enterprise processes, advance in their careers and start movements. Chioma summarizes herself as a growth consultant. As such, she builds creative strategies for organizations, Senior Executives and professionals to grow their revenue, discover new streams of income, and package and position their message to attract new customers and opportunities.

“Not everybody needs to code. I know I’m a personable person – that’s where my strength lies so I play on my strengths, try different things and find what works best for me and bring other people along that journey.”

In this episode, Chioma talks about the struggles women face in technology, particularly pay equity. It takes real courage for women to ask for what they think they’re worth. Many struggle with pricing and asking to get paid, as she has noted in her work with women entrepreneurs. In order to fix this, Chioma believes it starts with getting male leadership in the room and clearly explaining the problem. That in itself, is an extremely courageous thing to do.

ABOUT CHIOMA IFEANYI-OKORO

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ABOUT VANESSA VAKHARIA 

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On this episode of the Common Sense Marketer, we talk with Rob Triggs, the VP of Sales & Marketing for CRM Dynamics, a Microsoft Gold Partner and member of the Microsoft Inner Circle, representing the top 1% of global Microsoft Business Applications partners. Additionally, the company was a recipient of a 2019 Microsoft Impact Award.

Rob shares with listeners important insights that every business owner cares about today; how to get ahead of your competitors. The internet and the dramatic shift in buyer behaviour have left companies scrambling with respect to how adjust their sales and marketing strategies. Getting ahead of the competition and creating a presence for a business online has become one of the most important tasks for companies but also their biggest challenge.

Rob addresses some of the challenges he has seen on the road to digital transformation:

1. Customers aren’t sure what marketing tactics and sales tools they should invest in.
2. After the tools have been bought, customers cannot get them to work properly.
3. How to use marketing automation for both sales and marketing.

Here are some questions Rob encourages you to ask about your own marketing automation and CRM strategy:

• How aligned are your sales and marketing teams around who owns lead management in the organization?
• How well documented is the lead qualification process and can it be mapped to conversion points on the web?
• Who uses which tools in your organizations and who drives the business processes around those tools?

It’s time to address your CRM and Marketing Automation strategy and see if you’re on the right track.

You must have an agreement between the sales, marketing, and technology teams about business goals and a common set of objectives. Looking to get your team on-board with this process? Take this online assessment. It will take you five minutes to complete and it’s free.

ABOUT ROB

Rob has more than two decades of experience in the information technology space, working with Xerox, Soft Choice and now CRM Dynamics. He has been recognized as a results-oriented sales leader and direct selling consultant with significant experience in guiding companies through the rapidly changing sales and marketing landscape. A runner, keyspire positive leader, and true believer in “practice what you preach” values, Rob has a proven track record in helping architect sales and marketing effectiveness solutions. In this podcast episode, he also shares some of the techniques and insights that CRMD uses to help its clients stand out from the crowd in a competitive marketplace through his “Smarketing” marketing automation initiative.

On this episode of the Common Sense Marketer, we talk with Rob Triggs, the VP of Sales & Marketing for CRM Dynamics, a Microsoft Gold Partner and member of the Microsoft Inner Circle, representing the top 1% of global Microsoft Business Applications partners. Additionally, the company was a recipient of a 2019 Microsoft Impact Award.

(Read More…)

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On this episode of Women Talk Tech, we speak to Nouhaila Chelkhaoui who is the Programs Lead at the DMZ at Ryerson University, a world-leading tech accelerator and the #1 university-based incubator globally. She is passionate about increasing female representation in tech entrepreneurship. As the head of the Women Founders Accelerator at the DMZ and her own initiative to help newcomer entrepreneurs in Canada succeed, Nouhaila is on a roll.

Nouhaila was always passionate about solving large complex global problems and this lead her down the political and lawyer career route. She worked for the Superior Court of Justice before realizing it wasn’t for her, leading her to join a tech start-up and begin her career in tech. Nouhaila discusses the DMZ in Toronto, the Women’s Founders Accelerator and her new initiative, Scale Without Borders.

Nouhaila wants the DMZ to bridge the diversity gap and make it a more inclusive space. She helped build “The Women’s Founders Accelerator” which is an intensive 4-month accelerator program to select eight women founders from across Canada and help them achieve product-market fit and secure early revenue.

Nouhaila was recently selected as a “Dial Mover” from the organization Move The Dial, on behalf of Scale Without Borders. Scale Without Borders is a one-stop shop for newcomer tech entrepreneurs in Canada. They help newcomers access the abundant resources available in Canada by building a strong community within a supportive tech ecosystem, and through our innovative international virtual masterclass. Click here to learn more.

My whole thesis is that in order to be a leading tech market, we need to continue to find ways to give a platform for underrepresented communities to contribute their ideas, perspectives, and hard work.

Available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play Music.

ABOUT NOUHAILA CHELKHAOUI

Nouhaila is a Programs Lead at the DMZ at Ryerson University, a world-leading tech accelerator (#1 university-based incubator globally). In her role, she helps run the flagship program (DMZ Accelerator) and leads the DMZ Women Founders Programming.

Nouhaila is passionate about increasing representation in tech entrepreneurship. This is why she built & executed initiatives like the Women Founders Accelerator at the DMZ, and the Healthcare Newcomers Initiative at a health-tech startup based out of the University of Toronto. Currently, Nouhaila is focused on building a strong community for newcomer entrepreneurs and enabling them to create & grow world class startups based out of Canada. Nouhaila came to Canada from Marrakech, Morocco when she was 17, and graduated from the University of Toronto. She speaks 4 languages fluently and has lived & worked in 4 different countries. You can connect with Nouhaila on LinkedIn.

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