The world of technology is complex. Each episode of TechSperience will uncover helpful technology, cybersecurity, cloud, and workplace transformation tips to help the everyday IT professional. Tune in for advice from leading IT experts covering retail, manufacturing, healthcare, K-12, higher education, and more.
Episodes
Thursday May 21, 2020
Thursday May 21, 2020
Host: Penny Conway
Co Host: Tyler Meckes
On this week's episode of What the Tech Just Happened, Tyler and Penny discuss the winners and losers in the retail space during Covid. Digital Transformation has transformed retail and forced a quick adoption rate by customers turning this industry upside down. Listen in as we look at current stats, trends, trials and tribulations of mom in pops to retail moguls.
Tuesday May 19, 2020
Tuesday May 19, 2020
Host: Penny Conway
Guest: Sean McCann, Sr. Manager Higher Ed Alliances at Connection
In times of COVID-19 students have been following distance learning modalities for the past two months, and now, getting closer to the end of the school year, Inside Higher Ed recently reported that up to 29% of college students could make the decision to defer college until the pandemic is over. In today’s episode Penny Conway, your host, is talking with Sean McCann about how higher education can prepare to survive what could be the biggest gap year in History.
Reach out to the Connection Team.
Email us at podcast@connection.com
Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, and Blog
Key takeaways:
[1:17] Sean talks about his role at Connection.
[1:50] Higher Ed division has an institutional side and a student side, both needed to go through preparation in order to be ready for the current educational needs.
[4:18] In the past there used to be a negative perspective about online learning.
[4:56] Online education leaves higher margins of profit but the challenge is that it is more difficult to scale.
[6:14] Sean talks about how colleges are reimagining their campuses.
[8:55] Sean explains how the reduction of students is going to affect the school’s budget.
[12:27] Most of the students have remained in schools for the end of the semester.
[13:12] Sean explains different possible outcomes with regard to education this upcoming September.
[13:46] Higher Ed has reduced its reliance on data centers.
[14:45] Sean gives his personal recommendation to people who are making switches with regards to higher education as a result of the new scenario imposed by the pandemic.
[16:55] COVID is giving schools an opportunity for growth and change, the ones that don’t improve and adapt won’t survive.
[19:19] Students are customers and now the quality of customer service is more important than ever.
[20:48] The new perimeter is one of the major security concerns that schools are dealing with now.
[22:40] Is the pandemic positive for E-Sports?
Thursday May 14, 2020
Thursday May 14, 2020
Host: Penny Conway
CoHost: Rob McIntosh
The Covid-19 crisis rages on and Work From Home continues to evolve. On this week's episode of What the Tech Just Happened, Penny shares her smart home adventures and speaks to some of the security risks as it relates to our ever changing home office.
Tuesday May 12, 2020
Tuesday May 12, 2020
Host: Penny Conway
Co-Host: Rob McIntosh
Guest 1: Cindy Blanchard Sr. Program Manager | Connection Financial Services cblanchard@connectionfs.com Direct: (603) 682 7411 | Toll Free: (800) 347 0628 | Fax: (972) 755 8210
Guest 2: Kirk Sipes Senior Vice President, Business Development | Connection Financial Services - ksipes@connectionfs.com Phone: 972-755-8283
With the strike of COVID-19 the disruption of businesses’ usual and growing expenses, budgets set in 2019 are no longer viable. How is your business handling the new normal?
As companies establish short, mid, and long-term strategies to deal with the current economic environment and what it means for their business, the questions may outnumber the answers. But obtaining technology can be simple, and Connection Financial Services can help. Penny Conway, your host, welcomes Cindy Blanchard and Kirk Sipes from Connection Financial Services to this episode to talk about how to develop a financial strategy for the new normal.
Reach out to the Connection Team.
Email us at podcast@connection.com
Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, and Blog
Key takeaways:
[1:15] Cindy and Kirk introduce themselves.
[3:26] The necessary adaptation to commercial planning for the new year.
[5:03] Everyone is holding on to cash as a result of the uncertainty imposed by the current health and financial crisis.
[6:20] How are Cindy and Kirk handling the fear of customers to purchase new technology?
[7:17] Defer payments and let customers invest in the technology that they need without making payments in the next 90 days, allowing them to hold on to their cash.
[8:08] Connection Financial Services offers short and long term financial solutions according to the customer’s needs.
[11:00] Cindy shares her financial projection for the near future.
[13:10] Schools have applied innovations and adaptations to reach their students and provide an efficient education system.
[14:01] Kirk talks about what can´t be financed.
[16:28] 25% of small businesses won’t be able to survive the current financial crisis.
[19:03] Connection Financial Services offers end of term options for their customers.
[21:30] An optimistic outlook for the future of the nation in difficult times.
Thursday May 07, 2020
Thursday May 07, 2020
Host: Penny Conway
Co Host: Robert McIntosh
Co Host: Tyler "Marbles" Meckes
What the Tech Just Happened takes a look at what business may look like one year later.
- How we're changing computing with mobile devices and PCs
- The future of Cryptocurrency
- The tech side of sanitation moving forward
All this and more as Tyler Meckes Joins Penny and Rob to the virtual roundtable.
Tuesday May 05, 2020
Tuesday May 05, 2020
Host: Penny Conway
Co-Host: Rob McIntosh
Guest: Dr. Keith Nelson — Healthcare Strategy and Business Development Director — Connection
In today’s episode Penny Conway and Rob McIntosh, your hosts, are accompanied by Dr. Keith Nelson to talk about what has changed in healthcare, what are the biggest challenges in moving forward, and what can be expected from telehub in the future. Dr. Keith dives deep into the history of telemedicine, how it has been a great approach to bring health services to patients while respecting social distancing, and the amazing opportunities this modality presents for the future of healthcare.
Reach out to the Connection Team.
Email us at podcast@connection.com.
Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin. and Blog
Key takeaways:
[1:15] Dr. Keith Nelson introduces himself.
[2:35] Dr. Keith talks about the biggest changes in healthcare over the last 7 weeks.
[3:52] Telemedicine has boomed.
[4:32] Dr. Keith talks about the future for telemedicine implementation and its five categories.
[9:01] The concern of losing the in-person experience.
[9:13] What are the biggest challenges healthcare is facing?
[11:56] The issue of privacy while using telemedicine.
[13:29] Telemedicine presents a cross-state coverage problem.
[15:50] What are the advancements in healthcare that will remain after the pandemic?
[17:35] Further consolidation in the medical industry is expected.
[21:26] Dr. Keith shares his thoughts with regards to the future of AI as an assistant in diagnosis.
[22:40] Telemedicine hit the mainstream within days.
[24:50] Population Health allows doctors to identify, track, and treat individual patients to prevent diseases from occurring.
Thursday Apr 30, 2020
Thursday Apr 30, 2020
Host: Penny Conway
Co-Host: Rob McIntosh
On the latest episode of What the Tech Just Happened, discussions around the return to work with a little play on the title - Penny and Rob ask the question: What the Tech Is Next?
Phasing in the return to the economy while asking the questions: What did you learn during Covid 19? How will you listen to your employees and how are you going to evaluate next steps like meetings and essential travel? All of this and more as we're on the the horizon of the "New Normal" .
Wednesday Apr 29, 2020
Wednesday Apr 29, 2020
Host: Tyler Meckes
Guest: Tim Figueredo - National Account Manager APC
Storm season is right around the corner do you have a proactive management strategy for your backup power? Are you in "React When It Fails" mode? A failure could mean bringing down the entire network. Who's responsible for keeping things going during power loss?
Tim and Tyler bring you through the ABC's of remote management of your back-up power to make sure your network continues to run. The complete rundown in under 3 minutes on the latest Tech Two With Tyler!
Tuesday Apr 28, 2020
Tuesday Apr 28, 2020
THIS EPISODE SPONSORED BY: POLY
Host: Penny Conway
Guest: Joe Mukherjee - Director, Systems Engineering Americas Channels and Canada Joe.Mukherjee@poly.com
Guest: Lane Shelton, Vice President of Microsoft Center of Excellence
The strike of COVID-19 around the world has found us all in different situations, many have been lucky enough to still work and learn from home, adapting to the changes in how to communicate and to collaborate in times of social distancing and uncertainty. Video has certainly eased our lives, brought us closer to our loved ones and allowed us to keep on with our jobs.
In today’s episode, Penny Conway welcomes Joe Mukherjee and Lane Shelton to talk about what are the technologies that are here to stay and to share their thoughts about how the future of video and voice looks like.
Reach out to the Connection Team.
Email us at podcast@connection.com
Follow Connection We Solve IT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, and Blog
Key takeaways:
[1:21] Joe Mukherjee and Lane Shelton introduce themselves.
[4:00] What is the value of video now?
[5:50] Everyone is mass adopting video as a means of communicating, learning, and working.
[7:12] Is working from home perdure in time?
[7:24] The benefits of working from office vs working from home.
[10:00] Joe and Lane share their predictions for the near future regarding virtual work.
[14:40] Customers are slowly embracing Microsoft Teams.
[17:30] Today there are 44 million subscribers to Microsoft Teams.
[19:24] Strengthening the levels of security.
[20:45] There will be a need for redesigning the workplace.
[22:30] Microsoft is achieving the balance between security and agility.
[26:06] The new normal will become an improvement.
[26:49] The three pillars of the modern workplace.
[31:16] This crisis brings the opportunity to have better relationships with customers and coworkers.
[31:40] Joe wishes the connectivity among human beings stays after the crisis.
[33:20] The quality of our relationships has improved.
Mentioned in this episode:
TechSperience Podcast Episode 39: Get More Out of Microsoft Team with Poly Collaboration
Friday Apr 24, 2020
Friday Apr 24, 2020
Host: Tyler Meckes
Guest: Tyler Marshall National Account Manager Tripp Lite
Tripp Lite doing their part to help battle COVID-19. Learn more about the partnership with McCormick Place in Chicago as efforts are underway to transform the convention center into a 3,000-bed COVID-19 care center. Tripp Lite partnered with the city to be the primary provider of medical grade power strips. Hear all the latest from Tripp Lite as the two Tyler's give the run-down in under two minutes.