The difference between a coding assistant and an agentic IDE is not just a matter of capability — it’s architectural. A coding assistant responds to prompts. An agentic system operates in a closed loop: it reads the current state of the codebase, plans a sequence of changes, executes them, and verifies the result before reporting completion. That loop is what makes the tooling genuinely useful for non-trivial work.

Agentic CLIs

Most of the conversation around agentic AI focuses on graphical IDEs, but the CLI tools are worth understanding separately. They integrate more naturally into existing scripts and automation pipelines, and in some cases offer capabilities the GUI tools don’t.

The main options currently available:

Claude Code (Anthropic) works with the Claude Sonnet and Opus model families. It handles multi-file reasoning well and tends to produce more explanation alongside its changes, which is useful when the reasoning behind a decision matters as much as the decision itself.

OpenAI Codex CLI is more predictable for tasks requiring strict adherence to a specification — business logic, security-sensitive code, anything where creative interpretation is a liability rather than an asset.

Gemini CLI is notable mainly for its context window, which reaches 1–2 million tokens depending on the model. Large enough to load a substantial codebase without chunking, which changes what kinds of questions are practical to ask.

OpenCode is open-source and accepts third-party API keys, including mixing providers. Relevant for environments with restrictions on approved vendors.

Configuration and Permission Levels

Configuration is stored in hidden directories under the user home folder — ~/.claude/ for Claude Code, ~/.codex/ for Codex. Claude uses JSON; Codex uses TOML. The parameter that actually matters day-to-day is the permission level.

By default, most tools ask for confirmation before destructive operations: file deletion, script execution, anything irreversible. There’s also typically a mode where the agent executes without asking. It’s faster, and it will occasionally remove something that shouldn’t have been removed. The appropriate context for that mode is throwaway branches and isolated environments where the cost of a mistake is low.

Structuring a Development Session

Jumping straight to code generation tends to produce output that looks correct but requires significant rework. The agent didn’t have enough context to make the right decisions, so it made assumptions — and those assumptions have to be found and corrected manually.

Plan Mode

Before any code is written, the agent should decompose the task and surface ambiguities. This is sometimes called Plan Mode or Chain of Thought mode. The output is a list of verifiable subtasks and a set of clarifying questions, typically around:

• Tech stack and framework choices
• Persistence strategy (local storage, SQL, vector database)
• Scope boundaries — what’s in and what’s explicitly out

It feels like overhead. The time is recovered during implementation because the agent isn’t making assumptions that have to be corrected later.

Repository Setup via GitHub CLI

The GitHub CLI (gh) integrates cleanly with agentic workflows. Repository initialization, .gitignore configuration, and GitHub issue creation with acceptance criteria and implementation checklists can all be handled by the agent. Having the backlog populated automatically keeps work visible without manual overhead.

Context Management

The context window is finite. How it’s used determines whether the agent stays coherent across a long session or starts producing inconsistent output. Three mechanisms matter here: rules, skills, and MCP.

Rule Hierarchy

Rules operate at three levels:

User-level rules are global preferences that apply across all projects — language requirements, style constraints, operator restrictions. Set once.

Project rules (.cursorrules or AGENTS.md) are repository-specific: naming conventions, architectural patterns, which shared components to reuse before creating new ones. In a team context, this file deserves the same review process as any other documentation. It tends to get neglected and then blamed when the agent produces inconsistent output.

Conditional rules activate only for specific file patterns. Testing rules that only load when editing .test.ts files, for example. This keeps the context lean when those rules aren’t relevant to the current task.

Skills

Skills are reusable logic packages that the agent loads on demand. Each skill lives in .cursor/skills/ and consists of a skill.md file with frontmatter metadata, plus any executable scripts it needs (Python, Bash, or JavaScript). The agent discovers them semantically or they can be invoked explicitly.

The practical value is context efficiency — instead of re-explaining a pattern every session, the skill carries it and only loads when the task requires it.

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

MCP is the standard for giving agents access to external systems. An MCP server exposes Tools (functions the agent can call) and Resources (data it can query). Configuration is added to the IDE’s config file, after which the agent can interact with connected systems directly.

Common integrations: Slack for notifications, Sentry for querying recent errors related to code being modified, Chrome DevTools for visual validation. The Figma MCP integration is particularly useful — design context can be pulled directly without manual translation of specs into implementation requirements.

Validation

A task isn’t complete until there’s evidence it works. The validation sequence should cover four things:

Compilation and static analysis. The build runs, linters pass. Errors get fixed before the agent reports done.

Test suite. Unit and integration tests for the affected logic must pass. Existing tests must stay green. This sounds obvious and is frequently skipped.

Runtime verification. The agent launches the application in a background process and monitors console output. Runtime errors that don’t surface in tests are common enough that skipping this step is a real risk.

Visual validation. With a browser MCP server, the agent can take a screenshot and compare it against design requirements. Layout and styling issues won’t be caught by any automated test.

Security Configuration

Two files, different purposes, frequently confused:

.cursorignore is a hard block. The agent cannot read files listed here. Use it for .env files, credentials, secrets — anything that shouldn’t leave the local environment. This is the primary security layer.

.cursorindexingignore excludes files from semantic indexing but still allows the agent to read them if explicitly requested. The appropriate use is performance optimization: node_modules, build outputs, generated files that would pollute the index without adding useful signal.

For corporate environments, Privacy Mode should be explicitly verified as enabled rather than assumed. This prevents source code from being stored by the provider or used for model training. Most enterprise tiers include it; the default state varies by tool and version.

Hooks

Hooks are event-driven triggers that run custom scripts at specific points in the agent’s lifecycle. Not necessary for small projects, but worth the setup as the codebase grows.

beforeSubmitPrompt runs before a prompt is sent. Useful for injecting dynamic context — current branch name, recent error logs — or for auditing what’s about to be sent.

afterFileEdit fires immediately after the agent modifies a file. The natural use is triggering auto-formatting or running the test suite, catching regressions as they’re introduced.

pre-compact fires when the context window is about to be trimmed. Allows prioritization of what information should be retained. Relevant for long sessions where important context has accumulated, and the default trimming behavior would discard it.

Parallel Development with Git Worktrees

Sequential work on a single branch is a bottleneck when multiple tasks are running in parallel. Git worktrees allow different branches to exist as separate working directories simultaneously:

git worktree add ../wt-feature-name -b feature/branch-name

Each worktree should have its own .env with unique local ports (PORT=3001, PORT=3002) to prevent dev server collisions. The agent can handle rebases and straightforward merge conflicts autonomously. Complex conflicts still require human judgment — the agent will flag them rather than guess.

The model itself is less of a determining factor than it might seem. Rule configuration, context management, and validation coverage drive the actual quality of the output. A well-configured environment with a mid-tier model will consistently outperform a poorly configured one with a better model. The engineering work shifts toward writing the constraints and verification steps that govern how code gets produced, which is a different skill than writing the code directly, but the productivity difference once it’s in place is significant.

I want to play mind games with you. In my last blog post, I shared how to plan an agenda for your brainstorming session. I mentioned that I’m not a big fan of traditional ice breakers – they work fine, but they feel too much like forced socialization rather than a way to prepare your brain for creativity. In this article, I’m going to show you how I loosen teams up and get them thinking with mind games.

Loosen Up by Stretching

The goal is to stretch your imagination. It’s just like stretching before you go for a run (which is also a great thing to do while preparing for brainstorming). We want to disrupt routine thought patterns, and push past the initial “easy” ideas to look for that unique approach and competitive advantage. These mind exercises help people realize that even things that seem impossible can have solutions (even simple solutions). These are NOT a test, it’s OK to not understand, and people should feel welcome to throw out wild or goofy suggestions.

In the rest of this article, I’m going to share several types of mind games: optical illusions, brain teasers, riddles, jokes, and team activities. I’ll share enough that you can run several brainstorming sessions for the same team without reusing them. So pick the ones you like and get to stretching!

Don’t Spoil It!

When you run these in a live brainstorming session, make sure to tell your attendees not to spoil it if they’ve seen one before. Let people have time to think about it and enjoy them. Consider offering to let people leave the room when you reveal the answers.

Optical Illusions

Here are six optical illusions that I love. It shows your attendees that things are not always what they first appear, and that our brains can play tricks on us.

Optical Illusion #1 – Peripheral Drift Rotating Snakes

This is a static image, but as you look around the image it appears to move with rotating circles. (Wikimedia Commons)

Optical Illusion #2 – Double-Image

There is more than one picture in this image. (Wikimedia Commons)

Reveal Answer Can you see the duck? How about the rabbit?

Optical Illusion #3 – Scintillating Grid

Staring at this will cause the white circles to appear like black dots around the edges of your focus. (Wikimedia Commons)

Optical Illusion #4 – Penrose Triangle

This illusion works because a 2D drawing can appear to be 3D but achieve effects that cannot be done in 3D. This shape cannot exist in 3D space. (Wikimedia Commons)

Optical Illusion #5 – Ebbinghause Illusion

Each set of circles has a center circle. Which center circle is the largest? (Wikimedia Commons)

Reveal Answer They are exactly the same size. The sizes of the shapes that surround the center circle changes our perception.

Optical Illusion #6 – Troxler Effect

Stare at the red dot for up to 20 seconds and the blue circle will disappear. (Wikimedia Commons)

Brain Teasers

Next, try these six brain teasers that will stump and entertain your crew. These help teams realize that problems are difficult, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be solved.

Brain Teaser #1 – Cross the Moat

A treasure sits in the middle of a perfectly square island surrounded by a moat 10 feet wide and too deep and treacherous to cross. You need to get across the moat without jumping, climbing, or swimming. There are two sturdy planks 10 feet in length and 3 feet wide. There is nothing to bind the planks together and nothing to cut them with. How can you use the planks to walk safely over the moat?

Reveal Answer Create a “T” shape at the corner of the moat, then go retrieve your treasure!

Brain Teaser #2 – Confusing Math

Can you explain this odd and unexpected problem?

Get a Hint This isn’t math. How can you use the number 2 to end up with a fish? Or the number 3 to arrive at an eight?

Reveal Answer Duplicate the shape of each number, then position, rotate, and/or mirror the shape of the original number to create the word on the right.

.

Brain Teaser #3 – Light Switch Problem

You have three incandescent lightbulbs in a small room. Each is controlled by its own light switch outside the room where you cannot see the bulbs or their light. You can flip as many light switches as you want, but you can only check the room once. How do you determine which switch controls each bulb?

Brain Teaser #4 – 9-Dot Puzzle

If you had a print-out of this grid of nine dots, using a pen or pencil, connect all the dots by drawing only four or less straight interconnected line segments without picking the pen up from the paper once you begin. (Wikimedia Commons)

Reveal Answers The solution requires extending your lines outside the grid of nine. Your line segment corners do not have to land on a dot. There are two possible solutions.

Brain Teaser #5 – Birthday Season

Jane was born on Dec. 28th, yet her birthday always falls in the summer. How is this possible?

Brain Teaser #6 – Escape Plan

You are stuck in a concrete room with no windows or doors. The room has only a mirror and a wooden plank for you to use. How do you get out?

Riddles

Here are six riddles to keep their minds moving. Riddles are great because the answer feels like it is within reach, but it is hard to make the connections to come up with the answer – just like real-world problems!

Riddle #1

What occurs once in a minute, twice in a moment, and never in a thousand years?

Riddle #2

What has cities but no houses, forests but no trees, and rivers but no water?

Riddle #3

I am tall when I’m young, and short when I’m old. What am I?

Riddle #4

What is two words but thousands of letters?

Riddle #5

What is the longest word in the dictionary?

Riddle #6

Forward I am heavy. Backward I am not. What am I?

Jokes

Everyone loves a good joke. They are good for brainstorming for two reasons. One, they make you think about what the punchline could be. Two, they get people laughing and comfortable. These are perfect even when you’re not the creative type.

Joke #1

The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar.

Joke #2

What’s the difference between a literalist and a kleptomaniac?

Joke #3

Can February march?

Joke #4

I’d tell you a chemistry joke…

Joke #5

I don’t mind coming to work…

Joke #6

Did you hear about the first restaurant to open on the moon?

Physical Challenges

Some ice breakers are physical challenges, and these are the ones that are an exception of to my rule (of not liking ice breakers). Get people up and moving, blood flowing, minds engaged, and working together to solve a problem!

Challenge #1 – Marshmallow Tower

Each team or person is asked to build a tower as tall as they can using just 20 sticks of dry spaghetti and 20 mini-marshmallows. How tall of a structure can each team get by sticking dry spaghetti into the mini-marshmallows?

This is a trial-and-error activity, those who are not afraid to fail and retry will do the best – children often outperform adults in this exercise. If you have true engineers in the session, they will likely win.

Challenge #2 – The Human Knot

This is a team exercise, so you’ll need 4+ people per team. Each team should stand in a tight shoulder-to-shoulder circle then each member needs to grab hands with two different people in the group. The team must work together to untangle their circle.

Hands must not let go except for a minor change of holding position for comfort. It is not allowed to let go in order to help untangle or to provide additional room. They can step over, under, and through people’s arms. In larger groups it may be possible to untangle into more than one circle.

Challenge #3 – Blindfold Course

Create an obstacle course using chairs, cones, ropes, office supplies…whatever you come up with. Blindfold one team member and have the others guide them through the course using only verbal commands. No touching. No peeking.

Challenge #4 – Toxic Waste Removal

Fill a small bucket with tennis balls (“toxic waste”) and place in the center of a boundary circle of about 10-20 feet in diameter. No one can directly touch the toxic waste or enter the circle. Provide team members with tools such as rope, string, bungee cords, yard sticks, or similar items. The group must find a way to use the tools to get the toxic waste out of the circle and into another small “containment” bucket outside the circle.

Challenge #5 – The Architect

In small groups, one person will be designated the “Architect”, all other group members will be blindfolded. Provide some sort of building materials such as LEGO® bricks, paper cups, straws, tape, or whatever you like. The Architect must verbally instruct the blind “Builders” on how to build something from the materials. This might be a tower judged on height, or a structure judged on creativity. Only the Builders can touch the building materials. If time allows, you can break halfway through, allow the Builders to remove blindfolds and discuss, and then do one last round blindfolded again and guided by the Architect.

Challenge #6 – Paper Airplane Challenge

Start this activity by asking each participant to build a paper airplane on their own. Throw the planes down a hall or in an open area and see whose flies the furthest. Then have small groups build a paper plane together (now that they’ve seen which one flew the best). See which group can win the second round.

Conclusion

I hope you find some of these mind games fun! People who dislike ice breakers will likely find more enjoyment with these mental exercises. But these are more than just fun, these are intentional aids to get people thinking in a new way before you ask them to provide you with industry-changing ideas in a brainstorming session!

……

If you are looking for a partner who will play fun mind games with you, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

If you’re in the world of Oracle Cloud, you are most likely busy planning your big switch to Redwood. While it’s easy to get excited about a new look and a plethora of AI features, I want to take some time to talk about a tool that’s new (at least to me) that comes along with Redwood. Functional users will come to know VB Studio as the new method for delivering page customizations, but I’ve learned it’s much more.

VB Studio has been around since 2020, but I only started learning about it recently. At its core, VB Studio is Oracle’s extension platform. It provides users with a safe way to customize by building around their systems instead of inside of it. Since changes to the core code are not allowed, upgrades are much less problematic and time consuming.  Let’s look at how users of different expertise might use VB Studio.

Oracle Cloud Application Developers

I wouldn’t call myself a developer, but this is the area I fit into. Moving forward, I will not be using Page Composer or HCM Experience Design Studio…and I’m pretty happy about that. Every client I work with wants customization, so having a one-stop shop with Redwood is a game-changer after years of juggling tools.

Sandboxes are gone. VB Studio uses Git repositories with branches to track and log every change. Branches let multiple people work on different features without conflict, and teams review and merge changes into the main branch in a controlled process.

And what about when these changes are ready for production? By setting up a pipeline from your development environment to your production environment, these changes can be pushed straight into production. This is huge for me! It reduces the time needed to implement new Oracle modules. It also helps with updating or changing existing systems as well. I’ve spent countless hours on video calls instructing system administrators on how to perform requested changes in their production environment because their policy did not allow me to have access. Now, I can make these changes in a development instance and push them to production. The sys admin can then view these changes and approve or reject them for production. Simple!

Low-Code Developers

Customizations to existing features are great, but what about building entirely new functionality and embedding it right into your system?  VB Studio simplifies building applications, letting low-code developers move quickly without getting bogged down in traditional coding. With VB Studio’s visual designer, developers can drag and drop components, arrange them the way they want, and preview changes instantly. This is exciting for me because I feel like it is accessible for someone who does very little coding. Of course, for those who need more flexibility, you can still add custom logic using familiar web technologies like JavaScript and HTML (also accessible with the help of AI). Once your app is ready, deployment is easy. This approach means quicker turnaround, less complexity, and applications that fit your business needs perfectly.

Experienced Programmers

Okay, now we’re getting way out of my league here, so I’ll be brief. If you really want to get your hands dirty by modifying the code of an application created by others, you can do that. If you prefer building a completely custom application using the web programming language of your choice, you can also do that. Oracle offers users a wide range of tools and stays flexible in how they use them. Organizations need tailored systems, and Oracle keeps evolving to make that possible.

https://www.oracle.com/application-development/visual-builder-studio/

This blog was co-authored by Perficient Project Manager: Alicia Lawrence

As a global organization headquartered in St. Louis, Perficient is committed to supporting current and future clients by monitoring federal and state regulations and alerting them of changes that may impact them.  In 2024, Perficient published a blog highlighting insights gathered through continuous monitoring a of the New York State regulations impacting financial services firms:

NYDFS Part 500 Cybersecurity Amendments – What You Need to Know  

This blog highlights key observations and implications of the latest changes to the NYDFS 500 regulations and builds on the previously published blog to inform financial services executives that the NYDFS Part 504 Transaction Monitoring and Filtering Certification is a significant annual regulatory requirement for any institution regulated under New York’s Banking, Insurance or Financial Services Law. The regulation imposes an annual certification on senior officers and board members that their organization’s transaction monitoring and sanctions filtering programs are designed, maintained, and tested to effectively detect money laundering, terrorist financing, and sanctioned-party transactions.  

What is Part 504 Certification? 

Under 3 NYCRR Part 504, regulated institutions are legally obligated to: 

• Operate an Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”)-compliant Transaction Monitoring Program, tailored to their risk profile. 

• Run a Watchlist/Sanctions Filtering (i.e., Office of Foreign Assets Control “OFAC” compliance) Program. 

• Annually certify, by April 15th, that these programs meet the Part 504 control standards, even if an institution finds and is actively remediating deficiencies.  

The certification itself covers the prior calendar year and is a standalone submission via DFS’ portal. The certification doesn’t require and actually prohibits the submission of supporting documentation. However, institutions must maintain records supporting their certification for potential DFS review. Such documentation includes internal/external audit results, scenario logic, testing strategy and results, and if necessary, documentation of remediation efforts and remediation plans. 

A link to the page is available here: 

Transaction Monitoring Certification (3 NYCRR 504) | Department of Financial Services 

 Who Must Certify? 

Part 504 applies to any institution regulated by NYDFS under its financial services law, including: 

• State-chartered banks 

• Non-bank entities (e.g., money transmitters, Money Services Businesses “MSBs”) 

• Insurance firms offering financial products 

• Other licensed financial service providers 

Why Part 504 Matters 

Part 504 enhances financial integrity by ensuring senior-level accountability, mirroring Sarbanes-Oxley-style executive attestations. Even if an executive or Board member leaves a regulated financial institution, they could still be liable for false certifications made  the institution, should fraud be found after the fact. The NYDFS enacted this after uncovering weaknesses in AML controls across state-supervised banks and nonbanks, underscoring a need for robust governance.  

The regulation aims to: 

• Elevate governance and oversight of AML/OFAC programs. 

• Standardize program controls, including testing, validation, vendor oversight, and qualified staffing.  

• Improve defenses against financial crime and regulatory infractions. 

Key Transaction Monitoring Requirements 

Getting further into the weeds, as required by Section 504.3, an effective program must include the following core components:  

• Risk-Based Design: Align thresholds and detection logic with your institution’s assessed AML and OFAC risks. 
• Periodic Testing & Updates:  
  • Incorporate regular reviews (including model validation and data flows). 

• • Update parameters based on evolving regulatory guidance or business changes.

• Comprehensive Detection Scenarios: Create alert rules targeting suspicious behaviors aligned with your AML risk appetite.
• Full Testing Regimen:  
  • End-to-end testing (pre/post-implementation). 

• • Governance oversight, data quality checks, and scenario validation. 

• Documentation:  
  • Maintain records of detection scenarios, assumptions, thresholds, testing outcomes, and remediation. 

• Alert Handling Protocols:
  • Define investigative workflows, decision points (clear vs escalate), roles, and documentation processes. 

• Ongoing Monitoring:  
  • Continuously review scenario relevance, threshold efficacy, and real-world performance. 

These requirements also extend to sanctions filtering – ensuring timely name screening, alerts, and case management controls are in place. 

Risks of Non–Compliance 

Non-compliance with Part 504 can lead to: 

• DFS enforcement actions, including fines or directives, under Banking Law §37 or Financial Services Law §302.  

• Reputational damage, aka “Headline Risk” if AML or sanctions failures become public. 

• Operational vulnerabilities, including weakened AML controls and potential for financial crime. 

Best Practices for Compliance 

Perficient consultants and compliance SMEs have seen and helped firms build and maintain a rock-solid Part 504 posture by helping design and build the following best practices: 

• Governance Oversight: Including AML leadership and internal/external audit in program reviews. 
• Periodic Program Testing: Conducting fresh scenario validations, testing the design and operation of existing controls, performing data assembly testing, and model verification no less than annually. 
• Issue Remediation: Prioritizing issues for remediation using a risk-based approach and performing issue validation testing.
• Risk Assessment: Execute risk assessments of key business processes and determine inherent and residual risks.
• Staff Training: Ensuring business line staff and compliance leads understand Part 504 requirements and manage alerts effectively. 
• Comprehensive Documentation: Keeping complete audit trails including logs of monitoring system updates, testing reports, governance minutes, and remediation plans. 
• Vendor Oversight: If using third-party monitoring systems, conducting due diligence and regularly reviewing vendor performance. 
• Senior Executive and Board Engagement: Encouraging frequent executive-level reviews, not just during certification preparation aka April 14th. 

Conclusion 

Navigating Part 504 certification isn’t just an annual checkbox. It’s a significant piece of an institution’s AML and OFAC defense. By embedding risk-based monitoring, rigorous testing, and senior-level accountability, regulated institutions in New York not only fulfill their regulatory obligations but also strengthen their ability to deter and detect financial crimes. 

Through consistent governance, meticulous documentation, and leadership engagement, Part 504 becomes more than compliance—it becomes a strategic shield for safeguarding financial integrity. For institutions governed by DFS, this certification confirms that all necessary steps have been taken to comply with Part 504 posture, reputation, and resiliency requirements —all by April 15 each year. 

If you would like to have Perficient SMEs work with you on your Part 504 preparation work – or just have a conversation – reach out to us here. 

Healthcare organizations are managing many challenges at once: consumers expect digital experiences that feel as personalized as other industries, fragmented data in silos slows strategic decision-making, and AI and advanced technologies must integrate seamlessly into existing care models. 

Meeting these demands requires more than incremental change—it calls for digital solutions that unify access to care, trusted data, and advanced technologies to deliver transformative outcomes and operational efficiency. 

IDC Market Glance: Healthcare Ecosystem, 4Q25

We’re proud to share that Perficient has been included in the “IT Services” category in the IDC Market Glance: Healthcare Ecosystem, 4Q25 report (Doc# US54010025, December 2025). This segment includes systems integration organizations providing advisory, consulting, development, and implementation services, as well as products or solutions. 

We believe this inclusion reinforces our expertise in leveraging AI, data, and technology to deliver intelligent tools and intuitive, compliant care experiences that drive measurable value across the health journey.  

We believe this commitment aligns with critical shifts IDC Market Glance highlights in its latest report, which emphasizes how healthcare organizations are activating advanced technology and AI. IDC Market Glance shares, “Health systems and payers are moving more revenue into value-based care and capitated risk, pushing tech buyers to favor solutions that improve quality metrics, lower total cost of care, and help hit incentive thresholds.” 

As the industry evolves, IDC predicts: “Technology buyers will likely favor vendors that align revenue models to customer risk arrangements, plug seamlessly into large platforms, and demonstrate human-centered design that supports clinicians rather than replacing them.” 

To us, this inclusion validates our ability to help healthcare organizations maximize technology and AI to drive transformative outcomes, power enterprise agility, and create seamless, consumer-centric experiences that build lasting trust.

Intelligent Solutions for Transformative Outcomes 

These shifts are actively transforming the healthcare ecosystem, challenging leaders to rethink how they deliver care and create value. Our partnerships with leading organizations show what’s possible: moving AI from pilot to production, building interoperable data foundations that accelerate insights, and designing human-centered solutions that empower care teams and improve the cost, quality, and equity of care. 

Easing Access to Care With a Commerce-Like Experience 

We helped Rochester Regional Health reimagine its digital front door to triage like a clinician, personalize like a concierge, and convert like a commerce platform—creating a seamless experience that improves access, trust, and outcomes. The mobile-first redesign introduced smart search, dynamic filters, and real-time booking, driving a 26% increase in appointment scheduling and saving $79K+ monthly in call center costs. As a result, this transformative work earned three industry awards, recognizing the solution’s innovation in accessibility, engagement, and measurable impact on patient care.

Consumers expect frictionless access to care, personalized experiences, and real-time engagement. Our recent Access to Care Report reveals more than 45% of consumers aged 18–64 have used digital-first care instead of their regular provider—and 92% of them believe the quality is equal or better. To deliver on consumers’ expectations, leaders need a unified digital strategy that connects systems, streamlines workflows, and gives consumers simple, reliable ways to find and schedule care.

Explore how our Access to Care research continues to earn industry awards or learn more about our strategic position on find care experiences. 

Empowering Care Ecosystems Through Interoperable Data Foundations 

We helped a healthcare insurance leader build a single, interoperable source of truth that turns healthcare data into a true strategic asset. Our FHIR‑enabled solution ingests, normalizes, and validates data from internal and external systems and shares a consolidated, reliable dataset through API connectors, gateways, and extracts, grounded in data governance. Ultimately, this interoperable data foundation accelerates time to market, minimizes downtime through EDI and API modernization, and ensures the right data reaches the right hands at the right time to power consumer‑grade experiences, while confidently meeting interoperability standards. 

Discover our platform modernization and data management capabilities.  

Accelerating Member Support With Human-Centered GenAI Innovation 

We helped a leading Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurer transform CSR support by deploying a natural language Generative AI benefits assistant powered by AWS’s AI foundation models and APIs. The intelligent assistant mines a library of ingested documents to deliver tailored, member-specific answers in real time, eliminating cumbersome manual processes and PDF downloads that previously slowed resolution times. Beyond faster answers, this human-centered solution accelerates benefits education, equips agents to provide relevant information with greater speed and accuracy, and demonstrates how generative AI can move from pilots into core infrastructure to support staff rather than replace them.

Read more about our AI expertise or explore our human-centered design services. 

Build Your Scalable, Data-Driven Future 

From insight to impact, our healthcare expertise  equips leaders to modernize, personalize, and scale care. We drive resilient, AI-powered transformation to shape the experiences and engagement of healthcare consumers, streamline operations, and improve the cost, quality, and equity of care.

We have been trusted by the 10 largest health systems and the 10 largest health insurers in the U.S., and Modern Healthcare consistently ranks us as one of the largest healthcare consulting firms.

Our strategic partnerships with industry-leading technology innovators—including AWS, Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, and  more—accelerate healthcare organizations’ ability to modernize infrastructure, integrate data, and deliver intelligent experiences. Together, we shatter boundaries so you have the AI-native solutions you need to boldly advance business.

Ready to Turn Fragmentation Into Strategic Advantage? 

We’re here to help you move beyond disconnected systems and toward a unified, data-driven future—one that delivers better experiences for patients, caregivers, and communities. Let’s connect  and explore how you can lead with empathy, intelligence, and impact. 

In my last blog post I addressed how to prepare your team for a unique experience and have them primed and ready for brainstorming.

Now I want to cover what actually happens INSIDE the brainstorming session itself. What activities should be included? How do you keep the energy up throughout the session?

Here’s a detailed brainstorming framework and agenda you can follow to generate real results. It works whether you have 90 minutes or a full day; whether you are tackling product innovation, process improvement, strategic planning, or problem solving; and whether you have 4 people on the team or 12 (try not to do more than that). Feel free to pick and choose what you like and adjust to fit your team and desired depth.

Pre-Session Checklist

• Room Setup: Seating arranged to encourage collaboration (avoid traditional conference setups), background music playing softly, be free to move around. Being offsite is best!
• Materials: Whiteboards, sticky notes, markers, small and large paper pads, dot stickers for voting, projector/screen.
• Helpers: Enlist volunteers to capture ideas, manage breakout groups, and tally votes. Ensure they know their roles ahead of time.
• Technology: If you’re using digital tools, screen sharing, or virtual whiteboards, test everything before the team arrives.
• Breaks: Make sure you plan for breaks. People need mental and physical break periods.
• Food: Have snacks and beverages ready. If you have a session over 3 hours, plan lunch and/or supper.

1. Welcome the Team (5-20 minutes)

As people arrive, keep things light to set the tone. Try to keep a casual conversation going, laughs are ideal! This isn’t another meeting, it’s a space for creative thinking.

If anyone participated in personal disruptions ahead of the meeting, (with no pressure) see if they’ll share. As the facilitator, have your own ready to share and also explain the room disruptions you’ve set up.

2. Mental Warmups (5-20 minutes)

The personal disruptions mentioned in my other post are meant to break people out of their mental ruts. This period of warm up is meant to achieve the same thing.

Many facilitators do this with ice breakers. I personally don’t like them and have had better luck with other approaches. Consider sharing some optical illusions or brain teasers that stretch their minds rather than putting them on the spot with forced socialization.

That said, ice breakers that get people up and building something together can work too, if you have one you like. Things like small teams building the tallest tower out of toothpicks and mini-marshmallows is a common one that works well.

3. Cover the Brainstorming Ground Rules (2-10 minutes)

• No Bad Ideas: Save negativity for later. Right now, we’re generating not judging.
• Quantity Over Quality: More ideas mean more chances for success. Aim for volume.
• Wild Ideas Welcome: Suspend reality temporarily. One impossible idea can spark a feasible one.
• No Ownership Battles: Ideas belong to the team. Collaboration beats competition.
• Build on Others: Use “Yes, and…” thinking. Evolve, merge, and improve ideas together.
• Stay Present: No emails, no phones. Even during breaks, don’t get distracted.

These rules should be available throughout the session. Consider hanging a poster with them or sharing an attendee packet that includes it. If anyone is attending remotely, share these in the chat area.

As the facilitator, you should be prepared to enforce these rules!

4. Frame the Challenge (5-20 minutes)

Why are we here today? What’s the goal of this brainstorming session? What do we hope to achieve after spending hours together?

This is a critical time to ensure everyone’s head is in the right place before diving into the actual brainstorming. We’re not here just to have fun, we’re here to solve a business problem. Use whatever information you have to enlighten the team on current state, desired state, competition, business data, customer feedback…whatever you have.

Now that we have everyone mentally prepared, consider a short break after this.

5.A. Individual Ideation (5-15 minutes)

This time is well spent whether you had your team generate ideas ahead of time or not. Even if you asked them to, you cannot expect everyone to have devoted time to think about your business objective ahead of time. You will end up with more diverse ideas if you keep this individual time in the agenda.

Here, we want to provide your attendees with paper, pens, and/or sticky notes, and set a timer. Remind them that quantity of ideas is the goal.

Ask the team on their own to come up with 10+ ideas in 5 minutes. They can compete to see who comes up with the most. Keep some soft background music playing (instrumental music). Consider dropping a “crazy bomb of an idea” as an example… something completely unrealistic and surprising, just to jar their minds one last time before they start. Show them that it’s OK to be wild in their suggestions.

When the round is done, optionally, you can take the next 5-10 minutes hearing some of the team’s favorites. Not all, just the favorites. Write them on a board, or post the sticky notes up.

5.B. Second Round of Individual Ideation (10-20 minutes)

If you have time, do a second round of individual idea creation, but this time introduce lateral thinking. Using random entry to show them that ideas can be triggered through associations. Have snippets of paper with random words for each person to draw from a bowl or hat. Give them an additional 5 or 10 minutes to come up with another set of ideas that relates to the word they selected.

For this second round you should be prepared to help anyone who struggles. You can suggest connections to their selected word, or push them to explore synonyms, antonyms, or other associations. For instance, if they draw “tiger”, you can associate animal, cat, jungle, teeth, claws, stripes, fur, orange, black, white, predator, aggression, primal, mascot, camouflage, frosted flakes, breakfast, sports, Detroit, baseball, Cincinnati, football, apparel, clothing, costume, Halloween, and more!

The associations are endless. They draw “tiger”, associate “stripe”, and relate that to the objective in how “striping” could mean updating parts of a system, and not all of it. Or they associate “baseball” and relate that to the objective in how a “bunt” is a strategic move that averts expectations and gets you on base.

6. Idea Sharing (10-60 minutes)

This portion of brainstorming is where ideas start to come together. When people start sharing their initial ideas, others get inspired. Remind everyone that we’re not after ownership, we’re collectively trying to solve the business problem. Your helpers can take notes on who was involved in an idea, so they can later be tagged for additional input or the project team.

This step can be nerve-wracking. Professionals may be uncertain about sharing half-baked ideas, but this is what we need! Don’t pressure anyone, so you, as the facilitator, can offer to share ideas on their behalf if they would like that.

As part of this step, begin identifying patterns and themes. People’s first ideas are generally the easy ones that multiple people will have (including your competitors). There will be similarities. Group those ideas now and try to give the groupings easy to reference names.

The bulk of the ideas are now in everyone’s heads, consider a short break after this.

7. Idea Expansion (20-60 minutes)

As the team comes back from a break, do a round of dot voting. Your ideas are pasted up and grouped, and the team has had some time to let those ideas settle in their minds. Now we’re ready to start driving the focus of the rest of this session.

There should be a set of concepts that are most intriguing to the team. Now, you will encourage pushing some further, spin-off ideas, and cross-pollination. Even flipping ideas to their opposite is still welcome. SCAMPER is an acronym that applies to creative thinking, and you might print it out and display it for your session today.

Like comedy improv, we still do not want to be negative about any idea. Use “yes, and…” to elaborate on someone’s idea. “I really like this idea, now imagine if we spin it as…” Make sure these expansions are being written down and captured.

8. Wild Card Rounds (10-60 minutes)

If you have a larger group, this time is ideal for break-out sessions. If your group is small, it can be another individual ideation round.

Take the top contending themes and divvy them out to groups or individuals. Then you can run 1-3 speed rounds, rotating themes between rounds.

1. Role Play: Ask them to expand on their theme as if they were Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezzos, Einstein, your competitor, or SpongeBob. This makes them think differently.
2. Constraints: Consider how they would have to change the idea if they were limited by budget, time, quality, or approach. Poetry is beautiful because of its constraints.
3. Wishful Thinking: What could you do if all constraints were lifted? If you were writing a fictional book, how would you make this happen?
4. Exaggeration: Take the idea to the extreme. If the idea as stated is 10%, what does 100% look like? What does 10-times look like?

This level of pushing creativity can be exhausting, consider a break after this.

9. Bring it Together (10-60 minutes)

Update your board with the latest ideas and iterations, if you haven’t already. Give the attendees a few minutes to peruse the posted ideas and reflect. Refresh the favorites list with another round of dot voting.

If time allows, move on from all this divergent thinking, and ask the attendees to list some constraints or areas that need to be investigated for these favorite ideas to work. Keep in mind this is still a “no bad ideas” session, so this effort should be a means to identify next steps for the idea and how to ensure it is successful if it is selected to move forward.

If you still have more time available, start some discussion that could help create a priority matrix after the meeting (like How/Now/Wow). Venture into identifying the following for each of the favorite ideas. We’re just looking for broad strokes and wide ranges today. On a scale of 1-10, where do these fall?

• Impact: How much would this change the story for the business?
• Effort: How much effort from business resources might be required?
• Timeline: What would the timeline look like?
• Cost: Would there be outside costs?

10. Next Steps (5-10 minutes)

This is the last step of this brainstorming session, but this is not the end. Now we fill the team in on what happens next and give them confidence that today’s effort will be useful. Start by asking the team what excited or surprised them the most today, and what they’d like to do again sometime.

Explain to the team how these ideas will be documented and shared out. The team should already be excited about at least one of today’s ideas, they’ll sleep on these ideas and continue thinking. So, let them know that there will be an opportunity to add additional thoughts to their favorites in the days/weeks to come.

Explain if you have any further plans to get feedback from stakeholders, leaders, or customers. If there are decision makers that are not in this meeting, then help your team understand what you’ll be doing to share these collective ideas with those who will make the final call.

Lastly, thank them for their time today. Express your own satisfaction and excitement for what’s to come. Try to squeeze in a few more laughs and build a feeling of teamwork. Consider remarking on something from this meeting as a “you had to be there” type of joke, even if it is the unrealistic bombshell of an idea that gets a laugh.

Tips for the Facilitator

• Energy Management: Watch the room’s energy. If it dips, inject movement. Stand up, stretch, take a quick walk, change the pace with a speed round.
• Protect the Quiet Voices: Don’t let extroverts dominate. Use techniques like written brainstorming and round-robin sharing to ensure everyone contributes.
• Embrace the Awkward Silence: When you ask a question and get silence, resist the urge to fill it. Give people time to think. Count to ten in your head before jumping in, and don’t make them feel like it was a failure to not say anything.
• Document Everything: Assign helpers to photograph whiteboards, capture sticky notes, and record key insights. You’ll lose valuable ideas if you rely on memory alone.
• Keep Your “Crazy Idea Bomb” Ready: If the room gets stuck, be prepared to throw out something intentionally wild to break the pattern. Sometimes the group needs permission to think bigger.
• Stay Neutral: As facilitator, your job is to guide the process, not advocate for specific ideas. You can participate, if you want to, but save your own advocacy for later. No idea is a bad idea in this session.

Conclusion

I hope you find this example brainstorming session agenda helpful! It’s one of my favorite things to run through. Get your team prepped and ready, then deliver an amazing workshop to drive creativity and innovation!

……

If you are looking for a partner to run brainstorming with, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

The conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) in professional sectors, whether in law, finance, healthcare, or government, has reached a fever pitch. AI promises to boost productivity, reduce administrative burdens, and unlock new value across knowledge-based industries. Yet, for many organizations, the reality lags behind the rhetoric. Despite high levels of awareness and pilot projects aplenty, genuine, deep adoption of AI tools remains elusive.

As we stand on the brink of a new era in workplace technology, understanding the human factors that drive or block AI adoption is more critical than ever. The question is no longer if AI will reshape the workplace, but how and how deeply it will embed itself in the daily routines, decisions, and cultures of organizations.

The AI Adoption Gap

A striking paradox defines the current state of AI in the workplace. Surveys show that most professionals are familiar with generative AI, and organizations are investing heavily in pilots and proofs of concept. Yet, according to recent research, only a small minority of firms have moved beyond surface-level or “shallow” adoption to truly embed AI into core processes.

This “adoption gap” has tangible consequences:

• Missed Productivity Gains: Shallow use think drafting emails or summarizing documents, delivers only marginal improvements. The transformative potential of AI is realised only when it is integrated into complex, high-value workflows.
• Shadow IT Risks: Employees frequently use unauthorised or unapproved AI tools in the absence of clear guidelines, exposing organizations to compliance, security, and reputational risks.
• Stalled Innovation: Without deep adoption, firms risk falling behind competitors who are leveraging AI for strategic differentiation.

Bridging this gap requires more than technical solutions. It demands a Behavioral approach, one that acknowledges the role of habits, heuristics, emotions, and social context in shaping how professionals embrace new technology.

Behavioral Science as the Missing Link

To accelerate meaningful AI adoption, organizations must look beyond binary metrics of use and instead understand the continuum of adoption, the barriers at each stage, and the Behavioral levers that can move individuals and teams deeper into productive engagement with AI.

1. Adoption Is a Continuum, Not a Toggle

AI adoption in professional settings is not a simple yes-or-no proposition. Instead, it unfolds along a spectrum:

• No Adoption: AI tools are ignored or avoided.
• Shallow Adoption: AI is used sporadically for low-stakes or auxiliary tasks.
• Deep Adoption: AI is fully integrated into core workflows, driving strategic gains in quality, innovation, and efficiency.

Implication: Organizations must diagnose where teams sit on this continuum and tailor interventions accordingly.

2. Motivation, Capability, and Trust: The Three Drivers of Adoption

Behavioral science identifies three essential ingredients for moving up the adoption ladder:

• Motivation: Do staff see a clear, relevant benefit to using AI?
• Capability: Do they feel able and confident to use AI effectively?
• Trust: Do they believe AI aligns with their values and professional standards?

Each driver comes with its own set of barriers and solutions:

• Motivation Barriers: Low salience of benefits, status quo bias, and “satisficing” (settling for good enough).
  • Solutions: Frame benefits in tangible terms, highlight quick wins, and use social proof and commitment devices.
• Capability Barriers: Friction in workflows, cognitive overload, and lack of operational readiness.
  • Solutions: Integrate AI seamlessly, reduce effort, and provide structured training and time for experimentation.
• Trust Barriers: Perceived threats to competence or identity, inconsistent signals, and doubts about AI’s legitimacy.
  • Solutions: Increase transparency, allow personalization, and celebrate early wins and responsible experimentation.

3. Small Design Choices Have Outsized Impact

Behavioral nudges like default settings, timely prompts, and visible endorsements from leaders can dramatically increase adoption. For example:

• Default AI notetakers in meetings can normalize use and reduce friction.
• Peer comparison and transparency about how AI works build trust and engagement.
• Showcasing successful use cases and creating AI “champions” can drive momentum across teams.

4. Context Matters: One Size Does Not Fit All

Adoption barriers and enablers vary by individual, role, sector, and task. For instance:

• High-stakes or identity-defining tasks (e.g., clinical diagnosis or legal decisions) require greater trust and clearer evidence of AI’s value.
• Adoption rates differ by gender, age, and professional background, highlighting the need for inclusive strategies.

5. From Shallow to Deep: The Real Value Is in Integration

The most significant gains come not from using AI more often, but from embedding it more deeply, redesigning workflows, updating performance metrics, and empowering employees to co-create new processes. Firms that achieve this see outsized returns in productivity, innovation, and employee satisfaction.

Charting a Roadmap for AI Adoption

The future of professional work will be shaped as much by behavioral insights as by technical breakthroughs. To unlock the full promise of AI, organizations must:

1. Assess Current Adoption: Map where teams are on the adoption continuum.
2. Diagnose Barriers: Identify motivational, capability, and trust-related obstacles.
3. Co-Design Interventions: Work with staff to develop tailored, behaviorally informed solutions.
4. Pilot, Measure, and Scale: Experiment, gather feedback, and iterate based on what works.
5. Celebrate and Learn: Share successes, acknowledge failures, and foster a culture of responsible AI experimentation.

Leaders committed to the AI-enabled future must move beyond hype and pilot projects. By applying behavioral science to the adoption challenge, professional firms can transform AI from a peripheral tool into a strategic asset—one that delivers on its promise for people, performance, and purpose.

For organizations seeking to accelerate their AI journey, the message is clear: start with behavior, and the technology will follow.

 Behavior+ AI Series

• Building A More Capable And Wiser AI

Based on the Adopt article from BIT.

Explore our AI services and capabilities at Perficient

If you’re knee-deep in building apps, you already know APIs are the backbone of everything. Testing them? That’s where the real magic happens. For years, we’ve relied on tools like Postman and Insomnia to send requests, debug issues, and keep things running smoothly. But lately, there’s a buzz about something new: Bruno. It’s popping up everywhere, and developers are starting to make the switch. Why? Let’s dive in.

What Exactly is Bruno?

Picture this: an open-source, high-performance API client that puts your privacy first. Bruno isn’t some bloated app that shoves your stuff into the cloud. “No,” it keeps everything right on your local machine. Your API collections, requests, all of it? Safe and sound where you control it, no cloud drama required.

Bruno is built for developers who want:

• Simplicity without compromise
• High performance without unnecessary extras
• Complete freedom with open-source flexibility

It’s like the minimalist toolbox you’ve been waiting for.

Why is Bruno Suddenly Everywhere?

Bruno solves the pain points that frustrate us with other API tools:

• Privacy First: No forced cloud uploads, your collections stay local. No hidden syncing; your data stays completely under your control.
• Fast and Lightweight: Loads quickly and handles requests without lag. Perfect for quick tests on the go.
• Open-Source Freedom: No fees, no lock-in. Collections are Git-friendly and saved as plain text for easy version control.
• No Extra Bloat: Focused on what matters, API testing without unnecessary features.

Bottom line: Bruno fits the way we work today, collaboratively, securely, and efficiently. It’s not trying to do everything; it’s just good at API testing.

Key Features

Bruno keeps it real with features that matter. Here are the highlights:

1. Totally Open-Source

• No sneaky costs or paywalls.
• Peek under the hood anytime—the code’s all there.
• A group of developers is contributing to GitHub, making it better every day. Wanna join? Hit up their repo and contribute.

2. Privacy from the Ground Up

• Everything lives locally.
• No accounts, no cloud pushes—your requests don’t leave your laptop.
• Ideal if you’re handling sensitive APIs and don’t want Big Tool Company snooping.
• Bonus: Those plain-text files integrate well with Git, so team handoffs are seamless.

3. Light as a Feather, Fast as Lightning

• Clean UI, no extra bells and whistles slowing you down.
• Starts up quickly and zips through responses.
• Great for solo endpoint tweaks or managing large workflows without your machine slowing.

Getting Bruno Up and Running

Installing Bruno is simple. It works on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Just choose your platform, and you’re good to go.

#3. Quick Install Guide

Windows

1. Head to Bruno’s GitHub Releases page.
2. Grab the latest .exe file.
3. Run it and follow the prompts.
4. Boom—find it in your Start Menu.

macOS

1. Download the .dmg from Releases.
2. Drag it to Applications.
3. Fire it up and get testing.

Linux

1. Snag the .AppImage or .deb from Releases.
2. For AppImage: chmod +x Bruno.AppImage then ./Bruno.AppImage.
3. For .deb: sudo dpkg -i bruno.deb and sudo apt-get install -f.

GUI or CLI? Your Call

• GUI: Feels like Postman but cleaner. Visual, easy-to-build requests on the fly.
• CLI: For the terminal lovers. Automate tests, integrate with CI/CD, or run collections: bruno run collection.bru –env dev.

Build Your First Collection in Minutes

Bruno makes organizing APIs feel effortless. Here’s a no-sweat walkthrough.

Step 1: Fire It Up

Launch Bruno. You’ll see a simple welcome screen prompting you to create a new collection.

Step 2: New Collection Time

1. Hit “New Collection.”
2. Name it (say, “My API Playground”).
3. Pick a folder—it’s all plain text, so Git loves it.

Step 3: Add a Request

1. Inside the collection, click “New Request.”
2. Pick your method (GET, POST, etc.).
3. Enter the URL: https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts.

Step 4: Headers and Body Magic

• Add the header: Content-Type: application/json.
• For POSTs, add a body like:

JSON

{
"title": "Bruno Blog",
"body": "Testing Bruno API Client",
"userId": 1
}

Step 5: Hit Send

Click it, and watch the response pop: status, timing, pretty JSON—all right there.

Step 6: Save and Sort

Save the request, create folders for environments or APIs, and use variables to switch setups.

Bruno vs. Postman: Head-to-Head

Postman’s the OG, but Bruno’s the scrappy challenger winning hearts. Let’s compare.

1. Speed

• Bruno: Lean and mean—quick loads, low resource hog.
• Postman: Packed with features, but it can feel sluggish on big projects. Edge: Bruno

2. Privacy

• Bruno: Local only, no cloud creep.
• Postman: Syncs to their servers—handy for teams, sketchy for secrets. Edge: Bruno

3. Price Tag

• Bruno: Free forever, open-source vibes.
• Postman: Free basics, but teams and extras? Pay up. Edge: Bruno

Feature	Bruno	Postman
Open Source	Yes	No
Cloud Sync	No	Yes
Performance	Lightweight	Heavy
Privacy	Local Storage	Cloud-Based
Cost	Free	Paid Plans

Level up With Advanced Tricks

Environmental Variables

Swap envs easy-peasy:

• Make files for dev/staging/prod.
• Use {{baseUrl}} in requests.
• Example:

{
"baseUrl": "https://api.dev.example.com",
"token": "your-dev-token"
}

Scripting Smarts

Add pre/post scripts for:

• Dynamic auth: request.headers[“Authorization”] = “Bearer ” + env.token;
• Response checks or automations.

Community & Contribution

It’s community-driven:

• Repo: https://github.com/usebruno/bruno
• Contribute: Fork, branch, PR. Report bugs, chat ideas—help build the future.

Conclusion

Bruno isn’t just another API testing tool; it’s designed for developers who want simplicity and control. With local-first privacy, fast performance, open-source flexibility, and built-in Git support, Bruno delivers everything you need without unnecessary complexity.
If you’re tired of heavy, cloud-based clients, it’s time to switch. Download Bruno today and experience the difference: Download here.

Brainstorming sessions have a love-hate situation. Half the team is excited, the other half dreads it. The truth is, anyone can be creative, but it doesn’t happen by accident – it takes intentionality.

The key is preparation. If people show up cold, they’ll default to routine thinking or recycle old ideas. To break free, our brains need to loosen up first.

After years of leading innovative teams, I’ve learned what works. Here’s a simple game plan to help your team show up ready to think differently and generate fresh ideas together.

Your Job as the Facilitator

Your goal is to make sure the team is ready for what might feel like an unusual process. This isn’t a standard meeting. If your team walks into the same room, sits in the same chairs, sipping the same coffee, they’ll fall into routine and recycle old ideas.

Jumping in cold with, “Now, let’s be creative!” usually leads to either awkward silence or one person dominating the conversation. Neither sparks innovative ideas from the team at large.

Instead, help the team stretch beyond their daily rut. Give them a clear game plan so they arrive ready to think differently and generate ideas that excite everyone.

Week Before: Early Prep

Start the conversation early so people have time to adjust and prepare. Share the problem or opportunity you’ll tackle and why it matters. Encourage participants to jot down initial ideas ahead of time to prime their creative pump and avoid awkward silences for you. If you want, you can ask them to send a few ideas to you ahead of time.

Lay out expectations clearly:

1. Send the agenda so everyone knows what to expect.
2. Focus on idea generation, not debate. Quantity over quality with an “idea factory.”
3. Encourage wild thinking. Suspend reality for a moment, because one impossible idea can spark a feasible one.
4. Set aside ownership. Collaboration is key. Great ideas are evolved, changed, merged.
5. Share inspiration. Send the team an article, video, or data to start the train of thought.
6. Suggest habit shifts. Exercise, meditation, or quiet time can help reset the mind ahead of the session.

Consider a message like:

“Next week we’re going to think differently together. I’m not expecting perfect solutions, but instead want you to arrive with your mind loosened up and ready to play. Here’s how to prepare…”

Day Before: Prime the Mindset

Send a reminder the day before to reinforce excitement and set expectations. If you’ve received early ideas, acknowledge them with enthusiasm and let the team know this is meant to be fun.

Offer quick prep tips:

1. Revisit the “why” of this session. Remind them of the importance of participation.
2. Ask them to avoid distractions in the morning. No early morning emails!
3. Set the tone of the event as judgment-free, experimental, and collaborative. Similar to comedy improv: use “Yes, and…,” “What if…,” or “Could we…?”
4. Emphasize the evolution of ideas and how they grow and change. Building together is the goal.
5. Note that ideas start out rough, but you can polish them. Even the opposite of a good idea can spark another great idea.
6. Suggest breaking their personal routine. Try small disruptions: take a new route to work, wear something unusual, listen to a different music genre. Maybe walk up the stairs backwards.

Consider a message like:

“To prepare your mind for tomorrow, I’m challenging you to break from your norm tonight and tomorrow morning. Try at least two of these suggestions or invent one of your own. Let’s see who finds the weirdest personal disruption!”

Day Of: Set the Stage

First impressions matter. Start the session a little later than usual (we asked them to not hop into work before the session), we want them to arrive fresh. Have the space ready before they walk in.

Make the room feel different:

• Atmosphere: Light background music. A slideshow or posters with creative quotes. Snacks and beverages.
• Seating: Avoid typical conference room setups. Use casual seating or standing tables for comfort and encourage movement throughout the session.
• Tools: Whiteboards, large pads of paper, notebooks, sticky notes, pencils, pens, markers, colored dot stickers for voting, and a screen or projector for references.

The goal here is to signal that this isn’t a typical meeting – it’s a space for creativity.

During the Session

Keep things casual while welcoming everyone as they arrive. Explain why the meeting space looks different and ask if anyone disrupted their morning routine. Be prepared to share your own example if no one chimes in. Keep it light and fun! Aim for laughs, no pressure. Icebreakers work OK, but I prefer a few optical illusions and brain teasers for warming people up.

You should have helpers ready to capture ideas, snap photos of boards, and tally votes. If you use breakout groups, assign a helper to each group.

As facilitator, reiterate the rules:

1. Restate the objective for today. Fresh ideas are needed.
2. No bad ideas. Reviews and debates come later.
3. No competition. Fighting over ownership limits creativity. (Your helpers should keep note of who’s passionate about ideas for follow-up.)
4. Wild ideas are welcome! Spin-off ideas are expected.
5. Quantity over quality. More ideas provide more chances for breakthroughs.
6. Free to move around. Standing, pacing, and changing seats keeps energy up.

Be ready to help if people get stuck:

• Use lateral thinking such as random words, images, or “How would Einstein/Steve Jobs/SpongeBob solve this?”
• Flip the problem by trying the opposite approach or by exaggerating to an illogical extreme.
• Adding constraints can help creativity.
• Use speed rounds. Tight limits often spark creativity. “How many unique ideas can you generate in 5 minutes?”
• You should prepare at least one “crazy idea bomb” to break out of slumps if they happen.

Here’s my example agenda for brainstorming.

Session End

Wrap up on a positive note. Thank everyone for their time and willingness to break out of their routines. Reference a funny idea or moment from the session, if one stood out, trying to end with laughs.

Invite quick reflections:

• What excited or surprised you most today?
• What helped loosen you up?
• What would you want to do again next time?

End with an outline of next steps so the team knows this isn’t the end of the process. Share how ideas will be reviewed, refined, and moved forward.

After: Keep the Momentum

Send a quick follow-up thanking everyone for their time and creativity. Reinforce that this is just the beginning. More to come!

With help from your volunteers, capture all ideas in a shared document, tally votes, and define next steps:

1. Share the summary docs so everyone can reflect.
2. Gather feedback and invite additional thoughts.
3. Assess impact vs. effort for each idea.
4. Engage leadership and sponsors to get buy-in for promising ideas.
5. Consider budget and resources early.
6. Identify project champions. Not idea owners, but people who can move ideas forward and build teams.
7. Create teams around high-potential ideas. Make sure to include those who were passionate about them.
8. Plan follow-up sessions for refinement and move toward official project initiatives.

Conclusion

With a little preparation and clear expectations, you can take brainstorming sessions to the next level. You prime the pump for real creativity when your team understands the goal and the process. Pair these concepts with broader initiatives with North Star Goals.

So rally your team, break the routine, and spark some innovation!

……

If you are looking for a partner in brainstorming, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

Moments of currency change are where fortunes are made and lost. In January 2026, Bulgaria will enter one of those moments. The country will adopt the euro and officially retire the Bulgarian lev, marking a major euro adoption milestone and reshaping how investors, banks, and global firms manage currency risk in the region. The shift represents one of the most significant macroeconomic transitions in Bulgaria’s modern history and is already drawing attention across FX markets.

To understand how dramatically foreign exchange movements can shift value, consider one of the most famous examples in modern financial history. In September 1992, investor George Soros, “the man who broke the British Bank,” bet against the British pound, anticipating that the UK’s exchange rate policy would collapse. The resulting exchange rate crisis, now known as Black Wednesday, became a defining moment in forex trading and demonstrated how quickly policy decisions can trigger massive market dislocations.

By selling roughly $10 billion worth of pounds, his Quantum Fund earned ~$1 billion in profit when the currency was forced to devalue. The trade earned Soros the nickname “the man who broke the Bank of England” and remains a lasting example of how quickly confidence and capital flows can move entire currency systems.

GBP/USD exchange rate from May 1992 to April 1993, highlighting the dramatic plunge during Black Wednesday. When George Soros famously shorted the pound, forcing the UK out of the ERM and triggering one of the most significant currency crises in modern history

To be clear, Bulgaria is not in crisis. The Soros example simply underscores how consequential currency decisions can be. Even when they unfold calmly and by design, currency transitions reshape the texture of daily life. The significance of Bulgaria’s transition becomes more clear when you consider what the lev has long represented. Safety. Families relied on it through political uncertainty and economic swings, saved it for holidays, passed it down during milestones, and trusted it in moments when little else felt predictable. Over time, the lev became a source of stability as Bulgaria navigated decades of change and gradually aligned itself with the European Union..

Its retirement feels both symbolic and historic. But for global markets, currency traders, banks, and companies engaged in cross border business, the transition is not just symbolic. It introduces real operational changes that require early attention. This article explains what is happening, why it matters, and how organizations can prepare.

Some quick facts help frame the scale of this shift.

Map of Bulgaria

Bulgaria has a population of roughly 6.5 million.

The country’s GDP is about 90 billion U.S. dollars (World Bank, 2024)

Its largest trade partners are EU member states, Turkey, and China.

Why Bulgaria Is Adopting the Euro

​​Although the move from the Lev to the Euro is monumental, many Bulgarians also see it as a natural progression. ​​When Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, Euro adoption was always part of the long-term plan. Adopting the Euro gives Bulgaria a stronger foundation for investment, more predictable trade relationships, and smoother participation in Europe’s financial systems. It is the natural next step in a journey the country has been moving toward slowly, intentionally, and with growing confidence. That measured approach fostered public and institutional trust, leading European authorities to approve Bulgaria’s entry into the Eurozone on January 1, 2026 (European Commission, 2023; European Central Bank, 2023).

How Euro Adoption Affects Currency Markets

Bulgaria’s economy includes manufacturing, agriculture, energy, and service sectors. Its exports include refined petroleum, machinery, copper products, and apparel. It imports machinery, fuels, vehicles, and pharmaceuticals (OECD, 2024). The Euro supports smoother trade relationships within these sectors and reduces barriers for European partners.

Once Bulgaria switches to the Euro, the Lev will quietly disappear from global currency screens. Traders will no longer see familiar pairs like USD to BGN or GBP to BGN. Anything involving Bulgaria will now flow through euro-based pairs instead. In practical terms, the Lev simply stops being part of the conversation.

For people working on trading desks or in treasury teams, this creates a shift in how risk is measured day to day. Hedging strategies built around the Lev will transition to euro-based approaches. Models that once accounted for Lev-specific volatility will have to be rewritten. Automated trading programs that reference BGN pricing will need to be updated or retired. Even the market data providers that feed information into these systems will phase out Lev pricing entirely.

And while Bulgaria may be a smaller player in the global economy, the retirement of a national currency is never insignificant. It ripples through the internal workings of trading floors, risk management teams, and the systems that support them . It is a reminder that even quiet changes in one part of the world can require thoughtful adjustments across the financial landscape.

Combined with industry standard year-end code-freezes, Perficient has seen and helped clients stop their Lev trading weeks before year-end.

The Infrastructure Work Behind Adopting the Euro

Adopting the Euro is not just a change people feel sentimental about. Behind the scenes, it touches almost every system that moves money. Every financial institution uses internal currency tables to keep track of existing currencies, conversion rules, and payment routing. When a currency is retired, every system that touches money must be updated to reflect the change.

This includes:

• Core banking and treasury platforms
• Trading systems
• Accounting and ERP software
• Payment networks, including SWIFT and ISO 20022
• Internal data warehouses and regulatory reporting systems

Why Global Firms Should Pay Attention

If the Lev remains active anywhere after the transition, payments can fail, transactions can be misrouted, and reconciliation issues can occur. The Bank for International Settlements notes that currency changes require “significant operational coordination,” because risk moves across systems faster than many institutions expect. 

Beyond the technical updates, the disappearance of the Lev also carries strategic implications for multinational firms. Any organization that operates across borders, whether through supply chains, treasury centers, or shared service hubs, relies on consistent currency identifiers to keep financial data aligned. If even one system, vendor, or regional partner continues using the old code, firms can face cascading issues such as misaligned ledgers, failed hedging positions, delayed settlements, and compliance flags triggered by mismatched reporting. In a world where financial operations are deeply interconnected, a seemingly local currency change can ripple outward and affect global liquidity management and operational continuity.

Many firms have already started their transition work well in advance of the official date in order to minimize risk. In practice, this means reviewing currency tables, updating payment logic, testing cross-border workflows, and making sure SWIFT and ISO 20022 messages recognize the new structure. 

Trade Finance Will Feel the Change

For people working in finance, this shift will change the work they do every day. Tools like Letters of Credit and Banker’s Acceptances are the mechanisms that keep international trade moving, and they depend on accurate currency terms. If any of these agreements are written to settle in Lev, they will need to be updated before January 2026.

That means revising contracts, invoices, shipping documents, and long-term payment schedules. Preparing early gives exporters, importers, and the teams supporting them the chance to keep business running smoothly through the transition.

What Euro Adoption Means for Businesses

Switching to the Euro unlocks several practical benefits that go beyond finance departments.

• Lower currency conversion costs
• More consistent pricing for long-term agreements
• Faster cross-border payments within the European Union
• Improved financial reporting and reduced foreign exchange risk
• Increased investor confidence in a more stable currency environment

Because so much of Bulgaria’s trade already occurs with Eurozone countries, using the Euro simplifies business operations and strengthens economic integration.

How Organizations Can Prepare

The most important steps for institutions include:

1. Auditing systems and documents for references to BGN
2. Updating currency tables and payment rules
3. Revising Letters of Credit and other agreements that list the Lev
4. Communicating the transition timeline to partners and clients
5. Testing updated systems well before January 1, 2026

Early preparation ensures a smooth transition when Bulgaria officially adopts the Euro. Ensure that operationally you’re prepared to accept Lev payments through December 31, 2025, but given settlement timeframes, prepared to reconcile and settle Lev transactions into 2026.a

Final Thoughts

The Bulgarian Lev has accompanied the country through a century of profound change. Its retirement marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter in Bulgaria’s economic story. For the global financial community, Bulgaria’s adoption of the Euro is not only symbolic but operationally significant.

Handled thoughtfully, the transition strengthens financial infrastructure, reduces friction in global business, and supports a more unified European economy.

References 

Bank for International Settlements. (2024). Foreign exchange market developments and global liquidity trends. https://www.bis.org

Eichengreen, B. (1993). European monetary unification. Journal of Economic Literature, 31(3), 1321–1357.

European Central Bank. (2023). Convergence report. https://www.ecb.europa.eu

European Commission. (2023). Economic and monetary union: Euro adoption process. https://ec.europa.eu

Henriques, D. B. (2011). The billionaire was not always so bold. The New York Times.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2024). Economic surveys: Bulgaria. https://www.oecd.org

World Bank. (2024). Bulgaria: Country data and economic indicators. https://data.worldbank.org/country/bulgaria

Reflecting on this year’s InsureTech Connect Conference 2025 in Las Vegas, one theme stood out above all others: the insurance industry has crossed a threshold from AI experimentation to AI expectation. With over 9,000 attendees and hundreds of sessions, the world’s largest insurance innovation gathering became a reflection of where the industry stands—and where it’s heading.

What became clear: the carriers pulling ahead aren’t just experimenting with AI—they’re deploying it with intentional discipline. AI is no longer optional, and the leaders are anchoring every investment in measurable business outcomes.

The Shift Is Here: AI in Insurance Moves from Experimentation to Expectation

This transformation isn’t happening in isolation though. Each shift represents a fundamental change in how carriers approach, deploy, and govern AI—and together, they reveal why some insurers are pulling ahead while others struggle to move beyond proof-of-concept.

Here’s what’s driving the separation:

• Agentic AI architectures that move beyond monolithic models to modular, multi-agent systems capable of autonomous reasoning and coordination across claims, underwriting, and customer engagement. Traditional models aren’t just slow—they’re competitive liabilities that can’t deliver the coordinated intelligence modern underwriting demands.
• AI-first strategies that prioritize trust, ethics, and measurable outcomes—especially in underwriting, risk assessment, and customer experience.
• A growing emphasis on data readiness and governance. The brutal reality: carriers are drowning in data while starving for intelligence. Legacy architectures can’t support the velocity AI demands.

Success In Action: Automating Insurance Quotes with Agentic AI

Why Intent Matters: Purpose-Driven AI Delivers Measurable Results

What stood out most this year was the shift from “AI for AI’s sake” to AI with purpose. Working with insurance leaders across every sector, we’ve seen the industry recognize that without clear intent—whether it’s improving claims efficiency, enhancing customer loyalty, or enabling embedded insurance—AI initiatives risk becoming costly distractions.

Conversations with leaders at ITC and other industry events reinforced this urgency. Leaders consistently emphasize that purpose-driven AI must:

• Align with business outcomes. AI enables real-time decisions, sharpens risk modeling, and delivers personalized interactions at scale. The value is undeniable: new-agent success rates increase up to 20%, premium growth boosts by 15%, customer onboarding costs reduce up to 40%.

• Be ethically grounded. Trust is a competitive differentiator—AI governance isn’t compliance theater, it’s market positioning.

• Deliver tangible value to both insurers and policyholders. From underwriting to claims, AI enables real-time decisions, sharpens risk modeling, and delivers personalized interactions at scale. Generative AI accelerates content creation, enables smarter agent support, and transforms customer engagement. Together, these capabilities thrive on modern, cloud-native platforms designed for speed and scalability.

Learn More: Improving CSR Efficiency With a GenAI Assistant

Building the AI-Powered Future: How We’re Accelerating AI in Insurance

So, how do carriers actually build this future? That’s where strategic partnerships and proven frameworks become essential.

At Perficient, we’ve made this our focus. We help clients advance AI capabilities through virtual assistants, generative interfaces, agentic frameworks, and product development, enhancing team velocity by integrating AI team members.

Through our strategic partnerships with industry-leading technology innovators—including AWS, Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe, and more— we accelerate insurance organizations’ ability to modernize infrastructure, integrate data, and deliver intelligent experiences. Together, we shatter boundaries so you have the AI-native solutions you need to boldly advance business.

But technology alone isn’t enough. We take it even further by ensuring responsible AI governance and ethical alignment with our PACE framework—Policies, Advocacy, Controls, and Enablement—to ensure AI is not only innovative, but also rooted in trust. This approach ensures AI is deployed with purpose, aligned to business goals, and embedded with safeguards that protect consumers and organizations.

Because every day your data architecture isn’t AI-ready is a day you’re subsidizing your competitors’ advantage.

You May Also Enjoy: 3 Ways Insurers Can Lead in the Age of AI

Ready to Lead? Partner with Perficient to Accelerate Your AI Transformation

Are you building your AI capabilities at the speed the market demands?

From insight to impact, our insurance expertise helps leaders modernize, personalize, and scale operations. We power AI-first transformation that enhances underwriting, streamlines claims, and builds lasting customer trust.

• Business Transformation: Activate strategy and innovation ​within the insurance ecosystem.​
• Modernization: Optimize technology to boost agility and ​efficiency across the value chain.​
• Data + Analytics: Power insights and accelerate ​underwriting and claims decision-making.​
• Customer Experience: Ease and personalize experiences ​for policyholders and producers.​

We are trusted by leading technology partners and consistently mentioned by analysts. Discover why we have been trusted by 13 of the 20 largest P&C firms and 11 of the 20 largest annuity carriers. Explore our insurance expertise and contact us to learn more.

Financial institutions are at a pivotal moment. As customer expectations evolve and AI reshapes digital engagement, leaders in marketing, CX, and IT must rethink how they deliver value.

Adobe’s report, “State of Customer Experience in Financial Services in an AI-Driven World,” reveals that only 36% of the customer journey is currently personalized, despite 74% of executives acknowledging rising customer expectations. With transformation already underway, financial leaders face five imperatives that demand immediate action to drive relevance, trust, and growth.

1. Make Personalization More Meaningful

Personalization has long been a strategic focus, but today’s consumers expect more than basic segmentation or name-based greetings. They want real-time, omnichannel interactions that align with their financial goals, life stages, and behaviors.

To meet this demand, financial institutions must evolve from reactive personalization to predictive, intent-driven engagement. This means leveraging AI to anticipate needs, orchestrate journeys, and deliver content that resonates with individual context.

Perficient Adobe-consulting principal Ross Monaghan explains, “We are still dealing with disparate data and slow progression into a customer 360 source of truth view to provide effective personalization at scale. What many firms are overlooking is that this isn’t just a data issue. We’re dealing with both a people and process issue where teams need to adjust their operational process of typical campaign waterfall execution to trigger-based and journey personalization.”

His point underscores that personalization challenges go beyond technology. They require cultural and operational shifts to enable real-time, AI-driven engagement.

2. Redesign the Operating Model Around the Customer

Legacy structures often silo marketing, IT, and operations, creating friction in delivering cohesive customer experiences. To compete in a digital-first world, financial institutions must reorient their operating models around the customer, not the org chart.

This shift requires cross-functional collaboration, agile workflows, and shared KPIs that align teams around customer outcomes. It also demands a culture that embraces experimentation and continuous improvement.

Only 3% of financial services firms are structured around the customer journey, though 19% say it should be the ideal.

3. Build Content for AI-Powered Search

As AI-powered search becomes a primary interface for information discovery, the way content is created and structured must change. Traditional SEO strategies are no longer enough.

Customers now expect intelligent, personalized answers over static search results. To stay visible and trusted, financial institutions must create structured, metadata-rich content that performs in AI-powered environments. Content must reflect experience-expertise-authoritativeness-trustworthiness principles and be both machine-readable and human-relevant. Success depends on building discovery journeys that work across AI interfaces while earning customer confidence in moments that matter.

4. Unify Data and Platforms for Scalable Intelligence

Disconnected data and fragmented platforms limit the ability to generate insights and act on them at scale. To unlock the full potential of AI and automation, financial institutions must unify their data ecosystems.

This means integrating customer, behavioral, transactional, and operational data into a single source of truth that’s accessible across teams and systems. It also involves modernizing MarTech and CX platforms to support real-time decisioning and personalization.

But Ross points out, “Many digital experience and marketing platforms still want to own all data, which is just not realistic, both in reality and cost. The firms that develop their customer source of truth (typically cloud-based data platforms) and signal to other experience or service platforms will be the quickest to marketing execution maturity and success.”

His insight emphasizes that success depends not only on technology integration but also on adopting a federated approach that accelerates marketing execution and operational maturity.

5. Embed Guardrails Into GenAI Execution

As financial institutions explore GenAI use cases, from content generation to customer service automation, governance must be built in from the start. Trust is non-negotiable in financial services, and GenAI introduces new risks around accuracy, bias, and compliance.

Embedding guardrails means establishing clear policies, human-in-the-loop review processes, and robust monitoring systems. It also requires collaboration between legal, compliance, marketing, and IT to ensure responsible innovation.

At Perficient, we use our PACE (Policies, Advocacy, Controls, Enablement) Framework to holistically design tailored operational AI programs that empower business and technical stakeholders to innovate with confidence while mitigating risks and upholding ethical standards.

The Time to Lead is Now

The future of financial services will be defined by how intelligently and responsibly institutions engage in real time. These five imperatives offer a blueprint for action, each one grounded in data, urgency, and opportunity. Leaders who move now will be best positioned to earn trust, drive growth, and lead in the AI-powered era.

Learn About Perficient and Adobe’s Partnership

Are you looking for a partner to help you transform and modernize your technology strategy? Perficient and Adobe bring together deep industry expertise and powerful experience technologies to help financial institutions unify data, orchestrate journeys, and deliver customer-centric experiences that build trust and drive growth.

Get in Touch With Our Experts