The L&D Tech Ecosystem is a group of interrelated tools, assets, platforms, and networks to help our colleagues in LatAm (México, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay) learn and develop themselves. The idea behind the Tech Ecosystem describes a strong and comprehensive landscape full of resources and educational tools that encourage colleagues to learn tech abilities, sharpen and keep updated their skills, contributing to their upskilling and reskilling.

Taking the Lead in Digital Transformation

This approach contributes to Perficient’s success in leading digital transformation.

Perficient is a global digital consultancy transforming how leading enterprises and biggest brands connect with customers and grow their businesses. Our teams bring an end-to-end approach to digital transformation through our comprehensive portfolio of digital solutions.

With unparalleled strategy, creativity, and technology capabilities, we bring big thinking and innovative ideas, along with a practical approach, to help the world’s largest enterprises and brands succeed. Our teams span national, industry, and geo business units across nearly 40 global locations and deliver compelling digital experiences for our customers.

To develop a solid portfolio of digital solutions and unleash creativity and innovation, we broaden our capabilities, expand our knowledge, and take the thought leadership pathway.

A Way of Working in Our Technical Capabilities

We have multiple ways of improving our technical capabilities. One of them, which has proven to be highly relevant, is the way that the L&D LatAm team talks to the business. At Perficient LatAm, L&D is part of the Tech Team. That means that our learning strategy and decisions are made with a technological mindset, allowing us to align the strategy with the execution in the learning and development dimension.

Making a Difference

Aligning goals, devising and co-creating L&D strategy with the Tech Team was a big bet, but after we did it, we immediately realized it was a game-changer move. It allowed us to improve the technological ecosystem and make a difference by moving even faster than we did in the past. As we moved forward, conversations between L&D and Tech became more straightforward, more frequent, and exclusively tech-oriented. L&D rapidly incorporated the tech mindset, managing to grasp the business strategy and needs clearly and without effort.

The Impact on Our People

The move also had a great impact on our people. After some months of working this way, we realized that colleagues were noticing the learning opportunities of the Tech Ecosystem to improve and grow as professionals. They quickly saw the benefits and started to take advantage of all the learning assets, easily identifying the resources and support to learn, develop, and get certified. Therefore, people started to learn and get certified at an unprecedented pace.

Final Thoughts

Aligning goals and devising and co-creating L&D strategies with the Tech Team proved to be a faster and easier way to progress. This pathway has proven to be a game changer with a tremendous impact on business and people. The L&D Tech Ecosystem demonstrated to be a highly valued tool for faster progress. Our boldly advanced technical capabilities became even more robust and burst with health. Certifications started to go to the sky, meaning that not only were colleagues learning and improving their careers but also that Perficient strengthened their technical capabilities, adding accredited skills to our solutions portfolio. As a final thought, this alliance between L&D and Tech Team has shown us to be a win-win strategy to drive growth for everyone.

In this episode of “What If? So What?” Jim talks with Neelima Sharma, SVP of ecommerce, digital, and technology at Lowe’s about the challenges and successes of transforming the retail industry through digital innovation. Neelima highlights the importance of teamwork, trust, and a customer-centric approach in driving the company’s growth and also emphasizes the significance of personalization and building long-term relationships with customers. The conversation touches on topics such as the impact of COVID-19 on retail, the role of AI and human intuition in decision making, and the importance of accurate inventory management. The conversation provides valuable insights into the strategies and mindset required for successful digital transformation in the retail industry.

Listen now on your favorite podcast platform or visit our website.

Subscribe Where You Listen

Apple | Spotify | Amazon | Overcast

Meet our Guest

Neelima V. Sharma,  Senior Vice President, Digital Commerce and Technology

Neelima Sharma, SVP of digital commerce and technology at Lowe’s, oversees the company’s online business and customer- and vendor-facing technologies. She enhances omnichannel experiences, core merchandising, and competitive pricing strategies. With more than 25 years of experience, Neelima has driven significant tech advancements at Lowe’s, including migrating Lowes.com to Google Cloud, and previously led Staples’ $8 billion B2B ecommerce tech division. Her career also includes impactful roles at JP MorganChase and Deloitte.

Neelima holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Delhi and a master’s from the University of Indore. Recognized as a leader in retail technology, she was named among the Top Women in Retail Tech by Retail Info Systems in 2023 and honored as a Top Woman in Hardware & Building Supply by HBS Dealer. Neelima is an adviser to tech startups, serves on the board of Charlotte Center City Partners, and co-chairs Lowe’s Asia Pacific business resource group.

Connect with Neelima

Meet the Host

Jim Hertzfeld is Area Vice President, Strategy for Perficient.

For over two decades, he has worked with clients to convert market insights into real-world digital products and customer experiences that actually grow their business. More than just a strategist, Jim is a pragmatic rebel known for challenging the conventional and turning grand visions into actionable steps. His candid demeanor, sprinkled with a dose of cynical optimism, shapes a narrative that challenges and inspires listeners.

Connect with Jim:

LinkedIn | Perficient

Introduction Automatic Speech recognition:

In the world of artificial intelligence, one of the most fascinating advancements is the ability to convert spoken language into written text. This process, known as Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), has a wide range of applications, from transcription services and voice assistants to real-time captioning and more. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to use OpenAI’s Whisper ASR system to transcribe an audio file into text using Python.

What is Whisper? 

OpenAI developed Whisper as an Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system. It trained on a substantial volume of multilingual and multitask supervised data gathered from the web. Whisper offers a Python library that makes it easy to transcribe audio files into text.

Getting Started :

Before we can use Whisper, we need to install the openai-whisper Python package. This can be done using pip:

The ! at the beginning is used to run shell commands in Jupyter notebooks. If you’re running this in a regular Python environment, you can omit the !.

Loading the Model :

Once you install the package, you can import the whisper module and load the model:

Whisper provides different model sizes to balance between speed and accuracy as follow :-

Whisper’s model sizes, computational power is a key consideration when assessing the system’s ability to handle different model sizes efficiently. The required VRAM and relative speed mentioned in the table showcase how different model sizes demand varying computational resources, impacting performance and the ability to process tasks with differing degrees of efficiency and accuracy.

In our case, we’re loading a “small” model.

Transcribing an Audio File :

With the model loaded, we can now transcribe an audio file. Here’s how:

The transcribe method takes the path to the audio file as its argument. Furthermore, the fp16=False argument specifies that the model should not use half-precision floating-point format (FP16) for computations. Consequently, this can speed up the process but might slightly reduce accuracy.

The transcribe method returns a dictionary that includes the full transcription and other information.

Detailed Transcription :

Additionally, Whisper offers a detailed breakdown of the transcription, encompassing the start and end times of each segment. This feature can be particularly beneficial for comprehending the chronological occurrence of each part within the audio file:

Conclusion:

OpenAI’s Whisper Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system provides a powerful and easy-to-use tool for transcribing audio files into text. If constructing a voice assistant, developing a transcription service, or requiring transcription for audio files in a project, Whisper is adept at handling these tasks. If you have any query, you can directly discuss in with the community link

Happy transcribing!

The Women in Digital event series presented by Perficient and Adobe aims to celebrate the achievements of women and provide a platform for them to thrive further in an industry that is constantly evolving digitally.

Recently, we curated a panel of leading women in the digital space to discuss significant emerging trends that women should be aware of, tips for career advancement, their journeys as leaders, and more.

The panel was moderated by former LPGA golfer and current NBC/GOLF Channel analyst Morgan Pressel. Panelists included:

• Sarah Lacey – Director of Partner Experience and Engagement at Adobe
• Gina Hart – Head of Insurance Technology at Auto Club Enterprise
• Sara Dwyer – Product Line Manager, Web and Enterprise Search at Eaton

Watch the full replay of the panel here.

Memorable Moments

There were a lot of meaningful discussions during the event. Below are a few of the memorable moments that really resonated with the audience around innovation, creating opportunities, and the importance of mentorship.

No Competition, Only Creation

Sarah Lacey kickstarted the panel discussion by sharing a piece of wisdom that has been particularly valuable throughout her career. She talked about how there’s really no competition, only creation. Instead of getting distracted by researching what competitors are doing, she suggested taking an innovative approach and asking yourself what you want to create.

She said, ” It helps to lead with innovation and creativity versus the competition. And that’s really been something that’s driven my career.”

Bring a Chair or Build a Table

During the discussion, the panelists were asked how they are mindful of who has a seat at the table and who is missing. Sara Dwyer shared that being an ally and an advocate for those you lead and understanding how to help them succeed is important. She talked about how leading others is a privilege and that it is a leader’s responsibility to elevate and empower their team.

“People leadership is a privilege. And if you’re in that role, you need to find and create opportunities for growth and leadership for your team. So I say bring a chair, sometimes you need to build a table, sometimes you need to give up your chair for your team to have an opportunity” said Dwyer.

To Find Success, You Need to Build Your Triangle

Morgan Pressel asked the panelists how mentorship and networking have played a role in growing their careers. And Gina Hart said that the importance of mentorship couldn’t be overstated. Early on in her career, she was fortunate to have a mentor who taught her that the key to finding success was to “build your triangle.” Hart said when finding a mentor there are three key pieces of criteria to look for – or three sides of your triangle.

Side One: A Sounding Board

The first side of your triangle is someone within your own organization whom you can bounce ideas off and talk about challenges. It’s better to be a part of a team instead of facing challenges alone.

Side Two: Someone on the Outside

The second side of your triangle should be someone who is a peer outside of your organization. This is someone you can trust and someone who can give you unfiltered feedback. Hart said at one point in her career she couldn’t understand why she hadn’t gotten a promotion she felt she deserved. So she went to this mentor who gave her the feedback she needed to hear and helped her make sense of the situation.

Side Three: Your North Star

And finally, the third part of your triangle. This is what Hart calls the “north star.” This should be someone who is a couple levels up from where you are in your career. This person can mentor you on leadership expectations. They can give you better insight into the role you’re aiming for as you grow in your career.

Hart said, “That person can tell you the other side of what’s behind the curtain. The things we don’t know. The things they face every day and their challenges.”

By taking the triangle approach to mentorship, you have the ability to see where you are in your career, what’s going on outside of your organization, and where you want to go.

Watch the Replay

There were many more valuable insights discussed during this panel. Watch the full replay below and find out!

Future Women in Digital Events

Perficient and Adobe have partnered together since 2017 to host Women in Digital events to connect women in digital and technology roles. Each year, we continue to grow this series in hopes that we can bring even more women together and foster the impact of these connections in the digital landscape and beyond.

Stay tuned for more exciting Women in Digital events in the future!

Check out the other events we hosted this year

Teeing Up Success: A Recap of Perficient and Adobe’s Women in Digital Event in Cincinnati 

7 ‘Women in Digital’ Share Experiences and Advice at Adobe Summit 2023

Women in Digital Takes London

Today, September 7th, 2023, in commemoration of the Mexico team’s first year of joining Perficient, I’m sharing one of my favorite events (I’m sure it’s a favorite for many of my peers as well) that integrates and connects the team in a dynamic, joyful and lively environment.

One of the most highly anticipated events for the Perficient Mexico office is the annual offsite event. Celebrated on July 4, colleagues located in and nearby Monterrey, exchanged their laptops for aprons and shared an incredible evening connecting with their team members.

The team started the day at the office and met with new colleagues introduced to them through virtual calls. The opportunity to connect with colleagues in the office is cherished as it fosters a sense of community, support, and camaraderie among the team.  

Before leaving for the offsite event destination in Santiago, a town close to Monterrey, colleagues boosted morale with a delicious home-cooked meal. As part of the celebration festivities, the team gathered after lunch to enjoy an offsite kit full of Perficient merch. Our colleagues were thrilled to wear Perficient shirts, aprons, and hats as they prepared for an evening of making connections with their team. 

This year´s theme for Offsite 2023 was grilling, one of the most popular activities for “regios” or people born and raised in Monterrey. The team visited the Sociedad Mexicana de Parrilleros (Mexican Grilling Society) headquarters. An extraordinary grill experience was waiting for the team. Everyone could learn techniques and preparation methods for a wide variety of dishes with professionals from the Mexican gastronomic world. Our colleagues prepared steak kebabs with melted cheese, hamburgers, and other barbecue favorites at Offsite 2023.

The whole experience fostered integration and friendship and gave colleagues the chance to forge new relationships, have an enjoyable time, and share a passion for fire! 

It was a delightful experience full of fun and flavorful togetherness that our colleagues will not forget.  

Erin Rushman and Kim Williams-Czopek were recognized by Consulting Magazine with a designation for Excellence in Leadership as part of the 2023 Women Leaders in Technology Awards. This award recognizes Erin and Kim for their impactful and influential contributions in the continually expanding category of technology.

Consulting Magazine’s Women Leaders in Technology Awards

The Women Leaders in Technology program seeks to recognize select women within the technology consulting industry who demonstrate excellence in their work and are making an impact. The role of women in the technology field is essential, though women leaders in technology are often outnumbered by men in the space. Consulting Magazine recognizes the importance of leadership for women in technology, and Perficient is excited to celebrate Erin and Kim for their amazing achievements.

Erin and Kim join an esteemed group of Perficient colleagues to be recognized by Consulting Magazine. Our colleagues Mary-Beth Ostasz and Erin Moloney have also been recognized for Excellence in Leadership by Consulting Magazine in recent years. Our female leaders are generating strong contributions across the board and making a difference for our colleagues, clients, and communities. We are so proud that our colleagues’ hard work and dedication are making waves and getting noticed on a larger scale.

Our Women Leaders in Technology

Erin and Kim have shown success in various ways throughout their time at Perficient. Erin Rushman is the Managing Director of Perficient’s Experience Design practice. Erin has taken on a strong leadership approach in multiple areas within the organization, resulting in realized achievements, new work, and quality delivery.

Erin Rushman

“Receiving the honor of this reward is incredibly meaningful to me both personally and professionally as I have invested decades of dedication to the technology consulting industry,” said Erin. “It also reinforces to my fellow colleagues and women in this industry that women are recognized as major contributors and differentiators in this line of work. This type of recognition serves as an example to women in consulting of what excellence looks like, further motivating others to achieve more. It’s my honor to serve as that example.”

Kim Williams-Czopek is the General Manager of Global Commerce Solutions. Over her 25-year career in the technology consulting industry, Kim has seen digital evolve from nascent to transformational, and she’s worked with and guided some of the biggest organizations in their technology evolutions. She’s a recognized contributor and leader driving growth through delivery innovation, digital product development, and building global, diverse teams.

Kim Williams-Czopek

“Being recognized is an honor and provides more organic opportunities to work with and inspire other women who share my excitement and enthusiasm for solving technology problems, breaking down barriers, and making things happen,” said Kim.

Perficient is thrilled to congratulate both Erin and Kim. We look forward to sharing more of their insights and expertise on our blog soon. Stay tuned!

READY TO GROW YOUR CAREER?

It’s no secret our success is because of our people. No matter the technology or time zone, our colleagues are committed to delivering innovative, end-to-end digital solutions for the world’s biggest brands, and we bring a collaborative spirit to every interaction. We’re always seeking the best and brightest to work with us. Join our team and experience a culture that challenges, champions, and celebrates our people.

Visit our Careers page to see career opportunities and more!

Go inside Life at Perficient and connect with us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.

One of Perficient’s core values is Pride, and with good reason. We’re proud of our work, our colleagues, and our accomplishments, all of which we celebrate. I recently got the chance to sit down and connect with a few colleagues who were felicitated with the delivery excellence awards and got to talk about their journeys with Perficient – and their pride at their accomplishments, both personal and professional.

The growth platform that keeps giving:

Madhumitha Gnanavel – QA expert

“I joined Perficient after taking a break from my career to raise my child and got the chance to work with the EHI team. I was determined to prove myself that my skills weren’t rusty, and not only got converted to a full-time position but was soon promoted as well. I’ve since then been offered the chance to lead my team which has helped me to grow as a leader.”

I’ve been turned away from several organizations when I applied due to my career gap, but Perficient not only took a chance on me, but provided me the space to learn and explore new technologies.”

“I started my career as an intern in healthcare solutions, and after a few years in the field, I sought new challenges, which led me to Perficient.” said Dharmendar Gajraj.  “My goals were clear – to become an expert in the field of healthcare and help the global community while doing so. With Perficient, you’re allowed the space to explore, and I got to work with different facets of healthcare beyond what I had previously worked on, while simultaneously getting to work on new technologies.”

Subramanian Nachiappan talks about his time with Perficient with pride. “My career here has been nothing short of a rollercoaster – I joined as a technical consultant for java development and have gotten the chance to work with close to 15 different technologies while continuing to grow my expertise in Java. I’ve been in several different projects and gotten the chance to lead multiple teams – sometimes simultaneously. Perficient’s allowed me to grow not just as a professional but as a person too.”

“I started off my career with training in legacy tools in 2001 – I can remember how the economy was at that point.” says Asokraja Somasundaram. “It motivated me to constantly upskill myself, gaining knowledge in SharePoint, and soon got the chance to visit the UK for a month to train as a tech application specialist. I’ve never looked back and have been able to grow, which only increased since I joined Perficient. In the project we were working on, due to the vast amount of data present, I helped lead the charge to shift from manual to automation. This led to further challenges where the validation would in turn take a long while, so we decided to start a process where the validation would work along the automation.

Technologies’ always been a passion to me since I entered the field, and both Perficient and my team have enthusiastically supported my efforts to explore new solutions, encouraging a culture of creativity and collaboration. Innovation, and Perficient’s dedication to it as a core value, has always stood out to me during my time here, where we constantly look at our methods and improve on them.”

Leadership and excellence:

“I love that Perficient trusts you to deliver, and the freedom to set and complete your goals. I try incorporating the same culture in my team. I’ve always felt that I was never a supervisor – first and foremost I was a team member as well. I believe in the democratic process and would have conversations across the team to decide on the best solution for any problem. For me, leadership is calmness under pressure and to be the captain of the ship – especially when things get stormy. They have to be able to deliver on time, keep up morale, and make tough decisions, when necessary, with no space for second guessing. So far, I think I’ve been able to uphold the trust my manager had in me when she recommended me for a leadership role.” – Madhumitha

Dharmendar Gajraj – Healthcare Solutions Expert

“My team started with initially just 2 members which has steadily grown to seven, and as we grew, we started helping other teams and helped train new resources in addition to our own responsibilities. I’ve been able to conduct over 4 Java bootcamps and have helped train over 40+ interns. Beyond that, I’ve helped organize social gatherings and technical discussions where my team gets to participate in technical discussion and learn, while simultaneously being able to feel seen and heard.

To me, collaboration and engagement are important values for a leader – you need to be able to collaborate with everyone and check in on everyone while also bonding with your team on a personal level. Good leaders help make better leaders – and I try to encourage team members into taking on ownership of tasks and processes and pitch in with other colleagues where they can.”

“Before my journey with Perficient, I was rather hot-tempered and impatient. After a lot of guidance not just from my manager but my peers too, I’ve been able to improve myself a lot. I’ve gotten much better at handling situations and conflict resolution – which has helped my personal life too. I can now analyze situations with a cool mind and can communicate much more effectively. I’ve learnt the value of a calm word over a heated sentence.” – Subramanian

“I like to look at the big picture and use all the tools possible to build for the future. I believe for leaders, planning ahead for the future is an important quality. Anything that seemed less efficient, I would drop a note to colleagues and any fixes were shared immediately, so we were proactive rather than reactive. I also believe in being accessible – something I’ve learnt from my time here. In Perficient, I’ve never felt any disconnect with top management. It always feels like talking to an old friend, which is something I love about our culture.” – Asokraja

Milestones of Pride

“It was an amazing moment when I got the Delivery Excellence award. It was humbling to be able to directly interact with the C-suite Leadership and get appreciated for our efforts, and how they play into the big picture. Beyond that, I felt pride in my professional work, while able to be a good mother to my child.” – Madhumitha

“I was recognized for my efforts and got the chance to lead the entire offshore development center, something I’m very grateful to the Leadership for trusting me to drive the project. During the Delivery excellence awards, It was a great meeting the C level executives and hearing them talk about our core values. For them to take the time to meet us and get to know us while they have so many responsibilities running the organization, it was truly a very proud moment for us all.” – Dharmendar

Subramanian Nachiappan – Java Expert

“Something great about Perficient’s culture is how there’s no barrier in communication between the leadership and the people on the ground. You can reach out to anyone at any time, and more importantly, the leadership interacts with you as well and knows the pulse of the people. During the delivery excellence awards ceremony, we got to meet with C level executives. Tom Hogan, Andrea Lambert and others from the C-suite took the time to get to know us all personally despite it being late at night for them and their huge responsibilities. We felt seen and heard – and it was touching that they went the extra mile to get to know us.

If I could pick one thing in particular that I’m proud of during my time here at Perficient, it’s my personal growth – where I evolved myself into becoming a better person.”

“Something that’s stood out to me about our culture is how we celebrate our people. I’ve gotten a lot of awards in previous organizations, but they were just mails which had zero impact on me emotionally. In Perficient, our successes are highlighted, and the entire organization celebrates right alongside us. The leadership cheers us on, where every single individual’s efforts are recognized.

I wasn’t even aware of winning the delivery excellence award, and only got to realize it when all the wishes from my team and colleagues poured in. It was a huge honor to interact with the C-suite in recognition of our work, and to hear about the impact our work was having on the organization’s future.” – Asokraja

Planning for the future – and advice for the present

“I plan to keep growing in the field of QA and work towards becoming a subject matter expert in the field. I’ve gotten the chance to mentor and onboard five interns and am constantly reminded that you can always keep learning. To those I mentor, and to those entering the field, I’d advise the same and to have confidence in yourself – especially to take up new opportunities. If you don’t try, you’ll never know.” – Madhumitha

“I see myself continuing to contribute to making Perficient a market leader and help build and establish us as experts in the field of healthcare.

During my time with the intern bootcamp, it was a unique experience teaching the next generation of consultants, many of whom come in with grand, almost unrealistic expectations. I got to guide them into the corporate world, teach them with practical examples and help them set realistic expectations while still encouraging them to strive to do their best. The most important message I try to pass on is that it’s okay to ask questions, and it’s okay to ask for help – all of us needed to at some point or the other.” – Dharmendar

“I’m interested in being techno-functional, leaning more towards technical expertise. It’s a journey of constant learning and adapting.

When I mentor interns, (one of my more challenging tasks) – this is the same advice I give them. To be truthful and sincere in what they do and have the willingness to keep learning throughout their career. To respect the job and their commitment to their role. It’s an ongoing process in the transition from college student to consultant– but I’m hopeful.” – Subramanian

Asokraja Somasundaram – Sharepoint Expert

“I’ve always been more of a techie than a people person, but I’m learning and growing, and happy to keep doing the same. I’ve always believed that in the long run, easy fixes only cause more problems. I rather prefer to analyze the code, and work on solutions that while it may take longer to implement, pay off in the long run, and more importantly, can be a base to build upon in the future. I’m not afraid to extend my hours for quality delivery of projects – something I’m grateful to my family for supporting me in.

I’d recommend growing your networks and being active on forums that have been formed about your interests, so you can always keep getting fresh perspectives and brainstorm new and unique solutions.”

It’s been quite the journey for all of our colleagues so far, and one thing is sure – we’re all excited for the future!

Let’s talk about unicorns. What do unicorns have to do with business? According to Investopedia, a unicorn is an organization that has a valuation of more than $1 billion. No, that doesn’t mean companies like Oracle, Microsoft, or Apple (at least, not anymore). Unicorns are typically technology companies touted as start-ups with no proven track record of success.

According to CB Insights, more than 1,000 unicorns exist worldwide with a combined valuation in excess of $3 trillion.   

The 8 Healthcare and Biotech Unicorns

Of these unicorns, 80 fall into the category of healthcare and biotechnology. Here are the top eight healthcare and biotech unicorns (based on valuation by CB Insights):  

1. Devoted Health | Devoted Health offers Medicare advantage plans and partners with trusted doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and other providers to make sure patients receive the right care at the right time. 

2. Biosplice Theraputics | Biosplice Therapeutics is developing first-in-class, small-molecule therapeutics based on pioneering science of alternative pre-mRNA splicing. 

3. Tempus | Tempus brings the power of data and artificial intelligence to healthcare to accelerate the discovery of novel targets and predict the effectiveness of treatments. 

4. Caris Life Sciences | Caris developed the world’s first and most comprehensive tumor profiling service, providing a complete molecular blueprint and guiding personalized cancer treatment that improves outcomes and saves lives. 

5. We Doctor | Founded in 2010, WeDoctor — named Guahao before 2015 — has grown into a multi-functional platform offering medical services, online pharmacies, cloud-based enterprise software for hospitals, and other services.

6. Ro | Ro is a direct-to-patient healthcare company providing high-quality, affordable healthcare without the need for insurance. Ro seamlessly connects telehealth and in-home care, diagnostics, labs, and pharmacy services nationwide. 

7. Doctolib | Doctolib’s mobile application allows consumers to manage health more simply. Access the availability of tens of thousands of healthcare professionals. Make an appointment online, 24/7, for a physical or video consultation. Receive automatic reminders by SMS or email. 

8. Hinge Health | Hinge Health is a patient-centered digital clinic for treating chronic musculoskeletal conditions.  Available to nearly 200 enterprise customers, Hinge Health empowers people to reduce chronic pain, opioid use, and surgeries. 

The Future For Healthcare and Biotech Unicorns 

With a startup failure rate of 70-80% within the first five years of operation, surviving and thriving as a new healthcare organization is a struggle. It takes embracing emerging technologies, especially after the pandemic, for a startup to succeed at achieving unicorn status.  

According to Apoorva Bajaj, practice head of financial markets at GlobalData, “…startups aim to disrupt healthcare using emerging technologies and investors’ focus also remain high on tech-driven healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly triggered massive disruption in the healthcare industry and forced several healthcare businesses to implement emerging technologies to ensure business continuity. New opportunities will keep emerging in the healthtech space across the globe, which bodes well for the startups.” 

GlobalData anticipates new opportunities in the following healthtech domains:  

• Connected care & mobile health  
• Continuous monitoring 
• Coordinated healthcare  
• Digital therapeutics  

• Genomics  
• Intelligent treatments  
• Oncology  
• Precision & personalized medicine  

Healthcare and Life Sciences leaders rely on us for strategic and technical expertise to achieve their missions in a technologically advancing industry. Our thought leaders are here to support you in achieving business goals and solving your most complex technology challenges. Contact us to learn more. 

This is an update to a blog published on February 3rd, 2016 by Eugene Sefanov.

Perficient announces the release of two business podcasts to kick off 2021. The new podcasts titled What If? So What? and Intelligent Data offer audiences expert insights on how digital technology can transform business and reshape customer experiences today.

Click on the logos below to listen to the first episodes.

What If? So What?

This podcast discovers what’s possible with digital and figures out how to make it real in your business. In Season 1, hosts Jim Hertzfeld and Kim Williams-Czopek, members of Perficient’s Digital Strategy team, interview experts and veterans of digital transformation to put the hype and big ideas into perspective by asking “What if?”, “So what?”, and – most importantly – “Now what?”

Season 1 includes episodes on:

• What if Everything Really is Digital?
• What if I Convinced the CEO to Embrace Design?
• What if You Could Do 5 Years of Digital Marketing in 6 Months?
• And much more!

Intelligent Data

This podcast investigates the value of data and technology to reshape your business. Join Arvind Murali, Data Chief Strategist and principal, as he explores data trends and topics that will help move businesses forward. In Season 1, hear Arvind and guests discuss the value data provides key industries, trends across enterprise technology, and the immense capabilities of data.

Season 1 includes episodes on:

• Data and customer experience trends in financial services
• Data and analytics, AI and data privacy in healthcare
• Business intelligence trends
• And much more!

Don’t Miss a Single Episode
New episodes will be released regularly, with new seasons planned for the future. Subscribe to both podcasts on your preferred platform – Apple, Spotify, Google, and Amazon Music – to listen along when new episodes are released.

The COVID-19 pandemic has done a great job revealing trouble spots and gaps in many companies’ technology strategies this year. If you’ve discovered that your data strategy and technology solutions need improvement, then this podcast is for you. Join host Arvind Murali, Principal and Chief Strategist of Data at Perficient, for the first season of Intelligent Data. Arvind and thought leaders will discuss the value of data within key industries and explore ways to keep your business moving forward.

The first episodes are coming later this month, but you can check out the trailer in the meantime. Subscribe to Intelligent Data on Apple, Google, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

What to Expect in Season 1 of Intelligent Data

Season one will include episodes around:

• Data and customer experience trends in financial services
• Data and analytics, AI, and data privacy in healthcare
• The value of data in artificial intelligence
• Artificial and machine learning trends
• Business intelligence (BI) trends
• Big data support for making business decisions
• The influence of BI solutions on analytics and decision making
• Interoperability, data compliance, and data governance in healthcare
• The value of data in ecommerce, supply chain, and order management
• Data’s influence on customer experience and design
• The importance of collaboration between UX designers and data engineers

Subscribe to The Podcast

What are you waiting for? Subscribe now!

Apple | Google | Spotify | Amazon | Stitcher | Pocket Casts

There are many important aspects to consider when looking at re-platforming or re-vamping your commerce storefront. One of these aspects that almost always comes into play is user experience, and for good reason. At a high level, we ecommerce professionals know the importance of keeping the look and feel of a site fresh – but what’s the real reason behind this intuition? The answer to this question can actually be found by looking deeper at the restaurant and bar industry. Let me explain.

With the arrival of COVID-19, most people have been forced to eat and drink at home as opposed to going to their favorite restaurant or bar. Which begs the question, why did we ever eat or drink out in the first place? Think about it– the price of a drink at a bar or restaurant is almost double or triple what you’d pay if you made it yourself, and a single meal at a restaurant is more than if you decided to buy all the ingredients and make the entire recipe with multiple portions yourself. With society being so conscious about spending money, it seems odd that we would spend much more to eat and drink at our favorite local spot, right? Wrong. Here’s why:

Experience

The reason we are okay with spending more on food and drink is because of the experience we get. Being at a restaurant with a loved one or sitting at a bar and having an interesting conversation with a stranger is more important than the product itself. We flock to bars and restaurants for the experience it provides. Take this as an example – let’s say you have an anniversary coming up. Sure, you could buy a bottle of wine for $15 and stay in with a home-cooked meal, but instead, many would choose to buy that same bottle of wine for $45 at a restaurant and spend more on food, all for the experience of having an anniversary dinner.

It’s been shown that customers will pay more for a quality experience, and this mindset also applies to ecommerce and the user experience you are presenting to your customer base. A perfect example of this can be seen by what Roche Diagnostics has built as the first touchpoint once a user lands on their site. Before you can view the site content, they ask you what persona group you fall into. Once you select which user group you are, the site will remember your preferences and tailor the experience and content to your needs and expectations.  By building a superior customer experience like Roche does, you’ll not only keep your customers coming back, but you’ll also drive more revenue.

Now that we know how important user experience is, you might be asking:

“How do I know what type of experience my customers might be looking for when shopping on my storefront?” Here are some ways to get started:

Voice of the Customer (VOC)

There is no other voice more important than that of your customer. Start with conducting some VOC workshops. Pick a few key customers on both ends of the spectrum and ask them questions about what they like and don’t like. Look at integrating customer touchpoints for feedback at various sections throughout the site, such as a post-order survey, follow up emails, etc.

Data Analytics

Do a deep dive into your site traffic and analytics. Focus on things like bounce and exit rates, site searches, site speed, conversion rates, re-order rates, abandoned cart percentages, lifetime value (LTV), etc. For example, if you notice a large number of abandoned carts, that might be an area to focus on improving the experience.

Site Click Tracking and Heatmaps

There are quite a few third-party software companies that have site click tracking and heatmaps that will help visualize where users might be getting stuck or having trouble navigating your site. These can be integrated within your commerce platform to provide detailed results based on customer behaviors.

By looking at the areas as a way to get started, you’ll be able to develop some baselines around what your customers are looking for, what data you have that will help you determine gaps, and how you can look at creating a path forward.

Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to creating a superior customer experience on your site, and just like ecommerce, customer experience is a never-ending, constantly evolving process.

If you’re not yet convinced of the importance of a good customer experience in ecommerce, then consider this: The bar and restaurant industry is a $24 Billion dollar business– a business that is built on experiences, not food and drink.

Due to COVID-19, dog shelters need more help than ever before, as more people are looking to adopt and foster pets for companionship as quarantine progresses. One of these shelters is the Hood River Adopt A Dog shelter in Oregon. Kurt Heslop, lead technical consultant, started volunteering at the shelter in April 2018 to spend time with dogs, but it soon evolved to much more than that after joining the Board of Directors in December 2019. He wanted to use his experience in technology to help the shelter uniquely.

About the Hood River Adopt A Dog Shelter in Oregon

The Hood River Adopt A Dog shelter in Oregon.

They are a shelter that strives to provide appropriate and humane services to both dogs and pet owners. They work with the community to limit pet homelessness and ensure positive interactions between dogs and their adoptive families.

“We are a no-kill shelter, we don’t screen for age, and while we do screen for aggression, we try our best to learn and understand a dog’s personality before rejecting them. We are determined to find every dog a home.” Kurt says.

The Hood River Adopt A Dog shelter also has an extensive facility with a large tent behind the main building with room for lots of play.

“We have volunteers regularly take their dogs out on walks or hikes, and we have an area in the back for them to run around and play,” Kurt adds.

SEE MORE: Perficient colleagues care for animals in Montana

Transforming the Shelter with Technology

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the shelter is only allowed to have one staff member in the building at all times, making it difficult to carry out their day-to-day activities, including fundraising, training, and assisting with volunteers. This is where Kurt’s expertise comes in. He says that volunteering on the Board of Directors for the shelter has enabled him to apply both the hard and soft skills that he has learned while working as a consultant for Perficient’s Adobe practice.

Adobe Experience Cloud to the Rescue

Kurt is accustomed to working with platforms like Adobe Experience Cloud, and solutions within it, such as Adobe Experience Manager, which he describes as “WordPress on steroids.” That expertise translated quickly into his work on the shelter’s website, where he’s been able to streamline the site and move their operations online.

Kurt hasn’t been working on revamping the website by himself. Seeing an opportunity to share his knowledge and help build professional experience for others, he reached out to his alma mater, Penn State, to coordinate a summer internship for one of their students.

“The hard skills have helped me in assisting our intern in ways that really I didn’t think I’d be able to help before the project.” — Kurt Heslop, lead technical consultant

Accessing his Communication Skills

He found that his background as a consultant also helped him with the various conversations he had as a member of the shelter’s board. “We have to convince members of the community to support the shelter. The types of discussions and the ways you prepare for those discussions are very similar to those you have in consulting,” he said. He finds that as a consultant, he might need to discover the client’s business needs. Whereas on the board, he has to identify creative ways his community can help the shelter. “They are connected in ways I didn’t think they would be,” Kurt says.

How Perficient Colleagues are Supporting Each Other

Kurt Heslop, lead technical consultant, with his new pup.

Throughout his experience volunteering at the shelter, he has found that his Perficient colleagues have been very encouraging. “Everyone that I have spoken to about this at Perficient has been nothing but supportive,” Kurt says.

He is thankful that his colleagues are happy to help and talk to him with his passions that lie outside of work. “They have been happy to help with technical questions that I have had on the side about the website, and even a few leads on potential donor relationships. Some folks have even expressed interest in our puppies, and I think it is great to see that level of support from my co-workers in the company,” he adds.

A Tangible Takeaway

Since joining the Board of Directors at the shelter, Kurt has been able to adopt a dog from the shelter, giving him a forever home. He hopes to continue working for the shelter and appreciates all the support from those around him.

READY TO GROW YOUR CAREER?

At Perficient, we continually look for ways to champion and challenge our talented workforce with interesting projects for high-profile clients, encourage personal and professional growth through training and mentoring, and celebrate our people-oriented culture and the innovative ways they serve Perficient and the community.

Learn more about what it’s like to work at Perficient at our Careers page. 

Go inside Life at Perficient and connect with us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram.