Hey, I’m Lindsay, the host of Make Sense w/ Lindsay T., Lady Engineer®, a weekly podcast where my guests and I simplify complex topics at the intersection of people & technology. We analyze whatever hot mess is in the news, evaluate trending innovations through a human-first lens, and take deep dives on a need-to-know basis.
Sign up to get weekly updates below, and I promise to keep it simple…in a way only a Lady Engineer® can!
It’s nice when you call customer support and the system identifies your phone number to pull up your account, right?
Conversely, it’s crap when you supply the system with your account information. and upon rerouting you to an agent, you have to repeat yourself.
Both companies have your data, but only one, the former, comprehends it. Despite the overwhelmingly large amount of data companies collect on us, most understand very little and cannot produce the insights needed to drive the personalization we expect.
Simply put, most companies “have” the data but very few “understand” what they’re sitting on.
The software systems housing your data tend to be clunky, inflexible, and not as well-designed as the tools and apps we use in our personal lives.
They’re also old. Very old. And, often built on technologies that modern software developers no longer learn or understand.
Will there be a future AI tool that can learn a codebase from the 1970s and tell us what it does? I wish! But that is a long way off.
What’s the solution now? To progress both employee and customer experiences, we need more flexibility, adaptability, and resilience. That’s where my impromptu Legos analogy comes in.
Let me introduce you to “Composable Architecture,” and this week’s Make Sense guest, Bermon Painter, a Digital Transformation Leader with an awesome head of hair. In Episode 51, we discuss:
➡️ Marketers’ pipedream (at least for now) of true hyper-personalization
➡️ Building enterprise software that’s more resilient to change and adaptable for the future
➡️ Capital One’s success embuing innovation throughout its organization
Reference the full show notes below.
Choice Quote
“A lot of companies like to add. It’s rare that they take away. Every time you add something, you add complexity, you add risk. The complexity and risk become so large, nobdy wants to touch [the older systems].”
– Bermon Painter, Digital Transformation & Innovation Executive
Buck the media hype cycle. Calm the fear-mongering. Laugh at the inanity of Tech CEO “hero culture.” Be the smartest person in your peer’s LinkedIn feed:
Key Takeaways with Bermon Painter
-
- Hyper-Personalization Becomes the Norm: Moving that direction but there are many challenges.
- E-Commerce Gets Serious About Compliance: Yes, and the UK and Europe are leading the way.
- Data Comprehension Will Get Priority over Data Accumulation: Yes, and it requires time & executive buy-in
Audio Only
Show Notes
00:00 Introduction and the Challenges of Enterprise Software
14:01 Understanding Enterprise Software and its Complexity
25:42 Capital One: Integrating Innovation and Improving User Experience
30:33 The Need for Simplicity and User-Centric Design in Enterprise Software
30:37 The Clunky Nature of Enterprise Software
35:14 Introduction to Composable Architecture
39:55 Benefits of Composable Architecture
41:36 Empowering Marketing Teams
49:19 Enhancing Customer Support
54:25 The Impact on the Employee Experience
Where to find Bermon Painter
Bermon brings more than two decades of expertise in product, user experience, design, and software engineering, offering his rich consulting experience across a diverse range of industries including aerospace, automotive, financial services, government, manufacturing, publishing, and retail.
In his role at Slalom, Bermon spearheads efforts to transition organizations from superficial “innovation theater” to adopting composable business strategies, guiding organizations to embrace modular and adaptable technologies. His expertise ensures a structured and strategic approach to overhaul legacy systems with scalable, cloud-native solutions, facilitating rapid adaptation to market changes and enabling continuous business evolution. Before joining Slalom, Bermon led the construction and operations of one largest innovation centers at one of the Big 4 consultancies.
A key figure in the Charlotte tech scene, Bermon has spent the last decade fostering community engagement through organizing numerous conferences and free local events. His passion for knowledge sharing takes him around the world, speaking at various conferences and conducting workshops.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bermonpainter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bermonpainter
Where to find Lindsay Tabas
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaytabas
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LindsayTLadyEngineer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaytladyengineer
New to Make Sense?
Get Caught Up with the Top 10 Clips from Make Sense’s First Year
Make Sense is a video-first podcast dedicated to simplifying complex issues at the intersection of people and technology. There are many!
Access our Top 10 Clips from the first 30 episodes and get caught up with the latest tech predictions, headlines, and discussion points via accessible and easy-to-understand discussions with innovators across climate, HR, finance, connectivity, and healthcare.
Continue to be the smartest person in the room with this mobile-friendly list:
More Episodes from the Make Sense Podcast
