MN Tech Mag is a Concord publication devoted to improving the relationship between business and technology, starting our home state of Minnesota.
A CONCORD PUBLICATION
People- Powered Workforce
Hilary Marden-Resnik CEO, UCare
The Real Reason People Quit
PAGE 20
The State of Cybersecurity
PAGE 28
SPRING/SUMMER 2022 | ISSUE 5
Editor’s Note
I ’ve been traveling more frequently to Kansas City, both for personal and professional reasons. It’s a great city – easy to navigate, excellent restaurants, and friendly people. Concord recently acquired Evolytics, a data analytics consulting firm headquartered near downtown. From my brief experience, I get why the locals are so proud of their town. As MN Tech Mag grows in reach, we anticipate highlighting stories from business leaders in other markets, too. Even in this very issue, we showcase leaders from different parts of the country, including Wisconsin, Missouri, and Texas. We will always stay connected to our roots and represent the diverse business and technology landscape in Minnesota, but it’s undoubtedly helpful to gain a fresh perspective. If I had to sum up the theme of this issue in one word, it would definitely be “people.” I believe we have unanimous agreement that individuals are the key to any successful organization – not exactly a shocking revelation. Still, as we move more towards automation and replacing the human element, it’s clear that there’s some irreplaceable magic that happens when people connect at work. What makes a company thrive is collaborating, working together, and finding solutions to challenging problems as a team. Technology can help us focus our time better, but it’s never a replacement for human interaction. Hilary-Marden Resnik emphasized the importance of people heavily in our conversation for the cover feature. She repeatedly acknowledges that UCare’s “people-powered workforce” makes the company great – and successful (page 10). Likewise, Allen Smith shares that communication, recognition, and asking people, ‘what’s weird?’ are the key to making incremental strides at Baker Tilly (page 06). Even in the highly-technical world of data science, Laura Ellis finds that it requires a human touch to make sense of data (page 24).
PUBLISHER Stu Nutting
EDITOR IN CHIEF Natalie Sheffield
DESIGN Steve Bubb Brea Marsh
PHOTOGRAPHY Joe Lemke
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Allen Smith Carissa Ellingson
Jeff Holschuh Jeffery Mayger Laura Ellis Laura Woodward Natalie Sheffield
Stu Nutting Sam Azzone Tom Wilkins
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Inside ISSUE 5 | SPRING/SUMMER 2022 What’s
6 TRENDING TECHNOLOGY Relentless Incrementalism Do we overvalue transformation? Baker Tilly CIO Allen Smith believes so. Learn why it matters to focus on both big and small initiatives.
28 THE STATE OF CYBERSECURITY
Three leading cybersecurity experts weigh in on the challenges and trends shaping the security landscape today.
9 BY THE NUMBERS The corporate quest for greater
32 RELEVANT HEALTH ROUNDTABLE Q+A: Carissa Ellingson
productivity never ends. We dive into the numbers behind today’s workforce.
As a Client Executive at Headspace Health, Carissa Ellingson knows the importance of focusing on virtual and digital innovation within the healthcare space.
16 MAKING A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE WITH DATA Tom Wilkins, CEO of Evolytics, reveals the secret to success for this powerhouse organization driving analytics strategies for leading brands across the nation. 18 THE TOP 12 What better way to usher in the summer than with a frosty treat? We curated a list of the top ice cream spots in Minnesota that you can’t miss. 20 THE REAL REASON PEOPLE QUIT Retaining and finding resources doesn’t need to be a challenge. Stu Nutting, Co-founder of Concord, reveals the truth behind why people quit. 24 TAKING THE NEXT STEPS IN DATA & DISCOVERY Laura Ellis, Co-founder of Data Mishaps Night, reveals how perspectives around data are shifting from what we can do to what we should do.
34 TOP TECH 2022 Our first annual list of Top Tech showcases the seven technologies worth your time - and investment - in 2022.
36 THE MINDSET OF AN AGILE LEADER Laura Woodward, CEO of the Disruptive Element, shares three mindset tips to help leaders implement an Agile methodology within their teams.
People-Powered Workforce 10 Hilary Marden-Resnik, CEO of UCare, emphasizes communication and connection to sustain a people-focused work culture.
38 PHILANTHROPY RULES! The Magic of Caring
Orphaned Starfish Foundation is breaking the cycle of abuse and poverty for children around the globe through the use of technology.
43 QUIPS & QUOTES Whether you’re heading up north for a long weekend or trekking across the country, you shared the snacks that power your trip.
UPCOMING EVENTS
12-15 June
Western Operations Conference Oahu, Hawaii
Connect and collaborate with healthcare professionals as they share insights and trends in the growing and ever-changing healthcare industry.
Cloud Wars Expo
28-30
13-15
Cloud Wars Expo San Francisco, CA Explore new business models enabled by the cloud, empowered by AI, and optimized by human ingenuity in this one-of-a-kind conference.
MarketplaceLIVE Virtual + New York City
Join a complete community of cloud and digital stakeholders to learn, cross-pollinate ideas, and get inspired in an immersive and tech- savvy environment.
July
11-13
FORTUNE Brainstorm Tech Aspen, CO Partake in a dynamic exchange of ideas with some of today’s top technology and media leaders, operators, entrepreneurs, innovators, and influencers.
MarketplaceLIVE
29-31
21-22
NFT Expoverse Los Angeles, CA Experience the NFT revolution and come to the biggest blockchain expo where entrepreneurs, creators, and enthusiasts gather to expand their projects.
Gartner Digital Workplace Summit Virtual Be the first to hear new research trends and gain insights from Gartner experts that will elevate your organization’s digital workplace at this virtual, two-day summit.
04 | Upcoming Events
August
September
October
6-9
10-11
5-7
Black Hat USA 2022 Virtual + Las Vegas, NV Attend the world’s leading
INBOUND Virtual + Boston, MA
Evolve Technology Conference Las Vegas, NV
Powered by HubSpot, this annual event unites thought leaders from over 161 countries across marketing, sales, customer success, revenue operations, and more.
Learn real-world insights on how to impact both corporate culture and the IT landscape at this two-day technology conference.
information security event and get the latest in research, development, and trends within the security space.
15-17
18-20
13-15
Disney Data & Analytics Conference Orlando, FL
TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 San Francisco, CA The global startup community joins forces at this event to discover insights, collaborate, and celebrate achievements that have defined each founder’s journey and those yet to come.
AI Hardware Summit Santa Clara, CA
Join this premier commercial event focused on systems-first machine learning and unlocking new possibilities for AI development.
Gain knowledge, get inspired, and experience a unique conference that brings data and analytics to life as only Disney can.
15-17
20
CIO 100 Symposium & Awards Rancho Palos Verdes, CA Immerse yourself in the highest level of knowledge sharing and connect, brainstorm, and learn from some of the nations leading CIOs.
AI Accelerator Summit Boston, MA Assemble with leaders in AI hardware and architecture from the world’s largest organizations to share success stories, experiences, and challenges.
18-19
SpiceWorld
Digital Summit Minneapolis, MN
November
28-30
Sharpen your marketing skill set through in-person workshops and sessions that address tactical, practical, and strategic ideas from the best marketing talent in the country.
8-11
SpiceWorld 2022 Virtual + Austin, TX
TechBash 2022 Pocono Manor, PA
Register for SpiceWorld 2022 and enjoy three days packed with tech know-how and education on the latest IT products and solutions to drive your business forward.
Take your tech skills to the next level and learn from experts as they share their knowledge of today’s web, cloud, DevOps, and architecture platforms.
Upcoming Events | 05
TRENDING TECHNOLOGY
Relentless Incrementalism
Finding value in smaller, continuous wins.
By: Allen Smith | Chief Information Officer, Baker Tilly
Y ou might say I’m a little bit of a Chupacabra. I joined Baker Tilly in 2001. It was a long time ago; the organization was much smaller. Back then, we were a 400-person firm based in regional Wisconsin with one outside office in Bloomington, Minnesota. Today, things look a little different. We have over 6,300 employees working in seventy offices across seventeen time zones. At $1.2 billion in revenue, we’ve grown slightly since I first arrived on the scene as Chief Information Officer. I like to think I’ve worked for five different companies over the past twenty years, but they’re all called Baker Tilly! As the company evolved, I’ve had the opportunity to learn more and more without changing jobs. I’ve realized over my career that people – and Chief Information Officers, specifically – tend to focus too heavily on significant, sweeping, transformative changes. I’m here to suggest there’s a better approach.
06 | Trending Technology
— Overvaluing the Big Initiatives The general public loves a transformation story. We care about disruption. Think about all the technology superstars that make the news – Netflix, Amazon, Airbnb, Uber. What do they have in common? They transformed the industry. They took a novel approach to a common problem. They got our attention. Now, I’m not here to say those stories aren’t outstanding and worthy of attention – they are. But they’re not the only thing worthy of our attention. I once heard a great speaker, Daniel Pink, share that we overvalue large accomplishments and undervalue everyday work. I think that’s incredibly accurate. Take another example – every sports metaphor is about the “big win.” A home run. A slam dunk. A one-play touchdown. Those are exciting, celebratory things. But, regardless of how you get the touchdown, whether one play or ten, the goal at the end is making sure you get that touchdown. Similarly, we must stop overvaluing the major transformations and start shifting our perspective towards incremental wins.
Trending Technology | 07
TRENDING TECHNOLOGY
Finding Incremental Success
emails to those who accomplished a big launch, your entire team will want to work on the things that get attention. Celebrate all wins. Finally, as a leader, make sure you divide your time equally. Don’t just attend the meetings on the big projects – make sure you have visibility into the discussions on the weird ones, too. Being present and showing up makes all the difference. Ultimately, people tend to like “or” when they should select “and.” I can assure you that you will never regret incorporating the significant and the incremental initiatives into your technology portfolio. Gaining quick wins, making compounding progress, and fixing weird things will help bolster the organization’s success. Again, what matters is getting the touchdown – not how many plays it took to get there.
People often forget the value of one-off automation, as well. Another excellent example of an incremental win is our integration activity. We recently wrote an automation that helped migrate information from one platform to another. Typically, this work would take a team up to nine months. Our bot handled it all in one weekend. We wrote the automation, ran it, and never used it again. But! It saved us $1.1 million in tax labor. Running an automation only once is worth it, but we might miss out on valuable opportunities if we focus too heavily on “the big.” — Incorporating Relentless Incrementalism Realistically, I learned everything I needed to know in kindergarten. Relentless incrementalism encapsulates the lesson from the parable of the tortoise and the hare. We all remember who won the race, right? In all seriousness, I have three pieces of advice to share with those looking to focus on both the big initiatives and the incremental ones. The first thing I learned is not to split your resources. By this, I mean don’t ask one person on the team to split their time across multiple projects. Instead, you should end up with a few groups working on different things – some bigger, some smaller. A few groups will work on the weird things, fix them, and then move on to the next. The second piece of advice is to pay close attention to communication. If you’re only sending out congratulatory
At Baker Tilly, I like to highlight an approach I call “relentless incrementalism.” This process is all about looking for little wins and celebrating both the big and the small successes. When you overvalue the big, you undervalue the small. One of the best ways I’ve found to start getting some more minor yet highly impactful wins is by asking a very simple question: “What do you think is weird?” Anytime you can ask someone in the organization what they notice is odd, you will be pleased with the answer. More often than not, we can’t explain why we’re doing specific tasks. It’s usually a legacy habit that we can improve. In a real-world example, after asking one of our newer associates what they found weird about the organization, they shared that it took a long time to create new sites. Every time we interact with a new client, we need to develop a place for the teams to collaborate and share critical documents. This process is manual – we need to provision users, and it just takes time. But, should it? We realized we could create an automation to provision sites more easily. Now, all it takes is to send a simple email, and within fifteen minutes, the new site is up and running. This automation is an example of one of our most successful digital workers! It saves us a quarter-million dollars every year – an incredible example of a small, incremental change with a big, compounding payoff.
ABOUT BAKER TILLY Baker Tilly US, LLP (Baker Tilly) is a leading advisory CPA firm, providing clients with a genuine coast-to-coast and global advantage in major regions of the U.S. and in many of the world’s leading financial centers – New York, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Baker Tilly is an independent member of Baker Tilly International, a worldwide network of independent accounting and business advisory firms in 148 territories, with 38,000 professionals, and a combined worldwide revenue of $4.3 billion.
08 | Trending Technology
BY THE NUMBERS
Productivity
BY THE NUMBERS
333.2 Billion Number of worldwide emails sent per day in 2022.
1.5 Billion
Number of worldwide Slack messages sent per week in 2022.
40 Billion
Number of additional emails delivered in February 2022 over February 2021.
Amount of time the average American spends per day on their phone. 5.4 Hours 31 Hours Amount of time per month spent on unproductive meetings.
2.5x
40
Percent of people who can multitask e ectively. 2 . 5 %
%
Percent by which multitasking reduces productivity.
Time spent in Microsoft Teams meetings has more than doubled globally and continues to climb.
73
%
Percent of organizations using a four-day workweek that indicated higher productivity and increased employee satisfaction.
60
%
Percent of professionals in favor of a four-day workweek.
By the Numbers | 09
COVER STORY
Hilary Marden-Resnik
CEO of UCare
10 | People-Powered Workforce
UCare has a competitive advantage in its resilient, dedicated team. People- Powered Workforce
Interview by Natalie Sheffield
AN UNCONVENTIONAL PATH “I was never one of those people who knew all along what I wanted to do,” Hilary Marden-Resnik shares as she reflects on her career thus far. Hilary made it clear that her career path is unconventional in many ways. From her college studies to her early days in human resources, aiming to lead a company wasn’t her driving force. Instead, Hilary was drawn to organizations and roles where she was making a difference by building actively engaged teams who were positively impacting communities. A lifelong Minnesotan, Hilary grew up with supportive parents and a mother who firmly instilled the belief that her daughters could pursue any career they desired. “She never had to say things like, ‘women can do anything they want to do’ – it wasn’t necessary!
We saw her do what she put her mind to, and that was our example,” Marden-Resnik explains. Hilary learned she had a strong work ethic from her first job at Arthur’s Beef and Burger, a now-closed independent fast-food restaurant in South Minneapolis. “I was so happy at that job! It seems crazy to say that when reflecting on it, but I made friends and worked hard,” conveys Marden-Resnik. “I remember coming home from Arthur’s one day and being so thrilled to tell my mom about the new menu,” Marden-Resnik shares with a laugh. Even then, supporting her company’s success was a top priority for Hilary.
People-Powered Workforce | 11
COVER STORY
After attaining her undergraduate degree in economics and master’s degree in industrial relations (now called human resources management), Hilary decided to continue her education journey by earning her law degree from the William Mitchell College of Law (now Mitchell Hamline). “I’m very glad I got my law degree. I met many people and learned a lot about the law, of course, but also analytical reasoning and writing skills. It opened a lot of doors for me in my career,” indicates Marden-Resnik. Hilary started her career as a human resources professional for Golden Valley Health Center and Fairview Health Services. From there, she worked in employment and health law for the Gray Plant Mooty law firm and moved on to leadership positions for HealthEast and Hennepin Healthcare (formerly Hennepin County Medical Center). “As a VP of Human Resources, I had the opportunity to lead several process improvement efforts and other initiatives that gave me visibility into work outside of human resources. It sparked my interest in contributing to an organization more broadly,” shares Marden-Resnik.
Such an opportunity presented itself at UCare a few years later in 2010. The organization was smaller at the time – 440 employees – while it’s now grown to 1,300 and counting. “UCare had a pretty small HR department at the time, but I saw a lot of potential for the role to evolve. More importantly, I recognized that UCare’s mission and values were aligned with my personal values, and I welcomed the opportunity to be part of a growing company. And it was a chance to learn another aspect of the healthcare ecosystem,” acknowledges Marden-Resnik. Hilary’s responsibilities at UCare started primarily in the HR function. Over time, they shifted to include strategic oversight and executive leadership for claims and configuration, customer service, information technology, and project management. In addition, she co-led the strategic planning, member experience, business development, and equity and inclusion functions. After her promotion to SVP & Chief Administrative Officer in 2013, Hilary would serve as the Interim President and Chief Executive Officer for UCare in 2021. As of March 2022, Hilary is officially UCare’s President and CEO, leading the organization to the next level of growth.
Darin McDonald, Chief Information Officer, and Hilary Marden-Resnik catch up at the office.
12 | People-Powered Workforce
LEADING A PEOPLE-POWERED WORKFORCE It’s not a particularly common career path to see a human resources professional become a CEO, but Hilary did just that. “I’m proud of that background. The things that drew me to a human resources profession and that I learned as a result really helped define my leadership style,” shares Marden- Resnik. She firmly believes the key to UCare’s past and future success relies on the workforce’s skills, commitment, and culture.
The notion of a “people-powered workforce” heavily drives the culture of UCare. Hilary describes the mission as being laser-focused on ensuring those who historically or currently experience barriers in accessing care can receive the care they need. “Our strong mission attracts people who are looking for meaning and purpose in their work and want to impact the community, especially to help those who are underrepresented or marginalized,” explains Marden-Resnik. Likewise, UCare is equally concerned with diversity, equity, and inclusion within the workforce and beyond. For example, UCare recently made a public statement sharing its intent to be an anti-racist organization. Internally, that allows everyone the opportunity to participate in some way – whether through training, community involvement, or an internal committee focused on equity. “We recently created a new Equity and Inclusion department, led by our Associate Vice President of Equity and Inclusion, Joy Marsh. She is building a team and helping ensure that UCare is making progress in our work and bringing an equity lens to our strategic priorities and board responsibilities,” remarks Marden-Resnik. Externally, UCare aims to serve those who experience the most severe disparities in outcomes and access and believes technology will help them advance those goals on behalf of their members.
Hilary Marden-Resnik Get to know
To sustain a transparent, accessible culture, Hilary focuses on communicating and creating opportunities for connection. “It’s
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY My husband, Barry, and I have been married since 2005. We have two children, Nathan (9th grade) and Allie (7th grade). BEST WAY TO SPEND FREE TIME I love running. My mom still runs half-marathons, so we are going to run Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth this summer as a family. COOL TRAVELS I enjoy road trips for a change of scenery! We like to stay at an Airbnb and take in a new landscape.
important to me to be as transparent as possible. When we can share news, we will share news,” asserts Marden- Resnik. This approach includes finding ways to celebrate success together, even when the workforce is still partially remote. Likewise, Hilary believes it’s equally important to be honest about setbacks. “Our goal isn’t to be derailed by setbacks, but to acknowledge them, learn from them, and figure out how to get back on track and get better from those experiences,” relates Marden- Resnik. As part of her transparent leadership, Hilary produces video communications every other Monday morning on various topics. She also offers walk-in hours for people to stop by and discuss items that are important to them. “We have places for employees to submit questions for the CEO. We also conduct all-employee meetings every three months and find opportunities for all senior leaders to connect with their teams in meaningful ways,” expands Marden-Resnik.
FAVORITE RESTAURANT We like to ride our bikes to
breakfast in the 50th and France area during the summer months. Too many delicious spots to pick just one! LAST SHOW YOU WATCHED I most recently watched “Nailed It” on Netflix. It’s a fun cooking show the whole family enjoys.
People-Powered Workforce | 13
COVER STORY
MODERNIZING UCARE In 2016, the UCare team realized their legacy claims system needed updating and was not poised to meet the needs of the future. Considering it was the same claims processing system initially implemented thirty years prior, it was due for an upgrade. “Our digital platform was quickly getting outdated, as were our data platforms, care management tools, appeals and grievances systems – and more! To remain relevant and competitive, we needed to reimagine our technology needs for the future,” conveys Marden-Resnik. Thus, UCare embarked on an incredibly aggressive, multi-year technology transformation. “We went through a process with an external technology advisor to assess the current state of our technology end-to-end. We focused on platforms, services, and processes to help us look into the future for UCare and the marketplace and create a vision for our long-term needs,” elaborates Marden- Resnik. This process resulted in a roadmap known as the Technology Vision and Plan for the Future (TVAP) that bridged UCare’s current state and desired future state.
big difference-makers for us is taking a strategic view of the change management component of this effort. More than just training or communication, we made sure to have a ‘change- capable’ culture,” Marden-Resnik explains. This approach proved deeply valuable. Complex technology implementations are prone to failure if the right change management aspects aren’t in place. Likewise, another important element that led to success is the ability to stay focused. “We had to make some tradeoffs. We had such big plans for our technology transformation that we knew there were other important initiatives we had to turn down so as not to risk achieving our technology goals,” expounds Marden-Resnik.
It covers four major areas: • Core Claims Processing • Care Management / Appeals & Grievances • Digital Transformation • Data Management & Reporting
While a business necessity, this level of transformation would bring a period of disruption for the organization. “When we first started rolling it out, many people were excited but also overwhelmed,” Marden-Resnik reveals. Even the best plans can draw criticism. Skeptics in the community suggested UCare couldn’t achieve such a lofty transformation in time. “We all agreed it was the right thing to do for the company, so we knew we had to try. We developed a plan, budgeted appropriately for the investment, and worked hard not to cut any corners,” recalls Marden-Resnik. While there were many days when the project felt insurmountable, the team made steady progress and took the initiative one step at a time. The leadership team acknowledged that it would be challenging and set up a series of support systems to ensure success. “One of the
14 | People-Powered Workforce
With diligence, patience, and transparency, UCare successfully executed the TVAP roadmap. Nearly all of the major tools and technology platforms are in place. “There’s always more to do, but we delivered on the highest priority items and are now ready to focus on stabilizing and optimizing. We want to make sure we’re getting the most benefit from these technologies,” says Marden-Resnik. “We have the best people-power and the best workforce in town. When we didn’t have the right tools
in the face of adversity. “There’s no way you can implement a large technology system without some fallout that impacts operations – and maybe even creates member abrasion. As much as you try to avoid that, you’ll never get there if you’re waiting for perfection,” states Marden- Resnik. “Being calm and focusing on your priorities is important. It allows the team to do their best work and stay on track,” she adds.
To remain relevant and competitive, we needed to reimage our technology needs for the future. “
– HILARY MARDEN-RESNIK
ABOUT UCARE UCare is an independent, non-profit health plan company powered by some of the hardest working people you’ll ever meet. By partnering with health care providers and community organizations across Minnesota and western Wisconsin, they provide, de-complicate, and figure out health coverage for their more than 630,000 customers.
UCare’s tandem bike is featured prominently in the newly renovated office in Minneapolis.
and technology for them in the past, it was harder to meet our mission. We’re looking forward to enabling our employees to be at their best and to serve our customers and partners more effectively and efficiently!” Marden-Resnik shares with a smile. For organizations facing similar challenging technology transformations, Hilary believes it’s essential for the leadership team and board to be realistic about what can be accomplished and remain calm
There’s no doubt that the UCare team can – and will – achieve any goal they aim to tackle. The people-powered workforce is a true
competitive advantage.
People-Powered Workforce | 15
THE INNOVATORS
Evolytics takes an evolved approach to analytics that transforms how companies drive revenue with innovative data strategies. Difference with Data Making a Positive
— Do you know why your organization collects its data points? Do you have a plan for what to do downstream with the data you collect? Do you trust your data? Most organizations struggle to answer these questions. Every minute, organizations create enormous amounts of data. By itself, data is useless—just a collection of numbers and statistics. When you tie the right data to a purpose—analyze, act on, and use in a feedback loop—it creates real, meaningful business value and can provide a competitive advantage. In my experience, mature companies develop plans that align data and analytics strategies to business goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). I founded Evolytics in 2005 as a full-service analytics agency that functions as a strategic consulting partner to our clients’ IT, sales, and marketing teams. Evolytics implements end-to-end business-changing analytics solutions that unite business goals with analytics strategy and execution and, in turn, enhance customer experiences and increase return on investment. The average marketing professional spends more than 184 hours per year organizing data and reports for their team while managing a MarTech stack composed of more than thirty
With Tom Wilkins, Founder and CEO of Evolytics
16 | The Innovators
disparate applications. Evolytics integrates and automates data pipelines, freeing up time for clients to analyze and act on insights that optimize business and marketing performance. A key to our analytics success is how we invest in the best and brightest in the field. Our clients benefit from working as partners with a diverse staff of experts who bring a vast array of capabilities in data science and a depth of knowledge in digital analytics. We evolve analytics by inspiring people to use data in new ways that make a difference in the world. Our team’s incredible talent, combined with the exceptional brands we work with, allows us to deliver unparalleled results. We have a long track record of helping companies collect and use data to increase revenue, improve efficiency, and decrease costs.
A few years ago, our Predictive Analytics Team developed a popular application that analyzes college basketball data to predict the outcomes of March Madness games. Each year, the team pools their own money to bet on the games and donates the winnings to a different charity. One of our senior staff members developed and maintained a dataset of pandemic metrics and trends that helped companies forecast and plan during one of the most uncertain times in history. We ultimately decided to make these useful COVID-19 insights available to benefit the larger analytics community. The team’s drive for pushing the limits of what’s possible in analytics and data science sets our clients up for business success in new and unexpected ways. For example, Evolytics recently leveraged advanced machine learning models to help a Fortune 500 financial services client improve upsell and cross-sell conversion rates to achieve a 3X lift over previous efforts. We are creating an environment that nutures our team’s passion for analytics and innovation, and makes a positive impact in the world. I believe it’s a primary reason why we’ve been included on Fortune’s list of Best Small Workplaces two years in a row. As we continue to grow and expand our reach to more clients, we will always focus on innovating data strategy by making a positive difference with data.
— A Client-Focused Approach
At Evolytics, our mission is to “Make a Positive Difference with Data.” We serve clients in more than fifteen industries and provide focused solutions and expertise in healthcare, retail, e-commerce, and financial services. A deep understanding of clients’ unique needs enables the team to engineer best-in-class digital measurement solutions customized to achieve specific business goals. I believe we stand out due to our breadth of services, adaptability, and the innovative processes we implement across the data lifecycle. Our core solutions include strategic measurement planning, data collection, data engineering, data analysis, data visualization, data science, experimentation, and training. Holistically, we take a next- level approach to determining the most valuable data to collect, the best way to manage it, and how to leverage insights to answer the right questions.
— Nurturing a Culture of Innovation
Importantly, our culture allows our staff to branch out from serving clients to make a positive difference with data in new ways. These projects demonstrate the team’s passion for innovation while contributing to the analytics industry, even finding ways to make sporting events more fun.
The Innovators | 17
THE TOP 12
Spots in Minnesota The Best Ice Cream
Sebastian Joe’s
Nelson’s Ice Cream
Linden Hills & Lowry Hill
Stillwater & St. Paul
Whether you stop by the storefront or have the ice cream delivered to your door, you can’t go wrong with a scoop of Raspberry Chocolate Chip.
When visiting Nelson’s, an old-school ice cream shop in Stillwater & St. Paul, try a “child size” cone of the Butter Pecan! Don’t worry about a skimpy serving - it’s literally the size of a small child.
La La Homeade Ice Cream
Cup & Cone
Uptown
White Bear Lake
La La serves both kid-approved cones and more sophisticated flavors. If you find yourself in Uptown, stop by to try Charlotte’s Web, the shop’s longest standing flavor.
Located in White Bear Lake, this ice cream spot is known for their soft serve. A simple vanilla cone with crunch is what you need on a warm, sunny day!
Sweet Science Ice Cream
Bebe Zito Ice Cream
Uptown
Minneapolis
This ultra-creamy ice cream located in Uptown is always a hit. Try one of the inventive flavors or stick with a popular classic like the Dark Chocolate Sorbet.
Bebe Zito’s chef-driven ice cream is unique and packed with flavor. The Crowening (named after Moira Rose’s “Hollywood hit”) is a peanut butter chocolate ice cream filled with cookie crumbles. You can’t go wrong.
18 | The Top 12
Milkjam Creamery
Licks Unlimited
Minneapolis
Excelsior
Milkjam is a staple ice cream shop in Minneapolis. Cereal Killers is a unique flavor featuring orange coriander milk with candied fruity pebbles. Add your favorite toppings to take the cone to the next level.
After an afternoon of swimming and boating on Lake Minnetonka, Licks Unlimited in Excelsior is the perfect cap to the day. The flavor Heaps of Love includes fudge, carmel, brownies, Oreos, pecans, and cookie dough. It’s a dessert lover’s dream!
Sonny’s Ice Cream
Love Creamery
Minneapolis
Duluth
A great spot for a first date or a warm night, Sonny’s serves beer and wine in addition to ice cream. The Cardamom Black Pepper flavor receives rave reviews. Bonus: they have a gorgeous “secret patio” that feels like you’re stepping right into an Italian piazza.
Love Creamery sources local and organic ingredients to make their homemade ice cream. Their flavors rotate with the season, but if you can get your hands on the Salted Chocolate Pretzel, you won’t be disappointed.
Grand Ole Creamery & Grand Pizza
Selma’s Ice Cream Parlor
Afton
Saint Paul
This Saint Paul institution makes their ice cream in-house. Try their classic Sweet Cream flavor in a fresh waffle cone.
Minnesota’s oldest ice cream parlor is located in Afton. Their award-winning strawberry ice cream is loaded to the brim with fresh strawberries.
The Top 12 | 19
THE REAL REASON PEOPLE QUIT
The Real Reason People Quit Winning the war on talent ultimately falls on you!
By: Stu Nutting, Co-Founder, Concord
I’m seeing a lot of articles and hearing many experts talk about the challenges of retaining and finding technology talent. Now you can add me to the list of people commenting on the topic. My viewpoint isn’t particularly radical, but it’s not watered down with crowd-sourced data that fails to share the real story. I’m not cocky enough to think that my thoughts are the “real story” per se, but I think it’s just simple-minded enough to be somewhat credible. So, if “simple-minded” and “somewhat credible” piqued your interest, let’s dive in. If not, just turn the page and read the other cool stuff in this particular rag. For those who are still with me, I will break this into two parts – keeping your current employees and finding new ones – technology or otherwise.
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THE REAL REASON EMPLOYEES LEAVE First, let’s talk about retention. We need to stop blaming the “Big Five” tech companies for stealing all the talent. If you can’t find and retain talent, that’s on you. People quit at Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook all the time.
Why is it on you? Because people rarely leave companies, they leave their boss.
Most companies spend time conducting exit interviews, but the employee leaving is rarely honest about why. It’s uncomfortable, and most humans don’t like to hurt other human’s feelings. Departing employees often are afraid of the repercussions of being honest about their reasons for walking. They wonder if it could affect their next opportunity or fear it might burn bridges. Perhaps you’ve heard these reasons before:
“I don’t see an opportunity for career advancement.”
“I don’t care for the direction of the company.”
“I didn’t have enough work-life balance.”
“I found an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Now, there are certain times these things are true, and there are undoubtedly exiting employees who are 100% honest. For the most part, though, it’s just a cover. Think back – how many times did you leave a company where you loved your manager? To that end, I encourage you to dig a little deeper into your retention metrics. For example, when is the last time you looked at turnover rates by leader instead of by the entire organization’s turnover numbers? It might be time. The moral of the story is to be a better leader. Then take it one step further and make sure the other leaders you hire are being good leaders. I’m confident you can figure out how to do that. If not, there are plenty of books or people to ask.
“
People rarely leave companies, they leave their boss.
– STU NUTTING
The Real Reason People Quit | 21
THE REAL REASON PEOPLE QUIT
THE BEST RECRUITER IS YOU Now let’s talk about how you’re attempting to find those new superstars you need in the organization. If you can’t find good people, I believe that’s on you. Companies are finding good people, and some organizations aren’t even complaining about the war on talent.
That’s because they’re winning.
Those companies are doing things differently, though.
Firstly, they invest internally in high-quality recruiters to draw the candidates to the doorstep. Are you? Or are you depending on the same old HR tactics to find your next gem? A better option might be using partners who make their living finding and convincing people it’s time for a change – and that change is finding employment at your company. Secondly, the companies getting people through the front door are acting fast and not dragging their feet to move candidates through the hiring funnel. I’ve heard it before, ‘Well, we have a process for doing things, and we have to follow our process.’ That’s all fine and dandy if you’re getting the people you need! If not, your process probably sucks, and you should change it. Whoever acts quickest will get the best talent, and that’s a fact. For the sake of argument, though, let’s just say you act fast, not irresponsibly or knee-jerk, but the person doesn’t work out because they misrepresented themselves.
As their potential boss, you have to be the closer. Be prepared with the answer as to why working for you will be the best decision they ever made; otherwise, you will be the candidate looking for your next job. When Concord used to sell staff augmentation back in the early 2000s, I would tell our hiring managers, ‘Hey, I can bring you good talent, but you have to close them – the reality is they will be working for you.’ Those who listened landed the best talent to help them get their projects to the finish line. Anyway, I just wanted to provide a dose of honesty. I hope this gets you thinking about how you can win the war on talent. It ain’t rocket science. Good luck with your strategies for retention and attracting new employees. The good news is you don’t have to go very far – you already hold the answer!
Then fire them.
Paralysis by analysis will leave you in the dust, especially in the technology industry. It’s still important to measure twice and cut once when bringing in people who can help move the needle. But, geez, let’s not stand on the dock and watch all the cool boats go by because you’re afraid they might run you into an iceberg. Lastly, the best recruiter in the entire chain of getting the right butt in the right seat is you, the person who will lead them. The recruiter can be the best in the business, and your company can have the best benefits and the most incredible culture, but that stuff is just the icing on the cake. If they are going to work for you, they have to feel like you are someone worth working for, or they simply won’t hang their shingle in your shop.
ABOUT CONCORD Concord is a technology consulting firm. We solve the most challenging problems industry-leading companies face today through data modernization, cloud migration, digital transformation, and product engineering. In a nutshell, we get sh*t done.
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We’re making big moves! We acquired two companies this year to serve you better. Concord is growing!
SwiftWIN Expands our focus on customer experience and helps us provide outstanding commerce solutions.
Evolytics Enhances our data analytics capabilities and helps us make a positive difference with data.
A CONCORD COMPANY
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Visit concordusa.com to learn how we can help your business transform through technology.
MN Tech Mag | 23
Q&A WITH LAURA ELLIS
Taking the Next Steps in Data and Discovery
With Laura Ellis, Vice President, Data Engineering & Platform Analytics at Rapid7 L aura Ellis is trying something different—not that change is anything new for this data virtuoso who seems up to every challenge. Laura spent more than fifteen years at IBM, evolving her skills in business intelligence, data science, and predictive modeling before jumping into a new role at Rapid7, a company focused on cybersecurity and compliance services and solutions.
“Although I love building strictly technical skills, I was beginning to realize that I had a deeper appreciation for the intersection of business needs and the tech to enable them, ” she said. Laura is an active member of the data community and is eager to share insights and learn from others. Her Little Miss Data blog is an excellent resource and even includes tips on introducing kids to data science.
Read on to learn more about this inspiring woman in data, how she got interested in technology, her recommendations for people interested in a career in data science, and more.
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DISCOVERING A LOVE OF DATA –– How did you get interested in technology?
–– What prompted you to co-found Data Mishaps Night? Years ago, I met Caitlin Hudon, Principal Data Scientist at OnlineMedEd, at an RLadies Austin meetup. We share a love for family, data, hiking, and tacos. During the pandemic, we discussed missing the ability to attend meetups and share stories with other data professionals. Caitlin had given a talk at the 2019 RStudio Conference about the lessons she’s learned from her decade of data science work and the mistakes she encountered along the way. I was in the audience cheering on my friend, and it was amazing to see how much her stories resonated
I became interested in technology by mere happenstance. My parents were both teachers, and, growing up, I had planned on being a teacher, ideally in math and science. I was required to complete a college undergraduate degree before applying to teachers’ college. In my senior year of secondary school, I took my first computer science course. I enjoyed the course, but even more importantly, I was encouraged, in that class, to pursue the field. My teacher explained that the field was growing quickly and that even if I were going to be a teacher, it would be an excellent
with the community. Caitlin believes that sharing mistakes helps everyone fend off impostor syndrome and discover pitfalls before they happen. I fully agree. When I first started in the data field, I distinctly remember how fearful
specialty field. At the end of the course, I received a computer science award. With that extra boost of confidence, I decided to give it a go for my undergrad. I received my Bachelor of Engineering degree with a specialty in software engineering from the University of Western Ontario in Canada.
Understanding how to leverage data is essentially like developing a superpower that allows you to extract insights at a scale that humans aren’t effectively designed to do. “
I was about making a mistake. Making a mistake with data is
–– How did you get started in your data science journey?
especially terrifying because you can inadvertently give people incorrect information. Data often fails silently, presenting itself as truth when, in fact, it is not.
I’ve been working in the data field for over fifteen years. However, it wasn’t until I started focusing on analysis that I realized the power of data. Understanding how to leverage data is essentially like developing a superpower that allows you to extract insights at a scale that humans aren’t effectively designed to do. I functioned as a lonely data analyst for several years before the big data boom hit. I distinctly remember taking a one- year maternity leave in Canada and coming back to a buzz snowballing around the data field. Suddenly, the job that I’d held as a lonely data analyst was exciting to people. Teams were looking to staff up with data professionals, specifically data scientists. I had an opportunity to try my hand at data science. I quickly learned that I lacked the necessary statistical knowledge and thus began my Master in Predictive Analytics at Northwestern University.
We launched Data Mishaps Night in 2021. We had sixteen presenters and over 250 attendees participate in a magical night of shared data mistakes and learnings. It was such a wonderful experience that we decided to make it a yearly event. In 2022, Hilary Mason, Co-Founder of the Hidden Door, kindly agreed to kick off the evening with a keynote full of her data mistakes and lessons learned. We followed with twelve speakers and opportunities for audience participation. It was another great night reaching over 350 attendees. We’re grateful that the event has received such a warm welcome, and we look forward to next year.
Taking the Next Steps in Data and Discovery | 25
Q&A WITH LAURA ELLIS
–– What advice do you have for women specifically who seek to advance their careers in the technology sector? My advice for women in technology is to invest in your network, especially your women’s network. Find other women you can learn from and ask to grab a virtual coffee with them. Offer advice or assistance to women you believe can benefit from your experience or connections. You will learn something from every connection that you make. Some of these women will help shape your career, some will provide you with insight, and some may just help you with a laugh (or a cry) after a particularly difficult meeting.
After all, your product is typically not customer-facing. However, creating a positive user journey for your internal data platform will pay off in spades. The more your consumers can confidently self-serve, the more bandwidth you will have, as a company, to employ data-informed decision-making. BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION OF DATA LEADERS –– What resources do you recommend for someone interested in working in data science? The good news is that there is an endless supply of accessible beginner material available. The bad news is that there is endless material available, which can be incredibly overwhelming.
With this rise in popularity, data science packages and tooling have become much more accessible. Developing a model takes considerably less knowledge and time, which has caused the community to shift focus from what we can do with data to what we should do with data. We’re having deeper discussions around data ethics and our responsibilities as data practitioners. –– How can we make the data science and analytics realm more accessible? For internal data platforms, I believe that companies need to invest in building easy-to-use systems (simple data, simple tools) coupled with robust support and enablement programs. We need to give people access to data in a reasonable form to navigate and ensure that we have low-friction internal support paths to assist with their journey. Building this framework is not easy, and the blueprint varies greatly with business needs and constraints. It takes time, commitment, and focus to bring this vision to life. More generally, I suggest that all internal data platform teams seriously invest in understanding and improving your data consumer’s user journey. This type of work can be difficult for internally focused teams to prioritize. It’s often seen as a luxury among other high-priority requirements.
Data often fails silently, presenting itself as truth when, in fact, it is not. “
My advice for those starting is just begin.
Select learning material that looks appealing, and then work through it. Apply this material to a real-world scenario to solidify your understanding of the concepts you learned. Then iterate, moving a little closer to the material you enjoy and a little farther from the material you don’t enjoy. Along with this, seek out data communities that interest you. Speaking with others about their work helps tremendously to build your knowledge of the domain while also building a powerful support system.
Networking is sometimes considered a transactional tool to get ahead in your career, but truly it’s so much more. The people in your network become your friends, your inspiration, your support systems, and your lifelines. WHAT’S NEXT FOR DATA SCIENCE? –– How have you seen data science change over the years? I’ve noticed that data science has risen in popularity over the years as data collection became increasingly pervasive and computers became more cost-effective.
Follow Laura for more insights about data and discovery:
Blog: Little Miss Data Twitter: @LittleMissData LinkedIn: lauragraceellis
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