March 2018
www.insightssuccess.com
SUCCESSFUL
1010SUCCESSFUL
Tom Kennedy
Co-founder & CTO
Mentor’s Insights
Backend-As-A-Service
for Payments-As-A-Service
Digi Transformations
Decoding Digital Transformation
For Utilities
Trish Kennedy
Co-founder & COO
Revolutionizing Enterprise Software
with No-Code
The
Most
Companies To Watch
2018

Omnichannel Agent
and Customer
Engagement Solutions
Simplify and personalize the customer experience,
empower agents and achieve business success
with one workspace for all channel interactions,
application integrations, and CX reporting.

A Game-Changing
Idea that Powers
Everything
veryone knows that being a successful entrepreneur is not a cake-walk. It requires some highly
Eadmirable qualities like strong leadership skills and a knack for hiring exceptional talent. Most
successful entrepreneurs are calculated, clever, collaborative, composed, confident, and creative.
These traits give them the character they need to overcome a number of challenging business obstacles,
but at the same time, they also utilize these timeless business-building methods to achieve long-term
business goals.
However, an uncanny ability to generate game-changing ideas is the most essential skill that powers
everything. Having an incredible idea and a resolute belief is something that inspires these entrepreneurs
to put-in their best efforts, even in adverse conditions.
Konosuke Matsushita’s is an enlightening example to point out the same. Back in 1917, a 23-year-old
Japanese apprentice at the Osaka Electric Light Company with no formal education came up with alight
socket. The idea was quite innovative but his boss denied materializing it. This further motivated the
young genius, and subsequently started making samples in his basement. After rigorous efforts for four
long and tiring years, Matsushita managed to find his own small company. He later expanded his portfolio
of innovations with battery-powered bicycle lamps and other electronic products.
Matsushita Electric, Until 2008 when the company officially changed its name to Panasonic. Till 2008, the
company was known as Matsushita Electric, until the name was changed to Panasonic, a brand which we
are all fondly aware of in this day and age. The young boy had almost nothing under his belt; no money,
Editor’s Note

no real formal education, and no connections. Yet, his small firm Matsushita Electric Appliance
Factory flourished. Today, more than 20,000 employees work at Panasonic, and the overall
worth of the company stands at a whopping $66 billion. Matsushita’s success made him Japan’s
biggest yen billionaire. He has also made himself the most widely admired businessman in
Japan. When an interviewee asked him what was the empowering factor behind his success he
noted that it was the belief in his idea and its potential that kept him going. New and successful
entrepreneurs are no different; the extremely passionate individuals put-forward their best efforts
and take their company to unmatchable heights.
In this issue Insights Success has listed “The 10 Most Successful Companies to Watch, 2018,”
which are dominating their respective verticals with their innovative products and service
offerings.
®
Featuring as the Cover story is Zudy , a company which is making waves with its revolutionary
®
no-code app development platform, VINYL. A dream team of solution architects at Zudy create
or transform enterprise solutions in days, not months or years.
The magazine also includes, Proactive Worldwide Inc.; a global decision support, research and
consulting firm that provides evidence-based strategic intelligence; Canvas InfoTech Inc.,
which is a company that has been fulfilling staffing needs efficiently; Approyo, a leading global
SAP HANA technology solution provider; Midwest Restoration, which is a full service
property damage restoration company that offers restoration and reconstruction of residential
and commercial properties; Analytic System Ware, which designs and manufactures power
conversion products like Battery Chargers, Voltage Converters, Inverters, etc.; and Allgress,
which is a leading Integrated IT Risk, Compliance and Security solutions provider that enables
organizations the ability to cost effectively reduce and manage their business risk with less
complexity and cost.
Also, make sure to flip through our articles, written by our in-house editorial team; as well as
CXO Standpoints of notable industry personalities.
Let’s start shall we?
Kedar Kulkarni

SalesChoice:
Leading Insights to
Become the Most
Successful Person This Year
Industry Insider
DevOps - Bridging the
Gap between Dev and Ops
22
®
Zudy :
Revolutionizing
Enterprise Software
with No-Code
Editor’s Viewpoint
How Technology is Driving
Procurement?
32
40
Decoding Digital
Transformation For
Utilities
Digi Transformations
16
Emerging Tech, Revolutions
& Crisis for Entrepreneurs:
Insights from a true Globe Trotter
Inside Entrepreneurship
from Emerging Markets
26
38
Backend-As-A-Service
for Payments-
As-A-Service
Mentor's Insights
08

18
Allgress:
An Elite Risk and Compliance
Management Solution Provider
24
Approyo:
Purpose-Driven Cloud
Solutions
36
Midwest Restoration:
A Brilliant Emergency Platform
Built by a Great Team
20
Analytic Systems:
Electrifying Your Business with
Power Conversion
30
Canvas InfoTech Inc.:
Fullling Stafng Needs
Efciently
42
Proactive Worldwide:
A Global Leader in Strategic
Intelligence Services

sales@insightssuccess.com
Corporate Ofces:
March, 2018
Database Management Stella Andrew
Technology Consultant David Stokes
Circulation Manager Robert, Tanaji
Research Analyst Chidiebere Moses
Steve, Joe, Alan, Aniket
Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal
Anish MillerSenior Editor
Executive Editors Jenny Fernandes
Art & Design Director Amol Kamble
Associate Designer Tejas Kulkarni
Visualiser David King
Senior Sales Manager Passi D.
Business Development Executives
Marketing Manager John Matthew
Managing Editor Kedar Kulkarni
Sourav Mukherjee
Assistant Editors SmithBrian
Kaustav Roy
Art & Picture Editor BelinPaul
Co-designer Shweta Ambilwade
Peter CollinsBusiness Development Manager
Sales Executives
David, Kevin, Mark, Prashant
SME-SMO Executives
Prashant Chevale, Uma Dhenge, Gemson, Irfan
Online Marketing Strategist
Alina Sege, Shubham Mahadik, Vaibhav K
Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza
Technical Specialist Amar, Pratiksha
Technical Head Jacob Smile
Copyright © 2018 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in
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KhannaJayant

Revolutionizing Enterprise Software
with No-Code
We help our customers to develop
business applications that make a
significant improvement for their
business and revenue.
‘‘‘‘

Tom Kennedy
Co-founder & CTO
Trish Kennedy
Co-founder & COO
Cover Story

From global tech giants to small
enterprises, every business
wants robust, versatile systems
to respond to customer and business
needs. However, lengthy development
cycles of traditional enterprise software
simply cannot keep up with the pace
and complexity of evolving modern
requirements. The months and years of
hard-coding needed to implement new
modern systems means your
developments become obsolete while
still in the pipeline. An entirely
different, reliable and agile software
development platform was needed, and
the answer came in the form of using
no code at all. This revolutionary
alternative is finding widespread
appeal. A no-code system can fulfill
business requirements without the need
of cumbersome, traditional hard coding
methods used widely today. It
effectively makes robust enterprise
application development possible with
more of a fill in the blank and true or
false method. Even a novice, with little
to no coding knowledge, can learn to
use it within a few days. For the tech
industry, which has always been driven
by software development teams, the
rise of no-code has been a dream
evolution, or has it?
One company making waves with its
revolutionary app development
®
platform is Zudy . The ingenious
vision of their No-Code platform,
VINYL™, along with a dream team of
®
solution architects at Zudy create or
transform enterprise solutions in days,
®
not months or years. In fact, Zudy has
developed the world’s only no-code
end-to-end Enterprise grade AppDev
platform, VINYL™. The platform has
gained widespread recognition in the
®
business world. Zudy has expanded to
a new headquarters in Miami Beach,
Florida and currently works with more
than forty global companies: including
Amazon, Stericycle, JCrew and the
New England Patriots.
A Game Changer
®
Zudy ’s VINYL™ platform has the
ability to digitally transform any
company with its game changing No-
Code AppDev platform. It can
mobilize and modernize any legacy
system with seamless integration, with
any data source in a fraction of the
time and cost of traditional methods.
All applications built in VINYL™ are
optimized for both mobile and web.
The dynamically responsive design and
easily configurable UI make for a
pleasing, immersive and effortless user
experience. All of this is achieved
while removing high cost technology
barriers and leveraging the existing
systems of the client. The end-to-end
platform is focused on providing
guided agile development with
powerful cross-platform-CRUD,
automated workflows, built-in lifecycle
management, and enterprise security.
Even the largest most complex
Enterprises can quickly and painlessly
digitize every business processes with
VINYL.
VINYL™: Promising Potential
Conventional software and app
development teams take months to
®
build one usable application. Zudy ’s
solution gives enterprises the ability to
build highly configurable ‘Enterprise
Ready’ apps in weeks. These apps are
designed to integrate seamlessly into
all existing and future data sources and
systems.
VINYL™’s architecture is the key to
®
Zudy ’s flexible design and build
environment. It consists of three main
layers: Design, Business Logic and
Data Access.
Ÿ Design Layer: VINYL™’s design
layer is extremely easy to use and
offers completely customizable
UI/UX. The presentation layer
allows complete design control so
enterprises can maintain their
branding and specific look and feel
without coding.
Ÿ Business Logic Layer: VINYL™
automates business processes in
minutes. This includes everything
from simple to complex business
logic, and user-defined workflows
that support notifications via email
and texts.
Ÿ Data Access Layer: VINYL™’s
patented universal translator allows
all development to occur in a single
environment across all data
sources. VINYL™ can securely
read and modify enterprise data
without moving data from your
enterprise systems.
Ÿ VINYL™’s Lite Integration relates
and displays data at the UI level in
minutes without affecting source
systems. It enables cross-platform
CRUD across multiple data sources
at the same time. It also allows
users to create beautiful yet
powerful applications, and charts
from multiple data sources, which
facilitates complex analytics on the
same screen without the need for a
single line of code.
VINYL™ can be utilized by any
enterprise in any industry, regardless of
size or location. The platform has been
used to build applications for hundreds
of clients ranging from large media and
Let Zudy® experts
teach you how to
build apps, Do more
than catch up…
get ahead!

telecommunications organizations to
global pharma and biotech firms. Part
of its appeal is that VINYL™-designed
applications are easy to modify and
maintain. This efficiency and
versatility has resulted in
unprecedented revenue within a year of
® ®
Zudy ’s establishment. Zudy ’s Co-
founder and COO, Trish Kennedy
reveals that VINYL™ has been very
well received in the market. She added
that the company grew over 1000%
from 2016 to 2017 with forecasts of
another exponential growth year in
2018.
A Perfect Pair
Tom Kennedy, Co-founder and CTO
®
of Zudy has over thirty years of
experience building rapid application
development platforms. From his role
as Director of Application
Development at TOM Software in the
1980s to Kennedy & Associates and
then BackOffice Associates, Tom has
architected and sold four commercially
successful platforms over the last 30
years. The culmination of his work is
now VINYL™, the most advanced
Enterprise ready application
development platform in the market
today. Tom, after spending years
solving the most complex Enterprise
system issues has built a technology
that incorporates his learning across
hundred of Global Enterprises. Tom
built industry changing data migration
and data governance solutions prior to
envisioning VINYL™. His work with
data quality and data governance led
him to understand the need for
Enterprises to more fully take
advantage of the data that exists across
their system landscapes, and of course
available data sources outside the
Enterprise that can enhance and bring
powerful capability into an Enterprise.
“Tom has been a geek-at-heart
technologist and has built many
customer-oriented, successful
applications throughout his career,”
Trish says, “Tom never called himself a
Cover Story
“If you are falling behind, change your
path or change your speed.”

visionary, he calls himself a ’listenary’, he emphasizes
listening to customer problems and actually solving the
problems they have, not inventing solutions to problems that
don’t exist.”
®
At Zudy , Tom works on developing technological
solutions while Trish focuses on delivering customer
success. She has successfully handled the sales and
marketing departments of the company since its launch and
catalyzed revenue by working with several global giants,
like Amazon and the New England Patriots to utilize this
amazing platform. Her passion and enthusiasm help drive
®
the Zudy team to success. This pair of two extraordinary
visionaries is driving a promising platform with their
inspiring commitment to innovation.
Unlimited Applications, Unlimited Users
VINYL™ can begin digitally transforming any business
within a week. Conventional technologists who are
accustomed to app development that can take years are
®
skeptical of this claim. To allay such reservations, Zudy
provides a one-week proof of concept which allows
prospective clients to develop their first app using
VINYL™. “I believe many of our prospects take us up on
this challenge believing we will fail.”, said Trish.
“However, the ensuing success plays a significant part in
®
building Zudy ’s long-term customer base.” Feedback from
satisfied clientele reveals that they are especially impressed
with VINYL™’s capacity to drastically increase the ability
to purse new revenue models and new business models,
many times achieving remarkable increases in revenue.
Clients are also enticed by VINYL™’s very attractive
pricing model, featuring unlimited apps unlimited users.
The average company develops and deploys one or two
®
applications per year but customers using Zudy ’s No-Code
solution develop 30-50 apps per year. This unprecedented
facilitation of innovation and agility is further reason for
companies to take the leap into no code.
Seamless Integrations
VINYL™ Users enthusiasm is evident when you take a
look at their overwhelming adoption of the technology once
they get a taste. The adoption rate of No-Code in
companies that use VINYL™ soars once they experience a
new found ability to develop and deploy at such a low risk
and low cost . Many users declare the VINYL™ platform is
®
ten years ahead of the curve. Zudy has thrived within a
short span of time by continuously focusing on customer
needs and developing solutions that exceed customer
expectations. “We have thrived over the years by making
sure every customer is wildly successful with our
technologies. We don’t plan on stopping now!”, said Trish
®
Kennedy. Zudy plans further expansion and growth in its
workforce so customers everywhere can experience the
incredible benefits of No-Code app dev for their digital
transformations. The company plans on adding over 100
resources by year end.
It’s not about us, it's about
what we will do for you.
‘‘‘‘
“Fast is good but quick is better.”

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CORPORATE OFFICE

Management BriefCompany Name
Allgress
allgress.com
Gordon Shevlin
CEO & Co-founder
Allgress is a leading Integrated IT Risk, Compliance and
Security solutions provider that enables organizations the ability
to cost effectively reduce and manage their business risk with
less complexity and cost.
Analytic Systems Ware
analyticsystems.com
James Hargrove
CEO
Analytic System Ware designs and manufactures power
conversion products like Battery Chargers, Voltage Converters,
Inverters, etc.
Approyo
approyo.com
Christopher Carter
CEO
Approyo is a leading global SAP HANA technology solution
provider.
Canvas Infotech Inc.
canvasinfotech.com
Alok Bhatia
Co-founder &
President
Canvas Infotech is company that has been fulfilling staffing
needs efficiently.
Midwest Restoration is a full service property damage
restoration company that offers restoration and reconstruction of
residential and commercial properties.
Proactive Worldwide is a global decision support, research and
consulting firm that provide evidence-based strategic
intelligence.
TempoQuest is the worlds fastest, most advanced weather
forecasting software.
Vindicia provides enterprise subscription billing, consumer
entertainment, and enterprise software.
®
Zudy is revolutionary no-code software and application
development platform that develops enterprise software and
applications in the matter of week.
Maine Pointe
mainpointe.com
Steven Bowen
Chairman & CEO
Maine Pointe, LLC is an operations management and
implementation company that provides supply chain services.
Midwest Restoration
mwrestoration.com
Coyne S. Borree
CEO
Jennifer Rottier
COO
Proactive Worldwide, Inc.
proactiveworldwide.com
Gary Maag
Co-founder & CEO
TempoQuest
tempoquest.com
Eugene P. Pache Jr
President & COO
Vindicia
vindicia.com
Kris Nagel
CEO
®
Zudy
zudy.com
Tom Kennedy
Co-founder & CTO
Trish Kennedy
Co-founder & COO

Massive technology changes,
never seen or experienced
before are revolutionizing
the businesses with advent of the new
wave of digital innovation. From cloud
computing to mobility, to big data
analytics, IoT, machine learning, and
artificial intelligence, these
technologies have completely
transformed the business landscape
irrespective of the industry— banking,
retail, telecom or utility alike. The pace
of this technological advancement is
growing exponentially, establishing
new business models and creating
tectonic shifts in market dynamics.
The technology-savvy and digitally
connected customers of today are
further forcing businesses to take
cognizance of their preferences,
expectations and consumption trends.
Unless business aligns their approach
and processes with this customer-
centric approach, survival may be
thwarted in the competitive landscape.
Today, the energy and utility industry
grapples with its unique set of
challenges comprising aging
infrastructure, workforce retention and
recruitment, widening demand-supply
deficit, evolving regulatory mandates,
stricter environmental compliances,
need to increase grid resilience, and
economic and social ramifications.
Ultimately, utilities face the risk of
disintermediation of their relationship
with the customer, allowing new
entrants to capture the value, while
they are left holding the costs.
For utilities to meet these challenges
while delivering quality service and
sustaining their financial viability, it is
paramount to reexamine their approach
technology and digitalization. While
the traditional energy and utility
industry had been a relatively slow
adopter of technology compared to
other sectors, nonetheless, it has picked
up pace in last couple of years. The
energy and utility companies today are
beginning to comprehend the value of
digital innovation and its impact on
improving their operational
efficiencies, boosting service levels,
reducing costs and most importantly on
increasing customer satisfaction. This
has led them to explore the
opportunities extended by adopting
latest technologies such as cloud,
mobile, big data, predictive analytics,
IoT, machine learning, artificial
intelligence, robotics and others. The
industry is now quick to leverage latest
innovations to modernize processes,
gain efficiencies and gain customer
confidence.
By adopting a “mobile-first” strategy,
the utilities can enable real-time
connectivity with customers and their
workforce alike – from anywhere,
anytime and using any device. This has
empowered customers who can easily
manage or monitor their real-time and
historic usage, and make better choices
based on data-backed insights. They
can conveniently plan and manage
their bills and payments with increased
ease and flexibility. The utilities can
use mobile technology to become
proactive in sending alerts,
notifications and personalized
communication to the customers. It can
also boost the workforce productivity
and efficiency by equipping them with
on-the-go updates using mobile
devices. Driving customer engagement
can help utility increase customers’
adoption for energy efficiency and
water conservation programs. This in
turn is a win-win for both – the
customers who save on resources as
well as on bills, and even the utility
which is able to manage peak loads
and optimizing resources; thereby also
meeting the state mandates.
16 |March 2018|
Digi Transformations

Eric Dresselhuys is the President at Smart
Energy Water (SEW). He has been
contributing in the energy, utility and
infrastructure industry for 20 years. With his
domain know-how, technical expertise and
business acumen, Eric is responsible for the
overall strategic outlook and business
development at SEW. Over the years he has
played a leading role working with utilities
across 5 continents to help guide their digital
transformation . Eric is a well-known speaker
thought leader across the energy, utility and
infrastructure industries.
About The Author
However, this digital shift poses another set of complexities
for utility industry – huge quantum of customer data, lack
of in-house technical expertise, implementation risks,
integration complexities and ongoing support concerns.
Thus, for utilities, the adoption of technology and solutions
necessitates a strategic outlook rather than tactical detours
focused on quick fixes.
The industry must carefully assess and evaluate the “build
vs. buy” adage to be able to deploy technology or solutions
which are a best-fit for their business requirements and are
also cost-effective and efficient. They must look for
solutions that can easily integrate with existing legacy
systems, require minimal deployment cost and can deliver
faster returns on investment. Since, customers today are
prime drivers of change; another important consideration
for the utility industry must be customer adoption rate. The
customers are doubtlessly more technology savvy today, but
adoption rate depends upon how user-friendly a platform is,
and does it offer self-service capabilities. Similarly, how
quickly and easily the utility workforce can familiarize with
the solution and can use it address customer concerns.
Carefully weighing these considerations can help the
industry truly leverage the emerging technologies and thrive
on the wave of digitalization.
The acceleration of digital transformation in the utility
industry has predictably driven an upsurge in the number of
service providers offering technologies to address these
needs, each with their unique value proposition, but
generally focused on only a small sub-set of the overall
challenge. Thus, the utility companies must be cautious
while identifying their digital transformation partners’ basis
not just the technical competencies but also ensures both
are aligned in terms of long-term architectural compliance
and are driven by a shared goal to build the utility’s
primacy with its customers.
As more and more utilities adapt and adopt emerging
technologies, CIOs have an important role to play as they
must carefully balance long-term and short-term
deployment decisions. With the evolving utility-customer
relationship, they must probe areas where digital can help
them strengthen relationship with customers, while
improving operations, bridging organizational siloes, and
developing topline opportunities. Indeed, digital
transformation opens arrays of opportunities for utilities,
but, success will require a significant investment in new
talent and capabilities, and careful prioritization.
Eric Dresselhuys
Smart Energy Water
|March 2018| 17

As the term exclaims, Risk and
Compliance Management is
the coordinated integration of
all governance, risk management, and
compliance activities within an
organization. Governance refers to the
coordinated processes and strategies
established by the management to meet
their risk management objectives. Risk
management is the management of
uncertainties within the risk appetite of
the company, and compliance refers to
the company complying with policies,,
laws, regulations and partner
requirements. The integrated
components should complement each
other and also have a positive impact
on the efficiency of the organization’s
people, process, and technology.
However, many of the risk and
compliance activities are complex
which extends the time to indemnify
risks to the business. The Allgress
Insight Risk Management suite
provides a platform that reduces the
complexity by automating the risk
management process by integrating
workflow, visual reporting and
mitigation from a single console. Their
solution overcomes redundancy, poor
visibility, non-consistent processes and
lack of accountability by providing
ease-of-use that is comprehensive in
identifying and reducing business risk
in less time.
Allgress is an example of an
innovative technology leader,
specializing in Integrated IT Risk,
Compliance and Security solutions.
Since its inception in 2008, Allgress
has empowered many organizations
with an innovative risk, compliance
rd
and 3 party management solution
which allows organizations to meet
requirements, regulations, best
practices and obligations, and drive
them towards success.
Automating Risk Management with
Desired Business Outcomes
Allgress has exclusively focused on
providing integrated Governance, Risk
and Compliance, management
solutions, to a wide variety of global
organizations across multiple vertical
markets.
The solutions of the company enable
organizations and their partners to
automate their entire risk management
lifecycle by bringing ease-of-use,
automated assessment, advanced
visualization, remediation, and the
integration of existing data feeds in an
integrated solution. This facilitation
permits customers to derive value in
less time with reduced complexity
eliminating the need for an army of
consultants.
The vision of the company is to
address its customer’s challenges by
adapting to continuing changes of
technology like cloud computing,
processes and people by delivering
solutions that are easier to use,
modular and quicker to implement.
These objectives allow the Allgress
platform to provide quick-time-to-
value to its clients and prove its value
through its foremost advancements.
Such adaptive transformations allow
clients the desired functionality in
solutions that help customers reduce
their risk which intern results in less
potential impact to the bottom line.
Powerful Combinations
Streamlining the Risk Management
Process
The company has recently announced a
visionary and powerful solution called
’ComplianceVision’ (CV). CV is a
comprehensive compliance solution for
rapid automated compliance mapping,
assessment, reporting and remediation
that reduces business risk with less
complexity, consulting and cost in a
fraction of the time compared to
manual processes. This efficient risk
and compliance management solution
identifies the controls that need to be
mapped to meet regulations, best
practices and third-party requirements
then populates those controls with
machine intelligence for the relivent
controlled data from existing third-
party solutions. It identifies risks in
less time with more accuracy and
consistency, and substantially reduces
the man hours to complete an
assessment.
Driving the Advancements
Relentlessly With Passionate
Leadership
Allgress is successfully driven towards
their desired destinations of efficiently
automating more of the taxing risk
Allgress:
An Elite Risk and Compliance
Management Solution Provider
18 |March 2018|

We provide full
featured Integrated
Risk Management
solutions that reduce
Business Risk with less
complexity that provide
value on day one.
management processes. The prime proponents behind
Allgress’ advancements are Gordon Shevlin, CEO/Co-
founder and Jeff Bennett, COO/Co-founder.
Gordon Shevlin has a career spanning experience of
twenty-five years and has successfully co-founded many
organizations over the years. Prior to Allgress, Gordon co-
founded SiegeWorks a digital defense services firm. He
grew the company, built a strong international presence, and
managed its successful acquisition by FishNet Security
(now Optiv), the nation’s leading reseller of information
security solutions.
Jeff Bennett brings more than two decades of business
leadership, product development, and IT security and
compliance industry experience to the company. A serial
entrepreneur, Jeff has led several companies including Co-
founding digital defense services firm SiegeWorks.
Following the acquisition of SiegeWorks, Bennett served as
executive vice president of services at FishNet (now Optiv).
He has also served on the advisory boards of other leading
security providers.
Gordon and Jeff, both have a relentless drive to help
customers reduce the complexity of identifying and
mitigating IT risk in less time with reduced complexity.
They continuously interact with customers and partners to
discuss risk management challenges and innovative ways of
expanding the Allgress solutions. True to their passion, their
efforts of keeping pace with the rapid change have
leveraged the platform to its highest level.
Expansion of Features and Value Added services with
Innovation
Allgress continues to innovate by interacting with its
customers and partners to expand its ease-of-use, reduce
time-to-value and automating associated tasks, thereby
reducing business risks accordingly. Its product
ComplianceVision is a prime example of such innovation,
the company aims to advance in innovation and make it
more efficient. It plans to further streamline the entire IT
risk and compliance process and make it easier for
customers to deploy multiple solutions from different
providers with integrated integration and packaging.
In addition to this, another differentiating factor has been its
ease of use. The ability to craft just the right integrated IT
Risk, Compliance, and Security management platform to
meet an organization’s specific risk management challenges
provides the flexibility to build out an end-to-end solution if
required or a minimal deployment deployed in the cloud or
on-premise.
Gordon Shevlin
CEO & Co-Founder
|March 2018| 19

Electrification of our world is
continuing at an ever
accelerating pace. In addition
to traditional sources of electricity, new
sources such as wind, solar, tidal and
geothermal are all developing quickly;
so is the demand for that electricity
which is projected to grow 25%
annually for the foreseeable future.
Demand for devices that convert the
source energy into a form required by
the user is growing at a similar pace.
Global companies such as Siemens and
ABB are investing heavily in energy
storage and conversion, serving high
volume customers. However, there are
many demands the global players
cannot service, creating opportunities
for smaller companies. Analytic
Systems is one such leading
organization meeting the needs of this
market.
Groundbreaking Products and
Commissioned Designs
Analytic Systems offers power
conversion solutions including Power
Supplies (AC to DC), Voltage
Converters (DC to DC), Inverters (DC
to AC), Frequency Converters (AC to
AC), Battery Chargers and Solar
Charge Controllers along with a wide
array of accessory products. High
frequency pulse width modulated
battery chargers and pure sinewave
inverters are primary products in high
demand by Marine, Industrial and
Military markets. Their extreme
environments demand rugged
construction using anodized or powder
coated aluminum enclosures, stainless
steel fasteners, and conservative design
for high reliability. The company also
uses its advanced design and
manufacturing capabilities to create
customized solutions for their clients
upon request.
Captain Catalyst and Motivator
The company was founded in 1976 by
Lloyd Hargrove, P.Eng. He had a
long career in electronics, starting from
Computing Devices of Canada, where
he helped design the Heads-Up
Display (HUD) for the infamous Avro
Arrow. In the early 1970s he also
served as the Chief Civilian Engineer
in the underwater acoustics section of
the Canadian Navy’s ‘Anti-Submarine
Warfare’ department. When he founded
his own company, Lloyd wanted it to
have the ASW acronym, and coined the
name Analytic Systems Ware Ltd.
From its founding in 1976 until 1993
the company developed more than 360
unique electronic products including
the world’s first digitally controlled
marine automatic pilot.
Stepping into the Shoes
of Great Legacy
James Hargrove P.Eng, CEO of
Analytic Systems, is a University of
British Columbia trained electronics
engineer. He started his career with
Analytic Systems in 1981 working on
the automatic pilot project. In 1983 this
project was spun off into ComNav
Marine Ltd. with James as VP of
Engineering. James left ComNav in
1993, rejoining Analytic Systems as
CEO at the young age of 36. He
immediately launched Analytic
Systems onto a path leading from just
three employees to almost 100 today.
Apart from being CEO, he also
oversees Marketing and R&D. He
boasts an extensive 35+ years in the
industry and has taken giant strides in
the shoes of his father.
Early Impediments and
Remarkable Emergence
James invested $50,000 in 1993 for a
majority share of the company and
immediately initiated the design of the
world’s first pure sinewave inverter,
intended to run computers in the
hostile commercial marine
environment. Of course that money
quickly ran out, forcing him to re-
mortgage his personal property
multiple times to keep the company
Analytic Systems
Electrifying Your Business with
Power Conversion
20 |March 2018|

Whether you need Power
Conversion for marine,
industrial, telecom,
COTS or full MilSpec,
one unit or a thousand,
we can do it.
growing. His remarkable passion and persistent
determination steered him to work long hours during his
initial years in the company. He did sales and marketing
during the day and designed products at night. This routine
of working into the wee hours eventually declined as the
sales began to grow and the company emerged with a bright
future in sight.
James believes that for any company the primary asset is its
people. He states that today Analytic Systems has a
dedicated staff with a mix of both long term experienced
and enthusiastic young employees. This combination of
experience and enthusiasm is the key factor that helps the
company find the best, most cost-effective and innovative
solutions for its customers.
Protected Preciosity of Products
Analytic Systems has invested heavily in its infrastructure
and manufactures all products in its own Vancouver, BC
based facilities that include; electronic and mechanical
design, assembly for both surface mount and through-hole
technologies, wiring harnesses, transformer winding,
automated conformal coating, and CNC machining of
enclosures and components. In-house testing including
radiated and conducted emissions, electrostatic
susceptibility, temperature and vibration are all available
and utilized during design and testing (particularly for high
reliability products).
All processes are ISO9001 quality certified and the
company is certified compliant with the Canadian
Controlled Goods Directorate so they can do business with
international companies registered with ITAR (International
Treaty for Arms Reduction).
Progressive Digitalization to Improve Power Density
and Product Reliability
Today Analytic Systems focuses predominantly on Digital
Signal Processor technology, utilizing it to design products
that are innovative, flexible and meet the needs of a
worldwide customer base. The IoT (Internet of Things)
means that new products must integrate into the digital
world, providing information on their operation and taking
operational commands from a wide variety of sources while
at the same time providing more power in less space.
Visit analyticsystems.com for more information.
James Hargrove
P.Eng. CEO
|March 2018| 21

For centuries, humans have had a propensity to pit two or more teams with distinctive functionalities against each other
– even when they are on the same team. This dynamic can be witnessed even in traditional business enterprises,
between software developers and operational staffers.
The rivalry between Dev and Ops has been prevalent for decades causing one of the most prominent challenges for
organizations to manage their IT capabilities. Overcoming from this rift and identifying each other as partners rather than
rivals, can be crucial for a business to attain success. But due to opposing priorities, a friction gets created when they are
combined, making it even harder for dev and ops to communicate in an efficient manner.
Conflict between Development and Operations
Although there isn’t any doubt concerning the various technical as well as business advantages that an organization can reap
upon combining Dev and Ops, but they comprise of entirely unique goals, metrics, and approaches.
Development primarily lays focus on producing new systems and applications and ensures that customers get
to use the same as fast as possible. On the contrary, operations look from a different aspect
altogether; wherein they primarily focus on ensuring a speedy and bug-free stable system.
Additionally, both dev and ops strive towards achieving a similar goal of making their
customers feel happy and satisfied, yet they utilize completely contradicting approaches to reach
that purpose. On one hand, development aspires to impress its customers with their new enhancements.
Whereas on the other hand, the operational team wants its customer base to use a stable and tested system
– free from bugs and operability inconveniences.
22 |March 2018|

The Battle Scenario – Before and After the Advent of
DevOps
Before DevOps came onto the scene, both Development
and Operations worked in an isolated manner. The only
time they crossed-paths were during the release phase. The
development team, already notified about the release date,
intended to interject some new and additional features
before the time of release. Whereas the operational team
knew from beforehand whether the current release version
had any new or additional features interjected. This way,
before deploying the release to the customer’s site, the Ops
team performed rigorous testing to be satisfied with its
stability and operability and only then permitted its
deployment.
The arrival of DevOps and its rise in adoption led to a
paradigm shift from this culture. Developers now no longer
need to wait for a release date to bring-forward new and
enhanced features. Instead, they have the capability to
release new features on a regular basis by using the concept
of Continuous Integration and Delivery. This has prompted
developers to emphasize that the operation team must
manage this regular flow of new features imperatively
before it gets deployed to the customer’s site. But this
approach gave rise to a new problem, as Ops have to deal
with a pipeline of releases at a regular interval due to this.
They now need to be extremely attentive and careful about
the quality testing of the systems as the deployed builds on
the customer site may or may not be entirely free from
bugs.
The Resolution
The most feasible and obvious solution to this opposing
friction is the synchronization between Dev and Ops,
popularly termed as DevOps. Coined by Patrick Debois,
known as “the father of DevOps,” DevOps is an operational
philosophy that helps to bridge the gap between
Development and Operations by emphasizing upon
integration, collaboration, and communication.
It is the most salient methodology through which an
organization can check and assure a balance between
development and quality. In order to reach an equilibrium
point in this resolution, both Dev and Ops need to embrace
the DevOps methodologies by modifying their outlook and
their way of working, as follows:
From the Operations Perspective
Ÿ Extensive monitoring of all running environments such
as staging or production, so as to react and prevent any
issues from cropping up and spreading, respectively.
Ÿ Operations need to be much more flexible in their
approach in accepting regular or frequent changes.
Ÿ Operations should facilitate an effective and healthy
collaboration with the Development team.
From the Development Perspective.
Ÿ Sound engagement needs to be performed to assess the
quality metrics that Ops emphasizes on, to track customer
production systems and quality.
Ÿ Dev need to be more involved with the testing of their
own code in the production phase instead of leaving out
from the field after writing the system or application
code.
Ÿ Developers should facilitate an effective and healthy
collaboration with the Operations team.
Hence, it can be safely exclaimed that both Dev and Ops
team need to change substantially in their functioning and
outlook to successfully adopt the DevOps methodology.
Adapting to DevOps culture is by no means a silver bullet,
as it brings with itself a considerable amount of changes.
But upon successful communication between developers
and operators, an organization will be able to reap
significant advantages through the same. The battle between
Dev and Ops may continue for years, but DevOps has the
distinct capability to bridge the gap between the two.
Industry Insider
|March 2018| 23

Christopher Carter, CEO of
Approyo recognized the need
for a company that could
provide cost-effective strategic
solutions using the best of SAP, cloud
and big data analytics. This motivation
led to the inception of the company
back in 2011.
Approyo is a leading global SAP
solutions provider that creates
customized cloud environments for its
customers by revolutionizing the way
SAP and SAP HANA solutions are
adopted. It works with customers to
help realize business potential that
drives growth, improves ROI and
lowers risks.
Setting up an Approyo platform is
quick and easy, a key factor in its
popularity. Since its inception,
Approyo has become one of the largest
U.S.-based SAP HANA firms. Today it
employs a large number of SAP HANA
experts, with over 200 SAP S/4 HANA
and SAP HANA worldwide cities.
The company headquarters are located
in Wisconsin, and it maintains Data
Centers in Columbus, OH, Atlanta,
GA, Palo-Alto, CA, as well as a Latin
American HQ in Sao Palo, Brazil and a
European base in Brussels, Belgium.
Approyo working strategy is based on
the platform eco-system trend, which
has become the tech world’s prevalent
facilitator. This solution has attracted
many tech giants to its solutions;
Approyo’s client portfolio includes
Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and
Salesforce’s Force.com.
Supporting Enterprises with
Innovation
Approyo supports firms which are
looking for the knowledge to grow
through current business process,
where an increase of just 1% translates
to millions of dollars in business flow.
It supports clients in making the shift
to the SAP HANA platform by
developing ready-to-deploy and secure
predictive analytics solutions.
Using this solution for the HANA
platform gives a business the ability to
fit structured and unstructured data
directly into the system without the
hassle of massive hardware
deployment and the resulting costs. It
also allows its customers to choose a
pay-as-you-go model or a monthly
subscription.
Approyo brings Big Data and SAP
HANA to everyone in a quick and
efficient manner. Its SAP HANA
Solutions are typically up and running
within two to five days. The SAP
HANA solution condenses HANA’s
various components into a single neat
and easy package. Companies have the
freedom to either use the entire
package or individual components.
This versatile approach makes it one of
the best solutions in the market. The
company’s support team manages over
200 SAP landscapes in its cloud
platform and offers 24 x 7 support to
its clients which further aids efficiency.
Shaping Cloud Solutions
CEO Christopher Carter works with
many businesses around the globe. He
assists cloud solution providers with
the usage of big data in the forms of
Hadoop (Cloudera and Hortonwork’s)
and SAP HANA.
Chris has been in the SAP industry for
almost 25 years. He has been
nationally recognized by The American
SAP Users Group, SAP Hadoop World
and by many other globally-recognized
researchers.
Primary Growth Factors
Approyo main focus is essential
simplification, and this has been the
prime driving factor for the company’s
success.
Network - Chris Carter and his team
bring a wealth of relationships into the
SAP ecosystem, and this further
accelerates business and partnerships.
Expertise - Chris has over 25 years of
Big Data and technology expertise. He
was the creator of the first customer
SAP HANA Cloud Environment. His
team has worked with over 100 SAP
Approyo:
Purpose-Driven Cloud Solutions
24 |March 2018|

We can bring our SAP HANA
cloud offerings to our
customers faster and more
efficiently than anyone in
the SAP ecosystem, and we
have the experience to
back it up.
HANA customer cloud environments. This resourceful
experience has created unbeatable agility and adaptability
in solutions.
Global Connectivity - Approyo has cradled across the globe
and provided its solutions across unexplored territories.
This global connectivity has been crucial for the company’s
credibility.
Team - The Approyo team is dedicated in helping its
customers realize the business benefits of big data, the
Internet of Things, and cloud computing.
Technology - Approyo believes it helps customers achieve
their dreams. The solutions are tailored to the customer’s
business needs. Hence, every cloud environment is built
from the ground up for SAP HANA, S/4HANA, Hadoop
and other technology solutions.
Additionally, the firm is helping its partners uncover new
business opportunities through the use of big data and SAP
HANA. The utilization of best-in-class technology partners
in the SAP ecosystem has seeded consistent growth and the
empowering features constructive strategizing, uniqueness,
and agility created product popularity.
Revolutionary Solutions with a Purpose
Approyo recently launched SAP S/4HANA Ignite that gives
companies an organized SAP S/4HANA sandbox that can
be utilized in minutes. This technology has the potential to
revolutionize the SAP world with the most economic
production grade sandbox which costs just $3,000 per
month with a secure network.
The technology is a game changer for SAP customers who
want to try SAP S/4HANA and need to test how they can
migrate. Carter stresses that all current and upcoming
products of the company are made with one purpose: To
help companies succeed.
He adds, “We help companies have a better, stronger more
cost effective solution at their fingertips, one that supports
their needs and high standards.”
Christopher Carter
CEO
|March 2018| 25

Emerging Tech,
Revolutions & Crisis for
Entrepreneurs:
Insights from
a true Globe Trotter
By Alisée de Tonnac,
CEO of Seedstars
PhotoCourtesy:DanielLopez-Paullada
26 |March 2018|

Compared to Silicon Valley,
the markets we operate in are
eager to keep up by creating
environments for entrepreneurs and
startups. This is driven by
investments in institutions and
infrastructure, however, in general,
the countries still lag behind when it
comes to the number of opportunities
(even worse when it comes to the
“entrepreneurship culture”).
In terms of having the right
institutions and infrastructures, all
regions are doing well except Africa.
Countries from Central and Eastern
Europe have been specifically
successful here. Asia is definitely the
most developed region concerning
entrepreneurship.
One of the biggest challenges I
observe is that, unfortunately, many
of these countries are confronted
with brain drain, although startup
hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong
are able to attract outstanding minds.
Fortunately, investments start to flow
to these countries now, as many
companies, business angels and
venture capitalists already see them
as opportunities: entrepreneur hubs
like Mexico, Bangkok or CapeTown
are attracting more funding every
year.
On top of infrastructures and
institutions there’s another difficulty:
training and mentoring habits are
missing in many places.
Nevertheless, we can see some hubs
emerge while accelerators and
investments in training schemes are
created: Singapore, Shanghai, HK,
Santiago de Chile, Nairobi, Mexico
City, Cape Town, Belo Horizonte,
and others.
The one thing that is really different
for those countries is that
entrepreneurship is just starting to hit
their culture now. Nowhere in the
world are there as many self-declared
entrepreneurs as in San Francisco.
For emerging markets, culture seems
to be the biggest challenge, with
notable exceptions: Singapore,
Nairobi, Lagos and Cape Town.
What is interesting about these
frontier markets is that out of their
challenges rises the opportunity to
disrupt the status quo and even
sometimes be the test market for new
innovations. We witness in more and
more industries that phenomena of
leapfrogging through which you
would skip one technology
movement directly to the next - less
costly, more efficient and usually
more sustainable one. From their
weaknesses comes also the
advantage of maybe less regulation,
less lobbying and a lesser hurdle of
consumer habits to change. The most
obvious example is that of skipping
land lines directly to mobile phones.
It is predicted that by 2020, over
80% of all smartphones will be
located in emerging markets! When
you think about businesses in these
markets you consider a mobile
economy from day 1. The
opportunities of disruption in the
financial sectors with mobile
payment (50% of Kenyan GDP
passes through M-PESA mobile
payment application), healthcare
sector and others came from there.
You also see the rise of solar
powered or electric powered energy
solutions for remote areas due to the
inefficiencies of the national grid.
There’s a reason for the collaboration
of European or American companies
with entrepreneurship in these
markets: the opportunities for
innovation are wider. I am talking,
for example, about drone companies
who work with the Rwandese
government to change aerial
regulations, in order to allow the first
national drone airport in the world to
reside in their land of a thousand
hills...
Talents are everywhere
What I see throughout all regions and
countries though, is that no matter
what the difficulties are, passion and
dedication always make things
happen.
I like to shout out that talents are
everywhere. No one’s potential is
linked to an environment. It’s true
that a good education and a secure
context help, but the good “seed” can
be in anyone, regardless of the social
environment. Anyone can build
anything great from scratch if you
give them time, resources, patience
and help.
I agree that motivations differ
according to circumstances. Some
have no choice and are entrepreneurs
out of necessity, some fundamentally
believe it is their mission to change
the status quo in their local
communities and countries, whilst
others are born with that DNA of
wanting to build something new and
involve others in their journey.
I wonder if it is also generational.
We, millennials, see life differently
and do put a lot of emphasis on our
personal purpose. We’re very much
attracted by the nomadic lifestyle
that, many times, a digital
entrepreneur can give. I think the
previous generation did not realize or
Inside Entrepreneurship from Emerging Markets
|March 2018| 27

plainly abused of the way we treat our planet and
entrepreneurship became something very relevant to
solve the major challenges of today.
Do one thing that scares you everyday
In the end, I think that entrepreneurship is more a
lifestyle and a mindset, rather than a position. What
really moves the needle is then courage and capacity to
go out of your comfort zone.
I was working for a big luxury company in cosmetics
and I had this feeling of dissatisfaction and unhappiness.
I needed to find a project which made me feel complete
and useful. I felt it was a shame not to work for a product
capable of changing the world. I came across a quote
from Eleanor Roosevelt: “Do one thing that scares you
everyday.” I realized I was deeply in my comfort zone
and not doing this at all, so I decided to go out of my
comfort zone and tour the world from Nigeria to
Colombia in 2013, with the goal to meet the best
entrepreneurs in those countries. That’s where Seedstars
World was born, a startup competition focused only in
emerging markets. Now that we’re turning five, one can
surely say it is our main tool to impact millions of lives
through technology and entrepreneurship!
Today I work hard to be comfortable... being
uncomfortable. I wouldn’t say it’s an easy thing to do
and that I excel at it everyday, but it’s with a good
attitude towards it that you will get there. This is what
we call the “Growth Mindset” at Seedstars. We focus
particularly on that one while recruiting.
Advice for entrepreneurs
The most important thing for an entrepreneur is that you
know yourself. You need to understand yourself to be
able to define what kind of entrepreneur you are (and
yes, this can evolve over time and experiences). Are you
the kind that builds/creates? Are you the type that
follows and scales? Are you the kind that manages and
leads?
This has been the most challenging and overwhelming
journey I have lived to date. But it is, by far, the
“healthiest of insanities”, one with a purpose that makes
the whole journey great and worth it. A lot is linked to
the number of failures you will live, your ability to
master these moments and build agility and resilience.
J.K. Rowling gave it all it’s meaning when stating that
“some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live
without failing at something, unless you live so
cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all –
in which case, you fail by default”.
For all entrepreneurs and professionals, I’ll advise to:
Ÿ Surround yourself with great talent and more
generally in your life, cut out those who pull you
down; keep the best of hearts, minds and laughs.
Ÿ Cut out the noise (reality is not what you read on tech
magazines) and stay focused.
Ÿ Don’t underestimate the time to define and build the
culture within your organisation. Someone once said,
“culture is management at scale”.
Ÿ Measure, measure, measure.
Ÿ Choose your core team because you align with the
values, not because you align in terms of skills.
Ÿ Coach - don’t micromanage (most difficult
experience when going from founder to manager).
And finally, make your dreams reality. It’s all in the
doing. Until death has been cured/resolved/augmented,
we need to respect the time we have and be content of
what we achieve on our day to day.
28 |March 2018|

S
taffing industry is one of the
most well-known, exciting and
diverse industries around. It has
flourished from a fairly narrow sector,
specially known for providing office
personnel to replace sick or
vacationing workers, to a major
industry which now provides a full
range of human resource services to
virtually every type of business and
employer. Nowadays, it is believed that
the industry is responsible for
employing close to three million
people, and is generating revenues of
more than $125 billion, contributing to
a payroll in excess of $90 billion. With
the target of helping people get their
dream job, Canvas InfoTech Inc. a
minority owned staffing and solutions
company started its journey.
Headquartered in Fremont, CA.,
Canvas InfoTech Inc. has been one of
the leading provider of professionals to
the Fortune 500 clients in United States
since 2006. With a commendable
experience of more than eleven years,
the company has the massive network
and resources to fill wide variety of
positions. Canvas works across a wide
zone spanning over senior level
positions, such as C-level Executive
search, to junior individual
contributors. Canvas offers contract
staffing services, full-time staffing
services, and pay-roll services as well.
Additionally, the company provides
immigration assistance, by filling H-
1Bs and Green Cards for its employees
who are working at the company’s
client’s site on a project that it got for
them.
As per the company, it is a consortium
of seasoned consultants with great
experience, working together in
delivering success in ERP
implementation, detailed business
requirements gathering, creating SRSs,
developing Web Based Applications,
and building robust test cases for ERP
implementations.
Technology Staffing Solutions at its
Best
Canvas provides professional
technology staffing solutions to various
respected companies such as Xerox,
Visa, Verizon, The Walt Disney
Company, Toyota, T-Mobile, Symantec,
Tata Consultancy Services, Levi’s, Red
Bull, Motorola, Nokia, Logitech, Kia
Motors, HP, HSBC, HCL, eBay, Dell,
etc. With more than decade of
experience, Canvas also branched into
providing professional certifications
and working with Scrum Alliance to
provide CSM and CSPO training to IT
professionals. Canvas also provides
ITIL training with special training in
MS Project and SAFe Agilist and
SAFe Practitioner training. The
company also provides trainings like
PMI ACP, PMI, PMP, PMI PgMP, and
PMP PfMP.
Canvas specializes in various sectors
including,Technology: All aspect of
Software Development and
implementation and infrastructure
development and Support. Business
Operations: Product Managers, Project
managers, Analysts, Communications.
Finance and Accounting: Controllers,
Assistant Controllers, Junior
Accountants, Senior Accountants,
Credit Managers, Office Managers,
Payroll, Cost Accountants, Financial
Analyst. Marketing and Sales: Account
Managers/Executive, MarCom,
Director of Sales, and
Communications.
The Forerunner of Canvas
Back in 2006, Canvas was Co-
founded by Mr. Alok Bhatia, who is
also the President of the company.
Over the period of last 6 years, he has
provided more than 800 consultants to
Fortune 500 companies. Alok was also
involved in multiple process
improvement projects which includes
IT based software development
projects. With over 21 years of
experience in the IT industry, he has
Canvas InfoTech Inc.:
Fullling Stafng Needs Efciently
30 |March 2018|

Our Mission is
partnering
with clients to
provide robust
Information
Technology
Solutions.
picked up several certifications including PMP, CSM,
CSPO, PMI-ACP, CBAP, SAFe Agilist and SAFe
Practitioner, ITIL, and MS Project 2013. All these training
has helped him build the needed skills to help a group of
people progress from ‘forming and storming’towards the
goal of becoming a great performing, continuously
improving, and self-organizing scrum team. Working for
Fortune 500 companies early in his career helped him
understand the huge market and the potential for a business
in this field. This in turn led Alok to build Canvas InfoTech
Inc.
When Clients and Employees are First Priority
Canvas always takes pride in serving its client’s needs to
the best of its ability. Fulfilling its client’s needs gives the
organization an immense satisfaction and each of the
success is the organization’s motivation, which adds to all
the excitement.
Canvas always believes employee friendly workplace
culture is a key to a company’s success and winning
workplace culture doesn’t happen by chance, nor it can be
forced. According to the management of the company,
workplace cultures should include open lines of
communication, a clear organizational mission, careful
hiring, work life flexibility, competitive pay and benefits.
And lastly, not to forget – fun that includes multiple team
events throughout the year.
Tackling Rough Patches and Future Planning
Just like most other organizations, Canvas too had its own
share of initial struggles. However, due to the hard work,
persistence, and perseverance of the extremely dedicated
team, the company eventually tackled all the initial
struggles.
Thanks to the solid team of the company which is mission-
driven and understands the constant market change and
adapts to all these changes accordingly. Canvas is hoping to
be the number one staffing agency in the bay area and also
the best training institute for certifications training in the
near future.
Alok Bhatia
Co-founder & President
|March 2018| 31

32 |March 2018|
IS

cquiring or buying goods,
Aservices and work often via
tendering or competitive
bidding process is known as
procurement. Corporate and public
sectors unit seeks it to be a fair and
open competition process of trade for
their business with minimizing risks,
such as exposure to fraud and
collusion. Procurement process include
business affecting factors such as
marginal benefit, shipping, delivery
and the fluctuating prices of many
goods and services. Conventional
procurement process generally
consumes a certain amount of
resources such as employees, time and
money of an organization, which is
counted in general as the non-liable
assets and it affects the growth of an
organization in the current tech-arena.
The advancement in technology has
given a boom to the procurement
process and for the leading
procurement organizations; it does not
just act as quick decision enabler but
also a key driver of next-level
performance and results.
Procurement teams are now
capitalizing on innovative sources of
technology to optimize processes,
building trust, and to enrich
relationships to improve their strategic
reach and deploy cutting-edge
procurement resources. Technology is
continuously driving improvements in
processes, data, insights, and as all
technologies are ultimately
implemented to savings. Following are
the current market driving technology,
which are affecting procurement
processes:
Cloud Services
The ease in buying, selling and getting
the right resources across a full array
of business services and goods are the
natural needs for the young generation
of tech-professionals to drive into
budget management roles. This has
now become possible due to cloud-
oriented services available in the
market for procurement professionals.
Leading to a quickening pace in cloud
services, the companies are now
looking to ditch clunky, in-house
systems and are replacing it with
accessible cloud solutions to avoid
being lumbered with rapidly
superseded systems. Cloud is proving
to be very helpful in determining
services such as supply chain, a
process to pay, purchasing, and much
more.
Online Global Access to Marketplace
Technological advancement in
procurement processes is helping to
recede geographical limitations,
resulting in greater participation of
organizations to access global pools of
suppliers for business services and
resources. With this advancement,
larger enterprises will achieve greater
efficiencies and can easily identify
hidden cost savings factors across the
wider areas of their business,
particularly within their indirect
spending. Online platforms are
streamlining their purchasing potential
and helping them to get quick access to
high-quality suppliers while ensuring
in-house compliance.
Expenditure Management
Many organizations are strong at
expenditure analysis but still, this only
proves to be a little aspect of
expenditure management. Even this
task is full of difficulties, with no set of
particular standards to define how
much and what goes into which
category during operations. Once an
organization starts looking at the
details across its budgets, it gets really
difficult to understand its level of
expenditures and whether the best
value is achieved. With the availability
of technology, organizations are
improving their view on future
expenditures.
Artificial Intelligence & its Future
Scopes
AI is gaining trust across different
sectors in almost all leading
organizations and will continue to
evolve till we adopt more consumer
buying behaviors at different
workplaces in leading procurement
organizations. The area of expertise,
locations, size and the credit score
requirements of almost every supplier
is required to get clarity over project
deliverables. Organizations are getting
support from AI platforms to increase
the spectrum area of search, speeding
up their processes and avoiding the risk
of bias, fraud and error rectifications
produced by humans.
AI is proving to be a boon for
Procurement organizations but still,
there is a long way to go in
advancement. AI can help in
|March 2018| 33
Editor’s Viewpoint

submitting e-bidding of tenders or in
purchase of material by relocating
resources according to requirements,
the arrangement of data and sheets in
array fashion, special dedicated
software’s and many more things will
get lined-up in accordance to time
evolution.
Mobile Applications
Mobile channels are helping micro-
services like raise of purchase orders,
approvals & continuous checks on
delivery times, and billing especially
for procurements goods to get faster
and reliable. These services will
continue to adopt lighter client-side
mobile apps. Apps also help with
measurement. Business goods are on
tight timeline and data from Apps will
improve measurement of each step on
procurement journey. Mobile
applications are also helping in the
transfer of data through secured
channel, cost-cutting and better
resources utilization.
Summary
Technology has provided the ability to
deploy spend management platforms
that will help in automating or enable
employee self-service for tactical
procurement activities and due to it,
procurement organizations will find
mundane supplier activities waning.
This will provide procurement
professionals with extra hands-on time
to focus on higher value-add from
suppliers. Further, technology will
continue to evolve over the medium to
longer term to a mode with a core
“container” with a myriad of
transactional apps. Companies will see
the impact as they start to control a
much larger percentage of indirect
spend. With the integration of sources,
purchasing and procurement
technology, and its interface, into wider
and specialized business applications,
has been single-handedly
transformational for every organization
that has had the acumen to implement
it to date. If organizations haven’t done
it yet, it is imperative for them to start
today!
34 |March 2018|

Ateam is formed when
individuals with a common
taste, preference, liking, and
attitude, shares a common goal. Team
plays a vital role in organizations as
well as in our personal lives. Henry
Ford once said “Coming together is a
beginning. Keeping together is
progress. Working together is
success.” An organization requires an
adequate team that works curiously to
draw the succession. A great team
starts with a great leadership team.
Midwest Restoration is a full service
property damage restoration company
that has initiated such a leadership
team. The capable leadership of
Coyne S. Borree, CEO and Jennifer
Rottier, COO of Midwest
Restoration has successfully formed a
specialized team which has enhanced
the company’s solutions. The firm is
privately owned and an expert
company that facilitates the
restoration and reconstruction of
residential and commercial properties
damaged by fire, water, storms,
vandalism, or any other incident.
Established in 2008, the company has
restored many properties with
noticeable utility across the country.
Restoring the Residential and
Commercial Properties Cost-
Effectively
The organization restores and
reconstructs several residential and
commercial properties with an
unparalleled efficiency. It utilizes top
of the line equipment in the field and
a software and
communication/documentation
systems that sets the bar of services
very high.
The platform also provides carpet
cleaning, hazmat/trauma cleanup,
general remodeling, roofing/siding,
ultrasonic cleaning, and other
essential services related to
restoration. Although the industry
expense standards are very high it is a
tough task to provide 100% paperless
operations cost-effectively. Midwest
Restoration has made the course
possible and expertly delivers one of
the best full circle restorative
operations available to their clients.
Midwest Restoration works for the
homeowners and focuses on their
customer being happy with a great
product at the end of the day
irrespective of the budget and profit
margins.
Delivering the Services Passionately
Both Coyne Borree and Jennifer
Rottier are extremely passionate about
the vertical and strive to provide their
best to deliver a credible restoration
platform.
Mr. Borree has year of experience in
both the insurance claims industry as
well as a restoration background.
When you couple these two fields
together you have a recipe for success
in the property damage arena. After
working for large national
corporations, he realized the need for
a local company that had its local
client’s best interests in mind and
formed Midwest Restoration
accordingly. He mentions “We provide
all the services, but, at the end of the
day, seeing all of my clients around
the area and knowing that I have
helped them out in a time of need
while knowing that it was done in
their best interests.” In his position of
President of Midwest Restoration,
Coyne oversees all day-to-day
operations of the organization with an
emphasis on his clients, building a
successful team of employees, and
being a good corporate citizen. Coyne
is active in numerous Fox Valley
business associations, and charities
including the local Chamber of
Commerce, Police and Fire
Departments, NARI, The BBB, Home
Building Associations, The Red
Cross, and Habitat for Humanity.
Jennifer Rottier, COO of Midwest
Restoration has an Associate’s degree
in Arts & Science from the UW Fox
Valley, alongside being a graduate of
Midwest Restoration:
A Brilliant Emergency Platform
Built by a Great Team
36 |March 2018|

YOUR Emergency
is OUR Priority.
the EMT program at Fox Valley Technical College. She
has held a number of management and executive positions
throughout her career. Before joining Midwest
Restoration, Jennifer was directly involved with Theda
Clark’s ICU and Intermediate Medical and Stroke Unit.
Prior to that, Jennifer earned the title of the number one
sales associate for seven years straight at one of the
largest risk management and workplace compliance
organizations in the nation.
Jennifer joined Midwest Restoration in December of
2015, serving as the Vice President of Business
Development. Due to her massive success in business
development, with her adding 1.2 million dollars in
revenue during her first year in the company created
numerous positions that streamed to continue delivering a
quality product to its customers. In January of 2017
Jennifer took on a challenging role of a project manager
to curb large losses. Unsurprisingly, Jennifer completed
several projects over the course of 2017 and did it so well
that the company re-wrote the process of its project
management based on how she managed her projects. She
was promoted as the Chief Operations Officer in 2018,
with the ultimate goal of creating a duplicable system
being able to have franchisees across the country, giving
others the opportunity to provide the same quality service
and deliver the same quality product that was started in
January of 2008. The astuteness of Coyne and Jennifer as
a team, together, simplifies the further progressions with
deliberate swiftness.
Handpicked Associates with Insightful Abilities
Rising as the market dominator within a small amount of
time is not an easy task. Midwest Restoration has proved
its reliability within no time receiving multiple local and
national awards. The prime reason behind the success is
insightful abilities of the company’s handpicked
employees. It has very low associate turnover and puts-in
massive amounts of continued education and constant
training to keep them within the company with real-time
industry insights. Jennifer states “We believe in treating
our associates and clients with the same level of value
and respect that we provide to our customers.” The
company understands the importance of trusted advisors
to get out of a tough spot. Thus, it aims to deliver a
leading restoration and reconstruction platform to
selective regional and national franchises, with the solid
team of its facilitators at the helm of affairs.
Coyne S. Borree
CEO
Jennifer Rottier
COO
|March 2018| 37

The growth of the Fintech ecosystem brought with it
an influx of Payment Service Providers (PSP).
These new arrivals are changing the way the
industry is serving and interacting with its customers.
Growth Triggers Fresh Challenges
It doesn’t matter if you are a B2C or a B2B company, you
are now facing a more informed, savvier
Customer/Merchant who is looking not just for the best
pricing but for the best value for their money.
This evolution of the customer required the service provider
to evolve as well, simply to keep up. Providers have had to
consider additional services as part of their value
proposition – not always an easy task for companies with
limited resources and legacy systems.
The market became more accessible to young, fresh brands
offering agile and innovative approaches to payments.
Many veteran players have been left to follow their lead or
risk losing business. Customers today are looking for faster
onboarding, fewer questions and more services offered
instantly, from “one-click-checkout” to the ability to login
with social networks and even easy ways to share expenses
on the go.
Square Gets it Right
Payment Service Provider Square is an excellent example
of a PSP who acted quickly to respond to customer demand.
Square started out with their card reader and MPOS, then
quickly expanded their services to ecommerce, scheduling
and many more options designed to help SMBs (Small
Medium Business) expand and scale their own enterprises.
Square’s ease of use has helped thousands of merchants
improve revenues and take control of their day to day
activity.
At Coriunder, we have been focused on the PSP-As-A-
Startup (PAAS) approach, where the PSP is changing their
strategy and allocating their budgets to become more
competitive with newer, more agile providers; this led to
another PAAS approach. This one has been around for a
while but wasn’t considered as an alternative; Payments-
As-A-Service. This option paves the way for white label
gateway providers that have been enabling the quick setup
of a Payment Service Provider without the need of a large
technical team and the security certifications that come with
it.
The majority of providers are focusing on the large network
of acquiring banks and alternative solutions instead of on
the flexibility needed for the PSP to build his client base.
But it’s not just about the payments.
Our Solution for the PAAS Dilemma
Our approach is slightly different; we built a BAAS
(Backend-As-A-Service) model that gives our clients tools
to manage Customers (Card holders/Users), Merchants,
Affiliates and even their own employees. This provides our
clients with a way to build apps and services as part of
their offering and to manage the billing and “standard”
services all within one, PCI Level 1 certified, management
suite.
This approach made Payments an “Add-on” to the PSP’s
service and not the main service; we see some clients
expanding our Merchant Management Portal to allow
scheduling and invoicing. Other users are building risk and
fraud tools to extend the KYC checks and transactions
monitoring they have in place.
We serve as a hub that provides the PSP with the options
they need to integrate to every service provider they wish
to. Together, they can create intuitive workflows that better
serve their business logic.
BAAS and Fraud Prevention
An evolution of a customer comes hand in hand with the
evolution of the “Fraudsters”. In many cases, the PSP is left
exposed on both fronts; they need to both cater to the
Backend-As-A-Service
for Payments-As-A-Service
38 |March 2018|

customer and combat fraud. Clients adopting BAAS are
using the Backend solution to manage both transactions and
customers, so they now have the ability to integrate Risk
and Fraud tools. In many cases, they can even build their
own custom tools to define workflows that help them better
mitigate risk and more effectively fight chargebacks and
fraud.
We see the struggles of our customers as a shared challenge,
so we offer a C2C (Client-to-Client) integration as part of
the core functionality, brands can help one other find
solutions more quickly. With C2C integration, additional
revenue streams can be established, as clients developing
new services or expanding to new territories can assist one
another with growth and opportunity.
When we launched our service we aimed it at startups
looking to build their idea on top of our Backend; we soon
we learned that the PSP market was in dire need of a
service like ours. We are now serving Payment Service
Providers globally, with partners based in Hong Kong, the
United States, Cyprus, Malta, Costa Rica and more. By
addressing the needs of this rapidly growing industry and
helping clients create innovative custom solutions, BAAS
can resolve the dilemma faced by the average PSP.
About Coriunder:
Coriunder is a Backend-As-A-Service platform for fintech
and ecommerce companies. Whatever your services might
be, Coriunder provides you with reach management tools to
monetize your solution and enables you to expand globally
with our Payment optimization tools and a single point of
integration for all of your services.
With over 300 available integrations to acquiring banks and
service providers, Coriunder is the logical Backend-As-A-
Service for the Payment Service Provider.
About Eliad Saporta
Eliad Saporta is the Managing Director of Coriunder.
With a background in law and an MBA in finance,
Eliad has always been drawn to product
management and design. He worked as a
consultant for various companies, assisting
them in their efforts to build products in the
payments ecosystem. Today, he helps
entrepreneurs not only by assisting them,
but also by offering the right tools and
services for building their vision.
Eliad Saporta
Managing Director
Coriunder
Mentor's Insights
|March 2018| 39

Experiencing a seamless growth is not a miracle,
but an appeal in actionable process. Success is a
universal concept and not solitude for a certain
people, class or origin. So, with this idea, success is
actually open for everybody, living anywhere at any
time. If you want your provisions to be most preferred
over another, you need to put more preference in
providing non-horizontal line of solutions in the industry.
Provide, people with what they have never heard of, and
they will seek for you even in the most hidden places.
When you gain such attention, and after a long strive,
happiness, and long lasting joy will fills your heart then
this is what success is all about.
To stand out unique and be more successful than you
have always been, exploit the action plans mentioned
below. You may not be able to implement each and
every-one, but attempting them with a discipline can
help you to improve in unparalleled manner.
Self-Control and Discipline
You are mature enough, but the future is wiser than you.
So, if you want to reach the desired future in a more
effective way then learn to organize yourself, and
arrange line of action with a time consciousness. Always
remember that, time gone will not come back. One must
optimize his daily activities to be more organized. The
hard works will surely payback with a huge success and
a worthwhile ROI.
Listen to the Inner Voice
A wise man will not fell into the trouble that a smart
person would come out of. Learn the people around you.
The society is not your home, but your extra person in
multitude. If you can control how these multitudes
interact with your inner person and never be distracted
by them, you will succeed in almost everything that has
to do with people. Remember, you will not always be
successful in everything, but you can be mentally
successful, when your first step was taken with high
degree of optimism. So always be positive and do not
allow the bad happening of the now, to distract the
possibilities of the future.
Be the Leader of Your Today
Although you failed once, it also means you tried, and
you have the chances to be successful. If you never tried
a new thing, you will never know how far you could
have gone in life. In all, just learn from your failures and
always try to climb up. Never regret anything, just learn
from your mistakes and become a better version of you.
When you meet new challenges in 2018, always face it
with confidence because you might be just a step behind
the green pasture at the other end. Let your actions be
leader-oriented, with clear goals and budded with pure
passion and allow yourself to fly high.
Learn in Bits, Grow in Bulk
Do not try to learn everything once, you will always
make a lot mistakes. As long as you live and interact
with people in 2018, always find something new to add
to your knowledge store. Learn from the digital
platforms, the crowd, but in all; learn to optimize what
you have assimilated. Observe each and every action
taken by you and have an ability to understand the right
one. It will help you to stay ahead of the masses. If you
know what every other person knows, and add your own
extra knowledge, your actions will stand as reference
point for the generations. So continue learning to
continue earning.
Leading Insights
to Become the Most
Successful Person This Year
40 |March 2018|

|March 2018| 41
SalesChoice

At first glance, business research
and consulting firms seem
somewhat similar. True, their
staff qualifications, capabilities,
presentations, and fee structures don’t
appear to vary much. However, the
devil’s in the details. These firms can
differ greatly in philosophy, processes,
tools, and overall success rates in
facilitating a client’s business
outcomes. Proactive Worldwide is a
case in point. Unlike most other
consultants, PWW specializes in
serving clients through its expertise in
strategic intelligence research and
related services.
Proactive Worldwide has leveraged the
power of Big Data as the catalyst for
innovations in evidence-based
competitive intelligence and market
intelligence. To achieve these ends,
PWW works with software partners
and emphasizes research and
development (R&D). As a result of
these innovative strategies, PWW has
become a global force in integrating
data analytics with cutting-edge
expertise in primary market research to
deploy more constructive strategic
intelligence solutions.
Providing Trailblazing Solutions
In today’s volatile market economy,
any firm needs to take advantage of the
best business strategies to survive and
prosper. Proactive Worldwide excels in
this arena. The PWW experts help
customers from a wide range of
industries to outdo the competition
through the use of Intelligence-Based
Strategic Planning, Competitive
Intelligence, Market Intelligence, and
Customer Insights. The PWW cultural
and operational approach has been
honed through many years of
experience in developing customized
evidence-based solutions to address
market, customer, and competitive
challenges.
Proactive Worldwide shares its
expertise by presenting workshops that
always have an enthusiastic following.
Among the most popular workshop
topics is a discussion of ROI and the
way that is affected by using evidence-
based intelligence when making
business development decisions in
emerging markets.
Meeting the Man at the Helm
Gary Maag is the Co-founder and
CEO of Proactive Worldwide. With
more than 25 years of experience in
competitive intelligence (CI) research
and consulting, he directs all of
Proactive’s global business
development, sales, and marketing
activities. For his achievements, Maag
has received the Strategic and
Competitive Intelligence Professionals’
(SCIP) Catalyst Award as well as
Northern Illinois University’s
Distinguished Marketing Alumnus
Award.
Partnering with Software Developers
More than most strategic intelligence
professionals, Proactive Worldwide’s
executive leaders engage in significant
R&D with their software partners to
develop new innovations. The
organization’s advanced rapid response
service, “Ask an Analyst,” is one
typical endeavor. “Ask an Analyst”
was developed to help organizations
quickly authenticate their positions on
any number of
strategic/competitive/marketing/custo
mer benchmarking metrics to provide
insight and direction toward more
profitability and growth.
Developed by PWW’s President David
Kalinowski, the firm also offers a
highly strategic War Gaming service.
As Kalinowski sees it, “War games are
particularly relevant in a fluctuating
global marketplace, and when done
right, can expose more predictively
reliable pathways to help businesses
tactically strengthen their position
among their competition.”
Staying Ahead of the Pack
Proactive Worldwide works incessantly
to incorporate new technologies as
they arise and to build more inclusive
models around exponentially
increasing volumes of available data.
Proactive Worldwide:
A Global Leader in Strategic
Intelligence Services
42 |March 2018|

Strategic intelligence
is like oxygen in the
corporate environment—if
enough gets to the heads
of executives, it becomes
easier to think clearly.
To do this requires a highly trained and knowledgeable
staff. Fortunately, its stellar reputation has made PWW a
mecca for both attracting and retaining high caliber people
who share the firm’s vision, professionalism, and respect for
each other’s talents. Proactive Worldwide credits its team
mindset with formulating a positive growth strategy and
intentional direction within the organization. Every member
of the team brings to the table a unique skill-set that
contributes to the firm’s overall expertise and to the
knowledge base. As a result, the firm has grown and
prospered.
Providing Specialized Tools
The team at Proactive Worldwide never rests on its laurels.
Now they are taking evidence-based findings to a higher
level, particularly through strategic simulation, competitive
response modeling, and scenario planning. The
organization’s leading practitioners are well-known for their
development of standard practices in Competitive
Intelligence (CI), and they provide information to those in
the CI space at prominent forums, workshops, and
conferences throughout the year.
Proactive Worldwide’s proven service model stresses
collaboration with clients to increase their ability not only
to gather data, but also to organize, categorize, and
disseminate information efficiently. Proactive Worldwide
creates customized intelligence web portals to make this
easier for their clients. These web portals are a highly
effective way to sort and share critical intelligence with
those who can most benefit. These customer-specific web
portals help customers make critical business decisions in
near-real time.
Stepping Up to Aid Growth Industries
Changes in technology and methodology occur so rapidly
today that many industries find it difficult to keep pace.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the burgeoning
healthcare industry. Proactive Worldwide has solutions.
Currently, the organization is developing cutting-edge
technological innovations that will have an impact on
decision making in various areas, including insurance
coverage, mergers, and patient compliance. One of
Proactive Worldwide’s newest product entries,
“MedForecast™,” is a subscription-based model that tracks
new drug-treatment solutions as they go through the
approval process.
Emerging markets around the world are also on the horizon.
The PWW team looks forward to these new challenges.
Gary Maag
Co-founder & CEO
|March 2018| 43