The Wireless Way, with Chris Whitaker

This special edition of 'The Wireless Way' transitions from solely audio to include video, featuring a detailed discussion with guest DBA (David Bailey Aldrich) who has recently joined GoExceed as the director of channel sales in August 2023. The conversation begins with DBA's extensive background in telecom and technology, touching upon his sales career beginning in retail at Nordstrom and his journey into the telecom and technology sectors. DBA shares personal anecdotes, including lessons learned and his passion for singing. The focus then shifts to the challenges businesses face in managing mobile environments and the solutions offered by GoExceed. The partnership between GoExceed and Spectrotel is announced, highlighting its potential to deliver comprehensive managed mobility services. DBA elaborates on the application of AI and machine learning in optimizing mobile expenses and the broader impact of managed mobility services across various industries. The conversation concludes with advice for sales advisors on leveraging GoExceed's offerings to provide value to clients and the importance of solution-oriented sales approaches.00:00 Welcome to a Unique Edition of The Wireless Way00:44 Introducing Guest DBA: A Telecom and Technology Veteran01:59 DBA's Journey: From Retail to Telecom Titan03:00 DBA's Unexpected Talent: A Singer with a Diverse Repertoire04:02 Transitioning to Telecom: A Story of Opportunity and Growth05:41 The Power of Perspective: Turning Setbacks into Stepping Stones07:05 Exploring Enterprise Wireless Expense Management with GoExceed07:32 The Surprising Lack of Awareness and Adoption in Telecom Solutions11:50 Best Practices for Selling Telecom Solutions and Demonstrating Value16:11 Real-World Impact: Saving Money and Streamlining Operations18:18 Innovative Reporting and Cost Optimization19:55 The Power of AI and Machine Learning in Business22:31 Enhancing Device Lifecycle Management and Security24:41 Strategic Advice for Advisors in Mobility and Expense Management28:46 Exploring Verticals and Opportunities31:17 Closing Thoughts and Strategic Partnership AnnouncementSupport the show

In this episode of 'The Wireless Way,' host Chris Whitaker interviews David Ripner, who has spent 30 years in the wireless industry. Ripner recounts starting his career with humble beginnings conducting surveys in malls, which eventually led him to sales and into the wireless sector. He details his progression from working on pagers in 1994 to playing a significant role in establishing the Dallas market for a paging company, and later transitioning into cellular sales as the industry evolved. Ripner also discusses founding the mobility marketplace, aimed at helping businesses and government customers manage their cell phone accounts more efficiently through device management solutions. The conversation covers the challenges of data wiping, the importance of securing decommissioned devices, and how the industry's approach to device lifecycle management and business operations has changed over the years. Ripner emphasizes the value of listening to customers' needs to evolve services and solutions in the fast-paced wireless industry.00:00 Welcome to The Wireless Way: Meet David Ripner01:00 David's Unique Journey into the Wireless Industry03:29 The Evolution from Pagers to Cell Phones06:45 The Birth and Mission of The Mobility Marketplace08:01 The Intricacies of Device Lifecycle Management18:13 Securing Devices: The Overlooked Aspect of Cybersecurity19:27 Reflecting on Changes in the Wireless Industry26:53 David's Passion for Problem-Solving and Customer Feedback28:45 Wrapping Up: The Importance of Security and Customer FeedbackSupport the show

Unusually Unusual Marketing Insights with Amy BaileyIn this episode of 'The Wireless Way', host Chris Whitaker converses with Amy Bailey, the force behind Unusually Unusual Consulting. Amy shares her journey from working for her father's call accounting business to becoming a marketing dynamo and the creator of memorable experiences, from incentive trips to marketing content enrichment. The discussion delves into the nuances of channel marketing, the effectiveness of virtual vs. in-person events, the strategy behind successful marketing swag, and the evolving landscape of channel marketing. Amy emphasizes the importance of creating memorable experiences and the impact of thoughtful marketing materials over quantity. The episode also introduces the Channel Marketing Association, founded by Amy and her partner, aimed at sharing best practices and fostering community among marketing professionals.00:00 On the Road: A Special Episode of The Wireless Way00:20 Introducing Amy Bailey: The Heartbeat of Unusually Unusual Consulting02:15 Amy's Journey: From Call Accounting to Marketing Maven05:41 Mastering MDF: Strategies for Maximizing Marketing Funds10:53 The Evolution of Event Marketing: In-Person vs. Virtual16:38 The Art of Follow-Up: Maximizing Event ROI18:06 Swag Strategy: Investing in Quality Giveaways18:31 Rethinking Swag: Quality Over Quantity19:27 Innovative Swag Ideas: The Reader Glasses Story21:13 Understanding Your Audience for Effective Swag23:49 The Future of Channel Marketing and Community Building26:26 The Evolution of Channel Marketing: Data-Driven Strategies28:10 Personal Insights and the Unusually Unusual Company StorySupport the show

During the conversation, Alex shares her journey from retail to the IoT industry and her passion for simplifying IoT solutions. She also discusses her role as an executive producer for the film 'After Closing' and emphasizes the importance of making others feel great in sales and networking.Alex is an experienced sales leader with a consistent multi-million-dollar growth track record. She has extensive background in partner sales, client development, creative problem solving and team building. She has Successfully managed and promoted multiple employees throughout her career. She has extensive experience selling to a variety of industry verticals: Healthcare, Manufacturing, Construction, Oil & Gas, Hospitality, HVAC, Mobility, Agriculture, and Retail. Alex has spent a large part of the last two years consulting businesses on how to go to market with IoT Solutions. In addition, she is an executive producer for a film called: After Closing. Learn more about her: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexmartny/Video from My Devices on "Things IoT people say"- https://youtu.be/MEHitVDh15A?si=70VlX8MavmSTqQHfSupport the show

The episode is a conversation between the host, Chris Whitaker, and his guest, Ryan Carlson, a technology evangelist at Soracom. They discuss Ryan's journey in the field of IoT, connectivity, and the development of smart products. Ryan shares insights about building a smart product, emphasizes the importance of multi-carrier cellular providers, and the evolution of cloud native technology. He also advises on the three Ps - play, potential, and plan - for successful product development. The conversation delves into various topics including podcasting, networking, and the interconnectedness between human and technological connectivity.Ryan Carlson is the Technology Evangelist at Soracom, a company specializing in cloud-native cellular connectivity for IoT applications. Ryan has helped pioneer connected products in energy, healthcare, transportation, and commercial services as a product owner, solutions architect, researcher, and principal IoT consultant. He has first-hand experience in product design, user research, IoT corporate strategy, and overseeing product development and go-to-market strategies. In addition, he is the host to the wildly successful podcast “What to expect when your connecting” More on Soracom- https://www.soracom.io/us/More on Ryan- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rjcarlson/Support the show

Lauren Canaday studied at Virginia Tech, where she earned a BA in economics and MS in statistics. She briefly worked as civilian Army statistician before stumbling on her entrepreneurial passion—she pivoted to doing hair and running hair salons for the next decade. Teaching business classes and consulting with salon owners inspired Lauren to do additional graduate work in Organization Development at American University in 2018. When a seizure disorder diagnosis at the age of 34 required her to rethink personal/professional balance, she returned to the federal space. She spent the past five years working and consulting with federal agencies and contractors as a transformational change and customer experience specialist. Lauren caught COVID-19 in December 2023. COVID led to myocarditis and worsened her well-controlled epilepsy. Two months later, she became one of the lucky few to survive an out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest—thanks to her husband calling 911 and starting CPR immediately. Her recovery proved difficult, and she left full-time employment to focus on doctor visits, daily basics, and one of her chief passions: writing.  Last summer, Lauren started a newsletter called Cognitively Intact on Substack in which she transparently shares her recovery journey. On December 1, she released a memoir called Independence Ave: How Individualism Killed Me and Community Brought Me Back about facing chronic illness, burnout, and the lifeshattering impacts of cardiac arrest. A Reddit AMA one random December Monday created a surprising worldwide platform, as reporters and organizations reached out wanting to know more about Lauren's near-death experience. She hopes that sharing her cardiac arrest story will inspire others to learn CPR and to better address needs of survivors living with chronic illness. Cognitively Intact- Check out her SubstackAs few as 6% of those who suffer sudden cardiac arrest at home survive. I'm one of them. Here, I share the brightest and darkest sides of survivorship and explore what kicks in when science leaves you hanging. Themes: epilepsy, chronic illness, PTSD.Read her book hereRead the Article hereMore on CPR training from the Red Cross. Leave a review- https://www.facebook.com/Thewirelesswaypodcast/reviewsSupport the show

He started as a PHP, JavaScript, and MySQL developer over 15 years ago. Today, we would call that full-stack, but back then, it was just a web developer. Then, he moved to the Solutions Architect role at Orange, where he has been designing solutions distributed over numerous telco systems. He has specialized in the Internet of Things domain for the last seven years. he was leading a team building IoT solutions using Azure and AWS Clouds. Finally, AWS recruited him for the IoT Consultant role. After 4 years at AWS, he decided to start an independent IoT Advisory and Training services. Connect with Lukasz- https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukaszmpl/Buy his book- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJ339N9PVisit his website- https://www.thingrex.com/Support the show

Alban Sanchez is the Chief of Technology and Innovation Officer of LinkAmerica. He has a background in electronics engineering, research, and development for the telecommunications industry and, during the last decade, founded and became CEO of a company called Lantern Technologies - later acquired by LinkAmerica -.  His company specialized in the development of Industry 4.0 software applications, the Internet of Things (IoT), data science, and artificial intelligence technologies. He has been a speaker in different national and international forums - including twice TEDx talk speeches - and has contributed technically and commercially to the creation of innovative technological products on industrial automation, smart agriculture, and smart cities.For more than 20 years he also served in several positions on the Foreign Trade Promotion Agency of Costa Rica (PROCOMER), including being a board member and General Manager ai. He led strategic planning, innovation management, multiple technological projects, and several restructuring processes, which resulted in an evaluation and later recognition from the World Trade Organization WTO to PROCOMER as the best trade Promotion Agency in the world.His combined experience in entrepreneurship, international trade, technical design, product development, and commercialization gives him an end-to-end and high-to-low-level view of the management processes involved in launching new products in the technological sector.Learn more about Alban- https://www.linkedin.com/in/alban-sanchez-39a9624/Leran more about Lin America IoT- https://www.linkamericalabs.com/Support the show

Channel leader share his knowledge on how to leverage channel sales for suppliers, maximizing MDF and the power of after event plans.If you are in need of a channel plan, or question if your plan is working, Kameron can help. Learn more about The Channel Advisors- https://www.thechanneladvisors.com/ Learn more about Kameron- https://www.linkedin.com/in/kameronolsen/Support the show

Spectrum VoIP and Laura Hinojosa MathwigThis is a great discussion around a UCaaS solution and mobility being a single solution. Laura is a fantastic tech leader and leaves us with some great advice. More about Spectrum VoIP- https://www.spectrumvoip.com/Connect with Laura- https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-hinojosa-mathwig-80bbb1115/Support the show

Its that time of the year, seasons change and so do jobs.  I made a challenging decision to move on from Telarus, a incredible company, I loved working there, I wish I could both jobs., really.  I joined Spectrotel as their GM/VP of Mobility.  Mobility is a big part of the tech stack and it is growing.  Spectrotel, much like Telarus, has a fantastic leadership team and culture, I am grateful to be a part of this team.  Check out Spectrotel here. https://www.spectrotel.com/ Follow on Linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/company/spectrotel/mycompany/Support the show

In this episode, we hit on NDAs, supplier and partner agreements, channel conflict, legal options and the value of working with a TSB (Technology Services Broker, aka, Tech Services distributor).  Also touch on redlines and contract negotiations. Maybe not the most exciting and technical episode, but such an important topic. Better call Rich.  Great advice for suppliers, if you are betting on the channel and you have a bad TSD contract, you are trouble. Rich can help.After thriving in the channel as General Counsel of Telarus for almost four years, Rich Goates started his own law firm, Goates Law Group, to support the channel more broadly. Rich has negotiated hundreds of supplier and partner agreements, subagent agreements, operating agreements, partnership agreements, NDAs, compensation agreements, performed due diligence in the acquisition context, assisted clients in resolving commission disputes without litigation, and assisted both suppliers and partners in navigating the legal issues associated with the channel. Rich lives in Heber City, UT with his wife and four children and loves fly fishing, NBA basketball, serving in church, and spending time in the mountains.Intro and BioWhat’s not int the bio- how did you get to where you are today?What is the typical profile of your clients?What advice do you have for partners in terms of contracts.  Also, NDAs for big deals, are partners covered by broker/Supplier agreements?What advice do you have for suppliers, how can they get ahead of the redline back and forth?Learn more about Rich:https://www.linkedin.com/in/richgoates/ Learn more about his company:https://goateslawgroup.com/Support the show

Great conversation on how expenses management and especially mobility management is a game changer for businesses. Shawn is the Chief Revenue Officer of Tellennium. Shawn leads outbound sales efforts and new client generation. With 15 years of experience in the telecom industry, he managed Fortune 500 telecom accounts on the operations side before moving to sales. Shawn has gained market recognition with thought leadership and speaking engagements in the industry. He believes that the core of a successful sales team is based on engaging sales in a highly ethical manner with high integrity. Shawn has a Master’s Degree from Liberty University. He is also an avid outdoorsman’s, hunting and fishing.  Learn more about Shawn herehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnveitz/Learn more about Telliniem here:https://tellennium.com/Support the show

Great multi guest panel on cybersecurity, mobility and IoT and how they are intertwined. This episode is packed with stats and great discussions on various technologies. I have Jason Sein, my team mate at Tealrus, VP of Cybersecurity, John Gonzalez, VP of Channel at Wireless Watchdogs and Chaz Chalkley, VP of Channel at Dataprise.   Learn more about the speakers:Chaz -https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaz-chalkley-9769a04/John- https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gonzalez-b7262318/Jason- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonzstein/Support the show

Great conversation with Rubin, a high quality business leader and highly successful technology advisor.  We hit on many aspects of what it takes to win as a partner and supplier.Grateful for Rubin spending some valuable time with me to have this thought provoking conversation. Support the show

Great conversation where we discuss movies to Sonic the hedgehog.  and the adoption rate for IIoT and IoT in general, plus his new book.  Matt has a grasp of the topic and simplifies the technology for all of us.  His book covers real use cases, root causes of failure, scalable strategies, architecture for digital twins and industrial data lakes, actional checklist and plans.   Matt also shares his thoughts on Chat GPT, and it is very interesting. About Matt:Matt Oberdorfer is an author, speaker, serial entrepreneur, and investor. His new book “The Trailblazer’s Guide to Industrial IoT” is a comprehensive guide for energy and manufacturing digital transformation leaders that offers expert insights and practical advice on upgrading the OT/IT infrastructure of industrial companies to harness the power of modern AI, ML, and analytics for Digital Twins, IndustrialData lake, and cloud historian. Matt has been involved in more than 15 privately held businesses that have been honored with the " Innovation Quotient Award for Information Technology," the " Annual eWeek Excellence Award" winner, and the "Red Herring 100 North America Award." Matt is the founder and CEO of EOT, a leading industrial software company dedicated to helping industrial companies improve efficiency, reduce downtime, and increase productivity. EOT's innovativeproducts and services leverage the latest technologies, including AI and machine learning, to deliver real-time insights and enable data-driven decision-making. EOT's customers, such as BP and Hilcorp, represent more than $160 billion in revenue, $45 billion in fixed assets, and 60,000 employees. Matt holds five patents and advocates using AI to pave the way for smart manufacturing and sustainableenergy.Learn more about his new bookhttps://thetrailblazersguide.com/Support the show

Most do not think of managed Wifi and security cameras when you mention Windstream.  Windstream has put forth great efforts in evolving and offering more of the tech stack.  In this episode, we discuss emerging tech and how they are meeting the need by focusing on " as a service" provider.  We touch on the importance of cyber security whenever you talk tech.  Windstream is one of the few suppliers that has all five of our advanced solutions focus- Cx, Cybersecurity, Cloud and Wireless. Learn more about John-https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonschlee/Learn more about Brett- https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-pontiff-ba713011/More on Windstream's managed WIFI and IP cameras for retail- https://www.windstreamenterprise.com/blog/business-challenge/why-retailers-should-use-wifi-and-ip-camera-heat-mapping/?backto=homeSupport the show

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Great conversation with Paul, we cover CPaaS, mobility, IoT, revenue creation, adoption rates in technology, pivoting and advice for technologist looking to expand their offerings. This is the way. In addition, a student of the Stoics. If you are not familiar with the Stoics and Marcus Aurelius, Ryan Holiday makes it easy to understand, check out his Daily Stoics Podcast and books.   Paul ask a great question you need to ponder, even answer at the end of the episode.  And he gives some great advice on how to handle your answer. CEO Global Point View – CPaaS, Mobile Services expert, Start up scaler, Global Sales expert, Negotiator, Strategic Partnerships Paul Ruppert is a veteran CPaaS and mobile services executive, strategy consultant and holder of 2 tech patents enabling global text messaging, with career experience in both the private and public sectors applying a range of multidisciplinary skills exercised at the highest levels of both arenas–from corporate boardrooms to the White House. He has generated over $400M in direct sales, is a skilled cross border negotiator, technology innovator and strategic partnership driver with two decades leading global commercial, product, marketing teams and M&A deals in B2B SaaS sales. Prior to entering the private sector, with a Harvard masters graduate degree Paul served over a decade in policy and political roles as an legislative assistant to a US Senator, economic development advisor to a cabinet Secretary, a technology industry lobbyist and White House staffer. His private sector achievements are exceptional including scaling startups from $0 to $Billion valuations, forging global strategic partnerships, doing business in 80 countries, working with private equity and $B enterprises managing $130M business P&Ls, and managing cross border, cross cultural teams of teams having lived in the US, France and China. Paul is the President of Global Point View Ltd, a strategy consulting firm providing insights to technology companies seeking guidance on focus, strategies and plans via scaling, partnerships and acquisitions. His international clients have included Facebook, MasterCard, Western Union, Liveperson, Infobip, private equity and venture firms looking to leverage mobile services in their digital plans for conversational commerce. More on Paul- https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulruppertintl/Infographic on Paul-https://www.slideshare.net/pruppert/paul-r-ruppert-mobile-exec-graphicSupport the show

SPEAKER. AUTHOR. PERFORMANCE EXPERT.Alan Stein, Jr. is an experienced keynote speaker and author. At his core, he’s a performance coach with a passion for helping business leaders change behaviors. He spent 15+ years working with the highest performing basketball players on the planet (including NBA superstars Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and Kobe Bryant). Through his customized programs, he transfers his unique expertise to maximize both individual and organizational performance. Alan is a dynamic storyteller who delivers practical, actionable lessons that can be implemented immediately. He teaches proven principles on how to utilize the same approaches in business that elite athletes use to perform at a world-class level.https://alansteinjr.com/about/Support the show