https://youtu.be/fJqw-RQzWv4
Justin Goldston, a senior managing director at Nestell and Associates, a strategy consulting firm, and a five times TEDx speaker on emerging technologies. He is a Professor at Penn State University on Project Management and Supply Chain Management. We discuss how you can harness emerging technologies to grow entrepreneurial companies of any size.
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People, Process, Technology with Justin Goldston
Our guest is Justin Goldston, who is a Senior Managing director of Nestle and Associates, a strategy and management firm focused on digital transformations. He is also a professor at Penn State University on project supply chain management. He is also a graduate professor at Georgetown University. And Justin is a five-time TEDx speaker on emerging technologies, including blockchain and AI. So, welcome, Justin, to the show.
Thanks, Steve. Thanks for having me.
It's great to have you here. And you've got lots of information I want to ask you about. The first one is, you know, this podcast is for small and medium-sized company entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial companies. And technology is kind of a difficult area for these small businesses, how to embrace it. So, in your view, how important is technology for small and medium enterprises? Is it really important?
Technology, in my opinion, is the one of the most important things for an organization, especially a startup, because it provides you with the visibility of your supply chain. It informs you of those decisions within to make those operational, those short term, as well as those strategic long-term decisions. And it creates that collaboration internally across your departments, as well as with your business partners, your customers, as well as your vendors. So, I would say that technology, yes, is indeed of the utmost importance. One of the most, in my opinion, one of the most important things within a small and medium enterprise.
The importance of technology in an organization, especially for startups, cannot be overstated. It's not just a tool; it's the bridge connecting the dots of decisions, fostering collaboration, and shaping the trajectory of success.Share on X
So how does it help? Maybe this is a dumb question, so excuse me for that. But how does technology help you make better decisions in the practical sense for a private company?
So you're inputting all of this data. You're inputting data from purchase orders. You're inputting data from sales orders. So your system, your ERP application, or your QuickBooks, or Excel, depending on what part of the digital transformation maturity you're in, is going to inform you that it's collecting data. It's collecting data. OK, and if you're performing that analysis, then you're going to be informed of of decisions. So we have within machine learning, within artificial intelligence. And I'm getting a little ahead here, but I'll put it in context.
It provides you with predictive analytics. So I so I can use tools. I can use the data that I'm inputting in through sales orders, through purchase orders to inform me of decisions that I can make, just like forecast, just like forecasting systems. I'm inputting that data to forecast what I need to purchase on a weekly basis. If I have weekly buckets or what I need to forecast on a monthly basis. So it's going so that data, that data is being collected. You're your employees are inputting that data on a daily basis. And you can analyze that data to inform you of the decisions, both from a short-term and long-term basis.
So that sounds great. But I mean, how do I input the data? That can feel overwhelming. I mean, CRM systems often don't get used because salespeople feel like they don't have the time to type everything up. ERP systems is the same thing. You have to input the data and then you have to manage the data. And then it's kind of an investment. And what if you don't get the return? Or how does it how long does it take to get the return?