Video: Why The Girl Scouts of Eastern PA Needs Channel Partners

hey Channel insiders I'm your host Katie boso and welcome back for part two of my interview with Michael Pompei CIO and CTO of the Girl Scouts of eastern Pennsylvania if you haven't watched or listened to part one be sure to head to Channel insider.com right now to catch up in this half of the interview Michael tells me more about how Channel partner help support the Girl Scouts Mission and what he specifically looks for in a new thirdparty solution provider that tells him it's a good fit for his needs I also wanted to ask about Legacy tools and Legacy people I imagine when it comes to an organization like this you've got people that have been a part of it for decades if you can be a Girl Scout for decades you can work for them for decades I I guarantee it and we have and we do we do we we definitely do we definitely do so I can for my Council because one thing to keep in mind is that you know of the 110 councils or so each one is different so I happen to uh be lucky enough to work for a council that's large enough to one need a CIO uh but deploy some pretty good technology so we're one of the top 10 councils um in the United States for us we don't see a lot of Legacy Tech so they are very good we're 100% Cloud organization we've got all of the appropriate systems and res resources that you would expect of an Enterprise and it's interesting in that while we have folks that have worked with us for a number of years some even for decades like you mentioned they're almost ambassadors they're almost the Y Sage versus their counterparts in let's say a city government which you would definitely say our Legacy these are individuals that have seen the movement move through a variety of changes and a variety of different offerings and that perspective is valuable because they can communicate well with our communities and and our volunteers now challenges that we may have related to adopting the latest tech and adopting the latest practices definitely that shows up that train is never late you know when different uh ssos and MFA you know Technologies are are applied you know you may have to have the conversation to say Hey you know why this clamshell phone is not going to work anymore let's move you over to something that could do this or hey can it just call me it's like well if this is more than just a phone call now this is really about you know authenticating and explaining that but like with anything it's communication understanding getting folks to walk in the same direction with you and I you know and if people feel that you understand their world and that this is not about trying to catch someone they generally walk in the direction that you need them to walk maybe not as fast as you want right things might take a little bit slower because you are dealing with a large volunteer base but you don't have outright Rebellion that you may have in other institutions you talk about that challenge implementing new technology are you going through anything like that at the moment is there is there currently a mission to implement new technology AI is on the tip of my tongue as it always is these days is that something you're playing with so it it's interesting too right because you know I have never seen such a hype train in my career as I'm seeing in the past couple years with AI it is just amazing even though some of these technologies have been around for 40 plus years right now this hype train is moving so we are deploying uh various tools as any rise is going to be doing as you try to take advantage of just what's out there to make you do your job better or just differentiate yourself in the market when it comes to organizations that promote youth leadership various outdoor activities things like that there have a lot of organizations in our space so how do we make sure we're using the right technology to get in touch with our families and our girls differently so for us we are taking a cautious uh step as it relates to Ai and automation trying to separate what is hype versus what will really differentiate the experience for our families and our girls so it's the usual things that you would expect right are there ways to automate things that are mundane are there ways to start taking a look at using data models to perhaps identify Trends via machine learning in our data related to service or girls that may be in danger of dropping out things of that nature are there communities where we could do a better job of doing Outreach on the ground to combat some of these challenges what are the tools that AI machine machine learning can help with us now we also talked about security we talked about 1300 Acres of camps and unfortunately we live in a world where physical security is a reasonable thing to be thinking about we do know of visual recognition built into cameras to identify the difference between a staff person a stranger a bear that may be on site on a property so taking look yeah yeah taking a look at certain systems to to maybe do that to send an alert to the rager on site hey this has been detected such and such has been detected so we've taken a look at some pilot uh Platforms in this area but again moving very slowly probably see data Ai and automation be the first things we try to leverage just moving uh information uh from our systems around a little bit better and that is incredible because again talking about the Girl Scouts we don't think about this technology so to hear it firsthand is really impressive to to think about going from there and thinking about how your channel Partners continue to help you I I want to know something I feel really silly for not asking other cios in the past was how do you find them that's something that I think is actually very critical for the channel to know when a provider approaches you or you approach them how does that relationship start is it Legacy from other businesses you've been with is it LinkedIn talk to me about how that relationship forms and how can it be better how can they do a better job reaching out to you sure sure it's interesting when you first said that you know part of my brain was like sh don't tell her now they're all going to run to that place don't tell her they're all going to find out um but seriously you know so how do you find a good partner for me it is about Word of Mouth through my network who are folks that I trust who have they used and who's partnered well that's usually the first place I start so if I've got a particularly emergent need I'm going to reach my network first and say hey has anyone done such and such who have you used who would you recommend who I steer clear of that's usually where I start first and I'm sure Channel Partners I'm sure these service providers they know everybody's hitting at us right everyone's sending us emails they're reaching out on LinkedIn they're they're having conversations and for me the second place is who's willing to talk versus try to sell immediately who's willing to understand because when you're developing these systems and solutions at the same time you are developing a relationship and that's the thing that I carry from one organization to the next so I've in one particular organization and maybe this organization is a heavy development so you're needing software teams you're needing uh devs you know you're needing dbas and things of that nature so you're putting together custom application but relationship I have with that vendor I will take them to my next place and depending on what's there I will reach back to say hey here's a good person to speak to here's a good partner so for me if you're wanting to find you know particularly in the mid Market because everybody loves the mid Market everybody wants to come in here it's going to be the conversation a relationship you build first because this is a long-term thing and the original scope like any CIO you're you're going to test the water so you're not going to go guns blazing for huge initiatives right off bat with someone brand new but when you start I would say to the providers don't look at just that because if that goes well it is a relationship and then everything else that comes comes via the Speed Of Trust because you've already put in that time to understand that so what stand out to you upon that initial meeting they come with great accolades they come with great recommendations from your network but for you upon that first touch meeting how do you know it's going to work the question that they ask me and literally what questions do you ask me it tells me whether or not you thought tells me that that you've got research tells me that whether or not you've got perspective that I might not have so literally it is the questions you ask because back in the day preco whenever you sat with a vendor the first you know they bring their dog Pony show the glossy materials all the things I'd flip through as quick as I pass to the back rip out the back page because that was always where the prices was stick it on the front and say let's talk now in this sort of remote thing you're you're held a little bit at hostage but one of the things that I love to do is at the end of the conversation ask them what was the most useful thing we talked about today and depending on that answer you'll get a lot of insight on how much attention and focus was given to what you talking about that surprisingly is not something I've heard before and it's brilliant it is a really good exercise I would love to know do you have any advice for the channel Partners out there the solution providers who are watching this and trying to learn and trying to get better is there anything that they could immediately adopt into their process to win business from somebody like you that's an interesting question because I I've spoken to a number of different channel pro uh providers over the years about different things whether it's Telecom UK right MSP you know the the the whole gang and I think back to the ones that stood out were the ones that talked to me versus talking about their offerings ones that I felt that hey if I had a question outside their portfolio they would give me the right answer even if it meant going to someplace else and I think in order for that to happen you really have to understand who you're talking to and what they're doing and what their needs are and that takes time that's not necessarily A scoping call that's not something you're going to turn around within a couple of weeks that may take time and it's not just oh hey we're having this event come out and get some drinks or hey let's go grab a lunch it may be a phone call it may be an email it may be hey I was thinking about this how does this affect you guys and I think that would be one of the things I would tell someone to adopt and and listen I get it it's a slower track it it takes takes time to do but at the end of the day you can't race to the bottom for everything right AI is showing us that the ability to do things quick and fast is going to probably become less and less impactful as everyone can do it how do you differentiate yourself how do you provide something that's valuable and a human connection that's what's going to be the thing that sells and that is going to be the thing that takes time he it's a thing that makes us human it makes us who we are and I would tell providers engage in that go up with that show that you care show that you understand and then see what happens that'd be my recommendation very well put I I heard it uh somebody say recently that AI is not taking jobs it's the people who know how to use AI that will take jobs and I think those people still know how to be a human being and I think that's the most important thing that is getting lost in the conversation around technology is that def we're still people definitely definitely it it's it's interesting too because someone was telling me someone was telling me about that you know it's not you know AI That's going to do it as someone that uses AI you know and I thought back to all the different times in my career where there was a a promise of technology that was going to bring Innovation speed productivity enhancements so whether it you know was the the web or or mobile or cloud or all these various things that would show up in a USA magazine that my CEO would read and say hey Mike how can I get some of these clouds do we need to get some clouds up in here whatever the tech technology that was promised to people that was supposed to change the world we're still here in the world we still have some of the same challenges right those things didn't necessarily disappear you know what are we going to do in between the gaps that I think is the most important piece and that's the piece that I think is going to become more valuable in this new age that we're being dragged Kicking and Screaming uh by these technology platforms and vendors is how do you hold on to that piece and make sure folks know that you have it that's what's going to make the connection to your customer are there any vendor out there right now and solutions that have been implemented into your stack that you go this is what I'm talking about this is the stuff that's working for me you know so one of the things that I will say and I and I tell this to any Tech leader that's in a nonprofit space if you're in a nonprofit space you really need to leverage your Microsoft partnership the tools that are available and the pricing for nonprofit it is hard to argue anywhere else now if you are sophisticated enough to have outgrown some of those things well then you already know the answers you already have the teachers addition there you know there's nothing for me to to tell you there um I do believe though um you know those folks that are leveraging uh their Microsoft environments 365 as well as integrating your telephone providers I've seen some great things from call Tower I've seen some great things um you know from some of the other uh providers out there that I've personally experienced so while I may not necessarily be using them here um in my current environment you know call Tower is one uh that jumps out uh to me as a as a great provider that I've used in past I definitely recommend on to folks if they really want to take a look at leveraging the teams piece as well um as you know the the the phone calling solution um another one I've used uh and have recommended was Granite they were really good as far as Telecom they took their time to explain to me in a previous um environment how pots lines and Sip trunking and all this kind of stuff works and tied together and it felt like hey I wasn't just getting uh a pitch from someone trying to sell me something someone that really understood what I need stood my challenges related to a call center and brought me a solution uh that worked well so those are two they're safe I shouldn't hurt anybody's feelings throwing them out there they were years ago so no one should feel bad uh so those are two folks I would definitely throw out there to to to definitely take a look at I should also ask is there a success story with one of your one of your channel providers that you think back to that you can say this is when they really the rubber met the road and they were able to support you oh wow so yes yes there were there you know they're definitely over my career um so I remember a partner that I was using in a previous organization help us develop some custom software basically built-in Erp for youth Workforce and there was one weekend remember where I was having a conversation about just staying in touch talking not necessarily related to a project or a scope just seeing how things were doing and we got together and we just started bouncing ideas what if what if what if and I made the statement what if I could take the same Tech that UPS uses and use it to deploy Workforce jobs for kids which led to a conversation that someone said I know somebody at UPS you want me to get them on a phone I was like let's go do it we did it and then within a weekend this is just you know granted kids were younger and all these different kind of things but in a weekend we had a proof of concept that I was able to take to my executive team at the time to say hey I think we've got something that can really help differentiate Us in the marketplace what do you guys think and those guys turned around and we worked on it over the Christmas break right everyone just putting their time giving up their vacation to put this thing together in two weeks and I'll never forget when we turned it on and that folks were really worried about it working um not only that it worked it worked very well you start seeing the numbers just go up up up up up up up up up and I was like wow this is a rubber meets the road this is the power of of a partnership this is the power of having someone that's got the inside out and I'm never looking back so I definitely remember that thank you for sharing that with me and it's always so exciting to hear about the different ways that channel partners are able to not only uh work well with the people they serve but impress you especially somebody like you that has seen it all by this point so I'm glad that that's still something that can be done a lot of it I haven't seen it all I've seen a good bit of it but I haven't seen it all yet definitely definitely Michael it's been such a pleasure speaking with you and I am so grateful once again for your time if we would like to support Girl Scouts of eastern Pennsylvania what can we do so if you would love to support Girl Scouts of eastern Pennsylvania well you can go to our website of course g.org you can drive to our footprint and buy all the cookies and everything that we have but I would say support the Girl Scouts in your own Council as well go uh to the Girl Scouts web page sign up to be a volunteer sign up to be a member to to donate the the world in which we live now is being beset by all types of challenges for our youth's attention we can see what social media does we know the fears that generative AI may be able to produce as it relates to things and disinformation stuff like that getting our young people away from dangerous technology and environments where they're working with other children Outdoors or in the real world in their Community is going to be so important versus the vitriol that we sometimes see on screens so get out support the organization and let's help us help our youth going forward I'll sign off with my troop symbol and thank you so much for your time I appreciate are welcome thank you thanks again to Michael for joining me and thank you for watching or listening you can check out all episodes of Channel Insider partner POV on Channel insider.com or watch on our YouTube page at channel inssider news and Trends you can also listen to every episode as a podcast on your favorite podcast listening platform don't forget to like subscribe and follow wherever possible so you never never miss an episode come connect with Channel Insider on LinkedIn or X at Channel Insider or with me at Katie boso once again I'm your host Katie boso and I'll see you next time

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