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In this episode, host Aaron Bock interviews Sean Farrell, CEO of financial services technology company QDS. Conversation Highlights:The cause for QDS's technology evolution (5:24)Considering IT in the organization vs. as part of the solutions provided (8:46)Communicating effectively internally as a team set up across 12 states and growing (11:32)Cool ways people connected through technology during COVID (13:18)Where local community banks and credit unions are struggling with technology (...
In this episode, host Aaron Bock interviews Sean Farrell, CEO of financial services technology company QDS.
Conversation Highlights:
Technologies Mentioned:
About QDS
Founded in 1983, QDS is proud to be a family-owned cash automation company that specializes in helping financial Institutions and retailers use the latest technology to automate cash handling. Their decades of experience and variety of products allow them to serve their customers by providing the best solutions to solve their specific needs. They are committed to helping their banking and credit union clients identify and deliver their Branch of the Future strategy. Their goal is to demonstrate how technology can impact their bottom line and deliver a better customer experience. QDS works with retail clients to create efficient cash handling processes and reduce the risk of theft with automation tools and technology.
Welcome to the Opkalla IT Matters Podcast, where we discuss the important matters within IT as well as the importance of IT across different industries and responsibilities.
About Opkalla:
Opkalla helps their clients navigate the confusion in the technology marketplace and choose the technology solutions that are right for their business. They work alongside IT teams to design, procure, implement and support the most complex IT solutions without an agenda or technology bias. Opkalla was founded around the belief that IT professionals deserve better, and is guided by their core values: trust, transparency and speed. For more information, visit https://opkalla.com/ or follow them on LinkedIn.
Narrator: Welcome to the IT
Matters podcast, where we
explore why IT matters, and
matters pertaining to IT. Here's
your host, Aaron Bock.
Aaron Bock: Welcome to the IT
Matters podcast. Thank you for
joining us today. We're excited
to have you all on this lovely
spring day here in Charlotte,
North Carolina. Joined today by
Sean Farrell from QDS, Quality
Data Systems, based here in
Charlotte, North Carolina. We'll
get into Sean's background here
in just a second. But for those
of you that are not familiar
with the IT Matters podcast,
we're going to be talking about
why IT matters inside of an
organization. Also, what are
some of the IT matters inside of
an organization and out, so why
is it important? What are some
of the trends? Our guest today,
Sean, is the CEO of QDS. Like I
mentioned. Sean, welcome to the
show.
Sean Farrell: Hey, Aaron. Thanks
for having me, man. I'm excited
to be on and look forward to
talking about stuff.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, excited to
have you. For those of you who
don't know Sean, Sean has been
at QDS for 10 years. I actually
met Sean probably three years
ago, and I consider Sean
somewhat of a mentor being the
CEO of QDS, who is a couple
years ahead of Opkalla. Sean, I
guess tell the listeners a
little bit more about yourself
your background, how you ended
up with QDS, what does QDS do,
etc.
Sean Farrell: Yeah, so Aaron,
man, I grew up in Charlotte,
been here since I was three
years old. So very close to a
lifer based on how many people
commute here every year, it
seems like. I was a baseball
player growing up, I never
really thought I'd go into the
family business. I had a good
career at the University of
North Carolina, was blessed to
be drafted by the Oakland A's,
end up tearing up my shoulder
diving for a ball in the
outfield, so I thought I'd come
work while I was rehabbing,
never really gotten any better,
and really kind of fell in love
with sales. And being a
competitive athlete, you know,
started back in 2003, honestly,
with the company as a straight
commission, salesperson, and
worked my way up, I have been
the CEO for the last 10 years
here. And we have really moved
our company from a company that
sold mostly desktop equipment
that did not connect to
anything, to the majority of our
growth has been investing in
systems technologies for
financial institutions that do
connect to their banking core
system or their EFT providers.
So you know, IT has become a
very important part of the
solutions that we've implemented
through our growth over the last
10 years.
Aaron Bock: Absolutely. So that
the listeners get a better
understanding, how big is QDS
today? And how much has it grown
over the last couple of years?
Sean Farrell: Yeah, I mean, we
have been blessed with a huge
growth streak probably over the
last six years, we've grown from
roughly a 5 million business, to
we did just under 22 million in
revenue last year.
Aaron Bock: Congratulations.
Sean Farrell: We're spread
across 12 states, so we support
community banks and credit
unions that range from, you
know, maybe 10s of millions of
assets up to I think our largest
account is now 100 billion in
assets. So kind of that
community and regional size
institution. So it's it's a very
dynamic environment. And
certainly, we'll talk about how
banking is shifting these days
towards technology.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, and maybe
before we get into banking, I
want to start with you
personally and then QDS, and
then we'll get into some of the,
I guess, industry tech trends,
but I kind of want to know
personally in your life, what
are some of the technologies
that are key to you? Or that you
use every day that really help
you function? That help Sean as
a CEO function? That you
couldn't live without?
Sean Farrell: Yeah, I'm one of
those weird, I think we're
called xennials, right? So I was
born in '81, so I'm kind of
right on that line of you know,
I did play Oregon Trail growing
up and you know, remember that
additional native but you know,
technology really runs my life.
Aaron Bock: Did you feed your ox
meager portions too?
Sean Farrell: Probably. I'm sure
I died of typhoid or something
along the way as well. You never
know what's going to happen on
that. And if you watch 1883, it
brings that whole trend back to
life, but you know,
unfortunately, you know, as a
CEO, I live and die on my phone.
You know, I do have an Apple
iPhone. So I certainly play with
a variety of apps that keep me
tuned in, really live and die on
my calendar. We have certainly
done a lot more streaming as of
late. So we have, you know, I
have young kids, I have twin
three year olds and an eight
year old, so Disney+ has become
a very big deal in our household
and we run a Google mesh
internet system to make sure
that, you know, Wi-Fi carries
throughout the house. So it is
normally when I travel for work
when that technology tends to
break and you always get the
call from your wife going, you
know, "What's wrong with the
TV?" or "Why isn't our internet
working?" And it's like, I don't
know what I can do from
Tennessee today, honey, but you
know.
Aaron Bock: That's not your
fault, you probably could, but
that's your fault. You know, I'm
just kidding.
Sean Farrell: We are very
dependent on the internet in our
house and my oldest is very into
Roblox and some of the gaming
communities, so it's definitely
a tech dependent environment in
my household for sure.
Aaron Bock: Yeah. And well, so
you also mentioned, you know, we
will get into the banking and
the community credit unions, but
QDS also started working as
mostly an equipment for banks
for cash management, is what I
understand, not a whole lot of
technology, I guess, in the
beginning, but you guys have
evolved considerably in
technology as well. So maybe
what was the cause for some of
the changes? Or at what point
did you guys decide to get, I
guess, more technological in
support? And the why behind
that, maybe?
Sean Farrell: Yeah, I mean, so
you figure a lot of the legacy
products that we used to sell
are like the dollar bill
counters that you see in the
movies that the casinos run. So,
you know, like if a bank branch
would open, that might be $2,000
to $5,000 in revenue, and we
might get a couple pieces of
equipment, and we'd be happy
with that. Well, as we look
strategically, you know, a lot
of automation technology, and
how do we handle cash and coin
and check transactions was
really moving towards things
that integrate to the bank or
credit unions core system, offer
greater functionality. And those
solutions might range from, say,
$25,000 to $75,000. So, as we
became more experts in
technologies like that, you
know, our deal sizes start to
move up. And now, you know, we
have multiple deals that are
typically in the seven figure
realm, which that wasn't an even
a, you know, we used to be kind
of a rounding error in that
equation. And now, you know,
we're doing one, two, five
million deals with, you know,
technology and all these
integrations, and it's much more
of a IT and software type
environment than, yes, it's a
physical piece of equipment that
has physical motors and wheels
and whatnot. So it's been an
interesting transition and a lot
of expertise that we've had to
learn over time. But it's been a
wild ride,
Aaron Bock: And really
opportunity driven, it sounds
like you know, there was an
opportunity to help people more,
grow revenue within QDS. So you
guys decided, okay, well, we
need to be able to be the
thought leaders, be the people
to do that for our customers.
Sean Farrell: Absolutely. I
mean, we are very big on selling
with integrity, not trying to
get the most revenue, but the
right revenue. A lot of what
Opkalla is based on as well,
frankly. But you know, really
trying to help clients achieve
results. And the technologies
today just happen to be more
impactful. And as our industry
continues to struggle, like
many, with staffing issues, you
know, our automation technology
can handle a lot of that lift of
well, how do we get business
done when we're struggling to
replace you know, Tammy Teller
or whatnot in that environment?
So, you know, not only is our
equipment counted on, but it has
a significant impact on client
service and customer experience.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, that's a good
point. And I want to come back
to that, because I'm assuming
the last two years have made it
even more eye opening for some
of your customers with COVID.
And the lack of people and the
inability for people to come in.
But before we get there, let's
go back a second. So as a CEO of
QDS, right, you all, I think
operate like the last time I
talked to you is 20-plus states.
You all are somewhere around 80
to 100 employees. When you think
of IT as a CEO, how do you guys
really consider IT inside your
organization? Is it part of
every function? Or is it more of
an internal function? What is it
to QDS?
Sean Farrell: Yeah, I would say
like any company, you know, at
times we have fallen prey to,
'maybe we're not as automated as
the technologies that we sell'.
But, you know, we have done a
good job of migrating things to
the cloud. You know, we were
ready for hybrid work before
COVID hit. So the fact that we
had the majority of our
technology allow people to work
from multiple places has been
beneficial. We have some
professional service and managed
service employees that are
extremely technical and have
high volumes of work coming at
them. So we've been able to
build them custom PCs, and we
have multiple employees running
three or four monitors for
efficiency and so the ability to
leverage technology to help
people get stuff done, you know,
as me being that person that
really believes in efficiency.
You know, you don't want
somebody running on an i3
processor with one screen. When,
geez, if we just invest a little
bit more money in technology for
them, like, you know, we
eliminate 20% of waste of just
boot time on their computer. And
man, I forget what the numbers
are, but I think you're 25% to
30% more efficient by having
just a second screen. So now
everybody in our company, for
the most part, runs at least
two, and some are running three
or four. So I am a big believer
in removing obstacles and
setting people up for success,
and having the right technology
and applications and bandwidth.
And all of those things are
vital to success, because no one
wants to have that frustration
of running a 486 processor, you
know, 10 years ago and like,
man, it takes me 10 minutes for
the spreadsheet just to run,
versus having them have the
right tools.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, it's
interesting, like what you said,
right? We see this with our
customers all the time, you have
your dedicated IT people, but
what you just described is
really in every function, every
different part of your business,
there's an IT component, that is
part of it. And so you know it,
whether it's finance, processing
a spreadsheet, or whether it's
customer service, supporting a
customer and communicating with
them, even though they might not
be dedicated to supporting QDS's
internal IT systems, they're
dealing with IT in technology
that is making their life easier
or more complicated if it's not
working. And so that's where we
get into and say, okay, how are
organizations adapting? So,
before we move on to the next
topic, one other question on
QDS. So you operate in 20+
states, how do you communicate
with and maybe during COVID was
a good test, you said, you guys
were already set up for hybrid.
How do you guys communicate with
your employees? And how do you
make sure that you have that
same experience of working in
the office or being able to work
hybrid?
Sean Farrell: I honestly can't
quite take credit for 20. We're
in we're in 12 states today,
which is still okay.
Aaron Bock: 12, ok, I'm just
giving you extra credit.
Sean Farrell: Still plenty. We
may be in 20 soon enough, we'll
see. You know, we are an Office
365 shop. So as Teams has
continued to evolve, you know, I
think we did the same kinds of
things that everyone else did
through COVID, it was just
really setting frequency around,
all right, we were doing, you
know, maybe leadership
communication three times a
week, whether it was Zoom or
Teams. So just keep those
communication things live, we do
a lot of video conferences,
still, Teams is primarily our
internal platform, frankly, I
like Zoom from a presenting
environment a little bit better.
So we do have one or two Zoom
licenses. Same with recruiting
like, Teams can be a little bit
clunky if someone doesn't have
that environment. So Zoom is a
little more consumer friendly.
You know, we try the virtual
happy hours, we have weekly team
meetings that are all run
virtual. So I think everyone
used COVID to get comfortable
with that environment, we just
happen to already have the
platform ready with Office 365.
So that really allowed us to
migrate quickly. Now we learn
best practices through that of
what was working, what can fall
back to in person meetings. But
you know, we're probably still
running as a company 30 to 50
video team meetings a week, no
Aaron Bock: Yeah, we're seeing
that across the board. And you
doubt.
mentioned Zoom and Teams. We
obviously work with a lot more
than that. But the Zoom, Teams,
which meeting platform are you
on next bingo game of how many
meeting platforms can I be on in
a day? That seems to be the norm
during COVID. Just curious, was
there any outside the box, you
said virtual happy hours, that
was kind of outside the box. Any
other kind of cool ways people
connected via technology through
COVID?
Sean Farrell: One of my favorite
tools, which we purchased more
for the sales side of our house,
is Vidyard.
Aaron Bock: I will put this in
the show notes too, for those
listening. So yeah, great
technology.
Sean Farrell: It's a Canadian
company. If you want a great
person to follow, Tyler Lessard,
who's their SVP of marketing,
he's one of the best creative
people I know. But that is a
tool that I use often to
communicate everything
internally. So I will record a
lot of 5 to 10-minute company
update videos. So whether we
have new hires or policy
changes, or we're celebrating
some wins on the sales side, I
typically communicate that out
to all employees. So again, they
get to see my face, we're
talking about certain things,
you know, it makes it a little
more personal than just, hey,
here's a bulleted email that
you're probably going to ignore
and not read. So we have really
leveraged that we use it a lot
on our sales side, for one to
one, you know, video
interaction, we can also record
things. So from a tool set, we
are, I believe, the only one in
our industry that uses that. I
believe Bom Bom is a similar
competitor to them, but I really
have loved Vidyard as a
platform.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, I was gonna
say for all sales folks
listening out there, pay
attention to Vidyard and
BombBomb. Both are great tools
to communicate with prospects as
well.
Sean Farrell: I do not have
affiliation with either of
those, just throwing that out
there haha.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, well, we're
just sharing what we're using.
So, no, I mean, I think that's
great. And it's cool, we've seen
all over the map, like from
virtual yoga classes that people
were doing, to someone the other
day was talking about a system
called Bonusly, where they're
doing like a point-sharing
system among employees to
virtually reward each other. So
it's cool to see what technology
is doing for people to
collaborate and communicate.
Alright, so let's switch gears.
So QDS is working, we'll call it
the finance industry, with local
community banks, credit unions,
probably others that are
missing, you deal with
automating cash management via
ATMs, traditional cash machines,
etc. You're a managed service
company to help support that,
you do professional services. So
you do sort of work in a
technology portion of these
organizations. So from your
perspective, maybe let's start
with the struggles. Where are
local community banks, credit
unions, where are they
struggling to adopt technology?
Or where do they struggle with
like, why to use new technology?
What are the kind of like, maybe
objections you guys get and
overcome?
Sean Farrell: I think a lot of
the true technology struggle is
resource bandwidth and talent.
So not every community bank in
rural America can recruit the IT
talent that they need, when you
start looking at it, it's a
highly regulated industry with
very, you know, secure data, and
you're dealing with people's
finances. So how am I managing
user access? And all of these
things that tie into, how do I
keep my customer's information
safe, without having to hire you
know, 50 IT people if I'm a 10
branch community bank, you know,
those have been some of the
struggles. So now, as we start
to look at, well, how do we keep
their network safe, but offer
more functionality for a
customer? You know, that's where
that IT and kind of retail
collide of, hey, we want to
offer better digital
transactions, we want to offer a
great online banking experience,
we want our people to be able to
do more at ATM machines, maybe
we want to have a teller or pop
up on the screen and help
somebody execute a transaction.
Well, a lot of that has server
components on the back end. And
you know, are they running in a
cloud environment? So all of
those things of taking a, what
used to be a very on premise,
highly tight controlled AS 400
environment to new cores that
are coming with cloud based
architecture and all these
API's, and what are we going to
be able to connect to? That's a
different talent set than just,
hey, can I make sure my network
is secure? Am I using multi
factor authentication? You know,
those are legitimate challenges
on the IT side for financial
institutions to protect and
safeguard very important data,
and then manage that against how
do we tie better customer
experience by implementing new
technology without breaking
stuff?
Aaron Bock: I assume you all
are, I mean, you mentioned
customer experience, you all are
very much a part of the customer
experience, though, like if I
drive through a community bank
I'm probably using an ATM at
some point. So I have to imagine
that you are dealing with more
than just IT in an organization
too. So who's typically getting
involved, and where do you get
maybe the most objections to
automation? Is it in IT? Is it
in, you know, from a C-Suite
level? Was it someone that just
doesn't understand it?
Sean Farrell: No, I mean,
typically, we engage with the
C-Suite, or we'll call it
retail. So retail is a banking
term, member experience is a
credit union term. So who owns
like, if someone goes to a
branch? What can they do? And
what what are they able to
accomplish through technology or
the people at those locations?
So normally, you have
visionaries that are going, 'We
want to be able to offer these
services'. And that's typically
who we're working with. And then
IT has to be the one that says,
"Okay, well, we're running, do
we run a VDI environment? Do we
run an on-premise server? Do we
outsource our IT today to a
third party provider?" So
depending on the size and
complexity of the organization,
there are still plenty of
smaller community banks and
credit unions that do use
managed service providers or you
know, they outsource a lot of
that IT responsibility. So, you
know, we're typically on their
network, and if they would like
us to be able to remote into
their ATM, which is one of the
services that we offer, and
they're like, "Great, we would
love for you to be able to do
that." Well, now we're talking
firewall settings. And "Hey, is
your ATM traffic separate from
your main traffic?" Well, whoo,
I don't know that answer. So,
you know, we have really, really
sharp IT people that know their
environment, and they're going
to put very strict guide rails
up on 'This is what we're going
to allow you to do and this is
not,' and then there's some
people, they're like, "I don't
know how this stuff works. Let
me get the answers on how we can
set up the subnet and all that
stuff", that it's kind of a wide
range of experience that's out
there for sure.
Aaron Bock: And I'm sure you
guys come across varying levels
of technology, if you will,
within the branches. So some
probably very manual, still some
pretty innovative. I follow you
on LinkedIn, I see some of the
branches and they look like
spaceships compared to some of
the other ones. So I guess in
your guys' experience, and this
is not just you, but your
organization, QDS, when you are
helping someone, when you see a
local branch or retail branch of
whatever, a credit union or
local bank, that seems to do,
we'll call it IT, well, or
customer experience well, or
technology well, what do you see
that they're doing different
than maybe the one the the folks
that are a little bit behind or
not adopting? Or it's very clear
that their technology's not as
as advanced as others.
Sean Farrell: I would say
probably up even into COVID,
right, the financial industry
was known as kind of the
laggard, right, like you
watched retail press forward,
and a number of other industries
that were a lot more digital
transformation ahead of the
finance market. So I think those
who understand and have
understood the change of the
consumer behavior over the last
two to four years, they have
invested and are typically some
of them are even willing to be
bleeding edge on, 'we know, we
need this from an experience
standpoint, we know there may be
some gaps in the process or
things we don't understand'. But
they have invested in technology
and are willing to take some
risks on new branch formats and
new ways to deliver technology
versus we still do run into the
people that, you know, hey, this
is worked for 20 years, like,
our processes are pretty good, I
don't know if our customer base
is really going to, you know,
adopt to this. And I think those
are the people that really
struggled through COVID, they
had to close locations. And now
it's like, well, gee, we have
forced our consumer base to
maybe an outdated online banking
system, maybe they're doing
transactions, you know, through
the drive thru tube system that
wasn't designed to do the types
of transactions they have to do,
because the branches closed
versus the people that were on
the front end of that curve,
invested in technology. It was a
fairly simple migration for,
hey, you know, you can use our
ITM machines or, hey, we've got
a great online banking app that
we can direct you to and, you
know, their adoption
skyrocketed, but that that
investment had been made prior
with some vision. So we do run
into those that are ahead of the
curve and tend to be more
successful, and then those that
are struggling to keep up and
don't have a great plan to get
there.
Aaron Bock: For those of us who
don't know what ITM versus an
ATM is? What's the difference?
Sean Farrell: Great question, so
ITM truly stands for Interactive
Teller Machine, which typically
is associated with the ability
to have a live teller come up on
the screen and help you execute
a transaction. We also use that
in terms of connecting to the
bank's core software platform so
that you can do a lot of the
things a teller would do and
self service. So kind of an ATM
on steroids, if you will, not
just cash withdrawal and
deposit, but loan payments and
large withdrawals and having
access to all of your accounts
not just your primary checking.
So yes, good pause to ask that
question. Interactive teller
machine.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, and I have not
come across them very often, but
I'm tired of punching the ATM
when it doesn't do what I need.
So maybe I need to interact with
ITMs a little bit more often.
Sean Farrell: Maybe you need
more money in your account.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, well see,
that's the thing. I've never
needed a cash counter because we
just don't have that around
here. So I think I can answer
this question for a lot of the
banking industry but I'm going
to ask it anyways and I want to
hear your thoughts. So, QDS,
obviously supporting the
financial industry, big on
automation. But you you support
a finance industry that I mean,
everyone right now is concerned
with security. Obviously,
everyone's concerned about what
they see in the news. But from
your perspective, what are some
of the trends that you at QDS
are watching that you think you
need to pay attention to that
will affect you in the next
couple of years. And same with
your customers? What is the
local rural branch looking at,
the credit unions ... what
trends do they do they need to
be paying attention to?
Sean Farrell: Going back to
resources, I think one of the
huge trends is to do more
managed services with people. So
we have benefited from that
have, most of our clients are
happy that we can do A, B, C, D,
and E for them. And they're
willing to pay us a small fee to
execute that. So their internal
resources can focus on other
priorities.
Aaron Bock: Is that because of
instability and being able to
keep people retained and get
people in the offices, is that
what's driving that?
Sean Farrell: And just so as
more and more technology is
coming into, you know, a
financial institution, if I had
10 projects before, I've got 25
now. So if I'm able to take a
task list, and if my vendor on
my behalf can handle 5, 6, 8
things for me, and I don't have
to hire three more people to
handle those tasks, manage those
tasks, balance those tasks -
that is where a lot of people
are having success. A lot of
people have looked at
outsourcing ATMs all together,
where the institution is just
going to pay a monthly fee. We
own the terminal, we are
managing all of the processes.
So "Hey, now I don't have to
have three people in the back
office in my ATM department." I
just have my name on the
terminal and someone else is
functionally running and
operating the terminals.
Aaron Bock: Would that probably
I guess, would that increase the
compliance for you all that you
wouldn't have to maintain? And
requirements? I assume.
Sean Farrell: Well yes, it does.
We have invested heavily in our
due diligence packet to make
sure that we are utmost in
compliance and staying up with
regulations, etc. The other key
trend is, you know, what is
going to happen with the Bitcoin
and cryptocurrency and
blockchain.
Aaron Bock: Weird for you to
bring that up.
Sean Farrell: It's not an area
of strength for me. I have
tried. I've sat through a couple
of webinars. I normally get
about 5 to 10 minutes in like,
okay, this is starting to make
sense. And by about 15 to 20
minutes, by the time they get
into NFTs and other stuff like,
I'm lost. And, you know, for
something that was supposed to
be unhackable, we've now seen
multiple hacking attacks on
blockchain environments. I
think, like, there was like a
$150 million loss on one of the
gaming things in the last week
or two. So, you know, all of
this stuff around "unpenetrable
security", and "this is the
beauty of blockchain", and we're
already seeing that failing. But
we are seeing a lot more of the
financial institutions react
stronger. It was kind of like a,
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Bitcoin, you
know, whatever." And now, it's
like, you're starting to see
financial planners involved in
it. We have a couple ATM clients
that are offering Bitcoin on
their ATMs. We do not offer that
service today. But there are a
lot more conversations going on
around 'how is crypto going to
change what's going on'? And so
I think that's just an
interesting trend to watch. And
do we continue to see challenges
with security that will scare
people away from that? Or do
people continue to have less
trust in our government or
governments around the world and
see that there is a lot of value
in a blockchain environment
that's, you know, decentralized,
if you will?
Aaron Bock: Yeah, I was waiting
for you to bring up crypto
because I think every bank is
trying to figure out how to deal
with crypto and NFT, the whole
movement and where it goes. And
I agree, I don't think anyone
knows the answer. But I'm
assuming you guys are getting
this question in every
conversation. We're hearing it
on on our side - securing
digital wallets. How do you
maintain security around that?
So I definitely think more to
come over the next couple years.
What about on QDS's side? So you
kind of answered from the bank
side, you know, focusing on
managed service, focusing on
maybe what's happening with
crypto. I assume that second one
also affects you all and how you
address crypto in the future.
But what do you see as a tech
trend or something in the
future, predict like, where will
QDS be in five years using
technology? And how will it be
different than today?
Sean Farrell: Yeah, it's a great
question. And I think that's one
of the challenges as a leader.
And through my lifetime, we have
seen the technology curve
shorten and shorten and shorten.
So what used to be a 10 year
curve is now 5, what used to be
a 5 year curve is now 2. So I
have a lot of trouble, which is
why, you know, it's always nice
to have people in other
verticals to ask what's going on
in your industry. Like am I
completely blind? I pay a lot of
attention since we are a service
company at our heart. You know,
I watch people like Morris
Jenkins and other people that
are delivering services and
like, "Hey, they got the cool
technician on the app thing,"
and you know, a lot more people
are building out app
infrastructure. So, you know,
could I see us investing in a
mobile app or offering more of a
customer facing portal
environment? Probably. Our
company is very big on
transparency, so is technology a
way for us to again, be more
transparent with our clients? We
use a lot of software as a
service tool, so we're working
in the similar workspace with
our clients. So those would be
some trends that I think about
as a company - is how do we make
ourselves more transparent to
our clients, share more data,
but also have a good comfort and
security, making sure our
vendors have multi-factor
authentication? Obviously, we're
evaluating phone systems and
this whole UCaaS platform
environment. So man, it is
really hard to know, 3 to 4
years in advance, like, where is
technology going to move? And am
I set up for that move? Or am I
just gonna miss it? And you can
become a laggard very quickly.
And that's always a concern at
my level is, "Man, I feel like
in a lot of areas we're
progressive and, if I'm not
paying attention in 2 years, we
could be, you know, 5 years
behind." So that's a challenge
for leaders.
Aaron Bock: The cycle has
definitely shortened. And I
think, to your point, you know,
we don't really know what's
going to happen with a lot of
technology in the future. For
some, you hear about the term
for years, and it's just a
buzzword, and some takes off
immediately. But the customer
experience that you talked
about, you know, the mobile app,
or whatever it may be, we're
hearing that across the board.
We have a customer who they make
the metal brands for, like
automotive parts for the
stamping and the forming of it.
You wouldn't think that's a
super innovative consumer tech.
But just like Domino's shows you
how the pizza's being made, when
it's in the oven, when it came
out, who is taking your pizza,
when it's going to arrive - a
lot of people are kind of
reaching for that and saying,
"We want that in our
organization," to give more
visibility and transparency,
like you said. So I think you're
gonna see a lot more of that
over the next couple of years.
But, in a couple of years, we'll
probably be talking about even
more invasive technology on how
things are being done.
Sean Farrell: I think through
COVID, just to tack on to that,
we've seen the backside of that,
right. So there is a ton of
frustration with supply chain.
So, you know, people who have
not invested in that technology,
like, "Gee, I ordered my couch,
you know, two months ago. I have
no idea if you've made it. Is it
in shipping?" So I'm constantly
having call to the store, like,
"Where's my stuff?" Same with
cars. You know, my dad had
gotten on the list to buy a new
car. And yet, it'll be it was
due out in April. And he called
like, you know, late March. And
they're like, "Yeah, I don't
even think they've made it yet
in Japan." So it's like, there
is this big chasm developing
from the people that do that
well, and are transparent versus
those that haven't. And
customers get very frustrated in
the unknown. And as that process
has really drawn out, due to
supply chain, that makes it even
more frustrating of, "Gee, I had
to pay you a bunch of money up
front. I have no idea when my
stuff's gonna come in." And
"Gee, I hope it's right when it
gets here."
Aaron Bock: Yeah we're gonna see
it continue. And it's gonna get
more and more important to
organizations. So couple, two
more questions. Before I let you
go, Sean. One is I want to know,
so you mentioned a couple things
you use personally - what is
your favorite technology used
day to day? Personally, it could
be in your personal life, it
could be it at work. What do you
use that you would recommend to
others?
Sean Farrell: I am not a big fan
of Apple the company, but I use
their stuff often. I mean, I
think about what a difference to
be able to use a technology like
FaceTime, how many iMessages do
I send in a day? So if I think
about how efficient the iOS
environment and applications in
that environment have made me,
how great the pictures are you
can take now, I mean, if you
think about everything that you
can do with that phone in your
pocket, that is essentially my
operating environment, right?
And then if you do multichannel
or omnichannel, well, if I had
an iPad, it would be the same
experience. So you know, I
cannot function - I don't know
that my phone is ever like more
than six feet away from me. So
if I think about a technology
that I live and breathe on,
it's, you know, audio, phone,
video phone, whether it's Zoom
or FaceTime, or you name it, you
know, if someone took away my
phone for a week, I would be in
trouble. No doubt about it.
Aaron Bock: All right, we won't
we won't make you go live out in
the woods for a week. But if you
ever do, let me know. So last
question for you, Sean, before
we wrap up. So if you are
speaking, you're giving the Sean
Farrell State of the Union in
front of a million people and
and you can leave them with a
piece of advice about technology
in your industry and what we've
talked about today, what would
it be? What would you tell
someone to pay attention to and
adopt? It could be internal, it
could be with your customers,
etc.
Sean Farrell: You know, I think
the best thing, the best advice
I would give - make sure your
people understand why.
Technology is going to be a
bigger and bigger part of our
overall environment, so
educating them on why
multi-factor authentication is
important, why, you know, all of
this information security
reports to me, so I don't care
how much how many, and we have
invested six figures a year in
information security tools, the
number one phishing attack is
human error. So if you can
educate people on why you have
processes, why these things are
important, I think that will
help make you successful. "Why
are we using these tools the way
we're using them?" "Why is this
important?" I think the job of
any good leader and any advice I
can say is, "Don't just tell
them what, but tell them why."
And I think they will better
understand and it will resonate
versus "Yeah, this is the
process, just follow what we
say". So I guess that's my two
cents, if you will, on making
sure people understand the why.
Aaron Bock: I think that could
be the title for your future
book you write: "Don't Just Tell
Them What, Tell Them Why." So
I'm starting your author career
now. Sean, thank you for joining
us. If you guys want to check
out Sean and his company
qualitydatasystems.com, we'll
put show notes in here with some
of the technologies that we
talked about. Sean, any parting
thoughts for folks?
Sean Farrell: No, just
technology is a big part of our
daily lives. I would encourage
anyone out there thinking about
IT. I mean, there are so many
paths and so many things you can
do, especially on the security
side of the house. So I continue
to say that there are paths that
don't have to involve a four
year degree that can make you
very valuable in today's
business economy. So if you're
someone out there, and I'm
getting on my soapbox, that
doesn't have the four year
college degree and thinks you
can't amount to anything without
that piece of paper. I'm here to
tell you, like, you can do it.
You can be a valuable part of
any organization. And you can do
a lot of that learning in the
real world, so to speak, so
don't put too much countenance
in that, I guess.
Aaron Bock: Yeah, I couldn't
agree with you more. So, Sean,
thanks for joining us today. For
all you listeners out there,
thank you guys for listening in.
Subscribe on Apple Podcast,
Spotify. We're also running this
on YouTube if you're not
watching this, so thank you for
joining. I hope you guys have an
awesome rest of the week.
Sean Farrell: Sounds good man.
Take care.
Aaron Bock: Thanks, Sean.
Narrator: Thanks for listening.
The IT Matters podcast is
produced by Opkalla, an IT
advisory firm that helps
businesses navigate the vast and
complex IT marketplace. Learn
more about Opkalla at
Opkalla.com