Ryan Pollyniak:
The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it's taken place when it hasn't.
Anika Jackson:
Step into the world of success with Your Brand Amplified, the ultimate podcast designed to unravel the intricacies of thriving businesses. I'm your host, Anika Jackson, and I'm on a mission to uncover the stories, strategies and secrets that have propelled entrepreneurs and business leaders to success.
Something a lot of people don't consider as necessarily their first order of business when they're starting a new venture is all of their systems and processes, unless they're that type of person but, from my side of things, being in marketing field, that's usually something I get into later when I'm trying to make sure that I have everything set up really well. There's a lot of changes going on in this field as well, and so I'm really excited to bring on Ryan Pollyniak. Thank you for being here from Western Computer. You know a lot about this side of things. This is not my area of expertise, so I'm really excited to have you dive in and share a little bit about your background, your expertise, and help us figure out what we need to look for or questions to ask when we're thinking about putting better systems and processes into place, making sure that we are using cloud, what's going on with AI and systems. So, looking forward to getting into this conversation.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. Absolutely, Anika. Thanks for having me on. Glad to talk through this with you. And, you mentioned this is not your forte or not your expertise, and I would say that it's not most business owners' expertise either, right? As they're out running their business and growing it and taking those preliminary steps to drive towards where they want to get in the future, it's important to have some guidance from people and companies who have done it and who have your best interest in mind so I'm glad to give some unvarnished advice and opinions today. No problem.
Anika Jackson:
Fantastic. Well, before you were at Western Computer, what were you doing and was this the area that you always thought you'd go into for a career?
Ryan Pollyniak:
It's funny. I have three little girls and I tell them, "I want you to do whatever you want to do in life." And, they ask me, "Well, did you want to be a cloud transformation executive when you were a kid?" Maybe it's not exactly what I had dreamed of, no, but I love it now that I'm in it. I wanted to be a pro baseball player or an astronaut just like most other young kids and I wound up going to business school and getting into ERP and never looking back.
So, to answer your question, before Western computer, I was actually in the ERP ecosystem, really since I came out of college, way back when. You see the grays, it's the years are creeping up there a little bit. And, I came out working for ADP in their ERP division, which has long since spun off and no longer associated with ADP. And then, I got into Microsoft Dynamics through an add-on solution that is peripheral to the core ERP applications and then I moved into Western Computer and ERP accounting, finance inventory deployments for all different types of companies almost 10 years ago. It'll be 10 years in May that I've been with Western Computer.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. Fantastic. And, how have you seen things evolve? And, let's start with, define ERP for those listeners who may be just getting out of university, maybe they don't have a business background, but they know that they want to be an entrepreneur or they have a business idea.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Sure. So, ERP, let's start with the basics, it stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. And, what it really is a connected system to help a business manage all of their various processes. So, you've got inventory that you have to manage. Well, you have to buy that from your vendors, and you have to put it on sales orders and sell it to your customers, and you have to invoice and accept payments and settle the invoices and create your financial statements. All of that requires a connected system.
Sometimes ERP means different things to different people, where you'll hear ERP as the operational side, the inventory and the manufacturing and the warehousing and then, you've got an accounting system as well. Typically, you're going to want that integrated into one system and all talking to each other to save yourself custom integrations and kind of a mess. So, having an end-to-end connected ERP is huge for a business as it grows.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. What's the first thing that people don't think of when they're setting up their business systems? I know, for me, you think, "Okay. You can start a business, it's so easy," right? I mean it is, but it's not. You go out, you get your business license, you figure out what kind of business you're going to be. Maybe you just use whatever email system and the systems that you've heard about, but maybe you haven't really investigated.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. So, I see growing businesses tend to focus on the now and that is understandable. You've got to make sure that you're getting product out the door or servicing your customers, whatever industry you're in. And, there's sometimes a lack of long-term vision, right? If you're going to build a 10-story building and you're only building the first floor right now, you still want a bigger foundation that can handle the rest of it, otherwise you risk rework. So, I would say that having a long-term vision is one thing that I would encourage any new business owner to have from a technology standpoint, but also a broad vision in terms of all the different departments in your organization.
So, what I'll see very commonly is you've got somebody leading marketing and they'll go out and they'll find a marketing tool that they like, and you've got your sales manager who goes out and he's got some budget, or she's got some budget and they go find some CRM that they like, and then your production people who are making your product are going to find a manufacturing solution, and your accountants are going to run QuickBooks or whatever accounting solution they've got. What you end up with in a scenario like that is very fragmented technology and no holistic plan. And, as your processes start to become ingrained in these applications, ripping them out becomes harder. Your marketing manager doesn't want to give up their product and your sales manager doesn't want to give up their product.
But, there are solution suites out there. Microsoft is the one that I'm particularly educated on and fond of and represent and recommend to have a much more broad approach, a lot of interconnectedness so that if you could start with a long-term vision and then bring in the pieces you want, you tend to end up with a better final product as opposed to making decisions in silos by department and then trying to cobble it all together at the end.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I even think about this in terms of... I work for a nonprofit and when I'm looking at the donor software that I inherited, and I'm looking at that of like, "Does it have full functionality? I know we have an academy attached to us. The academy uses this, this, and this. We're using this other system. They're not speaking to each other. Do I have to go through three different databases to get all the information I need pulled into one?" I mean, that's something I'm dealing with right now. And then, getting emails out and making sure we have the right campaigns going out and that we have the follow-up for customers, which in our case would be donors. And then, is this other software better for us to take donations than this one system that we are using as a CRM? So, it can get very complicated pretty quickly.
Ryan Pollyniak:
It can.
Anika Jackson:
How do you know what questions to ask and find somebody like yourself, like Western Computer? Because I don't think that's probably... I mean, I grew up in a family of people who taught Cisco Systems and different things, but I often see, I don't see that connection as strongly nowadays. I think a lot of people just start, they don't know that there are experts like yourself out there to go to.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. Sure. And, everyone's going to start online these days, right? You're going to start Googling or Binging or CoPiloting or whatever search tool you have at your disposal, and you're going to have a flood of information. I mean, Microsoft Dynamics, you've got hundreds of partners, you've got Microsoft, thousands of people writing blogs and posts and articles, and you've got 15 different applications. It's not reasonable to think that you're going to take a few hours off your day job and navigate this and figure it out on your own. What I've told some clients is you need a Sherpa to guide you up Mount Everest. You can't Google it and figure it out on your own. And, that's what you need from a technology standpoint as well.
I think it's important to talk to a variety of companies and know maybe you talk to a Microsoft partner and you talk to some competing systems and get a general consensus and don't let anybody speed you up and tell you, "Hey. Sign by the end of the month and get this big discount." That's not in your best interest. It's not how you should be doing business, right? Take your time. This is important stuff and you'll pay for it more in the long run making a short-sighted decision for a short-term discount. And, if a company really wants your business anyway, they'll continue to offer you those same available promotions or whatever they might have. But definitely talk to a variety of companies, talk to references customers and find out how those companies have treated them.
Here's a big one. Don't rely on the top level, i.e. Oracle, even though I love Microsoft, Microsoft, SAP, whomever you're looking at, but they do have small business solutions too so not necessarily with the big SAP. But, you want to talk to a partner who is going to be the person that will do the work for you and implement you and give you an unvarnished opinion of what's required to make things a success. That's very important. And, a lot of that will be glossed right over talking to the top level company. So, you may go to a Microsoft or an Oracle or one of these companies and they might provide some partners for you to go talk to. That's where the real rubber meets the road, right? Who is going to be understanding my business, implementing the software, standing behind their work, making sure we're happy. That's always a partner. You have to get down to that level for sure.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. Yeah. You brought up a lot of good questions and ways to look at things. Don't just count on the Google reviews or the whatever reviews, actually talk to people. Which I think people also forget to in this day and age.
Ryan Pollyniak:
You're right. And, g2.com. That's an unbiased independent review site for consulting firms. Go find your partner on there, see what they're... Here's what it asks you. "What do you like about Western Computer? What don't you like about Western Computer? What do you like about X company? What don't you like about them?" And then, you can go read all of their customers' actual words that they can't go out there and edit or inform in any way. That's a great way to go get a really true opinion of how clients feel working with a company.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. And, you talked specifically about managing enterprise solutions and right before we jumped on, I was saying I think a lot of my listeners probably aren't that level. They may be someday, but do they need to consider the same things because they may not be able to, like you said, look at the really big solutions that might be what they need in the future, right? But, for right now, it might be unaffordable, it might offer too much capacity, it might cause a little more friction or confusion when they're not sure how to exactly implement things into very simple systems.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. Absolutely. And, for our company now, I'm working with some bigger companies, absolutely. I still have a long history of working with small businesses. I mean, we've got clients $5 million to $10 million in annual revenue who have very important decisions to make. And, I think it's even more important for them.
Going back to having a long-term plan, the earlier you have that plan, the better. Because, as you grow... I know of one company that everybody on this call would know, I'm not going to mention them by name, we started working with them when they were targeting about $15 million in revenue for the year. By the time we were done with the project, which continued to lengthen and ended up taking nine months because they continued to grow, they were targeting to do about $200 million that year. Okay? So, they started in out of various silos and let their processes grow into those applications. And, they're still using a lot of that stuff today because it was so painful to rip it all out, they were growing so quickly, that they couldn't. So, get beyond the features.
You can't just see a demo and say, "Okay. This is great. This meets my marketing requirements and it's going to be wonderful for marketing," and then have somebody else look at a feature-based demo. You need a more holistic view, like what's the platform like altogether? If I wanted to set a foundation and then plan out the landscape in my backyard and then put some trees in this year and some bushes in next year, and some sod in at the beginning, well, at least I've got a holistic plan and I've got elements that are going to work together, if that makes sense. And then, you implement incrementally.
And that's important for small business too. Keep it small. I tend to have to talk the small businesses down and say, "Listen, let's start smaller. Let's not boil the ocean to use..." An analogy that you hear out there, because the tendency is, "Well, I'm making these changes. Here's everything that I ever dreamed of." Start with the boring foundational stuff. No offense to the accountants. You need GL, you need AP, you need AR, you need to have your inventory in your system. It should be an auditable gap compliant system, which a lot of these systems out there are not, right? You can go delete an invoice and have no record of it. These are the foundational things that you need to get in place. With a solid foundation, then you can build the nice to have stuff on top of that and have a much more successful long-term plan that you can grow into.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. Now we're in the world of cloud, and now we're also in the world of AI. So, I'd love to hear a little bit about your thoughts on that, because obviously now you are a cloud expert. One thing, and just to piggyback on this is, I'm on this Intuit small business council, and two years ago we spoke to Congress members. We spoke about the needs of small businesses to bridge the digital divide, right? Because a lot of them, before the pandemic, weren't really there. And, that probably includes having the kind of systems that you can help put into place for people and for small businesses. They didn't have everything where they needed to be to understand that they were moving their businesses online or they were going to falter. Now we're talking about AI powers main street and helping small businesses understand the next level is how to use AI technology appropriately as a tool to help streamline your business processes and systems.
So, I'd love to hear a little bit about your thoughts on how did your role change when the world of cloud computing came about, and then what changes do you see now with AI and then future project for us if you can. I know that's a lot.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. How long do we have? Great question. So, let me back up. You asked me at the very beginning what changes have I seen the most, and I didn't answer it, but you just nailed them, right? Cloud and AI. First it was cloud, now it's definitely AI and it's been a massive transformation even in my 15 years. I mean, it's huge. So, it used to be that you bought software and you put it on a server in your office and you remote desktopped in if you need remote access, and you crossed your fingers that it was secure.
And then you started seeing move to the cloud mid... Really the first decade of the two thousands is when that really started to happen and get your systems into the cloud. And, there was a lot of fear there. There's a lot of, "Hey. I need my data to be secure and it's secure in my closet. It's not secure in some place where I don't really know where it is or where it's hosted." That was the general opinion of it for quite a long time and you've seen quite a shift there as the information has panned out that far more secure in the cloud and it's not even close. And, that would be my number one reason and is actually.
We wrote a blog on seven reasons to move to the cloud recently. Number one, security, security, security. It is huge. And so, Microsoft, in our case, they're the ones hosting your data behind a black curtain. It is untouchable. You don't see ransomware attacks, you don't see systems go down. Everyone that we see is a customer on an on-premise SQL server somewhere, and they're ransomwared and their data's held hostage and they can't ship and they can't invoice and they can't pay their vendors, and it's a disaster. So, the cloud security, it used to be a fear of moving to the cloud, and now it's really the main advantage to move to the cloud.
Now, that's the main advantage in terms of risk mitigation. If you want to talk about the main advantage in terms of potential opportunity, right now, it's AI. It's funny. I saw a cartoon, it was like something to the effect of a boss telling his director, "We need AI." And the guy said, "Great. What do you want to do with it?" And he said, "I have no idea, but we need it right away." And so, I hear that all the time, "What's AI going to do for me?" And the answer is, nobody really fully knows. I mean, it's bleeding edge and it's changing every day.
We see concrete use cases all the time from predicting your cashflow to optimizing your inventory, which is critical for distribution companies to tactical based AI. Let my sales reps quickly compose an email or find information or let me get some marketing content together. What I mean by tactical is it's saving one of my employees time and making them more productive. But the big data stuff in terms of how have my customers paid over the last 18 months and what can I expect for cashflow, that kind of thing requires discipline and structure in your data estate, if I can call it that.
So, you can't have your aging on-premise ERP with some data, and half your data is in Excel because that's how you run half your processes. And, some of your data is in your disconnected CRM. And Joe in sales has got all his customers and opportunities in a notebook in his briefcase, right? You need an aggregated data model that makes sense if you're going to use that data to inform AI and to help you make decisions. So, it's foundational, right? You can't just say AI. You have to first take those steps.
Now, sure, you can use ChatGPT or I like Bing Enterprise Copilot to go find information and quickly aggregate it and put it in front of you, no problem. But if you really want the long-term benefits of AI as a business, and some of them we don't even realize yet, they're coming though, and the companies who have their data aggregated in the cloud and in an organized model all in one place are going to be able to take advantage of those coming AI advancements more quickly and beat their competition. And, there will be companies that get left behind because they didn't have that long-term vision. And, when this next latest and greatest AI comes out, if you don't have the data to feed the beast, so to speak, you're not going to get anything out of it.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. So, is that something that you help teams and companies strategize on?
Ryan Pollyniak:
It definitely is. So, when you're a startup and you're commonly using entry-level accounting system or QuickBooks or something like that, which is great when you're just beginning, but sometimes as you grow, you need more. You need auditability, and you need security, and you need control. What we do is, when we migrate companies into a new ERP, first of all, we're definitely getting them into the cloud, and almost every project we do is in the cloud these days. There are exceptions. Sometimes there are industry-specific requirements in terms of compliance that require somebody to be on-premise, Department of Defense, federal agencies, companies that have maybe an internal rule, we can't go to the cloud for whatever reason. So, that does happen.
Most of our deployments are on the cloud, but also we're creating that aggregated data strategy that I mentioned, because you've got data in your legacy system. The best practice is to leave that data there or to create an aggregated data warehouse and create reporting off of that, rather than try to shoehorn a bunch of data from one system into another. Not really a good idea. And, with that said, I've never met a company who says, "Oh, we don't need all of our old data. You can have it." Of course not. That's gold. You need your old data, but how you access it, that has changed quite a bit.
We used to see companies leave their legacy ERP system up for transactional inquiries or for auditability and then start transacting in the new system. Now, what we're seeing more and more in our projects is, let's take all of your old data and put it in a cloud-based AI-enabled data warehouse from Microsoft. Take your data from your new system and marry it up and map it up. And then, we have all of your data old and new in one place. And, if I want to do a sales trend analysis for product X over the last seven years, and maybe I've been live on my Microsoft system for one year, and I've got six years of historical data, I can do that because it's all in one place.
So, I would say, first of all, get to the cloud. It's absolutely critical. The on-prem stuff is getting left behind. And then second, get your data estate in order if you want to be able to take advantage of future AI enhancements and pick a platform that's going to be able to take advantage of it. I mean, there are all kinds of systems out there, and some of them are developed by one or two people and supported by a handful of people and they sell based on feature functionality on this. And, if that's what you need, then you can make that decision but it's important to also consider the broader technological foundation. A company like Microsoft with all of their power and tools that they can bring to the table and their investment in OpenAI and their connectivity to Microsoft Office 365, Excel and Word and Teams, that's all going to enable you to have a more connective, cohesive plan going forward. So, you've got to consider all those things.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. And, that's a really good point about the cohesion, not just between your software systems for database management, for inventory management, for payments, but also the other things that we use as business tools, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams Meetings. All of the other things that combine where it creates a whole ecosystem where we can share data across all of these different systems. And, I think that's one of the problems that we see a lot with companies that might be a little older. I've even heard it with government organizations in different states where maybe they have a team that's ready to help with data security, privacy, maybe start moving into the world of AI, but they still, to your point, have stacks of folders and binders everywhere with old data. And, the way that they used to navigate data might not be the same, might not have the same fields, and all of that stuff. So, it can take a lot to just get to the point of integration before you even think about cloud, new systems, right? All the other things that they need to do to put into place.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Absolutely. And, what I talk about with clients is, "What do you need to do to get ready for a system change?" And, part of it is, "Get your data in order. How long have you been in business? 15, 20 years, and you've got every customer you've ever worked with and every vendor you've ever paid, and every item you've ever sold in that system. Well, there's a good chance a lot of that doesn't need to come forward." So, you can preliminarily start working through those kinds of things well before you ever begin a project and be prepared to make the move when the time comes.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. We talk a lot on this podcast about little tweaks and things that can help make businesses better every day, right? And some things, some of them also apply to life, some of them just apply to business. One thing that we do a lot though, of course, is talk about how you use these tools to make more sales, to have a better marketing campaign, to understand the newest and latest trends. So, we've talked a little bit about your side of the field, cloud, we've been into AI systems and processes and some of the things that it can help you with behind the scenes but then how do these systems and processes that you're talking about, such as Microsoft, also help align then how salespeople are able to effectively go out and use the messaging along with the marketing team so that they're having the same message. Maybe they're tweaking a little bit differently depending on if it's an existing customer or a prospect.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. So, I love this topic, by the way, because you can have the best product in the world backed by the best company in the world and if you don't align with your people internally and make that bridge between technology and people, you could fail. And, if you look, a lot of ERP projects fail. Then go look at the metrics. You'll see 30%, 40% by some industry metrics are not successful. Now, we don't have those numbers. At Western Computer we're very prescriptive about evaluating requirements and setting proper expectations and getting involved in things that we could do well but the reality is that you have to align the product with your people. And this is change management, and it is very different than project management. You can buy the best product and get a project manager that keeps you on time and on budget and knocks out the deliverables and gets everything done. And then, the finished product, your users look at it and say, "No way. This is going to ruin my life," and you've got a revolt on your hands or maybe you're not getting the involvement and the buy-in that you want.
So, the change management aspect of it is really about aligning processes. It's a two-way street. Number one, you have to inform your employees about what's happening and why. Changing systems, okay? That can't be the end of the conversation, right? If anybody's got kids, tell your kids-
Ryan Pollyniak:
Go do something. Well, what's the first question the kid is going to ask?
Anika Jackson:
"Why?"
Ryan Pollyniak:
"Why?" And so, you have to also explain, "Well, we're changing systems because we're on an old aging system. It's not supported, it's not secure. Our competition's going to start leaving us in the dust because we don't have our data in order. We're not ready for AI. We don't even know how much inventory we have in our warehouse." Pick your reason. And then, you've got to further that and explain to them, "Well, here's how it's going to impact you as a person. We're going to stay viable in the industry. We're going to sell more." So, if you're a salesperson, maybe it's your commission that goes up. "We're going to beat our competition. We're going to be able to stay in business." Take your pick of what's in it for each individual user, but you have to bridge that gap.
"Here's why we're changing. Here's how it's going to affect you." You got to provide them with the knowledge to change. "Here's our plan. We've got a training plan, and here's how we're going to roll it out, and we're going to make sure that you have everything you need." You have to give them the ability to then implement that plan. So, it can't be "Anika, I've got this great project and this great product, and here's why we're doing it, and here's why it's going to help you, and here's all the knowledge we're going to give you." And then, you look at me and say, "Well, I'm already working 60 hours a week. I barely have time to have lunch, so when do you want me to do this?" Not going to work. So, you have to make time and make sure you have bandwidth, and you may need to staff up a little bit temporarily to execute appropriately. And then, after you implement, you've got to make sure all your changes have been effectively embraced and that they're being used, right? So, if you're a sales manager and your team's going to be using CRM, there have to be checks and balances in making sure that those people are using it. So, bridging that gap between people and processes is what's going to drive success.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. Fantastic. And, you mentioned kids. We were talking before we jumped on about the fact that we both have daughters. And so, do your daughters understand what you do? That's my first question. Is it something that they're interested in or engaged in? And, how do you make sure that you have... Because obviously what you do takes a lot of time, a lot of investment in other people, in other companies, organizations, as well as your own. So, how do you... This is a funny question to ask a dad, because it's usually a question that you ask mom, but I like to treat all parents equally. So, talk about that, combining that with family time, with having that time where you can unplug even if you have a customer who is expecting something tomorrow.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. So, first of all, I love being a dad. I mean, it's the most important part of my life. And, I love being a girl dad. Spend most of my weekends at gymnastics meets, and it's okay. I've started to learn how they score. It took a little bit, but I did. And so, do my kids understand what I do? I've tried to explain it and boil it down, but ERP is a little bit of a tough thing to explain across the board.
One of my friends who runs a company, and he said, "I still don't even know what you do." And he mentioned Chandler from Friends, the show friends, how everybody said, "Nobody knows what Chandler does." That's how he described my job. Now, I told my kids, I'm a cloud transformation executive by title, and they went and told their class that on Career Day, and now most of their class thinks that I'm a meteorologist. So, it didn't really land.
Anika Jackson:
No.
Ryan Pollyniak:
And then, you know, how do I bridge the gap with family? Well, I prioritize. I love my job, I work hard at it, but when I shut my laptop and button up for the day, we've got processes in place and departments in place to support our customers, and I empower them to leverage those channels. And, I go be a dad because it only happens once and would never recommend that anybody forego that. I missed one Halloween to be in Milwaukee for a big implementation meeting, and my kids were four, two, and one, and you never get that back so I told myself then, "Not doing it anymore. The family time is too important," and I will always make that my priority.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. Yeah. I applaud that. I'm the same way. And, you have to make sure that you're working with company and with people that also understand your priorities and value your priorities.
Ryan Pollyniak:
I'm a big believer that employers will treat their employees the same way they treat their customers. And, that's critical, right? You treat people well, you treat them the right way and, hey, I've been at Western Computer 10 years, they fully support my prioritization of family, and I'm very thankful for that.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. Okay. So, I want to go back to business for a second and just ask, do you have a story that you love sharing that's either something where the system was completely crazy and wacky and you had to do a lot to put it together, or were you able to find some small tweaks that created these aha moments with a customer? Anything you want to share?
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. Well, absolutely. Lots have come into mind here. I would say, one time when I traveled for a demonstration of the software application that we were proposing to put in for a company, and we had a great fit by all knowledge that we had, but we had a lot to learn still, right? We were kind of feeling each other out. Anybody that tells you, "Hey, I've got exactly what you need," before they know what you want, you probably need to go find somebody else.
So, I get into the demo room in a conference room, I had traveled, and one of the C levels comes in very quickly and abrasively says, "Hey, you've got five minutes. Tell me why I should use you over X, Y, and Z competitor." I said, very quickly, "I don't know that you should." And that's the truth, right? And, that's how I try to operate is transparently. And I said, "I don't know that you should yet. We have a lot to learn still. We're going to show you what we have today. We're going to learn more about your business. We're going to be open and honest about our ability to deliver on your needs. If we don't have alignment, I'll probably tell you to go use the other company. And if we do, then I'll tell you that."
And, it took them aback a bit, and we ended up having a great conversation, and they were a long time client and still are. So, I think that that's very important. And you've got to have transparency, you've got to have honesty, you've got to have communication. And, that's a good example of that, I think.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. That's a really great example, and you just took the words out of my mouth, because I think when we show up with integrity, which is what you did, right? Not saying that you have the perfect solution for them, but you have to explore this, and they have to give you the time, you're also asking, because he wasn't going to give you that time.
Ryan Pollyniak:
He wasn't.
Anika Jackson:
So, yeah. And, the fact that they then became a customer and they still are, is amazing.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah.
Anika Jackson:
So, we've talked a lot about different things people need to think about when they're thinking about putting in new systems. The first things that they need to do, where they need to go to look at reviews, how they need to ask questions about not just the vendor, but the different people who they'd be working with, the implementers, perhaps. What is something else, if there's anything else, that we left out about this process that people need to consider?
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. So, communication is everything. And, assuming that the other person knows what you know, is a big pitfall. One of my favorite quotes is something to the effect, maybe not word for word, of the biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it's taken place when it hasn't. And, that's powerful. So, from my perspective, I never assume the people I'm talking to know all the knowledge that I've gained in having worked in this industry for so long. It's easy to do and things get missed in that scenario.
But also, as a potential customer, as a business owner, when you're talking to potential technology partners to make these transformations for you, you can't assume that they know what you know about your business either. You have to communicate what is important, what do I want to get out of this? And you have to be open about what you don't know, right? Put the ego to the side. "Look, I sell widgets. I don't implement ERP. Talk to me from the beginning and explain it like a kindergartner," right? That's perfectly fine. And so, open communication, not assuming that each party knows what they know, because let's be honest, you've got a technology partner who is an expert in their product and an expert in helping businesses like yours transform. You are the expert in your business. You guys have to effectively exchange information if it's going to be a success. So, that's a good summary. Parting shot, I would say.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. Communication, that's the key to everything. That as well as the things that you talked about, transparency, authenticity. Yeah. Absolutely. And, do you foresee there being less of a need or more of a need for a company like yours in the future, knowing that we are going into... We're living in this world, Web 2.0, where there's a lot of social media, we have generative AI, we're figuring out how to integrate recommendations and all these different processes that have been being used by a lot of companies into our small business ecosystems, into our small to medium-sized businesses. We're going to, in the next few years, start transitioning into agentic AI and into this world of Web3, Web 4.0, where there's going to be a lot more of our AI agents talking to each other and figuring out systems and processes for us.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. I mean, in my personal industry, in the industry of ERP and business systems, AI will not replace that. It will not. It's already augmenting what we do, but it's the same, I think, for a lot of roles. I am not a believer that AI is coming for your job, typically. Now, somebody using AI effectively may be, a company using AI effectively may outcompete you, but total automation in the world of ERP, AI is more peripheral in driving efficiencies than it is replacing what a company like ours could do.
Because there's a very human element to this whole thing. You've got to marry processes with people, just like we talked about with change. You've got to make a lot of decisions based on strategy. AI is a long way off from replacing what we do, but it certainly augments it. And, I think every company should be thinking about how AI can augment their business, not just cut costs but provide actionable data that you can use to compete, because that's what your competition will be doing.
Anika Jackson:
Yeah. And, that's where a Sherpa comes in, going back to your...
Ryan Pollyniak:
Absolutely.
Anika Jackson:
Yep. Absolutely.
Ryan Pollyniak:
I love that analogy. It's important.
Anika Jackson:
It really is. Okay. Well, you know what I'm going to ask next, Ryan. I'm going to ask for a quote, mantra, family motto, first, some words that help you get through every day. It could be in the world of business, it can be in the world of personal life, it can be something that intersects with both.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Wow. So, I mentioned my quote earlier on communication. I think that's critical. And, I would say, I love the quote that, "I, for one, am an optimist because I don't see much use being anything else." I think that is extremely important in the business world. Focus on your goals and not focusing on fear or perceived security risks in the cloud. You will get left behind in that scenario.
If you have any golfers out there, I had a good buddy of mine that golfed in college, and he said, "If you hit your ball and you can't find it, look for it where you want it to be." And that way, if you do happen to run across it, great. If it's back there buried in the leaves in the woods somewhere, it doesn't matter anyway, so stay positive and focus on your goals. That's what I teach my girls. And don't worry about what you can't control. Do your best, shut your laptop, go to bed at night and start again in the morning.
Anika Jackson:
Fantastic advice and words. Ryan, thank you so much for being here. This has been a long time coming but I think, as always, it was the perfect time incoming. And we will, of course, link Western Computer and perhaps your LinkedIn profile if people want to reach out to you directly.
Ryan Pollyniak:
Yeah. There aren't too many Pollyniak out there. You could find me on LinkedIn quite easily. MSdynsolutions is the LinkedIn URL for me, but sure, if anybody wants to chat, I'm an open book. Feel free to connect with me or come through our website. We've got a chat there as well that one of our reps will pick it up. Glad to talk to you.
Anika Jackson:
Hey, well, we'll have to come back and talk to you when we do reach that world of Web 4.0 in a few years, if I'm still podcasting the same way and everything else remains the same, to see how that is now intersecting with the business and the work that you do. So...
Ryan Pollyniak:
Looking forward to it. Maybe it'll be AI Anika, and you'll be on the beach sipping on my mai tai. Who knows?
Anika Jackson:
I can only imagine. Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me on Your Brand Amplified, and thank you to everybody who's watching this episode or listening to it on your favorite platform. Leave us a rating review, let us know what you want to hear more of. I'm all ears, and I'll be back again with another amazing guest to share a little bit to make your business journey better every day. Thanks for listening or watching to this episode of Your Brand Amplified. Don't forget to leave us a rating or review on your favorite podcast listening platform. And if you want to learn more, check us out at yourbrandamplified.com.
