Regina Manfredi Of Crayon US On How To Use Digital Transformation To Take Your Company To The Next Level
An Interview With Cynthia Corsetti
Leverage Gen AI to chat with your data — I’ve already mentioned it, but GenAI this is deeper than just using a public version of Chat GPT or a standard chat bot. GenAI is driving incredible productivity benefits for many business applications that help employees achieve more at scale by implementing tools that can leverage their unique business data.
Digital transformation has become a crucial component for businesses striving to stay competitive and relevant in today’s rapidly evolving landscape. As technology continues to shape industries and redefine business models, companies must adapt and leverage digital tools and strategies to unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation. In this interview series, we aim to explore various aspects of digital transformation, including best practices, challenges, success stories, and expert insights. We are talking to thought leaders, industry experts, entrepreneurs, technology innovators, and executives who have firsthand experience in driving digital transformation initiatives within their organizations. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Regina Manfredi, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Crayon,
Regina Manfredi believes in the power of collaboration, learning, and sharing to advance the profession and the ecosystem of technology. Her passion for helping customers and partners optimize and innovate with software, cloud, data, and AI has served as a throughline in her more than 20 years in the technology industry. As the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Crayon, a global IT optimization and transformation consultancy practice and the US market leader for IT optimization services, she leads a team of experts who deliver solutions enabling scalable data platforms, AI, and IoT.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Believe it or not, I started out wanting to be a TV anchor on Good Morning America. However, it became clear early on that a career in sales was a natural fit for me, and I loved it! Xerox Corporation is where it all began, leading to a fruitful career in tech. My adventurous nature brought me into the technology ecosystem, and it has been a great journey, culminating in my role at Crayon.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
Oh goodness, there are too many to count and too embarrassing or inappropriate to share! Every mistake was an opportunity to learn. So, it is safe to say I have learned volumes over my 25-year career.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
It’s incredibly difficult to single out just one person, as I’ve been fortunate to have a tribe of supportive individuals throughout my journey. Both female and male leaders have played pivotal roles in encouraging me, challenging me, and believing in my potential. They offered me opportunities that were sometimes daunting, but their faith in me gave me the courage to take those leaps.
Two key figures in my life have been my grandfather and father. They consistently told me I could achieve anything I set my mind to, providing unwavering support and mentorship. Their belief in me was instrumental in shaping my confidence and ambition. Growing up with such strong advocates, I was unaware of the gender disparities in the workplace, particularly in leadership roles. I was raised to believe that anything is possible, and a great deal of who I am today is because of their guidance and encouragement.
Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
Atomic Habits by James Clear is arguably the most crucial book I’ve ever read. The principles outlined in this book have had a profound impact on my personal and professional life. By following the Four Rules of Atomic Habits, I have learned the value of making small, incremental improvements rather than striving for perfection all at once. This approach of getting 1% better every day has helped me stay focused and adaptable, even in the face of challenges and changes. The concept of continuous improvement resonates deeply with me, as it aligns with my belief in lifelong learning and growth. This book has not only influenced how I approach my work at Crayon but also how I navigate personal development and goal-setting.
Are you working on any new, exciting projects now? How do you think that might help people?
We are really excited about the recent adoption and proliferation of GenAI across the market. End users, by the tens of millions, adopted ChatGPT faster than any other application in history. At Crayon, we know companies have so many options to explore when looking for ways employees can chat with their data. New digital AI tools are being introduced daily. Crayon has been working on an analysis to compare some of the top tools to demystify how companies can safely and economically build their own internal solutions and realize tangible benefits.
Crayon prioritizes educating our clients on best practices for AI implementation, ensuring they are well-equipped to harness the full potential of these technologies while mitigating associated risks. This comprehensive support empowers organizations to leverage AI for transformative growth, keeping them ahead in a competitive market.” And, our commitment to innovation doesn’t stop at just identifying and comparing AI tools. We take a holistic approach to digital transformation, ensuring our clients not only adopt the latest technologies but also integrate them seamlessly into their existing business.
Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion about Digital Transformation. Digital transformation can mean many things to many people, from your perspective, how do you define digital transformation in your industry?
Digital transformation for our customers is about driving greater economies of scale. In today’s world, IT budgets are getting thinner but, the need for tech innovation is more important than ever to remain competitive and ensure a secure IT environment. To do this, organizations work with Crayon to optimize their current IT costs and reinvest those savings into other critical digital transformation projects like cloud migration and AI. And, equally important, digital transformation means successful adoption and change management for these initiatives across the organization.
Which companies can most benefit from a Digital Transformation?
If you consider the rapid advancement of GenAI in business, every company should consider themselves as a technology company first. Digital transformation will be required for companies to be able to compete. Businesses should not only think about customer experience, but also think about the generational shifts of buyers and employees. We are all selling a product or service, how will the experience of the buyer shift as more tech savvy generations move into the market?
Any business that is trying to improve productivity or put their data to work for them should be investigating how digital transformation can improve outcomes, whether that is increasing sales, lower personnel costs, or even improving customer experience. For example, recently my daughter was adamant that Apple CarPlay be available in her first car she bought. Car manufacturers who don’t cater to the younger tech-savvy generations will lose out to those who have adapted to these buying trends. It’s the same for all businesses.
Has integrating Digital Transformation been a challenging process for some companies? What are the challenges? How do you help resolve them?
Many companies we work with at Crayon seem to get “stuck” in the art of the possible. Organizations should consider a single challenge and get hyper focused on how digital transformation could solve that problem. Will they get the ROI? Companies that start expanding on the possibilities end up with project “scope creep” and skyrocketing costs without ever realizing the return on the investment. Companies need to simplify the desired outcome to solve the root problem and focus on ensuring adoption within the organization.
At Crayon, we guide our clients through this process by first conducting a thorough assessment of their current IT landscape and business objectives. We help them identify key areas where digital transformation can drive the most value. Our approach involves setting clear, achievable goals and creating a roadmap that outlines each step of the transformation journey. By breaking down the project into manageable phases, we ensure that each phase delivers measurable benefits before moving on to the next. This phased approach helps mitigate risks and keeps the project aligned with the company’s strategic goals.
We emphasize the importance of change management in digital transformation. Successful adoption of new technologies requires not just technical implementation but also cultural change within the organization. We work closely with our clients to develop training programs and communication strategies that ensure employees are equipped and motivated to embrace the new tools and processes. By fostering a culture of continuous improvement and learning, we help organizations maintain momentum and achieve sustained success in their digital transformation efforts.
Based on your experience and success, what are “Five Ways a Company Can Use Digital Transformation To Take It To The Next Level”?
1 . IT Cost Optimization — there are many software tools available in the market today. But a tool alone won’t solve the challenge around rising IT costs. Leveraging analytics for consumption and end user adoption are great, but how a company builds a FinOps practice to tightly manage their IT budget can allow them to reinvest in further transformation endeavors. Customers trust us every day to build the right analytics for their specific needs and help them make more informed decisions on how to cut costs in their IT estate, without stifling innovation.
2 . Leverage Gen AI to chat with your data — I’ve already mentioned it, but GenAI this is deeper than just using a public version of Chat GPT or a standard chat bot. GenAI is driving incredible productivity benefits for many business applications that help employees achieve more at scale by implementing tools that can leverage their unique business data.
3. Migrate to the Cloud — This may seem like old news but there are still many organizations that are on-prem only. By moving to the cloud, or implementing a hybrid solution, companies put the right foundation in place for other innovation projects like AI and pave the way for a more secure IT environment.
3 . Improved Marketing and Sales Strategies — Our VP of Services recently partnered with a leading Sales Training company, Factor8. Using GenAI, they collaborated on 10 ways to improve a seller’s productivity to drive connections with prospective customers and identify areas of opportunity with their current customers. The feedback and adoption by the sales teams has been impressive. We are confident that the sales results will follow.
4 . Computer Vision — Using video and image data, customers can develop quality control measures, perform analytics captured from those images, or develop predictive maintenance. For example, our data scientist team built a visual inspection solution for Facilities Management to conduct roof and parking lot inspections using drones.
In the oil and gas sector, we created underwater pipeline inspection capabilities to safely predict maintenance needs using video and machine learning. In both cases, our customers improved the time to value and cut personnel costs in the process.
5. Document Intelligence — leveraging large language models (LLM), we recently supported a large financial institution in their effort to dramatically improve invoice processing. Using AI, we achieved near 100% accuracy on information extraction from their invoices. By marrying LLM functionality with text and image extraction, this significantly improved their invoice processing and payment accuracy.
All these digital transformation initiatives focused on specific problems and outcomes. It’s important that organizations get very specific and not boil the ocean. Once you begin your journey, it builds on the organization’s culture of innovation, and then the magic begins to happen.
In your opinion, how can companies best create a “culture of innovation” in order to create new competitive advantages?
That’s a great question. At Crayon, we recently embarked on our own customer experience project and invited all employees, from every line of business, to volunteer to participate. The response has been amazing, but what has been truly incredible are the ideas and insights this cross functional team has generated. The team is incredibly diverse, with very different skill sets. We have finance, HR, marketing, engineering, and sales teammates all collaborating to improve the customer experience for our own customers. The entire team are now acting as transformation agents and coming together to contribute to the future success of the business. Decisions about digital transformation should include all lines of business and it is even better when the team is diverse in their skill sets and experiences.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Adaptability is more important than your IQ or EQ.” This has always been critical. A guarantee in life, and in business, is change. But it’s become even more important with the rapidly changing environment of our geopolitical headwinds, the economy, buying behavior, and the tech industry. Those businesses that cannot adapt to these changes struggle to compete. That is where digital transformation becomes an important topic!
How can our readers further follow your work?
Connect with me on LinkedIn!
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
About the Interviewer: Cynthia Corsetti is an esteemed executive coach with over two decades in corporate leadership and 11 years in executive coaching. Author of the upcoming book, “Dark Drivers,” she guides high-performing professionals and Fortune 500 firms to recognize and manage underlying influences affecting their leadership. Beyond individual coaching, Cynthia offers a 6-month executive transition program and partners with organizations to nurture the next wave of leadership excellence.
