David 0:00

What technology should advisors be looking at? And what technology concerns should they be aware of? We'll find out on this episode of Shift Shapers.

Announcer 0:12

Change either paralyzes or energizes. The choice is yours. You're listening to the Shift Shapers podcast. You're about to learn firsthand from businesses and entrepreneurs who have successfully shaped the shifts in their industries. Get ready to become the change you want to see. This episode is brought to you by Shift Shaper Strategies. In sales, if you confuse, you lose. Clarify your message so you win more clients, crush your sales goals, and build your practice. Learn more at ShiftShaperstrategies.com. And now here's your host, Story Brand Certified Guide and Chief Transformation Strategist at Shift Shaper Strategies, David Saltzman.

David 1:04

Every once in a while, I get a call from somebody in the audience asking me about this tech problem or that tech problem or what should they use or what shouldn't they use. And for a long time I've been looking for a kindred spirit, a fellow geek who understands the industry and who can help speak to some of these topics. And I am so thrilled to have Nick Lozano, who's both the co-founder of Janitor Media, great name, by the way, but also the director of technology for the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, which some of us know as CIAB. Welcome, Nick. Glad to have you.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Oh, thanks for having me, David. And you know, on a side note, that janitor media thing is this long tradition thing for me. So how that name started, because everyone always asks me this, so I might as well get this out of the way. How that started was basically when I would go to networking events, especially in the DC area, people instantly want to know what you do. And basically they're trying to find out what you can do for them. So I would always just tell them I was a janitor. And that's literally how that started. And the first paying job I ever had was a janitor. So it's not like I'm completely lying. You know, maybe I'm just bending the truth a little bit. But I found like at those networking events when I would say that, the people who would stay to hang out and go, Oh, so tell me a little bit about that, or tell me a bit about yourself, are some of the more interesting individuals that I meet.

David 2:17

Oh, I have absolutely no doubt. And and look, it's it's also true because if you work in the tech part of the industry, you're always cleaning up something.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

So, you know, it it's exactly and that's the other part of it, right?

David 2:26

Yeah, it's I got my mop or my broom with me. If it's how how do you get to be doing what you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Okay, so I always say how I got into technology is I walked into a room. And that's basically how I wound up in technology. My first career out of uh, I guess basically high school was I was a professional chef for about 10 years. And at a certain point, you know, I decided, okay, to move up the ladder. I had to go back to college and to get some kind of advanced degree so that I can, you know, start stepping away from the stove and try to get to that management role. And part of that was going to college. So I did, you know, general AAA, paid for all that cash. And, you know, as I transfer on to a four-year state school, they're like, hey, you got to declare a major. I'm like, I just want business. And as I'm walking by, this professor's like, oh, you're gonna just declare regular business. He's like, you need to come with me to management information systems. I was like, oh, sounds cool. So I sat in this room, listened to his pitch, and here I am. I took uh management information systems and wound up in technology. You know, I worked at Accenture for a little while, consulting firm. I've ran my own consult technology consulting business for a little while too. But I've kind of weaned that down as I've picked up more of the content creation and some of the leadership development topics that I do with my podcast. And that's how I kind of wound up in technology and at the council.

David 3:41

You know, for a lot of us, especially in this industry, it it's true what John Lennon said, life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. It it's you know, we it's always interesting to talk about somebody's origin story and how they ended up where they are. So you're in the same kind of universe as I am with general agents and agencies and advisors and whatnot. You understand keenly, maybe better than a lot of people, that they're all being asked to deliver more and do it with less and be more efficient and effective. What kind of technology are you seeing out there that that you think is being most helpful to agencies and advisors?

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Sure. So, you know, I so my day job at the council too, I also facilitate the CIO working group. So this is something we talk about quite frequently, which is you know, the CIO working group is consisted of a bunch of member firms who are either technology of directors of technology, sometimes they're CMOs or CFOs, because you know, in the industry, sometimes the technology is under marketing, sometimes they're under finance, sometimes they have their own thing. It all depends. So, what we're seeing a lot of ton is that people are getting into uh RPA or robotic process automation. People are really looking to say, okay, you know, when someone emails the claims department, how can we expedite that to look at this email to figure out how to route it automatically? And depending on, you know, different schedules and people being remote, where where should we filter this? What kind of content is in there? And using some of these tools use things like natural process, uh language processing to try to kind of figure out where things go. So I'd say people are starting to dip their toes into automation. And the other thing I have seen really, especially since the pandemic, you know, it's 2021 as we're recording this, and everyone kind of knows what happened with that is everyone went from being in the office one day to everybody's at home. So we're seeing I've seen people make huge investments into cloud technologies, right? They're leveraging desktop as a service like Amazon Workspaces or the Azure workspaces type things, where it's a whole PC instance in the cloud. And it takes away some of that need of having to have your own infrastructure and architecture to provide those tools. And that in turn is allowing organizations to increase their security because when you are logging into your computer, you're logging into your computer and it's at a secure data center at like Amazon or Azure or Rackspace or somewhere like that. So we're seeing some organizations who have already been in that space, who have already kind of done the virtualization move to the cloud. Those are the ones that I'm noticing are going headstrong into RPA and different types of automation because they're kind of ahead of the curve.

David 6:21

At what point in that process? I mean, I assume some of your members have gotten there, because I know some of the members of CIAB and they're pretty savvy folks. At what point in that curve do they go, well, wait a minute, holy smokes, we don't have to only hire from within driving distance of our brick and mortar location. We can hire the best people no matter where they are.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

You know, that has been a huge topic in the CIO working group in our meetings, is that so in the technology space, you know, a lot of people are talking right now, especially just in in our membership in general, are talking about, okay, we're we're bringing people back to the office, right? And there's this expectation that work happens in the office. And one thing that's interesting is right now, from a labor perspective, as a technology professional, it is really an employees' market, right? The employees are setting the terms. So as in a technology leader, it is difficult to tell someone who's like a system administrator, hey, you got to come back to the office every single day when they've just been working at home for two years. And as you said, now the labor market has opened up where, you know, maybe I don't have to, you know, be in Boston or Washington, D.C. I can, you know, I can work from a smaller city like Louisville, Kentucky, and be based in Boston and just go back every now and then. And that is one of the great things we've seen is that now if you have this remote environment and and you're starting to bring up that architecture, is that your candidate pool is now instantly the whole country, or wherever you feel comfortable, you know, setting up what do they call it, a nexus or something like that. I can't remember where it could, because if you start taking W-2 employees in different states, obviously you've got to start setting up things so that you can pay them and have some type of way to collect employment taxes from them. But it has really opened up the doors of the talent pool, right? No longer are you tied to just, you know, what engineering talent is in Boston. You can look for, you know, great talent in Cincinnati or Minneapolis or Wichita, Kansas, or or maybe Bozeman, Montana. You're just only limited by how far you're willing to reach.

David 8:26

You know, it's it's interesting. I wonder if your firms are finding this and if you're having those discussions in your CIO working group that McKinse recently did a study that not only are individuals more productive working from home, but and I think this may be the surprise, work groups are more productive working from home. Are your folks seeing that? Or is that just the light just starting to come over the horizon on that?

SPEAKER_00 8:47

I think so. What I've heard is that, you know, from the technology leader perspective, they are feeling more productive. There was this initial phase when everybody left, right? The technology leaders, they were stressed because instantly people who used to be in the office are trying to set up their computers at home. You're trying to, you know, remote troubleshoot personal internet problems. So on the front end, it was a lot of work. But as things have gone along, what I have seen and what, you know, I've I've noticed within the group is that a lot of employees are starting to be more self-service and become a little more tech savvy, right? No longer do they need help connecting to a Zoom. Everyone's been on Zoom or some equivalent of a video streaming for months now. And they kind of know how to troubleshoot their own issues. So I would say that, you know, as we've gone along, we were stressed in the beginning, but now as things gone on, it has freed us up to be a bit more productive, right? Now, now you have engineers or employees working on projects or ideas, things they they were thinking of for the organization that can drive value, and now they have the time, right? They don't have that two-hour commute in anymore. Or who knows, if you live in New York City, it could be three hours if you're going from New Jersey or something like that total per day that allows them to work on side projects for the organization or just different ideas that they have to bring something of value to the organization.

David 10:09

Everybody knows how to be on Zoom, but there are fundamentals that are still missing, right? I mean, how many Zoom calls do you see where you're looking up somebody's nose or where there's where there's a huge bright window behind them and they look like they're in the witness protection program? I mean, are are you also having conversations about some with some agencies about some of the fundamentals still?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

I think so. That's that's always with it, right? And some of the conversations too are about work agreements, too, right? As we go into these work environments. And when you think about going on a Zoom meeting, you know, you'll get on them sometimes and you'll have half the people on a camera, half the people not on a camera, and someone, some people in a conference room, and you just got a bird's eye view of a conference room. So I think some of it is education and probably a little bit of work agreements saying, okay, if we're gonna have a meeting and everybody is one person's on camera, then the expectation is everybody's on camera, even if we're all in the same room, so that the person who is remote can see everybody's face, can tell when someone's gonna speak, can feel a bit more involved in the process and and feel like they belong to the organization.

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David 12:17

Do you see technologies evolving for conference rooms and whatever in price points that mere mortals can actually afford? I know there's some great systems out there, but they tend to be, you know, frightfully expensive. You and I were talking, for example, off offline, you and I were talking about how easy and how accessible it is to live stream and to buy camera gear and all that kind of stuff. Are you seeing those technologies starting to change?

SPEAKER_00 12:39

I would say the technology so has exploded, especially for virtual events. There was this space, right, when the pandemic happened. Everyone who had done events, and you know, the CIB, we kind of live on in-person events in general. And even I was researching virtual events. How do how do we do these? And then instantly these huge amount of players came. And, you know, there was this organization called Hop In and Remo, and you know, Zoom eventually built an events platform. And the great thing about all that competition is that it drove the price way down. Uh when I was initially looking, we were talking, you know, things that had cost, you know, tens of thousands of dollars a year to price points that are, you know, in the couple hundred dollars per month. And some even less than that, depending on, you know, what your requirements are and how many people you need, but that all the technology is there. Initially, it just wasn't evenly distributed. And now, since more people are looking for it, you know, the price of everything has calmed down. And we were talking earlier, like the live streaming, right? There's tons of great tools for that for organizations to stream to their clients, have some type of internet show that goes to YouTube. There's tools like, what's it, StreamYard and Restream and Welder and Stream, like there's there's a ton of them for like $20, $30 a month. You can come like we're recording on this platform here, have our pictures and audio go out, and you don't have to know anything about technology to make that work.

David 14:06

And you can, you know, if you're using something like StreamYard and whatnot, you can send it to you can stream on Facebook and you can stream on YouTube and you can stream all of that stuff simultaneously and pull in comments from almost all of those, all of people who are online and whatnot. So it's the problem is is it's interesting. It's not the cost of the gear anymore. The problem since the pandemic started, since about three or four months after the pandemic started, is getting your hands on the gear that you need at non-scalper prices. I mean, I this studio is new. I just built this in January, but I started collecting gear for it a year earlier when I was still up in up in New Hampshire. I'm now down in Tennessee, because I I waited for prices to come down on gear. I mean, even just things like LED panels, you know, these are I don't know, these are a couple hundred bucks a piece. And people were actually buying them for six or seven hundred dollars a pop. It was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Yeah, I would say technology, uh, anything with a computer chip in it is still super difficult to get. I noticed some consumer items like webcams and and some of the microphones, those are getting easier to get, but everything from like an IT enterprise level, it's still really difficult to get like network equipment that's in stock that doesn't take four months to have it delivered in your hand. So, like you said, especially us as ITLers, we've felt the crunch. Like we're trying to get laptops for individuals, and you know, things are months and months out. It's that's been the really crazy thing. But I guess we're starting to see that with more than just technology goods, right? It's just starting to be goods in general. Anything that's that's produced is stuck out in that long port outside of San Diego. I don't know if you've seen the pictures of all the ships that are just in a line waiting to go to the docks, and they're like, well, you know, that ship's gonna sit outside of the port for a month because it's they just don't have the workers. Oh, yeah, it's crazy. And it's been absolutely insane, and it's been really difficult to plan any type of purchasing as a technology professional and plan your budgeting because, like you said, uh I might have to pay MSRP above MSRP if I need this piece of equipment in my office. I might not have a choice.

David 16:13

Well, that was originally. I mean, but now the problem, as you point out, is the supply chain is so backed up and so goobered up. I mean, I I just again we were talking offline, I just put a second camera in the studio and it's a Nikon. I'm gonna wait four months to get a second battery for the thing. It's just incredible. And I thought, well, okay, I'll get a dummy battery instead. Well, those you have to wait seven or eight months for, and nobody will even give you a delivery time. It's just, it's just crazy. But I think the good news for a lot of people who are listening, a lot of our listeners, is that you can buy a relatively inexpensive USB microphone and use the camera that's on your laptop, and you can get out there and and do this today as long as you've got enough internet connection. You don't have to buy a bunch of expensive gear. Are you finding that with your folks as well?

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Yeah, I uh I'm finding that too. And uh my recommendation with that is well just start with what you have, right? I didn't have this mic here, I didn't have this audio interface, I didn't have any of this stuff at one point. Uh when I started recording my own podcast, and you're gonna cring you're gonna cringe, I recorded it in a free software called Uber Conference, and it sounded terrible. But the point was just to start, right? I had no idea what I actually needed till I started doing the process. I mean, if you have huge pockets and a big budget, fine, go go ahead and go out and buy all that stuff. But if you're a smaller organization thinking about, like you said, leveraging some of these technologies, just start with what you have, especially if we're talking about from a media asset like a podcast or a live stream or something along those lines, it's just start with whatever's around the office. I mean, everyone's probably got a laptop that has a camera on it right now, and you've probably got an iPhone or some phone in the past eight years that had uh earbuds with a microphone on it. Just, you know, start with what you have and you know, graduate as you go. Get the things you need when you need them.

David 18:01

Everybody's got a great camera, and everybody's got audio, and there are inexpensive microphones that you can get a little lavalier microphone that has a dongle that goes into your phone for a long time for the agency. I filmed a lot of stuff using this camera because it was better than anything else that we had. And you know, we did too. There are handles that you can get for either side of it, and you can get a shoe to put a light in if you want, and you don't have to go out and buy tons and tons of equipment. Most people have the camera and the microphone they need already, and it's sitting in their pocket, but they don't realize that, and they think you have to have a lot of expensive gear, and gear is fun, and gear is a blast. And I remember I my wife used to ask me how many microphones do you need? And I said the answer is one more than I have.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah, that's a great example. So what else is it? And you're completely right. That's like even at the CIAB, that's how we were filming content for a long time was with somebody's iPhone. We we would take an iPhone, set it down, and you know, they were using like lapel mics, but to a separate field recorder and then just syncing the audio later. You know, a couple hundred bucks, there we were in business and and and making content for the organization. So use what you have.

David 19:10

If you're gonna use a phone, just remember, especially on the iPhones, use the back camera because it's way better than the front camera.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure.

David 19:16

But and that way you also get you get look at that, you not only got a uh camera and you've got a microphone, but you've got a monitor so you can see what you're recording. It's amazing. And the quality is nobody ever looked at those videos and went, oh my gosh, those will record on a cell phone. Because frankly, the quality is on most cell phones today, the quality is better than most people's DSLRs.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Oh, yeah. So my iPhone, I have a Nikon D5100 that I bought probably about eight years ago. And my iPhone video on that looks so much better than that camera's, you know, video. You know, I completely agree. The only thing we're missing is the glass, right? If you're a camera guy, you're just missing the lenses and and getting that nice fuzzy bokeh. But even a lot of times if you're talking about making content for an organization, a lot of that stuff's kind of not really necessary. It's it's nice to have and makes a cool cinematic effect, but I feel like a lot of that's not really necessary to get the message out that you're trying to get out.

David 20:11

Well, and that's you said the keyword. The keyword is the message. How many people that you know and that I know have podcasts and you listen to them, you go, I'm not really sure what they're talking about or why they're actually talking. So craft your message first, then worry about the technology to get it out to the world. If your message is good, it doesn't matter. But but you've got to start with you've got to start with that message. We've got about a minute or two left. Where do you see this going in the near term?

SPEAKER_00 20:37

So where where do I see, oh man, that's that's a loaded question, right? So just technology in general and everything that's going on with the pandemic, I just see a greater opportunity for remote positions to be available. And I feel like it's kind of been a standard norm in the technology sector or technology departments. But the great thing is we're starting to see that shift organizationally, where you know, maybe when we're talking about brokerage firms too, maybe client-side stuff like office services, your accounting team can be remote, these mixed-use things. And it's going to allow you to open your talent pool to more than just where you are. And I know we talked about earlier about, you know, if you live in a big city, you can, you know, get talent from a smaller city. But what if you're a small firm and you know, Lexington, Kentucky, or Bowling Green, Kentucky or something like somewhere small. Now your talent pool is a whole country instead of just what is specifically available in that area. So I would say we're we're gonna see a big shift where this hybrid culture at least is going to be a big thing that talent is going to want and that organizations are going to offer.

David 21:48

And I think that's a great place to end our conversation for today. Nick Lozano, co-founder at janitor.media and director of technology for the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers. Nick, it's been a pleasure chatting with you.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Thanks for having me, David. I appreciate it.

Announcer 22:02

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