Mr. Matt Mong VP with Adeaca talks about Project Business Automation
In this week's Industrial Talk Podcast we're talking to Matt Mong, Vice President of Market Innovation with Adeaca about “The Power Behind Project Business Automation”. Get the answers to your “Project Business Automation” questions along with Matt's unique insight on the “How” on this Industrial Talk interview!
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MATT MONG'S CONTACT INFORMATION:
Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mgmong/
Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adeaca-corp./
Company Website: https://www.adeaca.com/
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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Matt Mong Interview
Tue, 5/18 2:01PM • 27:26
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
project, business, Adeaca, matt, industrial, company, happening, pba, talk, manufacturing, silos, listeners, system, people, podcast, innovation, champion, mindset, real, standardized
Welcome to the industrial talk podcast with Scott MacKenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's go. Alright, welcome to industrial talk. My name is Scott MacKenzie. And thank you very much for joining me. Number one. It does every related podcast in the universe. There, this is a no legacy thinking zone. You each and every day you industry hero come out and say why not? What if you're solving problems, you are bold, you are brave, you dare greatly. You're, you're changing the lives, you're just constantly disrupting in a positive way. You're changing lives and communities. That's why we celebrate you on this podcast. in the hot seat, Matt Mong, he is vice president market innovation with a company called Adeaca, Adeaca and boy, I'll tell you, man, we're gonna have a great, great conversation. And I think it's a topic that is really, I think it's happening now. And we're talking about project business automation, we got a lot to cover, let's get cracking.
Yeah, you know, what's so great about this world we live in right now is the fact that people once again, innovators, innovation is pushing the envelope, providing solutions that make our lives better, make our products better. And just bottom line, create a resilient business. And it's based off of success. And that's what Adeaca provides. That's what Matt Mong begins to talk about in this particular In short, it is, well, it's 20 minutes, like we always do, but nonetheless, great conversation, you're going to dig it. Alright. Now, again, I'm going to be talking about a couple of events. So get out your calorie, it's going to be at an industrial talk, don't worry about it. This is October 5 through the seventh 2021. right around the corner, let's get back to normal. This is IoT solutions World Congress, it is in Barcelona, and they will be focusing on IoT AI, 5g, digital twin robotics, boom, quantum computing. That's pretty cool stuff. And it is happening this year, thank goodness, Hope it opens up and all that good stuff. And hopefully, I'll be broadcasting from that location as well and highlighting all of the incredible individuals that are changing the world each and every day. Second, the second event that you need to put on your calendar is the manufacturing and technology show. This is in Cleveland, Ohio, this is November 9, through the 11th. And if you've never been to Cleveland, we put that on your bucket list, because that is a great town with great people who are just
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going to be just absolutely spectacular. And it's going to be in a great venue. So put that down. That is the manufacturing and technology show November ninth through the 11th put it down, it'll be out there on industrial talk.com. So if you're not, you don't have to worry about missing out. Now. We're going to be doing a lot of things. You know that industrial talk is about education, collaboration, and innovation in the industrial world. And I believe that that will be changing lives and communities. Big time, we can do it. And fortunately for me, fortunately for industrial talk, we have the opportunity to talk to the very best and we're going to be cranking out a lot of great programs. We're going to be talking about cybersecurity and why that is important. big topic, right? In utility transformation. Another great topic that utilities got to get on on the train the digital transformation train, it's leaving the station. So anyway, there's a lot of great stuff that's going to be happening at industrial talk. So just bear with me because we're doing a redesign of our homepage. I call it industrial talk two dot O. Very important. All right, let's get on with the Doug gun interview. Matt, Mong M,O, N, G. A, D, E, A, C, A is the company. He is the Vice President, as well, what makes sure vice president he had he had a change market innovation. I didn't mean to screw that up. But anyway, that's Matt mark. Great, great conversation. Enjoy. Matt, welcome to the industrial talk Podcast. I am so honored that you have found time in your busy schedule to talk to our wonderful listeners of this incredible and I'm not overselling it. Incredible podcast. How you doing there, Matt? I'm doing well. Thanks for having me, Scott. Excellent.
Excellent, excellent. So let's level set a little bit for the listeners out there, give us a little 411 on who Matt is. Yeah, so my background is mainly mainly in marketing communications. And I've been VP of Marketing for several
startups and small companies looking to grow. And my most recent position here at Adeaca is, is to do the same thing, but going about it a little bit differently. creating our own sort of category for what we're doing. It's, it's a really innovative company, cuz you're gonna be the category King on that particular whatever that category is.
Yeah, so the, the that category is project business automation.
Yeah, I love it. And listeners, it's Adeaca, that's A D, E, A, CA. And it's sounded out like Adeaca. So make a note of that. But we're gonna have all of that AP industrial talk calm, so don't worry about it, don't sweat the small stuff. So we're going to talk a little bit about project bid business automation, give us a little background on what that is. So
first, project business automation is about addressing the needs of project based companies in a single business system.
So it, what it does is it brings all the project processes inside one business system, which is the DRP, and brings it all together. So it's seamless, and in real time. So that's essentially what it does. And it's for any company that really, you know, visions themselves as a project based company. So it could be, you know, different types of manufacturing engineer to order manufacturing, project manufacturing contractors, also the construction engineering companies, even professional services, a lot of different project based companies are out there. That's what project business automation is for. What is the problem that you're trying to solve with this solution? Yeah, so these project based companies have been operating the same way for Adeaca, which is, they take care of the business system in one area over here. And that may have, you know, their accounting, and, you know, their reporting. And if their manufacturing does have some MRP, maybe supply chain, shop for control, but then all their projects are outside of that. So the project management, their project, scheduling, estimating, resource management, analytics, all stuff to do with projects is outside of that, and they don't talk. And so what ends up happening is, they start using basically tons and tons of spreadsheets to you know, manage their projects, import and export data, try and consolidate it all and figure out what's going on, as you know, projects progress. And
this is the main reason why, you know, projects are behind schedule over budget. And so we're trying to address that by bringing all this project stuff into the business system. So that all works together. And you know, as a project based company, projects, drive your drive your business, so they should be at the core of your business system as well. So projects drive your your manufacturing project, strive, your construction projects, your supply chain, your MRP, your your accounting, everything is driven by the project. And so if you don't have that connected in one system, it's a nightmare. And then that's what these people are, these people are dealing with, you know, the sad part about it, they're mad is that you brought it up, he said, hey, these have been going on for Adeaca. And and that pain has always been there for Adeaca. And everybody has talked about the fact that, hey, I'm having challenges here and there. And I'm and and but nobody and I don't understand why I don't understand why that there has not been more action in an attempt to be able to consolidate and put this all under one umbrella to grade. I don't have greater visibility in what's taking place in your project. I it just makes it makes complete sense. Why Why? Why are Why are they reluctant to do so? What What is going on? Why it just seems like it's a no brainer. The pain is extensive? Well, yes. So yeah, it's interesting. I think there's a couple of different reasons. The first is, it's just as the way we've always done it, you know, this is just, it's just a traditional
as far as the culture of what they're doing, and they built up the silos of all these different sort of fiefdoms. Yeah, that's true, right? You've got
You've got your, your, your project managers over here, and they have their tool and they love it. And they do it this way. And then you've got your engineers over here. And you've got your accountants over here and your controllers, and they do you know, their own things in their own way. And unfortunately, that's sort of how they've grown up. And then when they go out and look for a system, that's how they look, they look, okay, well, we need this and then we need this. And then they don't they don't look at it all together as one business. And so we're trying to get people to focus on your a project business, like and look at it holistically. It is, it is you, you've got a beginning and an end. And if you're a project business, right, many project business out there that make money off of projects and doing it right, and being on budget and on time and all of the metrics that are so important, you would think that that would be just the absolute top of the heap when it comes to doing things. Right. Right. It's not because of the human component, and all these little fiefdoms that happen, it doesn't happen. Yeah, what exactly what it has to it has to be a human, it has to be an education, it has to be a human type of thing. To move that ball forward, it's like, that's it, we're done, we're going to go down this road, whether we like it or not, and everybody's going to participate. Is that right? Absolutely. I mean, the, the customers that come to us, obviously, kind of have this realization, at some point, to some extent, where, okay, this just isn't working any longer. Like they they've optimized these little silos as much as possible. But nothing more is happening, they get these little incremental, you know, productivity gains, maybe here and there, point 2%. And it's just not, it's not affected to the business overall. So it's about educating people on, let's look at the whole thing, and then bring it all together. And that's really going to give you that next, you know, order of magnitude improvement, really the technologies, the technology it is, and it always gets down to people. So this is great, this is wonderful. You've spoken to me, my heart is full of opportunities and joy. Tell us, what do we need to do? What are these actionable points? Let's say we want to begin this journey? What is it? Well, I think first you need to,
somebody needs to be the champion in the organization, whether that's, you know, the continuous improvement person, VP of, you know, the CIO or the CFO, likely, it needs to needs to look at this and look at as, okay, we need to, we need to make a change.
Because it's gonna take a lot of education, and in getting people on board with, with the change, because you know, a lot, they're just used to it. So and they have to look at it from a different perspective. Like, we got a lot of customers who come to us, and, you know, say the, you know, the, the CIO, or CFO is like, okay, we're gonna do this, but then you got, you know, even you know, you have people that are unwilling like or, you know, skeptical, you know, on the lower rungs, and they're like, well, we use this app, and I don't know if this is going to do what we want it to do. And then three months later, they're like, Oh, I get it. Like, it's about the whole company. And we're just, you know, everybody's able to see what's going on in real time. Now, I get it. So it's it, it is an education thing. So it's, it's sort of that mindset of, we're a project business, we need to think like a project business, and what does that mean? Okay, well, then we should look for a project is this system. Right? So that is, that's how people need to think. So just for clarification, how do I need to think like a project business? What is that? What does that look like? I know, it's not what I'm dealing with today. Whereas pay pay pay pay pay? This is okay. And it's like crazy and nutty. That's not a project mindset. What is that? Yeah, so it's really about
the center, like bringing projects to the center, a lot of companies see themselves, as you know, I'm an engineering company, or I'm a construction company, or I'm a, you know, a manufacturer. First, they see that first, and then they think, but you know, we do it as projects. So we need we do need some project stuff over here. So they and that's how project management applications have typically grown up, there's, you know, they've usually been used for, you know, internal projects where, you know, it's just,
you know, it's something you might you got some projects doing, you're trying to improve the business, and it's internal. And it's, it's sort of separate from net, the bottom line, really, but when you're a project based company, it is the bottom line, the projects drive, the business, the revenue, the margin, it's all right there in the project. So the project has to become center, and the way that they think and they approach their business and they approach their systems and how they support their business.
They have to think projects first. And then oh, that's true. I'm a project based company, I'm a project business. And at the same time, how do what what do I deliver with my projects, that's, that's the difference. So I deliver a deliver an airplane, or I deliver a turbine engine or I deliver, you know, steel modular frames, you know, that, you know, it doesn't quite matter.
To a degree, what the actual product is, or the services, if you do it by projects, you need to think projects first. See, it's interesting, you're changing my mindset on that. And so I get it, I get it from the perspective, if I'm a black and Veatch or a key wit, or a Jacobs, and they make a lot of money doing projects, that's what they do, we've been on this, we're going to do this project, and we're going to, you know, build this water treatment facility got it, there's a beginning, there's a middle, there's an end. And that end is a delivery date. and everything in between is the budget and executing, got it, I can put my arms around that type of a business as a project business. But I think what you're sharing with the listeners and myself is that even a manufacturer that's manufacturing, plastic pieces, whatever it might be internal to that business, our projects,
I might, I might have a project to optimize that line, I might have a project to do whatever. And and from that perspective,
I shift my mind from manufacturing to a project and therefore, that drives that optimizes, because I have a project mindset, even in those environments. Is that correct? Yeah, it can be used that way? Absolutely. Because you know, that, and this is sort of been happening for a while now in the industry that, you know, every everything's becoming project fat, you know, projectized, you know, so yeah, you know, people are trying to make that shift, I just think, you know, the project based companies that were where they are delivering through projects, those are the, those are the key people that need to think this way, they need to make that shift in mindset. And then the other other companies who, you know, they may not necessarily be project based, and how they deliver their products, but they can be if they, you know, think about it the right way. So when we you started talking about these silos, which I understand it, and we've all experienced, I know, listeners out there, you experienced, you're living it today, by the way. And one of the things that I think is a driver, is how do you create a unified process map to make sure everybody knows where they're at, and drive the process with drive the system? So there's that you have to have an incredible conversation around that. And everybody's got to shake their heads and say, Yep, that's the process now. Right, that's how we do it now. You know, and that's one of the great things about it is to you systemize, the process, you know, and around that the best practices of your company. And so it is standardized, you know, you can, you know, and that's part of what, you know, the AARP gives you, and it gives other companies in different industries, like, you know, retailers or distributors, distributors, or those high repetitive, you know, volume manufacturers, everything's in one system, and everything talks to one another. And it's all standardized. And that's what gives them huge amounts of efficiency and productivity. And that is what we're trying to do for project business. So you bring your projects inside and into a standardized system. Now you can actually, you gain a lot more control over the process. And but you also give it your you're maximizing productivity through that process, and that standardization. Alright, so what I hear is that I've got to have,
I've got to have the right individual in place to be able to be that champion, I'm going to have to go through the process, and agree that we're going to take these fiefdoms, these, these silos and begin to bring them together and we're going to be a project centric, focused business. Right now, that's a lot of pain. That's a lot of change. That's a lot of frustration and pushback and all of that stuff. That's why that champions there, you better have better have a strong shoulders, and then
I'm going through this pain, what's the benefit? What am I going to see? I'm already dealing with it I'm already losing money here. And it's it's it's the devil I know. Right? So there's, there's a lot of there's a lot of different ways to measure ROI on something like this. So I'll go through
Uh, sort of the two. One is obviously the hard costs. So for example, if you have, if you're using 10, I mean, we've had customers that come to us, and they're using 13, different systems, you know, different applications to do different things, resource management, project management, spreadsheets, scheduling, product lifecycle management, all that stuff, right, and they got all these different systems, well, if you can eliminate 13 different systems and bring it down to one, like that, already, is just those hard costs in in the licensing, but also, the main maintenance of all those systems is is dramatic, as far as cost savings. Now, that's, that's one. But the real big benefit, I think that's even harder to measure is is the
is the productivity, the visibility into what's going on the real time connections in your business that just speeds everything up, and makes it and increases quality of your processes and your delivery. So all that getting into the one system that does that. So for example, I had a customer, we had a customer come to us, and they didn't know they, they would do very long engagements with their customers probably three to five years on average. And they wouldn't know if they made money on that project. Till 90 days after it was totally complete. And
and it's just, it's, it's kind of amazing.
can operate a business like that, right? So now, you know with with the Adeaca PBA. It's real time they know exactly where they're where their project stands as far as profitability, revenue, everything at all times. And so now they know, you know, what they need to do how to make adjustments to make sure that they're going to make money on that project. I would imagine that this creates a business that has greater resiliency greater, given the fact that we had the pandemic, a lot of people, we're not in a good position. Now, I would imagine that there has to be conversation of business resiliency. And this to me speaks to resiliency. Now, with that said, I see the value proposition, I understand the the need to transform that business and have that conversation. Can I want to do it incrementally? Or is it a big bang?
It depends. Yeah, it can, it can be incrementally depending on where you're at. So for example, we work off the Microsoft MVP platform. So a lot of times they'll implement
us with with the platform at the same time. And that's that's a big job right there. But then it's really the the adoption that could be incremental. Yeah. Right. So yes, you've got, you know, like we talked about, you got these different silos, and you can't just get everybody use it now. Like, you need to focus on one, maybe bring them over, and then focus on the other one, bring them over it, there is a whole change management process that needs to happen like that. And, you know, it's it's, uh, yeah, I love that. Yeah. Because you want to minimize that, that frustration. You want adoption, you want to be able to bet Yeah, that's great. Get victories? You know, all of that good stuff. What are the roadblocks?
I think
there's, there's a couple. One is when they go and look for these typical, these project based companies, when they go and look for any RP or business system, they actually aren't looking for, you know, what project business automation they're looking for. They're looking for accounting, right? They're looking for accounting, some expense reporting, maybe some timesheets, that type of thing. They aren't. So the first challenge is to the roadblock is to open up the scope of what you're looking for. Because it's, you know, there is better a better way to do things out there. So you have to open up that scope, what you're looking for. And then the next challenge is just like I think we talked about earlier, getting that champion and getting getting everybody on board getting that buy in from the you know, from the executive level. Yeah. You know, that's, that's a common tale. With any,
as we're talking projects, it's a common tale with all projects, it seems like you better have the right champion in place to really push that, that project forward. Alright, let's, let's talk about how we get a hold of Matt, you might be speaking, something that's touched somebody's mind and heart and says, Yeah, I got to get a hold of Matt, how do we get ahold of you? Right, so just Adeaca.com, right, so just go to Adeaca.com. And we have lots of information, lots of documents you can do you can download as well. We have the project business automation blueprint, which sort of defines what we've been talking about.
gives you a little bit more in depth view of what PBA really is and what it can do for your company.
And then, you know, just reach out to us, we'll engage with you.
at any level, I mean, even if you're just looking for some information, you know, we're not here. We're here to educate, is what we're trying to do. That's really what we're trying to do. That's a beauty. All right, Matt, thank you very much for joining the industrial talk podcast and sharing this insights into project business automation, cool stuff, my friend. Thank you very much, Scott. Go to Adeaca.
Alright, listeners, we're gonna wrap it up on the side, we're going to, I want to make sure that we've get the link to the PBA blueprint, that is a opportunity for you listeners out there to sort of route around to look at that particular thing. And also the contact information for Matt, and all of the social. That don't come to me and say, I can't get a hold of Matt, because I'm gonna have it all out on the industrial talk.com. site. Again, thanks, Matt.
Thank you, Scott. All right, listeners. Don't go away. We'll wrap it up on the other side. You're listening to the industrial talk Podcast Network.
All right. Thank you very much, Matt, for coming on the industrial talk podcast. I absolutely love the conversation, great innovation, great solution for companies that are really project centric. Right? It's a must. Let's remove all the chaos that can exist within projects because it's happening. It's been happening. There's a solution, Adeaca. Alright, reminder.
Put this on your calendar October 5 through the seventh. This is IoT solutions World Congress, you got plenty of time to put it on the calendar right now. We're going to be talking all things IoT, Ai, 5g and everything in between highlighting the best of the best at that particular conference. Let's get back to normal. And the second one, the manufacturing and technology show.
That is November 9, to the 11th. beautiful town of Cleveland wonderful people wonderful venue. Alright, you've got them down, make it happen. Let's get back to normal, the sooner we can. Be bold, be brave, daring, greatly hanging out with people who are bold, brave, daring greatly. You will change the world industry changes the world. Thank you. We're gonna have another great conversation right around the corner.