Dilraj Kahai with 21 Tech

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

hexagon, data, problems, asset management, process, client, solution, pain points, understand, Tech, customers, industrial, built, absolutely, asset, ai, business processes, accelerators, evolve, created

00:04

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.

00:21

01:16

Hey, Scott, glad to be here.

01:19

Glad to see you again. When was the last time we chit chatted?

01:23

I think it was a year year and a half ago, a

01:25

little bit more than two years. Yeah, because it was packet and forum there was no one did we do one in was elicited in forum? Yeah, New Orleans, yeah, is you haven't changed, you just look as good as ever.

01:41

Margarita gave you serves a purpose.

01:45

All right, for the listeners out there, give us a little background.

01:48

While 21 tag is asset management services company. And what we do is we figure out certain verticals that we think are really ripe for an ROI on their assets, public sector transit, public works, remember large asset large scale asset intensive oil and gas, utilities power generation. And what we do is we try to go in and really be thought leaders in that space get people from those domains to help analyze the business problems, the business processes, see how we can make that a lot better with an asset management solution. So it's not just about coming in and giving them a maintenance management system, which is what happens a lot of the times, it's just something to manage, they're there to help them with the maintenance. But it's really to improve their asset maturity, which means bringing in I am standards, bringing in data in a big way. And doing predictive maintenance, running algorithms for them to where they can actually understand what parts of their vehicles or their other equipment is having problems based on analysis with their peer groups around the country and around the world. Do you

03:03

find it because when you start talking, it can be quite macro it? Because you're not just you're not just deploying a system and saying, okay, got that asset? We're going to be doing this. And there it is. It's a more macro or holistic view of the business on optimizing it to a certain extent, how do you prevent the client from just getting overwhelmed? Because it can be overwhelming, right?

03:31

Yeah, you're right on the nose on that. And actually, thanks for saying it, it's got to be a macro view, because one of the things we've noticed is a lot of asset management solutions are not very holistic in their viewpoints, they go in and say, here's a Technical need you have it's, it's it's maintaining this equipment, we'll put that in, and they walk away, and everyone's kind of happy, it's working. But they really haven't helped the client with their pain points, and haven't helped the client mature and get an ROI. So really, our 21 tax focus is to understand an ecosystem of what all the client pain points are. Em is one of those pain points. It's not the only one, it's not that we don't go in and turn the wrenches and leave. So we look at their entire ecosystem, whether it is, you know, for example, in transit, whether it's the transit vehicles, or whether it's the customers that are using it, or whether it's the turnstiles or whether it's the rail, what are the pain points, and for each area, what are the products that they need? Now, em fits an area, but there may be something else that a client needs, which we can create an ecosystem of. And that's where hexagon is so great, because they have other products like ECOSYS, like SRG, that geospatial that can really help declines other pain points. So if we look at the client holistically, so here are all the areas in each of these lanes that we've created for you that you need assistance on. And here are the products that can help you. They truly appreciate that it's much more than just a year. So a little bit more

05:02

consumable in a sense of, you know, the bites because it can be overwhelming. Now, from that point of view, you're saying, Okay, here we go. Pain, pain, pain, pain, solution, the solution, the solution? Is it? Can I just say, This pain is really a problem. Yeah, that's a pain. And but let's look at this pain and then be able to incrementally begin to uptake that that whole holistic view, but then be able to take chunks and say, let's let's start addressing

05:32

those. Absolutely. So one of the first things we do when we meet with a client, and this is critical is part of our methodology is to go in and say, meet with the executives and do a roadmap analysis, right? We say, where do you want to be in five years or 10 years, we'll be here for a year or two, and we'll be gone. But where do you want to be? And they talk about where they want to be with their growth, with their maturity with their ability to respond. And we say, well, usually they over commit. And we said, well, in order to do that, here are all the processes you need to have in place here, all the things you need to do. And they go, well, well, well, we're not going to be able to do all that. So then they get realistic and say, okay, in five years, we want to be here. And then we say let's lay out the roadmap to get there, this asset management pieces, one step, here are the other things you need to do after we're gone, here's the way you're going to evolve into that. So what we don't want to leave them at is they just plateau, after we leave, we want to leave them with the most critical need that they have fixed. But then all those incremental needs, they have a way to continuously evolve. And part of our methodology is come back every six months after we're done, just to check in with them, look at where they're going, tweak their processes, help them get there. So it's a really long relationship with them. And it really allows bring in those ecosystem of products as they need them.

06:46

We talk about processes and you and you come in every year, start visiting them every six months and tweaking the process. Does the process include sort of the business processes, the maintenance processes, the systems processes? What would he mean by that?

07:05

The business processes is one of the big ones that we do up front. But then really what for them to handle their maturity there, there are a new evolution of looking at things, for example, they've got all this data they've collected, right? What do they do with that data? That's the problem a lot of our clients are having, they're seeing everybody, everybody, right? And it's gonna get worse. It's artificial intelligence and machine learning and crazy MLMs. And so they're like we've, you helped us put in place, we've got all these clicks, we're collecting all this data, we're still running Crystal Reports. So that's not really very evolved. It's, that's where we come in and say, What's your next step? How do we get you to really look at the data. And so we look at this data service to them as almost three steps. The first one is help them collate and collect clean data. Customers data is notoriously unclean and dirty, just buy the product and

08:00

honestly say that it is probably 100%. unclean.

08:08

And you can understand, right? It's historical data, it's, it's, it's not really structured, so unclean data, so helping them figure out how to get clean, original collected data, then the second step is, how do you do governance around it? What are the processes to do governance? And then the toughest? Third step is how do you manage all of this now? What's the managed services around it? So those are the three just on data after you put in an EM solution? That's an evolution that we're talking about. Right? So that takes them to another level?

08:39

Do you do? Do you get people rolling their eyes? Actually, you know, what

08:43

customers? Have you bring up data? And you said, we can help you? They get so excited? Because really, yeah, like, it's the biggest pain point for them right now.

08:52

Absolutely, is I agree with you 100%. So that's data.

08:56

And then they're super excited about, you know, IoT and AI, and what that can do for us, and how can we use that? And, and how do we really get sophisticated with our predictive maintenance. So bringing those tools bringing the customers or the partners that we have, that can do a lot of AI stuff that we may not be specialized in, but bringing them in at the right points, really helps evolve the customer.

09:19

You touched on AI, I got the IoT, I got all that stuff. What's your what's your feeling on AI? And where it's going in the in industry?

09:30

I think I think we're at the very, very beginning, the little teardrop of this hockey stick of evolution around machine learning and around artificial intelligence, that we are right in the beginning. So what we see now with chat GP is GPT and Bard and the other things that we're blown away by is nothing compared to what's going to happen when we start building applications on it. And when these LLM is really studying natural language processing and take our voice and start doing things. It's going to Lower away the kind of evolution that we're gonna have in this, which is the main reason why we keep saying it's data, data data. Once we do the asset management, we collect this really clean data to serve it up. There is a million ways to evolve that with AI. You said lol LLM Yeah. large, large language

10:19

large. For clarification for listeners out there with that. And I see, it's interesting, because I don't I don't see there's that a human component that that I always wrestle with. And all of this stuff is all great. But there's has to still be that human component, not just from the perspective of the C suite. But but the individuals that are in the trenches and get the job done. And this whole sort of enables them to do their job better. Right, yeah, greater insights, all of that stuff.

10:52

That's, that's a really great point. You know, historically, one of the problems we've had with putting in really complicated Technical solutions is not the Technology, it's the user adoption, it is and and getting users to like system, and to accept that it can make them better at their job takes a while because it first has to get over their suspicions. It has we follow in 21 Tech, we follow something called the ADKAR methodology for change management, ADK AR, which stands for I'm gonna put myself on the spot now. But awareness, start with creating an awareness of what's going to happen, then create a desire, then help them with their knowledge, which is the key, which is really doing it, shoulder by shoulder configuration with them, helping them learn that. And then they get to acceptance, and then recognition of what they've done in reliability, right. So if we don't take them through that process, we're going to have people who are quite confused and quite afraid. And it's a lot of Technology. So so we've got to get them to accept this and realize it's actually going to make them so much more evolved than you think

12:03

that because I agree with you 100%. Because you have it's, it's challenging to get people to adopt a solution. But if they don't like it, try to get them back over to say, hey, you like it? That's a hard yeah, hard sell. Yeah. And you're gonna constantly have individuals are like,

12:23

the worst thing we can do is do change management after we've implemented a solution. That is a very heavy lift,

12:30

massive because and it happens all

12:33

the time happens all the time. Usually clients go, we'll just do this internally. They're not really experienced with it. And then when it rolls out, and opinions are set, we hate us because there's a different, we haven't created that desire. We haven't created that knowledge. Yeah. So it's all fear at this point.

12:50

Do you and I digress. Because whenever I used to deploy systems, I would always start just with the, the today's process, tell me what today's processing as is just let's map it out. And I would always map it out in such a simple way. And get all the people in the room going. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, oh, that's a problem, right? They'll they'll point out problems with that dialogue. And with that facilitation, then you overlay that to be is like, Okay, now let's figure this, and this is where the system fits in. And then you have them. But everybody's a part of that whole process of really defining the processes going forward.

13:32

Yeah, getting getting them to lean in and talk. Yes, it's critical. Also, you know, when you have a mechanic that says, Well, I've always done it this way. And it works for me, asking him, Well, where are your pain points? He's like, Well, I've got to fill out all this stuff. And there's all this paperwork I have to do and go and we say, Well, imagine if you had a mobile device that just you press one button and fills it out for you and checks it off for you. And then what creating the curiosity and that awareness of them, right? And they're like, Oh, you mean, it's not going to track me? It's not going to do this, and we take care of their fears, and make them feel good about it. That's building the to be also because we're not going to get to the to be in theory, if these guys don't accept it. So you never

14:16

will. And and it is it's always a human equation. Yeah, it just is the Technology, like you said, is the Technology and it's in the end, it's powerful. Don't get me wrong, and there's a lot of incredible thinking in there. So with that said, so we've got got, you've painted this great picture. And I like that, that view that customer centric view, because you want them to succeed, you don't want to just not I mean, that just makes no sense. You want them to succeed.

14:45

And one of the reasons why 21 Tech shows in its path is because we didn't want to be a mile wide and an inch deep with our customers where we understand the product really well, but we don't really understand their pain points. Because if you do that But then you're going in with a hammer on everything right and saying, Hey, this is the solution, we know, you're not understanding the nuances of off public works or of transit of oil and gas or supply chain, which we have to do. You go into supply chain and say, How's your inventory optimization, and they go, Oh, my gosh, he understands what problems you know, that's a pain point. But you wouldn't do that if he went into a pharma company or something like that. So you really have to understand the client and their pain points to be able to have them trust you and say, Yeah, we want to open up our business processes to you and help you clarify those. The other thing that I think 21 Tech does that we've learned, is, we've built up a library of accelerators. And these are little points solutions. So for every thing that has to be done again, and again, and again, with different clients, we've made the solution we've reconfigured using the hexagon product. So when we go to them and say, you need to do your cycle counts for your entire inventory, we built a whole process where they have to count every item in their inventory across these huge warehouses. If we build a process for them, they like, you mean, I don't have to give you the requirements and design it. And we're like, No, it's all done. So the more of these accelerators we can put in for them, the more all they have to do is just tweak it. And and and say we're slightly different over here.

16:20

It's, it's almost like Chechi Beatty, but from an accelerator perspective, you just sort of tweak whatever's the result.

16:26

That's such a great insight. I'm going to use that.

16:30

Through the chat. GBT, Nicole, hey, let's close our cheese, this and this mount spots perfect.

16:36

Spot. That's what we found with customers, they're like, You mean, you're not going to come with a pencil and paper and ask me what my requirements are. And if I miss one, you go, gotcha. Here's a change request. Like that's not at all the way we want to operate, right? We want to show them and this has been built by their peers. So the other thing 21 Tech's doing is we're creating something with hexagon called an EM minded virtual community. So anyone who's interested who's got the product, who's interested in learning from others, they're going into we're calling it I think it's 21 Tech slash em minded.com. Where they go in and they they meet their peers, they say, Hey, I'm having a problem on this. Now they don't need hexagon to respond it only 21 Tech to respond nioc MTL. So question that Orange County Transit says, Hey, we had that problem. This is how we resolve that, you know, they're exchanging data, they're learning from each other. And it's a very organic growth over there.

17:31

See, and I do like that I've always I always preach education, collaboration and an innovation. And I don't think you have all the answers. So that is just insane. If you accept the fact that you have no, not all the answers, you just, that means I have to collaborate. And then and then the ability to collaborate with individuals that Been there done that. Exactly. And, and it compresses the time, you might be spinning your wheels over here, but it would be like me getting on a dog on messaging, hey, I've got this problem right here. And then they solve it is like, thank you very much, God, I can move on with my life exactly. Makes complete sense. What is getting you excited about the hexagon, a lot of the innovation and Technology out there.

18:15

So hexagon does something that is pretty amazing. They take very specific problems. And they go deep. It's a very scientific, nerdy, brilliant company in going super deep and solving issues. And what em has done is it's added this layer of enterprise software, which hexagon typically goes very deep and to the point, and now they've got an enterprise solution as a layer over that. So that combination of going deep and having enterprise is kind of a perfect scenario, which is very rare with most companies.

18:49

You're right about it. Because when I remember people talking about it, you always wondering why there's this acquisition, what's the play? What's the angle? What, what are they going to get into this? And what about the other side? And there are a lot of companies that just acquire and they don't have clear vision into what that looks like. So kudos to those folks that definitely had hexagon. All right, we got to wrap it up. Because you're always spectacular. How do they get a hold of you?

19:16

This was so great. Thank you. Yeah,

19:19

no problem. If somebody says, I want to get a hold of you, how do you want them to say Yeah, absolutely. Just

19:26

21 Tech.com

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Oh, there it is. Reach out, go out to 21Tech.com. However, he's going to have all the I'm going to have all the contact information for him out on Industrial Talk as long as you're on LinkedIn too, right? Absolutely. There it is, man. Reach out to him. You're not going to be disappointed. All right. Once again, we're broadcasting from hexagon live Las Vegas, Nevada is the location. Put this on your calendar for next year because it's pretty cool. Now a lot of really great Technology out there. All right, we're gonna wrap it up on the other side. Stay tuned, we will be right back.

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You're listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network.

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All right, once again, thank you very much for joining Industrial Talk and thank you for your continued support of a platform that is dedicated to industrial professionals all around the world. You need to celebrate you because you're changing lives and you're changing the world as we speak. Dilraj was the interviewee 21 Tech is the company and go out to Industrial Talk, go out to Industrial Talk and reach out to do Raj, you will not be disappointed. He never disappoints. That's what that did. He's amazing. And they're very passionate about asset management. All right, as you can tell, we were on site hexagon live in Las Vegas, Nevada. And just as a point of encouragement, you need to slice out some of your schedule for next year. You will not be disappointed. They talk about innovation. Yes. And they talk about sustainability. Yes. And they talk about asset management and everything in between. It's amazing. It was an amazing event. So you know, I wholeheartedly just say you need to do it. All right. Be bold, be brave, daring, greatly hanging out with Dilraj. You're gonna change the world. We're gonna have another great conversation coming from hexagon live shortly. So stay tuned.