I was recently featured in an article by the University of Illinois, Gies College of Business, highlighting what I learned as a student in the school’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree program and while attending global immersions in Germany and Brazil with my fellow MBA students. Here’s an excerpt from the article titled “Blanchard Uses MBA Experience to Explore near-Shore Tech Options.” ^{1, 2, 3}

Gies College of Business MBA student Wylie Blanchard’s love of technology runs deep. The founder of Chicago-based Great Tech Pros grew up taking apart everything from toasters to his first word processor to see how they worked. His company advises clients primarily in the healthcare and insurance services industries how to design tech solutions that create value for their customers.

Blanchard said the iMBA experience has also taught him to think more globally about how to grow Great Tech Pros, founded in 2013.

Blanchard is exploring setting up near-shore database operations with fellow iMBA student Paul Taylor in his Jamaica home base. He turned to Taylor to create a solution that had a US-friendly time zone when Great Tech Pros couldn’t meet a client’s price point with a US-based solution.

The Gies iMBA program isn’t Blanchard’s first experience with online learning. He received a BS degree in business administration and management from Walden University. Blanchard said interacting with more marketing, strategy and finance decision makers is what prompted him to consider getting a master’s degree.

Visit the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Gies College of Business, website to read the full article that includes my quoted statements.

“Blanchard Uses MBA Experience to Explore Near-Shore Tech Options.” Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 9 Oct. 2020, https://giesbusiness.illinois.edu/news/2020/10/09/blanchard-uses-mba-experience-to-explore-near-shore-tech-options.

“Blanchard Uses MBA Experience to Explore Near-Shore Tech Options.” IMBA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 18 May 2021, https://onlinemba.illinois.edu/blanchard-uses-mba-experience-to-explore-near-shore-tech-options/.

“Blanchard Uses MBA Experience To Explore Near-Shore Tech Options.” Poets&Quants. 24 Feb. 2021, https://poetsandquants.com/2021/02/04/blanchard-uses-mba-experience-to-explore-near-shore-tech-options/

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Here’s the full interview:

Get the bonus Q&A with the audience by visiting GreatTechPros.com.

Here are some short video clips of topics discussed:

• What does Tectonic Speed of Government mean?
• How do you interact with the local college (University of Illinois)?
• How to get role working in Technology and Government?
• Journey to a Career in Technology & Government.
• Sales Cycle & Technology.
• Skills & Experience we look for in New Employees.
• Training & Education for Technology Generalists.

Useful Links

• You can connect with Sanford on his website and Linkedin. 
• The Tectonic Speed of Government is the website where Sanford shares his thoughts on Government, IT, Change, Government IT Change … and Movies.
• Sanford recommends that aspiring technology professional consider Google IT Support Professional Certificate.

Watch or Listen to Great Tech Pros anytime, anywhere.

• Watch on YouTube, 
• Tune in on Facebook Watch, 
• Listen on Google Podcasts, 
• Be all ears on Spotify, 
• Eavesdrop on Apple Podcasts, 
• and more.

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I just returned from a 9 day immersion trip in Brazil learning about their economy and business practices with a group of MBA graduate students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

First, let me say that I’ve always wanted to visit Brazil. Prior to this trip, I had an interest in the economics of South America, along with Africa and the Central American region of North America, thus I was very happy to participate in the Brazil immersion in order to gain a better understanding of at least one of the countries in South America. This immersion trip gave me a higher understanding of Brazil’s unique economy, complicated tax system and the country’s need for tax reform.

Here’s a list of businesses that we visited. 

• Prof. Roberto Nagai (FEA/USP) for a guest lecture on “Doing Business in Brazil” (São Paulo, Brazil).
• Geru (São Paulo, Brazil).
• XP investments (São Paulo, Brazil).
• Leroy Merlin (São Paulo, Brazil).
• Ibmec (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).
• SICOOB (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).

Prior to the trip, I began researching Brazil’s economy and culture, which included buying two books:

• The Politics of Blackness: Racial Identity and Political Behavior in Contemporary Brazil​ by Gladys L. Mitchell-Walthour; and​​
• Africans in Brazil a Pan African Perspective: A Pan-African Perspective​ by Abdias Do Nascimento.

I’ve not yet finished reading the first book but plan to have completely read both books by the end of 2019.

The businesses that we met with were all excellent choices. My expectations of the business leader meetings/discussions were mostly met. The discussions with economics professor Roberto Nagai and the faculty at Ibmec delved into the challenges facing the country’s economy with both discussions reaffirming that taxation is a major problem in Brazil. These conversations forced me to consider whether taxation was partly the reason for the declining revenue that one of my USA clients, an American Fortune 500 business, recently experienced in Brazil that eventually led to the closure of its Brazil division.

At Leroy Merlin, we met with Michelle Dapper, Director of Organizational Transformation and Continuous Improvement, who I found excellent to learn from and engage with. She gave us a greater understanding of how and engages leaders at Leroy Merlin to create change. Personally I felt that this company visit was more unique than the others because, prior to the visit, I’d never pondered on the operations of a hardware/furniture business.

SICOOB was another great visit. I enjoyed speaking with the Company Director, Eduardo Diniz, and his team. The visit helped me visualize the challenges that member-owned companies can face in Brazil.

Overall, the trip presented a great learning experience for my peers and I.

As a tourist, I visited Trianon Park (Parque Trianon), Museum of Art of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Casa das Rosas – Espaço Haroldo de Campos de Poesia e Literatura, Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açucar), Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor), Paragliding from Rampa de Voo Livre da Pedra Bonita to São Conrado Beach (Praia de São Conrado), Maracanã Stadium to watch Clube de Regatas do Flamengo gain a win over Avaí Futebol Clube (SC), Copacabana Beach (Praia de Copacabana) and more. The highlight of the trip was meeting Aílton Macarrão, owner of the Rocinha Orginal Tour, who gave me a private tour of Rocinha, the largest favela in Brazil.

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I just returned from a 9 day immersion trip in Germany learning about their economy and business practices with a group of MBA graduate students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

My initial interest in visiting Germany was to revisit a country I briefly lived in as a child with my parents. Overall, I feel that the trip gave me a better understanding of German economics, though I must admit that my prior understanding and interest in the German economy was extremely low. Globally, my interests have typically focused on countries in the Central American region of North America, South America and Africa. I realize now that there is a value in researching the Euro Zone countries and after meeting with Gerlinde Sinn, lecturer at the University of Munich, I’ve taken an interest in researching German economic recent events.

Here’s a list of businesses that we visited.

• Ms. Gerlinde Sinn, university lecturer at the University of Munich, for a guest lecture on “Business in Germany” (Munich, Germany).
• BMW (Munich, Germany).
• Oracle (Munich, Germany).
• KPMG (Munich, Germany).
• Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu brewery (Munich, Germany).
• Heidelberg Startup Partners (Heidelberg, Germany).
• Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide (Frankfurt, Germany).
• European Central Bank (Frankfurt, Germany).

I enjoyed the conversation with Gerlinde Sinn of the University of Munich but I quickly realized that I was personally unprepared for the conversation, lacking any true knowledge of the companies challenges to establish itself globally. Sinn’s passionate and educational overview of the country’s challenges with expanding the European monetary union (EuroZone), its current/future impact on Germany as a world leader and her personal thoughts on what steps should be taken to ensure further success helped me see that US tariffs have a strong impact on European nations just as it does the nations that I normally follow – countries in the Central American region of North America, South America and Africa. I took a stronger interest in researching the German economy after this meeting – which turned out to be useful in discussions with the businesses I would meet with in the upcoming days. I also enjoyed Heidelberg Startup Partners who explained how they help local entrepreneurs develop business plans, find investors and gather technological and business knowledge needed to successfully launch a business. Lastly, I highly enjoyed visiting the European Central Bank, where we continued our discussion about the expansion of the EuroZone with banking leaders.

Overall, I highly enjoyed my 9 day visit in Germany.

As a tourist, I visited the Bavarian Alps, the Partnach Gorge (Partnach River), the BMW Museum, the Heidelberg castle and more. I even drove 140 miles per hour on Germany’s Autobahn highway system on my way to/from spending a day in Strasbourg France.

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In this article, we’ll explore three things that businesses should consider when assessing how it communicates through its website.

Consider what a website visitor needs from your website prior to other considerations. 

It is important to know what users expect to encounter when they use a website. For instance, business communications like marketing messages and informational readings need to be to the point while also providing users with only the information needed to relay the business message. Due to this, users expect that the most important information in the website uses bold text or is easily identifiable so that the user can quickly identify information that may require that they take action. It also means that the design does not include a continuous scroll feature that does not hinder the user’s ability to scroll to the bottom of the website. The website needs to have a clear, and easily obtainable, endpoint which ensures that the user understands that the communication has ended. Knowing what the user expects and needs from the website will help to create a user experience that functions and provides information in a way the user wants and needs.^[1]

Consider the importance of web design “functionality” and web design “look and feel”.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you have to decide between a website’s ability to allow a specific action to take place (it’s functional design) or its ability to look attractive to consumers. Both are equally important. For example, a “Call to Action” button on a newsletter opt-in form is an example of web design that needs to be easy to use and functional at the same time.^[2] To encourage users to sign up to receive newsletter email content, a sign-up call to action button text should state “Sign-up” instead of “Submit”. This change in text ensures that the button directly relates to the action that the user is taking. Consider the above example, since a user does not submit to receive newsletter content but does sign up to receive the text “Sign up” feels like the action that the user is taking once the button is pressed. After the button is pressed the users expect a feedback/response from the form that will verify that their request to sign up was successful. For this “functional expectation,” an appropriate feedback/response to the clicking of the button is the appearance of a message that the sign-up request is processing and/or has been completed. This quickly and efficiently notifies the user that the action is now complete.

Consider making the website’s written content easy to read. 

Online written content is judge quickly by a user, thus its look and feel needs to appear easy to read in order to convince users to read it.^[2]  Therefore a web design should include short-form copy over long form copy that allows the user to easily scan content efficiently. Long form copy can be transformed into short form by restructuring the content to use bulleted and numbered lists, separating long paragraphs into multiple smaller paragraphs, using bolds and italics to make important text identifiable, and using descriptive links that give a quick glimpse into the intended link destination. Using these methods to help make content easier to read will help readers determine whether they wish to continue reading and, more importantly, encourage users to continue reading because the content is easier to read.

References. 

1. Clifton, Rhiannon. “1-1.2 Understanding UX Design – the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.” Coursera, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Oct. 2017.
2. Stokes, Rob. EMarketing: the Essential Guide to Marketing in a Digital World. Quirk EMarketing, 2013.

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