Matthew Connor, Founder and CEO of CyberLynx, began his programming career at 12 while working for his father’s company as a coder. His passion led him to develop his own company, which focuses on offering premium IT services — specializing in protecting growing businesses from ransomware. CyberLynx, previously known as Your IT Department, continues to provide cybersecurity and professional IT and support services for expanding companies. Matthew is on a mission to assist business leaders in increasing their profitability using cutting-edge technology.

Matthew served in the US Army for 17 years as a human intelligence officer and received his bachelor’s in business administration and management from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

The complexity of technology and the rising cyberattack threats can leave many businesses vulnerable if not well-managed. Managing a company when the stakes are high, especially in the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity, can be challenging. What key strategies can you employ to protect and streamline your business operations?

Matthew Conner, a US Army cybersecurity veteran, shares his journey from a young programmer at 13 to a seasoned leader in IT and cybersecurity. By integrating IT management and cybersecurity, he illustrates how he grew his company from a small IT department to a key player in managing IT and cybersecurity for larger companies. Matthew emphasizes the synergy between IT and cybersecurity, suggesting that efficient IT design enhances security measures. He illustrates how he employs a team approach to customer service, ensuring personalized and comprehensive support, highlighting the importance of understanding one's limits, and building a robust team to compensate for personal weaknesses.

In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker interviews Matthew Conner, Founder and CEO of CyberLynx, about navigating the complex landscape of IT and cybersecurity. Matthew discusses how CyberLynx provides comprehensive IT and cybersecurity services, the importance of efficient system design for effective cybersecurity, the dangers posed by hackers, how modern security can mitigate these threats, and how to manage security for large and small businesses.

Lacey Shrum is the Founder and CEO of Smart Kx, a company dedicated to revolutionizing AUM fee billing for financial advisors through innovative technology solutions. With a background as an attorney and former Chief Compliance Officer, she has been featured in U.S. News & World Report for her insights on the growing responsibilities of financial advisors. Lacey is passionate about integrating technology to streamline operations and improve compliance, enabling advisors to focus more on client relationships. Her expertise in the financial sector makes her a sought-after leader in optimizing advisory firm processes.

In a world where regulatory compliance and fee billing can overwhelm financial advisors, and despite the widespread adoption of tools like Excel and QuickBooks, manual processes still dominate, leading to inefficiencies and potential errors. How can advisory firms remain transparent, efficient, and compliant in their billing practices while maximizing their growth potential?

Lacey Shrum, an attorney and former CCO, delves into the complexities of AUM fee billing and how her company provides innovative solutions for financial advisors. She discusses the importance of aligning contract terms with accurate billing practices and its impact on maintaining client trust and fulfilling regulatory requirements. Lacey shares insights on common challenges advisors face, such as manual billing processes and unbilled assets, and how her technology simplifies revenue processes and enhances transparency. By bridging the gap between legal agreements, disclosure documentation, and fee calculations, advisors manage their revenue more effectively and position their firms for growth and potential mergers or acquisitions.

In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker sits down with Lacey Shrum, Founder and CEO of Smart Kx, about revolutionizing fee billing for financial advisors. Lacey discusses how Smart Kx ensures financial advisors adhere to fiduciary duties with correct fee documentation and calculation, the common billing challenges advisors face, the compliance support Smart Kx offers, and how measuring blended rates can reveal surprising truths about an advisor's actual earnings.

Adam Dell is the Founder and CEO of Domain Money, a company dedicated to creating exceptional financial products that reshape the financial system and provide accessible, high-quality financial advice. Before establishing Domain Money, he was a partner at Goldman Sachs, where he served as the Head of Product for Marcus by Goldman Sachs. With a strong interest in leveraging technology to address economic inefficiencies, Adam founded four companies, including Clarity Money, MessageOne, Buzzsaw, and Civitas Learning. He is renowned for aligning customer needs with technological solutions and advocates for a flat-fee financial planning model to ensure transparency and value for clients.

Financial planning can often feel overwhelming and complex. But what if we focused on simplicity, clarity, and customer satisfaction as the main principles of this service? How could this shift in approach impact your financial well-being and the industry?

Serial entrepreneur Adam Dell unpacks the game-changing approaches to financial planning that prioritize customer empowerment and transparent, actionable advice. He shares the philosophy of eliminating needless complexity by providing clients with a simple financial to-do list, exposing the misalignments in traditional financial advisory, and reinventing the customer experience. Adam is setting a new standard by offering high-quality advice through certified financial planners and a flat fee model, challenging the traditional percentage-of-assets fee model. He also discusses the importance of personalization and how AI assists the advisory process.

In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker interviews Adam Dell, Founder and CEO of Domain Money, about revolutionizing financial planning through technology and customer-centric models. Adam discusses how Domain Money helps clients achieve financial goals, the significance of providing customers with specific financial to-dos, how Domain Money uses technology to streamline data-gathering and plan formulation processes, and its adaptable financial plans for life's unexpected turns.

Jason P. Carroll is the Founder and CEO of Aptive Index, a company revolutionizing hiring and leadership through psychometric assessments and strategic advisory. As a seasoned entrepreneur, he successfully led Champion National Security from $24 million to $80 million in revenue and expanded its workforce from 800 to 2,500 employees in just seven years, culminating in a successful acquisition. Additionally, Jason is a trained leadership consultant, utilizing his expertise to enhance team performance and company culture. He focuses on people-centric strategies paired with technological innovation to help companies grow.

In today's fast-paced business world, understanding the strengths and motivations of each team member can be the difference between success and stagnation. How can leaders place their employees in roles where they can excel and stay motivated? Additionally, how can companies leverage self-awareness to foster better communication and improved performance?

Jason P. Carroll, a visionary entrepreneur, delves into psychometric assessments and how they can revolutionize how people perceive hiring, leadership, and personal growth. He introduces the Aptive Index, a tool that measures innate drives and behaviors, facilitating optimal job placement and team dynamics. He shares his transformation and the crucial role of self-awareness in altering behaviors and the workplace atmosphere. By examining specific traits like pro-social behavior and sociability, Jason offers insights into how understanding these aspects can drastically help you minimize conflict and improve team performance.

In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker interviews Jason P. Carroll, Founder and CEO of Aptive Index, about revolutionizing hiring and leadership through psychometric assessments. Jason discusses how Aptive Index helps leaders gain valuable insights into their behavior and its impact on others, the three levers that unlock deeper self-awareness, and how Aptive Index can improve corporate hiring, leadership, and team dynamics.

Peter LePiane is the Founder of Idea Bridge, a consulting firm specializing in product transformation and customer experience enhancement across various industries. With over 25 years of experience, he integrates lean startup methodologies and change management to help clients, from mid-sized businesses to large multinational corporations. Peter's expertise extends to financial services, insurance, retail, telecommunications, consumer packaged goods, and fragrance manufacturing sectors. He is also a proponent of incorporating AI tools and data-driven strategies to refine customer insights and drive business growth.

In today's dynamic business landscape, meeting customer expectations while driving operational efficiency is crucial for sustainable growth. Striking a balance between addressing present consumer needs and laying the groundwork for future innovation is the hallmark of successful organizations. How can businesses navigate this intricate dance between current satisfaction and future readiness?

Peter LePiane, an experienced management consultant and a lean startup enthusiast, delves into the nuances of customer discovery and experience. He shares his insights on differentiating between direct clients and end customers, incorporating their needs into strategic planning. Peter emphasizes the importance of directly getting customers' feedback and using that to inform significant business decisions rather than relying solely on internal perceptions. He shares his methodology, which incorporates the lean startup philosophy to the application of AI in customer service and marketing.

In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker interviews Peter LePiane, Founder of Idea Bridge, about enhancing customer and product experiences. Peter discusses how Idea Bridge helps people, the importance of considering the end customer in change management initiatives, tactics for obtaining customer feedback and integrating it into business solutions, and balancing innovation with real customer needs for future success.

Farbod Nowzad is the Co-founder and CEO of Cashmere AI, a company dedicated to enhancing client acquisition in the wealth management space through intelligent solutions. As the first-ever data science graduate from UC Berkeley, he leverages his deep understanding of machine learning and anti-fraud strategies to build and optimize business growth technologies. Before Cashmere AI, Farbod contributed his expertise to the anti-fraud machine-learning team at Lime. He is a progressive leader harnessing AI to transform traditional business practices, especially in the financial sector.

Are you finding client acquisition challenging in the ever-evolving financial services industry? What if there was a way to seamlessly integrate luxury, efficiency, and intelligence into your customer acquisition strategy?

Data Scientist Farbod Nowzad delves into how his company uses AI to enhance client acquisition in the wealth management sphere. He stresses the significance of AI and how Cashmere AI’s three-part system — identification, enrichment, and engagement — enables advisors to efficiently pinpoint and nurture relationships with potential clientele through AI-driven insights and personalized outreach. He elaborates on the data-driven methodologies that can propel financial advisors toward incredible growth and client engagement.

In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker interviews Farbod Nowzad, Co-founder and CEO of Cashmere AI, about AI-powered client acquisition in wealth management. Farbod discusses how Cashmere AI is changing client acquisition for wealth managers, its three client acquisition modules, engagement strategies modern wealth management firms employ for successful outreach, and innovative solutions for AI hallucination.

Steve Miksta is the Founder and CEO of Oppty, a transformative company that helps organizations significantly enhance their productivity and profitability. With a robust background in finance and technology, he is an expert in the strategic use of automation to foster exponential business growth. Steve's breadth of experience spans over a decade in the mortgage and financial industry, where his innovative approaches have been instrumental in driving success. As a dynamic leader, he focuses on enabling clients to clarify their objectives, deploy strategic processes, and leverage technology to realize their business goals.

Are you struggling to foster efficiency within your organization? How do you harness technology effectively without being overwhelmed by it? Could there be simple yet overlooked opportunities to spur your business growth?

A dynamic leader with deep roots in finance and technology, Steve Miksta delves into the integral role of people in driving technology's success in business. He shares personal stories and lessons from his journey, emphasizing the creation of clear objectives and leveraging employee insights instead of solely focusing on technology. Steve dismantles the notion that complex tech solutions are always the answer, advocating for a closer look at the human element behind the processes and identifying opportunities for improvements while scaling sustainably.

In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker interviews Steve Miksta, Founder and CEO of Oppty, about leveraging automation and strategic processes for business growth. Steve talks about Oppty and how focusing on people and processes can lead to increased productivity, why technology alone won't solve problems without proper input from team members, the significance of user feedback shaping technological advancements, and how to use human intelligence as a bridge to AI efficiency.

Tom Anderson is the Founder and CEO of Anasova, a platform dedicated to connecting individuals with financial advisors through innovative technology and free financial plans. As a visionary in the financial advisory space advocating for customer success, he is also an accomplished author, having published four books, including The Value of Debt. Before Anasova, Tom was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and the Founder, former CEO, and Chairman of Supernova Technology. A former 5X Barron's Top Financial Advisor, he is a regular speaker at events countrywide.

Many businesses struggle to guide their customers from start to finish and maintain momentum when consumer interest wanes. Are you in this category as a financial services brand? If so, are you curious about successful companies' strategies for keeping their customers engaged throughout complex processes?

Tom Anderson, an expert in the financial services world, describes the intertwined challenges of customer engagement and conversion in the financial services industry. He discusses the meticulous process of trial and error that led to the refinement of user experience and customer journey on freefinancialplan.com. Additionally, he emphasizes the need for advisory services to step in where automation ends, nurturing client relationships through personalized follow-up and leveraging AI to create a more tailored experience. Tom’s approach focuses on data-driven methods and customer feedback to continuously improve engagement and satisfaction.

In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker interviews Tom Anderson, Founder and CEO of Anasova, about creating effective customer engagement strategies in the financial services sector. Tom discusses how Anasova is redefining financial planning by connecting advisors with actionable data, how it identifies customer engagement patterns by analyzing sample data, and how advisors can nurture client relationships through continuous outreach.