>> Live from Washington D.C,
it's the Cube,
covering inforum DC
2018
Brought to you by inforum.
>> And welcome back to Washington D.C.
I think you kind of guess where we are.
[Mumbles] Over my shoulder there inforum 2018,
along with Dave Vellante.
I'm John Walls,
we are live here at the Walter Washington convention center
for this years show.
We are joined by Martine Cadet, who is vice president
of the educational arts program at Inform.
Martine, good to see you.
>> Thank you.
>> And Jennifer Bucanan who is manger and head of the
Inforum practice and CFO Solutions.
Jennifer, good to see you.
>> Thank You
>> Let's talk about the program.
Martine, ou can give us,
first off, the inside scope of this. And then
Jennifer you're on the other side of the fence.
>> Right
>> Because the very people, the individuals
that Martine and her program are training, you're hiring.
>> Absolutley.
>> So I want to hear, first off lets talk about
the program in general and then to you,
Jennifer for about why.
And what do you find really attractive about these people?
>> Absolutley
>> So the educational lines program is 4 years old this year
actually, so we're very excited about that.
And what we really set out to do
was build a talent pipeline that our company
and our ecosystem of partners and customers can tap into.
So there's been a lot of conversation about the fact that
there's not enough talent to fill
the positions that are in the industry.
So we wanted to do something different
where by we could actually grow that talent
organically. So instead of going to the oricals and the SAP
And having that revolving desp of
okay we can leave this here and go to this competetor
and work for them and be experienced.
We need to find another way
to be able to grow our talent
so that as an organization, we can continue to be innovative
and grow as we move forward.
So EAP really kind of serves within that gap,
but we do it a little differently than some of the
other programs.
We really focus on not just identifying talent,
but really training them on the industry skill set.
So what people `learn in school is amazing,
but it is usually more theory.
How do you take that theory and really apply it
to what is really needed in the industry today,
In a real job today?
And that where the educational lines program
really kind of serves that niche.
>> And generally speaking, the age group would be what?
Of the trainees.
>> The majority of the people that we train are
more college age. So 18 all the way up to,
I would say early 30's.
So early in career talent is what we think about.
>> Okay, are they in school?
>> Some of, yeah.
>> The majority of them right now are in school,
but we also welcome people who are outside of school.
We've kind of evolved our program where its not just
partnerships with colleges and universities,
but we train people who come from training organizations;
like Yes We Code, and New York Urban League
and things of that nature.
And You're Up is another great partnership
that we started having relationships with.
So we do everything from the traditional
integrate within a classroom setting,
to more of a bootcamp model where talent gets
trained over the course of a couple of months
to meet this business needs that we have
and are here now.
>> Okay, and so Jennifer, then on the hiring side of this
the advantage to you is what?
>> Well for us, we are always looking for folks that
coming out of school, whether it's a masters degree
or a bachelors degree, that they have a little bit of
a focus going into consulting and implementation services.
There's a mix of skills that you look for.
Some of it is that commitment to being a forthcoming
service orientated person.
Somebody with a little bit of perspective.
And when we met the EAP students,
that ambition just comes right out of those folks.
And they have purpose in mind because
they started to get a little bit of a taste
of the real world of what they want to do.
So they've got context and they've got direction
and a lot of the folks that we've met with had
some good accounting and finance knowledge,
which we value.
Plus they had the IT component,
where traditionally if I just go to try to do
some campus recruiting I might get one or the other,
but it's hard to get both.
>> So training that revolving door, that martine described
which, there's still some of that going on,
but you get a lot of viable knowledge.
You know where the skeletons are buried.
They can fast pass some of it.
Trading that for excitement,
diversity, maybe a different type of creativity.
Certainly not as much well that's the way
it's done in the enterprise.
Right? Maybe discuss that a little bit.
>> Yeah absolutley, the folks that, what we need
coming in have that creative element
and they're not just, ya know, crunching out
and doing maybe the theory that you have mentioned.
They've had a little bit of experience at a practical site
of understanding how to apply technology
and solve buisiness problems.
Cause that experience that they go through
in the EAP program is almost like a
simulation and gives them a little taste of that.
And when we talk about what we do and we
introduce them to our business and try to look for a fit.
They have a better understanding of
what we are talking about and do.
>> So Martine, in the 4 years since we've first met,
what has changed?
Has the scope,
the goals expanded?
What did you not forget that actually happened?
>> Yeah
Maybe you could share some of your experiences.
>> Yeah, so in the four years we've gone deeper around
world based training.
So when we started, it was more around
exposing students to different career opportunities,
to what is EAP. I've been in the industry forever,
but I was always more on the consumer side.
So I didn't know what ERP was.
[Laughing]
Is this even professional?
So helping students see the opportunities there,
was kind of the initial focus and getting them to
have kind of a toe in the water.
We've gone much deeper this year,
in particular going to role based training.
So, what do you need?
What skills encompanies you to be
an amazing sales professional
versus somebody who's going into the development space,
or somebody who's going to manage kind of the cloud space,
which is where our company is focused.
So that's been one of the biggest evolutions
in which we have done within EAP
over the last couple years and were much more global
than we were when we first started.
So we are excited about that as well.
And then in terms of things that surprised us.
I think of of the areas that surprised us,
it was a little bit harder to place students frankly,
than we had initially had thought it would be.
And so one of the ways that we've worked
through that is we've worked with our
talent science team, and they've been phenomenal
at really helping identify fit.
And so now we can have much richer conversations with
the hiring managers around.
Yes, I know that you would like an expereinced
hire perhaps, but this is a reason why
one of these more inexperienced hires
is actually a great fit and will be your
next superstar on you team.
And on the flip side, we can have conversations
with the talent around career opportunities
that they might not have even thought about before.
Cause now we've got kind of there fit for different roles.
>> So were certainly seeing in many buisiness settings,
that gut feel is being
replaced by, you know, data and fact.
When it comes to hiring people though,
there's still that, well there's several things.
There's gut feel, there's repor, there's biases,
so are technologies like machines intelligence,
and programs like this cutting through that?
>> Yeah that's what we're trying to have happen.
I mean it's hard, it's hard.
Everyones trying to tackle these issues,
but with technologies like talent signs,
with having programs which address the
feedback of well I don't know where to find a first talent.
Well if you go to the same three schools
that you always go to,
that are by nature not diverse,
then you're not going to find the
diverse talent you are looking for.
So if you can tap into a program where we go out of our way
to make sure we're actually fishing in new ponds,
and that we're bringing in amazing talent
to the forefront that people can tap into.
And we are really proud about that.
>> Well, what's really key about that,
and we were having this conversation earlier.
Is that if you really want to
bring diversity into your organization,
you have to look beyond your inner circle.
But it's a pain to do that, its time consuming.
So what you've done, is you've fast passed that.
Right? And give an opportunity for somebody to dive in.
>> Yeah
>> Sure, and some of those folks became part of our circle.
Cause a year ago we met a wide group of the
folks in the EAP program,
and we were impressed by the broadness.
Like I mentioned earlier,
you've got some folks that are still sophomore, junior year
that are just getting started.
We've got relationships foudning with those folks.
We have folks that are just getting ready to graduate,
and we have folks that have been in the workplace,
came back. So we've got a breath of experience,
but folks from all over.
And we were one of those folks who would go to the
same school over and over.
And you know, we would get good talent but,
it's that breath, and that new perspective
that comes in.
And now that's our pipeline.
We've got folks at different levels
in their educational career that we stay in touch with.
And a lot of the students reaching back to us
is what helped us make connections for folks to bring on.
>> So how do you find me?
If I'm an interested student?
>> Yeah >> Or how do I find you?
>> Yeah
>> If I am at a school.
That's one question, and secondly once I'm in,
is it like ROTC?
Like I have a three year commitment after that?
[Laughing]
[Mumbling]
>> You're invested in me.
>> That's a great idea.
[Laughing]
>> A lot of resource time is being put into me,
developing me, so what am I going to give you back?
>> Yeah absolutely.
>> Take on both of those if you would.
>> Its more about finding the member institutions
and then finding me the right talent
within those organizations.
Right? And so we do a lot of research and analysis
on where we want to go.
So we do want to make sure we are building pipelines
that fit the busininesses needs first and foremost.
So where do we have a majority of our offices?
Where do our partners and customers have
a majority of their offices?
Where are the hiring needs and the types of roles?
Then based on that we look for organizations
that actually have core programs that align to that.
And those are the ones that we want to have
relationships with first and foremost.
And then we seek out the talent.
We actually have marketing communications people
who are out there and promoting the courses
and the partnerships that we have in the classroom
to hopefully get the talent to actually apply
to the class itself..
>> Alright so once I'm in.
>> Once your in.
>> You've got me.
>> Yeah.
>> I'm a junior, I'm studying, I'm doing my thing.
>> Yeah.
>> You're training me. Well I'm going to graduate in a year.
So am I on the hook, or will you place me?
>> We investin their training,
and we also try to provide wrap around support services.
So we've got people on the team who are
beyond passionate and focused on making sure
they've got the soft skills, who are also focused
on making sure they are introduced to hiring
managers within our ecosystem and
within our organization who might be interested in
talking to them.
We set up kind of meet and greets as well,
where we have events around that
so placements important to us.
We can't commit and guarantee a role per say,
but we can open up opportunities
perhaps the students didn't have before.
And give them the training so that when they are
compared against their peer,
they can come out ahead.
>> So having that Charles several times
and interviewing him a number of times,
this is, it certainly feels more than optics.
What are the success metrics that you look at,
and can you share some with us?
>> Yeah, so we do look at how many people
we actually trained and made it through the program.
We look at how many people have been placed within
Inforum as well as our ecosystem.
We are looking to see how many students
will actually pursue a path to certification,
and go through the deeper training and learning.
And then we look and see how many people are
actually liking the program.
Like what they're getting out of it.
We'd love to see, I'd personally love to see
in a couple years that
people will have gone through EAP are now
future customers, your future partners.
You know, placement is one piece, but its also
how are we influencing the industry as a whole?
And for competitors, hiring EAP students,
that actually goodness.
Like we are trying to really change
what is going on in the injustry perspective on
how we grow and change talents.
Because the way its working today
doesn't work for everybody.
So we've got to do something different.
And the fact that Inforum has stepped up
to actually grow it organically, I think is
you know, a testimony to Charles.
>> Great mindset, I mean you're not trying to just
hang on and you're certainly embracing this.
But if when an individual leaves,
to whether even a competitor, there's some pride in that.
Like hey we trained this individual
and we're changing the industry.
And you know, sometimes those things just have a way
of coming back around.
>> Yes, yeah, yes
>> Absolutely
>> So Jennifer, from the clients side if you will,
how big could this program be for you?
Like how helpful has it been,
and how much more do you need it in order to
meet these employee gaps?
Cause as we've heard,
the numbers aren't adding up right now.
>> Right, right. So for us we've been having
some conversations about
how do we grow together on this?
They've offered to say hey, CFO Solutions,
would you like to be involved in some of the
teaching opportunities?
So we've been having dialouge about how that might be.
And we've been talking about particular skill sets.
You know, they start out with kind of a broad
skill set and we work with
a very specialized component of that.
So we've been talking about the product mix that
they involve in their program and bringing
something more direct to what we're working with.
So that's a big.
>> Personalized learning.
>> Yes. So its helping us kind of refine our pipeline
because we know what's going to be coming out of it and
we know that is is getting that slice of this US
and the world if necessary right?
It gives us a little assurity that
we can get folks at different levels of their career.
We can start talking to them now and we can start
working with these guys on honing the skillset
that they'll be coming in with.
The soft skills piece that you had mentioned earlier
was on of the real standout skills
that we saw come out of this.
All these folks, I can't overemphasize
the driviness, the commitment they had,
the communicating with me over a year period.
And they're boldness, cause that's one of the
main things that we need out of the folks
that we bring and put in front of our clients.
>> So this is all awesome, touchy feely stuff too,
but at the end of the day,
I've read that it has a buisiness impact.
>> Absolutely, absolutley.
>> So what's your experience been
in terms of the bottom line?
>> Well, so buiness impact wise, when we take
a risk and bring somebody fresh out of school,
and we bring him to a porject where you
require very specialized skills, we need people
that we can take a risk on,
who will hit the ground running.
So if I go and grab somebody from anywhere,
I don't know what I'm going to get.
I don't know if they're going to like their career.
I don't know if they're going to
understand what we are doing.
And there's a lot of ramp up time,
time before I can bill for that source,
just to be practical.
And when we bring in Eap students,
I know they've had a taste of it,
and they're ambitious and driven for it.
And I can get them billable more quickly.
And then I can be proud to have them out in front,
because they can tell a story.
A lot of this is a relationship business.
I can have them come to a project kickoff
and they can talk about what they've come from.
And that they've had an involvement with Inforum,
not just hey I'm fresh out of school.
I don't know what I'm doing here.
It's hey, I've been working with a product
for a couple years.
Even now and they hit the ground running
just so much more quickly. >> So faster time to value.
>> Yes, faster time to value.
We've seen internally for the folks we've hired,
that we've got one hundred percent
voluntary retention rate.
>> That's amazing.
>> For early retention rate.
For early career talent, four years into the program,
where that's about 20% better than
the rest of the talent that we have, right?
So we're looking at retention,
cause we know if you lose somebody,
that's nine months of salary probably to replace them
and to retrain somebody else.
>> That's right, yes
>> Absolutely
>> Much easier to hang onto somebody
than go find somebody new.
>> Okay so you're getting the billing faster,
higher quality, I heard.
Which means better customer retention
and less employee turnover.
>> Less employee turnover.
>> Which means lower cost.
>> Absolutely.
>> And on the recruiting side of things too,
the development of trying to find talent,
there's a lot of time invested and
we're a firm that has a very lean operations team.
A lot of us wear many hats.
So one of my hats is my recruiting and development,
and this just streamlines things for me
and makes it so much easier.
I don't have to spread myself thin trying to find folks.
I know I've got kind of a pipeline
and I've been sharing it with my other leadership
in the other practices to kind of share that
along the firm
>> And to put it in context, I mean so for the
trainings that are around rules and careers,
were looking at getting the students to have
200 plus hours of training over bootcamp experience.
Now, put that against somebody else who has zero right?
You're getting to faster productivity,
you're shaving off anywhere from 3 to 4 to 6 months
of on boarding time by hiring somebody through
this program.
>> Yeah.
>> And minimizing on boarding frustration which would help.
>> Yeah, yeah.
>> Sympathize with.
>> Makes perfect sense.
Great sounding program, we appreciate
the insight today.
Thanks for being with us.
>> Martini- Yeah, thank you.
>> And you're wearing many hats,
you'll need a rain hat out there today.
>> I will, I will.
[Laughing]
>> Congratulations.
>> One more, yeah. Great program, thank you ladies.
We're back with more on Live. The Cube is in Washington D.C
at Inforum
2018.