Episode Summary
On this episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott broadcasts live from DMSCA and welcomes Farida Ali of Dynamic Computer Corporation to Supply Chain Now.
Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] It’s time for Supply Chain Now Radio. Broadcasting live from the Supply chain capital of the country, Atlanta, Georgia. Supply Chain Now Radio spotlights the best in all things supply chain the people, the technologies, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.
[00:00:28] A good EFT new Scott Luton. Back with you here on Supply chain. Now welcome back to the show. Broadcasting loud today, not from Atlanta, Georgia, where we typically are. We’re in beautiful, gorgeous Scottsdale, Arizona. I wish I could see this image of fun and sun we’ve got out to my left. We’re continuing our coverage of the Manufacturing Supplier Diversity Conference hosted by Dembski and Dembski. Maybe a new acronym for U.S. stands for the Diverse Manufacturing Supply chain Alliance. If you have it, if this isn’t on your radar, check out DMB, SCA, DOT, U.S. great group. Before we get started, we weren’t too quick programing. Like all of our podcasts at Supply chain. Now you can find our podcasts wherever you get yours from. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a single thing. All right. One other top story. We’ll have two quick programing note. Big thanks to our sponsor, Barazan, who is leading a charge for a successful data harmonization globally. One company at a time. You can learn more at VeriSign dot com. All right. So I’m really pleased to have feared Ali, president CEO at the Dynamic Computer Corporation. That’s one of our early interviews here at the conference of Frida Hatoon. I’m doing good. How are you? Fantastic. We were just talking desserts that we had at lunch. I tried all of them. I think they are hard not to. Yeah. They were good. But we’ve. If you’ve been not sure of your experience thus far, the conference. But the conversations were having the thought leadership we’ve seen the presentations and panels and whatnot really, really have enjoyed it.
[00:02:09] Yeah. And it’s been very cutting edge. And what’s what’s needed now? So it’s been great.
[00:02:15] What is needed now is as a great way to put it. So, Frida, I want to start with giving our audience an opportunity. cholent. Well, what Paul and I had the option to kind of get know you a little bit better. OK. So tell us more about who you are, where you were born. And if you you’ve got time for anecdote or two from your upbringing, please do.
[00:02:34] Sheer Kisha. So I was born in in India, actually. And my father came over in 1967 when my mom was expecting. So one interesting thing is I didn’t meet my father until I was a year and a half old. OK. And we were out in California. And my father was a financial analyst with Boros. He knew Fortran and COBOL languages. And he got transferred to the headquarters up in Detroit. OK. And what he did in 1979 was sell our house and buy a little electronics store. That age old bed. Yes. That had just gotten its Apple dealership. And he said at that time, everyone’s going to have a computer on their desk.
[00:03:24] Well. So from Califf, from the West Coast to Detroit. Yes. What was that? So you had there was some cold weather for the first time and much everything.
[00:03:34] I was only three. So I’m kind of a Midwesterner. I don’t really think of myself as anything, but. But. Yeah. All right.
[00:03:42] So and what I understand, we’re gonna be in media. I think as I share with you earlier, we’re gonna be in in Michigan a couple of times later this year. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard so much about a lot of the Rennaisance taking place in the greater Detroit area, which is outstanding here. Yeah. And I can’t wait to learn more about your business. But before we talk about your company, tell us about, you know, what you did prior to your current role as presense CEO. Give us a little bit a little background there.
[00:04:12] Sure. So, you know, it was never really my intention to be running a company. I call myself an accidental CEO. And I went to law school.
[00:04:23] I was never interested in the family business, but my personal circumstances changed. I became a mom. And I know that the business of sensing very attractive to me and my dad said sure gave me an 80 percent pay cut.
[00:04:39] And we were off often Rod, etc.. Yes.
[00:04:44] And so that’s kind of how I got into it. I don’t have an MBA. I don’t have a computer science degree, but I’m not running an I.T. company.
[00:04:51] And, you know, some of companies, most successful leaders come because they bring that that out of the box perspective. You’re from different journeys, walks of life. So I’m curious to see how. Before we talk about the company, what it does. How do you view that? You know, coming from outside of manufacturing, I can be a leg up in many ways.
[00:05:14] Well, it can, because I think you approach it more as problem solving than kind of talking about, you know, the the speeds and feeds and particulars of that expertise. You’re more like, well, how can we apply this more than trying to get into the weeds?
[00:05:30] I love that. OK. So let’s talk more about what tell us about what the Dynamic Computer Corporation does.
[00:05:37] Sheer.
[00:05:38] So we deliver IO T solutions for Lifesciences organizations and for Smart Factory. We’ve been doing IAPT since the late 90s. We just didn’t know it was I.T. at the time, right? So building connected devices that eventually go to a network that is based on traditional kind of I.T. system. So you think of a server, a workstation, a laptop, a tablet, a phone, but it’s adapted to a different purpose. So it’s not the one that you use on your desk to do your work. Maybe it’s one that somebody uses to check out a tissue sample in a cancer biopsy.
[00:06:21] So those are the kinds of things that we work on.
[00:06:23] That is some very advanced technology from when your dad founded the company. Tell us talk talk to us about how it’s evolved a good bit.
[00:06:33] Sure. So, you know, in the beginning, I.T. was very or the P.C., I.T. the the home computer was very retail based. And we had retail shops around Detroit and the Detroit metro area. And then in the late 80s, early 90s, all those big box retailers came in. My dad realized he really couldn’t keep the business going that way. So we switched to B2B and we found great opportunity there and in our local southeast Michigan area. But in the late 90s, none of the big shift was the Internet. We had Dell direct selling things direct to the consumer and to the business and we had to adapt again. So we started working on our value proposition. We branched out nationally and we service very large organizations that we’re looking for a niche supplier that would take their I.T. needs very seriously and be able to adapt to their specific, specific requirements.
[00:07:32] Very interesting. Okay. So shifting gears a bit as present CEO, what are my favorite questions to ask these leaders? Because everyone makes assumptions. Where do you spend your time, number one and one, B, where is your fit? What’s your favorite activity to spend your time? What would you love to spend your time?
[00:07:49] Well, I spend a lot of time kind of thinking about the future of technology and where do we need to be positioned so that we’re in business for another 40 years. And I’ll spend a lot of time talking to customers and potential customers. And I think that’s what I love the most, because it’s it’s just really interesting and great to hear what they’re doing and to be a part of their journey and get an opportunity to work with some of these great businesses.
[00:08:13] It is invigorating. Yes. Yeah. OK. So if we were to broaden back out. Right. And kind can’t think of the global end in Supply chain community. Right. What’s what’s one or two trends or developments or innovations that you may have been tracking here lately more than others?
[00:08:33] Sure. So I think, you know, one of the things that we’re even talking a lot about here today at DMCA is this issue of Supply chain vulnerability and the technology supply chain has more of that. I think the people understand. One is you have you have things being Mount manufactured in all different geographic locations. But we’ve also got this problem of counterfeit technology or embedded spyware and technology. So being able to to authenticate, to control, to manage your supply chain, not only from our customers perspective, but from our perspective is really important. And I think finding those control mechanisms is where a lot of innovation can happen.
[00:09:19] Yeah, I think it strikes me that as fast as innovation is taking place and it has as much time and labor and in blood, sweat and tears, all of that saving our efforts at protecting our technology have to almost evolve faster. And it can be such as you speaking of cybersecurity, it can be such a in the blind spots and people’s there was a great commercial that I believe Cisco put out. And basically what this this case study that actually is based on true story is boiled down to like a one minute. A video, a manufacturing organization was targeted by hackers and they were tracking their employees more than they spent their time. They happened to stumble across a bowling league not too far from the factory where a lot of employees were were in it bowling the league regularly. You know, and of course, at Bowling League’s computer system wasn’t very secure. So they were able to hack that with relative ease and then penetrated their e-mail accounts at the manufacturing plant, shut it down.
[00:10:33] The plant lost lots and lots of time jobs or it went to brush land stops, shut down jobs and contracts while things are at risk in all stemming from a Wednesday night bowling.
[00:10:46] You know, it is it is fascinating.
[00:10:49] And I think the thing that we should all kind of just accept now is that we are going to have cyber security risk. You are going to be hacked. And it’s important to put as much security around it as you can, but threats evolve continuously. So then you need to think about cyber resiliency. How quickly can you recover? How quickly can you isolate the breach and control it and minimize the impact? And so we’re really working with our customers to think about resiliency after after a hack happens.
[00:11:23] So I want to ask you a question around leadership and some other things. But before I do it, when you look at the trends out there in the developing landscape in the UPS took out before you.
[00:11:35] Well, I’m really excited about the different and points that are yet to come out. So you hear things like electronic paper where you just roll up something and create a sign. And it’s it’s you’re gonna have digital paper basically or dust electronic dots for you. Well, a throw some dust on a table and be able to sense the surroundings and all the different sensor technology. So I think that the data that we’re gonna be able to capture through digital systems is it’s kind of an exciting time.
[00:12:03] Very exciting. All right. So shifting gears a bit. One of the regular pieces of feedback that we’ve heard and we’re approaching. Well, by the time this podcast released, we probably probably have already released our three hundred podcast. And it’s been very fascinating. It’s been a such a rewarding journey to hear different stories, different perspectives. And one of the common threads, especially one of our series is dedicated called Fluxus, dedicated to exceptional women in leadership roles. Right. Regardless of kind of across industry. And regularly we’ve heard that one of the most important things we can do as business leaders is to spotlight women in leadership roles so that our young ladies coming up through kind of kids can see and aspire to be the top level, the CEO’s office.
[00:12:56] Could you speak to them? How does that resonate with you? Do you see that same need? And how how how do you act on that to help others? See, hey, just like me, you can be president CEO of a manufacturing corp company, Sheer.
[00:13:12] Well, first of all, congratulations on almost having 300 percent.
[00:13:15] That’s a big to have a mop in it as you go.
[00:13:20] So, yeah, I mean many times as a woman CEO and a CEO and Tak, you’re the only person in the room, you’re the only woman at the table in certain surroundings. And that can be hard. Right. But I think what I’m really appreciating is that there is a change of perspective. I’m also really heartened by what I see in young women and their their continuous push to kind of even ignore the fact that there’s a gender issue and let’s just keep being the best that we can be. So.
[00:13:51] Absolutely. All right. So let’s shift gears to Dembski. I’ve been alert. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around new acronym. And it’s finally, I think, starting to stick so diverse. Manufacturing Supply chain Alliance. Dembski. What what brings you here? I think you’ve been you’ve been coming to these conferences for a while.
[00:14:14] Actually, this is my first one.
[00:14:15] Really? Yeah. Yeah. My my homework’s for humbugs. Sorry about that. So what? So how did the Sicher radar then and why are you here?
[00:14:23] So, you know, we were fortunate enough to meet with a representative of Abbott and we had a great conversation and they mentioned the Dembski.
[00:14:36] That to S.A. Agreed to kind of sponsor us as a as a invitee. And we were able to come. And I didn’t know like something like this existed. We’ve been part of other diverse advocacy organizations. But what they do here in terms of bringing a small group of I would call them second stage organizations together to meet with large corporations is it’s just a very unique and via. Mm hmm.
[00:15:01] Outstanding. So let’s make sure that our listeners can can connect with your organization to learn more. Or with you. How can focus on more about your company?
[00:15:13] Sure. So our website is w w w dot d-s.c I-T dot com and we have a blog. We also have a LinkedIn page. OK. Find a sign and we’re on Twitter as well.
[00:15:27] Outstanding. Yeah. All the bases covered.
[00:15:28] Yeah. We are a technology company. We should feel up today.
[00:15:35] So we’ve been chatting with Fariba Ali, president and CEO, Dynamic Computer Corporation. Really appreciate your time today and admire what you do.
[00:15:44] And hopefully we can we can you know, a year from now we’ll sit back down and see what’s changed as y’all continue to grow and evolve and and serve a pretty high tech sector. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah. Great. Thank you very much, Scott. Appreciate it. Appreciate it.
[00:15:59] All right. So appreciate Frida’s time. Thanks our audience, for tuning in. Couple of quick notes here on Back In. First off, stay tuned for more programing and coverage here in Scottsdale with Demps because conference. And again, you can learn more about the organization at DMM SICAD that U.S.. And then secondly, be sure to check out other of our program. We’ve got a bunch of in-person and virtual events with partners around the world, from EAFE Waters events to the Automotive Industry Action Group Rasyid’s 360 and much more. You can find all that Supply Chain Now Radio dot com. And if you can’t find it, shoot our CMO. A note. Amanda at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com. Thanks again to our guests, our sponsor Verusen dot com. Stay tuned as we continue our coverage and on behalf of the entire team here. Scott Luton, wish you a wonderful week ahead. We’ll see you next time on Supply Chain Now Radio Gates reporting.
Would you rather watch the show in action?
Watch Scott and Greg as they welcome Farida Ali to the Supply Chain Now booth at the DMSCA Conference.
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For over 20 years now, Farida Ali has been working in her family’s business. It wasn’t the plan, she practiced law for a year before joining her father’s company, Dynamic Computer Corporation, in 1994. Under her leadership, Dynamic Computer Corporation is an innovative technology partner helping their customers deploy technology that is compliant, consistent and controlled. Learn more at www.dccit.com.
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