Meet Magento: Trends in B2B E-commerce and Tech

🌟 Live from Meet Magento Florida! 🌟 

In this episode of Hello Moxie, host Nicole Donnelly speaks with Robert Rand about e-commerce, particularly in the B2B sector. They discuss the importance of middleware solutions for integrating various software systems, the need for continuous learning in tech, and the role of women in the industry. Robert also shares his journey from a digital agency to his current role at ipass.com, and the significance of empowering women and fostering diversity in tech. 

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Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00)
You're listening to the e-commerce edition of Hello Moxie with Nicole Donnelly. In each episode, we speak with leaders in the e-commerce industry on promoting diversity in the tech sector, the latest e-commerce trends, and how B2B brands can innovate through e-commerce. Hello Moxie is sponsored by DMG Digital, a woman-owned marketing consultancy dedicated to helping B2B companies create exceptional customer experiences.

Speaker 1 (00:25)
Well go ahead here's our tea selection so I'm just going to pour Robert a little glass of tea here before we get started. So here's our selection of tea.

Speaker 2 (00:32)
So

this is a big decision that I have to make here. I'm gonna be judged harshly on. I am not, no.

Speaker 1 (00:37)
Bedtime are you ready for sleep?

Maybe some stress relief is this causing you some stress? Maybe that might help you know I'm

Speaker 2 (00:45)
I'm not stressed today

Speaker 1 (00:47)
Do you want some positive energy or do you've already gotten enough of that?

Speaker 2 (00:49)
Now

I think positive energy I could always use a little bit.

Speaker 1 (00:52)
What about some blueberry slim life?

Speaker 2 (00:56)
very slim

one. Now, I mean, I will take the hint, but no, no, the plosive of energy sounds like exactly what I need to.

Speaker 1 (01:04)
Positive

energy for Robert. Okay, so we'll give you a lots of that. So you know some sweet tangerine so You never have enough of that mean there's nothing better than coming to to Florida in the middle of February I don't know where you're from Robert, but

Speaker 2 (01:11)
We are in the sunshine state so...

I'm actually,

I'm originally a New Yorker, but I've lived in Florida for a long time. so, Florida Citrus, if you'd like to support this effort.

Speaker 1 (01:30)
We're going to give you a nice plug. All right. We love our Florida oranges. It's amazing. So, my goodness. Well, here we are. We're live. We're live. We're coming at you from Neat Magento, Florida. I love this event. This is my second time coming here to this event. I spoke last year about five phases of change and change management. And then we just did a workshop yesterday. It so fun. So Robert, I would love for you to tell our listeners, who are you? And give us a little summary of like, who is Robert?

Tell us about you besides the fact that you like positive energy.

Speaker 2 (02:04)
Yeah, how long do we have? Are we going to be here for you out?

Speaker 1 (02:08)
You have as long as you want.

Speaker 2 (02:10)
Do I get to submit my insurance so that at least you get something for this therapy session? I'll give you some background. So I'm Robert Rand. I head up partnerships and alliances at a company called ipass.com. IPASS stands for Integration Platform as a Service. And so we focus on helping, in this case, this room, merchants to get all their...

their key data flowing between all of their different software systems, their ERP, CRM, point of sale, e-commerce, product information management, shipping, marketing, et cetera, modern platform for doing it faster, easier, more elegantly, bringing accountability to the whole process. And that's what we do. But if you're asking about me, I mean, you know, it's...

Speaker 1 (02:54)
Middleware middleware

Speaker 2 (03:03)
The story goes back. mean, I finally turned 21 this weekend.

Speaker 1 (03:08)
Congratulations!

What's it like to be 21? I haven't reached that milestone yet. I'm still 18. So tell me, what's it like to be of drinking age?

Speaker 2 (03:16)
well, well, it was a little rough at the bar last night. You know, these tech conferences that who knew that bunch of techies really knew how to throw a few back.

Speaker 1 (03:27)
Oh they do, they do.

Speaker 2 (03:29)
We

actually got to host a networking event last night over at the Davidolf cigar bar with one of our partners, Impromptus, one of the Adobe commerce agencies that's here at the conference. But I actually came out of that space and spent about a decade helping to build up a digital agency that specialized in design development and digital marketing and graduated from that. We sold the agency in 2017. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (03:58)
It's an exciting milestone.

Speaker 2 (04:00)
Yeah, was a wild ride as I said, know, bringing brands like Swiss gear and Invicta watches into e-commerce, being the digital agency for groups like the Florida Panthers hockey team. was, you know, you get all those accolades at the time, know, the Inc 5000 and Google Premier Partner, and you're doing all these things. But really what you're doing, which, you know, I love.

connecting with all of the people at conferences like this, you're working a lot of long days and nights for organizations that want to be at the cutting edge, that want to have that latest round of technology be part of the latest social media. And sometimes the big brand names, the well-known organizations, you're one small vendor, you're a cog in the machine, but often it's the businesses, the organizations you've never heard of.

where the stories are the most interesting, where you're so integral to their organization, manufacturers and distributors, sometimes making products that, know, the whole world, of us, yeah, you know, get through our days and you've never heard of them, but you know, sometimes they're doing a huge, you know, volume of business, big revenue and, and their needs are just as important and the same with regional players and retailers and others along the space. And so I went from there to,

being involved with an integration platform and then a web hosting company for many years and joined the team here at ipass.com about a year and a half ago. It's been a of fun helping build up the next.

Speaker 1 (05:33)
I think it's really exciting to be in the space to just see like there's just constant change happening.

And it's a beautiful thing. Sometimes it might feel a little bit overwhelming, but it also is just so nice. It's nice to be a part of it because it's always something new happening. It never gets old or static, right? Like there's always new and better ways of doing things, of helping customers and, you know, in the B2B space as we see that market continuing to grow in terms of the number of the amount of revenue that's being sold through e-commerce and companies finally starting to adopt in the B2B space. What you're doing is so, so critical because

There's such a need for really solid middleware solutions for these complex B2B companies that have, you know, big tech stack that needs to be.

Speaker 2 (06:18)
I was saying to Paola a few minutes ago that when you look at these kinds of organizations, the market has evolved very rapidly. And so they used to send out catalogs. They used to fax in orders at trade shows, you know, as the different companies would come and place orders there. And this has all evolved that, you know, inventory is real time, orders are flowing in more real time. They're not faxing it over. They don't want to call on

have to ask what's available and when. It's all at our fingertips and everyone is used to having that. Maybe it's instant gratification. Maybe it's just efficiency and simplicity of, you go to Amazon or whatever it may be and one, two, three, you're getting what you need. so I think continuing to make that available and scalable even to organizations that are more complex, that is where there's still real opportunity.

where most retailers and direct-to-consumer and what have you, that they made the technological leap, you know, a few years ago, certainly, you know, during lockdowns and things when, you know, retail brick and mortar wasn't exactly the place to go and trade shows weren't. And, you know, but there's still so many markets and so many opportunities to not only further digitize and optimize.

the experience. So I run into a lot of businesses where they're just scratching at making that user experience for the buyer what they're hoping. And so for instance with retail, you know, being able to deal with the buy online, pick up in store, having gift cards that you can use in store and online, you know, in just the same way, unifying the data, loyalty points, same thing that shoppers don't want to be siloed in these different

data systems and what have you that they don't understand the difference, nor should they have to. so better democratizing that, making the technology available so you don't have to be Walmart or Target or some huge company in order to offer that kind of an experience. But I'd say the same with B2B. Last week I was at an Akumatica summit in Las Vegas and we help integrate data with all these different ERPs and that's a fun one.

you know, and just seeing how organizations are trying to figure out what they can achieve and almost, you know, sometimes they don't always fully embrace until they're dealing with the headaches that come along with it, that they're now data companies and that their data and being able to deal with.

how they're handling products, they're handling orders, how they're handling customers across channels, across systems has become part of the lifeblood of growth and success. And sometimes it's as simple as getting the point of sale or ERP or whatever other software communicating with the marketing stack. And so you can send email and SMS and what have you. on not only what do they buy in e-commerce, they're on the channel.

Speaker 1 (09:28)
very.

wherever they're buying, may not be, it's, yeah, that's so important. Well, I'd to learn more about, you've been in the e-commerce space for quite a while. What do you, so our platform is really all about, like how can we empower women to speak up more, use their voices, and what have you seen shift over the last, I don't know, however long you've been in the industry in terms of like women's role in tech, because it's been pretty male-dominated, especially in the e-commerce space. Have you noticed a shift there, first of all?

as my first question. And what do you think men can do to be stronger allies for women so that more women speak up and move into the tech space?

Speaker 2 (10:12)
So

it's interesting that I remember being at the Googleplex probably closer to maybe 2015, 2016, where they brought some of their more active partners together to talk about that. And obviously there's evolution in the years since. But one of the things that they pointed out was that even with the right programs to try to make sure that they were tapping in

to the complete workforce and getting different people involved that if they waited until they were looking for who made it through college for different engineering at the time, it was too late.

You know, they had to go back a step and say, look, you know, let's try to, you know, get people toward the high school level and figure out, you know, where, you know, where can we spur this interest and make sure that they're getting engaged in these programs, that they feel like it's for them and that, and that it's interesting and kind of like, you know, girls play with dolls and boys play with cars and things like that, you know, and Legos. And, and from what Google shared,

that didn't work either. They had to go younger. to that very point, to basically, you now you have Lego sets that appeal to a much wider range of children, and that aren't really just targeted toward, you know, toward boys in whatever segment. And that, I think that there's a lot of that thought process about, you know, how do we make, how do we bring this to people in a way where,

everybody can participate and it's exciting and it's interesting and so in my time in tech, know, I mean, I know I'm only 21 and all, I've seen a marked shift where

you're seeing more people that have come through the educational process, more people that have started at more entry levels and now at this point because they've been in these companies now they're in a place to lead and to create their own companies and to become leaders of existing ones and so on and so forth. And I think that for me that a lot of it really is not forgetting that it's not just about

who we're trying to hire from the available workforce, but making sure, and who we're trying to empower from the existing workforce, but trying to make sure that we're paying it forward and we're making sure that it's very open and exciting for others, for the next generation and the next, and that some of these things take longer than we realize.

Speaker 1 (12:55)
Yes, think that's such a great point. Several of the women we interviewed today actually said they got their degrees in literature.

Isn't that fascinating? And then they ended up becoming software engineers. So I found that very fascinating that a lot of times that shift has happened later for women and would not be more amazing to your point. Like, and I think we're starting to see that the more they get educated at a younger age, they may make those decisions younger and that might make more women decide that this is a good path.

Speaker 2 (13:25)
And I think it's also, you we've seen changes. It used to be that either you were, you know, you learned on your own that you were tinkering or you went into a degree program and spent a lot of time and effort to get somewhere. Now there are, you know, there's so many online training programs. There's code camps to do these things in person. It doesn't take as long to bridge that gap and get into tech. But also, you know, when we're thinking about tech in general,

that there is no training, to my knowledge, there is no major in a university to be an e-commerce expert. Yeah, that's true. Or for a lot of these things that we're dealing with, and so you can break in in different areas of sales and account management and project management and all these things where you can get some certifications in a reasonable amount of time. You can learn on the job in many cases.

and you can get involved and keep growing and learning. I think in many ways, you you talk about, you know, certain areas where there's lifelong learning and like, you know, medicine, things are always coming out and we say, you know, you you're, practicing medicine. Like it's, you know, it's not exactly a perfect science that it's evolving. And I would say the same in tech that if you aren't keeping up with what's coming down the pike and continually learning and expanding, are.

eventually making yourself in many cases obsolete. And so it is something where it's not always as hard to break in because there's a need for the newest skills that not everybody has yet. And I think that those are some of the things that people sometimes maybe don't realize that there are a number of on ramps that don't necessarily involve coming with some kind of history or pedigree, but that you can break in and that that's always exciting when it comes to technology.

Speaker 1 (15:20)
So it's almost like having this mindset of like constant learning and just getting your feet wet and just jumping into things. I mean, I met with a gentleman yesterday who said that he learned how to code in Magento because he was working in-house for, I don't know, was like some dealership, automotive dealership, and their Magento developer basically messed up the site and then the next day decided not to come back to work, left. The site was down and his boss came to him. He had no development experience.

expertise, as boss said. I need you to fix this website, otherwise you don't have a job.

And so he basically had to figure it out. And I thought that was, and now he's like owns his own agency 15 years later. I think that's a great example for women. Just jump in and get your feet wet wherever you can. If you don't have a formal degree that shouldn't stop you because as we met the women we talked to earlier, they both had degrees in literature. That's nothing to do with, with development, right? But like there's nothing to stop you from learning. You know, whatever, you know, at any time, at any point.

Speaker 2 (16:22)
Some of the most prominent figures in tech never got a college degree. and so it because it it's a space that moves fast and you know that that appreciates that kind of ingenuity and what-have-you that it's not always about a specific credential it really is about you know your willingness and interest to To be innovative to to work hard and I find that it

It's a fun place to be as a result that you're dealing with people that are driven that are always learning. with something interesting that the number of stories and case studies and that everyone is trying to do things that are exciting. It's not.

Speaker 1 (17:11)
about it right like there's they're really passionate about innovation which is very fun. Well Robert thanks so much for coming on the show. Thank you. Pleasure yeah and we'll catch up at the after party since now that you're drinking age we can we can enjoy a nice drink at the after party. I'll be having a mocktail so cheers to you. Hello Moxie say hello Moxie.

Speaker 2 (17:19)
Thanks for having me.

Sounds good.

Maxi

Speaker 1 (17:35)
I have a little gift bag for you. You can take it home and give it to the women in your life. It has a book in there with stories of the women who've come on the show. So I hope you enjoy. It's been my pleasure to host you. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (17:47)
That's a wrap for today's episode of Hello Moxie Ecommerce Edition. Thanks for joining us as we bring you the latest news in the e-commerce industry and celebrate diversity and innovation in the tech sector.