The Chilean & American Chamber of Commerce was pleased to welcome back Chile: a Digital Country (Ch1l3) to Philadelphia for ChileTech@PHL: Globalizing Digital Transformation Through Nearshoring, the second installment of programming on November 19th. The breakfast program kicked off with networking as guests helped themselves to continental breakfast.
Benjamin Leavenworth, Consul of Chile in Philadelphia, opened the program by welcoming all to Philadelphia on behalf of Chile. He then welcomed Cindy Leavitt, Vice President of Information Technology Services and CIO at Temple University to the podium to formally welcome the Delegation on behalf of Temple University. Leavenworth then retook the podium and thanked the delegation for being courageous and trying something new by “getting on that plane” to the United States.
Leavenworth acknowledged special guests who included Peter Longstreth, the Honorary Consul of Uruguay, Marichu Meyer with ProChile, Keynote Speaker: Paul Lima, CEO of Lima Consulting Group, and then introduced Araceli Guenther, Victrix Global and Temple University. Guenther reiterated her support of the Ch1l3 brand and showed a video detailing data and facts that back Chile as the most digitally advanced country in Latin America. Guenther then introduced Paul Lima to give his keynote remarks.
Lima began his address by detailing his extensive experience in the military—he is a prestigious founding member of the cyber branch at the Pentagon. From there, he shared tips with the Chilean Delegation regarding his “5 power plays” which addressed partners, investment, price, intergovernmental relations, and service models. Lima shared his learnings from his experience working in Brazil and Uruguay, which underpinned the success that can result from nearshoring.
Following Q&A, Cindy Leavitt began her role as moderator for the panel discussion. Panelists included Jorge Corral, Senior Business Development Manager North America, Arkano Software; Jason Garber, Founder & COO, PromptWorks; Andres Munita, Co-Founder and CEO, Kunder; and David Rose, Founder & Partner, Brio Solutions. The panelists were asked to answer questions based on their experiences of working on global teams in the past. One question posed was: “What are some of the key benefits you are seeking in partnering with teams across multiple locations?” Rose answered by saying he looks for more bandwidth and the ability to expand in fields in which his company is not specialized.
As the discussion continued, one of the recurring themes was communication. Several of the questions posed to the panel were answered with an emphasis on the importance of communication. In response to a question about how to “align” a team, Munita answered that the proper use of communication tools was imperative. He said one must not only know when to communicate, but also, what the best method of communication is. There are some problems that can be fixed with a simple phone call, others by email, and then there are those that require in-person meetings. When Garber and Corral were asked about the improvement in emerging technologies and how they can ease communication in global teams, Garber said that when using a service such as Zoom or Skype, great audio and video quality is important. He mentioned that each person should have their own laptop and have headphones connected to that laptop to ensure that they will be heard and seen. Furthermore, he said that “Slack” is a great tool to use as a real time chat during a meeting. In his response, Corral stated that communication is a basis of gaining trust and the new technologies should ease that process, allowing the team to function at a higher capacity.
The CACC would like to thank Paul Lima, Araceli Guenther, the Consulate of Chile in Philadelphia, the members of the tech delegation, esteemed panelists, and all who attended for making the second installment of ChileTech@PHL a resounding success.
Delegation Members:
Jorge Corral– Business Development Manager, Arkano Software
Andrés Munita– CEO and Co-Founder, Kunder
Mauricio Ulloa, Client Manager, Kunder
Javier Balieiro– Manager of New Business and IT Innovation, Zenta
Felipe Ojeda– CEO, Jumpitt Labs
Hernán Sangüeza– Director of Business Consulting – Chile, Nisum Latin America
Juan Pablo Reyes– CEO, Linets
Ignacio Parada– Founder, Magnet