ESSU Meeting Minutes & Active Memberships
Local Business Professional Speaker Featuring Ted Wozniak: Managing Director, Kainzow Group 11/16/2016
November 16, 2016
This meeting started at 6:03 p.m. and took place in the Seidman Forum. ESSU was excited that Ted Wozniak to come give a presentation on his ERP work life journey as well as the Technology Transformation. Ted used to be a professor a Grand Valley State and it currently as technology consultant at the Kainzow Group. He has been in the technology and ERP field for six decades in various industries like the Furniture, Aerospace & Defense, and Automotive.
Ted opened up the presentation by discussing the fact that the US technology industry dominates the global technology landscape. He mentioned about the value of an ERP education as well as reveal some statistics like the number of jobs and salary for technology related fields.
Ted then explained his unique career timeline involving technology and how he worked his way up through many different jobs in many different industries. He first found an interest in technology while serving in the Air Force. His first experience with ERP was at a furniture company when he was involved with shipping. MRP was pretty much the ERP before ERP even existed. Technology evolves out of necessity. Ted touched on disruptive and sustaining innovation. He then noted how strategy is about positive and negative forces. This includes velocity which is the speed at which we make change.
Ted recommended two books for us students to read because he refers to them often while consulting; The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization and The Dance of Change.
Ted recommended everyone to try to become a business unit Subject Matter Expert because there is an advantage, he says, of knowing how both technology and business works. Other career routes mentioned was a Swim Lane Lead and ERP Project Lead.
It was an invaluable meeting for us students to learn about the technology transformation and where it will go in the future. It was interesting to hear Ted’s career path and his exposure to many different technologies and cultures. The meeting ended at 7:15 p.m.