Latest / The Wilmac Wire / Summer Wrap | People & Product at Wilmac Technologies

Transcript

Summer Wrap | People & Product at Wilmac Technologies · The Wilmac Wire

• Emily McNulty: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, welcome, or welcome back to the Wilmac Wire. Happy September, and thank you so much for tuning in. It is just Steve and me today for a quick solo co-host episode, a classic Steve Emily hang, as one would say. Our first one back after a busy summer. We're gonna talk about people at Wilmac, products, and a little bit of Everything in between. I'll keep this intro short so we can get into today's content. Thank you for tuning in. Let's get into it. All right, and we're rolling. Steve, welcome back from Long Island. Stephen McDonnell: Excited to be back. Long cup two, three weeks there. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: commuting into Manhattan from Long Island and then some vacation time. So good to Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: be back in Rochester, hopefully getting into routine and getting the kids back to school. Emily McNulty: We're glad to have you back in the office for our listeners. This this episode will be airing on September third. So right at the the start of fall for the most part, back after a busy summer. This is a nice solo episode for for you and I, Steve. Just a little a little catch up. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Psyched to jump back into the podcast with one of these. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: I will say it was nice to be in New York City. A lot of energy, even though month of August tends to be a little slow down there is still a lot of energy. Good to see our team down there a few times. so it's always good to get down there. Emily McNulty: for sure for sure it looks like you guys had a great time down there you know before we jump into kind of we'll talk about two I guess themes today in terms of our people and our product but you know I had to start with an icebreaker so we're gonna start with that and then I do have a surprise question for you that's not on the brief that I'll ask you at the end as long as you're comfortable with it and then we'll go through the themes. So first icebreaker most memorable moment of the summer Do you have one that comes to mind? Stephen McDonnell: Yep, assuming this is work-wise, I think I have to go San Antonio Apco. pleasantly surprised. Nina was great too in Columbus. but getting out to San Antonio, which I'd never been to, and that conference they just go all out. I thought that was an awesome event. It was great to see how much traction. we got and how many people were coming by our booth. so that was really exciting to see. Emily McNulty: Yeah, agree. I had I had two. I agree with, I think there's a a theme that we'll chat about more in terms of how much travel went on this summer. Like even though, like you said, summer can be a little quieter. I I didn't feel like that was the case because a lot of people were bopping around. but I had two most memorable moments, definitely Nina and Apco, kind of the logistical effort that that took to get a bigger booth and that sort of thing, but then it really paid off and and felt worthwhile once we saw how our products were received there. and great team bonding time. I think that that's an underrated part of of the conferences is spending time with with the team, getting to know everyone better, going through travel woes together, but then also getting to chat with our customers face to face. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. I I thought it was great both events, particularly at ApCo. We had dinner set up with Emily McNulty: Mm. Stephen McDonnell: customers and prospects. and I think that's probably the best job we've ever done with that at for conferences. and then obviously as you just alluded to, we stepped it up with our booth game. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: and even now we realize maybe next year we can even step it up another notch. So it's all it's exciting stuff. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Yeah. No, excited to share more about that. Yeah. No, and my other memorable moment that I had to call out probably a little bit more background, but the website redesign that we that we just launched. Grace Basil on my team did a great job kind of redoing the entire design of our website on her own. and I think it better reflects kind of the vision that we've been speaking about, that you've been preaching a lot to the to the company. and that just better aligns with where we're going. So really excited to share that. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. To the viewers, go go check it out. Emily McNulty: Heck yeah. Stephen McDonnell: but I think it it's a perfect s story of Wilmack. Obviously the website looks great, but we had Grace who kind of took the lead and drove it Emily McNulty: Mm. Stephen McDonnell: all on our own. obviously we have a ton of resources for help, but she she was really the driver in it, which we which we preach, and then she utilized AI. You know, it's the Emily McNulty: Yes. Stephen McDonnell: first project like this where we didn't need an outside resource or an outside vendor to help us. We tackled it on our own. with all our AI tools and it came out great and kudos to you guys and particularly Grace for for killing it. Emily McNulty: Yeah. I was about to say I was not trying to toot my own my team's own horn there, but I I I was telling her, I was like, I want to shout it from the top of the mountains. I know she doesn't want to do what I do. Stephen McDonnell: It's too. Yeah. No. She needs to g she needs to get out and speak louder on LinkedIn about it. Emily McNulty: Yeah, agreed, agreed. I'm I'm I'm trying to push her in that direction. But okay, next icebreaker. I think this is gonna go back a little to what you talked about before, but best meal of the summer. Stephen McDonnell: I mean that's a that's an easy one. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: for the background Our VP of sales, Chad, normally does not go to these conferences. And Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: but he he does normally travel a lot and meets with our clients and even more so, prospective clients. And so he does do a lot of dinners and and entertaining. And he came to this APO event in Texas and put on quite a dinner event for some of our customers that were were there. and a wine tour around the world, as he called it. So different wines throughout the meal. It was at a steakhouse, we had a private room, it was Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: it was an all-out dinner. There's, I don't know, fifteen of us. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: so it was quite the to-do. And and it was it was great. He did a phenomenal job with it. Emily McNulty: Yeah, it was it was next level. I think the fanciest dinner I've ever been a part of. And I had that written down for mine too. I I particularly have to say I like I've never had lamb chop before. That was like our first appetizer that Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Emily McNulty: came out. And they served me first and I was like, god, how do I eat this? And then I ate it and I was like, Wow, that was that was delicious. So I think about that often now. Yeah. for sure. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. The food was great. The restaurant was great. They did s the service was top notch. Everything was good. Emily McNulty: For sure. Stephen McDonnell: and great to see and spend time with customers. so it was awesome. Emily McNulty: A hundred percent. Yep. Yep. For our listeners, if you're in San Antonio, it was called Bohannons. We we highly recommend checking it out. okay. Next icebreaker, where okay, so I found this interesting when I was doing some digging on the analytics of our podcast and I'll share more afterwards. But where do you do most of your podcast listening? Like YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, what's your preferred channel? Stephen McDonnell: so it's definitely YouTube, Emily McNulty: Okay. Stephen McDonnell: probably ninety percent, but I did I took a couple as Emily alluded to, I've been back and forth downstate this month, and I took a couple dri solo drives down there. and so I did listen to some podcasts on spot my Spotify. but primarily on YouTube. Emily McNulty: Yeah. So you align with most of our audience. Most of our audience watches the podcasts on on YouTube, which I found very surprising because I like have a wildly long queue of podcasts on Apple Podcasts. That's where I listen, which I was Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Emily McNulty: I was surprised when I found YouTube was kind of our our top channel for listening to the Will MacWire. So I don't know. Thought that was interesting. last last icebreaker, like I said, not on the list. I can remove Stephen McDonnell: boy. Emily McNulty: this if you don't want to answer it. But Legoland or Disney World? Ha ha ha Stephen McDonnell: I mean, it's it's not even close. I I'm never Emily McNulty: No. Stephen McDonnell: stepping I'm never stepping foot in Legoland again. Emily McNulty: I wasn't sure what the response was gonna be there. Stephen McDonnell: It's it's Disney World or Disney World family that I've married into. and I've accepted it and I'm okay with it. I'm I'm not doing Lego Light ever again. That's I'll just I'll just leave it at that. Emily McNulty: Yeah, all right. Enough said. Enough said. All right. Thanks, Steve. had to get you know I had to do some icebreakers to get us get us going. We're gonna talk about our people and products. We have a couple questions lined up and then we'll wrap. but Steve, starting kind of with the the people side of things, Wilmac has grown this summer. We brought in a few new people with Haley Gunther on the marketing side, Alex Laporte as our new VP of implementation and customer success, and we brought in an intern as well, and Chris Capazuto on the accounting side. So I guess really high level, what are these changes bringing to the team? Why were these hires made? How does that shape where we're heading? Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, I think let's start with Alex. That's a big hire for us. he walks into the leadership team, so he basically runs our our operations, but we knew one of the weaknesses that we have is implementation and projects. and as we scale, we just needed a strong person who's done it before. So Alex has a a lot of experience in our world. experience at Bonage. and Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: he comes in hungry. he's out of Florida. it was a big process. I mean the interview process probably took two months for us. to narrow it down on Alex. so that's an exciting hire. if you if you look at it, I think we've slowly been building out the leadership team for the past three years and it's pretty complete at this point. so very excited to have him on board. He's hit the ground running. He started while I was downstate so I have not yet to see him face to face. but I I when I was in The Manhattan office last week. I had a few conversations with him. Seeing the email seems like he's just moving at a fast pace. And then that's what we need on that side of the house is some urgency, some organization. So very excited about that. seeing obviously great guy, good culture fit as well. so that was probably priority number one for us this Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: summer. So pumped to get that done and pumped to have him in-house and running. So you know, he'll be fully running by September, which which is great. Haley the past six months, five months, we've done a just a ton of conferences all over Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: the country. I mean California, Texas, Phoenix, twice in Texas, Florida, Ohio, all over up here, Canada. and it's a ton, as Emily can can speak to, and it lands on Emily and her team. And we try to do the best we can with Having, you know, a team of people who can go to these events, because you don't want to get anyone too worn out constantly going to this. but we quickly realized we need someone who is gonna be okay going to every single event and kind of handling the logistics. so through another inter lengthy interview process, Emily and her team and and Wilmack landed on Haley. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: and Haley's been great. She's just a ball of energy. Emily McNulty: Yeah. So say a ray of sunshine. Stephen McDonnell: throws throws herself right out there, which I think you need in this role and which is a perfect fit for for Wilmack. she's young and hungry, so she likes to travel. She knows that's that's a major part of this role. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: So having kind of that anchor at these conferences where everyone knows, all right, no matter what, Haley is gonna be there and she knows what's going on with the logistics and we're there as more resources to help her. And then obviously the expertise when the conference actually starts to be speaking about the product and talking to the cop prospects and whatnot. But having her has been huge and I think her attitude and personality fits this role perfectly. Emily McNulty: Mm. Stephen McDonnell: and it's a good step in her career. Hopefully she grows with it in Wilmac, but a good first stepping stone for her career as well. But I'll throw that one back to you as she she reports to you. Emily McNulty: Yeah, I I agree. I think it reiterates too kind of one of I guess the core pieces of why we're building in Rochester too, in terms of pulling from recent graduates at local colleges. She's a graduate from St. John Fisher College, originally from a different part of New York, but relocated to here because of the job opportunities. And like you said, the need became very apparent when I attended a few conferences and was like, wait, I don't really like to travel, so I don't think I can maintain this. and health wise, I was like, my immune system can't maintain it. so Haley came in, like you said, a ball of energy right off the bat, hung young, hungry, just willing to jump right in. So she's been doing a tremendous job. She's coming up on almost three months. three months at Wilmac, and she's already been leading multiple conferences that we have in the works for for the remainder of twenty twenty six. So Stephen McDonnell: And and it's not only the travel but the logistics once you get but there's more logistics than we thought on getting this stuff getting your booth set up and Emily McNulty: Yes. A lot of details. Yes. One hundred percent. Yes. And that that goes back to what you said too about Nina and Apco. We won't touch on that too much more 'cause I know we've talked on it in a lot of episodes, but really with Apco, we we booked our booths already for next summer. Nina will be in Nashville, Apco will be in Anaheim, California. And for Apco, we're gonna do a 20 by 20. So we're leveling up and and she is a large part of being able to level up, which is really exciting. So so yeah, really glad to have her on the team. and then I think last on our list we had our our new intern, Chris Capazuto from the accounting side. So I know you work closer with Joe, but you want to share a little bit about Chris, Chris joining the team. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Yeah, Chris has been great. You know, Joe has had numerous interns help kinda assist his team throughout parts of the year. but Chris obviously has just jumped right in. I think You know, we we do some outsourced financial work. We keep a lot in-house and having him here this summer has really stabilized them and helped Joe do some other things that he needed to get to. again, another great culture fit. We wanna be working with the universities around here. we're heavy in with RIT with the co-ops, so going out and doing some other departments like accounting is is great and it's been a good summer for Chris. Emily McNulty: Yeah, definitely. It was funny when we were planning for our fantasy football season this year. Chris was Chris was on the the list, so he's staying on for the fall. So we're excited to to have him continue to be a very Stephen McDonnell: Nice. Emily McNulty: important part of kind of our our back end, not as as in the front of Will Mac teams. So yeah, really excited for for these people. We always talk about how the our people are so important to who we are, our brand and our growth. So figured we should highlight some of those those new folks. but yeah, okay. So Steve, we you talked a little bit too about drivers before. We've talked about it on the podcast. Like we our summer was very busy with conferences, people going out, customer visits. We spent a lot of time on the road. Like how as CEO do you maintain momentum and like the growth mindset that you've been instilling in us through that? Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, I think I think the summer is the most difficult time of year. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: I think June and July we we were kind of forced into it because we were traveling so much and going into conferences. So that was great. August always tends to slow up a little bit. I think we planned for that correctly. And now September hits and it's you know, school's back, people are energized, people are getting back into routines, and it fits it helps that our year end is October thirty-first, so it's very natural for us, like, all right, time to go. Let's go. Go September. I know Gary and Chad are out on the road this week meeting with some prospects that they're hoping to close deals for the end of the year. So now's the time to get out there, get to see them face to face and get these deals closed for the end of year. So, some of the momentum happens naturally due to the cal calendar, but really just getting out in front of everybody. And and it's it's exciting time of year for us. and I think you you know, usually we kinda sometimes complain about our fiscal year October thirty-first. But we get to do kind of our 2027 planning, we get to do a kickoff in November, kind of when people are trying to finish their 2026. So it's good timing for us, but we have a lot of in the pipeline to close in the next, Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: you know, six four to six weeks. So Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: it's it's kinda go time and I think we'll be very vocal about it throughout the office. So it's not Emily McNulty: Yes. Stephen McDonnell: just the sales team knowing about this. Everybody's gonna know about it. Emily McNulty: I agree. I think the the fiscal year does kind of create a natural sense of urgency. And we've talked about urgency on the podcast before too. But with it ending in October, like August is that first month of our final quarter. Like we know it's it's grind time. Like we can't stand still and look at summer as let's let's take a quick break. Stephen McDonnell: that's definitely the problem the toughest part about October thirty first is August. it's not only internally, but your cut your prospects and customers are not always around and available. Emily McNulty: I've run that out. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: so that makes September probably our most important month. so we're we're ready though. Emily McNulty: Yeah, yeah, i excited too. I think a big part that I've I think might we don't we don't talk about is n enough too is just the communication that we try to maintain through the summer. We're we try to be very consistent in terms of our internal marketing and making sure people are up to date on what's going on. we started an internal newsletter to put a greater spotlight on how we're doing revenue wise, what's going on, how we're marketing ourselves, the different opportunities for example like for example, like you talked about before. We don't just have two salespeople going to conferences. We have a group of about 15 to 18 people that we're cycling in to go to these conferences and serve different roles. so it's exciting. So we're just really trying to mount maintain and increase that momentum for sure going into the end of our fiscal year. but on top of that, too, another, I guess, really exciting announcement that was made recently. Was the fact that Wilmac was named to the top one hundred fastest growing companies in Greater Rochester region. Now for the third straight year, we got the notification about a week ago. so speaking from the perspective of CEO leader of the company, you preach growth a lot. Like what does that mean? Three straight years of being in that on that list. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, it's awesome, exciting. I think one of the things we do and one of the most important things for my role is culture here and making sure we have the correct culture that kind of cultivates growth. So I love getting the culture awards that we are piling up, which is awesome. But this one is you know hard revenue, meaning you're not getting this award unless you're act actively showing that you're growing. So it means a ton. It means what we're doing is working. It means we're on the right path. and I think it's it's a great award for our company. I think everyone gets pumped about it. we we'll go to the event and they'll have the countdown and and do all that. So it means a ton, I think. Outside of Rochester, you know, I don't know how many people care about it too much. It they could just see that, hey, that's great, you're growing. Inside of Rochester, it's pretty awesome. people talk about it. It's one of the big it is probably the biggest event in Rochester in the business community. so that is great. And and I think, you know, we plan on being there for a long time to come. Emily McNulty: Yeah, for foreseeable future for sure. but but agreed, yeah. We're we're all always actively pursuing those types of awards and opportunities. One, because it it's great, like you said, culturally to to bring our team together and celebrate the wins and the hard work that we're putting in. but on top of that, like you said, this one's hard numbers. There's proof in the pudding, like it's it's exciting to be able to celebrate that growth when we set those revenue targets every year and and work towards them. So Congratulations. That's very exciting. And hopefully we'll have a real high number to to share in early November when we get our final ratings. So okay, so that really covers for the most part the people. We'll we'll talk about it a little bit more in in products, but I want to make sure we're being conscious of time and keeping it moving. so we talked a little bit about WFM and Mac and how they were received at conferences very positively. but I think beyond conferences, we've had a pretty significant amount of on-site customer visits this year, both for replay and for workforce management. so can you share a little bit about what's been coming out of those business and how that's shaping like how we think about our our products? Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, I think so this is Chad's first full year on board and I think he's been doing a great job of pushing the guys, hey, we gotta go on site. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: you know, during COVID you ca I I realized An on site meeting is probably worth four to six Zoom calls. so think about that as far as how much you can speed up a a process by going on site. And building relationships is just a lot easier, and quicker than doing it through Zoom. It's Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: Don't know what to tell people, that's just the bottom line. We aren't selling transactional SaaS software or transactional AI stuff. Like these people are putting a large investment in Wilmac, and it's a lot easier to do when you have a relationship with them. so we've done a great job with that. The boys are going on a West Coast trip for WFM. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: I think going to Vegas, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, and Utah. So so a pretty big trip. visiting prospects that are have been in the sales cycle and then people who are have pilots going. So it's all that's all for WFM and Mac, so that's exciting. on the replay and Archie side, Gary and Ben and and Chad have been going to visit a lot of the large banks getting positive feedback. Archie is still relatively new to the market. it's our native AI product. For data archiving, and so far we've gotten great feedback. It's still pretty new, so we'll see how the next six months go. But for a solution like that, that it is native AI, it's a very complex enterprise type of sale. you have to be in front of these people and sitting down with them for a couple hours going through their use cases and how Archie could help those use cases, and then getting to know these people and taking them. out to dinner, taking them out to lunch. so I think that's been great. for the most part the guys love to travel and do this. So Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: I I think it fits well. but yeah, so Archie has been kind of a hit on the road right now. Emily McNulty: it's very powerful when you can show a customer or a prospect in person what it can do. And then that spurs ideas too, that informs roadmap. And I'm sure in our next behind the build that we have with Bob that we can dig into that a lot more for sure. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. I should say too. I said the sales guy's traveling. Bob has been on the road quite a bit with those guys. So yeah. Emily McNulty: Yeah, the dev team has been in front of in front of our customers a lot and they've been doing an an incredible job for sure. but yeah, that kind of naturally progresses us into what I was alluding to before in terms of our product marketing, our product strategy. As Archie is maturing and we're getting more interest, and as WFM and Mac are maturing, we're starting to talk about the the Stephen McDonnell: Okay. Emily McNulty: the future of of what these product lines look like. so we brought in Nigel Riley as to help with product consulting. So Do you want to talk about how Nigel has kind of stepped into that realm and and what that's looked like from your perspective, Steve? Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, so Nigel is, you know, a perfect example of Rochester having this talent that isn't working for Rochester. Companies and people might not know these people live in Rochester. so Nigel was an investment banker for JPMC for most of his career, JP Morgan Chase, from Living in London, living in Hong Kong, Singapore, ended up in New York City, and he took a company public with JPMC called INTAP, and INTAP recruited him to be general manager of a couple of their business lines. and in tap. while I wouldn't say as a direct competitor of continuity replay, sits in the ecosystem, sits in the realm. So we kind of hit it off when I moved back to New York or Rochester and he ended up in Rochester. We both ended up in Rochester in COVID. and we talked and talked and timing worked out this past winter for him to come and help us out a bit and he has stayed on through September and it's been great. And his expertise and his experience is just something we haven't had. And that's really bringing, you know, started with a SaaS product and continuity replay from, all right, we have 40, 50 customers, how do we scale this to the next level? And then even more so, all right, now we're we're we're gonna build this native AI solution that's in the realm of continuity replay called Archie. How the heck are we, how the heck are we getting this out to the market? How are we gonna sell it? How are we gonna price it? Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: and that's what his expertise is. along with having all sorts of connections to our prospective customers that we need to look into selling to. so he's been great. I think he he knows everybody very well at this point, comes in and out of the office Emily McNulty: Okay. Stephen McDonnell: quite frequently. He lives like five minutes from our office. good culture fit British guy. We have a bunch of British people, so that that was easy. and yeah, Nig Nigel's been great, but he he kind of just He can put together a a plan at a higher level that we just haven't had before. Awesome addition to the team and have have loved having Nigel around. What what are your thoughts? You work with Nigel quite frequently. Emily McNulty: Yeah, he's been I I agree. He's he's helped me look at product marketing from a different perspective, where I think I naturally go towards more of the branding piece and increasing awareness. He's like, All right, this is how we need to make sure we're like creating a narrative around our products and streamlining that narrative so it makes it easier to scale for our sales team. and making sure we're staying on top of the communication between dev and marketing and sales and building a very clear product roadmap and commuting communicating that roadmap internally. So I've learned a lot from Nigel. I feel like he's again encouraged thinking from a different perspective, from a higher perspective and more longer term perspective. that like you said, Steve, we haven't had quite yet, which is exciting. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Definitely not only higher up, but we tend to other than our leadership meetings and maybe meet every once in a while, we tend to think like three to six months out. Like let's go, go, go. He Emily McNulty: Yeah, short term. Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: can definitely he brings to the table, all right, well what are you gonna be doing in two to three years if you're setting yourself up like this? So that definitely has been a good perspective. Emily McNulty: Hundred percent. Okay. I guess last question, we'll we'll touch on kind of the the AI piece that we hit on a little bit before, but as a company that uses or that encourages AI usage very regularly every day, I think one of our previous guests, Kevin Sorace, said he uses it five times an hour was his goal or something like that. but has your perspective shifted on this at all over the summer? I know, like I said, well. I'm sure we'll talk about it with with future guests, but internal usage how has that changed at all? Stephen McDonnell: Nope. Still think you need to be using it as much Emily McNulty: Yep. Stephen McDonnell: as possible. I know there's You know, I had a conversation with my mother in law over at breakfast one time where she thinks, you know, people could be getting dumber and you know, you should be learning how to write cursive and you should be being able to do math and stuff. And I get that at young ages, but at some point that stuff isn't, you know, the the value it used to hold and it's Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: a commodity and to get to the next level of where we need to get to as As a a society and a civilization, we need to be using these tools because our brains can't get us much further. So I think I'm still a hundred percent in. I think there's you have to be paying attention to it from a kind of a a and commercial side on where we fit. I think applications are getting better and better and learning how to fit in the the market. You know, this SaaS collops, whatever that it was called, where SaaS companies were going down, I think was a little far-fetched. I do think some of these foundation models could get commoditized, and I think that helps a company like us. So I'm still very bullish on AI and think people should be utilizing it all the time. I I think people are utilizing it as an assistant all the time right now. Emily McNulty: Yes. Stephen McDonnell: You know, I think the next step is for everyone and and a lot of people at our company have taken the next step to more agentic and doing tasks for us and whatnot. But I think in general probably society needs to take that next step. Which which it'll come when it becomes easier. Emily McNulty: Yeah. For sure. I thought you were just gonna end it nope. And then I think your podcast host's natural instinct stepped into to expand. But no, I appreciate you sharing. Completely agree. I think I we speak about it a lot on this this podcast that we just encourage education on it and usage of it. And that's the best way to become educated on it is by using it and what it can do for you. Stephen McDonnell: I will say at the beginning of the summer, I was probably 95% Clawed and 5% ChatGPT and Grok. And now I'm definitely Claude's probably like under 50%. I think Emily McNulty: Really? Okay. Stephen McDonnell: ChatGPT is probably my top one grok. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: and Claude. and we also, you know, Bob and the team are looking at the open source models a lot more. So I think we can probably get into that in under under the hood episode. But Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: I think we'll be seeing a lot more open source as well. Emily McNulty: For sure. Yeah. You know I had to get your take. I had to Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Emily McNulty: ask. But okay, Steve, a as we start to wrap up our our solo episode, I guess what are you most excited for or looking forward to over the next fifteen episodes that are gonna wrap up this this season of the Will MacWire. So that's going into December. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, I think we have some great guests. We're expanding the type of Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: guests we're getting. so I'm pumped for that to get some different perspectives. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: I think we're we're in a better spot now. I know we have an exciting one tomorrow that I won't let everyone know who it is, but we're we're pumped for Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: that. have some people in from out of town to do some live podcasts with us. so I I'm pumped. I think we're we're in a good spot and the next 15 episodes will be our best 15 episodes. Emily McNulty: Heck yeah. I was just saying there's a we can only get better with each episode recording. So it's wild to think that we've almost recorded forty episodes this year already. It's it's insane when we were going bi weekly last year. So I've I've loved every conversation though, and like you said, I I'm just excited to keep bringing in unique perspectives and digging into kind of different parts of the areas we operate on. So exciting stuff. Steve, anything else before I wrap this up? No. Stephen McDonnell: No. Good job. I love where Emily McNulty: Okay. Likewise. Stephen McDonnell: we're headed. You got today I literally just got back from my little hiatus and I Emily McNulty: Yep. Stephen McDonnell: am like ready to roll. So a lot of momentum the next Emily McNulty: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: couple months at Wilmack, podcast and business. So excited to get going. Emily McNulty: Yes. What better way to get going than recording a podcast immediately? You're welcome for that. okay, for our listeners to stay connected with Wilmac and what we're doing, you can follow Wilmac on LinkedIn. You can also find Stephen McDonnell and myself, Emily McNulty, on LinkedIn and connect with us there. Reach out if you're interested in being a guest or just chatting more. you can visit WilmacTech dot com for more resources and like We talked about at the top of the episode. We encourage you to go check it out. It's been recently redesigned and a lot clearer. you can also tune into the Will MacWire wherever you listen to podcasts. And if your preference is YouTube, you get to see our beautiful faces too. So thank you for tuning in wherever you do. All right, Steve, thanks for joining me on another episode of the Will MacWire. Thanks, Steve. Stephen McDonnell: Great, thanks.