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Ten Thousand Feet, the Vervint PodcastAuthor: Vervint
All areas of an organization, even those still in the analog world, are being transformed by technology. This shift isn't just modernizing manual processes with digital tools, but changing the fabric of an organization to support a new way of thinking. So while it may be a buzzword, digital transformation is happening and we're here to unpack it with you. Between big ideas and tiny details is the ten thousand foot view. Join the technology consultants from Vervint as we discuss the changing landscape of technology and what we're learning along the way. Vervint is a technology consultancy, specializing in all things digital. With offices in Minneapolis, Grand Rapids, and Detroit, we have spent almost three decades working with companies to grow, innovate, and better serve their customers using technology. Language: en Genres: Business, Technology Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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With Gratitude Episode Three | More Outside Cats
Episode 74
Friday, 28 August, 2026
In this episode of With Gratitude, hosts Stephanie Hogen (Chief Consulting Officer, Vervint, part of Koniag Tech) and Allen Debes (CEO, Koniag Capital) are joined by Mark Orttung, CEO of Projectworks, a platform that runs professional services firms from proposals to payments and now serves more than 750 companies. Mark has moved back and forth between building software and running services businesses, and he brings both perspectives to a conversation about what AI should actually change inside a consulting firm. The discussion centers on three ideas. First, that growth is the hidden solution to problems that don't look like growth problems. Mark walks through the twenty small mechanics that work automatically while a firm is growing and break simultaneously when it flattens, including the annual raise that quietly becomes unaffordable the moment you stop hiring a new college class, plus the counterintuitive decision to hire three expensive senior client partners at the bottom of a decline rather than run layoffs. Second, Stephanie's "inside cats and outside cats" framing, which gives the episode its title. House cats do internal admin, outside cats create client value, and the strategic goal of agents is to shrink the inside work so complexity and expertise move outside the firm's four walls. Third, Mark's answer to an audience question about AI hollowing out junior roles: the "AI reality check" role, where juniors shift from weeks of assembling research to verifying that AI output actually holds up, citations included. Along the way: why most software in his category solves "the less important half" of the problem by selling efficiency instead of growth; the week-long manual resource-planning exercise that was stale seven days later; Projectworks' aggregate data across 700 plus customers showing that firms planning resourcing two or more months ahead see just under 25% higher year-over-year revenue growth, 9% higher revenue per employee, and about 8% higher utilization; the MCP release that lets Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini draft a consultant's timesheet from calendars and meeting notes; the systems of record versus systems of action debate and why Mark doesn't believe in the "SaaSpocalypse"; the contract review Claude skill that scores MSA terms red, yellow, or green against a firm's target positions on limitation of liability, indemnification, and termination rights; and the reminder that recovered hours should go toward learning, ideally alongside customers. Mark's closing line: gratitude becomes lasting when people have the freedom to do the work they enjoy most. Everything else is "the laundry of the job."
