All articles by Steven Melendez

Article McKinsey Report Finds Employees Moving Faster with AI Than Leaders
February 3, 2025 | By Steven Melendez
Among those who said their organizations are moving too slow, the biggest reason for moving was "talent skill gaps," which 46 percent cited. An overview of the January 2025 report is inside...
Article Scaling Up Challenge-Based Ideation at TD Bank
January 8, 2025 | By Steven Melendez
In recent years, TD Bank has harnessed its iD8 internal innovation program to crowdsource tens of thousands of ideas—from simplifying customer transactions to improving back-end processes. We speak with Vlora Muslimi, Senior Manager and head of iD8, about how challenge-based ideation has become a game changer for the bank.
Article Inside Look: Milwaukee Tool’s IoT Strategy
January 27, 2025 | By Steven Melendez
Milwaukee Tool, a trusted name in construction for over a century, entered the digital space in 2015 with its One-Key line of connected tools and apps for managing, monitoring, and securing equipment. Andy Lambert, VP of Digital Product, discusses the challenges of integrating software into a hardware company, how technology...
Article How Customer Interactions Guide Innovation at Toolmaker Snap-on
December 14, 2015 | By Steven Melendez
Bennett Brenton explains how the company gathers input from its franchisees and end-users to shape new products. Includes slides and audio...
Article Linking Innovation, Corporate VC, and M&A at Allegion
January 14, 2025 | By Steven Melendez
Allegion reshaped its innovation ecosystem by emphasizing deep internal engagement—from rapid prototyping in its Pin & Tumbler studio to a part-time corporate venture structure. We speak with Robert Martens, Allegion’s chief innovation and design officer and president of Allegion Ventures, about how this approach fuels successful ventures, keeps employees invested,...
Article Driving Patient Care Innovation at UC San Diego Health
January 16, 2025 | By Steven Melendez
"To embed daily innovation as part of our culture," says Ashley Gambhir, "we created a mission statement: We want to have 14,000 problem solvers that relentlessly improve care while loving their jobs. We started a management system to encourage daily input by asking, 'What ideas do you have?'" Read more...
Article Inside Look: The Hartford’s IoT Innovation Lab
December 17, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
The Hartford has been writing insurance policies for US businesses and consumers for more than 200 years. In 2018, the company launched an Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation Lab, focused on using technology like water and humidity sensors to collect data and detect and prevent costly losses from incidents like...
Article CarMax CTO: Advice on Setting Product Teams Up for Success
November 15, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
Shamim Mohammad is Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Technology Officer at CarMax. We spoke with Mohammad about leveraging AI to deliver reliable results, successfully structuring technical teams for innovation, and more.
Article Slack Report: AI Investment Continues as Worker Enthusiasm Wanes
November 14, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
A new report from Slack finds that while AI investment and urgency continues, worker enthusiasm and adoption is slowing. Why?
Article BCG Report: AI Leader Companies are Already Reaping Tangible Results
October 30, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
A new report from BCG finds that companies moving forward quickly with AI are seeing 50 percent greater revenue growth and 60 percent higher total shareholder returns.