 Welcome to Connecting Hawaii Business on Think Tech Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee, owner of Kathleen Lee Consulting, and I am your host for this program. Think Tech Hawaii is currently live streamed on ThinkTechHawaii.com, as well as on Think Tech Hawaii's YouTube and Facebook pages, and viewers like you have the opportunity to ask us questions during the show by emailing them to questions at ThinkTechHawaii.com. For today's show, we will be talking about the True Initiative, and we have the perfect individual to go over it. True Initiative's executive director, Michelle Chung. Hey, Michelle. Welcome to the show. Hey there, Kathleen. Thanks for having me here. Thank you for being here. So tell our viewers about yourself. Okay. So my name is Michelle. I am the executive director of True. I was born and raised in New York, and I moved over to Hawaii about a decade ago. And when I came here, I noticed a few things. The first is that the job market is really different. There aren't a lot of technology jobs out there. And then the cost of living is the same as New York, but the wage levels are a bit lower than New York. And so I ended up working for a local real estate company where I did their technology marketing and research. And ultimately, I found True. So let's talk about that. True and the Hawaii Executive Collaborative. How are those two connected? Yep. So the Hawaii Executive Collaborative is an organization of about 60, 70 local businesses. They're made up of the leaders of those organizations, and they really stand for practical action here in Hawaii. Let's pull up the first graphic real quick. So follow along with you. Okay. No, that's great. And so they they adopted the change framework. So the change frame. Let's let's let's do that. Change framework. That's our second graphic. Let's go over the second graphic. No, that's great. So the change framework is a framework that was developed by the Hawaii Community Foundation and focuses on different areas in Hawaii that can use support. And so the Hawaii Executive Collaborative adopted the framework. And now we have organizations in each of those letters to drive practical action. And so True sits in the letter C, Community and Economy. And our mission is really to create higher paying jobs here in Hawaii. And we do that by trying to drive technology. So we know that technology is one of the ways where we can be more productive, more efficient. And in Hawaii, there are a lot of organizations that use it really well, and they excel and exceed. And then through COVID, you can see the organizations that were able to do that. Well, we want to rise the tide here in Hawaii and help other organizations adopt. And so we went through the slide really quickly, but I do want to share the organizations and the people that are behind the True organization. Yep, that's it. And so I'm so thankful to have this amazing committee of leaders that really drives for change. And they have the mindset where you know what, we're happy to share what we know to rise the tide here in Hawaii. So some organizations will share what solutions they're using, what the pitfalls were, the best practices, how they evaluated the solutions. Some organizations will share, oh, you know what, we've been having trouble finding data scientists. So we're going to develop a data academy within our organization. And this is how we did it. And when we tried it, this is what we learned. And so I'm really grateful to the organizations and the committee members who really lean in and share what they know, what their organizations have done to help everybody. Yeah. That's the organizations, that's Graphic9, right? These are the different companies, local companies that have contributed to the True initiative. Yep. And I love how when we started talking about you coming on the show to talk about the True initiative, you had a case study for AI for call centers. So let's pull up Graphics 3 and 4. And Michelle, you can go over what that case study was about. Yeah. And so we try to share these different solutions that organizations have implemented through these use cases. And so the first one that we did was AI for call center. This one was led by Central Pacific Bank. They saw increasing call volumes, help desk was just really busy, and we had longer wait times. And they saw customer service decreasing. So it was a problem that they needed to solve. And they wanted to share it. So their thought was, well, I'm not going to compete on how well I do my help desk. So I would love for other organizations to benefit from the work that we've put into it. And so they actually got interns to evaluate the different solutions. I love that part too. So then they're playing their part in workforce development and project-based learning. So they got interns to evaluate the different solutions out there. And they ultimately decided to go with Amazon Connect. And with that, the CIO, their agent, she was absolutely amazing. She implemented the solution right before COVID. And then through COVID, she was also sharing the solution and what they were able to do with it. And of course, the need for it and the strength of it continue to grow. It just started out as one help desk, ended up with five help desk. Now they're doing authentication on it. And they're going to do Japanese customer service as well. I think that's amazing. And then the benefits of it is also jaw dropping. So what Adrian was telling me is that they went from 700 calls a day to 200 calls a day because the system was able to do that to support those commonly asked questions. And so I can imagine a solution like this helping other organizations. So we do share that. Adrian is really open and giving of her time. She's met with different organizations because every organization is a little different. They have their questions. So she'll share what she knows, how she did it. And the help desk manager will also come and share how she's implemented it and impacted it on her organization. So I think that's amazing. How many companies or organizations are using AI for call centers currently if you have an idea? Yeah, I have no idea actually. We're solutions and vendor agnostic. So while Adrian did it on Amazon Connect, we also know that chatbot solutions are available in Google and Salesforce and other solutions. So I know that within True, I've heard that three or four other organizations adopted Amazon Connect. Doug Murdoch was on a session in True where he shared that Safe Travel uses Google Cloud solution. And then Dean Atourney was on with VCCA and Hawaiian Homelands to share that they were able to do customer care centers with Salesforce. So I think the benefit of True is that vendor and tool agnostic, we're really here just to share. Nothing in it for me when someone makes a sale. That's wonderful. And earlier you had mentioned the involvement of interns. So let's up the fifth graphic and talk about CIMP. What does that stand for? It's the Community Innovation Mentorship Model. And let's have slides 11 through 15 just run through while you're talking. Okay. So this is a model that Data House developed and shared. And Data House is a local integration company. They're celebrating their 40th birthday this year. So they've been a mainstay here in Hawaii and they are really committed to giving back to Hawaii and to make sure that our students are prepared for the workforce. And so this model is one where a professional organization mentors resources, in this case, students to solve a real-world problem. And so we've done a couple of, we've done one pilot, one project, and it's in its third iteration now. And each one helps to stretch the model a little. And so in the first pilot program, the Data House mentored UH students, they were engineering students, and they were able to modernize and digitize the animal quarantine process. How cool is that? And I think through it all, Data House shows what's available here in Hawaii. There are organizations that are tech forward, that are driving change. And then UH students get practical work experience, project-based learning, and then they get to learn some of the soft skills as they're being mentored and as they work through that problem. And then animal quarantine actually has a solution at the end of it. So one organization at a time, five students at a time, and I have to share with you the story behind this pilot program. There were five students that were part of the program. Three of them were hired in a summer interns, and then two of them were brought on full-time at Data House. And so for me, that's the power of a program like this. And of course, it really takes commitment on the part of our local employers. That's wonderful. And this is a collaboration with the DOE. Is that correct? Yeah, the next one was. So the spray after that, Data House, so we realize that a lot of our projects are not single function, right? They cross marketing sales, all of that. So in the second iteration, we extended it to an engineering firm, a local engineering firm called Belt Collins. So Data House and Belt Collins mentored students in the School of Engineering, but now we added, in addition to computer science students, we added civil engineering students. And they created a stormwater utility for DOE. So when we asked which DOE entity we should work for, Waipaku raised our hand. And so we ended up working with Waipaku, who happens to have an engineering academy. And so their students were able to lean in on this project as well. So this was a great success in showing that, yes, we know problems, not all problems can be handled with one group of people. We need other functions. And this is one where everyone was able to collaborate and work together. Are you an HEC and the true initiative looking to foster more of these connections or these collaborations with other government entities in Hawaii? Absolutely. So we're continuing to try to find great projects for this. I've talked to hackathon people, the Hawaii hack, yeah. And our thought was that there are so many great ideas that come out of the hack. We want to help support and bringing that all the way through to the finish line. And maybe through a program like Community Innovation Mentorship Program, we can do that. And then the other thing I like to share is that this isn't a model where only true can keep it. It's one that, in the true spirit of true, we want to share it out. And so it's something where we hope other people will lean in on the framework. And so my third iteration I'll share is HCC. HCC leveraged the model and their manufacturers, we put a call out to their manufacturers to see who would want support in the digital marketing arena. And so Ellen at HCC was able to source students at BYU who are going to help a local manufacturer, Spicey Ninja Hot Sauce, in their digital marketing strategy. And then CERF Co., which is a true member, they ended up raising their hands and their digital marketing team is going to support our students and the manufacturer. That is awesome. I love it. When we return, because we will be going on a quick break, I'd love for you to go about and talk about the survey, challenges that the industry has faced so far, highlighting events, and all the other stuff. So let's talk about that when we come back. Stay tuned, everyone. I'm Mitch Ewan, host of Hawaii, the state of clean energy on Think Tech Hawaii. Hawaii, the state of clean energy is about following the many clean energy initiatives in Hawaii. Hawaii, the state of clean energy appears weekly on Think Tech Hawaii at 4pm on Wednesdays. Thank you so much for watching our show. We'll see you then. Aloha. Welcome back to Connecting Hawaii Business on Think Tech Hawaii. My name is Kathleen Lee and our guest for today is Michelle Chung of The True Initiative. So we were talking about a survey right before we left off. Michelle, could you delve more into that? Yeah. So Chu has been showcasing solutions that our committee members have a need for or that we've heard of. What I'd like to do is really hear from our businesses, our local businesses, on what their needs are. We realize that within technology, it's such a broad range. Let's pull up the link so people can go to it. Okay. So tell us more about soliciting feedback from businesses. Yeah. So we'd love to learn where you use technology so that if you have a really good solution, we'd love to amplify that and share it with other businesses where your needs are. So if there's something that I know I should get into digital marketing, I know I should digitize my operation, whatever that need is. I'd like to hear what it is so that we can put some focus on it and be where you need us to be. And so I'm actually working with another organization called Center for Tomorrow's Leaders. And Center for Their Grades, Center for Tomorrow's Leaders, helps to develop and train the leaders of tomorrow. So they're in high schools giving different leadership type education. And part of their program is that students lean in on and meet in Hawaii. So we know that there's an opportunity to use more technology here in Hawaii. And so the students want to support as well. And so what I love about this is our students were brought up in the digital age, right? So social media, digital, everything is native to them. So imagine connecting our youth with a business that maybe isn't as familiar with the technology. How amazing would that be? And so Center for Tomorrow's Leaders is also doing a project where they want to support local businesses. So there's five students that are looking for businesses to help. And so we're hoping that the needs survey will highlight those. And while I'm just working with one class, we know that there are a lot of students in Hawaii. And so if we believe in our developing our workforce and project-based learning and things like that, I think that connecting the two is really important. There's an opportunity there for us to really seize right now. I love how you have, you're working on so many collaborations with both private non-profit government entities. Tell us about the upcoming events for 3-1. Let's pull up the six graphic for that. So we have a few. We've been trying to do a short format lunch and learn. That's a lot more informal and interactive. And it really just invites the community get together to see how people have done it and whether or not it's for them. So it's an open forum, very informal. But people, what I found in Hawaii is that everyone's really open to sharing, especially if it's to help my neighbor, right? So our next lunch and learn is going to be around Teams. Everybody, I don't say everybody, but a lot of people know what Teams is. It's part of their Office 365 subscription, but not everybody knows how to use it well. And not everyone knows all the different things that they keep rolling out. So we hope to highlight some of those new things and just welcome to the discussion. And then the other one is part of the Global Entrepreneurs Week. And so there's two that Hawaii that we are doing. One is this ideas to impact. And then the second one is the Women in Tech. So I don't know if you've been to the Women in Tech series. It's an amazing series that HEDC puts on that just highlights the women that are driving and in technology here in Hawaii. And then the idea to impact is really for organizations that are looking for ways they can innovate. I think everybody knows that innovation is important, but it's elusive sometimes. But Data House has shared their formula. So they've been doing consulting for, I said over 40 years. What they did was consolidate and combine their best practices into this framework. And they want to share it so that people can use it. Yep. And then we have a few events lined up for December and January. I don't have the specific dates yet, but I can share that one is around table. So Salesforce actually gives 10 free licenses out to nonprofits. So we think that helping our nonprofits use technology and CRM may be beneficial. It's just we should want to help and share. And so USJC has raised their hand and they said that they use Salesforce. They're happy to share the evaluation process they went through and then what the benefits are. I don't want to go down this long route of trying to get on Salesforce only to realize it and give me the benefits that I had wanted. And it's not just Salesforce, it's any CRM. So we're also inviting Jennifer Boyer, who is a consultant nonprofit side. So she has a purview on the different CRMs out there. And we're also inviting Dina Tierney, who's helped a lot of organizations. But stay tuned. It's all on our website. So all of our upcoming events are on www.hcc.org slash true. Great. And Michelle, tell us about the connection between all this and the sandbox. Let's pull up our graphic seven. So the sandbox, I don't know if you've heard this Kathleen, the sandbox we call it the front door to innovation. And so that's what it is. We stand up, technology, test and learn from it and share it with each other. In my mind, it's almost like the physical embodiment of what true is space to collaborate, space to share. It's a spinal kakaako. It's a co-working space that is owned by HTC and managed by Box Jelly. So we actually host a lot of our events out of the sandbox. I'm here now, but you can't tell. But it's open to the public. If you want to rent space for use, they have a lot of neat spaces. There's a maker space in the back. Everything's on wheels so you can make it any way you want. The walls are all whiteboard. And then they're digitally enabled too for those hybrid meetings that we've been having so many of. And before we pull up your contact information and the website, Michelle, can you go over some of the challenges that you or the tech industry have encountered so far here in Hawaii? I think some of it is maybe mindset and not knowing where to start. At least for me, when I was in an organization, I can see that there are so many opportunities. Which one do I lean in on? Which one do I focus on? Because you can't do all of it, right? So maybe it's in understanding what the results are. So our hope is that through true, you can get some of that information. I think mindset is part of it also. And that's the first question I asked, Kathleen. And I'm like, oh, why aren't people using more technology? Why haven't they adopted? And most people are like, yeah, I have, Michelle. They have, in some way, shape or form. And then maybe it's in looking for ways that technology can benefit you even more, make your life easier, save your time. You can use the data better. And so some of that is a mindset and being able to say, I'm okay. If it's not perfect, I want to try it. And I think the most important thing is to take a step forward. That's what I believe. And so on are the days where you have to plan like 100 steps ahead before you start the project. I think we're in a different time and technology enables it, right? With all these SaaS solutions, you don't have that upfront cost that you used to have when you take on a project. A lot of the things you can just try. A lot of things you can try for free, right? You see like the 10 day free licenses or the one month free trial period. I think it's in having that, being okay with trying it. And if it fails, great. And if it's wonderful, hey, let's double down. Which is what Adrienne did with AI for call center. Let me try on one help desk. Oh, with success. Okay, now I'm going to really grow it. Let's pull up your contact info, which is graphic 10. So I think you mentioned the website earlier and people can find you on LinkedIn, the website as well as the newsletter. Yes. So we've been, we post everything on our website. So if you want to look for upcoming events, we also have our past events. So if you're like, I want to, I've been considering AI for call center. Let me learn more about it. Or what the heck is AI for call center? You can go to our website and check it out. LinkedIn. Also, we try to showcase the events that we're doing, some of our new findings. So Adrienne did her AI for call center back in May. But I keep hearing new things like, Oh, now it authenticates. And now my call volume is cut in half. Well, I'll try to share that on LinkedIn too. And then our newsletter comes out monthly, usually the first week of the month. So you can just opt in for that and you'll hear about all true things. Wonderful. And Michelle, with the last few minutes that we have on our program, is there anything else that you would like to add? I would just welcome people to lean in, learn more about it, get involved. This is a safe space where you can share what your needs are, what your questions are. And what I found is all the organizations and people that have been a part of true are just so giving of their time and information. So we welcome the collaboration, Michael, that I see you soon. Thank you again, Michelle. And thank you everyone for tuning in. And we were talking about the true initiative with true initiative executive director, Michelle Chung. I'm Kathleen Lee and Mahalo TJ Fidel, and the cool staff at Think Tech Hawaii for making programs like this possible. Today we had Michael and Hailey helping us out. Tune in next time for our next Connecting Koi business. Aloha.