Banyan Hills: Steve Latham

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Steve Latham of Banyan Hills returns to share the story about how and why he started a company that offers IoT solutions for manufacturers– and how COVID has affected them.

 

 

Danny:

Hey thank you for joining me this week, on IndustrialSage on our expert series. Today I’ve got a guest: Steve Banyan, he is the CEO of Banyan Hills Technologies. Steve, thank you so much for joining me today on the IndustrialSage Executive Series.

Steve:

Thank you for having me.

Danny:

Alright Steve is– for those who aren’t familiar with him– tell us a little about what you guys do.

Steve:

Yeah, no problem. So Banyan Hills Technologies is a company that is focused on the Internet of Things and we have two parts to our business, we built a proprietary Internet of Things software platform that we call Canopy. We built that and taking it to market and then we have a professional services division of our business that is responsible for doing all things related to Canopy implementation, support, maintenance, and the platform is really designed to help our customers or our partners connect to device systems that they have deployed inside of their facilities or on premise and then provide them a central management platform that can monitor and control those devices.

Danny:

So how did you initially get into that career field?

Steve:

Growing, up my father created the company, he had a software company early on was called Applied Computer Systems. My whole life I grew up being surrounded by everything that he was doing with that company, and then my mom actually was a Chief Information Officer as well, and so there was no shot at me doing anything other than technology. I was immersed in it from day zero, and I think my the entrepreneurial spirit happened really early just watching my dad in particular, reach out build something that he was proud of and invest himself in that business, and watch the type of lifestyle he was able to have with that and the control that he was able to have around his passion, which was technology.

As I went through my my education, I got to a point where, I went to college, I studied– clearly technology was in the background, but I also studied business. But when I graduated college, the thing that I didn’t have that my dad apparently did was, I just didn’t have any of the entrepreneurial tool sets and so I needed to go out into the professional world, land a couple of jobs that could teach me, give me the weapons that I needed to be entrepreneurial. I don’t think there was ever a doubt if you would ask any of my friends growing up or my family, they would tell you that from a very early age, when I was asked what I wanted to do, it was to create a company and to create a technology-focused company. But then graduating as I said from college, at least, I had the insight that my education at school did not give me all of the equipment that I needed to go start a company.

So we then started management consulting, which taught me a tremendous amount expose me to all kinds of different industries. It exposed me to what it means to have a really strong work ethic, and I did that for about 10 years and then went in out of management consulting and joined– still all technology-focused, but then I went into the corporate world, joined a company here in Atlanta called Harland Clarke. I helped in merging technology systems for them, then joined the NCR and worked for NCR for a number of years. I eventually made it to a Chief Technology Officer position within NCR and by that time, I had not only the skills that would allow me to go support something entrepreneurial but I also had the idea.

I think I’ve learned a lot through particularly with my experience at NCR about what it means to have large networks of complex systems and devices that have to be managed and managing uptime and availability, and then realizing that there was this bit of a hole in the market for a solution like what Canopy is, and then you sort of add all of those things up together and I was at a position where it made sense. I could safely convince my wife and my family that was time to go start a company and then I had the right skills to do it.

Danny:

So walk me through the decision to start a company, what did that transition look like?

Steve:

Yeah. Exhilarating is probably the single word that describes it. By the time that I was ready to make the decision, just the adrenaline… I can remember the moment when I realized that this was about to happen. I had found a customer that was going to basically allow us to begin the company and to begin chasing the vision, and after I wrapped up that conversation I can remember calling home, calling my wife. I was traveling at the time, and literally my hands were shaking with excitement. It was exhilarating. I knew this is what I wanted to do. I was extremely naive, frankly, about how complex it is… which ironically ended up being probably the best weapon that I had. If I would have known what it would take, I probably would have made a series of different decisions.

So not knowing was extremely important to being able to do this and then when I started, it was Ground Zero. I mean, there was no one else. All of the insulation that big business from legal teams, and accountants, and finance, and engineers, and all of that insulation was removed. And so you sort of strip your stuff back down to nothing and you get a really strong sense of where you’re at, and… exhilarating. I mean all of that was, at this point I can look back on it… It’s so rewarding, and really exciting, to have been in that position, to make those choices, to end up where we have. As a result of that I’m very proud of it, but again– I think being naive as to how complicated it is, is probably one of the most important skills to have, frankly, when you when you start something like this.

Danny:

So are you suggesting that had you known what it’d be like, you wouldn’t have gone in that direction?

Steve:

I just think that I probably would have, there’s probably a few left and right turns that I would have avoided, if I would have known. I think when I hear people that are younger that are talking about going and being entrepreneurs, the thought goes through my mind: “Wow, do they really understand what they’re about to go do?” And of course they don’t, there’s no way. It’s like having children. You can imagine what it’s like to have children but until you do, you really don’t know, and so… but again, I think for those people that are saying, “Okay I’m going to do this,” their biggest strength frankly is not knowing what they’re about to get into. So I was always going to end up here. This was my passion. This is what I wanted to do, and I feel every day that I’m doing it I feel fulfilled. And every day that I’m not thinking about it, I feel like I’m missing something so.

Danny:

Then what is that driving force? That gets you excited and out of the bed every morning, you said you had that initially. Do you still have that now?

Steve:

Yeah, I definitely do. Looking at this situation that we’re in right now, the Coronavirus situation and the test that has put us through, and me personally- personally and professionally… it’s exhilarating, to overuse that word. It’s stressful and there’s certainly all the symptoms of stress that you would expect and with everybody that we’re working with. People are anxious and that manifests itself in different ways, but when I measure our progress and our ability to get through this situation at the macro level not just in days and weeks but more in months and quarters, it’s exhilarating to be making this progress. I get a lot of energy from that. I get a lot of energy from building something. I get a lot of energy from building an environment where we can hire employees, and those employees can grow and develop and become stronger. They can chase their own dreams. I enjoy… I love helping customers. I think every time that I see our product being used in ways that are helping drive value for our customer or value for our partners, man. That is just… I feel like I’m really making a difference, and I think that’s the driving force. I’m not someone that’s idle. I am making progress and making a difference, and that gives me a lot of momentum.

Danny:

So what sort of realizations or lessons is the virus reveal to you or your company?

Steve:

Everyone right now, every single person in the world is impacted one way or another by this thing

Danny:

Yeah.

Steve:

Every company, certainly. And when you step back and you think about that, it’s really remarkable. Certainly in our lifetimes I can’t think of another situation that has been so impactful, and actually that’s pretty comfortable, right? Knowing that we’re not alone and everybody’s kind of going through this at the same time actually gives me some peace of mind. Like we were talking about earlier, the things that are that are exciting to see… One, because we’ve been tested in such an extreme way, we’ll be coming out of this thing stronger than when we entered it. We’ll have rounded out any vulnerabilities that we had. I’ve recognized that some of the relationships that we have inside the company or that we have outside of the company… You really start to pick out the ones that, “Okay. Boy, those are relationships that are really important not only for us but for them, and we have to pay more attention to that.” And then you realize the converse of that too, where potentially there are situations that you’re in that just don’t make a ton of sense. You kind of of really lean- we use this as an opportunity, and I think a lot of other companies have done this- really use it as an opportunity to lean up the machine. And not in a negative way. Just to become more focused, more deliberate in the things that we’re doing every day that’s been really pretty great to say.

Another observation is, how as an individual I cope with this stuff; and more importantly the reaction to people that are around me, the reaction they have to the way that I’m dealing with it. I’ve become very well in tune with that through this process. Some of the ways that stress manifests itself in me and in the way that that impacts others that around me, I’ve had to become in tune with; and then actively manage to make sure that I’m not just creating more of a scene for a stressful situation that everybody’s going through. They’re truly- like you said, there are really a lot of great things that are sort of falling out of this difficult situation, from my perspective. I know you feel the same. I can’t wait to be on the other side of it, because I feel like we’re just going to spring out of it and there will be a lot of really great momentum as some of the adjustments we’re making.

Danny:

I certainly hope so, what are the some of the challenges in the industry that maybe you see that maybe existed before the virus but possibly even bigger as the the light has been shone on it even more now?

Steve:

Yeah, one of the big premises is that our platform and our business is built off– regardless of your industry– physical spaces that are made up of complicated, sometimes extremely complicated machines or technology systems. To keep all that stuff running and to keep it all secure, is really a mission critical type of situation. For these multi facility operators, that are managing many different properties with systems inside of all those properties keeping those systems up and running, servicing them to the point to where you’re maximizing the availability of those machines. Reducing the number of physical touches where you’re dispatching a technician or someone to go service this equipment is important because you’re reducing your costs… those kind of things are the premise for why Banyan exists and why Canopy exists. All of our marketing literature, all of our sales, collateral, it’s all centered in on that.

Remote management is great because it drives operational efficiencies that reduce your cost profile, all of that. And different industries were more accepting of that message than others. Some of them are more mature and they’re thinking about the impact that a platform like Canopy can have, and some of them are just sort of learning. And what we’ve noticed is that the virus situation and this concept of social distancing and not being able to be present in front of these machines all the time, has just exploded the realization that, “Okay, this is really really important stuff.”

My favorite example that we’re involved in right now is, we have a partner that builds industrial cold storage and refrigeration equipment. They sell into large manufacturing facilities, they sell into food distribution facilities all throughout the country. And naturally the latter is extremely important right now. You’ve got these acres and acres and acres of physical warehouse space where perishable food products go in, and the environment inside of these facilities has to be maintained in terms of humidity and cooling in order to protect the perishable goods. And so this refrigeration equipment uses ammonia to process cold air, so it’s mission-critical type stuff: if it fails and if there’s an ammonia leak, not only do you lose the perishable inventory, but you could lose human lives. Because the systems, they’re massive in their complexity and they’re important. So it uses Canopy to connect to those systems for centralized monitoring: so that if there is any kind of alarm, or any issue, they can notify the facility management teams to go address it. That sounds like really important stuff and it may sound almost obvious that this is important technology that you have to have, but you’d be surprised at how few of these systems are actually connected into a central management platform.

Well when the Coronavirus started to really impact the ability for technicians to be present inside of these facilities to monitor real-time what’s going on in these machines, they needed real time-visibility and our customer was able to all the customers that had subscribed. They were able to go just help them be more successful than implementation, but for the other customers that had not yet adopted to Canopy they were able to light them up almost overnight. Our distribution of Canopy just exploded in this particular situation because, there was this realization that, “Man we really need this, particularly in a time when food distribution so important. Getting product in the hands of consumers, protecting people and keeping them safe so that they weren’t socially interacting with one another… it just felt– going back to where we talked about earlier– it felt so good to see that our product was helpful in a time like this. So that’s one of my favorite ones that has recently happened where a customer has doubled down on the use of Canopy.

It’s one of those situations, too, where we’re not concerned about the commercial relationship at the moment. The focus is, “Let’s get this thing in your hands and working for the value that you need and get through this critical phase.” But it’s so evident that, by doing that, one they’re taking advantage of the product and its capabilities today, and we’re building this relationship that’s extremely sticky with these partners. There’s no question that on the backside of this thing that these folks are on going to want to deepen their relationship with us because we were all there for one another at a time of need. It’s a good story definitely.

Danny:

Definitely and in this case, “sticky,” it’s a good word. It’s a big increase in value. So if you were to take your crystal ball out, what changes do you see coming in the future of the industrial space?

Steve:

I think from a crystal ball point of view, I think as the cloud kind of lifts and we come out of this thing… There’s no doubt in my mind that the world will be different. I sort of used this analogy with a friend the other day. It’s like pre-9/11 and post-9/11, the introduction of TSA at the airport. There’s going to be a new normal, and I think that part of that new normal will be that acceptance or the realization that this concept of remote interaction, remote management, tying it back to what we do… I think it’s going to be: the understanding of what the technology is that does it, and the value that it brings, will be crystal clear in people’s minds in a way that hasn’t been over the last… we’ve been in business for seven years and it’s a constant sell. I think some of that friction will be removed as a result of this.

I think that the change, that you’re getting back to some level of what we would expect to be normal in the past. I think some of that in certain industries– I know you asked about industrial specifically, but other industries that we’re involved in like, retail for example– I think it’s going to be a slow roll. It’s going to take a lot of time for things to get back to normal. But specifically for industrial, I feel like the adoption of what we do- the understanding- is going to accelerate. And the one other thing I would add is the appetite for some of the new advances in technology around machine learning, artificial intelligence… I think the investment that’s going to be made by the industrial control industry; and leveraging that technology to help absorb data, identify patterns in the data that then can be reacted on… I would expect that’s the next big wave of innovation that’s going to happen.

Danny:

Yeah. I agree it was big before, but it’s already definitely… it’s an even bigger deal now. Well Steve, thank you so much for coming on the show. for viewers who’d like to learn more about your company, where can they find you?

Steve:

Yeah, so the easiest way is to hit our website,www.banyanhills.com check us out on LinkedIn, any of the social channels. We’re there, we’re present. Reach out to us we’d love to help. We’d love to tell you more about the Banyan story, about our products and services… if there’s anything that we can do to help especially in this time of time of need, we’re 100% there. And then just for you. Thank you so much for having me back on, it’s always great to talk with you and I appreciate the opportunity.

Danny:

Well you’re most welcome, thanks for sharing and I hope you have a great one thanks for coming on again.

Steve:

Alright, thanks so much.

Danny:

Well that’s a wrap for today’s episode, thank you so much for joining me on the IndustrialSage Executive Series. We do this every week, join me next week as I interview another guest and bring you some great content. Listen if you are listening, on any of the podcast stations we’d love a review. If you’re not on our email list and you want to get this great content sent to you to every single one week and then some, go to industrialsage.com and sign up for our email newsletters, and there’s a lot of other content you can sign up for if you want. We’ve got other series and manufacturing news. You can sign up for all of it, or choose which ones you want. Don’t miss out. You can do that today, and I’ll be back next week with another episode of IndustrialSage. Thanks for watching.

 

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