A Q&A with Trish Martin, Head of Product & Strategy for the Americas

Monstarlab Americas is excited to welcome our newest addition to our growing team. Trish Martin comes onboard as the Head of Product & Strategy for the Americas. She brings with her extensive experience in developing strong products in the technology sector. Trish is known for identifying critical opportunities to innovate and for building high-impact products, services, and practices from incubation to scale. Get to know her a bit more in this Q&A Session.  

First off, can you tell us about your decision to join the Monstarlab team? 

I was impressed by how Monstarlab truly lives out their “Be Borderless” value by thinking and acting globally in all aspects of their work with clients. Bringing the best talent, technologies, methodologies, and practices from around the world and giving clients the ability to utilize these synergies to improve their businesses is an exciting proposition. 

What opportunities do you see coming up in the short and long term?

In the short term, we are uniquely positioned to bring our specialized skill set in QSR technologies and experience optimization to a broader set of clients all over the world. No one knows kiosks better than we do! In the longer term, I see Monstarlab utilizing our global expertise in life sciences, financial services, education and public sector organizations to help clients in these more traditional industries to accelerate their digital transformation and be ready to meet the needs of the next generation of consumers.

“I have noticed that over the last year, the appetite among businesses for heavy, drawn-out strategic planning and multi-year technology roadmaps is waning. Instead, I see an appetite for discovery and innovation.” 

As someone with an extensive background in business development and strategy, what are some pain points and also areas of growth that you’re seeing in the market right now? 

I have noticed that over the last year, the appetite among businesses for heavy, drawn-out strategic planning and multi-year technology roadmaps is waning. Instead, I see an appetite for discovery and innovation. With so many uncertainties in the economy, I think businesses just want to know what they can do now to reduce costs and diversify their revenue streams. And they are willing to take small measured risks through bite-sized experimentation and change. Though this may feel like a pain point for traditional consulting firms and professional service providers, I think it is a tremendous opportunity to change how we do business, just as we advise our clients to change theirs.

Follow-up question based on your answer pertaining to the current market status and opportunities–about types of projects that excite you, etc.

I get excited about helping companies build their innovation muscle: continuously discovering opportunities to optimize their ways of working, using rapid research and prototyping to gain insights, ideation and experimentation with new technologies that can accelerate change and improve customer and employee experience. And if those projects are with organizations that serve the public good, such as education and workforce readiness, mental health and addiction services, environment and sustainability, then those would be the most meaningful for me. 

“I get excited about helping companies build their innovation muscle… with new technologies that can accelerate change and improve customer and employee experience” 

Is there any insight that you can provide right now to newer businesses that are just coming into their own during this unprecedented time? Or conversely, any insights into the vanguards? 

No matter how long you have been in business, you will never have everything figured out. So you need to build into your daily operations regular channels to gather insights and learn from others including your employees, customers and peers. 

I think this drive towards continuous improvement as well as my acknowledgement that we are never done learning comes from my background as an educator. Nothing will motivate you more than a child who wants to learn and is struggling to do so. So as a teacher you try every way possible to help them —no matter what their limitations and obstacles are —through trial and error and by taking one small win at a time. I apply this to my work as a consultant in the business world in that I believe that there is always a way to learn and make progress.I have also tried to teach other business leaders how to listen, learn, be creative and be willing to fail and try again, in a structured way. 

Start your discovery and innovation journey too. Get in touch with Trish for a quick consultation session.