The Human Side of Cybersecurity with Adam Gunnett, VP of BI & Strategy at Busy Beaver

Adam Gunnett: Foreign.

Dan Desko: Thank you so much for joining me here today, uh, on my Cyber Intelligence Weekly Spotlight series where we talk about the human side of cyber security and technology. Uh, we have known each other for a number of years being in the tech industry here in Pittsburgh, and I've always appreciated, uh, your insights and perspectives and uh, your, um, entrepreneurialism when it comes to how, how you go about your business. So I'm very, very excited to, uh, speak with you here today and have you as a guest on the podcast.

Adam Gunnett: Yeah, thank you so much for having, uh, me on here. Like you said, we've been kind of rubbing shoulders for the last several years. You know, every single Pittsburgh technology event there is, so it's great to sit down and kind of top shop for a little bit.

Dan Desko: Amen. Yeah, thank you for taking the time and, um, maybe to get things rolling here. So maybe for those who haven't yet, uh, out there for our listeners, how would you, um, maybe describe your background and your journey and what you do today for Busy Beaver and maybe give a little, uh, uh, quick commercial for Busy Beaver for those who aren't local to the area.

Adam Gunnett: Yeah, so, um, my background is in traditional. It's so, you know, graduating college, I kind of got into a general sort of network administrator role, uh, then transition to a convenience retail chain sheet, which you, I'm sure you heard of, being in the Pittsburgh area. Then I made my journey over to Busy Beaver. So, uh, I was not familiar with Busy Beaver when I, when I took the job. Uh, Busy beaver is a 19 store home improvement chain, um, in the Pittsburgh area. Started in 1962 and it really has a stronghold in Pittsburgh. So, you know, a lot of the older generation is very familiar with Busy Beaver. They've been shopping with those, you know, 40, 50 years. You know, uh, our attempt now is, you know, kind of getting in the, the younger generation, you know, showing them that, uh, we can compete with the big guys. And we do that by offering, you know, legendary customer service. And, you know, I think a lot of the things we'll talk about today, uh, we talk about how technology kind of lets us compete with those big guys. Yeah.

Dan Desko: And, you know, I love how your career has evolved there from coming in as a know, system specialist in the early days and now, uh, VP of Business Intelligence and Strategy. And, um, you have, I feel like, done a lot to keep Busy Beaver very competitive in a, uh, a tight marketplace in the home improvement center.

Adam Gunnett: Right.

Dan Desko: You guys are up against giants every day. Um, and to do that successfully, you know, I feel like you have to be innovative. And I feel like you've. You've done a lot of that. Can you maybe give our listeners a little taste of, um, some of the accomplishments that you've. You've had over the years and maybe some of those defining moments where you knew data, uh, analytics and how that rolls in the strategy would be really important to not only your success, but the success of Busy Beaver.

Adam Gunnett: Yeah. Um, so, you know, I look at my kind of career early on at Busy Beaver, and when I came in, you know, the current owner, uh, who was a relatively new owner at that time, um, I came in in 2015. He had just bought the business at the end of 2013, and he was ready to make some big changes. And one of the first things that I got tasked to do was, uh, kind of put in a new ERP system and kind of transform our business that way. And, you know, I built trust with the ownership by getting that project done very quickly. And then, you know, that first year, all of a sudden I'm getting pulled into these meetings that aren't really it related to, kind of get my thoughts on it. And I would bring in the data and then, you know, he would listen, the other executives would listen. So that was kind of the start of how I got involved in other aspects of the business. And, you know, because it was a new system, you know, in my prior career, I would set up a system and, you know, I just made sure it ran without an error, and that was all I was responsible for. But because this had such an impact on our business, I kind of had to learn all the processes. So, uh, whether it was, you know, how to special order or window at a door, or how to match invoice at our headquarters or, or, you know, bringing point of sale, I kind of learned all those processes so I could document it and have it ready for our, uh, employees and staff to be able to know how to do things. And, you know, because of my execution of that, our owner really came to me in 2022 when we were opening this new store. And he said, you know, I want this new Delmont store to be the most technologically advanced store in home improvement. And, you know, that was kind of a big ask. And, you know, my head starts spinning. And, uh, you know, so we start looking at some different technologies. So with Carnegie Mellon being around Pittsburgh, there's a lot of interesting companies out here. We end up kind of working with, uh, an economist, inventory scanning robot company. We originally started with one in Pittsburgh, but we end up going to some other partners outside of Pittsburgh. Um, and then the electronic shelf label. So if you've been to Best Buy, they deploy them. I think everyone knows Kohl's. Kohl's was actually one of the first to do that. Um, so some of those technologies have kind of gotten us some publicity, and people like, wow, I didn't know Busy Beaver was still around. And, wow, they're doing these really neat things. I want to be part of that. I want to check it out. So that's kind of how it all started. Kind of me kind of coming in and putting in this new system and kind of learning all aspects of the business. And then that challenge by our owner, Joe Cowan, and then him empowering me to kind of do these things kind of led us where we are today.

Dan Desko: I think that's great. I mean, Joe's a younger guy, right? And I think very visionary focused. And, uh, for him to see that in you and trust in you to go out and, uh, and build that and come back with ideas, I mean, how much did that mean to you, right, to. To feel that trust and to have that sort of challenge and to be able to act on it like you did. I mean, I remember when. When you guys came out with, like, the. The Badger, you know, robot and the digital pricing, I was, like, blown away, right when you guys announced that. I'm like, that is like, the coolest thing ever. To be able to try to do that in a massive chain would probably take years and years and years to do. Right? And, uh, many, many layers of bureaucracy. But, like, with you guys, it was much more organic conversation. How can we get this done? And let's go.

Adam Gunnett: Yeah, like you said, that is, uh, uh, the part about working for a, uh, privately owned company that you can just run like that. And what's funny is I know that Menards actually been in our Dalmont store doing secret shops, evaluating some of the technologies that we've done. And since we did this in 2022, uh, I know of many other retailers that have, you know, 60 robots deployed. I know, uh, one of our peers down south, stein's, they have 14 robots. And I know that Home, um, Depot, uh, is looking to get into that space. So it was kind of neat, kind of being, uh, an industry leader and kind of being this quote unquote, no name company out of Pittsburgh. And, uh, having that trust from Joe really meant a lot to me. And I, you know, try to do m. My best to kind of live up to that expectation and trust that was given.

Dan Desko: Yeah, that's, that's fantastic. I love that. Thank, uh, you for sharing that. Um, I know your role. I feel like it has the ability to touch so many different parts of the organization. Um, how do you build trust within the organization to get other leaders to trust you and the systems and the data and the digital trust that you put in place and even to trust your ideas? Right. Like, how does that, um, how do you get that to work in your mind?

Adam Gunnett: I think you kind of have to meet people where they are. Uh, I also think it's important to unders, you know, for them to understand the why more than just the how. And I also like to say, you know, the medium is the message. Uh, so, you know, how you communicate is, you know, more important than the communication itself. Uh, so some people, you know, I'm able to communicate with, you know, via, uh, email and uh, you know, uh, teams, messages, and we work just fine and we can get a lot accomplished. You know, other, you know, parts of the business, I need to be with them, where they are. So that might be on the front line of the store talking face to face, seeing their real problems and finding solutions for them. So, um, I think it's just kind of adapting to each aspect of the business because each aspect of the business is different. They have different desires and needs. And also the human part is, you know, not everyone's able to digest things the same way. So how you communicate is very important.

Dan Desko: Yeah, people are so visual. People are visual learners too. And I, you work in a very visual and tangible industry. Um, do you have any unique examples of how you've like, demonstrated your ideas or, um, like even the, you know, the price or the digital pricing? Like, was there anything you did along the way to sell that idea, to help people visualize it, make it real?

Adam Gunnett: Yeah. So, uh, again, I, we are in our industry, if you think hardware people like the touching feel of things. You know, that's probably one of the reasons, you know, the brick and mortar hardware store has survived so long and probably will continue to survive. So, uh, whether it's your customers or employees, they still kind of like the touch and feel things. So, you know, when we, uh, rolled out esl, we actually piloted, uh, several different providers. We actually did real out testing where we had, you know, one brand of ESLs and one out, another brand and another out, and then real world examples of how those made their life more efficient. So being able to flip the screen so you can see how many, uh, are on hand, how many are on order, that kind of got bought in front of rest of the leadership team that might have been skeptical. You know, why are we spending all this money on ESL for like a vanity project? They kind of got that bought in of, hey, this is gonna work. And oh, now I can flat. I can, you know, scan an item and it flashes. So now I can pick items quicker and put items m. Uh, back quicker and more accurately. So I just think that having that real world demo is clutch.

Dan Desko: That's so cool. Um, tell me about any leadership shifts that you have made as your role expanded, uh, throughout technology and more into analytics and enterprise strategy. I feel like you're definitely a student of, uh, leadership and always trying to learn and improve. I would love to hear, like, what's been a big shift for you, what's helped you along the way? Um, you know, anything that you've learned there.

Adam Gunnett: Yeah, I would say, you know, my natural instinct is to just kind of be a doer, you know, to put my head down and do. And you know, as my role has expanded, I really have learned that, you know, just because something. The technical implementation might be pretty straightforward. The change management piece is much more important, uh, than the actual technology portion. So, you know, I can understand the technology, know how to, uh, integrate it with our different systems, get it to work. But if the change management isn't really thought through through, then that, you know, solution or initiative is just gonna fail. So, um, you know, I've learned that you have to bring all the leaders to the table and thoroughly vet the process.

Dan Desko: Love that. Love that.

Adam Gunnett: Are.

Dan Desko: Are there any, um, scar stories that you'd be willing to share along the way? Right. So I always like to say, uh, sometimes the best opportunities for learning are sometimes when we fall down and, you know, skin your knee and you get that scar. Right. So be curious if there's anything, you know, you'd be willing to share that, uh, something that you taught you a great lesson that you still think about and carry with you today.

Adam Gunnett: Well, I actually probably have one potentially going on right now, but, uh, that one, that scar's a little bit too fresh and we'll hope that we'll rebound it. It won't be a scar, uh, but, uh, one. I'll talk about it. I'll try to be very generic about it as not to upset any solutions providers or vendors. But, uh, essentially, um, there was this solution, uh, partner who, um, worked with one of our peers. They actually worked with a few of our peers in kind of adjacent industries. So they weren't. They were more Hardware stores. So they were, you know, 5 to 10,000 square feet, not, you know, a home improvement center like us, which is 40 to 60,000 square feet.

Dan Desko: Right.

Adam Gunnett: And you know, they absolutely love this solution, love this partner. Um, and you know, it saved them millions of dollars. And you know, the, the company, the solution, it's a great solution. Um, it's a great technology and it works very good for a lot of people. And it was one of those things where I probably wanted it to work because I wanted to be like this hero of saving us all this money. Our, you know, our leadership was like, well, here's money on the table that if we implement this, we're going to save this much, which, you know, move forward with this as quickly as possible. And you know, the vendor, you know, the sales guy, they always want to sell something. They want someone to work with. And I don't think that we realized the way that we purchased items and the way we ran our business, you know, logistically it just didn't really make sense for this model and solution to work for us. So even though it worked for a lot of peers and we wanted it to work, it just ultimately didn't manifest itself in, you know, an rli, uh, uh, and results.

Dan Desko: Yeah. And look, those are, those are lessons learned on the battlefield. And sometimes you can only make the decisions with the information you have at hand. Right. And um, I appreciate you sharing that. And you know, sometimes you have to give yourself a little grace for making mistakes and those things happen. Um, it's, it's tough to, it's tough to get full information and complete information and accurate information all at the same time. And sometimes you just gotta go, go with what you got. And uh, you know, sometimes you learn the hard way. Right. Um, but it's out. Yeah. How you respond to that. Right. How you come back from that, that's great. So talk to me about building an org that's more data driven and thinking about being more digitally mature, but more so in the mid market like you referenced. Right. So if for all the mid market CIOs and IT leaders out there that uh, want to become more data driven, digitally mature, what are some of the investments that you would recommend prioritizing on a limited mid market style budget?

Adam Gunnett: Right. Well, I think before anything, uh, at mid market, the three and you might not expect me to say this, but I would say infrastructure, security and communication. So uh, you know, obviously you want dashboards, you want AI, but if you don't have a solid infrastructure in place, it's not going to run well, um, you know, if you don't have, you know, a good cybersecurity and incident response in place, you know, if something goes bad, you're out of luck. And then, you know, communication. If you don't have a great way of communicating, uh, data or insights across your organization, it doesn't matter how much much data you have, how many insights you have, how many dashboards, you're not going to be able to communicate to the people. So I would start with those fundamentals.

Dan Desko: Yeah, I mean, without those fundamentals, it's like building on, um, you know, a foundation of sand. Right. Like, you can't be, you can't have a successful data strategy, you know, innovation strategy without those things. And, um, that's, that's key and core to all those strategies. Right. Um, I would love to, uh, talk a little bit more about, you know, you mentioned AI automation. Um, can you tell me some use cases that, you know, you guys are implementing, looking at, that are delivering real operational value and not just hype? What's working well for you guys?

Adam Gunnett: Yeah, so, uh, we've actually deployed a frontline app for our employees. Uh, so we're working with a company called Fast Query and they, uh, are specializing at the moment in independent, uh, hardware. So they're working with companies, uh, like us, that deal with your aces, your true values, your do it best. Um, so the model is very keen on the types of problems and questions and projects that come, uh, into, uh, our stores. That has been a very powerful tool for all our frontline employees.

Dan Desko: That's super cool.

Adam Gunnett: Um,

Dan Desko: what are some of the use cases that they're using this for that are really like, resonating and the option's good so far.

Adam Gunnett: Yeah. So there's a lot of different things. Uh, I can name a few different examples. So one, you know, uh, customer comes into a store with this legit. You see that happen, and they typically go up to the cashier like, hey, do you have one of these? Hey, I'm going to page Bob. Bob's our plumbing expert. Well, now that cashier, if Bob's busy, she can actually take a picture of the item and the AI will match it against our catalog and see what product actually is. Uh, so that is one kind of cool scenario. Uh, another thing is in some of our more, uh, rural areas, you know, uh, we'll get some people that, uh, you know, don't speak English. They might speak Spanish and the app itself can actually understand Spanish, answer back to the customer in Spanish, and then it's written in English, so then the associate can go find the product. Um, so, you know. Yeah, so it's pretty good at, ah, you know, offering us, you know, um, it's basically an AI copilot for, uh, our employees.

Dan Desko: Yeah. For people that are touching, feeling, interacting with your customers. That's so cool. Um, I'd be curious to hear your perspective on Adam. Um, like, what's a, what's an overhyped aspect of AI right now that you think is like, not up to, you know, the hype?

Adam Gunnett: Well, I think just the general hype that, you know, uh, AI is going to replace everyone, replace every job. An AI agent is going to be doing this, this job's going to be, you know, gone in one year. Uh, or the hype that, like, hey, if you're not doing X, if you're not doing Y, then you're behind. The way I look at it right now, I feel like everything's changing so quickly that everyone's behind. So I think you just kind of got to keep your ear to the ground, keep plugged in and keep trying and looking at different, uh, solutions and thinking about how I can, uh, work for you.

Dan Desko: Yeah, yeah, I definitely think that aspect is hype too.

Adam Gunnett: Right.

Dan Desko: It's like your people could be more effective if they could adopt it. They could do other things. They could maybe delight the customer in different ways that you never even dreamed of by adopting it. It's not necessarily replacing those frontline workers. Right. So I agree with that notion and that concept. Um, so just to get on, you know, uh, the cyber training for a minute. Right. And how that applies to an org like yours that is very tech forward and tech focused. Um, as organizations rely more on, on data, on technology, these cutting edge connected systems, robotics, digital pricing. Right. Um, it introduces more business risk that's related to cyber risk. Um, how do you think about cyber security within your overall strategy and how important is it to you?

Adam Gunnett: Yeah, like you said, you know, cyber risk is just business risk. Like it's a fundamental foundation of our business continuity that, you know, if we aren't thinking about cyber security, then, you know, it's got to be that important to your business because, you know, if you're just focusing on preventing incidents, um, you know, I think you're going to be kind of set up for failure. I think you just kind of got embed that security mindset in all parts of your organization, all parts of your workflow. Um, so then, you know, you're just building resilience as an organization and I think, again, with today's, you know, uh, my owner probably won't like me to say this, but it's not a matter of, you know, if it's kind of when and to what severity. So I, uh, think that, you know, data breaches, cyber incidents, you know, whether it's, you know, hopefully it's something insulated to one terminal, one person, or, or whether it's, you know, these things you hear of with Lowe's and Home Depot, uh, it's just a matter of time. So I think that, you know, cyber security has to be in the forefront of a business, you know, planning.

Dan Desko: Absolutely. Um, when you're evaluating some of these newer technologies and the things that you like to, you take some risks and chances on and, uh, to enhance the customer experience, be more tech forward. Like, how do you balance some of that speed and innovation with security, privacy, operational resilience? Like, I'm sure that's part and parcel to your thought process when, you know, putting something out there. But how do you personally think about that and balance that in your own mind?

Adam Gunnett: Yeah, it can be a challenge because, you know, your large organizations, you have, you know, your CISO and then your cto, and they might get in a room and argue. And I kind of have to have these internal, uh, arguments in my head. And, you know, I think you have to realize that speed and security, you know, they don't necessarily have to be opposites. Um, I think, you know, with the right guardrails, you know, a clear understanding of what the risk is, uh, bringing the right leaders, you know, to the table from, you know, our organization and then from, you know, the vendor, solution, organization. I think if you just kind of outline things and get a full understanding of, you know, um, of what's involved and what the risks are, uh, that he can still move fast and still be secure.

Dan Desko: Yeah, I, I totally agree. It's not mutually exclusive, and you can, you can, you can do both well at the same time. And I know you keep your eye on, on both of those fronts, so, uh, that's. That's fantastic. Um, very good. So just, uh, we're getting close on time and just have a couple questions left, but I'm curious to hear from your mind, are there any big misconceptions that business leaders have around the role of technology and, um, data and innovation on how that drives performance? Right. Like, you guys have been very successful at innovating and doing a lot of great new things and having that also be really coordinated, you know, who you guys are and how you drive success. Um, why aren't more companies doing that? I guess, right? Like, what are some of the misconceptions that they might have that, you know, is driving them not to do that?

Adam Gunnett: Yeah, uh, well, there's a number of, kind of different misconceptions. You know, you know, sometimes I think people think, uh, that, you know, some of the technologies that we've deployed or, you know, too complex, uh, or, you know, you, you need a staff of, you know, a hundred to deploy them efficiently. Uh, you know, I think that's one misconception and the other, the misconception. The other way is that, you know, that the technology itself is responsible for the performance. Uh, but in reality, you know, uh, the performance comes from, you know, the data. And then that data issues decide, uh, the data issues to drive the decisions. But decisions need to drive an action. And then with the action, you have to have accountability. So, you know, even, you know, earlier, one of the questions you were talking about, uh, you know, regards to data, you don't know how many different reports and things. Uh, I get asked, Lauren, a lot of times, I'm like, if I give you this data, what action are you going to take based on if the data says this or if the data says that? And if someone can't give me, like, a clear answer, it's like, well, this is going to go into the queue and be addressed at a later time. Right? Um, yeah, I think, like, to wrap that up, it's just like, yeah, the solution itself isn't going to just drive performance. You know, we were talking earlier about how I get the privilege to be at a lot of different conventions and, uh, see a lot of different solutions. And, uh, there's a lot of really cool demos out there. Uh, but sometimes I think that there are solutions and demos being created for, for problems that don't exist. So, uh, I like to start with the problem and then find the solution.

Dan Desko: Yeah, yeah, no, that's great. I love that accountability aspect. Right. Without that accountability, you could have the greatest technology, put the greatest systems in place. But if you don't have the people driving the accountability, um, you're not going to get the value that you want out of it. So I, I love that question you ask when people come to you asking for things or asking for reports like, tell me how you're going to use this to drive xyz. Uh, so that I think, uh, I think a lot of people can take a page out of your book with that, for sure. Um, well, cool. Uh, would love to End it on a question. I love to ask if you could put a message on a billboard for other technology cyber executives, either about, you know, whether it's data or AI or cyber, um, or innovation in it, um, as a. As a daily reminder, what would you. What would you say? What would be your advice?

Adam Gunnett: So this is a billboard. So, uh, so one that maybe you could use for cybersecurity, but has the hot one, uh, topic of AI, and that is AI is a multiplier, but make sure it's multiplying the right things. Uh, data exposure, uh, cyber risk can be multiplied when, uh, AI is thrown at something, uh, carelessly. So that might be a good billboard, uh, for you, and then kind of a billboard that kind of would go along. Kind of the Busy Beaver story is, you know, you're not competing on technology, you're competing on how you use it. So, um, like I said, you can have, uh, a lot of cool technologies, but if it's not solving a problem that, you know, it's just, uh, you know, a very expensive, uh, tool. Because I like to, you know, talk about, uh, you know, a process, you know, we're looking to, you know, automate or streamline or bring technology across to a process. Like, I like to kind of thoroughly vet it manually and, uh, make sure that it's a good process, you know, manually. Because if you throw technology on it or you throw AI on it, just going to be a really expensive broken process, so.

Dan Desko: Exactly. Yeah. It's not the technology that's the differentiator. In fact, a lot of these, like, you know, some of the most powerful technologies we've ever seen or come in contact with, we now all have access to with a $20 a month subscription. Right? So, um, it's. It's how you use it, how you deploy it, how you build the accountability models around it. Um, so I love that. That's a great sound bite, too. It's not the technology, it's how you use it. Um, so that. That's a great, uh. I think that's a great way to end it, man. Um, I really appreciate you taking some time and opening up and sharing some of your stories with me, sharing, uh, some of your philosophies and scars and things you've learned along the way. Um, I think, uh, you've been a great champion for the Pittsburgh technology, uh, community. And, um, like you said, um, being a part of a great organization with great leadership to give you those opportunities to allow you to do that as well. Um, sometimes that's, uh, that's what it takes, right? But, uh, to have you here as part of our, um, our podcast, uh, it's been a great pleasure and an honor, so I really appreciate it.

Adam Gunnett: I appreciate you having me. Sure. We'll see each other soon enough.

Dan Desko: Yes, sir. Yes, we will. Well, thank you very much, and thanks, everybody, for, uh, for tuning in. Until the next time, uh, we will see you all.