Brandee and I protecting our energy

A legacy of decency, kindness, and positive impact

In my wisdom, I find myself appreciating something that has always been true, even if it becomes more visible with time: quality of life matters.

For Brandee and me, this next chapter is about being intentional. After spending our entire careers working hard, building businesses, solving problems, and pursuing ambitious goals, we are continuing that journey with a renewed focus on enjoying the life we’ve built.

That doesn’t mean anything is slowing down. If anything, we’re doing what we’ve always done—just with even more clarity about where we invest our time, energy, and attention. We’re both workaholics by nature and genuinely enjoy building things, creating opportunities, and making an impact. That part of us isn’t changing.

What is becoming even more important is alignment—surrounding ourselves with people and situations that are genuine, constructive, and rooted in integrity. We’ve reached a point where we are very intentional about who we spend time with and what we allow into our environment. We choose to invest deeply in relationships that are real, positive, and grounded in mutual respect, and we step away from dynamics that don’t align with those values.

This isn’t about judgment—it’s about clarity. The goal is not to define others, but to remain aligned with what we know leads to a meaningful, productive, and peaceful life. We welcome people who are sincere, grounded, and forward-moving. There is always room for good energy, good intent, and good character.

We’ll continue to work. We’ll continue to build. We’ll continue to pursue big ideas. But we’ll do it in a way that aligns with family, health, integrity, and long-term sustainability, and allows us to fully appreciate the journey as it unfolds.


Business is also in a strong and exciting place right now.

For much of my career, I’ve viewed myself as a community builder. I’ve always believed that when good people come together around a shared purpose, meaningful things happen. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to connect with outstanding organizations, communities, and like-minded individuals who share that perspective.

Those relationships are creating real momentum and new opportunities to scale in ways that are both meaningful and impactful. While the business outcomes are exciting, what continues to matter most is the ability to create positive impact—helping young professionals launch their careers, supporting students and academic communities, and contributing to environments where people can learn, grow, and succeed.

Building successful businesses is rewarding. Helping others build successful futures is even more rewarding.


At the center of everything, however, is family.

That, of course, includes our six furry children who bring so much joy, energy, and companionship into our lives every single day.

J.C. continues in his role as the elder statesman of the family—calm, confident, and steady, with a presence that anchors everything around him.

Bleu remains her beautifully independent self, observant and composed, always taking in the world on her own terms.

Ella continues to bring her unmistakable tortoiseshell personality into every room, keeping life lively and never predictable.

Finn remains our resident goofball, always finding creative ways to entertain himself and occasionally test the patience of his sisters, all while remaining impossible not to love.

Gracie continues to be the heart of steady companionship and affection in our home, offering a kind of loyalty and presence that makes every day better.

And then there’s Tigg, the newest member of our family. Tigg has brought fresh energy, curiosity, and plenty of laughter into our home. Watching him settle in has been a reminder that joy expands—that life doesn’t get smaller when something new arrives, it gets richer.

When I look ahead, I feel a deep sense of gratitude.

The path has always been clear.

Family comes first.

We will continue building a terrific business and pursuing opportunities that create lasting value. We will continue helping others whenever we can and investing in people who are working hard to build better futures for themselves and their communities. We will continue believing that success is measured not only by what you achieve, but by the positive impact you have on those around you.


Most importantly, I want to honor my mom and dad by the way I choose to live.

Their values, sacrifices, work ethic, and decency helped shape the person I am today. The greatest tribute I can offer them is to live a life that reflects those same values—a life centered on family, integrity, hard work, compassion, and service to others.

I’ve always believed that good things happen when you focus on people, keep your word, treat others with respect, and move through life with purpose. That belief has guided me throughout my life and continues to guide me today.

Brandee and I are grateful for what we have built together and excited about what comes next. We have each other. We have an incredible family. We have Bleu, Ella, Finn, Gracie, J.C., and Tigg. We have meaningful work, strong relationships, and opportunities to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

The future is bright because we know what matters—and we’ve always known.

Family first. Build great things. Help good people succeed. Protect your energy. Stay aligned with what is real. And leave behind a legacy of decency, kindness, and positive impact.

That’s the path forward.

The Hidden IT Tax: How Enterprise Data Silos Are Quietly Draining 20–30% of Technology Budgets

For years, enterprise IT leaders have focused heavily on cybersecurity, cloud migration, AI adoption, and digital transformation.

But underneath nearly every major IT initiative lies a massive and often underestimated problem:

Enterprise data silos.

Disconnected systems, fragmented applications, redundant integrations, incompatible platforms, and duplicated data environments have quietly become one of the largest operational cost centers in modern business.

And according to multiple studies from Gartner, IDC, and enterprise integration firms, organizations may be wasting:

20–30% of total IT spending

…simply maintaining fragmentation.

Not innovation. Not transformation. Not competitive advantage.

Just maintaining complexity.


The Scale of Modern Enterprise Fragmentation

The average enterprise technology environment today is staggering.

According to research from MuleSoft:

  • Large organizations use approximately 976 separate applications on average
  • Only ~28% of those applications are integrated
  • Meaning more than 70% operate in disconnected silos

This creates an environment where:

  • Data must constantly be moved manually
  • APIs multiply uncontrollably
  • Integration layers become brittle
  • Duplicate systems proliferate
  • Teams lose visibility into enterprise operations

The result is what many CIOs now call:

“Integration debt.”


20–30% of IT Budgets Are Consumed by Complexity

Multiple Gartner and IDC analyses estimate organizations spend roughly:

  • 20–30% of IT budgets on:
  • Maintaining redundant systems
  • Manual reconciliation
  • Legacy middleware
  • Duplicate databases
  • Custom integrations
  • Compatibility workarounds
  • Technical debt remediation

For large enterprises, that becomes enormous.

A company spending:

  • $500 million annually on IT may effectively burn:
  • $100M–$150M per year just keeping fragmented systems functioning.

That is not digital transformation.

That is operational drag.


Middleware Sprawl: The “Shadow Infrastructure” Nobody Planned For

One of the fastest-growing hidden costs in enterprise IT is middleware sprawl.

Over time, organizations accumulate:

  • ESBs (Enterprise Service Buses)
  • API gateways
  • ETL tools
  • RPA layers
  • iPaaS platforms
  • Message brokers
  • Synchronization engines
  • Custom connectors

Each integration solves a short-term problem.

But collectively, they create:

  • Massive operational complexity
  • Licensing costs
  • Security exposure
  • Upgrade risks
  • Vendor dependency
  • Performance bottlenecks

According to IDC:

  • Enterprises now manage hundreds to thousands of APIs internally
  • API management and integration overhead continue growing faster than many core application budgets

And every disconnected system requires another bridge.


Custom APIs Become Permanent Liabilities

Custom integrations are often treated as assets.

In reality, many become long-term liabilities.

Organizations frequently build:

  • One-off connectors
  • Custom synchronization services
  • Proprietary workflows
  • Vendor-specific interfaces

Initially these seem efficient.

But over time:

  • Upgrades break compatibility
  • APIs deprecate
  • Vendors change authentication models
  • Data structures evolve
  • Security standards tighten

This creates what analysts call:

“Fragile integration architecture”

According to IBM and Gartner research:

  • Integration failures remain one of the leading causes of enterprise project overruns and operational outages

Even minor software upgrades can trigger:

  • Multi-week remediation projects
  • Emergency consultant engagements
  • Downtime events
  • Business workflow disruption

The hidden cost is not just the initial integration.

It is the perpetual maintenance burden afterward.


Duplicate Software Licensing Is a Massive Financial Leak

Data silos often lead directly to software duplication.

Different departments purchase:

  • Separate CRM platforms
  • Independent collaboration tools
  • Duplicate analytics environments
  • Overlapping workflow systems
  • Multiple document repositories
  • Competing cloud services

Because systems do not interoperate cleanly:

  • Teams build around the fragmentation instead of fixing it

According to studies from Flexera:

  • Organizations overspend billions globally on unused or redundant software licenses annually
  • Many enterprises utilize less than 50–60% of purchased SaaS licenses

This creates:

  • Redundant subscription costs
  • Shadow IT growth
  • Governance failures
  • Security blind spots
  • Inconsistent data models

The irony: Many enterprises are simultaneously:

  • Overbuying software
  • Underutilizing software
  • And paying additional costs to connect overlapping tools together

Data Reconciliation Has Become a Full-Time Industry

One of the least visible but most expensive consequences of silos is manual reconciliation.

Employees spend enormous amounts of time:

  • Comparing reports
  • Resolving conflicting records
  • Cleaning duplicated entries
  • Matching inconsistent identifiers
  • Correcting synchronization failures

According to research from Experian:

  • Poor data quality impacts nearly every organization
  • Businesses estimate data quality issues damage revenue, operational efficiency, and customer experience significantly

Meanwhile:

  • Gartner estimates poor data quality costs organizations an average of $12.9 million annually

And in highly regulated industries like:

  • Healthcare
  • Finance
  • Government
  • Manufacturing

The costs become even larger due to:

  • Compliance exposure
  • Audit remediation
  • Reporting inaccuracies
  • Operational delays

Cloud Migration Often Magnifies the Problem

Ironically, many cloud transformation projects unintentionally worsen fragmentation.

Organizations frequently migrate applications to the cloud without:

  • Standardizing data models
  • Consolidating workflows
  • Modernizing interoperability standards

The result becomes:

“Cloud-based silos”

Now enterprises must manage:

  • On-prem systems
  • Multi-cloud platforms
  • SaaS ecosystems
  • Edge devices
  • Hybrid identity systems
  • Legacy integration layers

All simultaneously.

According to Accenture:

  • Complexity has become one of the largest barriers to achieving cloud ROI

Simply moving systems does not solve interoperability.

Sometimes it multiplies the problem.


AI Is About to Expose Every Silo

The AI era changes the economics dramatically.

Artificial intelligence systems require:

  • Unified access to enterprise knowledge
  • Structured data consistency
  • Real-time interoperability
  • Reliable identity mapping
  • Clean metadata

Fragmented systems create:

  • Incomplete AI context
  • Poor automation reliability
  • Hallucination risks
  • Broken workflows
  • Inconsistent outputs

In other words:

Enterprise silos are evolving from an operational inefficiency into a strategic AI limitation.

Organizations with fragmented ecosystems will struggle to:

  • Deploy enterprise AI effectively
  • Automate workflows
  • Build trusted knowledge systems
  • Scale intelligent operations

Meanwhile, interoperable organizations gain:

  • Faster automation
  • Better AI performance
  • Lower operational overhead
  • Higher workforce productivity

The Real Cost Is Opportunity Cost

The largest loss may not even appear on balance sheets.

Because every dollar spent maintaining fragmentation is a dollar not spent on:

  • Innovation
  • Customer experience
  • Product development
  • AI modernization
  • Security improvement
  • Workforce enablement

Data silos create a hidden tax on organizational progress itself.

And unlike many costs, this one compounds over time.

Every disconnected platform added today increases tomorrow’s integration burden.


The Future Belongs to Interoperable Ecosystems

The next generation of enterprise leaders will likely prioritize:

  • Open standards
  • API consistency
  • Shared identity frameworks
  • Portable workflows
  • Interoperable architectures
  • Vendor-neutral ecosystems

Because the economics are becoming impossible to ignore.

The organizations that reduce fragmentation fastest will likely gain:

  • Lower operating costs
  • Faster innovation cycles
  • Better AI readiness
  • Improved employee productivity
  • Reduced technical debt
  • Greater long-term agility

Final Thought

For decades, interoperability was treated as a technical feature.

Today, it is becoming a business survival issue.

The modern enterprise is no longer constrained primarily by computing power.

It is constrained by:

  • Complexity
  • Fragmentation
  • And the growing cost of disconnected systems trying to behave like a unified business.

The hidden IT tax is real.

And many organizations are paying far more than they realize.


Sources & Research References

  • Gartner — IT spending inefficiency, data quality, integration research
  • IDC — Enterprise integration and middleware research
  • MuleSoft — Connectivity Benchmark Reports
  • IBM — Enterprise integration and operational risk studies
  • Flexera — SaaS waste and software utilization research
  • Experian — Data quality impact studies
  • Accenture — Cloud complexity and digital transformation research

What If Scanner and Print “Drivers” Lived Inside the Machine like Robots already do?

For decades, we’ve accepted a fundamental limitation in how we interact with devices: the need for external drivers. Install this. Update that. Hope it works with your operating system. Repeat.

It made sense… in the 1990s.

But in a world now defined by robotics, AI, and distributed systems, this model isn’t just outdated—it’s actively slowing innovation.

Let’s challenge the assumption.


The Old Model: External Dependency

Traditional drivers live on a host computer. They translate commands between software and hardware. But this creates friction:

  • OS dependencies
  • Version conflicts
  • Security vulnerabilities
  • Endless maintenance cycles

Every new device becomes a compatibility puzzle. Every update risks breaking something that used to work.

This isn’t scalable for a future filled with autonomous robots and billions of IoT devices.


The Shift: Intelligence Moves Inside the Device

Now imagine a different model:

The “driver” doesn’t live on your computer. It lives inside the device itself.

The robot, scanner, or printer becomes self-describing, self-serving, and directly accessible over standard protocols.

No installs. No dependencies. No translation layers.

Just capability exposure.

We’re already seeing this shift happen:

  • Document scanning evolved with driverless, network-native approaches
  • Office print and capture workflows are moving toward platform-independent communication models
  • IoT devices increasingly expose RESTful or API-based interfaces

This is not theoretical—it’s happening.


Why This Matters for Robotics

Now extend this concept to robots.

Today, robotics development is fragmented:

  • Custom SDKs
  • Vendor-specific APIs
  • Complex integration layers

What if every robot exposed a standardized, self-contained interface?

  • Discoverable over the network
  • Controllable via universal APIs
  • Independent of OS or local drivers

Now developers don’t “install” a robot.

They simply connect to it.

This unlocks:

  • Faster integration
  • Cross-platform interoperability
  • Plug-and-play automation ecosystems

The Bigger Opportunity: A Universal Standard

We’ve seen what happens when industries align around a common standard:

  • The web exploded with HTTP
  • Mobile apps scaled with consistent APIs
  • Cloud computing thrived on shared protocols

Now imagine that same consensus applied to:

  • Robotics
  • Workplace print
  • Production print
  • Monetizing Scanners Printers and Robots (IoT) with TWAIN standards

A universally accepted, device-embedded “driver” model would:

  • Eliminate integration friction
  • Reduce development costs
  • Accelerate time-to-market
  • Enable entirely new categories of applications

From Drivers to Capabilities

The real shift here isn’t technical—it’s philosophical.

We’re moving from:

👉 “Install this driver so your computer can understand the device”

to:

👉 “The device already knows how to communicate—just ask it what it can do”

That’s a fundamentally different world.


The Call to Action

The technology pieces already exist. What’s missing is industry alignment.

If robotics, workplace print, and production print stakeholders can come together around a driverless, device-native standard, we won’t just improve integration…

We’ll redefine it.

And the pace of innovation? It won’t just increase—it will compound.


The question isn’t whether this shift will happen. It’s who will lead it.

Why Document Scanners, MFPs, and Robots Are Sitting Ducks in a Post-Quantum World

Most organizations still treat scanners, MFPs, and even service robots like harmless office equipment.

But here’s the reality: they process some of your most sensitive data—and they’re among the easiest systems to compromise.

Now layer in what’s coming next.

Q-Day Is Closer Than Most People Think

“Q-Day” refers to the moment when quantum computers can break today’s standard encryption.

While no one knows the exact date, the consensus across governments and industry is clear:

  • Google is now warning that quantum computers could break current encryption by 2029
  • That’s a shift from earlier expectations of the mid-2030s
  • Experts already estimate a meaningful probability before 2035

That timeline matters because your devices will still be in use when it happens.

Today’s Encryption Has a Shelf Life

Most scanners, MFPs, and connected robots rely on encryption like RSA or ECC.

Here’s the problem:

  • Traditional computers would take thousands to millions of years to break strong RSA encryption
  • A quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could potentially break it in hours—or even minutes once scaled

That’s not an incremental improvement. That’s a complete collapse of the current security model.

“Harvest Now, Decrypt Later” Is Already a Real Threat

Attackers don’t need to wait for Q-Day.

They can:

  1. Intercept encrypted data today
  2. Store it indefinitely
  3. Decrypt it later when quantum capability is available

So every document scanned today—contracts, IDs, financial records—could be exposed in the future if it’s protected with today’s encryption.

Why Scanners, MFPs, and Robots Are Especially Vulnerable

These devices are uniquely exposed:

  • They handle high-value, long-lived data
  • They are often poorly monitored and rarely updated
  • They remain deployed for years or even decades
  • They are increasingly connected to cloud and API-driven workflows

In many environments, compromising a printer or scanner is easier than attacking a server.

And once compromised, it becomes a silent data collection point.

What Happens to RSA When Q-Day Hits?

When large-scale quantum computers arrive:

  • RSA and ECC-based encryption will become effectively obsolete
  • Digital signatures can be forged
  • Secure communications can be decoded retroactively
  • Device identity and trust models will break down

In simple terms: systems that were considered secure will no longer be trustworthy.

Why This Is a Bigger Problem for Physical-Digital Systems

Scanners, MFPs, and robots don’t just store data—they create records of truth:

  • A scanned contract
  • A verified identity document
  • A robot’s maintenance report

If those records can be altered, forged, or decrypted later, the integrity of entire workflows is at risk.

The Clock Is Already Ticking

Here’s the key point most organizations miss:

You don’t secure data when Q-Day arrives. You secure it before it’s created.

Devices being installed today will still be operating in the quantum era.

If they rely on outdated encryption, they become long-term liabilities.

The Bottom Line

  • Today’s encryption works—for now
  • Quantum computing will break it—fast
  • Attackers are already preparing—today

And the weakest entry points into your organization may not be your servers…

They may be your scanners, your MFPs, and your robots.

Post-quantum cryptography isn’t theoretical. It’s the difference between data that stays protected—and data that eventually gets exposed.

What TWAIN Direct Can Teach Us About Fixing Windows Protected Print

There’s a growing tension in enterprise print environments: the requirement for security and control versus the need for flexibility and interoperability. Microsoft’s Windows Protected Print (WPP) initiative is a clear attempt to modernize and secure printing—but like many security-first architectures, it introduces friction that organizations are now struggling to navigate.

Interestingly, we’ve already solved a very similar problem in another domain: document scanning.

That solution is TWAIN Direct.


The Core Problem: Control vs. Usability

Windows Protected Print aims to eliminate traditional print drivers, enforce stricter pipelines, and reduce attack surfaces. On paper (no pun intended), that’s exactly what IT departments want.

But in practice, it creates real challenges:

  • Vendor lock-in or limited extensibility
  • Reduced visibility into device behavior
  • Difficulty integrating with existing workflows
  • Constraints on innovation at the edge

If this sounds familiar, it should—these are the exact same problems the scanning industry faced for decades with legacy TWAIN drivers.


The TWAIN Direct Breakthrough

TWAIN Direct didn’t just “improve” scanning—it re-architected the entire model.

Instead of tightly coupling applications to device drivers, TWAIN Direct introduced:

  • A network-based, RESTful communication model
  • Self-describing devices (via capabilities)
  • Asynchronous task execution
  • Event-driven status reporting
  • Driverless operation

In short, it decoupled what you want to do from how the device does it.

That shift unlocked interoperability, observability, and innovation—all while improving security.


The Analogy: Printing Needs Its “TWAIN Direct Moment”

Windows Protected Print is trying to solve security by tightening control at the OS level. But TWAIN Direct shows us a different path:

Move intelligence to the protocol layer, not the platform layer.

Imagine if printing followed the same principles:

1. Self-Describing Printers (Capabilities Model)

Instead of rigid driver definitions, printers could expose their capabilities dynamically:

  • Supported formats
  • Finishing options
  • Security requirements

Applications adapt in real-time—no driver installation required.

2. Task-Based Print Jobs

Rather than sending opaque print streams, clients submit structured “tasks”:

  • “Print 10 copies, duplex, staple”
  • With embedded policy and validation

This mirrors TWAIN Direct’s task model and enables better auditing and control.

3. Event-Driven Observability

One of the most underrated strengths of TWAIN Direct is its eventing model:

  • Job started
  • Page scanned
  • Error occurred
  • Job completed

Apply this to printing, and suddenly WPP gains:

  • Real-time monitoring
  • Better troubleshooting
  • True device-level telemetry

4. Secure, Network-Native Communication

TWAIN Direct assumes secure HTTP-based communication from the start:

  • TLS encryption
  • Token-based authentication
  • No reliance on local drivers

This aligns perfectly with WPP’s security goals—but without sacrificing openness.


Where Windows Protected Print Falls Short

WPP is solving yesterday’s problem (driver vulnerabilities) with yesterday’s architecture (OS-level enforcement).

TWAIN Direct demonstrates that the real solution is:

  • Protocol standardization instead of platform restriction
  • Device intelligence instead of driver dependency
  • Open ecosystems instead of controlled pipelines

The Bigger Opportunity

This isn’t just about printing or scanning—it’s about how we design device communication in the age of cloud, AI, and zero trust.

TWAIN Direct proves that you can have:

  • Security
  • Simplicity
  • Interoperability
  • Observability

…without compromise.

If Windows Protected Print evolves to embrace these principles, it could become more than a security feature—it could become the foundation for the next generation of print infrastructure.


Final Thought

The scanning industry already went through this transformation—and came out stronger on the other side.

Printing doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel.

It just needs to recognize that the blueprint already exists.

It’s called TWAIN Direct.