Innovation in lawn care

Last month we hosted the first Lawn & Landscape Technology Conference. We heard from CEOs, CTOs and other industry experts on the way technology is changing the industry. Here’s a Q&A with one of the speakers, Ayman Taha, chief information officer for TruGreen.

Q: How did you become interested in information technology?

A: I’ve always been interested in electronics from my early years to a teen. I’ve always taken things apart to “fix them” as I wanted to learn how things worked. I can’t tell you how many Walkmans and VCRs I’ve taken apart! That led to me building my own PCs, starting with an IBM XT and later with an Intel AT286, 386 and 486 CPUs desktops.

Q: What's the highlight of your career?

A: In 2014, while at Avnet, I led a team that successfully deployed a state-of-the-art quoting and booking system along with an intelligent enterprise pricing engine, processing upwards of $6 billion in sales annually. This initiative won a CIO award for the company. What made this initiative special is that after $2 multi-million dollar failed implementations were led by two of the largest Solutions Integrators, I proposed a path and led the initiative to successful delivery internally.

Q: What one career moment do you wish you could do over?

A: I would’ve probably liked to add more focus on research and development.

Q: What do your family and friends think your job entails?

A: They think I work with lots of magic buttons. This doesn’t just apply to family and friends, but others at work as well!

Q: What's the best thing about being in your field?

A: The excitement of being around exciting new technologies.

Q: What one tip would you share with someone interested in getting into your field?

A: I would say never be satisfied with the level of knowledge you’ve acquired. Learn, learn and then learn more. Don’t ever think you’ve reached the height of knowledge and stop learning. Also, remember collaboration will always be part of your success, you’ll always be as good as the people you work with.

Q: What career would you consider if you weren't an information technology specialist?

A: Teaching.

For more from our speakers and coverage from the event visit bit.ly/LLTechConf20

Calling all horticulture students!

We’re collecting applications for the 2020 GIE Media Horticulture scholarship. To be eligible for an academic scholarship, you must be enrolled at a recognized two- or four-year college or university working toward a degree in horticulture, environmental science or other field related to a segment of the green industry. Head to the scholarship page at bit.ly/LawnScholarship for more details.

Applications must be postmarked by Friday, April 24, 2020.

Social Media

On social media, we like to highlight some of the places we travel and events we attend. Early last month we visited Arizona to check out Aspire’s 2020 user conference at the Mission Palms Resort.

Remember when…

This month’s cover story is all about you…it highlights some interesting finds from our 2020 Landscaper Census. Our first census was completed in 2015, so head to our archives to check our what’s changed: bit.ly/LLArchives