The AI Way or The Highway

As we move through 2025, our tech world is evolving at an exciting pace. From the rapid advancements in AI and automation to the growing focus on cybersecurity and cloud computing, these trends are reshaping how organizations operate. AI is no longer just a futuristic concept—it’s now at the core of driving efficiency, innovation, and automation across industries. Companies are increasingly integrating AI to optimize everything from data analysis to customer service, and those who harness its power will lead the way forward. Just think… around this time last year we were just scratching the surface on how AI could impact us. Now, fast forward one year and we are already seeing it impact the way jobs are performed across the board. Generative AI is no longer a distant possibility, it’s here and it’s driving change in real-time. From automating tasks to enhancing creativity in new ways, the technology is quickly reshaping career paths and offering opportunities for professionals to adapt and grow!

What’s exciting is that AI isn’t just a broad concept anymore—it’s being put into action in ways that are making a real impact. Recently, some of our team attended The Power of Possibility: AI Ready RVA Launch Party & Expo and learned that healthcare providers like UVA Health are using AI to prevent sepsis in post-op patients, improving outcomes and saving lives. Virginia Tech is applying AI to infrastructure, analyzing streetlights to determine when they need replacement and optimizing traffic signals to improve traffic flow. And in the realm of sustainability efforts, AI is also playing a role with organizations leveraging it to sort recycling more efficiently. These advancements are proof that AI is actively shaping industries in ways we couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago!

The key takeaway? These trends offer tremendous opportunities for businesses and IT professionals alike. Those who stay ahead of the curve with emerging technologies will unlock new ways to drive innovation, increase efficiency, and protect what matters most. It’s an exciting time to be in tech, and we’re all in this together, pushing the boundaries of what is possible!

New Year's Resolution ➡️ One Word

As we flip the calendar and look to this upcoming year, one of the most honored traditions is choosing a New Year’s Resolution. Apparently, the Ancient Babylonians established the first known practice of setting new year pledges, a tradition that has endured for over 4,000 years! On January 1st, millions and millions of people set out to do something new or different in the spirit of self-betterment - ranging from diet, fitness, learning a new language, saving more money, changing careers. It’s a well intended tradition, but unfortunately the sustainability of it is lacking. According to Claude (Anthropic’s AI), by the end of February almost 80% of resolutions fail, with only about 8-9% of people actually sticking to it for the entire year.

I wonder why? Are the resolutions too ambitious? After all, change is hard.

Well, during our in-office planning session for 2025, we decided to try something different. Rather than a new year's resolution, pick one word that you would like to embody in 2025. Just one word and it can be applicable to work, to personal, or to all corners of your life. After some contemplation, here is what our office came up with:

• Scott/Overcome

• Jake/ Perseverance

• Sonny/Grateful

• Raju/Consistency

• Andrew/Deliberate

• Mark/Proactive

• Allie/Intentional

• Dorothy/Disciplined

• Vinnie/Consistency

After everyone chose their word, I asked them to spend some time finding a quote that they felt is representative of their word. And here are those quotes:

• Scott/Overcome - 'The only think that overcomes hard luck is hard work' - Harry Golden

• Jake/Perseverance - 'If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward' - Martin Luther King, Jr

• Sonny/Grateful - 'A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things' - Plato

• Raju/Consistency - 'I would rather have consistent smaller successes than an occasional eureka moment’ - Raju Seetarama

• Andrew/Deliberate - 'Success is deliberate! Excellence is intentional! Victory comes out of struggles…Winners win because they played a part…Get busy now!' - Israelmore Ayivor

• Mark/Proactive - 'A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times' - Unknown

• Allie/Intentional - 'An unintentional life accepts everything and does nothing. An intentional life embraces only the things that will add to the mission of significance!' - John C. Maxell

• Dorothy/Disciplined - 'Motivation gets you going but discipline keeps you growing' - John C. Maxwell

• Vinnie/Consistency - 'Success isn't always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come. - Dwayne Johnson

I chose grateful because of a variety of reasons. I’ll share one of them - Looking back on the past year, too often I found myself running 100 miles an hour and filling my plate with more than I could handle. I took pride in the fact that nothing could overwhelm me, so adding to my to-do list was no big deal; in fact, it was a badge of honor. Look at all that I accomplished this week / this month / this year! But, this approach also has a downside. Flying through my check lists often didn’t let me slow down and actually appreciate all that was happening in that moment. What’s the saying, living in the now? And if I’m not taking a moment to enjoy the little things, what’s the point of completing the check list? So, yeah I landed on grateful!

My hope is we are in that 8-9% that see this one word through for the entirety of 2025. As a way of holding each other accountable, at the end of each month we will reflect on the previous 30 days and discuss how each of us is embodying their word and share examples. Let’s see how we do!

Cheers,
Sonny

Our Nationwide Team

At Daybreak, we're all about building meaningful connections and being personable. We thoroughly enjoy getting to know each and every one of our consultants, catching up regularly to share experiences inside and outside of the office! Every point on the map below represents a story of success and collaboration that we are thankful for.

Join us in celebrating the diverse locations that make up our awesome Daybreak consultants! Your individual talents have contributed to the overall success of our organization, creating a mosaic of accomplishment that spans various locations. Your dedication and hard work does not go unrecognized! We extend our gratitude and look forward to continuing this journey of success together.

Generative AI

As we look to 2024, it’s hard not to talk about, even begin to explore how Generative AI can and will impact us. For those of you that have yet to do any investigating, I’d like to share a few thoughts on how and why you might want to. First, AI, a subset of Artificial Intelligence, it will not replace jobs; however, it will transform them. Many tech roles will become AI-assisted, where professionals collaborate with AI systems to enhance their capabilities, making tasks more efficient and allowing workers to focus on pertinent responsibilities.

Upskilling is key to fully leveraging the advantages of generative AI and securing a thriving career in the tech industry. Continuous learning and adaptation to new technologies will be the cornerstone of professional growth. Fortunately, various resources, including online courses, workshops, and certification programs are readily available to help tech professionals stay ahead of the curve. For example, if you are Project Manager, here is a free AI course that offers a window into how you can leverage the power of this technology; bonus, it will also earn you 5 PDU’s! If you are a Software Engineer, here are some resources provided by IBM that offers a broad overview of the potential benefits in AI. And if nothing else, I suggest any/all of you take the opportunity to understand how to write a good prompt. Regardless, if you are using ChatGPT or Bard asking the AI good questions will help achieve better outputs and results. Prompting is also a skill that you can build by leveraging classes from both IBM and AWS that have a free Generative AI: Prompt Engineering Basics courses.

Instead of fearing the rise of generative AI, let's embrace it as a powerful tool that can revolutionize the tech industry. By understanding its potential and actively participating in upskilling initiatives you can be at the forefront of new, exciting opportunities that AI brings to the table. Generative AI is not a job thief; it's a collaborative partner in innovation, and with the right mindset and commitment to continuous learning, the technology industry can flourish in this era of AI advancement.

Sonny recently had the opportunity to chat a bit about this with the CEO of rvatech, Nick Serfas, and the CEO of Shockoe, Alex Otanez, on their TechxDesign podcast. Take a listen: Biggest Trends of 2023

Oh and by the way, the image you see at the top of this page was created by an AI image generator! How cool is that!

The Essence of Retellability

Effective communication is crucial for success. Yet, beyond just conveying information, there exists a vital but often overlooked aspect which is the ability to craft a message or share an experience in a way that resonates enough to be easily retold.

Imagine leaving a meeting where your presentation not only informed but also inspired your colleagues. They carry the message forward, sharing it with others, and the impact multiplies. This is the essence of retellability.

A message that's easily retellable is concise, engaging, and memorable.The power of effective communication leaves an indelible mark on your audience, making it more likely to be shared and acted upon.

Here is a video from Tim Pollard titled Why Communication Goes Wrong and How to Fix it. This powerful and informative Ted Talk focuses on the importance of communicating for effective retelling. I hope there are some insightful takeaways from this clip and would love to hear your thoughts!

Recent Volunteer Opportunities

DIY Kits for Homelessness:

We had so much fun putting together DIY Care Kits for Homeward in September of 2023! Homeward is a local organization that strives to reduce, prevent, and end homelessness. #DBdelivers

Thinking Big with Big Data

We were able to volunteer with GiSTEM at the beginning of October 2023 during their Thinking Big with Big Data event! This event brought in 200+ students from Richmond Public Schools to meet with professionals from a variety of backgrounds and industries in the field of Big Data and explore this field with hands-on activities and workshops.

Feed More

In November 2023, the Daybreak team took an afternoon to lend a few helping hands at the Bayard Community Kitchen with Feed More. We were happy to be present in our community this holiday season!

Daybreak Team Updates

Our current Operations Manager, Allie, will be heading out next month to welcome a little girl into the world! When she returns from maternity leave, she will be transitioning into a new role as one of our Business Development Managers. We are happily bringing on Dorothy Miller to our team to take over as Operations Manager. You can learn more about Dorothy by checking her out on LinkedIn or her bio on our website under the “Why Daybreak?” page.

EarlyBird: People's Choice Award

As we’ve shared recently, EarlyBird is our new joint venture we are doing with another company, Sandbox. Together we’ve crafted a unique and specialized solution for technology recruiting for startups. It’s a founder friendly, equitable solution to top talent.

We were excited for EarlyBird to be nominated and a finalist for the Collaboration in Innovation in Technology Award by rvatech. Although we didn’t win, we were overjoyed to take home the People’s Choice Award at the Gala in September 2023! If you’re interested in learning more about EarlyBird, be sure to check out the page on our website or reach out to Alida at alida@thesbx.co.

New Office in Charlotte, NC

Join us in celebrating this major milestone as we expand our footprint to better serve your IT needs and offer top-notch consulting services. Our team of experts is dedicated to driving innovation and providing solutions tailored to your business's success.

If you know of anybody who may be interested in our services in Charlotte, Raleigh, and other surrounding areas- shoot Lauren an email at lauren.sturgill@dbdelivers.com. Your referrals are greatly appreciated!

Introducing EarlyBird!

We are beyond excited to finally launch our new product, EarlyBird! Daybreak collaborated with our friends at Sandbox to provide founders and startups with equitable access to tech talent. Check out this article from RichmondInno!

Daybreak gets Dunked!

We were so honored to support a local non-profit organization, Fight Cancer Stay Positive, at their annual Dunking for a Cure event this past weekend!! For the past month, Daybreak has been collecting donations to help the fight against Pancreatic Cancer. All proceeds from the event help benefit life-changing early detection research supported by both the Richmond-based VCU Massey Cancer Center and the Lustgarten Foundation. Daybreak is happy to announce that we surpassed our fundraising goal of $5,000 and collected a grand total of $6,186!!

And how could we fail to mention that we had not one, not two, but three Daybreak employees enter the dunk tank. For that, a huge shout out to Lauren Sturgill, Allie Thompson, and Scott Staib (who really rose to the challenge in collecting $2,000 dollars one day prior to the big event!!) To those that donated and came out to Hardywood to offer your support, we THANK YOU!! It was a great day for an even greater cause! #dbdelivers #fundraising #FCSP

THE RVA 25: RICHMOND’S FASTEST-GROWING COMPANIES FOR 2021 - DAYBREAK RANKED 15TH BY RICHMOND BIZSENSE

Congratulations to all of the companies recognized by Richmond BizSense for their growth last year. It has been such a tumultuous year+ and for many just weathering the storm has been a monumental task. For our company, we certainly had our ups and downs. But, it took incredible focus, unrelenting perseverance and tremendous dedication to navigate the past year. The byproduct of that hard work is this accomplishment - So THANK YOU to Lauren Sturgill, Andrew Parker, Seetarama Raju, Jake Hughes, Scott Staib, Vinnie Wright, Joe Snyder & to our incredible consultants at Daybreak IT Solutions! #consultants #teamwork! #consultants #teamwork #abovetheline #rva25 #fastestgrowingcompanies

Handling Video Chat Burnout

Working from home? More like living at work. After nearly seven months of working remotely, I’m personally finding it increasingly difficult to not blur the lines between what is work and what isn’t. All of a sudden it feels like my boundaries (and maybe even my priorities) have flown out the window and I no longer have an “off” button. Hello burning the midnight oil. 

The good news? I’m not alone. Just last week I had a friend screenshot her calendar for the day and send it over to me with an “LOL”, followed by the nauseated face emoji. She was in back-to-back stand ups from 11-5:30, with some meetings even doubled up. I had two questions for her: how can you be in two places at once? And, when are you going to eat lunch? She didn’t have an answer for either and felt generally anxious about spending her day on calls instead of actually getting work done. When 10pm rolled around, she was just finishing wrapping up her own to-do list. 

With such limited IRL connection, it feels like suddenly everyone wants to video chat about things we used to handle over email, a phone call, or even just Slack. The result? Video chat burnout. It’s real, it’s here, and there are ways to avoid it. Wondering how? Read our thoughts below. 

Suggest a walk and talk phone call

One of my first bosses had a real thing for grabbing a coffee and walking around our office neighborhood in place of a sit down meeting. He said his brain “worked better” when he was moving his legs. I get it now and I’m more on board than ever. Pop in your headphones and go for a walk during a meeting or two throughout the day. This admittedly works better for 1:1’s and is a great opportunity to recover from too much screen time. Plus, endorphins make you happy.

Turn your camera off

In my opinion, not every video call needs the webcam on. There are plenty of reasons why I’d encourage you to turn your camera off. Maybe you’re having a bad hair day or your unfolded clean laundry is on the chair behind you. Maybe you need a snack to gain some energy mid-day. Whatever the reason may be, try giving yourself a break now and then and only turning the camera on when totally necessary.

Take breaks  

Taking a break is hard when your coworkers have scheduled you in meetings from 11-5:30, I know. But seriously...taking breaks is important. I try to stand up in-between video calls and avoid scheduling them back to back. It helps to breathe a little!

All meetings should have an agenda

I like for meetings to be as short as possible and that’s pretty hard to accomplish without an agenda. Try including the agenda, purpose, and time frame of the meeting in the “description” section of the Google Calendar invite. It’s up to you to keep tabs on whether or not you’re in the weeds. Don’t be afraid to speak up!

Communicate

Feeling burnt out from too much video screen time? Let your team know. Ironically enough, video chats are supposed to help us communicate better, but sometimes they can do just the opposite of that. If you feel like the meeting agenda can easily be accomplished another way, suggest an alternative. It can be as simple as -- “Do you mind if we do this by phone or email? I have been doing a huge number of video calls and would prefer we knock this out another way.” Your team may even begin to follow your lead. 

Chances are, the people you work with are also starting to feel the burn out of constant video meetings. We all want to do our jobs to the best of our ability, and in the ever-changing world of COVID, it’s important to keep that in mind while also being flexible. Keep close tabs on how the new way of working is making you feel and the impact it is having on your productivity and quality of work. Advocate for yourself! Hopefully the sense of empowerment will follow you long after this pandemic is over.

How to Preserve a Company Culture While Working From Home

Cultivating a company culture where employees feel connected and valued can take years of investment. Once you have one established, a strong company culture can help your business to attract and retain the best types of employees - ones that contribute by their stellar performance and help in fostering a workplace that is grounded in inclusivity, diversity, collaboration, and trust. With the future of “the office” looking different, employees are seeking new ways of feeling connected to highly dispersed teams. How can you preserve, and even build upon, the company culture you’ve worked so hard to build?

Communicate

The most important thing, for any team, is communication. If you have employees working across many different locations, having a daily or weekly team meeting so that you can communicate as a group is crucial. These virtual touch-base meetings are an opportunity to celebrate successes and tackle challenges as a collective, but more importantly, they are an accountability tool to stay focused on the most important company initiatives during a time of extreme and continuous change. For remote teams, the lack of water cooler chat and unexpected run-ins at the coffee station means it takes intentional effort in order to feel truly connected to colleagues. Leveraging technology while you have limited face-to-face time together is a good place to start. Try hosting a coffee hour via Zoom or Google Meet with a limited agenda.

Show up

No, we don’t mean physically. COVID-19 restrictions are making it nearly impossible for many to meet IRL, but teams still need present leadership. Engaging in a truly authentic way and expressing curiosity in employee well-being (professionally and also personally) can have a great impact on company morale. Those in leadership roles have taken on an additional responsibility throughout the pandemic: relationship management. Managers and executive teams are now in a position of really having to understand who they are working with and the best way to show up together to produce results.

People First

Whether we like it or not, COVID-19 has changed not only the way that we work but how we work together. Gone are the days of keeping work and life separate. We are seeing our colleagues as full people, with a huge shift in flexibility and empathy. For the first time, many employers are having to recognize (and respect) that whole people with complex lives exist within their employees. We may be seeing less of our coworkers, but we are seeing more of who they really are. Pets and children appear on video meetings; messy rooms and un-groomed hair are seemingly normal and even accepted. Extending each other the grace to be a human before a professional can help make the stress of our “new normal” a little more bearable.

Building a company culture is a marathon, not a sprint. Despite the hardships we are all facing, this is an incredibly rare opportunity to define what the future of work looks like for you and your team. Not every company will have the same vision, and that’s okay! It’s all about taking care of yourself and your team’s needs. Experiment with different models to create the feeling of connection, even if it’s behind a computer screen. It’s totally possible to maintain the intangible but powerful aspect of your business -- community.