Arro Labs Welcomes Industry Veteran Marc Doering as Head of Technology

Kivo Daily Staff on August 21, 2025

By: Andrew Nieman

AUSTIN, TX – Aug 1, 2025 — Arro Labs, a digital product agency that supports enterprise teams in designing, building, and launching transformative digital experiences, is pleased to welcome Marc Doering as its new Head of Technology.

Marc brings significant technical expertise in both web and mobile development, along with a passion for fostering strong, cross-functional teams. He will oversee Arro’s engineering organization and play a crucial role in shaping how Arro’s product teams build and deliver solutions, including integrating AI tools into daily workflows.

“I’ve seen Marc build highly skilled, cohesive teams over the years — both in-house and as an agency owner,” said Andrew Nieman, co-founder of Arro Labs. “Whether it was as a tech startup founder or as a head of product at a large enterprise, he understands that selecting the right people is as critical as selecting the right technology. This makes him a great fit for Arro.”

Marc began his career in engineering at Accenture before founding and scaling his own digital agency, which was later acquired by ZenBusiness. At ZenBusiness, he led cross-functional product development, delivering software to support the company’s rapid growth. His experience includes building and mentoring engineering teams, shaping product roadmaps, and managing complex deliveries for enterprise clients.

“In joining Arro, not only do I have the opportunity to reunite with some talented former colleagues, but I also get to do so at a time when the demand for tech adoption in the enterprise has increased,” said Doering. “There is a widespread belief among business leaders that AI can help accelerate digital transformations, but it’s challenging to separate what’s feasible from what’s not. We’re here to help them focus on what’s most relevant.”

A New Era of Product Strategy: Powered by AI

Marc’s arrival comes at an important moment for Arro Labs, as the agency continues to expand its capabilities to help clients explore and implement AI in practical, meaningful ways. With so much noise in the space, Arro is dedicated to helping technology and product leaders ask the right questions before making costly decisions.

Arro’s tech advisory practice works with enterprise teams to explore how tools like large language models (LLMs), automation, agentic AI, and intelligent UX can enhance everything from team productivity to customer engagement and conversion. Instead of focusing on fleeting trends, Arro prioritizes realistic adoption — emphasizing use cases that can reduce churn, speed up delivery, and personalize user experiences at scale.

“There is a noticeable gap between the interest in AI and the actual success of its implementation in enterprises,” said Arro co-founder and MIT alum Andre Sugai. “Marc’s experience leading product and engineering teams through significant transformations makes him well-suited to help brand leaders move from theoretical to operational AI solutions.”

Arro is also focusing on internal initiatives that support teams in piloting AI capabilities within a secure, structured framework. A recent study out of MIT found that the success rate of enterprise companies attempting to implement AI tools with internal teams was under 20%, and in some cases, as low as 5%. However, the success rate rises to 67% when partnering with specialized vendors, particularly when integrating an off-the-shelf product instead of developing a custom solution.

“From refining AI-assisted QA and code reviews to automating UX prototyping, there are numerous opportunities to streamline delivery,” says Doering. “But as business leaders evaluate their AI strategies, they must keep asking one important question: are we actually removing friction — or just adding more hype?”

About Arro Labs

Arro Labs is a digital product agency that helps enterprise organizations build smarter, faster, and more impactful digital experiences. From product strategy and UX design to engineering and analytics, Arro partners with teams to reduce complexity and deliver business value — often at a faster pace than traditional models. With a flexible, embedded approach, Arro becomes a trusted extension of the teams it supports.

To learn more, visit www.arrolabs.com

Beyond Software: How eSkilled Builds Educational Impact Through Innovation and Social Responsibility

Kivo Daily Staff on August 21, 2025

Digital platforms now sit at the center of workforce preparation, prompting educators and policymakers to consider how technology can expand access without compromising quality. The conversation has moved beyond software performance to broader questions of equity, compliance, and social responsibility. Among the firms navigating that terrain is eSkilled, a Queensland-based company that links student management, learning delivery, and course creation in one suite. Its trajectory offers a glimpse into how an education-technology provider can integrate public-interest goals into commercial growth.

eSkilled took shape in Fortitude Valley in August 2019 when Scott Rogers and William Cowie—both long-time operators in Australia’s vocational education and training sector—mapped out a response to the fragmented systems they had used for years. They recruited technologists and instructional designers to develop an integrated platform that would handle enrolment data, compliance reporting, and learning delivery inside a single architecture. Nicholas Beaumont later joined as head of technology, steering the build toward cloud infrastructure that could scale quickly for both small providers and national institutions. From the outset, the founders framed growth targets in terms of measurable gains in operational efficiency for Registered Training Organizations, rather than focusing solely on market share.

That sector-wide orientation is visible in eSkilled’s external partnerships. The company sponsors events run by the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA) and backs professional-development summits hosted by Insources and other VET forums. It delivers free webinars on topics such as online assessment integrity and the latest changes to the Standards for RTOs, sessions that draw administrators from community colleges alongside compliance officers from private RTOs. At national summits, the firm’s staff highlight the need for systems that are seamlessly integrated and purpose-built to support compliance requirements—reducing administrative burden and improving data accuracy for smaller providers.

Outside the training arena, eSkilled channels part of its revenue into humanitarian and environmental causes. eSkilled made donations to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF Australia’s Pakistan flood response, GIVIT’s Queensland flood appeal, the Philippine Red Cross, Caritas Manila, UNICEF Philippines, and Habitat for Humanity home-building projects. It also supports animal-welfare drives such as Strays Worth Saving. Staff volunteers have also joined weekend construction teams in Brisbane and Makati

The product catalogue reflects a focus on smaller organizations with limited instructional-design staff. A library of accredited training resources aligned to national training packages, enables remote colleges to launch programs without lengthy authoring cycles. Since 2024, eSkilled AI Course Creator, a browser-based tool that draws on large language model output, has generated courses with quizzes and multimedia elements in more than eighty languages. Users may export courses through LTI or SCORM packages, embed them on external sites, or deliver them directly within eSkilled’s hosted environment. Several nonprofit providers in regional New South Wales credit the system with reducing their course build time from months to weeks.

While customer-service accolades can drift into public-relations territory, external surveys offer a concrete record. The Australian Achiever Awards rated eSkilled as “highly recommended” for customer service in 2022, following a review of RTOs, TAFEs, and training consultancies across five states. Clients interviewed cited the in-platform user forum and a ninety-minute onboarding session delivered by support staff. One compliance manager in Victoria said the unified data model “cut audit preparation to a fraction of what it was,” an assessment echoed in quarterly testimonial compilations published on the company site. Update logs show fortnightly releases that fix minor bugs and roll out incremental features requested in those forums.

Adoption has moved beyond vocational colleges. Corporate learning and development teams in logistics and healthcare use the same environment to run onboarding modules, while K-12 schools deploy stripped-down instances for digital electives. TAFE campuses integrate the student-management component with state-reporting frameworks, and several universities employ the AI authoring tool for micro-credential experiments. A localization layer enables administrators to adjust language variants and compliance flags for various jurisdictions. This feature led one Philippine university to pilot maritime-safety modules in both English and Tagalog.

Industry recognition has come from multiple bodies. The Australian Business Awards named eSkilled the 2023 winner for Software Innovation, citing its integrated assessment workflows as the key to its success. LearnX presented a Gold Award for Best Learning and Talent Technology in 2022, and the Australian Small Business Champion program listed the firm as a finalist in 2023. While awards do not represent an academic peer review, they indicate that independent panels have examined product claims and found evidence to support them.

Public roadmaps highlight a suite of accessibility and inclusion updates, including WCAG 2.2 compliance, multilingual interfaces, AI tutorbots, improved text-to-speech capabilities, and enhanced readability features such as overlays for image-based text. The company is also negotiating partnerships with international NGOs to adapt its course creator for humanitarian training scenarios, such as health and safety modules deployable in temporary shelters. Sustainability targets include transitioning all Australian servers to renewable energy providers by 2026 and publishing annual carbon intensity metrics.

The education-technology field continues to grapple with the dual mandate of commercial viability and social value. eSkilled’s record illustrates one approach: embed sector advocacy, philanthropic giving, and accessibility goals inside the same operational framework that drives software releases. Whether that model becomes standard will depend on regulatory shifts, funding structures, and the willingness of other firms to internalize similar responsibilities. For now, eSkilled offers a case study on how an EdTech company can grow while keeping its focus on the broader educational ecosystem it serves.

Yoga: From Ancient Practice to Modern Movement

Kivo Daily Staff 2 on August 21, 2025

Yoga is widely recognized today as a discipline that integrates movement, breath, and mental focus. Its origins, however, are deeply rooted in ancient spiritual and philosophical traditions. Over time, yoga has been interpreted and adapted across cultures, evolving into a practice that supports physical conditioning, mental clarity, and emotional regulation. This article outlines the earliest known origins of yoga, the foundational texts that shaped its philosophy, the individuals who introduced it to Western audiences, and its relevance to stress management and accessibility.

Historical Foundations

Archaeological and textual evidence suggests that yoga originated in ancient India over 5,000 years ago. Seals discovered in the Indus-Sarasvati civilization (circa 2700 BCE) depict figures in seated postures resembling meditative poses, indicating early forms of yogic practice. The term “yoga” is derived from the Sanskrit root “yuj,” meaning “to join” or “to unite,” referencing the integration of body, mind, and consciousness.

The earliest written references to yoga appear in the Rigveda, one of the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, composed around 1500 BCE. While the Rigveda primarily consists of hymns and rituals, it includes allusions to meditative states and breath control, which later became central to yogic practice.

Foundational Texts

Several ancient texts have shaped the philosophical and practical dimensions of yoga:

The Upanishads (circa 800–400 BCE): These texts explore metaphysical concepts such as the nature of the self (Atman) and its relationship to universal consciousness (Brahman). They emphasize meditation and self-inquiry as pathways to spiritual insight.
The Bhagavad Gita (circa 200 BCE–200 CE): A chapter within the Mahabharata, this dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Lord Krishna outlines three primary paths of yoga: Karma Yoga (action), Bhakti Yoga (devotion), and Jnana Yoga (knowledge). These frameworks remain influential in modern interpretations of yoga.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (circa 200 CE): This text systematizes yoga into an eightfold path known as Ashtanga Yoga, which includes ethical precepts (yama and niyama), physical postures (asana), breath control (pranayama), sensory withdrawal (pratyahara), concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and absorption (samadhi). Patanjali’s work is considered the cornerstone of classical yoga philosophy.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th century CE): Authored by Swami Swatmarama, this manual focuses on physical techniques, including postures, breathwork, and cleansing practices. It laid the groundwork for many contemporary styles that emphasize physical conditioning.

Cultural Transmission and Western Adoption

Yoga’s introduction to Western audiences began in the late 19th century. Swami Vivekananda, a Hindu monk and philosopher, delivered lectures on yoga and Vedanta at the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago. His teachings emphasized meditation and breathwork, distancing yoga from its physical components.

In the mid-20th century, Indra Devi, a student of Krishnamacharya, opened a yoga studio in Hollywood and taught public figures, helping popularize yoga in the United States. Her approach emphasized accessibility and physical well-being, aligning with Western interests in fitness and stress reduction.

Other influential figures include:

B.K.S. Iyengar: Known for his precise alignment-based method, Iyengar Yoga became widely practiced in studios and therapeutic settings.
Pattabhi Jois: Developed Ashtanga Yoga, a dynamic sequence of postures linked by breath.
T.K.V. Desikachar: Advocated for individualized yoga instruction, adapting practices to suit personal needs.

These teachers contributed to the diversification of yoga styles and its integration into Western wellness culture.

Disciplinary Scope: Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Dimensions

Yoga is not confined to a single domain. Historically, it was conceived as a spiritual discipline aimed at self-realization and liberation from suffering. The Yoga Sutras emphasize mental discipline and meditation as central components, with physical postures serving as preparation for deeper states of awareness.

Contemporary interpretations often emphasize physical fitness, but many styles retain elements of breathwork, mindfulness, and ethical reflection. According to Hosh Yoga, the eight limbs of yoga provide a framework that supports spiritual development, emotional regulation, and physical conditioning.

Applications in Stress Management and Mental Health

Yoga is increasingly recognized as a complementary approach to mental health support. Studies published by Harvard Health and Healthline indicate that regular yoga practice can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, improve sleep quality, and enhance cognitive function.

Mechanisms include:

Neurochemical Regulation: Yoga influences neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, which are associated with mood stabilization.
Autonomic Nervous System Balance: Practices like pranayama and meditation activate the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation and reducing physiological arousal.
Mindfulness and Self-Awareness: Yoga encourages present-moment focus and introspection, which can help individuals manage emotional reactivity and cultivate resilience.

Yoga nidra, a guided relaxation technique, has shown promise in reducing stress and improving sleep, particularly among individuals with post-traumatic stress symptoms.

Accessibility and Styles for Diverse Populations

Yoga is adaptable to various physical abilities and life stages. For beginners, older adults, and individuals with limited mobility, several styles offer gentle and supportive entry points:

Chair Yoga: Allows participants to perform modified postures while seated, reducing strain and improving stability. It is particularly beneficial for those with joint pain, arthritis, or balance concerns.
Restorative Yoga: Uses props to support the body in passive poses, promoting deep relaxation and recovery.
Yin Yoga: Focuses on long-held, low-intensity stretches that target connective tissue and support joint health.
Gentle Hatha Yoga: Combines basic postures with breath awareness and slow transitions, suitable for beginners and those seeking a low-impact practice.

These styles prioritize comfort, safety, and gradual progression, making yoga accessible to a broader demographic.

Day: August 21, 2025

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