I turn business problems into working technology.
I'm Raffi Simonian — a technology and business strategist, program leader, and educator in Los Angeles. Three decades across startups and institutions like UCLA, where I launched a $3M Salesforce CRM for Alumni Affairs — from business case and funding through implementation across 700,000 alumni records — and lead Epicenter, an experiential learning program that puts students on real industry projects. My approach to understanding problems starts with empathy and emotional intelligence — and I keep that eye sharp by documenting customer experience in the wild.
Below: the kinds of problems I take on, and the working library of resources and CX field notes behind how I solve them.
More about my background →Problems I solve #
Forty years of pattern recognition, organized by the kind of trouble you might be in.
- AI Adoption
AI investment that isn’t paying off yet.
Most organizations now report no measurable return on AI — because adoption is a people problem, not a tool problem. I set up practical AI workflows, usage-cost controls, guardrails for unapproved AI tools, and the manager enablement that research shows makes AI actually stick.
- Business Analysis
A business problem that needs to become a technology solution.
I gather requirements through use cases and user stories, translate between business and engineering, and keep strategy, market research, and customers in the same conversation — so what gets built is what the business actually needs.
- Program Management
A project too large, too tangled, or too stuck to run itself.
More than 65 large-scale projects and 20+ product launches: planning, budgeting, vendor and risk management, and the executive reporting that keeps everyone honest from kickoff to launch.
- Systems Integration
Systems that refuse to talk to each other.
I launched a $3M Salesforce CRM for UCLA Alumni Affairs — developed the business case, secured the funding, and implemented it across 700,000 alumni records — and build the automations that cut invoicing from days to hours.
- Education & Training
A team that needs skills that don’t exist yet.
I design and run tech bootcamps — design thinking, cloud, generative AI — from UCLA and Los Angeles community colleges to Kurdistan, and train staff on IT leadership and business skills.
- Partnerships & Communities
A program that needs partners, sponsors, and a community around it.
I’ve built revenue-generating partnerships and innovation challenges with AWS, Harman International, Slalom, and others — and run the summits, fellowships, and executive events that keep them engaged.
- Customer Experience
Digital touchpoints that frustrate the customers they serve.
I document customer experience in the wild — the CX Field Notes on this site are the running proof — and audit websites, forms, and flows for the friction that quietly costs conversions, with fixes ranked by effort and impact.
- Career Counseling
A career that needs a strategy, not just a résumé.
I coach students and professionals at every stage — early to late career — across IT, marketing, HR, finance, operations, and health.
The full picture — services, proof, and training topics — lives on the Consulting & Training page →
Browse my resource library and CX field notes →