Tech Talks Daily

Jacuzzi is known around the world for its hot tub and spa manufacturing. But people seldom think about their technology or how their digital presence is a primary source for generating leads. The Jacuzzi Group had a fragmented dealer model, including hundreds of Jacuzzi-owned stores, Jacuzzi-only dealers, and brand-agnostic dealers, all who had their own websites and e-commerce experiences. This made managing the Jacuzzi brand a nightmare, not to mention the inconsistent experience it was portraying to customers. Kyle BladesJacuzzi's Director of Digital Marketing shares their digital transformation journey with me and how they leveraged technology to unify its customer experiences, delivering both a best-in-class experience and future-proofed, omnichannel connectivity at scale.

Cirque du Soleil started with a group of street performers in Montreal, Canada in 1984 and manages approximately 40 shows worldwide today. In addition to the iconic shows under the blue and yellow big top, the Cirque du Soleil brand includes other live entertainment brands such as the Blue Man Group, VStar Entertainment Group, and The Works Entertainment Group. After being shut down for an extended period during the pandemic, Cirque Du Soleil is back, stronger than ever across multiple continents. But this time, they are also delighting their customers with an Interactive Program to enhance the fan experience and enable more engagement opportunities. Pierre-Luc Camirand, Director of Digital Customer Experience, at Cirque du Soleil shares their digital transformation journey with me. With annual global ticket sales ranging from 11-12 million, most of these transactions are completed online and move through the Sitecore digital ecosystem. Through micro-interactions and behavioral personalization, I learn how Cirque du Soleil is increasing engagement, conversion rates, and repeat business. We discuss how they are replicating the experience of a live show in the digital environment and creating a seamless customer experience across all digital platforms with content in multiple languages.

Digital tools have transformed the car buying experience for drivers over the last twenty years. Most will routinely do their own research online before visiting their local dealer, but could the Metaverse further transform the process of browsing and purchasing your next vehicle? Sitecore's 2022 Perceptions of the Metaverse Report recently revealed that consumers are ready (and expect) to engage brands in new virtual environments. The company is also working with Honda to streamline the purchasing experience using a Metaverse that does not require strapping a clunky headset to your face. The concept promises to help make car configuration easier and more interactive. Drivers will be able to get all the information they need in a virtual world before completing the purchase. Ultimatley, technology is beginning to reimagine the traditional car dealership as an experience centre. I sit down with Aswin Mannepalli, Global Director, Industry Strategy and Marketing for (Automotive and Manufacturing) at Sitecore Symposium 2022 to explore how digital and metaverse experience tools can streamline the car buying process to ease the path to conversion.

Wolters Kluwer is a 189-year-old company and global leader in professional information, software, and services for health, tax and accounting, governance, risk and compliance, and legal and regulatory sectors. However, in the digital age, the company had a fractured user experience, unmanageable marketing operations systems, siloed data, and a disconnected brand presentation across hundreds of marketing and product websites. This is a story that many listeners will be all too familiar with, but Wolters Kluwer embarked on a digital transformation journey and selected one CMS to present a single global website leveraging analytics and reporting better aligned to the company's strategy. The theme at this year's Sitecore Symposium event is Meet Every Moment. With this in mind, I invited Amy Kolzow and Mike Shaw from Walters Kluwer to share their inspiring digital transformation journey with me. About Amy Kolzow: Amy is a marketing technology leader with over two decades of experience driving digital transformation. As Vice President of Global Digital Marketing at Wolters Kluwer, Amy designed and led a program that brought 280 websites together into one global website to deliver a unified customer experience. Reaching more than two million visitors a month, www.wolterskluwer.com is a game changer in Wolters Kluwer's 189-year history. Amy applies her analytics-first mindset to her passion for escaping marketing mediocrity and achieving tangible, repeatable results. About Mike Shaw: Mike is the Associate Director of Marketing Technology and Operations at Wolters Kluwer. Among his responsibilities, Mike manages the transformation of the marketing technology stack as the company rapidly evolves. With over ten years of Sitecore experience, Mike leverages Sitecore's technologies to meet the needs of a continuously expanding organization.

The last two years have seen tremendous change. People all over the world have been doing business online more than ever before, and with that, their digital expectations are now sky-high. The brands that will thrive in a post-pandemic world are the ones that can connect intelligently and meet their customers with authentic experiences at every touchpoint along their journey. At this year's in-person Sitecore Symposium, I set out to learn how some of the world's biggest brands are empowered to deliver standout CX through innovative solutions that drive results and build customer loyalty. When the American Dental Association (ADA) began its journey to refresh its member digital hub, the solution was not just about modernizing the technology. Instead, modernizing how the team worked and interacted with the hub and each other had to change, placing the member experience at the center of every decision. Jen Sutherland and Ken Zenger from the American Dental Association share key insights that ADA learned along the way to build an evergreen hub model that would continue to deliver relevant and easily navigated content to new and established members into the future. We also discuss the dangers of having out-of-date information outranking new content.

In the space of three days, Solana lost about $4.5 million worth of tokens to hackers while the Nomad protocol was drained of $200 million. Zooming out, ChainAnalysis estimates that $2 billion in cryptocurrency has been stolen from cross-chain bridges across 13 separate hacks so far this year. Dominic Williams, the founder of DFINITY Foundation shares his take on the prevalence of blockchain hacks and the fundamental infrastructure flaws behind their regular recurrence. It's Dominic's assertion that these hacks will continue so long as trusted intermediaries reign supreme in the blockchain world. Until the industry steps away from centralized MetaMask-style wallets, hacks of this nature will continue. The DFINITY Foundation is building the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP). This set of protocols allows independent data centers worldwide to band together and offer a decentralized alternative to current centralized internet cloud providers. Dominic highlights why hacks keep happening in blockchain and how the industry can best approach the problem. Dominic also shares his opinions on the bear market and what we can expect from the DFINITY Foundation.

Bitwarden's CEO, Michael Crandell joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share Bitwarden's origin story from side hustle to business used by millions and discuss the role of the password in today's digital sphere. We also explore why many believe the recent growth in biometric-based security and MFA methods will be the final nail in the coffin for the password. Still, much like the paperless office, a truly passwordless world has yet to appear. Together we discuss the future of the password and the role of biometrics and MFA methods. We also discuss the impacts of remote work, increased reliance on cloud services, and what that means for businesses as social engineering hacks continue to grow. We also discuss passwords in the increasing number of IoT and smart devices and the problems password management can solve.

AND Digital is on a mission to close the world's digital skills gap. They believe in empowering people with the knowledge they need to unlock the full potential of technology. So I invited Mairead O'Connor on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to discuss creating a culture of creativity to drive innovation. We discuss how many are approaching digital transformation wrongly by focusing too much on technology and not enough on the people. But how a ''culture of creativity'' where people are at the centre of all innovation could make a massive difference to businesses. We also talk about how the key to upskilling is making technology easier. Most enterprises don't want people with obscure technology skills and if we focus on making the tech infrastructure in an organisation simpler for the people, the tech integration will come easier as well. I also learn more about AND Digital worked with an airline to build a culture of creativity and keep re-evaluating what their people want.

Mostafa ElSayed, CEO of lab automation start up Automata joins me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast. Spending the first half of his career working for top architecture firms, Mostafa is not your typical biotech CEO. With the initial intent to make building structures easier with robots and automation, Automata was born from an observation that automation was not taking off in a range of markets. We've seen the world of automotive manufacturing get transformed through automation, but others like pharmaceuticals and life sciences were staying behind. This is what sparked Mostafa to launch Automata, which now provides software and hardware lab-automation solutions to enable efficiencies and scale in labs, working with customers including the NHS, Novartis and Imperial College London. A recent partnership with the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust aims to develop a strategy and plan to bring the benefits of automation to a number of disease areas, including prostate and cervical cancer screening. Mostafa shares with me how his background in architecture brought him to where he is today, the challenges facing CEOs in the UK biotech industry in 2022 and his views on how the lab automation market is changing and growing.

SolarWinds is number one in network management software beating out IBM, Cisco and others, and serves over 300,000 customers including 498 of the Fortune 500. Its products have become ubiquitous because they are easier to use, more powerful and scalable and more affordable than other providers, including its recently launched Hybrid Cloud Observability Platform. This is the first platform that the company has built from the ground up since the SUNBURST supply chain incident that targeted SolarWinds and other technology companies last year. The platform provides customers with an integrated, full-stack solution that's able to detect productivity and security anomalies, identify issues and take automated remediation actions to maximize productivity, prevent security issues and reduce costs. The company's Head Geeks, Chrystal Taylor and Sascha Giese join me on Tech Talks Daily to talk about what observability can do for network administrators and learn more about SolarWinds' new Hybrid Cloud Observability Platform.

It's been nearly a decade since the famed story of a Verizon employee who leveraged a VPN to outsource his job to privately hire workers in China. In 2013, remote employees accessing company networks was a less frequent occurrence than it is now. But today, studies are projecting that by 2025, 36M American employees will work remotely. HR professionals and business leaders are welcoming a newer, more flexible age of working arrangements to accommodate digital nomads, work-from-home offices, and in some cases, a partial return to the office or hybrid work. Meanwhile, cybersecurity professionals tasked with managing now ever-expanding digital boundaries of the organization face exponentially increasing threats. All while managing users accessing companies' systems and sensitive data during the once-in-a-career jump to WFH catalyzed by the pandemic has become a new standard working protocol that adds layers of complexity to access control and authentication measures. In this new cybersecurity best practices discussion, Jonathan Tomek provides background knowledge on the importance of applying threat intelligence protocols to track, identify and analyze IP address data to ensure safe work environments, regardless of how they are accessed.

Wang Qi (Joey) is responsible for Huawei's 5.5G marketing. He has more than 17 years of experience in the mobile communications industry. He has a deep understanding of industry developments and solutions related to 5G, LTE, indoor coverage, and vertical industry applications. I recently sat down with him to discuss 5G-Advanced, the key capabilities of this technology, and real-world use cases of how businesses can unlock new opportunites. We also take a look under the hood at 5.5G's key characteristics which include 10 Gbps downlink, 1 Gbps uplink, 100 billion connections, and native intelligence. Driven by new toC and toB services, 5.5G will enhance eMBB, URLLC, and mMTC, it provides new capabilities of sensing, passive IoT, positioning, and native intelligence. We also discuss how Huawei are on a mission to build intelligent 5.5G that support 10 Gbps downlink, 1 Gbps uplink, and 100 billion connections, embarking on a new journey of 5G.

In February, eSentire announced a bursary with Munster Technological University to support students in their learning and development around security. Ciaran Luttrell, Senior Director, SOC Operations EMEA at eSentire joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss how companies should get involved in developing the next generation of security professionals, using direct funding and providing internships. We also discuss the challenges teams face in running a SOC and supporting customers with their security responses. About eSentire eSentire, Inc. is the Authority in Managed Detection and Response, protecting the critical data and applications of 1500+ organizations in 80+ countries, representing 35 industries from known and unknown cyber threats. Founded in 2001, the company's mission is to hunt, investigate and stop cyber threats before they become business disrupting events. Combining cutting-edge machine learning XDR technology, 24/7 Threat Hunting, and proven security operations leadership, eSentire mitigates business risk, and enables security at scale. The Team eSentire difference means enterprises are protected by the best in the business with a named Cyber Risk Advisor, 24/7 access to SOC Cyber Analysts, Elite Threat Hunters, and industry-leading threat intelligence research from eSentire's Threat Response Unit (TRU).

Kris Beevers, founder, and CEO of NS1 joins me on Tech Talks Daily. I learn more about how this New York City-based startup delivers smart network control across core network services for over 800 global customers, including Dropbox, Fox, Salesforce, LinkedIn, & eBay. We also talk about the tech startup story behind their success which began as a specialist in DNS, and to quote TechCrunch, took: 'a slumbering and dreary yet reliable aspect of the Internet and turned it into a strategic moat and an enterprise win'. Kris is a recognized authority on all things DNS, but he also knows a lot about building and deploying high-performance infrastructure globally. He has a Ph.D. in Computer Science. We discuss the impact of outages (including in the summer heatwave) and the importance of multi-cloud or multi-CDNs. We also talk about DDoS attacks, the importance of working with the open source community.

The pandemic highlighted what many already knew: high-speed internet access is not a luxury, it's a necessity. Yet, the digital divide remains prevalent, with 21M U.S. citizens still lacking internet connection. The UN Human Rights Council considers access to the internet as a basic human right, but despite numerous strides that have taken place in the technology realm in the last two decades, billions of people worldwide still don't have access to the internet. So, how can telcos and government organizations work together to accelerate the process of identifying these "digital deserts" to build the infrastructure needed for internet access? The answer lies in accelerated big data analytics, which enables users to analyze billions of data points in minutes and generates detailed visualizations of regions that still lack broadband. Dr. Mike Flaxman, head of product at HEAVY.AI joins me on TechTalks Daily to discuss how utilizing GPU-powered advanced data analytics and visualization can help to close the digital divide and shares different use cases for the technology.

Amit Bareket, CEO of client Perimeter 81, just helped secure a $100 million Series C funding round for the company, making them one of the latest unicorns in the cybersecurity industry. He's a former operative of Unit 8200. Perimeter 81 simplifies corporate network security with its Security Service Edge (SSE) platform. As a holistic, cloud-based solution, Perimeter 81 allows organizations of all industries and sizes to efficiently support the decentralized, hybrid workplace while avoiding the cyber complexity that hurts IT's ability to defend corporate cloud and on-prem networks. I invited Amit on Tech Talks Daily to discuss the most significant cybersecurity risks businesses face and what they need to do differently to address them better. We also discuss why the zero-trust model is top of mind for security experts and explore a few practical ways businesses can begin to implement/think about zero trust.

Max Newlon is the President of BrainCo USA, a brain-computer interface company leading the way in biofeedback tech. FocusCalm is one of the company's verticals that uses neurofeedback to help users train and optimize their brains. When I sampled the FocusCalm headband myself, I quickly learned how active my brain was when I thought I relaxed. Thanks to neuroplasticity, our brain is always capable of change and is within our control. Max joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss how FocusCalm quantifies your brain state so you can measure your brain activity and learn to adjust it. He shares how anyone can learn to stay calm and change how they react in stressful situations or optimize their mental efficiency. We also discuss applications for workplace wellness and leadership mentality.

Benjamin Brial, the former Red Hat EMEA Cloud Manager and now Cycloid's founder. A company he created to help organisations aid the transition to the cloud by increasing their automation capabilities through a DevOps and hybrid cloud platform. With the rapid transition of organisations to cloud/multi cloud, businesses currently need more visibility and control over their servers. Cycloid helps organisations regain control of their cloud operations, limiting the energy being needlessly wasted by organizations. Benjamin shares insights from his time at Red Hat as GM of EMEA Cloud Manager. We also talk about Cycloid's launch of GreenOps, that will help organisations improve the sustainability of their cloud infrastructure by automating the process of turning servers on and off when not in use. We discuss how Cycloid is bringing businesses back to point zero by reverting their infrastructure back to code, offering greater control of deployed infrastructure and greater automation.

I recently came across the Talend Data Health Barometer, and one of the highlights of the report is that 97% of the respondents face challenges in using data. So I invited Nick Vigier, CISO at Talend, on the podcast to learn more about the research and explore the complex regulatory landscape, how it's evolving, and how organizations can navigate accelerated technological change to find their way through the data privacy quagmire. We discuss how many areas of the industry have been focusing on the wrong problem and how it's not about moving data from point A to point B. By contrast, we talk about why companies need to drive data health to enable data-driven business decisions with confidence that ultimately lead to successful business outcomes. Every company needs documented, universal standards on the quality, accessibility, and security of its data. We talk about how this helps the entire business reach a shared understanding of their data's reliability and accuracy. Once data standards are established, getting a pulse on the health of any business will be much easier. We also discuss whether data sovereignty is outdated or the last hurdle in the life cycle of the privacy policy and how it could open an opportunity to refer to the establishing data excellence use case where data governance plays a central role. About Nick Nick is a technology and security leader focused on innovation to drive business results. In his 18 years of security leadership, he has focused on building high performance teams to ensure security is a business driver rather than a cost center. His focus on all areas of security ranging from physical security to risk management through to application security, infrastructure security, and operations gives him a unique perspective on how security can positively impact an organization.

The GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications Association) represent the interests of the global mobile industry. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators, as well as more than 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organizations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating and creating new opportunities for its members, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry. I recently caught up with Barbara Pareglio, Executive Director for Advanced Air Mobility and IoT Technical Director, GSMA at this year's MWC in Las Vegas to discuss advancing the 5G Era Benefits and the opportunities 5G-Advanced will unlock. Listen in as we discuss why 5G-Advanced is important and how the GSMA helps to spread knowledge and accelerate the adoption of 5G-Advanced. Barbara also shares the activities the GSMA is doing in relation to 5G evolution and how people can join the GSMA. Spanning 219 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world's mobile operators and more than 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers, Internet companies, and media and entertainment organizations. The GSMA is focused on innovating, incubating, and creating new opportunities for its members, all with the end goal of driving the growth of the mobile communications industry. About Barbara Barbara has over 20 years of experience in the mobile industry. She has been part of the GSMA Internet of Things Programme since 2014, working on several aspects of the IoT such as the development of the Mobile IoT Technologies (LTE-M, NB-IoT), GSMA IoT Security Guidelines, GSMA Drone Interest Group and looking at a variety of emerging technologies, like machine learning/AI and edge computing, for helping the mobile industry to create trusted solutions for the IoT. Before joining the GSMA Barbara worked in R&D in several areas of telecommunications, including Intelligent Networks, IMS, Service Enabling and M2M/IoT. She also participates in and actively contributed to several standards. About GSMA Internet of Things The GSMA Internet of Things helps operators to fully realise the opportunity in the IoT, operators must deliver secure IoT networks as well as scalable value-added data services for the world's industry and machines beyond connectivity. This is to be achieved by industry collaboration, appropriate regulation, optimising networks as well as developing key enablers to support the growth of IoT. Webinar: Advancing the 5G Era – Benefits and Opportunity of 5G-Advanced

Valued at $4.3bn, you may have seen the Arctic Wolf logo adorning the Oracle Red Bull F1 race car this year or as a sponsor of the Wolves football club. But the business provides security operation services and does more than just help these specific partners with their security issues. Ian McShane, VP of Strategy, has over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity. A former Gartner analyst, Ian has advised some of the world's largest and fastest-growing companies. He can talk about all facets of the cybersecurity industry and is not afraid to call out bad practices when he sees them. Ian also discusses new Arctic Wolf research, which has found that UK organisations are being put in a precarious and unsecure position, with over a quarter (27%) of respondents stating they don't feel knowledgeable enough as an individual to spot a cyber threat. The critical nature of these revelations becomes even more apparent when noting the report also discovered that 30% of cybersecurity workers claim they don't know how to use their organisation's security tools effectively.

Like it or not, we are all in the digital experience business. We demand it as consumers and enterprises are challenged with continuously raising the bar to keep consumers coming back for more. But doing this at every stage of the customer journey can be incredibly daunting. Sitecore is a company unifying data, content, commerce, and experiences to empower brands like L'Oréal, Microsoft, and United Airlines to deliver unforgettable interactions across every touchpoint. The company also has a big event in Chicago called Symposium, where Mindy Kaling will speak. There will also be 100+ sessions with top global brands sharing how they are creating digital experiences. This week, Sitecore released its 2022 U.S. Holiday Report with Paige O'Neill, Sitecore CMO, advising, "This season, shoppers will seek out brands that offer competitive pricing, buy-now-pay-later options, and low-cost shipping. Brands that empathize with consumers' inflation-forced financial constraints and focus on meeting their needs by delivering content that focuses on value and shows authentic empathy — where they can — will come out ahead this holiday season. In today's Tech Talks Daily Podcast episode, Paige shares insights from the Reality of Holiday Shopping research and reveals what we can expect at Sitecore's Symposium 2022 event. About Paige Paige brings over 20 years of experience in senior marketing roles crossing many areas of enterprise software, customer experience, and cloud computing. As Chief Marketing Officer, she combines product marketing expertise with an extensive background in communications and a passion for developing thought leadership programs that build awareness, differentiation, and demand. Prior to joining Sitecore, Paige was CMO at digital workplace platform provider Prysm, where she rebranded the company and helped it transition to a combined SaaS and hardware business. She previously served as CMO at SDL and as Vice President of Marketing for Aprimo, where her thought leadership, demand generation, and communications programs contributed to rapid growth. Paige also served as CMO at PHH Arval and two early-stage startups—Aravo and GreenRoad Technologies. Prior to PHH, Paige spent a decade at Oracle Corporation leading a variety of marketing initiatives.

CityFibre is building a new generation of Full Fibre infrastructure for the UK - a network capable of transforming the digital capabilities of citizens and businesses, sparking innovation, and underpinning our economy in a gigabit age. In a recent report in collaboration with Hatch, they identified over £38bn in potential economic benefits, derived over fifteen years, stemming from CityFibre's rollout of future-proof Full Fibre infrastructure in 285 cities, towns, and villages in England and Scotland. Rob Hamlin discusses the importance of Full Fibre, how this impacts how we live and other industry trends, including 5G, and the economic benefits of a Full Fibre Britain.

The job of defending against increasingly advanced threats on a daily and hourly basis is causing more problems than ever with The Great Cybersecurity Resignation plaguing industries across the world. New research reveals that 49% of UK C-Suite leaders have considered quitting the industry due to stress, with the primary issues being an unrelenting threat from ransomware and the expectations to always be on call or available. However, there is greater awareness that AI-enabled tools can effectively combat sophisticated attacks such as ransomware. For example, 79% would rather depend on AI than humans to hunt threats, and 47% agree that "they need greater automation through AI/ML to improve security operations." So, how can AI reduce the burden put on security teams? Justin Vaughan-Brown, VP of Market Insight at Deep Instinct, joins me in a conversation about how AI can be used to reduce the stress experienced by security teams. We discuss why there is so much stress and pressure placed on the C-Suite and the fear felt by those whose decision it is to pay ransom demands. I learn more about how organizations can stop a cycle of stress and prevent themselves from becoming the victims of ransomware attacks in the first place. Finally, Justin explains why AI has the potential to reduce critical productivity challenges like reducing false positives that will allow teams to focus their time and resources on more critical cyber defense issues.

In today's episode of Tech Talks Daily, Olof Liberg from Ericsson joins me in a discussion about how the telecoms industry is aligning around 5G-advanced to support immersive reality, evolving IoT, and sustainability. Olof Liberg is a researcher and program Manager at Ericsson's department for Standards & Technologies. Olof joined Ericsson in 2008 and specialized in designing and standardizing cellular radio access technologies. He is currently leading Ericsson's 3GPP radio access network standardization team. Olof holds a bachelor's degree in Business and Economics and a master's degree in Engineering Physics, both from Uppsala University.

From social services to the NHS, most public sector organizations have been feeling the strain of funding cuts, staff shortages, and a lack of end-to-end digital transformation over the past few years. Now, with record numbers leaving to work elsewhere and services increasingly squeezed by inflation, public sector organizations are facing their biggest challenges. Satpal Biant, Head of Public Sector, UK & Ireland at SAP joins me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast in a conversation about how technology is the key to modernizing the management of staff working on the frontline. We explore how it could play a key role in halting this mass exodus from the public sector in the months and years ahead. We also discuss how technology can streamline the administration, management, and operation of staff working on the frontline. We discuss the importance of facilitating greater communication between managers and employees and how this can lead to an improved understanding of staff wellbeing and morale. But also how HR software, including sentiment analysis and automation, can play a key role in tracking and understanding employee sentiment.

In this podcast, I pride myself on sharing stories from all over the world and have interviewed guests from more than 75 countries. Today, I am going to take you on a trip to the Netherlands to speak with Jasper van Horssen who will share his startup story. In less than two years, he bootstrapped Dxfferent; a Dutch Top Ranked IT Consultancy company, to more than $1M. We also discuss how Autotask PSA is one of the top project management systems in the world and how it helps manage employees, clients, projects, tasks etc in an easy way. Jasper also shares how he helps businesses with the best practices to implement Autotask PSA in a business.

AFEX is building the physical and technology-enabled infrastructure for the continent's commodity sector to provide access to markets and unlock capital for smallholder farmers, processors, and export operations. Its technology-enabled solutions provide traceability and transparency that ensures shared prosperity between soft commodity producers, processors, and investors. Akintunde Akinyink shares how AFEX is aiming to help the continent feed itself by boosting food security and making food production more efficient, closely aligning its company goals with the UN SDGs, in particular no poverty, ending hunger, gender equality, decent work, and economic growth, and responsible consumption I learn more about how AFEX has created the largest network of warehouses in Nigeria and Kenya with 130 warehouses, securitizing physical commodities through its electronic warehouse receipts, which can be traded on the exchange through its proprietary electronic trading platform.

Creative thinking—humankind's unique ability to combine unrelated and abstract ideas—has been utilized in countless ways since the dawn of humanity. Every day, people in creative and non-creative fields take advantage of creative thinking to reach all kinds of goals, personally and professionally. Joey Cofone, founder of Baronfig and author of The Laws of Creativity: Unlock Your Originality and Awaken Your Creative Genius, joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to share the inspiring tech startup story behind Baronfig. We all began our lives creative, and many let go of it as they got older. But how can you reawaken your creative side? Together we dispel the myth that only a select few people are creative. In his book, Joey defines creativity, how it works, and how you can harness it in your everyday life. He demystifies the creative process by uncovering the thinking and science behind it. We explore the 39 laws that contain illuminating concepts and powerful instruction. Each law is illustrated with inspiring, enlightening, and surprising stories of iconic creators across history—including Albert Einstein, Serena Williams, Martin Luther King Jr., Harry Houdini, Grace Hopper, Bruce Lee, and many more by simply breaking down how they wielded creativity to reach incredible heights.

After the fourth GDPR anniversary, what's changed since its inception? And what is the best way forwards for companies to navigate the complexity? These are just a few topics that I explore with Dave Horton from Odaseva. We discuss the API challenges of backing up SaaS data, data subject access requests, and right of access. We also talk about how residency-as-a-service helps organizations navigate complex and evolving Data residency laws, e.g., PIPL in China. Finally, we discuss ransomcloud – what it is, attackers' techniques, which organizations are most at risk, and how preparation is key for organizations to protect themselves.

Have you heard James Blake's album version of Wind Down done in collaboration with sound and wellness company, Endel? Inspired by the science of sound and sleep, Wind Down is a prelude to bedtime, helping listeners shift gradually from the activity of day to the calm of night. It uses the same AI technology and sounds found in the adaptive experience, available exclusively in Endel apps for iOS, Android, Mac, Apple TV, and Amazon Alexa. It's no secret that more and more people are turning towards ambient music as an effective tool to help improve relaxation, focus, movement and sleep. What is interesting about the Wind Down album in particular is that it is the first ambient music album constructed via AI to be released by a Universal label. Blake's musical artistry blends seamlessly with Endel's patented AI technology. This method of composition has the ability to give ambient music an enhanced functional edge that is actually backed by neuroscience. This prompts a bigger question: Has AI technology ushered in a new era of ambient music that can more effectively serve specific wellness and mental health purposes? Oleg Stavitsky, CEO & Co-Founder at Endeljoins me in exploring the answer to this question as we discuss the growing intersection of science, technology, sound, and wellness. If you are interested in trying Endel for free for 1 month, Oleg kindly shares the following link that unlocks a free 1-month subscription, no card is needed. https://code.endel.io/?code=dailytech

In recent years, thousands of companies have voluntarily pledged to meet sustainability targets, but many of them likely lack the knowledge and the tools to properly measure progress and how to optimise their carbon and energy footprints. Honeywell is working to help solve this problem with its new Carbon & Energy Management, a carbon energy management software, that enables building owners to track and optimise energy performance against carbon reduction goals, down to a device or asset level. Companies face increasing pressure today – from stakeholders as well as regulatory agencies – to curb energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions and create more sustainable, healthier facilities. There's an urgent reason for this: commercial buildings currently account for almost a third of global energy consumption and 37% of global energy-related CO2 emissions. While 28% of those emissions are related to building operations – or the energy used to heat, cool and power the building – many building owners likely don't have device or asset level insight into energy consumption or carbon impact. Through using the Honeywell Forge enterprise performance management software solution's artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms, Carbon & Energy Management autonomously identifies and implements energy conservation measures to help drive efficiency, resiliency and accountability throughout a real estate portfolio. It continuously investigates, analyses, and optimises building performance, down to an asset-specific level, measuring critical sustainability KPIs including carbon emissions. Manish Sharma, VP & general manager of sustainable building technologies at Honeywell, joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss this topic in more detail.

With the hyper digitalisation of business, electronic signatures have become a necessity. Contracts are a crucial element of every business; when overlooked, they can be detrimental, especially when renewal season comes around. And, as we feel the fallout of Brexit, businesses need to ensure their service agreements, employment contracts, etc., are all up to scratch, or it could mean lost revenue and costly legal penalties. Ronan Copeland, Group Vice President & General Manager EMEA at DocuSign, joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss the present and future of digital identities. In addition, we explore how AI can be implemented to improve and augment workflows, freeing employees to focus on creative or strategic priorities. We also discuss how paper contracts are not only outdated but dangerous and the value of AI and automation in the context of contract lifecycle management. But how implementing CLM and AI-driven tools could make a business more agile and impact a business's bottom line As we look to the future, we talk about how many people now see automation and the integration of ML and AI into our daily working lives as the next frontier of the future of work. I learn how these technologies will reshape the way we work and how leaders are overcoming the fear factor when integrating AI in the workplace.

In KPMG's recent UK CEO Outlook Survey, 81% of leaders said that protecting their partner ecosystem and supply chain is just as important as building their own organisation's cyber defences. Given the numerous high-profile supply chain cyber-attacks seen in 2021, this will not come as a surprise. However, as enterprises continue to prioritise digital transformation, the sharing of data throughout a complex and connected ecosystem of partners and suppliers will only get more convoluted. Already, they have incredibly complex ecosystem structures and may not have clear obligations for establishing adequate controls to protect their partners' data, leaving the entire network vulnerable to cyberattacks. Furthermore, existing vetting processes for suppliers requires tremendous and perhaps infeasible due diligence by each ecosystem partner. Some existing approaches aren't even fit for purpose. As a result, many businesses, third-party vendors, and even regulators are under increased pressure to provide continuous assurance over the security of their ecosystems. This is only going to become more challenging as the complexity of the supplier ecosystem increases, and fourth parties, shadow-IT, and a lack of SaaS provider oversight demand more and more attention.

As Google announces its intention to test new AR glasses prototypes, the reality that AR may be our future is finally starting to settle in. Unlike the traditional virtual reality (VR) metaverse we have come to know, augmented reality (AR) technology gives users the best of both worlds, merging the real world with the technological advances, interactivity, and information of the web. OVER, is a company building the first augmented reality open metaverse and enabling users to create unique geolocalised experiences that bridge the gap between our physical and digital worlds. Utilising world-class, community driven 3D mapping, OVER provides users and builders alike with the opportunity to own AR metaverse real estate, map their local areas to earn OVR tokens, and explore Web3 like never before. In light of this recent announcement and the growing groundswell for information related to the emerging AR market, I invited Diego De Tommaso, Co-founder, and COO of OVER to join me on Tech Talks Daily to share his story and vision for the future.

Stevie Hopkins – CEO and founder of merch company SCP, shares the inspirational story that began with him working with big names such as Billie Eilish, Freddie Gibbs, and Louis the Child. Here in 2022, we discuss how he is building an NFT-powered, fan-guided community that will resemble a city in its cultural complexity and offerings called Dropolis. From Hopkins' professional career in merchandising and fan engagement, he has seen the massive potential web3 can have for those often unseen in the existing community. So he is bringing that idea to those interested in everything from music, food, and fashion, offering up IRL experiences/physical rewards through NFT drops. Building a "city-like" structure removes the facade and narrative NFT projects have created for web3. This way, finding a home for NFTs makes an authentic-safe space for everyone. Something Hopkins believes web3 has longed for. I learn how Dropolis will be nothing like you've seen as it breaks through the chaotic noise of digital collectible marketplaces lacking tangible, real-life experiences.

Software intelligence company Dynatrace (NYSE: DT) recently announced the findings of an independent global survey of 1,300 chief information security officers (CISOs) in large-size organizations. The research reveals that the speed and complexity created by using multi-cloud environments, multiple coding languages, and open-source software libraries make vulnerability management more difficult. In addition, 75% of CISOs say that despite having a multi-layered security posture, persistent coverage gaps allow vulnerabilities into production. The report highlights the growing need for observability and security to converge, paving the way toward AISecDevOps practices. This will empower organizations with a more effective way of managing vulnerabilities at runtime and the ability to detect and block attacks in real-time. Daniel Kaar joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss these findings in more detail.

Bill Burns from Zebra Technologies defines what the on-demand economy is and what it takes to be a successful business and leader in it. We also discuss why reacting faster in an on-demand environment is no longer good enough and how leaders in major industries – like retail, logistics/warehousing, and healthcare – can plan better for what's coming next. Finally, we explore what emerging technologies or techniques organizations can use to have a more accurate picture of what's happening in their business and move forward with innovation strategies and digital transformation initiatives. About Bill Burns Bill Burns joined Zebra in 2015 and today leads the product & solutions group. In his role, Mr. Burns oversees product and solutions strategy, investments, and development operations for the company's expansive technology portfolio which includes mobile computing, specialty printers, data capture solutions, location solutions, and intelligent edge solutions. Mr. Burns is also responsible for the chief technology office - focused on emerging technologies and solution incubation. Mr. Burns has more than 25 years of experience in the high-tech sector. Before joining Zebra, he served as chief executive officer of Embrane, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital-backed startup Cisco acquired in April 2015. Before joining Embrane, Mr. Burns served as chief executive officer of Spirent Communications, a global leader in test and measurement solutions publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange. He has also held various executive and sales leadership roles at Tellabs, Inc., now Coriant.

Pool CEO Shiv Malik - a technologist, award-nominated broadcaster, author of two books, former Guardian investigative journalist, and co-founder of the Intergenerational Foundation think tank joins me on Tech Talks Daily. UK-based Pool, currently valued at $39m, is building a data marketplace and associated payment rails for new data-sharing entities called data unions. These new data-sharing organisations seek to leverage shifts in privacy, the end of consumer data following Chrome's deletion of third-party cookies, and new EU rules for data portability which are due to come into effect next year. The most powerful companies on Earth are those who monopolise vast swaths of humanity's information. Pool's purpose is to redistribute the control and value of that knowledge and thereby completely reconstitute power relationships in the political economy of the 21st century. I learn how Pool is doing this by taking an old-fashioned organisational structure - the trust - and evolving it with Web3 technology to make it fit for the digital era. This straightforward model allows Data Unions to align incentives around data creation. It's why the model is backed not just by EU regulators through the upcoming Data Governance Act.

Biotechnology is leading the most important scientific revolution since computing. R&D is the key to unleashing biotechnology's potential to transform our world radically, but software hasn't kept up with science. Scientists deserve and urgently need technology that's designed for what they do. But I invited Paul Robson to join me on the podcast to discuss how Benchling R&D Cloud is built for scientific work. We talk about the shortcomings currently present within life sciences R&D that inspired its creation and the role of the cloud, and how its transforming R&D in life sciences to speed up scientific discoveries, including Covid-19 research. About Paul Paul Robson is Head of Field Operations at Benchling, overseeing all aspects of global sales, from deployment and customer success to strategic partnerships and regional expansion. Paul brings more than 25 years of experience scaling high-performing field organizations. Most recently, as President of International at Adobe, he led global business across 160 countries. He joined Adobe in 2011 and played a key role in the company's transformation from packaged desktop software to a cloud subscription model. Prior to Adobe, Paul held leadership roles at Hewlett-Packard and Compaq. Paul is an advisory member on Telecoms and Technology for UK Trade & Investment and board member of techUK. Originally from Australia, Paul graduated from Western Sydney University and holds graduate degrees from INSEAD and University of Helsinki.

Unity is the world's leading platform for creating and operating interactive real-time 3D content and one of the main drivers within the XR space as the evolution of the internet continues. By using technology such as AR, Unity has the digital tools to bring this parallel world to life to help create beautiful, immersive experiences that engage from the very first pixels. Antonia Forster, Unity's Senior XR Technical Specialist joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss everything from "the metaverse" and emerging technology to business cases for VR/AR to my work on the LGBTQ+ VR Museum. About Antonia Antonia Forster is an award-winning VR/AR developer, TEDx speaker, and advocate for women, LGBTQ+ people, and marginalised voices in tech. A self-taught coder with expertise in emerging and immersive technology, Antonia is Senior XR Technical Specialist at Unity; and the founder of DiVRse Technologies Ltd, an innovation studio "using virtual worlds to change the real world for the better". Antonia has also been shortlisted for Nature's John Maddox Prize, the WiIT Advocate of the Year award, and won the YTKO Breaking Barriers award for her impactful work; including the creation of the world's first LGBTQ+ VR museum, which won Tribeca Film Festival's New Voices Award.

Arne Schepker is Babbel's CEO, the world's top-grossing language learning platform. But I wanted to learn more about how he has leveraged technology and implemented a rather exciting approach to growing his business. Babbel is a whole ecosystem of language learning offerings, with over 10 million subscriptions sold and over 60,000 courses for 14 languages. Arne joined Babbel as CMO in 2015, and later became CEO in 2019, successfully scaling it from a start-up of 250 employees to a household brand, with now 750 employees across more than 60 nationalities. Arne is passionate about the transparency and authenticity of the Babbel workplace. Before he took up the position of CEO, he did job shadowing every single team at Babbel to experience what his colleagues were going through daily. Overall, this played a pivotal role in helping him better understand the necessary measures required to scale and grow his business even further. Arne joins me o Tech Talks Daily to share how Babbel evolved its services from a mobile app to a multi-product ecosystem and how the pandemic ultimately digitized skill building. We also discussed the importance of integrating diversity and inclusion guidelines into your work culture and product offering and how to maintain a positive workplace culture across a team of over 750 employees in a tech company.

Ryan Wines has consistently advocated for creators, makers, and artists and once gave a TED Talk about leading creatives amidst a modern landscape. Today, the founder and CEO of Marmoset shares the story of turning this bootstrapped startup into industry-leading tech-powered music licensing company. I learn more about how they set out to become the Patagonia of music licensing, bring transparency into the industry, and how Web 3.0 will impact the future of music licensing. We discuss Track Club: Marmoset's subscription app for the creator economy. The platform knows what creators need when they look for music. As a rule, they want to get in, get exceptional music, and get out quickly — and they want the music to feel custom-made for their content. We also discuss MixLab: Track Club's new stem mixer technology, empowering creators to mix, arrange & produce music.

CircleCI is one of the biggest players in a relatively unknown but increasingly important corner of the developer world known as Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD). Its value lies in giving companies like Samsung, Ford Motor Company, Spotify, Lyft, Coinbase, and Stitch Fix the ability to release software more frequently to constantly improve features and function. In today's episode, I am joined by Rob Zuber, CTO at CircleCI, a position he has held since 2014. As a 20-year veteran of software startups, a four-time founder, and a five-time CTO, Rob has the technical software knowledge and proven leadership in managing infrastructure and engineering operations. Since joining CircleCI, Rob has seen the company through multiple funding rounds and an acquisition while leading a team of 200+ engineers distributed worldwide. Rob discusses how the constant pressure to innovate faster and the competition for developer talent is leading companies to look towards no-code and low-code solutions to help developers get more done. We also discuss how this might be building tools for people who already know how to make software but neglecting those who don't want to be programmers. We also explore CircleCI's 2022 State of Software Delivery Report, highlighting the state of software delivery and providing insights into the qualities of the most successful engineering teams. Finally, we discuss why organizations need to stop focusing on hiring talent based on degrees and qualifications, what it means to be a good coder and the benefits of diverse dev teams.

Zapata Computing is a Boston-based company that branched out from Harvard, where its founders pioneered the field of near-term quantum algorithms. As a leading enterprise software company for quantum solutions, Zapata Computing is helping various industries prepare for a quantum future. Christopher Savoie discusses what companies can do to be quantum-ready, what a quantum future could look like, the industries that can benefit from quantum (including supply chain, automotive, security, etc.), and potential use cases for quantum. Christopher also shares exciting insights from their partnership with Andretti Autosport.

Dirk Schrader, VP of security research at Netwrix, joins me on The Tech Talks Daily Podcast to discuss the cybersecurity firm's latest research into cloud vulnerabilities and what more organizations can do to better protect data in the cloud. Dirk shares insights from Netwrix's new Cloud Security Report. The report's findings show that 88 percent of UK organizations store sensitive data in the cloud, where it can be left vulnerable to cyberattacks. Of this data, 65 percent was personally identifiable information (PII) of customers, 42 percent was the PII of company employees, and 31 percent was corporate financial information. Furthermore, threats to this data were ubiquitous, with 52 percent of surveyed UK companies reporting a cyberattack on their cloud infrastructure within the last 12 months. Of these attacks, phishing was the most widespread at 69 percent of reported incidents, followed by account compromise at 35 percent and targeted attacks against cloud infrastructure at 31 percent. In this climate of constant cybersecurity risk, 65 percent of UK respondents named integration with the existing IT environment as the main factor that slows down cloud adoption in their organizations. In the interview, Dirk also discusses the research findings and what more companies can do to take full advantage of the cloud and all it can bring while remaining safe from cloud cyber risk.

Wärtsilä Voyage develops the technology that enables the maritime industry's digital transformation. Responsible for the carriage of around 90% of world trade, shipping is the lifeblood of the global economy. Sarah Barret shares with me how the industry is waking up to the reality of data-enabled decision-making and how it holds the key to optimizing every vessel and voyage. I learned more about how the volume of data we have at our fingertips has never been greater, but as more data is generated, it becomes increasingly complex to store, manage, and analyze. Finally, Sarah discusses how data can help connect the dots across the entire maritime ecosystem and how shipowners and operators can use data to their advantage. Wärtsilä Voyage has also developed a whitepaper outlining seven key benefits of data-driven decision-making in the maritime industry. The benefits include achieving long-term regulatory compliance, enabling transparency and accountability, allowing for timely decisions to optimize operations, and providing greater tracking of iterative changes. These offer feedback loops to support shipping's data evolution, augmenting crew activity and ultimately unlocking commercial benefits.

Elijah Allan-Blitz and Brie Larson have an innovative recently released on Disney+ called REMEMBERING. The short film uses first-of-its-kind technology via a companion Augmented Reality app that allows viewers to interact with the story by scanning the TV to extend the World of Imagination into your room. Elijah joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss REMEMBERING, the technology behind it, why it was created, and the inspiration behind it. I also learned more about how Brie & Elijah's VR experience, The Messy Truth, won them an Emmy in 2020. We discuss bringing the future of storytelling to audiences through innovative technology -- a pillar that is core to their joint production company, The Great Unknown Productions.

The future is electric. The automobile and the supporting industries are investing heavily in electric battery technology, testing, and manufacturing. This is happening locally in the Detroit area as well as abroad. Leaders in the industry are saying we are at the beginning of an Electrical Revolution. At HED, they believe great design is about thinking creatively to overcome challenges and improve tangible outcomes. So, I wanted to learn more about how they improve every facet of design, from architecture, consulting, engineering, and planning to creating a positive impact through responsive, innovative, and sustainable design solutions. Todd Drouillard shares how technology and facility updates are changing how organizations conduct business. We also discuss how the pandemic and increased shipping issues have forced companies to rethink their real estate needs. Finally, we explore how manufacturers are investing in new and existing facilities to build products in the United States.

DIMO is an open platform that connects data producers (like cars) and consumers (applications and businesses) to unlock next-generation mobility services. So I invited Andy Chatham to join me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss the converging tech trends around cars, IoT, data, crypto, and software development. Andy Chatham has worked in the mobility industry for ten years, overseeing some of the largest autonomous and electric vehicle fleets and developing software used by millions of passengers. Before DIMO, he managed a team of hundreds of people working on Waymo, Google's self-driving car division. He's also worked in many other areas of mobility, assisting transportation and real estate partners in leveraging emerging technology and deploying mobility-as-a-service solutions. We explore the future of mobility for transit-dense cities, reinventing the digital infrastructure for moving objects, the importance of growing decentralized IoT networks and how blockchain and IoT technologies are powering innovation in the auto industry.