Tech Talks Daily

The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance was formed in July 2012 to address the lack of interoperability among strong authentication technologies and remedy the problems users face with creating and remembering multiple usernames and passwords. By harnessing the collective expertise of hundreds of leading technology, consumer services, and government organizations, the FIDO Alliance enables simpler and stronger online experiences and more secure online identities and services. Did you know that every device you open right now has FIDO and WebAuthn through a simple API? FIDO Executive Director/CMO Andrew Shikiar discusses how the FIDO Alliance recognized a need for service provider help with User Experience, and for FIDO to take off, it needed some common elements to drive the change. I learn how Top Tech Design Engineers and UX Leads from companies such as VISA, Wells Fargo, Facebook, JP Morgan Chase, and Microsoft were involved in shaping the new UX guidelines and formed the UX Taskforce. Authentication is moving towards less dependence on knowledge and more on inherent authentication. I learn more about their mission to let people log in the same way they unlock their devices and make access easy for everyone by offering a standardized way of doing it.

Anthony Caiafa, Chief Technology Officer at SS&C Technologies joins me in a conversation about how automation and AI can help the finance industry's burnout problem, further exasperated by the pandemic and the loom of a hybrid workforce. We also talk about where technology fits in to revolutionize the traditional wealth and asset manager role, and the reception from Wall Street to these broadening tech capabilities. Anthony is a technology leader and innovator with a deep understanding and experience across the entire stack. SS&C has emerged as the largest hedge fund, private equity, and transfer agency in the world, growing to over 25K employees, 18K+ clients, and over 200+ products and solutions in its portfolio, in its 35 years in operation. I also learn more about how it is rooting itself first as a technology company, and always looking to bring automation, advanced technology, and digital transformation to a traditionally antiquated industry known for being slow adopters amidst mass regulations and compliance restrictions.

Recent research by the Bank of Ireland reveals that many people have become accidental savers during the Covid-19 crisis. Understandably, half of those surveyed want to build up a rainy day fund for the future. Moreover, within today's climate of low interest rates and high living costs, many are considering investing as a way to make their money go further. Offering a new investment alternative for the Irish market, BUX, Europe's fastest-growing neobroker, officially launched its zero-commission investing app, BUX Zero, in Ireland this week, making it the first exclusively mobile platform to offer investing in the country. The arrival of BUX Zero in Ireland promises to make investing easier and more affordable through commission-free investing. In addition, BUX aims to remedy the findings that only 23% of people claim to have sufficient knowledge of markets and investment options. It is a platform that provides intuitive tools to start investing and educational content that helps users to invest responsibly. Yorick Naeff, CEO of BUX, joins me on the podcast to share the story behind the company. I also learn how BUX's flagship platform, BUX Zero, is making commission-free investing more accessible and allows users to invest in the companies they believe in.

Captiv8 CEO and co-founder Krishna Subramanian joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share his tech journey. Krishna is an expert in mobile advertising. Before creating Captiv8 in 2015, he was a co-founder at BlueLithium, an online advertising network that Yahoo acquired for $300 million after becoming the fifth largest ad network in the US and the second-largest in the UK. He then went on to co-found Mobclix, a mobile ad exchange network, which went on to be acquired by Velti, where Krishna then became the CMO. Captiv8 started as a social listening tool and has grown to become a leading Influencer Marketing company that offers a fully self-service, AI-powered platform and a managed service marketplace. We also discuss their partnership with LiveRamp to turn brands' first-party data into scalable influencer campaigns.

Emily Snell, President of Allstate Identity Protection, joins me on Tech Talks Daily. Allstate Identity Protection, formerly known as InfoArmor, has been a leader in the employee benefits space for over 13 years and provides advanced identity and privacy protection to more than 30% of the Fortune 500. Emily shared her insights into how identity theft impacts businesses. We discuss how personal data is most commonly stolen from employees and what costs employers incur from these breaches. We also discuss why and how companies should better protect employees and themselves against identity theft.

Alois Reitbauer, VP, Chief Technical Strategist, and Head of Innovation Lab at Dynatrace, returns to Tech Talks Daily to discuss how forging stronger links between business and academia will drive the next wave of digital innovation. Alois has 20 years of software experience, starting as a developer before moving into tech strategy. Passionate about all things tech, he is also a co-chair for the App Delivery Special Interest Group for the CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation). In his role as Head of Innovation Lab at Dynatrace, Alois is responsible for Dynatrace Research, which has a team made up of academic researchers from the University of Linz, Austria, and passionate software experts from Dynatrace, to spearhead research into future technologies that can solve the challenges facing the most advanced use cases for modern data systems. He shares why he believes this approach exemplifies the broader need for the IT industry to champion closer collaboration between business and academia, covering: Accelerating innovation – 89% of CIOs say digital transformation has accelerated, and 58% believe it will continue to speed up. However, organisations are struggling to keep up with this fast-paced innovation. Partnering with academia can help bring new knowledge, fresh thinking, and novel ways of working into a business to help accelerate the charge towards new digital frontiers. However, these partnerships are often viewed as a CSR initiative rather than being a core part of the R&D process, which limits their potential. Forging stronger links – Alois believes academic partnerships can drive more meaningful impact if they sit firmly within the business. This helps provide more direction and enables academic partners to dedicate research efforts to solving current or pressing business challenges, which can't be done in a classroom. Organisations should create joint innovation teams, including university researchers, developers, and other business stakeholders, with practical knowledge of the company's systems, processes, and vision. Think fast, build fast, learn fast – With access to real-world business experience and first-hand knowledge of the challenges organisations are trying to solve, academics can create solutions that truly change the world instead of developing a theory that takes years to be tested. This can help foster a 'think fast, build fast, fail fast' mentality that accelerates the pace of digital innovation and drives the next wave of transformation.

Josh Feast, MIT alumnus and CEO and co-founder of AI company, Cogito joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to share his story and how the human-AI relationship will define the future of work. We explore how we can extend ourselves with AI, teach AI to understand us better and create human-AI interactions that work in the moment. I learn more about how Cogito provides aware human technology to help professionals elevate their performance. Cogito's contact center AI instantly analyzes hundreds of conversational behaviors to provide live in-call guidance combined with a real-time measure of customer experience. The technology is augmenting the emotional intelligence of thousands of agents in the world's most successful enterprises – improving sales results, delivering world-class service and enhancing the quality of care. Backed by Goldman Sachs, Romulus Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. We also discuss how they produce innovative technology that drives customer success and helps people live more productive lives.

Today I have an inspirational tech startup story to share with a New York mom turned technology entrepreneur by turning her parenting into a passion! What makes her story stand out is she caught the eyes of leading investors like Sequoia Surge, Unilever Ventures, and Qualgro, who recently announced a $9 million investment into her company. Today's guest is Tamanna Dhamija. She founded Baby Destination after she had her first child a few years ago. The online parenting community she built grew into a community resource for 2 million parents. Tamanna and her co-founders saw that online communities were built and managed by passionate people, but they could not monetize these passions into a source of income. This insight led them to create Convosight, which built the technology tools to help community managers on Facebook, Reddit, and Discord to earn from their passion and drive the creation of the passion economy. In the last year, Convosight's community members grew exponentially from 34 million to 300 million. In the last 12 months, Convosight has also made nearly $1 million in payouts to community managers. Tamanna shares her inspirational story and the role that tech plays in bringing online communities together.

The customer journey is blurring the line between digital and physical experiences. Therefore, retailers should look to create consistent, convenient, and inspirational customer experiences in their brick-and-mortar stores while providing the physical touch, engagement, and interaction with products. By investing in AR, VR, AI, and gesture technology, businesses can focus on improving omnichannel shopping experience to optimise engagement opportunities with customers both online and in-store, while also allowing the retailer to get to know the customer better and provide customised offerings such as personalised samples, loyalty points or discounts. I invited Valtech MD Chris Daplyn onto the podcast to share his insights into the technology guiding the future high street. Chris has over 20 years of experience in the digital agency landscape. He is a proven leader with a passion for bringing together diverse talent to connect brands and audiences in relevant and contemporary ways. Before joining Valtech, Chris has led the significant growth of several businesses as managing director of Wunderman, and most recently, as CEO of Mirum in Europe.

Steve Jiang, CEO, and co-founder of Hiretual, a leader in AI-powered recruitment software, joins me on Tech Talks Daily. Steven's background is far from ordinary. From growing up in a small rural town in China to becoming a pioneer leader in his industry, he always possessed a steadfast dedication to differentiate himself from his peers - leading him to build an innovative company in his own vision. As companies around the country experience the crisis to find candidates for their job openings (9.3 million job openings, to be exact), now more than ever is the time to find the right tools to help fill the gap. I learn more about how Hiretual's software can help transform the recruiting process for companies across the board – it has even become a key resource for those in the recruiting and sourcing industry by helping businesses cut their sourcing time by as much as 80%. Steven shares why AI is helping the post-pandemic hiring market, his experience in the technology and recruiting industry, and the story behind the creation of Hiretual.

Retailers such as Walmart entered the financial services space when it launched a payment app that allows Mexican customers to receive remittances from the US. With global professionals wanting to send home payments back home to their families, I wanted to explore how the remittance market is heating up. With Remity filing to go public and BayaniPay's partnership with BDO Bank and Seafood City there seems to be a growing number of trends that I wanted to talk about. Los Angeles-based BayaniPay recently launched a new borderless digital banking service in partnership with BDO Unibank, the largest bank in the Philippines, and Seafood City, a large US-based Filipino supermarket chain. Through the service and partnership, the companies offer millions of Asian Americans a low-cost, frictionless way to send money to their families back in their homelands, pay bills and conduct online transactions. BayaniPay takes its name from ""Bayani,"" the Filipino word for "hero"—a term often used to describe global professionals in their home countries. Born out of a partnership between inclusion tech venture studio Talino Ventures and leading Asian American multimedia publisher The Asian Journal, BayaniPay received funding from Wavemaker Partners, a cross-border venture capital firm investing in early-stage startups in the United States and Southeast Asia. Winston Damarillo is the co-founder and CEO of BayaniPay. He joins me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast to share BayaniPay's mission to use technology to break down the borders in banking and level the playing field for all global citizens.

The lack of confidentiality and privacy on blockchains is obvious. It hampers blockchain technology's disruptive potential as a WEB 3.0 platform supporting value transfer, especially in an increasingly interconnected and data-reliant world. Dr. Kurt Nielsen, PhD, President of Partisia Blockchain, believes that industry players need to take urgent action to safeguard privacy considerations. Kurt and the team at Partisia Blockchain are pioneering Multi-party computation technology (MPC), a type of distributed cryptography. While blockchain boasts increased security over personal data, MPC ensures that data remains confidential. Dr. Kurt Nielsen joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to discuss how the combination of MPC and blockchain will pave a trustworthy road for advanced solutions and greater peace of mind for internet users. We also talk about how Partisia Blockchain represents the first successful complete integration of blockchain technology with MPC, allowing for companies to interact with targeted individuals without compromising the users' confidential data. Finally, we chat about Partisia's recent fundraising round which saw $20m of investment, and their plans to use this funding to build an internet privacy infrastructure for the greater good.

Elisabeth Bohlmann joins me on the podcast to share her story and talk about how design drives technology. We explore the wearable ecosystem, the role of mobile applications for smart devices, and the strategic development of health and fitness apps. I also learn more about why Latin America is the perfect location for US startup growth. Elisabeth is VP of Client Strategy at December Labs, a high-touch Design & Development firm for mobile and web products that are at the frontline of innovation. She drives December Labs' expansion strategy and accompanies up-and-coming startups and enterprise companies towards scalable and continuous growth, making her a sought-out speaker for key industry events, such as CES or the Austin Startup Week, to top 100 tech, entrepreneur and product podcasts. With over a decade of leadership background in tech, digital marketing and international operations in addition to a degree in Economics from Bonn University in Germany, Elisabeth is a scrum-trained trilingual cross-functional marketing executive with a passion for design-thinking and integrating cutting-edge technologies into human-centered and value-driven solutions. She has developed and led projects for iconic brands such as Mattel, NBCUniversal, Food Network, and the NBA.

As an entrepreneur, Alon Braun is the founder of Neurotech Analytics and Riverbank Consulting. He has a passion for scaling enterprises and scientific innovations, especially in the deep tech industry. Articles by or about Alon have been featured in Inc Magazine, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Thrive Global. In addition, his new book, The Entrepreneur Journey: 8 Steps from Inspiration to Global Impact. Besides Alon's work in science and technology, his areas of expertise include business growth strategies, agile methodologies development, and decision-making consultation. Alon Braun is a master at decision making especially helping people make difficult decisions. One of the ways that he helps with this is that he is an expert in understanding cognitive hacks that allow you to maximize your cognitive load capacity such that people who have to make complex long-range decisions involving factors with which are difficult to measure, those decisions can be made optimally and using his technologies. In today's episode, we explore the topic of Neurotechnology and Biohacking. We discuss the cognitive limit to making decisions and how to bypass it to enhance your performance. We also talk about creating more purpose with memory hacks and Alon's unique methodology that combines mathematical rigor with holistic consideration of the values important to the entrepreneur.

iOS 15 is ending open rate tracking and bringing a fundamental change to 20-year-old email marketing best practices. Rytis Lauris, the co-founder and CEO of Omnisend shares his insights and actionable tips on how email marketers can get ready for this change, We discuss what is happening with the iOS15 update, what it means for email marketing, and how marketers can prepare for these changes. Rytis also shares tips & tricks about e-commerce email marketing, SMS marketing, and omnichannel marketing.

DarioHealth is a software as a service company that began for diabetes management and hypertension and recently branched out into musculoskeletal and behavioral health in 2021. The company has a compelling combination between medical devices and strong software capabilities integrated with health coaching. Data shows that 29% of people with a chronic condition have a behavioral health issue as well. DarioHealth, available to users worldwide, aims to offer a holistic platform for users not to use multiple applications to address needs. Omar Manejwala discusses how the software uses AI to encourage sustained behavior change in users. Finally, we discuss how the app offers remote patient monitoring and provides users with coaching and the motivation to manage their chronic condition, ultimately reducing healthcare costs.

The CFO role has been emphasized more than ever over the last 15 months. While reducing fear and uncertainty amongst employees and investors has always been a part of the job description, it became a major focal point during the pandemic. This intense focus led to a complete transformation of the role of finance/the CFO within many organizations, elevating it from a purely technical position to become a strategist and change agent within the company. Danielle Murcray, CFO at AttackIQ, shares firsthand how her role as a startup CFO has shifted to a far more strategic partnership with the CEO and the board. But while also playing an integral part in shaping the adoption of innovative technologies to aid in the security and prosperity of an increasingly distributed enterprise. Danielle also shares why proving the value of cybersecurity investments has never been more critical, and how the CISO/CTO and CFO can work together to understand how effectively they're detecting, alerting and blocking threats.

Hiroki Koga, CEO, and co-founder of Oishii, shares his inspirational story on today's episode of Tech Talks Daily. Oishii is the company behind the world's largest indoor vertical strawberry farm, where Hiroki is on a mission to transform the future of farming/agriculture and make the most delicious and healthy produce available to everyone. With continued tech innovations, indoor vertical farming is becoming a more sustainable farming practice and a better way to cultivate fruits/vegetables at any time of the year with less land and water. Hiroki and his team have been able to marry ancient Japanese farming techniques with modern AI/ML technologies, which has allowed them to produce their Omakase Berry. A Japanese varietal is known for its sweetness, creamy texture, and aroma. The Omakase Berry is an example of cultivating tasty, nutrient-rich fruits while keeping sustainability a top priority. Hiroki shares the technology behind the vertical farming world, the precise technologies needed, and its potential in providing communities with hyper-local and organic fruits/vegetables with little to no carbon footprint. I also learned how Oishii incorporated AI and machine learning technologies with rigorous farming practices to develop a first-of-its-kind pollination method conducted naturally with bees.

Andreas von Estorff is CEO and Founder of ModelManagement.com — a digital marketplace for models, talents, and influencers built on the principles of transparency, trust, and safety, helping clients around the world source models and talents for their projects. The ModelManagement.com ecosystem is trusted by over 1 million models and influencers worldwide; 50,000 brands such as Nike, H&M & Garnier, agencies and photographers; and is home to over 10 million model images. ModelManagement.com is leading the digital transformation of the modelling world while leveraging Artificial Intelligence and blockchain technology innovations to help models and their clients manage their image rights and payments with absolute confidence and clarity. To help aspiring models entering the space navigate the inherent industry challenges and risks, the company launched the Model Academy — an online educational course for industry newcomers led by seasoned models from the ModelManagement.com ecosystem. The company's 'More than Models' podcast also provides in-depth interviews with models and influencers, charting their career trajectories and providing invaluable advice to prospective talents.

Shant Kevonian is Chief Operating Officer of Olyseum — the star-led, virtual social engagement platform for fans and brands to trade and rent experiential Non-fungible Tokens (xNFTs). As COO, Shant works closely with Olyseum CEO Carlos Grenoir in directing the company's growth strategy while overseeing the business's day-to-day administrative and operational functions. During his distinguished career, Shant has excelled at creating proprietary algorithms and solutions geared towards scaling early and medium stage enterprises. Shant has demonstrated exceptional analytical, managerial, and technical acumen across several C-suite positions, including CTO of cang.eco — a marketplace for eco-conscious brands and sustainable products — and CTO of Youtiful.net — the carbon-neutral cosmetics brand and genesis platform that would subsequently launch cang.eco. An entrepreneur in his own right, Shant founded Prodcast.tv in 2018 — a fully integrated marketplace and live video-streaming platform delivering a dynamic video-shopping experience to consumers, providing a competitive alternative to Twitch and Amazon. Before this, Shant served as Head of R&D at Pippa&Jean — a social selling community geared towards empowering 100,000 women to start their own business and CTO of Deliverea — a cloud shipping management service that manages the logistics of users' e-commerce platforms. Shant is passionate about driving fan engagement forward through NFT and crypto innovations while leveraging technology as a force for good.

Ansys is the leader in engineering simulation technology that provides a multiphysics simulation solution leveraging high-fidelity physics, spanning a scale from silicon to the city, which includes: • Integrated chip package and system analysis. • Signal, power and optical integrity. • Antenna design, placement and integration. • RFI, EMI/EMC and de-sense mitigation and full communication analysis in electrically large and complex environments. • Open environment delivery for optimization, simulation data and process management, workflow customization, access to cloud and high-performance capacity (HPC). • Support of third-party integration for deployment across the enterprise. Larry Williams, Director of Technology shares how Ansys provides comprehensive simulation technology that is helping automakers tackle autonomous vehicle production and safety challenges — without the need for expensive prototypes or countless hours of test driving. In fact, autonomy in the automotive industry won't happen in our lifetime without simulation technology. To that end, Larry shares more insight into the future of space, the benefits of these recent major advancements, what implications these have on the environment, infrastructure, and consumer trust, and the significant challenges the industry is up against. I learn how Ansys works with over 45,000 customers worldwide and many of the biggest names in the automotive industry. We discuss how simulation can address the myriad challenges faced by those engineering the future of 5G, delivering a significant competitive advantage.

Gregg Johnson is an expert on helping businesses use data to gain insight into the buyer journey to improve customer experience and increase revenue. He's a former Salesforce exec turned CEO of Invoca who just led the company through its first acquisition (of DialogTech) and through the release of its second product, Invoca for Sales. Invoca's technology is used in the contact center to help B2C companies deliver customer experience that drives sales. Invoca recently found that consumers actually want to call the contact center with 68% of respondents preferring to speak with businesses over the phone than any other form of communication. And they're enjoying their experience -- 50% of consumers say agents are more helpful now than before March 2020. In today's episode, Gregg brings to life what's happening on the other side of the phone call when you call contact centers, how data is powering those interactions, why interactions are improving and how businesses can keep the momentum going.

Michel Tricot is the CEO and Co-Founder of Airbyte, an open-source data integration platform. 4,000+ companies have synced data using Airbyte, and $31 million has been raised through Accel, YCombinator, and others to fund the project. Michel has been working in data engineering for the past 15 years. As head of integrations and engineering director at Liveramp (NYSE: RAMP), he grew the team responsible for building and scaling the data ingestion and data distribution connectors, syncing 100s TB every day. In 2020, he co-founded Airbyte, the new open-source data integration platform, with the vision to commoditize data integration pipelines across all industries and organizations. We talk about Business Intelligence, Data Infrastructure, Security and Integration and what makes Airbyte different from Fivetran or StitchData.

Pindrop (the global technology leader in identity, security, and trust for voice interactions used by 8 of the 10 largest U.S. banks) recently announced that it hired former AWS and Symantec I.T. leader Collin Davis as its new CTO. Pindrop continues to gain momentum in the voice biometrics industry, with the launch of IVR, expansion into streaming IoT, and most recently, the acquisition of Next Caller. To keep pace with this rapid growth, the company attracted a global tech leader like Collin, and I felt compelled to fight out more. Collin Davis joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to share his story, having founded and launched Alexa for Business and led the engineering and Q.A. teams that built the suite of Norton Security Products while at Symantec. He also shares why he moved to Pindrop from global, well-respected tech leaders like AWS. Finally, he shares his insights into the intersection of voice and security, and where voice capabilities are headed based on his time at AWS and Symantec. Finally, we discuss Collin's future vision for Pindrop's expansion into new markets to remain the leader in voice authentication technology. We discuss why he made the move to Pindrop from global, well-respected tech leaders like AWS and offers Insider Insights into the intersection of voice and security, and where voice capabilities are headed based on his time as an I.T. leader at AWS and Symantec. Colin also shares his future vision for Pindrop's expansion into new markets in order to remain the leader in voice authentication technology

Quadient is the driving force behind meaningful customer experiences. By focusing on four key solution areas: Customer Experience Management, Business Process Automation, Mail-Related Solutions, and Parcel Locker Solutions, Quadient is on a mission to simplify the connection between people, and what matters. The company claims that businesses face a customer exodus if they don't shift to CaaS (Communications as a Service). This comes as IDC predicts that a quarter of all connectivity budgets will run through CaaS within two years. Scott Draeger from Quadient discusses the immense pressures businesses currently face, with customers demanding an almost instant reply across an increasingly expanding range of channels. In contrast, different business departments struggle to keep pace as interaction with customers is slowed by constantly needing to call on the assistance of their IT team. We also talk about how these problems risk damaging customer experience, leaving people to conclude that the business is too slow to respond/makes them repeat themselves. Gartner reports that more than four-fifths of companies compete based on customer experience poses a real risk of leaving for a competitor.

Regardless of where you live and what you do, 2020 was a challenging year for everyone around the world. It decimated the event and trade show industry. As veterans of live event production, in order to survive and thrive, Echelon knew it had to pivot from physical experiences to virtual ones. The change was always coming. Fate just demanded it happen sooner. Endeavoring to convert this challenge into an opportunity, SURREAL was conceived and created by Chicago-based Echelon Design, an event marketing and production company with offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Las Vegas and Portland. The result is this best-of-breed virtual Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) AND a mission is to provide unparalleled live experiences across any industry—especially when cost, carbon footprint or other factors make on-premise events impractical or impossible. Built with Unreal Engine, SURREAL is a browser-based, pixel-streamed, 3D virtual events platform where audiences experience fully customizable and unparalleled experiences. It provides clients with a different level of storytelling, game design, and multi-player participant immersion—one that reimagines and redefines the human condition and our relationship with physical distance. I invited Adam Voss onto the podcast to learn more about how Surreal Events bridges the possible and impossible, and the physical and digital worlds, to bring any event to life, in any virtual environment imaginable.

Today's episode explores remote teams, the humanization of onboarding, and company culture in remote startups with Katerina Sukhenko, founder & CBDO at Postoplan. In just 14 months, Katerina led the company to reach $1M revenue and expanded its customer network to 112,000 clients. Postoplan is a marketing platform that calls itself better than Buffer or Hootsuite. It's a fully remote company, and its' employees are working from 18 countries and help marketers & entrepreneurs across the world to build more efficient social media strategies. Katerina shares her story, and the startup's mission is to help small businesses to work in social networks. We discuss how it's the only platform that allows users to create and post content free of charge and without any time limits and why she is passionate about marketing automatization.

With very little tear-down and build time between shows, the entire production of extensive tours often requires several weeks of practice to become a well-oiled machine before they go full-time on the road. That is *the* problem Elevation Studios has targeted to eliminate completely with a dedicated state-of-the-art 26-acre complex, located just outside one of the best music cities in the country -- Nashville, TN. The company recently announced that they are completely shovel-ready and breaking ground this summer on the multi-purpose creative campus, which will be delivering large-scale facilities and support services for creators of live entertainment, touring productions, broadcast, and new media content. This project, and its massive $100M investment in the roaring return of live music, is the feel-good story music fans have been hoping for. The show will go on, and Elevation Studios will help the show go off without a hitch in a gorgeous private facility twenty minutes from Music Row. Eric Elwell, the CEO of Elevation Studios, shares the story behind the company and reveals more about the technology that brings concerts and world tours to life.

Gurus Direct is a platform that connects businesses directly with on-demand experts offering services in niche areas of IT that have the biggest skill shortage and highest demand. These experts streamline workflows, making organizations more profitable, flexible, and responsive. They provide technology that increases employee satisfaction, engagement, and productivity by removing mundane tasks. In addition, they can be non-invasive, remote, and rapidly implemented into your digital transformation teams as you need to scale up or down. Steve Brooks, Mandy Downham, and Peter Walker join me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to share the story behind the company and the problems their mission is to maximize access to automation talent. In addition, I learn how they are leveraging technology to connect businesses with on-demand Automation experts offering services in RPA, IDP, and Process Mining. Businesses can hire only the talent they need, when needed, and stay lean and flexible as you grow on your digital transformation journey. We discuss how they can narrow automation experts by the vendor, department, process, location, language, etc. In doing so, they can find the right blend of skills such as expertise across multiple toolsets, relevant industry knowledge, the right language skills, and prior qualifications. I also learn more about the benefits for consultants who can build their online presence to attract new business while developing skills, make new connections to grow their income. But also work flexibly at a time and in a manner that suits them.

We look at our phones an average of 58 times a day. This means that this summer 2.1 billion people who suffer from the deterioration of one's ability to focus on nearby objects, will end up switching between reading glasses and shades every 12 minutes. Yariv Hadad, CEO, and Co-Founder of DeepOptics, the inventor and pioneer of a novel adaptive lens technology, joins me on Tech Talks Daily in a conversation about optical technology. Yariv puts his formidable professional experience to use as he has led for the past 20 years different high-tech R&D groups and ventures to great successes. He was the Founder & General Manager of Trevo Technologies, served as the Director of imaging, and R&D Dblur where he met the other current co-founders of DeepOptics. Yariv graduated with a B.A. in Computer Science from the Technion, Israel, and an MBA from Tel-Aviv University. Lately, DeepOptics has launched their 32°N sunglasses, the first and only adaptive focus sunglasses, on Kickstarter, reaching their goal in a couple of hours. Their timing is impeccable, as many of the other major players are still behind on the technology. Yariv also discusses topics like the influence of smart technology on daily gadgets and the future of optical technology.

Jesus Ramirez is a mission-driven leader, an innovator, and a humble, life-long learner. In his career, he has helped build and lead several technology-driven products, teams, and companies in the education, healthcare, and labor industries. He is VP of Strategy & Innovation at Tallwave, where he helps companies create exceptional customer experiences. Recently, Tallwave surveyed 1000+ individuals aged 24-65+ about their perceptions, behaviors, and customer experiences before and during the pandemic. The data revealed that consumers want a choice for how they can interact with a brand, making retail hybrid experiences more critical than ever. The report highlights the most influential components of customer experience, satisfaction, and loyalty and how organizations can transform experiences for a digital-first, hybrid, and hyper-personalized world. In addition, we discuss how the digital shifts we have experienced over the past year have affected consumer behaviors and tech adoption and how brands can enhance their hybrid customer experiences.

Shameer Sachdev is the founder of Growth Gorilla -- a growth marketing agency focused on helping fintech, proptech and financial services firms go apesh!t and smash through their growth marketing goals. Originally launching his career in financial services, as an equity broker, Shameer has worked for big brands like Alexander David and Barclays Wealth. Shameer then moved on to focus more on client acquisition and eventually became Marketing Director at a well-known online trading platform provider. While working with marketing agencies as a client, Shameer couldn't help but notice their flaws. Most marketing agencies simply didn't understand how things worked inside financial service companies. Equipped with a background in financial services and technology, Shameer struck out on his own -- advising courageous fintech, proptech and financial services firms on how to accelerate their growth.

HELO creates moving experiences that connect brands with their consumers by bringing together the best in creative strategy, storytelling, production, and event design. They've worked with top brands to include Amazon Studios, Hulu, Comcast, Budlight, and Santander. In just​ our three years, they have won 13 Cannes Lions including Gold Lions in Promo & Activation, Production, Entertainment, and Cyber, an AICP Gold for Production, and were named MOST NEXT in the AICP NEXT Awards, recognizing the most innovative, forward-thinking work in the industry. With their willingness to tackle even the trickiest productions, AdAge named us a Production Company Standout. They have built a reputation by pulling off the 'not-been-done-before'​ things, and we wouldn't want it any other way For example, they recreated the 1862 World's Fair for the launch of one of Amazon Studio's most ambitious original films - AERONAUTS. Brendan Kiernan joins me on the podcast to talk about the challenges and future of storytelling. We also discuss how technology and media consumption is continuously changing and how organizations can keep up.

At the end of every episode, I always ask the listeners to share their stories and offer an open invitation to join me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast. After receiving an email from Grant Morgan, I invited him on Tech Talks Daily to discuss tech's role in achieving must-have sustainable sanitization. For years, the biosafety landscape has been dominated by lumbering, archaic giants, but their time at the top of the food chain may be about to end. While companies like Clorox and Ecolab continue to focus on harmful, inefficient chemical disinfectants, R-Zero envisions a new era of hi-tech public safety strategies. Grant shares his plans to use IoT-enabled hardware, smart sensors, software, and machine learning to crack open a $200B+ market. Antibiotic soaps and sanitizers are driving a deadly new wave of antibiotic-resistant infections. Harsh chemical disinfectants can create hazardous environments for staff and employees, and their overuse is already harming wildlife around the world. Let's face it — the status quo is not sustainable. Grant discusses the urgent need for environmentally-friendly disinfection, and talk about the advances in technology that are finally making it possible.

The average enterprise has two to three API management vendors and plans to adopt more soon. However, 40% of organizations have three or more API management vendors, and most don't intend to consolidate to a single vendor throughout the enterprise. Thus, complexity is growing, but it can be an opportunity. API Ecosystem complexity, if unmanaged, is slowing down enterprises. Don't try to simplify your complexity. Master it and control it, it happens for good reasons, but you will not go fast if you leave it alone. The task then is to keep, even boost, the agility that autonomous business units create with their own particular applications and API ecosystems amid the tech sprawl that they also perpetuate. Teams need creativity and flexibility, so it's essential to have a centralized governance system while at the same time offering developer teams autonomy so they can work in the languages and platforms that make sense to them. Jana Frejova shares how at Axway, they recognize that companies want the freedom to use different API vendors for different solutions. Still, they also need the freedom to manage all of those APIs as they see fit – and to be able to freely access all of their data without it being locked into silos.

iProov is a small British biometric authentication company that is currently working with the NHS to provide secure login for the NHS Digital app. They are also working with the Home Office for the EU Settlement Scheme and with a range of other high-profile international customers who deploy their technology, including the US Department for Homeland Security, the Singapore government, the Australian government, and the Eurostar. However, most recently, the company has very much been at the centre of a lot of nationwide debate around the introduction of Covid status certificates and the interoperability of vaccine passports internationally. This is due to the fact that in January this year, iProov announced plans to develop technology for vaccine certificates, having received a grant from Innovate UK to fund the pilot project. Andrew Bud CBE is the Founder and CEO of face biometrics firm iProov. He is also the Chair of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), the global trade association of the mobile content and applications industry. I invited him on the podcast o talk about the role that biometrics will play in a post-Covid world in wide a range of industries. We also discuss how Covid status certificates will be integrated into public life and the developing conversation around their use.

Advanced Human Imaging has developed and patented a proprietary dimensioning technology that enables its users to check, track, and assess their dimensions using only a smartphone privately and accurately. Building off success in apparel and fitness, AHI is now redefining how the smartphone is used for insurance assessments, remote medical consultation, and timely interventions of chronic disease and oncology. The technology is a smartphone-based biometric software. They are a B2B company partnering with digital health (diagnostic and remote monitoring), fitness and apparel companies across the globe. They have recently announced a spat of partnerships to integrate their biometric software into their partner's platforms. The company has also partnered with Triage Technologies to develop Derma AI, an advanced system to identify dermatological conditions capable of accurately classifying skin conditions from an image captured on a standard smartphone camera and processed by deep neural networks. Using the largest proprietary database of its kind in the world, the AI analytics engine can classify 588 common or rare skin conditions in 133 categories – including all categories of skin cancers. Vlado Bosonac shares the story behind Advanced Human Imaging and his grand vision for the company.

With more companies adapting to a hybrid work model, business leaders are looking for the best ways to create an engaging and productive environment for employees in the office and at home. Sam Liang built his company and product, Otter.ai, to develop solutions for this very challenge. Otter.ai is a tech tool that takes live meeting conversations and turns them into highly accurate, collaborative meeting notes, all in real-time. It has transcribed 100 million+ meetings and 3 billion+ minutes and works with Dropbox, IBM, UCLA and more. Sam joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast and shares why he believes it is essential to adopt speech and natural language processing AI technologies. We discuss how it can develop an understanding of ever-changing physical and contextual environments and human-to-human interactions. Sam also discusses the best solutions that leaders should take into account when adapting their businesses to the new hybrid work model.

When thinking about Goodyear, you probably think of tyers. But if you take a peek behind the curtain, you will find the recent launch of SightLine. It's a suite of intelligent tire solutions that use AI and sensors to help fleet managers and drivers predict breakdowns, minimize downtime and monitor tire pressure and wear for safer and more cost-efficient mobility – think of it as a Fitbit for tires. Erin Spring, Senior Director of New Ventures, at Goodyear joins me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast to talk about the recent launch of SightLine and the importance of sustainability and tires. We also discuss the future of mobility and how SightLine is helping enable seamless, safe, and reliable mobility for all vehicles starting with cargo vans serving the field service, construction, and last-mile delivery industries.

After several years of serving on YL Ventures' Venture Advisory Board among 100 global CISOs and cybersecurity executives from Fortune 100 and high-growth companies, Ryan Gurney is now looking to take a more active role in fostering the success of early-stage startups as a full-time CISO-in-Residence. He brings the experience of holding leading security roles in both startups and global enterprises to provide Israeli cybersecurity entrepreneurs with unparalleled guidance on achieving product-market fit and customer success. Ryan is also the Former Chief Security Officer (CSO) at Looker, a business intelligence software and big data analytics platform acquired by Google for $2.6B, now part of the Google Cloud Platform. Prior to the acquisition, Gurney served as Looker's CSO, leading security and compliance and helping Google and Looker integrate and centralize key security processes post-acquisition. Previously, he also led all security functions at Zendesk in his role as VP of Information Security, where he played a key role in the company's successful IPO. Additionally, he held security leadership roles at Engine Yard, eBay and PwC. Ryan shares his story and career in tech. We talk about supply chain management and explore where customer and company data is going, who administers it, how it's protected, and what it costs. We also discuss IP protection, API security, and much more.

Creator+ is a new film studio and streaming platform for digital-first storytellers. The company was co-founded in 2021 by Benjamin Grubbs and Jonathan Shambroom, and is backed by PETRA Group and Freestyle Capital, along with prominent creators, technology founders, and entertainment industry executives. Built from the ground up with the community and better economics in mind, the studio team (based in Culver City) has more than 100 films under their belt. It also includes prominent industry execs: Adam Wescott (Head of Content Studio), Ben O'Keefe (Head of Diversity and Impact), Nick Phillips (Head of Production), McKenna Marshall (Director of Development). Unlike ad-supported or subscription-based models, the whole idea is to allow more creative control through an end-to-end platform that provides everything passionate storytellers need to take IP to feature-length films - from financing and production to marketing and distribution. Benjamin Grubbs joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to share his ambitious vision to build an entire ecosystem for creative talent where they have more ownership of their audience.

Tomorrow's business applications will be built differently than they are today. The rise of AI-enhanced business logic and data as a product will enable business analysts and users to create new models and roll out business/domain products. Anup Nair, SVP and CTO of Mphasis Digital, joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast in a conversation about building a business platform through data modernization. We discuss low-code/no-code solutions and how ecosystems will have hundreds, if not thousands, of self-learning and ever-growing models. Every business is currently navigating uncharted digital waters. We explore building new ecosystems and what the apps of tomorrow will look like. About Mphasis Mphasis applies next-generation technology to help enterprises transform businesses globally. Customer centricity is foundational to Mphasis and is reflected in the Mphasis' Front2Back™ Transformation approach. Front2Back™ uses the exponential power of cloud and cognitive to provide hyper-personalized (C=X2C2TM=1) digital experience to clients and their end customers. In addition, Mphasis' Service Transformation approach helps 'shrink the core' through the application of digital technologies across legacy environments within an enterprise, enabling businesses to stay ahead in a changing world. Mphasis' core reference architectures and tools, speed and innovation with domain expertise and specialization are key to building strong relationships with marquee clients.

Anthony Mayer the VP of Engineering, GetSafe, moved from Silicon Valley to the very rural part of Germany, famous for its vineyards rather than tech and startup hubs. But his mission is to drive disruption in the insurance industry was just getting started. Here in 2021, he leads a team of 20 engineers from more than ten different nations who are all challenged to rethink the role of insurance in a digital-first world. Through the GetSafe app, they bring insurance to the smartphones of over 200,000 users. The technological platform creates speed and flexibility in one of the slowest and most inflexible businesses in the world. I learn more about Anthony's journey and how InsureTech enables users to cancel insurance policies daily, change details or report claims via an app. We also discuss how the technological platform is their foundation to expand quickly, analyze countless data points and adjust the entire insurance experience for their users. With $53 US million in funding, Getsafe is one of Europe's top 10 funded insurance startups, operating in Germany and the UK.

An analysis of Freedom of Information responses obtained by data leader, Qlik found 80% of UK police constabularies used data analytics to support their response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The development of data analytics use cases accelerated as forces across the UK relied on data to help them respond to the changing crime landscape during periods of lockdown. Those constabularies that introduced dedicated analytics dashboards and applications to manage their pandemic response built them to support crime forecasting (63%) and geo-map crime (58%). Many police forces also used data to monitor and track the impact of Covid-19 within their constabulary. For example, over three-quarters of respondents who created new analytics dashboards monitored cases amongst employees (83%) and identified which employees were isolating (79%). However, it also revealed critical areas of opportunity where constabularies can expand their use of analytics to support even better outcomes in policing real-time decision-making, data-sharing, Upskilling police forces in data predictive analytics and forecasting. I invited Adam Mayer from Qlik and Will White from the Avon and Somerset Police to learn more about how they are working together to leverage data analytics technology and explore the new world of data-driven policing. I learn how data was integral for managing changing crime demand at Avon and Somerset during the pandemic. We discuss how Qlik dashboards helped to monitor breach reports and fixed penalty notices issued, as well as locations of enforcement activity. We also talk about how Avon and Somerset quickly understood and adapted to the new and emerging risks of policing the pandemic. Behind the scenes, Qlik dashboards enabled teams to achieve data democratization, empowering the workforce to make informed decisions based on the same information. As a result, all staff made consistent decisions that kept the community safe and staff protected.

I don't have to tell you all that scams and robocalls are a hot topic and threat to consumers. Unfortunately, as scammers get more sophisticated, so does the technology used to prevent them. With call centers now open again globally and robocall volume returning to pre-pandemic levels, I wanted to learn more about what T-Mobile is doing in the fight to keep consumers protected. It's been just over one year since T-Mobile launched Scam Shield, a suite of advanced scam-fighting tools, and the company just shared news about successfully using Rich Call Data and continuing to lead the charge toward more advancements when it comes to protecting consumers. T-Mobile's Grant Castle, Vice President, Engineering Services & Quality Assurance, explains the recent STIR/SHAKEN deadline and its impact on everyday consumers in a language that everyone can understand. In addition, we discuss what T-Mobile and other wireless providers are doing to help fight scammers today. Grant also shares his insights on current consumer perceptions. We also talk about how Number Verification provided by STIR/SHAKEN, coupled with free Caller ID provided by T-Mobile Scam Shield, ensures that the calls they receive are authenticated as coming from the phone number displayed in Caller ID and have not been spoofed. This makes Caller ID even stronger in the fight against scams and robocalls, and with Scam Shield, all T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, and Sprint brand individuals, families, and small businesses get free Caller ID.

Harshit Jain MD is the Founder and Global CEO of Doceree, the first global network of physician-only platforms for programmatic marketing. With Doceree, he aims to address the acute problem of the rising cost of healthcare by bringing in efficiency and effectiveness in marketing to physicians by pharma brands on digital platforms with methodical use of data and creativity. As a healthcare innovator, he drives health transformation across the globe, delivering life-changing, creative and sustainable ideas. Recognized as Elite 2020 Disrupter Award by premier global PM360 Magazine for his venture, Harshit has addressed some of the biggest health challenges – Immunization, Vitamin D deficiency, Diabetes by creatively and innovatively using data. In his over 13 years of professional journey, he weaved together his domain expertise of medicine and his marketing acumen to come up with out-of-the-box ideas and campaigns in the healthcare space. An accomplished speaker Harshit played a key role in making India win the first ever Black Pencil – the highest honor at D&AD Awards through the Immunity Charm campaign, a brainchild of his. Today, I learn more about the idea behind the start-up and physician-only platforms for programmatic marketing. We also discuss how physician marketing and the role of technology in this space.

Coupa Software (NASDAQ:COUP) is the cloud platform for business spend management (BSM). Coupa has a reputation for empowering companies around the world with the visibility and control they need to spend smarter and safer. But I wanted to learn more about how Coupa is helping businesses to use technology to make more ethical spending decisions. Donna Wilczek, Coupa's SVP of Product Strategy and Innovation discusses the launch of eight new features that put Environment, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) right at the forefront of crucial business investment and spending decisions – hopefully inspiring businesses to operate much more sustainably and with a far greater sense of social purpose in future. Despite the tremendous pressure on businesses to implement and execute ESG initiatives, most struggle to get started, make programs actionable, and measure them. Coupa's technology is focused on helping businesses better manage their spending and achieve social impact goals, turning what is often rhetoric and intention into measurable actions. Companies such as IKEA, AXA, Procter and Gamble, and Nike are all using Coupa's software to improve and measure their ESG initiatives. More than $2.6 trillion worth of business spending has passed through Coupa's platform, which shows the scale of how much money could be redirected to diverse and sustainable suppliers. We discuss why technology is so important for companies looking to spend more ethically and the difference that spending more with ethical and diverse suppliers can make. I learn how Coupa's software works - and how companies use it to improve their sustainability and diversity efforts.

Today's guest is David Vorick, the Co-Founder and Lead Developer of Sia, a decentralized cloud storage network that ultimately allows its users to have more control over their data. With the launch of Skynet, Nebulous's focus shifted from building the leading decentralized data storage platform to enabling a user-controlled, truly decentralized internet. As they embrace the rich legacy and the solid foundation of Sia and assimilate their new mission, I learn more about how their brand is evolving. We discuss the future of data ownership, the perils of everything being owned by corporations. We explore how blockchain and other decentralized technologies can give back control over our own lives. We discuss how this extends not only into users but also into creators and publishers as well. I learn more about their mission to build a future where people are no longer vulnerable to the arbitrary de-platforming decisions of megacorps and random advertisers.

Paul Miller is the Chief Technology Officer at Wind River, a global leader in delivering software for intelligent connected systems. With nearly three decades of telecommunications and advanced technology leadership at both large companies and successful startups, he is currently focused on Wind River's edge virtualization and AI solutions, including Wind River's market-leading 5G cloud offering based on StarlingX. Prior to joining Wind River, he was the Chief Technology Officer of GENBAND. He has led the architecture and development of various switching, IMS, IP media, call control, and web applications solutions employed by multiple tier-one operators worldwide. His last eight years have been focused on OpenStack, SDN, and NFV automation technology, including operation of a multi-site, multi-cloud infrastructure, multiple Tier one CSP VNF deployments, and a significant NFV patent history. Paul's contributions throughout his career have enabled many communications service providers worldwide to create new revenue streams while dramatically reducing operating costs. In today's episode, we explore 5G applications and use cases beyond telecom and how they can enable new revenue streams for operators. We also discuss disruption around cloud-native networks and what businesses should be thinking about when building intelligent systems in the era of 5G and AI.

Ericom Software recently announced the release of ZTEdge, an all-in-one zero trust cloud security platform designed specifically for midsize enterprises, a market underserved yet highly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Ericom's CSO, Chase Cunningham joins me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast to discusses the market, positioning, and why this product is an industry-first for midsize enterprises. Large enterprises have accelerated their adoption of zero-trust security in response to the increased levels of cyberattacks experienced during the pandemic. Equally vulnerable, midsized enterprises and small businesses have the same need for zero-trust security protection. Still, existing solutions are too complex, too expensive, and too resource-intensive for many of them to adopt. ZTEdge provides a solution that is right-sized for the needs of this market. It offers a comprehensive solution that reduces cyber risk, cuts complexity, and improves performance, all at price points dramatically lower than competitive offerings. We explore the following key areas: Identifying Users and Authenticating Devices: connects the right people and devices to the right apps and resources by using password-based or passwordless authorization and multi-factor authentication. Secure Web and Internet Access: protect users as they interact with the web and email by leveraging URL filtering, anti-virus scanning, anti-phishing protection, remote browser isolation (RBI), and more. Secure Remote Private Application Access: provides a simple way to connect remote workers with private cloud or on-premises applications, using Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) capabilities. SaaS Application Access Control: offers dedicated ZTEdge tenant IP addresses allowing organizations to enforce IP-based access policies to secure apps like Office 365 or Salesforce, thereby eliminating credential theft risks. Network Protection and Monitoring: segments and monitors networks using machine learning-powered micro-segmentation and granular network traffic analysis – stopping threats from spreading. User-Branch-Internet Connectivity: integrated SD-WAN capabilities allow an organization to securely connect users and offices and securely route branch traffic directly to the ZTEdge cloud and internet, eliminating the need to backhaul branch traffic over costly MPLS circuits.