The ITPro Podcast

Automation has been widely adopted across the sector, and firms have repeatedly applied it to laborious tasks such as document handling. Using machine learning and AI, a great number of documents can be processed, and decisions made without the need for painstaking human input. But automation in the legal space requires careful thought, as contracts can be very complex and often require a human touch — here, a hybrid approach is needed.This week, we spoke to Rich Somerfield, CTO at Summize, to explore the opportunity of automated workflows, and the demands of the legal sector when it comes to implementing tech of this kind.For more information, read the show notes here.

Procurement has long been treated as a ticketing problem, with check boxes to fill and suppliers to onboard according to regulation. But with increasingly sophisticated automation systems, and a growing need for exact partner agreements amidst global supply chain issues, companies could do well to rethink their linear approach to procurement.This week we talked to Sudhir Bhojwani and Lalitha Rajagopalan, co-founders of supplier engagement platform ORO Labs, about its ‘smart’ procurement strategy, and the place that automation has within the procurement workflow.For more information, visit:https://www.itpro.com/business-operations/logistics/369462/the-it-pro-podcast-how-can-we-make-procurement-smart

Facing the triple threat of supply issues, tough economic headwinds, and the climate crisis it’s vital that the supply chain can run at low cost, and with as little carbon footprint as possible. Implementation of smart ports using the internet of things and 5G could hold the answer.Using fast local networks, smart port tech can track crane movement, metrics such as operational speed and maintenance needs, and the location of resources in near real-time to provide valuable operational data. This week, we’re joined by Andrew Quinton, Senior Manager/Principal Architect of 5G solutions at BT to discuss all things smart ports and expand on the benefits already demonstrated in active port environments.For more information, visit:https://www.itpro.com/network-internet/internet-of-things-iot/369425/the-it-pro-podcast-the-power-of-smart-ports

Spurred on by the pandemic, digital transformation has become a core business aim for many companies both in and out of the tech sector. When it comes to handling data on a massive scale, especially when such data is sensitive, compliance is key. The insights from data analysis can be priceless for business growth, but require careful strategy in order to be properly implemented.This week, we talk to Nicola Wadham, Chief Information Officer at the Financial Ombudsman Service, about the specific digital transformation work she’s been leading, and the importance of properly streamlining data flow.For more information, visit:https://www.itpro.com/business/business-strategy/369364/the-it-pro-podcast-accelerating-digital-transformation

Fibre rollout appears to be going well, with the majority of UK homes and businesses able to access gigabit-capable broadband. But there is still much confusion around what exactly terms like ‘full fibre’ mean, and adoption still lags behind international partners even as businesses turn to greater bandwidths than ever before to undergo digital transformation.Moreover, many rural businesses aren’t being catered to by large network providers, and as they remain on copper lines, wonder if alternative providers might hold the keys to connectivity. This week, we talk to David Tomalin, Group Chief Technology Officer at CityFibre, to discuss the UK’s broadband infrastructure and what businesses can look to gain from the network in the near future.For more information, visit:https://www.itpro.com/infrastructure/network-internet/369324/the-it-pro-podcast-the-road-to-10gb-broadband

Businesses are rapidly having to contend with responding to the climate crisis, and the tech industry is set to become one of the biggest contributors to energy drain by the end of the decade. It is clear that sustainable software options are a goal, but many firms are reluctant to adopt lower-carbon systems out of concern for loss of power.Joining us this week is Behrad Babaee, Technology Evangelist at Aerospike, to talk about his proposals for a universal metric with which to measure the carbon output of software, and how it is possible to cut cost, latency and carbon emissions at the same time.Head to http://bit.ly/3rCN6Pn for more information.

Technology plays a vital role in helping government and public sector organisations respond to challenges and deliver services to the public, and in increased use of digital tools can unlock new capabilities and efficiencies. One somewhat unique example of this is the Welsh government, which must meet certain standards to ensure that the Welsh language is treated equally to English.As well as providing Welsh-language options in its apps and services, this also includes supporting Welsh speakers in meetings, and the Welsh government has been working with Microsoft on the ability to include live translation in Teams calls via human interpreters. Joining us this week to discuss the opportunities this provides for bilingual organisations, as well as how the Welsh government is using technology to enable its digital strategy, is Glyn Jones, Chief Digital Officer for the Welsh Government.Head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-bilingual for more information.

The technological arsenal available to cyber criminals is already enough to give any security professional nightmares, but there’s another emerging threat on the horizon that may keep them up at night: bio-augmented hackers. Implantable chips and other modifications are growing in capability and sophistication, and there are a variety of creative ways that attackers can use them to carry out both physical and device-based attacks - This is made all the more concerning by the fact that these implants are all but impossible to detect. This week, we’re joined by CyberArk technical evangelist, white hat hacker and self-described transhumanist Len Noe to find out what kind of augmentations cyber criminals currently have access to, how can they be used in intrusions, and why the industry needs to start preparing for their implementation now - as well as some of the positive uses that this technology can be put to.For more information on these topics, visit https://bit.ly/ITPP-cyborg.

The global energy market is currently experiencing some extreme turmoil, with low availability resulting in steep price increases. The turbulence is particularly pronounced in the UK, where spiralling power bills are raising concerns for both consumers and businesses alike over whether or not they’ll be able to afford them. The IT industry isn’t exempt from these challenges; in fact, thanks to the extreme power usage that data centre infrastructure requires, the risk of further price rises should be extremely worrying for cloud service providers, as well as the end customers that rely on those services. This week, we talk to Tiny Haynes, Senior Director of Research at Gartner, about what the current energy crisis could mean for the UK’s data centre ecosystem, the risk of potential outages, and how organisations can insulate themselves from some of the potential damage.Head over to https://bit.ly/ITPP-energy for more information on these topics.

Phishing remains one of the oldest and most persistent attack methods for hackers trying to break into an organisation, and potential targets continue to use simulated phishing attacks as one of the primary ways to ensure their staff are ready to defend against it. However, these spoof attacks aren’t always well-recieved, and employees can frequently feel unfairly trapped or caught out by these tests. Appearing on this week’s podcast to discuss why phishing simulations are often so poorly received, the value that they offer as part of a wider security strategy and how organisations can deploy them more effectively is Paul Watts, ex-CISO, former IT Pro Panellist, and distinguished analyst for the Information Security Forum.Check out https://bit.ly/3RKD0UB for more details.

Five years ago, the security world was rocked by one of the most sudden and widespread ransomware outbreaks in history. Even now, organisations are still recovering from the damage done by WannaCry, and its shadow still looms large over the industry.While ransomware has remained a major threat for organisations over the last half-decade, we haven’t seen anything as globally impactful as WannaCry since then - so what (if anything) has the industry learned from the incident, and are we likely to see anything on a similar scale again? IEEE senior member and professor of cybersecurity at Ulster University Kevin Curran joins us this week to talk about the legacy of WannaCry.Visit https://bit.ly/ITPP-wannacry for more information on this subject.

The tech industry has been forced to weather more than its fair share of storms over the past few years, but one of the most troublesome to navigate has been the ongoing issues in the semiconductor supply chain. The situation has resulted in delays, shortages and missed revenue targets for companies across a range of industries, and has prompted government intervention across the globe.There are a number of factors behind the disruptions to the chip supply chain, and although measures are being taken to mitigate their impact, the crunch is set to continue. We’re joined on this week’s podcast by Ondrej Burkacky, Senior Partner at McKinsey’s semiconductor practice, to explain some of the reasons behind the crisis, as well as what’s being done to resolve the situation.Check out https://bit.ly/ITPP-chips for more information on the subjects discussed in this episode.

There is a vast universe of threats facing modern businesses, from opportunistic lone hackers and organised criminal gangs, to state-backed intelligence units working for nations such as Russia and China. Attempting to divine which of these groups is behind a given cyber attack has almost become an industry in and of itself, with numerous tools being leveraged by analysts and researchers to assign blame.But is there any actual value for businesses in knowing exactly which individuals are responsible for cyber crimes targeting them? Outside of law enforcement organisations attempting to bring the perpetrators to justice, what do we gain from the process of cyber threat attribution? We’re joined this week by Don Smith, Vice President of SecureWorks' counter-threat intelligence unit, to learn more about the clues that can inform attribution, and whether or not CISOs and security professionals need to worry about it in the first place.Check out https://bit.ly/ITPP-attribution for more information on all the topics we've mentioned in this week's episode.

AI is increasingly working its way into organisations’ main IT environments, and as a cutting-edge field that relies heavily on technology infrastructure to run effectively, you might assume that IT would be enthusiastic supporters - but this isn’t always the case.In fact, far from being bosom buddies, in many instances IT and AI practitioners can find themselves locked in turf wars and disputes over support and resourcing. In this episode of the IT Pro Podcast, we sit down with Nvidia’s director of technical product marketing Luke Wignall, to discuss some of the root causes of these conflicts, and how the two groups can learn to play nicely together.For more information on everything discussed in this episode, head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-coexist.

Collaboration is a fundamental part of success in modern business, but while most (although not all) businesses are well-versed in the ways of collaborating within their teams, not all organisations are as confident when it comes to sharing knowledge and ideas with their peers in other organisations.One group that has absolutely nailed this, however, is developers and IT professionals. These workers have a long history of collective problem-solving and cooperation, enabled by tools like StackOverflow. In this week’s episode, we’re joined by StackOverflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar to find out what exactly makes devs so open to working together - and what other areas of the business can learn from their example to improve their own collaboration practices.Head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-dev-collab to find out more about the topics discussed in this episode.

Five years can be a very long time in the world of technology, and looking back the changes to our hardware over that period can be stark. In this podcast, presented in association with Dell Technologies, we will compare new laptops to those we were using half a decade before, exploring the development in functionality, speed, battery life and more, and how those are supporting and enabling the way businesses operate today and tomorrow.

If you want to share your thoughts on how we can improve the IT Pro Podcast, please head over to https://bit.ly/ITPPsurvey to fill out our short survey form. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you in a few weeks.

Singapore’s dominance in the data centre market, helped in no small part by the country’s keen investment in technology, is undeniable. But, for one of the smallest countries in the world, what are the ramifications of such a large investment and what can businesses learn from Singapore’s approach to tech?This week, Adam Shepherd is joined by IT Pro Staff Writer and our resident APAC specialist Zach Marzouk, who explains exactly why Singapore is such an interesting case study for national tech strategies and what’s next for the ambitious country.

Running a small business has always been a demanding task, but recent circumstances - from the coronavirus pandemic to the advent of Brexit - have come together to make it more challenging than ever before. An increasing number of SMBs, however, are turning to technologies such as cloud and AI to help address these issues.This week, we’re joined by Aaron Harris, CTO for UK-based cloud financial software firm Sage, to talk about the state of the UK’s small-business market, the role technology plays in keeping it as resilient as possible, and how SMBs can make the most effective use of their IT.Head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-SMB for more information in the topics discussed in this episode.

Building an application from scratch isn’t exactly easy. Startups wishing to create a digital platform for their business will need to contend with technical recruitment, infrastructure choices and the numerous headaches inherent in the development process. However, even once your platform has been built, the struggle still isn’t over.As your business grows, your platform will need to scale too, and managing this process without reinventing your architecture from the ground up can be challenging. This week, we’re speaking to Avinash Gangadharan, CTO of car-sharing startup Turo, to find out more about the company’s approach to platform scaling, and how he addressed some of the challenges it presented.For more on these issues, head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-scale.

Technologies like IoT, AI and big data analytics have been forecast to have enormous impacts across a variety of sectors, and one industry that's particularly ripe for transformation is the manufacturing sector. With a huge amount of operational and IT complexity to manage, factories and supply chains can benefit from digitisation in a number of ways.The process of transforming a factory through digital technology is a complex one, with many moving parts, but the combination of modern cloud platforms and data-driven methodologies has enormous potential to enhance business efficiency. One organisation pursuing this efficiency is Apollo Tyres, and this week, we’re joined by Apollo’s chief digital officer Hizmy Hassen to discuss the company’s efforts, as well as the early results that it’s seen from the project.Check out https://bit.ly/ITPP-factory for more information on the topics discussed in this episode.

The spectre of so-called ‘planned obsolescence’ has been hovering around the tech industry for years, with quasi-conspiracy theories claiming that manufacturers intentionally cripple their own products after a certain period in order to coax customers into purchasing an upgrade. However, while the comparatively short lifespan of most tech products remains a bone of contention among users, this may be less sinister plot and more a natural result of the industry’s relentless pursuit of better specs and slimmer dimensions. This week, we’re looking at the factors affecting the lifespan of hardware, as well as what you can do to make your devices last that bit longer.Check out https://bit.ly/ITPP-Obsolescence for more information on the topics discussed in this episode.

The question of whether we need to go back to the office has a polarising one, and one of the main arguments for reopening traditional workspaces has been that some employees aren’t equipped for efficient or comfortable home working. Hybrid working isn’t going anywhere though, and just a few minor tweaks can make your home environment much more suitable for remote working.This week, we’re discussing our dream remote working setups, including our top tips for maximising the productivity of your space, essential items for working on the move, and whether employers should provide staff with additional equipment to enable home working.Head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-perfect for more information on the topics in this episode.

At this point, it should be clear that remote working is here to stay, but while we've all hopefully sorted out proper working spaces with all the laptops, keyboards, monitors and video conferencing equipment that we need to work effectively from home, one element that often gets overlooked is networking.With cloud and SaaS platforms becoming more vital than ever for modern business, a robust network infrastructure is now just as vital for the home as it is for the office. This week, we're talking to PC Pro associate editor and co-host of the PC Pro Podcast, Darien Graham-Smith, to find out how you can turbo-charge your home network connection, and why it's worth taking the time to audit your infrastructure. For more information on the topics covered in this week's episode, head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-supercharge

In the modern world, AI is everywhere, powering a variety of applications from enterprise business intelligence tools to sorting through photos of our pets. But as the technology becomes more and more widespread, concerns have been raised about the potential dangers that could be posed by unrestrained AI development. Calls have been intensifying from campaigners seeking guardrails on how AI systems are developed, and the kind of use-cases they’re applied to, with opponents arguing that legislation governing AI development would only stifle innovation. Joining us this week to discuss the feasibility of AI regulation, the need for AI codes of practice and the responsibility of organisations to ensure ethical development is Cindi Howson, chief data strategy officer for analytics software vendor ThoughtSpot.Head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-regs for more information on the topics covered in this week's episode.

Transforming a business isn’t an easy task at the best of times; organisational inertia, complicated project timelines and budgetary constraints are all among the obstacles that an incoming IT leader will have to deal with when trying to enact their vision. It’s even more challenging, however, when that business is still using technology that’s several decades out of date. This week, we’re talking to Rita Bullivant, director of IT and change for Melton Building Society, about her experiences with modernising a legacy organisation, the challenges involved in building a transformation programme from the ground up, and what to do with a business that still uses Lotus Notes.To find out more about the topics discussed in this episode, head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-ground.

The lucrative rewards of the tech industry are enticing a growing number of people into the industry, but while degrees in computer science and software engineering remain widely popular, there are many different ways to prove your credentials as a budding developer - and spending three to four years being taught the fundamentals in the classroom may not necessarily be the most effective.In fact, for those wanting to make a career for themselves as a developer, the best strategy may be to learn the basics and then get stuck in directly, either through an entry-level apprenticeship or by launching your own projects. We’re joined this week by Rob Zuber, CTO of DevOps provider CircleCI, to discuss the value of some of the less traditional routes into the industry, and the skills that set truly good developers apart.Head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-devs for more information.

MWC is back; after a few years in hibernation, the trade show has once again opened its doors to the mobile industry, with thousands of exhibitors and attendees flocking to Barcelona to check out the latest products and technologies. This year’s show saw everything from new laptops and smartphones, to developments in network infrastructure and wireless standards. Bobby Hellard and Sabina Weston join us this week to share some of the most interesting things they saw at the show, including Qualcomm’s first Wi-Fi 7 chip, a new all-in-one from Huawei, and a charger that can fill your phone up in just a few minutes.For more information on all the things we spoke about in this episode, check out https://bit.ly/ITPP-MWC22.

Climate change is one of the greatest threats that humanity faces, and it’s important for each of us to do what we can in fighting its impact. However, while pledging to use our cars less and turn off our appliances overnight is all very well, organisations and industries also need to enact policies to limit and manage their own carbon footprints.One of the biggest sources of energy consumption within the modern business world is data centres, estimated to contribute as much as the global air travel industry in terms of carbon emissions. Ongoing efforts are being made to reduce the environmental impact of data centres, though, and there are a number of ways in which organisations can ensure their data centres are as green as possible. We’re joined this week by Matt Pullen, executive vice president and managing director of data centre operator CyrusOne, to discuss some of these initiatives, as well as some top tips for reducing your data centre’s carbon footprint. For more information on these topics, head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-green.

When you’re working on a large-scale software development project - especially as part of a sizable enterprise business - it’s easy for the project’s original goals to become muddied over time. As the goalposts shift further and further from their starting point, timelines can slip and the efficiency of the project can be undermined. This kind of scope creep can be seriously damaging for organisations, but thankfully the software engineering community has been hard at work for years on strategies to help limit its spread within organisations. Returning to the podcast this week to discuss some of these strategies - as well as how scope creep can sometimes be beneficial - is Jess Cregg, developer advocate at LaunchDarkly.Check out https://bit.ly/ITPP-creep for more information.

It seems that in the world of modern IT, you can’t swing a cat-6 cable without hitting four or five cloud-based platforms that are trying to revolutionise business communication. Despite the rise of platforms like Slack, Teams, Zoom and more, however, emails remain by far the most widely-used method of professional communication.In this week’s episode, we take a look at why this comparatively ancient technology still persists so widely, as well as the advantages that it offers over newer platforms, and what inspiration they can take from it. For more details on everything we've spoken about in this episode, head over to https://bit.ly/ITPP-emails.

Ocado’s colourful delivery vans are a common sight on the streets of Britain, but what’s slightly less well-known is that the company’s deliveries are powered by some of the most cutting-edge technology in the retail and logistics sector, including advanced AI, robotics, and data analytics.Joining us for this week’s episode is James Donkin, CTO of Ocado Technology, to discuss how the company deploys microservices and cloud infrastructure to help its clients deliver faster and more accurate orders to their customers, as well as the impact that these technologies could have on the future of retail.Visit https://bit.ly/ITPP-market for more information on today's episode.

Automation has been a trend in business for decades, but with the advent of cloud-powered low-code no-code tools, the benefits are now within reach of even the smallest organisations. Businesses are increasingly making use of the tools to reduce their reliance on paper processes, speed up manual tasks through intelligent workflows, and extract more value from their data.In this episode, we hear from Paul McFarlane, CTO of Glasgow Credit Union, to find out how deploying business automation tools within the company’s lending business allowed it to achieve significant growth without increasing headcount, as well as offering faster loan approvals, and navigating the disruptions of COVID-19.For more information, head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-automate.

Cyber attacks are something that every business worries about on a near-constant basis - but while DDoS attacks may not make it onto many CISOs lists of the most worrying threats, they remain one of the most prevalent types of attack - partly because they’re dangerously easy to launch.The scale and speed with which DDoS attacks can be launched is lowering all the time, too, thanks to the spread of IoT-driven botnets and the rise of DDoS-as-a-service vendors. One of the companies on the front line of defending against this threat is Cloudflare, and in this episode of the IT Pro Podcast, we’re joined by Cloudflare CTO John Graham-Cumming to discuss the tactics used to mount these attacks, and why they’re never really going to go away.Check out https://bit.ly/ITPP-DDOS for more information on everything in this episode.

We've all been guilty of taking the odd shortcut to get things done a bit faster at work, but while these time-saving tactics can sometimes introduce risk into organisations, they're also a fundamental part of human nature. With this in mind, organisations must define an acceptable level of risk for their operations, and use the right tools to ensure that the corners staff are cutting aren't in potentially problematic areas.In this IT Pro Podcast Special Edition, brought to you in association with Iron Mountain, we're joined by Phil Shepley, the company's vice president and general manager of Northern Europe, to discuss the most common workplace risks, how they affect businesses, and how organisations can use technology to better manage their risk profile.

CES is one of the highlights of the tech calendar, kicking off every year with a cavalcade of new products, interesting announcements and innovative startups all vying to get noticed. While the spectre of COVID continued to loom over this year’s proceedings, there was still a veritable buffet of things to see at the show.This week, we’re joined by PC Pro editor in chief and co-host of the PC Pro Podcast Tim Danton, who was on the ground in Las Vegas for CES 2022. We discuss some of the most interesting tech from the show floor, as well as some of the more significant announcements, and what they say about the future of innovation.Check out https://bit.ly/ITPP-CES22 for more information on everything we've spoken about in this episode.

Over the last five years, AMD has clawed its way up from being an also-ran in the processor market to a genuine competitor for the crown, making a convincing bid to unseat longtime frontrunner Intel from the top spot. But with both manufacturers in the process of launching new architecture generations, who’s coming out on top?This week, we’re joined by Laptop Mag editor in chief and co-host of the Noise Cancelling podcast Sherri L Smith to discuss the latest announcements from Intel and AMD, as well as the state of the laptop market and what it all means for the future of hardware innovation.For more information on everything we've talked about this week, go to https://bit.ly/ITPP-vs.

The holidays are almost over, and many of our listeners will doubtless be preparing to return to work next week. It’s been an interesting year, to say the least, but as we bid farewell to 2021, the time has come to turn our gaze forward to look at what the next 12 months have in store. In our last episode of 2021, we’re joined by staff writers Connor Jones, Bobby Hellard and Sabina Weston to share our predictions for the biggest trends of 2022, and the potential impact that they could have on the world of tech and IT, including vaccine passports, the fall of Meta, and the rise of the four-day week.To read more about all of the stories we've spoken about this week, head over to https://bit.ly/ITPP-2022.

2020 was one of the most eventful years in recent memory, but while 2021 was a bit less chaotic than its predecessor, it was no less eventful in the world of tech and IT. There has been a slew of major announcements, product updates and policy shifts over the last twelve months, and as things start to wrap up for the holidays, we’re looking back at the most significant changes.Joining us this week are staff writers Bobby Hellard and Connor Jones, who’ll be sharing their picks for the most important stories and trends of 2021, and discussing the impact they’ve had for businesses over the year.

As technological innovations go, 5G is possibly one of the most widely-hyped examples of the last decade. Promising to enable everything from smart cities to rural broadband, it’s been hailed as a generational leap forward for connectivity. But what role does cloud have to play in this utopian future?In this week’s episode of the IT Pro Podcast, we talk to Eric van Vliet. Dell's EMEA head of telecom market development, to find out how cloud platforms are supporting the development and rollout of 5G infrastructure, and how 5G can accelerate the creation of new cloud services.For more information, visit https://bit.ly/ITPP-5Gcloud.

Container technology has gone from a niche, experimental application and infrastructure tool to a cornerstone of modern IT transformation - but its explosion in popularity has resulted in a corresponding demand for skilled professionals to manage these deployments. Kubernetes certifications are particularly sought after, and holding one is almost a licence to print money for IT professionals.With the market for Kubernetes skills hotter than ever before, we’re joined this week by OpenUK CEO Amanda Brock to discuss why it’s become so popular, what this says about IT transformation in the UK, and how organisations can make sure they don’t fall into the Kubernetes skills gap.Head through to https://bit.ly/ITPP-certs to find out more about all of the issues we've spoken about in this week's episode.

Public sector organisations have a reputation for being somewhat behind the times when it comes to IT transformation, frequently hampered by tight budgets and Byzantine bureaucratic procurement procedures. However, while this reputation isn’t entirely unwarranted, the reasons behind it aren’t as straightforward as they might appear. In this week’s episode, we’re looking at why public sector technology tends to lag behind the cutting edge, as well as what steps might be taken to give public sector technologists more room to innovate, and we’re joined by HPE’s senior vice president and UK MD, Marc Waters.Head over to https://bit.ly/ITPP-gov to find out more about all of the topics we've spoken about in this week's episode.

Burnout is a major problem within the IT industry. Technology professionals are frequently overworked and under-resourced, and the buildup of unmanaged workplace stress can have severe consequences for both the mental and physical health of workers. While some stress is unavoidable - particularly in fast-paced industries like IT - there are ways that managers and employers can help their staff avoid burning themselves out.This week, we’re joined by Karen Worstell, senior cyber security strategist at VMware and former CISO for Microsoft and AT&T, to discuss her own experiences of dealing with burnout, as well as how to spot the warning signs of an impending crisis and how to address the problem.Find out more about all the topics covered in this episode by heading over to https://bit.ly/ITPP-burnout.

The growth of major tech companies over the last decade has been seemingly unstoppable, but as organisations like Facebook, Microsoft and Google work their way ever deeper into our lives, the US government has set its sights on curtailing the worst of their perceived excesses. A number of bills have been introduced by both parties to try and limit their power in areas like data portability, market consolidation and self-regulation.But why are lawmakers so up in arms about the conduct of tech companies? What behaviour has prompted this? And do these bills have any real chance of slowing tech companies growth, or will they die on the floor of the house? In this week’s episode, Zach Marzouk and Justin Cupler return to discuss the US’ current slate of anti-monopoly legislation, and what it could mean for the country’s business climate.Head to https://bit.ly/itpp-monopoly to find out more about all the topics covered in this episode.

The cloud has built its success on the idea that it’s an easy route to cutting costs and reducing large-scale capital expenses, and while that can be true, the economic realities of moving to the cloud can often leave businesses with a bigger bill than they expected. In this IT Pro Podcast Special Edition, produced in association with Wasabi, we look at how much a cloud migration project really costs, the hidden fees that can catch unprepared organisations out, and how IT managers can optimise their multi-cloud architecture for long-term financial benefit.

Technical debt is one of the most dreaded concepts in enterprise IT; CIOs constantly struggle to stay on top of their technical debt and prevent it from accumulating out of control, and the knowledge that all of your shortcuts are going to catch up with you at some point is enough to keep any engineer awake at night. However, technical debt doesn’t always have to be bad, and there are ways for organisations to manage its growth in a sustainable way. This week, we’re joined by Fastly’s chief product architect Sean Leach to explore why technical debt is so feared, the potential impact it can have, and even how organisations can use it to their advantage.For links to everything we've covered in this episode, head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-debt.

We’ve all felt that sinking feeling, after our favourite operating system or piece of software gets a new update and we realise that the layout has changed and half the features don’t work like they used to. But why do we get so attached to our applications, and why do we find it so irksome when they change?In this week’s episode of the IT Pro Podcast, staff writer Bobby Hellard joins us to discuss the painful process of accepting updates, including why it’s more difficult for organisations in certain industries, which companies are the worst culprits for making unpopular changes, and how organisations can ease the process of transitioning to new tools.For more information on all the topics we've discussed in this episode, visit https://bit.ly/ITPP-goodbye.

Whether it’s a SaaS tool, a product or even just a website, every IT team has to manage some form of customer-facing software. However, while it can be tempting to focus all the attention on the platforms that bring in the bacon, it’s equally important for IT teams to remember their internal customers; the colleagues that rely on IT to do their jobs.In this week’s episode, we learn about some of the challenges of managing the internal IT of VMware, one of the industry’s largest companies. We’re joined by global CIO Jason Conyard to discuss how VMware approaches internal tooling, why the IT team doesn’t always use VMware products, and the role that smell-o-vision plays in the company’s VR experiments.Check out https://bit.ly/ITPP-champagne for more information on the topics we've spoken about in this week's episode.

It’s fair to say that the US has a lot on its plate when it comes to cyber security. Criminal organisations and foreign operatives continue to find new ways to attack public businesses and private citizens, and as digital technology becomes more and more essential for everyday life, cyber attacks on critical infrastructure are becoming an increasingly troubling prospect.As digital aggression from countries like Russia and China becomes more of a concern, the question emerges as to whether the US military’s cyber division needs to respond in kind. This week, we’re joined by IT Pro’s US managing editor Justin Cupler and staff writer Zach Marzouk to discuss the prospect of a more aggressive US cyber strategy, and what impact it could have on the country’s safety.For more information on the topics discussed in this video, head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-cyber.

Ever since the UK left the EU, data protection has been a hot topic. On the one side government officials on one side argue that current rules are unnecessarily restrictive, while on the other privacy campaigners maintain that any changes to legislation could make it harder for organisations to do business with EU partners.The solution to this conflict may lie in reinterpreting how we think about GDPR, rather than revising the regulations themselves. The UK’s Data and Marketing Association has suggested that GDPR codes of conduct could be a way to clarify the rules without having to water them down. We’re joined this week by DMA CEO Chris Combemale to discuss this idea, as well as the potential impact the government’s proposed changes to UK data protection laws could have on businesses.To find out more about this week's topics, head to https://bit.ly/ITPP-DMA.