Tech Talks Daily

Tom Summerfield, Retail Director at Peak joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss how he has helped retailers including B&M, Nike, and ASOS to stay ahead of the curve. We discuss why retail survival in the current climate is likely to boil down to the tech they have at their disposal. we also explore the impact of inflation on retailers and how best to manage this against shrinking costs. In the coming months, Primark won't be the only retailer fighting to be competitive as inflation squeezes margins. For the first time, we're going to see a divide opening up between the haves and the have nots; those with the tech in place to adequately manage yet another catastrophe in a sector already hit hard by supply chain distribution and fluctuating demand. However, the battle ground won't just be operational efficiency (as big as it is), stock availability and convenience will be increasingly crucial. Shopper behaviours have changed post-pandemic, and are likely to again as inflation bites and consumers downgrade their choices. Demand forecasting is a struggle for many right now, and this could push them to breaking point. If retailers don't have the right stock on their shelves at the right time, they'll see once loyal customers voting with their feet. Artificial Intelligence is being leveraged across the value chain to tackle pain points that include demand forecasting, stock optimisation, allocation and distribution resource planning which are increasingly important in a high inflationary environment. Tom Summerfield, Retail Director at Peak joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss how he has helped retailers including B&M, Nike, and ASOS to stay ahead of the curve. We discuss why retail survival in the current climate is likely to boil down to the tech they have at their disposal. we also explore the impact of inflation on retailers and how best to manage this against shrinking costs.

Organizations that use Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop solutions must secure both their on-premises and cloud environments. Citrix virtual solutions provide flexibility for the workforce but can remain a prime target for attackers since infecting the environment extends their reach greatly. Attackers have demonstrated that they can evade security controls to compromise an internal system, using it as a beachhead to infiltrate the network and target critical or sensitive data and infrastructures, such as Active Directory and Citrix VDI. Organizations must look to new solutions to enhance their security and prevent attackers from remaining undetected within the network. Joesph Salazar from Attivo Networks, the award-winning leader in deception for cybersecurity threat detection, and Rajkumar Repswal from Citrix to discuss how together organizations can protect against active directory attacks with Attivo's Citrix Ready® solution. We discuss how organizations can protect Citrix VDI endpoints against attackers successfully querying Active Directory and AD resources like privileged users, computer groups, and service accounts.

I chat with the inspirational Jaeson Schultz, a technical leader for Cisco Talos Security Intelligence & Research Group. Jaeson has over 20 years' experience in Information Security and his experience ranges from hardware hacking, to log analysis and security policy recommendations, to thwarting misuse of Internet application layer protocols like DNS, HTTP, and SMTP. We discuss securing Web3 and what cybersecurity in the metaverse might look like. I also learn more about Cisco's how Talos Group is dedicated to advancing the state-of-the-art of threat defense and enhancing the value of Cisco's security products.

As work environments undergo rapid transformation and distributed and hybrid workforces become the norm, the need for an efficient, smooth digital document creation and management process becomes paramount. Documents remain the essential glue of how business gets done, but many professionals are still stuck in manual legacy processes or facing challenges in their digital document creation. In today's episode, I explore the benefits of document automation and digitization of workflows with Nate Gilmore, CMO, PandaDoc. I also learn more about how this all-in-one document workflow automation platform helps fast scaling teams accelerate the ability to create, manage, and sign digital documents, including proposals, quotes, contracts, and more. On average, their customers achieve a 28% increase in close rate, an 18% increase in the average sales price, and a 65% decrease in the document creation time. We discuss the age-old story of how David is taking on Goliath in the world of SaaS dynamic documents and how close we are to the dream of a paperless office. About Nate With over 20 years of executive experience, Nate helps high-growth SaaS startups supercharge their sales, develop effective marketing programs, and execute customer success plans that move the needle. As CMO for PandaDoc, Nate oversees the marketing team using his broad-based knowledge and extensive experience in business development to ensure that the strategic direction is implemented. With a passion for leadership and mentorship, Nate is a seasoned tech operator, investor, and advisor and has worked with hundreds of smaller startups to help them reach their revenue goals.

Amit Jain from ServiceMax joins me in a conversation about how digital transformation strategies and SaaS are reshaping and improving field service industries such as manufacturing, energy, healthcare, etc. I learn more about Asset Data Gravity and how AI influences field service and product design. About ServiceMax ServiceMax's mission is to help customers keep the world running with asset-centric field service management software. ServiceMax's mobile apps and cloud-based software provide a complete view of assets to field service teams. By optimizing field service operations, customers across all industries can better manage the complexities of service, support faster growth, and run more profitable, outcome-centric businesses.

Mikhael Lindholm from Stratodesk and Nitin Sharma from Citrix discuss how to provide an endpoint experience beyond the infrastructure. We talk about the advantages of using Citrix workspace in a Linux environment. About Mikael Mikael is an EUC, VDI, and virtualization industry veteran that has a long story with different jobs within industry-leading companies. He started as a Citrix Instructor in the early 2000. Mikael has spent his professional life in the world of virtualization and cloud and today saves the world at Stratodesk Software one endpoint at a time. In his free time, he spends time with his family, enjoying the Swiss Alps, mostly by foot and occasionally with his motorbike. About Stratodesk Stratodesk is the leading global innovator in EUC management and OS software. Stratodesk partners with Citrix to bring a greater level of efficiency, convenience, and security to Citrix VDI endpoints and organizations. Stratodesk NoTouch, our management, and OS software for VDI endpoints, is ready to connect to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops in a matter of minutes. With the Citrix Ready Workspace Hub, Stratodesk can offer an all-in-one solution for your Citrix environment and combines PC repurposing for existing hardware. Stratodesk's cutting-edge, Linux-based solution, NoTouch OS, is impervious to common security threats running on x86 and Raspberry Pi endpoints. Stratodesk offers the perfect user experience for administrators and end-users via NoTouch Center – the most advanced and user-friendly endpoint management software. NoTouch Center is a browser-based solution, packed with enterprise-grade features and can be run on-premise or in the cloud, enabling Remote Workforce to access and manage virtual apps and cloud workspaces from anywhere, on any device." About Nitin Sharma Nitin Sharma is a leader in product and solutions marketing strategy at Citrix. He is responsible for designing and executing global companywide go-to-market strategies for digital workspace solutions. With a passion for solving business problems with technology solutions, he has held various solutions sales and marketing roles—targeting audiences at all levels: executive, line of business, and IT.

Designed to bring the cloud to the cloudless, Thryv is an end-to-end client experience platform that has already helped nearly 50,000 small businesses across the country take their businesses to the cloud. Joe Walsh, CEO, Thryv joins me in a discussion about why a digital transformation is necessary for SMBs to remain competitive against their enterprise-level competition, as well as discuss the technology and tools available to help them do so. Joe shares the different aspects SMBs are presently being impacted by, the customer experience challenges in the changing climate and how the supply chain is changing business priorities for SMBs We also dive into the findings of the Thryv, Payments Dive 2022 Consumer Payments Survey, which takes a look at how payment strategies have changed over the past few months, what customers seek from vendors, and how they'll respond if a business doesn't offer their preferred payment method and more.

IT departments are often very siloed, with 75% of DevOps initiatives failing due to difficulties working across teams. Creating a community can break down these silos. Additionally, having a community forum can give IT departments support. When IT pros need support, they want it at all hours and prefer self-service that can come from online community forums. During the pandemic, every business was forced to go remote almost overnight and now explore the world of hybrid work. But behind all of this is the need for more tech. But where do you get that equipment at scale and how do you manage that at scale, improving the experience while keeping support calls low? David Sholkovitz from StarTech.com, joins me on Tech Talk Daily to explore this topic with me.

James Bayly is the Head of Business Development at SubQuery, a data as a service platform that speeds up querying and extracting blockchain data so anyone can take the data off-chain and build Web3 applications of the future. Since its launch in 2021, SubQuery has raised $10.8M, and the platform is serving millions of Polkadot data queries daily. James is also the Head of Business Development at OnFinality, a SaaS platform that supports blockchain teams worldwide by providing critical infrastructure so they can focus on building the next dApp. OnFinality's API service receives 700M+ daily API requests from blockchain developers. James joins me on Tech Talks Daily in a conversation about building decentralized networks with huge communities, sourcing data for cross-chain application development and building core infrastructure for the blockchain industry.

Kashable uses innovative technology to improve the financial well-being of working America with a commitment to both reliability and affordability. Ultimatley, it's a socially responsible financing solution for employees offered as an employer-sponsored voluntary benefit. I wanted to learn more about how it deploys innovative technology to offer immediate access to low-cost credit. Rishi Kumar, Founder of Kashable joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share his story. Rishi is also an engineer, an innovator, and a serial entrepreneur, who has built his career creating value at the nexus of technology and finance. As an MIT computer scientist and former derivatives trader on Wall Street, Rishi combined his engineering techniques in analyzing big data with cutting-edge financing and underwriting to create a cloud based solution that makes instant access to affordable on-demand credit available to every American worker.