Tech Talks Daily

Stewart Watts, VP EMEA at D2L – the global learning provider, joins me on Tech Talks Daily in a conversation on the state of digital transformation across HigherEd, and the sectors' recovery plans. As part of its Outcome Delivery Plan: 2021 to 2022, the Department for Education (DfE) has prioritised improving the sector's digital infrastructure and connectivity. Indeed, DfE has placed 'innovation, technology and data' front and centre and this has been reflected in the recent Autumn Budget and Spending Review, with a new package of £1.8 in financial support. However, it has acknowledged that it will need to reassess all current staff training initiatives, particularly in the use of digital technologies, in order to facilitate this. In its latest research, D2L consulted 500 higher education professionals in the UK on their motivations behind their digital transformation strategies, as well their struggles over the last 18 months, and what the drivers behind their post-pandemic recovery plans will be. It found that improving student experience, course quality and digital infrastructure are vital and will play a major role in most institutions future growth plans. Stewart Watts discusses DfE's recovery plan and how universities should approach DX in the coming months. Drawing upon D2L's research, he also argues that faculties will need to reassess all current online or blended learning programmes. Including: The current state of UK digital learning programmes and how institutions approached DX based on D2L's findings What institutions should be prioritising as part of their recovery plans and how learning must be 'data-driven' The tools at universities' disposal as they look to cover the gaps in students' learning and improve overall experienceThe need for a flexible online learning environment and contingency plans to guarantee continuity for students

Over the past year, COVID-19 has dramatically impacted the travel industry, forcing it to reimagine its future. SITA sets out five critical areas for the air transport industry to recover and recently published a survey highlighting SITA's remodelled solutions to tackle the significant challenges facing air travel in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sergio Colella, SITA Europe President, expends how SITA will help the industry recover quickly. We discuss how technology will affect passengers, especially when addressing the new health requirements through automation and making the passenger journey more mobile-enabled and touchless in the airport. I also learn how SITA is making progress in driving down its emissions and energy consumption through its Planet+ program – a program recognized by the UN as a Sustainable Development Goal Good Practice. SITA recently published their CSR report revealing they are on course to be carbon neutral by or before 2022. We discuss the acquisition of Safety Line to help airlines drive more efficiencies and fuel savings around the aircraft while taking immediate and sustainable steps to reduce their carbon footprint. Finally, we discuss why governments should review their border control operations to ensure a sustainable economic recovery and how robust border controls that allow safe travel can be configured quickly to treat evolving risks.

Current trends are increasingly geared towards delivering improved user experiences and innovation at speed. Unlocking data and harnessing digital capabilities will be the cornerstone of future transformation initiatives, with composable businesses set to take centre stage in the year ahead. MuleSoft, provider of the world's #1 integration and API platform, has outlined the trends that will shape these emerging operating models and IT priorities in 2022. Emely Patra discusses how the future of work will be built on connected hybrid experiences. We also discuss how the composable business matures and why 2022 will be the year of the business technologist and the growth of hyper-automation.

As companies address employee demand for more flexible work arrangements, they will need to adapt their hiring processes to protect data privacy, accelerate hiring time, and expand the candidate pool. In addition, employers will need to continue to stay apprised of new and developing hiring laws to ensure compliance and reduce the risk of monetary and reputational harm resulting from lawsuits. Market forces have increased the need for background screening because of tailwinds in the economy, but it's coming into conflict with heightened scrutiny concerning privacy protection. At the very time when background screening is needed, governments are making it harder to get access to information about people. In 2006, during the earliest days of the big data era, Inflection was founded to address three emerging trends: the increasing prevalence of people searching for people online, the emergence of online records, and the privacy implications of the easy availability of personal information. I explore this topic with Max Wesman. Max joined Inflection in 2012 to lead the planning and launch of GoodHire. He now oversees all of Inflection's product strategy, roadmap, development, pricing, and growth initiatives. Before joining the team, Max managed and launched B2B software products for HP and Microsoft. He received an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and undergraduate degrees from the Wharton School and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. His passions outside of work include international travel, golf, pickleball, cooking, home brewing, and escape room games.

AI-driven cloud optimization platform that slashes cloud cost, optimizes DevOps, and automates disaster prevention. Leon Kuperman, CTO Cast AI, discusses how AI powers cloud automation. We explore exactly what value AI brings to the table and why simple automation is not enough. We also discuss the Top 3 tips for businesses adopting cloud automation. On the subject of cloud cost management, we look at the big picture of what management optimization is and the main reasons it's complicated (hint: cloud providers aren't exactly helping most of the time). But we talk about how automation helps with cloud costs and how AI brings this automation up a notch. I also learn more about Leon's story in techand how he started his career at IBM when he was just 19, but realized very early that he was best suited in the startup world so in 1998 started his first company and has been working through the battle scars ever since. A few companies to mention - Zenedge (acquired by Oracle), CUJO.

Matija Kovac from Taia Translations discusses the future of machine translation, how localization can enhance global strategy and how AI is revamping the translation industry. He also shares his entrepreneurial story, knowledge, and industry insights. Taia Translations is a modern translation platform, where they help companies translate their documents, websites, and other content with AI-assisted, human perfected translations. If advanced neural machine translation is good enough, you can get your files translated, with formatting intact, in just a few seconds. But when you need a professional touch, you can order from a range of services, right inside the app. The Taia Translations app was created to make the ordering process as seamless as possible, as we are aware that ordering translations can be a bit time-consuming. You drag 'n' drop your document into the uploader, select the right parameters for your needs, and just a few moments later your project is being reviewed by TAIA's project management. Based on your chosen parameters, you'll be assigned the perfect translator for your project.

Over the past two decades, companies have increasingly used new web, cloud, and mobile technologies to address business challenges and realize new business opportunities. However, the recent pandemic turned this digital business wave into a tsunami, as organizations scrambled to create new digital properties to address supply chain management, customer relationships, employee communications, and other urgent business problems. As these companies accelerated their use of digital to address their pandemic-related business problems practically overnight, many came to a realization: the quick, discreet, iterative, do it or die approach they took to digital initiatives during the pandemic succeeded in addressing their immediate pandemic business challenges, even if these initiatives now need further refinement. Endava is a leading next-generation technology services provider working to help businesses accelerate disruption by delivering rapid evolution to enterprises. They saw a 20%+ year-on-year growth in their 3rd quarter results as part of businesses turning to them for support and are working with some of the largest brands. Endava Chief Digital Officer, Justin Marcucci, discusses what he sees in terms of customer refinement and how the quick do-or-die processes from last year are being updated for longer-term success.

Philippe Humeau is the Founder of CrowdSec, an open-source multiplayer firewall that can analyze visitor behavior & provide an adapted response to all kinds of attacks. In addition, it leverages crowd power to generate a global IP reputation database to protect the user network. Today, users come from 110+ countries, approximately block 700,000+ malevolent IPs by quarter, and the company also raised $5M in funding! Phillipe has also received an MBA in Computer Sciences from EPITA, created five start-ups, and seeded 10 of them. Philippe joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss the biggest issues currently facing cybersecurity and how open-source cybersecurity platforms combat them. We discuss why multiplayer firewalls can help limit zero-day attacks and minimize cyberware from attempting to 'divide and conquer' businesses. Philippe also shares how malevolent IP attacks are growing and how everyday users equip themselves to protect their data.

Every great idea starts with a problem. For Eric Johnson, it was simple: dental insurance was broken. The founder and CEO of membersy is a digital health company democratizing access to quality, affordable dental care through subscription-based dentistry. While building his career in the dental care space, Eric founded membersy in 2015 with the mission of helping dental professionals take back the dental care narrative from big insurance companies through pricing transparency and a personalized membership experience for patients. It became the first and largest subscription-focused company in the dental industry, providing Dental Service Organizations (DSOs) of all sizes with the tech, marketing, and administration infrastructure to launch and grow a modern membership experience. Today, more than 4,000 dental practices and close to 1 million members across the United States utilize membersy's advanced subscription platform for a more personal and connected dental care experience. Eric shares the tech startup story behind the success.

In light of the recent Log4Shell vulnerability that has been dominating the headlines, I invited Asad Ali, Senior Director, Global Centre of Excellence at Dynatrace to join me on Tech Talks Daily. We talk about the longer-term impact this vulnerability will have on the way organizations handle their cybersecurity practices and the next steps they can take in the more immediate term. Some organizations may not even know they are affected or which instances of the vulnerability are most urgent to address. For example, not all cases will be present in applications exposed to public networks and reveal sensitive data to malicious attackers. We discuss why the dynamic and complex nature of today's cloud environments has broken traditional approaches to application security. We also talk about how an AI-driven approach can help dramatically speed up risk and impact analysis of the vulnerability by automatically and continuously identifying and prioritizing instances that access critical databases or file systems in the environment. Finally, we talk about what to expect from Dynatrace Perform in February.