Tech Talks Daily

Peter Jackson, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Exasol, believes that data teams have room for all sorts of people, from the technical masterminds to the data storytellers. In today's episode, Peter shares how the best data scientist he ever had in one of his teams had a philosophy degree from Warwick University; he was creative, curious, and could turn insights into compelling arguments. We discuss how if we concentrate too much on STEM, then we'll have people who understand the numbers and stats. But, still, they won't necessarily have the skills to articulate the meaning of that data and turn them into actionable insights for the business. Bringing information to life and allowing everyone to see the business value hidden inside company data is critical. We talk about why business leaders should recruit people with an arts background so teams can create narratives from data to aid storytelling. Combining a mixture of people and their different skills and abilities will make the translation of data more powerful.

Hydra Energy is the world's first Hydrogen-as-a-Service (HaaSTM) provider for commercial fleets looking to reduce costs and emissions today with limited risk and no up-front investment. The company's innovative approach sources green hydrogen from leading chemical partners and provides clean fuel to fleets at below-diesel prices, enabling a rapid and economic transition to cleaner trucking. In exchange for long-term, discounted fuel contracts, Hydra quickly converts semi-truck fleets to a proprietary hydrogen injection system helping operators optimize truck performance, fuel efficiency, and emissions reduction regardless of payload and weather. With Hydra Energy's retrofit technology, hydrogen tanks and gas handling components are installed behind the truck cab. This is where the hydrogen is stored. Each truck has 30kg of hydrogen on it. A hydrogen injection manifold is installed in line with the air intake, blends hydrogen and air before entering the engine block. This is how hydrogen is injected. A dedicated, secondary controller is installed behind the truck dashboard, which controls hydrogen flow. When the driver presses the pedal, it signals the master OEM computer, which the secondary Hydra controller intercepts. It then injects the required hydrogen needed to produce 40% of the required power demand directly into the air intake, eliminating the need to modify the engine block. By using existing semi-trucks, and Hydra's Hydrogen-as-a-Service infrastructure, you can have hydrogen today. There's no need to wait for entirely new vehicles and fueling infrastructure to be designed and built at some point in the future. With as high as 40% diesel displacement, Hydra trucks can run up to 1,000 km/a day burning 24 kilos of hydrogen, even with the heaviest payloads and in the heart of winter. There's no need to worry about range either, as Hydra trucks can seamlessly switch to just running on diesel if the hydrogen runs out. Hydrogen technology for large internal combustion engines enables seamless switchover without losing fuel efficiency, range, power, torque, and payload capacity. I invited Jessica Verhagen to share the story behind the company and how they plan to propel low-carbon hydrogen trucking solutions.

Ben Waber is the president and co-founder of Humanyze, a workplace analytics company based out of Boston. Born out of the MIT Media Lab, the company's goal is to help business leaders improve organizational effectiveness. The company analyzes workplace interactions (over 20 billion interactions, to be exact) to see company-wide trends around how work gets done in order to inform and improve management decisions that positively impact financial performance and the employee experience. Specifically, one of the core focuses of their analysis is the impact of working from home on the workplace, HR, and digital transformation initiatives and how those affect organizational health. Ben discusses the impact of remote work on organizations across the globe, best practices, and thoughts to consider when returning to work, and the power of data to inform business decisions. About Humanyze Founded in 2011, Humanyze is a world leader in understanding team dynamics and work patterns. With over 10 years of research into organization network analysis and behavioral science, led by leaders in the world of social physics and graduates of the MIT Media Lab, they help companies understand how work gets done. Humanyze counts with a global presence spanning the US, Europe, and Asia, and are on a mission to improve the future of work.

Helena Murphy is the Founder and Managing Director of Raising Partners, the investment firm that guides startups through each step of their fundraising process. Helena started a sustainable clothing e-commerce business straight out of St Andrews University in her native Scotland. She was unprepared for how rocky and opaque the fundraising process would be, and experienced first hand the pitfalls of seeking investment. Helena was left with £100,000 of personal debt after being forced to fold her business, a process that left her feeling defeated and caused her to lose her hair due to stress-related alopecia. As a result of this traumatic experience, Helena then worked as an in-house consultant for several years in order to help other businesses raise capital and avoid the mistakes she made. In that time, she developed an extensive network of connections, from investors, to accountants, entrepreneurs to lawyers, and became an expert in early-stage investment. Raising Partners is the company she wished had existed when she was going through her own investment process. Helena and her team are determined to level the investment playing field, demystify the fundraising process, and help deserving businesses flourish. Founded in 2017, Raising Partners has helped over 110 companies - including the likes of Thread, Celtic Renewables, ARQ, Equipsme, Poppy's Picnic, Penfold, and Ilumoni - raise over £30 million, through pre-seed to Series B rounds. After an initial consultation, Raising Partners assesses the individual funding requirements of a startup, before creating a comprehensive, tailored investment strategy and proposal. Raising Partners also provides end-to-end crowdfunding support, introducing new investors to the campaign, creating critical crowdfunding-specific assets, such as campaign videos, investor decks, testimonials, and pitch pages, and assisting with investor communications.

Cultural marketing agency Culture Group and storytelling platform Wattpad have collaborated to produce a whitepaper positioning Gen Zs as "the Creation Generation" because of their love for creating stories and sharing them with the world. Gen Zs grew up with the Internet, which has democratized creation in a way never seen before by allowing everyone to express their thoughts. It is clear that Gen Zs care more about issues and are more willing to express themselves. Michael Patent, Founder and President of Culture Group, discusses Gen Zs' defining characteristics and how advertisers can tap into Gen Z's uniqueness to produce more compelling narratives. We also talk about how Gen Zs' defining traits change over time, and how this will lead to different behavior, hobbies, likes and dislikes, etc. About Culture Group Culture Group is a brand advisory and integrated marketing agency delivering transformative cultural ideas across Asia. They are cultural provocateurs, makers, and thinkers who collaborate with brands to disrupt the norm, shaping consumer moments into brand movements. The company builds unique partnerships between brands and entertainment properties, articulating its vision and executing a strategic approach across all consumer touchpoints. Our client list includes some of the most recognized and well-respected brands in Asia.

Maurice Mortell, Managing Director of Ireland, Equinix – the world's digital infrastructure company joins me on Tech Talks Daily. With over 20 years of experience in the data centre sector, Maurice has been a key figure in the rise of the data center industry in Ireland. Maurice also holds the 2012 ICT Excellence' Person of the Year' honour, awarded based on his invaluable contribution to the ICT sector in Ireland. Equinix is a global data center and interconnection platform with 229 data centers across 29 countries. The company's objectives are to help enterprise customers mitigate operational risk, significantly reduce exposure to cybercrime, and ultimately safeguard data. Global trends around digital transformation and regulatory compliance have propelled Equinix's growth trajectory, as more and more top-tier enterprises and providers routinely harness Equinix's trusted global platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure that fuels their success. The company recently commissioned an independent study of 127 senior IT decision-makers in Ireland, illustrating the prevailing sentiments pertaining to the security challenges linked to remote working for businesses nationwide. The survey found that two-thirds of IT decision-makers in Ireland feel more susceptible to data breaches due to the IT strain associated with pandemic-driven remote working. In today's episode, Maurice shares his story and reveals insights around the significant macro trends driving today's transformation challenges.

Libby Adams, Co-Founder and Chief Advocacy Officer at US publicly listed data analytics firm Alteryx joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast. Alteryx is a publicly listed $8bn technology giant that generated over $400m in revenue in 2019 and achieved revenue growth of 25% in Q3 2020. Over 7,000 global customers use the company's data analytics software, more than 38% of the Global 2,000, and they have use cases in 90+ countries. In the UK specifically, Alteryx's platform is used by the likes of Sainsbury's, Gymshark, Anthony Nolan, and ITV to help improve the digital skills of their respective workforces and create an entirely new generation of data scientists in the process. For example, Gymshark, one of the UK's fastest-growing sportswear brands, turned to Alteryx's software to help it survive and easily pivot during the pandemic. In May, the company hosted its annual Inspire conference. During the three-day event, Libby hosted a panel on Women in Data Science (WiDS), which is part of the annual WiDS Worldwide conference organised by Stanford University and broadcast to an estimated 150+ locations worldwide. In today's episode, we discuss why up-skilling will be the biggest challenge for organizations in the next 12 months. We also talk about the importance of human diversity for inclusivity in data science and artificial intelligence. Libby shares what needs to happen in primary education to build awareness of data science skills at an early stage amongst young women.

Jeff Wald, best-selling author of two books, including The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations. Jeff is also the Founder of WorkMarket (purchased by ADP in 2018 for $135 million), and several other technology companies, including Spinback, a social sharing platform (eventually purchased by Salesforce.com), an angel investor and startup advisor, and serves on numerous public and private Boards of Directors. Based on hundreds of formal interviews with CEOs, HR executives, and political leaders, The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations guides readers through the history of work to understand how companies and workers reacted to the last three industrial revolutions. Jeff asks what lessons we can learn from these revolutions and the current state of the labor market and in order for workers, companies, and societies to prepare for the Rise of the Robots. Included in the book is the $10 million Future of Work Prize. Jeff challenged twenty leading thinkers of the future of work on their vision for the workforce in 2040. Jeff shares his story and lessons he learned building four companies, investing in and advising hundreds of others. We discuss why new technologies like autonomous vehicles seldom lead to the job losses people expect.

YL Ventures funds and supports brilliant Israeli tech entrepreneurs from seed to lead. With headquarters in Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv, YL Ventures manages $260 million and specializes in cybersecurity. It accelerates the evolution of portfolio companies via strategic advice and U.S.-based operational execution, leveraging a powerful network of CISOs and global industry leaders. Andy Ellis was recently named operating partner at YL Ventures, has been inducted into IDG's CSO Hall of Fame. The former CSO at Akamai Technologies will now be supporting YL Ventures' portfolio companies post-investment with product development, go-to-market strategies, and customer engagements. In today's episode, Andy shares his story and insights from his career. We discuss why VC firms and investing in Israeli cybersecurity startups and why more CISOs are taking advisor/investor roles. I also learn what brings him to Israeli cybersecurity companies.

Jim Archetto of Gaumard Scientific joins me in a conversation about medical training simulations and how they are leveraging HoloLens 2 headsets. Gaumard Scientific specialize in creating simulators for medical training that are in use at major teaching hospitals, nursing schools, medical military trainings and emergency medical services. The company recently launched Obstetric MR™, a mixed reality labor and delivery simulation experience that synchronizes holograms with the physical world. Obstetric MR™ is comprised of a HoloLens 2 headset preloaded with software designed to help learners observe the dynamic physiology underlying childbirth. In addition, it brings, for the first time, digital learning content into the physical simulation exercise, allowing participants to link knowledge and skill through an entirely new hands-on tactile training experience.