Tech Talks Daily

Neil C. Hughes

If every company is now a tech company and digital transformation is a journey rather than a destination, how do you keep up with the relentless pace of technological change?

Every day, Tech Talks Daily brings you insights from the brightest minds in tech, business, and innovation, breaking down complex ideas into clear, actionable takeaways.

Hosted by Neil C. Hughes, Tech Talks Daily explores how emerging technologies such as AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing, fintech, quantum computing, Web3, and more are shaping industries and solving real-world challenges in modern businesses.

Through candid conversations with industry leaders, CEOs, Fortune 500 executives, startup founders, and even the occasional celebrity, Tech Talks Daily uncovers the trends driving digital transformation and the strategies behind successful tech adoption. But this isn't just about buzzwords.

We go beyond the hype to demystify the biggest tech trends and determine their real-world impact. From cybersecurity and blockchain to AI sovereignty, robotics, and post-quantum cryptography, we explore the measurable difference these innovations can make.

Whether improving security, enhancing customer experiences, or driving business growth, we also investigate the ROI of cutting-edge tech projects, asking the tough questions about what works, what doesn't, and how businesses can maximize their investments.

Whether you're a business leader, IT professional, or simply curious about technology's role in our lives, you'll find engaging discussions that challenge perspectives, share diverse viewpoints, and spark new ideas.

New episodes are released daily, 365 days a year, breaking down complex ideas into clear, actionable takeaways around technology and the future of business.

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2,001 episodes
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Episodes2001

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Jun 18, 2022 · 25 min
2012: Cisco Live - The Tech Fueling Innovation at McLaren Racing
While at Cisco Live, I learned how American Football is being transformed by technology with a tour of the Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders. But, in today's episode, I wanted to turn my attention to the role of technology in Formula 1 McLaren Racing recently announced a multi-year partnership extension and expansion with Cisco as an Official Technology Partner of the McLaren Formula 1 Team from 2022. But I wanted to learn more about how Cisco's technology will help with enterprise networking, Wi-Fi, digital signage, collaboration, and more. At Cisco Live, I sat down with Edward Green, Head of Commercial Technology, McLaren, to explore how technology has transformed F1 and why marginal gains mean everything. I also learn more about how Cisco and Webex are fueling innovation at McLaren. We discuss the importance of finding the perfect tech partner for a team like McClaren and how the relationship with Cisco enables both parties to deliver great things together. We also talk about the growth of esports and how this is helping the McClaren team. We even heard a few anecdotes about Lando Norris too.
Jun 17, 2022 · 25 min
2011: Cisco Live: What's Wrong With Hybrid Work and How to Fix It
98% of the meetings moving forward will have at least one participant that's not in the same physical space as everyone else. That means every meeting will have someone not in the same location, and if these people feel left out, we have regressed. This is just one of the many reasons Jeetu Patel, EVP and General Manager, Security & Collaboration at Cisco, believes hybrid work is broken. Meetings are impacted by the audio and video quality. But it's networking and connectivity that users reply on the most. Employees connecting on insecure networks and unmanaged devices into unsanctioned apps in many businesses are also causing cybersecurity concerns. If these words resonate, it's because we all know there are problems with hybrid working, but Cisco is on a mission to solve them. Jeetu shares the big announcements made at Cisco Live to resolve many problems with hybrid working. We also discuss the Cisco security cloud vision.
Jun 17, 2022 · 26 min
2010: Cisco Live: The Digital Transformation of Las Vegas
Cisco Live ignites creativity, delivers practical know-how, and accelerates the connections that fuel the digital future. But what does that mean in the real world? Today I explore the technology behind Las Vegas and help everyone see the entertainment capital in a different light. Living on the edge may conjure up images of the City of Las Vegas, a city exploding with growth and more than 40 million visitors per year. And with this many residents and visitors, Michael Sherwood, CIO, is living on the edge of technology with IoT and edge computing solutions by Cisco. "With Cisco's advanced cloud applications for connected and automated vehicle technology, the City of Las Vegas has not only advanced digital initiatives but has also delivered real traffic benefits for residents and visitors in the areas of traffic safety and pedestrian protection. The partnership with Cisco has also allowed the City of Las Vegas to expand our data sharing strategy rapidly and securely, which directly supports our region's integrated traffic management and transportation planning."
Jun 16, 2022 · 17 min
2009: Cisco Live - 3D Immersive Collaboration With Webex Hologram
Tackling meeting fatigue is a big topic at Cisco Live on the show floor. But Webex Hologram is on a mission to solve this problem with 3D immersive collaboration. The real-time meeting solution takes advantage of Augmented Reality headsets combining meeting functionality with immersive 3D. So I invited Edel Joyce on the podcast to give me an overview of what it is and the problems it solves. Edel Joyce is an experienced high performing senior manager with 20 years of industry experience. She has held pivotal roles across Engineering Design, Operations, Customer Experience, Governance, and Strategy in the Technology sector. Most recently, she is leading the productization of Webex Hologram, the industry's first holographic collaboration system, taking it from its innovative roots to a full mainstream product.
Jun 15, 2022 · 20 min
2008: Cisco Live - Reimagining the Future of Education to Benefit Every Student and Reduce the Digital Divide.
The St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD), is a socioeconomically and geographically diverse area based in Longmont, Colorado. SVVSD is home to 60 schools, 33,000 students and spans 411 miles. A St. Vrain's core value is that each student should have equal access to the classes and learning tools they need to succeed. To bridge this gap, SVVSD Leadership soon recognized that Cisco collaboration tools could help SVVSD for staff, educators, and students close the digital divide. Michelle Bourgeois, CTO, St. Vrain Valley School District, joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share her journey in tech and the importance of finding the right tech partner to bring your vision to life. In addition, we discuss the massive culture shift that impacted staff and students and how they got everyone on board to embrace new ways of teaching and learning. We also discuss reimagining the future of education to benefit every student and reduce the digital divide.
Jun 14, 2022 · 25 min
2007: BAE Systems is Making Sense of Quantum Sensing
Quantum computing is still a while away from widespread commercial application, but another technology could become available much sooner – quantum sensing. Quantum sensors can measure different physical properties, including temperature, magnetic field, and rotation, with extreme sensitivity. These sensitives give the technology distinct advantages for applications including communication, infrastructure monitoring, navigation, and radar. Henry White, Lead Technologist in Sensing at BAE Systems, joins me in a conversation on 'Making Sense of Quantum Sensing'? We discuss what the technology is in more detail, as well as the current and potential real-world applications of quantum sensing, such as threat detection in the military or at airports.
Jun 13, 2022 · 28 min
2006: Coiled | Python for Data Science on the Cloud with Dask
Matthew Rocklin, the creator of Dask, the popular Python native distributed computing library. Matthew is also a founder and CEO of Coiled, which helps teams run Dask in the cloud. The past decade has seen a boom in several open source tools built specifically for data scientists. However, most of these projects struggle to gain wide adoption. Matthew is one of the few leaders in the developer tools space who knows how to build things that data scientists love. Matthew believes that for a data science tool to be successful, it must be human-centric. Data science is a diverse field. It should be easy for any data scientist to pick up a tool and quickly adapt it to their unique use case. Coiled is built on the success of Dask and is being used by thousands of data scientists and engineers in organizations like NASA, Capital One, Anthem Health, and the USAF to combat climate change, perform a credit risk analysis, and manage supply chains. Matthew shares his entrepreneurial path and offers tips on building a human-centric developer tool that thousands of developers will love. We dare to explore the future of distributed computing.
Jun 12, 2022 · 45 min
2005: Merging Data Science With the Art of Food With Jack Li, CEO of Datassential
Jack Li is the CEO and founder of Datassential. He took a 2-man company in 2001 and created a global food and beverage digital research powerhouse that helps brands like Target Foods, Jack in the Box, and General Mills innovate with data. This is the company that predicted the rise of avocado toast and is helping restaurants and food service providers match new menu items with consumer preferences. Specifically, they focus on making food data more usable for these brands through digital tools. For example, one of their tools allows you to enter in a new menu item you're considering and see data on how likely consumers are to enjoy it, or how to alter it to improve its appeal. Jack joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss how he grew the company, how Datassential predicts food trends, and the practice of merging data science with the art of food. We talk about the tech behind food trend insights, the different models Datassential uses to judge the performance of certain dishes, and how these tools benefit its customers. We also discuss how technologies such as databases and algorithms are helping push restaurants, food service providers, and food brands into the next era and create targeted appeals to customers.
Jun 11, 2022 · 30 min
2004: Developing and Integrating ML functionality Into Your Application
I recently discovered a company called Nykcel that develops an ML platform that allows anyone to develop and integrate ML functionality into their application quickly. So I invited Oscar Beijbom onto the podcast to learn more. He shares his story and some incredibly cool use cases that should give everyone listening to a little food for thought on the value this tech can offer. Oscar is the co-founder and ML lead at Nyckel. He has 20 years of experience shipping ML products for a wide range of products including self-driving cars, airbag bicycle helmets, coral reef monitoring, and microscopy. His academic work on deep learning has been cited over 5000 times and includes topics on object detection, domain transfer learning, and fine-grained visual categorization. We discuss how machine learning differs from artificial intelligence and how entrepreneurs can use machine learning to accelerate the growth of their companies. He also shares tips on how developers can improve the accuracy of their machine learning model.
Jun 10, 2022 · 33 min
2003: Ronny Leber On Creating Events That Educate and Entertain
Many teams have been thrust into collaborating using video tools as hybrid working becomes the norm. But in a world of Zoom fatigue, how can you present yourself on video, and radiate energy, to garner the right attention? How can you create or host memorable live, virtual, or hybrid events? And what is the secret to building an emotional connection with your audience? Ronny Leber joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share his insights and expertise. Ronny Leber is a world-renowned keynote speaker, TV host, stadium host, and legacy coach who has entertained millions of people, live, and worldwide at major sporting events, corporate events, and seminars. He loves to motivate his listeners, fill them with momentum, and provide magic moments that enhance team-building skills and peak performance. Ronny specializes in working with high-level individuals to create their legacy and multiply their impact by helping them build an emotional bridge to their audience and create raving fans. "The reason why I do, what I do is simple: I love to entertain and inspire people in a positive way. I love to create "Magic Moments" to build a bridge between the audience and the protagonists and to create an emotional bond. Ronnie shares tips on performance preparation when thousands of eyes are all on you and how to get the most out of tech-based tools.
Jun 10, 2022 · 22 min
2002: Commvault and Metallic - Protecting the Multi Cloud World
Whether supporting new remote workforces, overhauling legacy systems and applications, or combatting ransomware and other cyberattacks, IT organizations face new and evolving challenges to their business and their data. Corporate data has never been more valuable or vulnerable, and data security and management is a C-level business problem, not just an IT problem. Commvault (NASDAQ: CVLT) is on a mission to liberate business and IT professionals to do amazing things with their data by ensuring the fundamental integrity of their business. For 25 years, more than 100,000 organizations have relied on Commvault, and today, Metallic is accelerating customer adoption to modernize their environments as they look to SaaS for the future. Today's guest is David Ngo, who has been with Commvault for 24 years--his whole career. He shares his career trajectory and how he has seen the company change, such as launching a SaaS venture, Metallic, of which he is now CTO). We discuss how Metallic's conversations with customers are expanding—from IT operations and infrastructure to matters of security—forcing IT and Security teams to converge on their strategies.I also learn more about how Fiscal Year 2022 was the best in Commvault's history. The growth was driven by large deals and continued traction of SaaS offerings-–including Metallic. The past six quarters since Metallic has been available globally were a success, and this quarter, we crossed a milestone in ARR – reaching $50M.
Jun 9, 2022 · 38 min
2001: How to Boost Your Crypto Portfolio Through DeFi
As crypto trading becomes increasingly prevalent, so too does the opportunity to maximize returns using various technology-driven tactics. One such tactic is the concept of yield farming, the process of using decentralized finance (DeFi) to maximize returns. Brad Yasar is the CEO, and Co-Founder of EQIFI, a decentralized finance (DeFi) investment platform powered by a regulated bank. Brad joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share how he and his team have created the EQIFI Yield Aggregator, harnessing the power of DeFi to generate steady returns across a range of digital asset classes. EQIFI's Yield Aggregator optimizes users' returns across multiple protocols by automatically identifying the most attractive yields based on risk tolerance levels and investment criteria. As a result, EQIFI's Yield aggregator has achieved 70% APY, trumping alternative DeFi platforms like Nexo, which generates 12% APY for its users. Brad demystifies the technology and potential profitability associated with yield farming and why crypto traders should consider utilizing yield farming tactics. Brad also discusses how to approach yield farming for those new to the concept.
Jun 8, 2022 · 28 min
2000: How No-Code Tech Democratizes Access to the Digital Transformation
Trusted by over 15 million users worldwide, Jotform's forms and a suite of no-code tools are flexible enough for small businesses and robust enough for enterprises. Jotform helps organizations go from busywork to less work with forms that use conditional logic, accept payments, generate reports, automate workflows, and more. Jotform's products make it easy for any team to streamline its processes with 10,000 templates, hundreds of integrations, and almost 400 widgets. Jotform's Steve Hartert joins me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast to explore how business owners can take advantage of no-code/low-code tech to grow their businesses and customer base. As a SaaS, cloud software, and B2B enterprise products and services expert, Steve discusses how no-code and low-code tech is democratizing access to software and results that weren't possible for small- and medium-sized businesses before. Steve also shares how this type of tech can empower small business owners to embrace digital transformation and take their businesses to the next level.
Jun 7, 2022 · 38 min
1999: AttackIQ CEO Reveals How to Achieve an Assume Breach Mindset
Brett Galloway, CEO of AttackIQ, joins me on The Tech Talks Daily Podcast to discuss how security leaders can build a comprehensive defense-in-depth strategy to confidently report to their boards, auditors, and leadership teams the strength of their security posture. I ask why CISOs keep investing in more and more security controls when 82% of enterprise breaches that existing controls should have stopped weren't. Finally, we discuss why buying more silver bullet tools to combat evolving threats doesn't solve the underlying problem: how to be indeed confident in your defenses against adversaries. Brett expands on his belief that the only way to do so is by gaining data-driven visibility into what's working across your whole system, people, processes, and technologies by continuously validating them. Then, organizations can build a comprehensive defense-in-depth strategy to stop intruders from breaching their applications, networks, and clouds by automating adversarial emulation.
Jun 6, 2022 · 23 min
1998: TEKsystems - Insights From the State of Digital Transformation Report
Ram Palaniappan, Chief Technology Officer, TEKsystems, joins me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast to discuss its recent State of Digital Transformation report. The report found that leaders who strategically applied technology to enable business transformation thrived and further increased the gap between themselves and digital laggards. We discuss highlights from the report such as why 2 out of 5 organizations note that digital transformation initiatives fail to deliver the identified outcomes. As leaders continue to invest in all aspects of digital transformation, we also talk about how their expected return-on-investment is more immediate, with leaders expecting ROI in one to three years, compared to the laggards at three to five years. TEKsystems recognizes that each organization's road to transformation is rarely a straight line and collectively works with partners to map out attainable wins to identify a path to long-term success in total business transformation. 9 out of 10 organizations indicated that the skills critical to their workforce are also areas where they experience the most significant gaps. We explore how overcoming these gaps, albeit challenging, requires the development of creative talent strategies where companies can acquire new talent, upskill and reskill existing talent, and cultivate a future-ready workforce.
Jun 5, 2022 · 32 min
1997: ID.Me Startup Story: From Army Ranger to Founder of an Identity Verification Unicorn
Blake Hall is a former Army ranger who turned his vision of helping veterans into ID.me, the leading digital identity verification company. Blake has grown his company from 21 employees into a $1.5 billion entity. I invited him on Tech Talks Daily to share his tech startup story and learn more about the innovative technology changing how Americans identify themselves online by: We discuss how they are eliminating identity fraud and the $56 billion consumers lost to it in 2020. We also discuss reducing bias and opening access to online services for Americans in underserved communities. Finally, Blake shares how he built ID.me into a unicorn from his initial VC pitch to passing the $1billion valuation mark and how his military background helped him navigate the business world.
Jun 4, 2022 · 19 min
1996: Standardising IoT Technology to Make Smart Cities Scalable and Connected.
Wi‑SUN Alliance® is a global industry association devoted to seamless connectivity. They seek to promote certified standards that coordinate various wireless systems and standardize power levels, data rates, modulations, and frequency bands, among other variables. Through technology development, market building, and regulatory programs, Wi-SUN Alliance supports the worldwide development of Wireless Communications Networks for Utilities, Smart Cities, and IoT. Phil Beecher, President and CEO of Wi-SUN Alliance, joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share his story and mission to accelerate the implementation of smart cities, smart utilities, smart grids and other large-scale outdoor Internet of Things (IoT) applications by enabling the global adoption of interoperable solutions based on open standards. Since 1997, Phil has played a key role in developing communications standards, including Bluetooth, WiFi, and IEEE, and the specification of test plans for many Smart Utilities Network standards. We discuss how IoT is transforming cities and the technology making it happen. We also talk about how smart networks enable other applications, such as smart traffic signals, public transit signs, parking spaces, and electric vehicle charging stations. Finally, we explore how smart cities benefit businesses and residents.
Jun 3, 2022 · 22 min
1995: F5 - How Hybrid Work is Driving a Shift to Identity-Centric Security
When it comes to hybrid work, debates continue to rage about who should decide where employees work on any given day and how many days they should be in the office. But, the notion of a fully hybrid workforce has been accepted across those industries that can support it. However, the implementation details of a hybrid work model aren't as important as a result: there will be employees working from home and from the office every day of the week. Hybrid work is the new default. And this promises to have a profound impact on the future of access strategies. F5 application services ensure that applications are secure and perform the way they should—in any environment and on any device. But in today's episode, Lori MacVittie from F5 joins me in a conversation about how hybrid work is driving a shift to identity-centric security. Lori MacVittie is a Principal Technical Evangelist at the Office of the CTO at F5. She has extensive development and technical architecture experience in both high-tech and enterprise organizations. She also serves on the Board of Regents for the DevOps Institute and CloudNOW, and has been named one of the top influential women in DevOps. We discuss IP-based access and how traditional IP-based technologies rely primarily on a fixed set of network ranges and addresses, but why identity is the way and how the security challenges associated with hybrid work are accretive to those arising from the rapid pace of digitization. We also talk about the importance of expanding our understanding of identity beyond people to the workloads, applications, and devices we increasingly rely on.
Jun 2, 2022 · 37 min
1994: Recruitment Tech - Securing Business-Critical Talent in Technology
Giancarlo Hirsch from Phaidon International's Glocomms brand joins me in a conversation around securing business-critical talent in technology. We discuss the intricacies of recruiting in the tech space right now, including the most lucrative positions and insights from both the candidates and companies on what they are looking for. We also talk about bringing humanity back into recruiting and why it's more than just a numbers game while also busting a few myths and misconceptions of recruiting in the tech industry.
Jun 1, 2022 · 28 min
1993: The Creator of Creator of PowerDirector, PhotoDirector, PowerDVD, and FaceMe AI solutions.
Seamlessly monitoring people's temperatures in real time was essential during the height of the pandemic, so Jau Huang took his award-winning photo editing AI tools and adapted them into a COVID health monitoring solution deployed in hotels, malls, and workplaces across the US. Jau Huang is the Founder and CEO of CyberLink, a company that's grown from a small startup into an international powerhouse for multimedia products and facial recognition tools for private businesses. Originally, Huang developed a popular virtual makeup applicator called YouCam, and then transformed it into a facial recognition software called FaceMe that could pair with temperature cameras for accurate identification and health monitoring of subjects, even when masked. The solution consistently ranks as one of the most accurate in the world. On the podcast, Jau shares his journey to adapting his tech for health monitoring and discusses how AI is transforming industries including banking, retail, and employee management.