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.

Subscribe Listen in podnod RSS feed Show website

2,001 episodes
Updated Today

Episodes2001

Newest first

Feb 6, 2022 · 19 min
1872: The Transparent Solar Tech Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Buildings
Miles Barr, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of solar startup Ubiquitous Energy, joins me on Tech Talks Daily. The solar energy company designs transparent solar technology for windows, electronics, and other applications. We discuss their goal of helping solve climate change by creating truly transparent renewable energy for every surface across the globe. Founded in 2011, Ubiquitous Energy was started by a group of MIT and MSU scientists and engineers looking for new ways to reduce humanity's carbon footprint by seamlessly integrating solar power technology into everyday products and surfaces. Here in 2022, Ubiquitous Energy has the world's leading transparent solar technology – converting light into electricity using semiconducting materials while maintaining visible transparency. To both residential and commercial building occupants, Ubiquitous Energy's solar windows provide a clear, vibrant experience that is expected from traditional Low-E windows, but with self-contained, on-board power and smart functionality.
Feb 5, 2022 · 21 min
1871: The Future of Quantum Threats
Quantum technology is on the brink of a breakthrough. This giant leap forward in computing power will enable unprecedented speed and power for certain industries. However, with this scientific milestone also comes significant cyber risk. For example, quantum computing has the power to break today's standard encryption methods - processes that are widely used to protect customer data, complete business transactions, and secure communications. While a handful of industry giants in tech and academia have reported "quantum breakthroughs" there are still skeptics that disprove quantum's progress thus far. Nonetheless, it's just a matter of time. Quantum advances aside, the reality is that anything secure today will no longer be secure in the future. Because of this, companies need to be vigilant about staying up to date with the adoption of new standards. However, industry groups (for example, NIST in the United States) are expected to debut new standards for quantum-resistant cryptography. In turn, companies will need to understand what these new standards will mean for their organization overall. Ted Shorter, co-founder, and CTO of Keyfactor, joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss the potential impact of a quantum cryptography advancement and what this means in the future. We also talk about how the new standards will affect OS/software vendors and how the new standards will affect organizations.
Feb 4, 2022 · 21 min
1870: How Redis is Enabling the Future of Real Time AI
Redis is a popular open-source database. As a real-time data platform in the cloud, global enterprises have become a critical component to compete in the digital economy. Alongside this, it's a company that's gone from strength to strength in recent times, with revenue growth of 54% over the last three years. In April, it secured $110m in series G funding, which closely followed a $100m funding round in August 2020, providing the company with a $2bn valuation. Taimur Rashid, Chief Business Development Officer at Redis, joins on Tech Talks Daily to why it's time for senior teams to start seeing the creative value of developers within their organizations. Taimur shares his belief that software developers can offer a lot more value to their business. Therefore, organizations should empower their developers and give them a voice to experiment and innovate. We also discuss how Redis is enabling the future of real-time AI. Finally, Taimur declares we're in the golden age of AI and ML and that it's becoming a core part of businesses worldwide. Finally, we talk about innovating at an enterprise pace and maintaining stability while adopting innovation. Enterprises face a fast-changing, hyper-competitive market that requires organizations to implement changes to applications and infrastructure much faster than they did in the past—Taimur shares why they must balance stability and innovation.
Feb 3, 2022 · 27 min
1869: Top VC Firm/Former Home Depot CISO on Cybersecurity Strategies
High-profile hacks and ransomware breaches continue to plague headlines, making cyber risk more tangible for individuals. So it's no surprise that a Bloomberg analysis found cyber expenses rising faster than overall IT spending. In addition, as remote/hybrid work shifts more workflow to the cloud, spending is expected to increase. Insight Partners is a NY-based VC/PE firm with over $30 billion under management. It is also a top enterprise software investor specializing in cybersecurity and data privacy. Notable investments in this space include DarkTrace, Tenable, Armis, Veeam, OneTrust, Cylance, Recorded Future, and Aqua Security. Steve Ward, Managing Director at Insight, formerly the CISO of Home Depot and a member of the Secret Service, Steve has over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, physical security, fraud, and technology risk. We discuss where companies allocate cybersecurity spending and the innovations disrupting the market. We also talk about how the shift to remote/hybrid work has affected cyber investment, the most critical threats, and how cyber innovation responds.
Feb 2, 2022 · 30 min
1868: D2L - Tech and HigherEd's Post-COVID Recovery Plans
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
Feb 1, 2022 · 33 min
1867: SITA - Air Transport IT Insights For The Travel Industry to Recover
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.
Jan 31, 2022 · 24 min
1866: MuleSoft - The Rise of the Business Technologist and Hyperautomation
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.
Jan 31, 2022 · 20 min
1865: How Tech Impacts Background Screening and Hiring
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.
Jan 30, 2022 · 29 min
1864: How to Solve the Cloud Cost Optimization Challenges With AI and Automation
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.
Jan 29, 2022 · 21 min
1863: AI-Assisted Translation - A.I. Powered, Human Perfectedd
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.
Jan 28, 2022 · 29 min
1862: Endava: Reimagining the Relationship between People and Technology
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.
Jan 27, 2022 · 23 min
1861: Outnumbering Cybercriminals Together With Crowdsec
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.
Jan 26, 2022 · 28 min
1860: Fixing the Broken Dental Insurance Industry With Tech
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.
Jan 25, 2022 · 26 min
1859: Dynatrace - Long Term Events of Log4Shell
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.
Jan 24, 2022 · 29 min
1858: SAP Labs - Hybrid Working and Collaborative Communities
Anamarie Huerta Franc is the head of SAP Labs US in Palo Alto. Her charter for one of the largest software companies in the world is an ambitious one - to build a collaborative community across the thousands of developers working in the United States on SAP's broad range of cloud-based software groups, which includes technologies such as Concur (expense management), SuccessFactors (human capital management) and Fieldglass (vendor management system). Hiring, motivating, and retaining employees has always been a challenge for software companies, but no more so than today when the demand for developers has never been higher and when companies are grappling with workplace and culture issues driven by COVID-19 and the evolving definitions and expectations of the workplace. One of Anamarie's charters is to challenge the traditional corporate assumptions that community and culture can only be built in a physical office and determine how to balance flexibility and accountability. As an example of Anamarie's efforts, she led SAP's hybrid workforce pilot program on its Palo Alto campus that involved 300 workers who put its new flex work model into practice. Teams worked in a hybrid fashion at home and in the office, using a new iOS app to help them utilize office space and have meaningful experiences when in the office. The program's goal was to determine the best approach to creating office spaces with high energy and high utilization. After working at SAP for over a decade, Anamarie shares her story along with many interesting insights and experiences.
Jan 23, 2022 · 27 min
1857: Female Blockchain CEO on Why Crypto is Taking Security Seriously
Recent reports show that DeFi exploits totaled $12 billion in 2021. Between this fraud spike, the social engineering attack at Robinhood, and the recent Google Play scam, it's more critical than ever that cybersecurity becomes an embedded part of cryptocurrency. Tammy Kahn, co-founder and CEO of BTblock has a team of some of the best dedicated DeFi logic security analysts. Having performed cybersecurity code reviews of the software supporting major blockchain protocols, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano, she and her team continuously observe how significant an impact security concerns have on widespread adoption. With crypto scams and fraud skyrocketing, Tammy discusses some of the core issues plaguing the industry in 2022. We talk about why until 'basic' users can feel their funds are secure, the adoption of crypto and other types of micro-investing will remain slower. Too much is at risk; people may not know the answer, but many know enough to be scared. We also explore why we need more than cyber training needs to happen and why it needs to be built from the code up.
Jan 23, 2022 · 30 min
1856: Improving Attention and Reducing Stress Through AI
Hannes Bend is on a mission to improve mental health at work with technology. His work was inspired by when he felt disconnected and depressed until he discovered mindfulness. This moment led to him founding breahting.ai, which allows users to focus solely on where it belongs. breathing.ai uses the webcam and machine learning to detect vital signs (heart rate and respiration) and stress and then adapts and personalizes the screen's colors, fonts, and UI to the user's wellbeing. Breathing.ai founder and CEO Hannes Bend developed award-winning technological projects with cross-disciplinary collaborations with top researchers and labs. Hannes joins me on Tech Talks Daily and shares how he has worked with my mentor friend Wim "The Iceman" Hof since 2015 to develop pioneering AR biofeedback projects that inspired the breathing.ai startup and its technology. I also learned how Wim's breathwork, in-depth meditation practices in Myanmar, and yoga transformed Hannes from decades of anxiety and depression to living healthy and happy. Finally, we discuss how breathing.ai develops patented machine learning technologies to adapt and personalize screens and audio interactions to each user.
Jan 22, 2022 · 34 min
1855: Talking Digital insecurity and Surveillance Capitalism With Datacappy
Big Tech sees your data—your clicks, your online shopping choices, your browsing history, as the most valuable stuff on earth. Datacappy consists of independent developers worried about the sudden loss of online privacy. Digital insecurity and what's been called "Surveillance Capitalism" are serious problems for our kids, ourselves, and you. And not a lot of people are doing anything about it. At Datacappy they see your data as yours. They think your clicks are your business. If your children want to research tigers and rocket ships, they should be able to do so without an unaccountable corporation using that data to build a profile of them and profit off it. I wanted to learn more about how they are helping users preserve their privacy, use the internet securely, and keep their information under their control. Marco Bellin, the author of PrivacyParent.com and engineer behind Datacappy VPN (built on the open-source WireGuard), joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast in a conversation about the year ahead threats to consumer data privacy from more apps, advantageous data selling to malware via USB ports. We also discuss how the US is trying to catch up to its peers with a national data privacy law.
Jan 21, 2022 · 28 min
1854: SHABANG! Peter Hurley Reveals Photography Inspired NFT Collection
Peter Hurley is a world-famous photographer, an official partner of Canon and B&H Photos. He is also the creator of Headshot Crew, the world's largest team of headshot and portrait photographers. As a man who spins many plates, he also an inspiring TedTalks and has authored The Headshot - an in-depth book on the importance of a proper headshot and how to take the best shots possible. More recently, he launched the first-ever photography-inspired NFT collection, Shabangrs. Named in honor of Peter's catchphrase, "Shabang!" the collection features 10,000 unique pieces that come with utilities and enter holders into giveaways, raffles, and more. Ownership of Shabangrs NFTs will automatically grant you citizenship in Shabangrsville, a virtual city in the Metaverse. In addition, Shabangrs citizens will have access to exclusive lifetime perks and rewards as well as access to a flourishing community of the world's best photographers and creators. Peter joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share his story that began by earning his stripes in the photography industry and why he feels that NFTs are the logical next step for the photography industry.
Jan 21, 2022 · 22 min
1853: How Tech is Enabling PDWise Share Parkinson's Disease Stories and Wisdom
Allan Cole was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson's disease five years ago, at the age of 48. He subsequently started PD Wise, a blog and community hub aimed at telling stories, providing education, and building community among those living with Parkinson's and their loved ones. I wanted to learn more about how he was using technology to help others. I quickly learned that Allan had published Counseling Persons with Parkinson's Disease (Oxford). He has two additional books that will be published this year, Discerning the Way: Lesson's from Parkinson's Disease and In the Care of Plenty: Poems (Cascade). So I invited Allan Cole to the podcast to discuss Parkinson's, which is yes is progressive, and currently, there is no cure. However, there are lots to be hopeful for, and as this is a tech podcast, the role he sees technology playing in helping people.