What does modern cybersecurity look like when you're leading a federally regulated financial institution serving Canadians from coast to coast? In this episode, recorded at Cisco Live last month, I sat down with Shawn Spurko, VP of Information and Cybersecurity at Innovation Federal Credit Union. Based in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, but now operating across the country, Shawn Spurko has played a key role in building a security posture that treats laptops as offices and supports a workforce no l...
Jul 12, 2025•37 min•Ep. 3344
In today's episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sat down with Alberto Prado, Head of Digital and Partnerships for R&D at Unilever, to explore how one of the world's largest consumer goods companies is reimagining innovation using AI. And not just in theory or in labs. This is technology already transforming the stuff most of us use every single day. From Dove body wash to Knorr stock cubes, Unilever products reach more than 3.4 billion people globally. That scale makes their R&D choices deeply...
Jul 11, 2025•27 min•Ep. 3343
What does it take to build a $100 billion cybersecurity company in today's cloud-first, AI-infused world? And how do you balance relentless technological change with the practical realities of compliance, risk, and leadership? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Sumedh Thakar, CEO of Qualys, during his visit to the UK for the company's QSC conference. From starting out as one of Qualys' first engineers to leading the company through a new era of risk-centric cybersecurity, Sumed...
Jul 10, 2025•34 min•Ep. 3342
Are we preparing people as quickly as we're preparing machines? That's the uncomfortable question at the heart of Coursera's 2025 Global Skills Report, and the starting point for my conversation with Nikolaz Foucaud, Coursera's Managing Director for EMEA. As the UK jumps more than 20 spots in global skills rankings and countries like Singapore and Denmark widen the gap with lifelong learning cultures, we explore why mindset may be as important as access when it comes to reskilling for an AI-driv...
Jul 09, 2025•27 min•Ep. 3341
What happens when AI moves from experimental tool to everyday shopping assistant? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I'm joined by Liva Ralaivola, Head of the Criteo AI Lab, to unpack how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way we discover, compare, and purchase products online. Speaking to me from the south of France, Liva shares insights from Criteo's latest consumer research, revealing that 91 percent of shoppers expect AI-personalised recommendations within the next two years. We expl...
Jul 08, 2025•35 min•Ep. 3340
How do we prepare for a world where AI agents work together, networks think for themselves, and quantum teleportation is no longer just science fiction? I recently caught up once again with Vijoy Pandey, SVP and GM of Outshift by Cisco, live at Cisco Live in San Diego, for a wide-ranging conversation about what comes next at the edge of AI and quantum innovation. We begin with Cisco's evolving quantum strategy and the recent unveiling of its Quantum Network Entanglement chip, a research prototyp...
Jul 07, 2025•30 min•Ep. 3339
In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Candice DeVille, co-founder and CEO of AI Copilot, who joined me remotely from the serene gardens of Osaka Castle in Japan, where tech meets tradition in one of the most unexpected podcast backdrops we've had. Candice is on a mission to redefine how small and medium-sized businesses approach AI, treating it not as a trend but as a practical strategy for growth and efficiency. Throughout our conversation, she draws on decades of experience in m...
Jul 07, 2025•29 min•Ep. 3338
In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I speak with Syed Zaeem Hosain, Founder and Chief Evangelist at Aeris. This conversation comes at a critical moment. Deloitte's 2024 Cyber Threat Trends Report reported a 400 percent surge in IoT malware attacks across industries. Forrester has gone further, warning that a major IoT breach could disrupt a large class of devices by 2025. With the stakes higher than ever, my guest shares his vision for protecting a hyperconnected world. We explore the growing r...
Jul 06, 2025•28 min•Ep. 3337
In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I'm joined by Gus van Rijckevorsel, the energetic new CEO of Ultra, who's on a mission to redefine how we access, experience, and value games. Speaking from the sunny backdrop of Nice, Gus shares why now is the moment for Europe to stop playing catch-up and start leading the charge in shaping the future of on-chain gaming, digital ownership, and platform sovereignty. Backed by a fresh $12 million in funding, Ultra is not trying to be a better version of Steam...
Jul 05, 2025•44 min•Ep. 3336
What if the songs we love and the artists behind them could finally be compensated fairly, across every platform, every play, and every country? In today's episode, I sit down with Michael Huppe, President and CEO of SoundExchange, to unpack how this music tech nonprofit is challenging the very foundations of how royalties are calculated and distributed. Michael shares how SoundExchange, which has now distributed over $12 billion to artists and rights holders, is not just administering royalties...
Jul 04, 2025•25 min•Ep. 3335
After meeting on the IT Press Tour, I enjoyed a conversation with Michael Wu, President and General Manager of Phison US, about the revolutionary advances in AI-enabled storage technology. We begin by exploring Phison's AdaptivePlus platform and its integration with StoreOne's AI solution, making AI training more accessible and affordable for businesses. We also discuss the technical innovations behind their storage-based AI acceleration, including their new E28 controller and Pascari SSDs. Fina...
Jul 03, 2025•22 min•Ep. 3334
In a candid conversation with Zendesk CTO Adrian McDermott, it's become clear that enterprise AI has reached a pivotal moment. We're witnessing the end of AI theater and the emergence of practical platforms delivering real business value. "We're moving from chapter one to chapter two of the application of generative AI," McDermott explains. "It's not just party tricks anymore - it's platforms. And we're really building things that have value and meaning." The Rise of Platform Thinking The shift ...
Jul 02, 2025•31 min•Ep. 3333
As AI continues to dominate headlines and crypto continues to evolve behind the scenes, the real story may lie in their convergence. In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sat down with Dan Kim from Coinbase to discuss how these two technologies are shaping the future of digital commerce and development. Dan leads the Coinbase Developer Platform, a project focused on simplifying blockchain development for millions of developers worldwide. He shared how the platform abstracts away complexity thro...
Jul 01, 2025•29 min•Ep. 3332
What happens when a customer service platform stops thinking like a vendor and starts operating like a partner? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily , I sit down with Andrew Lawson, EVP and GM for Zendesk Europe, to explore how the company is redefining the future of customer experience through AI, innovation, and a customer-first mindset. Zendesk may be a global name, but its European roots and strategic growth across the continent tell a story of evolution. From its founding in Copenhagen to be...
Jun 30, 2025•23 min•Ep. 3331
In a world where payments have evolved from a back-office utility into a strategic business driver, how do you build a platform that truly puts control back into the hands of merchants? On this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sat down with Dwaine Thomas, CIO of PXP, to explore how the company is transforming the payment landscape with its next generation platform, PXP Unity. PXP has been a force in fintech for over 30 years, processing over €30 billion in payments annually for some of the world's...
Jun 29, 2025•27 min•Ep. 3330
What happens when you stop thinking of satellites as data collectors and start thinking of them as data analysts? That is precisely the shift we explore in today's episode of Tech Talks Daily with Michael Bartholomeusz, CEO of NOVI. Traditionally, Earth observation has relied on satellites to capture massive volumes of raw data, which is then transmitted back to Earth for processing. However, this model presents several significant challenges: cost, latency, and complexity. NOVI is flipping this...
Jun 28, 2025•22 min•Ep. 3329
Just two years ago, the launch of GPT-4 required the support of hundreds of experts, intensive computing power, and vast coordination. Today, that same process could be executed by a team of five. That is not an exaggeration. It is a signal of just how rapidly AI development is accelerating. In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I'm joined by Gagan Tandon, Managing Director of AI & Data Services at TELUS Digital Solutions, to explore what is behind this extraordinary shift. From the evolution...
Jun 27, 2025•23 min•Ep. 3329
When I last spoke with Gaurav Kapoor five years ago, we were in the thick of a global pandemic. Remote work was still a novelty for many, AI was a distant concept for most businesses, and regulatory frameworks were trying to keep pace with the speed of technological change. Fast forward to today, and the conversation around AI and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) has shifted dramatically. This made it the perfect time for a long-overdue catch-up. In this episode, I welcomed back Gaurav, Vi...
Jun 26, 2025•33 min•Ep. 3327
In today's episode of Tech Talks Daily , I sat down with Matt Dawes, Head of Enterprise Sales at HALOS, to explore the fast-moving world of security technology and how body-worn cameras are rapidly transforming the way businesses approach accountability, staff safety, and incident response. HALOS is rethinking body-worn video with a fresh approach that doesn't stop at hardware. From their subscription-based service model to a real-time AI-powered backend system, their tech stack is designed to m...
Jun 25, 2025•18 min•Ep. 3326
How do we bridge the skills gap in UK manufacturing while pushing the boundaries of automation technology? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Mark Gray, UK and Ireland Country Manager at Universal Robots, to explore how collaborative robots, or cobots, are rewriting the rules for companies big and small. Universal Robots, founded by three university professors in Denmark about twenty years ago, brought the world its first cobot and recently celebrated a landmark achievement wit...
Jun 24, 2025•22 min•Ep. 3325
How do you keep complex digital experiences running smoothly when every layer, from networks to cloud infrastructure to applications, can break in ways that frustrate customers and burn out IT teams? This question is at the heart of my conversation recorded live at Cisco Live in San Diego with Patrick Lin, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Observability at Splunk, now part of Cisco. In this episode, Patrick explains how observability has evolved far beyond simple monitoring and is be...
Jun 23, 2025•21 min•Ep. 3224
What happens when education stops being about a rigid curriculum and starts focusing on what genuinely sparks a child's curiosity? This question sits at the heart of my conversation with Amir Nathoo, the founder and CEO of Outschool, a fast-growing online learning platform now trusted by over a million families worldwide. In this episode, Amir shares the personal journey that inspired him to challenge the tired one-size-fits-all approach still dominant in classrooms today. We explore how Outscho...
Jun 22, 2025•30 min•Ep. 3233
How do you measure success when your AI is learning faster than your own business processes can keep up? That's the question I set out to answer in my conversation with SparkBeyond, a company that has spent the past decade transforming how enterprises harness AI. From crawling GitHub code in a modest garage experiment to driving measurable performance gains for global firms, SparkBeyond has charted a path that mirrors the rapid evolution of AI itself. In this episode, I explored how their focus ...
Jun 21, 2025•28 min•Ep. 3322
In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Jim Douglas, CEO of Instabug, to unpack the hidden world of mobile app development and the hurdles developers face every time you tap an icon on your phone. Mobile apps live in unpredictable conditions, surrounded by millions of device variations and users who are quick to abandon any app that fails to deliver a flawless experience. Our discussion begins with a deep dive into why mobile apps remain so vulnerable to user churn. Jim shares a str...
Jun 20, 2025•24 min•Ep. 3321
How are small businesses influencing the future of financial technology at a scale few can match? In this episode, I sit down with Jameson Troutman, Head of Product for Small Business at Chase for Business. With two decades shaping payment solutions for entrepreneurs, he opens up about how a team inside one of the largest financial institutions stays flexible enough to build smarter tools, quicker payments, and more practical customer insights while serving millions of small business owners acro...
Jun 19, 2025•27 min•Ep. 3320
When did you last pause to consider what it takes to turn daring ideas from a lab into reality? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I spend time with Mike Otworth, Executive Chairman of Innventure, whose career reveals what happens when breakthrough technology leaves the safety of research and collides with real-world demands. Mike's view offers an honest look at what changes when you match influential inventions with a team that moves quickly and welcomes a little discomfort. We begin with Mik...
Jun 19, 2025•22 min•Ep. 3319
In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Nathan Thomas, Director of Innovation, Ricoh Europe, who oversees innovation across Ricoh Europe. Nathan joined me to unpack new findings from Ricoh's study of thousands of workers and business leaders across Europe. We discussed why some countries are advancing in terms of workplace productivity while others struggle to keep pace. Spain, for example, stands out for its high productivity, which Nathan attributes to cultural changes and experim...
Jun 18, 2025•30 min•Ep. 3318
When was the last time you truly paused to consider how far artificial intelligence has come and where it's heading next? On today's episode of Tech Talks Daily, I dive into this fast-moving frontier with Mo Cherif, Vice President of Generative AI and Innovation at Sitecore. This conversation explores what 2025 holds for agentic AI and why this technology is poised to completely reshape the marketing landscape. Agentic AI isn't just an iteration of automation; it's a rethinking of how AI can ope...
Jun 17, 2025•24 min•Ep. 3317
Recorded amidst the buzz of the IT Press Tour in Palo Alto, this episode explores the evolving world of data intelligence through a candid conversation with Amanda R. Lee, Vice President, Marketing Analyst & Public Relations, DDN. Sitting under the California sun, I had the opportunity to unpack how DDN is helping some of the most data-intensive organizations navigate massive volumes of information while transforming raw data into real-time insights that power breakthroughs in AI, autonomous...
Jun 16, 2025•16 min•Ep. 3316
How can organizations protect their most valuable asset, data, while harnessing its true potential through AI-driven insights? These are the questions I set out to answer on the recent IT Press Tour in Silicon Valley. In my latest conversation at the Santa Clara offices of Cohesity, I sat down with Sanjay Poonen, President and CEO, to discuss how this company has positioned itself at the heart of the AI era with a modern data cloud built for speed, security, and intelligence. From my early days ...
Jun 16, 2025•31 min•Ep. 3315
