Connected

Fresh off striking a big deal with Mastercard, Kealan Lennon of CleverCards joins Emmet Ryan on the big show to talk about how he went from the virtual greetings business to payments, his dislike of the word pivot, and what's next for CleverCards.

Russell Keating of Samsung came on the big show to talk about a hectic start to 2021 as the phone maker brought out its S line of phones and related products a month earlier than usual in 2021. In addition to taking us through what's different with this year's S21 range, Keating told Emmet Ryan about what consumers are demanding more of from all of their devices now and what it means for manufacturers as well as the small matter of 5G ramping up over the next year.

Michael Conway of Renaissance and John Molloy of Zyalin join Emmet Ryan on Connected to talk about the challenges of ensuring a secure working environment at home and how to make it easy. Molloy is best known for his work with iKydz and he has taken inspiration from that to make managing a remote workplace as simple as plug and play. Conway and Molloy share plenty of insights over the show including how to make remote work secure beyond the pandemic.

Don Stack, founder of Optical Rooms, joins Emmet Ryan to talk about the Vivior eye test monitor his business is distributing which is designed to work out how you need to adjust everything from lighting to your glasses in managing a home working environment. Stack's story is one of the wilder ones of lockdown, managing his Irish based business from Madrid while we all get used to a new way of doing our jobs.

Donál Óg McCarthy, managing director of cloud at Accenture, joins Emmet Ryan to talk about his company's new report, Secure Cloud. McCarthy shares his thoughts on the challenges businesses face in securing a return on investment in cloud infrastructure and how to best ensure your cloud set-up is secure.

Jason Ward, vice president and general manager of Dell Technologies Ireland, is our first guest of the year and he joins Emmet Ryan to share his company's big tech predictions for the year to come. From 5G through remote working and a lot more, Ward breaks down the trends he believes will make a difference to your life in 2021.

Connected closes 2020 with a look back at the tech trends that defined the last 12 months in the eyes of our team. Connected writers Róisín Kiberd and Jason Walsh join Emmet Ryan along with a first on show appearance by Jack O'Kennedy, our long suffering producer, to discuss the key topics that mattered to them over the year.

Alison Campbell joins Emmet Ryan on the big show to talk about her role as director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI). Campbell helped start the government backed organisation which brings academia and industry together to advance collaborative projects. Campbell highlights some really interesting projects KTI was involved in recently along with this year's KTI awards as well as explaining what drew her to the role in the first place.

We're allowed out again but even with social distancing, it's not easy for bar and restaurant staff. Enter Banba, a new way for ordering to your table. Cormac O'Riordan, chief executive of Banba, joins Emmet Ryan to explain how this app got started and why plans for it predate the pandemic.

Fenergo's chief revenue officer Paul Kavanagh joins Emmet Ryan on the big show to discuss, among other things, what exactly a chief revenue officer does. Kavanagh talks about growing a multinational power from Ireland and where he sees opportunities for the business along with what it has been like taking up the role during the pandemic.