Futurum Tech Webcast

In this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, Interview Series, I had a fascinating conversation with Jeff Nicholson, the VP of CRM Product Marketing for Pegasystems about digital experience and what's ahead in a world powered by autonomous customer service. Our discussion centered on the future of customer service, especially as it relates to digital experience, the ever-changing world of customer expectations, and how autonomous customer service is a game-changer.

Pega's Take on Digital Experience: What's Ahead in a World Powered by Autonomous Customer Service

In our conversation about digital experience and a look at what's ahead in a world powered by autonomous customer service, Jeff and I touched on:

• What is today's digital experience and what that looks like — for both customers and for the brand side.
• How the landscape of customer experience has changed, not only in the last handful of years, but also how that's been impacted by the impact of a global pandemic.
• The change in customer expectations and how brands are shifting to address those expectations.
• The role technology plays in the customer journey (and meeting customers where they are, when they need it).
• What kind of technology is needed to most efficiently, most effectively, allow brands to do that.
• How COVID-19 has changed customer demand, buying preferences, and customer loyalty and what brands are doing to step up and adapt to those changes.
• And we explored autonomous customer service and where this technology fits in the customer engagement timeline?

As always, my conversation with Jeff was a fascinating one. He also shared some customer use cases that you'll find valuable, so I encourage you to dive into this one.

If you're focused on improving the customer journey and customer experience within your organization, if you'd like to learn more about autonomous customer service and how you can employ it to deliver better, more efficient customer service and empower your team to both do more and enjoy their jobs more, I encourage you to make time to register and attend Pega's upcoming Pegaworld iNspire event on May 4th from 9:00 to 11:30am EDT. The event is a virtual one and I can promise it will likely be the best, most interesting virtual event you attend this year. Register for free here and I'll see you there!

In this edition of the Futurum Tech Webcast, my colleague Ron Westfall and I take a deep dive into the collaborative world of virtual reality and 3D simulations offered by NVIDIA's Omniverse. First announced as a beta version last fall, NVIDIA's Omniverse Enterprise is set to hit general availability this summer and has the ability to reshape the future of manufacturing and design, and perhaps much more.

It's not unusual for technology companies to offer tools to help their customers get the most value of their products or services. But these tools are generally limited to configuration and optimization. NVIDIA's Omniverse suffers from none of those limitations and while it may help manufacturing and design teams better utilize NVIDIA's chip technologies the real value of the Omniverse is in helping manufacturers collaborative design, update, and improve their manufacturing operations.

In this webcast we discuss:

• How the NVIDIA Omniverse looks a lot like the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• The role of Pixar's open-source Universal Scene Description (USD) software in the Omniverse.
• How the Internet of Things (IoT) and a concept known as a Digital Twin are making helping organizations create real-time virtual versions of the real-world, physical operations.
• How the Omniverse can help organizations improve factory and manufacturing efficiency and safety.
• The benefit of running simulations in the Omniverse and leveraging machine learning and predictive analytics to improve asset maintenance and availability.
• The five different components that make up the Omniverse Platform (the Nucleus, Connect, Kit, Simulation, and RTX Renderer).
• How the Omniverse allows real-time updates and collaborative changes to be distributed throughout an organization's supply chain and distribution ecosystems.

As we wrap up our conversation, Ron highlights some of the core RTX technology that makes the Omniverse possible and discusses how NVIDIA is working with partners like Microsoft and how competitors like AMD might need to respond. And finally, we ponder the ultimate question, when will tools like the Omniverse allow us to not just model manufacturing but extend to the entire operations of an entire business, from the first supplier to the last customer.

More Insights from Futurum Research:

NVIDIA's Omniverse Enterprise Platform Has The Potential To Reshape The Future Of Manufacturing And Collaboration

NVIDIA's AI-On-5G Ecosystem Kicks Off At NVIDIA GTC 2021, Designed To Turbo Boost 5G Vertical Use Cases

NVIDIA GTC 21 Brings Key Innovation to Enterprise AI

NVIDIA's Future is Bright as its Many Bets are Paying off: Q4 Earnings Update

NVIDIA's DRIVE Platform to Power Hyundai's Newly Launched Connected Car OS Across Entire Fleet

On this episode of the Futurum Tech Podcast – Interview Series I am joined by Rebecca Weekly, VP and GM, Hyperscale Strategy and Execution for Intel. Rebecca leads the team that ensures that all products across the spectrum are optimized for hyperscale.

Our discussion centered on Intel's the 3rd Generation Xeon Scalable Processor launch and the role cloud innovation has played in Intel's ability to deliver high performance for the most in-demand workloads.

Cloud Performance Made Flexible

My conversation with Rebecca also revolved around the following:

• The role cloud technologies have played not only in business but in our everyday lives in the past year

• A quick look into Intel's agile and flexible approach

• How Intel unlocks the full potential of hardware with software optimizations

• The drivers behind the world's largest cloud providers using the 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor

• An inside look at Intel Software Guard Extensions

Cloud computing is, as Rebecca said, how wonderful gets done. This technology is driving the future of digital transformation and will likely lead to other advancements for years to come. If you'd like to learn more about how Intel is leading in the cloud space, be sure to check out their website. And while you're at it be sure to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode of the podcast.

Disclaimer: This show is for information and entertainment purposes only. While we will discuss publicly traded companies on this show, the contents of this show should not be taken as investment advice.

On this episode of the Futurum Tech Podcast – Interview Series I am joined by Wei Li, VP, General Manager for Machine Learning Software for Intel. Wei spearheads all aspects of AI software product development for deep learning, statistical machine learning and big data analytics, as well as hardware co-design for AI acceleration on CPU, GPU, and XPU architectures.

Our discussion centered on Intel's leadership in the AI space following the 3rd Generation Xeon Scalable Processor Launch. It was an excellent conversation and one you don't want to miss.

The Evolution of AI

My conversation with Wei also revolved around the following:

• An exploration into the democratization and evolution of AI in the last few years

• How Intel is approaching AI to make it accessible to meet the shifting needs of businesses

• The rapid proliferation beyond the data center including the growth at the edge

• What Intel is doing to enable faster development and deployment of AI software at scale

• How real-world organizations are leaning on Intel to drive their AI journeys

AI and machine learning are, as Wei said, where the magic happens. These ever-evolving technologies will be at the forefront of advancements for years to come. If you'd like to learn more about how Intel is moving the AI space forward, be sure to check out their website. And while you're at it be sure to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode of the podcast.

Disclaimer: This show is for information and entertainment purposes only. While we will discuss publicly traded companies on this show, the contents of this show should not be taken as investment advice.

On this episode of the Futurum Tech Podcast – Interview Series I am joined by Manoj Leelanivas, EVP and Chief Product Officer of Juniper Networks. Manoj spearheads all aspects of product development and strategy including the AI-driven enterprise business unit — an exciting role in today's business world.

Our discussion centered on how Juniper is different from other companies in the networking space including an overview of their experience-first networking strategy. It was an excellent conversation and one you don't want to miss.

The Future of Networking

My conversation with Manoj also revolved around the following:

• An exploration of the growth Juniper has experienced in recent years including some background on the company for those who might not know about this tech giant

• Details on Juniper's software initiatives

• What Experience-First Networking means for customers

• Key outcomes Juniper is seeing from Experience-First Networking

• How Juniper stands apart from competitors

• Exciting developments Juniper has in the works

2020 showed the need for better, faster, stronger networks, but complexity comes right along with progress. Juniper is looking to solve this by championing simplicity through everything they do, starting with engineering of networks. This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how networks are changing the way we work.

Disclaimer: This show is for information and entertainment purposes only. While we will discuss publicly traded companies on this show, the contents of this show should not be taken as investment advice.

In this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, Interview Series, we're taking the conversation to LinkedIn Live, and focusing on the BSS-to-Cloud journey that so many communication service providers (CSPs) are currently exploring. I was joined by my colleague here at Futurum, fellow analyst Ron Westfall, and also joined by Miriam Deasy and Rick Mallon from Ericsson. In our conversation, we focused on the findings of a research report that our team at Futurum partnered with Ericsson to develop: BSS-to-Cloud Journey: Powering Innovation Across the Digital Value Chain.

For CSPs, embracing customer-centric business operations and digital engagement allow them to monetize on improved customer experiences and support business models for current or future innovations. But sometimes all of that is much easier said than done and knowing where to start can be challenging — thus the impetus for our research.

From a strategic perspective, CSP decision-makers must recognize the most important considerations that are driving the BSS-to-cloud journey, and that's what we set out to both map out in the research report, as well as to have a discussion around on this episode of our Futurum Tech Webcast Interview Series show.

Miriam and Rick introduced themselves and shared a little about their roles at Ericsson, and we then jumped in. Here are some of the things our discussion covered:

• What the Ericsson team is seeing, from their vantage point in Ericsson Digital BSS across their customer base in terms of challenges customers face.
• What different approaches they are seeing on the customer side (and what can be learned from this).
• How Ericsson manages to cater to this massive amount of variation across their customer base and prospects, as well as in product development.
• What advice and insights can be offered to customers as they progress through their cloud journeys.
• The reality of continuous improvement/continuous development (CI/CD) play, and the role it plays for overall success.
• The top goals and objectives customers have identified, either to achieve or fix, as they progress in their cloud journeys.
• The top challenges customers shared that they face in their BSS-to-cloud journeys and what can be learned from that.

We wrapped up our discussion with a look at what the Ericsson team feels is working well for their customers, as well as a conversation around how CSPs can increase the likelihood of successful outcomes, and we closed our show with thoughts on what CSPs can do and/or focus on as they progress on their BSS cloud journeys.

In this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, I was joined once again by my partner, Daniel Newman, for the next installment on our series on Confidential Computing and how vendors are looking to deploy trusted-based computing models, specifically in areas such as Trusted Execution Environments, Enclaves, and homomorphic encryption, as well as a discussion on what's ahead. These conversations are a precursor to a research brief we are in the midst of completing and will hopefully serve to whet your appetite for a deeper dive very soon.

Confidential Computing: How Vendors are Looking to Deploy Trust-Based Computing Models

To recap our conversation of last week, Daniel and I touched on the instances of cybersecurity breaches in the news, the average cost of a data breach, the impact on careers that a data breach inevitably causes, as well as current legislation that's been introduced in the U.S. around requirements for reporting of data breaches in a specific and timely manner.

Today, our conversation centered around:

Revisiting Operational Trust vs. Technical Trust

Operational Trust is the kind of trust within an organization that we're accustomed to and revolves around the thought that better and regular training, stricter rules, compliance, certifications, etc. are what will keep an organization safe. While that may be in part true, Technical Trust, which is the focus on removing people from the security equation altogether through deployment of technological solutions rather than those other things is where we need to be heading.

What is the Goal of Confidential Computing and the Complexities Around the States of Data

We discussed the goal of Confidential Computing, which is at its most basic the goal of reducing the ability for a systems administrator of a platform to access data and code inside Trusted Execution Environments sufficiently so that this path is not an economically or logically viable attack during execution. Data exists in one of three states: At rest on a storage device, in transit between two locations across a network, and when it's in use as its being processed by applications. Confidential Computing is the protection of data in use by performing computation in a hardware-based Trusted Execution Environment and covers software attacks, protocol attacks, cryptographic attacks, and base physical attacks.

The Confidential Computing Consortium

The Confidential Computing Consortium is a group founded by the Linux Foundation and comprised of some of the biggest names in technology who have partnered to focus on security data in use using hardware-based TEEs and accelerating the adoption of Confidential Computing through open collaboration.

The Role Hardware Plays in Security (and Confidential Computing)

When security is your end game, rooting security in silicon and working outward should be the foundation of your strategy.

This was a quick but wide-ranging conversation. Daniel and I spoke more about the specifics on Trusted Execution Environments, and what is in scope as it relates to Fully Homomorphic Encryption, a class of encryption methods first envisioned in the 70s and now a fundamental part of Confidential Computing. Whether you're a senior leader focused on making security a fundamental part of business strategy (and we hope that you are), or a CISO charged with keeping your organization safe, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

Be sure to be on the lookout for our soon-to-be-published research brief on the topic of Confidential Computing — we think you'll find great value in it.

On this episode of the Futurum Tech Podcast – Interview Series I am joined by Tien Tzuo, CEO of Zuora, a cloud-based subscription management platform. Zuora enables any company in any industry to be part of the subscription economy, which Tien believes is the future of the business world — and I have to agree.

Our discussion centered on how Zuora is furthering their vision of "The World Subscribed" by delivering software that is a central system of record architected for dynamic, recurring subscription business models. It was an excellent conversation and one you don't want to miss.

The World Subscribed

My conversation with Tien also revolved around the following:

• An exploration of the growth of the subscription economy in the last few years

• How the growth of the subscription economy has helped Zuora grow including a quick recap of their recent earnings report

• What potential changes B2B and B2C businesses might be facing as we emerge from the pandemic

• What The End of Ownership trend means for businesses

• Exciting developments Zuora has in the works

Consumer behavior is changing. People, and businesses too, want access to products and services instead of ownership. Tien anticipated this shift back in 2007 when Zuora was founded. I fully believe that it will continue to grow in the years to come. This episode is a must listen for anyone interested in how the subscription economy is changing the way we work and live.

In this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast/Futurum Tech TV Daniel and I jumped on LinkedIn Live to talk about the news of the new Intel campaign featuring Justin Long, previously known as "The Mac Guy."

We talked about the new M1 chip that Apple is building as the company shifts from reliance on Intel powering Apple products.

We then talked about Intel's new campaign, bringing back Justin Long, the "I'm a Mac" guy in a campaign designed to spoof Apple, this time, someone that's all in on Team PC. What I did not know before we recorded this webcast is that Apple started this clever twist, bringing in John Hodgman, the "I'm a PC" guy from the original Apple "Get a Mac" campaign to kick off its reveal of the M1 processor replacing Intel's chips. And Intel, with agency partner VMLY&R, responded with its own #GoPC campaign.

This is a clever. As a long-time Apple product user, and owner of more Macs than I can honestly count, it was great to see the Intel campaign highlight the very real limitations that all Mac users live with. It's true, we really do just live with them. As John Coyne, Intel's vp of brand, creative and media said to AdWeek, "It's a fun challenge: How do you highlight the limitations that Mac users just live with and help highlight that we have a more compelling choice available with PCs? Who better to tell that story than Justin Long, who spent more than four years and 66 commercials representing the personification of 'I'm a Mac'?"

It was great to see Intel step up here and counter Apple's Hodgman campaign. In addition to being clever, for Intel, it was a great way to showcase the many, many benefits a PC affords in terms of user experience, flexibility, and usability that, well, Apple devotees don't have.

Want to watch the Intel spots, you can do that by checking out the Intel YouTube channel here.

Daniel wrote about this in a separate article for the Futurum blog: Intel's New Ads Target Apple M1 With Former Mac Spokesman Justin Long

On this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, Interview Series, I was joined by Dell Technologies' Rick Martinez and John Boyle for a conversation about navigating the hardware security journey. Rick is Senior Distinguished Engineer, Sr. Director at Dell Technologies and John is part of Dell Technologies' Cyber Security and Supply Chain Defense Product Management team.

Enterprise-wide security requires a shield, or a security posture, that follows and protects devices throughout all aspects of the hardware journey, encompassing the external supply chain, internal implementation, and ongoing end-user operations and device management.

Four Keys to Navigating the Hardware Security Journey

Our team at Futurum partnered with Dell Technologies to develop the white paper: Four Keys to Navigating the Hardware Security Journey and this conversation covered some of the key insights in the report. This was a long-term research initiative that began in 2019 and concluded in mid-2020.

We wanted to better understand the level and types of threats encountered by companies today, and the measures, practices, and policies those organizations employ to address these threats throughout the entire security journey.

Our research included an in-depth study of over 1,000 technology and security pros directly involved in the planning, implementation, management, or operations of security, risk, and compliance activities related to device-level security.

The demographics of our survey group included:US Federal Government – 29% State of Local Govt & Education – 30% Defense Industrial Base – 17% Critical Infrastructure Sectors – 22% Commercial Industries, 2%

Our conversation in this roundtable discussion centered on the four key insights derived from this research

• Understanding you are the target —security threats can come from all directions, both internal and external, malicious or accidental, found in your end-user devices and throughout your partner ecosystem and supply chain. And they can be in software and in hardware. • Security is built from the ground up —and needs to be a foundational part of business operations. Security breaches must be detected to be observed, and organizations with a security framework in place may be better able to identify and stop attacks. • Every security journey needs guardrails and frameworks — 75% of enterprises that utilize a security framework say they have experienced a security breach in the past. Conversely, enterprises that do not utilize a security framework say they have not been breached — ever. • Security paradise is found by the dashboard lights — really! We believe that it's hard to identify what you can't see. When it comes to the enterprise security journey, dashboards are mission critical.

What's ahead in the industry as it relates to hardware security and what are security teams focused on? We shared insights around that in our conversation.

Rick and John and I wrapped up our conversation sharing thoughts on what executives can do to prepare their businesses for the current threat landscape as well as future changes. They also shared some use case examples of what Dell is doing for customers and how that is working.

And we hope you'll download the research report: Four Keys to Navigating the Hardware Security Journey for tons more information and insights to help you plot a strategy for your own enterprise security journey.