Futurum Tech Webcast

This week's episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast – Interview Series, featured an interview with Cisco's Niraj Gopal. Niraj is the Director of Project Management for Webex Enterprise Security and Compliance and "owns" the 360 degree approach to Webex security, which spans so many things. In our conversation today we explored trends in online collaboration and communications platforms, some key differentiators between platforms, how COVID-19 has changed the way we work (and live), and what's going on in the enterprise leaders' minds as it relates to the security afforded by these platforms.

Niraj is responsible for all things related to enterprise security and compliance at Webex, including identity management, end-to-end encryption of customer content, Data Loss Prevention, the DPL/CASB partner ecosystem, mobile device security, third party platform certifications, and security policy controls in Control Hub. With more than 20 years of experience in enterprise security management, the creator of a number of innovative products, and the holder of 7 patents (and counting), he's a self-described fanatic when it comes to solving customer problems. That's probably why we get along so well — I'm a bit of a fanatic about that myself.

Our conversation revolved around some primary research our team at Futurum recently published, in partnership with Cisco: Unified Communications & Collaboration, the Essential Differentiators for 2020 and Beyond and Unified Communications & Collaboration, the Primacy of Security, Privacy and Trust.

We discussed:

• Trends in online collaboration since COVID-19 changed the way we work, including security issues.
• In spite of a lot of news about security breaches of online meeting platforms, we don't hear about that much as it relates to Webex. What is Cisco doing differently?
• Besides what users can do to protect their own data, thoughts on what IT and security admins can do to make sure that data doesn't get breached, especially in persistent messaging.
• What vendors can do to help prevent and protect against data breaches.
• How work from home has changed the workload for IT admins, and what they can do to ensure the safety of devices being used by remote employees.
• How visibility and control when users collaborate outside of their company is a critical part of data protection initiatives.
• How E2E encryption safeguards meetings and why that's more important today than ever before.
• The evolving role of collaboration platforms in healthcare and what's involved in delivering telehealth services remotely.

We wrapped up our conversation with a discussion about what's next on the roadmap for collaboration security. Niraj brought a wealth of knowledge to the conversation around not only trends in UC&C, how vendors and platforms differ and why understanding those differentiators are important for enterprise leaders charged with making decisions around UC&C platforms and, last but never least, the role that security plays in all of this today and what to know and look for.

And if you're interested in a deeper dive on either UC&C trends and differentiators you need to know about and/or security as it relates to UC&C platforms, you can download our research reports here:

Unified Communications & Collaboration, the Essential Differentiators for 2020 and Beyond

Unified Communications & Collaboration, the Primacy of Security, Privacy and Trust

This episode of the Futurum Tech Podcast - Interview Series is the fifth installment of our Intelligent Enterprise Industry Series — done in partnership with SAP. Be sure to check out the other episodes to hear the insights from other industry execs. On this episode, I welcomed Craig Quantz and Stuart Harris, two executive advisors for the professional services industry at SAP to discuss how they are focusing on furthering their intelligent enterprise story.

The Interconnected Professional Services Firm

SAP recently partnered with Oxford Economics to conduct a research study to identify how an interconnected mindset impacts organizations including how COVID-19 has upended professional services firms and how organizations are finding ways to work at peak efficiencies in spite of the turmoil. The report includes findings from 3,000 senior executives, including 300 from the professional services sector.

My conversation with Craig and Stuart revolved around the following:

• How organizations are shifting to digital services and virtual firms as a result of the pandemic.
• The new strategies firms are pursuing including outcome based engagements, leveraging talent networks, knowledge as a service subscriptions and others.
• Which strategy has been the most successful thus far.
• An exploration into why the professional services industry is the least connected industry

Craig, Stuart and I explored some of the findings of the Oxford Economics report: The Interconnected Professional Services Firm, but we only scratched the surface. If you're interested in a comprehensive view of the subject download The Oxford Economics report on the Interconnected professional services sector here.

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.

This episode of the Futurum Tech Podcast - Interview Series is the fourth installment of our Intelligent Enterprise Industry Series — done in partnership with SAP. I welcomed Robin Wilson and Randy Evins, two executive advisors for the retail industry at SAP to discuss how they are focusing on furthering their intelligent enterprise story.

The Interconnected Retail Industry

SAP recently partnered with Oxford Economics to conduct a research study to identify how an interconnected mindset impacts organizations, especially the connection between systems thinking and business outcomes. Many retailers have broken down barriers, but there is still a lot of work to be done to balance the human-centered, data-driven approach. The report includes findings from 3,000 senior executives, including 300 from the retail sector.

My conversation with Robin and Randy revolved around the following:

• The changing business models in the retail industry and the type of technologies that are driving the change.
• How organizations are using systems thinking to break down existing silos to be more productive.
• Different ways leaders are taking advantage of the integrated approach to deliver value to customers.
• The impact of talent in the workforce on the integrated approach to business.
• An exploration of the ways organizations are getting the most from their data.
• How intelligent technologies will continue to shape the industry for years to come.

Robin, Randy and I explored some of the findings of the Oxford Economics report: The Responsive Retailer: Agile, Data-Driven, and Focused on Experiences that will have a big impact on the future. We only explored a few topics in the report and there's so much more to it. If you're interested in a comprehensive view of the subject download The Oxford Economics report on the Interconnected Retail industry here.

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.

This episode of the Futurum Tech Podcast - Interview Series is the third installment of our Intelligent Enterprise Industry Series — done in partnership with SAP. I welcomed David Shimbo and Craig Kindleman, two executive advisors for the oil and gas industry at SAP to discuss how they are focusing on furthering their intelligent enterprise story.

The Interconnected Oil and Gas Sector

SAP recently partnered with Oxford Economics to conduct a research study to identify how an interconnected mindset impacts organizations including how data has impacted the supply chain and ways organizations are building better workforces. The report includes findings from 3,000 senior executives, including 300 from the industrial manufacturing sector.

My conversation with David and Craig revolved around the following:

• How volatile oil prices are impacting the operational strategies in the different petroleum segments.
• The digital transformation initiativesorganizations in the oil and gas industry are undertaking.
• How organizations within the oil and gas industry are innovating a mostly stagnant industry.
• Ways organizations are improving productivity and operational efficiencies while reducing costs.

David, Craig and I explored some of the findings of the Oxford Economics report: Thinking Beyond the Barrel: Increasing Agility Through Systems Thinking that will have a big impact on the future. We only explored a few topics in the report and there's so much more to it. If you're interested in a comprehensive view of the subject download The Oxford Economics report on the Interconnected Oil and Gas sector here.

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.

This episode of the Futurum Tech Podcast - Interview Series is the second installment of our newly launched Intelligent Enterprise Industry Series — done in partnership with SAP — where I will be speaking with advisors and executives across ten different industries on how they are focusing on furthering their intelligent enterprise story. I'm excited to welcome Gary Nelson, an executive advisor for the industrial machinery and components industry at SAP.

The Interconnected Industrial Manufacturer

SAP recently partnered with Oxford Economics to conduct a research study to identify how an interconnected mindset impacts organizations including how data has impacted the supply chain and ways organizations are building better workforces. The report includes findings from 3,000 senior executives, including 300 from the industrial manufacturing sector.

My conversation with Gary revolved around the following:

• How companies that rely heavily on face to face sales are reacting to COVID-19 and preparing for the next potential disruption.
• The ways customers can use different software systems to connect their entire enterprise.
• How companies within the IM&C industry are improving collaboration across the supply chain.
• Collaboration across the organization and with external partners is requiring more data
• The importance of integrating data not just internally but externally as well to drive insights and analytics when going to market.

Gary and I explored some of the findings of The Interconnected Industrial Manufacturer report that will have a big impact on the future. We only covered a few aspects of the report in our conversation. If you're interested in a comprehensive view of the subject download The Oxford Economics report on the Interconnected Industrial Manufacturer here.

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.

This episode of the Futurum Tech Podcast - Interview Series is part of our newly launched Intelligent Enterprise Industry Series — done in partnership with SAP — where I will be speaking with advisors and executives across ten different industries on how they are focusing on furthering their intelligent enterprise story. I'm excited to welcome Tom Madonna, an executive advisor for the automotive industry at SAP.

The Interconnected Automaker

SAP recently partnered with Oxford Economics to conduct a research study to identify how an interconnected mindset impacts organizations, including how data has impacted the supply chain and ways organizations are building better workforces. The report includes findings from 3,000 senior executives, including 300 from the automotive sector.

My conversation with Tom revolved around the following:

• How automotive companies, both original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers, are starting to build their mobility services and platforms to gain insights about their products and customers.
• The ways customer insights are allowing organizations to evolve and deliver for the next generation
• How companies within the automotive industry are changing their mindset when it comes to HR and human capital management.
• Collaboration across the supply chain that is requiring more and more data
• Integrating data both internally and externally to drive insights and analytics when going to market.

Tom and I explored some of the findings of The Interconnected Automaker report that surprised him the most. We only scratched the surface of the report in our conversation. If you're interested in a comprehensive view of the subject, download The Oxford Economics report, The Interconnected Automaker: Agile and data-driven here.

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 – Women in Tech – Interview Series, I'm joined by Ritu Kapoor, from Automation Anywhere. In our conversation today we're going to cover some exciting news coming out of Automation Anywhere's Innovation Day event, which was held on Wednesday, October 7th. Ritu is the is head of product strategy at Automation Anywhere, and she focuses on front office automation solutions — RPA, AI and machine learning technology to increase the pace of automation in the front office, back office and any office to help organizations lower operating costs and become more productive. She also heads up competitive and market intelligence for the company, which means if you're playing in the RPA and automation space, she knows what you're doing. In our conversation, we explored RPA adoption and how it continues to transcend other technologies, especially now when organizations are speeding up all parts of their digital transformation efforts. We also talked about the state of women in tech, some of the inroads we've made and seen, as well as the challenges ahead. Our conversation then turned to perhaps one of the most exciting announcements to come out of Automation Anywhere's Innovation Day — the announcement about AARI, the Automation Anywhere Robotic Interface. Here are the highlights:

• Ritu walked us through AARI's AI-powered automation technology, which was designed to help organizations quickly and easily connect various business processes and empower employees to work alongside automation technology (in a bot-to-human interface) in a seamless fashion.
• The challenges today's organizations report as it relates to adopting or considering the adoption of automation solutions, which include: - Scale. Only 15% of companies using RPA have scaled past 50 bots - Building business resiliencies is a key challenge/area of focus, and organizations are often not sure of the role automation solutions can play here - Culture around innovation, specifically as it relates to RPA, doesn't exist - Ability to maintain QC over standards, compliance, while still empowering citizen devs
• How the adoption of AI-powered technology like AARI can play a role in both speeding digital transformation as well as in building business resiliency
• The key differentiators of Automation Anywhere's AARI from other automation technology on the market today.
• Some use case examples of how AARI can make employees more productive in the workplace.
• An overview of AARI can help organizations as a whole manage bots and applications by aligning how employees work and making accessing the technology easily by embedding it in browsers, desktops, mobile, and apps that employees use every day (for example, Salesforce).

AARI is available worldwide, with pricing starting at $35/mo/user. For more information on AARI, check it out here

SHOW LESS

This episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast – Interview Series is part of our newly launched Women in Tech Series. Shelly Kramer, founding partner and senior analyst at Futurum Research welcomes Jasmina Omic, with Riscure, a global security lab offering security services and tools.

Today's conversation revolved around cybersecurity and the IoT,

highlighting industry-wide security concerns related to the IoT and a discussion on the importance of being PSA Certified. PSA Certified offers a framework for security connected devices, from analysis, to security assessment, and certification. The framework provides standardized resources to help resolve the growing fragmentation of IoT requirements and ensure that security is no longer a barrier to product development.

Our conversation covered:

• Digital Transformation and the impact of DX for the IoT industry, which is predicted to reach a global market size of $150 Billion by 2025.

• The pervasiveness of the IoT and the growth that's ahead.

• The security weaknesses that are often an inherent part of the IoT.

• Why security is fundamental and the current drivers of IoT security, including government-driven initiatives across the globe.

• The impact of the growth in IoT on the industry is significant. There's a LOT happening, and it can be confusing. Consumers, OEMs, the software ecosystem, SIPs, etc., all must be constantly aware of what they need to do to keep up with the governmental changes.

• What PSA Certified offers and why an overarching certification and recognition scheme helps the whole ecosystem to develop secure solutions easier.

• PSA Certification is important because it can increase confidence in your product, demonstrate compliance to standards, and demonstrate that industry best practices have been followed and applied in every step of the development process.

The mission of PSA Certified is to provide a framework for security devices which was architecture agnostic. The organization also co-found a certification scheme with seven security expert companies (Jasmina's company, Riscure is one of those companies).

The goal of PSA Certified is to help align the industry as a whole, set a level of security, and enable a transparent conversation on security that results in everyone talking the same language about the same structures of security.

With over 40 products from over 25 companies now certified, there is much excitement about what's ahead for PSA Certified and the good the organization can do in the IoT ecosystem.

Visit Futurum Research for more tech insights: https://futurumresearch.com

For more on PSA Certified, visit them here: https://www.psacertified.org/

For more on Jasmina Omic and Riscure, visit them here: https://www.riscure.com/

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, Futurum analysts Shelly Kramer and Ron Westfall discuss the digital divide and explore where the telco industry is in its journey to closing that divide. We explore how closing the digital divide is a top priority for government and society the world over, and how service providers can rise to meet the needs and challenges the digital divide presents.

The topics explored include:

• Funding available to telco service providers to help close the digital divide, especially in rural areas;

• Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and the role satellites are playing in making inroads related to bridging the digital divide;

• 5G technologies such as fixed wireless access (FWA) and the growth opportunities that exist for telcos within the next five years;

• The technical and business considerations telcos must focus on moving forward (including automation of the network operations lifecycle (including network service orchestration, network controller, and analytics capabilities), along with appropriate security protections that provide E2E security assurance (protecting against malware, DDoS, application protection and privacy, and threat analytics).

• The importance of partnerships we believe are vital to telco operator success in bringing the kind of support, innovation, infrastructure, and opportunity to the areas they serve.

• We highlighted the work of Cisco with its recently announced rural broadband push, along with other vendors like Ericsson, Nokia, and ADTRAN, who are also making key moves and building alliances and partnerships with telcos and Communication Service Providers (CoSPs). We also explored some innovative things that vendors like Netcracker and Marvell are doing and the role those initiatives will play in this ecosphere moving forward.

For more analyst insights related to the digital transformation of the telecos and Communications Service Providers (CoSPs), check out the Futurum Research blog.

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 Sonny Dasgupta. Sonny is the Head of Product Marketing for the SAP Customer Data Cloud, a foundational pillar under the SAP customer experience business. The SAP Customer Data Cloud solutions – which includes the SAP Customer Identity, SAP Customer Consent and SAP Customer Profile solutions — enables businesses to deliver better customer experiences, and develop trusted relationships with customers by allowing them more control over what data is used — a must have in today's world.

Our conversation covered several aspects of the future of customer experience including data analytics, the cloud and how enterprises and customers are going to be impacted as data continues to drive customer experience changes. It was a fascinating conversation and one you don't want to miss.

The Future of Customer Experience

My conversation with Sonny also revolved around the following:

• How businesses need to change their business models to deliver better experiences and stay differentiated from the competition especially now .

• The challenges companies must overcome to offer best in class personalization for their customers and how that enables trusted relationships to flourish. We also explored the impact that lack of trust can have on the bottom line.

• Ways businesses can embrace the regulatory and compliance environment while still delivering a personalized customer experience without becoming invasive or creepy.

• Where companies need to start to deliver top notch customer experiences including a step by step process for dealing with fragmented customer data. We also explored how to focus on what your company does best without getting overwhelmed by the process of delivering personalized customer experiences.

In my opinion, the future customer experience is not just the job of one department, but actually a responsibility shared across the organization. If you are part of delivering an outstanding customer experience, then this episode is one that needs to be on your 'must listen' list.

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.