Understandably, the recent Optus security breach dominated the news section of this podcast, considering its wide-reaching global implications. Josh and Tom then turned to essential updates from this year’s VMware Explore ( formerly VMworld ), including new offerings that fast-track digital transformation and that gild the path to successful cloud native platforms.  

Industry veteran, Veeam's Antony Marijanovic, offers eye-opening insights into the current landscape and the future of data protection. Key takeaways include; how to decrease data protection costs while improving your overall security, the ill-advised reliance on your SaaS or PaaS provider, and upcoming security features that cater for cyber security insurance compliance that speaks directly to the omnipresent threat that ransomware poses.

Special guest Scott Wall CTO (Chief Transformation Officer) at Bank Australia, discusses the various ways of giving a strategic voice to IT departments .

Particularly being able to speak the language at Board level; “developing actionable insights”, and “creating customer benefits” will resonate louder than ‘mean time between failure” or “enterprise architecture”.

Ryan Wadsworth Partner/CIO at KordaMentha joins the podcast to share the merits of re-inventing and rebranding “IT” to “Technology” including removing the stigma of IT being a financial burden and a necessary evil, growing to be a credible and proactive partner with the business, and the holy grail of transforming an organisation’s IT function into a profit centre along the way.

Let’s face it. The Cloud is now ubiquitous and prevalent in almost every aspect of technology supporting businesses. Adopting a Cloud Operating Model offers opportunities to re-assess and recalibrate how teams across the IT stack can leverage technology to support an organisation’s business plan.

A common challenge for many businesses is the onerous task of optimising delivery and securing data from disparate sources, including from the Cloud, on-premises, and data centres.

Ron Kaplan, VP of Sales for Storage Made Easy joins Josh and Tom to share successful strategies and technology offerings that help meet this challenge with real-world examples from the AEC and Finance industries.

IT recruitment expert Jenni Sanders (Randstad) returns to discuss the increasing challenges for businesses in sourcing, luring, and retaining IT talent and some win-win measures that employers are taking to ensure business continuity.

Josh and Tom delve into the world of AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations), and how advanced machine learning and AI can help automate and exponentially improve IT Ops.

Therese Chakour-West, CIO of Bunzl Australasia with over 1000 employees, discusses challenges for current CIOs, managing incumbent vendors when starting a new CIO role, the elephant in the room - change management, and more importantly, the significance of successfully bringing people along the journey of IT transformation journey.

Tom and Josh forecast the challenges and opportunities that await IT and business leadership in 2022. These span from 5G to the Metaverse, from composability to automation, and resourcing to security.