QATalks

These days, product development life cycles begin with quality engineering. And that means having not only the right skill sets, but also the right mind sets on your team.

Because quality is everyone’s responsibility.

In the latest QA Talks, we’re speaking with Dilhan Manawadu, Director, Head of Agile Delivery, Technology Quality Engineering & BT Studio at Sysco, and our very own Pradeep Govindasamy, President and CTO at Cigniti Technologies, about the role that quality engineering plays in digital transformation.

What we talked about:

- How automation is guiding digital transformation in the F&B sector

- Why it’s smart to put a quality engineer at the beginning of the product development lifecycle

- The most important skill sets needed to build a solid quality engineering practice

This post is based on a QA Talks podcast with Pradeep Govindasamy and Dilhan Manawadu. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to QA Talks here.

Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for QA Talks in your favorite podcast player.

Enterprise solutions don't fail because of technology.

They fail due to change management, due to not listening to end users.

This failure exacerbates the gap between a business and its customers. Where are the pitfalls in the bridge over the gap between what do you customers need and what technology teams deliver?

In this episode of QATalks, host Logan Lyles is joined by Dr. Anke Sax, European Digital Leader of the Year 2020, and Rob LaVelle, EMEA Sales Skills Coach and Trainer at LogMeIn.

Logan, Anke, and Rob discuss …

This post is based on a QATalks podcast with Dr. Anke Sax and Rob LaVelle. To hear this episode and many more like it, you can subscribe to QATalks here or on Apple Podcasts.

In 2020 the buzzword became "pivot…"

For CIOs that meant figuring out how to pivot to a remote environment and examining if they had the analytics to change their business model, channels, and markets as the world began to change at a faster rate. 

As COVID-19 accelerates digital agendas and amplifies challenges, industry leaders will continue to have to have conversations around adaptation.

In this episode of QATalks, host Logan Lyles is joined by Martha Heller, CEO at Heller Search Associates, and Pradeep Govindasamy, CTO & President at Cigniti Technologies.

The trio discusses… 

• The immediate impacts of COVID-19 on CIOs.
• 3 phases of CIO priority: security, analytics, and digital agendas. 
• Remote workforce challenges related to cybersecurity and product quality. 
• The CIO staffing crisis and the democratization of IT.

This post is based on a QATalks podcast with Dhanushka Ranganath. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to QATalks here or on Apple Podcasts.

Eliminate the weakest links and the biggest vulnerabilities. 

But if you focus on security, can you also run fast?

Yes, but to do so, you have to address security on two levels.

That's what we heard from Aimee Bechtle, head of devops & cloud, S&P Global, market intelligence division, and Kalyanarao Konda, president at Cigniti Technologies.

Aimee and Kalyanarao joined today's show to talk about:

• Balancing speed, compliance, and security in highly regulated environments
• Trends in the evolution of devops
• The rise of microservices

This post is based on a QA Talks podcast with Aimee Bechtle and Kalyanarao Konda. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to QA Talks here.

If you don't use iTunes, you can listen here.

Your car starts making a funny noise so you bring it into the mechanic. To your dismay, the auto shop doesn't have an expert on funny noises. With little confidence, the front desk worker tells you they can still fix it… maybe.

Not really the experience you want from an "expert," right?

In this episode of QATalks, host Logan Lyles is joined by Brian Benn, CIO at Atlanta Housing Authority, and Pradeep Govindasamy, CTO & President at Cigniti Technologies.

The trio discusses… 

• How to corral your company's data to create a single source of truth
• The steps needed to establish your company as a subject matter expert
• How data supports the customer experience
• Why/how to base your IT tactics in your company's overarching mission

This post is based on a QATalks podcast with Dhanushka Ranganath. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to QATalks here or on Apple Podcasts.

We can't afford to put off digital transformation any longer. 

But in this new world of COVID-19…

Doing things differently means doubling down on fundamentals. 

So says Dhanushka Ranganath, former National Manager for Application and Testing Services at NEC Australia. 

He came on today's show to explain:

• Why fundamentals are more important now than ever before
• How everything comes down to people, process and technology
• Why Quality Engineers need to be a jack of all trades

This post is based on a QA Talks podcast with Dhanushka Ranganath. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to QA Talks here.

If you don't use iTunes, you can listen here.

Digital transformation has been a long time coming…

But, thanks to COVID-19, it's no longer a choice.

Moving to digital has become a matter of survival.

But before you rush into anything, you should hear what today's guests, Walt Carter and Pradeep Govindasamy, have to say. 

Walt is Chief Digital Officer & CIO at Homestar Financial Corporation and — in case you're new to the show — Pradeep is CTO & President at Cigniti Technologies. 

Between the two of them, there is an enormous amount of expertise and experience in this area. 

In today's episode, Walt and Pradeep discuss:

• How COVID-19 is accelerating digital transformation
• Why transparency and openness are vital
• Why the biggest obstacle to change is organizational buy-in

This post is based on a QA Talks podcast with Walt Carter and Pradeep Govindasamy. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to QA Talks here.

If you don't use iTunes, you can listen here.

Digital transformation has disrupted every industry.

And that makes DevOps more than a "nice to have…"

It makes it the core of your QA.

To talk about why, I caught up with Pradeep Govindasamy, President and CTO at Cigniti Technologies, and Jermaine Oldham, VP of Engineering & Technology at J.B. Hunt Transport Services.

We discussed:

• Why failing fast is the best thing you can do

• Why shifts in IT are putting DevOps on top

• The 5 most important metrics in DevOps

This post is based on a QA Talks podcast with Pradeep Govindasamy and Jermaine Oldham. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to QA Talks here.

If you don't use iTunes, you can listen here.

If you've ever started a new job, you know how the first few months go. 

You meet as many people as you can, you learn as much as you can, and you really take some time to soak in as much information as possible before you start trying to make any drastic changes. 

It typically sounds something like this: 

"The CEO is taking 90 days to do a listening tour, to get to know as many people as possible before they get to work." Or 

""We're not trying to boil the ocean. Let's set some realistic goals and spend the next 100 days digesting all of the information." 

Gary Brantley did things a little differently. He was a guest on the QA Talks podcast recently and talked all about: 

• The 5-5-5 principle and how he brought it to the City of Atlanta
• How he took the team paperless in a week and a half
• Why sometimes shutting systems down is the best thing you can do operationally

This post is based on a QA Talks podcast with Gary Brantley of The City of Atlanta. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe here.

If you don't use Apple Podcasts, you can find all our episodes here.

I'm not sure anyone needs to be reminded that the world has changed. We're reminded nonstop. 

It seems there is only one news story now. One political issue. One concern the world over. And it's changed everything.

The question is — will you change with it?

Well, if you're in the financial sector, it's no longer optional.

On our show today, we have two guests — Ritesh Jain and Nanda Padmaraju — to explain why digital transformation has moved off the to-do list to become a top priority for financial brands. 

And they should know.

Ritesh is COO, CTO, and Global Head of Digital Technology at HSBC, while Nanda is Senior Vice President at Cigniti.

They explained:

• Why digital transformation is no longer optional
• How crises breed opportunity
• Why the changes are here to stay