Tech means Business

This podcast is produced in conjunction with Wipro.

When organisations make an investment in technology or an IT transformation, the decision to do so should be based on a mixture of business strategy and technical knowledge. In either arena, it's always a positive thing to bring in an outside, objective view of what's needed, and why.

Our guest in this episode of the Tech Means Business podcast heads up the Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) region of, Wipro, that brings this necessary objectivity in spades. Sarah Adam-Gedge has had a stellar career in both technology and business consulting – and was an obvious choice for the Indian multinational.

With leadership roles previously at IBM and PwC (to name but a couple), she brings the type of perspective to Wipro that companies in the region need: a strategic, business vision combined with a passion for technology -- that will ensure companies thrive.

Sarah Adam-Gedge talks to our host about her career to date, some of the challenges around deploying tech in big business, the future direction of Wipro, and some of the community-based activities the proudly Indian company is committed too. We also touch on the stats that show how few women are represented in the technology industry, and what she and her employers are doing about this imbalance.

You can read more about Sarah on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahadamgedge/

Wipro's A/NZ site is here:
https://www.wipro.com/en-ANZ/

The company's commitment to good causes and foundational work:
https://www.wipro.com/about-us/making-a-difference/

The Azim Prenji Foundation:
https://azimpremjifoundation.org/

The host of the TMB podcast's socials:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/

As cyber criminals evolve their methods, a zero-trust framework can help prevent a goodly number of attacks by ensuring users, applications, and devices are allowed to even begin interacting with protected system. Then, after being admitted (with minimum privileges), the framework checks again and again, at every point of interaction, to make sure that no-one or nothing gets access to people and systems that are off limits.

One of the first companies to successfully offer zero trust architecture from the cloud was Duo Security, a company acquired by Cisco in 2018. Its CISO, Dave Lewis, talks to the Tech Means Business podcast about the zero-trust concept, and how it’s used to keep the systems on which we all rely to stay safe from prying (and avaricious) eyes.

From his high school days when he hacked his classmates for LOLs and ROFLMAOs, to the present day as Global Advisory CISO at Duo, Dave has been there, at the forefront of cyber defense. His entire career (save the first ten days or so) has been in cyber security, yet his enthusiasm for and contribution to the industry haven’t waned.

We talk about the accident of passwords’ emergence as the de facto standard for cyber protection to today’s systems of authentication based on granular definitions of trust, AKA access security: user to machine, user to user, and machine to machine.

Dave’s knowledge goes back to the days when modems warbled and trilled while handshaking and continues in this age of multi-cloud and the emergence of AI.

To learn more about Duo Security’s unique zero-trust cyber security offering, click here:

https://duo.com/

Dave Lewis’s professional profile lives here, with the finest job title on all of LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gattaca/

The Very Reverend Mother Green’s LinkedIn is here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/

The internet's original designers didn't consider the medium's use for crime; unfortunately, that's the reality we all face every day online. This podcast looks at some of the cybersecurity issues facing companies doing business digitally.

Our guest is Aaron Bugal, Global Solutions Engineer at Sophos, one of the world's leading cybersecurity companies. We talk about the latest spate of ransomware attacks, and learn this is an old problem, yet one that won't go away.

We look at how different parts of the world might be affected differently by cyber threats and learn that although some geographies are perhaps less protected than others, they might not be as highly targeted by threat actors as others. Nevertheless, with the costs of attack rising due to brinkmanship and bad actors' arrogance, organizations of any size need to make themselves safer online.

In many cases, unprotected companies will be presented with ransomware demands after the hackers have exfiltrated priceless data. Companies struggle to protect themselves due to lack of awareness, but also, it's down to lack of qualified staff.

The Sophos Managed Threat Response service can provide 24/7 cover for companies that are struggling to find the way through the battleground out there. It's operated by specialists like Aaron -- people whose expertise and knowledge provide a round the clock sentry and response service, that goes beyond simple notifications: it helps stop threats in their tracks.

You can read more about Sophos' Managed Threat Response here:

https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/managed-threat-response.aspx

We recommend the Sophos MTR data sheet, here in PDF format:

https://www.sophos.com/en-us/medialibrary/pdfs/factsheets/sophos-mtr-ds.pdf

For more about all the products and services Sophos offers:

https://www.sophos.com

Aaron Bugal of Sophos is here on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronbugal/?originalSubdomain=au

Joe Green's nod at the socials is here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/

This podcast is produced in conjunction with SUSE

In this episode of the Tech Means Business podcast we look at the edge, and really dig into how it's best defined and used by organizations. Edge computing environments are often characterized by the prevalence of IoT or IIoT devices, so any discussion about edge usually involves talking about app deployment on smaller, less powerful hardware.

That makes the edge the perfect place for containerized microservices -- containers are fast to deploy and lightweight, so if DevOps is going to take advantage of edge's capabilities, it's here where folks have to concentrate.

Our guest is Vishal Ghariwala, CTO for APJ and Greater China, from SUSE, who takes us through the edge computing landscape, explains the issues, and talks about how dedicated Edge technologies from SUSE like K3s, Rancher and SLE Micro can be leveraged to best effect. If you've ever wondered about how best to develop, deploy, maintain and manage container-based apps and services in edge settings, this podcast has the answers you need.

And while we might think "heavy industry," e.g. manufacturing, whenever IIoT gets a mention, Vishal also talks about other verticals using these types of technologies to deploy agile apps, and how any deployment will fit into existing structures in the enterprise at large.

Less practically, but a deal more glamorous, we also learn that SUSE's container tech is being used by batteries of satellites: it's SUSE in space!

Read more about, SUSE Edge, SLE Micro, K3s and Rancher.

Vishal is here on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vishalghariwala/

Elektrobit partnership:

https://www.suse.com/c/new-horizons-for-suse-and-elektrobit-partnership-in-automotive/

Hypergiant success story:

https://www.suse.com/success/hypergiant/

Joe can be found orbiting here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/

Back in the day, a small company called Citrix started pushing technology that allowed computers, and what became their desktops, to be reached and controlled remotely. Initially, the concept was treated as backwards-looking, harking back to the days when mainframes were addressed by thin clients.

From being the CEO of Citrix, Mark B. Templeton has worked and led companies at the vanguard of virtualization, most recently Workspot, whose VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) solutions are bringing powerful computing to places and areas where resources can -- or could be -- limited.

Mark has also had a spell at developers' favorite, Digital Ocean, whom Mark advised not to chase AWS's tail, but to concentrate on its core users of developers, systems administrators, DBAs, learners, and technology experts alike.

If you've ever spun up a VM, started a container or double-clicked to connect to a remote desktop, then Mark and the companies he's worked with have created (at least in some part) those experiences.

Workspot's here:

https://www.workspot.com/

Mark's here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/markbtempleton/

And Joe's here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/

The great promise of containerized applications and services is one of true platform agnosticism. Microservices are quick to spin up, knit together, and scale, are less resource-intensive than full-blooded virtual machines and can be deployed on hybrid infrastructure as easily as on a single bare metal instance.

As organizations start to explore the options that containers might offer them, we talk to Vishal Ghariwala, CTO for APJ and Greater China, from SUSE about the advantages of the technology, the power of open-source, and the leadership that SUSE is showing in the sector.

Although the German software giant has long been active in the enterprise computing space, its acquisition of Rancher Labs in December 2020 has positioned it nicely. It's rapidly becoming the de facto solution for containerization deployed in all areas of production, from IIoT in edge environments to large, elastic roll-outs for mixed and hybrid clouds.

Vishal has a history with Red Hat, Intalio, and IBM, and his cloud-native and open-source background serves him well as an ambassador for both containerization and the SUSE variants on Linux and open-source technology. We also touch on some projects to watch from SUSE's development labs that are making waves, including Harvester, the first genuinely open-source, non-proprietary hyperconvergent platform.

If you're interested in how containers' advantages might change the way you think about DevOps and enterprise software in general, this episode of the Tech Means Business podcast is for you.

SUSE Rancher: https://www.suse.com/products/suse-rancher/

Kubernetes Management for Dummies: https://www.suse.com/lp/kubernetes-for-dummies/

Rancher Desktop: https://rancherdesktop.io/

Harvester: https://harvesterhci.io/

Vishal can be found on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vishalghariwala/

Joe Green, TMB's host is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/

"Hybrid work is here to stay." So says Brett Wilson, Chief Operating Officer – Infrastructure & Risk at Interactive, an Australian company specialising in remote working, business continuity, protection, and general operational resilience.

In this podcast, host Joe Green talks to Brett about how the shape of work is changing, how it's changed since the pandemic outbreak, and what form it will end up in when (or if) things settle down. The age of the single CBD office may well be at an end, with companies opening smaller, branch offices and combining their use with home working models. Will that situation change, and will it matter?

We also touch on business continuity (BC) and the way the idea of a "spare office" -- the traditional BC facility -- has changed beyond all recognition in the last two years. It's not a space largely empty except for a pile of last year's computers anymore; the buzz now is about operational resilience -- after all, we've all been testing business continuity facilities by working from home for the last 18 months.

Operational Resilience feeds us neatly into talk about disasters in the sense of Disaster Recovery, a concept that's also changed in the last couple of years. Disaster Recovery is more about IT security than flood protection measures, but the facilities of Disaster Recovery as provided by Interactive are also highly effective in the event of hack attack.

Brett shares his 20+ years of experience in this industry and gives every business owner and manager clear direction about how to think about keeping the show on the road in 2021 and beyond. Essential listening.

Download this whitepaper covering the subject:

https://my.interactive.com.au/planning-for-the-post-pandemic-workspace-whitepaper-LP.html

Learn more about Interactive:

https://www.interactive.com.au/

Brett Wilson on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettwilson1/

Joe Green on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/

This podcast is produced in conjunction with SAP

Many of the world's enterprise-scale businesses and organizations run on software from SAP. The company produces one of the best-known ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions today, where smart software helps companies with every aspect of their operations, from accounts, HR, operations, business intelligence, marketing, to sales and so much more.

In great news for smaller businesses, SAP Business One is a suite of products designed specifically for the SME. Out of the box, it covers off all the basics of running a company, automating mundane tasks, gathering key real-time data, speeding up business processes, and feeding back in real-time to managers and business owners.

For companies looking to grow, SAP Business One is the one-stop shop for enterprise-grade software that's laden with power and capacity but comes with a small business price tag.

Of course, as a smaller organization grows, so too can the software helping power it -- the Business One suite is fully compatible with its big brother, and the platform's modular approach means companies can add advanced capabilities that provide more functionality as and when the business demands it.

In this episode of Tech Means Business, we spoke to Shuddhatm Chaturvedi, the Founder & Managing Director at Zelorra, an online retail company that's seen a remarkable positive change from using SAP Business One -- even in the difficult last two years.

We get the lowdown on the range of capabilities of the platform from Ketan Jain of Uneecops, the SAP reseller and partner whose SAP Business One Starter Pack has helped dozens of companies move from startup to big time.

We were also joined by Head of SAP Business One & SAP Business ByDesign for the Indian subcontinent, Mitesh Gandhi, to talk about the company's commitment to all sizes and types of business and how SAP is the platform that can adapt and support as a business takes on new challenges, including -- but not exclusively -- digital transformation.

To learn more about SAP Business One, click through here: https://www.sap.com/uk/products/business-one.html

Online retailer Zelorra:

https://www.zelorra.com/

SAP Partner, Uneecops:

https://www.uneecops.com/

Shuddhatm Chaturvedi, Founder & Managing Director at Zelorra, is here on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shuddhatm-chaturvedi/

Ketan Jain of Uneecops is here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ketan-jain-369335161/

SAP's Mitesh Gandhi is here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/miteshrgandhi/

And your host of the Tech Means Business podcast, Joe Green, can be found here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/

This podcast is produced in conjunction with McAfee

With almost every organization on the planet now making at least some use of cloud computing, how are they protecting those remote operations and their data from a cyber-attack?

McAfee has transitioned from a provider of antivirus software on desktops to a device-to-cloud cybersecurity company. Its solutions can oversee all manner of endpoints, from phones, laptops, desktops, and servers, to cloud computing and storage, and the lifeblood data that travels between them.

In this podcast, we speak to Daryush Ashjari, the Head of Presales & Sales Engineering for McAfee Asia Pacific, about the new cloud paradigm and how it can be best secured.

Daryush talks to us about how mass remote working has changed, how most IT functions have had to rethink about security, and why a full-service cloud-based system of protection can cover off this essential aspect of running any organization.

We chat about home working, sharing insecure wireless networks with the family, and using work hardware at home (and personal hardware to get a day's work done). What are the new threats, and how can we address the problems of an attack surface that's suddenly got very, very big?

Daryush and our host also touch on inside and outside threats, and see if we can picture a way for organizations to scale safely in a world that's increasingly data-driven.

You can read more about McAfee's cloud solutions for cybersecurity here:
https://www.mcafee.com/enterprise/en-gb/solutions/cloud-security.html

Dayrush Aswani's LinkedIn is here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daryush-ashjari-6857641/

And host Joe Green can be reached here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/

In an internet environment that's seen the deterioration of privacy over the last few years especially, there are various methods people and businesses can use to stop sensitive information being leeched away. Some of them -- like setting up a VPN tunnel -- are difficult to achieve in ways that are scalable and reliable.

This episode's guest, Seven, is the Brit behind the Orchid VPN, a platform that aims to be easy to use, anonymous to fund, and make online privacy a given.

Seven (that's Dr Steven Waterhouse, IRL) has had a career that's taken him from the rowing for and studying at Cambridge University to Silicon Valley, where a series of successful business ventures have cemented his place in the tech scene.

In this podcast we talk about privacy, anonymization, blockchain, VPNs and government oversight. If your wardrobe doesn't already contain a tinfoil hat (your host's does), then you'll be shopping for one by the time you've finished listening.

This podcast is best listened to on Chrome (that's an internet privacy gag, right there).

Seven's Orchid VPN can be found here:

Web | Google Play | iOS App Store | Git

And his LinkedIn profile is here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/deseventral/

Joe's LinkedIn profile with Facebook tracking pixel is here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephedwardgreen/