Tech Talks Daily

José Pinto from Aragon joins me in a conversation about decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). José manages legal matters and ensures the legal compliance of Aragon — the platform for building & running decentralized autonomous organizations.

We speak about how DAOs are making strides in the legal sphere as of late, with Wyoming's Blockchain Bill No. 38 having just passed through the legislature. We also talk about the enormous flexibility DAOs will enjoy with this legislation approved and how DAOs will structure their affairs using any mix of statutory filings, legal agreements, or smart contracts to organize in the long term.

About Aragon

Aragon is currently undergoing a transition to consolidate its digital juror network — is well known for underpinning more than 1,600 global, permissionless and decentralized communities. DeFi projects like AAVE, Curve, and mStable also use Aragon's platform and services for financial transparency, asset management, and protocol governance. Vocdoni, acquired by the Aragon Project earlier this year, has also been developing digital voting solutions that will stand to benefit from legal developments such as this.

Today, I explore the topics of Customer-Cloud Shared Responsibility, Zero Trust Computing, and Emerging Threats with Joseph Davis, Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, Business Risk, and Information Compliance Advisor for the US Health and Life Sciences fields at Microsoft.

Joseph is part of a global team of former CISOs, cybersecurity leaders, and Azure security subject matter experts, the Microsoft Security Solutions Area (formerly CSG), who advise Microsoft's strategic customers on their cybersecurity, information compliance, data privacy, and risk management strategies.

Chief Security Advisors strive to solve Microsoft's customers' toughest security challenges by leveraging Microsoft's end-to-end enterprise security, compliance, data governance, and information lifecycle management solutions. Joseph strives to accelerate Cloud adoption, migration, and modern workplace transformation through innovative cybersecurity products, engagements, and programs.

Johanna Baum is the founder and CEO of Strategic Security Solutions (S3) Consulting and is a CPA in the state of Georgia with over 20 years of security, eGRC, IDG, and SAP technical and strategic advisory experience. Her vast expertise in the security and compliance field has served both industry and large consulting organizations.

Johanna sought to build an organization that approached security and identity initiatives differently. She wanted a community of experts focused on the holistic needs of the client and their employees rather than simply a technology reseller. She also sought to change the approach of boutiques looking to build the entire employee, not simply utilization-driven targets without empathy and investment in the individual.

Johanna founded S3 Consulting in 2005 to provide strategic professional services and guidance around security, eGRC, and IDG services for Fortune 2000 companies. Since beginning the company 15 years ago, Johanna has been hands-on in providing successful assessment, implementation, and deployment solutions throughout the full life cycle of both technical and strategic initiatives.

Identity threats will increase exponentially, causing organizations to focus on prevention: Identity attacks are also happening faster. In 2021, the focus is shifting from authenticating identity and authorization to controlling access.

Even if a business keeps the attack contained, they still have a significant issue – identity was compromised. Increasingly, organizations will take cyber security awareness training to better secure and manage user identities and scrub for inactive identities. Talking points/key messages: tips / best practices for ensuring strong identity. What does identity mean?

Also, with the rise of 'contactless' everything means authentication will become more complex. Amid COVID-19, e-commerce, online banking/payment systems, contactless travel, and other transactions are rising, however they require a high level of identity assurance and authentication.

In 2021 and beyond, preventing credential compromise will depend on stronger, more complex authentication security and identity validation. Increasingly, an individual's identity will become their credentials (face scans, finger prints, etc.) We also discuss how enterprises are slowly shifting away from enterprise password use and over to more secure alternatives.

Sovryn is a decentralized application allowing users to trade Bitcoin on Layer 2 in a permissionless, noncustodial, and censorship-resistant way. It enables users to leverage Bitcoin up to 5x and earn interest without sacrificing their security or privacy.

Sovryn is like a company, except that it runs entirely on bitcoin and is not incorporated into any centralized organization. In other words, it is a fully remote, novel type of company that is fluid, distributed, and powered by Bitcoin.

The company has developed an exchange and programmatic USD coin system leveraging the RSK Bitcoin sidechain, and it is actively looking at other BTC Layer 2 technology to scale its services. Sovryn likes RSK's technology because it is based on the existing Ethereum technology stack, making it interoperable with the entire Ethereum defi ecosystem.

Edan Yago joins me on the podcast and shares how the members of the Sovryn team refer to themselves as "Bitcoin Mutants" rather than "Bitcoin Maximalists." The Mutants understand that Bitcoin is key, but they cannot leverage the decentralized tech being built elsewhere. They see the Ethereum and altcoin ecosystem as an opportunity for Bitcoin to conquer as the defacto money and trading pair.

We discuss how the Sovryn team sees Bitcoin as the main building block of the new decentralized economy and think that Bitcoiners should not settle for centralized technology solutions.

As regular listeners will know, I am fascinated by our new proactive rather than reactive approach to healthcare, and the role tech plays in that change. We already monitor our steps, heart rate, calorie intake and can even have an ECG machine on hand. Today, Caroline Loew, CEO of Glympse, joins me in a conversation about biotech innovation.

Caroline shares their mission to detect diseases earlier and help develop better therapies so that people don't become patients and return to health faster. We discuss their novel technology: activity-based biosensors that are bioengineered and tunable to any protease-mediated disease.

I also learn how Glympse's technology can measure and predict the trajectory of a disease in a non-invasive, real-time, functional readout that is clinically actionable.

Glympse Bio is pioneering an in vivo sensing technology dedicated to transforming disease monitoring. The company has built a product engine enabling the rapid development of tunable and bioengineered activity sensors for multiple indications, including fibrosis, cancer, immunology, and infectious diseases.

The technology has been validated in 10 different diseases using multiple delivery methods and a broad range of analytical readouts. Glympse aims to improve healthcare globally by serving the needs of patients, clinicians, researchers, drug developers, and payors to help advance the science and our understanding of human diseases.

In 2020 at the start of the pandemic, Accenture Interactive predicted we were entering the beginning of the 'Virtual Century.' The shift towards virtual solutions resulting from Covid-19 would permanently affect ways of communicating across learning, working, transacting, and consuming. Now, almost a year on, Mark Curtis, Head of Innovation at Accenture Interactive, can discuss the lasting impact of this trend and why it is more important that organizations streamline the hurdles of going virtual all experiences. Companies need to look at how they utilize technology to remain viable, connect with their customers, and create a positive environment for their employees. Mark joins me on the podcast to discuss what's next for the workplace, the innovation of tomorrow, and how organizations can overcome the growing digital disconnect. What's next for the workplace – There is no such thing as an 'old normal' anymore, just old processes and technology. Regardless of what the future workplace looks like, the value of being physically present has been forever diminished. In 2021 businesses need to take a holistic approach acknowledging how alterations across talent acquisition, control, and technology can influence and foster different working environments remotely. The innovation of tomorrow – Creativity has been able to shire through throughout the pandemic, driven by technology. From TikTok to Microsoft Teams, 2021 will see platforms creatively repurposed and products increasingly perceived as unfinished tools adapted in more inclusive designs for larger audiences. Businesses can tap into this trend, viewing their customers not just as end-users but as creative co-collaborators How organizations can overcome the growing digital disconnect – while businesses must create new, people-focused, digital workplaces and adjust how they convey and use technology, 2020 has also seen a new challenge – empathy. More and more people are feeling excluded digitally. Mark can discuss how empathy is crucial to the design of new systems and the implementation of new technologies.

Rod Reasen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Springbuk, which recently raised a $20M series round. Rod has started 7 companies, sold 4 of them, and 2 are still ongoing concerns. He is a trailblazer, innovator, and visionary who sees trends at the macro level and tries to inspire others to see what he sees.

In 1 year, Rod: flew a fighter plane, drove a NASCAR 172 mph, bungee jumped off Victoria Falls Bridge. He has been to Africa 5 times and has visited 27 countries in total. He has seen the poorest of 3rd World countries and has hung out with some of the richest people in the world, which has given him a breadth of perspective on what's wrong in the world and what's possible.

At Springbuk, Rod drives the company toward the goal of "preventing disease with data." He believes that a company's mission - and adherence to the mission through bad times - plays a significant factor in whether it will succeed.

Rod shares his story and talks about the state of healthcare, employee benefits programs, and how technology can improve employee health outcomes while saving employers money.

A recent study found that COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of digitization of customer interactions by several years. Michelle MacCarthy, Global Head of Customer Success at Unit4, believes these changes are here to stay and companies must adapt by building online customer communities.

These communities allow for large organizations to collaborate with others in the industry on a peer-to-peer level and helps with accessibility to information sharing. Communities can be grouped by industry or by the service they are currently employing. Join Michelle and me as we discuss customer communities and why organizations should get started now.

While most organizations today have racial bias response protocols and remediation strategies, Panther Data Solutions' Racial Bias Alert™ is the first proactive solution to provide an immediate deterrent to racial bias in an organization.

Dean Haynesworth, CEO of Panther Data Solutions, shares his story and how they leveraged technology to monitor racism, sexism, and bias in the workplace. Dean also spearheads Black Progress Matters, which funds Panther Solutions. It is an incubator for startups led by founders of color and provides minority staffing direction.

Dean shares the inspiration behind creating Panther Data and the racial bias alert tool. We discuss the biggest hurdles for many organizations today regarding bias and the black progress matters tech incubator hopes to accomplish.

According to various studies, having a healthy building has many benefits to organizations, such as improved productivity, attracting and retaining talent, and better occupant health. But in the last year, the entire world also turned its attention to creating a cleaner, safer indoor spaces amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Change has been a constant theme for the world in recent months. It's been business as unusual. Many of us have changed where we work, how we socialize, how our children learn, how we shop, and more. The full extent of our new normal is still unknown. What role will tech play in analyzing air quality, safety & security, and helping to create healthier spaces?

Manish Sharma, CTO & Vice President at Honeywell Building Technologies shares how they are developing emerging technologies that ultimately create healthier environments for commercial buildings.