Show Notes:

Things. Reasons. is an independent podcast. The views expressed by hosts and guests are their own and do not represent any company or organisation.

Content is for general information and entertainment only and should not be taken as professional, legal, or financial advice. While care is taken, no guarantee is made as to accuracy. Any references to people or organisations reflect personal opinions only and are not intended to harm reputation or imply wrongdoing.

Follow Naran McClung on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naranmcclung/

Follow Jono Staff on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanstaff/

And don't forget to subscribe and rate the show! We love hearing your thoughts and answering questions. For all enquiries, contact [email protected]

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Things. Reasons., Jono Staff and Naran McClung fire up a new segment — What Grinds Our Gears.

From the government's half-billion-dollar AWS bill and the question of who's really keeping watch on cloud spend, to CommBank's public AI fail that saw staff replaced by their own automation, Jono and Naran get into the uncomfortable questions others won't ask.

They also look at the hype cycle around generative AI — from pilot fatigue to talk of an "AI bubble" — and what it means for Australian IT leaders trying to balance cost, risk and reputation.

It's independent commentary on the decisions shaping tech in Australia — and why sometimes the "easy" choice isn't the right one.

Show Notes:Follow Naran McClung on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naranmcclung/

Follow Jono Staff on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanstaff/

Check the episode out on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/hGQIVi84Tmk

And don't forget to subscribe and rate the show! We love hearing your thoughts and answering questions. For all enquiries, contact [email protected]

Episode Summary: In this episode of Things. Reasons., Naran McClung and Jono Staff sit down with James Henderson, Editorial Director at Moxie Insights — the media insider who's spent his career turning complex tech and business shifts into stories that leaders actually pay attention to. They get into:

• Thought leadership fatigue — why the term's lost meaning, and how authenticity became the real differentiator.
• B2B media myths — how the sausage is really made, why "copy-and-paste content" still dominates, and what it'll take for the industry to evolve.
• The authenticity gap — why most corporate content still sounds fake, and how leaders can tell better stories without a personal brand coach.

From "find your fusion" to fanzines and fake job titles, James pulls back the curtain on media, messaging, and the art of saying something worth hearing.

Show Notes:

Follow Naran McClung on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naranmcclung/

Follow Jono Staff on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanstaff/

Check the episode out on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/e8kexzZSAl8

And don't forget to subscribe and rate the show! We love hearing your thoughts and answering questions. For all enquiries, contact [email protected]

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Things. Reasons., Naran McClung and Jono Staff sit down with our inaugural guest — the indomitable Simon Reiter, CTO at CareSuper — an experienced technology leader shaping the future of superannuation.

Adapt CIO Edge: AI dominates the agenda, but only 2% of organisations have moved past proof-of-concept.

Superannuation's next chapter: consolidation, digitisation, and automation reshaping a $4.1 trillion industry.

Leadership realities: from compliance to stress management — what it actually takes to deliver for members.

Plus, Simon takes on the Quickfire Three: the advice he'd give his younger self, a belief he's abandoned, and how he spots a true partner.

Show Notes:

Follow Naran McClung on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naranmcclung/

Follow Jono Staff on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanstaff/

Check our Youtube Channel for full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@Things.Reasons

And don't forget to subscribe and rate the show! We love hearing your thoughts and answering questions. For all enquiries, contact [email protected]

Episode Summary:

In the launch of Things. Reasons., Naran McClung and Jono Staff cut straight into the forces reshaping Australian IT — and why they've launched a new independent show.

They unpack:

• Telstra's sell-off — why focusing back on core connectivity could be the telco's smartest move in years.
• Traditional MSPs under pressure — as agentic AI rewrites business models, are people-based consultancies already outdated?
• CyberCX acquisition — capability, brand equity, or people: what was really behind the deal?
• AI and talent pipelines — what happens to grads, careers, and future CIOs when AI can outpace entry-level jobs?

Plus, Jono takes on the Quickfire Three: the advice he'd give his younger self, a leadership myth he's abandoned, and how to spot a true partner from a pretender.

👉 Tune in to this first episode to get your dose of candid, unfiltered commentary — and hear what we have in store for future episodes.

Show Resources:

Follow Jono Staff on LinkedIn

Follow Naran McClung on LinkedIn

Cloud Reset's YouTube Channel

Contact us at [email protected] with any questions, suggestions, or corrections.

And don't forget to rate/review!

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Cloud Reset, we sit down with Cliff Ashford, Senior Director at Monash University, to dive into what it really takes to make a university data- and AI-ready. Cliff shares hard-earned lessons from leading a full-scale digital transformation—from overhauling Monash's 25-year-old student management system to building a cloud-native data lakehouse with Databricks.

We cover:

• Why real AI success starts with governance—years in advance

• The shift from legacy platforms to agentic models and LLMs

• Building an institution-wide data model that's both secure and open

• Democratising access to data across all departments, not just IT

• Why HR and education teams were the fastest adopters of generative AI

• Monash's vision for peer-level AI assistants that enhance—not replace—staff

• How AI will reshape student experiences through simulated scenarios and real-time models

Cliff also shares how Monash built safe-by-design infrastructure that enables innovation without compromising on data ethics or control. His favourite project? A fully governed, infinitely scalable data lakehouse that opens AI capabilities to the whole university.

🎧 Tune in now to hear how one of Australia's leading institutions is turning data into their biggest strategic asset.

Show Resources:

Follow Jono Staff on LinkedIn

Follow Naran McClung on LinkedIn

Cloud Reset's YouTube Channel

Contact us at [email protected] with any questions, suggestions, or corrections.

And don't forget to rate/review!

Episode Summary:

Live from Day 3 of the THETA Conference in Perth, we're joined by Kathleen Mackay, CIO at the University of Tasmania and former Australian CIO of the Year. With two decades of digital leadership experience, Kathleen brings powerful insights into how AI is reshaping the higher education sector - from research to student learning to cybersecurity.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why AI should augment - not replace - humans in education

• The difference between using AI in university operations vs teaching and research

• Preparing students for future roles where AI is embedded in professions like healthcare, law, and engineering

• The potential for AI agents and digital twins to support both students and academic staff

• How UTAS is innovating with cyber escape rooms to make cybersecurity training engaging and memorable

• The need for new commercial models where universities can monetise their research data to train AI models responsibly

Kathleen also shares her thoughts on funding challenges, the role of human mentorship in education, and why free donuts are the ultimate phishing scam.

🎧 Tune in to hear how one of Australia's most forward-thinking university leaders is balancing innovation, responsibility, and humanity in the age of AI.

Show Notes

Follow Jono Staff on LinkedIn

Follow Naran McClung on LinkedIn

Cloud Reset's YouTube Channel

Contact us at [email protected] with any questions, suggestions, or corrections.

And don't forget to rate/review!

Episode Summary

In this episode of Cloud Reset, we're joined by Jim Cook, Manager of Digital Innovation at the University of Sydney, to unpack the uni's groundbreaking journey in building and scaling Cogniti—their in-house AI teaching platform now used by over 70,000 students and expanding across 22 institutions.

Jim shares how Cogniti was born out of the need to create safe, responsible, and equitable AI experiences in education—addressing challenges like authentic assessment in the age of generative AI, and ensuring students from all backgrounds have access to transformative tools.

He dives into:

• The origins of Cogniti and how it was designed with educators and students, for students

• The shift from policing AI use to embracing it as a teaching and learning tool

• How Cogniti enables AI-guided roleplay and Socratic tutoring, and even allows students to build their own agents

• The impact on educators' productivity and how AI helps lighten the teaching load

• Insights into the deep partnership with Microsoft, the commercialisation journey via Azure Marketplace, and managing infrastructure at scale

Jim also offers advice to any organisation wanting to get started with AI: "Just do one thing. Start small, play with it—and the use cases will come."

If you're interested in the future of education, practical AI implementation, or how to scale innovation within a large institution—this episode is a must-listen.

🎧 Tune in now to hear how Sydney Uni is reshaping the future of learning with AI.

Show Resources:

Follow Jono Staff on LinkedIn

Follow Naran McClung on LinkedIn

Cloud Reset's YouTube Channel

Contact us at [email protected] with any questions, suggestions, or corrections.

And don't forget to rate/review!

Episode Summary:

As generative AI systems mature, the conversation is shifting—from what they can do, to what (and who) they're trained on.

In this episode, Luc Betbeder-Matibet, President of the Australasian eResearch Organisations (AeRO), joins Jono and Naran to unpack the broader implications of AI infrastructure, data quality, and sovereign value.

Forget the hyperscale data centres and shiny AI demos for a moment—this is a conversation about control. Control over data. Control over what models learn. Control over where value flows.

Inside this episode:

• Why "sovereign" needs to mean more than just data residency

• What it would take for Australia to own the full economic value chain of AI

• Why we may not know when AGI is achieved—and why that matters

• Who's paying (and who should be paid) when public data trains private models

• Whether the future of trust in AI comes down to who controls the training loop

Luc doesn't speak in hypotheticals—he's been inside the systems, built national infrastructure, and counted the GPUs. This episode won't tell you how to prompt better—it asks whether your data, your infrastructure, and your business are serving someone else's roadmap.

Show Resources:

Follow Jono Staff on LinkedIn

Follow Naran McClung on LinkedIn

Cloud Reset's YouTube Channel

Contact us at [email protected] with any questions, suggestions, or corrections.

And don't forget to rate/review!

Episode Summary:

In this special episode of Cloud Reset, we reunite the original architects of Macquarie's Azure journey—Rachel Bondi, Corporate VP SMB Asia at Microsoft, and James Mystakidis, Group Executive of Macquarie Cloud Services—for a clear-eyed look at what it takes to build AI-ready organisations and cultures.

Hosted by Jono and Naran, the episode revisits how the partnership got off the ground and explores how those lessons are shaping their approach to AI.

🔍 Inside this episode:

• How repeatable IP, obsession with NPS, and product innovation built customer trust at scale

• Why every successful AI project starts with data (and the case for Fabric + Purview in the mid-market)

• Behind the scenes of Macquarie's new Customer Insights agent platform

• What it takes to drive AI adoption—securely, practically, and culturally

• The rise of "agent managers" and how leadership roles are evolving

• Why Copilot isn't just a tool—it's now table stakes for attracting top talent

Rachel and James don't just talk about what's possible—they're building it. If you're a business or tech leader wrestling with how to start (or scale) your AI journey, this one's for you.

Show Resources:

Follow Jono Staff on LinkedIn

Follow Naran McClung on LinkedIn

Cloud Reset's YouTube Channel

MCS Blog for the full transcript

Contact us at [email protected] with any questions, suggestions, or corrections.

And don't forget to rate/review!

Episode Summary:

After four heavyweight conversations with Australia's tech and business leaders, Jono and Naran take the mics for a final time this season to unpack the real standout moments that stuck with them. This wrap-up episode captures the energy, optimism, and deep practical insight from:

✅ Steven Worrall (Microsoft) ✅ Peter James (Macquarie Technology Group, DroneShield) ✅ Michael Reid (Megaport) ✅ Angela Fox (Dell Technologies)

In this debrief, your hosts revisit the big ideas—from digital tradies and agent farmers, to boardroom AI strategies, geopolitical leapfrogging, and the rise of "mad scientists" inside your own org. They share their Top 3 takeaways on what matters right now for any business navigating AI.

You'll hear:

• Why lived experience with AI trumps theory
• The importance of data readiness and building internal capability
• The emerging leadership roles that will define the AI-powered enterprise

It's unscripted, real talk—and yes, there's a sign now. Tune in for laughs, insights, and what's next for Australian businesses riding the AI wave.