Venturi's Voice: Technology | Leadership | Staffing | Career | Innovation

Alan is an Executive Partner and Service Line Leader for Advanced Analytics, Cognitive Solutions, Data Platforms, Internet of Things and Watson Healthcare, at IBM Global Business Services, UK & Ireland. Alan spends his time helping clients and colleagues embed Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and IoT into business decisions and processes in order to unlock the potential to combine all data – internal, external, structured, unstructured, voice and visual. In doing so, the service line he leads delivers insights and solutions that transform how IBM's clients make decisions, re-engineer/automate business processes, and contemplate new revenue and business models. IBM IBM is a leading cloud platform and cognitive solutions company. Restlessly reinventing since 1911, they are the largest technology and consulting employer in the world, with more than 380,000 employees serving clients in 170 countries. Podcast Coaching, mentoring and sponsorships. What’s the difference? Alan and Andy pick apart these three forms of training on this podcast. Andy also asks Alan about graduate hiring and they discuss career development and when its the right time to move companies

Aaron is CTO at Songkick This episode focuses on career progression and creating a clear career structure for members of your company. Aaron has built and published a ‘growth framework’ for the staff at Songkick and he has shared it in a blog post so anyone serious about staff development can incorporate it into their business. Aaron chats about this on the show and Andy also ties this in with the sharing economy that has been adopted by many tech professionals. Songkick Songkick is a live music startup. Since 2007, we’ve set about making it as easy, fun and fair as possible for you to see your favorite artists live. Right now, more than 15 million music fans across the globe use Songkick to track their favorite artists, discover awesome concerts and never ever miss out.

Steve is the CEO & Co-Founder at WIREWAX WIREWAX is the world's leading interactive video technology company. WIREWAX first developed it's award-winning interactive technology during the early days of YouTube and has grown exponentially since then. This growth is the focus of the show and Steve takes Andy through the product development of Wirewax, detailing its founding and where it is today. They also discuss the pros and cons of working for large corporates vs startups and how millennials view their career trajectories. ABOUT WIREWAX WIREWAX is the multi-award-winning technology powering the world’s interactive video. They’re driven by the fundamental belief that video should be as connected and accessible as the rest of the information on the internet. Utilizing a powerful combination of computer vision and artificial intelligence, we help brands, creative agencies and broadcasters create highly engaging video experiences.

Peter is CTO at Moonpig and a non-exec chairman at Mother Group Ltd. The podcast starts with Andy and Peter discussing the Northern Powerhouse. Peter tells Andy about the strategies he employs to determine the ROI of new technologies and Andy asks how he decides what new tech to invest in. They also chat about automation and how it is making our working day both more complex yet easy. Moonpig Moonpig has been on the scene since 2000 and has made over 100 million Moonpig moments for our customers here in the UK and as far afield as the US and Australia. They started with cards and have kept on adding new ways to make a Moonpig moment since then, whether through their ever-expanding gift range or becoming a top three UK online flower seller for all the big occasions. They’ve been part of the Photobox Group since 2011. Along with the Photobox brand, and our sister companies Hofmann and PosterXXL, together they’re Europe’s leading retailer of personal and personalised products.

Matt is VP of Engineering at Finimize.com Overseeing the build of our personal finance platform designed to empower millennials to become their own financial advisers. Finimize Finimize is on a mission to empower everyone to become their own financial advisor. They provide the information and tools you need to invest with confidence.

(All views expressed in this podcast are Brian’s and Brian’s alone. He does not reflect the views of Amazon) Brian is Senior Program Manager - Inclusion & Diversity at Amazon. Brian is a human-obsessed working father who is passionate about improving the employee experience for everyone. He likes to drive value through curiosity, insight analysis, stakeholder collaboration and intolerance of prejudice. Brian loves learning and has a postgraduate qualification in Marketing, Philosophy and Computer Science, and studying for a second degree in Humanities. Amazon Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. They are driven by the excitement of building technologies, inventing products, and providing services that change lives. Amazon embraces new ways of doing things, make decisions quickly, and are not afraid to fail. They have the scope and capabilities of a large company, and the spirit and heart of a small one. Podcast Brian and Andy discuss diversity at length on the show. Andy asks about the difficulties of actioning a diversity initiative in a workplace. They also talk about the dangers of politicising diversity issues unnecessarily.

Fawzi is Studio Game Design Director at King Fawzi is a passionate Creative Director, Game designer, Leader, author, public speaker and retired e-sports player that has been in the gaming industry for over 15 years. His career has spanned The Middle East, New Zealand, Japan and Europe. As an author, he wrote the first ever text book about game design in Arabic. He’s a columnist at Pocket Gamer Arabia, and blogs frequently about game design and the business of making games. King King is a leading interactive entertainment company for the mobile world, with people all around the world playing one or more of our games. We have developed more than 200 fun titles, and offer games that are enjoyed all around the world. King is an independent unit of Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), which acquired King in February 2016. Podcast A career in the video games industry is the big discussion point of this show. Fawzi talks Andy through his career in the sector and he offers some advice for those looking for a career in gaming. They also talk about how gamification, especially on mobile devices, is spreading to other markets. The gaming industry moves at a breakneck pace, and Fawzi lets Andy into some tricks he uses to stay one step ahead of the latest cutting-edge tech.

Sebastian is the founder & CEO at Mettrr. Sebastian studied IT before moving into financial markets. It wasn’t until his dad asked him to build him a website that the idea for Mettrr came to him. One of the first companies to gain financial backing from crowdsourcing Mettrr raised £100,000 in 11 days. Mettrr Mettrr is a DIFM (Do It For Me) website design, build and management service purpose-built for small businesses across the world. Podcast In this show Andy asks Sebastian about his vision for Mettrr. They also discuss the role of automation is playing in the tech sector and they chat about acquiring funding.

Sean is Talent Manager at Improbable Sean is currently on a mission to hire a new generation of leaders across all spaces and verticals at Improbable. Improbable Improbable is dedicated to building powerful technology designed to help solve previously impossible problems and enable the creation of new realities. In gaming and entertainment, Improbable unlocks truly next-generation game play through virtual worlds of unprecedented scale, persistence and richness. In other industries, we hope to help answer critical questions through simulations that could lead to a better functioning world. Podcast On the show Sean talks to Andy about filling the skills gap in technical disciplines. They also discuss how to maintain a strong company culture in the face of business growth and chat about hiring employees based on company values.

Steve is CEO of Black Swan Data. On the show Steve recites the story of how he came to found Black Swan Data. It involves the pub and a quick detour in to history. Andy also about Black Swan’s ‘Applied Predictions’ product and how they are helping revolutionise the data space. Black Swan Data Black Swan Data creates better outcomes through technology and the power of prediction. Their products transform the way brands create value from data, finding insights and solutions that create an advantage for their business. They analyse consumer behaviour using public and private data, then build cutting edge technology based on predictive models to create better outcomes - they call this “Applied Prediction”. Podcast On the show Steve tells Andy about the foundation of Black Swan Data. He talks us through the concept of ‘applied predictions’ and they discuss how a manager can determine the ROI of data.