The Forward Podcast with SmartOSC

“Breach prevention is no longer enough. Today, cyber-attacks have become a matter of when and not if”. Our latest guest, Jay Hira, has spent the last 17 years working with global giants such as IBM, KPMG, Salesforce, EY, and many more and has helped them get close to customers and grow by protecting their data and enhancing their cyber resilience. He is now the Founder and Executive Director of MakeCyberSimple. A non-profit that aims to support small and medium businesses in their efforts to get the basics right when it comes to cyber hygiene. Both online shopping and navigating the world of cyber demand finding the right balance between risks and rewards. Together, we weave tales of hilarious online shopping mishaps with discussions on Zero Trust adoption and its impact on today’s businesses. Describing cyber security as “an ever-evolving puzzle”, Jay will help: ✅Take the complexity out of the conversation around cybersecurity ✅Give practical strategies to help safeguard your digital presence ✅Share emerging trends that every business needs to keep an eye out for ✅ Explain the Zero Trust Framework and show you how to incorporate it in your business

What does it take for a family business to continue to thrive, especially in today’s landscape?  At the heart of everything for DoHome, it is customers and their needs. In short, they go wherever their customers want them to be. As DoHome, Thailand’s industry-leading retail and wholesale business celebrates an incredible 40 years of serving their segmented customers with continued store openings and more, we tap into the mind of Mr. Maruay Tangmitrphracha, Deputy Managing Director – Information Technology and eCommerce to find out what their keys to success are and how they keep customer-centricity at their core.

We have all experienced a dreaded checkout payment horror story. You go through all of the hassle, put in your card details, your card gets rejected and you have to do it all over again! As businesses of all sizes and backgrounds navigate through increasingly complex payment demands, there's a danger of neglecting the very foundations that allow for sustainable growth. In this episode, Commerce Talk host Aziza O’Beirne sits down with Tee Chayakul, a visionary leader who led the team responsible for launching Stripe in Thailand just last November. During this conversation, Tee emphasizes the importance of providing customers with seamless payment journeys. Highlighting the significance of businesses prioritizing their basic payment processing to address the unmet needs of customers while giving an insight into emerging trends that are coming down the tracks that businesses should pay close attention to, such as cross-border payments and shifts towards subscription payment models.  We learn how Stripe supports startups and gain insights into effective frameworks for running a family business. In addition to all of this, for book lovers; Tee shares his two most recommended books for those seeking inspiration as leaders.

What valuable lessons can we learn by taking a moment to look back and reflect on our personal and professional journey? And how can that help you as a leader or a business? A whole lot, according to Mei Lee, a respected partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and a mastermind of forward-thinking within the industry. With over 20 years of experience working with and growing some of the world's biggest brands such as Disney, Dyson, L'Oréal, Lazada, Adidas, Alibaba, Conde Nast, and many more, Mei Lee brings a wealth of insights to the table. In this episode, Mei Lee takes us beyond the surface and invites us to take a walk in her world, where she shares incredibly valuable insights and knowledge about the power of reflection and the importance of stepping out of our comfort zones to grow both personally and professionally. Mei Lee's remarkable story, from her journey as an immigrant in America, where she had to learn English and fight for her aspirations, to where she is today as a mother, daughter, and leader, serves as an inspirational backdrop. Join us as we delve into a thought-provoking discussion about the significance of reflection, the need to pivot in life, and the future trends and consumer behaviors that ecommerce businesses need to keep a vigilant eye on and the tools that need to be added to leaders toolkits to move forward.  Get ready to leave this episode feeling motivated and enlightened thanks to Mei's her invaluable insights and practical strategies. 

Our guest today, Dr. John Sheehan , a respected and future-focused Radiologist, Clinical Director and Healthcare Technologist sheds a light on how collaboration, leadership and continuous learning can help us better serve people in the healthcare industry and beyond. For #WorldHealthDay we delve into some of the latest advances in healthcare technology and speak about some of the interdisciplinary projects that @DrJohnSheehn is working on with industry giants such as Microsoft and so much more!

In #PartTwo of our World Health Day mini-series on Commerce Talk, we sit down with @AvneeshKhare a Physician turned Med Tech (AI) consultant and educator to talk about the importance of regulation, education and ethics when it comes to AI in Healthcare. We hear about some of the ways in which AI will help to make predictions to improve and personalize patient care and how important #Blockchain will be as a combined tool to facilitate the secure transferring of patient records and more. Join us, won't you?

In this special episode for World Health Day, we sit down with Dr. Kanpassorn (Eix), the founder of Ooca, a groundbreaking mental wellbeing app that is transforming access to care in Thailand. Dr. Eix shares a story of passion and perseverance and further proves the value of foresight and the importance of empathy and grit in business.

We are back! Welcome to the first episode of Season Two of Commerce Talk. In this very special episode, we celebrate International Women's Day and sit down with Akanksha Rastogi, the Head of Data and Insights at Foodpanda Thailand, to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing women in STEM fields. With 15 years of experience in the field of data science, Akanksha shares some powerful insights about the barriers that women still face today. We speak about the importance of mentors, what turns a good data-scientist into a great one and thoughts on how we can be purposefully and deliberately inclusive moving forward. If you'd like to know more about us here at SmartOSC and the work that we do, please head to our website www.SmartOSC.com or follow us on Linkedin for regular advice and quality insights that will help to keep you one step ahead in the world of eCommerce. 

To celebrate 10 episodes of Commerce Talk with SmartOSC and a year of podcasting, we've put together an episode filled with some of our favourite clips from the past 12 months. Featuring the likes of Bhavin Patel, Axel Winter, Kirsten Kore, and many more commerce luminaries, this 'best of' episode is jam-packed with digital business and eCommerce insights. The topics you'll hear discussed range from the metaverse to sustainability in commerce, along with everything in between.

Recruitment and finding talent in the world of eCommerce can be a tricky proposition for lots of companies. Not because there's a scarcity of talented folks out there, but because in such a fast-changing industry, skillsets have to change just as quickly. Where do you look to find talented people? How do you upskill your staff? And how can you measure talent in a rapidly-changing industry like eCommerce anyway? To answer all these questions and more, host Adrian Wakeham spoke to Nathan Bush, Director at eSuite Talent and host of the Add To Cart podcast. Nathan Bush lives and breathes eCommerce. He is an eCommerce Director, strategist and advisor who has led teams that have grown from $1m to $140m. He has been named in the Top 50 People in eCommerce four times, written for Inside Retail and hosts the Add To Cart podcast where he gets to speak to leaders in eCommerce every week. Today, Nathan is a Director in the eCommerce talent agency eSuite. He is passionate about growing the talent pool of eCommerce specialists in Australia and gets a real kick in seeing great people land new opportunities and fast-growing businesses build brilliant teams.