The Irish Tech News Podcast

When was the last time you applied for a loan or some form of credit? Was it a magical experience? Did it take just a few minutes from application to funding? What if robotic process automation could mimic the human element for the more common requirements for lending and what if the majority of these, often tedious, parts of the loan application process could be done simply through a mobile phone? There are many efficiencies still to discover in financial services, and automating more and more of the customer experience can make perfect sense while it frees up real well-trained humans to talk to customers when they need you most. In this episode of One Vision, Bradley chats with Joseariel Gomez Ortigoza, founder of Shastic, a companion application that helps make any process at your financial institution or fintech that much more efficient and customer-centric. Join us to hear why this matters, and how more processes can go Beyond Good when it comes to customer experience.

Sustainability is becoming more important as climate change impacts more and more on our daily lives. Everyone has to do their part especially the tech sector. So, how is the tech sector doing this? Ronan talks to Tim Christophersen Salesforce VP, Climate Action about this and more. Tim talks about his background, if it was a logical progression moving to Salesforce, setting goals, why things are not as they should be, and why Salesforce are different from those merely greenwashing or looking to do the bare minimum. More about Tim Christophersen: Tim Christophersen joined Salesforce as VP, Climate Action in May 2022. Within the global Sustainability Team, he is focused on the role of nature-based solutions to climate change. Tim is based in Denmark. Before joining Salesforce, Tim was Head of the ‘Nature for Climate’ Branch at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and led a growing global movement backed by all UN Member States and over 120 partner organizations to ‘prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide’: the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030. He holds a degree in Forestry and Forest Conservation Engineering from Dresden University of Technology. He previously worked for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), where he led the portfolio on the conservation and sustainable use of forest biodiversity. From 2017-2019, he was elected Chair of the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration. From 2002-2007 he was Regional Programme Coordinator for Europe, the Caucasus and the Commonwealth of Independent States at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He also worked for the Danish Ministry of the Environment, and for the European Commission.

When we think about the way we spend money, we might think that the opportunity cost of that spending is what we cannot save or what we cannot invest. But what about the opportunity cost of not giving? Think about how much you have donated to charities or causes throughout your life, whether it was in the form of money or your time. What if every time we spent money, we saved some and simultaneously helped the organizations that take care of people in the most need across our communities? This needs to become standard practice within the financial services ecosystem, because we can make banking better. In this episode of One Vision, Bradley chats with Susan Langer, the CEO of Spave – recent winner of Best of Show at Finovate Spring – as she talks about how her team has built a way to integrate spending and savings activities that help share purpose and value everyday. It’s time to rethink spending and savings and giving – now we can do all three at once.

Nick Vale – ahead of the NFT pack Some ideas make sense – once you hear them, like the infamous luggage on wheels and why did no one think of that before 1972. Others require a bit more imagination such as the touch screen and pinching to change the size of images. If hindsight is 2020 vision, it makes utter sense that these developments took place, but the trick is being the first to have the vision before everyone else. For our example today, enter the reNFT platform which offers the rental infrastructure for the metaverse. Co founder and CEO Nick Vale first came across NFTs in the form of Crypto Kitties. Unlike others who first pooh poohed these loveable digital assets or even those who later saw art with a capital A as the sole preserve of NFTs, that is the provenance feature, Vale saw much more. It probably helped that he came with a gaming background, working in the traditional indie video game development realm. He helped create Total Miner, the first port of Minecraft to Xbox which went to be the number one, best selling indie game on Xbox. Afterwards he worked on Miner Duty, a shooter game using a lot of UGC components, which climbed to the number three best seller position. Tune in to listen to more. Your host is Jillian Godsil

Description: We now have the technology to link finance with the real economy in a sustainable way. The flow of money can be connected with the flow of things, business process and people in a cost efficient way. We can create networks that ennable trust in new places in supply chains. Professor Warwick Powel`s clarity on these topics is captivating. In the second half of our discussion we discuss about China`s adoption of these tech architerctures and its strategic commtiment to Blockchain technology.  Warwick Powel joins us from Brisbane Australia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/warwickpowell/ His upcoming book is “China, Trust and Digital Supply Chains: Dynamics of a Zero Trust World” - September 2022. Professor Warwick Powell is a seasoned executive and research innovator and leader, with strong academic and industry experience. He is the founding Chair of Smart Trade Networks, a blockchain research, development and global applications group of companies. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology, and has published many peer-review papers on blockchain applications and issues. Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter.  Join her on the social platforms https://linktr.ee/Efiglobal

In February 2020 I recorded my last ever face to face podcast with Jason Adams and Michelle McDaid. Shortly afterwards the pandemic hit and remote working became part of our daily lives with the acceleration of the digital workplace. As how we worked has changed I reconnect with Michelle McDaid the Senior Director of Engineering at Workhuman, and talk to her about remote working and more. Michelle, talks about how the pandemic impacted on Workhuman, what she thinks the future workplace will be, if remote and hybrid working has made staff more productive. Michelle also talks about creating more diverse teams, different skillsets, solving problems and mental health.. More about Michelle McDaid: Michelle McDaid is the Senior Director of Engineering at Workhuman, one of the world's fastest-growing integrated Social Recognition and management platform and a keen supporter of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Michelle is also a Member of TU Dublin Saer Advisory Board, and a mentor on their mentoring programme. In 2019 she was a finalist in the Trailblazer category at the 2019 Women in Tech Awards.

Data is central to everything that we do. But as we go about our daily lives, how do we ensure we are protected? It’s not just about what data is being collected and what is being done with it; it’s also about who holds the power to make those decisions. And what guardrails do we have in place to ensure companies are acting ethically? Can we push them to change? In this episode of One Vision, Theo chats with Joe Toscano, author of Automating Humanity, on data privacy and rights. When we don’t have protected communications, we lose democracy and freedom. As Joe said, “Democracy is an active fight.”

Description: An Inclusive Financial System goes beyond reducing the number of people with no bank accounts or with no access to credit & investment opportunities. This long but colorful discussion with Theodora Lau from DC and Richard Turrin from Shanghai touch on the complexity and the nuances of the topic.  This discussion was prompted after reading the WEF paper on `Shared principles for an inclusive financial system`https://www.weforum.org/whitepapers/s... Both guests are authors of books that cover such topics.  `Beyond Good` Theo Lau & Bradley Leimer https://www.lehmanns.ch/shop/naturwis...`Cashless`Richard Turrin https://richturrin.com/ Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica. A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter.  Join her on the social platforms https://linktr.ee/Efiglobal

We know our listeners are shakers and movers in their sphere but today Melanie Boylan and Siobhán Finn are talking about Champion ChangeMakers (TM).  Hear how the Community Enterprise Association Ireland has created ‘hackathon’ type events that bring local communities together to solve real world, everyday societal or economic challenges in ways that will positively impact our ever-changing world. Hosted as Champion ChangemakersTM, individuals of all ages as well as local groups, special interest organisations, societies and networks are invited to take part in these weekends across a number of locations from September 23rd –  25th 2022. Do you want to be a part of social change? Then visit their website and join them in locations all around Ireland. Under 18's are allowed with the permission of an adult. https://communityenterprise.ie/champion-changemakers/

Many entrepreneurial students start their first company while in college, but few start a company that will go on to be the largest political fundraising platform in the US. By the time Tom Serres came to sell his company, Rally, in 2014 it was powering 70,000 political operations across the US from aspiring senators to dog catcher campaigns. At its heart was a mechanism to raise funds efficiently over the internet and by 2014 it accounted for 50% of all political donations collected online. The experience of running his own company and raising money saw a natural segue into opening an advisory firm, Animal Ventures in 2016 working with Fortune 100 companies. And in 2019 he opened Serres Warburg Investments, a private equity entity, which was to invest in all things Web 3. “I was ten years in Rally but the last three showed me how to scale and fast. Learning from my own company means I can really identify with other founders – I’ve got the tee-shirt.” Tune in to find out more about how Tom invests in Web 3 Your host is Jillian Godsil