The Irish Tech News Podcast

There are so many interesting paths that financial services and fintech have taken the past decade. How we serve customers across the landscape of products and services has seen a sea of change and the addition of digital experiences as the business model has changed. Yet, when we think about the ways that financial brands can go down the wrong path, the list of lessons is a long one indeed. To avoid some of these pitfalls, it is important to truly understand and appreciate your customer experiences, those journeys that shape the connectivity between brands and the customers and communities they serve. In this episode of One Vision, Bradley speaks with Steven Ramirez, CEO of Beyond the Arc, as he speaks about how his firm works with financial brands to better understand their data, their technologies, and their relationships with the people they serve.

Thriftify, is a sustainable E-Commerce company that acts as an online retailer for 98% of Ireland’s charity shops and plans to expand its workforce with 20 new hires planned across the tech, e-commerce and sales and marketing sides of the business. As well as their expansion plans, Thriftify has just received a huge financial boost having just signed a €1.6m investment deal. Ronan talks to Rónán Ó ’Dálaigh, Thriftify CEO about how Thriftify and more. Ronan talks about his background, what Thriftify does, the pandemic, the adoption of tech, sustainability, fashion, and planned obsolescence. ABOUT THRIFTIFY: In 2018, Thriftify was founded by Rónán Ó Dálaigh, Timur Negru and Rahil Nazir, as the only dedicated online marketplace connecting charity shops with consumers. By combining their passion for social impact business with their love of thrifting in charity shops, the company was born. Since then, Thriftify has grown substantially and is now working with over 98% of the charity retailers in Ireland and expanding rapidly with charity shops across the UK.

Description: Mini-programs and the ecosystem design of WeChat, are unique. We discuss these and other differentiations of the WeChat journey (which continues) with Kevin through several examples and juxtapositions to the Western apps and BigTech companies.  Are SuperApps going to make it in other parts of the world?  Kevin Shimota was the global head of marketing and partnerships at WeChat (2016-2019) and has just published a book on this topic.  The world envies the business model that was born in China and baptized SuperApp in the West. In this episode, we also touch upon Tencent`s strengths that WeChat continues to leverage.  Mentions: Ron Shevlin`s Forbes `SuperApps aren`t going to make it in the US` article https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronshevlin/2022/08/01/super-apps-arent-going-to-make-it-in-the-united-states/?sh=5c6fcf1b2e7d Kevin Shimota - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-shimota-48277022/v `The FirstSuperapp: Inside China's WeChat and the new digital revolution` by  - https://www.amazon.com/First-Superapp-Inside-digital-revolution/dp/9888769421/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+first+superapp&qid=1659435806&sr=8-1 Kevin Shimota is a leading specialist in digital products and platforms, having been a senior executive at WeChat (Tencent) with over a decade of experience in the industry. His ongoing work includes understanding innovations and trends coming out of Asia and how they will impact and adapt to the global community. Originally from Seattle, Kevin now lives in Sydney with his wife and dog. 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 this episode Melanie Boylan spoke with Shafi Kadem about his most recent work on photovoltaic power stations and how to optimise energy storage using artificial intelligence.  He and his team found solutions that would be easily adapted to current stations without a reduction in levels or massive increased costs.  Listen in as Shafi talks through his findings. IERC The “Intelligent Grid (iG)” Research Group @ IERC aims to design, develop and demonstrate (3D) intelligent and innovative solutions for decarbonising the smart grid and energy networks. For more information on the current projects and activities, you can visit: https://www.ierc.ie/current-research/

Have you ever sat down and really drilled out how to make your business more inclusive?  In this podcast Melanie Boylan and Sinead Daly have a fast paced chat on inclusion/culture/employee experience/sustainability and impact in fast-growth tech companies.  These are very much the topics discussed in the recent book that she contributed to called The Key to Inclusion. This book isn't only to read but gives practical advice and guidance on how to implement as well and uses case studies and examples to help.  The whole mindset of inclusion has developed so much over the years and its time we become more of an activist in this field! Sinead Daly is a leader who’s passionate about helping fast-growth tech companies balance purpose, not just profit. As Director of Culture, Experience and Impact at Beamery, Sinead takes a leading role on areas that make a positive impact on people, communities and the planet.

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