IT Visionaries

Developing physical products quickly is what it’s all about in a fast-paced world. What slows down the development speed and drives up cost are the materials and the time it takes to see if a concept works. Using digital simulations, alongside predictive analytics, increases speed while lowering costs. Prith Banerjee, the Chief Technology Officer at Ansys, makes the point that the precise capabilities of simulations today are providing the power to create new products from the micro to the macro.Main TakeawaysThe Appeal of Digital Simulations: The old process of developing a product would involve lots of different versions and materials. With the use of a digital simulation, in other words, a digital twin, all these trial and error versions can play out in the digital arena. Doing so increases development speed and reduces cost.Academia and Industry: Academia, at its best, projects forward into the future new possibilities that are later implemented across industries. Therefore, forward-thinking industries ought to have a motivation to connect to academia to offer resources so that academic institutions can strive for innovations. Ansys is partnering with a number of academic institutions to make its simulation software available for free.    Exciting Simulations Now and in the Future: Banerjee mentions current digital simulation use cases ranging from the oil industry to electrification of cars to heating and cooling huge buildings. Furthermore, he shares excitement in the healthcare area because, right now, there is an ability to simulate a heart that is having a problem functioning to see if a pacemaker will solve the issue. With this level of precision, one can imagine all manner of encouraging applications for simulations both now and in the future of healthcare and in many other areas IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

A company’s position about digital transformation could be out with the old and in with the new. But, generally, if a product or service has existed for a long time, that’s because it has held its value. In a legacy business with good values and a deep tradition, digitization of services is more about improving respected systems as well as innovating with a forward-looking mindset. Stacey Goodman, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Prudential Financial, describes her strategy for transforming the digital experience at Prudential.Main TakeawaysTransforming a Legacy Company: It’s a big lift to digitally transform a legacy company such as Prudential, which has existed for 145 years. But a company with good values and an established track record of delivering for customers has a great foundation on which to build upon. In other words, challenges are opportunities. One challenge that Prudential constantly faces is scale combined with the complexity of its life insurance and annuities products. Furthermore, a company with so much history also has a high volume of products that must be managed.Marriage Between Customer and CIO Priorities: Most customers want more access at the touch of their fingertips. Prudential customers want to be able to see their assets whenever they want; particularly, during times of economic uncertainty. Customers desire the freedom to explore and make their own choices yet advisement help when needed. As CIO, Goodman’s goals are in support of what customers desire. For instance, she cares about making sure customers can easily get their password, or that robotic advice is readily available when customers want help.Culture and Dynamic Work Attracts Talent: Goodman has a unique mindset regarding attracting and retaining talent at Prudential. Fundamentally, she sees the company having a good culture and providing interesting work. She makes the point that sometimes startup culture and work does not always meet the hype and that working at Prudential can provide employees a comfortable environment. An established company with well-defined structures in place can support its workers. She sees Prudential as the sort of place where employees want to be.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

The data science field is expanding because so many businesses and other institutions require skilled workers who can manage data as well as provide insights. Companies and students are clamoring for more academic programs. There is great need, but academic institutions are still transitioning to meet the demand. Dr. David Bader, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Data Science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, explains how his school is leading the charge to create opportunities for more students to study data scienceMain TakeawaysConnecting Data and Graphs: A current area of focus concerning data science for Bader and his institution is taking huge amounts of data and associating it with corresponding graphs. This process helps provide context to the data so insights can be gleaned.Arriving at Insights With Less Data: One difficulty with gaining insights is that typically it takes a lot of data points to make sense of a significant occurrence. Often, in the real world, insights need to be determined faster and with less data. Consider the archetype of the malevolent lone wolf who may have not had done the behavior previously. The answer is two-fold in order to stop a lone wolf type of situation. One, create more context to whatever data is obtainable. Second, consider data that may not be the exact same behavior but is still relevant.Academia Is Rising to the Challenge: All manner of institutions now have massive amounts of data and need people to manage it and provide insights. Academia may be somewhat slow to change but there is a push from companies and from students for more data science programs. These sorts of programs are growing throughout higher education but there is much more room for expansion.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Every company wants to grow their market. But in order to expand into another region, one corner of the market has to be secured first. Only from this position of utility and stability can a business secure other territories. Todd Olson, the CEO of Pendo, explains his strategy.Main TakeawaysCreating a New Product Market: Many companies disrupt a current market. It’s another category altogether to create a new product market. Although it’s a great problem to have with a ton of upside, one area of focus must be on educating prospective buyers. Of course, having an effective product that’s easy to implement is the best pitch. Pendo was able to provide its software product to businesses easily and without involving developers. This helped give Pendo a foot in the door to prove what it could do.Strategizing for Future Growth: Pendo’s plans for growth are educative. One side of the approach is to continue to sell current products to new markets; both nationally and internationally. The other side is to develop new products that will further benefit existing customers. Furthermore, it’s intriguing how Pendo’s product has moved from SaaS B2B clients to other arenas as those individuals who’ve used the product have moved into different industries and brought Pendo with them.Representing Raleigh: Finding and retaining top talent is a concern for many businesses today. Pendo has an interesting angle because it is located in Raleigh, North Carolina. In Raleigh, there’s natural beauty, a low cost of living, and also access to the talent coming out of many of the colleges and universities in the region. Although Pendo is based in Raleigh, it has offices in New York and San Francisco to utilize the talent in those areas as well.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Passwords are the worst things ever. Okay, maybe that’s a bit hyperbolic, but they are pretty annoying. Here are the top hits of their most obnoxious qualities: One, they cause friction to get things done. Two, who can remember all their passwords? Three, it’s easy for bad actors to steal them. Four, practically everything requires a password now, so there are just too many. Mickey Boodaei, the CEO of Transmit Security, also agrees that passwords are terrible, but he has a solution to get rid of them.Main TakeawaysThe Problems With Passwords: Passwords have become ubiquitous. Despite the good intention behind them to foster security, they remain cumbersome and ineffective. The layers added to passwords to make them more secure are insufficient. Two-factor authentication remains vulnerable to bad actors. Though biometric authentication is a helpful technology, many apps that attempt to harness it still have a password underneath the biometrics.Getting Rid of Passwords: Biometric data held on secure devices is part of the solution to move people beyond passwords. The data on a private device is very secure overall. Furthermore, it is possible to create trust between devices to provide access to applications, etc.Cryptographic Keys: Biometric data on a secure device can then be used for authentication through the creation of parallel cryptographic keys — a private key that stays with the device and a corresponding public key connected to an application. Using this technology, the private key always remains secure on the individual device. This makes it very difficult for bad actors to access any data of import.   IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform  -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Just like there’s too much junk on Earth, we’re sending up too much junk into space now too.  As private enterprise gains more access to space, even more satellites are launched up there —  taking up space. It’s a real problem with the potential to get worse as businesses have greater interest and access to get their gear into space. Bruno Carvalho, the Director of D-Orbit, contends that the answer is better space logistics in order to support space sustainability. Main TakeawaysSpace Sustainability: Space is filling up fast. The concern for space collisions and the dangers of debris is real. Sustainable solutions concerning satellites must be developed and implemented because their numbers will only be increasing.Space Taxis: D-Orbit has essentially developed a space taxi system to put satellites in their final orbital positions. These taxis can have additional applications after they have completed their taxiing missions. For instance, this sort of vehicle could perhaps be used to pick up space refuse. They also relay important alert information back to Earth more quickly.Partnering with AWS: Partnering with AWS enables D-Orbit, like many companies, to reduce its own need for infrastructure. Also, the use of the AWS Ground Stations help reduce delay by increasing the speed at which D-Orbit can access its data via the cloud.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Running fast is good but not headfirst into a brick wall. Similarly, software development needs to move fast, but moving too fast typically is not secure and can cause headaches. Furthermore, old security protocols are insufficient and inefficient. Idan Plotnik, the Co-Founder & CEO of Apiiro, makes the case for a platform that quickly provides contextualized information concerning codingMain TakeawaysContextualized Info: An old way of checking code often involved the coders themselves answering a long list of questions. This was inefficient and ineffective. A more helpful approach is to have a platform that quickly provides contextualized information concerning the coding, the process, and potential breaks in the chain. With this type of info, security risks can much more efficiently be discovered and addressed. Establishing Trust: A platform that provides contextualized information can assist in communication between AppSec teams and developers. If an AppSec team is able to approach the developers with helpful information, then that can establish trust between all parties. With trust established, everybody can work together to reduce the security risk.   Mission-oriented: An entrepreneur, or a company, should have passion for their mission, whether that’s in securing software development or otherwise. In Israel, there is certainly a connection between innovation and the lessons that many entrepreneurs have learned during their military service. Mission-oriented values seem to translate to successful business outcomes.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform  -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

If data is in a pool that only keeps getting deeper as data inventory is accounted for, when is the exact moment for a business leader to jump in to do something with all the accumulated information? Leaders who care about data appreciate that it’s necessary to take stock before analyzing and strategizing. But taking inventory could be all one does because, whether it’s in a small or large business, the amount of data is only increasing. Mara Reiff, the Chief Data Officer of FreshBooks, suggests to account for enough data to begin the work and then to dive in.Main TakeawaysTaking Stock and Then Activating: A company must take inventory of its data, of course. But taking stock of data is a perpetual process. So, the trick becomes knowing when enough data has been collected so that you can move to applying that information to solve particular problems on behalf of customers. Being a Data Advocate: With so much data at any singular organization, there can be a natural tendency to want to put one person in charge of all data and for that individual to have total responsibility, Reiff made the point that it’s impossible to be responsible for all data if one is not in control of who is adding all the data. Over time, she has come to see her role as being a leader who advocates for all the company’s data to be used in a responsible and constructive manner.A Scientific Data Mentality: Accumulating data at a business is not done for its own sake. Whether one has a science background or not, using data to help customers is about hypothesizing, testing, making a case, and then acting on that basis. Sometimes it’s about finding a particular customer with an issue that needs addressing; other times it’s about anticipating customer needs and acting accordingly to address them.ML and NLP: Many leaders in the data field are excited about the prospects of machine learning and natural language processing. One area to zero in on as a benefit is how NLP can really help in the area of translation; particularly for companies that operate in many countries. The mission for FreshBooks is to make accounting easier for small businesses, which the company serves in 160 countries. Translating language accurately and efficiently would certainly smooth and simplify accounting practices, among many other applications for other industries.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.

Sean Duffy, CEO of Omada Health, discusses fitting innovative digital care into the current healthcare model. Omada provides proactive care through remote monitoring and support. They emphasize the need to work within the U.S. healthcare system and create a culture of innovation. Omada leverages data and insights to improve patient care and outcomes. They also discuss the excitement and potential of technology in breaking down silos for better care.

When it comes to IT security, there are a lot of marketing pitches out there offering bullish assessments of certain technologies, and, of course, the particular products being pitched. Really, there’s nothing wrong with marketers doing their jobs, and it’s especially useful when this information leads to learning about emerging technologies and innovative products with a great deal of potential. But it’s also nice to get some security straight talk.Frankly, so much noise concerning security products and innovation can be a liability because it’s just more information to process. There’s a real need for a clear-eyed, big-picture assessment of the current IT security landscape. This includes providing a sense of the big threats and what can be done to mitigate them both on the macro and micro level. Main TakeawaysCurrent Threats and Strategic Solutions: Big threats to businesses are coming from state actors performing espionage. Additionally, criminals have begun to use state sponsored attack techniques in order to hold companies’ data hostage. On a macro level, governments need to come together to agree that these sort of state sponsored attacks are unacceptable. Companies can also shore up their endpoints and maintain basic security protocols to reduce threats regardless of where they come from.Cloud Use: Although there are some legacy companies still slow to change to the cloud out of concerns that they may disrupt their old systems, there is a certain inevitability in companies moving to the cloud. Even more importantly, cloud-backed companies, that have put time in the space, will have greater opportunities as more companies move to the cloud,Technologies Making Security Easier: A.I. can help with anomaly detection, access management, and by reducing the quantity of human talent required. Though some marketing may suggest otherwise, A.I. and automation that is proactive to reduce threats is still in a more aspirational phase.IT Visionaries is brought to you by the Salesforce Platform - the #1 cloud platform for digital transformation of every experience. Build connected experiences, empower every employee, and deliver continuous innovation - with the customer at the center of everything you do. Learn more at salesforce.com/platform -- Brightspot is the leading content management platform built for modern teams. Your content lifecycle - from ideation to archival - moves faster, handling any volume, variety, or velocity with ease. Unlike legacy platforms that demand heavy dev work and struggle with scale, Brightspot is user-friendly, endlessly customizable, and enterprise-ready. Think dynamic, modern experiences, shipped in minutes—not months. Trusted by some of the world’s leading tech organizations, Brightspot reduces total cost of ownership, boosts productivity, and gives you the governance, security, and performance your teams need. Visit brightspot.com/ITVisionaries to learn more.---This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.