IT Visionaries

There’s an obvious tension in the crypto world between decentralization and centralization. Of course, Bitcoin was a reaction against the power of the entrenched banking systems and a move toward individual economic empowerment. The essential element of blockchain technology is a distributed ledger, so it’s a reasonable desire for those who care about the technology to want the scale tipped toward decentralization. It’s also undeniable that some centralization often proves useful with scaling and building trust. But living within the tension between decentralization and centralization may be the key to empowering individual people by providing them with economic access. Manish Gupta, the EVP of Engineering at Coinbase, makes the case that Coinbase is equipped to democratize the crypto economy. Main TakeawaysTension Between Decentralization and Centralization: Coinbase is living between the binary of a centralized versus a decentralized system. Fundamentally, by maintaining a balance between both paradigms, it has an opportunity to further democratize the crypto economy,Seeing Opportunity Instead of a Problem: When the crypto economy has boomed in the past, the Coinbase site has gone down, at times, due to the volume of users on the site. Trust is essential for Coinbase customers, so being able to solve for capacity issues is essential for sustaining that trust. In part, the solution to handling traffic issues has been to institute a series of tests to be proactive rather than leaning on a spike in the market to test the system. For Coinbase and Manish Gupta, these platform issues became an opportunity to strengthen the platform.Leaning into Decentralizing Technologies: Coinbase has made a strategic decision to lean into decentralized products. Overall, Coinbase plans to focus on decentralizing its workforce, products, and what it builds on the blockchain. One example of offering increased decentralization on the platform is creating wallets where assets can be individually held rather than combined into a larger pool of assets.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 -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Disruption is a word that gets thrown around a lot in business. It’s curious because most people don’t want their day to day to be disrupted in regular life. People don’t just casually offer up the phrase, “I can’t wait for some disruption today.” But that’s why it’s absolutely necessary. It helps to change things up and see the world differently. Umesh Sachdev, the Co-founder and CEO of Uniphore, explains how he first realized the call center industry was ready for an evolution.Main TakeawaysCreating Super Call Center Agents: A.I. in conjunction with automation can act as a coach or mentor for agents. It can give clues as to customers’ engagement while helping provide data and facts in real time. It can also take notes on the conversations so there is a record to reflect back on and use to make improvements. This A.I. augmentation turns agents into super agents. Language, Tone, and Facial Recognition: A.I. has had an incredible progression. Initially, A.I. was trained for language and then for tone of voice. Now, A.I. can read faces and gestures. All of this accumulated interpreted data can be applied to provide call agents, or whomever, with the information they need to better communicate with customers.Applying Knowledge: It’s one thing to acquire information as an engineer or a business leader. But acquiring knowledge without applying it is like holding the best tasting spice in the world in one’s hand but never adding it to any food. Knowledge that is held but not applied is wasted. Use knowledge to solve problems. Switching to Sales: Sometimes engineers and creators are so focused on their work that they forget about sales. The obvious aspect of doing so is that without funding, the creativity stops. Reframing striving to make sales as a creative, communicative job helps. Also, customers can provide insights and ideas for new, interesting projects. 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 -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In business, there can be a tendency to label, categorize, and then make corresponding assumptions. This is very reasonable. In order to organize, it’s necessary. One less than ideal aspect of this mentality is that certain responsibilities may be assumed to be mostly relevant to only one title, team, or department. With that sort of thinking, the concept of communication tends to be more associated with marketing or sales. But the need to communicate well cuts across every area of a company. To serve clients, it’s imperative. Clearly articulating shared goals between companies and their clients allow expectations to be set and then delivered.Main TakeawaysRemote Communication - Signal Versus Noise: Skyrocketing remote work has necessitated different styles of dialogue. For instance, it calls for more written channels on Slack or email, or more Zoom meetings. But management is necessary to make sure employees are using effective means to communicate that enable them to accomplish their tasks rather than getting bogged down in unnecessary and time-consuming mediums that don't really further their specific work product.In-Person Meetings Still Matter: For all the positives in remote work and communication channels, there is still something that’s lost when people aren’t able to be with each other. Actually gathering together does help to connect team members. Properly managed hybrid models can create small teams that are able to leverage their in-person time as well as the remote tools that help to bind them together and get quality work done.How Open Should Channels Be?: With these new forms of remote communication, there is an even greater ability to have conversations between different teams at a company. This can be a double edged sword between the sales and developer teams. On one hand, communication can really help customers. On the other hand, there can come a point when a decision about a certain project must be made and further back and forth may not be as relevant at that point.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 -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Storytelling defines how we see ourselves in the world. Telling the story of one’s own life can be empowering or disempowering, depending on the story a person tells. This is true for companies too. The story of a company’s work can be told in a limited or an expansive way. The difficulty is that not only does the company tell its story, their audience — consumers, media, and even other companies — all help tell the story too. For a legacy company, that story can calcify until an effort is made to rewrite the narrative. Dr. Sokwoo Rhee, the Corporate SVP at LG Electronics and Head of North America Innovation Center ("LG Nova"), explains how he is rewriting LG’s story to reflect that it is a company promoting all kinds of innovation. Main TakeawaysStrengthening Innovation through Partnerships: LG has created a center of innovation in Silicon Valley, LG Nova, to support innovation from diverse startups across wide-ranging industries. Ultimately, LG Nova becomes partners with select startups and backs them with LG’s might so that they have the ability to scale. Telling the Story Differently: LG is primarily known as an electronics and appliance company. The true story is that LG promotes innovation across many sectors and has the capacity to support that aim. Dr. Rhee honors LG’s legacy but is sharing the story that LG’s interest in innovation is very expansive.  Close to the Action, High Above It, and in the Middle: Rhee tells the story of his career. First, he found himself close to the creative action in the startup world. Then, he worked in government, was high above the action, but could shape policy, etc. Finally, he has found a balance at LG in working with startups yet having the power of LG to make a difference.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 -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There’s a whole new manner of interacting at work now, especially with the rise in remote and hybrid workflows. The digital transformation was already well under way and then, if the transition was a campfire, the pandemic poured lighter fluid on it. Fortunately, lots of companies responded by making s’mores rather than getting burned, and utilized the technological tools that were already developed to help.Main TakeawaysOrganizational Alignment: The pace of technological change is breathtaking. Companies must continually be making sure their entire organization is aligned with their mission. This requires working quickly and adapting accordingly. Communication via channels helps to ensure the right people in an organization all have access to the same info to allow for conversations to to quicken the pace of workMental Shift: Working in channels is significantly different than an email workflow. For those that liked the finality of responding to an email and closing it out, the channel system can feel like it is without an end. The positive aspect of this feeling could be that the information is always available and can be of easy access as needed. When it comes down to it, individual mindsets can be adjusted to reframe the channel experience in a manner that’s helpful.Focusing on Virtual and Physical Spaces: For a long time, companies primarily focused on physical places for employees to work and, in many cases, for customers to interact with a business too. Now, the focus is adjusting, partly based on necessity, to creating supportive virtual places. Moving forward, companies will need to integrate physical and digital spaces. In many businesses, and in most human interactions, there is a place for both the physical and digital spaces.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 -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s easy to feel unmoored in a fast-changing world with such choppy waves. With so much change, there’s a natural tendency to want to drop the anchor in the nearest calm waters and remain there, hoping this approach will be the most secure. But the water’s never really placid. There are extremely strong currents beneath the surface. Even the most gigantic anchor won’t be able to keep the ship from moving. It’ll just slow it down a little, and, maybe, even pull the vessel apart no matter the quality of how it was built. Joshua Scott, the Head of IT and Security for Postman, believes that accepting and planning for changes in technology is the best security strategy.Main TakeawaysEvolution of the API Market: The API market was often overlooked in the past but that’s no longer the case. Postman has about fifteen million developers on its site who are working on various API projects. Where API was treated as something less than before, it is now appreciated like any other application. The mentality concerning API security has also evolved. Previously, API security was more of an afterthought. Given the  amount of increasingly interconnected tools, the import of API security is now more greatly understood.Both Centralization and Decentralization: When maintaining security, there needs to be clear leadership; therefore, a level of centralization. A clear, centralized hierarchy establishes accountability for leadership. An aspect of security decentralization is building a culture of shared responsibility among all stakeholders. Additionally, decentralizing security by empowering those closest to the action increases the speed of decision-making.Compartmentalization is a Good thing: In one’s personal life, compartmentalization is a good thing in some respects but tends to have diminishing returns when overused. In the security arena, the capacity to compartmentalize mitigates risk from spreading from one spot to all aspects of the business. If a business is a ship, it’s never great to have a breach in the hull but it’s better if the gaping hole is limited to one compartment.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 -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Threats are not new to business. Whenever there has been a plentiful economic prize, there have also been pirates. In the swashbuckling days, the captain and the crew were charged with protecting the merchandise on board. The difference today is the sheer volume of cyber attacks inbound to companies. Carolyn Crandall, the Chief Security Advocate and CMO at Attivo Networks, describes the attack as an enormous wave.Main TakeawaysA Security Threat Tsunami: Cyber attacks are like giant perpetual waves. Businesses are constantly inundated with these threats. The first steps toward fighting back are recognizing the power of one’s adversaries, understanding how the company is being attacked, knowing where the company’s vulnerabilities are, and then devising a plan to combat the attacks.Strategy over Monitoring: Businesses tend to want to monitor their systems and that’s generally a good thing. Part of the method of attackers, however, is to overwhelm with data. Instead of only monitoring, companies have to decipher attacker techniques and then strategize on how to defend accordingly.Automate, Automate!: People can only do so much by themselves to defend against constant cyber attacks. Automation can be an answer to these attacks. Humans can’t protect against the deluge of attacks by themselves and must lean on A.I. and machine learning to help combat these nefarious attacks. When companies begin to deploy an A.I. defense strategy, the designed algorithms can begin to decipher what is normal activity on network servers and what is not.Data Cloak and Disrupt: Misusing credentials is a great way for attackers to gain access to resources. It is possible to have an automated system, such as Attivo, that can bait rogue elements, gain their trust, and then deny their access while hiding vital data.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 -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Freedom is not something to fear; in fact, it’s an essential component of creativity. Chaos is something to avoid, however. Many creative people confuse freedom with chaos and think a chaotic environment inspires creative passion. The most creative environments are those that provide enough order, and essential security, that allows individuals to stretch out to create something new. As security information management has evolved with the cloud, a new form of defense has been required. Dave Frampton, the VP/GM Cloud SIEM & Security Analytics at Sumo Logic, describes this system as living in the middle of the cloud chaos. “What you really need to do is rethink this and deliver this SIM from the cloud, like as a cloud service itself. So that’s it’s right there in the midst of all that chaos [and] able to ingest all of that data and it’s savvy and smart about all those different new threat surfaces, because, in and [of] itself, this service is built and made from all of these same components: microservices, and containers, and modular, modern software that communicates by APIs.”By living in the midst of the cloud chaos, a security platform such as Sumo Logic is in the middle of the action and is creating a secure place for business and creativity to flourish. In Greek mythology, Atlas was forced to hold up the sky as a punishment by Zeus. Cybersecurty forces must hold back those with ill intent and to do so they dwell inside the chaos and create a safe place there. They don’t do this because they are condemned to this fate. Instead, they do so because they have chosen this role of protector and this is their mission.On this episode of IT Visionaries, Dave chats about how cybersecurity has evolved to decrease silos and increase automation. He explains how humanity, and ethics, are required to make judgements on how A.I. and automation should be used to further security aims. Enjoy the episode!Main TakeawaysMoving Into the Cloud Chaos: If the action is in the cloud, then security needs to be in the cloud too to ingest necessary data and to disrupt attacks. The security product must be at the same level, and made with the same parts, as that which it is intended to protect. Platform Disrupts Silos: In companies, silos are often made out of a sense of necessity. People work in their areas with their specific knowledge and access. In security, however, it is important to have a platform that connects those on the application and security teams so they can work together to protect the company.  Automation with Ethics: There’s a drive to automate as much as possible in the security realm because there is so much data and so many threats with everything moving so fast. This is reasonable, but humanity must lead decision-making concerning automation. It’s a matter of ethics. People must choose when to automate and for what purpose. They must weigh the pros and cons of their actions and accept any consequences. Fear and Greed: People are often driven by fear and greed. This is the case when considering A.I. and automation advances in security. On the fear side, it’s reasonable to be concerned about potential technological overreaches and unintended consequences. On the greed side, A.I. and automation has vast potential to deal with so much incoming data and to make quick decisions.---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  -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Even when trying really hard to please people, it’s difficult. Most people don’t know exactly what they want. And when they do know, they often don’t know how to articulate it. In our personal lives, this can be frustrating, for sure. In the professional world, it can be crippling for a company if they don’t have a pulse on their customers’ wants; but, even more importantly, their needs. Michael Peachey, the VP of User Experience at RingCentral, suggests the best  practice for understanding customers is for a company to enhance their observational capabilities. Main TakeawaysUsing Powers of Observation: To design effectively, a company has to understand how customers are using their products. Surveys help and so do conversations, but observations are best. Tech tools won’t replace the power of human contact, but they can augment observational capacity. Seeing where people place their mouse on screen, for instance, can help strengthen design elements. Observing customers who are struggling with a specific aspect of an app can increase empathy from designers and motivate them to address the issue.Function Versus Beauty: It’s an age-old question as to whether function as opposed to beauty is paramount in design. Function is number one. Without it, products will definitely fail. Beauty is nice but not necessary. The ideal is design that has both function and beauty.BCB Demystified: Everything is interconnected as people who work in the business sector are also consumers. Apps often start in enterprise first. Then employees like them because of the functionality so they take them home and share them and the apps spread among consumers. Consumers also bring apps they like from home back into the business market because they want to use these products at work.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 -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Certain types of technology are easier to understand for some people than for others, and that’s okay. Passion is contagious; iIt attracts employees and customers. Strong, passionate leadership with clear vision increases employee satisfaction that then translates to satisfied customers. Developers who make products that build and maintain infrastructure toil to solve problems so their customers can pursue their own desires. Idit Levine, the Founder and CEO of Solo.io, shares her zeal for her company’s work as well as a belief in her team’s competitive nature.Main TakeawaysThe Power of Passion: Passion is often underrated. It is the engine of creativity and accomplishment. Lean into passion in order to educate others, gather phenomenal employees, and attract customers.  Creation from Competition: Competition can be something that people shy away from. Perhaps this is because they wrongly equate it to being domineering. True competition is about striving to be the best version of oneself and creating an environment for one’s entire team to do the same. Embrace competition to win.Knowing the Why of Founding: Founding a company is a huge endeavor. Knowing the reason to be a founder is essential. For Idit Levine, founding was about building on the successful things she had learned from previous stops but also learning from experiences she found wanting and believing she could do even better. Supporting the Team: A CEO should be obsessed with their employees. Leaders must make sure their employees are content and empowered to be their best. Happy employees lead to satisfied customers.  Listening to the Market but Pushing Too: Listen to the market, but don’t just listen to the market. Customers don’t always know what they need or the direction of where a technology must head. It’s the job of a CEO to lead and determine the company’s course and the products they must build.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 -- This episode of IT Visionaries is brought to you by Meter - the company building better networks. Businesses today are frustrated with outdated providers, rigid pricing, and fragmented tools. Meter changes that with a single integrated solution that covers everything wired, wireless, and even cellular networking. They design the hardware, write the firmware, build the software, and manage it all so your team doesn't have to.That means you get fast, secure, and scalable connectivity without the complexity of juggling multiple providers. Thanks to meter for sponsoring. Go to meter.com/itv to book a demo.---IT Visionaries is made by the team at Mission.org. Learn more about our media studio and network of podcasts at mission.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.