Tech Talks Daily

In a world where payments have evolved from a back-office utility into a strategic business driver, how do you build a platform that truly puts control back into the hands of merchants? On this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sat down with Dwaine Thomas, CIO of PXP, to explore how the company is transforming the payment landscape with its next generation platform, PXP Unity. PXP has been a force in fintech for over 30 years, processing over €30 billion in payments annually for some of the world’s most recognised retail, hospitality, entertainment, and online gaming brands. But rather than rely on legacy systems, PXP has gone all in on greenfield development with PXP Unity, a fully API driven orchestration platform that enables merchants to plug into the services they need without the complexity of managing the entire payment stack. Dwaine walked me through how Unity empowers businesses with real-time data aggregation, smart routing, and complete transparency, all delivered through an intuitive interface. He also shared how the platform supports seamless scaling during high-demand periods, like Black Friday, and provides merchants with both control and automation to optimise payment performance across channels. What stood out was the clear shift in mindset. Sixty-four percent of merchants now view payments as a growth enabler, not just a necessity. With Unity, merchants gain the flexibility to adapt strategies on the fly, personalise the payment experience, and align payments with broader business goals. We also explored the growing role of AI in PXP’s roadmap, from driving development efficiencies to enabling future use cases like AI agents within payment flows. As regulation evolves, Dwaine highlighted how initiatives like the FCA’s AI sandbox point to a more proactive and structured approach to innovation in the payments space. So how can enterprises unlock new value from their payments infrastructure? How do you build for performance, resilience, and adaptability in equal measure? And what happens when payments become central to customer experience and brand loyalty? Tune in to hear how PXP is answering those questions with technology that is both powerful and practical.

What happens when you stop thinking of satellites as data collectors and start thinking of them as data analysts? That is precisely the shift we explore in today's episode of Tech Talks Daily with Michael Bartholomeusz, CEO of NOVI. Traditionally, Earth observation has relied on satellites to capture massive volumes of raw data, which is then transmitted back to Earth for processing. However, this model presents several significant challenges: cost, latency, and complexity. NOVI is flipping this model on its head. Instead of sending terabytes of data back down, their satellites analyze it in orbit and only transmit the results. That means smaller data packets, faster insights, and drastically reduced costs. Michael and I dig into how NOVI's space-based edge computing infrastructure is opening new opportunities in defense, agriculture, mining, and more. With multiple sensors onboard each satellite and a proprietary AI processing platform, NOVI enables organizations to fuse and process Earth observation data in real time. It is a shift from intelligence as a feature to intelligence as the foundation. We also discussed NOVI's evolving roadmap as it transitions from Department of Defense projects to a dual-use model that includes commercial services. Their commercial constellation is set to launch in early 2026 aboard SpaceX Transporter missions, and the company is already onboarding early adopters who are building custom inference models in preparation for this launch. What stands out in this conversation is NOVI's goal of democratizing Earth observation. Their open-access platform enables users to retain full ownership of their data, marking a significant departure from the closed systems that currently dominate the industry. Lower cost, faster processing, and open access could change who benefits from space data and how. So, what does it take to process AI in orbit? How do we reimagine satellites as part of the compute layer, not just the sensor layer? And what happens when access to real-time Earth intelligence becomes available to more than just governments and large enterprises? Listen in to find out.  

Just two years ago, the launch of GPT-4 required the support of hundreds of experts, intensive computing power, and vast coordination. Today, that same process could be executed by a team of five. That is not an exaggeration. It is a signal of just how rapidly AI development is accelerating. In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I’m joined by Gagan Tandon, Managing Director of AI & Data Services at TELUS Digital Solutions, to explore what is behind this extraordinary shift. From the evolution of AI chip design to the efficiency gains from smarter algorithms and open-source tools, Gagan offers a clear and grounded look at how AI training has become more accessible and less resource-intensive. But the bigger question is, what can we do with that efficiency? For Gagan, the answer lies in impact. Whether it is addressing bottlenecks in global supply chains, enhancing diagnostics in healthcare, or reducing fraud in financial services, these advances in AI development are not just theoretical. They are opening new doors for innovation across industries. We also explored how TELUS Digital Solutions supports enterprise transformation through its Fuel iX platform, which helps organisations transition from GenAI pilots to scalable, secure, ethical, and practical production systems. Gagan shared examples of how large-scale transformation can be approached with agility, especially when AI is aligned to specific business outcomes rather than simply layered on top of existing systems. This conversation goes far beyond model training. It is about what's next in AI operationalization, what business leaders should prioritize when it comes to adoption, and how to avoid common pitfalls as technology continues to evolve faster than many are prepared for. So how did we go from 300 engineers to five? What should enterprises be doing right now to take advantage of this momentum? And how can we make sure that efficiency does not come at the cost of responsibility? Join us as we explore the answers.

When I last spoke with Gaurav Kapoor five years ago, we were in the thick of a global pandemic. Remote work was still a novelty for many, AI was a distant concept for most businesses, and regulatory frameworks were trying to keep pace with the speed of technological change. Fast forward to today, and the conversation around AI and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) has shifted dramatically. This made it the perfect time for a long-overdue catch-up. In this episode, I welcomed back Gaurav, Vice Chairman and Co-founder of MetricStream, to discuss the changing face of GRC in an AI-driven world. AI has now reached a level of ubiquity that places it alongside electricity and Wi-Fi as a foundational layer of both business and everyday life. But with that integration comes risk, and with risk comes the need for smarter, more adaptive governance. Gaurav shared how AI is no longer just about efficiency gains. It is becoming embedded into the fabric of enterprise risk frameworks, from real-time regulatory monitoring to predictive analytics and risk forecasting. We talked about the impact of the current political climate, including policy shifts following President Trump’s return to office and how deregulation narratives are colliding with the complexity of global compliance expectations. This was not just a theoretical discussion. Gaurav broke down real-world use cases that show how large enterprises are navigating everything from redundant compliance testing to emerging threats discovered through AI-driven analysis. He also spoke candidly about the challenges ahead, how companies can fall behind if they wait too long to modernize their frameworks, and what is at stake when they fail to build trust into their AI systems. So how do you evolve GRC in an age where the pace of change is relentless? What role does AI really play in risk leadership today? And how can companies move from reactive to proactive without losing control? Join me as we explore the next chapter of GRC with one of its leading voices.

In today’s episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sat down with Matt Dawes, Head of Enterprise Sales at HALOS, to explore the fast-moving world of security technology and how body-worn cameras are rapidly transforming the way businesses approach accountability, staff safety, and incident response. HALOS is rethinking body-worn video with a fresh approach that doesn’t stop at hardware. From their subscription-based service model to a real-time AI-powered backend system, their tech stack is designed to meet the growing demands of both frontline teams and the organizations supporting them. During our conversation, Matt shared how the company’s origins during the COVID-19 period shaped its purpose and culture and how it has scaled across the UK, Ireland, and the US following its Series A funding in early 2024. We explored how HALOS uses AI for proactive threat detection and fall detection, which is still under development, and how their cloud-based platform, Bolt, plays a critical role in evidence management and seamless integration with broader security ecosystems. Matt also shared insights into how their system is already making an impact in sectors such as retail, where the focus isn’t solely on theft prevention but also on ensuring frontline workers feel supported and protected against a backdrop of increasing aggression and workplace incidents. One of the standout aspects of the conversation was HALOS’ pricing model, which offers all features, including panic alerts and live streaming, under one monthly subscription. This structure eliminates the hidden costs that often hinder full deployment, allowing clients to scale their coverage without compromise. So, how is the security technology space evolving? What role does AI play in improving situational awareness? And how can tech leaders ensure their investment protects people on the ground? Please tune in to hear how HALOS is positioning itself at the intersection of innovation and frontline security.

How do we bridge the skills gap in UK manufacturing while pushing the boundaries of automation technology? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Mark Gray, UK and Ireland Country Manager at Universal Robots, to explore how collaborative robots, or cobots, are rewriting the rules for companies big and small. Universal Robots, founded by three university professors in Denmark about twenty years ago, brought the world its first cobot and recently celebrated a landmark achievement with the sale of its 100,000th unit worldwide. Mark unpacks how this milestone reflects a shift in how industries from aerospace to pharmaceuticals now approach automation. He shares how the company’s easy-to-deploy cobots help tackle the tasks that many workers prefer to avoid, focusing on the dirty, dangerous, and repetitive jobs, freeing human talent for higher-value work. But this conversation goes deeper than robot arms on production lines. Mark’s passion lies in addressing the UK’s well-documented skills shortage, a topic that resonates with manufacturers across the country. He explains why Universal Robots is investing in free technical training courses for apprentices, aiming to equip young people with practical robotics skills and inspire fresh interest in engineering and manufacturing careers. Based in Sheffield, Mark also reveals how the city’s industrial heritage and its connections with institutions like the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre help nurture a vibrant robotics ecosystem, attracting startups and fostering local innovation. We discuss the growing adoption of cobots by small and medium-sized enterprises, the impact of labour shortages on automation strategies, and how businesses can begin their journey without overhauling entire production lines at once. From practical roadshows to free line-walk audits, Mark outlines the resources available for any company curious about automation. Whether you’re a manufacturing leader looking for ways to future-proof operations or a young listener intrigued by robotics as a career, this episode shows how thoughtful investment in skills and technology can shape a more productive and resilient future for the UK and beyond. Could cobots be the missing link between today’s workforce challenges and tomorrow’s manufacturing success? Let’s find out. Here’s the link to the Kraftwerk video    

How do you keep complex digital experiences running smoothly when every layer, from networks to cloud infrastructure to applications, can break in ways that frustrate customers and burn out IT teams? This question is at the heart of my conversation recorded live at Cisco Live in San Diego with Patrick Lin, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Observability at Splunk, now part of Cisco. In this episode, Patrick explains how observability has evolved far beyond simple monitoring and is becoming the nerve centre for digital resilience in a world where reactive alerts no longer cut it. We unpack how Splunk and Cisco ThousandEyes are now deeply integrated, giving teams a single source of truth that connects application behaviour, infrastructure health, and network performance, even across systems they do not directly control. Patrick also shares what these two-way integrations mean in practice: faster incident resolution, fewer blame games, and far less time wasted chasing false alerts. We explore how AI is enhancing this vision by cutting through the noise to detect real anomalies, correlate related events, and suggest root causes at a speed no human team could match. If your business depends on staying online and your teams are drowning in disconnected data, this conversation offers a glimpse into the next phase of unified observability and assurance. It might even help quiet the flood of alerts that keep IT professionals awake at night. How is your organisation tackling alert fatigue and rising complexity? Listen in and tell me what strategies you have found that actually work.

What happens when education stops being about a rigid curriculum and starts focusing on what genuinely sparks a child’s curiosity? This question sits at the heart of my conversation with Amir Nathoo, the founder and CEO of Outschool, a fast-growing online learning platform now trusted by over a million families worldwide. In this episode, Amir shares the personal journey that inspired him to challenge the tired one-size-fits-all approach still dominant in classrooms today. We explore how Outschool’s unique mix of small group of live classes, diverse topics, and independent educators is giving children the freedom to pursue what excites them most — whether that’s coding through Minecraft, exploring anatomy in the quirkiest ways imaginable, or tackling future-focused skills that schools often ignore. We also examine the broader shifts driving parents to supplement or even replace traditional schooling. From the rise of unschooling and passion-led learning to the potential (and limits) of AI tutors, Amir paints a picture of what more flexible, personalised education could mean for the next generation’s readiness for jobs that don’t even exist yet. If you’ve ever questioned whether the current system is enough to prepare your kids for the world they’ll inherit, this one’s for you. How do you see the balance between human teachers and AI shaping up in education? Join the conversation and let me know your thoughts.

How do you measure success when your AI is learning faster than your own business processes can keep up? That’s the question I set out to answer in my conversation with SparkBeyond, a company that has spent the past decade transforming how enterprises harness AI. From crawling GitHub code in a modest garage experiment to driving measurable performance gains for global firms, SparkBeyond has charted a path that mirrors the rapid evolution of AI itself. In this episode, I explored how their focus has shifted from discovering hidden performance drivers in customer data to building agentic AI systems that actively close feedback loops and optimize themselves continuously. SparkBeyond brings the rigor of operational excellence into the world of AI agents, a space still notorious for inefficiencies and inconsistent results. Agentic AI isn’t just the next shiny term; it represents a practical step forward from passive prediction to autonomous decision-making. Listening to examples like automated troubleshooting for large consumer electronics companies made it clear that this technology is already reshaping daily operations that once consumed countless human hours. We also dug into the realities behind the hype. While some companies have scaled back their experiments, SparkBeyond stays grounded by tying every agent’s performance to the same KPIs a human would carry, providing clear ROI and minimizing guesswork. Sagie Davidovich shared thoughtful insights into why verifiability determines where agents thrive first. Digital tasks, high-frequency work, and software development stand out as the front runners.  It’s hard to argue when you see the rise of coding assistants transforming entire workflows at breakneck speed. But the conversation didn’t shy away from the challenges either, from handling biases baked into LLMs to the obstacles of applying agents in the physical world. SparkBeyond’s upcoming open-source agent optimizer promises to accelerate adoption while keeping the human benchmarks in sight. This episode gave me a front-row seat to the next frontier of AI where systems aren’t static but in a constant state of learning and improvement. If your organization still treats AI like a bolt-on experiment, this discussion may push you to rethink how deeply it should be woven into your daily operations. How ready is your business for an AI that never stops optimizing?

In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Jim Douglas, CEO of Instabug, to unpack the hidden world of mobile app development and the hurdles developers face every time you tap an icon on your phone. Mobile apps live in unpredictable conditions, surrounded by millions of device variations and users who are quick to abandon any app that fails to deliver a flawless experience.  Our discussion begins with a deep dive into why mobile apps remain so vulnerable to user churn. Jim shares a striking figure that 56 percent of users will delete an app after a single crash, a statistic that keeps many developers up at night. He explains how Instabug’s platform provides a layer of mobile observability powered by AI, which helps catch problems early and offers real insights into how real people interact with apps. Instead of guessing why a user is frustrated, developers gain clear visibility through session replays and in-app surveys that reveal what KPIs alone cannot show. Jim also outlines how Instabug aims to push mobile development into a future where self-healing apps become reality. He describes Smart Resolve, a feature that already helps automate issue resolution, marking a first step toward a world where apps can detect and fix their own bugs. This evolution frees up development teams to invest their energy in innovation rather than repetitive troubleshooting. We look ahead to upcoming changes in the mobile ecosystem, touching on expectations for iOS 19, improvements in power management using AI, and the possibility that voice interfaces will soon play a bigger role in how we interact with our phones. This conversation is a must-listen for anyone building or using mobile apps who wonders why some apps feel polished while others crash and burn. Are self-healing apps closer than we imagine, and how will that reshape the daily work of developers and the experiences we all take for granted? Join us to find out.