Tech Insights

In 2021, Allianz went into live production with a new solution to settle international auto insurance claims involving its 25 subsidiaries in Europe. The blockchain-based solution based on Hyper Ledger Fabric has already settled more than 1 million transactions, automating a process that was painful and slow. In this episode of Tech Insights, Allianz Chief Architect Bob Crozier shares how his team went from an exploratory interest in Ethereum smart contracts to "burning the ships" and retiring their old settlements system to run entirely on an enterprise blockchain platform. Also, hear Bob's thoughts on whether NFTs need insurance. This episode is part of our CIO Priorities 2022 mini-series. 

We recount the discovery of a ransomware attack that’s staged to execute on the network of a mid-sized U.S.-based manufacturer. A day-by-day account of what it’s like to discover ransomware, the severe steps that need to be taken to contain the damage, the cyber-criminal groups looking to profit from the attack, and the lessons learned about security needs in the current threat landscape. Actor Michael Bedford lends a voice to our anonymous CIO in this case study, and Info-Tech’s Senior Director of Security Workshops Sandy Silk provides analysis.

When the pandemic hit, Harvard Business School wanted its students to have an equally rich education experience whether they were physically in the classroom or connecting remotely. To design the technology solution that would make it work, CIO Elizabeth Clark participated in a multi-functional team that put 4K cameras, huge TV screens, and Zoom rooms to work and defined a process that could be repeated in various classrooms. The approach to hybrid collaboration was so successful that Harvard is now adapting their conference rooms so operational staff can see some of the same benefits. Hear how Elizabeth Clark is reducing the friction of a hybrid operating model on this episode, part of our mini-series to highlight Info-Tech's CIO Priorities for 2022. 

During the past year, workers have left their jobs at an unprecedented rate. The mass migration has been dubbed 'The Great Resignation' and it's shone a light on the importance of employee retention. Especially in IT where there is already a shortage of technical talent available on the market, companies should make a serious effort to keep their workers engaged and productive. Jeff Previte, the executive vice-president of IT at CrossCountry Mortgage knows all about that. After joining the company in 2019, he worked to address a high turnover rate. By implementing an employee-first experience, he moved a 60% turnover rate to 10% in just a few years time. On this episode of Tech Insights, he tells us how to set priorities to keep your staff. We're also joined by Info-Tech senior research analyst Nick Kozlo. This episode is part of a mini-series for Info-Tech's CIO Priorities 2022 report.

David Dorman is no stranger to being in the captain’s chair amid a crisis. Previously the CEO at storied telecommunications firm AT&T, Dorman shepherded the firm through the disruption to the industry in the early 2000s. He repositioned the firm in a rapidly modernizing environment and ultimately delivered on selling the firm in 2005 for $16 billion. Today Dorman is the chairman of CVS Health, a firm that owns a network of retail locations within a 10-minute drive of 85% of the U.S. population. The pharmacy has played a crucial role in improving Americans’ collective health during the pandemic, delivering more than 41 million COVID-19 tests and more than 50 million vaccines. In addition to its vaccine delivery program, CVS Health has accelerated its digital initiatives to push out services through mobile apps and websites.  It further integrated Aetna, a health insurance firm it acquired in 2019 and launched a new virtual care platform with the brand. It also furthered its corporate social responsibility strategy, “Transform Health 2030” and took the lead in mandating vaccines for its own frontline staff. A special interview with CVS Health Chairman David Dorman, joined by Info-Tech Research Group Research Fellow Ken McGee.

Can being present for an epic concert define your relationship with your favorite artists? Our Lady Peace singer Raine Maida is kicking off another web3 project with Drrops, an app that allows concert-goers to connect directly with artists and collect unique digital collectibles. Raine helms the company as CEO, and says big things are in store for the platform in 2022. It's his second web3 project targeting musicians after launching NFT platform S!NG earlier this year. We speak with Raine the day after his concert in New York City at Gramercy Theatre to debut the Drrops app. 

We live in the era of the quantified self, awash in different metrics about our health. Yet barriers stand in the way of using health data in research studies because of the privacy requirements around sensitive medical information and the highly technical skills needed to use data science approaches to yield results. Software vendor SAS is looking to supercharge healthcare efforts with its data platform, SAS Viya, and research hospitals are already using it to investigate big questions like the root cause of multiple sclerosis. Special guest Greg Horne, the global principal in health care at SAS and host of The Health Pulse podcast joins us, as does Jennifer Jones, Info-Tech's industry analyst for health care.  Check out The Health Pulse: https://www.sas.com/en_us/explore/health-pulse-podcast-series.html

The pandemic changed the way we work, for better or for worse. At Microsoft, a recently published study in Nature details how remote work created more flexibility for employees, but also created more friction communicating between different groups within the office and hindered innovation. We talk with Jason Brommet, Head of Modern Work and Security Business Group at Microsoft about how Microsoft's first-hand experience during the pandemic led to new product approaches, including new features in Microsoft Teams and the new Microsoft Viva platform for digital employee experience.

Zoho Corp.'s headquarters are Chennai, India and it operates remote offices in the southern rural regions of India as well. The company's flexible approach to work and employee-centric view helped it quickly pivot during the pandemic, and continues to inform the software vendor's approach to its own operating model. In an interview, Chief Strategy Officer Vijay Sundaram shares Zoho's experience through the pandemic and how it's shaping its products to help companies navigate a world that's mixing both remote work and office work. 

Clio describes itself as the operating system for the legal industry. A Software as a Service suite that is packed with all the tools a law office could want, Clio's founders had the foresight to build their company with the capability to expand its usefulness. By using an open API approach, Clio acts as a platform that can integrate with other software products used by its clients. Clio's seen its API adoption - and its client base - expand during the course of the pandemic as legal officers were forced to adapt to remote work conditions. A discussion with Mik Learnout, VP of Product, Clio.

The golden ratio has been a subject of fascination since the days of Greek philosophers like Pythagoras and Euclid. The ratio is commonly found in nature, and humans have adapted it into beautiful works of art. But the latest discovery of the golden ratio may be the most surprising of all. Bert de Groot, Professor of Economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam, conducted a macroeconomic analysis to find that the golden ratio appears in the cycles of the economy. How can that be possible? We speak with Bert about his insights on this matter, discuss what it tells us about the digital economy, and then turn the conversation to this study's influence on Info-Tech's Tech Trends 2022 Report with designer Jess Leung.

The global semiconductor supply shortage is slowing down production of many different products and threatening to hamper economic recovery. The consolidation of the semiconductor manufacturing sector is a major factor in why this is happening. Is it time to create a new, domestic supply chain for semiconductors? We revisit our April 12 interview with President and CEO of ventureLAB, Melissa Chee. 

Has social media become a part of the public square? Sure, the big-name social media firms are all owned by private companies. But have they become so big, and so popular, that they are now entering into the realm of a new, digital public space? If they are, then do companies like Twitter have to respect certain rules that would normally be reserved for public entities – like, for example, the right to freedom of expression? That's what Joel Bakan is arguing. The Canadian law professor is the author of the documentary movie The Corporation and its recent sequel, The New Corporation. The new film is critical of Silicon Valley, questioning whether big tech has too much influence over our lives. After Twitter denied Bakan the ability to advertise his film on its platform, Bakan decided to take legal action against the company and the Government of Canada.

Welcome to the special first-anniversary episode of Tech Insights! As part of NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the Moon and eventually beyond, a new space station called the Lunar Gateway will be put into orbit around the Moon. It will play an important role in staging missions to the Moon’s surface and eventually onward to Mars. Canadarm3 will be Canada’s contribution to the international project, and for the first time ever, the robotic arm will be expected to function fully autonomously without human intervention. We explore the preparations that the Canadian Space Agency and Canadarm3 manufacturer MDA are making to ensure the AI is ready for the task. Interview 1: Daniel Rey, Systems Engineering Manager and CSA Chief Engineer for the Lunar Gateway Interview 2: Chris Langley, AI and Autonomy Architect for Canadarm3, MDA Related Info-Tech Blueprint: Integrate Artificial Intelligence Into Your Manufacturing Operations https://www.infotech.com/research/ss/integrate-artificial-intelligence-into-your-manufacturing-operations

*Correction: In the podcast we refer to the federal government's IT budget as $90 trillion. The intent was to say $90 billion. The U.S. federal government is spending more than $90 billion on IT in 2021. That's a lot of Benjamins. When you consider that the Pentagon is reconsidering a $10 billion cloud computing contract on its own, and that federal agencies are trying to investigate the rise in ransomware across the country, you realize it's totally plausible. Add in the fact that spending on AI in government is seeing rapid growth, and you realize the spending is likely to go up from here. To discuss how the government is approaching IT, how it could combat ransomware, and even make use of AI we speak with a special guest on Tech Insights this week - Steve Orrin is the federal chief technology officer at Intel. Want to learn more about government modernization? Read Info-Tech's Gov 2.0: government as a Platform blueprint. https://www.infotech.com/research/ss/gov-2-0-government-as-a-platform

We revisit a previous episode of Tech Insights contemplating how much we are all using screens during the pandemic. Now that it's summer and vaccines are rolling out, we might feel we have more options to get out of the house. But screens can be a hard habit to break. Amber Mac has some tips on managing your own screen time, and managing it for your kids too. 

Windows 11 is here! Because it just makes sense. And we're here again to tell you the highlights of the main event. Last week we gave you a preview of what to expect from the new release. Now that Microsoft has given us the official presentation, we have some new details to dig into. And to help me do that, I'm joined by two Info-Tech Analysts that are fresh off watching the event. We have infrastructure practice lead John Annand, and we have senior research analyst Ken Weston. Key discussion points: - Android apps coming to Windows - Microsoft Store and a new deal for developers - A stumbling block in the upgrade path - Microsoft Teams integration

It's a big week for Microsoft. For the first time in six years, a new version of Windows is expected to be released. We expect that Microsoft CEO will take the stage and reveal Windows 11 to the world on Thursday. Of course, that follows a leaked early build of Windows 11 being released last week and making the rounds. So in some ways the cat is out of the bag. But there is a lot we still don't know about the big release. To discuss what we do know and what we'll be looking for from the Microsoft event, I have am joined today by Info-Tech's infrastructure research lead, John Annand.

If you're like me, you use the web every day. And you do so just about as easily as you breathe. Reading websites and accessing media is effortless. But imagine if it wasn't. Imagine if you suddenly couldn't read the text on your favourite news website. Or if the layout of that online store you were shopping became so confusing that it was impossible to make sense of it. Or if you just couldn't even type your search term into Google. That's what using the web can be like for people that are differently-abled. The web has generally been a pretty unwelcoming place if you are visually impaired especially.  The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are an international standard that's trying to change that. It aims to help web site owners adapt their content to be accessible for as many people as possible. And this summer, version 2.2 of the guidelines will become the official standard. That will mean that some laws that require accessibility will also be updated. Here to tell me more about this is Mike Cart, vice president of Siteimprove Canada.

If you've heard about Amazon Sidewalk in this past week, it's probably through an article that explains how you should opt out of the new feature that goes live on June 8. "Amazon plans to share your internet with neighbours" proclaims one headline. But what is Amazon Sidewalk? And why did Amazon think it was a good idea to have owners of Amazon Echos and Ring cameras automatically enrolled? Amazon Sidewalk is a mesh network. It turns some of the connected devices you already own into a network gateway. Now it's not a Wi-Fi gateway. It's using the 900 Mhz frequency range, which we call the LoRa network. T Why would it do this? Well Amazon wants to enable more features for those connected devices around your home and out in your yard. Yes, maybe even out on the Sidewalk. It wants to help you track down your lost items that have a connected Tile device on them. It could even help you find a lost pet, or maybe even a person with dementia that's in your care. You could also use it to control your devices at home, even when your internet service is disconnected. The security and privacy concerns are real. But the big picture is a bit more complicated than what some of these articles might have you believe. To work through it all, I have two guests with me today on Tech Insights. We are joined by friend of the show Alexandre Blanc. He's a cyber security expert and a virtual CISO for hire We are also joined by Info-Tech security analyst Isaac Kinsella.