BriefingsDirect Podcasts

The next BriefingsDirect enterprise architecture (EA) discussion explores how a comprehensive portfolio of open standards and associated best practices powerfully supports digital business transformation. As companies chart a critical course to adopt agility using artificial intelligence (AI)-driven benefits, they need proven and actionable structure to help deepen customer relationships, improve internal processes, and heighten business value outcomes. Accordingly, this latest BriefingsDirect interview explores how The Open Group Portfolio of Digital Open Standards instructs innovation internally to match the demands of a rapidly changing, increasingly competitive, and analytics-intensive global marketplace. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Joining us to explore how to strategically architect for ongoing disruption and innovation is our expert guest, Sonia Gonzalez, Digital Portfolio Product Manager at The Open Group. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: The Open Group.

The next BriefingsDirect expert interview podcast explores best practices for deploying artificial intelligence (AI) with a focus on sustainability and strategic business benefits. As AI rises as an imperative that impacts companies at nearly all levels, proper concern for efficiency around energy use and resources management has emerged as a key ingredient of success -- or failure.  It's becoming increasingly evident that AI deployments will demand vast resources -- energy, water, skills, and upgraded or wholly new data center and electrical grid infrastructures. Read a  full transcript or download a copy.  Stay tuned to learn why factoring the full and long-term benefits — accurately weighed against the actual costs — is essential to assuring the desired business outcomes from AI implementations. Only by calculating the true and total expected costs in the fullest sense can businesses predict the proper fit-for-purpose use for large deployments of AI systems. Here to share the latest findings and best planning practices for sustainable AI is John Frey, Director and Chief Technologist of Sustainable Transformation at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Subscribe to the podcast. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

The next BriefingsDirect mobile devices security and privacy discussion examines how a new balance needs to be struck between giving users at the remote edge all the productivity they want, while protecting the most sensitive information. Listen to the podcast. Subscribe to it on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy.  Stay here to learn how a Minnesota law firm puts the power of diverse mobility to widespread use and keeps confidential and regulated data under strict control. Here to share his story of how to guide small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to the edge and back safely is Mark Hatfield, IT Director at Jeff Anderson & Associates, and IT Infrastructure and Security Consultant at Hatfield Engineering Corp., both in St. Paul, Minnesota. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Listen to the podcast. Subscribe to it on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Bitdefender.

The next BriefingsDirect IT security best practices discussion examines how a leading German home builder has adjusted to a major economic market disruption. Germany's home building demand has recently reversed, putting pressure on builders to reduce IT costs while remaining secure. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy.  Stay tuned here to learn how a large, distributed workforce can be best supported by IT -- even as business conditions change and budget requirements lead to broad consolidation. Here to share how an efficient security team helps the shift from managing surging growth to optimizing around necessary contraction is Johannes Hammen, Information Security Officer at DFH Gruppe in Simmern, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Bitdefender.

The next BriefingsDirect business modernization discussion focuses on how optimizing and automating accounts payable (AP) functions gives businesses improved insights and levers to better transform. We'll examine how improved control and management over cash flow, payables, and related fiduciary functions elevate overall financial situational awareness. Via adoption of intelligent automation, such new awareness -- and the greater efficiency it produces -- will further support the expected consolidation and convergence of financial operations within the typical office of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).  Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Here to show how and share his insights as a business operations efficiency veteran and expert is our guest, Jason Kurtz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Basware. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.  Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Basware.

The next  BriefingsDirect security enhancement discussion examines how innovative managers are increasingly benefiting from interactive dashboard analytics. The resulting actionable knowledge elevates security situation awareness to the higher order value of overall business risk assessment and mitigation. Learn how Bruce Auto Group has gained such deep insights -- not only into how its distributed apps, systems, and data are secured, but also into the hidden risks that can develop across entire IT and data services supply chains. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or Download a copy.  Here to share his story on how to elevate IT security to a mission-critical value of comprehensive risk mitigation and overall business resiliency is Paul Jobson, Director of Marketing and IT Strategy at Bruce Auto Group in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or Download a copy.  Sponsor: Bitdefender.

The next  BriefingsDirect security innovations discussion examines how the rapid shift to remote work has accelerated a rethinking of security and IT processes at a New York-based publishing organization. Rearchitecting the security posture of a business means adjusting work patterns and IT in ways that both reduce risk and heighten performance. But the trick is to do so without alienating workers -- wherever they may be -- and maintaining strong productivity. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Here to share her story on how to digitally transform a traditional business structure, reduce risk factors, and preserve a highly creative culture is Heidi Holmes, Senior Director of Information Technology Services at Hachette Book Group (HBG) in New York. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Bitdefender.

Amid rapidly growing IT security costs and the added complexity of distributed workforces, the challenges facing IT services providers are clearly outrunning past practices. That's why more automation, integration, and acquiring security “as a service” are in hot demand. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Stay with us now as the next BriefingsDirect security innovations discussion examines how Heartland Business Systems is seeking such new ways and new partners to ensure that security incidents are kept in check across a variety of hybrid IT services and scenarios. Here to share his story of increasingly embracing security-as-a-service Jason Nuss, Vice President of Cloud Services at Heartland Business Systems (HBS) in Little Chute, Wisconsin. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Bitdefender.

For managed service providers (MSPs), making the IT infrastructure as invisible as possible isn't just a “nice-to-have" — it's also elemental to delivering the best customer experience. Securing IT for these tech services and support users is no different. The less complexity and interference with productivity from the underlying security apparatus — the better. The next BriefingsDirect security innovations discussion examines how Scottish MSP Grant McGregor Ltd. has taken the customer experience imperative to new heights — even as its users move increasingly to hybrid IT models. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Here to share their story of better managing the security experience as a means of enhancing the overall IT services value are David Lawrence, Co-Founder and Director of IT Support Services and Advice at Grant McGregor in Edinburgh, and Paul Sinclair, Head of IT Service at Grant McGregor. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Bitdefender.

An underappreciated aspect of enhancing IT security is the impact on an end user's comfort and trust in the services provided. In the case of health care services and support, making the patient feel welcome and safe can be a game-changer as they seek access to needed services and care.  The next BriefingsDirect security innovations discussion examines how Macmillan Cancer Support in the United Kingdom (UK) places the ease of use and sense of security in the services provided as a top IT -- and community service -- requirement. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Here to share their story on how to develop and deliver a cloud-ready security bubble around all users, their activities, and the sensitive data they share is our guest, Tim O'Neill, Head of Information Security at Macmillan Cancer Support in London. The interview is moderated by  Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Bitdefender.

A special breed of company -- even though it has a relatively small number of employees -- does very big jobs with those lean and often distributed workforces. A perfect example of such a concentrated and efficient business is A-Core Concrete Specialists, which builds large and complex structures across the Western United States. When it comes to managing IT, the lean-and-mean mantra also holds true. The jack-of-all-trades requirements means that the IT leadership of it is often the head of security. As a prime example, that's another way that A-Core Concrete shines. Listen to the podcast. Find it on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Today's BriefingsDirect security innovations discussion examines how A-Core Concrete has created a security culture that relies on centralized administration, proactive insights, and rapid remediation to successfully assure that the whole company operates at peak performance. Here to share the story of how to best balance resilient security with the efficient use of human capital and resources is Andy Black, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at A-Core Concrete Specialists Inc., in Salt Lake City. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Listen to the podcast. Find it on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Bitdefender.

We're all now part of a massive worldwide experiment about the very definition of work. Remote, in-office — or tightrope walking along some sliding scale between the two? How each business and each worker finds the next new work-life balance remains an ongoing "work in progress." In the post-rapid adoption of remote work world -- a full two and half years after the onset of COVID -- there's no definitive answer on which approach to hybrid work works best. And the technology tools and solutions — many designed for an earlier in-office era — are not necessarily up to the task. The perceptions and preferences of bosses and workers alike are in a seemingly unending transition. Nothing quite seems fit for the new, still-to-be-defined purpose.  So, what is the eventual end-state of hybrid work? Will the process of finding it provoke new forms of innovation, opportunity, and technological success? Or will productivity and work-life balance suffer amid a period of tension, power plays, and years of seesawing trial and error approaches to hybrid work? Stay with BriefingsDirect to explore here the drivers and opportunities to get the future of hybrid work right -- perhaps sooner rather than later. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy.   To learn more about what makes hybrid work move to an arc of opportunity, and not wallow in a trough of complexity and confusion, please welcome Amy Haworth, Founder and CEO of Nobody Makes it Alone, and Tim Minahan, Executive Vice President of Strategy at Citrix. The conversation is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.   Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Citrix.

For those tasked with delivering unwavering performance of their apps and data, there have never been more unknowns to account for and manage. That's because today's hybrid clouds and mixed-network environments come with a multitude of dynamic variables -- and an unprecedented degree of complexity. Yet modern digital business demands that the entire constellation of these far-flung cloud services, resources, and application constituent parts coalesce perfectly. The end result must be real-time and always-on user experiences that delight, and business transactions that are both highly secure and never fail. Bridging the gap between such daunting complexity and awesome performance and security requirements means gaining the best visibility into all aspects of the hybrid- and multi-cloud continuum. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Watch the video. Stay with us as BriefingsDirect explores the ways that deep observability moves past the limitations of metrics, events, logs, and traces to deliver far richer and faster data-driven insights. By exploiting these new means of pervasive deep observability, the highest levels of security, performance, and agility can be attained by nearly any business and organization. To learn how, please welcome Bassam Khan, Vice-President of Product and Technical Marketing Engineering at Gigamon. The interview is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. View the video. Sponsor: Gigamon.

The growing prevalence of complex multi- and hybrid-cloud environments has opened a Pandora's Box of unseen risks around security and performance.  But unlike when IT and network operators had the tools and access to track their own internal systems and data, the mixed-cloud model of today is much harder to know and secure. Pandora's Box is open but observing what's going on in and around it is cloaked by inadequate means to gain actionable insights amid all the distributed variables. Enter deep observability and its capabilities, which are designed to provide rich access to multi-cloud and mixed-network behaviors. Such observations and data gathering can be analyzed to rapidly secure end-to-end applications and protect sensitive data. Stay with BriefingsDirect as we explore the latest advances around deep observability, and show how a neutral deployment approach for observation technology spans more infrastructure and services to best protect and accelerate digital business success. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. To learn how deep observability puts cloud chaos and hard-to-know risks back under control, BriefingsDirect welcomes Shane Buckley, President and CEO of Gigamon. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. Read a full transcript or download a copy. Sponsor: Gigamon.