Datacom at 60: Leading NZ’s tech giant into the AI era
This week's episode of The Business of Tech marks a historic moment: the 60th anniversary of Datacom, New Zealand’s largest homegrown IT company. I was joined by Datacom’s Group CEO Greg Davidson, who has overseen nearly two decades of remarkable change, steering the Christchurch-founded company through tidal waves of technological innovation. “It is older than me, I'm going to hang on to that for as long as I can,” Davidson quipped at the start of a wide-ranging conversation about the company that employs over 5,000 staff across New Zealand and Australia and generated $1.48 billion in revenue last year. Datacom started in 1965, the era of the computing bureau when it was too expensive for all but the largest companies to own a computer outright, so businesses shared access to a machine. The Computer Bureau Ltd., which became Datacom, was in demand for processing payroll transactions, a line of business it is a major player in to this day. “We pay about half a million Kiwis every fortnight using those platforms,” said Davidson. Listen to episode 110 of The Business of Tech to find out how Datacom is embracing the latest technological sea change, artificial intelligence, and how it stays competitive in the face of stiff competition from multinationals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Concrete for a low-carbon world, with Neocrete’s Zarina Bazoeva
Concrete might be the backbone of modern society, but it comes at a steep carbon cost. As global climate pressures intensify, the business of “greening” this essential material is heating up, and few are more determined to crack the code than Zarina Bazoeva, co-founder of Neocrete. In the latest episode of The Business of Tech, Zarina sits down for an in-depth interview about how her New Zealand startup is tackling one of the world’s most stubborn climate problems: cement, the glue in concrete, is responsible for around 8% of global CO2 emissions. “To produce cement, we use a lot of fossil fuels, and so partly that's the reason why it's so carbon intensive, and the other part is because the chemistry of cement contains CO2 in it, so it is released during the manufacturing process,” Zarina told me. Neocrete is using volcanic ash and its own additive to replace conventional cement ingredients, with promising results. With Neocrete shipping product to its first customer in Southeast Asia and embarking on a Series A capital raise, join us to hear Zarina outline her vision for cities build from low carbon concrete. Streaming on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The true cost of cloud: David Reiss lifts the lid
With Big Tech hyperscalers investing billions in local data centres and the Government taking a cloud-first stand, the migration of our data and applications to cloud platforms is in full swing. But as David Reiss, my guest on this week’s episode of The Business of Tech, told me that moving to the cloud isn’t necessarily the panacea if you are looking to lower the ongoing costs of running your IT systems. The co-CEO of 30-year-old tech services firm, Equinox IT, says costs can escalate quickly in the cloud without the controls and culture in place. “Most organisations we talk to now are in the cloud,” Reiss said, “but they are suffering some of those problems due to the fact that they kind of evolved into it rather than necessarily having it being initially a strategic objective.” Cloud “bill shock” is an increasing reality, not just in New Zealand but globally. “There has definitely been a lot of higher [spending] than was expected. Some of the cloud pricing models appear very opaque, they appear very confusing, and it can be very difficult to figure out what is costing you money in the cloud environment if it’s not set up well to begin with,” Reiss said. So what's the answer? a cultural change in our organisations where IT departments and business teams get on the same page about what they need to do in the cloud - and plan accordingly. Listen to the full episode of The Business of Tech, powered by 2degrees Business, for a candid discussion of cloud realities, the human factors shaping IT outcomes, and how businesses can prepare for the next wave of digital change. Streaming on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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From Auckland to orbit: Zenno’s bold bet on magnetic space tech
One of New Zealand’s most ambitious startups, Zenno Astronautics, is undertaking pioneering work with superconducting magnets to address one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity’s future in space - space junk. On The Business of Tech podcast this week, Max Arshavsky, co-founder and CEO of Zenno Astronautics, charts his journey from the steppes of Siberia to the University of Auckland, where in 2017 he founded Zenno Astronautics with Sebastian Wieczorek and William Haringa. His motivation? To build technologies that can make space exploration more sustainable and less dependent on Earth’s finite resources. “The vision I have is that technologies in space should be independent of Earth when it comes to reliance on fuel or radiation protection or an ability to construct anything,” Arshavsky, who is now a New Zealand citizen, told me. “We should be able to construct things in space, and they should be autonomous.” Listen to the full interview with Zenno Astronautics Max Arshavsky on episode 107 of The Business of Tech, powered by 2degrees Business, on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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"Bigger than the internet”: Autohive aims to put AI agents in every Kiwi business
J.D. Trask, the Wellington-based entrepreneur behind global software success Raygun, is back with a new venture, one he believes could have an even greater impact than the internet itself. In the latest episode of The Business of Tech podcast, Trask sat down with me to introduce Autohive, a platform designed to make AI automation accessible for every business, not just those with deep technical resources. Trask’s well-established company, Raygun, is a quiet powerhouse in the tech world, providing error and performance monitoring for software used by everyone from Domino’s Pizza to HBO. With its behind-the-scenes tech and 93% of its revenue coming from exports, Raygun has flown under the radar in New Zealand, operating with a lean team from just off Wellington’s Courtenay Place. But as generative AI exploded onto the scene in 2023, Trask saw a seismic shift underway. He described the electrifying moment he realised AI’s potential to transform business productivity. "I cannot put down thinking about this, this is going to be a bigger revolution than the internet,” he remembers thinking. Autohive was born, and launched last week with a platform allowing anyone to make their own agents - with no coding experience required. Tune in to listen to the interview in full - streaming on iHeartRadio and wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Business of Tech, hosted by leading tech journalist Peter Griffin. Every week they take a deep dive into emerging technology and news from the sector to help guide the important decisions all Business leaders make.
Issues such as cybersecurity, retaining trust after a cyberattack, business IT needs, purchasing SaaS tools and more.
New Episodes out every Thursday. Follow or subscribe to get it delivered straight to your favourite podcatcher.
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