Tech Talks Daily

What keeps the digital world running safely behind the scenes, and why are so many organizations only now discovering that one of their most important security foundations is becoming increasingly difficult to manage?
In this episode, I sit down with Lakshmi Hanspal, Chief Trust Officer at DigiCert, to demystify Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and explain why it quietly powers almost every secure digital interaction we rely on each day. From online banking and cloud services to connected devices, APIs and AI systems, PKI is the technology that verifies identities, protects communications and helps ensure the information we exchange can be trusted.
Our conversation is inspired by DigiCert's latest PKI Modernization research, which surveyed senior IT and security leaders to understand how organisations are managing digital trust in an increasingly connected world. The findings reveal a growing gap between awareness and execution. While most leaders recognize the importance of digital trust, only 34% report having full visibility into their digital certificates, leaving many vulnerable to outages, operational disruptions, and unnecessary risk.
Lakshmi explains why certificate management has become so fragmented over the years, how machine identities now outnumber human identities by a significant margin, and why AI is adding another layer of complexity as autonomous systems communicate at unprecedented scale. We discuss why spreadsheets and disconnected management tools are no longer sufficient, and why many organizations are moving towards centralized PKI management with greater automation and policy enforcement.
We also look ahead to two challenges that are rapidly moving up the boardroom agenda. The first is establishing trust in AI-generated content through stronger verification, digital signatures, and cryptographic provenance. The second is preparing for a future in which quantum computing could eventually undermine today's encryption standards, making cryptographic agility an important business capability rather than simply a technical consideration.
If you've ever wondered what lies behind the secure websites, applications, and digital services you use every day, this conversation offers a practical introduction to one of the internet's most important foundations while explaining why modernizing digital trust has become a business priority rather than simply an IT project.
How prepared is your organization for the next generation of digital trust? I'd love to hear your thoughts and whether PKI modernization is already part of your security strategy.

What does meaningful engagement look like in today's classroom? And as AI becomes part of everyday teaching, how can technology help teachers inspire curiosity without adding even more pressure to an already demanding profession?
In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I'm joined by Jon Neale, Growth Director for UK and Ireland at Kahoot!, and one of the UK's most respected voices in education technology. With more than a decade in the classroom before moving into EdTech, Jon brings the perspective of someone who understands both the realities teachers face every day and the opportunities that technology can create when it is used with purpose.
Our conversation begins by exploring why student engagement has become more challenging in a world filled with digital distractions. Jon explains why gamification should never be confused with entertainment and how thoughtfully designed learning experiences can encourage participation, collaboration, and confidence without turning education into a competition.
We also discuss how Kahoot! has evolved far beyond the classroom quiz that many people know. Today's platform helps teachers create interactive lessons, collaborative learning experiences, and personalised activities that support learners across schools, higher education, workplace learning, and professional development.
AI is another major focus of our discussion. Jon shares practical examples of how teachers are using AI to enhance existing lesson materials, generate engaging classroom activities, personalise learning, and identify where students may need extra support before small learning gaps become bigger challenges. Rather than replacing educators, AI is helping teachers spend more time doing what drew them into the profession in the first place: teaching.
We also explore one of the biggest challenges facing education today, teacher workload. Jon explains why successful technology adoption starts with confidence rather than features, and why professional development plays such an important role in helping educators choose the right tool for the right situation instead of feeling overwhelmed by an endless stream of new platforms.
Whether you're a teacher, school leader, learning and development professional, or simply interested in how AI is changing education, this episode offers practical insight into how technology can create richer learning experiences while keeping people firmly at the centre of education.
As classrooms continue to change, what do you think will have the greatest impact on learning: AI itself, or the teachers who know how to use it well?

What if the biggest barrier to successful AI isn't the model itself, but the lack of context behind every decision your teams make? As AI agents become more capable, how do organisations ensure they understand the people, projects, documentation, and history that shape real work?
In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, recorded at Team '26, I'm joined by Taroon Mandhana, CTO of AI and Teamwork at Atlassian. His responsibilities span engineering for products including Jira, Confluence, Loom, and Trello, alongside the company's AI strategy and the development of Rovo. Our conversation explores why Atlassian believes AI should become a teammate rather than simply another chatbot.
Taroon explains why enterprise context has become one of the most valuable assets in the AI era. While today's foundation models continue to improve at an incredible pace, they still lack the organisational knowledge that human teams naturally accumulate over time. Atlassian's Teamwork Graph aims to bridge that gap by connecting people, projects, documentation, code, goals, and conversations into a living knowledge network that AI agents can use to produce more accurate, relevant outcomes.
We also discuss why Atlassian has chosen an open approach, making its Teamwork Graph available through technologies such as MCP rather than limiting it to its own AI products. Taroon shares why interoperability will become increasingly important as businesses adopt multiple AI platforms and why organisations should be free to use the agents that best suit their needs without losing access to valuable business context.
Another fascinating part of our conversation focuses on how Atlassian's own engineering teams are changing the way they build software. Smaller teams, tighter collaboration, AI-assisted development, and faster iteration cycles are allowing products to move from concept to release in weeks rather than months. Taroon explains how AI is changing both software development and the structure of engineering teams themselves.
We also examine where AI should take ownership of work inside platforms like Jira, where human judgement remains essential, and why successful organisations are treating AI adoption as an ongoing product journey rather than a one-time technology deployment.
If your business is looking beyond isolated AI experiments and wondering how to build AI into everyday work, this conversation offers valuable insight into the role context, openness, and organisational change will play in the next generation of enterprise software.
As AI becomes part of every workflow, what do you think will become the real competitive advantage: better models, or better organisational knowledge?

What happens when customer service moves beyond answering questions and starts anticipating needs, coordinating actions, and resolving problems with AI? And what does that mean for the future of the contact center?
In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I'm joined by Jonathan Barouch, Vice President and General Manager of Contact Center at Zendesk, to discuss the company's vision for the next generation of customer experience following the integration of Local Measure into the Zendesk platform.
Jonathan explains why the contact center is entering a new chapter, where AI is becoming part of every interaction rather than existing as a standalone feature. We discuss the announcements from Relate 2026 and how Zendesk is bringing together customer service, voice, automation, and AI to create a more connected experience for both customers and agents.
A major part of our conversation focuses on the acquisition and integration of Local Measure. Jonathan shares why bringing enterprise voice capabilities into the Zendesk platform creates new opportunities for organisations looking to modernise their contact centres without adding unnecessary complexity. Rather than treating voice as a separate channel, Zendesk is building an experience where every customer interaction contributes to a complete understanding of the customer journey.
We also discuss how AI is changing the day-to-day reality for contact center teams. Instead of replacing people, Jonathan explains how AI can remove repetitive work, surface the right information at the right time, and allow agents to spend more time solving problems that require empathy, judgement, and human conversation.
Looking further ahead, we examine what the future of Contact Center as a Service could look like as AI agents become increasingly capable. Jonathan shares his perspective on how businesses should prepare for this shift, where automation fits alongside human expertise, and why success will depend on creating experiences that customers genuinely value rather than simply reducing costs.
If your organisation is rethinking customer service, investing in AI, or planning the next stage of its contact center strategy, this conversation offers practical insight into where the industry is heading and what business leaders should be thinking about today.
What role do you think AI should play in customer service? Where should businesses draw the line between automation and the human touch?

What happens when a company best known for garage door openers decides to compete with the biggest names in smart home technology? Can a business built on hardware reinvent itself as an AI-powered software company without losing the trust that made it successful in the first place?
In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I welcome Jeff Meredith, CEO of Chamberlain Group, to discuss one of the more fascinating business transformations happening in the technology sector. Chamberlain Group has spent more than 70 years building products that millions of homeowners rely on every day. Under Jeff's leadership, the company has expanded that heritage into intelligent access, creating a connected ecosystem through the myQ platform that now serves more than 15 million users worldwide.
Jeff shares why leaving a successful career at Lenovo to join what many dismissed as "a garage door company" became the biggest leadership challenge of his career. Rather than following the comfortable route, he chose what he describes as the hardest path, helping reshape an established manufacturer into a technology business built around software, data, AI, and recurring customer relationships.
Our conversation looks at what it really takes to attract software engineers, AI specialists, and data scientists into a company with an industrial heritage. Jeff explains why interesting problems often matter more than fashionable brands, and how Chamberlain Group's combination of trusted hardware, millions of existing customers, and ambitious software projects created an environment that appealed to top technical talent.
We also spend time discussing leadership. Jeff believes the best leaders teach rather than direct, preferring to stand at the whiteboard alongside colleagues instead of issuing instructions from the corner office. He speaks openly about mistakes he made when joining the business, why vulnerability has strengthened trust across the organisation, and why admitting when you're wrong can become a strength rather than a weakness.
Looking ahead, Jeff explains how AI could reshape intelligent access, moving beyond notifications to systems that understand patterns, recognise context, and help people secure their homes and businesses in smarter ways. Instead of viewing AI as technology searching for a purpose, he believes access control offers one of its most practical everyday applications.
From leadership philosophy and organisational change to connected homes, AI, and the future of intelligent access, this conversation offers valuable lessons for anyone leading transformation inside an established business.
What part of Jeff's story resonated most with you? Is the biggest challenge in business transformation changing the technology, or changing the mindset of the people building it?