IT Insights

In this episode we continue the topic related to delegated authority and digitalisation of underwriting, but this time from a perspective of MGAs. As MGAs stand at the intersection of innovation and underwriting it is especially inspiring to learn how they harness technology to streamline processes, enhance risk evaluation, and navigate the ever-changing insurance landscape.

Our guest is Michael Keating, CEO at Managing General Agents' Association and together we'll explore how the members leverage digital tools, predictive analytics, and automation to not only expedite underwriting processes but also to improve accuracy and adaptability in a dynamic market.

Dive into the intricate world of cybersecurity in the first episode of the new series IT Insights: Inspire, Improve, Innovate recorded in our Center of Excellence in North Dallas. In this eye-opening discussion, Adam Gaca, VP of Cloud in Future Processing engages in a candid conversation with Sean D. Mack, Author, Speaker, and former CIO and CISO of Wiley. They unravel the true state of cybersecurity at American companies and uncover strategies to inspire innovation while minimizing operational risks.

Delegated authority holds great significance within the London Market, serving as a cornerstone in the landscape of risk underwriting. Data control is crucial in this area, espiecially considering data cleansing, data transformation in real-time and reconciliation.
In this episode of IT Insights InsurTalk, together with Dave Connors, Founder and CEO of distriBind, we discuss the role of the delegated authority in the Insurance market, with a special focus on data.

February 2017, insurance press is swarmed with predictions based on Carl Frey’s study that robots are coming and “topping the list of jobs at risk of being automated are insurance underwriters, with a 98.9% probability of being replaced by robots” . 6 years have passed and here we are, World Economic Forum marks Insurance underwriters as those who are “most likely to benefit from AI augmentation – 100% of their tasks have the potential to be augmented, the Jobs of Tomorrow report says”.
Together with my guest, Artur Niemczewski, Non-Executive Director at Chartered Insurance Institute, we discuss how the job of underwriter went from endangered to potentially 100% AI augmented in 6 years. And this time, we have a mystery guest as well…

Claims inflation refers to the increasing costs associated with settling insurance claims, and it can significantly impact the profitability and sustainability of insurance companies.
In this episode, together with our guest, Manjit Rana, GM Insurance - UK, EMEA & APAC at Clearspeed, we explore various aspects of claims inflation, focusing on the role of technology in addressing these challenges. We also discuss the topic of challenges faced by Insurance leaders in managing claims inflation.

Innovation is on everyone’s lips nowadays, but it’s not surprising seeing how important it is in the growth of companies but also how it can enhance our daily life, smoothen and accelerate certain processes and save time and money. However, it is quite a challenge to implement innovation within organisation.
The guest of this episode is Nic Sproul, CCO at I Love Claims and former Director at Gallagher Bassett, who brings a wealth of experience and expertise in driving innovation within the insurance sector. Together we discuss the challenge of implementing innovation and how it is connected with certain change of mindset, letting go of what we know and pursuing the unknown.

76% of insurers agree that competitive advantage will not be determined by their organization alone, but by the strength of the partners and ecosystems they choose. Because of that insurers will have to consider mapping emerging ecosystems to assess how they can best offer coverage.
Our guest is Evangelos Avramakis, Lead Corporate Foresight, Intelligence & Development at Swiss Re. In this episode we discussed the role of Insurance in the emerging digital ecosystems and why it is so important to look at the ecosystems through a non-industry specific lens.

Throughout its 350+ years of history, Lloyd’s has become the world’s leading insurance marketplace. Its focus now is on building a braver future – one that is more sustainable, resilient and inclusive and part of that journey is created by the Future at Lloyd’s programme.

In this episode we have a pleasure to talk with Bob James, Chief Operations Officer at Lloyd's of London at this extraordinary London’s landmark, Lloyd’s building. We discuss the vision beind the marketplace digital transformation, its presence as well as the future of further innovation. We also touch upon the challenges Bob had to face on the journey.

When we asked ChatGPT to write me an intro for this interview it suggested the following: “Over the past few years, generative AI has emerged as a powerful tool for businesses to automate various tasks and gain a competitive edge. In the insurance industry, generative AI is being used to streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance customer experience. From underwriting to claims processing, generative AI is transforming the insurance landscape.”

It is indeed a fine example of self-promotion, but does it truly reflect reality?

My guests are Danilo Raponi, Group Head of Innovation and Emanuele Colonnella, Innovation Activation Manager at Generali and we are discussing the state of generative AI in Insurance, but not only.

Recent statistics from Price Waterhouse Coopers say that 41% of insurance customers are likely to switch insurance providers due to dissatisfaction with their carrier’s digital capabilities. It has posed a challenge to the insurance sector on how to make customers loyal and how to improve their digital experience with claims.

Our guest offers a new approach to that problem and believes that the processes insurers use haven’t adapted to the capabilities of the new technology implemented by the carriers.

In this episode I had a pleasure to talk to Carrie Goetz, fractional CTO to multiple companies, recently named in the top Top 25 Women in Mission Critical, 30 Top Most Influential Women in Tech 2021 by CIO Outlook, 10 most influential women in technology 2020 by Analytics Insight, honored as a Network Computing Inspiration Award finalist 2020, and Comptia Women in Leadership Spotlight Finalist.
Together we discussed various aspects of data: ROI from data and Cloud projects, future data center, security issues with data and their awareness, and many more.

In this episode of IT Insights we host Ed Morrison, a co-author of the book "Strategic Doing - Ten Skills for Agile Leadership", a #1 Amazon New Release in 6 categories. For over 25 years Ed has been developing new, network-based models for strategy in open, loosely connected networks. These approaches emphasize the strategic value of focused collaboration and innovation in today's global economy.
Ed speaks about his approach to teaching the rules and skills of good collaboration to senior managers and PMs, and he explains how his methods differ from the ones most of us use. In the episode we discuss the advantages of implementing Strategic Doing in companies, its influence on the level of partnership and on the management community in businesses, and Ed's perspective on the future of collaboration and leadership.

Our guest of this IT Insights episode is George Amanatiadis, VP of Sales and Customer Success at Scrive.
The episode touches upon various aspects of customer onboarding and CX. We also discuss why culture of an organisation is crucial when building technology and what challenges George is facing when working on solution architecture of various IT environments. Last but not least we also talked about eSigning contributing to digital transformation of organisations.

The guest of this 5 questions episode is Jukka Holm, Managing Director of Visma Enterprise Oy and Board Chair of Visma Public Oy, Invian Oy, Oima Oy, and SmartTrackers in Netherlands. He also holds a Board Member role in Visma Enterprise Latvia and Acubiz in Denmark.

In this episode we discuss the transition process from MD to Board Member as well as Jukka’s approach to implementing strategic changes in companies.

Meet Jack Nikogosian, a leading specialist in WEB3 and a renowned Danish blockchain expert with a deep understanding of the cryptocurrency industry. In 2015, Nikogosian garnered international attention when he paid for an entire month of expenses using only Bitcoin, earning him the nickname "Bitcoin Jack." In 2017, Nikogosian founded ARYZE, a fintech company that aims to make payments faster, cheaper, and smarter. Under Nikogosian's leadership, ARYZE has won multiple awards and has been recognized as a top talent in Denmark and on Forbes' 30 under 30 list. As a sought-after speaker on the topic of crypto-currencies, Nikogosian continues to be a prominent figure in the DeFi space.

In this episode we discuss Jack’s experience of paying solely with Bitcoin for an entire month as well as the challenges he faces when spreading the gospel of tokenisation.

Our guest of this IT Insights 5 questions episode is Dr. Jacqui Taylor, CEO and Founder at FlyingBinary Ltd. She is recognised as one of the 15 Most Influential Woman in UK Technology, 21 Most Inspiring Women in Cyber, 100 Global Leaders, an Expert Advisor to the European Commission and in the United Nations 2030 plan.

Jacqui has shared the advice she would give to someone at the very beginning of their journey with DeepTech as well as the challenges she faces when implementing innovative technology. She had also introduced the initiative called Empathy Economy, which has already welcomed over 100 million entrepreneurs from 172 countries. It has taught them how to be CyberSafe in an online world. Empathy Economy is working to launch a unique EE membership where Jacqui will share her success plan to support 1 million entrepreneurs or changemakers to create businesses to deliver the change the world needs to see across the world and she would love you to join her. If you want to grow or start a business that changes people's lives the waitlist for the next cohort of Empathy Economy businesses is open, and you can join it at https://jacqui.online/waitlist

To get access to the WEF research we used to help 10 million businesses Cybersafe go to https://wef.jacqui.online.

To stay updated follow Jacqui Taylor’s LinkedIn profile where she shares updates on her global work: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jacqui-taylor/

Our guest is Herman Herteleer, Group CIO of Interparking. He has vast experience in setting up and working with agile responsive organizations that continuously change and adapt to market needs mainly in the customer services and supply industry.

Together we discuss what is digital transformation about and if it really is "more about culture and people, than technology". We also touch upon choosing the right partner to go through it and introduce the notion of rightshoring. Last but not least, we talk about the biggest challenges of building a high-performing team.

The guest of this episode is Tiffany Haynes, COO & Chief People Officer at Fingercheck. Prior to FC, Tiffany was with Jack Henry (NASDAQ: JKHY) for nearly 20 years; much of that time was devoted to fintech operations, program management, people operations, and leading consumer-facing experiences. She served in various roles, including Chief People Officer (6500+ employees) and as General Manager | Vice President of Consumer-Facing Experiences with full P&L responsibilities.

In this episode we will focus on Tiffany’s passion, namely putting people first and enabling small businesses with feature-rich solutions that are simple and powerful, so the business owner can spend more time in the business and less time running the business.

Our guest of this episode is Dr. Dean Bartles, a seasoned operations professional with four decades of management experience in manufacturing and technology. He is currently the President and CEO of the Manufacturing Technology Deployment Group, Inc., a not-for-profit holding company of both the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) and Advanced Manufacturing International, Inc. (AMI), a new subsidiary and sister company to NCDMM.

Dr. Bartles’ skills in advanced manufacturing technology areas include Digital Manufacturing, Model Based Enterprise, Industry 4.0, smart manufacturing, advanced robotics and brilliant factory concepts.

In our episode we discuss industry 4.0, optimization and control of processes, automatization and gathering data and how the companies can benefit from them. We will also talk about the place of AI and ML in manufacturing and how to prepare a manufacturing business for digital transformation.

Our guest is Antony Bream, the Founder and Managing Director at ribbit Consulting, mentor and member of numerous advising boards. Antony has over 30 years of experience in B2B sales for cloud applications primarily into the financial services marketplace. His focus is always clear on pivoting strategy quickly to realise ever changing market trends and building complimentary partner networks to accelerate revenue growth from channel with a joint value proposition.

In this episode, we discuss which industries might be more interested in engaging an external advisor and why companies seek such services. We also talk about how to collaborate with the advisor or technology consultant to ensure the highest value of this partnership and analyse how to choose the right partner.

This time we had a pleasure to talk to Ian Max Ewart. Ian is a C-suite Commercial Executive, Director, Board Member and an Advisor, with a 30+ year career in international financial services. Ian is known as an industry leader and reference for marketing, business development and innovation.

In this episode we talk about place for humanity in the AI projects. We discuss the most important aspects companies focus on nowadays, how financial organisations can provide human, personal experience as well as if AI can be a tool in creating applications and solutions that improve the inclusiveness. At the end our guest shares his most recent project which he has been working on.

For the first time, we present a new format - 5 questions.

Our guest is Jakub Nalepa, Head of Artificial Intelligence department at KP Labs, Associate Professor at Silesian University of Technology, and Machine Learning Architect at Graylight Imaging

Jakub answers Ewa's 5 insightful questions.
- what encouraged him to choose his career path
- what he has learned from his mistakes in the past
- what advice he would give to his younger self
- what benefits and opportunities data and its analysis have to offer
- what are the advantages of peer review in the world of science and business.

In this talk we delve into the challenges and traps of building tech teams in different companies. We discuss what key tech competences are required in the financial industry today as well as which sourcing strategies actually work. Last but not least, we talk about choosing the right IT partner and share tips on building a tech team.
Our guest is Georgina Owens, CTO at Liberis, Top UK CIO 100 2019 and 2020, UK Top 50 Most Influential Women in Tech 2020 and 2021 and Women in IT Awards nominee and winner.

Many of us remember the days of unintuitive software interfaces and the ‘where do I click’ questions in our heads. Thankfully, with the rise of the human-centric software design, the unintuitive apps are no longer the industry standard.  

However, there are still many companies that need to consider their users more. In this episode, Michał talks to Martyna and Daniel, two user experience designers.  They discuss the question of how to design user-centred software products – both for designing new software and releasing updates to existing apps. They also present a 7-question survey which will show you recommended activities to create user-centred software.

In less than 20 years, the ESG movement has grown from a corporate social responsibility initiative launched by the United Nations into a global phenomenon whose assets are set to balloon to $50 trillion by 2025 from about $35 trillion, according to estimates from Bloomberg Intelligence. Being the topic of numerous discussions and having impact on future enterprise value proves it to be crucial in operating business.

However, ESG stands for environmental, social, and corporate governance, hence we want to leverage our focus on one of those aspects, namely social. Together with my guest, Therese Baptiste Cornelis, an Advisory Board Member at AKFI Actionable Knowledge Foundational Institute as well as a consultant for organizations in key issues of Digital Transformation, we will discuss the role of ESG in organisations, especially focusing on the social inclusion aspect.

Our guest is Payal Arora, a co-founder of FemLab.Co and a Professor and Chair in Technology, Values and Global Media Cultures at Erasmus University Rotterdam; authoress of several books including the award-winning “The Next Billion Users” with Harvard Press. Her expertise lies in inclusive design and user experiences among low-income communities worldwide.

In the podcast we discuss the aspects of human-centrism and the cultural context of technology. We also unveil the notion of digital anthropologist as well as the connection between creative design in technology and human centred solutions.

People tend to focus on boosting their self-confidence or improving self-esteem, but many don’t realise that it is the self-worth which is the fuel we should run on. Experiencing difficulties in career or personal lives in never easy and it is crucial to be able to rely on our self-worth.

In this talk with John Niland, the author of “The Self-Worth Safari”, "Hidden Value", "100 Tips to Find Time", "Opportunity Conversations”, and "The Courage to Ask”, as well as speaker and coach at Self-Worth Academy, we explore the differences between self-confidence, self-esteem and self-worth and elaborate on the importance of the later in career growth and development. We will also delve into the origin of the idea of self-worth and why it is more important now than ever.

Recent years have been unprecedented in terms of new unexpected challenges and changes in our work. The pandemics has impacted teams in many ways and has required us to rethink the leadership models to allow the teams stay effective, efficient and high performing.  

Together with our guest Kevin Mascarenhas, leadership coach to tech startup CEOs, we have touched upon the topic of leadership and high performance teams on various levels. We discuss the concept of transformational leadership as well as, on one hand, key factors required to build and maintain the high performance teams and, on the other hand, the blockers and obstacles to overcome on the way.

Furthermore, we have talked about the impact of hybrid work on our attitude towards life and work in general and the fact that it is impossible to return to the pre-pandemic working environment. We also discussed the significance of aligning roles and responsibilities at a company to business goals of the organisation and how to approach it.

We often believe that larger organisations are not that agile and rather resemble a tanker when it comes to introducing innovations and responding to change. Is it a fact, or a myth? Let's find out!

In this talk with Noémie Ellezam from Société Générale we discussed her experience in approaching agility and complex strategies in big organisations as well as the role of data in such endeavours. We also touched upon implementing digital transformation in a decentralised model, monitoring the progress and results of the digital transformation as well as how to stay customer focused and make technology efficient at the same time. Noemie also shared her tips and lessons learnt based on her experience.

Together with our guest, Igal Rotem, we'll discuss the world of payments and how to rise to the global payment challenge. It’s a very interesting aspect, especially bearing in mind that the payments market is one of the biggest market sectors across the world of finance.

There’s surely an urgent need for universal real-time global payments across global markets – especially when we think about cross-border payments. International businesses today increasingly expect this global access to finance in real-time.

Igal Rotem is a high-tech executive and serial entrepreneur, former founder and CEO of a publicly traded (NASDAQ) company, with extensive business development, sales management and strategic business planning skills. Igal is currently a CEO and a board member of Cedorax – a global merchant acquiring bank, with best in class cross-border processing capabilities, that focuses on online commerce and omnichannel payment transactions.

B2B marketing is a tough nut to crack, especially during the pandemics where we all had to change our ways of work to certain extent. One of many examples comes from my own experience - being part of the Field Marketing department and focusing, among others, on exploring business relationships at different events, COVID-19 turned it all upside down and we had to look for other possibilities enabling us to build long-lasting partnerships, rather than flying over the world and meeting people face to face.

However, with or without pandemics, when it comes to B2B Marketing in the IT industry the competition is fierce and the companies keep on coming up with more and more unique solutions how to attract potential customers.

Some of them focus mostly on the short-term actions, which are great in generating business here and now, some invest also in the brand building which additionally offers long-term benefits and translates to business growth in the future. Finding the balance between the two approaches seems like a way to go, but it’s not an easy task for the Marketing department.

My guest is Russ Powell, who has a very interesting story to share.

I think we all agree that in terms of tech hubs, Switzerland has this cozy place in our minds as a go-to place, but have you ever wondered why is that? What makes it so special? When we think of Switzerland and tech what comes to our mind is blockchain, Crypto valley, startups – concepts which are simply innovative and at the same time sexy. They draw attention, tempt investors and as a result of these and numerous other reasons - make money.

Together with my guest Sheraz Ahmed we will try to understand what the secret behind Switzerland’s status is and perhaps we will be able to find out the recipe for success – many regions have already attempted to reach a similar status, but none of them has reached the goal yet.

The rapid acceleration of fintech industry in the past years, especially caused by the pandemics, has influenced lifes of many people worldwide – also when it comes to the financial aspects. But there are still areas where the levels of financial inclusion and financial literacy are low.

There’re several reasons why it is important to improve these levels since on the one hand, financial literacy and financial inclusion touch on the very basic, core needs of individuals, and on the other hand - it has a huge impact in the large scale, on economies of the countries and their growth.

Research by EY presented that financial inclusion could improve GDP by up to 14% in more rural, developing economies like India and 30% in frontier markets like Kenya. Such increase would make a huge difference in terms of the economic growth.

My guest is Nina Mohanty who is passionate about FinTech and how it can better financial inclusion and financial literacy.

One of the ways for a business to thrive and develop is to be backed by Private Equity. The areas which Private Equity targets are quite wide but very often it invests in the IT-related industries or directly into technologies developed by the companies from various sectors. Considering how well IT stands throughout the pandemics and how COVID accelerated the need for the digital transformation it seems that such a trend will only continue to gain grounds.
However, every owner should bear in mind that an investor usually has lots to say in terms of the technologies they invest in and quite often may impose certain solutions on the company. It is therefore essential to consider how the relation PE – owner could look like, on the one hand, from the point of view of an investor, and on the other hand, of an owner. It is crucial to understand that to make it all work and bring tangible benefits.
Today we will discuss with James Prebble how Private Equity approaches IT in their investments.

Medicine 20 years ago and medicine today is not the same science in terms of technological acceleration it has faced throughout the years. It seems that 2020 made it even more advanced and technology-oriented considering the ongoing pandemics and the need to limit in-person appointment but maintain the same level, or at least close level, of access for the patients.
In 2019, less than 10% of consumers had a telehealth visit within the past year. In 2020 such visits became a must-have and one month into the lockdown, about 80% of our visits were happening virtually. This shows the huge acceleration we had to face, both in the terms of technological background as well as patient-doctor interactions.

Together with my guest, Sebastian Boëthius, we will touch upon exactly those two aspects of telemedicine: the technology side and the human part. Both approaches are essential for telemedicine to bring the necessary effects and provide healthcare to those in need, especially now.

Most enterprises have already started their Journey to the Cloud, more or less. The industry faces a revolution in a way key players provide services and move from traditional IT to modern, faster and scalable tools.

But the bigger the organisation is, the harder the journey. Challenges of knowledge transfer, overcoming siloes, communication, getting rid of legacy, managing risk and staying on top of a huge cloud migration - there's plenty of things to watch out for. Luckily our guest today knows all the ropes of the journey to the cloud on an enterprise scale, and I won't hesitate to ask him how to approach this challenge.

Today’s the most volatile and uncertain time for businesses worldwide – it's a fact you can’t deny. Moreover, if you expect things will go quiet and peaceful again, you’re most likely wrong.

VUCA is the new normal and is here to stay. Bearing that in mind, it’s good to understand how to stay on top of change and manage the disruption. The pandemics has only accelerated the need for change management, forcing companies to go through digital transformation in their organizations to stay on top of the situation and not lose their market positions.  

With my guest Graham, we discussed what factors are crucial in the change management process, how IT and operations should be aligned thereto and hopefully, at the end of our conversation, we arrived to some answers on how to avoid common mistakes related to change.

In a competitive market, customers expect access 24x7 to the eCommers site from any device, and if they can’t buy what they want when they want, they will simply go elsewhere.

John Lewis is one of the UKs leading eCommerce platforms, with a demand profile which is massively influenced by promotional activity such as Black Friday. To illustrate that - February is a low point in Retail as customers finances are recovering from Christmas, customer orders might be as low as 200/hr yet peak at 20,000/hr during Black Friday, 100 times higher.

Together with Craig we discussed what challenges he must face operating such a site and what approach he took.

From cash and checks to e-wallets: real-time, global, secure digital payments - the landscape of the payments industry has changed drastically in the recent years. Nonetheless, the disruption is still only ahead of us and it's worth understanding what payment trends will shape the way the market goes. New technology, customer behaviour, ever-growing competition force the industry to revisit its fundamentals.

In 2020 doing business became very difficult and unpredictable all around the globe. The pandemic was unexpected and none of us was truly prepared for it.  

It’s been almost a year now that we live in a world, we do not dare to call normal yet, however, it is a world which we are involuntarily getting used to – businesswise too. It’s impossible to predict when COVID-19 will cease to be threat to business, but what we can do is look at 2020, reflect upon it and draw conclusions for the future.  
How organisations can adapt to the new normal, how to stay on top of the situation and make use of the situation to gain momentum? We’ll ask our guest, Anton Lewis, a serial entrepreneur and a founder of a digital agency.

No doubt we are witnesses to a huge industry disruption which is caused by the digital transformation. It affects not only the IT world, but a lot of innovative industries, changing the world we know as we speak. But how to predict what impact will it have and how to embed it in the economics?

Our guest will tell us more about the economic perspective of the disruption and how it is reflected in the Kondratieff Wave theory. It is especially interesting to investors and governments since it helps them to understand how periods of uncertainty or crisis relate to long-term economic and social trends. According to the theory, since XVIII c. we have experienced 5 Kondratieff cycles and it seems that COVID 19 is driving us towards the 6th Kondratieff very quickly.

AI offers plenty of benefits, but before bringing those end-goals to life, AI has to be scaled and here the statistics are truly bothering. In fact, even though more than 90% of organisations are investing in AI today, only 17% have been able to scale it. It seems that finding a balance between the strategy and AI is not easy. 

Today we are going to discuss if there is anything we can change in order to increase our success rate in that matter.

More and more companies are moving towards digital transformation of their businesses. This time though, it looks like the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated changes in organisations that specifically touch upon the human aspect of the business directly. 
As the “The Future of Jobs Survey” reveals, “50% of employers will accelerate the automation of their work, while over 80% are set to expand the digitization of their work processes. That means that some jobs that have been lost will never come back, and those that do will require new ways of working and new skills.”   
Let’s discuss how the new Future of Work will look like!

Technology is already broadly used to help cities and businesses develop sustainable mobility solutions. But smart mobility is about more than just bringing people to their destinations in a quicker, safer and a more sustainable manner. It's a trend that can (and should!) potentially disrupt the way we 'use' cities and force us to rethink crucial aspects of our daily lifes.

While the world is becoming more and more interconnected, organizations, people and last, but not least – devices produce enormous amounts of data.

The question arises – do we take advantage of the data we collect at our organization? Do we know what potential it provides? Can any strategic decisions be optimized by taking look at the data we already have? These are fundamental questions we would like to try answering during our conversation.

Today, technology is more than just an integral part of business success. It's a driving factor of world change in a broad sense. As a consequence of a digital era, we harness mobile, cloud, AI, ML, data and soon quantum computing not only to improve operations, but also daily life of whole societies, facilitating globalization and translating into GDP.

The pace of change is rapid already, and technology only increases these processes. Luckily, it's not a bad news. People are leveraging technology to make the world a better place, and more and more companies are on a mission to help grow the global tech for good movement, what is surely worth recognition.

Hours are currently spent sifting through large amounts of textual and numerical data, either to make risk decisions or discover whether information on a particular client is held somewhere internally. No one's really keen on doing the mundane, repeatable work and luckily, AI comes to the rescue.

New machine learning models allow for, among others, organisations within the Financial Sector to use NLP to quickly condense relevant information, from any source – from extensive due diligence down to internal credit research, supporting Risk Analysis and other important processes.

In this conversation we'll seek to highlight and demonstrate cutting edge AI tech that already disrupts the FinTech scene.

Many people are reluctant or hesitant when it comes to embracing technology. No wonder, as in a constantly changing world, it is easy to dismiss or shrug off the never ending stream of new things that are thrown our way.

On the other hand, there are people like, Geronimo, who calls himself a Digital Optimist. For Geronimo, it's important to make the most of the positive aspect the technology brings to the table, and he spreads this word across the local community. In this episode I ask him what's so positive he sees in tech, and why he thinks we all should be digital optimists.

Mike Sturrock, an experienced CIO working with global, renowned brands, with a strong track record delivering top line growth and bottom line returns. Mike achieved these outstanding results through well proven skills in leadership, and the ability to create cohesive teams which deliver well in excess of both their own and corporate expectations. In this conversation, we focus on this timeless leadership challenge - how to build and sustain a team that will exceed expectations.

The financial landscape and ecosystem as a whole is under pressure. Regulation and security, challenges of collaborations between financial institutions, increasing role of consumers and technology are fueling the Fintech transformation.

Together with Daria Dubinina, we discuss how businesses could use facilitation in creating financial products, and how leverage current market opportunities.

When corona-crisis started, business went from panic to acceptation, and organisations are now almost used to the new normal. No one knows how long current situation will continue. In this conversation we cover how can the sourcing business adapt and what can companies do to come out of it stronger than before.

Steve Watson, Peru's Consulting Principal Consultant, once wrote a great piece on how adopting high speed fibre broadband allows businesses to focus on the benefits realisation opportunities this technology transformation presents. In this episode, I ask Steve a few questions and dig deeper into the topic of how technology can be leveraged to reduce businesses operating costs, increase revenues, and/or improve our businesses ability to innovate.

Embracing open banking is already key to remaining competitive and accessible, especially when it comes to data connectivity and aggregation. Today every company is a data company, but possessing data is one thing, and making a reasonable use of it - another.

In this episode Julien Cousineau, CTO at Flinks, shares his thoughts on what open banking is all about, how to make use of data and how to innovate in the sphere of financial services.

Since technology is everywhere, people expect digitisation also in terms of insurance. Michał Grela and Jay Antonio, an Insuretech expert, discuss trends as well as problems with large systems and figure out why insurers are still reluctant to introduce innovative approaches. They also deliberate if software can be considered a tool to convince customers of the importance of insurance.

Our experts, Essy Dahlin and Krzysztof Kotowski, explain the differences between an IT and AI project, and talk about the differences between AI, ML and Deep Learning. Then they discuss the importance of maintaining clean and ordered data in projects as well as the process of moving on from the MVP into a fully-fledged ML product.

Essy shares some successful cases studies where AI was successfully implemented.

A lot of companies are considering implementing AI in their projects, but why would someone bother to do AI in the first place? In order to prevent disappointment, it's crucial to understand what really works when it comes to AI.

In this talk, Michal Grela asks Robin Zondag how managing an AI project looks like, what skills should your team have to tackle it and how to align business, IT and data.

Our guest, Craig Kritzinger, talks about the advantages and disadvantages of various engagement and pricing models, and how to fit them into what the customer expects. The episode ends with Craig’s tips for companies that consider moving towards partnering with an IT provider.

Preparing an IT project transition plan is a tough nut to crack. Outlining this process is crucial from the delivery perspective and it has to be done properly, right first time.

In this episode, Michal Grela talks with Karolina Trzcionka and Paweł Pukocz, experienced delivery and project managers on overview, tips and approach to IT project transition.

A lot of software is becoming outdated and heritage systems are posing greater problems for businesses, especially in the finance and insurance sectors. Michał Grela and Jay Antonio discuss the biggest issues associated with old systems and explain why migration to new ones can often cause difficulties.

Running an IT project is never a stress-free activity when done internally, let alone with an external partner. The good team is the key to the success of any IT project. Michał Grela and Essy Dahlin discuss various aspects related to working with IT teams including teamwork, accelerating performance and maximising team output. They exchange experience on various approaches towards team performance used by companies, talk about the role of a team leader, the importance of team happiness, and propose tools that the team could use to help increase productivity.

Technology has a profound impact on our daily lives. Often you can hear voices that it would be beneficial if more women could contribute in this area.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Michał Grela talks with Gemma Rubio Rodrigo, selected 2019 Role Model of Women in Tech. They cover topics such as: what are the reasons of the gender gap, why closing it matters and what are the benefits of having women in your IT project team.

In this episode, our guest, Steve explains what to take care of when kicking off a software project, be it on your own or with an external IT partner.

In this episode, our host talks with Daniel Jaros - an experienced User Experience designer - on what value UX brings to IT projects. Is it a would, a could, a should or a must? How to create a service or a product based on customer experiences, one that end users will love? Listen to the episode to find out!

In this episode, our host and experts discuss two factors from The Standish Group Report that may have a significant effect on the success of a project.

An IT partnership based on trust is something that benefits both sides, but building trust takes time. Based on a case study, Karolina Trzcionka talks with Craig Kritzinger about building a relationship between a client and an IT company where both teams feel like one – with common tasks and objectives.

In this episode, our guest - Essy Dahlin and host - Michał Grela examine the topic of innovation.

Following discussion on questions like: ‘Is innovation only about technology?’ and ‘Should everyone be an innovator?’, they move on to explore where to start when implementing innovation in an organisation and look at approaches to fostering the culture of innovation and creativity.

The episode ends with Essy’s advice for companies that are struggling to implement innovation or are unsure where to begin.

In this episode, our host and guest discuss the aspects to take into consideration when deciding whether to choose a ready, off-the-shelf software product or to invest in building a bespoke solution.

Listen to the last episode of the first series of IT Leadership Insights in which Ross Morrell talks about Future Processing - the company behind this online programme.

Discover what surprised him in our company and whether he would recommend us as a software development partner.

Listen to the episode of IT Leadership Insights in which our expert, Janne Marie Van Vlastuin, explains how governance procedures can prevent IT projects from failing.

Why do UK-based companies outsource their IT? Based on his experience of 40 years in and around IT, our guest, Ross Morrell, shares his thoughts on the most common reasons to outsource software development. Ross categorises them under five useful headings and provides examples for each.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Jarosław Granat speaks to Lauren Tennant about the best practices in managing IT service suppliers.

In this final episode of our miniseries on digital transformation, Janne Marie Van Vlastuin and Jarosław Granat discuss what comes after a digital transformation project is completed.

Our digital transformation project is all done - no project tasks remaining, no more progress meetings to attend, all boxes are ticked. But does it mean the job is done and our organisation is digitally transformed and ready to conquer the world now? Unfortunately not.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Janne Marie explains why it’s not the time to celebrate success yet and what needs to be monitored to ensure the foundations we’ve laid so far don’t crumble.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, our expert, Janne Marie Van Vlastuin reveals some of the ingredients of her formula for success in digital transformation. This is the second of three episodes in our miniseries on digital transformation.

This episode of IT Leadership Insights is the first of three in our miniseries on digital transformation. In this podcast, our expert, Janne Marie Van Vlastuin explains how organisations should prepare for digital transformation.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Jarosław Granat and Ross Morrell talk about costs of software development done in-house and with an outsourcing company.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Michał Grela and Tom Quigley discuss the subject of marketing in the IT outsourcing industry. From this episode you’ll learn some marketing tricks used by some outsourcing companies. You will also find out a few tactics to help you avoid being misled by marketing and ensure you end up with a good quality technology partner.

From this episode, you will learn that the two common types of IT outsourcing - the nearshoring and the offshoring – differ more than you could initially think. You will also find out about which approach could work best for your type of company and learn more about Poland as a software development destination.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Jarosław Granat speaks to Lauren Tennant about the process of selecting an outsourced software development company.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Michał Grela speaks to Jarosław Czaja, the founder of Future Processing, about innovating in the age of IT skills shortage.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Jarosław Granat speaks to Tom Quigley about the latest trends in IT outsourcing. Tom explains how the reasons for IT outsourcing have changed as the sector developed over the years. He also discusses what shapes the IT outsourcing industry in terms of tech and non-tech factors and shares his predictions for the market.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Michał Grela speaks to Lorraine Kritzinger about concerns IT leaders have when selecting a new technology company to partner with.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Michał Grela speaks to Tom Quigley about international associations which can be helpful in accessing European IT talent.
Tom talks about what organisations are available to IT leaders and explains the role these organisations play in connecting buyers with local vendors. Tom provides more detail of how the Global Sourcing Association and the Emerging Europe Alliance can help clients, and shares some success stories of how these organisations facilitated access to local IT market.

In this episode of IT Leadership Insights, Jarosław Granat speaks to Mark Aikman about building long lasting relationships with IT outsourcing vendors. Mark talks about taking a relationship with a technology company towards a partnership and shares his thoughts on innovation, trust, delivery and cost in IT. Finally, Mark shares his top pieces of advice for companies that wish to start nearshoring and want to build true partnerships.