XTech

“LLMs are already shortlisting industrial vendors before sales are contacted. The next development will be AI agents doing the evaluation, the comparative piece and even the recommending.” For Karen Guyer, Lead Consultant of Industry and Connectivity here at Fox Agency, the future promises huge and exciting changes to B2B marketing, as AI brings its considerable weight to bear on the client journe...

"You need to have faith. Demonstrating what comms does as a commercial exercise is beyond incredibly difficult." Comms is changing fast - but the real challenge isn’t new channels or trends. It’s knowing what’s actually worth saying. In this episode, Alex Hammond, Head of Communications at Nuvei, joins Debbie Forster MBE to unpack the shifting role of communications in a world moving beyond SEO. F...

"A lot of what marketing and communications involves is building trust across the board, internally with customers, and then not violating that trust." For Sean Ferguson, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Securonix, credibility is the most valuable currency in cybersecurity marketing. In an industry dominated by large vendors and an ongoing game of buzzword bingo, Sean explains...

"The hardest part isn't creating content, it's clarity." For Marcos Colón, Director of Content and Brand at Immuta, storytelling still starts with listening. His background in journalism shapes how he approaches communications today, focusing less on output and more on understanding what matters to the people at the forefront of the B2B tech industry. In this episode of the XTech podcast, Marcos j...

"When you're trying to communicate something like safety or performance, it's very tricky... it holds invisible value." Jessica Lambert, Lead Consultant in Automotive at Fox Agency, has worked across Hyundai, Ford and Jaguar Land Rover. Now working with leading B2B auto brands, she knows what it takes to navigate the complexity of automotive technology, and how easy it is for that value to get los...

"Every crisis is an opportunity." Gaurav Kapoor, Vice Chairman, Co-Founder and Board Member at MetricStream, has seen it play out again and again. Cyberattacks are outpacing old systems. Major disruptions expose weaknesses. Supply chain shocks reveal hidden dependencies. And data trapped in silos slows critical decision-making. This episode of the XTech podcast sees Gaurav join Debbie Forster MBE...

"You don't build trust overnight. Any good communication needs to do three things: help people understand, help them believe, and make them act." Abs Hassanali, Global Head of PR and Communications at Basware, has seen how tech often struggles to tell stories that truly resonate. With AI changing the scale and pace of content, generic announcements no longer cut through - audiences want to connect...

"The core capabilities of AI fit squarely within the wheelhouse of marketing." AI is redefining what modern marketers can do. It's not just transforming how content is produced, it's challenging entire workflows, strategies and skill sets. Mark Stiltner, Senior Director of Content and Web Marketing at Rapyd, believes the future belongs to the teams willing to rebuild around it. In this episode of...

"The speed of how software has been developed, systems, lead times have been reduced and just the evolution of the vehicle, it's just amazing." Automotive is evolving at phenomenal speed. Keeping pace with it is no easy task. In the latest episode of the XTech podcast, Robert Brown, Global Head of Automotive at The BSI Group, joins Debbie Forster MBE to explore the road ahead, and how we can keep...

"Accessibility is both proactive and defensive. It's how you know you're looking after your audience" Accessibility is moving fast - new laws, new standards, new technologies. But John Abbott warns that chasing compliance scores or relying on automation alone is a dangerous trap. True progress comes from culture: building digital products that remove barriers and empower people. John joins Debbie...

"AI - it's not just the buzzword of the year. It's changing us as a society in how we work - and how the world works." AI isn't magic, but a tool we control. How we choose to use it makes all the difference. Sylvia joins Debbie Forster MBE in this episode of the XTech podcast to discuss how AI can solve real marketing challenges, from breaking down language barriers to delivering personalised expe...

"People are trying to hold back the wave. The only thing you can really do is learn to ride it" With every new hype cycle, the noise gets louder. But Adam Harding believes the best teams don't chase trends - they build filters. In this episode of the XTech podcast, Adam joins Debbie Forster MBE to explore how Softcat is helping clients move from AI curiosity to AI clarity. From cultural alignment...

"Imagine the worst headline you could read about your product - then build so it never happens." As AI and automation reshape how we build software, security can longer be an afterthought. It's a way of thinking that needs to be embedded across teams, culture, and code. James Hall believes resilient systems start with clear thinking, structured discovery, and engineering habits that stick. In this...

"Agentic AI is the biggest thing since the mobile phone." Enterprises are reimagining IT through the lens of agentic AI, elevating it from a back-office utility to a strategic enabler of productivity, experience and innovation. Dennis Perpetua explains how the true power of AI lies, not in flashy tools, but in creating connected, intuitive digital environments that empower employees and eliminate...

"Experience needs to be orchestrated for humans in the loop." AI is shaking up traditional service models and pushing businesses to take a more holistic, value-driven approach. Kalyan Kumar encourages enterprises to focus on orchestrating experiences, unlocking data value, and streamlining processes - rather than chasing every 'shiny new toy' in tech. This approach is key to HCLSoftware's partners...

"We detect less than 1% of dirty money. That's a crazy statistic, isn't it?" Dirty money is everywhere. Banks are in a race against time to find it, battling out-of-date systems and bureaucracy. Eddie Vaughan, Vice President of Banking and Financial Services at Chorus Intelligence, is on a mission to fix that, with decades of experience in UK law enforcement and government. He joins Debbie Forster...

"You have to make sure you don't break the things that are actually driving value." Scott Harkey has witnessed the acquisition process from both sides, and knows better than most how to make it work. He joins Debbie Forster MBE to share critical lessons on the topic for both start-ups and enterprises, from the importance of recognising a winning formula to the enduring value of human connection.

"The customer isn't always right, but the customer gets to choose where they spend their money." Transformation is an often used term these days in tech, but for Dave Hodsdon of Liberty Blume, it's his world. He joins Debbie Forster MBE for a deep dive into the business of tech change. He explains why even disruption needs to be carefully planned and customer-centric, and gives us a helicopter vie...

"We're fooling ourselves if we think we know the future. We don't." In 25 years with Data Art, Alexei Miller has learnt a thing or two about leadership - particularly in a tech arena where change is the only constant. He joins Debbie Forster MBE for an enthralling conversation about modern leadership and its challenges. He explains the three very different stages of development for a software busi...

"It becomes really interesting to reassess how risk works and what the potential upsides and downsides are." The growth curve for tech companies is fraught with risk. Knowing when to gamble - and not be bound by conventional thinking - can make all the difference. Sanjay Lobo MBE joins Debbie Forster MBE for a fascinating conversation around risk-taking, doing good in business, and much more. From...

"Don't be frightened to understand what the life of a creative marketer is, because that will help you be a better technology advisor." How do we get different business tribes like tech and creative to learn more from each other? Sarah Thomas, Group CMO of Capgemini, makes it her mission to do just that. In this episode of the XTech podcast she talks with Debbie Forster MBE about why bringing the...

"In any circle when somebody doesn't look like you, it's harder to relate to them. You make presumptions, I do it, we all do it." Inclusion - and its opposite - takes many forms. In the tech sector, it can be gender, background, ethnicity, and even where you base your company. Sarah Tulip of Conquer Technology joins Debbie Forster MBE to highlight some of the many things the tech sector needs to i...

"Companies should automate where they can and use people where they should." Intelligent automation offers extraordinary potential for your business - but many are still unsure how to use it. Paul Taylor of SS&C Blue Prism joins Debbie Forster MBE to bring clarity to one of the hottest topics of our age. He explains why there is much work that should always be left to us humans, but some that...

"I really think we have reached a defining moment with AI that is fundamentally going to change everything." When you're scaling up your sales approach, there's a risk of making the message too broad and impersonal. But our latest XTech podcast guest knows how to stay laser-focused, with confidence in the supporting tech - and the professionals involved. Winnie Palmer of Seismic joins Debbie Forst...

"We can shape how you want sound to exist in a space... It's really a case of having to unlearn what you thought you knew." Reinventing the loudspeaker is one thing. Testing it out at a U2 gig in The Sphere in Vegas is another. Natalia Szczepanczyk of Holoplot talks with Debbie Forster MBE about how their groundbreaking firm managed to change how we think about sound in large spaces, and what othe...