CTO Confessions Brought to you by IT Labs

In this information-obsessed modern world, marketing takes on many forms. And a word that gets banded around a lot (and quite rightly) is brand. For Omobono, the brand isn't just logos and fancy billboards; it's more than that. The CTO from Omobono, Marcus Lambert, joins us to tell us about its importance and how an organization's brand can be enhanced digitally. Key takeaways from the podcast are...

In this podcast, we look at an interesting B2B startup called Fashion Cloud. In particular to its CTO, Florian Klemt. The business idea that was born out of a strategic pivot shows great promise. It's morphing into something bigger and providing more supportive avenues for end clients. Key takeaways from the podcast are: • A human-centric leadership style has a great ROI. One that can't be pinned...

Niches don't get any tighter than this. Our guest Hamed Sadeghian, President and CTO of Nearfield Instruments, shares with us his journey in a super high-tech, high- science market. From his metrology in the oil and gas industry to the measurement of atoms, he now heads an organization that helps chip manufacturers sharpen their cutting edge. Key takeaways from the podcast are: • Sanitizing your v...

In this episode, we talk to a tech leader who initially had very little desire to become a CTO. However, once the journey began, not only was he a success, but he also came to appreciate and love the role. His passion shows and is a great inspiration to try things you think you don't want. Maksym Schipka, the CTO at Vortexa, shares his tech journey and what's worked, and is working for him. Just t...

Security has always been a part of human needs beyond those sitting at the lower echelons of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Through our inventiveness, we create new domains of attack and subsequent security needs. In these modern times, the digital world has many doors and windows, and that's the topic we touch on in this episode. Tom Meehan of CONTROLTEK USA joins us to share his thoughts on this s...

It's great when you meet a leader who takes an elegant approach to making life easier. i.e., using a leadership style to bleed ownership into the organization. One such tech leader achieving this with his personal, well-defined philosophy on work and life is Shane Emmons. As the CTO of TeamSnap, not only does he talk about this philosophy, he has also positioned it out there for all to see on his...

Tech leaders not only lead organizations to create products, but often lead transformations also -- transformation of people, processes, and of course tech. In this podcast, Michele Sollecito shares his thoughts on his role and how he works to make sure projects come in on scope and on time through the wonderful women and men engineers doing the work. Key takeaways from the podcast are: • Why inte...

For all those who have hired a car, do you think it's a smooth process? Could it be easier? Well, our tech leader guest from "hiyacar", Marc Roberts, tells us about how they are smoothing out the wrinkles in this much-needed service. Having been involved in a previous venture that didn't quite make it to success, Marc shares how the market and driver information systems have evolved enough to make...

In this podcast, we talk to Hazel Olivier, the CTO of Nimbla, a company serving medium-sized organizations' financial well-being (through insuring their invoices). Hazel has been instrumental in leading Nimbla's platform's modernization while strengthening its robustness. Thus, allowing Nimbla to offer a much-needed self-service financial lifeline 24/7. In the podcast, we look at how Hazel has bee...

Data, data, data everywhere! Sometimes I wonder if we’re going to drown in it all. Thankfully we have a super expert on the subject to join us to demystify some of the reoccurring topics in this arena. Roy Keyes, a data science and machine learning guru and expert in knowing what people to hire for this elusive new field of computing, tells us all in the time we had for the podcast. We got so carr...

Oded Cohen, Chief Technology Officer at Nativo Inc, joins CTO Confessions to share his tech leadership style within an impressive, cutting-edge marketing company – a company that helps organizations sell high ticket items with looooooooong marketing and sales cycles. Nativo uses big data and agile processes to connect the brands to the desired target audience. Some of the key takeaways from the po...

Here’s your chance to get a small peek under the covers of Google. Paul Lawrence joins us from San Jose, California, to share his story and his work life at this prestigious company. In this podcast episode, Paul share about being selected to join Google, the onboarding process, and then what it’s like to be immersed in the Google culture. Don’t miss this treasure trove of insights from inside one...

A technology leader's needs from a city - How the right cities can drive innovation and growth The environment can make a huge difference on culture. In turn, culture can make a huge difference to an organization's energy around Agility, innovation, creativity, and synergy with other seemingly unrelated industries. So we often talk about the environment and culture on a micro and macro level (team...

Technology leaders sit in an incredibly important organizational seat in this day and age. Their role is to deliver technology and give the business the capability to compete, innovate, and stay relevant. Our guest on this CTO Confessions Podcast speaks to this subject. In particular, leadership plays a huge role in how their people go about their tasks and the incumbent culture their work emerges...

Warby Parker is a big name in the spectacle industry, so it was exciting to have Sung Choi, their Senior Director of engineering, come onto the show and share his wisdom. Sung is a true Agilist and seated in a company that seems to create the perfect environment for the values and principles of Agile to thrive. The key takeaways from the Podcast are: - The power of leading with Integrity - Alignin...

IT Labs takes pride in finding and speaking to CTOs with fascinating tech journeys. Well, here's another interesting one that started in the military and ended up at the helm of an organization's tech function. Charles White, CTO at Foretnix, shares his journey and insights into areas that he is passionate about, from leadership to security and novel architectures. It would be safe to say Charles...

There is much talk about AI and ML (Machine learning). The terms are misused, and the hype around them creates much confusion. So what can they offer in real terms, if anything? Well, Felix Hovsepian joins us on CTO confessions to clear up the subject and explore some interesting use cases. Key takeaways from the Podcast are: - Why ML and AI are not the same things - Examples of AI and ML - Genera...

The Lessons of Amazon: Tech Leadership Tips from an Insider It's always interesting when you meet people that have navigated from one field into another. In this episode, we speak with a scientist that did a spectacular, successful, and exciting jump into the tech world. You may have heard of the company that our guest, David Glick, ended up in; Amazon! David Glick got emersed into the "Amazonian"...

SME tech leader tips, from a successful serial startup CTO - Creating a startup culture in SME organizations for hyper-growth, innovation, and business survival One of the consistent things we see here at IT Labs through our 'Teams as a Service' (TaaS) and Business Agility consulting is companies' need to have a startup mindset. Especially if they are in a phase of innovation to get one step ahead...

Leading technology with a toothbrush - How to create customer-centric innovation and market disruption Tech leaders sit at the heart of an organization. They are the enablers of the businesses in this digital world we live in. Decisions they make, impact the present, and mold the future. In this episode of CTO Confessions, we speak to the tech leader of a very niche business. They have taken the s...

Humanizing AI - The future is not all AI dystopia & terminator (creating technology ethics, transparency, and fairness) You hear a lot about AI. It's a bit of a buzz word, right?! Often misused and misreported. One area that is starting to get a lot of debate space is the ethics around this mystifying and still futuristic technology. It's an important subject that is starting to have an impact on...

A new shiny large-scale simulation tool for the SME toolbox - Democratizing super-computing power that's easy to use, low cost, and on tap Whenever one reflects on huge steps in innovation, we usually see some disruptive democratizing of capabilities. Where the tools of the elite, and those with deep pockets, become available to the masses. Well, that's what this Podcast is about! It's about democ...

Tech-ing up the construction industry - Lessons from a construction industry CTO Do you think the building industry is tech-savvy? It's a good question. To some degree, it's yes and no. Through this Podcast, we shine a light on the current state of affairs. It seems that the industry is on the cusp of a step-change. Its finally making attempts to bring technology and infrastructures that have adva...

Episode 11: CTOs voice from the Banking as a Service Industry With Taylor Lilley CTO's voice from the Banking as a Service Industry - Setting up high performing resilient remote teams and architectures Tech leaders today are multi-faceted. There is the obvious requirement to understand technology, at least from a high level, but also a need to be business-minded and understanding what creates the...

CTO's role in driving revenues for SaaS Companies - In sales, seemingly small things can make a huge difference. Selling is an art, and like any art, we can use techniques to improve or suppress the probability of creating the desired result. In the modern world and COVID19 crisis, interactions in the digital world are becoming the norm rather than the exception. The normalities of face to face me...