Peggy Smedley Show

Peggy Smedley and Rich Humphrey, vice president of construction product management, Bentley Systems, and Andy Kaiyala, vice president of construction technology and controls, WSB, talk about how construction leaders can expand their adoption of 3D or 4D digital twins. Humphrey says they need to understand their state of how they are leveraging technology today and what the value of moving to digit...

Peggy talks all about Earth Day. She says everyone has a role to play in making our world more sustainable: manufacturers need to move to a more circular business model, businesses need more sustainable business practices, government needs to provide the right support and policies, and individuals need to take action in their own homes and in their own communities. She also discusses: The birth of...

Peggy and Chris Irwin, program manager for transactive energy, communications, and interoperability in smart grid, U.S. Dept. of Energy, talks about his work on the smart grid. He says he was in the utility industry on the vendor side and then joined the U.S. Dept. of Energy just at the dawn of the recovery act, which is when the U.S. Dept. of Energy was able to invest about $8 billion in grid mod...

Peggy Smedley and Sheeva Sairafi, cofounder & president, Hold-On, talk about the nuts and bolts of a new, sustainable product. She says the company created it because it saw a need in the trash bag and the ziplock bag space of innovation and a more sustainable alternative. They also discuss: The process of producing the products. The importance of a local supply chain. The goal of making sustainab...

At least eight people a day are killed in distracted driving crashes. Peggy Smedley discusses a summary of the last decade of distracted driving—and looks at where we have been and where we are headed. She says distracted driving is a topic very near and dear to her heart—and suggests what needs to happen next. She also discusses: The history of Distracted Driving Awareness Month. How many people...

Pam O'Donnell, founder, Catch You Later Foundation, tells Peggy Smedley the story of the loss of family members in a crash—and how she wants to make it better for her daughter when she grows up with a foundation. She says, sadly, about 40,000 people die every year on United States roadways.  They also discuss: The cognitive state of drivers and why drivers need to be aware while driving. What happ...

Peggy Smedley and Paul Ripley, CEO, Driver Safety DNA, talk about how distracted driving is a global issue. He shares what can be done to put down cellphone use and improve or reduce driver distraction to be safer on the road. He says driver distraction is a global issue that is growing by the day. They also discuss: How the phone is the controller rather than the person using the phone being the...

Are we passing down skills to the trades? Are we teaching what we learned? Are we really putting out the best trades with the best skills? Peggy addresses some very tough questions, as it relates to the labor shortage, and gives her thoughts on what needs to happen next. She also discusses: How many jobs are unfilled in construction as of January 2023. A program from the government that looks to e...

Peggy Smedley and Whitney Jones, director, Submarine Industrial Base Program, talk about how to improve manufacturing—and how to do it with the Navy Submarine Building Enterprise. She says her organization is a year and a half old, and it has seen rapid growth. They also discuss: Machine shops are folding, and how it is impacting the Navy Submarine Building Enterprise. The relationship between the...

Peggy Smedley and Jeff Reich, executive director, Identity Defined Security Alliance, talk about why identity security is emerging as a top priority for everyone these days. He says it is an overnight priority that has been in the making for about the last 50 years—and he is glad we are where we are because it has heightened awareness. They also discuss: How many data breaches involved disclosing...

Peggy Smedley talks all about construction—and three big takeaways from an event she attended earlier this month. She says these trends are prevalent today in the construction industry, although they do also apply to many industries such as manufacturing, energy, and so much more. She also discusses: Three big trends to watch. How much has changed in the past several years. How we can best prepare...

Peggy Smedley and Henry Bzeih, global industry lead for automotive, mobility, and transportation, Microsoft, and Kaivan Karimi, global partner strategy leader, automotive, mobility, and transportation, Microsoft, talk about security—and what is top of mind for mobility and manufacturing industries when it comes to security. Bzeih says we see security as the foundational elements or anchors for our...

Peggy Smedley talks all about manufacturing and bringing jobs back to the states—and shares a big announcement out of her hometown. She also talks about how it is going to have a big impact on American manufacturing in the years ahead—and how we need to get the next generation as excited about this announcement as she is. She also discusses: The history behind the industry's outsourcing of jobs an...

Peggy Smedley and Walt Szablowski, founder & executive chairman, Eracent, dig into the topic of cybersecurity, discussing the impact of all these breaches on businesses and their customers. He says the key here is these hackers are taking over your life and taking over a business—everything you do is monitored and controlled by hackers.  They also discuss: Examples of companies that have been hack...

Peggy Smedley and Gerald Kasulis, vice president of business operations, NordPass, talk about the challenges SMBs (small-sized and medium-sized businesses) are struggling with when it comes to cyber criminals today. He says when it comes to data breaches and hacks historically, we are used to seeing large organizations get breached—but recently we have seen a huge increase in SMBs getting breached...

Peggy Smedley talks all about cybersecurity, narrowing in on how the U.S. government is taking action with its National Cybersecurity Strategy. She outlines the details of the strategy and gives her thoughts about what needs to happen next in businesses. She also discusses: A historical look at what this administration has already done with security. The complex threat environment we currently fac...

Peggy Smedley and Mike Rogers, former congressman and chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, talk about if education is still a key component to security. He says education is constant because it is easy to get into a pattern where you think you are okay, and then get complacent. They also discuss: The purpose of defining a nation state. Examples such as a case a few years ago where Ru...

Peggy and Ryan Throop, executive consultant - Americas Lead SAP Security Services, IBM Consulting, and Nathan Weaver, senior director, SAP Business Unit, Microsoft, talk about SAP security. Throop says SAP is a large software company and provides solutions that literally cover all aspects of a business—and there are so many security concepts that need to be covered. Weaver adds when we think about...

Peggy Smedley talks all about the climate, sharing details from a new report. She says industries like manufacturing, construction, and more continue to find innovative ways to leverage technologies to improve efficiency of operations—which ultimately helps the climate. She also discusses: A historical perspective on climate change—and a warning that was heeded. Results from a consumer survey that...

Peggy Smedley and Daniel Dobrygowski, head of governance and trust, World Economic Forum, talk about how the character of cyber threats has changed. He says the Forum looks at cyber risk over time and how perceptions of cyber risk are changing and what their expectations are—and it is expecting an increase in both impact and severity to businesses. They also discuss: What a catastrophic cyber even...

Peggy Smedley and Ron Yearwood, senior managing director, J.S. Held, and Stefano Tsorotiotis, cybersecurity industry analyst, Ocean Tomo, talk about a cybersecurity report. Tsorotiotis says it dives into a variety of different facets, including intellectual property. Yearwood says the cyber trends are continuously changing. They also discuss: The key takeaway from the report. The threats that curr...

Peggy talks all about customer service, citing a new report that digs into customer care among some of the leading U.S. wireless companies. She says the big takeaway from the report is that the carriers are doing something that can actually be applied to nearly every vertical market. She also discusses: The importance of going back to the basics and treating others like we would like to be treated...

Peggy and Melissa Durbin, sales director, digital and application innovation, Microsoft, talk about digital platforms for manufacturers. She says it is a great time to be at Microsoft and it is an even better time to be in manufacturing.  They also discuss: How to turn connected products into services. Which areas of manufacturing are ripe for innovation. Growth opportunities and turning to new bu...

Frederic Desbiens, program manager for IoT and edge computing, Eclipse Foundation, returns to the show to talk with Peggy about a new survey focusing on IoT adoption and edge computing. He says there was an acceleration of IoT adoption in 2022, citing specific statistics. They also discuss: If at some point there won't be an IoT deployment without edge computing. The role of open-source technologi...

Peggy Smedley talks about what needs to happen to mitigate cyber risk. She says going forward we will need to increase our ability to detect things and we will need a plan for what we are going to do when a threat happens—because it isn't a matter of if, it is a matter of when. With threats happening with increasing speed, we need to know the risks that exist out there and we need to be prepared....