Ctrl Alt Lead

a { text-decoration: none; color: #464feb; } tr th, tr td { border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; } tr th { background-color: #f5f5f5; } How did the UK government’s Cloud First strategy become, in practice, Microsoft First? In this episode of Ctrl Alt Lead , Penny Horwood speaks to Bill McCluggage, former Director of IT Strategy and Policy at the Cabinet Office, about the growing concentration of the UK publ...

In this special Inside the News edition of Ctrl Alt Lead, Tom and Penny break down a series of cyber incidents affecting fashion and food retailers, before exploring who is behind the attacks and what they could mean for the West's war footing. We also examine Ukraine's strikes on Russian datacentre infrastructure, the implications of Elon Musk/Donald Trump's latest decision to hobble Starlink, an...

Many organisations have ambitious AI strategies, but far fewer have successfully moved projects into production. In this episode of Ctrl Alt Lead, Penny Horwood speaks to Chris Carreiro, CTO at Park Place Technologies, about the obstacles holding enterprises back and what IT leaders can do about them. Chris explains why data readiness remains the biggest barrier to AI success, how unclear ownershi...

In this special Ctrl Alt Lead episode, Computing Research Director John Leonard explains why AI, despite attracting enormous attention, still represents a relatively small proportion of overall IT spend, while cloud remains the largest and most challenging budget category. The conversation also explores the practical realities behind cloud sovereignty, the difficulties of moving away from incumben...

The datacentre industry has spent decades preparing for equipment failure. But what happens when the greatest risks are completely unpredictable - extreme weather, water shortages, energy constraints and geopolitical instability? In this episode, Arup's David Davies argues that resilience must be redefined for a more uncertain future. David discusses the growing impact of climate change on datacen...

AI's pricing model has changed, and many IT leaders - and business executives - have been caught flatfooted. In this episode Greg Holmes, field CTO at Apptio, an IBM company, discusses the changing economics of enterprise technology. From AI spending and consumption-based pricing to FinOps and value measurement, he explains why CIOs can no longer treat ROI as a one-time exercise. Instead, they nee...

Generative AI is transforming research, but its use in academia raises very different questions from mainstream business applications. In this episode, Elsevier CTO Jill Luber discusses the opportunities AI creates for literature discovery and analysis, as well as the risks of hallucinations, bias and a lack of source transparency. We explore Elsevier’s research-focused LeapSpace AI platform and c...

This week we - along with the US and UK governments, as well as OpenAI itself - are tackling the controversial topic of AI kill switches. Tom and Penny discuss the proposals on the table, as well as the practical challenges of defining what a kill switch actually is, who would control it and what circumstances would justify its use. We also examines the wider implications of AI's transition from s...

The RSPCA may be 200 years old, but a sophisticated digital operation sits behind its animal welfare mission, serving millions of users every year. In this episode, RSPCA COO Emily Tierney and Head of DX Jake Brown discuss the organisation's tech strategy, including platform consolidation, API-first architecture, user-centred digital services and the challenge of delivering transformation under th...

Stack Overflow quickly realised generative AI represented more than a new technology trend. In this episode of Ctrl Alt Lead, CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar reflects on how generative AI disrupted the developer ecosystem, forced Stack Overflow to reinvent itself, and changed the way organisations create, share and consume knowledge. We explore the trust gap holding back enterprise AI, which Prashanth...

Is AI becoming a race that nobody can afford to lose – and if so, what does that mean for the leaders tasked with making responsible decisions about its adoption? In this episode of Ctrl Alt Lead, Penny Horwood speaks with globally recognised author, speaker and strategist Kate O'Neill , also known as The Tech Humanist . Together they explore the widening gap between AI innovation and AI governanc...

Tom and Penny break down the latest developments shaping the technology landscape, starting with a sharp global tech stock sell-off forcing organisations to rethink how they measure value from AI. We also explore the realities of AI use at scale, from token pricing to emerging challenges like model ‘looping’; how extreme heat, public discontent and increasing scrutiny of water usage are putting da...

This special news-focused episode focuses on three major stories from the last week. First is the UK government’s proposed social media ban for under-16s, and the wider regulatory shift it represents. Rather than targeting content or companies, the government has opted to place the onus on young people. While enforcement remains uncertain, we're seeing a more interventionist approach to technology...

The World Cup brings more than global attention; it also drives a sharp rise in cyber threat activity. Darren Anstee, CTO for security at NetScout, sets out how DDoS attacks increase around major sporting events, often starting months before kick-off and peaking during live matches. Attackers test defences early then target critical services once the tournament is underway. Darren also highlights...

AI coding tools aren't just about writing code faster. In this episode, OpenAI's Head of Developer Experience Romain Huet explains why tools like Codex are becoming general‑purpose work agents that can handle documentation, reviews, backlog reduction and even operational tasks — and the effect this dramatically compressed time from idea to production will have on the developer ecosystem. We also t...

Mobile scams are no longer isolated or opportunistic. Drawing on global research and collaboration across the mobile industry, the GSMA's Head of industry Security Samantha Kight explains how scams have overtaken traditional crime in profitability, with social engineering now more effective than technical exploits. As generative AI lowers the barrier to entry for this attack path, legacy networks...

Speed is one of AI’s easiest wins and one of its biggest traps. In this episode Bastien Parizot of Reckitt explains why faster execution alone is not a business case for AI adoption. At Reckitt, AI initiatives live or die by a simple test: can they deliver higher‑quality outcomes? “If it’s faster but not better,” Parizot says, “it’s a lot of investment for not really making our business better.” P...

In this episode of Ctrl Alt Lead , Penny Horwood is joined by Ajay Pancholi, IT Infrastructure Lead at Carlsberg Britvic and founder of the AI Security, Ethics and Governance UK community, to explore why organisations need to rethink how they approach AI. Pancholi argues that AI should be treated as critical infrastructure , not “innovation theatre”, warning that most enterprise risk sits outside...

In this episode, Penny Horwood hears from Fabrizio Pilotti, CIO of Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, about how cutting-edge technology is transforming modern Formula One.  Fabrizio sets out some of the ways that vast data volumes, AI, and machine learning are reshaping race strategy, engineering, and operations, whilst also providing an opportunity to enhance fan engagement through increased d...

Recorded at Oracle’s AI World Tour in London, UK country leader Siobhan Wilson tells us what AI actually means for IT leaders right now. She unpacks Oracle’s push to embed agentic AI across infrastructure, data platforms and applications, arguing that the real shift is from chasing AI hype to delivering measurable outcomes at speed. We also covers major UK‑specific investments, including sovereign...

Lloyds Banking Group is one of the UK's biggest financial services companies, with an estimated one in two British citizens acting as customers. In this episode Tom speaks to Peter Brown, engineering lead at Lloyds, about how the bank has applied AI at massive scale across retail banking, complaints and internal operations. Peter explains how AI tools support colleagues and how they were built wit...

Demands on technology professionals are changing constantly, but hiring hasn't kept up: people still look for coding ninjas rather than recruiting the skills that will really make a difference in the AI age, says E.ON's emerging technology lead Kara Flook. In this episode, Tom and Kara discuss her journey from a dance background to a career in technology, as well as the growing importance of soft...

In this episode of Ctrl Alt Lead, host Penny Horwood is joined by Debbie Janeczek, Global CISO at ING, to explore what cyber resilience really means for a global financial institution operating in an increasingly volatile threat landscape. Drawing on her background in military intelligence and financial services, Debbie discusses how ING is moving beyond compliance to embed resilience into the way...

Penny Horwood is joined by Kiran Mahil, CIO of Retail Products at Nationwide Building Society, to explore how digitisation and automation are reshaping retail banking while preserving trust, fairness and accessibility. Kiran explains her role overseeing Nationwide’s core banking platforms, retail products and technology strategy, and outlines how the mutual’s values influence its approach to digit...

Access Group runs a vast, acquisition-led IT estate while supporting mission-critical services such as NHS payroll. Tom speaks with regional technology director Rolf Krolke about how the organisation designed a scalable reference architecture that delivers resilience, flexibility and near-zero downtime across private and public cloud environments. Rolf unpacks the practical realities of active-act...