Venturi's Voice: Technology | Leadership | Staffing | Career | Innovation

David has just left Purple Bricks, after over 6 years, and is starting building something secret and awesome for 2019! David is a senior hybrid IT professional with over 20 years’ experience of development technologies. He enjoys looking at and implementing IT strategies and architectures and has worked with small and medium-sized businesses, government departments, the EU and multinational corporations such as IBM, Tesco, BT, and AMEX.

Richard is CTO at MatsSoft Throughout his career Richard has focused on web development and has over 16 years experience in this speciality. He thrives on working with new technologies, many self-taught, and has a proven ability to define strategy, manage significant programmes and lead teams. He currently heads up the development organisation for MATS where he is responsible for ensuring the solution maintains its recognised position as an industry-leading Low-code development platform.

Josh Cole is CEO & Founder of Voxis Engineering and Recombix. With not one but two tech startups under his belt, it is safe to say that Josh epitomises the entrepreneurial spirit. His main driver in business is to build automated DevOps platforms that reduce development and staffing costs for companies by freeing developers from non-creative tasks.

Piers is CTO at MoneySuperMarket.com What does the acronym CDO mean? Whilst we now know it to stands for ‘Chief Data Officer’ that wasn’t always the case. Piers and Andy latch on to this change and use it as a springboard to talk about the creation of the CDO’s role in the C-suite. Piers also tells Andy about his strategies for convincing board members of the power and usefulness of data. They also discuss how a CDO can transform a business into a data-driven organisation. MoneySuperMarket.com MoneySuperMarket is an established member of the FTSE 250 index. Through our three leading and trusted brands, MoneySuperMarket, MoneySavingExpert, and TravelSupermarket, they are committed to providing customers with the services, tools and products they need to grow their money.

Paul is the CTO at Sopra Steria. We’re all so busy nowadays that it can be really difficult to think about your job creatively and innovate new solutions for your business. No matter how many ‘creative sessions’ you book in with your team sometimes the best way to get into a creative mindset is in your own time. Finding time for strategic, creative thinking is a key focus of this podcast. Paul and Andy talk about how automation could hold the key to relieving us from monotonous tasks. They also discuss the skills gap between ‘early career’ workers who are target driven and reactive and ‘mid-late career’ employees and how they need to be more thoughtful and proactive to move a business forward.

William is Head of Future Technology at Bank of England William is responsible for looking at how new technologies are influencing the financial system and how they can be exploited to meet the Bank of England’s mission. This involves work on distributed ledger, artificial intelligence as well as conventional technologies with a particular focus on payment and settlement platforms. The Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom. Sometimes known as the “Old Lady” of Threadneedle Street, the Bank was founded in 1694 with a founding charter that stated its purpose was to “promote the public good and benefit of our people”. Podcast In this episode, William talks to Andy about the positive effects Artificial Intelligence is having on the banking sector. Working with Fintech’s is another area of discussion on the show. William lays out how legacy banks are working with fintechs for the good of the public.

Nada is Information Security Manager at Six Degrees Group. Nada is a highly organised Information Security Manager with over 10 years experience in the IT and telecommunications industry, delivering modern, cost-efficient customer focused processes whilst maintaining key stakeholder and customer requirements.

Tina is platform lead at AND Digital. In this episode, Tina and Andy talk everything diversity. Tina relays her experiences of being the pseudo-woman in her company and they discuss whether ‘diversity’ is going a bit OTT. Tina also talks about the perils of dating farmers and chats about her excitement when looking at quantum computing. AND Digital AND Digital accelerates the development of world-class digital capabilities, and we power the product development of ambitious companies - from British Airways and Conde Nast, to The Telegraph, Gousto and more.

Jason is Co-Founder & CEO at Cynozure Jason has spent the last 15 years defining, shaping and executing strategy for information management, BI, enterprise performance management, big data and analytics solutions to support organisational transformation. Jason also runs his own data podcast Hub & Spoken: https://cynozure.co.uk/hub-and-spoken-podcast/ Cynozure Cynozure’s mission is to help individuals and their organisations access, understand and leverage data by finding those nuggets of data that can truly improve your business in a way not previously possible. Podcast On the show Andy asks Jason about his route into a career in data and they continue to talk about the breadth of disciplines within the data sector. They also discuss the importance of having a CDO in the C-suite and when and how you should hire a data professional (if you even need one).

Jillienne is VP of talent at PrecisionLender. Jill is a talent leader and certified coach with over 10 years of progressive experience across diverse industries. She is known for her solution-focused orientation and passion for cultivating strong organizational cultures built on coaching, feedback, accountability and encouraging others to leverage their natural strengths. Her background consists of establishing overarching talent strategies, driving positive employee experience and developing effective leaders and teams. PrecisionLender PrecisionLender is modernizing commercial banking. Their sales and negotiation solutions empower bankers with actionable, in-the-moment insights and coaching, so they win better deals and build strong, more profitable relationships. Podcast On this podcast Jillienne talks Andy through her role as the VP of talent at PrecisionLender. She also discusses adapting your culture and core values when scaling a company or making business decisions.

Craig is the Head of Engineering, for the Atlantic Region, at GFT Group. Automation, artificial intelligence & machine learning are all set to revolutionise the world. Whilst it’s easy to worry what effect this could have on society, Craig uses the podcast to highlight the massive amount of good AI does for humanity on a daily basis and how it will continue to revolutionise and enrich our lives. Craig is responsible for the engineering capability of 230 people in the Atlantic region and more than 400 people globally. He manages individuals with advanced skills in automation and intelligence. He also develops products and solutions that are underpinned by big data and cloud development. GFT Group GFT Group advises the world’s leading financial institutions and develops bespoke IT solutions. From banking applications and trading systems to the implementation and support of complete platforms, and the modernisation of core banking systems.

Torq is Director of Engineering at Hotels.com Torq is an experienced technology professional with a passion for data and new technologies. He particularly enjoys people management and inspiring others to achieve their goals. Podcast On the show Torq tells Andy how a data team can convey its value to the C-Suite. They continue this discussion point and talks about how a business can determine the ROI from its data team. Torq also describes how he integrates data into a business and explains why it is important that business leaders and data leaders communicate regularly.

Rebecca is Co-Founder & CEO at VenueScanner.com. VenueScanner has grown rapidly in the past two years recently exceeding 19000 registered venues on the app. This journey hasn’t been easy and Rebecca came on the podcast to discuss bootstrapping this startup. Andy asks why Rebecca wanted to leave the security of a well-paid job to go it alone starting a business and how does she attract the best tech talent to her business. VenueScanner.com VenueScanner.com is the UK's #1 venue discovery & booking platform, now live in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol. Their mission is to help you discover venues that you never knew existed - creative spaces, hidden restaurant and pub function rooms, iconic school halls, curated public gardens, historical museum spaces and more.

Tom is CEO at Cazana The motor industry needs independant, transparent data, that’s the opinion of Tom Wood. His company Cazana is providing that data to 3 million customers a month. Backed by VC money Cazana is now in a rapid growth phase. Company growth, creating culture and data in the automobile sector are discussed on this podcast. Andy asks Tom about his ‘one day working interview’ hiring process and how strategic hiring, based around culture, can reduce churn. Tom also detail the role Cazana is playing in the car market and what it is doing to shake up an archaic sector. Cazana Cazana provides vehicle data, valuations and audience for the future of mobility. Using big data and predictive analytics, Cazana analyses millions of automotive transactions daily to assess the value and risk associated with every vehicle on the road. Cazana's systems are used by manufacturers, finance companies, dealerships and insurers globally.Companies use Cazana's data to provide vehicles to the modern automotive c

Matt is Customer Engineering Director, Google Cloud UK&IE. Throughout a varied career, Matt has had the privilege of working alongside some great innovators and inspiring leaders at major companies, such as Google, NHS, EADS, and the European Space Agency, through roles in the UK, Europe and the US. Google Google’s mission is to organize the world‘s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Since its foundation in 1998, Google has grown by leaps and bounds. From offering search in a single language they now offer dozens of products and services—including various forms of advertising and web applications for all kinds of tasks—in scores of languages. Podcast In this episode, Matt tells Andy about the culture at Google and dispels some of the myths around what makes a ‘good’ company culture. They also discuss finding talent and moving to a leadership role.

Klaas is CTO at Azoomee Klaas has years experience in delivering bespoke software projects for firms in various industries. During this time he has built up significant experience in coaching and supporting Agile development teams and building lean organisations across the globe. Klaas puts emphasis on open communication and building the right value at the right time. His main goal is to deliver value in a fact based, predictable approach. Azoomee Azoomee is a fun learning platform for kids aged 5+. Available on any mobile device, a subscription to the award-winning Azoomee app gives families unlimited access to premium games, videos, and activities in one place. Their mission is to make screen time meaningful for every child in the world. Azoomee is building the world's largest library of games, videos and educational activities based on 21st Century skills like online safety, the world around us, problem-solving, technology and creativity. Podcast Security and GDPR take center stage in this podcast. Andy

Jess is Head of User Experience at Code Computerlove Jess is a User Experience Consultant; with over three years' experience working in user experience. During this time, she has worked with a range of high profile clients such as Asda, Swinton Insurance and AstraZeneca. Code Computerlove Code Computerlove is a digital product agency. They create world-class experiences to help their clients stay ahead. They know that perfect isn’t an end point. It’s a moment in time – then it’s gone. That’s why they never stop looking for ways to make the brilliant things we create even better. Podcast In this podcast Jess tackles the misconceptions that surround UX. She also explains UX’s role in a digital agency and explains why UX happens both online and offline. Andy also asks her about the tech scene in Manchester.

Alan is an Executive Partner and Service Line Leader for Advanced Analytics, Cognitive Solutions, Data Platforms, Internet of Things and Watson Healthcare, at IBM Global Business Services, UK & Ireland. Alan spends his time helping clients and colleagues embed Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and IoT into business decisions and processes in order to unlock the potential to combine all data – internal, external, structured, unstructured, voice and visual. In doing so, the service line he leads delivers insights and solutions that transform how IBM's clients make decisions, re-engineer/automate business processes, and contemplate new revenue and business models. IBM IBM is a leading cloud platform and cognitive solutions company. Restlessly reinventing since 1911, they are the largest technology and consulting employer in the world, with more than 380,000 employees serving clients in 170 countries. Podcast Coaching, mentoring and sponsorships. What’s the difference? Alan and Andy pick apart thes

Aaron is CTO at Songkick This episode focuses on career progression and creating a clear career structure for members of your company. Aaron has built and published a ‘growth framework’ for the staff at Songkick and he has shared it in a blog post so anyone serious about staff development can incorporate it into their business. Aaron chats about this on the show and Andy also ties this in with the sharing economy that has been adopted by many tech professionals. Songkick Songkick is a live music startup. Since 2007, we’ve set about making it as easy, fun and fair as possible for you to see your favorite artists live. Right now, more than 15 million music fans across the globe use Songkick to track their favorite artists, discover awesome concerts and never ever miss out.

Steve is the CEO & Co-Founder at WIREWAX WIREWAX is the world's leading interactive video technology company. WIREWAX first developed it's award-winning interactive technology during the early days of YouTube and has grown exponentially since then. This growth is the focus of the show and Steve takes Andy through the product development of Wirewax, detailing its founding and where it is today. They also discuss the pros and cons of working for large corporates vs startups and how millennials view their career trajectories. ABOUT WIREWAX WIREWAX is the multi-award-winning technology powering the world’s interactive video. They’re driven by the fundamental belief that video should be as connected and accessible as the rest of the information on the internet. Utilizing a powerful combination of computer vision and artificial intelligence, we help brands, creative agencies and broadcasters create highly engaging video experiences.