Podcast
The ITPro Podcast
Hosted by ITPro · EN
The ITPro Podcast is a weekly show for technology professionals and business leaders. Each week hosts Rory Bathgate and Jane McCallion are joined by an expert guest to take a deep dive into the most important issues for the IT community. New episodes premiere every Friday. Visit itpro.com/uk/the-it-pro-podcast for more information, or follow ITPro on LinkedIn for regular updates.
24episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Can responsible AI beat hallucinations?
1w ago00:23:31Tap to summarizeHallucinations are an eternal problem in generative AI in particular, and while it’s true that large language models (LLMs) require vast amounts of data, the quality of that information will affect the quality of the output.What can businesses do to ensure they’re using AI both effectively and responsibly?In this episode of the ITPro Podcast, Jane and Ross are joined by Amanda Stent, head of AI strategy and research in the office of the CTO at Bloomberg, to examine what responsible AI is, how organizations can use it, and what has been achieved at Bloomberg.Highlights"The (Bloomberg) terminal gives users access to more than 17,000 news providers, not just Bloomberg News, more than 1000 research brokers, more than 400 million documents from companies themselves, and billions and billions and billions of ticks – that's prices – every day for equities, bonds, commodities, derivatives, any kind of financial instrument you can think of. So, in that context, accuracy is paramount. If we hallucinate or do something that's otherwise incorrect, markets may move, and that might be bad.""We have guardrails that we run on every input to and output from a Gen AI system ... (which) are specific to financial services. For example, we don't want users to be injecting code into our systems. That's a generic guardrail, and we also are in the business of offering financial information, but not financial advice. So if you say. What's a buy case for IBM? We should give it to you. If you say, 'Should I buy IBM?' we should say, 'Nope, I can't answer that question because that's not something we're in the business of doing', and that's a finance-specific guardrail.""We have analysts using our AI systems to ... help them write their research reports more quickly, more easily to cover more companies, to understand the context of a company with its sector and its industry, to write on-demand reports for clients instead of a monthly or a quarterly report. We have portfolio managers doing the same thing, writing on-demand reports for clients using AI instead of quarterly reports. So these are some of the new ways in which people are using AI. But to me, traditionally it was about efficiency and signal generation. And today I think it's about effectiveness. So it's helping people become more effective in how they use AI."LinksAI hallucinations, accuracy still top concerns for UK tech leaders as adoption continuesThis new technique could improve AI output accuracy by 80% – and tackle hallucinations once and for allThe ITPro Podcast: Why doesn't more data produce better results?Bloomberg’s Responsible AI Research: Mitigating Risky RAGs & GenAI in FinanceBloomberg Survey: How London’s finance workforce is embracing AI on its own terms
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SPECIAL EDITION: Shifting from traditional MDR to an AI-powered agentic SOC
1w ago00:39:40Tap to summarizeIn this episode, brought to you in association with Arctic Wolf, Jane speaks with Nick Dyer and Carl Adasa about moving from traditional MDR to an agentic SOC.
Transcribe →What the OpenAI rogue bot story really says about the state of AI security
2w ago00:26:36Tap to summarizeOpenAI and Anthropic both revealed this month that their "highly advanced" agents broke free of containment during a cybersecurity training exercise. Both businesses said this shows how advanced their AI agents are but is that the whole story?This week, Jane and Scott are joined by news editor Ross Kelly to discuss the biggest story of July, plus Jane's takeaways from AMD Advancing AI.
Transcribe →Non-episode announcement
2w ago00:00:15Tap to summarizeThere's no ITPro podcast episode today, instead we will be putting out the episode you'd normally have in your feed today on Monday. Then we'll be back to our normal Friday routine.Thanks for listening!
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SPECIAL EDITION: The cloud hangover – why UK IT leaders are taking back control
3w ago00:19:49Tap to summarizeOrganizations have been rushing to the public cloud, often without much thought given to strategically placing workloads.Over the intervening years, however, IT and business decision makers have learned that while public cloud can be useful for some applications, there's no one size fits all and AI has brought this to even greater focus.What's the role of private cloud in managing workloads effectively and how can businesses strategically choose what path is best for them?In this episode, in association with Redcentric, the ITPro Podcast is joined by senior product manager for cloud, Darren Adcock, and senior technical architect, Paul Jenner, to discuss the legacy of cloud investment and how organizations can manage their workloads better.Highlights "In many respects, the cloud hangover is kind of a consequence of various factors that people maybe didn't take into account when they moved into cloud... maybe we've got the wrong cloud in use for the wrong application. Maybe we're seeing overspend. Maybe we're seeing just poor customer performance.""It goes back to the early adoption of public cloud being a one size fits all. We've got to move to cloud, we've got to move everything to cloud without necessarily spending the time to think what's most appropriate to move to cloud, what's the most appropriate to keep on private cloud.""Generally, if you re-architect when you move to cloud, then you are more likely to get a cost-effective outcome. If you don't re-architect, the chances are you are just moving a cost to somewhere else where it actually might be more expensive to run than if it was on private cloud.""It's about a sensible view of your workloads of the requirements for those workloads against the capabilities and constraints of each of those clouds and choosing the right environment."Resourceshttps://www.redcentricplc.com/https://www.redcentricplc.com/managed-services/cloud/https://www.redcentricplc.com/managed-services/cloud/private-cloud/https://www.redcentricplc.com/sovereignty/
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Why doesn’t more data produce better results?
4w ago00:26:22Tap to summarizeData is treated as a source of untapped riches for businesses, promising a world of better insight and easier management. What’s less discussed is how it’s possible to drown in this ocean of information – more data sometimes just means more noise, and this is as true in IT as in any other profession.Why doesn’t more data produce better results? Is there a better way forward? And what does this mean for the end users? On this episode of the ITPro Podcast, Bobby Hellard and Ross Kelly talk to Fernando Castanheira, the CIO of Riverbed.Castanheira's career has struck a balance between tech and finance, and how data is used to power businesses. He talks us through the mismatch between the amount of data available and how it's being used.
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The Evolution of Digital Twins
Jul 1000:13:03Tap to summarizeDigital twins have been a key tool for organisations to create virtual replicas of operating environments. From transportation to manufacturing and oil & gas, they help simulate performance and prepare for ‘what-if scenarios’. But they’re evolving.On this week’s episode, Bobby talks to ITPro’s news and analysis editor, Ross Kelly, to ask what exactly a digital twin is and how they are evolving since the arrival of generative AI.The term ‘digital twin’ is even taking on different meanings; in some cases it’s not just a virtual replica of a factory floor, for example. We are now seeing digital twins of people, with Forrester describing them as ‘Digital Doubles’. Gartner also predicts that some organisations will begin creating ‘Digital Twins of Customers’ as a way to simulate how customers might respond to specific scenarios.Does your business need a digital twin? | IT ProAre AI digital twins a match made in heaven? | IT Pro
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The end of tokenmaxxing – and what comes next
Jul 300:15:35Tap to summarizeThe rise and fall of tokenmaxxing has been dramatic, not least because of how quickly it happened. From a darling of CEOs wanting to show how AI-forward they are to a balance sheet nightmare, the journey this particular strategy for measuring AI lasted mere months before its star started to fade.In this episode of the ITPro Podcast, Jane and Bobby are joined by Frank Böhmer, CEO of Ninox, to talk about what prompted the trend in tokenmaxxing, why it fell apart, and what comes next.Could rising token costs boost interest in on-premises hardware?Uber’s eye-watering AI bill shows enterprises are still measuring AI success through consumption rather than outcomes’IT leaders are being stung by "unexpected" AI costsThe AI pricing time bomb‘What we’re seeing right now is just rapid escalation in AI token spend’: Accenture tells staff to stop using AI for unnecessary tasks amid surging costsSurging AI costs could exceed developer salaries by 2028 – analysts say context engineering could be the key to optimizing token consumptionCompanies are regretting investing in generative AI so quickly – here’s how to avoid buyer’s remorseImage credit: Getty Images
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Do we have enough talent and power for the future of AI?
Jun 2600:22:18Tap to summarizeIt’s a very uncomfortable end to June with temperature records once again being broken across Europe. The technology world is moving forward unabated, though, still talking about AI and, in particular, the workforce and infrastructure that underpins it.Do we have the talent to meet the demand for AI? Do we have the power to keep our data centers operational? And can the European Union get us off our dependence on Google Workspace and Microsoft 365?ITPro’s news editor Ross Kelly joins Jane and Bobby to look back on some of the most interesting stories of the month.‘Open source should rest on transparency, not deception’: Euro-Office ‘sovereignty’ claims questioned in scathing open letter by LibreOffice maintainers | IT ProThe UK is running on fumes as data center build-outs can’t keep pace with demand | IT ProUK faces huge AI talent shortage | IT Pro
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HPE Discover and Pure Accelerate 2026
Jun 1900:32:27Tap to summarizeThis week’s episode comes to you live from Las Vegas, where we link up with Jane McCallion at HPE Discover and also ITPro’s news editor, Ross Kelly, at Pure Accelerate.Jane talks us through all the major announcements at HPE, with a heavy focus on how its Juniper Networks acquisition is impacting its new products and services. She also gives her thoughts on CEO Antonio Neri and the company’s approach to agents.Across the Las Vegas Strip at Resorts World, Ross gives us his insight into Everpure, the impact of rising hardware costs on its business, and how organizations can get their data AI-ready.HPE Discover 2026 Live: Day 2 keynotesHPE unveils a raft of new networking products for AI workloads at Discover 2026HPE Discover 2026 Live: Day 1 keynotesEverpure wants you to get your data AI-readyEverpure continues data management pivot with new Data Intelligence platform launchEverpure’s data management pivot puts it on a ‘collision course’ with industry big hittersWhat will the big announcements be at HPE Discover 2026?
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