Podcast: The Computer Weekly Downtime Upload – Episode 17

In this week’s episode of the Computer Weekly Downtime Upload, Clare McDonald, Brian McKenna and Caroline Donnelly cover some of the week’s biggest stories in tech, from O2’s introduction of a trans toolkit to Amazon’s rejection of several employee and shareholder suggestions during its shareholder meeting.

• Caroline kicks off the podcast with an update on what went on at Amazon’s recent shareholders’ meeting, where its board of directors rejected several staff-backed proposals pertaining to climate change, as well as a bid to get the firm to stop selling its facial recognition software to government agencies.  
• Brian leads a discussion on the UK’s apparent lead in government AI readiness, and whether children are prepared to be the AI-driven workforce of the future.
• Clare talks about O2’s introduction of resources and support for trans employees. The team discusses the importance of initiatives such as this for inclusion and innovation in business.
• Clare talks about the retail themes at Future Stores and Salesforce World Tour, including retail sustainability and a single view of a customer.
• Caroline talks about her interview with SurveyMonkey’s president and CEO Tom Hale, including themes such as the evolution of shadow IT and the one-year anniversary of the GDPR.
• Brian fills the team in on the panel session he chaired at Atlassian’s conference about the future of work and the changing role of IT, including panellists Sophie Ward, author of Embracing progress, Archana Rao, Atlassian CIO, Claire Nelson, partner and methods and tools technical lead at John Lewis, and John Turley, head of digital transformation at Adaptavist.