What's Up with Tech?

Evan Kirstel

Tech Transformation with Evan Kirstel: A podcast exploring the latest trends and innovations in the tech industry, and how businesses can leverage them for growth, diving into the world of B2B, discussing strategies, trends, and sharing insights from industry leaders!With over three decades in telecom and IT, I've mastered the art of transforming social media into a dynamic platform for audience engagement, community building, and establishing thought leadership. My approach isn't about personal brand promotion but about delivering educational and informative content to cultivate a sustainable, long-term business presence. I am the leading content creator in areas like Enterprise AI, UCaaS, CPaaS, CCaaS, Cloud, Telecom, 5G and more!

  1. 20 HR AGO

    Autonomous networks begin where predictive AI meets agents

    Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com What if AI in telecom had to earn its keep from day one? We sit down with Petri, CEO of Tupl, to unpack a no-nonsense approach to automation where every workflow ties back to a clear business case. From shrinking customer care handle times to orchestrating energy savings that don’t dent performance, this conversation shows how practical AI reshapes the daily work of carriers—and why adoption by 30,000+ frontline users is the metric that matters. We start with the fundamentals: technical customer care that gives agents and retail staff instant, accurate context about service status so they can set expectations and resolve issues faster. Then we dig into network operations and engineering automation, tackling repetitive, high-complexity tasks once considered “too hard to script,” and turning them into consistent, auditable workflows. The energy story raises the stakes—intelligent policies that switch off radios or dial down MIMO in low-traffic windows can drive real sustainability wins, but only with precise models that protect user experience and revert on risk. The conversation looks ahead to the next leap: agentic AI and the road to autonomous networks. Petri shares why a hybrid stack—predictive AI for grounding and guardrails, agents for exploration and knowledge discovery—creates a virtuous cycle that expands automation safely. We also get candid about the unglamorous realities: eliminating hallucinations by grounding models in verified telemetry, and keeping token and compute costs in check so autonomy scales without breaking budgets. With named customers like T‑Mobile US and Deutsche Telekom, this is a field guide to AI that’s already working in production. If you’re curious about AI that cuts outages, lowers energy bills, and gives teams superpowers without the hype, hit play. Subscribe, share with a colleague who lives in care or ops, and leave a review with the one KPI you’d automate first. Support the show More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

    7 min

  2. 20 HR AGO

    Empowering Experts: Tupl’s Path to Scalable, Agentic AI in Telecom

    Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com Stuck with slow processes, rising OPEX, and customers who expect fixes in seconds, not hours? We sit down with Hector Montes from Tupl to unpack a pragmatic blueprint for telecom automation that starts with the people who know the work best—domain experts—and turns their know‑how into solutions that scale. From first-contact technical support that slashes escalations to smarter energy management across the network, this conversation explores how to improve experience and cost at the same time. We trace Hector’s path from deep technical roles to founding Tupl and hear how a clear mission—empowering subject matter experts through no‑code and low‑code tooling—led to early wins with major operators like T-Mobile US. The approach is simple and powerful: co-build a minimum viable product in weeks, prove value in production, then expand both deeper (toward zero‑touch automation) and wider (across adjacent use cases). Along the way, teams upskill and start treating automation as a living capability rather than a one-off project, capturing the edge cases and operational wisdom that make or break real-world performance. The episode also offers a forward look at agentic AI. Hector explains how agents can converse with engineers and care leaders to capture intent, constraints, and policies, then assemble and validate automation workflows. That means faster delivery, safer changes, and broader coverage across complex operations—without sidelining human judgment. If you’re navigating telco modernization, cost pressure, or the leap from pilots to scale, this is a practical, field-tested roadmap to better customer experience, lower OPEX, and a path to zero touch. If this conversation sparks ideas, follow the show, leave a quick review, and share it with a colleague who’s wrestling with telecom operations. Your feedback helps us bring more expert stories to your feed. Support the show More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

    7 min

  3. 20 HR AGO

    From Courses To Enablement: Reinventing Corporate Learning With AI

    Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com What if your best coach was available at any moment you needed help on the job? We sit down with industry analyst Josh Bersin to unpack how generative AI is replacing one-size-fits-all courses with real-time, conversational enablement that helps people perform, learn, and grow in the flow of work. Instead of chasing completion rates, teams can tap living knowledge: the latest field fixes, sales plays that actually worked, leadership tips rooted in company context, and multilingual guidance that meets employees where they are. Josh traces the arc from early e‑learning to today’s AI agents, explaining why traditional LMS platforms will narrow to compliance while dynamic systems handle the real learning—search, chat, coaching, and updates that keep pace with change. We dig into vivid examples: a pharma giant capturing scientists’ expertise so anyone can query complex topics; Rolls‑Royce onboarding engineers to decades of proprietary methods in weeks, not years; and an airline using AI to share expert revenue strategies as they’re invented. The common thread is tacit knowledge turned into usable answers, with proactive nudges that surface what matters before you even ask. We also spotlight the human side. L&D pros don’t disappear—they shift from course production to orchestration: curating sources, building guardrails, and designing prompts, policies, and taxonomies that make AI accurate and safe. Employees become superworkers as they learn by doing, iterating with systems that remember context and improve with feedback. If you’re wondering where to begin, we offer practical first steps, from piloting critical workflows to defining metrics that matter—time to competency, resolution speed, win rates, and sentiment about usefulness. Ready to rethink training as enablement and put knowledge to work? Press play, subscribe for more conversations like this, and share the one process you’d reinvent with AI. Your idea might help someone level up tomorrow. Support the show More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

    28 min

  4. 1 DAY AGO

    Automation grows, humans stay: the real shape of AI in customer experience

    Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com The most natural way to ask for help is to speak—and that’s exactly why voice CX is so hard to get right. We sit down with Babelforce CEO & Co-Founder Pierce Buckley to unpack why the real challenge isn’t the AI model at the front, but the orchestration behind it: identity, contracts, logistics, field service, and payments spanning a dozen-plus systems that must work in lockstep to deliver a short, sweet resolution. From “my fridge smells burnt” to warranty confirmation and pickup scheduling, we map the unseen chain of actions that separates a great call from a frustrating loop. Pierce shares how a composable, “Lego block” architecture lets enterprises move fast without betting the farm—swapping ASR, TTS, and LLM components as technology improves quarterly, while reusing the same building blocks for new use cases. We tackle the hype around “agentic” bots with a grounded view of production readiness, explain why many voice bots disappoint due to weak integration rather than weak intelligence, and make the case for a bring-your-own-AI strategy that meets enterprises where they already invest. You’ll also hear how Babelforce partners with Zendesk to serve complex mid-market and enterprise contact centers, and why balancing automation with human expertise remains the winning strategy as volumes grow and escalations concentrate. Security and compliance get the attention they deserve: PCI redaction, PII controls, data residency, and the reality that LLM freedom demands stronger guardrails. We close with the talent gap—modern VUI skills that blend conversation design, AI behavior, and enterprise constraints—and practical steps to build a new class of AI-enabled practitioners who can ship outcomes, not just demos. If you care about customer experience that actually works—fast routing, smart automation, and respectful escalations—this conversation gives you a blueprint. Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a review with the one CX workflow you most want to fix next. Support the show More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

    25 min

  5. 2 DAYS AGO

    What happens when a $70 phone meets smart financing and trust tech

    Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com A billion smartphones ship every year, yet billions of people still can’t get online. The barrier isn’t coverage—or even a $70 device—it’s trust, credit, and the lack of banking rails in places where daily income leaves no room for upfront purchases. We sit down with Trustonic CEO Dion Price to unpack a counterintuitive solution: secure device locking that makes micro‑installments viable, protects lenders, and teaches first-time buyers how financing works without requiring bank accounts, addresses, or formal credit histories. Dion explains how the tech lives natively inside devices—think Samsung KnoxGuard, MotoSafe, and Android capabilities—so retailers and carriers don’t need special hardware variants or clunky apps. A financed phone boots with a simple, transparent policy: keep up with small payments via mobile money or in-store and the phone stays fully usable; fall behind and you’ll see clear prompts with instant pathways to pay and unlock. That light-touch control is enough to flip risk models, inviting capital into markets it has long avoided. The payoff is human: students walking hours from schools can stream lessons, parents triage illness with reliable health guidance, and young creators publish videos that change their trajectories. We also trace the ripple effects. A fully paid phone becomes a live credit proxy—proof of reliability that can unlock access to solar home systems, small business tools, or even future financial products. In mature markets, the same stack improves collections and makes stolen devices worthless to resellers, reducing street and supply‑chain theft. It’s one infrastructure layer serving two missions: digital inclusion at the frontier and resilience in cities where device crime is rampant. If you’re curious about how carriers, OEMs, and financiers can align to connect the next billion—and how a “lock” can unlock opportunity—this conversation will shift your view of affordability, credit, and scale. Listen now, share with a friend who cares about access and fintech, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show. Support the show More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

    23 min

  6. 3 DAYS AGO

    We started fresh in Bermuda to prove a faster, open, cloud-native network that turns telcos from black boxes into agile platforms

    Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com What happens when a carrier starts fresh, ditches the black boxes, and treats a nation like a living lab? We sat down with the CEO of Paradise Mobile to unpack how Bermuda—just 21 square miles and 65,000 people—became a launchpad for cloud-native, OpenRAN telecom that ships features in weeks, not years. The story begins with a team that cut its teeth solving “hairy, scary” projects for tier-one operators and now builds a modular, software-first network that can adapt fast, integrate with hyperscalers, and deliver real outcomes for customers who can’t wait on legacy roadmaps. We explore why Bermuda’s demographics and economy mirror North American behaviors, making it the perfect proxy to validate not just tech but market traction. From there, we dive into concrete wins: airlines that rely on over-the-air workflows saw on-time departures rise and costs fall with tailored, SLA-backed connectivity—cockpit systems, ground crews, and routes unified across borders. Then we shift to the high-adrenaline world of SailGP, where foiling boats push the limits so hard they literally boil water, and milliseconds matter. Paradise Mobile connected hundreds of sensors, live comms, and video, feeding analysts in the U.K. and beyond with ultra-low-latency data that met and beat strict requirements. Consumer experience gets a rethink too. eSIM onboarding in under a minute, clear “small/medium/large” unlimited plans, and global calling options make travel and remote work simple—no more roaming shock or hotel Wi‑Fi roulette. Behind the scenes, open standards and cloud partnerships replace vendor lock‑in with agility: swap algorithms like Lego, expose network capabilities via software, and co-create new products with tech leaders. With hundreds of services poised for testing and a pipeline of new markets coming online, the blueprint scales: validate on Bermuda’s device mix, then lift-and-shift code to fit local ARPU and enterprise needs from North America to the global south. If you care about telecom that acts like a platform—not a pipe—this conversation shows the path: open, programmable networks; real-world SLAs; and a service mindset that starts with the customer and works backward. Enjoy the dive, share it with a builder who needs the blueprint, and subscribe to catch the next wave of network innovation. Support the show More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

    17 min

  7. 6 DAYS AGO

    How a Small Team Rewrote Mobile for Billions

    Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com Your phone’s most magical moments—messages turning blue, a watch pairing in seconds, an eSIM activating from Settings, a text sent from the middle of nowhere—don’t happen by accident. They ride on a quiet protocol called entitlements, and today we sit down with Emir Aboulhosn, CEO of NetLync to unpack how this invisible layer is being rebuilt for speed, security, and scale. We start with Emir’s path from MVNO experiments to collaborating with Apple and Google on Apple SIM, eSIM orchestration, and high‑stakes deployments that touch billions of devices. From there, we demystify entitlements in plain English: device authentication against carrier backends; instant provisioning for iMessage, FaceTime, VoLTE/VoWiFi; seamless Apple Watch and Wear pairing; and eSIM downloads without QR codes or third‑party apps. If you’ve ever landed and saw your message go green, you’ve felt this system at work. We explore what’s next: cross‑platform RCS that finally bridges iOS and Android with secure, rich messaging; number verification without SMS that kills clunky one‑time codes and lets apps verify a phone instantly; and Android satellite messaging that closes coverage gaps with carrier‑satellite integrations. Emir shares why cloud‑native entitlements are the unlock for small and large operators alike, how AI is now diagnosing misconfigurations to speed launches, and why day‑one support for new devices must become the rule. Along the way, we talk UX, fraud, quality of service, and the real‑world path to 5G Advanced, wearables, and network slicing that feels effortless to the user. If you care about seamless connectivity, privacy‑first authentication, and messaging that just works, you’ll walk away with a clearer map of the future—and who’s building it. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who still copies OTP codes, and leave a review telling us which feature you want to “just work” everywhere. Support the show More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

    30 min

  8. 9 OCT

    How AI-Driven Resilience Fixes Firewall Misconfigurations and Closes Security Gaps

    Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com A single unchecked setting can hand your network to an attacker—and it happens more often than most teams admit. We sit down with Adam BennettCo-Founder and CEO from SureStack to unpack how “resilient intelligence” marries standards, deep practitioner experience, and AI to find misconfigurations fast and guide clear, step-by-step fixes. From the jaw-dropping story of a default admin credential on a major firewall to the subtle ways “any/any” rules and exposed management interfaces creep into production, we break down why configuration management is the real frontline of cybersecurity. We explore how attackers are already using AI to write convincing phishing, accelerate recon, and even generate malware, and why defenders need to out-automate that momentum. Adam walks through StackChat, an AI cyber assistant that reads your actual configs, cross-references vendor documentation, and explains exactly how to remediate issues—so even a new hire can harden devices with confidence. The point isn’t buying more tools; it’s extracting the protection you’re already paying for and verifying it daily. One enterprise case hinged on two disabled endpoint features—turn them on, stop the breach. If you manage a sprawling stack across an enterprise, MSP, or MSSP, you’ll hear how continuous assurance, prioritized quick wins, and attack-surface minimization reduce risk at scale. We look ahead to partner expansion, government adoption, and the push toward self-healing guardrails that keep environments secure even as they change. Security isn’t a snapshot; it’s a system that learns, explains, and acts. If this conversation sparks ideas, share it with your team, subscribe for more deep dives, and leave a review to help others find the show. Got a configuration horror story or a quick win to share? Drop us a note—we might feature it next. Support the show More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

    17 min
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About

Tech Transformation with Evan Kirstel: A podcast exploring the latest trends and innovations in the tech industry, and how businesses can leverage them for growth, diving into the world of B2B, discussing strategies, trends, and sharing insights from industry leaders!With over three decades in telecom and IT, I've mastered the art of transforming social media into a dynamic platform for audience engagement, community building, and establishing thought leadership. My approach isn't about personal brand promotion but about delivering educational and informative content to cultivate a sustainable, long-term business presence. I am the leading content creator in areas like Enterprise AI, UCaaS, CPaaS, CCaaS, Cloud, Telecom, 5G and more!

Information

  • Creator
    Evan Kirstel
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    529
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 TechInfluencer
  • Show Website
    What's Up with Tech?

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