October 26, 2025 • 40 mins
If your business runs on a card reader, a laptop, and a phone, you already rely on more connectivity and data than you think. We sit down with Telstra’s Nathan Gumley - Telstra Executive for Strategy, Transformation and Planning to unpack a practical playbook for growth and resilience: networks that do more than connect, AI that actually helps teams work faster, and security habits that stop expensive mistakes before they happen.
We start with a clear look at Telstra’s strategy shift back to connectivity as a core value—and what “evolving connectivity” means for real-world problems. Nathan shares how network signals can help banks flag risky transactions within minutes of a scam call, why privacy and consent are non‑negotiable, and how transparency matters when deploying chatbots and customer-facing automation. For small businesses, the focus is pragmatic: Microsoft Copilot or Google Gemini to speed up documents and presentations, plus embedded AI inside accounting and workflow tools to reclaim hours without adding risk.
Security threads through everything. Nathan breaks down the Essential Eight in plain language: strong passwords, MFA, limited admin rights, updates and patches, application hardening, backups you’ve tested, asset visibility, and user controls. We cover the rhythm that works—tag sensitive documents, manage permissions, remove access when staff leave, and run a lightweight audit every six months. On the network side, we dig into Telstra’s Cleaner Pipes approach to blocking scams, caller verification to build trust, and why resilience now means mobile plus fixed plus satellite. From food trucks at events to farms beyond coverage, partnerships with Starlink and satellite texting keep work moving when it matters most.
We wrap with a look at startup energy across agri tech and applied AI, and why Canberra’s collaborative ecosystem gives local founders and operators an edge. If you want AI that amplifies your team, connectivity you can trust, and security you can actually maintain, this conversation has the steps to start today.
Enjoyed the conversation? Follow, rate, and share the show with a business owner who needs a simple, effective plan for AI, security, and reliable connectivity.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:09):
Hello and welcome to the Canberra Business Podcast.
I'm Greg Harford from theCanberra Business Chamber, and
today we're going to explore howtechnology, innovation, and
connectivity come together toempower businesses around
Canberra and the region.
I'm joined today by NathanGumley, the group owner of
strategy and transformation forTelstra's product and technology
division, which includessoftware engineering, asset
(00:30):
management, and data andartificial intelligence.
Nathan, great to have you here.
Welcome to the podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (00:35):
Yeah, stoked to be here.
SPEAKER_01 (00:37):
Now today we're going to talk about the future
of business.
We're going to talk about howTelstra's enabling technology as
you see it, from AI tocybersecurity and everything in
between.
But I guess let's just sort ofstart at the beginning.
How long have you been atTelstra and what is your role
encompass?
SPEAKER_00 (00:55):
I think I've been at Telstra for 12 years now, so
it's been a while.
My role encompasses strategy,transformation, planning,
commercial.
A lot of that centered aroundour, yeah, like you said,
software engineering, uh, dotAI, as well as our um product
groups.
So the products that we take tomarket for customers.
Yeah.
And you're based right here inCanberra, right?
Based here in Canberra, yep.
(01:16):
Uh Canberra native was born andbred, spent a bit of time
overseas and up in Sydney, butuh moved back a few years ago
and loving it.
Yeah, it's a great place.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
Well, look, I mean, let's let's talk a little bit
about Telstra.
Now I think many people probablythink of Telstra only as a
telecoms company selling retailmobile plans.
Um perhaps some people stillthink about Telstra as being the
old the old post office, even.
But um Nathan, you you leadstrategy and transformation.
What does that mean for you inyour everyday role and and what
(01:46):
have you been transformingstrategically?
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
Yeah, so I I mean strategy is pretty
straightforward, and and I thinkum you're probably not too far
off the mark when it comes toactually how people think about
um Telstra, but actually reallywhat we want to be known for.
I think uh a lot of telcosglobally had gone through a bit
of an identity crisis, for lackof a better term, around wanting
to be something more than atelco.
(02:09):
Um and I don't think Telstraactually was that dissimilar to
that extent.
Um we launched a new strategyback in June of this year, and a
really big focus for us isactually getting back to um
connectivity, but really lookingat how we evolve connectivity
for customers to solve uh newproblems as well as you know,
obviously our role in kind ofsupporting that um digital
adoption of tools.
(02:31):
So my role uh yeah, certainly iskind of developing part of that
strategy, but when you look atthe transformation, actually,
big part of the transformationwork I lead is actually changing
how we do work at Telstra, um,and obviously that that showing
through in the products that wetake to customers.
Um, and when it comes to thingslike data AI, cybersecurity,
even the way that we um developsoftware at Telstra, uh, there's
(02:52):
a really big transformationelement to changing how we do
it, uh, which is uh yeah, a corepart of my job and um super
rewarding.
SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
Yeah.
So um you talk aboutconnectivity.
Uh connectivity of what?
SPEAKER_00 (03:04):
Yeah, um connectivity of um a variety of
different things.
I think uh connectivity uhhistorically, like to your
point, has been um uh wow, it itwas fixed infrastructure, right?
It was your office, it was yourhouse, um, and then obviously
evolved into mobile.
Um but since then we've seen uha huge proliferation of of
things that are connected.
Um, you know, that started withthings like traffic lights and a
(03:25):
lot of the infrastructure thatwe um support for uh different
councils and cities across thecountry.
Um but more frequently you'reseeing um other things
connected, uh cars is obviouslyprobably the thing that's most
relevant for a lot of people.
I think I was I was in SanFrancisco last week and I've
been there a lot as part of myjob, which is very you know very
fortunate.
(03:46):
I think there's probably moreTeslas on the road here in
Canberra than there would be inSan Francisco.
It kind of feels like that justthe the um percentage of cars on
the road, it it's it's prettyimpressive.
And if you look at somethinglike a Tesla, those cars have
been connected.
Our SIM cards actually sitinside those cars.
That um helps provide featuresfor people that are driving the
(04:06):
cars.
But for uh a lot of companies,it actually helps them have
diagnostics on the cars thathelps them understand how they
can better service the cars, um,be more proactive in the way
that they manage the cars onbehalf of customers.
So um, you know, logistics is asimilar thing.
When you're looking at trucks,you know, you get a parcel
delivered to your door, you cankind of see where that is,
depending on who the particulardelivery company is.
(04:28):
And um, that's a lot ofconnectivity that's supporting
that.
So when you think about the roleof connectivity over time, and
it's it's actually fundamentallychanging um where that
connectivity is.
And I think a big part of ourstrategy moving forward is um
the role that connectivity playsand some of what our network can
do in helping customers withother problems.
Um good examples of that are weum have uh some you know an
(04:51):
incredible wealth of data interms of what's happening on our
networks.
Um we've worked quite closelywith CBA around fraud recently.
And you know, one of the keythings that they really struggle
to in terms of just visibilityof data sets is um fraud as a
result of um someone porting amobile phone or activity of a
scam caller calling a particularcustomer.
(05:12):
Now that's a very useful datapoint for a bank.
Absolutely.
And if we can expose that, whichwhich we do in partnership with
the CBA, um the CBA can get asense of how risky is a
particular transaction, right?
They have their view, but ifthey can see that a scam caller
has contacted a customer in thelast 30 minutes and in
subsequently they see atransaction on a uh CBA bank
(05:33):
account, that that's a reallyhigh-risk transaction, right?
And so they can they can preventthat.
So for us over time, I think wesee that the role of the network
helping solve other problems forcustomers, but doing it from the
place of connectivity as opposedto say, I think in the past
where some telcos have eventried to be a bank.
So um we're really excited aboutthe potential of that and the
potential of the network to kindof evolve and help solve new
problems.
SPEAKER_01 (05:53):
And and that that's a great example of of something
really concrete that could bereally helpful.
But are there privacy issuesthere that you need to be
conscious of?
SPEAKER_00 (06:01):
Oh, uh there absolutely is, and and we we
spent a lot of time on that.
And um I would say a lot ofthose data sets can be kind of
anonymous, right?
In terms of uh the way that wewe share data.
So that's really front andcentre for us is making sure
that um we're there, that theconsent from a customer
perspective is there.
That's always really importantwhen we think about things like
data.
Um, but certainly in terms ofthe capability and the network
(06:23):
helping solve those new types ofproblems.
I think I think um yeah, thatthere's huge, huge kind of
opportunity there for sure.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (06:29):
And is AI part of the mix as you're kind of
looking at those sorts ofservices?
SPEAKER_00 (06:33):
Uh yeah, I I think there is, um I mean, not for us
in that we necessarily takeservices to market.
I think uh everybody, and andyou know, I'm sure you've seen
it, everybody starts to have anAI story about how their
products and services are AIenabled.
That that's probably the keything for us is how do we um
leverage and harness the valueof AI in terms of improving our
(06:54):
products.
Um, but but I also think a corepart of that for us is um back
to that transformation element.
How is AI helping us be betterat just what we do in terms of
delivering connectivity forAustralians?
Um and so, yeah, but you know,in a similar vein, and I think
we'll talk to a bit of a bit ofit today, that data, the way
that you manage data in yourcompany is someone so important
(07:15):
because um, particularly as wemove into this notion of agentic
AI, where AI is kind ofautonomous and you're able to
allow it to do a particulartask.
If you're not managing,flagging, structuring your data
properly, that can go prettypear-shaped very quickly.
SPEAKER_01 (07:30):
Absolutely.
Now, Telstra is obviously a bigcompany, a very big company.
Um, how do you see AI as beingrelevant and relatable for um
business across the board,particularly I guess at the
smaller end of town?
SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
Oh, I I think it's um it's it's it's a massive
opportunity.
Uh we have been on this journeyfor probably the better part of
the last three or four years.
But there's a lot of things thatI say and what we do in Telstra
that are applicable to smallbusiness.
I'm super fortunate.
Um both mum, dad, and my brotherrun small businesses, um, which
is great.
So, and a lot of friends here inCanberra do as well.
(08:06):
Um, but that there are elementsof uh capability we use at
Telstra, um simple examples likeMicrosoft Copilot that are part
of or earn an add-onsubscription to what most I
think small businesses here inCanberra would be using in
Microsoft 365, or alternativelythe Google equivalent in G Suite
with uh Gemini.
And that um gives you uh apretty safe way to kind of enter
(08:29):
into how you start to leverageAI.
Um, some of that I think youknow we were speaking last time
we met.
Um, some of that's just around,you know, kind of simple
document generation and writinga document.
But I think what's been superimpressive, and I actually spent
a bit of time with Jared, who'sthe uh chief marketing officer
for AI at work at Microsoftyesterday, and he was showing me
some of the new capabilitythat's coming down the line.
(08:51):
You know, the ability todescribe what you want in a
PowerPoint presentation and haveuh AI generate pretty much
end-to-end that entirePowerPoint presentation is
pretty impressive.
So there are elements I think ofhow we'll see basic work tools
kind of support things that weuse every day, kind of help
improve the productivity, theoutput of a lot of employees.
(09:11):
Over time, I think what we'llalso start to say or seeing
already is where you havespecific work tools, things like
MYOB, accounting software,you'll start to see AI features
embedded in there as well.
And so, yet again, that thatwon't mean that, hey, I don't
need to run my books anymore,but I do think it'll mean that
um you're able to run that a lotmore efficiently and you'll just
be able to leverage your timebetter.
(09:31):
And for us in in areas likesoftware um engineering, that
hasn't been a conversationaround, you know, hey, we we
want less software engineers tobe very clear.
Really, for us, that's justimproving the amount of output
we can do.
Really, it's how do we get moreout for our customers?
How do we better serve ourcustomers by giving our software
engineers more capability to dotheir job?
(09:52):
And and we're we're seeing somepretty remarkable results there.
In some circumstances, um, wecan have a senior engineer, and
with the AI tooling that we havetoday, it's like the equivalent
of having four junior engineerssupporting them at the same
time.
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
Um that's a fantastic productivity benefit.
SPEAKER_00 (10:07):
Yeah, yeah, fantastic productivity benefit.
And and I think how you chooseto harness that uh for your
business is entirely up to you.
But the key thing for us wasreally um it's a it's it's a
really interesting culturalstory, right, around adoption.
Um, and I think there are reallycoming back to my original point
around things like um GoogleSuite and Microsoft 365, there
(10:29):
are a really safe ways to kindof enter into that void for your
staff and give them anopportunity to play around and
give them an opportunity to kindof learn and and start to take
advantage of it safely, which isimportant.
SPEAKER_01 (10:42):
Uh so let's talk about safety because that's
obviously a a real risk.
Um, you know, there's uh there'ssome great tools out there that
can be used to driveproductivity.
Uh, we're in an increasinglydigital world, everything's
connected, uh, you've got thesenew AI tools coming in, but but
what are the risks if businessesget it wrong, do you think?
SPEAKER_00 (11:02):
Yeah, I uh I mean we've we've seen a lot of that,
right?
I think um in some circumstancesuh it can be things like data
breaches.
Um and uh you know there's beenbig big companies recently kind
of exposed by that.
Equally that that's down tosmaller companies as well,
right?
Um and I think on average, uhlike a cyber or data breach for
a small business costs about$50,000.
(11:24):
Um, that ransomware activity,right?
Like, hey, I've got your datanot deployed unless you give me
a chunk of cash, that that'sthat's a real thing.
So um, you know, it's it'sreally, really important to be
able to make sure that um yourdata stays with you, your your
customer data, what's importantto your business stays with you.
Equally, I think back to mypoint, as we start to see the
role of um agentic AI, where youhave um AI performing a
(11:48):
particular task autonomouslywith you know some form of human
oversight, um, the risk there isthat it kind of does the wrong
thing.
Um and uh that could becustomer-facing in in some
circumstances.
Uh I've even had experiences ofthat recently where you, you
know, because there is just somuch capability behind the AI
(12:09):
itself, you can get into somereally interesting
conversations.
Um, probably conversations thatare fun if you're mucking around
with at 11 o'clock at night, butmaybe not a conversation that
you would want an AI that'srepresenting your business
having with a customer.
And so it's just uh over time, Ithink that and and what's been
really key to us is theresponsible AI element of making
sure that we've got theobservability on any AI in our
(12:30):
company, that we've got theright data structures in place,
that it's accessing the rightdata, that it's not accessing
the wrong data.
That type of thing is really,really important because I think
over time, particularly if youleave these types of things
unintended, like unattendedwithout the oversight, they can
kind of run amok and do theirown thing, right?
So um I think that that forsmall businesses as much as it's
(12:50):
big businesses like Telstra willbecome something that we've got
to be really conscious of andmake sure that we've got the
right oversight in place becauseif you don't, it can go pretty
perfect.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:59):
And and you talk about customer-facing a gentic
AI, and certainly there's someamazing technology being
developed.
Are we seeing it at Telstra yet?
If you're a Telstra customer,are you ringing a call center
and talking to it talking to arobot?
SPEAKER_00 (13:11):
No, not yet.
Um, not in that sense.
Uh over time, I think there'llthere'll be opportunities to do
that, but um yet again that thecultural aspect of this is
actually going to be reallyimportant.
Um, and we have had uh uh Iguess simpler forms of AI in our
messaging services.
I think everybody's probablyengaged with some form of
chatbot on a particular websitewhere you've got um some pretty
(13:34):
basic answers, right?
Where you get a bit frustratedand say, I just want to speak to
a person.
I think um a lot of thecapability we're deploying is
making that a lot lessfrustrating because they're a
lot better at managing customerinquiries in different contexts.
Um, but what's really importantfor us is actually being very
clear with customers.
Hey, you are speaking to an AIchatboard, right?
(13:55):
You are speaking to someone thatis not a human.
So that's very clear.
Um, having spent a bit of timelast week at uh Salesforce
conference in San Francisco, I Iwould say not all companies take
that notion.
And in fact, they're kind of atthe point where they feel like,
hey, we just want this to be anexperience where you don't
really know and you don't reallycare.
Um so it's that that advanced inthe States?
(14:16):
Um I wouldn't know, I wouldn'tsay it's necessarily that the
technology is that advanced,it's it's actually how you
choose to put in front of yourcustomers, right?
It's the culture of it.
Um I think you know, inAustralian culture, it's it for
me at least, it feels like it'sa pretty important thing to say,
hey, you're speaking to someonethat's not a human.
And if you'd like to speak to ahuman, we can we can help you
with that as well.
Um certainly what I what I sawlast week is that is a little
(14:38):
bit to your point though, thatis definitely heading into that
realm of um you will be callingorganizations in the next few
years and you'll be speaking tosomeone that's like a Siri or a
um you know a Google equivalentin um their assistant as well.
So that that will be a thingthat kind of comes down the
line.
Um so yeah, it'll beinteresting.
Yeah, we'll see see how it goes.
SPEAKER_01 (14:59):
Um so for small businesses, um you know what
what guardrails do you thinkthey should be putting in place
to protect data and and businessoperations and what do they need
to be doing to upskill theirteams?
SPEAKER_00 (15:10):
Yeah, I think um it's really interesting, right?
Back to my point previously, alot of the way of um how you
manage navigating AI in futureand the data component isn't
that dissimilar to um a lot ofwhat we've been working with uh
the Small Business Chamber ofCommerce, I think, and and some
of the advocacy work inAustralia um around
cybersecurity and essential aid.
(15:31):
It's really important tounderstand what assets you have.
Um is similar to physical assetsfor a small business.
Digital assets are reallyimportant.
Where is your data?
Where is it stored?
Um what we've also found andwhat you have access to with a
lot of the capabilities likeGoogle Suite and Microsoft 365
is you can tag differentdocuments as well.
The tagging of information interms of, and I think for a lot
(15:54):
of camparians you probably getused to it because uh you know
you get an email from someone inthe public service that gives
you a classification of theemail.
That tagging's really importantdown to a data level.
Um, if you've got a Worddocument that is generally
available and you've got AItooling, it it will index and
search what's in that documentand it will serve results,
right?
So um the the key structure weput in place is being really
(16:17):
clear on where our data is,really clear on um the tagging
and the availability whereyou're choosing to expose that
data.
And then I think yet again backto some of the cyber security
essentials, like making surethat your systems are up to
date, like basic hygiene stuff.
It's it seems simple, but umit's so important.
It's just so important.
SPEAKER_01 (16:38):
Yeah, so let's jump on to cybersecurity in a moment.
But before we do, let me justask you about the um the the
what you know what is involvedin making sure your data is
being tagged and filedappropriately and all the rest
of it for a small business.
Um, you know, if you're a soletrader or perhaps you just got a
couple of people in your team,how big a commitment is that?
(16:58):
It's obviously important, butbut but how manageable is that?
SPEAKER_00 (17:02):
It's pretty it's actually pretty manageable.
And and yet again that thatcomes back to just some of the
features that are embedded intothese tools.
So um, yeah, if you if you'reusing Microsoft 365 and you've
got the right level ofsubscription, immediately you
can start tagging those files,right?
So if you've got a sensitivedocument, tag it under
confidential.
If you've got a set somethingthat you don't want shared or
you've got permissionrestrictions on, it actually
(17:24):
pretty simply allows you to setthat type of restriction up.
Um so I think that feature setin terms of a lot of the tools
is um a lot easier.
I think the other one that'sreally important in that is just
making sure that you're managingyour permissions.
So if you've got someone thatworked with you and has left for
whatever reason, making surethat you're actually removing
(17:44):
them from whatever tools youhave is really, really
important.
Um and that permissionrestriction, making sure that
the right people only haveaccess to the right data in your
company is also very important.
Um, that's important in thecontext of also in a scenario
where an account coming back toa little bit to cybersecurity is
jeopardized, you know thatthere's only a certain amount of
people that have access to data,and so you're kind of
(18:05):
restricting the vulnerability byway of just really tightly
controlling that.
But but I do think that ispretty simple in terms of where
those features are and howpeople like Microsoft and Google
are actually embedding it intotheir tools.
Um, and then that basic hygieneof just making sure the right
people in your company haveaccess to the right things,
pretty straightforward as well.
SPEAKER_01 (18:25):
All right, well, let's let's talk about
cybersecurity.
We're recording this in October2025.
It's Cybersecurity Month andindeed Small Business Month in
New South Wales.
But you know, cyber threats areevolving rapidly.
Um, what are the biggest risksfacing businesses and small
businesses today?
SPEAKER_00 (18:42):
Yeah, I I think um a little bit back to kind of what
we were talking about before,that that threat landscape is
evolving pretty quickly, doesn'tstay very static.
Um when we look atcybersecurity, I think uh really
what our key concerns are kindof just scams, malicious calls,
emails, websites.
Um the approaches different badactors are taking in that space
(19:07):
are fundamentally changing,right?
So obviously, I think a lot ofus would be pretty familiar with
phishing emails and differentaspects of how we have exploits
there, but um we are findingthat the threat landscape is
changing pretty materially.
And so what's been reallyimportant for us is um working
quite closely with uh smallbusiness councils, um, people
(19:28):
like the the Australiangovernment as well, around
things like Essential 8, becausethe principles to my point
earlier, around the kind of thediscipline and hygiene of what
you need to do actually it stillhold true and are quite
effective against even the newthreats that we're seeing in
that space.
And so there's a lot of workthat we've been doing on that
framework.
But for us, um yet again, it'sit's kind of looking at how we
(19:51):
can help that.
And I think a really core partof the way that um small
business is approaching it andlinked to that essential aid
program is the notion of cyberwardens, a little bit like you
know, a first aid warden or asafety warden.
For small business, that's soimportant is there's someone in
your organization that can stayreally close to what's happening
in the cybersecurity space thatcan be really kind of front of
mind and making sure that you'reholding that discipline.
(20:12):
I think that's a reallyeffective way in small business
to be able to manage that asopposed to you know um needing
to put a lot of overhead inplace to try and um manage those
threats.
So um that cyber warden approachI think um seems to resonate
quite well with small businessand isn't a massive overhead
when you think about um theimpact or the um yeah, just the
amount of time that might takeout of your day.
SPEAKER_01 (20:34):
Yeah, absolutely.
Um now you talk about theessential eight, there'll be uh
some people who are fully acrossthat, but um, do you want to
just give us a bit of anoverview of of what that is?
Um essentially eight eightthings you've really got to be
focused on are aroundcybersecurity, right?
SPEAKER_00 (20:47):
Yeah, eight things.
Um and so yeah, yet again, thisis like it sounds like um
something that's quite complex,but um it is a little bit like
making sure you're taking yourvitamins and eating your
vegetables and that and thatapplying to security, right?
So when you look at um what thatmeans, you're effectively
focused on do I have the rightpermissions for my organization?
(21:08):
A little bit to my point beforearound the availability of data.
Um am I managing passwordseffectively?
So do I have a really strongkind of password um process for
my organization?
Am I forcing and making surethat people are um changing
their passwords, that thecomplexity of the passwords is
enough that you can um managethose more effectively?
(21:30):
When it comes to um yoursoftware, making sure your
software is up to date.
Um that uh might sound like asimple thing, but actually you'd
be surprised, especially aswe've gone away.
In places like Telstra as well,and we go and do audits, um,
that can be a pretty trickything.
Um and so I think it's probablya little bit easier for small
business because the scope ofyour digital assets probably
(21:51):
isn't as big.
But um that's that's really,really important.
Um that equally applies to umnot just uh like an application
you might have, also youroperating system.
So making sure that you knowyou're on Windows 11 with the
latest batches or you're on theequivalent on the Mac side of
things or the Chromebook side ofthings.
Um making sure that you've gotuh administrative privileges
(22:15):
limited, so yet again, you don'thave everybody with
administrative privileges ableto kind of manage and um or or
mismanage elements of whatyou're doing.
And and and that isn'tnecessarily to say that um
everybody's a threat inside yourorganization, you're absolutely
not, but um, you're minimizingyour exposure if only the right
people have admin privileges,because on the scenario that one
(22:37):
of them is compromised, it's alot better if um you don't have
20 people in your organizationwho all have admin privileges,
that's two, your exposure is alot smaller.
Um in terms of kind of uh userapplication hardening, so just
making sure that um on some ofyour applications that they're
not exposed, they don't havevulnerabilities.
(22:57):
Yet again, for small businesses,that's probably just making sure
you're kind of a little bit moreup-to-date on your software
side.
Um for uh some of the I think inhere you've probably got a
digital agency down the otherend of the hallway where they're
building custom applications,it's their responsibility to do
that.
And so if you are sourcingcustom applications, it is a
good thing to make sure that umwho you're partnering with,
(23:18):
where you're sourcing that fromis effectively hardened, that
there's not vulnerabilitiesthrough there because those
applications run in yourenvironments, and if they're in
your networks, it's a little bitlike leaving a window open or a
door open to your home.
Um and then the the last one,which I think is pretty
straightforward for or the lastcouple is um maintaining regular
backups.
So backups of your data makesure that you've got that in a
(23:40):
safe place and that you're doingthat frequently.
And then the last one, which iskind of building on that
password policy side of things,is making sure you've got
multi-factor authentication umenabled.
And um that's that's reallyimportant, right?
I think we're probably fortunatein Australia that COVID drove a
lot of multi-factorauthentication awareness and
engagement um across the countryas we kind of drove to more of a
(24:02):
digital adoption, navigating thedifficulties of COVID.
But um, equally it's reallyimportant for your organization
to make sure that, hey, if I'mlogging in, um I've got some
form of multi-factorauthentication tool out the
other side.
Um, yet again, it's somethingthat uh Microsoft and Google do
natively.
And so if you're on those typesof workplace application suites,
(24:23):
um that that should be there asa feature that you can turn on.
And then for some of your otherapplications, you can make that
decision based off um thesensitivity of the data that's
in there.
But I think you would findtypically a lot of like similar
to you know like uh Zero, NYOB,they're starting to implement
those capabilities as well.
Um and and it might seem like abit of a pain, right?
(24:43):
That you have to go and findyour phone and press a button to
say yes, it's me.
Um but it's very important.
Very important.
SPEAKER_01 (24:50):
Um you talk about the importance of regular
backups as well.
Now, um there'll be plenty ofbusinesses who who think that
they have this covered becausethey've they've got all their
content in the cloud.
Is that enough?
Or do you do you recommend kindof taking actual backups as
well?
SPEAKER_00 (25:04):
Um no, I think I think cloud-based backups are
effective.
Um obviously, if you want todouble down on that, local
backups are good as well.
Um think that um it's probablyan interesting thing to audit
that if you're in a smallbusiness and go of the data I
have, do I have full coverage onmy backups?
(25:26):
Because you might have it onyour phone, you might have it on
your laptop, but do you have itfor the particular application?
And if you look at some of theapplications we're using today,
a lot of them have moved tocloud-based applications.
Um and so as part of yourdescription, do you have those
backups?
Do they have them in the rightplaces?
I think um an audit like that,like you would, you know, just
(25:47):
checking your inventory eachyear, um, is is not a bad thing
to do.
I I think just a bit of hygiene,spend a day checking, making
sure, all right, do I have abackup of this to a backup of
that?
I I'd I that's the thing I'drecommend is just going and
doing a bit of an audit everysix months, yeah.
It's probably a good thing todo.
SPEAKER_01 (26:04):
Some good advice there.
Now, um I I keep seeing adstalking about scams and the work
that Telstra's doing to stopscams.
Um uh obviously scam scams areon the rise.
Um, it's an issue um digitallywith email, it's an issue with
text messages, it's an issuewith with calls.
Um what's what's going on atTelstra to help customers?
SPEAKER_00 (26:24):
Yeah, we we have an issue called Cleaner Pipes.
Um, and so you uh you would haveseen a bit of this.
I think there's a lot of ummarketing actually.
I drove past the airport andthere was a big scam with an
orange line through it, um, andan ad with Steve Buscemi, um,
who's some form of alienoverlord trying to um scam
Australia?
Uh but uh yeah, so we we do alot in this space, um, and a
(26:44):
little bit to your point arounduh how we're we're leveraging
AI, there's a lot we're doing inalgorithms to make sure that
we're we're actually looking atthe patterns, where the patterns
of how people are calling, wherethe patterns of how messages are
coming through, and picking upwhere there are scammers.
That's that's been pretty frontof mind for us.
We do a lot of work in thatspace.
Um, and uh equally we we havelike we have big pond email.
(27:08):
I think you probably have a fewof your commerce that have big
pond email.
We do a fair bit in that spaceas well.
As you can imagine, it's a bitlike whack-a-mole.
Um, every time you kind of getgood at it, someone else figures
out a way around it andconstantly kind of navigating
through it.
But there's a lot that we do inthat space for customers and uh
has proven to be prettyeffective.
Um no doubt over time we'regonna have to continue to evolve
(27:29):
that.
And there are other elements ofhow we're looking at helping
build trust in the way that youyou call.
So coming back to like whatcapabilities can we expose from
the network, is there a way forus to be able to represent um
branding in partnership withApple?
So if Commonwealth Bank callsyou, it's got a Commonwealth
Bank little sign on it, you knowthat it's actually your bank
(27:49):
calling.
Um, and so we'll continue tobuild more of that capability
out because I think that trust,as much as filtering and getting
rid of this the spam callers,also making sure that if someone
is calling you presentpretending to be an organization
that you have a relationshipwith, they are exactly who they
say they are, is so important.
So that'll be a really core partof what we do moving forward and
(28:10):
has been a core tenet of whatwe've kind of approached over
the last um, yeah.
I think cleaner pipes has beenan initiative we had in the play
for the last four or five years.
SPEAKER_01 (28:18):
Who are the bad guys?
Are they are they all offshoreor are there local um bad actors
as well?
SPEAKER_00 (28:24):
Oh look, uh I would say um there's definitely local
bad actors, but if you look atthe threat landscape, I think a
lot of them are offshore um uhfrom a variety of different
places.
So um yeah, yeah, it's uh it'sit's not centered in a
particular country.
You'll hear a lot of noise aboutparticular countries, and no
doubt there are bad actorswithin them.
But um I I would say that thosethreats landscapes, those bad
(28:46):
guys, come from um all over theplace.
SPEAKER_01 (28:49):
So uh beyond what we've already talked about, are
there are there any kind of keytips you would share with small
businesses to improve theircyber resilience?
What are what are the kind ofthree things they should be
focusing on?
SPEAKER_00 (28:59):
Yeah, I would say um find a cyber warden, as um silly
as that may sound, but but findsomeone in your organization
that maybe has a bit of apassion for this and can stay
close to what needs to be up todate, um, staying close to
essential eight um is is reallyimportant and I'd kind of put
that person on point to do that.
And secondly, I think um to mypoint earlier, just spend a day
(29:21):
every six months doing a bit ofan audit.
Do we have our backups in place?
Are we up to date on um onthings like uh software updates?
Uh do we have the rightpermissions in place?
I I know that sounds reallysimple, but um it's it's really
important hygiene, and it'sreally easy to drop that
discipline.
Um coming back to my pointaround um you know, a couple of
(29:44):
people leaving the company umand just forgetting to remove
their access, like the basicstuff like that.
Um that doesn't necessarily meanthey will do bad by you, but um
if they're exposed in any way,if they're vulnerable, if
someone compromises theiraccount, uh they're walking
through the front door if you'resmall.
Business.
SPEAKER_01 (30:00):
So and potentially in a lot of small businesses
too, there could be sort ofshared passwords to social media
accounts and it's not a goodidea.
SPEAKER_00 (30:08):
Totally, just password hygiene, that type of
thing, right?
Like it's just, it's it'sreally, really important.
Um and it's simple, but if youif you maintain that discipline,
if you're doing audits everykind of six months, I think
you'll be in a really good spot.
And if you've got someone inyour organization that is
keeping that front of mind, umit's a it's a pretty
straightforward thing to keep upwith.
Um equally, I think a lot ofyour sourcing decisions, like
(30:30):
you're not alone in that, right?
Like you yet again, your laptopsare gonna update and have the
latter software.
Everybody's got an incentive inkeeping each other secure.
And so as long as you'reupdating your software, updating
your operating systems, um,you'll be in a pretty good
place.
And and yet again, it's justdiscipline and hygiene that's
really easy to drop.
And so if you're kind of keepingthat front of mind, you know,
it's a pretty easy thing tomaintain.
SPEAKER_01 (30:51):
Okay.
Um, so I guess more generally, Imean, what are some of the
shifts you're seeing in how weall use technology and what is
that impact, or what is theimpact of that on the kind of
connectivity we're going to needinto the future?
SPEAKER_00 (31:05):
Yeah, I think uh we're definitely seeing an
increasingly um strong relianceon connectivity.
So if you think about uh, andit's actually a pretty common
one, if you think about just thetransition that a lot of small
businesses would have gonethrough for things like point of
sale and um just uh you know,like F Plus payments, F F Plus
(31:26):
terminals, a lot of that stuffis connected now, right?
And so I think um the relianceon connectivity to be able to
perform your trade on a dailybasis is a lot higher.
Um, and when it goes wrong, um,it can be pretty detrimental,
right?
That's really front of mind forus as an organization, making
sure that we get it right forcustomers, but also um
acknowledging that some not, youknow, as much as we'd like it to
(31:50):
be, not every network isfoolproof at times they go down.
So, how do we make sure thatwhen we offer solutions to
customers, we can offerresiliency and backup to make
sure that they're not impacted?
Um, great examples of that, Ithink, are you know, for me,
it's been like food traders, uh,you know, food vans.
Um, if that connectivity goesdown, their days go on.
(32:11):
Like how many people carry cash?
It's not there anymore, right?
So for us, um what's really beenfront of mind is obviously
putting the resiliency and theinvestment into our network to
be able to support that, both onmobile and fixed, but also
looking at how we bring um newnetwork partnerships in that add
an additional level ofresiliency.
So a good example of that iswe've had a partnership with
Starlink for the last year and ahalf, I think it's been now.
(32:34):
That's been amazing becausewe've offered better
connectivity into regionalAustralia, which I'm super
passionate about.
But um if you think about it inthe context of um cell traders,
people that um need thatresilience in key moments, like
a food truck at a um sportingevent, um, being able to offer
that on demand is somethingwe're looking at.
Like, can we do that as abackup, right?
You sure it might cost you alittle bit extra for the day,
(32:56):
but that peace of mind and onthe resilience is important.
So there's a bit that we'redoing around that that's been
really important.
We're also bit embedding more ofthat capability into phones.
So um in that partnership, um,earlier this year we uh
announced, I think it was inJuly, a partnership with SpaceX,
so same crew, but um embeddinguh text messaging uh through the
(33:18):
same satellite coverage.
So if you're out of um coveragefrom a Telstra perspective, we
we we do a lot.
I think we, you know, not toomuch of a sales pitch.
I think we cover a million moresquare kilometers than our
competitors.
But when you think about thatfrom a um not population
coverage, but just landcoverage, it's it's still about
40% of the country, right?
We we live in a very bigcountry.
And so um what's important in inthat sense is that you've got
(33:42):
that peace of mind that whenyou're out of that coverage
area, you're able to still senda text message.
Um, and if you speak to farmers,people that are out in the
regions that live in areas whereyou have those black plots, in
some circumstances that's thedifference of life and death to
make it really extreme.
So for us, it's about um yes,that connectivity is is
increasingly important almost bythe minute.
(34:03):
And um there's a lot ofinvestment we put into our own
networks, but there's a lot ofwork we're doing in bringing
other networks together toreally make that as robust as
possible for customers androbust as possible for small
businesses so they're not losingvaluable time and productivity
of their people needing to dowhat they need to do for their
for their customers.
SPEAKER_01 (34:19):
Yeah.
Now, Nathan, you're on the boardof Muru D, Telstra's startup
incubator.
So, what what innovations areyou seeing emerging from
startups?
Is there anything um interestingyou'd like to share with our
audience?
SPEAKER_00 (34:30):
Yeah, I actually one of the things I've been super
passionate about and and some ofthe investment we have as part
of Muru D is the agri techsector.
And so really looking at howtechnology can help on the
agriculture side.
A lot of that has to do with umsensors, elements of what's
happening in different landparcels or or close to crops and
different aspects there.
(34:50):
And so I think technology has anincredible opportunity to be
able to continue to solve that,and that that that's kind of
booming.
So that's been super impressive.
Um, yeah, I I think we'llcontinue to see some pretty
innovative um AI-based startups.
Obviously, there's a lot of whatwe hear on these like really,
really big companies like OpenAIthat are building out these
(35:11):
large language models.
But um, for me, it's moreinteresting in terms of how
they're applying AI.
Um, and so I'm excited about thepotential of what that means and
the startups that kind of comeoff the back of that.
Um, and and similarly, thatthat'll be applied in all areas
like agri tech.
SPEAKER_01 (35:27):
So um for me that comes back to your point about
connectivity, right?
Because ultimately you you can'troll out technology in a in a
field in the the back of darkerSouth Australia if you if you
don't have that connectivity.
SPEAKER_00 (35:40):
Yeah, spot on, spot on.
So um I think there's a reallystrong, we're really excited
about the potential in thatfuture.
But coming back to a little bitof our strategy, um, we're
really excited about theopportunity to partner with
organizations like that tounlock the power of our network
for um for our customers, butdoing it in partnership with
with small startups.
So part of that is our Meridianum startup incubation program.
(36:01):
Um, part of that is actuallyjust the partner ecosystem we're
trying to develop and looking athow we work with those startups
to be able to build cool newthings on top of our network,
which is super exciting.
SPEAKER_01 (36:10):
Excellent.
Well, we'll watch the space andsee see what comes out of that.
Um now now it's great having youhere in Canberra.
Um how do you think Canberra'sbusiness community can keep up
and best prepare to staycompetitive and secure in in a
fast-changing digital world?
SPEAKER_00 (36:25):
It's a great question.
I think um I've been surprised,and that's that's not um that's
no slight in Canberra, but sincemoving back to Canberra, um I've
been surprised at the amount ofkind of digital infrastructure,
smaller startups we have here.
Um and and that was probably alittle bit of um moving away
from Canberra back in 2010 andand not saying a lot of it at
(36:49):
the time, but um there is a hugeamount of uh digital agencies.
Like I said, I mean you've gotone on the floor, but um I've
got mates of two or threedigital agencies here, and
they're not just doing thingslike um basic digital marketing,
they're building applications,they're selling those into
government as much as they'reselling it across Australia.
So I think um there is this likegrowing industry of business
(37:11):
here that is really orientatedaround technology in Canberra,
not associated with governmentand defence, which is super
rewarding.
Um I also like the fact that umwe have, you know, things like
the Chamber of Commerce, right?
And that what I love aboutCanberra, and you see this in
pockets of irrespective of thetype of organizations, they tend
to band together.
(37:31):
They don't really see themselvesas necessarily competing against
each other for the most part.
It almost feels like there's abit of a Canberra versus the
world sentiment.
Um, and I I love that, right?
I think there's so much in howyou can share insights.
Um, you know, even for us as astelcos, um, the best part of
being able to go to different umconferences around technology
(37:52):
isn't just understanding aboutthe technology.
I'd say it's probably the bestpart is getting to hang out with
peers and share some insights.
And so for me, when I thinkabout the opportunity for
Canberra business, um, it is youknow, how do how do we band
together?
How do we build a strong uh youknow pipeline of kind of
different businesses focused ondifferent industry?
And how do we um build thatculture of kind of sharing
(38:13):
insights and working together?
Um, that that's so important,right?
Particularly in the technologyspace.
So you know, the work that youand the commerce do, the
champion of commerce do isincredible to kind of help
cultivate that.
Um I just think more of that forme.
Um, and it creates a really nicelittle ecosystem, a really nice
little environment for people tobe in.
And um, yeah, that sharing ofinsights is just so important.
SPEAKER_01 (38:34):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you're going to come andjoin us for an event in March
next year, that's March 2026,not too far away, to talk about
some of these issues withmembers, right?
So that's absolutely part ofthat um uh caring and sharing
community that we're trying tobuild here.
SPEAKER_00 (38:49):
Yeah, look, I can't wait.
And um, yet again, uh a proudCanberra boy, um, but love
seeing Canberra on the worldstage.
So um, in any way, if I cancontribute to help small
businesses kind of navigatethings like data AI, um navigate
things like cybersecurity, orjust insights on what we do and
how it could help theirbusiness.
Um, that's just uh yeah,something that I'm really,
(39:11):
really passionate about.
SPEAKER_01 (39:12):
Excellent.
Well, Nathan Gumley, thank youso much for joining us today on
the Canberra Business Podcast.
It's been a really insightfulconversation, some really
valuable commentary, I think,there for the business
community.
Um, I'll look forward to seeingyou in March uh for our panel
conversation.
Um uh, but until then, um have ahave a great rest of the year.
Thanks, Matt.
Thanks for joining us.
Um, I'm Greg Harford, this isthe Canber Business Podcast, and
(39:34):
I've been talking to NathanGumley, the group owner,
strategy and transformation uhfor Telstra.
Don't forget to follow us onyour favourite podcast platform
for future episodes of theCanber Business Podcast.
I'll catch you next time.
Hello and welcome to the Canberra Business Podcast.
I'm Greg Harford from theCanberra Business Chamber, and
today we're going to explore howtechnology, innovation, and
connectivity come together toempower businesses around
Canberra and the region.
I'm joined today by NathanGumley, the group owner of
strategy and transformation forTelstra's product and technology
division, which includessoftware engineering, asset
(00:30):
management, and data andartificial intelligence.
Nathan, great to have you here.
Welcome to the podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (00:35):
Yeah, stoked to be here.
SPEAKER_01 (00:37):
Now today we're going to talk about the future
of business.
We're going to talk about howTelstra's enabling technology as
you see it, from AI tocybersecurity and everything in
between.
But I guess let's just sort ofstart at the beginning.
How long have you been atTelstra and what is your role
encompass?
SPEAKER_00 (00:55):
I think I've been at Telstra for 12 years now, so
it's been a while.
My role encompasses strategy,transformation, planning,
commercial.
A lot of that centered aroundour, yeah, like you said,
software engineering, uh, dotAI, as well as our um product
groups.
So the products that we take tomarket for customers.
Yeah.
And you're based right here inCanberra, right?
Based here in Canberra, yep.
(01:16):
Uh Canberra native was born andbred, spent a bit of time
overseas and up in Sydney, butuh moved back a few years ago
and loving it.
Yeah, it's a great place.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
Well, look, I mean, let's let's talk a little bit
about Telstra.
Now I think many people probablythink of Telstra only as a
telecoms company selling retailmobile plans.
Um perhaps some people stillthink about Telstra as being the
old the old post office, even.
But um Nathan, you you leadstrategy and transformation.
What does that mean for you inyour everyday role and and what
(01:46):
have you been transformingstrategically?
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
Yeah, so I I mean strategy is pretty
straightforward, and and I thinkum you're probably not too far
off the mark when it comes toactually how people think about
um Telstra, but actually reallywhat we want to be known for.
I think uh a lot of telcosglobally had gone through a bit
of an identity crisis, for lackof a better term, around wanting
to be something more than atelco.
(02:09):
Um and I don't think Telstraactually was that dissimilar to
that extent.
Um we launched a new strategyback in June of this year, and a
really big focus for us isactually getting back to um
connectivity, but really lookingat how we evolve connectivity
for customers to solve uh newproblems as well as you know,
obviously our role in kind ofsupporting that um digital
adoption of tools.
(02:31):
So my role uh yeah, certainly iskind of developing part of that
strategy, but when you look atthe transformation, actually,
big part of the transformationwork I lead is actually changing
how we do work at Telstra, um,and obviously that that showing
through in the products that wetake to customers.
Um, and when it comes to thingslike data AI, cybersecurity,
even the way that we um developsoftware at Telstra, uh, there's
(02:52):
a really big transformationelement to changing how we do
it, uh, which is uh yeah, a corepart of my job and um super
rewarding.
SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
Yeah.
So um you talk aboutconnectivity.
Uh connectivity of what?
SPEAKER_00 (03:04):
Yeah, um connectivity of um a variety of
different things.
I think uh connectivity uhhistorically, like to your
point, has been um uh wow, it itwas fixed infrastructure, right?
It was your office, it was yourhouse, um, and then obviously
evolved into mobile.
Um but since then we've seen uha huge proliferation of of
things that are connected.
Um, you know, that started withthings like traffic lights and a
(03:25):
lot of the infrastructure thatwe um support for uh different
councils and cities across thecountry.
Um but more frequently you'reseeing um other things
connected, uh cars is obviouslyprobably the thing that's most
relevant for a lot of people.
I think I was I was in SanFrancisco last week and I've
been there a lot as part of myjob, which is very you know very
fortunate.
(03:46):
I think there's probably moreTeslas on the road here in
Canberra than there would be inSan Francisco.
It kind of feels like that justthe the um percentage of cars on
the road, it it's it's prettyimpressive.
And if you look at somethinglike a Tesla, those cars have
been connected.
Our SIM cards actually sitinside those cars.
That um helps provide featuresfor people that are driving the
(04:06):
cars.
But for uh a lot of companies,it actually helps them have
diagnostics on the cars thathelps them understand how they
can better service the cars, um,be more proactive in the way
that they manage the cars onbehalf of customers.
So um, you know, logistics is asimilar thing.
When you're looking at trucks,you know, you get a parcel
delivered to your door, you cankind of see where that is,
depending on who the particulardelivery company is.
(04:28):
And um, that's a lot ofconnectivity that's supporting
that.
So when you think about the roleof connectivity over time, and
it's it's actually fundamentallychanging um where that
connectivity is.
And I think a big part of ourstrategy moving forward is um
the role that connectivity playsand some of what our network can
do in helping customers withother problems.
Um good examples of that are weum have uh some you know an
(04:51):
incredible wealth of data interms of what's happening on our
networks.
Um we've worked quite closelywith CBA around fraud recently.
And you know, one of the keythings that they really struggle
to in terms of just visibilityof data sets is um fraud as a
result of um someone porting amobile phone or activity of a
scam caller calling a particularcustomer.
(05:12):
Now that's a very useful datapoint for a bank.
Absolutely.
And if we can expose that, whichwhich we do in partnership with
the CBA, um the CBA can get asense of how risky is a
particular transaction, right?
They have their view, but ifthey can see that a scam caller
has contacted a customer in thelast 30 minutes and in
subsequently they see atransaction on a uh CBA bank
(05:33):
account, that that's a reallyhigh-risk transaction, right?
And so they can they can preventthat.
So for us over time, I think wesee that the role of the network
helping solve other problems forcustomers, but doing it from the
place of connectivity as opposedto say, I think in the past
where some telcos have eventried to be a bank.
So um we're really excited aboutthe potential of that and the
potential of the network to kindof evolve and help solve new
problems.
SPEAKER_01 (05:53):
And and that that's a great example of of something
really concrete that could bereally helpful.
But are there privacy issuesthere that you need to be
conscious of?
SPEAKER_00 (06:01):
Oh, uh there absolutely is, and and we we
spent a lot of time on that.
And um I would say a lot ofthose data sets can be kind of
anonymous, right?
In terms of uh the way that wewe share data.
So that's really front andcentre for us is making sure
that um we're there, that theconsent from a customer
perspective is there.
That's always really importantwhen we think about things like
data.
Um, but certainly in terms ofthe capability and the network
(06:23):
helping solve those new types ofproblems.
I think I think um yeah, thatthere's huge, huge kind of
opportunity there for sure.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (06:29):
And is AI part of the mix as you're kind of
looking at those sorts ofservices?
SPEAKER_00 (06:33):
Uh yeah, I I think there is, um I mean, not for us
in that we necessarily takeservices to market.
I think uh everybody, and andyou know, I'm sure you've seen
it, everybody starts to have anAI story about how their
products and services are AIenabled.
That that's probably the keything for us is how do we um
leverage and harness the valueof AI in terms of improving our
(06:54):
products.
Um, but but I also think a corepart of that for us is um back
to that transformation element.
How is AI helping us be betterat just what we do in terms of
delivering connectivity forAustralians?
Um and so, yeah, but you know,in a similar vein, and I think
we'll talk to a bit of a bit ofit today, that data, the way
that you manage data in yourcompany is someone so important
(07:15):
because um, particularly as wemove into this notion of agentic
AI, where AI is kind ofautonomous and you're able to
allow it to do a particulartask.
If you're not managing,flagging, structuring your data
properly, that can go prettypear-shaped very quickly.
SPEAKER_01 (07:30):
Absolutely.
Now, Telstra is obviously a bigcompany, a very big company.
Um, how do you see AI as beingrelevant and relatable for um
business across the board,particularly I guess at the
smaller end of town?
SPEAKER_00 (07:43):
Oh, I I think it's um it's it's it's a massive
opportunity.
Uh we have been on this journeyfor probably the better part of
the last three or four years.
But there's a lot of things thatI say and what we do in Telstra
that are applicable to smallbusiness.
I'm super fortunate.
Um both mum, dad, and my brotherrun small businesses, um, which
is great.
So, and a lot of friends here inCanberra do as well.
(08:06):
Um, but that there are elementsof uh capability we use at
Telstra, um simple examples likeMicrosoft Copilot that are part
of or earn an add-onsubscription to what most I
think small businesses here inCanberra would be using in
Microsoft 365, or alternativelythe Google equivalent in G Suite
with uh Gemini.
And that um gives you uh apretty safe way to kind of enter
(08:29):
into how you start to leverageAI.
Um, some of that I think youknow we were speaking last time
we met.
Um, some of that's just around,you know, kind of simple
document generation and writinga document.
But I think what's been superimpressive, and I actually spent
a bit of time with Jared, who'sthe uh chief marketing officer
for AI at work at Microsoftyesterday, and he was showing me
some of the new capabilitythat's coming down the line.
(08:51):
You know, the ability todescribe what you want in a
PowerPoint presentation and haveuh AI generate pretty much
end-to-end that entirePowerPoint presentation is
pretty impressive.
So there are elements I think ofhow we'll see basic work tools
kind of support things that weuse every day, kind of help
improve the productivity, theoutput of a lot of employees.
(09:11):
Over time, I think what we'llalso start to say or seeing
already is where you havespecific work tools, things like
MYOB, accounting software,you'll start to see AI features
embedded in there as well.
And so, yet again, that thatwon't mean that, hey, I don't
need to run my books anymore,but I do think it'll mean that
um you're able to run that a lotmore efficiently and you'll just
be able to leverage your timebetter.
(09:31):
And for us in in areas likesoftware um engineering, that
hasn't been a conversationaround, you know, hey, we we
want less software engineers tobe very clear.
Really, for us, that's justimproving the amount of output
we can do.
Really, it's how do we get moreout for our customers?
How do we better serve ourcustomers by giving our software
engineers more capability to dotheir job?
(09:52):
And and we're we're seeing somepretty remarkable results there.
In some circumstances, um, wecan have a senior engineer, and
with the AI tooling that we havetoday, it's like the equivalent
of having four junior engineerssupporting them at the same
time.
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
Um that's a fantastic productivity benefit.
SPEAKER_00 (10:07):
Yeah, yeah, fantastic productivity benefit.
And and I think how you chooseto harness that uh for your
business is entirely up to you.
But the key thing for us wasreally um it's a it's it's a
really interesting culturalstory, right, around adoption.
Um, and I think there are reallycoming back to my original point
around things like um GoogleSuite and Microsoft 365, there
(10:29):
are a really safe ways to kindof enter into that void for your
staff and give them anopportunity to play around and
give them an opportunity to kindof learn and and start to take
advantage of it safely, which isimportant.
SPEAKER_01 (10:42):
Uh so let's talk about safety because that's
obviously a a real risk.
Um, you know, there's uh there'ssome great tools out there that
can be used to driveproductivity.
Uh, we're in an increasinglydigital world, everything's
connected, uh, you've got thesenew AI tools coming in, but but
what are the risks if businessesget it wrong, do you think?
SPEAKER_00 (11:02):
Yeah, I uh I mean we've we've seen a lot of that,
right?
I think um in some circumstancesuh it can be things like data
breaches.
Um and uh you know there's beenbig big companies recently kind
of exposed by that.
Equally that that's down tosmaller companies as well,
right?
Um and I think on average, uhlike a cyber or data breach for
a small business costs about$50,000.
(11:24):
Um, that ransomware activity,right?
Like, hey, I've got your datanot deployed unless you give me
a chunk of cash, that that'sthat's a real thing.
So um, you know, it's it'sreally, really important to be
able to make sure that um yourdata stays with you, your your
customer data, what's importantto your business stays with you.
Equally, I think back to mypoint, as we start to see the
role of um agentic AI, where youhave um AI performing a
(11:48):
particular task autonomouslywith you know some form of human
oversight, um, the risk there isthat it kind of does the wrong
thing.
Um and uh that could becustomer-facing in in some
circumstances.
Uh I've even had experiences ofthat recently where you, you
know, because there is just somuch capability behind the AI
(12:09):
itself, you can get into somereally interesting
conversations.
Um, probably conversations thatare fun if you're mucking around
with at 11 o'clock at night, butmaybe not a conversation that
you would want an AI that'srepresenting your business
having with a customer.
And so it's just uh over time, Ithink that and and what's been
really key to us is theresponsible AI element of making
sure that we've got theobservability on any AI in our
(12:30):
company, that we've got theright data structures in place,
that it's accessing the rightdata, that it's not accessing
the wrong data.
That type of thing is really,really important because I think
over time, particularly if youleave these types of things
unintended, like unattendedwithout the oversight, they can
kind of run amok and do theirown thing, right?
So um I think that that forsmall businesses as much as it's
(12:50):
big businesses like Telstra willbecome something that we've got
to be really conscious of andmake sure that we've got the
right oversight in place becauseif you don't, it can go pretty
perfect.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:59):
And and you talk about customer-facing a gentic
AI, and certainly there's someamazing technology being
developed.
Are we seeing it at Telstra yet?
If you're a Telstra customer,are you ringing a call center
and talking to it talking to arobot?
SPEAKER_00 (13:11):
No, not yet.
Um, not in that sense.
Uh over time, I think there'llthere'll be opportunities to do
that, but um yet again that thecultural aspect of this is
actually going to be reallyimportant.
Um, and we have had uh uh Iguess simpler forms of AI in our
messaging services.
I think everybody's probablyengaged with some form of
chatbot on a particular websitewhere you've got um some pretty
(13:34):
basic answers, right?
Where you get a bit frustratedand say, I just want to speak to
a person.
I think um a lot of thecapability we're deploying is
making that a lot lessfrustrating because they're a
lot better at managing customerinquiries in different contexts.
Um, but what's really importantfor us is actually being very
clear with customers.
Hey, you are speaking to an AIchatboard, right?
(13:55):
You are speaking to someone thatis not a human.
So that's very clear.
Um, having spent a bit of timelast week at uh Salesforce
conference in San Francisco, I Iwould say not all companies take
that notion.
And in fact, they're kind of atthe point where they feel like,
hey, we just want this to be anexperience where you don't
really know and you don't reallycare.
Um so it's that that advanced inthe States?
(14:16):
Um I wouldn't know, I wouldn'tsay it's necessarily that the
technology is that advanced,it's it's actually how you
choose to put in front of yourcustomers, right?
It's the culture of it.
Um I think you know, inAustralian culture, it's it for
me at least, it feels like it'sa pretty important thing to say,
hey, you're speaking to someonethat's not a human.
And if you'd like to speak to ahuman, we can we can help you
with that as well.
Um certainly what I what I sawlast week is that is a little
(14:38):
bit to your point though, thatis definitely heading into that
realm of um you will be callingorganizations in the next few
years and you'll be speaking tosomeone that's like a Siri or a
um you know a Google equivalentin um their assistant as well.
So that that will be a thingthat kind of comes down the
line.
Um so yeah, it'll beinteresting.
Yeah, we'll see see how it goes.
SPEAKER_01 (14:59):
Um so for small businesses, um you know what
what guardrails do you thinkthey should be putting in place
to protect data and and businessoperations and what do they need
to be doing to upskill theirteams?
SPEAKER_00 (15:10):
Yeah, I think um it's really interesting, right?
Back to my point previously, alot of the way of um how you
manage navigating AI in futureand the data component isn't
that dissimilar to um a lot ofwhat we've been working with uh
the Small Business Chamber ofCommerce, I think, and and some
of the advocacy work inAustralia um around
cybersecurity and essential aid.
(15:31):
It's really important tounderstand what assets you have.
Um is similar to physical assetsfor a small business.
Digital assets are reallyimportant.
Where is your data?
Where is it stored?
Um what we've also found andwhat you have access to with a
lot of the capabilities likeGoogle Suite and Microsoft 365
is you can tag differentdocuments as well.
The tagging of information interms of, and I think for a lot
(15:54):
of camparians you probably getused to it because uh you know
you get an email from someone inthe public service that gives
you a classification of theemail.
That tagging's really importantdown to a data level.
Um, if you've got a Worddocument that is generally
available and you've got AItooling, it it will index and
search what's in that documentand it will serve results,
right?
So um the the key structure weput in place is being really
(16:17):
clear on where our data is,really clear on um the tagging
and the availability whereyou're choosing to expose that
data.
And then I think yet again backto some of the cyber security
essentials, like making surethat your systems are up to
date, like basic hygiene stuff.
It's it seems simple, but umit's so important.
It's just so important.
SPEAKER_01 (16:38):
Yeah, so let's jump on to cybersecurity in a moment.
But before we do, let me justask you about the um the the
what you know what is involvedin making sure your data is
being tagged and filedappropriately and all the rest
of it for a small business.
Um, you know, if you're a soletrader or perhaps you just got a
couple of people in your team,how big a commitment is that?
(16:58):
It's obviously important, butbut but how manageable is that?
SPEAKER_00 (17:02):
It's pretty it's actually pretty manageable.
And and yet again that thatcomes back to just some of the
features that are embedded intothese tools.
So um, yeah, if you if you'reusing Microsoft 365 and you've
got the right level ofsubscription, immediately you
can start tagging those files,right?
So if you've got a sensitivedocument, tag it under
confidential.
If you've got a set somethingthat you don't want shared or
you've got permissionrestrictions on, it actually
(17:24):
pretty simply allows you to setthat type of restriction up.
Um so I think that feature setin terms of a lot of the tools
is um a lot easier.
I think the other one that'sreally important in that is just
making sure that you're managingyour permissions.
So if you've got someone thatworked with you and has left for
whatever reason, making surethat you're actually removing
(17:44):
them from whatever tools youhave is really, really
important.
Um and that permissionrestriction, making sure that
the right people only haveaccess to the right data in your
company is also very important.
Um, that's important in thecontext of also in a scenario
where an account coming back toa little bit to cybersecurity is
jeopardized, you know thatthere's only a certain amount of
people that have access to data,and so you're kind of
(18:05):
restricting the vulnerability byway of just really tightly
controlling that.
But but I do think that ispretty simple in terms of where
those features are and howpeople like Microsoft and Google
are actually embedding it intotheir tools.
Um, and then that basic hygieneof just making sure the right
people in your company haveaccess to the right things,
pretty straightforward as well.
SPEAKER_01 (18:25):
All right, well, let's let's talk about
cybersecurity.
We're recording this in October2025.
It's Cybersecurity Month andindeed Small Business Month in
New South Wales.
But you know, cyber threats areevolving rapidly.
Um, what are the biggest risksfacing businesses and small
businesses today?
SPEAKER_00 (18:42):
Yeah, I I think um a little bit back to kind of what
we were talking about before,that that threat landscape is
evolving pretty quickly, doesn'tstay very static.
Um when we look atcybersecurity, I think uh really
what our key concerns are kindof just scams, malicious calls,
emails, websites.
Um the approaches different badactors are taking in that space
(19:07):
are fundamentally changing,right?
So obviously, I think a lot ofus would be pretty familiar with
phishing emails and differentaspects of how we have exploits
there, but um we are findingthat the threat landscape is
changing pretty materially.
And so what's been reallyimportant for us is um working
quite closely with uh smallbusiness councils, um, people
(19:28):
like the the Australiangovernment as well, around
things like Essential 8, becausethe principles to my point
earlier, around the kind of thediscipline and hygiene of what
you need to do actually it stillhold true and are quite
effective against even the newthreats that we're seeing in
that space.
And so there's a lot of workthat we've been doing on that
framework.
But for us, um yet again, it'sit's kind of looking at how we
(19:51):
can help that.
And I think a really core partof the way that um small
business is approaching it andlinked to that essential aid
program is the notion of cyberwardens, a little bit like you
know, a first aid warden or asafety warden.
For small business, that's soimportant is there's someone in
your organization that can stayreally close to what's happening
in the cybersecurity space thatcan be really kind of front of
mind and making sure that you'reholding that discipline.
(20:12):
I think that's a reallyeffective way in small business
to be able to manage that asopposed to you know um needing
to put a lot of overhead inplace to try and um manage those
threats.
So um that cyber warden approachI think um seems to resonate
quite well with small businessand isn't a massive overhead
when you think about um theimpact or the um yeah, just the
amount of time that might takeout of your day.
SPEAKER_01 (20:34):
Yeah, absolutely.
Um now you talk about theessential eight, there'll be uh
some people who are fully acrossthat, but um, do you want to
just give us a bit of anoverview of of what that is?
Um essentially eight eightthings you've really got to be
focused on are aroundcybersecurity, right?
SPEAKER_00 (20:47):
Yeah, eight things.
Um and so yeah, yet again, thisis like it sounds like um
something that's quite complex,but um it is a little bit like
making sure you're taking yourvitamins and eating your
vegetables and that and thatapplying to security, right?
So when you look at um what thatmeans, you're effectively
focused on do I have the rightpermissions for my organization?
(21:08):
A little bit to my point beforearound the availability of data.
Um am I managing passwordseffectively?
So do I have a really strongkind of password um process for
my organization?
Am I forcing and making surethat people are um changing
their passwords, that thecomplexity of the passwords is
enough that you can um managethose more effectively?
(21:30):
When it comes to um yoursoftware, making sure your
software is up to date.
Um that uh might sound like asimple thing, but actually you'd
be surprised, especially aswe've gone away.
In places like Telstra as well,and we go and do audits, um,
that can be a pretty trickything.
Um and so I think it's probablya little bit easier for small
business because the scope ofyour digital assets probably
(21:51):
isn't as big.
But um that's that's really,really important.
Um that equally applies to umnot just uh like an application
you might have, also youroperating system.
So making sure that you knowyou're on Windows 11 with the
latest batches or you're on theequivalent on the Mac side of
things or the Chromebook side ofthings.
Um making sure that you've gotuh administrative privileges
(22:15):
limited, so yet again, you don'thave everybody with
administrative privileges ableto kind of manage and um or or
mismanage elements of whatyou're doing.
And and and that isn'tnecessarily to say that um
everybody's a threat inside yourorganization, you're absolutely
not, but um, you're minimizingyour exposure if only the right
people have admin privileges,because on the scenario that one
(22:37):
of them is compromised, it's alot better if um you don't have
20 people in your organizationwho all have admin privileges,
that's two, your exposure is alot smaller.
Um in terms of kind of uh userapplication hardening, so just
making sure that um on some ofyour applications that they're
not exposed, they don't havevulnerabilities.
(22:57):
Yet again, for small businesses,that's probably just making sure
you're kind of a little bit moreup-to-date on your software
side.
Um for uh some of the I think inhere you've probably got a
digital agency down the otherend of the hallway where they're
building custom applications,it's their responsibility to do
that.
And so if you are sourcingcustom applications, it is a
good thing to make sure that umwho you're partnering with,
(23:18):
where you're sourcing that fromis effectively hardened, that
there's not vulnerabilitiesthrough there because those
applications run in yourenvironments, and if they're in
your networks, it's a little bitlike leaving a window open or a
door open to your home.
Um and then the the last one,which I think is pretty
straightforward for or the lastcouple is um maintaining regular
backups.
So backups of your data makesure that you've got that in a
(23:40):
safe place and that you're doingthat frequently.
And then the last one, which iskind of building on that
password policy side of things,is making sure you've got
multi-factor authentication umenabled.
And um that's that's reallyimportant, right?
I think we're probably fortunatein Australia that COVID drove a
lot of multi-factorauthentication awareness and
engagement um across the countryas we kind of drove to more of a
(24:02):
digital adoption, navigating thedifficulties of COVID.
But um, equally it's reallyimportant for your organization
to make sure that, hey, if I'mlogging in, um I've got some
form of multi-factorauthentication tool out the
other side.
Um, yet again, it's somethingthat uh Microsoft and Google do
natively.
And so if you're on those typesof workplace application suites,
(24:23):
um that that should be there asa feature that you can turn on.
And then for some of your otherapplications, you can make that
decision based off um thesensitivity of the data that's
in there.
But I think you would findtypically a lot of like similar
to you know like uh Zero, NYOB,they're starting to implement
those capabilities as well.
Um and and it might seem like abit of a pain, right?
(24:43):
That you have to go and findyour phone and press a button to
say yes, it's me.
Um but it's very important.
Very important.
SPEAKER_01 (24:50):
Um you talk about the importance of regular
backups as well.
Now, um there'll be plenty ofbusinesses who who think that
they have this covered becausethey've they've got all their
content in the cloud.
Is that enough?
Or do you do you recommend kindof taking actual backups as
well?
SPEAKER_00 (25:04):
Um no, I think I think cloud-based backups are
effective.
Um obviously, if you want todouble down on that, local
backups are good as well.
Um think that um it's probablyan interesting thing to audit
that if you're in a smallbusiness and go of the data I
have, do I have full coverage onmy backups?
(25:26):
Because you might have it onyour phone, you might have it on
your laptop, but do you have itfor the particular application?
And if you look at some of theapplications we're using today,
a lot of them have moved tocloud-based applications.
Um and so as part of yourdescription, do you have those
backups?
Do they have them in the rightplaces?
I think um an audit like that,like you would, you know, just
(25:47):
checking your inventory eachyear, um, is is not a bad thing
to do.
I I think just a bit of hygiene,spend a day checking, making
sure, all right, do I have abackup of this to a backup of
that?
I I'd I that's the thing I'drecommend is just going and
doing a bit of an audit everysix months, yeah.
It's probably a good thing todo.
SPEAKER_01 (26:04):
Some good advice there.
Now, um I I keep seeing adstalking about scams and the work
that Telstra's doing to stopscams.
Um uh obviously scam scams areon the rise.
Um, it's an issue um digitallywith email, it's an issue with
text messages, it's an issuewith with calls.
Um what's what's going on atTelstra to help customers?
SPEAKER_00 (26:24):
Yeah, we we have an issue called Cleaner Pipes.
Um, and so you uh you would haveseen a bit of this.
I think there's a lot of ummarketing actually.
I drove past the airport andthere was a big scam with an
orange line through it, um, andan ad with Steve Buscemi, um,
who's some form of alienoverlord trying to um scam
Australia?
Uh but uh yeah, so we we do alot in this space, um, and a
(26:44):
little bit to your point arounduh how we're we're leveraging
AI, there's a lot we're doing inalgorithms to make sure that
we're we're actually looking atthe patterns, where the patterns
of how people are calling, wherethe patterns of how messages are
coming through, and picking upwhere there are scammers.
That's that's been pretty frontof mind for us.
We do a lot of work in thatspace.
Um, and uh equally we we havelike we have big pond email.
(27:08):
I think you probably have a fewof your commerce that have big
pond email.
We do a fair bit in that spaceas well.
As you can imagine, it's a bitlike whack-a-mole.
Um, every time you kind of getgood at it, someone else figures
out a way around it andconstantly kind of navigating
through it.
But there's a lot that we do inthat space for customers and uh
has proven to be prettyeffective.
Um no doubt over time we'regonna have to continue to evolve
(27:29):
that.
And there are other elements ofhow we're looking at helping
build trust in the way that youyou call.
So coming back to like whatcapabilities can we expose from
the network, is there a way forus to be able to represent um
branding in partnership withApple?
So if Commonwealth Bank callsyou, it's got a Commonwealth
Bank little sign on it, you knowthat it's actually your bank
(27:49):
calling.
Um, and so we'll continue tobuild more of that capability
out because I think that trust,as much as filtering and getting
rid of this the spam callers,also making sure that if someone
is calling you presentpretending to be an organization
that you have a relationshipwith, they are exactly who they
say they are, is so important.
So that'll be a really core partof what we do moving forward and
(28:10):
has been a core tenet of whatwe've kind of approached over
the last um, yeah.
I think cleaner pipes has beenan initiative we had in the play
for the last four or five years.
SPEAKER_01 (28:18):
Who are the bad guys?
Are they are they all offshoreor are there local um bad actors
as well?
SPEAKER_00 (28:24):
Oh look, uh I would say um there's definitely local
bad actors, but if you look atthe threat landscape, I think a
lot of them are offshore um uhfrom a variety of different
places.
So um yeah, yeah, it's uh it'sit's not centered in a
particular country.
You'll hear a lot of noise aboutparticular countries, and no
doubt there are bad actorswithin them.
But um I I would say that thosethreats landscapes, those bad
(28:46):
guys, come from um all over theplace.
SPEAKER_01 (28:49):
So uh beyond what we've already talked about, are
there are there any kind of keytips you would share with small
businesses to improve theircyber resilience?
What are what are the kind ofthree things they should be
focusing on?
SPEAKER_00 (28:59):
Yeah, I would say um find a cyber warden, as um silly
as that may sound, but but findsomeone in your organization
that maybe has a bit of apassion for this and can stay
close to what needs to be up todate, um, staying close to
essential eight um is is reallyimportant and I'd kind of put
that person on point to do that.
And secondly, I think um to mypoint earlier, just spend a day
(29:21):
every six months doing a bit ofan audit.
Do we have our backups in place?
Are we up to date on um onthings like uh software updates?
Uh do we have the rightpermissions in place?
I I know that sounds reallysimple, but um it's it's really
important hygiene, and it'sreally easy to drop that
discipline.
Um coming back to my pointaround um you know, a couple of
(29:44):
people leaving the company umand just forgetting to remove
their access, like the basicstuff like that.
Um that doesn't necessarily meanthey will do bad by you, but um
if they're exposed in any way,if they're vulnerable, if
someone compromises theiraccount, uh they're walking
through the front door if you'resmall.
Business.
SPEAKER_01 (30:00):
So and potentially in a lot of small businesses
too, there could be sort ofshared passwords to social media
accounts and it's not a goodidea.
SPEAKER_00 (30:08):
Totally, just password hygiene, that type of
thing, right?
Like it's just, it's it'sreally, really important.
Um and it's simple, but if youif you maintain that discipline,
if you're doing audits everykind of six months, I think
you'll be in a really good spot.
And if you've got someone inyour organization that is
keeping that front of mind, umit's a it's a pretty
straightforward thing to keep upwith.
Um equally, I think a lot ofyour sourcing decisions, like
(30:30):
you're not alone in that, right?
Like you yet again, your laptopsare gonna update and have the
latter software.
Everybody's got an incentive inkeeping each other secure.
And so as long as you'reupdating your software, updating
your operating systems, um,you'll be in a pretty good
place.
And and yet again, it's justdiscipline and hygiene that's
really easy to drop.
And so if you're kind of keepingthat front of mind, you know,
it's a pretty easy thing tomaintain.
SPEAKER_01 (30:51):
Okay.
Um, so I guess more generally, Imean, what are some of the
shifts you're seeing in how weall use technology and what is
that impact, or what is theimpact of that on the kind of
connectivity we're going to needinto the future?
SPEAKER_00 (31:05):
Yeah, I think uh we're definitely seeing an
increasingly um strong relianceon connectivity.
So if you think about uh, andit's actually a pretty common
one, if you think about just thetransition that a lot of small
businesses would have gonethrough for things like point of
sale and um just uh you know,like F Plus payments, F F Plus
(31:26):
terminals, a lot of that stuffis connected now, right?
And so I think um the relianceon connectivity to be able to
perform your trade on a dailybasis is a lot higher.
Um, and when it goes wrong, um,it can be pretty detrimental,
right?
That's really front of mind forus as an organization, making
sure that we get it right forcustomers, but also um
acknowledging that some not, youknow, as much as we'd like it to
(31:50):
be, not every network isfoolproof at times they go down.
So, how do we make sure thatwhen we offer solutions to
customers, we can offerresiliency and backup to make
sure that they're not impacted?
Um, great examples of that, Ithink, are you know, for me,
it's been like food traders, uh,you know, food vans.
Um, if that connectivity goesdown, their days go on.
(32:11):
Like how many people carry cash?
It's not there anymore, right?
So for us, um what's really beenfront of mind is obviously
putting the resiliency and theinvestment into our network to
be able to support that, both onmobile and fixed, but also
looking at how we bring um newnetwork partnerships in that add
an additional level ofresiliency.
So a good example of that iswe've had a partnership with
Starlink for the last year and ahalf, I think it's been now.
(32:34):
That's been amazing becausewe've offered better
connectivity into regionalAustralia, which I'm super
passionate about.
But um if you think about it inthe context of um cell traders,
people that um need thatresilience in key moments, like
a food truck at a um sportingevent, um, being able to offer
that on demand is somethingwe're looking at.
Like, can we do that as abackup, right?
You sure it might cost you alittle bit extra for the day,
(32:56):
but that peace of mind and onthe resilience is important.
So there's a bit that we'redoing around that that's been
really important.
We're also bit embedding more ofthat capability into phones.
So um in that partnership, um,earlier this year we uh
announced, I think it was inJuly, a partnership with SpaceX,
so same crew, but um embeddinguh text messaging uh through the
(33:18):
same satellite coverage.
So if you're out of um coveragefrom a Telstra perspective, we
we we do a lot.
I think we, you know, not toomuch of a sales pitch.
I think we cover a million moresquare kilometers than our
competitors.
But when you think about thatfrom a um not population
coverage, but just landcoverage, it's it's still about
40% of the country, right?
We we live in a very bigcountry.
And so um what's important in inthat sense is that you've got
(33:42):
that peace of mind that whenyou're out of that coverage
area, you're able to still senda text message.
Um, and if you speak to farmers,people that are out in the
regions that live in areas whereyou have those black plots, in
some circumstances that's thedifference of life and death to
make it really extreme.
So for us, it's about um yes,that connectivity is is
increasingly important almost bythe minute.
(34:03):
And um there's a lot ofinvestment we put into our own
networks, but there's a lot ofwork we're doing in bringing
other networks together toreally make that as robust as
possible for customers androbust as possible for small
businesses so they're not losingvaluable time and productivity
of their people needing to dowhat they need to do for their
for their customers.
SPEAKER_01 (34:19):
Yeah.
Now, Nathan, you're on the boardof Muru D, Telstra's startup
incubator.
So, what what innovations areyou seeing emerging from
startups?
Is there anything um interestingyou'd like to share with our
audience?
SPEAKER_00 (34:30):
Yeah, I actually one of the things I've been super
passionate about and and some ofthe investment we have as part
of Muru D is the agri techsector.
And so really looking at howtechnology can help on the
agriculture side.
A lot of that has to do with umsensors, elements of what's
happening in different landparcels or or close to crops and
different aspects there.
(34:50):
And so I think technology has anincredible opportunity to be
able to continue to solve that,and that that that's kind of
booming.
So that's been super impressive.
Um, yeah, I I think we'llcontinue to see some pretty
innovative um AI-based startups.
Obviously, there's a lot of whatwe hear on these like really,
really big companies like OpenAIthat are building out these
(35:11):
large language models.
But um, for me, it's moreinteresting in terms of how
they're applying AI.
Um, and so I'm excited about thepotential of what that means and
the startups that kind of comeoff the back of that.
Um, and and similarly, thatthat'll be applied in all areas
like agri tech.
SPEAKER_01 (35:27):
So um for me that comes back to your point about
connectivity, right?
Because ultimately you you can'troll out technology in a in a
field in the the back of darkerSouth Australia if you if you
don't have that connectivity.
SPEAKER_00 (35:40):
Yeah, spot on, spot on.
So um I think there's a reallystrong, we're really excited
about the potential in thatfuture.
But coming back to a little bitof our strategy, um, we're
really excited about theopportunity to partner with
organizations like that tounlock the power of our network
for um for our customers, butdoing it in partnership with
with small startups.
So part of that is our Meridianum startup incubation program.
(36:01):
Um, part of that is actuallyjust the partner ecosystem we're
trying to develop and looking athow we work with those startups
to be able to build cool newthings on top of our network,
which is super exciting.
SPEAKER_01 (36:10):
Excellent.
Well, we'll watch the space andsee see what comes out of that.
Um now now it's great having youhere in Canberra.
Um how do you think Canberra'sbusiness community can keep up
and best prepare to staycompetitive and secure in in a
fast-changing digital world?
SPEAKER_00 (36:25):
It's a great question.
I think um I've been surprised,and that's that's not um that's
no slight in Canberra, but sincemoving back to Canberra, um I've
been surprised at the amount ofkind of digital infrastructure,
smaller startups we have here.
Um and and that was probably alittle bit of um moving away
from Canberra back in 2010 andand not saying a lot of it at
(36:49):
the time, but um there is a hugeamount of uh digital agencies.
Like I said, I mean you've gotone on the floor, but um I've
got mates of two or threedigital agencies here, and
they're not just doing thingslike um basic digital marketing,
they're building applications,they're selling those into
government as much as they'reselling it across Australia.
So I think um there is this likegrowing industry of business
(37:11):
here that is really orientatedaround technology in Canberra,
not associated with governmentand defence, which is super
rewarding.
Um I also like the fact that umwe have, you know, things like
the Chamber of Commerce, right?
And that what I love aboutCanberra, and you see this in
pockets of irrespective of thetype of organizations, they tend
to band together.
(37:31):
They don't really see themselvesas necessarily competing against
each other for the most part.
It almost feels like there's abit of a Canberra versus the
world sentiment.
Um, and I I love that, right?
I think there's so much in howyou can share insights.
Um, you know, even for us as astelcos, um, the best part of
being able to go to different umconferences around technology
(37:52):
isn't just understanding aboutthe technology.
I'd say it's probably the bestpart is getting to hang out with
peers and share some insights.
And so for me, when I thinkabout the opportunity for
Canberra business, um, it is youknow, how do how do we band
together?
How do we build a strong uh youknow pipeline of kind of
different businesses focused ondifferent industry?
And how do we um build thatculture of kind of sharing
(38:13):
insights and working together?
Um, that that's so important,right?
Particularly in the technologyspace.
So you know, the work that youand the commerce do, the
champion of commerce do isincredible to kind of help
cultivate that.
Um I just think more of that forme.
Um, and it creates a really nicelittle ecosystem, a really nice
little environment for people tobe in.
And um, yeah, that sharing ofinsights is just so important.
SPEAKER_01 (38:34):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you're going to come andjoin us for an event in March
next year, that's March 2026,not too far away, to talk about
some of these issues withmembers, right?
So that's absolutely part ofthat um uh caring and sharing
community that we're trying tobuild here.
SPEAKER_00 (38:49):
Yeah, look, I can't wait.
And um, yet again, uh a proudCanberra boy, um, but love
seeing Canberra on the worldstage.
So um, in any way, if I cancontribute to help small
businesses kind of navigatethings like data AI, um navigate
things like cybersecurity, orjust insights on what we do and
how it could help theirbusiness.
Um, that's just uh yeah,something that I'm really,
(39:11):
really passionate about.
SPEAKER_01 (39:12):
Excellent.
Well, Nathan Gumley, thank youso much for joining us today on
the Canberra Business Podcast.
It's been a really insightfulconversation, some really
valuable commentary, I think,there for the business
community.
Um, I'll look forward to seeingyou in March uh for our panel
conversation.
Um uh, but until then, um have ahave a great rest of the year.
Thanks, Matt.
Thanks for joining us.
Um, I'm Greg Harford, this isthe Canber Business Podcast, and
(39:34):
I've been talking to NathanGumley, the group owner,
strategy and transformation uhfor Telstra.
Don't forget to follow us onyour favourite podcast platform
for future episodes of theCanber Business Podcast.
I'll catch you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.