On the mic today: Anna Almen, CTO at Infront, and Marcela Cazacu Alotleh from AWS. Infront, a leading European fintech company with over 35 years of history, specializes in wealth management and trading. Anna explains how Infront leverages its deep experience and structured historical data to provide advantages to its customers, focusing on data consolidation and seamless integrations within their toolchain. The conversation delves into the challenges of scaling a platform that supports portfolio management, risk analysis, and trading across diverse user needs, emphasizing a common set of tools sharing a single data universe. Anna shares her data-driven leadership style, balancing strategic vision with day-to-day demands, and fostering innovation through fast iterations and real-world testing in a conservative industry. They also discuss the significant impact of Generative AI on the financial industry, enabling personalized and faster advisory and enhancing quantum analytics. The episode touches on the risks and opportunities of AI in finance, highlighting that AI is a tool to power, not replace, human decision-making, especially in unpredictable "black swan" events.

This time, we sit down with Simon Skoog, Chief AI Officer at Apotea, and AWS’s David Alele. Apotea, Sweden's leading online pharmacy, maintains its reputation through a core strategy of fast deliveries, low prices, and free delivery, achieved largely through high automation. Simon discusses how Apotea builds its tech infrastructure for future scalability and the dynamic partnership with AWS for cloud services and expert consultation. A unique aspect highlighted is Simon's approach to leading AI teams as a non-technical leader, focusing on strategy, people, and removing organizational "noise" by positioning the AI team as an internal startup directly under the CEO. The episode details Apotea's strategy of prioritizing "safe wins" over "quick wins" for AI projects, such as their successful implementation of product recommendations that significantly boosted conversion rates. They also explore the vast opportunities of Generative AI for internal efficiency (developer tools) and customer-facing applications (chatbots), while maintaining caution on AI-generated advice due to the paramount importance of customer trust.

We’re talking with two great guests today: Nina Laaksonen, Chief Product Officer at WithSecure, and Mitchell Contursi from AWS. WithSecure, a European company with over 30 years of history in cybersecurity, holds a strong stance on digital sovereignty and adheres to strict European compliance and ethical standards. Nina explains how in-built AI and machine learning, a core part of their protection capabilities for over two decades, is vital in combating threats like financially motivated actors and advanced persistent threats targeting mid-sized European companies. The discussion highlights WithSecure's co-security model, emphasizing cybersecurity as a collaborative effort and knowledge sharing. They also delve into the strategic partnership with AWS on technology and sovereignty. A significant innovation is Lumin AI, an in-built LLM-based AI assistant (on AWS Bedrock) that provides contextual guidance in natural language, simplifying cybersecurity for users. The episode underscores WithSecure's commitment to data integrity and privacy with GenAI, ensuring data stays within Europe and is not used to train foundational models. The future role of GenAI in transforming the industry from reactive to proactive security is also discussed.