XTech

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Sep 2026

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About the show

XTech, curated and produced by Fox Agency. Listen in as host and technology expert Debbie Forster MBE is joined by some of the sharpest minds in their fields, who gather to explore the latest tech industry breakthroughs. Tune in to a podcast full of inspiration and insight into the trends shaping our world.

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44 recent

September 30, 202637 min

Making B2B brands easier to understand, remember and choose with Jillian Hart

“Strategy plays an important role in making brave creative feel less like taking a leap of faith.” Jillian Hart, US Strategy Director at Fox Agency, believes the best B2B marketing starts long before the creative starts flowing. That means understanding the audience, defining the story, and giving every channel a clear role to play. In this episode of XTech XTRA, Jillian joins Debbie Forster MBE to explore why strategy should be the connective tissue for everything that follows. They discuss how fragmented campaigns create fragmented buyer experiences, why the traditional funnel can give marketers a false sense of order, and what it takes to make complex B2B buying easier from every angle. The episode also digs into memorability, originality, and the growing challenge of standing out as AI makes it easier than ever to create more content. For Jillian, the answer lies in finding the one thing you want people to remember, then building everything else around it. Listen now to discover why great strategy should always be step one.

September 9, 202625 min

AI can create content. Can it create trust? With Laz Shwan

"You start with the result, not the promise." Laz Shwan, Global Marketing and Communications Manager at Alfa Laval, knows that getting attention is only part of the job. The real challenge is earning enough trust for people to remember you. In this episode of the XTech Podcast, Laz joins Debbie Forster MBE for a conversation about what it takes to build connections and authority. They explore the pressure to capture attention in an increasingly crowded digital environment, and why the content that shapes a buying decision may have been created months before the buyer ever starts looking. AI is an inevitable part of that picture. Laz talks candidly about where she uses it, where she doesn't, and why the distinction comes down to what you're asking the content to do. A video that reached 1.4 million organic views becomes a useful example of why successful content can't simply be turned into a formula. Listen now to discover what happens when AI meets the human side of marketing.

August 12, 202626 min

Connecting the dots in automotive intelligence with Arnon Shafir

"AI proposes while the engineer disposes." Arnon Shafir, Vice President Automotive Data Intelligence and AI at Upstream, has spent his career building and scaling technology companies, from start-ups to global organisations. His focus today is on helping the automotive industry turn connected vehicle data into meaningful intelligence. In this episode of the XTech Podcast, Arnon joins Debbie Forster MBE to explore how AI is changing the way automotive teams understand quality, investigate issues and make decisions. From the challenge of stitching together vast amounts of vehicle data to the rise of live digital twins, they unpack what it takes to move from experimentation to real-world impact. Arnon shares why the future of automotive isn’t about replacing engineers, but giving them better tools to uncover patterns, investigate faster and solve problems before they escalate. Tune in to discover how automotive leaders are building smarter systems for an increasingly connected world.

June 17, 202618 min

Getting smarter about the future of B2B tech marketing with Karen Guyer

“LLMs are already shortlisting industrial vendors before sales are contacted. The next development will be AI agents doing the evaluation, the comparative piece and even the recommending.” For Karen Guyer, Lead Consultant of Industry and Connectivity here at Fox Agency, the future promises huge and exciting changes to B2B marketing, as AI brings its considerable weight to bear on the client journey. But that’s not the only seismic development that’s underway in industry marketing. In this new episode of XTech XTRA, Karen sits down with Debbie Forster MBE to discuss the many transformations taking place – from AI gatekeeping to ensuring marketing behaves more like an integrated system and less like a product portfolio, and why boardrooms need to start valuing marketing's role just as much as engineering performance. Join the conversation and listen to Karen’s predictions, insights and sage advice – including shifting to outcome-based language in tenders, and why technology must support your brand vision and never the other way around.

May 20, 202625 min

Making marketing pay with Alex Hammond

"You need to have faith. Demonstrating what comms does as a commercial exercise is beyond incredibly difficult." Comms is changing fast - but the real challenge isn’t new channels or trends. It’s knowing what’s actually worth saying. In this episode, Alex Hammond, Head of Communications at Nuvei, joins Debbie Forster MBE to unpack the shifting role of communications in a world moving beyond SEO. From his unconventional path via poker tournaments to leading comms at Nuvei, Alex shares why the best stories don’t start with messaging - they start with genuine interest. They explore the tension between brand and performance, and why proving the value of comms is still so difficult. As GEO reshapes visibility, Alex explains why earned media and external authority are back in focus. They dive into a changing media landscape where audiences are increasingly fragmented - but creativity is still the best way to achieve cut-through.

April 9, 202631 min

Proof over panic with Sean Ferguson

"A lot of what marketing and communications involves is building trust across the board, internally with customers, and then not violating that trust." For Sean Ferguson, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Securonix, credibility is the most valuable currency in cybersecurity marketing. In an industry dominated by large vendors and an ongoing game of buzzword bingo, Sean explains why demonstrating real proof, collaborating with trusted partners, and engaging with practitioners are the true differentiators. Sean joins Debbie Forster MBE in this episode of the XTech podcast to unpack how smaller players in the game can create their own brand footprint, how ROI and performance metrics reinforce authority, and why consistent, authentic messaging is more effective than amplifying fear. Join the conversation and listen to Sean's insights on finding your niche, building authority, and making trust the cornerstone of every campaign.

March 11, 202635 min

Beyond the content machine with Marcos Colón

"The hardest part isn't creating content, it's clarity." For Marcos Colón, Director of Content and Brand at Immuta, storytelling still starts with listening. His background in journalism shapes how he approaches communications today, focusing less on output and more on understanding what matters to the people at the forefront of the B2B tech industry. In this episode of the XTech podcast, Marcos joins Debbie Forster MBE to reflect on how B2B content is shifting. The challenge is no longer volume. It's knowing what deserves attention and communicating it in a way that reflects operational reality. Security conversations sit at the centre of that tension. Practitioners are already aware of the risks they face, so credibility comes from showing how problems are navigated day to day rather than amplifying fear. Marcos also shares how he captures unscripted moments at industry events and why those glimpses into real work often resonate more than polished campaigns. Tune in to hear how clarity, content and lived experiences are reshaping how tech brands earn attention.

March 4, 202621 min

When innovation accelerates, marketing can't stall with Jessica Lambert

"When you're trying to communicate something like safety or performance, it's very tricky... it holds invisible value." Jessica Lambert, Lead Consultant in Automotive at Fox Agency, has worked across Hyundai, Ford and Jaguar Land Rover. Now working with leading B2B auto brands, she knows what it takes to navigate the complexity of automotive technology, and how easy it is for that value to get lost in translation. In the first episode of XTech XTRA, Jessica joins Debbie Forster MBE to explore why so many automotive companies struggle to communicate their innovations. From EV hesitation to complicated buying cycles, they delve into the real challenges and what it takes to cut through. Jessica explains why a single, clear narrative still holds power, how marketing can move from background to boardroom, and what B2B brands can learn from storytelling in other sectors. Listen now to discover the strategies driving automotive marketing forward.

February 11, 202631 min

Every crisis is an opportunity with Gaurav Kapoor

"Every crisis is an opportunity." Gaurav Kapoor, Vice Chairman, Co-Founder and Board Member at MetricStream, has seen it play out again and again. Cyberattacks are outpacing old systems. Major disruptions expose weaknesses. Supply chain shocks reveal hidden dependencies. And data trapped in silos slows critical decision-making. This episode of the XTech podcast sees Gaurav join Debbie Forster MBE to explore how AI is transforming how we approach risk and resilience. Together, they discuss how AI can bring order to overwhelming information and lighten repetitive workloads, helping teams respond confidently when stakes are high. Their conversation delves into what trust and governance mean in an AI-first world, tracing the rise of sophisticated cyber threats and showing how risk teams can maintain their strategic influence as technology advances. Tune in to hear how organisations can turn uncertainty into strength through smart systems, deliberate culture and decisive leadership.

January 14, 202625 min

Rediscovering the human art of storytelling with Abs Hassanali

"You don't build trust overnight. Any good communication needs to do three things: help people understand, help them believe, and make them act." Abs Hassanali, Global Head of PR and Communications at Basware, has seen how tech often struggles to tell stories that truly resonate. With AI changing the scale and pace of content, generic announcements no longer cut through - audiences want to connect with human voices and authentic experiences. In short, the press release (as we know it) is dead. In this episode of the XTech podcast, Abs joins Debbie Forster MBE to talk about why real people and stories must sit at the heart of communications. They explore how Basware uses visual storytelling, human voices and curiosity-driven teams to make tech feel human, and why creativity matters as much as measurement. Listen now to find out what it takes to build comms that resonate, how to balance strategy and authenticity and why focusing on the people behind the story can transform the way tech is experienced.