2859: Exploring a Cloud-based Future With Synchronoss: AI, Privacy, and Expansion

[00:00:00] What happens when the world's of digital security and cloud technology converged to address

[00:00:07] the growing demand for private and intelligent cloud solutions?

[00:00:13] Well today I'm going to reconnect with Jeff Miller, CEO of Synchronos Technologies, a company

[00:00:20] at the heart of this pivotal transformation. Now since our last conversation, I think

[00:00:24] it was July 2023. The company has been making waves with its secure and intelligent

[00:00:30] personal cloud solution, and although you might not have heard of them, you've probably

[00:00:35] came close to their technologies on more than one occasion because they are the backbone

[00:00:40] for global service providers such as Verizon, AT&T, BT and Softbank and these giants,

[00:00:47] White Label Synchronos Personal Cloud and allowing them to offer their users unparalleled

[00:00:52] data privacy, unlimited data store rejections and cutting edge AI and machine learning capabilities

[00:00:59] in everything from photo optimization and digital content organisation and so much more.

[00:01:07] So in my catch up with Jeff today I want to learn more about the launch of Anshin

[00:01:11] Data Box in Japan with Softbank, a name symbolising peace of mind, love that and also have

[00:01:18] their facing the winds of regulatory changes and setting new benchmarks for what personal

[00:01:24] cloud services can offer. And Jeff's also going to discuss not only these advancements,

[00:01:28] the companies near-term and long-term roadmap, the technology that they're using, how

[00:01:33] they're leveraging AI and how they're redefining personal cloud experiences in a world

[00:01:38] that increasingly values privacy over convenience and that's a big one for me.

[00:01:44] Before we get today's guests on now I need to give a quick shout out and a thank you

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[00:02:37] where you can explore the future of secure data management but now it's time to get on with

[00:02:42] the show and invite today's guest on. So buckle up and hold on tight as our beam your ears all the way

[00:02:49] to New York where Jeff is waiting to speak with me today. So a massive welcome back to the show

[00:02:56] Jeff but anyway let Mr Alas conversation can you just remind everyone listening with a little

[00:03:01] about who you are and what you do? Sure thank you Neil it's delightful to be back just by way

[00:03:07] of brief introduction my name is Jeff Miller. I'm the CEO of synchronous technologies.

[00:03:13] Synchronous is a software platform provider and merely bringing our solutions to service providers

[00:03:19] global service providers like BT Verizon in the US AT&T and others where we provide a cloud-based

[00:03:27] solution that it keeps their subscribers engaged with those their brands capturing and securing

[00:03:35] very privately their photos videos digital files and precious content. Well the last time we spoke

[00:03:45] I think was in July last year 2023 so so what the speed of technological change is moving it

[00:03:51] such a bright next speed right now I've got a house guy how was the landscape for secure and

[00:03:57] intelligent personal cloud solutions? How has that evolved particularly in the context of data

[00:04:03] privacy and security because it seems to me that will continue to be a huge hot topic right?

[00:04:09] Oh it absolutely does and in you captured it well the pace of change continues to accelerate.

[00:04:15] First I'll provide you a brief update that since the last time we spoke

[00:04:19] we have even doubled down our focus on our cloud solutions we in back-dvested

[00:04:26] two non-core businesses since last year and those were our messaging and sort of network technology

[00:04:33] software solutions putting us 100% focused on our cloud-based solutions because that is such a dynamic

[00:04:39] and growing area. In addition to that in November we just launched our next cloud customer with

[00:04:47] soft bank in Japan taking our platform that's been well deployed in English speaking countries and

[00:04:54] now localized it in Japan and have it fully operational under the name of ancient data box which to

[00:05:02] the point that you've made ancient means peace of mind so what we're trying to continue to convey to

[00:05:09] consumers is what we do in privacy and security. We've seen a meds adoption of our cloud solution

[00:05:18] since the last year and the landscape has changed technologically that we are constantly keeping up

[00:05:25] with the security requirements that change every day and another major dynamic which is extremely

[00:05:32] topical that's going on in the industry is the regulatory changes that are impacting cloud-based

[00:05:39] solutions and other applications being provided by companies like synchronous. Right up until

[00:05:45] yesterday you saw new announcements that many governmental bodies in Europe and the United States

[00:05:53] are intervening in very large over the top and ecosystem providers like Google and Apple

[00:05:59] and putting pressure on them to make sure that they don't have a monopolistic behavior

[00:06:05] in ecosystems like iOS and Android. And those things are actually helping synchronous

[00:06:11] we place across both of those platforms. And one of the things that I just love about you is that

[00:06:16] most people will have come into contact with your technology without even realizing it because

[00:06:22] synchronous personal cloud is white labeled by somebody major global service providers from

[00:06:27] Verizon AT&T BT and soft bank that you mentioned there but I've got to ask was it do you think

[00:06:34] that makes your platform the preferred choice for these industry giants? You know first is the

[00:06:40] fact that we build credibility over two decades we've provided experience of seamlessly integrating

[00:06:46] our software into their very complex and legacy written IT infrastructure systems so we've proven

[00:06:55] that we can be I'll call it carrier grade in the way that we provide our solutions and it provides

[00:07:01] our customers confidence that we will live up to their standards of security and the customer

[00:07:07] experiences that they're trying to deliver enough so that they apply their brand name

[00:07:12] to our platform in the form of Verizon cloud AT&T cloud or as I just mentioned ancient

[00:07:18] data box in the case of soft bank now we've also proven that subscribers who utilize our

[00:07:26] platform are going to be long term subscribers to their services and other words were a very sticky

[00:07:32] service. And we've statistically been able to show how churn or changes from cluster customers

[00:07:40] leaving their services are dramatically reduced if they are users of our cloud platform.

[00:07:46] And then finally I'd say we have a collaborative business model so we capture the best of the

[00:07:52] marketplace advancements in areas such as AI blend that in with the key priorities of the service

[00:07:58] providers our customers and develop a competitive and catered enhancement set of new capabilities

[00:08:06] that match what they want and what the industry is showing it needs. And one of the things that I

[00:08:11] know that you're most proud of is the fact that you can offer this unparalleled data privacy

[00:08:17] compared to over-the-top cloud solutions out there and there are a lot of them and you do that

[00:08:22] to so many of the global service providers that you just mentioned so it's anything you can share

[00:08:28] around not not your secret sources such but how how you deliver this.

[00:08:33] Yeah well our YLabel solution is delivered to consumers in a via those carrier channels as we

[00:08:41] discussed and they're architected to the strictest standards of privacy and security

[00:08:47] complying with the needs of those tier one global service providers. There is no behavior

[00:08:52] behavior tracking, no triangulation of user application usage and the intent is to support

[00:09:00] there is no intent to support alternative revenue models so this security in the focus that we

[00:09:06] have is to make sure that we even distinguish ourselves from large providers of other cloud-based

[00:09:11] services who monetize some of that information that they capture and we try to make sure that we

[00:09:18] are private by design and distinctly being you know differentiated from that if you will

[00:09:25] plus we of course do the fundamentals. We encrypt the data all digital content as it's in

[00:09:31] transit or stored we even provide you an additional secure private vault if you have some data

[00:09:38] that you've captured that you want to make sure no one else can access but you personally

[00:09:43] we give you the flexibility to put a password on that and make sure that it's protected even for

[00:09:49] one extra layer of security. Now we did mention a few moments ago that the speed of technological change

[00:09:56] is something that we're all talking about and we're all seeing and feeling but I would say another

[00:10:01] huge trend right now is our insatiable appetite for data consumption you just go look at the

[00:10:07] storage on our smartphones for that and with the trend towards increasingly consuming more digital

[00:10:14] content and hover over as much as we can especially with AI coming into the mix as well. How are you

[00:10:20] able to manage an offer unlimited storage options without compromising on performance or security

[00:10:28] because it is increasing a huge huge rate and I would love to hear more about how you manage that

[00:10:35] that very nice problem. Well, it isn't an important area for us to address because as more and

[00:10:42] more content is being captured it becomes more unwieldy sometimes to find and locate that content

[00:10:49] when you want it where you want it. So for us the first step is to make sure that every piece of

[00:10:57] content whether you store a single photo or video or terabytes of data that any customer and any

[00:11:05] subscriber can feel confident that their content is protected right down to the single into image

[00:11:11] but we are also working in conjunction with our partners to offer unlimited consumer offerings

[00:11:17] and we're able to do this was another demonstration that it's more economical to serve millions of

[00:11:22] customers as we do today with over 10 million subscribers on synchronous platforms and leverage

[00:11:29] cost effective storage and creative ways of making sure that we operate officially

[00:11:38] and yet give the consumer the peace of mind of saying store all your content in an unlimited

[00:11:44] manner without ever worrying about overrunning your storage lot and you can do so at an economical

[00:11:50] price. And I will say that this is a trend that we are enabling in partnership with our service

[00:11:57] providers and it's bucking the trend that we're seeing from the large competitors. If you want

[00:12:03] to unlimited storage today from Dropbox as an example it's a $75 per month proposition.

[00:12:11] We have solutions in place with some of our customers that make that just a little over $10.

[00:12:18] We have others who are putting limitations on your storage but they're pricing thresholds or

[00:12:25] continuously going up. So storage costs and subscription services are actually increasing in

[00:12:33] pricing. Free storage which used to be a phenomena is largely gone away so we feel really good

[00:12:40] about the economics that we can provide our consumers in addition to the security that we

[00:12:45] provided at 10 million subscribers across the platform that is absolutely phenomenal.

[00:12:50] Of course I mentioned AI a moment ago so I'd love to find out more about the integration of AI

[00:12:58] and machine learning in Synchronos Personal Cloud especially in terms of optimizing photos and

[00:13:03] organizing digital content because as you rightly said a few moments ago we've got decades

[00:13:08] worth of data now that we're moving around to these online storage places and finding that

[00:13:14] file that you need is becoming increasingly tricky isn't it without this?

[00:13:19] Yeah this is absolutely critical and of course AI is the topic of choice almost in any

[00:13:26] technological discussion these days but in 2023 we introduced a solution set within our platform

[00:13:34] called Genius. This leverages the latest enhancements in computer vision to allow subscribers to

[00:13:41] repair damaged photos, colorize black and white images or create pencil sketch or water color

[00:13:47] interpretations of existing photos just as a few examples. So we use AI to curate user content

[00:13:55] as well and generate an interestous interestingness score using that set of algorithms

[00:14:04] that enables the user to create or allows us actually to create personalized

[00:14:10] recipes if you will which are delivered as collections or media at the right times

[00:14:16] the right user in any device that they want to choose. So in other words we utilize the intelligence of AI

[00:14:25] to curate content for you presented back to you at a time that you're most likely to want to engage

[00:14:33] in with it and for us that keeps the user not just backing up and storing content but interacting

[00:14:39] with it in a manner that keeps it fresh and meaningful in their lives. And we use this interesting

[00:14:45] this score and the algorithm behind it to make sure that we've done that at a personal level

[00:14:52] not one size fits all but we use your patterns your photos and we make sure that we curate

[00:14:59] therefore the content that you see. And I suspect for most people listening when they hear about

[00:15:03] cloud storage or online storage they immediately think two questions and I back up my day and

[00:15:09] can I restore that data to another device but in addition to backup and restore capabilities

[00:15:15] are there any other unique features that synchronous personal cloud offers to its users anything

[00:15:20] else you can shout about there? Yeah happy to and in fact we have four value pillars.

[00:15:25] Does the design around a framework called a jobs to be done framework for development?

[00:15:31] And while the first pillar is what you just said right it's all about data backup restoring

[00:15:37] in a private and secure manner. The other three pillars focus on one of the other things we

[00:15:41] just talked about data organization curation and retrieval. The second or the third use me

[00:15:49] is on personalized recipes. Highlighting you know such that you can highlight what's most

[00:15:55] enjoyable for you and your family and your friends. And then finally the fourth and the last

[00:16:01] pillar is all about aspiring creating artifacts that allows you to integrate and interact and even

[00:16:08] further develop on that content. So we have developments in each of these areas all of what

[00:16:14] you're focused on enhancing the user experience with always that fundamental value proposition of

[00:16:20] data security and privacy. And you are working with some of the biggest global service providers

[00:16:25] in the world and I appreciate you probably can't share too much but if we were to look at your near

[00:16:31] to roadmap for synchronous is there any other exciting developments or teasers maybe that users might

[00:16:37] be able to expect in the coming months? Yeah you know I'd say today we are mostly made up of Android

[00:16:47] subscribers users device users. Yeah we are multi-device and that's Android and iOS as well as

[00:16:56] providing you access through the web in any computers that you might have or tablets or laptops

[00:17:01] or whatever the case might be. So we're continuing to enhance and simplify the backup and storage

[00:17:07] experience for a consumer particularly in the iOS arena because we believe there's significant

[00:17:13] growth opportunity for us and for our service providers to provide their alternative cloud

[00:17:19] solutions to the Apple user community. As I also mentioned we are seeing so much more content

[00:17:28] being captured and we are going to continue to make it easier through new recipes for you to find

[00:17:35] and rediscover your content and we're going to do it in more ways that are personalized such that

[00:17:41] instead of you just being able to search for example on content and say I'd like all pictures

[00:17:47] of dogs. We want to introduce and we are working to develop semantic search which would allow you

[00:17:54] to say I want all my pictures of my smiling grandson and I want them out of beach and you just sort

[00:18:02] of have a more intuitive natural language inquiry and you are able to get the precise types

[00:18:09] of images that you like. We think that that speed to retrieve all that natural access to the

[00:18:15] content that's most relevant is going to make our cloud solution further differentiated in the market

[00:18:20] and will allow consumers to enjoy that content ever more. And when things like that become you'll

[00:18:27] when you experience something like that it almost becomes your standard expectation for any

[00:18:32] future interaction with some and the other different things too doesn't it? Oh it absolutely does

[00:18:37] you now you feel as if today because people are able to say write me a

[00:18:43] yeah right in introductory letter for a new job opportunity and you can get that from an AI tool.

[00:18:49] People want to have similar interactions with technology in all manner and we feel that that should

[00:18:53] be applied in our cloud solution and make sure that we make it as intuitive for you to gain access

[00:19:00] and to curate and present the content that we have captured and secured for you

[00:19:05] just as it is to leverage the latest chat GPT capability. And we started our conversation today

[00:19:13] talking about the pace of technological change so finally considering that long-term vision

[00:19:19] for synchronous how do you see your products and services evolving to meet the future digital

[00:19:25] storage and cloud computing needs and indeed those those future expectations is where do you see

[00:19:30] this all heading I appreciate a almost impossible question until that's right now because things are

[00:19:36] moving that quickly but what how do you see that long-term vision? Well there are three themes

[00:19:41] that are very clear to us the first of which is globalization. And while we launched successfully

[00:19:50] in Japan and it's utilizing the same platform but as I mentioned localized for the Japanese language

[00:19:56] we expect further globalization opportunities for our platform and our business as we look at other

[00:20:02] service providers who are also struggling and interested to grow revenues with their subscribers

[00:20:08] and to give them reasons to stay with them for life. So globalization will be a major long-term

[00:20:14] theme for us and I think it will enable the future growth of our company. Next area is in the

[00:20:20] area of AI which we've already talked about but I'll emphasize on the fact that that isn't moving

[00:20:25] target every day of every week and as such we expect to have further enhancements to purate

[00:20:31] content to provide you easy ways to modify and further accept that content and to share it with

[00:20:38] others as well. And then finally our vision is that we're not only going to be capturing data that

[00:20:45] you personally captured on your mobile device or your computer but rather there are host within a

[00:20:53] home a host of places where content is created and we believe it would be more securely stored in

[00:21:01] a single secure vault. So as we work more in the home we would expect that a security camera

[00:21:08] would not only allow you to go to the security camera provider to possibly back up that content

[00:21:14] but you'd have the option to just put it in your personal cloud and that could be very important to

[00:21:20] even voicemail messages as simple as in as that is people still might want to capture and preserve

[00:21:27] the memory of a voicemail that was captured by their parent and preserve it as a long-term asset

[00:21:34] and we think new types of data like that will be collapsed into our cloud as we make more device

[00:21:42] devices accessible into that cloud through our home solutions. So those are the areas that we're

[00:21:47] focused on. They match the priorities of our service provider customers who are trying to be more

[00:21:53] successful with families, more successful penetrating home and bringing solutions there

[00:21:59] and certainly more successful at showing their innovation by the application of artificial

[00:22:05] intelligence. Wow, exciting times ahead and before I let you go, I love to cut you what we do today

[00:22:12] again, Jeff but I'm going to ask you to leave everyone listening with one final gift,

[00:22:18] one final insight and that is a book that you'd recommend. We can add to our Amazon Wishlist or

[00:22:24] a song that we can add to our Spotify playlist. Guilty pleasures are allowed but all I'll ask you

[00:22:29] what would you like to leave everyone listening today and what? You know there's a new song that's

[00:22:34] been recently released that I think also captures the importance of preserving digital content and

[00:22:40] reutilizing it for new uses. Billy Joel, who I have been a fan of my entire life just came out with

[00:22:47] a new song called Turn the Lights Back on. I don't know if you've had the opportunity to see the video

[00:22:53] that accompanies that song. The song itself is tremendous and I think it's vintage Billy Joel style.

[00:23:00] However, the way this story begins is you see him in his current form in a stage playing a piano

[00:23:07] in beginning the song. The camera pans away and it pans back into this Billy Joel of the 1970s

[00:23:16] singing the song through the use of artificial intelligence with a perfect lips unison.

[00:23:23] It pans away and comes back with a Billy Joel in the 80s and it does the same to the current

[00:23:29] Billy Joel of the 2024. They have utilized technology and AI in a manner that allows you to

[00:23:36] harken back to the Billy Joel that first was introduced to us and how it ties together to the future

[00:23:44] and it just I found it to be both a poignant song in a great video capture of how you can use today's

[00:23:51] technology to bring back memories in a very meaningful way. Oh wow, that sounds incredibly

[00:23:58] cool. I'm a big Billy Joel guy as well. I'm somehow misled so I will be checking that out at the end

[00:24:05] of our interview today. I'm looking forward to that and I'll also get it added to a Spotify playlist

[00:24:11] and for anyone listening wanting to find out more about synchronous personal cloud whether they

[00:24:15] be a global service provider wanting to know how they can work with you or just a business

[00:24:20] leader listening in wanting to find out more. Where would you like to point everyone listening?

[00:24:24] You know, we'll simplify it for everyone just join us at synchronous.com. Of course,

[00:24:28] we have our other social channels but it is a great place to learn about new innovations taking

[00:24:35] place in the development of personal cloud solutions and the direction we're heading as a cloud

[00:24:41] service provider on behalf of our customers. I want to thank you Neil again for the opportunity

[00:24:46] to speak to your listeners and to visit with you. It's a huge pleasure to have you back on here

[00:24:53] and a great opportunity for me to discuss synchronous personal cloud a little further and also in

[00:24:58] addition, finding more about the company's near-term and long-term product roadmap. How are you

[00:25:03] leveraging technology, raising expectations? And that fact there that you mentioned and it was

[00:25:08] 10 million subscribers across some of the biggest global service providers in the world,

[00:25:12] absolutely phenomenal. I wish you the best of luck and we'll get you back on next year for

[00:25:17] other and you'll catch up and maybe even your hat trick of appearance because Bermond Earth

[00:25:23] in just thanks for joining me tonight. Thank you very much. I wish you the best for the week

[00:25:27] and thanks for the time. It's always a pleasure to catch up with Jeff and he has been added to

[00:25:32] and he remains on my cool guys. I want to share a beer with and I am going to be checking out

[00:25:36] that Billy Joel saw in a moment but it's clear to me that synchronous technologies is not

[00:25:42] just navigating this evolving cloud landscape but he is actively shaping its future and they do

[00:25:49] this by prioritising data privacy and security while also introducing innovative AI-driven features

[00:25:57] and then focusing solely on cloud solutions and in doing so I think they stand out in a

[00:26:02] crowded market of providers who often use data as a commodity rather than a responsibility to

[00:26:09] that's a big thing for me. And also with over 10 million subscribers across

[00:26:15] major global service providers combined with a vision to expand globally while enhancing user

[00:26:21] engagement and experience seems to me they're destined for even greater success especially

[00:26:26] considering that roadmap ahead that Jeff shared which is equally ambitious and intent on revolutionising

[00:26:32] the iOS experience could improve content search and retrieval and maybe even integrate more home

[00:26:38] devices into personal cloud ecosystem into their personal cloud ecosystem but as we bid farewell

[00:26:46] to Jeff and the insightful world of Syncross technologies one question remains.

[00:26:51] How will digital lives transform as the boundaries of privacy, security and intelligent cloud

[00:26:59] solutions as they continue to expand too? This is where I invite you to share your thoughts,

[00:27:03] your perspectives on this journey toward a more secure and connected digital future. So let's

[00:27:09] continue the conversation and explore together the endless possibilities that lie ahead in this

[00:27:14] realm of personal cloud technology and so much more but that is it for this episode please email

[00:27:22] me techblogrideroutlook.com twitter link to an Instagram just at me or see us if you need me for

[00:27:28] anything at all other than that just a huge thank you for listening today hopefully you'll

[00:27:33] join me again tomorrow for another topic which we will explore together but until next time

[00:27:41] don't be a stranger