Tech Talks Daily
00:00:00 · Neil C. Hughes
[00:00:00] S0: The leading issue of agentic AI in businesses right now is ensuring agents act with compliance guidelines, and Denodo applies guardrails across your entire data estate. By aligning your company's data infrastructure under one system, these guardrails perform consistently across your platform. So start scaling your business and start with Denodo. Simply visit denodo.com to learn more. What happens when ERP transformation reaches its go live date? Before the business has resolved, who can do what inside the system. Well, the consequences can extend far beyond just an audit finding. Access decisions influence transactions, supplier relationships, and the processes that keep production moving. Throw in AI agents, they add another question. So how those controls hold when software can act through business systems at machine speed? That is a big question I wanna explore today. And I found the perfect guest. His name is Chris Rodowski, GRC expert and adviser at Pathlock. Chris previously spent seventeen years at SAP. He's worked across access control, governance, and security. And today, we will discuss why risk belongs in transformation planning from the beginning, how privileged access differs inside business applications, and why periodic reviews can often leave gaps. And Chris will also explain the value of looking at what users did alongside the permissions they were given. So if you're a leader planning ERP or AI changes, I'm hoping today's conversation will offer a few insights around the role design, emergency access, and maintaining of business continuity. I've revealed far too much already, haven't I? Let me introduce you to my guest now. So thank you for joining me on the show today. Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do?
00:02:16 · Chris Radkowski
[00:02:16] S1: Alright. Thanks so much, Neil. My name is Chris Radkowski. I'm a GRC expert and adviser at PathLock. I've been at PathLock for about a year and a half now. And before that, I was, I was at SAP for seventeen years, and I was the global solution owner for a collection of of GRC products. The the main one, the cash cow of the portfolio is SAP access control, and so I really focus a lot of attention on that for for quite a long time. Many of you know that product was acquired by Versa, and so I joined what was left of the Versa team at SAP. And we grew that that product into number a number of others within, you know, within the sort of GRC domain. And I was responsible for the strategy, for for p and l, and for the between seven and eight thousand customers that that bought it. I also was involved with SAP's security and data protection strategy. And it's interesting because inside SAP, it's, you know, kind of a constant yin and yang. You know? Are we a security company? Can we sell security? What kind of security would you have to have? And so, ultimately, that resulted in the cybersecurity portfolio that SAP continues to offer, there are a number of products in there that that I was involved with. But I'm absolutely having the time of my life at PathLock. I was responsible for partnerships at SAP, and there's a a type of partnership. It's called a SOLEX, a solution extension partnership that that I sponsored PathLock as... Well, they were green light at the time, but they, you know, they became PathLock later on. And I sponsored that relationship and then, you know, have the opportunity to join the company about a year and a half ago. And so absolutely having the time of my life here, going around to lots of different events, a lot more externally facing, activities that I'm doing. So, the the big events in the industry are, you know, SAP insider, in US and Europe, and there's, SAP user group events that are going on. So I'm participating in in all that.
00:04:42 · Neil C. Hughes
[00:04:42] S0: Wow. An incredibly cool journey that you've been on there. And as a matter of a similar age, it's... I still find it amazing and fascinating and exciting just how we've seen technology grow, and in particular, the last three years, of course, it is just incredible. But do you ever look back at how far you've come? It's a bit like the Steve Jobs quote that you can't join up the dots looking forward. It's only when you look back and see see that. And then now, obviously, at Pathlock and how the the stars have almost aligned there, and you've got everything that you need at the right time. Do you ever sit down and and reflect and think about that?
00:05:17 · Chris Radkowski
[00:05:17] S1: I do. I do often. You know, it's it's important to kind of reflect on where you were to kind of judge where you might go as well. Yeah. You know, an AI is upon us. I mean, I... I'm sure you've had a lot of AI podcasts, but, you know, it's it's a profound effect on or will be a profound effect on everyone. And I remember way back in the day, I think it was my parents maybe suggested, hey. You know, you better learn about computers. I think computers are gonna be important in the future. And I think we're at that kind of moment now where, you know, you better learn about AI because it's gonna be important going forward. My journey is... I don't know. It made it a little different. I had a I had almost, like, two lives. Yeah. So I spent a long time in the aerospace industry. I was a... I was an engineer, electrical engineer, and responsible for a a component that went on the guidance system for commercial satellites. So, you know, everything you're seeing about space and SpaceX and, you know, satellite TV, you know, the important thing is that, you know, those satellites point at the Earth and, not off in space somewhere. And so I was responsible for a component that went on the satellite, which was a completely different sort of industry. Right? And I had a... I had a... An opportunity to change, and I somehow convinced someone that I knew about mobile devices and wireless communication, and they they brought me on as a product manager for a company in, you know, in what became single sign on. Right? Yeah. So that evolved into identity management, which involved into lots of other domains, which, you know, at... You know, if you look... Go up the stack from network to network to, you know, operating systems to applications, we're really talking about identity management for for for business applications. You know? At least that's what my my focus has been for quite some time now.
00:07:21 · Neil C. Hughes
[00:07:21] S0: Incredibly cool. And bringing you straight back down to earth and the present day, ERP transformation programs, they're something that tend to celebrate automation, yes, but also speed and efficiency. But another topic close to your heart here is why risk is so often missing from the boardroom conversation when we're talking about this stuff. So tell me a little bit more about that and and why you see that risk.
00:07:46 · Chris Radkowski
[00:07:46] S1: Jeez. That's a great question. You know, one of the things that has been driving me, in conversations a lot is the the sheer size and scale that our customers are operating in. And you know that when something isn't working right in your system, if SAP goes down, for example... I was talking to a a a large consumer goods company, and they were telling me that if SAP isn't working properly... I mean, literally, trucks back up outside the factory, and they can't make shampoo. Yeah. And it kind of puts it all into context where, you know, if something isn't working right within the ERP system, they can't receive goods. You can't you can't process the the goods you need to support any kind of manufacturing line. And that happens within shampoo, and you can imagine if you're if you're a large supplier, the the the raw ingredients come on trucks. I mean, that's shocking in itself. But if you're an auto manufacturer and you have to stop manufacturing even for a brief moment, it... It's massive. And so the risk involved in ERP cuts a couple different ways. You know? These systems are running running businesses almost in their entirety. And so the risk the risk of the risk of a security event, the risk of the system having to be brought down, the risk of compliance, issue, the risk of material weakness are all critical when you're looking at an ERP transformation. And so the technology under the covers... I mean, there are significant differences. And so in these transformation programs, often, you know, it's it's a mad dash to go live. And so a lot of the times, you know, risk, risk for per per particular... Certain types of risks aren't often thought of in advance. And that's one of the things at PathLock that we that we really focus on, particularly when it comes to, you know, risk that that are in... That's related to compliance activities, risk related to users who can, you know, manipulate or change, you you know, financial information, the risk in, you know, reporting incorrect numbers to Wall Street, you know, and those kinds of things have legal implications that go far beyond just the, you know, just just the amount of fraud or something that could be committed.