Artificial Intelligence in Industry with Daniel Faggella

AI adoption is forcing a shift from automating yesterday's processes to redesigning the enterprise for differentiation and growth. In this episode, Dan Diasio, Global AI Consulting Leader and Americas Consulting CTO at EY, joins Emerj's Matthew DeMello to unpack why leading organizations are reallocating AI gains toward workforce reinvention, new operating models, and competitive advantage rather than headcount reduction. The conversation distills how executives are reframing investment strategy, avoiding the visibility trap, and aligning mindset, skill set, and tool set to unlock enterprise‑level value. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click go.emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at go.emerj.com/partner

The contact center is shifting from a service channel to a primary point of fraud, where text‑based systems fail to catch the signals that surface only in live voice. In this episode, Mike Pappas, CEO & Co‑Founder at Modulate, joins Emerj's Nick Gertsch to examine how audio‑native, multi‑model analysis exposes social engineering and deepfake‑driven threats that traditional tools routinely miss. The discussion highlights how leaders can strengthen real‑time detection, limit downstream financial and regulatory impact, and evaluate voice‑AI systems based on accuracy, speed, and adaptability to evolving fraud tactics. This episode is sponsored by Modulate. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options atgo.emerj.com/partner. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click go.emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

A growing number of enterprises are discovering that early agent wins don't translate into scale because agents can connect but cannot yet share context or improve as a coordinated system. In this episode, Papi Menon, Vice President of Product Management and Chief Product Officer at Outshift by Cisco, joins Emerj's Matthew DeMello to unpack why the missing cognitive layer in multi‑agent environments limits progress and what it will take for agents to operate as a collective rather than isolated tools. He highlights how leaders can make meaningful headway by choosing low‑risk, high‑impact starting points and building on open, interoperable foundations that support future evolution. This episode is sponsored by Outshift by Cisco. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at go.emerj.com/partner Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click go.emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Financial institutions are finding that the primary bottleneck to AI adoption isn't the technology itself, but the inability to govern sensitive data with the precision required for enterprise-scale deployment. In this episode, Mark Crean, Regional Vice President of Sales from Securiti AI and James Dean, AI Specialist at Google Cloud, breaks down how fragmented data and access risks keep high-value use cases trapped in the pilot phase. They outline the shift toward disciplined data classification and the cross-team alignment necessary to transition AI into regulated, revenue-critical workflows. The conversation highlights why remediation and traceability have become the ultimate benchmarks for safety and ROI in the sector. This episode is sponsored by Securiti AI. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at go.emerj.com/partner. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click go.emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

A decade of stalled industrial AI efforts has given way to a new phase where agentic systems can finally handle complex, variable operational tasks without the brittle constraints of earlier automation. In this episode, Somya Kapoor, CEO at IFS Loops, joins Daniel Faggella Emerj CEO and Head of Research to examine how digital workers can be introduced as task‑specific assistants that learn from business instructions and progressively take on procurement, service, and back‑office responsibilities. She highlights the shift toward managing these agents alongside human teams, emphasizing focused adoption, measurable operational gains, and the need for built‑in oversight, auditability, and guardrails. This episode is sponsored by IFS. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at go.emerj.com/partner. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click go.emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Enterprise AI is outpacing the operating models built to support it, forcing leaders to reconcile rapid iteration with safety, governance, and real‑world scale. In this episode, David Glick, SVP of Enterprise Business Services at Walmart, examines how stopwatch‑speed prototyping, nano‑agent architectures, and evolving security processes are reshaping enterprise delivery. The discussion highlights shifts from monoliths to federated agents, faster iteration cycles, and the emerging need to build the machine that builds the machine. Executives shaping real AI outcomes are invited to contribute their lessons to a curated peer audience. Learn more at go.emerj.com/expert to be considered for a future 'AI in Business' episode. Align your brand with the executives defining the enterprise AI agenda—partner at go.emerj.com/partner

The traditional focus on supply chain efficiency has created brittle networks that break under modern volatility and shifting global trade consensus. Optilogic provides an AI‑native platform for supply chain design, where autonomous agents build models, generate scenarios, and evaluate network tradeoffs. In this episode, Don Hicks, CEO at Optilogic, unpacks why enterprise leaders must run supply chain planning and design as parallel, symbiotic processes to move beyond current network constraints and build for long-term resilience. The discussion outlines a framework for using AI to automate routine tactical decisions while leveraging human-led what-if simulations to architect future-state competitive advantages. This episode is sponsored by Optilogic. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/partner 

The reliance on historical data and manual CRM entry has created a significant gap between internal strategy and the real-time signals driving today's complex medical technology market. In this episode, Mike Monovoukas, CEO and Co-founder, and Alex Wakefield, CRO at AcuityMD, examine how operationalizing AI through proactive market signals and field-based insights can drive revenue growth by increasing representative effectiveness. The discussion outlines frameworks for achieving 10x efficiency gains by integrating voice-driven workflows and predictive data to accelerate territory onboarding and eliminate administrative burdens. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click go.emerj.com/expert  for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by AcuityMD.

In today's episode sponsored by K1x, the accounting sector faces a critical inflection point as a deficit of 300,000 professionals intersects with escalating regulatory complexity and a doubling of alternative investment data. Ken Powell, Chief Revenue Officer at K1x, examines how sophisticated tax technology is facilitating a transition from experimental pilot programs to the institutional deployment of automated workflows that neutralize the limitations of manual compliance. The discussion outlines a strategic framework for implementing straight-through processing to extract intricate, non-standardized data from supplemental disclosures, effectively compressing a week of manual labor into several hours. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click go.emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Enterprise data estates often optimize for platform expansion over decision velocity, producing reporting layers that signal activity but fail to accelerate strategic outcomes. In this episode, Barry McCardel, CEO at Hex, examines how leading organizations can compress the gap between executive questions and decision-grade insight to materially increase the enterprise value of data. The discussion focuses on tightening feedback loops, operationalizing collaborative and AI-augmented analysis, and redefining data ROI around adoption, trust, and measurable business impact rather than production metrics. This episode is sponsored by Hex. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/partner. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Ylan Kazi, Chief Data and AI Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota. With deep experience leading enterprise AI strategy in regulated healthcare, Ylan brings a grounded perspective on how organizations can innovate responsibly with emerging technology. Ylan joins Emerj Emerj Client Narrative & Content Strategy Lead Nick Gertsch to discuss how healthcare leaders can approach AI adoption through clear organizational posture, strong governance, and a focus on measurable customer and operational value. Ylan also shares practical takeaways, including balancing build-versus-buy decisions, embedding explainability and auditability into workflows, and prioritizing AI use cases that reduce friction in the patient experience while delivering sustainable ROI. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Customer service leaders face rising pressure to resolve more interactions faster, while maintaining high-quality experiences — and many legacy systems and processes can't keep up. In this episode, Craig Walker, CEO of Dialpad, joins Daniel Faggella, Emerj CEO and Head of Research, to break down how AI can augment human agents to handle routine requests like order status and password resets, freeing teams to focus on complex issues. He shares actionable strategies for enterprise leaders, from cleaning knowledge bases and analyzing ticket patterns to running controlled pilots and scaling AI agents across the organization. Craig also explains how AI can coach agents in real time and surface insights for managers, creating a continuously improving support system that drives measurable ROI. This episode is sponsored by Dialpad. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1 Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

The critical bottleneck in small commercial pricing is no longer the actuarial model itself, but the operational friction and administrative stagnation that occurs during the transition from indication to production deployment. In this episode, Barbara Stacer, Vice President and Head of Small Commercial Underwriting and Underwriting Operations at Utica National Insurance Group, unpacks how carriers can eliminate premium leakage and accelerate speed-to-market by implementing standardized operational infrastructure to automate versioning, documentation, and governance. The discussion outlines a practical framework for mapping pricing lifecycles to identify specific deployment delays and transitioning to a governed environment where audit trails are synchronized with rate adjustments. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/e2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on Emerj's flagship 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by Akur8.

Today's guest is Carey Smith, Former President and CIO of XcelerateHealth and Chief Technology Innovation Officer (CTIO) of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. XcelerateHealth is a health-tech startup and business unit of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, focused on AI-driven digital products to transform healthcare insurance experiences. Carey joins Emerj's Nick Gertsch to discuss how leaders can structure talent and workforce AI so decisions are consistent, reviewable, and aligned with organizational controls. Smith also shares practical steps for tightening decision rights, improving data readiness, and designing workflows where AI accelerates hiring and mobility without increasing risk. This episode is sponsored by Eightfold AI. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at go.emerj.com/partner Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Commercial life‑sciences teams are facing a widening gap between strong brand strategy and fragmented real‑world execution, driven by misaligned workflows, static targeting, and an inability to act at the speed patients move through their therapeutic journeys. In this episode, Philip Poulidis, CEO and Co-founder of ODAIA, unpacks how AI can close that gap by connecting brand intent to real‑time execution, enabling teams to prioritize the right HCPs, orchestrate engagement, and measure impact through outcomes rather than activity metrics. He highlights the practical shifts required to get there — from cross‑functional adoption and workflow‑embedded insights to attribution modeling, efficiency gains, and focused pilots that prove value quickly. This episode is sponsored by ODAIA. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/partner. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Raghu Ahobilam, Global Director of Inventory and Assets at NOV. Raghu brings global leadership experience across inventory management, asset strategy, and operational transformation in the energy and industrial manufacturing sector. Raghu joins Daniel Faggella Emerj CEO and Head of Research to examine how enterprise data foundations and emerging AI capabilities are reshaping maintenance, asset utilization, and cross-functional decision-making in complex, legacy environments. Raghu also shares practical approaches to building KPI-driven dashboards, prioritizing predictive use cases, improving asset deployment across regions, and strengthening business cases for ROI across supply chain, manufacturing, and operations. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you're interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1

Enterprise risk leaders are currently struggling to move beyond static, episodic checklists while managing the data "fire hose" generated by continuous monitoring. In this episode, Dean Alms, Chief Product Officer, and Eric Hensley, Chief Technology Officer at Aravo, break down how AI-native orchestration transforms fragmented risk data into a holistic, board-level resilience strategy. They examine practical shifts toward exception-based monitoring, the automation of rote tasks like document ingestion, and the necessity of governing "responsible AI" practices within the vendor ecosystem. This episode is sponsored by Aravo. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/partner. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Eliminating the friction caused by fragmented customer context is a primary mandate for enterprise operations leaders. Joe Atamian, Vice President at Comcast, joins the program to discuss the transition to an AI-first operating model — where AI acts as the connective infrastructure that maintains history and intent across IVR, chat, and live agents. This briefing explores how the Fortune 500 can move human teams away from system navigation and toward high-value judgment, empathy, and resolution. This episode is sponsored by Atlan. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at go.emerj.com/media_kit

Today's guest is Hemant Banavar, Chief Product Officer at Motive. Hemant leads product strategy for AI-driven systems that bring real-time visibility and decision support to safety-critical physical operations. Hemant joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to unpack what changes when AI moves from after-the-fact reporting to edge-based, real-time detection and feedback — where accuracy and low latency determine whether insights actually prevent incidents. Hemant also shares practical takeaways on replacing lagging indicators with frontline feedback loops, combining video and operational telemetry to surface actionable risk signals, and building an ROI case through fewer incidents, lower insurance and fuel costs, and more consistent operational performance. This episode is sponsored by Motive. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show. Episode Notes: 12:33 - 12:50: Since January 1, 2023, Motive estimate that the Motive AI Dashcam is estimated to have helped prevent over 170,000 accidents and saved 1,500 lives 12:46: Based on an internal study of customers with 150 or more active monthly vehicles and at least 90% AI Dashcam adoption for at least 12 months. Some of the AI Dashcam Plus features like hands-free communication aren't available until later in 2026. For more, visit: https://gomotive.com/blog/introducing-ai-dashcam-plus-uk/

Today's guest is Umesh Rustogi, General Manager of Dragon for Nursing at Microsoft Health & Life Sciences. An expert in applying AI to clinical workflows, Umesh joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explain how healthcare organizations are moving AI from pilot programs to real-world adoption. Umesh also shares practical strategies for reducing nurse documentation burden, improving accuracy and compliance, and turning AI deployments into measurable operational and patient-care impact. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at https://go.emerj.com/media_kit.

Today's guest is Dan Keto, President and Co-founder at Easy Metrics, where he focuses on helping warehouse and distribution teams turn fragmented transactional data into a unified "single pane of glass" that supports faster diagnosis of variance and more defensible decision-making. Dan joins Emerj's Matthew DeMello to explore what a solid data foundation looks like in warehouse networks — and why it matters before teams attempt to layer AI on top. He also shares practical takeaways on how enterprises can align stakeholders around a common data language, avoid costly "AI-first" missteps, and use repeatable investigations and alerts to surface real cost drivers. This episode is sponsored by Easy Metrics. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Today's guest is Nishtha Jain, AI Innovation Leader. Nishtha leads enterprise data and AI strategy in the biopharma sector, focusing on aligning advanced analytics and AI systems with real-world clinical, regulatory, and operational workflows. Nishtha joins Emerj Client Narrative & Content Strategy Lead Nick Gertsch to examine why most enterprise AI pilots fail to scale, how unrealistic expectations and poorly defined use cases undermine ROI, and what it takes to design human-centered AI systems that fit how teams actually work in regulated environments. Nishtha also breaks down practical frameworks for measuring value beyond headcount reduction, including return on employee experience and long-term capability building, along with concrete approaches to faster experimentation, customer-driven use-case prioritization, and building flexible operating models that adapt as technology and market conditions evolve. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Today's guest is Stephen Wolfram, Founder and CEO of Wolfram Research. Wolfram is a pioneering computer scientist and physicist, best known for creating Mathematica and Wolfram|Alpha, and for decades of work on complexity, computation, and the foundations of how systems evolve. Stephen joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella to explore how simple computational rules can give rise to complex, unpredictable systems, and what that means for the future of intelligence beyond biological life. The conversation examines concepts like computational irreducibility, adaptive evolution, and "bulk orchestration" at the molecular and digital level, framing how AI systems, biological organisms, and even physical processes can be understood as part of a broader computational universe. Stephen also shares practical perspectives on how these ideas translate into real-world AI development, including why coarse, outcome-driven objectives often outperform overly rigid design in machine learning, how enterprises can think about building systems that evolve rather than simply execute, and what leaders should understand about the limits of predictability, governance, and control as AI becomes more deeply embedded in business workflows. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!  

Today's guest is Naveen Kumar, Head of AI Governance at TD Bank. With extensive experience in AI risk management and governance, he provides actionable strategies for secure AI scaling in regulated environments. Naveen joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss foundational challenges blocking AI adoption in banking, including data leakage, prompt injection, shadow AI, and hallucinations. Naveen also shares practical takeaways, such as role-based AI guardrails for data access, safe sandboxes for experimentation, hybrid deployments to protect sensitive data, and treating AI agents as de-risked employees with human oversight for compliance and ROI. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Dean Alms, Chief Product Officer at Aravo. Aravo is an enterprise software company focused on third-party risk management and compliance platforms that help organizations manage vendor, supplier, and partner ecosystems across regulatory, operational, and reputational risk domains. Dean joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to examine how third-party risk has evolved into a data and AI-driven, board-level visibility and resilience challenge, and how automation is reshaping the way enterprises identify, remediate, and monitor risk at scale. Dean also shares practical workflow changes, including using AI to automate document ingestion and survey validation, generate corrective actions, and enable natural language access to risk data. The discussion highlights how these approaches reduce operational cost, improve data integrity, support continuous monitoring models, and help enterprise leaders protect revenue, reputation, and regulatory posture across complex supplier networks. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by Aravo. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.

Today's guest is Vijoy Pandey, Special Vice President and General Manager for Outshift by Cisco. Vijoy leads Cisco's internal incubation and strategy efforts focused on emerging technologies, platform development, and reducing technology and market risk as new capabilities move toward enterprise adoption. Vijoy joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss how enterprises are shifting from deterministic systems to probabilistic, agent-driven architectures, and what that means for interoperability, governance, and deploying AI safely at scale. Vijoy also shares practical takeaways on building multi-agent workflows, implementing task- and transaction-based access control, and using simulation and validation layers to reduce operational risk and improve ROI in regulated and mission-critical environments. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by Outshift by Cisco. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.

Today's guest is Gillian Hinkle, Senior Director of Growth & Digital Marketing for Heroku at Salesforce. Gillian brings extensive experience in enterprise growth strategy, digital operations, and the practical deployment of data and AI across complex marketing and revenue workflows. Gillian joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how enterprise leaders can distinguish automation from true AI, design human-in-the-loop systems, and deploy generative and agentic tools responsibly inside real-world data environments. The conversation also examines how to reduce tool sprawl, strengthen data governance, and focus AI initiatives on high-impact workflows like lead qualification and customer service handoffs to drive measurable efficiency, improve employee engagement, and lower compliance and brand risk. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Today's guest is David Carmona, Vice President of Discovery & Quantum at Microsoft. David leads work at the intersection of AI, scientific discovery, and advanced computing, with a focus on scaling research innovation in complex, regulated environments. David joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss how enterprise leaders should think about AI's role in transforming R&D beyond productivity gains—toward net-new discovery, augmented scientific reasoning, and structurally different innovation workflows. The conversation explores why R&D represents one of the highest-impact domains for AI adoption, and how coordinated systems of specialized models and agents are reshaping the scientific method itself. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show! Watch Matthew and David's conversation on our new YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@EmerjAIResearch.

Today's guest is Ylan Kazi, Chief Data and AI Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota. Ylan joins Emerj Client Narrative & Content Strategy Lead Nick Gertsch to explore balancing AI innovation with risk governance in regulated healthcare sectors. Ylan also shares practical takeaways like forming cross-functional teams for realistic policy development, applying an AI Hippocratic Oath by starting with low-risk use cases to refine processes, and leveraging AI to improve patient experiences through lab result explanations and wait time predictions. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guests are Daniel Lidar, Holder of the Viterbi Professorship of Engineering at USC, Director of the USC Center for Quantum Information Science & Technology, co-founder and CSO of Quantum Elements, Inc., and Izhar Medalsy, Co-founder and CEO of Quantum Elements. Quantum Elements develops tools to reduce noise in quantum computers for scalable performance. Daniel and Izhar join Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore why quantum computing is entering enterprise strategy now, explaining qubits, quantum simulation, and practical applications beyond hype. Daniel and Izhar also share practical takeaways like quantum simulation for accurate materials and drug design, optimization for financial portfolios, post-quantum encryption for data centers, and assessing business impact by identifying problems quantum solves today. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Nina Edwards, Vice President of Emerging Technology and Innovation at Prudential Insurance. With decades of experience driving strategy, innovation, and AI-enabled growth at leading financial and consulting firms, Nina brings deep expertise in applied intelligence and emerging technology. Nina joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss how enterprises can adopt AI safely and effectively, balancing innovation with compliance while mitigating data and copyright risks. She also shares practical takeaways, including implementing instrumented sandboxes, structured licensing, and governance frameworks that boost experimentation confidence, reduce risk, and deliver measurable ROI across business workflows. This episode is sponsored by CCC. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1. Join an exclusive circle of executive leaders shaping the future of AI. Apply to be a guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast at emerj.com/expert2 – share your insights with peers, cement your reputation as a forward-thinking innovator, and have your expertise highlighted to a curated audience of decision-makers.

Today's guest is Thomas Holmes, Chief Actuary, North America at Akur8. Holmes works at the intersection of actuarial pricing, AI governance, and operationalizing analytics inside regulated insurance environments. Thomas joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss how insurers move from AI experimentation to enterprise deployment — particularly when models must satisfy regulators, executives, and the realities of day-to-day actuarial and IT workflows. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by Akur8. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.

Today's guest is Emma Vitalini, Head of Global Digital Health Technology Innovation at Amgen, where she leads initiatives at the intersection of digital health, data strategy, and clinical innovation. Emma joins Emerj Editorial Senior Editor Marilie Fouche to explore how data and AI are reshaping patient recruitment, consent, and execution in clinical trials, with a focus on decentralized models, scalable compliance, and explainable AI in regulated environments. Emma also shares practical guidance for enterprise leaders on where AI is delivering near-term ROI today, including accelerating patient screening by surfacing unstructured data, reducing enrollment delays through digital and remote monitoring tools, and designing modular, plug-and-play AI platforms that balance speed, flexibility, and regulatory trust. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Today's guest is Vasili Triant, CEO of UJET. UJET is a next-generation cloud contact center platform leveraging AI to modernize customer experiences. Vasili joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to unpack the shift from reactive customer service to proactive, data-driven engagement — and why the transition matters for enterprises rethinking the role of their contact centers. The conversation also explores how fragmented data stacks hinder real-time decision-making, why proactive service improves lifetime customer value, and what enterprises can change today to build contact centers that operate more like strategic customer hubs than cost centers. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by UJET.

Today's guest is Rommel Ong, Regional Service Director at Belimed. Belimed provides sterilization and infection control solutions for healthcare facilities. Rommel joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how data and AI address field service challenges like staffing shortages, paperwork burdens, and capturing tribal knowledge from veteran technicians. Rommel also shares practical takeaways, such as using chat systems to search for error codes and share solutions across teams, net promoter scores for tracking customer sentiment, and remote equipment monitoring to predict issues, reduce on-site visits, and enable proactive service efficiencies. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Thomas Holmes, Chief Actuary for North America at Akur8. Holmes focuses on how actuarial teams can modernize pricing and reserving with automation and AI while maintaining governance and actuarial soundness. Thomas joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss why pricing and reserving modernization is hard to execute in practice, and how insurers can adopt AI with the governance and explainability actuarial teams require. The conversation also covers starting with a clear problem statement, avoiding generic "bolt-on" AI approaches, and targeting small wins that deliver measurable workflow and cycle-time improvements. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast. This episode is sponsored by Akur8. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.

Today's guest is Prukalpa Sankar, Co-Founder & CEO at Atlan. Atlan is a metadata platform delivering data and AI governance. Combining enterprise data with AI infrastructure with business context and security, Atlan allows humans and AI agents to find, trust, and govern data across the entire enterprise. Prukalpa joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to unpack why so many enterprise AI pilots still fail in production — and why solving for context rather than just data volume or model complexity is becoming the decisive factor. The conversation also highlights how leading enterprises are closing this context gap and what "context readiness" means for any organisation aiming to operationalise AI in 2026. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by Atlan.

Today's guest is Vaithi Bharath, Associate Director of Data Science & AI Solutions at Bayer. Bharath joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to break down why clinical R&D timelines often slip for reasons that have little to do with model performance. Rather, delays compound when data moves across fragmented systems, teams rely on slow handoffs, and validation requirements turn minor adjustments into major cycle-time hits. He walks through where decision-making slows from data capture through database lock, and what it takes to accelerate workflows without replacing a validated environment. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by AnswerRocket.

Today's guest is Tami Craig Schilling, Vice President of Agronomic Digital Innovation at Bayer Crop Science. Tami brings decades of expertise in agricultural sales, R&D, and digital tools for farmer support. Tami joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how generative AI delivers localized recommendations across the plan-plant-grow-harvest cycle amid variable soil, practices, and weather conditions. Tami also shares practical takeaways like using zip code-based tools such as ELI for prompting that triangulates genetics, environment, and pests—augmenting human expertise with precise agronomy advice, prompt guides for optimal outputs, and scale-neutral support from commercial to smallholder farmers. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Baker Johnson, Chief Business Officer at UJET. UJET is a next-generation cloud contact center platform that leverages AI to modernize the customer experience. Baker joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explain why conversational and agentic AI often fall short in CX, and how legacy processes and fragmented data prevent meaningful results. Baker also offers practical steps for improving ROI — from redesigning workflows before automating them to aligning real-time interaction data with systems of record and building a healthier balance between human and AI agents. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by UJET.

Today's guest is Sandro Venturini, Executive Director at UBS Asset Management Switzerland. Sandro brings deep expertise in fund structuring, cross-border launches, and data integration for financial services. Sandro joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how fragmented fund data creates silos in mergers and launches, and how a single source of truth enables AI to streamline compliance and reporting. Sandro also shares practical takeaways, such as using AI to anticipate stakeholder concerns from term sheets, generate draft prospectuses that slash legal fees and formation costs, and customize investor reporting to reduce manual errors across share classes. Just a quick note for our audience that the views expressed by Sandro Venturini on today's program do not reflect those of UBS or its leadership. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Kuo Zhang, President of Alibaba.com. Alibaba.com is a global B2B marketplace connecting small and mid-sized businesses with manufacturers and suppliers worldwide. Kuo joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello for an exclusive interview following his keynote address at this year's CoCreate event in Las Vegas to discuss how agentic AI is lowering barriers to global sourcing, transforming procurement workflows, and reshaping how organizations of all sizes move from product idea to execution. Kuo also breaks down the practical efficiencies emerging from AI-driven automation—from reducing manual supplier communication to streamlining global transactions and trade assurance—and explains where enterprises are already seeing measurable ROI through faster cycle times, expanded sourcing options, and increased operational resilience. You can read an article analysis of today's conversation, originally published on Emerj.com, here. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show! Watch Matt and Kuo's conversation on our new YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@EmerjAIResearch.

Today's guest is Nina Edwards, Vice President of Emerging Technology and Innovation at Prudential Insurance. With decades of experience driving strategy, innovation, and AI-enabled growth at leading financial and consulting firms, Nina brings deep expertise in applied intelligence and emerging technology.​​ Nina joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to unpack why 95% of AI pilots fail to deliver enterprise value and reveal strategies for translating productivity gains into measurable ROI by ditching pre-AI metrics.​ Nina also shares practical takeaways, including protected sandboxes that slash approval cycles from months to days, unified KPI glossaries standardizing cycle time and exception rates, outcome charters targeting business value, and human-centered operating models shifting teams from doing to deciding to scale pilots enterprise-wide. This episode is sponsored by Moody's. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Robert Wenier, Global Head of Cloud and Infrastructure at AstraZeneca. Robert leads enterprise cloud, infrastructure, and platform strategy across a highly regulated, data-intensive global organization. Robert joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella to discuss how enterprise data and AI architectures are shifting from service-oriented and microservice models toward emerging agentic architectures that prioritize end-to-end business outcomes over stepwise technical execution. The conversation explores why AI is moving from a supporting role to a direct driver of competitive advantage, and how this changes expectations for infrastructure, data strategy, and leadership ownership. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show! Watch Daniel and Robert's conversation on our new YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@EmerjAIResearch.

Today's guest is Naveen Kumar, Head of Insider Risk, Analytics, and Detection at TD Bank. With deep expertise in financial crime and risk analytics, he offers a frontline view into how regulated institutions manage AI securely at scale. Naveen joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss the foundations required for responsible AI adoption in banking — from data protection and governance to fraud prevention and machine-assisted investigation. Naveen also breaks down practical steps leaders can take to improve ROI, including role-based AI access, full data visibility, and phasing innovation to meet regulatory expectations. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by NLP Logix.

Today's guest is Kun He, Lead Scientific Advisor at Bayer Crop Science. He joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss how AI is transforming human talent and workforce development in agricultural manufacturing, balancing data-driven efficiency with the irreplaceable role of human gut instinct. Kun also explores practical takeaways, such as integrating genotyping and phenotyping data to accelerate crop-breeding workflows, empowering breeders to drive "step change" innovations, and treating AI as a co-pilot to check biases while prioritizing customer needs for blockbuster R&D outcomes. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Chris Joynt, Director of Product Marketing at Securiti. Securiti is a leader in AI-powered data security, privacy, and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Chris joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore why trust in data remains the defining challenge for AI in financial services, and how institutions can modernize their architectures to enable safe, compliant, and scalable AI adoption. Chris also breaks down the practical workflows that reduce regulatory and cyber risk — mapping data flows, classifying unstructured data, preventing shadow AI — and shows how stronger governance ultimately accelerates ROI by enabling faster, more reliable AI deployment across the enterprise. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast! This episode is sponsored by Securiti.

Shefali Kakar, Global Head of PK Sciences and Oncology at Novartis, returns to the AI in Business podcast to discuss how AI is reshaping the earliest and most critical phases of drug development—where strategic investment decisions are made long before a clinical trial begins. Together with Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello, Shefali explores how advanced modeling, in silico design, and patient data are creating a clearer picture of risk and return across R&D portfolios. She explains how pharmaceutical organizations are leveraging multi-factorial models to simulate safety, efficacy, and market potential—down to the molecular level. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Umesh Rustogi, General Manager of Dragon for Nursing, Microsoft Health & Life Sciences. Umesh joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how nursing workflows are straining under documentation burden, and how ambient AI is being built — not repurposed — to fit the realities of frontline care. The conversation also examines practical workflow changes already emerging in the field, as well as early ROI signals to watch for. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Cody Barrow, CEO at EclecticIQ. EclecticIQ is a global cybersecurity leader specializing in threat intelligence technology. Cody joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss how AI-driven analytics and automation are revolutionizing threat detection and response in enterprise cybersecurity. Barrow also highlights practical improvements in workflow automation, early threat identification, and measurable ROI through reduced breach risks and operational efficiency. This episode is sponsored by EclecticIQ. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!

Today's guest is Dirk Michiels, CEO of Savaco. Savaco is a Belgium-based managed service provider specializing in hybrid cloud solutions, cybersecurity, and enterprise software deployment. Michiels joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to discuss the transformative role of hybrid cloud architectures in enterprise data and AI strategies. He also highlights how seamless integration, enhanced security protocols, and optimized deployment workflows lead to faster innovation and measurable ROI for modern organizations. This episode is sponsored by Xurrent. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the 'AI in Business' podcast!