922: Artificial intelligence has enabled software developers to significantly boost productivity by automating tedious tasks and improving code quality across complex projects. In this episode of Technovation, host Peter High speaks with Scott Dietzen, CEO of Augment, about how Augment’s AI platform is changing how software teams collaborate, making it easier for developers to work efficiently and creatively. Scott shares how Augment’s AI sets itself apart by deeply understanding the codebase and architecture of each team, providing tailored support beyond coding tools from the tech giants.
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891: Proper cybersecurity practices within a company involve a shared responsibility across the entire enterprise, not just the IT organization, requiring a unified approach that encompasses people, processes, and technology. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High interviews Sesh Tirumala, Chief Information Officer of Western Digital, to discuss the company’s focus on cybersecurity, employee experience, and engineering excellence. Sesh details his experience handling a major cyber incident at Western Digital and the framework he applied to identify vulnerabilities and establish guardrails to mitigate future cyber incidents. He also talks about his approach to improving operational and engineering excellence at the company and explains the importance of culture in IT. Furthermore, he reflects on his journey across various scaled and fast-growing technology companies and shares the future trends in technology that excite him, such as generative AI and digital twins in manufacturing.
866: The role of IT within companies is constantly evolving, driven forward by tech sector companies as they propel it into the future. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Intel’s CIO, Motti Finkelstein, about the future of IT and his strategies for preparing the IT organization within Intel to lead this industry-wide evolution. Having transitioned into his role roughly six months ago from serving as the company’s Digital Transformation Officer, Motti elaborates on the various organizations within the broader Intel Corporation and outlines his current focal points, including cloud computing, data center innovations, the Internet of Things, and PC solutions. He shares insights into Intel’s distinctive position as both a product designer and manufacturer and delves into the complexities of his role as a tech-sector CIO. With the recent release of Intel’s IT Annual Report titled ‘The Next Evolution of IT,’ Motti highlights key points from the report, such as the significant role artificial intelligence plays in improving the company’s operational efficiency and the emphasis placed on enhancing the customer experience. The conversation also encompasses Intel’s strides in integrating sustainability into its product design and how sustainability is emerging as a critical focus for IT leaders across sectors. Finally, Motti reflects on his career journey, his motivations for joining Intel at a pivotal moment in its history, and the noteworthy trend of integrating security into software products.
Read the 2023-2024 Intel IT Annual Report:
www.intel.com/ITAnnualReport
857: In the last decade, companies across a variety of industries have experienced the ascent of the as-a-service model. At Nile Secure, Co-Founder and CEO Pankaj Patel has pioneered the category of network-as-a-service featuring built-in security, automation, and continuous monitoring for maximum performance. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Pankaj about this category of network-as-a-service and the broader mission of Nile. Pankaj reflects on his early career at Cisco, the challenges he saw in the IT landscape, and how the partnership with Cisco’s former CEO John Chambers led to the eventual establishment of Nile Secure. He also details the market transitions that influenced the company’s founding, the impact of AI and automation in network engineering, and what the future ahead looks like for the industry. Finally, Pankaj looks back on starting a company as a grandfather, balancing family life with work, and the secrets to his career success including early customer interaction and emphasis on team building.
856: With a wide range of levers at their disposal, technology and operational executives are strategically positioned to be masters of speed within their respective organizations. In this episode, we feature a panel from our February 2024 Metis Strategy Digital Symposium where Jen Felch, Chief Digital Officer and Chief Information Officer of Dell, and Mojgan Lefebvre, Chief Technology and Operations Officer of Travelers speak with Peter High about how they drive speed and agility at their companies. Both executives discuss cultivating a culture of speed and innovation on their team, leading the change management associated with the mindset shift toward agility, and the methods they use to accelerate and automate processes within the organization. Jen and Mojgan also dive deeper into the types of technology they are using today and the emerging technologies like advancements in artificial intelligence that are on their radar for the future.
846: Enterprises are rapidly accelerating their artificial intelligence strategies as new tools emerge, and the executives at these companies are constantly looking for ways AI can solve big problems that have plagued them for decades. Seeing this niche as an opportunity, Gustavo Sapoznik, the founder and CEO of ASAPP, has led the company toward building products that leverage AI/ML tools to solve the world’s most difficult problems. In this interview, Gustavo sits down with Peter High to describe the journey he went through starting up ASAPP, the value it provides companies, and what inspired him to start down the path of entrepreneurship. Throughout his career, Gustavo has gathered many unique insights on the evolution and potential of artificial intelligence and shares some of what he has learned throughout the conversation. More broadly, Gustavo discusses his personal entrepreneurship journey and his advice for those looking to follow in his footsteps.
845: As with most industries, artificial intelligence has had an immeasurable impact on the entrepreneurial journey and the types of offerings being provided to enterprises from start-ups. In this episode of Technovation, Samsara co-founders Sanjit Biswas and John Bicket join Peter High in a conversation about the genesis story behind the company, its rationale for selling into physical operations, and how artificial intelligence is changing the start-up landscape. Both executives explain the role of AI at the company, the convergence of IT and OT within the industrial sector, and how they came to focus on the industrial sector when starting Samsara. They share how they overcame the learning curve associated with operating in an unfamiliar industry, the evolution of generative AI applications within the industrial sector, and how they’ve built their team with the right skills in technology. Finally, they share their lessons from scaling the business to become a publicly traded company, the trends in technology that are on their radar for the future, and the learnings they’ve taken away from their entrepreneurial journey.
842: Software development, like the tech landscape as a whole, is constantly evolving, and the pace of change is faster than ever. Now, with the advent of generative AI and ChatGPT, a significant paradigm shift is occurring. Varun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of the code acceleration toolkit Codeium, joins Peter High on the broadcast to explain this shift and how generative AI is being leveraged to accelerate coding and the software development lifecycle. Varun shares the genesis story of Codeium, the benefit his infrastructure background had on building the company, and the trends he noticed signaling the impact of artificial intelligence on software development. He shares the future ahead for generative AI as a whole, the value proposition that Codeium’s generative AI toolkit offers its customers and the best practices that executives should follow when partnering with generative AI vendors. Finally, Varun talks about how Codeium competes with larger-scale organizations, the company’s plans with its new Series B investment, and the lessons he learned from his career.
826: Companies often serve a variety of clients ranging from individual consumers to large-scale organizations. When delivering experiences for each of these clients, Jen Felch, CIO and CDO at Dell, believes they are one and the same. In this interview, Jen explains the interplay between these two types of experiences her team delivers and the customer-centric mindset she fosters at the company. She describes the benefits and challenges of being customer zero for the company’s products, the management of the organization’s modernization efforts, and what having a magnetic and transformative culture looks like. Similarly, Jen talks about the culture of risk-taking when it comes to innovation, her approach to generative AI and AI more generally, and the necessity of weaving together cybersecurity with these innovative technologies and methods of experimentation. Finally, Jen reflects on the keys to her success and looks ahead at the trends in technology that are on her radar.
806: Naveen joins Peter High in a conversation about the foundational technology strategy that he has helped set up to foster greater enterprise growth. He explains what it’s like to run IT within a tech-centric organization and how the company’s Databricks-on-Databricks customer zero program helps to develop better product offerings for customers. Naveen provides insight into his perspective on generative AI, the value it poses to executives, and the necessity of creating a sound data strategy in order to fuel AI. Finally, Naveen shares learnings from across his career, the keys to his success, and the trends that are on his radar for the future.
