The AI in Business Podcast

Tax processes remain constrained by document-based workflows that limit data accessibility, speed, and cross-system integration. In this episode, Neal Schneider, Co-Founder and CTO at K1x, and Ken Powell, Chief Revenue Officer at K1x, unpack how shifting to standardized, connected tax data enables more efficient processing, interoperability, and improved use of information across stakeholders. The discussion focuses on reducing manual data handling, progressing through stages of data maturity, and using centralized data to support faster processing and more informed client work. This episode is sponsored by K1x. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at go.emerj.com/partner

The gap between customer expectations and operational delivery is widening as traditional reactive service models struggle with volume volatility and workforce attrition. In this episode, Philipp Heltewig, Chief AI Officer at NiCE, unpacks how enterprises can transition to a proactive, AI-first customer experience by rethinking core service processes for the age of automation. The discussion outlines the shift from measuring simple deflection to prioritizing resolution quality, alongside the technical requirements for structuring APIs and knowledge bases to support high-performance AI agents. This episode is sponsored by NiCE. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at go.emerj.com/partner

Enterprise legal departments are currently navigating a breakdown in AI adoption caused by scattered data, inconsistent global regulations, and a lack of clear governance for grading automated workflows. In this episode, Christo Siebrits, Senior Associate and General Counsel at AbbVie, outlines how a validated internal large language model environment combined with a forced-ranking strategy for use cases can mitigate risk while focusing technical resources on high-value initiatives. The discussion focuses on practical frameworks for cross-functional training, aligning with the EU AI Act, and integrating legal oversight into early-stage technical development to ensure scalable and compliant innovation. 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!

Supply chains are being pushed to move faster while geopolitical volatility makes traditional planning cycles increasingly fragile for global enterprises. In this episode, Edmund Zagorin, Founding Chief Strategy Officer at Arkestro, and Mike Shin, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Trinity Rail Industries, join Daniel Faggella, Emerj CEO and Head of Research, to examine how proactive, data‑driven procurement models help organizations balance cost, capacity, and continuity under these conditions. They highlight how offer‑driven sourcing, automated contract intelligence, and supplier‑alternative discovery shorten decision cycles, surface hidden risks, and strengthen collaboration across procurement and supply chain teams. This episode is sponsored by Arkestro. 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!

The collapse of traditional, static survey models at scale creates a systemic visibility gap that transforms multi-tier supply chain dependencies into boardroom-level risks. In this Aravo-sponsored episode, Carey Smith, former CIO and Chief Technology Innovation Officer of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota and President and CIO of XcelerateHealth, outlines how enterprises must transition to continuous, AI-enabled monitoring to achieve deterministic explainability in risk scoring. The discussion focuses on shifting from simple risk detection to operational resilience by automating remediation playbooks and segmenting vendor scrutiny based on business materiality Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at go.emerj.com/partner

Enterprises are facing an 80% failure rate for AI agents in complex tasks because these systems lack the deep understanding required to navigate established legacy environments and existing internal systems. In this episode, Eran Yahav, CTO and co-founder at Tabnine, outlines how an enterprise context engine acts as a persistent memory and mapping layer that onboards AI systems into specific business logic, security perimeters, and organizational dependencies. The conversation highlights how this infrastructure can double agent success rates and reduce token costs by 80% while allowing technical leaders to establish swim lanes that ensure agents operate reliably within complex software architectures. This episode is sponsored by Tabnine. 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!

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!