Transform NOW

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. News stories covered in this episode: • What a $1.2 Billion Lesson Means for Your AI Strategy: Automation Without Accountability https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/what-a-1-2-billion-lesson-means-for-6095787/ • Companies Want More Entry-Lev...

AI-first isn't about automating what exists, it's about asking what should exist. In this episode, host Michael Marchuk welcomes Elisabeth Goos, who leads Roland Berger's AI-first organization and process redesign work, to explore why bolting AI onto legacy processes disappoints, and what radical redesign actually delivers. Key topics include: Why 95% of organizations are stuck in pilo...

In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, CEO and co-founder of Humane Intelligence, a tech nonprofit building a community of practice around AI accountability. Dr. Chowdhury explains why "rogue AI" is really a governance problem and how independent audits, red teaming, and clear liability frameworks can make AI trustworthy..What we talked about with Rumman:* Buildi...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. .News stories covered in this episode:.Sam Altman thinks it's 'quite terrible' for your PC to be using memory that AI companies need so badly https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/article/sam-altman-thinks-its-quite-terrible-for-your-pc-to...

In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Kathleen Walch, an AI strategist and frequent author/speaker at the Project Management Institute, who explains how the CPMAI methodology helps organizations avoid the most common reasons AI projects fail: skipping the business problem, neglecting data, and confusing automation with autonomy. . What we discussed with Kathleen: * The origin of CPMAI, from Co...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with Stephan Keese, Managing Partner at Roland Berger North America, on how companies pursuing isolated use cases instead of rebuilding entire processes and functions will likely not see the results they anticipated. Stephan, who leads Roland Berger's industrial operations practice, cuts through the AI hype and discusses what it actually takes for ma...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. News stories covered in this episode: • Anthropic releases IPO filing ahead of highly-anticipated stock debut https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/anthropic-releases-ipo-filing-ahead-highly-anticipated-stock-debut-rcna605676 • AI gover...

AI agents will become the next mushroom cloud in organizations and most companies aren't ready. Denis O'Shea, founder of Mobile Mentor, joins the Transform Now podcast to share zero trust architecture lessons for the agentic era, starting with his own company's honest mistakes. In this episode: - Mobile Mentor's ugly story: 33,000 over-shared data assets and no ROI measurement - Th...

In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Michael Fauscette, founder and chief analyst at Arion Research, who explains why most agentic AI pilots never make it to production, and how companies can get there by giving agents goals instead of scripts, redesigning workflows, and building governance in from the start..What we talked about with Michael:* A continuum of autonomy - what separates agentic...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. .News stories covered in this episode:.AI model decodes the language cells use to communicate https://news.mit.edu/2026/ai-model-decodes-language-cells-use-communicate-1015 .SpaceX And Tesla Are Building A Massive New Factory, And Here&#39...

Implementing AI without a clear business strategy is just an expensive experiment. Mark Sims, founder of Consult MSG and former CIO at Scotts Miracle-Gro, joins the host Michael Marchuk to unpack what organizational readiness for AI actually looks like beyond the fear of missing out. In this episode: The diagnostic question that reveals your analytics maturity: "How long to answer the 7th-best-sel...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk chats with Dr. Michael Housman, author of Future-Proof: Transform Your Business with AI or Get Left Behind, to explain what separates AI winners from the ones left-behind. A 17-year builder of AI/ML platforms turned workforce educator, Dr. Housman shares why getting people to lean in beats any amount of data science. In this episode: The skill set × tool set ×...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. News stories covered in this episode: Anthropic asks users to stop being mean to Claude https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/09/anthropic-asks-users-to-stop-being-mean-to-claude/5302218 Claude's "Constitution" - http...

How can organizations successfully transform with AI without losing sight of the people who make them work? In this episode of the Transform Now Podcast, host Michael Marchuk sits down with Dr. Linda Ackerman-Anderson, a pioneering authority on transformational change and co-author of "The Change Leader's Roadmap" and "Beyond Change Management." Together, they explore why s...

Most AI adoption fails because leaders ask the wrong question: "How can we use AI in our current workflows?" instead of "How should this workflow be redesigned?" In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with Jon Cheney, founder of the GenAI Proficiency Institute (GenAIPI), who explains how putting people first In this episode: Why tool-first thinking kills transformation (an...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. .News stories covered in this episode:.AI agents threaten banks’ cash cows - https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/29/ai-agents-banks-new-risks-01096173 .AI Is Starting to Pay Off. Almost 50% of Companies Now Generate Value with It. - http...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with Rick Brown and Carole Lawson, co-founders of MarketStorm about influencing AI to help your organization be found as search changes from the traditional Google keyword search paradigm. Carole, a recognized thought leader on the death of traditional SEO, explains why GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) isn't just a new word for SEO, and Rick deli...

In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Paul Marshall, Go-to-Market Leader for SS&C Blue Prism in the Middle East and Africa, who explains how this region of the world is rapidly advancing from AI consumer to AI creator, driven by sovereign wealth, government mandate, and data-sovereign architecture. . What we discussed with Paul: * Middle East AI infrastructure investment (hyperscalers, sov...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. News stories covered in this episode: • AI solved one of math's hardest problems. Humanity learned nothing (so far) https://www.npr.org/2026/09/22/nx-s1-5968588/openai-navier-stokes-problem-mathematicians-learn-little • Anthropic quiet...

What does it take to run 70+ AI agents in production at a highly regulated bank? In this episode, Michael Marchuk talks with Ricardo Alqueidão, Head of Intelligent Automation at the largest private bank in Portugal. Richard shares how his team shifted from traditional RPA to agentic AI, processing 9.5 million annual transactions with an 84% automation rate. His award-winning customer maintenance s...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with enterprise AI leaders John Bellone (Global CIO, SS&C GIDS) and Jeremy Rossi (Global CIO, SS&C Intelligent Automation) to unpack the biggest shift happening in agentic AI right now: orchestration. Where should coordination logic live when enterprises bring AI agents, RPA, and humans together? John and Jeremy share how their thinking has evolv...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. .News stories covered in this episode:.Researchers used Anthropic’s Claude to hack into OpenAI https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/18/researchers-used-anthropics-claude-to-hack-into-openai/ .Google’s Gemini becomes latest AI model to break out...

In this episode of the Transform Now podcast, host Michael Marchuk sits down with Chad Gaydos, CEO of Procurify, to explore how AI is fundamentally shifting procurement from a back-office cost control function into a strategic advantage. With nearly 30 years of software experience, including 18 years at SAP, Chad breaks down why settling for cost control is a massive missed opportunity. We dive in...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. News stories covered in this episode: • Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says AI industry needs to give safety measures time to catch up https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-ai-dario-amodei-d59552edcb27892d8ee4d98a48397706 • The AI founders who...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk sits down with Melanie Nabar, Principal at Volition Capital, a growth equity firm known for backing capital-efficient, founder-led software and internet businesses. With a decade of experience investing in growth-stage technology companies, Melanie offers a rare double perspective: how AI is transforming the portfolio companies being invested in, and how it&#3...