TECHtonic: Trends in Technology and Services

In this episode of TECHtonic, Thomas Lah welcomes Deb Ashton, Founder of Certinia, for a conversation about the transformation of professional services in the age of AI. They explore why traditional utilization-based business models are giving way to outcome-driven engagements, how AI is changing pricing, delivery, and workforce strategies, and why customer value must become the foundation of ever...

AI is changing everything—but there's one part of the conversation many organizations still aren't having: the economics. As enterprises race to deploy copilots, agents, and generative AI across every department, leaders are discovering that AI costs don't arrive as a single invoice. They show up across GPUs, token consumption, cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and idle compute resources, maki...

In this episode of TECHtonic, host Thomas Lah, EVP and Executive Director of TSIA, sits down with Agam Vasani, former SVP of Customer Experience at LeanData, to explore what it actually takes to build an AI-driven post-sale organization. Agam shares how his team was drowning in over 40 fragmented customer health signals, leaving CSMs spending more time assembling data than acting on it. He then re...

Your CRM knows what happened. It doesn’t know why—or what’s about to happen next. That gap is costing revenue teams millions in preventable churn, missed expansion, and deals that slip away long before anyone saw it coming. In this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA Executive Director Thomas Lah sits down with Alok Shukla, CEO and co-founder of Funnel Story, to explore a new category of technology: the AI...

Recorded live at the May 2026 TSIA Board Summit, this executive panel brings together technology and services leaders to explore how AI is transforming the future of customer engagement, professional services, support, sales, and education services. Moderated by Thomas Lah and George Humphrey, the discussion dives into emerging business model trends shaping the technology industry, including forwa...

In this episode of TECHtonic, Thomas Lah of TSIA sits down with Michael Harnum, CEO of ESG Success, to unpack a bold idea reshaping the tech industry: Customer Success as a Service. As companies face mounting pressure to cut costs while still driving retention and growth, traditional customer success models are being pushed to their limits. Michael shares how his experience scaling renewal operati...

In this episode of TECHtonic, host Thomas Lah sits down with Angelica Riemann, SVP and President of the CrossLab Group at Agilent Technologies, to unpack how a legacy hardware company is transforming into a modern, recurring-revenue powerhouse. From its origins as a spinout of HP to becoming a global leader in lab innovation, Agilent is redefining what it means to deliver value—not just through in...

In this episode of TECHtonic, Thomas Lah sits down with Cormac Whelan, CEO of Nitro Software, to unpack what it really takes to compete, and win, when you’re up against industry heavy weights. As AI reshapes the software landscape, Cormac shares how smaller, more agile companies are using it as a force multiplier, enabling lean teams to innovate faster, deliver smarter products, and “punch above t...

What happens when AI can do almost everything marketing teams used to own? In this thought-provoking episode of TECHtonic, Thomas Lah chats with marketing leader Kathy Macchi to unpack a bold AI manifesto that’s challenging how CMOs think about their role, and their future. As AI rapidly takes over content creation, campaign execution, and analytics, marketing teams face a critical crossroads: evo...

AI is everywhere. So where is the real business value? In this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA’s Thomas Lah speaks with Sofi Elfving Hallberg, CEO and co-founder of Substorm and a machine learning pioneer who has worked in the field since the early 2000s. Sofi shares how the AI landscape has evolved from the early days of limited data and computing power to today’s generative AI boom, and why many comp...

Net revenue retention is under pressure. SaaS growth has slowed. Sales and marketing budgets are shrinking. And AI is forcing companies to rethink everything, from seat-based pricing models to how they engage, retain, and grow customers. In this episode of TECHtonic, host Thomas Lah welcomes back Brent Grimes, CEO of Reef.ai, for a direct and timely conversation about what’s actually happening in...

AI is no longer a distant promise, it’s actively reshaping how work gets done. But the biggest differentiator between companies that thrive and those that fall behind isn’t the technology itself. It’s how leaders guide people through the change. In this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA’s Thomas Lah sits down with 2x best selling author and strategist Alison McCauley to explore what it really takes to mo...

In the AI era, enterprise technology companies face a hard truth: generic platforms no longer win. Profitable growth now depends on delivering specific business outcomes, and that requires going deeper than ever before. In this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA Executive Director Thomas Lah speaks with Mari Cross, Chief Customer Officer at Infor, to explore how micro-vertical strategies, AI-driven servic...

AI is no longer a technology conversation, it’s an economic reckoning. In this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA’s Thomas Lah is joined by J.B. Wood and George Humphrey to unpack the real-world implications of AI Economics through the headlines shaping enterprise tech right now. From Salesforce’s AI-driven job cuts to Adobe’s competitive pressure, Palantir’s services-led growth, and the collapse of tradi...

B2B enterprises are overwhelmed by complexity, and AI is finally promising the breakthrough they’ve been chasing for years. On this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA Executive Director Thomas Lah sits down with AptEdge CEO Kusal De Silva and co-founder Aakrit Prasad for a direct, no-nonsense look at how AI is transforming the most ignored and most mission-critical function in technology: enterprise suppo...

In this power-packed episode of TECHtonic, TSIA Executive Director Thomas Lah speaks to Rajat Shah, Vice President of Services at Tetra Pak, for a rare inside look at one of the world’s most sophisticated industrial service organizations. From delivering 5+ million service hours annually to supporting more than 100,000 pieces of equipment across nearly 200 countries, Tetra Pak is transforming its...

TSIA Executive Director Thomas Lah sits down with Satya Gunampalli, Founder & CEO of G5 InfoTech, to explore how AI is not just enhancing workflows, but fundamentally reshaping the business models of technology companies. From why leadership culture is the #1 factor in successful AI adoption, to how AI agents are transforming software development and customer support, Satya explains where valu...

In this episode of TECHtonic, host Thomas Lah, Executive Director of TSIA, speaks to Doug Duker, Global Leader of Customer Success at You.com, to unpack what truly sets AI-native startups apart from traditional SaaS companies. Doug shares how You.com evolved from a consumer search product into an enterprise-focused AI platform—emphasizing data security, multi-model agility, hallucination control,...

In this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA’s Executive Director and EVP Thomas Lah sits down with Alex Console, SVP of Global Support Services at Teradata, to explore what it takes to support one of the most complex customer environments in the tech industry. From hybrid deployments and legacy systems to cutting-edge AI integration, Console shares how Teradata is redefining customer support as a strategic...

In this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA’s Executive Director and EVP, Thomas Lah, sits down with Srikrishnan Ganesan, Co-founder and CEO of Rocketlane, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping professional services, customer onboarding, and the broader technology landscape. From Salesforce replacing thousands of support roles with AI agents, to Rocketlane’s own AI-powered documentation and p...

In this episode of TECHtonic, host Thomas Lah sits down with Shane Luke, VP of Workday AI, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way businesses manage people and money. From recruiting workflows and talent mobility, to contract intelligence and financial audits, Luke reveals how Workday is embedding AI into its core products to boost productivity, reduce bias, and unlock new leve...

As AI transforms how knowledge workers operate, the challenge isn’t just adopting new tools—it’s rethinking how we learn, adapt, and thrive. In this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA’s Thomas Lah sits down with Dr. Chris Dede, Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Together, they explore the profound shifts AI brings to workplace learning, from immersive simulations that meas...

In this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA’s Thomas Lah sits down with Ray Meiring, CEO of QorusDocs, to explore how AI is revolutionizing SaaS business models—starting with the “boring,” but high-impact work of proposal automation. They dive into why specialized AI outperforms generic, web-scraped tools, how model-driven workflows can replace outdated content libraries, and why trust is the missing link...

In this episode of TECHtonic, host Thomas Lah is joined by Wendy Wooley, VP of Customer Experience and Strategic Programs at ScienceLogic, to explore how AI is not just transforming products, but fundamentally reshaping how tech companies go to market. Wendy reflects on her 10-year journey at ScienceLogic, the development of the Skyler AI Suite, and how the Agentic AI Autonomic IT Maturity Model i...

In this episode of TECHtonic, TSIA’s Thomas Lah sits down with Kelly Morgan, Chief Customer Officer at Docusign, to unpack how one of the world’s leading digital agreement platforms is thriving with a 100% usage-based pricing model. They explore the shift away from seat-based pricing, how Docusign restructured its customer success strategy, and why blending renewal and adoption roles is paying off...