Tech Innovators Spotlight

Blackbaud: Agents for Good - Building Virtual Teammates

In this episode of Tech Innovators Spotlight, host Chad Merck is joined by Paul Goldstein, Head of AI Growth at Blackbaud to discuss how AI is transforming the social good sector through a focus on customer needs, simplicity, and measurable outcomes. The conversation explores the rise of agentic AI as virtual teammates, capable of autonomously supporting tasks like donor engagement while maintaining a human-in-the-loop for trust and oversight. Paul emphasizes that successful AI adoption isn’t about the technology itself, but the value it delivers, whether that’s increased fundraising, stronger relationships, or operational efficiency.   In This Episode You Will Learn:     * How agentic AI is being structured and onboarded like a real team member  * What product and leadership shifts are needed to successfully adopt AI at scale  * Why outcome-driven AI matters more than understanding the underlying technology    Some Questions We Ask:    * What do customers actually care about when it comes to AI?  * How do you measure whether your AI strategy is working?  * What future developments in AI are you most excited about?        Resources:       View Paul Goldstein on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-goldstein/]    View Chad Merck on LinkedIn  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadmerck/]     Related Microsoft Podcasts:       * Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast [https://msthreatintelpodcast.com/]    * Afternoon Cyber Tea with Ann Johnson [https://afternooncybertea.com/]    * Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Partners Podcast [https://aka.ms/hybridpodcast]          Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts at microsoft.com/podcasts [https://news.microsoft.com/podcasts/]  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Why AI’s Next Wave Is Human-Centric - Bryan Harris, SAS CTO

In this episode of Tech Innovators Spotlight, host Chad Merck is joined by Bryan Harris, CTO of SAS, to explore the current state of AI and where it’s headed next. Bryan shares why AI represents a turning point in how organizations analyze and act on massive amounts of data, and why the real opportunity isn’t replacing people but empowering them to create better outcomes. The conversation covers the rise of agentic AI, the importance of trust and governance in enterprise AI systems, and how technologies like digital twins, synthetic data, and quantum computing are helping organizations solve complex real-world problems, from manufacturing optimization to fraud detection.    In This Episode You Will Learn:     * Why the explosion of enterprise data is driving the rapid adoption of AI  * How AI can shift organizations from gathering data to actually analyzing it  * The difference between AI assistants and agentic AI workflows    Some Questions We Ask:    * Why do you believe this moment in AI should lead companies to invest more in people?  * As AI moves from assistants to agentic workflows, where will enterprises see the biggest impact?  * How do digital twins help organizations bridge the gap between AI insights and real-world outcomes?        Resources:       View Bryan Harris on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryancharris/]   View Chad Merck on LinkedIn  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadmerck/]     Related Microsoft Podcasts:       * Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast [https://msthreatintelpodcast.com/]    * Afternoon Cyber Tea with Ann Johnson [https://afternooncybertea.com/]    * Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Partners Podcast [https://aka.ms/hybridpodcast]          Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts at microsoft.com/podcasts [https://news.microsoft.com/podcasts/]      ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Building Trustworthy AI for Legal w/ iManage

In this episode of Tech Innovators Spotlight, host Chad Merck and co-host Jennifer Martinez are joined by Paul Walker, Global Solutions Director at iManage, to explore how AI is transforming legal and professional services. Paul discusses how generative AI has shifted iManage’s platform from record-keeping to active intelligence, enabling lawyers to extract value from vast, highly sensitive document repositories while maintaining trust, security, and regulatory compliance. The conversation covers what “AI confidence” means in practice, including explainability, auditability, data containment, and completeness, as well as real-world efficiency gains, unexpected high-impact use cases, and the importance of strong information architecture.  In This Episode You Will Learn:     * How generative AI is changing the way legal teams work with documents  * Why grounding AI responses in source documents improves adoption  * What’s next for AI in legal tech including platform openness and agentic workflows    Some Questions We Ask:    * Why are trust, accuracy, and sensitive data handling so critical in legal AI?  * How does iManage make AI outputs trusted and explainable for users?  * What does the agentic future of AI look like for legal teams?       Resources:       View Paul Walker on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljameswalker/]   View Jennifer Martinez on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferjmartinez/]   View Chad Merck on LinkedIn  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadmerck/]     Related Microsoft Podcasts:       * Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast [https://msthreatintelpodcast.com/]    * Afternoon Cyber Tea with Ann Johnson [https://afternooncybertea.com/]    * Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Partners Podcast [https://aka.ms/hybridpodcast]          Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts at microsoft.com/podcasts [https://news.microsoft.com/podcasts/]    ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

AI Hype vs Reality: Progress Software

In this episode of Tech Innovators Spotlight, host Chad Merck and co-host Will Pollard are joined by Ed Keisling, Chief AI Officer at Progress Software, to explore what it really takes to make AI deliver value in the enterprise. Ed shares why the Chief AI Officer role is uniquely positioned to balance innovation and risk, why most GenAI projects struggle to show ROI, and how organizations can avoid chasing hype by focusing on sharp, well-defined problems. The conversation dives into Progress’s approach to AI as augmentation rather than replacement, the growing opportunity for small and mid-sized businesses, and how agentic RAG and Progress’s partnership with Microsoft are helping make AI more practical, scalable, and accessible.    In This Episode You Will Learn:     * Why many GenAI projects fail to deliver ROI and how to avoid common pitfalls  * How agentic RAG helps ground AI systems in reliable, trusted data  * Where AI is delivering real value today versus where experimentation is still ongoing    Some Questions We Ask:    * How has this current wave of AI been different from past technology disruptions?  * Why do you think so many organizations struggle to succeed with AI initiatives?  * Where do you think we are right now in the AI adoption and hype cycle?        Resources:       View Ed Keisling on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/edkeisling/]   View Will Pollard on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-pollard-5278a1101/?originalSubdomain=uk]   View Chad Merck on LinkedIn  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadmerck/]     Related Microsoft Podcasts:       * Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast [https://msthreatintelpodcast.com/]    * Afternoon Cyber Tea with Ann Johnson [https://afternooncybertea.com/]    * Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Partners Podcast [https://aka.ms/hybridpodcast]          Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts at microsoft.com/podcasts [https://news.microsoft.com/podcasts/]  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Curiosity, Experimentation, and Learning in the AI Era

In this episode of Tech Innovators Spotlight, host Chad Merck and co-host Lauren Hutchinson sit down with Coursera CTO Mustafa Furniturewala to explore how AI is reshaping education at a global scale. Mustafa shares why Coursera’s mission to democratize learning has kept him with the company for over a decade and discusses how the organization fosters a culture of experimentation to drive innovation. He breaks down Coursera’s rapid adoption of generative AI, the creation of Coursera Coach, new capabilities in personalized and hands-on learning, and the expansion of translated and AI-dubbed content to reach more learners worldwide.     In This Episode You Will Learn:     * How a decade inside Coursera has shaped Mustafa’s perspective on building at scale  * Why core skills like cybersecurity and data fundamentals remain essential alongside AI  * What makes offline mobile learning critical for low-connectivity regions    Some Questions We Ask:    * What does a culture of experimentation look like at Coursera?  * How does Coursera think about partnerships, including Microsoft?  * What role will Coursera play in the changing education landscape?        Resources:       View Mustafa Furniturewala on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mustafaf/]   View Lauren Hutchinson on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/hutchinsonlauren/]   View Chad Merck on LinkedIn  [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chadmerck/]     Related Microsoft Podcasts:       * Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast [https://msthreatintelpodcast.com/]    * Afternoon Cyber Tea with Ann Johnson [https://afternooncybertea.com/]    * Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Partners Podcast [https://aka.ms/hybridpodcast]          Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts at microsoft.com/podcasts [https://news.microsoft.com/podcasts/]    ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.