Building Data Foundations for Agentic AI

Building Data Foundations for Agentic AI

In this episode of The Bridgecast, host Scott Kinka welcomes William McKnight, President and Founder of McKnight Consulting Group, for a deep dive into enterprise data architecture, governance, and the foundational requirements for successful AI deployment. With a career spanning engineering roles at IBM to leading healthcare IT divisions and advising Fortune 500 companies, William brings a wealth of hands-on experience to the table. As an industry analyst who regularly publishes performance benchmarks, he offers a realistic look at how modern organizations can salvage low-maturity environments and build architectures that scale. His core message to modern executives is simple yet vital: data is an intellectual property asset, not an operational byproduct or an application drag-along. What you will learn: * Why Agentic AI will fail without a governed, high-performing data foundation * The "one-point solution" rule of thumb for justifying enterprise AI investments to the CFO * How to use the data mesh concept to balance centralized standards with decentralized flexibility * Why fragmented multi-vendor database stacks can cost three times more than unified architectures * The reality of AI-driven labor reductions and why expectations are outpacing implementation About the Guest: William McKnight is the President and Founder of McKnight Consulting Group. He is a recognized author, keynote speaker, and industry commentator who has spent decades advising global enterprises on data strategy, warehousing, governance, and management. A former IBM DB2 engineer and healthcare IT executive, William bridges the gap between leading-edge vendor solutions and practical enterprise implementation. His firm is renowned for producing rigorous industry benchmarks that help organizations evaluate total cost of ownership, performance, and time-to-value across modern data platforms.  To find out how Bridgepointe Technologies helps businesses make IT decisions faster with world-class engineering support and ongoing guidance, head to https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/ [https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/] Episode Highlights: * [15:27] The Agentic AI Data Requirement William explains why modern executives are rushing blindly toward Agentic AI without checking their foundational data first. Sending autonomous agents into an architecture filled with dirty, ungoverned, or duplicated data ensures the environment will stall.  * [24:02] The One Point Solution for AI ROI Calculating the return on investment for AI projects remains a massive headache for CIOs walking into the CFO's office. William shares his practical rule of thumb to simplify the justification process: focus on moving a single core business metric by one point rather than a percentage. If an organization can reduce fraud or product returns from 5% to 4%, that single-point shift will completely cover the cost of building the infrastructure.  * [19:12] Data is an Enterprise Asset, Not a Drag-Along Many companies fall into an accidental architecture by building applications one by one, treating data as a mere byproduct of development. William argues that data needs its own dedicated specialists, standards, and a balanced architecture like a data mesh. By establishing domain-specific lakehouses that share data as distinct "data products" across the organization, companies can slash development times for subsequent applications by up to 50%. Applications should simply be a thin layer sitting on top of an already pristine, centralized, and decentralized data foundation.  Episode Resources: * William McKnight on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wmcknight/] * Scott Kinka on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottkinka/] * The Bridgecast on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bridgecast-with-scott-kinka/id1643072015] * The Bridgecast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3XON2m9v7cIftFsuDdMFK6?si=6bb5bcbd4d6b4c08&nd=1&dlsi=be415ed3c9d84b7d] * The Bridgecast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxXT9jqi5I_E0jipkfclI7LG7UQw8HTE] The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so [https://www.fame.so/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=masters-of-community-with-david-spinks?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=fame-client]

From Zoom Boom to AI Boom: What's Next for Customer Experience

In this live episode of The Bridgecast, recorded live at Channel Partners in Las Vegas, host Scott Kinka welcomes Zoom's Sean Fair and Shana Hafterson for an in-depth look at the intersection of artificial intelligence, customer experience, and channel partnerships. Tracking Zoom's massive transformation from a video-centric app to a $4.8 billion debt-free platform spending over $800 million annually on R&D, Sean and Shana share how the company is actively redefining the modern contact center infrastructure. They reveal why true AI integration isn't about replacing human capital, but rather optimizing enterprise workflows from the front door of an organization all the way to backend process finality.  What you will learn: * How Zoom leverages a debt-free capital model to invest $800 million in R&D focused on AI and CX innovation * The "conversation to completion" framework and how workflow automation eliminates manual post-call overhead * How to use advanced quality management to monitor, review and keep both human and virtual AI agents aligned * Why democratizing CX insights across an organization helps non-traditional stakeholders like product heads make faster business decisions * The emerging role of real-time audio-to-audio language translation and zero-download video SDKs in tech support and healthcare * Why trusted channel partners are essential for executing complex integrations, managing cloud migrations and providing ongoing optimization About the Guest: Sean Fair is the Head of CX Sales and Go to Market for The Americas at Zoom, having joined the organization during the initial "Zoom boom" at the start of the pandemic. With over six years of experience at Zoom, he has been instrumental in scaling the phone product and leading regional customer experience market growth strategies.  Shana Hafterson is the Head of Americas CX Channel at Zoom, bringing deep expertise from a career built in inside sales, UCaaS and CCaaS at organizations like CDW and Five9. At Zoom, she focuses on scaling specialized channel teams that help partners consult on complex AI strategies and enterprise digital transformations.  To find out how Bridgepointe Technologies helps businesses make IT decisions faster with world-class engineering support and ongoing guidance, head to https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/ [https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/]   Episode Highlights: * [02:51] The $800M Innovation Engine Sean breaks down Zoom's rapid transformation from a business video meeting application into a $4.8 billion enterprise platform driven by an annual R&D spend exceeding $800 million. This heavy investment focuses squarely on two central pillars: artificial intelligence and customer experience.  * [08:42] Driving Conversation to Completion Zoom focuses on empowering supervisor autonomy by simplifying contact center workflow orchestration. By driving automation through the entire interaction journey, post-call processes that once required extensive human overhead are wrapped up automatically in minutes.  * [13:59] Quality Managing the Bots Shana highlights the emergence of advanced quality management tools built to evaluate both human representatives and virtual AI agents in real time. If a virtual bot experiences an issue or cannot fulfill a request, the system ensures a seamless, real-time escalation to a live human agent.  Episode Resources: * Sean Fair on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-fair-aa46262/] * Shana Hafterson on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/shana-hafterson-71358b12/] * Zoom Communication Website [https://www.zoom.com/] * Scott Kinka on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottkinka/] * Bridgepointe Technologies Website [https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/] * The Bridgecast on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bridgecast-with-scott-kinka/id1643072015] * The Bridgecast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3XON2m9v7cIftFsuDdMFK6?si=6bb5bcbd4d6b4c08&nd=1&dlsi=be415ed3c9d84b7d] * The Bridgecast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxXT9jqi5I_E0jipkfclI7LG7UQw8HTE] The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so [https://www.fame.so/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=masters-of-community-with-david-spinks?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=fame-client]

Beyond Compliance: Building a Framework for Trustworthy AI

In this episode of The Bridgecast, host Scott Kinka welcomes Reggie Townsend, Vice President of AI Ethics, Governance, and Social Impact at SAS, for a wide-ranging conversation about what it truly means to build AI that organizations — and society — can trust. Reggie brings something rare to the AI ethics conversation: a commercial backbone. After years at Motorola, IBM, and Sun Microsystems before joining SAS eleven years ago, he approaches responsible AI not as an academic exercise but as a practical business imperative. His core thesis? Doing well and doing good are not mutually exclusive — and organizations that treat ethics as purely defensive are leaving enormous strategic value on the table. What you will learn: * Why "responsible AI" is being replaced by "trustworthy AI" — and why the language shift matters more than most people realize * How to apply SAS's four-pillar AI governance framework (culture, operations, regulations, oversight) inside your organization today * The hidden cost of treating AI governance like a compliance exercise instead of a strategic leadership function * Why AI is not word processing — and what automated decision-making really means for your business risk * How to think about productivity metrics, workforce pipeline, and the human cost of hollowing out junior talent in the AI era * What CIOs should do right now to build a durable governance model across fragmented global regulations Reggie Townsend is the Vice President of AI Ethics, Governance, and Social Impact at SAS, a data and AI company with 50 years in business. He previously served on the National AI Advisory Committee, advising the U.S. Department of Commerce, and currently sits on the board of Equal AI. With a career spanning Motorola, IBM, and Sun Microsystems before SAS, Reggie brings a practically grounded lens to AI ethics — one that insists organizations can simultaneously drive profit and protect people. He leads teams across ethics, governance, regulatory strategy, accessibility, and social impact at one of the world's most quietly consequential AI companies. Episode Highlights: * [15:27] The Language Shift That Changes Everything At SAS, the term isn't "responsible AI" — it's "trustworthy AI." And Reggie explains why that distinction matters far more than it first appears. "No one is going to sign up for irresponsible," he says — which means the term has become politically loaded before the real conversation even starts, entangled in doomer narratives and Luddite debates. Trustworthy AI, by contrast, cuts straight to the question that actually matters: will people invest their trust in this technology? This framing is backed by governments worldwide — the EU, the UN, and both recent U.S. administrations have all gravitated toward it. More importantly, it reframes the business conversation entirely. Trust isn't a constraint on AI deployment. It's the precondition for adoption at scale. Organizations that are still fighting over whether their AI is "responsible" may be having the wrong conversation entirely. * [24:02] The Hollow Pipeline Problem One of the sharpest observations in this episode concerns what happens when organizations race to maximize AI-driven output at the expense of building their talent pipeline. Reggie warns that senior employees who become heavy AI users can now produce at levels that make junior hiring seem unnecessary — but then asks, "What happens when those senior people leave?" The institutional knowledge disappears. And there's no pipeline to replace it. He extends this to the macro level: if GDP is just a measure of output, AI agents producing more may look like a win. But if the people who used to produce are left behind, "we will have missed the boat by a long shot." The implication for leaders is direct: AI workforce strategy isn't just about productivity gains. It's about what kind of organization you intend to be five to ten years from now — and whether you'll have the human foundation to sustain it. * [19:12] The Four-Pillar Governance Framework That Actually Works When businesses ask what good AI governance looks like in practice, Reggie doesn't point to a policy template. He points to SAS's "quad" framework: Culture, Operations, Regulations, and Oversight. Culture asks how normative behaviors in the organization need to shift to absorb AI disruption — and what the psychological impact on employees will be. Operations addresses workflows and how work will actually get done going forward. Regulations covers both compliance obligations and aspirational standards in a currently fragmented global landscape. Oversight asks where accountability sits, who monitors AI decisions, and how fast the organization should allow change to move. His advice for getting started: "Don't go try to solve for cancer." Instead, identify repeatable, laborious tasks — what he calls "pearls" — AI-ify those first, build early wins, develop the organizational muscle, and then expand. It's a framework that respects both business reality and human complexity, and it's one any organization can start using today. Episode Resources: * Reggie Townsend on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/reginaldtownsend] * SAS Website [https://www.linkedin.com/company/sas/] * Scott Kinka on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottkinka/] * The Bridgecast on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bridgecast-with-scott-kinka/id1643072015] * The Bridgecast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3XON2m9v7cIftFsuDdMFK6?si=6bb5bcbd4d6b4c08&nd=1&dlsi=be415ed3c9d84b7d] * The Bridgecast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxXT9jqi5I_E0jipkfclI7LG7UQw8HTE] The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so [https://www.fame.so/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=masters-of-community-with-david-spinks?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=fame-client]

Connectivity, Data, and People: The New IT Ecosystem

In this live episode of The Bridgecast, recorded at the Lumen Lounge during the Channel Partners Conference, host Scott Kinka welcomes Danny Benedetti, Vice President of Partner Solutions, and Jim Ortbals, Senior Vice President of Global Partner Solutions at Lumen. Together, they dive into the evolution of one of the industry's most significant players—from the legacy of CenturyLink and Level 3 to becoming a purpose-built infrastructure provider for the AI era.  The discussion moves beyond traditional connectivity to explore how organizations can "cloudify" their networks to scale bandwidth on demand. With Jim joining the conversation on his first day in the role, the episode offers a unique look at leadership during rapid change and the strategic importance of building a "digital workforce" through AI agents. Whether you are managing complex M&A integrations or preparing your infrastructure for agentic AI, this episode provides a roadmap for translating technology into business outcomes.  What you will learn: * How to shift from static to dynamic networking to support the AI economy * The leadership superpowers required to guide teams through constant industry change * Strategies for managing the human fear and systemic risks inherent in M&A integrations * Why internal AI agents are creating immediate ROI by building a digital workforce * The importance of humility and servant leadership in a high-stakes tech environment * Why network control must move from the provider into the hands of the customer About the Guests: Danny Benedetti is the Vice President of Partner Solutions at Lumen Technologies, where he has spent 16 years leading channel strategy through multiple industry shifts. He focuses on helping partners deliver value to enterprise customers in increasingly distributed IT environments.  Jim Ortbals serves as the Senior Vice President of Global Partner Solutions at Lumen. A veteran of the service provider and cybersecurity space, Jim has held leadership roles at Cisco, VMware, Zscaler, and BeyondTrust before joining Lumen to lead their global channel organization.  To find out how Bridgepointe Technologies helps businesses make IT decisions faster with world-class engineering support and ongoing guidance, head to https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/ [https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/] Episode Highlights: * [05:41] Leading Through the "Hard" Danny Benedetti explains that leading through change is about more than logistics; it's about caring for the people you lead. When change creates fear, leaders must steady the boat and help their teams see the opportunity on the other side. Danny shares a core philosophy he uses with his team: "Everything you want is on the other side of hard."  * [09:00] Cloudifying the Network Lumen is moving away from static, telco-controlled networks to a model where the network scales on demand. This "cloudification" allows enterprises to dial bandwidth up or down and move workloads to hyperscalers seamlessly via tools like the Multi-Cloud Gateway. As Danny puts it, Lumen is becoming the "backbone for the AI economy" by ensuring infrastructure can scale with the needs of the enterprise.  * [14:48] The Human Element of Integration Managing corporate mergers isn't just about systems; it's about human fear. Danny notes that people often worry about their own place in a new organization rather than what's best for the technology. Jim adds that from a systemic perspective, security must be a primary focus to ensure integrations don't create new attack vectors while chasing productivity.  Episode Resources: * Danny Benedetti on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-benedetti/] * Jim Ortbals on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimortbals/] * Lumen Technologies Website [https://www.lumen.com/] * Scott Kinka on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottkinka/] * Bridgepointe Technologies Website [https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/] * The Bridgecast on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bridgecast-with-scott-kinka/id1643072015] * The Bridgecast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3XON2m9v7cIftFsuDdMFK6?si=6bb5bcbd4d6b4c08&nd=1&dlsi=be415ed3c9d84b7d] * The Bridgecast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxXT9jqi5I_E0jipkfclI7LG7UQw8HTE] The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so [https://www.fame.so/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=masters-of-community-with-david-spinks?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=fame-client]

From Plumbing to AI: The Evolution of Managed Services

In this episode of The Bridgecast, host Scott Kinka welcomes Frank Scanga, Executive Vice Chairman at XTIUM—the powerhouse formed by the combination of ATSG and Evolve IP. With over three decades of experience in the managed services and cloud space, Frank offers a candid look at how technology leadership must evolve from "wrench turning" to driving actual business outcomes. The conversation dives deep into the current state of AI, where Frank reveals a startling statistic: 70% of AI projects fail because organizations take a technology-first rather than a business-outcome approach. From winning top honors in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Managed Network Services to building an "AI Manager" platform to orchestrate LLMs, Frank explains why the "S" in MSP—Service—remains the most critical component of the tech stack. What you will learn: * Why 70% of AI projects fail and how to pivot toward business outcomes * The definition of a "full-stack" MSP and why point products are no longer enough * How XTIUM uses machine learning and AI for business impact modeling * Why the Windows 10 end-of-life is driving a massive resurgence in Desktop as a Service (DaaS) * The one question every business should ask an MSP: "How do you perform in a failure?" * Why curiosity and listening to customers are the keys to long-term leadership Frank Scanga is the Executive Vice Chairman at XTIUM and a longtime leader in the managed services and cloud industry. A New York native and Fordham University graduate, Frank founded Maxpoint (later ATSG) in 1994 and has scaled the organization to support 1,700 clients across complex IT environments. Today, he helps drive XTIUM’s "security-first, AI-enabled" approach to IT, focusing on providing high-level business value by automating and managing the foundational technology stack. To find out how Bridgepointe Technologies helps businesses make IT decisions faster with world-class engineering support and ongoing guidance, head to https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/ [https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/] Episode Highlights: * [11:17]  The 70% Problem: Tech-First Is the Wrong First Frank opens the episode with a number that stops listeners cold: 70% of AI projects are failing. And the culprit isn't the technology—it's the mindset. "They're taking a technology approach to it and not so much a business outcome approach," Frank explains. This isn't new. It's the same pattern he's watched play out since the dot-com boom, through the cloud rush, and now into AI. CIOs who lead with bits and bytes get tuned out in the boardroom. The ones who thrive frame everything around business impact. The analogy Frank uses is pointed: "It's a service; it should be up and running, period. You turn the lights on, you expect the lights to be on." The moment a CIO starts talking about infrastructure for its own sake, they've already lost the room. The lesson applies directly to AI: a "technology-first" AI strategy isn't a strategy—it's a procurement plan. The organizations winning with AI are the ones asking "what problem does this solve for the business?" before they write a single line of code or sign a single vendor contract. * [13:25]  Building the MSP of AI: Ten Years in the Making While most organizations are just beginning to think about AI governance, XTIUM has been quietly building it for nearly a decade. Their observability platform uses machine learning to distinguish "white noise" from "bad noise" in managed networks—and goes further with business impact modeling that ties network events directly to business outcomes. They built AI into their DaaS cloud management platform as well. But the most forward-looking development is internal: XTIUM built an "AI Manager" to govern how their own teams deploy and use AI—because they experienced firsthand what happens when AI usage becomes sporadic and ungoverned. "We realized our own AI deployment was sporadic, so we centralized it," Frank explains. Now, they're preparing to offer that platform to customers. The positioning is characteristically direct: "Someone's going to manage the robots—why not us?" That's the XTIUM thesis in six words. And given their Gartner ranking—#1 in managed network services, automation/AI, and security in MNS—it's not just a tagline. * [26:50]  The One Question That Exposes Every MSP When Scott asks what question a company should ask when evaluating an MSP, Frank doesn't talk about certifications, headcount, or pricing. He gives a single, deceptively simple answer: "How do you perform in a failure?" It's a question that cuts through vendor theater instantly. "Technology fails all the time," Frank says. "The 'S' is the big part of 'MSP'—it's a services business." What matters isn't how smooth things run when everything's working; it's what happens at 2 a.m. when something breaks. Frank has kept his first customer for over 32 years. His first employee is still with him. That's not a marketing claim—it's the output of a culture that treats trust as the core product, not the technology stack underneath it. "If you trust that we are taking care of the infrastructure, you can focus on your business." Everything else is commentary. Episode Resources: * Frank Scanga on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-scanga-343aaa16] * Scott Kinka on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottkinka/] * The Bridgecast on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bridgecast-with-scott-kinka/id1643072015] * The Bridgecast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3XON2m9v7cIftFsuDdMFK6?si=6bb5bcbd4d6b4c08&nd=1&dlsi=be415ed3c9d84b7d] * The Bridgecast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxXT9jqi5I_E0jipkfclI7LG7UQw8HTE] The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so [https://www.fame.so/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=masters-of-community-with-david-spinks?utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=bcast&utm_campaign=fame-client]