Tech Disruptors

Zig Serafin, the CEO of Qualtrics, shared insights on enhancing customer experience through AI and data analysis. He emphasized the importance of understanding customer behavior to navigate market uncertainties. The discussion delved into the role of autonomous AI agents in providing seamless service while driving operational effectiveness. Serafin highlighted the evolution of experience management and its transformative potential, stressing how interconnected AI can foster better relationships and strategic decision-making across industries.

Ryan J. Salva, who leads product management for developer tools at Google Cloud, shares insights from his extensive career at Microsoft and GitHub. He discusses the revolutionary impact of AI on coding workflows, emphasizing tools like Google's coding assistant, Gemini. The conversation delves into the evolution of coding assistants, the importance of user feedback, and how AI can automate routine tasks. Salva also addresses the challenges developers face with AI, highlighting the need for adaptation and critical thinking in an ever-evolving software landscape.

Will Grannis, Chief Technology Officer of Google Cloud, shares insights on the explosive demand for large language models like Gemini, boasting a 40x growth in usage. He highlights Google's Ironwood TPU, designed to enhance efficiency and performance significantly. The conversation dives into versatile use cases for AI across industries, emphasizing seamless integration and customer customization. Grannis also touches on the importance of authoritative data in AI applications and tackles future trends and market metrics in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

“The average knowledge worker is interrupted every two minutes during work hours,” according to Microsoft Chief Marketing Officer Jared Spataro. “You’re getting an email, a meeting kind of request, a chat coming in, and if you do the math, that’s 275 times a day.” On this episode of Tech Disruptors, Spataro joins Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Technology Analyst Anurag Rana to discuss emerging trends in the way employees work and how AI is already changing the game. The two define the “Frontier Firm” and discuss why this is a big year for such organizations. They also talk about the introduction of new research and analyst AI agents and the future of head count and staffing needs.

Helping small businesses manage all things human resources — payroll, benefits, tax compliance and employee onboarding — is Gusto’s central focus, which presents unique challenges given the fragmented customer base. Chief Technology Officer Mike Tria outlines the company’s product-portfolio suite and the evolution of the human-capital management industry over the past 10 years from a technology angle. In this Tech Disruptors podcast episode, BI analyst Niraj Patel sits down with Tria to discuss Gusto’s appeal across small and medium-sized business (SMBs), the leverage of its technology infrastructure (Ruby on Rails) to scale up for asynchronous workloads, the software ecosystem, its “Gus” AI solution and more.

Pasquale DeMaio, VP of Amazon Connect at AWS, shares his insights on transforming contact centers with AI. He argues that the focus should shift from reactive to proactive customer engagement. DeMaio highlights the challenges traditional firms face in data integration, emphasizing the power of cloud platforms. The conversation also covers how AI can create personalized service experiences and the complexities of consumption-based pricing in this new landscape. Exciting innovations in AI are poised to redefine customer expectations and interactions.

US tariffs won’t change the cyclical journey in tech, with artificial intelligence set to be the dominant force for years to come the same way the Internet was, according to Rodrigo Liang, CEO of SambaNova, which builds AI hardware and software platforms. Liang joins Bloomberg Intelligence’s analyst Mandeep Singh on the Tech Disruptors podcast to discuss SambaNova’s cloud’s differentiation for inferencing workloads. They also talk about the demand for AI infrastructure, adoption of open-source large-language models and focus on power efficiency as AI compute remains scarce.

Artificial intelligence is opening up new possibilities for computer simulation, offering lower costs and expedited processes in manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, financial services, energy and other industries. In this episode of the Tech Disruptors podcast, Jim Scapa, founder and former CEO of Altair, speaks with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Niraj Patel about the company’s portfolio expansion and broader customer reach beyond these verticals. He discusses the major consolidation drivers in simulation technology that have fueled recently announced M&A, including Siemens-Altair. Scapa offers his insight on Altair’s unique pricing model, differentiators among simulation-software technologies, customer retention, the impact of third-party generative-AI models, instantaneous design and simulation enabled by AI technology, and more.

David Risher, CEO of Lyft, shares insights on the ridesharing industry’s current duopoly and the potential for growth within the gig economy. He discusses the crucial connection between rider satisfaction and driver loyalty while exploring the optimization of algorithms for better service. The conversation delves into the landscape of autonomous vehicles and their integration into ridesharing, examining partnerships, psychological barriers to adoption, and future innovations powered by AI. Risher emphasizes prioritizing service quality over competition in this rapidly evolving market.

In this insightful discussion, Steve Schmidt, Amazon's Chief Security Officer, emphasizes that security is fundamentally a people and culture issue, not just a technology problem. He delves into the cybersecurity landscape in the age of generative AI, highlighting the risks of both open-source and proprietary technologies. Schmidt also tackles the diverse motivations of cyber threat actors and stresses the importance of building a proactive security culture across organizations. Additionally, he addresses the urgent need for skilled cybersecurity professionals and innovative solutions like AI to enhance decision-making.