The New Automation Mindset: AI + Automation + Integration

In this episode, Markus Zirn and Ravi Malick discuss the evolving landscape of IT leadership and the transformative power of AI. Ravi shares his journey from the energy sector to leading IT at Box, highlighting the importance of integrating business strategy with IT leadership. They explore the challenges of SaaS application sprawl and emphasize the critical need for a well-architected enterprise and data environment. Ravi also offers practical insights on managing technology investments and adopting a portfolio approach to application management.Timestamps00:00 Episode Start02:29 Ravi's career journey and transition to Box06:20 Evolution of the CIO role14:10 Impacts of SaaS application sprawl19:35 Strategies for managing application sprawl29:45 Embracing composable architecture36:15 Balancing custom development and packaged solutions41:00 Impacts of AI on business applicationsEpisode Key TakeawaysStart with enterprise and data architecture: Bringing on an enterprise architect and a data architect early in your organization’s journey can really simplify things and help you scale effectively. Laying down these foundational pieces early on will make future integrations smoother and keep your organization agile as you grow.Simplify your application portfolio: Take the time to review all your current applications and see what they do, how much they cost, and who owns them. Identifying overlapping functions can help you prioritize which applications to consolidate or retire, saving you on administrative costs and streamlining your operations.Embrace composable architecture for flexibility: Combine your core applications with smaller, adaptable solutions using a composable approach. This will help you quickly respond to changing business needs while ensuring that essential functions are backed by reliable, long-term applications, enabling innovation and a competitive edge.Leverage GenAI to enhance processes: Use AI and generative AI to boost your business processes, whether it’s marketing campaigns, customer service, or internal workflows. Focus on building a flexible and secure system that can integrate AI capabilities throughout your organization, ensuring that your AI investments create real, measurable benefits.Top Quote“Teams that are aligned, businesses that are aligned and are in sync execute so much better and are so much more successful. I don't think it should be any different for technology.”

In this episode, Markus Zirn and Keyur Ajmera discuss the evolution of integration platforms and their growing importance in today's business landscape. They dive into the shift from traditional systems to innovative solutions like Workato, highlighting their impact on operational efficiency, automation, and data integrity. Keyur highlights the benefits of empowering business partners through federated IT models and utilizing low-code platforms to accelerate time to value and minimize project risk. Keyur wraps up by offering strategic insights for CIOs on building strong business partnerships to drive organizational success.Timestamps00:00 Episode Start03:30 Importance of integration in modern IT08:15 Efficiency driven by automation11:40 Evolution of integration platforms18:45 Navigating federated IT23:25 RPA vs. integration28:25 Choosing Workato for iCIMS36:35 Organizing for success40:05 Future plans at iCIMSEpisode Key TakeawaysEmpower your people: Find tech-savvy folks in your business who are eager to learn. By letting them manage their own integrations and automation within a clear framework, you boost efficiency and create a sense of ownership. This teamwork can speed up project timelines.Leverage low-code platforms: Choose low-code platforms like Workato that let more team members, even those without coding skills, get involved in integration tasks. This makes integration easier and helps keep things moving smoothly.Prioritize risk management: Integration often comes at the end of the critical path in projects and is inherently risky due to its complexity and timing. Prioritize tools that minimize this risk that help you deliver faster with fewer errors, ensuring you hit your project deadlines.Take a collaborative approach: Be a helpful partner, not just a service provider. Keep communication open, empower your business leaders, and relinquish some control to foster a two-way trust. This approach can lead to better outcomes and help you secure a role in strategic decision-making.Top Quote“Empower and enable your business leaders to be successful. And the way you can do that, complete transparency, empowerment, not keeping control, but relinquishing it. Because then you become a trusted partner to them. And who would a business person bring to a conversation at the table? A trusted partner. That's who you want to be.”

Yanni Charalambous, CIO of Occidental Petroleum, discusses the company's innovative approach to cloud technology and low-carbon initiatives. He highlights the integration of digital twins for enhanced efficiency and the challenges of cloud adoption in modern manufacturing. Yanni emphasizes the importance of strategic partnerships and skill transformation to drive innovation. He shares insights on how software-defined factories can optimize operations and contribute to sustainability goals, setting a future roadmap for Occidental's digital transformation.

In this episode, Markus Zirn and Arthur Hu discuss Lenovo’s transformation from a hardware giant to an IT services leader, driven by AI and hybrid cloud technologies. Arthur shares insights on managing global supply chains during COVID-19, balancing centralized and federated IT governance, and the crucial role of cultural integration. He also emphasizes the importance of a customer-first approach and adopting a process-driven mindset to foster innovation.Timestamps00:00 Episode Start04:00 Balancing IT leadership and customer perspective04:55 Lenovo powers Lenovo: Internal innovations09:05 Exploring IT process innovations and AI opportunities14:30 How removing barriers can empower your teams20:50 Supply chain resilience during COVID-1926:35 Centralized vs. decentralized vs. federated IT governance31:20 Cultural integration in global IT operations37:25 Lessons from providing IT servicesEpisode Key TakeawaysEmbrace Customer-Centric IT: It’s crucial for IT organizations to operate with the same level of accountability and service quality as if they could lose their internal “customers”—the business units—to external competition. This mindset will sharpen focus on meeting SLAs and enhancing end-user satisfaction.Leverage External Insights: Recognize that learning from external customers and other companies can provide invaluable insights. Embrace external benchmarks and customer feedback to continually improve and innovate within your IT operations. Foster collaborative, cross-functional teams: Break down silos and encourage collaboration across roles. By focusing on the customer journey and integrating diverse expertise, you’ll drive better outcomes and a more cohesive team environment.Cultivate and evolve your company culture: Invest regularly in nurturing your organizational culture. Establish clear norms and create opportunities for team bonding to enhance coordination and reduce friction, especially in diverse, global teams.Top Quote“The most powerful insight that we now apply, and I try to bring to my work and also with customers, is how do we take things that are automated perhaps very deeply, but not very broadly? And how do we use the process mindset to get out of those and actually think how do we have a better whole? An analogy that we use is everyone is trying to build some kind of a highway. But unless you have that integrative either journey or experience that you're targeting, then you end up with this mishmash, the off-ramps might not be connected, things don't actually work together very well. And so it's important to have an overall plan and as well as being able and willing to maintain that.”

In this episode, Markus Zirn and Enver Cetin explore the game-changing potential of GenAI and digital twins in transforming business processes. They discuss how these technologies are reshaping customer interactions, automating decision-making, and redefining job roles. Enver shares real-world insights from Ciklum's Workato automation projects, emphasizing the importance of clear process mapping and embracing innovation to stay competitive. Throughout the conversation, Enver highlights how these advancements are revolutionizing both customer and employee experiences.Timestamps00:00 Episode Start02:20 Workato automation projects at Ciklum05:35 GenAI client use cases12:15 Challenges in business process management20:40 Introducing Workato Agentic and its impact on process management29:50 Future of AI agents in business processes33:50 Overcoming client resistance to LLM integration39:40 GenAI's impact in reshaping business systems44:35 What's next in AI and automation?Episode Key TakeawaysBuild a solid process foundation: Start with clear and well-structured business processes. Involve all relevant teams in mapping out these processes and address inefficiencies early. This groundwork will make it easier to use automation and AI effectively.Implement integration and automation tools: Leverage platforms like Workato to connect different systems and automate key tasks. Focus on improving data synchronization and streamlining activities such as HR onboarding or customer support to boost efficiency and accuracy.Utilize GenAI for better customer interactions: Implement GenAI to enhance customer service and automate complex decision-making. Tools like AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants can improve customer interactions and help you gain valuable insights from your data.Adopt Digital Twin Technologies: Consider using digital twins and agentic AI models to manage and optimize your processes. These technologies simulate decision-making and adapt in real time, creating more personalized, efficient, and responsive systems.Top Quote“No matter how advanced your tools, your technologies are, the effectiveness of any project hinges on a clear, well-structured process foundation. So one of the biggest lessons is that understanding the fine details of business processes allows us to automate and optimize them effectively.”

Episode SummaryIn this episode, Markus Zirn and Steve Lindsey dive into the evolution and future of physical security systems. Steve discusses LVT's cutting-edge D3 system, which integrates IoT, AI, and cloud technology for proactive security, setting it apart from traditional methods. They explore how event-driven architectures enable real-time threat detection and deterrence, the importance of cloud adoption, and how platforms like Workato are reshaping business and IT integration. Throughout this conversation, Steve shares key insights into how these innovations are revolutionizing physical security.Timestamps00:00 Episode Start02:35 Understanding LVT's D3 System11:00 LVT's Journey: Challenges and growth19:10 Overcoming misconceptions about the cloud24:50 Building an orchestration platform37:40 Navigating integration challenges48:45 Bridging IT and business with event-driven integration53:55 Future of physical securityEpisode Key TakeawaysEmbrace event-driven architectures: Dive into event-driven architectures to make your services more agile and scalable. By using asynchronous workflows, you can simplify maintenance and avoid the headaches of traditional point-to-point integrations.Adopt the cloud for flexibility: Explore the benefits of cloud-native services for your security and enterprise solutions, just like LVT’s D3 system. The cloud makes deployment faster, more cost-effective, and scalable, helping you manage systems across different locations without being tied to local IT setups.Invest in orchestration platforms: Leveraging orchestration platforms can streamline your business processes. These tools help you separate business logic from connectivity, letting you tweak workflows quickly and adapt to changing needs with ease.Align IT with business goals: Bringing IT and business operations together can make your solutions much more effective. By using event-driven architectures and orchestration platforms, you can ensure that your IT efforts directly support your business goals, leading to greater agility, smarter decisions, and smoother operations.Top Quote“We inherently were solving problems and innovating with a decentralized approach because of necessity. So, as we developed the solution for that, it became the enabler for scale for our business. And it was the only way that it was going to work.”

In this episode, Markus Zirn and Suresh Jaganathan explore the power of a federated delivery model, sharing insights from Suresh’s transformative work at Unilever and Roche. They discuss the benefits of this approach, like scalability, flexibility, faster time to market, and improved compliance. They highlight the importance of a product mindset and the role of federated delivery in fostering innovation and business value in large enterprises.Timestamps00:00 Episode Start03:20 Why a federated delivery model?14:45 Federated delivery across industries18:56 Integrating API-led and event driven architectures22:20 Advice for starting federated delivery29:08 The citizen integrator dilemma32:35 Suresh's greatest achievements with federated delivery37:23 Importance of a product mindsetEpisode Key TakeawaysAdopt federated delivery for scalability: Enhance scalability and flexibility by decentralizing integration tasks. Train teams to handle integrations independently, while maintaining central oversight for governance.Create a marketplace for reusable assets: Build a central marketplace with reusable APIs, templates, and tools. Encourage teams to share and utilize these resources, fostering collaboration and efficiency.Embrace a product mindset for APIs and events: Shift to treating APIs and events as products. Assign owners to manage them with ongoing updates, customer feedback, and continuous improvement.Empower teams through integration champions: Establish integration champions to support federated teams with training, ongoing support, and regular workshops, ensuring successful implementation and continuous learning.Top Quote“Enablement is not a one time fire and forget exercise. It is a continuous exercise. So you need to have integration champions in your integration center for enablement team so that integration champions continuously engage with all the federated teams. They are not like policemen. It is more like a customer success person. So they engage with that federated teams to continuously educate them.”

Episode SummaryIn this episode, Markus Zirn and Angela Stewart explore the future of AI-driven business transformation. Angela shares insights from her extensive career in CRM and digital transformation, along with her current leadership role at Nasdaq, where she drives strategic initiatives. They explore how tools like Workato are revolutionizing automation projects and offer practical advice on harnessing the power of GenAI. Angela wraps up with crucial advice on how to align new technologies with business goals to ensure impactful and successful implementation.Timestamps00:00 Episode Start02:06 Understanding Nasdaq03:55 Angela's background10:00 Angela's responsibilities at Nasdaq13:30 Implementing Workato at Nasdaq19:30 Adopting AI and strategies for digital transformation26:20 Aligning AI with business processes32:00 Future of business technology35:50 How to get started with GenAIEpisode Key TakeawaysEmbed AI into your digital transformation: Integrate AI into your broader digital plans for greater impact. Focus on use cases that align with your goals and ensure ethical and legal standards are met.Prep your data: Data is the lifeblood of AI so make sure your data is clean and complete. Remove duplicates and fix errors to ensure your AI delivers top results.Build a cross-functional team: Create a team of tech and business experts. Include product owners who understand both areas and identify a decision-maker from the beginning to lead and maintain progress.Empower your team with intuitive tools: Provide user-friendly automation and integration tools. Democratizing technology means everyone gets to play and win in the AI game. Your business will be more agile, responsive, and innovative.Top Quote“AI is not a stand-alone initiative, it should be a part of a digital transformation initiative. And so, ultimately, there's a roadmap, there's an evolution of whatever you're trying to do, and AI, automation, should be a piece of that. But the very first step would be to identify the use case. Who are we trying to do this thing for? Who is this going to benefit? Really kind of understand their day-to-day life, and put your arms around how this AI solution, use case, will benefit them.”

In this episode, Markus Zirn and Dirk Didascalou discuss the cutting-edge advancements and transformations in factory automation. They explore the evolution from traditional to integrated automation, the impact of the cloud, and the significance of data-driven automation. They also cover the importance of low-code solutions, the impact of AI, and the merging of physical and digital realms to revolutionize industry practices.Timestamps00:00 Episode Start02:51 Defining automation in Siemens' context04:45 Evolution of factory automation10:45 From traditional automation to data-driven orchestration16:30 Dirk's career journey and lessons learned28:30 Debunking  ‘enterprise grade’ myths35:32 The rise of low-code solutions43:41 AI's impact on manufacturingEpisode Key TakeawaysLeverage data-driven automation: Utilize data analytics tools to monitor real-time information and context. Train your team to interpret this data for informed, adaptive decisions in your automation processes.Adpot low-code solutions for increased productivity: Empower your staff with low-code tools to create applications tailored to their workflow needs. This democratizes development and accelerates digital transformation.Harness the speed of software: The core idea Dirk stresses is the need for industries to transition to digital and software-defined frameworks to operate at the speed of software. This shift optimizes processes, boosts productivity, reduces resource consumption, and enhances sustainability.Embrace the cloud: Evaluate your current infrastructure and consider migrating legacy systems to cloud platforms. Leverage cloud-based AI and machine learning services for improved operational efficiency and innovation.Top Quote“Our vision is what if you can define industry by code? So it's all software, because software, of course, is much faster. So we want to get our customers to work at the speed of software and be data-driven. And that is the real revolution that will happen because that might change everything.”Guest BioDirk Didascalou is a distinguished technologist and business executive known for his leadership in mobile communications, Internet of Things (IoT, cloud computing, and industrial digitalization. As the Chief Technology Officer at Siemens Digital Industries, Dirk is responsible for shaping the technology and architecture strategy on a global scale. Prior to joining Siemens, Didascalou held significant roles at AWS as Vice President for IoT and at Microsoft as Corporate Vice President of Technology following Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's Mobile Phones division. His extensive experience in these positions has solidified his expertise in IoT solutions and cloud technologies, positioning him as a key player in the digital transformation landscape.At Siemens, Didascalou oversees strategic industrial partnerships and initiatives, particularly in the automotive sector, while also contributing to the company's IoT board. His leadership is instrumental in merging digital and physical worlds, helping customers leverage advanced technologies to enhance operational efficiency and drive data-driven decision-making across industries.

In this episode, Markus Zirn and Stephen Franchetti discuss the evolution of IT from traditional roles to innovative business technology practices. Stephen shares insights from his time at Workday, Slack, and Samsara, highlighting the importance of strong architecture, the shift to a product mindset, and the role of automation and AI in driving efficiency and growth. They also delve into the cultural changes needed to foster a growth mindset and the critical role of experimentation in embracing new technologies.Timestamps00:00 Episode Start 03:23 Stephen's career journey09:55 Importance of architecture to scale IT13:45 Overcoming traditional mindsets with your customers15:00 Customer success stories at Samsara18:35 Fostering a growth mindset for innovation24:00 Strategies for scaling across business and IT28:35 IT leaders and the shift to a business technology focus31:30 Challenges with outsourcing37:20 AI vs. automation41:40 Embracing the AI revolutionEpisode Key TakeawaysEmbrace a product mindset: Transform your IT operations from rigid project-based work to a dynamic, product-oriented approach. This agility will sustain your growth and keep you ahead of the curve.Harness the power of AI: Dive into AI-driven automation to eliminate repetitive tasks and uncover intelligent business insights. Start experimenting today to unlock your organization’s full potential.Master your data: Invest in top-notch data management systems to ensure your AI initiatives are built on a solid foundation. Remember, quality data management is the key to meaningful, actionable insights.Cultivate an Innovative Culture: Foster a growth mindset and an environment that encourages experimentation. By supporting innovation, you’ll pave the way for groundbreaking improvements and operational excellence.Top QuoteTo do AI well, you really have to have enterprise-grade data. And so you can think about it almost like a garbage in, garbage out problem. Whereas if you have crappy data, you don't have enterprise-grade data, you have quality issues, you don't have the ability to kind of integrate that full picture of your data and your business. You can expect to have crappy outcomes when it comes to AI as you're training these models. You can't expect to have high-quality outcomes as a result of this. So to me, data management and your data strategy and AI really go hand in hand for organizations.”Guest BioStephen is the CIO at Samsara. He oversees all aspects of the company’s Information Technology including, business applications, data & analytics, information security, IT service management, and all core IT services.Before joining Samsara, Stephen was the CIO at Slack, and then previously the Vice President IT, Enterprise Applications at Workday. He also held positions at Cisco in a range of e-commerce, employee services and IT roles.Stephen has a track record of creating best in class IT organizations that focus on automation engineering and enabling companies to scale and remain agile as they grow.He earned his bachelor of science, with honors, in Computer Science from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.