What's Up with Tech?

Interested in being a guest? Email us at [email protected]
Ready to move from AI pilots to P&L? We sit down with HCLTech’s Anil Ganjoo to unpack how telecom, media, and technology are converging into an AI-native future where outcomes rule, stacks unify, and partners co-create at speed. The conversation starts with HCLTech’s engineering roots and tracks a bold evolution into an IP-led, platform-driven strategy that spans networks, cloud, edge, data, and silicon—giving operators and media leaders the tools to turn infrastructure into monetizable products.

We dig into the realities of 5G monetization, where enterprise use cases like private 5G, network slicing, fixed wireless access, and edge AI are generating measurable ROI, while consumer ARPU remains a longer play. On the media front, Gen AI is transforming vast content libraries into searchable, reusable, and hyper-personalized experiences that raise engagement and cut churn. Anil explains why AI must be embedded across the entire stack—think AI as the brain, with cloud, networks, edge, and data as the nervous system—to unlock dynamic pricing, predictive maintenance, churn prevention, and planet-scale personalization.

The shift from telco to techco takes center stage as we explore network APIs, platform ecosystems, and product-aligned operating models. We get practical on commercial innovation too: outcome-based engagements, gain-share structures, and transparent KPIs tied to revenue growth, cost-to-serve reduction, billing accuracy, and NPS. Partnerships power the journey, from co-built AI factories with Nvidia to agentic solutions with Microsoft and Google Cloud, all industrialized into OSS/BSS and modern network architectures to scale beyond proofs of concept.

We close with sharp predictions for what will accelerate next: agentic AI in core operations, autonomous and AI-native networks, edge AI plus enterprise 5G crossing the chasm, custom silicon for real-time inference, and services-as-software powered by AI agents. Headed to MWC Barcelona? Come see the demos and strategy sessions at Hall 2. 
The Path to Exit
Founders—thinking of selling or raising capital? Here's what you should know...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Support the show
More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

Interested in being a guest? Email us at [email protected]
Building great health tech isn’t about stacking features. It’s about clarity, secure architecture, and the courage to automate the real bottlenecks. We sit down with Technology Rivers founder and CEO to unpack how AI is changing the way we design, build, and scale HIPAA-compliant digital health products without cutting corners on privacy or performance.

We talk through the full development lifecycle and where AI actually pulls its weight: rapid proofs of concept, code generation that respects standards, unit testing and coverage, and fast UX prototyping that gets teams aligned. Then we draw a hard line around risk. If you’re uploading sensitive docs to generic endpoints or treating PHI like search fuel, you’re setting yourself up for trouble. We break down practical strategies like retrieval-augmented generation, clean vector design, strict access control, audit logging, and the human-in-the-loop practices that keep systems safe as they scale.

From there, we tackle the real reasons projects fail: blurry requirements and no single owner. You’ll hear a playbook for defining outcomes, narrowing scope to a lovable version one, and building for specific users—clinicians, patients, and admins—with interfaces that are simple, informed, and fast. We also explore how to graduate low-code MVPs into production systems without tossing your work: evolve schemas, enforce coding standards, add encryption and RBAC, and ship with CI and observability. On interoperability, we go beyond EHR APIs and highlight model context protocol—the next step in connecting AI agents to your data and workflows in a controlled, auditable way.

If you’re planning for VIVE or HIMSS, or you’re mapping your next quarter, this conversation gives you a sharp lens: build automation where it matters, protect data by design, and use AI to amplify well-defined processes. Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a review with the one build challenge you want us to unpack next.
Support the show
More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

Interested in being a guest? Email us at [email protected]
Telco's growth model is broken. Here's the blueprint to fix it.

5G returns are under pressure. Hardware costs keep climbing. And operators are drowning in complexity they can't monetize.

We sat down with VMware by Broadcom leaders to cut through the noise and what emerged is a sharp, actionable roadmap for what comes next.

Three big shifts every telco leader needs to understand:

**1. The mobile core is your highest-leverage asset right now.**
Not the edge. Not the RAN. The core — and the operators who productize it with disciplined lifecycle management will outpace those still treating software as an afterthought on hardware.

**2. AI monetization is real — but only if you architect for it.**
The team walks through VMware Cloud Foundation as the engine for GPU-as-a-service and AI-as-a-service: model stores, runtimes, vector databases, compliance baked in, data isolation from day one. Not someday. Now.

**3. Sovereign cloud isn't a checkbox anymore — it's a revenue line.**
Especially in Europe. Jurisdiction and residency are becoming competitive differentiators, not legal formalities. The operators moving fast here will own the enterprise stack.

We also go deep on:
→ Co-innovation with Nokia, Ericsson, Mavenir, and Oracle — and why full-stack ecosystem orchestration is replacing the old "software on hardware" mindset
→ How consolidated dashboards, certification, observability, and license governance cut change risk and accelerate upgrades — and why this matters *more* as Kubernetes complexity stacks up
→ Intelligent operations: embedded AI that reads signals across storage, network, compute, and Kubernetes — and recommends next actions while keeping humans in the loop
→ Agentic AI traffic: bursty, hard to cache, and arriving fast. Telcos sit at the crossroads of inter-DC connectivity, edge placement, and quality guarantees — and that's a strategic position worth owning

The bold takeaway: stop selling raw connectivity. Start selling trusted AI capacity and outcomes.

If you're lowering TCO, launching AI services, or charting a pragmatic path toward autonomous networks — this conversation will help you act with confidence, not just follow the hype.

🎧 Listen now. Subscribe for more candid strategy talks.
📤 Share with your team if you're rethinking your telco roadmap.
💬 Drop a comment: **What's the one business outcome you're chasing in 2025?**
Support the show
More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

Interested in being a guest? Email us at [email protected]
How do you protect teenagers online without turning every app into an ID checkpoint?

That's the question governments, platforms, and parents are all wrestling with right now — and most of the answers so far have been blunt, binary, and broken.

We sat down with our guest from TELUS Digital to go beyond the headlines and into the actual design challenge: what age verification gets right, what it gets dangerously wrong, and how to build systems that protect young people without making privacy feel like a casualty.

Here's what we unpacked:

The smartest approach isn't one-size-fits-all. It's layered and proportionate:

→ **Low-risk spaces** (forums, general content) can rely on self-declaration and behavioral signals
→ **Medium-risk spaces** use facial age estimation — a quick confidence range, image deleted immediately, no data stored
→ **High-risk spaces** (adult content, dating, gambling) justify stronger verification with human-in-the-loop review

The architecture matters as much as the intent. Poor design is how safety becomes surveillance.

Transparency is the trust engine.Us ers need to know *why* their data is requested, *how* it's processed, and *what* they can do when the system gets it wrong. Appeals aren't a nice-to-have — they're the difference between a system people accept and one they route around.

We also got into the real trade-offs nobody talks about enough: accuracy, privacy, inclusion, and the very real risk that blanket bans — like those emerging in Australia, Spain, and across the EU — backfire without safer defaults, stronger parental tools, and genuine digital literacy investment.

Our guest walks through how TELUS Digital supports clients across the full stack: content moderation, fraud prevention, bias testing, account security, age estimation models, and verification systems built to correct mistakes at scale.

And we close on where this is all heading — zero-knowledge proofs, privacy-preserving credentials, and portable age attestations that raise protections while *reducing* data exposure. The technology is ahead of the policy. The question is whether platforms will lead or wait to be forced.

If you're building products that touch teenagers, this conversation is for you.

The Path to Exit
Founders—thinking of selling or raising capital? Here's what you should know...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Support the show
More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel

Interested in being a guest? Email us at [email protected]
Your IT Asset Inventory Is Lying to You

Asset sprawl isn't coming. It's already inside your organization, quietly growing through every new SaaS subscription, remote device, and shadow tool your team adopted without a ticket.

Most IT leaders know this. Few want to say it out loud.

In a recent conversation with Peter from NinjaOne, we got into the real reason IT asset management is back on everyone's radar -- and it's not because the category got flashier. It's because the pressure finally got undeniable. Hybrid work exploded device counts. SaaS spending spiraled. Compliance auditors stopped accepting "we think we have about 400 endpoints" as an answer. Spreadsheets, once a perfectly acceptable stopgap, became a liability.

That pressure is what pushed NinjaOne beyond endpoint management into a full ITAM strategy. And the conversation that followed is one worth sharing with any IT director who still runs discovery through manual walk-throughs and outdated files.

From Guesswork to Ground Truth

The practical core of unified ITAM starts with continuous discovery -- pulling data from Active Directory, Intune, SNMP, network scans -- and pairing it with lifecycle context: who owns this device, what's its status, when does the warranty expire? Software license reconciliation becomes a living process instead of a once-a-year scramble. Asset records stay current. Clean data syncs automatically into CMDBs like ServiceNow and into the ERP systems finance and procurement actually use.

Peter told a story most IT leaders will recognize immediately: the pre-audit ritual of hunting down the most recent spreadsheet, calling facilities, walking floors, and still not being confident in the numbers. Automation doesn't just save time. It removes the guesswork entirely.

The Business Case Is Hiding in Your Asset Data

Here's what changes when hardware and software inventory finally live in one place: you get leverage. Teams can spot noisy OEM vendors, stretch refresh cycles, kill redundant purchases, and surface shadow devices that are quietly sitting outside your security perimeter. Real-time visibility tightens both security posture and compliance footing. Ops teams get cleaner root-cause analysis because they can actually map relationships between network gear, servers, and peripherals.

Peter outlined a ROI model worth borrowing for your next exec conversation: measurable cost control, quantified risk reduction, and audit readiness backed by actual numbers rather than estimates and optimism.

Where the Category Goes Next

The shift underway isn't just better asset tracking. It's toward a unified IT operations control plane -- broader coverage, deeper integrations, and tools explicitly designed to collapse sprawl rather than add another layer to it. Fewer tabs. Fewer systems of record. One place where asset data, security context, and lifecycle history actually connect.

For teams still chasing asset data across tickets, procurement emails, and disconnected portals, this conversation is a practical starting point -- not a vision deck. It's about centralization, automation, and building the kind of business case that gets budget approved.

If this hits close to home, follow the show, share it with your team, and drop a quick review. It helps more people find the conversation.

Support the show
More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel