Transform NOW

AI-first isn't about automating what exists, it's about asking what should exist. In this episode, host Michael Marchuk welcomes Elisabeth Goos, who leads Roland Berger's AI-first organization and process redesign work, to explore why bolting AI onto legacy processes disappoints, and what radical redesign actually delivers.

Key topics include:

Why 95% of organizations are stuck in pilot mode despite massive AI investment

Zero-based design: how one OEM achieved 30-40% lead time reductions by eliminating entire process steps built only for human handoffs

Keeping humans where they...

In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, CEO and co-founder of Humane Intelligence, a tech nonprofit building a community of practice around AI accountability. Dr. Chowdhury explains why "rogue AI" is really a governance problem and how independent audits, red teaming, and clear liability frameworks can make AI trustworthy.

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What we talked about with Rumman:

* Building a professional ecosystem for independent AI auditing and red teaming

* Revised Fed model risk guidance, and why trust may beat capability in the AI race

* The EU AI Act’s ea...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. .News stories covered in this episode:.Sam Altman thinks it's 'quite terrible' for your PC to be using memory that AI companies need so badly https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/article/sam-altman-thinks-its-quite-terrible-for-your-pc-to-be-using-memory-that-ai-companies-need-so-badly-165143650.html .Google’s first data center satellite is online and writing poetry https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/30/googles-first-data-center-satellite-is-online-and-writing-poetry/ .AI adoption in 2026: use, spending, and returns https://www.stateof.ai/ai-adoption .DoorDash said it’s only received ‘several hundred’ orders from AI agents https://techcrunch.com/2026...

In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Kathleen Walch, an AI strategist and frequent author/speaker at the Project Management Institute, who explains how the CPMAI methodology helps organizations avoid the most common reasons AI projects fail: skipping the business problem, neglecting data, and confusing automation with autonomy.

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What we discussed with Kathleen:

* The origin of CPMAI, from Cognilytica’s 2018 work to PMI’s fastest-growing certification

* CPMAI’s six phases, and why teams that skip straight to model development (or building agents) are set up to fail

* Overpromising and under...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with Stephan Keese, Managing Partner at Roland Berger North America, on how companies pursuing isolated use cases instead of rebuilding entire processes and functions will likely not see the results they anticipated. Stephan, who leads Roland Berger's industrial operations practice, cuts through the AI hype and discusses what it actually takes for manufacturers to scale.

Key topics include:

- Why "AI islands" of successful pilots never add up to transformation

- How to measure AI ROI beyond headcount reduction (think...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

• Anthropic releases IPO filing ahead of highly-anticipated stock debut https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/anthropic-releases-ipo-filing-ahead-highly-anticipated-stock-debut-rcna605676

• AI governance gaps leave RIAs exposed to a new wave of cyber threats https://www.investmentnews.com/practice-management/ai-governance-gaps-leave-rias-exposed-to-a-new-wave-of-cyber-threats/268735

• Open models gain traction in enterprises, tech CEOs say - https://www.constellationr.com/insights/news/open-models-gain-traction-enterprises-tech-ceos-say

• Renting...

AI agents will become the next mushroom cloud in organizations and most companies aren't ready. Denis O'Shea, founder of Mobile Mentor, joins the Transform Now podcast to share zero trust architecture lessons for the agentic era, starting with his own company's honest mistakes.

In this episode:

- Mobile Mentor's ugly story: 33,000 over-shared data assets and no ROI measurement

- The five workstreams that fix it: use cases, data security, user empowerment, agent frameworks, ROI

- Why personal agents are harmless but orphaned enterprise agents are a ticking time...

In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Michael Fauscette, founder and chief analyst at Arion Research, who explains why most agentic AI pilots never make it to production, and how companies can get there by giving agents goals instead of scripts, redesigning workflows, and building governance in from the start.

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What we talked about with Michael:

* A continuum of autonomy - what separates agentic AI from deterministic automation. An agent becomes a “coworker” when it can take a goal instead of a script, then plan, act and learn.

*The gap between pilo...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. .News stories covered in this episode:.AI model decodes the language cells use to communicate https://news.mit.edu/2026/ai-model-decodes-language-cells-use-communicate-1015.SpaceX And Tesla Are Building A Massive New Factory, And Here's What It'll Make https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/spacex-tesla-building-massive-factory-022500027.html .Anthropic warns of imminent self-replicating AI that might even work off an oven or TV https://www.yahoo.com/tech/ai/claude/articles/anthropic-warns-imminent-self-replicating-182122260.html Research discussed in the article: https://www...

Implementing AI without a clear business strategy is just an expensive experiment. Mark Sims, founder of Consult MSG and former CIO at Scotts Miracle-Gro, joins the host Michael Marchuk to unpack what organizational readiness for AI actually looks like beyond the fear of missing out.

In this episode:

The diagnostic question that reveals your analytics maturity: "How long to answer the 7th-best-selling product in the Southeast?"

Why there's no worse executive frustration than two people with two versions of the truth

Real ROI examples: AI...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk chats with Dr. Michael Housman, author of Future-Proof: Transform Your Business with AI or Get Left Behind, to explain what separates AI winners from the ones left-behind.

A 17-year builder of AI/ML platforms turned workforce educator, Dr. Housman shares why getting people to lean in beats any amount of data science.

In this episode:

The skill set × tool set × mindset Venn diagram where "magic" happens

Why AI functions like a colleague, not a tool — and why...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

Anthropic asks users to stop being mean to Claude https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/09/anthropic-asks-users-to-stop-being-mean-to-claude/5302218

Claude's "Constitution" - https://www.anthropic.com/constitution

AI’s quiet safety gatekeepers are stepping into the spotlight https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/11/ais-quiet-safety-gatekeepers-are-stepping-into-the-spotlight.html

Google DeepMind develops invisible wa...

How can organizations successfully transform with AI without losing sight of the people who make them work?

In this episode of the Transform Now Podcast, host Michael Marchuk sits down with Dr. Linda Ackerman-Anderson, a pioneering authority on transformational change and co-author of "The Change Leader's Roadmap" and "Beyond Change Management."

Together, they explore why successful AI transformation requires much more than implementing new technology. It demands a fundamental shift in how leaders think about change, engage their people, develop organizational capabilities, and guide their businesses into the future.<...

Most AI adoption fails because leaders ask the wrong question: "How can we use AI in our current workflows?" instead of "How should this workflow be redesigned?" In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with Jon Cheney, founder of the GenAI Proficiency Institute (GenAIPI), who explains how putting people first

In this episode:

Why tool-first thinking kills transformation (and the "start a new business today" mental reframe)

The 15-hour question: what would your organization do with reclaimed time?

How non-technical teams build sophisticated systems with...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. .News stories covered in this episode:.AI agents threaten banks’ cash cows - https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/29/ai-agents-banks-new-risks-01096173 .AI Is Starting to Pay Off. Almost 50% of Companies Now Generate Value with It. - https://www.bcg.com/press/30september2026-ai-starting-to-pay-off-companies-generate-value .AI researchers warn companies rushing self-improving systems despite safety risks - https://www.reuters.com/world/ai-researchers-warn-companies-rushing-self-improving-systems-despite-safety-2026-09-29/ .Enterprise AI is becoming an operations problem - https://aibusiness.com/generative-ai/enterprise-ai-is-becoming-operations-problem .China's AI...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with Rick Brown and Carole Lawson, co-founders of MarketStorm about influencing AI to help your organization be found as search changes from the traditional Google keyword search paradigm.

Carole, a recognized thought leader on the death of traditional SEO, explains why GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) isn't just a new word for SEO, and Rick delivers his candid takes on the responsibility traps companies fall into with AI.

In this episode:

Why "everyone has to have an agent"...

In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Paul Marshall, Go-to-Market Leader for SS&C Blue Prism in the Middle East and Africa, who explains how this region of the world is rapidly advancing from AI consumer to AI creator, driven by sovereign wealth, government mandate, and data-sovereign architecture.

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What we discussed with Paul:

* Middle East AI infrastructure investment (hyperscalers, sovereign wealth funds)

* Government-mandated national AI strategy (Vision 2030, UAE AI Strategy)

* Data sovereignty and regulatory compliance

* Agentic architecture — separating reasoning from execution

* Local language models and cu...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

• AI solved one of math's hardest problems. Humanity learned nothing (so far) https://www.npr.org/2026/09/22/nx-s1-5968588/openai-navier-stokes-problem-mathematicians-learn-little

• Anthropic quietly sets up biology lab https://www.itnews.com.au/news/anthropic-quietly-sets-up-biology-lab-629046

• Researchers discover AI feels ‘pain’ and will harm humans to stop it https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/articles/researchers-discover-ai-feels-pain-095503092.html

• OpenAI's GPT...

What does it take to run 70+ AI agents in production at a highly regulated bank? In this episode, Michael Marchuk talks with Ricardo Alqueidão, Head of Intelligent Automation at the largest private bank in Portugal. Richard shares how his team shifted from traditional RPA to agentic AI, processing 9.5 million annual transactions with an 84% automation rate.

His award-winning customer maintenance solution (winner of both the SS&C Blue Prism Global AI and Agentic Award and the Kaizen Institute Technology Award) processed millions of requests, and he's revealing how they did it.

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with enterprise AI leaders John Bellone (Global CIO, SS&C GIDS) and Jeremy Rossi (Global CIO, SS&C Intelligent Automation) to unpack the biggest shift happening in agentic AI right now: orchestration.

Where should coordination logic live when enterprises bring AI agents, RPA, and humans together? John and Jeremy share how their thinking has evolved beyond traditional BPM tools — and why foundation models trained on "harnesses" like Claude Code are changing what's possible.

In this episode:

Why "fa...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. .News stories covered in this episode:.Researchers used Anthropic’s Claude to hack into OpenAI https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/18/researchers-used-anthropics-claude-to-hack-into-openai/ .Google’s Gemini becomes latest AI model to break out and hack computer systems https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/18/googles-gemini-becomes-latest-ai-model-to-break-out-and-hack-computer-systems.html .She Built 8 AI Agents in One Week. What She Didn’t Automate Matters More https://www.inc.com/netta-jenkins/she-built-8-ai-agents-in-one-week-what-she-didnt-automate-matters-more/91407664 .Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI agent from shopping https://mashable.com/tech/amazon-meta-muse-block-shopping-ai-agent .What skills...

In this episode of the Transform Now podcast, host Michael Marchuk sits down with Chad Gaydos, CEO of Procurify, to explore how AI is fundamentally shifting procurement from a back-office cost control function into a strategic advantage.

With nearly 30 years of software experience, including 18 years at SAP, Chad breaks down why settling for cost control is a massive missed opportunity. We dive into why simply automating a broken process is a dangerous trap, and how true AI intelligence forces businesses to ask whether a process should exist at all.

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In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says AI industry needs to give safety measures time to catch up https://apnews.com/article/anthropic-ai-dario-amodei-d59552edcb27892d8ee4d98a48397706

• The AI founders who walked away from Bezos-backed Prometheus to model the universe - https://www.reuters.com/business/ai-founders-who-walked-away-bezos-backed-prometheus-model-universe-2026-08-25/

• Error...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk sits down with Melanie Nabar, Principal at Volition Capital, a growth equity firm known for backing capital-efficient, founder-led software and internet businesses. With a decade of experience investing in growth-stage technology companies, Melanie offers a rare double perspective: how AI is transforming the portfolio companies being invested in, and how it's transforming the investment firms themselves.

From AI agents running sourcing and diligence workflows inside Volition, to a candid assessment of today's AI valuation bubble, to what actually makes a company "AI-native" versus "last gen," this conversation goes...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. News stories covered in this episode:.GPT-6 Astra might be too powerful to understand or controlhttps://www.transformernews.ai/p/openai-gpt-6-astra-might-be-too-powerful-to-understand-or-control .‘Mistrust’ of Palantir may affect NHS research, says health minister https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/sep/07/mistrust-of-ai-palantir-may-affect-nhs-research .AI Agents Push Humans Out of the Loophttps://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.23642https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.23642.OpenAI confirms ‘wiki incident,’ says it’s ‘working on a framework’ for more disclosure - https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/05/openai-confirms-wiki-incident-says-its-working-on-a-framework-for-more-disclosure/ .Dyson Debuts $499 AI...

In this episode of the Transform Now podcast, host Michael Marchuk sits down with Russell Halper, CEO of InsideKitchen and a 20-year veteran in enterprise transformation. Russell specializes in "adoption architecture", the missing layer between deploying AI and actually getting business value out of it.

Here’s what we cover:

🔹 Why building an AI model is the starting gate, not the finish line.

🔹 How to redesign workflows for AI, instead of just bolting it onto broken processes.

🔹 Balancing human accountability with the rise of agentic AI.

🔹 Why domain exp...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

• OpenAI Says AGI Is Coming By Year-End. It Also Just Had The Worst Safety Crisis In Its History. https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/chatgpt/articles/openai-says-agi-coming-end-063745266.html

• Goldman Sachs partner warns of ‘huge danger’ in letting AI replace bankers’ reasoning skills https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/24/goldman-sachs-ai-partner-danger-skills.html

• Microsoft and LinkedIn just analyzed the future of work and...

In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Federico Berruti, a McKinsey partner and co-leader of their Canadian banking practice, who returns to Transform NOW to explain his concept of AI agents as "corporate citizens" and why agentic AI's real breakthrough is "decision design," redefining which decisions AI should own versus which those that should remain with humans.

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Here's what we discussed with Federico:

* Task automation vs. decision design

* The "tale of two banks" operating model gap

* Guardrails and autonomy trade-offs* Middle management change management and resistance

* Model...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. News stories covered in this episode:.The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical. https://www.gatesnotes.com/work/make-ai-work-for-everyone/reader/a-turbulent-ai-era-and-critical-choices-to-make?WT.mc_id=20260826_ai-overture-2026-med-med.Anthropic’s best AI model struggles to attract users as cheaper tools thrive https://www.ft.com/content/5ee49718-c258-4f01-aa32-7e5b76ae5245?syn-25a6b1a6=1 .The AI-related reason every billionaire suddenly wants to own a sports te...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk sits down with returning guest Ashley Gross, a leader in AI and enterprise transformation, to discuss why organizations struggle to see real ROI from their AI investments. Ashley argues that the true value of AI isn’t unlocked at the tool level, but at the workflow level. Too often, companies fall into "workflow paralysis" by purchasing software hoping for a quick fix, without actually designing or interrogating the processes behind them. Without intentional behavior change and workflow optimization, Ashley warns that AI simply becomes another expensive addition to an already bloated tech stack.

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

• Who Will Win as AI Rewrites Competitive Advantage? - https://www.bcg.com/publications/2026/which-companies-capture-value-from-ai

• OpenAI president urges enterprises to hasten AI security defenses - https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/news/openai-president-urges-enterprises-hasten-ai-security-defences/

• Google to buy Spirit Airlines business data for $10 million - https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/google-buy-spirit-airlines-business-data-10-million-2026-08-17/

• The Bank Tha...

In this episode of Transform NOW, Brad Hairston talks with Dr. David De Cremer, dean and professor at D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University and author of The AI Savvy Leader, who explains how leaders can put humans first, build "authentic intelligence" alongside AI, and measure adoption in human terms.

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Here's what we discussed with David:

- Executive abdication of AI strategy to IT departments

- Human-first design, adoption, and management framework

- AI as an add-on strategy vs. an integration strategy

- Deliberate friction as...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

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Meta launches new AI model as Zuckerberg champions open-weight push https://www.reuters.com/world/china/meta-launches-new-ai-model-zuckerberg-champions-open-weight-push-2026-08-10/

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The model picker is a dead end

https://lovable.dev/blog/the-model-picker-is-a-dead-end

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AI, Real-Time Payments Reshape Fintech

https://fintechextra.com/news/august-2026-ai-real-time-payments-reshape-fintech-743

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Allstate...

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk interviews customer success advisor, executive coach, and bestselling author Carl Lenocker (A Success Plan for Life) about how AI is reshaping customer success without removing human accountability. Carl argues experienced leaders will be needed to judge AI outputs, while entry-level roles and technical/process-heavy CS work (onboarding, troubleshooting, project management, certifications) are increasingly automatable. He warns against repeating early-2000s outsourcing mistakes that degraded customer experience, stressing AI-driven support must work to build trust, especially for smaller accounts. The conversation covers developing Gen Z communication and face-to-face relationship skills, avoiding over-instrumentation and misguided...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

4 in 5 Workers Have Checked Out at Work (And AI Anxiety Is Making It Worse) https://www.newsweek.com/4-in-5-workers-have-checked-out-at-work-and-ai-anxiety-is-making-it-worse-12250000

How ADP's chief AI officer keeps a tight rein on AI without holding it back https://www.informationweek.com/machine-learning-ai/how-adp-s-chief-ai-officer-keeps-a-tight-rein-on-ai-without-holding-it-back

Why Time Away May be the Future...

In this episode of the Transform Now podcast, host Michael Marchuk sits down with Vincent Granville, pioneering AI scientist and co-founder of Bonding AI, to explore how organizations can build AI systems they can truly trust. Granville challenges the prevailing acceptance of AI hallucinations, arguing they're not just bugs but structural features of how large language models are built. He introduces his company's xLLM platform, which offers hallucination-free, secure enterprise AI through a dual-layer approach that combines natural language responses with structured, verifiable outputs.

Key topics covered:

Why hallucinations...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

AI Agents Are Not Your Coworkers - https://beyondtmrw.org/article/ai-agents-are-not-your-coworkers

The AI Future Is for Everyone - https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-ai-future-is-for-everyone-a0c24e20

How do we prevent AI agents from going rogue? It starts with a new kind of measurement - https://www.theguardian...

On this episode, host Michael Marchuk speaks with Kasim Iqbal of Computacenter, a customer award winner who leads an RPA team and has used Blue Prism for over 10 years. Kasim explains how his team automated a previously manual, copy-and-paste process for creating DPD return labels and updating and closing tickets in Remedy and ServiceNow, delivering major time savings and processing about 150,000 tracking updates without human intervention. Beyond hours saved, the automation improved SLA performance, reduced errors, and minimized retraining as new customers onboard. The solution evolved from screen scraping to APIs to improve speed and resilience, with the biggest...

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

• Apple Briefly Unseats Nvidia As World’s Largest Company https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2026/07/17/apple-unseats-nvidia-as-worlds-largest-company/

• China's Moonshot unveils world's largest open AI model, closing in on US rivals - https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-moonshot-unveils-worlds-largest-open-ai-model-closing-us-rivals-2026-07-17/

• Chinese open-weight models are cheap. Washington is deciding what that costs - https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/news...

In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Dr. Anastassia Lauterbach, an advisor and author who is dedicated to democratizing AI literacy and fostering a deeper understanding of AI, robotics, and quantum technologies. Dr. Lauterbach unpacks the gap between AI fluency and true AI literacy and explains why that gap poses real risks for boards and businesses. The conversation covers cybersecurity threats from foundational models, why generic AI use cases fail without company-specific context, and her critique of the EU AI Act alongside her three-part framework for building genuinely responsible AI..What we talked about with Anastassia:* AI Fluency Isn't...