What Smart Manufacturing Leaders Consider Before Adopting AI - with Tim Burge of Aquant
Release Date: 06/12/2025
Building Storage Strategies That Scale with AI Workloads - with Bryan Willett of Lexmark
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Bryan Willett, Chief Information Security Officer at Lexmark, joining Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello to explore how organizations can navigate the trade-offs between cloud and on-prem AI deployments—balancing speed to market, cost efficiency, and the protection of sensitive data. Bryan also emphasizes the importance of a strong governance triad—security, privacy, and AI teams working together—to ensure ethical, compliant, and effective AI adoption. From managing data surges in IoT and biometrics to creating hybrid storage strategies, he shares actionable insights...
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Enhancing Drug Safety with AI and Automation Technologies - with Marie Flanagan of IQVIA
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Marie Flanagan, Director of Product Management in Digital Projects and Solutions at IQVIA. Marie returns to the program to unpack how AI and automation technologies are transforming drug safety workflows. Together with Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello, she shares how IQVIA uses natural language processing (NLP) built on safety-specific training data to surface early signals from massive, multilingual datasets. She also explains why combining NLP with automation tools, such as RPA and OCR, leads to higher accuracy in adverse event detection, especially across social...
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Building Trusted AI Systems in Financial Services From Strategy to Scale - with Zar Toolan of Edward Jones
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Zar Toolan, General Partner and Head of Data & AI at Edward Jones, joining Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello to explore how AI can be strategically aligned with corporate goals in financial services. Zar shares his perspective on overcoming barriers to AI adoption, the critical build-versus-buy-versus-partner decisions, and the human-centered change management required for scalable AI transformation. He also discusses the importance of responsible AI principles, leveraging data as a competitive asset, and evolving talent strategies to thrive in today’s intelligence...
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How AI Partnerships Make Security a Strategic Advantage - with Bryan Willett of Lexmark
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Bryan Willett, Chief Information Security Officer. Bryan discusses how organizations can shift security from a reactive compliance task to a strategic advantage by leveraging AI partnerships and transparent communication. He explains how proactive security packages and AI-driven tools streamline vendor due diligence and RFP responses, reducing bottlenecks and improving cross-team collaboration. Bryan also emphasizes the importance of evaluating vendor development hygiene and maintaining developer awareness as key components to managing evolving AI-enabled cyber threats. This...
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Responsible AI That Scales Across Customer Workflows - with Miranda Jones of Emprise Bank
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Miranda Jones, SVP of Data & AI Strategy at Emprise Bank. Miranda returns to discuss the evolving reality of responsible AI in the financial services sector. As generative and agentic systems mature, Jones emphasizes the importance of creating safe, low-risk environments where employees can experiment, learn prompt engineering, and develop a critical understanding of model limitations. She explores why domain-specific models outperform generalized foundational models in banking—where context, compliance, and communication style are essential to trust and performance....
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Why Service Teams Outgrow DIY AI Solutions - with Neil Bhandar of Generac
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Neil Bhandar, Chief Data Analytics Officer for Generac. Neil brings decades of experience in artificial intelligence, from academic research to enterprise-scale implementation across manufacturing and financial services. He joins Emerj Managing Editor Matt DeMello to explore the hidden costs of building AI in-house, the risks of over-relying on large models, and how service organizations can deploy GenAI to improve efficiency and preserve institutional knowledge. Neil shares how GenAI is helping field teams access hard-to-find information in real-time — reducing the need...
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Inside the AI Playbook for Scientific Discovery and Optimization - with Brian Lutz of Corteva
The AI in Business Podcast
As global food demand accelerates, the agricultural sector faces rising pressure to innovate faster, safer, and more sustainably. Today’s guest on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast is Brian Lutz, the Vice President of Agricultural Solutions at Corteva Agriscience, the world’s leading pure-play seed and crop protection company. Brian joins Emerj Senior Editor Matthew DeMello to discuss their partnership with Deloitte to drive AI for discovery across biology and chemistry in agriculture. He explains how Corteva integrates AI into every phase of R&D — from genetic optimization in seeds...
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Why Immutable Snapshots Matter for Compliance and AI - with Neil Bhandar of Generac
The AI in Business Podcast
Neil Bhandar, Chief Data Analytics Officer for Generac. Generac is a U.S.-based industrial manufacturer that designs and produces a wide range of power solutions—including portable, residential standby, commercial, and industrial generators, along with automatic transfer switches and related accessories. Neil joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello on today’s show to explore how companies can make smarter decisions around compute and storage—without falling into the trap of overbuilding for marginal gains. Drawing from his deep background in both business and analytics, Bhandar...
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AI for Driving Quality Customer Interactions in Distributor Models - with Joshua Haddock of Herbalife
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Josh Haddock, Director of Contact Center Technology at Herbalife. Herbalife is a global health and wellness company that develops and sells nutritional products, personal care items, and weight management solutions through a network of independent distributors. With operations in over 90 countries, Herbalife combines direct selling with a strong focus on community, personal coaching, and customer education. Josh joins the program to share how his team is redefining customer and distributor support in a highly relationship-driven business. Josh explains why adopting AI in the...
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Breaking the Doom Loop in IT Service Management - with Phil Christianson of Xurrent
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Phil Christianson, Chief Product Officer at Xurrent. Xurrent is an IT service management platform that helps large organizations coordinate incident response and improve system reliability. They serve clients across healthcare, government, and financial services and are known for their focus on post-incident accountability and automation. Phil joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello on today’s episode to explore how AI can help break this cycle and build lasting resilience, drawing from years of experience in fintech, e-commerce, and enterprise IT. Phil outlines how...
info_outlineToday’s guest is Tim Burge, Director at Aquant. Aquant is an AI platform built for service teams that maintain and repair complex equipment. It gives clear, accurate answers to service questions — from basic fixes to deep diagnostics — so field techs, call centers, managers, and customers can get to solutions faster. Used by top manufacturers like Siemens and Hologic, Aquant helps reduce downtime, lower service costs, and boost customer satisfaction. Tim joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello for today’s conversation to discuss how manufacturing leaders are reevaluating their AI deployment strategies across field service and operations. As the dust settles on the generative AI hype cycle, organizations are moving past the build-versus-buy binary and embracing hybrid approaches. Tim explains why service departments in particular require a specialized lens for AI implementation and shares how leaders can optimize time-to-value, improve data quality, and drive adoption across legacy environments. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast! This episode is sponsored by Aquant. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1.