AI is everywhere right now, but most teams still ask the same question: will it actually make our networks more reliable and our customers happier—or just add cost and complexity? In this episode of Go Beyond the Connection, we get blunt about where AI helps today, what’s still hype, and how to translate AI investments into real business outcomes.

Our guests bring both the innovation lens and the operator’s reality. Ajay Malik, Founder of StudioX AI, has built AI-driven systems across networking and edge use cases, turning noisy telemetry into clear decisions. Greg Davis, CEO of Bigleaf Networks, lives the reliability mandate daily, aligning network strategy to revenue, customer experience, and risk.

What you’ll learn:

• Where AI adds measurable value in networking today—noise reduction, anomaly detection, and faster root-cause analysis.
• How to prove business impact using outcomes that executives care about: uptime, conversion, NPS, and ticket deflection.
• What to fix first so AI can help: clean data, clear SLOs, and observable paths from issue to action.
• The pitfalls to avoid: vendor buzzwords, “demo-only” wins, and models that drift without guardrails.
• A practical roadmap for MSPs and IT teams to pilot, evaluate, and scale AI safely.

Standout insight:

AI pays off when you can tie every suggested action to a clear reliability or customer outcome—otherwise it’s just more dashboards.

Why this matters now:

Budgets are tight. Talent is stretched. And every customer interaction depends on a stable, high-quality connection. AI can help, but only if you design for reliability and accountability first. Ajay and Greg lay out a pragmatic approach that you can start using this quarter: define the business goals, pick a narrow use case, measure rigorously, and scale what works.

Listen and explore:

• How Ajay Malik & Greg Davis See AI Powering Business-Ready Networks
• Practical AI for Network Reliability: Lessons from Ajay Malik & Greg Davis
• How Leaders Measure AI Outcomes in IT and Networking
• Avoiding AI Pitfalls in Networking: A Guide for IT Leaders
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