Let’s Solve IT! Podcast

Let’s Solve IT! Podcast

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Let’s Solve IT! Podcast episodes

  • Ep. 8 - Is your IT support strategy creating a security risk?

    What if your biggest security vulnerability isn’t a hacker, but your support strategy? 

     In this episode of Let’s Solve IT!, Matt Brown sits down with Mike Eubanks, Senior Director of IT Operations at NetApp, to explore why reactive IT support is becoming a growing business risk. From technical debt and aging infrastructure to ransomware and expanding attack surfaces, they discuss why proactive operations, observability, and AI are becoming essential tools for modern IT organizations. 

     You’ll hear: 

    • Why reactive IT support is becoming a growing security risk in the age of ransomware and cyber threats 
    • What a technical debt, aging infrastructure, and poor technology hygiene expand an organization’s attack surface 
    • The role of observability, AI, and proactive operations in identifying and resolving issues before they impact the business 
    • Practical strategies for reducing risk, improving security posture, and shifting IT support from firefighting to prevention 

      •  Support teams rarely get recognized when nothing breaks, but that’s exactly the point. The real challenge in modern IT isn’t responding to disasters faster. It prevents outages, ransomware attacks, and operational disruptions before the business ever feels the impact. 

       You are not alone. Let’s Solve IT! 

       

      Learn More: 

      IT case studies | NetApp 

       

      Connect with us:

      Matt Brown | LinkedIn  

      Michael Eubanks | LinkedIn 

       

      Below is a summary of this episode’s transcript:  

      What does it really mean to make IT support proactive in an era defined by AI? 

      In this episode of Let’s Solve IT!, host Matt Brown sits down with Mike Eubanks, Senior Director of IT Operations at NetApp, for a candid, real-world conversation about why traditional IT support models are breaking—and what it takes to evolve them. 

      Key topics: 

      • Why unsupported systems and legacy applications create hidden security vulnerabilities 
        • How observability enables predictive, proactive IT support 
          • The role of AI in correlating data, reducing troubleshooting time from hours to seconds 
            • How to build a secure AI environment with governance and guardrails 
              • Why culture is critical to shifting from reactive to proactive operations 
                • The importance of failing fast, iterating quickly, and empowering teams to act early 

                  •  

                  If your team is still waiting for tickets to come in, this conversation will challenge you to rethink what modern IT support should look like—and how to get ahead of risk before it disrupts the business. 

                  At the center of the discussion is a fundamental shift: IT support can no longer afford to be reactive. While business leaders continue to invest in innovation and AI-driven transformation, support organizations are expected to operate like a utility—always on, always available, and invisible when working well. But under the surface, aging infrastructure, unsupported systems, and growing data complexity are creating a constant stream of hidden risk. 

                  Notable Quotes: 

                  • “Being secure requires a different focus." (1:58) - Stated when explaining growth of security risks forced IT and the business to change their approach. AI is fundamentally changing both sides of the equation. On one hand, it’s accelerating innovation and enabling faster insights. On the other, it’s amplifying security risks, exposing new ways for bad actors to identify and exploit weaknesses. 
                    • "You have to listen to the experts. You have to let them plan and understand the plan and then communicate that plan." (2:45) - Said while describing his leadership philosophy in IT support, emphasizing collaboration and expertise.  
                      • “We don't look for things that are broken. We look for things that are breaking and AI helps us do that." (5:22) - This was Mike's explanation of the shift from traditional monitoring to proactive observability. He shares how his team is shifting from traditional monitoring to modern observability, using AI-powered analytics to identify patterns, detect anomalies, and predict issues before they impact users. 
                        • “Unsupported breeds the problem. What that means is that they don't support and they don't provide security patches and those types of things anymore, which creates a huge risk if you are keeping privileged company data or your company secrets on an old server that has an aging OS that's out of support and is not receiving patches on a regular basis or at all.” (2:16) Mike explains how legacy hardware and applications are no longer just performance liabilities—they are critical security vulnerabilities, especially when they fall out of vendor support and stop receiving patches.” 
                          • "What you have to do is first of all, you have to create a culture... where it's okay to fail. Just fail fast and learn and iterate, iterate. Don't wait until everything's perfect to release or you'll never release." (12:39) - Stated when discussing the importance of creating a culture that encourages rapid innovation and is not paralyzed by the fear of failure. 

                            •  

                            How do leading IT organizations get ahead? 

                            Shift to modern observability with: 

                            • AI-driven correlation of massive data sets, reducing troubleshooting time from hours to seconds 
                              • A next-generation Network Operations Center (NOC) model, combining real-time visibility with intelligent diagnostics 
                                • The ability to trace issues across services, pinpoint root causes, and feed insights directly to engineering teams for permanent fixes 
                                  • Continuous feedback loops that turn incidents into long-term improvements 

                                    •  

                                    Mike also highlights how cloud architectures are changing the game, enabling organizations to eliminate downtime entirely in some cases by shifting workloads, rebuilding environments, and avoiding traditional patching cycles. 

                                    But technology alone isn’t enough. 

                                    A major theme throughout the episode is culture. Moving from reactive to proactive support requires a mindset shift across the organization: 

                                    • Teams must be trained to seek out risks before they surface 
                                      • Leaders must encourage experimentation and remove the fear of failure 
                                        • Organizations must adopt a “fail fast, learn fast, iterate” approach to keep pace with rapid change 
                                          • Continuous learning is essential, especially as AI capabilities and threats evolve at unprecedented speed 

                                            • Mike emphasizes that many teams still operate with a “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” mentality—which is no longer viable in a modern IT environment. The new mandate is clear: identify risks early, act sooner, and build systems that improve continuously. 

                                            Practical advice for IT leaders:  

                                            • Invest in a strong observability foundation 
                                              • Build secure AI environments with governance and guardrails 
                                                • Stay current on emerging technologies and evolving threat landscapes 
                                                  • Create a culture that prioritizes proactivity over perfection 

                                                    • Ultimately, this episode reframes IT support as a strategic capability—not just a cost center. The organizations that succeed will be the ones that can anticipate issues, reduce risk, and maintain resilience in a system that never stops moving. 

                                                    If your IT team is still operating in reactive mode, this conversation will push you to rethink what’s possible—and what’s required—to stay ahead. 

                                                    15 min
                                                  • Ep. 7 - Should you buy your way out of a supply chain crisis?

                                                    The technology industry is facing an ever-increasing supply chain crisis, and AI is rapidly making it worse. What started as a hardware shortage is now forcing enterprises to rethink storage, data center capacity, procurement strategy, and whether their infrastructure is truly prepared for the next wave of demand. 

                                                     In this episode of Let’s Solve IT!, Matt Brown speaks with NetApp Technical Evangelist and The STEMINISTS co-host Phoebe Goh about a question many IT and engineering leaders are facing: Should you buy your way out of a supply chain crisis? 

                                                    The conversation explores why throwing money at the problem and panic-buying hardware may make things worse. As AI demand explodes, enterprises are discovering that you can’t simply hoard your way out of a supply chain crisis, especially when the real problem is how data, storage, cloud, and infrastructure strategy are being managed in the first place. 

                                                    You’ll hear: 

                                                    • Why AI is increasing pressure on enterprise storage and data center capacity 
                                                    • How the DRAM shortage and SSD supply chain challenges are affecting infrastructure decisions 
                                                    • Why buying more hardware may not solve the real problem 
                                                    • How AI is changing the value of cold data and historical data 
                                                    • Why storage teams need to think more strategically about data mobility, security, and performance 
                                                    • How cloud, tiering, and modernization can help organizations stay flexible 
                                                    • Why IT strategy, procurement, sustainability, and infrastructure planning must be connected 

                                                      • Because the real question may not be whether you can buy your way through the crisis. 

                                                      It may be whether that decision prepares you for what comes next. 

                                                      You are not alone. Let’s Solve IT! 

                                                       

                                                      Learn More 

                                                      IT case studies | NetApp 

                                                       

                                                      Check out The STEMINISTS Podcast: 

                                                      The STEMINISTS Podcast | Phoebe Goh and Mekka Williams 

                                                       

                                                      Connect with us!

                                                      https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmattbrown 

                                                      Phoebe Goh | LinkedIn 

                                                       

                                                      AI data center, enterprise storage, storage infrastructure, supply chain crisis, DRAM shortage, SSD shortage, data center capacity, data mobility, cloud strategy, infrastructure modernization, IT strategy, storage optimization, AI infrastructure, cloud tiering, data center sustainability, AI workloads, enterprise AI, hybrid cloud, storage performance, data management

                                                      15 min
                                                    • Ep. 6 - Do your employees have the right AI tools to succeed?

                                                      AI is no longer just a productivity tool. It is quickly becoming one of the biggest operational, security, and governance challenges enterprises have faced since the rise of the cloud. 

                                                      In this episode of Let’s Solve IT!, Matt Brown speaks with NetApp IT Director of Enterprise Architecture and AI, Paul Carau, about the uncomfortable reality many technology leaders are now facing: Employees are adopting AI faster than most organizations can govern it. 

                                                      The conversation explores why AI success requires far more than simply deploying the latest toolset. Leaders must now navigate employee personas, data access, governance, change management, overlapping AI capabilities, and the growing pressure to move faster without losing control of the environment. 

                                                      You’ll hear: 

                                                      • Why uncontrolled AI adoption is becoming a major enterprise risk 
                                                        • How shadow AI is creating new challenges of security and governance 
                                                          • Why employee personas matter when deploying AI at scale 
                                                            • The growing complexity caused by overlapping AI platforms and tools 
                                                              • How organizations can balance innovation speed with operational control 
                                                                • Why AI governance must evolve alongside business expectations 

                                                                  • Because the real question may no longer be whether your company is using AI. 

                                                                  It may be whether you still control how it’s being used. 

                                                                  Let’s talk about what that means, and Let’s Solve IT! 

                                                                   

                                                                  Resources just for you:

                                                                  IT case studies | NetApp 

                                                                   

                                                                  Connect with us!

                                                                  https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmattbrown 

                                                                  https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-carau  

                                                                   

                                                                  17 min
                                                                • Ep. 5 - More Tools. Less Output? The Truth About Developer Productivity

                                                                  Are your technology investments driving developer productivity—or just adding complexity? 

                                                                  In this episode of Let’s Solve IT!, Matt Brown sits down with Mekka Williams, Director of Innovation and Solutions and co-host of The STEMINISTS podcast, to unpack one of the biggest disconnects in modern IT: the gap between investment and impact. 

                                                                  They explore why more tools don’t always lead to better outcomes, what developer productivity really looks like from a business perspective, and how leading organizations are aligning people, processes, and technology to drive measurable results. 

                                                                  You’ll hear: 

                                                                  • Why time-to-value continues to fall short of expectations
                                                                  • How DevOps complexity is slowing teams down
                                                                  • What meaningful productivity measurementlookslike 
                                                                  • Where AIdelivers real valueand where it introduces risk 
                                                                  • Why progress starts with action, not perfection

                                                                    • Because improving productivity isn’t a one-time fix—it’s an ongoing business priority. 

                                                                    You are not alone. Let’s Solve IT! 

                                                                     

                                                                    Learn More 

                                                                    IT case studies | NetApp 

                                                                     

                                                                    Also make sure you check out The STEMINISTS Podcast | Phoebe Goh and Mekka Williams 

                                                                     

                                                                    Connect with us! 

                                                                    https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmattbrown 

                                                                    Mekka Williams | LinkedIn 

                                                                    14 min
                                                                  • Ep. 4 - Does your data center need to go nuclear to support AI?

                                                                    It sounds extreme, but it’s not as far off as you might think. 

                                                                    In this episode of Let’s Solve IT!, Matt Brown talks with Ralph Renne, Sr. Director, Workplace Experience, to break down what’s really happening behind the scenes: massive increases in power demand, the shift to water-cooled environments, and why most data centers aren’t built for what’s coming next. 

                                                                     

                                                                    In this episode, you’ll learn: 

                                                                    • What’s driving these new AI infrastructure demands 
                                                                    • Why this isn’t just an IT problem, it’s a facilities and business problem 
                                                                    • The real timelines and costs to get ready
                                                                    • And what you should be doing right now to prepare

                                                                      • Because this isn’t a future problem. 

                                                                      It’s already here. 

                                                                      And if you’re not planning for it, chances are, you're already behind. 

                                                                      You’re not alone. Let’s Solve It! 

                                                                       

                                                                      Learn More 

                                                                      IT case studies | NetApp 

                                                                       

                                                                      Connect with us!

                                                                      https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmattbrown 

                                                                      https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralph-renne-36ab0a6/ 

                                                                      13 min
                                                                    • Ep. 3 - Why are ERP implementations CIO career killers?

                                                                      Why do so many ERP transformations derail careers at the highest level? 

                                                                      It’s not the technology. 

                                                                      It’s everything else. 
                                                                       
                                                                      In this episode of Let’s Solve IT!, Matt Brown sits down with NetApp CIO Hem Nerkar to confront one of the most uncomfortable truths in enterprise IT: ERP transformations don’t start by failing systems—they start by breaking the people leading them. 

                                                                      Because what looks like a software upgrade is actually a high-risk, multi-year bet on your company’s culture, operations, and future. 

                                                                       
                                                                      In this episode, you’ll learn: 
                                                                      • Massive financial investment with no immediate payoff 
                                                                      • Organizational resistance at every level 
                                                                      • Hundreds of systems and stakeholders in play 
                                                                      • And a clock that never stops ticking while the business keeps running 
                                                                       
                                                                      Hem Nerkar pulls back the curtain on what really makes these transformations so dangerous and what separates those projects that succeed from those that quietly unravel careers. 
                                                                       
                                                                      This isn’t about features. 
                                                                      This isn’t about vendors. 
                                                                       
                                                                      This is about pressure, risk, and leadership when there is no safe path forward. 

                                                                      Let’s talk about what that really means. Let’s Solve IT! 

                                                                       

                                                                      Learn More Here: 

                                                                      IT case studies | NetApp 

                                                                       

                                                                      Connect with us!

                                                                      https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmattbrown 

                                                                      https://www.linkedin.com/in/hem-nerkar-445b731 

                                                                      15 min
                                                                    • Ep. 2 - How to afford AI and the people to run IT

                                                                      AI budgets are blowing up. Hardware prices are all over the place. And executives want ROI yesterday. 

                                                                      So here’s the real question nobody wants to say out loud: How are you supposed to afford the tech and the people to run it? 

                                                                      In this week’s episode of Let’s Solve IT!, host Matt Brown and Stephan Stelter, NetApp Manager, Solutions Engineering, confront the tension IT leaders feel every day: innovation pressure vs. finite budgets. They get into FOMO-driven spending, AI productivity myths, and resource scarcity.  

                                                                      Rather than defaulting to layoffs or across‑the‑board cuts, this conversation explores a smarter path forward: reallocating resources, retasking talent, and placing the right workloads in the right environments to maximize impact without burning out teams or budgets. 

                                                                      If you’re feeling squeezed between transformation goals and headcount limitations, this episode is for you.  

                                                                      Let’s talk about what that really means, and Let’s Solve IT! 

                                                                       

                                                                      Learn more about the world of NetApp on NetApp: IT case studies | NetApp

                                                                       

                                                                      10 min
                                                                    • Ep. 1 - When AI convenience becomes a business risk

                                                                      AI is everywhere — recording meetings, transcribing conversations, summarizing discussions, and storing more data than ever before. But as AI-powered productivity tools become the norm, how do organizations protect themselves from growing security and legal risk? 

                                                                       

                                                                      In this first episode of Let’s Solve IT!, host Matt Brown sits down with NetApp CISO Gavin Guttersen to explore a sobering reality: AI tools can create powerful productivity gains and unexpected exposure. 
                                                                       
                                                                      From litigation risk to data governance gaps, from “AI companions” in meetings to agents talking to agents, this conversation dives into the uncomfortable truth: Security through obscurity is gone. 
                                                                       
                                                                      In this episode, you’ll learn: 

                                                                      • How AI transcription and meeting recording tools create unexpected security and legal exposure 
                                                                        • Where data governance breaks down as enterprise AI adoption accelerates 
                                                                          • What CISOs, IT leaders, and business teams must consider in an always‑recorded environment 

                                                                            • If you’re responsible for AI security, data governance, or risk management, this episode sets the foundation for the conversations organizations can’t afford to avoid. 

                                                                            Let’s talk about what that really means. Let’s Solve IT! 

                                                                             

                                                                            Learn more about the world of NetApp on NetApp: IT case studies | NetApp 

                                                                             

                                                                            Connect with us! 

                                                                            https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmattbrown 

                                                                            https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaving

                                                                            14 min

                                                                          About Let’s Solve IT! Podcast

                                                                          From the publisher's feed

                                                                          IT leaders, are you ready to turn strategy into results?  Welcome to Let’s Solve IT!, the podcast designed exclusively for IT decision-makers who are ready to tackle today’s toughest challenges head-on.