Peggy Smedley Show

Peggy explores the growing threat of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, including electricity, water, transportation, healthcare, and food distribution. She highlights how organizations can strengthen cybersecurity, monitor physical operations, protect legacy systems, and improve incident response to reduce risks and ensure operational resilience.

She also encourages listeners to:

· Prioritize critical assets and address cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

· Strengthen remote access controls, network security, and system updates.

· Use independent monitoring to detect abnormal operating conditions.

· Develop and test incident response and recovery plans.

· Integrate cybersecurity, operational safety, and business continuity planning.

https://peggysmedleyshow.com

Peggy Smedley and Ron Elliott, director of field application engineering, Digi International, discuss the growing threat of cyberattacks on water systems and the cybersecurity challenges facing utilities nationwide. They explore practical ways to secure connected infrastructure, protect aging operational technology, and strengthen cybersecurity without replacing entire systems.

They also discuss how organizations can:

· Identify the common vulnerabilities cyber attackers exploit.

· Secure remote access and protect connected devices.

· Bridge the gap between IT and OT to protect critical infrastructure.

· Learn from real-world examples of cyber vulnerabilities.

· Move from reactive responses to proactive monitoring and long-term cybersecurity planning.

https://www.digi.com

For more information:

• https://www.digi.com/blog/post/water-utility-cybersecurity-and-ot-infrastructure
• https://www.digi.com/resources/library/solution-briefs/your-water-system-got-hit-sb
• https://www.digi.com/resources/library/solution-briefs/optimizing-pump-operations
• https://www.digi.com/resources/library/solution-briefs/monitor-prevent-inflow-infiltration-and-overflows
• https://www.digi.com/resources/library/solution-briefs/the-backup-that-never-backs-down-sb
• https://www.digi.com/resources/library/data-sheets/digi-connect-sensor-xrt-m-datasheet
• https://www.digi.com/resources/library/data-sheets/digi-connect-ez-8-datasheet
• https://www.digi.com/resources/library/data-sheets/digi-connect-ez-16-32-datasheet
• https://www.digi.com/resources/library/data-sheets/connect-it-16-48-ds

Peggy explores the growing quantum computing market and what it will take to turn quantum technology into practical commercial solutions. With the global market projected to exceed $3 billion by 2028, she examines how manufacturing scalability, system integration, and real-world applications will shape the industry's future.

She also encourages listeners to:

· Look beyond qubit counts and evaluate reliability, error correction, and overall system performance.

· Focus on practical applications in areas such as drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, and complex optimization.

· Recognize the importance of scalable manufacturing, automation, quality control, and systems integration.

· Develop skills for the quantum industry, including semiconductor processing, precision manufacturing, materials science, and quality engineering.

· Connect innovation to customer needs by evaluating commercial readiness, economic value, and the problems quantum can realistically solve.

https://peggysmedleyshow.com

Peggy explores the growing professional service robotics market and what its rapid growth could mean for the future of work. With global sales of professional service robots increasing, Peggy looks beyond the numbers to examine where demand is coming from, how businesses are using robots to solve real operational challenges, and what emerging technologies like humanoid robots could mean for the next phase of automation.

She also encourages listeners to:

· Focus on specific business problems that robots can solve, giving examples.

· Evaluate humanoid robots based on their practical applications, commercial readiness, safety, reliability, and cost.

· Recognize how automation will change job responsibilities and create new demands.

· Start with a clearly defined business need, test whether a robot can address it reliably, and measure its ROI before making an investment.

· Look beyond the technology itself to understand how businesses can put robots to work effectively.

https://peggysmedleyshow.com

Peggy Smedley explores how the coming "silver tsunami" of retiring experienced workers could reshape the future of work by focusing on the knowledge and expertise companies risk losing. She argues the challenge is not simply replacing workers—it is preserving the instincts, problem-solving skills, and experience that are difficult to capture in a manual.

She also discusses:

· How rising technologies like AI (artificial intelligence) could shape this movement.

· Why upskilling and reskilling will be critical to transferring knowledge and preparing the next generation of workers.

· Why human experience may become even more valuable as automation increases.

· How companies can combine experience, adaptability, and AI to prepare for the future of work.

https://peggysmedleyshow.com

Peggy explores how AI (artificial intelligence)-powered robotics could reshape the future of skilled work by looking at a new AI welding agent. Peggy uses this example to examine a broader shift in automation: robots are no longer simply performing repetitive physical tasks—they are beginning to interpret instructions, assist with programming and planning, and carry out increasingly complex work. She argues that this raises important questions about how employers, workers, and unions prepare for a future in which humans and machines work more closely together.

She also discusses:

· How this could change the skills workers need tomorrow.

· How the gap is being bridged between human instructions and physical action.

· How we can learn from earlier examples of robotics, such as SAM the bricklaying robot.

· How employers, workers, and unions can work together to train people for new roles and ensure workers with valuable skills are included in the transition.

· Why it is important to remember the future of work is about how humans and machines can work together.

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Peggy concludes her five-part series of predictions for 2027 by looking at how wisdom and human judgment will become increasingly valuable as AI makes information, analysis, and answers easier to generate. For her fifth and final prediction, Peggy says 2027 could be a turning point as organizations move beyond simply using AI to generate answers and focus more on knowing which answers matter, questioning AI recommendations, and applying human experience and context to make better decisions.

She also encourages listeners to:

· Use AI to analyze information, identify patterns, and generate options.

· Capture and preserve the knowledge and experience of retiring workers by using AI to make historical information more accessible.

· Focus on asking better questions and applying context, critical thinking, ethics, and long-term thinking.

· Rethink workforce training by teaching people not only how to use AI, but how to supervise, evaluate, question, and improve the work AI produces.

· Remember that AI can provide more answers, but human wisdom and judgment remain essential for deciding which answers are worth following.

https://peggysmedleyshow.com

Peggy continues her five-part series of predictions for 2027 by looking at how AI governance, security, and accountability will become increasingly important as businesses integrate AI into their operations. For her fourth prediction, Peggy says 2027 could be a turning point as companies move beyond simply adopting AI and begin establishing clear rules around who can use it, what data it can access, what actions it can take, and who is ultimately responsible for its outcomes.

She also encourages listeners to:

· Identify every AI system being used across the organization and understand who owns each one.

· Establish clear guidelines for when AI can make recommendations or take action and when human approval is required.

· Define accountability so there is always a person or team responsible.

· Treat governance as an operating model that creates clarity, trust, and confidence while allowing organizations to scale AI responsibly.

https://peggysmedleyshow.com

Peggy continues her five-part series of predictions for 2027 by looking at how construction companies could begin treating historical data as a valuable business asset. For her third prediction, Peggy says 2027 could be a turning point as construction companies move beyond simply storing years of project information and begin using that data to inform better decisions, transfer knowledge, and improve future projects.

She also encourages listeners to:

· Organize and connect historical project data so it can be easily accessed and used.

· Use AI to uncover patterns across past projects, including cost overruns, delays, risks, and project performance.

· Capture the knowledge and lessons behind the data so experience can be shared with the next generation of workers.

· Treat historical data as more than an archive and use it as a competitive advantage for future projects.

https://peggysmedleyshow.com

Peggy continues her five-part series of predictions for 2027 by looking at how AI will move from experimentation to real-world scale in manufacturing. For her second prediction, Peggy says 2027 could be a turning point as manufacturers move beyond pilots and proof of concepts and begin making AI a more integral part of how their operations run.

She also encourages listeners to:

· Focus on business problems where AI can create measurable value, rather than adding AI everywhere.

· Fix processes, connect data, and involve people before trying to scale AI.

· Use AI to augment the knowledge and experience of workers while scaling the use cases that actually work.

https://peggysmedleyshow.com