Three years. That’s all it took for AI to move from curiosity to commitment, from “have you tried this?” to “what’s our plan?” Today, AI adoption has moved faster than any technology shift most boards have governed. While agent capabilities are being introduced at scale, one question is still difficult to answer: what does this mean for my business?The board’s job is to make sure the organization can benefit from AI and do so responsibly.In this episode, tech executive Marion van Happen shares how the biggest enterprise AI opportunities are as much about strategy as technology. The instinct many organizations have is to go faster. What boards need is a better understanding of what the technology can do today and where it’s heading, so they can spot the quick wins and plan for what comes after them.She sits down with our host Werner Heijstek to discuss:- How boards are actually experiencing agentic AI adoption- Why it’s harder to govern than financial risk- Why replacing people with AI doesn’t work- What steps board members need to take to stay on top of developmentsChapters(00:00) Intro
(01:18) Agentic AI at Board Level
(04:06) Quick Wins vs Strategy
(08:05) Looking Ahead
(12:06) Good and Bad Examples
(15:34) Rethinking the Human Role
(17:16) Board Accountability and AI Literacy
(22:47) Tokenomics
(27:00) Tracking AI with KPIs
(29:04) Lessons LearnedDownload AI Maturity Guide here: https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/publications/ai-maturity-guide-2026/The SIGNAL podcast, powered by Software Improvement Group, is a monthly show where we turn complex IT topics into business clarity. Hosted by Werner Heijstek, Chief Delivery Officer at Software Improvement Group.Subscribe to never miss an episode and visit our website for more information: https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/#podcast #ArtificialIntelligence #AgenticAI #AIadoption #CorporateGovernance #BoardLeadership #DigitalTransformation

Agent deployment jumped from 11% of organizations to 53% in two years, but only 23% see real ROI from AI agents. The gap isn’t the model. It’s what happens around it.

Listen to discover what successful organizations do differently, and how the right context and guardrails can help your AI agents deliver real business value.

You’ll learn how to:

- Ground agents by providing them with the right architectural context

- Plan and design your software system based on prioritization

- Proactively guard your systems and prevent new security risk, technical debt, and architectural drift from entering

- Let agents improve fixes and improvements more autonomously

Chapters

(0:00) Trailer

(0:30) Introduction

(1:15) Where companies stand today

(2:14) Shift to agentic engineering

(3:19) Humans, roles & productivity

(7:37) Where leaders should start

(9:51) Data beats assumptions

(15:39) Harness engineering

(20:05) The agentic SDLC

(23:00) Maintainability & security gains

Download State of Software 2026 ⁠here⁠.

Read about the experiment here.

The SIGNAL podcast, powered by Software Improvement Group, is a monthly show where we turn complex IT topics into business clarity. Hosted by Werner Heijstek, Chief Delivery Officer at Software Improvement Group.

Subscribe to never miss an episode and visit ⁠our website⁠ for more information.

#podcast #AIAgents #AgenticAI #MCP #HarnessEngineering #TechnicalDebt #SoftwareQuality #EnterpriseAI #SoftwareEngineer

AI compounds whatever discipline a company already has: where quality is measured, AI accelerates delivery; where it is not, AI accelerates debt and risk at the same speed.

The fault line runs through software architecture, the one thing AI coding tools and agents cannot see.

You will leave knowing which questions to ask about your own architecture before you scale AI, and where to invest first.

Chapters

(0:00) Trailer

(1:11) Defining Architecture

(3:47) Good vs. Bad Architecture

(5:20) Measuring Architectural Debt

(6:56) Prioritizing Technical Debt

(9:05) AI and Re-architecting

(10:28) Legacy Systems & Trust

(15:08) Board-Level Understanding

(18:23) Tokenomics & Budgets

(21:03) Continuous Re-architecturing

Download State of Software 2026 here.

The SIGNAL podcast, powered by Software Improvement Group, is a monthly show where we turn complex IT topics into business clarity. Hosted by Werner Heijstek, Chief Delivery Officer at Software Improvement Group.

Subscribe to never miss an episode and visit our website for more information.

#podcast #architecture #software #artificialintelligence # #softwarearchitecture #softwaredevelopment #softwarearchitect #enterpriseai #enterprisearchitecture

AI writes code faster than ever. But what does that speed actually cost?

Two findings from this year’s research are hard to ignore: AI token spend is turning into a material, unpredictable line item, and technical debt is shifting from the code level to the architecture level, right as AI generates code faster than teams can review it.

That’s what we get into in this episode of the SIGNAL podcast, with Luc Brandts, CEO of Software Improvement Group.

This conversation draws on our upcoming State of Software 2026 report, our annual look at the hidden costs and risks of software, this year measured against the full force of AI adoption.

In this episode, Werner Heijstek sits down with Luc to talk about:

- the real cost of AI-generated code, from token spend to review capacity,

- why architecture, not the code itself, is where technical debt gets expensive, and

Chapters

(00:00) Intro(02:14) Agentic software engineering(03:30) AI output(05:45) How tokens work(07:17) AI Tokenomics(10:42) Pricing confusion(15:19) Architectural debt(18:46) Deterministic and AI(20:48) Metrics and KPIs that resonate

Download the State of Software 2026 report here:

https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/publications/state-of-software-2026/

The SIGNAL podcast, powered by Software Improvement Group, is a monthly show where we turn complex IT topics into business clarity. Hosted by Werner Heijstek, Senior Director at Software Improvement Group.

Subscribe to never miss an episode and visit our website for more information: https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/

#podcast #ai #artificialintelligence #technicaldebt #aitokens #ceo #cto #cio #businesspodcast #technology #businessstrategy #softwareengineering

_________

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Technical Debt Management Tools, By Tigran Egiazarov et. al, 20 May 2026.

Gartner, Market Guide for Technical Debt Management Tools, By Tigran Egiazarov et. al, 13 April 2026.

GARTNER is a trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

The conversation about agentic AI has moved fast. How does it change software engineering? Where do you draw the line between what agents can (and should) do autonomously, and where you prioritize human control? That's exactly what we're going to talk about in this episode of the SIGNAL podcast, with Daniel Gebler.

Daniel is co-founder and CTO of Picnic, the online supermarket built on 350 engineers and around 100 applications across three countries. He recently judged an Open Claw Hackathon in Amsterdam, where 75 engineers delivered 32 submissions in 8 hours. What he saw there says a lot about where the AI builder community actually stands.

Werner Heijstek sits down with Daniel to talk about:- what agentic AI is doing to software engineering,- how Picnic governs it in practice, and- what organizations can do to move faster, responsibly.

Chapters

(00:00) Introduction

(01:04) Picnic's AI journey

(03:18) The state of agentic AI at Picnic

(05:19) Driving adoption

(07:45) Why teams revert to old ways of working

(10:41) Tracking bottlenecks, not lines of code

(13:36) Code quality and reviews

(16:37) Security and resilience

(22:23) The future of software engineering

The SIGNAL podcast, powered by Software Improvement Group, is a monthly show where we turn complex IT topics into business clarity. Hosted by Werner Heijstek, Senior Director at Software Improvement Group.

Subscribe to never miss an episode and visit our website for more information: https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/

#podcast #ai #artificialintelligence #agenticai #aiforbusiness #aiadoption #aistrategy #aiimplementation #ceo #cto #cio #businesspodcast #technology #businessstrategy #softwareengineering #agents #picnic

AI coding assistants no longer just suggest code. They plan, write, and test software — and they're moving fast.

So what happens when the loop moves faster than humans can keep up?

In this episode of SIGNAL, host Werner Heijstek sits down with Luc Brandts, CEO of Software Improvement Group, to explore what agentic AI actually means for software quality, architecture, security, and governance.

Drawing on SIG's latest analysis of systems built with agentic AI tools — including Cursor's FastRender and Claude's C Compiler — they get into why keeping a human in the loop still matters, and why that becomes harder to do at scale.

The real challenge isn't building faster. It's staying in control while you do.

Chapters

(00:00) Trailer

(01:04) The pace of AI development and experimentation

(02:08) Are organizations actually seeing results?

(03:51) Adoption patterns: front runners, laggards, and cynics

(07:39) The right KPIs: beyond lines of code

(09:20) Case study: FastRender and the swarm of agents experiment

(14:11) The hidden risk of LLMs talking to each other

(16:33) How to deploy AI responsibly: Sigrid in the loop

(18:09) Senior vs. junior developers: the growing skills gap

(23:59) Practical steps: gaining visibility and control

Download the 2026 AI Boardroom Gap report here:

https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/ai-boardroom-gap-2026/

The SIGNAL podcast, powered by Software Improvement Group, is a monthly show where we turn complex IT topics into business clarity. Hosted by Werner Heijstek, Senior Director at Software Improvement Group.

Subscribe to never miss an episode and visit our website for more information: https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/

#podcast #ai #artificialintelligence #AgenticAI #aiforbusiness #aiadoption #aistrategy #aiimplementation #ceo #cto #cio #businesspodcast #technology #businessstrategy #softwareengineering

Many organisations say they’re using AI, but far fewer can show where those systems run, how reliable they are, or what guardrails keep them safe.

In this SIGNAL podcast episode, Simon Jagers, founder and co-CEO of Samotics, shares his learnings from moving from early lab prototypes to a trusted system monitoring critical industrial assets in the field.

Werner Heijstek, host of the SIGNAL Podcast and Sr. Director at Software Improvement Group, and Simon explore:

- how to move from promising AI experiments to robust systems in the field,

- how to prove reliability so people actually trust AI output, and

- how governance and guardrails help close the gap between AI ambition and reality.

Chapters

(00:00) Trailer

(00:26) Introduction

(01:54) The Origin Story: Starting Samotics in 2015

(04:10) The Breakthrough: Electrical Signals as a Data Source

(06:48) How to Sell AI Before the Product Is Proven

(11:16) The Failure That Changed Everything

(15:47) Lessons for Founders Building AI Products

(20:19) Why Most AI Never Makes It to Production

(25:57) Security, Trust, and Why Humans Still Matter

(29:06) The Big Lesson: Start With the Business Problem

Download the 2026 AI Boardroom Gap report here:

https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/ai-boardroom-gap-2026/

The SIGNAL podcast, powered by Software Improvement Group, is a monthly show where we turn complex IT topics into business clarity. Hosted by Werner Heijstek, Senior Director at Software Improvement Group.

Subscribe to never miss an episode and visit our website for more information: https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/

#podcast #ai #artificialintelligence #aigovernance #aiforbusiness #aiadoption #aistrategy #aiimplementation #ceo #cto #cio #governance #businesspodcast #technology #businessstrategy #samotics #predictivemaintenance #conditionmonitoring #smartassetmonitoring #industrialai

In this SIGNAL podcast episode, EY-Parthenon partner Erik Oltmans dives into how AI is reshaping software investment.

Today, investors need evidence. They must be able to verify what AI produced, where it sits, and whether it meets the bar for quality, security, architectural coherence, and provenance. In other words: Do you know what you’re buying?

Erik, and the host of the SIGNAL podcast Werner Heijstek, unpack what changes in due diligence when “who wrote the code” is no longer obvious, why systems of record and governance matter, and what proof investors should look for when investing in the AI era.

Chapters

(00:00) Trailer

(00:31) Intro

(01:18) Tech due diligence

(02:25) Common surprises

(03:57) AI impact on investments

(06:20) AI Governance gap

(08:32) AI Security reality

(12:43) AI Productivity myth

(15:26) Metrics shift due to AI

(19:27) AI Architecture risk

(25:38) Key takeaways

Download the 2026 AI Boardroom Gap report here:

https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/ai-boardroom-gap-2026/

The SIGNAL podcast, powered by Software Improvement Group, is a monthly show where we turn complex IT topics into business clarity. Hosted by Werner Heijstek, Senior Director at Software Improvement Group.

Subscribe to never miss an episode and visit our website for more information: https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/

#podcast #ai #artificialintelligence #aiinvestment #aiforbusiness #aiadoption #aistrategy #aigovernance #aiimplementation #investor #ceo #cto #cio #governance #duediligence #itdd #itduediligence #techinvestment #softwareacquisition #techacquisition #businesspodcast #technology #businessstrategy #ey #ernstandyoung

In this episode of the SIGNAL podcast we welcome Akın Garzanlı, CEO of Beko Europe, one of the largest home appliances companies. Akın shares how he approaches AI in a global, asset-heavy business that puts connected devices into millions of homes.

We discuss the toughest leadership challenges that came with the rapid rise of AI, Beko’s AI-powered products, and the award-winning AI Infusion program that is changing how teams work.

If you’re a board member or executive wrestling with where AI truly adds value, how to govern it, and how to get your organization moving, this episode is for you.

Chapters

(00:00) Trailer

⁠(00:16⁠) Intro

⁠(01:25)⁠ Current AI view

⁠(04:57)⁠ Boardroom shift

⁠(07:59)⁠ Measured benefits

⁠(09:37)⁠ Agentic AI next

⁠(12:32)⁠ Biggest hurdles

⁠(16:37)⁠ Learn by failing

⁠(21:52)⁠ Short vs long term decisions

⁠(30:08)⁠ Do-overs + advice

Download the 2026 AI Boardroom Gap report here:

⁠https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com/ai-boardroom-gap-2026

The SIGNAL podcast, powered by Software Improvement Group, is a monthly show where we turn complex IT topics into business clarity. Hosted by Werner Heijstek, Senior Director at Software Improvement Group.

Subscribe to never miss an episode and visit our website for more information: ⁠https://www.softwareimprovementgroup.com⁠

⁠#podcast⁠ ⁠#ai⁠ ⁠#artificialintelligence⁠ ⁠#aiforbusiness⁠ ⁠#aiadoption⁠ ⁠#aistrategy⁠ ⁠#aigovernance⁠ ⁠#aiimplementation⁠ ⁠#CEO⁠ ⁠#CTO⁠ ⁠#CIO⁠ ⁠#Governance⁠ ⁠#businesspodcast⁠ ⁠#technology⁠ ⁠#Businessstrategy

SIGNAL '25 was an event to remember!

On May 13th, we brought together industry leaders to tackle some of the biggest topics in our industry.

Fresh from the SIGNAL ’25 stage in Amsterdam, this special episode brings you a front-row seat to the conversations that shaped our flagship IT leadership event.In two back-to-back conversations, SIG expert track leaders reflect on the day’s biggest insights—from responsible AI and Green IT to software quality and the true business value of code.

Rather than a formal recap, it’s a peer-to-peer conversation between the track leads who led their own sessions and are hearing about the others for the first time.

1. Werner Heijstek & Ivy Chen on leadership, software due diligence, and why quality matters more than ever in high-stakes environments

2. Rob van der Veer & Pepijn van de Kamp on scaling AI responsibly and reducing carbon through green IT practices.

Did you miss out on SIGNAL '25?

Great news: You can now catch up on all sessions here!

Chapters

00:00 Intro

01:14 Main Stage Highlights

03:20 State of software 2025 report

04:00 Track 1: Private Equity & Software Value

08:00 Track 2: Leadership in Software Quality

11:30 Track 3: Green IT

15:00 Track 4: AI Acceleration

22:55 Wrap-up & How to Watch the Recordings