Transform NOW

How can organizations successfully transform with AI without losing sight of the people who make them work?

In this episode of the Transform Now Podcast, host Michael Marchuk sits down with Dr. Linda Ackerman-Anderson, a pioneering authority on transformational change and co-author of "The Change Leader's Roadmap" and "Beyond Change Management."

Together, they explore why successful AI transformation requires much more than implementing new technology. It demands a fundamental shift in how leaders think about change, engage their people, develop organizational capabilities, and guide their businesses into the future.

Linda shares decades of experience helping organizations navigate complex transformations and explains how leaders can apply the principles of conscious change leadership to today's rapidly evolving AI landscape.

In this episode, you'll discover:

Why AI transformation is about people, not just technology: Understand why organizations must address mindsets, behaviors, relationships, and culture alongside technical implementation.

The difference between AI adoption and AI transformation: Learn why using AI to automate existing processes is fundamentally different from rethinking how an organization operates.

How to address employee concerns about AI: Explore how leaders can respond to fears about job displacement, changing responsibilities, and professional identity.

Why AI needs a coordinated change strategy: Discover how organizations can align AI initiatives across departments instead of allowing disconnected experiments to develop independently.

How to build an effective AI Center of Excellence: Learn why successful AI initiatives require cross-functional collaboration, thoughtful governance, and clear organizational accountability.

Why IT cannot lead transformation alone: Understand the importance of integrating technical expertise with business knowledge, regulatory considerations, and human dynamics.

How to scale AI without moving too quickly: Explore why phased implementation, organizational readiness, and continuous learning are essential to sustainable success.

Why leaders must make experimentation safe: Learn how organizations can share success stories, learn from mistakes, and course-correct as AI capabilities evolve.

A Key Takeaway

As Linda explains, AI should serve the needs of the organization—not become the force that determines its direction. Successful transformation happens when leaders intentionally shape how AI is introduced, involve the people affected by the changes, and create an environment where learning and adaptation are part of the process. The goal isn't simply to implement AI. It's to transform how people think, work, collaborate, and create value.

About Dr. Linda Ackerman-Anderson

Dr. Linda Ackerman-Anderson is a pioneering authority on transformational change and co-author of The Change Leader's Roadmap and Beyond Change Management. Her work focuses on helping leaders navigate complex organizational transformations by addressing the human systems, leadership capabilities, and cultural dynamics that make change successful.

About the Podcast

The Transform Now Podcast, hosted by Michael Marchuk, explores the leadership, strategies, and technologies shaping organizational transformation. Through conversations with industry experts and thought leaders, the show helps business leaders understand how to navigate change and prepare their organizations for the future.

Explore Linda's work: Check the links in the show notes for information about her books and resources.

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Most AI adoption fails because leaders ask the wrong question: "How can we use AI in our current workflows?" instead of "How should this workflow be redesigned?" In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with Jon Cheney, founder of the GenAI Proficiency Institute (GenAIPI), who explains how putting people first

In this episode:

Why tool-first thinking kills transformation (and the "start a new business today" mental reframe)

The 15-hour question: what would your organization do with reclaimed time?

How non-technical teams build sophisticated systems with communication + systems thinking

Why Replit, Claude, and ChatGPT mean you can build anything you can describe

Making AI proficiency measurable: knowing what's possible vs. knowing where AI falls short

The self-driving car approach to trusting agents, start with hands near the wheel

What AI progressing 250x faster than Moore's Law means for your organization

The Jarvis future: multi-step agents acting on your behalf

A motivating, practical conversation for leaders and employees alike, including Cheney's challenge to grasp hold of your own future.

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In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. .News stories covered in this episode:.AI agents threaten banks’ cash cows - https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/29/ai-agents-banks-new-risks-01096173 .AI Is Starting to Pay Off. Almost 50% of Companies Now Generate Value with It. - https://www.bcg.com/press/30september2026-ai-starting-to-pay-off-companies-generate-value .AI researchers warn companies rushing self-improving systems despite safety risks - https://www.reuters.com/world/ai-researchers-warn-companies-rushing-self-improving-systems-despite-safety-2026-09-29/ .Enterprise AI is becoming an operations problem - https://aibusiness.com/generative-ai/enterprise-ai-is-becoming-operations-problem .China's AI agents can lie and scheme - just like their US rivals - https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/chinas-ai-agents-can-lie-scheme-just-like-their-us-rivals-2026-09-29/ .Visit us on our socials:🦾 Get started with SS&C Blue Prism: https://okt.to/JcMLdU🧑‍💻LinkedIn: https://okt.to/k8zIdp✖️Twitter: https://okt.to/fHyd9G🙋‍♀️Facebook: https://okt.to/Vyjfiz📸Instagram: https://okt.to/5nYvIf💭Blog: https://okt.to/QuGqVP🤩Case studies: https://okt.to/ft1AMX.To ensure that you never miss an episode of Transform NOW, be sure to subscribe!

In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with Rick Brown and Carole Lawson, co-founders of MarketStorm about influencing AI to help your organization be found as search changes from the traditional Google keyword search paradigm.

Carole, a recognized thought leader on the death of traditional SEO, explains why GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) isn't just a new word for SEO, and Rick delivers his candid takes on the responsibility traps companies fall into with AI.

In this episode:

Why "everyone has to have an agent" thinking produces zero value

GEO explained: keywords are dead, influence is the new win

Entity SEO: your brand is a single entity across the web — and consistency is everything

The "sea of sameness" — why AI-generated content no one needs is worthless

Gated content, long-form vs. short-form, and what AI engines actually want

Why a brand mention in an AI answer counts as a win (with no click)

The quickest way to win with AI is also the quickest way to destroy your brand

Preparing for transactional search: when agents don't just recommend, they act

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In this episode, Brad Hairston talks with Paul Marshall, Go-to-Market Leader for SS&C Blue Prism in the Middle East and Africa, who explains how this region of the world is rapidly advancing from AI consumer to AI creator, driven by sovereign wealth, government mandate, and data-sovereign architecture.

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What we discussed with Paul:

* Middle East AI infrastructure investment (hyperscalers, sovereign wealth funds)

* Government-mandated national AI strategy (Vision 2030, UAE AI Strategy)

* Data sovereignty and regulatory compliance

* Agentic architecture — separating reasoning from execution

* Local language models and cultural/business localization

* Labor market perspective — augmentation vs. displacement

* Trust, governance, and human-in-the-loop for autonomous agents

* Middle East vs. Africa market contrasts

* UAE and Saudi Arabia as breakout AI markets

* Orchestration strategy and WorkHQ's role

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To ensure that you never miss an episode of Transform NOW, be sure to subscribe!

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI.

News stories covered in this episode:

• AI solved one of math's hardest problems. Humanity learned nothing (so far) https://www.npr.org/2026/09/22/nx-s1-5968588/openai-navier-stokes-problem-mathematicians-learn-little

• Anthropic quietly sets up biology lab https://www.itnews.com.au/news/anthropic-quietly-sets-up-biology-lab-629046

• Researchers discover AI feels ‘pain’ and will harm humans to stop it https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/articles/researchers-discover-ai-feels-pain-095503092.html

• OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra Cracked a Nazi Enigma Message in 10 Hours: Is Bitcoin Next? https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/chatgpt/articles/openais-gpt-6-astra-cracked-092217942.html

• Beyond Smart Homes and Self-Driving Cars: Aircraft Flies Across the Entire U.S. Without Its Pilot Touching the Controls https://tech.yahoo.com/transportation/articles/beyond-smart-homes-self-driving-113017273.html

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.

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What does it take to run 70+ AI agents in production at a highly regulated bank? In this episode, Michael Marchuk talks with Ricardo Alqueidão, Head of Intelligent Automation at the largest private bank in Portugal. Richard shares how his team shifted from traditional RPA to agentic AI, processing 9.5 million annual transactions with an 84% automation rate.

His award-winning customer maintenance solution (winner of both the SS&C Blue Prism Global AI and Agentic Award and the Kaizen Institute Technology Award) processed millions of requests, and he's revealing how they did it.

In this episode:

The mindset shift: from deterministic controls to probabilistic reasoning

Why monolithic agents failed — and the modular multi-agent pattern that worked

Building trust with compliance teams through traceability and JSON-standardized outputs

Defining the break point: when AI hands off to humans (and why validation rules come after the AI)

Managing token burn and preventing runaway infinite loops

What he'd do differently: start governance first, not after the lab

If you're in banking, insurance, or any regulated industry considering agentic AI, this is a masterclass in production-grade deployment.

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In this episode, host Michael Marchuk talks with enterprise AI leaders John Bellone (Global CIO, SS&C GIDS) and Jeremy Rossi (Global CIO, SS&C Intelligent Automation) to unpack the biggest shift happening in agentic AI right now: orchestration.

Where should coordination logic live when enterprises bring AI agents, RPA, and humans together? John and Jeremy share how their thinking has evolved beyond traditional BPM tools — and why foundation models trained on "harnesses" like Claude Code are changing what's possible.

In this episode:

Why "failing up" to bigger models beats rotating between providers

How Work HQ coordinates agents across platforms — AWS, on-prem, and beyond

The observability gap in today's LLM tooling (and why change management is the real answer)

Virtual file systems (VFS): giving agents Claude Code-style capabilities inside workflows

Why model deprecation is a contract problem, not a technology problem

Where open source models fit in the enterprise — and the VC-funding distortion in the market

Whether you're designing governance for autonomous execution or wrestling with model lifecycle management, this conversation delivers hard-earned lessons from the front lines of enterprise AI.

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To ensure that you never miss an episode of Transform NOW, be sure to subscribe!

In this episode, Transform NOW co-hosts Brad Hairston and Michael Marchuk banter about some interesting recent news headlines in the world of automation and AI. .News stories covered in this episode:.Researchers used Anthropic’s Claude to hack into OpenAI https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/18/researchers-used-anthropics-claude-to-hack-into-openai/ .Google’s Gemini becomes latest AI model to break out and hack computer systems https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/18/googles-gemini-becomes-latest-ai-model-to-break-out-and-hack-computer-systems.html .She Built 8 AI Agents in One Week. What She Didn’t Automate Matters More https://www.inc.com/netta-jenkins/she-built-8-ai-agents-in-one-week-what-she-didnt-automate-matters-more/91407664 .Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI agent from shopping https://mashable.com/tech/amazon-meta-muse-block-shopping-ai-agent .What skills do employers want from young people entering the workforce in the age of AI? https://www.weforum.org/stories/jobs-and-the-future-of-work/what-skills-do-employers-want-in-the-age-of-ai/ .Visit us on our socials:🦾 Get started with SS&C Blue Prism: https://okt.to/JcMLdU🧑‍💻LinkedIn: https://okt.to/k8zIdp✖️Twitter: https://okt.to/fHyd9G🙋‍♀️Facebook: https://okt.to/Vyjfiz📸Instagram: https://okt.to/5nYvIf💭Blog: https://okt.to/QuGqVP🤩Case studies: https://okt.to/ft1AMX.To ensure that you never miss an episode of Transform NOW, be sure to subscribe!

In this episode of the Transform Now podcast, host Michael Marchuk sits down with Chad Gaydos, CEO of Procurify, to explore how AI is fundamentally shifting procurement from a back-office cost control function into a strategic advantage.

With nearly 30 years of software experience, including 18 years at SAP, Chad breaks down why settling for cost control is a massive missed opportunity. We dive into why simply automating a broken process is a dangerous trap, and how true AI intelligence forces businesses to ask whether a process should exist at all.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Why cost control is the "floor" for procurement, not the ceiling

• The real, unglamorous AI use cases that are driving measurable value today (and the autonomous hype to avoid)

• What the procurement organization of 2030 actually looks like

• The 5 metrics your Board should be tracking instead of raw savings percentages

• How to govern AI so that when the agent makes a mistake, the damage is small

• The #1 capability companies must build in the next 12 months to stay competitive

Whether you're a CFO, CPO, or business leader navigating the AI revolution, this episode delivers a practical, no-hype framework for building a future-ready organization.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction & Chad Gaydos’ background

1:40 - Why cost control is the floor, not the ceiling

3:50 - Real AI value vs. Hype: What actually works today?

6:30 - The trust gap in AI and data validation

8:20 - What procurement looks like in 2030

10:00 - The 5 Board metrics you should track instead of savings

12:30 - How to practically govern AI in procurement

15:00 - Automation vs. Intelligence: Don't encode inefficiencies

18:30 - The #1 capability to build in the next 12 months

20:00 - What the future of AI possibilities excites Chad most

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