Impact of AI:Explored
Welcome to Impact of AI:Explored this is a podcast series hosted James O'Regan and Gerjon Kunst. This podcast series is an initiative by and for the developer and IT professional community. It is our goal to empower each and every one to learn and share all there is to know about Artificial Intelligence and how it affects our day to day lives as IT professionals. There is a huge quantity of valuable AI related information in various formats available and it keeps increasing on a daily basis. It is our objective to help people to make sense of all this information.
Impact of AI:Explored
From AI Toy to AI Strategy: Why ‘Playtime’ Is Over for Enterprises
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Welcome to the Impact of AI: Explored podcast. In this episode
James and Gerjon sit down with Seda Akdemir, AI strategist at Cisco IMEA (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sedaakdemir/), to talk about moving beyond AI as a “shiny toy” into secure AI factories, real business value, and why generic AI strategies don’t work.
We dive into how enterprises can build an AI-ready stack (networking, security, data center, GPU, observability), why ROI must go beyond “time saved”, and how to keep CISOs on board while still innovating. Seda also shares her perspective as a woman in a male‑dominated AI and engineering world, and the skills teams need to stay relevant in an AI‑first future.
01:00 – Intro: Impact of AI & today’s guest Seda Akdemir
01:29 – “Everything will be different in a year”: AI disruption starts now
03:29 – From Microsoft to Cisco: AI as a strategic asset, not a feature
05:17 – What is a secure AI factory and why enterprises need it
07:32 – AI‑ready data centers, Nvidia/Red Hat/OpenShift and the full stack
10:54 – Why generic AI strategies fail and how to think ROI beyond “time saved”
18:42 – Red flags in enterprise AI projects: business alignment, culture and observability
25:17 – Security, CISOs, agent identity and task‑based authorization
32:03 – Skills for AI teams, women in AI, and final advice for listeners