Research
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From Chatbots To Digital Workers: Why NiCE’s AI Focuses On Execution
NiCE is betting that AI agents that complete tasks—not just conversations—will separate winners from pretenders in the enterprise AI race The artificial intelligence hype cycle has reached peak saturation, with technology vendors scrambling to slap “AI-powered” labels on everything from refrigerator recipe suggestions to chatbots that rely on simple keyword matching. Yet, for all the…
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How Best Buy Uses AI to Transform Customer Experience
The electronics retailer’s methodical approach to artificial intelligence in customer experience offers lessons for companies rushing to deploy the latest tools Best Buy Co. faced a daunting challenge that would sound familiar to many large corporations: multiple different software applications were needed to run its contact centers, creating a maze of complexity for customer service…
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Cisco’s Winning AI Formula: Real CX Problems, Practical Solutions
Companies with the best customer experience focus on consistency, clarity, and a mindset of continual improvement. Most enterprise AI initiatives fail not because the technology doesn’t work but because companies chase broad or ill-defined use cases instead of addressing a real problem. For example, many organizations have built chatbots that wow in demos but frustrate…
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AI in Retail: Best Buy’s Journey from 93 Apps to One Solution
Description: In this episode from Google Cloud Next 2025, we dive deep into Best Buy's AI transformation with Ashley Daniels, VP of Product Management. Discover how one of America's largest retailers approached AI implementation strategically, moving from 93 contact center applications to a unified solution. Ashley shares the real story behind Best Buy's AI journey…
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58. The AI Advantage With Liz Centoni: How Cisco is Making Customer Experience Hyper-Personal
Guest Profile Liz Centoni brings over 25 years of experience at Cisco where she currently leads a team of 20,000+ people dedicated to helping customers maximize the value of their technology investments. She also serves on the boards of Mercedes-Benz and Workday. Episode Highlights Cisco's Unique Position in the AI Landscape Liz outlines Cisco's three-pillar…
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Microsoft Build 2025: Bridging the Gap Between AI POCs and Agentic AI Success
The AI Acceleration Challenge The AI market has rapidly evolved from early chatbot failures to a landscape of simplified access to information driven by generative AI, with agentic AI coming soon. Yet, most organizations are still struggling to move beyond proof-of-concept projects to production deployments that deliver measurable business value. Over 80% of firms interviewed…
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SAP Modernization Gains Momentum: Customer Success Stories From Sapphire
For nearly two decades, Lopez Research has tracked SAP customers’ struggles when transitioning to standardized, cloud-based solutions. The reality of enterprise IT deployments is undeniable: SAP powers critical business operations—from finance and human resources to sales, marketing, and supply chain management—making any transition extraordinarily complex. Lopez Research has consistently heard these concerns from organizations across…
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Dell AI Factory Expands with 40+ Enhancements for Enterprise AI Deployment
Dell’s AI Factory evolution delivers hybrid enterprise AI with choice across AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, and key model providers like Cohere and Mistral for production workloads.
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Google Cloud’s Vertex And Models Advance Enterprise AI Agent Adoption
New Reasoning Models and AI Agent Capabilities Promise To Transform Business Applications Enterprises need reliable platforms that combine powerful models with practical deployment capabilities. Google Cloud’s latest enhancements to Vertex AI and the Gemini model family offer businesses a comprehensive solution for building, deploying, and managing AI applications with unprecedented speed and efficiency. Vertex AI…
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AI Agents in Action: ServiceNow’s Knowledge 2025 Vision for Enterprise Workflow Transformation
The AI industry evolved from Generative AI to the Agentic AI era at a breakneck pace. Are AI Agents fact or fiction? The reality is somewhere in between, and buyers remain skeptical. As technology leaders race to implement artificial intelligence across the enterprise, many organizations are experiencing a paradox. Despite increasing investments in AI technology,…
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Securing AI: Strategies for Success with Cisco’s CPO Jeetu Patel
SummaryIn this conversation, Maribel Lopez and Jeetu Patel discuss the transformative potential of AI in business, the challenges organizations face in adopting AI, and the importance of security in AI applications. They explore the need for visibility, validation, and guardrails in securing AI, the rise of specialized AI models, and the future of AI agents…
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From Concept to Value: The AI Journey With Tredence CEO Shub Bhowmick
In this episode, Maribel speaks with Shub Bhowmick, the CEO and Co-founder of Tredence on how its using AI internally and externally. Bhowmick also provides advice on what's important for enterprise buyers looking to leverage AI. Takeaways The shift from proof of concept to proof of value is crucial for businesses. AI is enabling organizations…
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Transforming Networking with AI: Insights from Extreme Networks’ Markus Nispel
Summary In this conversation, Maribel Lopez speaks with Markus Nispel about the integration of AI in networking solutions, particularly at Extreme Networks. They discuss the evolution of AI capabilities, the importance of data governance, and the role of AI in enhancing operational efficiency and security. Markus emphasizes the need for trust in AI systems and…
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Key Trends AI in Marketing and Communications
Artificial intelligence, once only accessible to highly technical individuals, has evolved from an obscure to mainstream use across consumers and businesses. AI promises to deliver practical tools that will transform how marketing and communications professionals operate. Drawing insights from a recent conversation with Tim Marklein, CEO of Big Valley Marketing, alongside the latest industry developments,…
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Google Cloud’s Ironwood TPU Forges Better Enterprise AI
Artificial intelligence infrastructure has emerged as the critical battleground for cloud computing dominance. At this year’s Google Cloud Next conference, the company demonstrated its intensified commitment to AI infrastructure, unveiling strategic investments, such as the Ironwood Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), designed to transform enterprise AI deployment across industries. “We’re investing in the full stack of AI…
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The Platform Play: Zoho’s Enterprise Evolution and AI Integration Strategy
In the category of better late than never, we found the missing recording file with Vijay. Enjoy! Show Notes: In this episode of “AI with Maribel Lopez,” host Maribel Lopez sits down with Vijay Sundaram, Chief Strategy Officer at Zoho, at Zoho Day 25 in Austin, Texas. They discuss Zoho's strategic evolution and approach to…
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Why Small AI Models Matter: The Business Case for Enterprise AI Efficiency
In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, business leaders face a critical decision: which AI models will deliver the most value to their organization? While much attention has focused on massive models with billions of parameters, there’s a compelling case for considering smaller, more specialized AI models. Lopez Research interviewed Kate Soule, Director of Technical…
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Harnessing AI: The Balance of Privacy and Innovation with Wipro’s Ivana Bartoletti
Summary In this conversation, Maribel Lopez speaks with Ivana Bartoletti, the Global Privacy Chief Officer at Wipro, about the intersection of AI, privacy, and governance. They discuss the transformative impact of generative AI, the importance of embedding ethics in AI development, and the role of synthetic data in mitigating bias. Ivana also shares insights on…
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AI Transforms Marketing: Beyond the Magic Button With Tim Marklein
Episode Overview: Maribel Lopez speaks with Tim Marklein, CEO of Big Valley Marketing, about how AI is changing marketing and communications. The conversation explores the practical applications, limitations, and future of AI in the marketing landscape. Guest: Tim Marklein – CEO of Big Valley Marketing, an award-winning consulting firm that helps technology companies grow and…
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Cisco Attacks AI Cybersecurity Threats With New AI Defense
Companies need security solutions that protect against AI cybersecurity threats Over the past several years, the security landscape rapidly evolved with the introduction of AI, specifically generative AI. AI spawned numerous new categories of AI cyber threats, such as data inference, transfer learning attacks and model inversion. Additional, AI-enhanced phishing attacks are driving increased breaches…