On the 47th episode of Enterprise Software Innovators, hosts Evan Reiser (Abnormal Security) and Saam Motamedi (Greylock Partners) talk with Ramesh Razdan, Global CIO & CTO of Bain & Company. Bain & Company is a “Big Three” management consulting firm with 65 global offices, 19,000 employees, and over $8 billion in annual revenue. Bain helps Fortune 500 companies optimize performance, enhance operational efficiency, and implement innovative technology at scale. In this conversation, Ramesh shares his thoughts on how generative AI is transforming Bain, the evolution of the CIO role in the AI era, and how Bain’s clients harness the latest AI capabilities.

Quick hits from Ramesh:

On AI’s exciting potential to enhance security: “I remain to be extremely bullish on where AI can take us. I believe AI as a human oversight can really increase the velocity of our defense. We have to do that. Human beings cannot respond fast enough.”

On choosing which use cases to apply generative AI first: “A famous two by two exercise is to say, ‘What data is available and what value is at stake there?’, and then plot what's the most valuable data for what you are trying to do. What you don't want is the most complex use case up front because the engine is not warmed up. We need to prove the value.”

On understanding risk and compliance before adopting AI: “ This technology doesn't come with its own sets of risks. It doesn't come with its own set up. You need to establish proper risk and compliance forums. You need to make sure you are in lockstep with legal teams and risk teams. We want to make sure we're training the right way. We want to change the right behavior.”

Recent Book Recommendation: Optimal by Daniel Goleman

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Enterprise Software Innovators is a show where top tech executives share how they innovate at scale. Each episode covers unique insights and stories that will help you succeed as a technology leader. Find more great lessons from tech leaders and enterprise software experts at https://www.enterprisesoftware.blog/

Enterprise Software Innovators is produced by Luke Reiser and Josh Meer.

On the 46th episode of Enterprise Software Innovators, host Evan Reiser (Abnormal Security) talks with Munir Hafez, CIO of TransUnion. TransUnion specializes in credit reporting, fraud detection, and data analytics. With over 19,000 employees and over $3.6 billion in annual revenue, the company impacts more than a billion people worldwide. In this conversation, Munir shares his thoughts on AI transforming business operations at TransUnion, balancing the potential of AI against the current hype cycle, and the future impact of AI in the enterprise.

Quick hits from Munir:

On the importance of grounding data to train AI: “If you're asking it how to make a chocolate chip cookie, you don't really need to ground that in your data. If you're trying to say, ‘What cross-sell opportunities can I have for this customer?’ You have to be able to feed it your product catalog and everything else.”

On prompt engineering driving value in the current AI environment: “Over time, [AI] is going to get smarter where you need less and less prompt engineering teaching it. But certainly in the short term, I think training, custom LLM, and then depending on the tool, teams that are designed and focused on extending the prompt engineering and the capabilities will be the best way to get the value.”

On identifying real use cases for enterprise AI: “My team supports over 500 applications. Everything has AI, including toothbrushes and trash cans. So which tools are actually far enough along that [the AI component] provides value. We were looking for if the triangulation of the technology is advanced enough. The business case makes sense and the business users are engaged and are willing to learn and help support.”

Recent Book Recommendation: Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

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Like what you hear? Leave us a review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Enterprise Software Innovators is a show where top tech executives share how they innovate at scale. Each episode covers unique insights and stories that will help you succeed as a technology leader. Find more great lessons from tech leaders and enterprise software experts at https://www.enterprisesoftware.blog/

Enterprise Software Innovators is produced by Luke Reiser and Josh Meer.

On the 45th episode of Enterprise Software Innovators, hosts Evan Reiser (Abnormal Security) and Saam Motamedi (Greylock Partners) talk with Jonny LeRoy, CTO of Grainger. Grainger is a Fortune 500 industrial supply company, ensuring seamless operations for a broad range of customers, from hospitals to manufacturing plants and everything in between. With over $16 billion of annual revenue and 26,000 employees, the company provides over 30 million products to support its four and a half million customers. In this conversation, Jonny shares his thoughts on how AI transforms operations at Grainger, quick wins for AI applications in the enterprise, and realistic expectations around today’s AI capabilities.

Quick hits from Jonny:

On AI’s transformative potential: “We’ve got 2 million SKUs in our Grainger brand and 30 million products across the whole portfolio. AI helps us match the right product to the right customer, and that's where it starts to get really powerful.”

On the importance of continuous improvement: “It’s all about solving small problems, one by one. That’s how you unlock AI’s potential—not by waiting for the perfect solution, but by making progress now.”

On AI’s ability to improve the customer experience: “A lot of the customer software we're building is to empower, whether it's our merchandising agents or customer intelligence people, to do their work that drives the business, but produces better data. That data then feeds into potential machine learning AI systems. We can put that into motion, get that in front of customers, and improve that data feedback. We understand the direction we're going, and that's not changing. Understand products, understand customers, bring them together super easily.”

Recent Book Recommendation: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

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Like what you hear? Leave us a review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Enterprise Software Innovators is a show where top tech executives share how they innovate at scale. Each episode covers unique insights and stories that will help you succeed as a technology leader. Find more great lessons from tech leaders and enterprise software experts at https://www.enterprisesoftware.blog/

Enterprise Software Innovators is produced by Luke Reiser and Josh Meer.