Next in Tech

S&P Global

Define your digital roadmap. Weekly podcasts featuring specialists from across the S&P Global Market Intelligence research team offer deep insights into what's new and what's next in technology, industries and companies as they design and implement digital infrastructure. To learn more, visit: https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/topics/tmt-news-insights

  1. 18 HR AGO

    The NRF Conference

    The National Retail Federation's annual NRF conference has become a showplace for the latest technology, as well its core retail foundations. Sheryl Kingstone returns to discuss what was on display and how it will impact retail and the larger tech landscape with host Eric Hanselman. While we may be a ways off from having robot dogs retrieving shoes at your local mall store, automation and agentic applications are delivering significant value in customer interactions - $22 billion in the recent 451 Research study. The days of clunky chatbot interfaces seem to be well and truly behind us. One the greater challenges in scaling agentic applications is maintaining consumer trust as applications and use cases grow. Part of that trust will depend on effectively managing fleets of agents. In order to scale, organizations have to develop an AI agent control plane that can manage memory, maintain context and guide agent actions. Regulatory requirements are in their early stages, but enterprises have to focus on controls that will ensure they can maintain customer trust as matter of basic business operations.   More S&P Global Content: Next in Tech podcast: Agentic Customer Experience Next in Tech episode 222:  FinOps Next in Tech | Ep. 205: Agentic AI Impacts AI for security: Agentic AI will be a focus for security operations in 2025   For S&P Global subscribers: NRF 2026 Spotlight: Agentic Experiences Redefine Retail Execution NRF 2026 Big Show signals physical retail's digital backbone Agents in the enterprise: Laying the groundwork for automation The CX AI Agent Index 2025 Agents are already driving workplace impact and agentic AI adoption – Highlights from Vot… Big Picture 2026 AI Outlook: Unleashing agentic potential   Credits: Host/Author: Eric Hanselman  Guest: Sheryl Kingstone Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith

    24 min

  2. 6 DAYS AGO

    Agentic AI Use Cases

    The choice of use cases in AI has a significant impact on achieving on project outcomes. The latest results of the 451 Research Voice of the Enterprise AI use cases study are out and Alex Johnston joins host Eric Hanselman to explore the data and its implications. The study highlights a widespread, yet often unstructured and fragmented, adoption of AI within organizations, indicating a stall in overall maturity despite significant growth in usage. Key challenges include a clogged project pipeline, where many initiatives remain in limited deployment, and difficulties in consistently measuring return on investment (ROI), although most projects are seen as delivering value. Organizations achieving better outcomes prioritize strong governance, consistent measurement, and "human-in-the-loop" applications, rather than attempting immediate full autonomy. There are major concerns around data quality, rising costs, and a lack of centralized control stemming from the diverse sourcing of AI capabilities and varied user proficiency. Cost concerns are driving organizations towards   More S&P Global Content: Next in Tech Episode 250: The Agentic Enterprise Next in Tech podcast: Agentic Customer Experience Next in Tech episode 222:  FinOps Next in Tech | Ep. 205: Agentic AI Impacts   For S&P Global subscribers: Survey Data Hub – Voice of the Enterprise: AI & Machine Learning, Use Cases 2026 Agents are already driving workplace impact and agentic AI adoption – Highlights from Vot… Big Picture 2026 AI Outlook: Unleashing agentic potential   Credits: Host/Author: Eric Hanselman  Guest: Alex Johnston Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith

    27 min

  3. 16 JAN

    A Wild Earnings Season

    We're just out of the recent earnings season and we've seen a wild range of results and some interesting implications. Melissa Otto CFA, head of S&P Global's Visible Alpha research team, returns to discuss what that markets have been saying and what she makes of the data with host Eric Hanselman. Macroeconomic effects are having some impact, as consumer sentiment diverges across the top and the bottom of the economy. In technology, there are mixed feelings about AI as the hunt continues for use cases with decisive revenue returns. The hyperscalers are continuing to invest capital at staggering rates and, so far, the markets have mostly approved. AI supply chain companies, like NVIDIA, are generally moving forward with solid results. The larger question is where is the AI boom headed. There are constraints not only in supply chains for data centers, but also in energy supply. Agentic AI has a lot of promise, but needs to prove out its value and earn trust, as providers look to improve efficiency with more targeted silicon, like ASICs, to stand up alongside the forests of GPU's being deployed. As investors hunt for improved returns, they may be rotating to international opportunities and small cap companies that might be able to see faster returns from AI deployments. More S&P Global Content: Next in Tech podcast: Agentic Customer Experience Nvidia GTC in DC Blackwell expectations increase Otto: Markets are grappling with how to price AI-related stocks   Next in Tech podcast, Episode 239: AI Infrastructure For S&P Global Subscribers: A view of peaks and plateaus AI to lead tech spending in 2026, but orgs losing track of energy efficiency – Highlights from Macroeconomic Outlook, SME Tech Trends Hyperscaler earnings quarterly: Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft charge ahead on AI capacity buildouts Agents are already driving workplace impact and agentic AI adoption – Highlights from VotE: AI & Machine Learning Big Picture 2026 AI Outlook: Unleashing agentic potential Credits: Host/Author: Eric Hanselman Guest: Melissa Otto, CFA Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith

    22 min

  4. 13 JAN

    The Agentic Enterprise

    For the 250th episode, we're looking a bit further forward to explore what enterprises should be thinking about as they look to put agentic capabilities to work. Melissa Incera, Alex Johnston and Sheryl Kingstone return to discuss the challenges and potential with host Eric Hanselman. As AI agents evolve beyond simple chatbots in customer experience and business operations, enterprises have to adapt both their infrastructure and data management capabilities to benefit from agentic potential. Automation is great, but getting to fully autonomous operations requires building more trust than exists today for most. In fact, 451 Research Voice of the Enterprise study results show that those who show a healthy skepticism about agent capabilities are the most successful in achieving their AI project goals. Agents are making big step forward in establishing continuity in processes by adding memory to AI model interactions. At the same time, concerns about cost are bringing up the need for the same types of visibility and control that's being used with FinOps efforts in cloud. All of this is taking place in an evolving regulatory landscape where the need for a balanced approach between innovation and safety is guiding the best outcomes. More S&P Global Content: Next in Tech podcast: Agentic Customer Experience Next in Tech episode 222:  FinOps Next in Tech | Ep. 205: Agentic AI Impacts AI for security: Agentic AI will be a focus for security operations in 2025 For S&P Global Subscribers: Agents in the enterprise: Laying the groundwork for automation The CX AI Agent Index 2025 Agents are already driving workplace impact and agentic AI adoption – Highlights from VotE: AI & Machine Learning Big Picture 2026 AI Outlook: Unleashing agentic potential Credits: Host/Author: Eric Hanselman Guests: Melissa Incera, Alex Johnston, Sheryl Kingstone Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith

    31 min

  5. 23/12/2025

    AWS re:Invent conference

    This year's AWS re:Inforce conference was larger and fueled by greater agentic capabilities. Part of the 451 Research team that was at the conference, Henry Baltazar, Scott Crawford, William Fellows and Melanie Posey, join host Eric Hanselman to explore the announcements and progress that's been made in expanding agentic capabilities and much more. As an incumbent infrastructure provider, AWS is looking to the top of the infrastructure stack to secure their advantage. A suite of developer tools, including the Kiro IDE, are looking to make the creation and operation of agents simpler. There was progress in FinOps, with greater cost transparency and support for partner opportunities in helping customers manage their cloud spend.   There was also a more enthusiastic embrace of multicloud environments, with the introduction of AWS Interconnect, a service that provides easy and scalable interconnection with other cloud providers, with Google being the first and Microsoft Azure said to be in the works. 451 Research's Voice of the Enterprise (VotE) data shows dramatic increases in data migration volumes, making interconnection performance more critical. With the holidays in full swing, how many Mariah Carey song title references can you spot in this episode?   More S&P Global Content: Next in Tech episode 236: Data Migration Next in Tech episode 222:  FinOps AI for security: Agentic AI will be a focus for security operations in 2025   For S&P Global subscribers: 2026 Trends in Applied Infrastructure & DevOps Data Insight: SKU removals run out of steam — hyperscale SKU changes for November 2025 AWS' agentic strategy comes into focus with AgentCore platform and pre-built agents Cloud spending expansion on tap for 2026 despite bleak macroeconomic outlook – Highlights from VotE…   Credits: Host/Author: Eric Hanselman  Guests: Henry Baltazar, Scott Crawford, William Fellows, Melanie Posey Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith

    33 min

  6. 16/12/2025

    SC25 Supercomputing Conference

    Supercomputing has shifted from an esoteric and exotic part of technology to much more mainstream, mostly driven by AI. The massive amounts of computational power that once were reserved for the largest of computing problems in high performance computing (HPC), like weather and seismic analysis, are now commonplace in the world of AI. Analyst Gabriella Brown returns to talk about complex computing problems, quantum computing and photonics with host Eric Hanselman. SC25 has grown to over 16,000 attendees and almost 600 exhibitors, enough to sprawl across St. Louis' Americas Center and into its football stadium. As they mature, the next step in enterprise adoption is working out how all of these will work together. AI is tackling many problems, but quantum could address a whole different class of computing questions. Quantum computing is scaling up and moving closer to becoming a key part of an everyday computing portfolio. Techniques like quantum annealing are finding practical applications today while pure-play quantum approaches are increasing the density and stability of their computing capabilities as they push for quantum advantage, the point at which they're doing things that classical computers can't. New areas like photonic computing were also on display at SC25, as well as all of the supporting infrastructure to power, house and cool HPC installations. As AI clusters head toward gigawatt power dissipation, they require specialized support.   More S&P Global Content: Cybersecurity, talent needs and ongoing adoption were key themes at Quantum.Tech USA 2025 Access to quantum hardware remains cloudy, but more options are starting to appear Quantum computing and the future of data privacy   For S&P Global subscribers: 2026 Trends in Applied Infrastructure & DevOps Information security, cloud and AI vendors stand out as critical to businesses – Highlights from Vo… Quantum Computing Market Monitor & Forecast Quantum computing competitive landscape and market forecast: Expecting $6.5B by 2029 Mea culpa — NVIDIA GTC brings quantum to the stage to help set the record straight Credits Host/Author: Eric Hanselman  Guests: Gabriella (Ellie) Brown Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith

    25 min

  7. 09/12/2025

    Security and Observability

    The worlds of IT security and operations are being pulled together and AI is a catalyst that's making it happen. The focus on observability that's been part of the DevOps movement, is playing an important role in improving security effectiveness and Scott Crawford, Mark Ehr and Mike Fratto return to look at how this is happening with host Eric Hanselman. Security teams have always wrestled with making effective use of telemetry data from the infrastructure and applications they are securing. Correlating data from just the security tooling is hard enough, let alone adding operational data to the mix. Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems came into existence many years ago specifically to address this problem, but they were complex to configure and operate and needed tending to stay accurate. The volumes of data coming from observability initiatives was promising, but new approaches were required and AI and ML have been key to unlocking that value. Once again, we've hit an opportunity where it's all about the data and getting it to where it can be put to work. The Open Telemetry project simplified data interchange, but the question remained as to where all of this data had to live. It's not practical to get all of the data in one place, but data fabrics and federation can manage access effectively. Better correlation opens the door to many possibilities, including building a single source of truth for IT assets. There's a lot of benefit to bringing security and operations together.   More S&P Global Content: AI for security: Agentic AI will be a focus for security operations in 2025 AI in action: unleashing agentic potential   For S&P Global subscribers: 2026 Trends in Information Security Deal Analysis: Palo Alto Acquires Chronosphere Big Picture Report: 2026 AI Outlook – Unleashing agentic potential   Credits: Host/Author: Eric Hanselman Guests: Scott Crawford, Mark Ehr, Mike Fratto Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith

    32 min

  8. 02/12/2025

    Context Engineering

    As organizations have worked to leverage the power of AI in interacting with large language models, they've invested in prompt engineering to generate better results. But agents shift the need manage the full context of not only the prompt, but also the data that's being presented. Analysts Jean Atelsek and Alex Johnston return to the podcast to look at the new discipline of context engineering and how it's being put to work in AI environments with host Eric Hanselman. The process of context engineering looks at ensuring that the right data context is in place for agents to act on. It requires a shift from thinking that more data is necessarily better and understanding to getting the right data is the best insurance against agents picking up bad habits. We've come full circle in approaches to data and organizations need to raise the level of abstraction at which they address data need for agentic applications.  We've been working through waves of capability in the march to agentic operations. Organizations have access to the same models, but how they're used is where differentiation is possible. Agentic approaches demand greater sophistication and understanding around the context with which data is presented to applications. There has to be more careful curation, to get reasonable results. More S&P Global Content: AI in action: unleashing agentic potential Next in Tech | Ep. 224: Context Around MCP Next in Tech Podcast: Agentic Customer Experience For S&P Global Subscribers: Agents are already driving workplace impact and agentic AI adoption – Highlights from VotE: AI & Machine Learning Benchmarking digital maturity: Are businesses ready for agentic AI? – Highlights from VotE: Customer Experience & Commerce Pace of AI agent advancement could spur M&A in the sales automation market Big Picture Report: 2026 AI Outlook – Unleashing agentic potential Credits: Host/Author: Eric Hanselman Guests: Jean Atelsek, Alex Johnston Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith

    26 min
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About

Define your digital roadmap. Weekly podcasts featuring specialists from across the S&P Global Market Intelligence research team offer deep insights into what's new and what's next in technology, industries and companies as they design and implement digital infrastructure. To learn more, visit: https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/topics/tmt-news-insights

Information

  • Channel
    S&P Global
  • Creator
    S&P Global Market Intelligence
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2023 S&P Global 172735
  • Show Website
    Next in Tech

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