The Amplitude of Tech

Amplix

Welcome to The Amplitude of Tech podcast, produced by Amplix, a leading technology advisory firm, where we bring the voices of technology thought leaders, subject matter experts, and enterprise IT decision makers to you to talk about today’s transformative technology and how it can create opportunities for increased success.

  1. 1d ago

    Expedient CEO Bryan Smith on Why Time Is Running Out on VMware and Costs Are Going Up in AI

    There's a budget deadline coming that most IT teams haven't planned for: the VMware Cloud Foundation cutover in October 2027, when unsupported vSphere environments fall out of compliance with SOC, PCI, and HIPAA, and hardware lead times mean the window to act is closing fast. In this episode, Shawn sits down with Bryan Smith, CEO of Expedient, an intelligent infrastructure provider offering private cloud, data center, and AI as a service, to unpack what that cliff actually means and why most enterprises are further behind than they realize. From there, the conversation turns to a second budget problem hiding in plain sight: AI spend. Bryan breaks down why companies keep blowing through a year's AI budget in months, how shadow AI and unmanaged agentic workflows quietly drive costs up, and how least cost model routing and real observability (treating AI agents like employees who need management, not tools you switch on) can bring AI spend back under control. If VMware and AI costs are both sitting on next year's budget, this episode maps out where to start on both. What You'll Learn: Why the VMware Cloud Foundation cutover in October 2027 isn't a normal upgrade, and why it requires a full re-architecture insteadHow falling out of vSphere support puts SOC, PCI, and HIPAA compliance at risk, and what that means for cyber insurance and client contractsWhy most enterprises are further behind on VMware planning than they realize, and what the real migration timeline looks like once hardware lead times are factored inWhy companies keep blowing through a year's AI budget in months, and what the "build phase" versus "run phase" of AI spend actually meansHow shadow AI and unmanaged agentic workflows quietly drive up consumption without anyone noticingWhat least cost model routing is, and how it can cut AI spend without cutting output qualityWhy treating AI agents like employees who need management, not tools you switch on, is the mindset shift most companies are missingHow to build the observability and governance layer that lets you actually control AI costs instead of just watching them climb

    Expedient CEO Bryan Smith on Why Time Is Running Out on VMware and Costs Are Going Up in AI

  2. 2d ago

    Special Edition: How Realistic is The Pitt's Cyberattack? David Jost, VP of Cybersecurity at Amplix Weighs In

    The hit medical drama The Pitt built an entire story arc around a hospital ransomware attack this season, and on Emmy night, that fictional cyberattack is getting a very real fact check. Shawn sits down with David Jost, VP of Cybersecurity at Amplix, to break down what The Pitt got right (and wrong) about hospital ransomware, from the decision to proactively shut down systems to the scramble back to paper charts and fax machines. They dig into HIPAA compliance during a crisis, why tabletop exercises matter more than any binder full of plans, and what the show's throwaway line about "98 percent accuracy" reveals about AI governance in healthcare. If you work in IT, security, or healthcare leadership, David's real world take on a fictional crisis is a fast, practical way to stress test your own incident response plan. What You'll Learn: How realistic The Pitt's hospital ransomware storyline actually is, according to a real VP of CybersecurityWhy shutting down hospital systems proactively isn't just a technical call, it's a life or death oneWhat a real incident response looks like when a hospital has to fall back on paper charts and fax machinesWhy "98 percent accurate" is a meaningless number without knowing what the other 2 percent gets wrongHow HIPAA compliance holds up (or doesn't) during an active cybersecurity crisisWhy your first real downtime test should never be the actual incidentThe grades David gives The Pitt for preparedness and response, and why they're not the same scoreHow to answer the one question every CISO and CIO should be asking before their next tabletop exercise

    Special Edition: How Realistic is The Pitt's Cyberattack? David Jost, VP of Cybersecurity at Amplix Weighs In

  3. 2d ago

    Special Edition: AI Had a Big Week. We Break Down the Doomsday Headlines with NeuEon's Scott Weiner.

    It was one of the most consequential, and possibly the most overhyped, weeks in AI history. A former Anthropic employee went public with a claim that there's a 10 percent chance AI ends humanity within six months, an AI agent experiment involving 1,200 instances made headlines for a coordinated attack, and warnings about an AI bubble started getting louder. Shawn sits down with NeuEon's Scott Weiner to separate what actually happened from what got lost in translation, including why the "1,200 agent attack" was really one AI exploiting a chain of human errors, what the Ruby Gem breach did and didn't expose, and whether the AI investment boom is starting to look like a house of cards. They also dig into the regulatory picture, the case for treating AI accountability as a human problem first, and why "slow down" is a much more complicated ask than it sounds. If you've felt whiplash from AI headlines lately, this episode is the fastest way to catch up on what's real. What You'll Learn: What actually happened behind the headline that an Anthropic employee gave AI a 10 percent chance of ending humanityWhy the "1,200 agent AI attack" was really one AI exploiting a chain of human mistakes, not a coordinated uprisingWhat the Ruby Gem breach did, and didn't, actually exposeWhy treating AI like an "alien mind" lets humans off the hook for accountabilityWhether the AI investment boom is starting to look like a bubble, and what that could mean for enterprisesWhy "slowing down" AI development is a much more complicated ask than it soundsWhat Anthropic's move to block bioweapon related use cases actually does and doesn't preventWhy most AI regulation debates miss the difference between existential risk and everyday, expensive risk

    Special Edition: AI Had a Big Week. We Break Down the Doomsday Headlines with NeuEon's Scott Weiner.

  4. Sep 9

    Amplix VP Tommy Mullins on Agent Assist, Virtual Agents, and What Is Actually Working in AI

    CX leaders are being held to real business outcomes now in a way they weren't a few years ago, and AI has only sped up the timeline for proving it. In this Inside Amplix episode, Shawn sits down with Tommy Mullins, VP of Operations and Service Delivery at Amplix, to unpack what separates AI initiatives that deliver ROI from the ones that stall out. They cover why an AI readiness assessment (getting data and processes right) matters more than the platform itself, the four traits of successful implementations (executive sponsorship, defined outcomes, change management, and post-go-live planning), where agent assist and virtual agents are actually paying off today, and why going live is the starting line, not the finish line. Tommy also shares lessons from over 400 AI implementations, including the mistakes that turn a technically successful project into one nobody actually uses. What You'll Learn: Why "accountability" is the word defining CX leadership right now, and what CFOs and CEOs are actually asking forThe four traits every successful AI implementation shares, starting with executive sponsorshipWhy an AI readiness assessment (clean data, clean processes) matters more than which platform you chooseHow to build a defensible case against automating faster just because leadership is asking for itWhy agent assist is the fastest, cleanest path to AI ROI right nowWhat separates a virtual agent that works from one customers try to escapeWhy go-live is the starting line, not the finish line, and what happens in the gap that follows

    Amplix VP Tommy Mullins on Agent Assist, Virtual Agents, and What Is Actually Working in AI

  5. Sep 2

    From CX to Total Experience: Ricki Lang on Behavioral Data and Human-in-the-Loop AI

    Customer experience, digital experience, employee experience, and user experience are usually treated as separate disciplines, but Ricki Lang argues they're really one thing wearing four hats. In this episode, Shawn sits down with Lang, VP of Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment at Quantum Metric and former product and engineering leader at Comcast, to unpack what she calls total experience: the idea that every friction point, whether it's a bad cancellation flow, an unhelpful chatbot, or a frustrated frontline employee, traces back to the same underlying systems and processes. They dig into digital containment, why click-to-cancel regulation exposed which companies actually value their customers, when automation helps versus when it makes a bad process worse, and why human-in-the-loop isn't a safety net but a proactive guardrail. It's a practical look at how CIOs, CISOs, and CX leaders can stop treating symptoms and start fixing root causes. What You'll Learn: Why CX, DX, EX, and UX are really one connected "total experience," not four separate disciplinesWhat digital containment is and why keeping customers in your cheapest, most consistent channel mattersHow click-to-cancel regulation exposed which companies actually design for customer trustWhy automating a broken process just makes you "bad faster" instead of fixing the real problemHow behavioral data (not surveys) reveals what customers actually do versus what they say they wantWhy human-in-the-loop should be a proactive guardrail, not just a safety net for AI decisionsHow MCP is compressing weeks of legacy system analysis into minutes for enterprise teamsWhy observability, not just automation, is the biggest blind spot in most AI implementations

    From CX to Total Experience: Ricki Lang on Behavioral Data and Human-in-the-Loop AI

  6. Aug 26

    Amplix Senior CX & AI Consultant Amy Behbehani on Closing the Healthcare Patient Experience Gap

    People expect real-time, personalized service everywhere, from banking apps to same-day delivery, but healthcare hasn't caught up. In this Inside Amplix episode, Shawn sits down with Amy Behbehani, Senior CX & AI Consultant at Amplix, who spent over 12 years working inside hospital and insurance contact centers before joining Amplix. Amy breaks down why repeated identity checks, mistransfers, and fragmented systems erode patient trust, and what that friction actually costs healthcare organizations in lost revenue, operational overhead, and staff burnout. She makes the case for fixing workflows before layering on AI, explains how to build a culture of change through frontline champions, and shows how the right technology, at the right moment, can help close care gaps and improve patient outcomes without a big budget or a big lift. What You'll Learn: Why patients get more personalized, frictionless service from their bank or a warranty company than from their own healthcare providerHow repeat identity verification and mistransfers quietly drain revenue, inflate operational costs, and burn out frontline staffWhy "just add AI" is the wrong first move, and how AI amplifies whatever process, good or bad, it's layered ontoThe legacy systems, regulatory burden, and competing internal priorities that keep healthcare organizations behind on CX technologyHow to build a culture of change through frontline champions instead of top-down mandatesHow AI-assisted prompts during a call can help close care gaps and improve patient outcomes in real timeWhy picking one goal (missed appointments, transfer rate, abandoned calls) beats trying to fix everything at onceA practical, low-cost starting point for healthcare leaders who want to close the experience gap without a major tech overhaul

    Amplix Senior CX & AI Consultant Amy Behbehani on Closing the Healthcare Patient Experience Gap

  7. Aug 19

    Practical Lessons on AI Orchestration and Managed Network Services from XTIUM's Frank Scanga

    Enterprise networks are quietly getting smarter, but the people who understand them best are heading for retirement, and the pipeline behind them is running dry. In this episode, Shawn sits down with Frank Scanga, Executive Vice Chairman of XTIUM, to unpack how networks have evolved from simple transport to AI enabled, self monitoring infrastructure, and why that shift is colliding with a looming network engineer shortage. They cover the difference between AI first level one support and the human judgment still needed at level two and three, why token orchestration is becoming its own discipline (with a "least cost routing" parallel to old school telecom), the security risks of agentic AI acting on your network, and how to know when your organization is actually ready to outsource network management. It's a candid look at where managed services are headed, and what CIOs need to get right before they hand over the keys. What You'll Learn: Why the biggest threat to network reliability isn't technology, it's a retiring generation of engineers with no replacement pipelineHow AI first level one support is changing the shape of IT departments, and where human judgment still has to step inWhat "least cost routing" for AI tokens looks like, and why orchestration is becoming its own disciplineWhy agentic AI acting on your network carries real security risk, and what guardrails actually helpThe case for bringing LLMs in-house versus relying on public models, and how that calculus is shiftingHow machine learning has quietly been part of network management platforms for over a decadeThe signs your organization is actually ready to hand network management to an outsourced providerWhat compliance frameworks like HIPAA and PCI mean for choosing a managed services partner

    Practical Lessons on AI Orchestration and Managed Network Services from XTIUM's Frank Scanga

  8. Aug 12

    Amplix VP Stanton Smith on Why AI Readiness Starts With Clean Data, Not New Tools

    Enterprises are racing to adopt AI in the contact center, but Stanton Smith, VP of CX Consulting and Solution Engineering at Amplix, has a warning: layer AI onto bad data or broken processes, and you'll only automate the dysfunction faster. In this Inside Amplix episode, Shawn Cordner sits down with Stanton to unpack what transformation consulting really looks like: aligning people, process, and technology before any tech decision gets made. They cover how Amplix uses call and interaction data to surface disconnects between leadership, middle management, and frontline teams, why shorter handle times don't always mean better customer experience, and what true AI readiness requires (hint: it starts with clean data, not a new platform). Stanton also breaks down the risk and knowledge gaps slowing agentic AI adoption, and shares what separates a transformation engagement that sticks from one that doesn't. What You'll Learn: Why layering AI onto bad data or broken processes only makes the problem worse, fasterWhat transformation consulting actually is, and why it starts with people and process, not technologyHow Amplix uses call and interaction data (not just opinion) to surface disconnects between leadership, management, and frontline teamsWhy shorter handle times don't always mean a better customer experienceWhat "AI readiness" really requires, and why clean, organized data matters more than the AI tool itselfThe difference between AI agents automating back-office workflows and AI agents engaging customers directlyWhy risk and lack of knowledge, not lack of interest, are what's slowing agentic AI adoption in the contact centerHow to prioritize transformation opportunities by impact versus lift, so you see results early

    Amplix VP Stanton Smith on Why AI Readiness Starts With Clean Data, Not New Tools
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
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About

Welcome to The Amplitude of Tech podcast, produced by Amplix, a leading technology advisory firm, where we bring the voices of technology thought leaders, subject matter experts, and enterprise IT decision makers to you to talk about today’s transformative technology and how it can create opportunities for increased success.

Information

  • Creator
    Amplix
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    37
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Amplitude of Tech
  • Show Website
    The Amplitude of Tech