The AI Consulting Podcast

Today's guest is Deborah Golden, Chief Innovation Officer for Deloitte US operations. Deborah joins Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella on today's show to discuss how generative AI is reshaping industries, unlocking creativity, and driving bold innovation. With over 27 years of experience in technology and business transformation, Deborah has held key leadership roles, including leading Deloitte's US Cyber & Strategic Risk practice. She has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Fast Company, and Harvard Business Review for her forward-thinking perspectives on AI, cybersecurity, and innovation. Together, they explore how AI is lowering barriers to innovation and enabling new business models. Later, they touch on the importance of moving beyond automation to true AI-driven transformation. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Today's guest is Venkatesh Korla, President and CEO of HGS Americas. Venkatesh joins Daniel Faggella, CEO and Head of Research at Emerj AI Research, to explore how enterprises can leverage generative AI to enhance customer experience (CX). Their discussion delves into the balance between automation and human empathy, focusing on strategies to minimize hallucinations and improve service efficiency while maintaining customer satisfaction. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Today's guest is Dan Helfrich, Chair and Chief Executive Officer at Deloitte Consulting. In this conversation with Emerj CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella, Helfrich speaks about the findings of Deloitte's research. Deloitte has polled a tremendous volume of enterprise leaders on where they are investing in AI, from operations to R&D. Helfrich also details the kinds of results business leaders are seeing from early projects and where they want to steer their future projects. Later, the pair dives into the spaces in which enterprise leaders see most of the opportunity in terms of where they're going to throw their genAI and their AI investments moving forward. To access Emerj's frameworks for AI readiness, ROI, and strategy, visit Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.

Today's guest is Babak Hodjat, CTO of AI at Cognizant, the AI services giant. Babak joins us on today's podcast to discuss how large language models might bring value to the enterprise. In this conversation with Daniel Faggella, CEO and Head of Research at Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research, Hodjat explores how a series of specialized models could streamline entire segments of business workflows. He paints a compelling vision of how these models might work together to improve quality across entire parts of a job, not just isolated tasks. If you're interested in how AI can add value to business, this episode offers a valuable perspective. To discover more AI use cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more, join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1.

In today's episode, we speak with a founder who profitably grew by finding product-market fit early in a profitable niche. Our guest is Siva Pullabhotla, Co-Founder & CEO at Docskiff Inc. Docskiff focuses on contract intelligence in the procurement space. In this episode, Siva discusses the kinds of assumptions you should begin with if you're looking to find a product-market fit fast. He also talks about pivoting based on your initial customer engagement to double down on success and use it to fuel your growth. As a past Catalyst member and current Emerj Plus member, we are grateful to have Siva in our community and here on the show. Join Emerj Plus at emerj.com/p1 to discover more AI use-cases, best practice guides, white papers, frameworks, and more.

This week's guest is Rick Oppedisano. Rick is a member of our Emerj Plus community and the Founder and CEO of Delta Bravo, an AI consulting firm based in the United States. In this episode, he shares his founder's story, highlighting what it looks like to meet a giant enterprise customer, like Rolls Royce, and how to build those kinds of enterprise relationships for the long term. He also discusses the types of hurdles you can expect to run into and how to overcome them as a small firm. If you're interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.

Our guest this week is Michael Zipursky, CEO and Founder at Consulting Success. Consulting Success is a firm dedicated to training consultants of various skill levels. Michael had previously run several consulting firms himself, and in this episode, he shares his insights on the best initial steps to get a consulting firm off the ground. He further discusses what to do first, how to determine what to sell, how to get feedback from the market, and how to go to market efficiently. If you'd like to learn how to get more involved in serving your clients with AI-related projects, be sure to download our PDF brief called "Beginning with AI - 3 Critical Insights for Non-Technical Leaders" at emerj.com/beg1.

This week's guest is Christoph Hardt, Co-Founder and Managing Director of COMATCH. COMATCH is a platform matching consultants, mostly strategy consultants, to customers around the globe with their initial focus in the EU. The company now boasts over 100 employees and, through their success, has gained access to thousands of consultants and gained a sense of how smaller, independent consultancies are winning business. Christoph also shares his perspective on where artificial intelligence and data are making their way into the strategy consulting world. If you're interested in unlocking our AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and specific resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.

This week's guest is Michael Segala, CEO at SFL Scientific. SFL Scientific is a fast-growing AI consultancy in the Boston area with about 40 team members after six years of business. After receiving his Ph.D. from Brown University in 2013, Michael held several data science positions before founding SFL Scientific. Michael has interfaced with cutting-edge startups, S&P 100 companies, the U.S. Department of Defense, and others, and he brings that experience to bear in this episode. He also discusses how AI services firms can find a balance between education and delivery for their clients. If you're interested in unlocking Emerj's AI best practice guides, frameworks for AI ROI, and other resources for AI consultants, visit emerj.com/p1.

This week's guest is Christopher Pavlak, a Specialist Master of AI Ethics at Deloitte. He is also a leader in AI ethics efforts with Deloitte at the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center at the DOD. Today, Chris speaks about the transition into AI consulting. Chris also talks about his own career experience and how he was able to frame his past experience in a way that enabled him to land a job in his field of interest and how Emerj Plus's resources helped him get up to speed as he jumped into the world of consulting. If you have not already joined Emerj Plus, you can learn more about our tools and resources for AI leaders at emerj.com/p1.