WINNERS' CIRCLE

Harvest Now, Decrypt Later: Why Post-Quantum Security Can't Wait | Eddy Zervigon

Eddy Zervigon, CEO of Quantum Xchange, joins the Winners Circle to talk about a threat that is already stealing your data today, though nobody can crack it until later. Get his take on why post-quantum cryptography lives and dies on architecture, not algorithms, and what your team should fix before the federal deadline hits.

Why Human Judgment Still Beats AI at Scale: TCS's Sandeep Rachapudi on Judging Innovation and Enterprise AI | Sandeep Rachapudi

After two decades delivering IT services across more than twenty clients, Sandeep Rachapudi found a way to give back that also keeps him sharp. He judges six BIG award programs and brings a rare, cross-industry lens to every nomination he scores. Here’s what he’s learned — and why it matters for anyone trying to get noticed beyond their own organization.

Why Compromised MCP Servers and Shadow AI Are Becoming Enterprise Security's Biggest Blind Spot | Harshit Kohli

Harshit Kohli discusses the emerging security risks of compromised MCP servers and shadow AI in enterprise environments, sharing insights from RBLN and MCP Dev Summit conferences, and outlining critical mitigation strategies including sandbox execution, least privilege access, and human-in-the-loop verification.

A Two-Time BIG Judge on What Separates Real AI Innovation from Buzzword Bingo | Sasibhushan Rao Chanthati

Sasibhushan Rao Chanthati, Senior Software Engineer at Hirekeyz and a two time BIG All Star Judge for Information Technology, joins the Winners' Circle to talk about agentic AI, the FinOps boom, small versus large language models, and his own original research into detecting IT burnout with AI.

Why Digital Trust Should Be a Business Advantage, Not a Cost Center | Amy Worley

Amy Worley is helping business leaders rethink privacy, cybersecurity, AI governance, and data protection as one connected challenge. As a Managing Director at BRG, Amy brings a rare mix of experience as a former trial lawyer, in-house privacy leader, consultant, expert witness, and author of The Confidence Advantage. BRG recently won an AI Excellence Award, recognizing work at the intersection of AI, privacy, cybersecurity, and governance. In this episode, Russ and Amy explore why AI has made it harder for companies to treat privacy, security, and governance as separate functions.

How One Bar Complaint Led to Lawmatics - and Two Best Places to Work Awards | Matt Spiegel

Matt Spiegel turned a bar complaint about poor client communication into a legal tech career — first building MyCase, then launching Lawmatics to help law firms automate client acquisition and marketing. Today Lawmatics is a full growth platform for law firms, recognized as a Best Places to Work for its culture of collaboration and intentional in-person connection.

How Atlantic.Net Transformed 24/7 Cloud Support During a Live Data Center Migration | Chris Shyrock

Atlantic.Net has been running cloud infrastructure for 32 years and just completed one of the riskiest operational moves a hosting company can make—a full data center migration—with zero customer-impact events. Director of Support Services Chris Shyrock explains the rebuilt framework that made it possible, and why the hardest part of the transformation had nothing to do with the technology.

Saving Students $30 Million: How Kaplan's All Access Is Transforming University Test Prep | Kim Canning

Kim Canning is helping Kaplan expand access to career readiness, test prep, licensure prep, credentialing, and professional development resources through a new model built for universities and students. As VP of Strategic Partnerships at Kaplan, Kim works with colleges and universities to bring Kaplan's All Access License to learners at scale. Kaplan recently won a BIG Awards for Business honor for the program.

Incidents Are Inevitable. The Chaos Isn't. | Stephen Garcia on BreachRx and Governing Cyber Crisis Response

Stephen Garcia is helping BreachRx bring structure, governance, and accountability to one of the most chaotic moments any organization can face: a cyber incident. As CISO at BreachRx, he draws on years of experience from the customer side — across financial services, technology, gaming, and enterprise environments — to explain why most organizations have tools to detect and contain threats but lack the governance layer that kicks in once a technical event becomes an enterprise crisis. In this episode, Russ and Stephen explore cyber incident response management (CIRM), RexAI, Mobile Command, the CIRM warranty, and why incidents are inevitable but chaos is not.

From 68 to 93 CSAT: How SysAid Built an Agentic Customer Service Organization That Still Feels Human | Avi Kedmi

Avi Kedmi is helping SysAid rethink what customer service can look like in the age of AI. As CEO of SysAid, Avi leads a global IT service management company serving mid-sized clients in more than 100 countries. SysAid recently won an Excellence in Customer Service Award for its transformation of customer care using its own AI-driven tools, systems, and processes. In this episode, Russ and Avi explore how SysAid improved CSAT from 68 to 93, reduced detractors by 94 percent, cut escalations, reduced P1 incidents, shortened call times, and increased frontline resolution rates. They dive into what it means to become an agentic organization — why companies need more than chatbots, how a strong data foundation and broad API access unlock agentic use cases, and how to build trust around AI while keeping the human element at the center of customer service.