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Redesigning Processes for the Age of AI Agents with Tom Davenport
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AI is here—but are businesses truly ready to harness its full potential? In this episode of Data Radicals, host Satyen Sangani sits down with Tom Davenport to explore what it takes for AI to create real business value.
As one of the most respected voices in AI and analytics, Tom brings decades of expertise to the table. From agentic AI to AI-driven leadership, this conversation covers the pressing challenges—and opportunities—that will shape the next era of business transformation.
What You'll Learn in This Episode:
🔹 Agentic AI is still in its infancy – AI agents can act autonomously, but most businesses are only using them for simple, low-stakes tasks. Scaling their use requires overcoming reliability challenges.
🔹 AI alone won’t drive value—process redesign is critical – Businesses can’t just add AI to existing workflows and expect results. As Tom puts it, "Economic value requires that we change the way we do our work. And there has to be some intentional design activity. It can't just evolve."
🔹 The C-suite is overcrowded—AI leadership must evolve – With CIOs, CDOs, CTOs, and more, organizations often suffer from fragmented leadership. Tom argues for business-driven executives who can oversee AI, data, and digital strategy holistically.
AI is transforming industries, but the organizations that truly succeed will be those that rethink their leadership, workflows, and data strategies. Whether you're a CDO, CIO, or data professional, this episode offers actionable insights from one of the most influential thinkers in AI and analytics.
*Satyen’s narration was created using AI
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“ There is a generative AI component, but it's not just generative AI. It's probably analytical AI as well, it's probably still APIs, it's probably still transaction systems, ERP and CRM and so on. There'll have to be a lot of integration, which means that it's going to be a fair amount of work for companies to pull this off. I think vendors will help and they'll provide lots of tools, but I think companies will have to figure out what they want to accomplish with it and make it happen and that will take some time and effort.” – Tom Davenport
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Time Stamps
*(02:27): Agentic AI use cases: Is AI the new software?
*(10:52): The CDO's role in the age of AI
*(20:57): What is AGI? Is it coming soon?
*(26:43): How can organizations transform with data?
*(35:38): The need to redesign processes for AI
*(38:58): Satyen’s takeaways
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Sponsor
This podcast is presented by Alation.
Learn more:
* Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.alation.com/podcast/
* Alation’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alation/
* Satyen’s LinkedIn Profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ssangani/
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Links
Read Tom’s MIT Sloan article Five Trends in AI and Data Science for 2025
Order Tom’s book All Hands on Tech: The AI-Powered Citizen Revolution
Order Tom’s book All in on AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence
Order Tom’s book Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning
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