Peggy Smedley Show

Peggy Smedley and John Reed, global solutions leader, manufacturing and mobility industries, Microsoft, talk about key customer learnings and automotive takeaways from CES 2025 and how it will shape the year ahead. He says the centerpiece was the customers, including manufacturers, and digital, whether it was the technology from Microsoft or that the customers are building.

They also discuss:

• Four key learnings from the custom...

Peggy Smedley talks about the hard reality that if we make devices smarter and more autonomous, then we are naturally going to consume more energy. She says as we build a better tomorrow, we must consider a three-legged stool that we must build upon in the year ahead.

She also discusses:

• How much global data center electricity consumption will grow by 2030.
• If we must consider lazy robots.
• What we need to consider as we turn t...

Peggy Smedley and Jason Heron, head of clean fuels for North America, Airbus, talk about how the company is pioneering sustainable aerospace in the fourth wave of aerospace. He says sustainability is at the forefront of a lot of conversations, and the company is focused on a jet fuel that has a sustainable component that reduces the lifecycle of carbon emissions for that fuel, making air travel more sustainable. 

They also discuss:

Peggy Smedley and Reddy Mallidi, AI strategist, COO, chief AI officer, and author of AI Unleashed, talk about a new book, AI Unleashed, and how generative AI (artificial intelligence) is transforming business and the art of AI leadership. He shares a story from 2019 when he needed to screen 50 million accounts for export compliance and how AI helped improve the customer experience.

They also discuss:

• The transformative benefit...

Peggy talks about the opportunities that exist to improve the travel experience—both long-distance travel to events and vacations and daily travel in and around your own community. She says nearly 80% of American travelers experienced at least one travel-related problem in the first half of 2023—and technology can help reduce this.

She also discusses:

• The history of travel and how it has evolved through the Industrial Revoluti...

Peggy Smedley and Daniel Burrus, a global technology futurist, business strategist and disruptive innovation expert, talk about his top 25 predictions for 2025. He says this is his 42nd annual technology prediction list—and he says they have been pretty accurate.

They also discuss:

• The difference between hard trends and soft trends.
• An example of hard trends and soft trends surrounding Baby Boomers retiring.
• How companies can ...

Peggy Smedley and Matt Hatton, founding partner, Transforma Insights, talk about AIoT (artificial intelligence of things) and what this means for IoT (Internet of Things) deployments. He says you can’t throw a stone in the technology world without hitting AI at the moment.

They also discuss:

• Key use case examples.
• The evolution of the hardware and cloud.
• Privacy and cybersecurity concerns.

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Peggy talks about how one initiative is making an impact on plastic use. She says we are certainly making some strong progress with our sustainability goals—but there are still far too many companies that have not yet taken action.

She also discusses:

• Three major highlights that have emerged in the last six years.
• One case study with impressive results.
• Where we have made progress—and where we have stalled.

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Peggy Smedley and Michelle Pellegrin, global VP and managing director of strategic partnerships, IBM, talk about the IBM and Microsoft partnership and what is on the horizon for the two companies and their customers. She says Microsoft is a big user of IBM technology and IBM uses Microsoft technology.

They also discuss:

• How long the partnership has been in existence and how it started and evolved.
• Big new announcements from in...

Peggy Smedley and Dan Miklovic, founder, Lean Manufacturing Research and leader, Third Eye Advisory, talk about the impact ChatGPT and gen AI (artificial intelligence) has had on manufacturing. He says it has definitely had an impact, particularly in the customer experience—and now in operations.

They also discuss:

• Obstacles to widespread adoption.
• If it should be called artificial intelligence or augmented intelligence.
• The r...

Peggy celebrates her 900th episode with Jules White, senior advisor to the chancellor on generative AI and professor of computer science, Vanderbilt University, who joins to discuss one of the most impactful technologies to debut during her 900 episodes: generative AI (artificial intelligence). He says you hear so much AI stuff that is so nebulous and he wanted something that was universally applicable.

They also discuss:

• How ...

Peggy Smedley and John Reed, global solutions leader for manufacturing and mobility industries, Microsoft, give a preview of what we can expect from Microsoft at CES next month, regarding SDVs (software-defined vehicles), gen AI (artificial intelligence), and so much more. He says CES is going to be a great show, and as we have seen in the last few years, a big part of CES now is innovation in vehicles—not just auto, but industrial...

Peggy digs into the topic of cybersecurity—looking specifically at the IoT (Internet of Things). She says we all know enterprise adoption of IoT devices is growing rapidly, with dozens of use cases across each vertical market—and now we must ensure it is all secure.

She also discusses:

• The biggest trends and strategies for IoT security.
• New numbers from recent reports, including the annual cost of cybercrime.
• The best steps to...

Peggy Smedley and Kim Lovan, associate vice president of industrial manufacturing, Black & Veatch, talk about technologies in the food space. She says the company looked at an opportunity in the food and agriculture space—and how technology can help change how we are feeding the growing population.

They also discuss:

• The process of marrying food and technology together.
• How facilities have to change in the food and beverage in...

Peggy Smedley and Kelly Stratton, founder, president, and chief product officer, Quire, talk about how AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) firms have a two-pronged challenge: the labor shortage and greater customer demands. She says the work is there, but the people are not, and you want to serve customers in every facet, but do not have the capacity.

They also discuss:

• How many employees are set to retire in the...

Peggy Smedley talks about how green building and sustainability has evolved in the past several decades. She says we are at an interesting point in history—one where we have the tools, resources, and technologies available to us to build a better tomorrow.

She also discusses:

• The history of green building.
• Recent data related to the last three decades of green building and sustainability.
• The impact of green building.

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Peggy Smedley and Michael Zeto, chief commercial officer, Boingo Wireless, talk about what has been happening in the past decade with connectivity. He says with the transition from 4G to 5G, we moved from connectivity as a luxury to being critical infrastructure. 

They also discuss:

• How the adoption curve unfolded from M2M to the IoT (Internet of Things).
• The importance of safety and security.
• How industries can leverage exper...

Peggy Smedley and Matt Hatton, founding partner, Transforma Insights, talk about some of the challenges we are still facing today with the IoT (Internet of Things)—and the progress we have made. He says there have been a lot of IoT adoptions over the years driven by regulations—and some were much slower to materialize.

They also discuss:

• Why we didn’t hit 50 billion connected devices in 2020.
• Some of the biggest inhibiting fac...

Peggy looks at a new report that digs into the details of the state of EVs (electric vehicles) in the Southeast. She says electric vehicle sales in the Southeast grew 42%, beating the national average by 37%.

She also discusses:

• The importance of an ecosystem of players in order to ensure success.
• Growth trends across six indicators.
• What has stalled EVs in the past and what is needed to pick up speed in the future.

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