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PODCAST

The Catalyst by Softchoice

A documentary-style podcast about how IT leaders tackle high-stakes transformations.Each episode weaves together real voices, expert insights, and compelling narratives that reveal universal challenges and practical wisdom.Season 7: "Small Teams, Big Dreams" explores the human stories behind IT transformations—from AI adoption experiments to burnout crises, from toxic job markets to infrastructure decisions that matter. These aren"t polished case studies. These are authentic accounts from IT

business management

All Episodes

28:16

The Agentic AI Episode: What IT Leaders Need to Know

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2026/03/11

Every vendor in the industry is slapping the word "agentic" on their roadmap. But, what is agentic AI, really? And should IT leaders care? In this episode, we bring together three voices with very different answers: a skeptic who says it's rebranded orchestration, a strategist who says the reasoning layer is genuinely new, and a founder betting his company on it. Together, they cut through the noise and answer the question every IT leader is quietly asking: what should I actually do about age...

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24:42

The Incident Response Episode: What Really Happens...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2026/02/25

When David Koopmans' IT manager started sending strange messages to employees, David knew something was wrong. By then, threat actors had been inside his network for 30 days. What followed was a ransomware nightmare that cost $14 million, put David in the hospital, and ended with him being let go—despite years of warning leadership they needed to invest in security. In this episode, we follow David's story from chaos to recovery, with expert context from Fortinet's incident response team on w...

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26:49

The Multi-Cloud Mandate: How Agentic AI Became the...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2026/02/11

Multi-cloud used to be a dirty word — something that happened to you through mergers, shadow IT, or teams gone rogue with corporate cards. But the walls came down, the standards converged, and best-of-breed finally seemed within reach. Then AI arrived with a whole new layer of complexity. Or did it? In this episode, we explore how agentic AI might actually solve the thing that made multi-cloud hard in the first place. Three cloud experts—Jack French from World Wide Technology, Alex Kozaris fr...

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20:56

The Save Money Episode: Foundation Over Flash

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2026/01/28

Everyone's chasing AI. Meanwhile, most organizations are wasting 25-30% of their software budget on tools nobody uses. In this episode, we meet James Malek, Senior VP of IT Infrastructure at Lexitas, who inherited chaos—45 acquisitions in five years, no structured IT department, and a hodgepodge of contracts everywhere. Instead of chasing the next shiny thing, James took a different approach: foundation first. What his team discovered when they finally got visibility into their software estat...

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27:43

The School’s Broken Episode: What AI Did to...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2026/01/14

AI is transforming education—but not evenly, and not easily. In this episode of The Catalyst, we step inside classrooms, school boards, and districts, navigating the AI revolution with tight budgets, limited staff, and high stakes for students. From fears around cheating and data privacy to confusion over licensing and unused tools already paid for, this conversation reveals what AI adoption really looks like in public education. Featuring educators, IT leaders, and policy thinkers on the fro...

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24:33

The Small Teams Episode: When IT Needs to Punch Above...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2025/12/31

Enterprise expectations. Startup-sized teams. And zero margin for failure. Across museums, national parks, retail stores, and nonprofit organizations, mid-market IT leaders are being asked to do more than ever—with fewer people, tighter budgets, and growing complexity. Most burn out. Some figure it out. In this episode, The Catalyst brings together two leaders navigating that reality from different sides of the work: Scott Gagon, Network Security Engineer, Event NetworkTariq Chaudhri, VP of T...

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28:01

The AI Failure Episode: Why Asking the Wrong Question...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2025/12/10

When mid-market IT leaders call about AI, most ask the wrong question. Instead of “What problem are we solving?” they jump straight to “Which LLM should we use?” — a mindset that helps explain why 95% of AI pilots fail to deliver measurable business returns. In this episode, two of Softchoice’s leading AI experts — Sean Larkin, AI Principal Architect, and Ron Espinosa, Director, Google Cloud Category — break down why technology-first thinking derails AI initiatives before they start. From mar...

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19:47

The AI Recruitment Episode: Why Tech Hiring is...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2025/11/26

937 applications. 42 interviews. 80 days. That's what it took one experienced data scientist to land a job in 2025—and he's one of the lucky ones. In this episode of The Catalyst, we follow two tech professionals through what they call "the worst job market ever." Emily, a software developer with 10 years of experience and a degree from University of Waterloo's prestigious computer science program, gets laid off on a Tuesday and was interviewing the next day. Santiago, a data scientist and fo...

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25:35

The IT Burnout Episode: Running on Empty

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2025/11/12

Every night, IT professionals across the country go home and cry. They work until 10PM unpaid. They become "the guy" their entire organization depends on. They stay in toxic jobs because they feel guilty, or because people are counting on them, or because they simply can't imagine leaving. In this episode of The Catalyst by Softchoice, we follow two IT professionals through their burnout journeys. Sean stayed at a behavioral health nonprofit for years, supporting 1500 users with just two tech...

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20:52

The AI Adoption Episode: Freedom & Frameworks That...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2025/10/29

What if the best employee AI adoption strategy is one most companies refuse to try? While business leaders rush to mandate AI from the top down, Softchoice discovered something counterintuitive: the most successful transformations happen when you let people experiment on their own terms. (Safely!) This episode takes you inside Softchoice's organic approach to AI adoption—from a VP who started experimenting with AI nine months before ChatGPT launched, to an engineering team that went from skep...

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1:53

Season 7 Trailer: Small Teams, Big Dreams

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2025/10/22

For six years, The Catalyst brought you conversations with IT leaders solving hard problems. But we kept hearing stories that couldn't fit into a single interview—stories that needed multiple voices, conflicting perspectives, the messy truth of what it's really like out there. Season 7 changes everything. We're making audio documentaries—think This American Life for the IT team. Each episode weaves together real experiences: the burnout nobody admits to, the worst tech job market ever, AI pro...

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20:47

Big moments in AI from Y2K to ChatGPT

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2025/02/19

The rise of AI isn’t just about smarter machines—it’s about reshaping the way we work, create, and innovate. In the season finale of The Catalyst by Softchoice, Heather Haskin sits down with Gil Press, senior contributor at Forbes, to trace the modern history of AI. From the early breakthroughs in deep learning to the rise of generative AI, Press explores the key moments that shaped the AI industry and where the technology is headed next. Featuring: Gil Press, Senior Contrib...

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30:01

From hard hats to high tech: Rachel Skaff’s journey...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2025/02/05

The future of tech isn’t just about speed and innovation—it’s about who gets a seat at the table. In this episode of The Catalyst by Softchoice, Rachel Skaff, AWS Managing Director of America’s Channel and Partner Sales, joins Heather Haskin to explore how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are driving innovation in tech. From her unconventional path into the industry to leading DEI initiatives at Amazon, Skaff shares insights on fostering inclusivity and ensuring AI developm...

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24:28

How conversational AI is changing the customer...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2025/01/22

The future of business is a conversation. In this episode of The Catalyst by Softchoice, Heather Haskin and Craig McQueen, Vice President of AI Solutions at Softchoice, dive into how conversational AI is reshaping industries and redefining success. From smarter customer support to groundbreaking innovations, discover why this technology is more than just talk—it’s a game-changer. With real-world examples and insights into overcoming challenges, this episode is your ultimate guide to nav...

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29:35

1-DEGREE/Shift: Small changes, big impact

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2025/01/08

What if your company could leverage AI to not only increase productivity but also improve your mental well-being? What if the secret to transforming your workplace culture and achieving extraordinary results lay in the smallest, most intentional changes? In this episode of The Catalyst by Softchoice, host Heather Haskin sits down with 1-Degree/Shift founders Suchitra Davies-Webb and Nick Foster to explore how small, intentional shifts in leadership can drive transformative change in work...

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30:37

Bridging the digital divide: How Softchoice empowers...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2024/12/11

A lot of charities are just trying to keep the lights on. They don’t have resources for tech infrastructure and training. That’s where Softchoice’s Charity Accelerator Program comes in. In this episode of The Catalyst by Softchoice, host Heather Haskin dives into the transformative power of technology for small charities with Joseph Byer and Jill Crowley, co-chairs of Softchoice’s Charity Accelerator Program (CAP). Discover how this groundbreaking initiative helps nonprofits overco...

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31:56

Google’s human-centric AI

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2024/11/27

What if your company could leverage AI to not only increase productivity but also improve your mental well-being? In this episode of The Catalyst, Heather Haskin speaks with Anna Baird, Chief Customer Officer for Generative AI Go-to-Market at Google, about the crucial human element in AI implementation. They discuss how to leverage AI to enhance, not undermine, the employee experience, fostering psychological safety and well-being. Learn how to navigate the challenges of AI integra...

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23:43

Copilot in action: a Softchoice success story

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2024/11/13

It’s one thing to hear about the speeds and feeds of a technology – and quite another to get a real human voice, to shine a light on the real value these tools can offer us. In this episode, host Heather Haskin delves into the practical applications of Microsoft Copilot with Cole Pascua, Senior Microsoft Modern Work Specialist at SoftChoice. Cole provides a firsthand account of Softchoice's Copilot journey, sharing both their successes and challenges in implementing and integrating...

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28:08

The quantum threat: preparing your business for the...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2024/10/30

Quantum computing promises to be one of the most disruptive technologies of our time. But it also brings the risk of unparalleled cybersecurity threats. In this episode of The Catalyst by Softchoice, we delve into the world of quantum computing and its implications for cybersecurity. Dr. Vito Nozza, Principal of Security at Softchoice Design Studio and a PhD in cybersecurity, joins us to discuss the exciting potential of quantum computing while highlighting the significant cybersecurity ...

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30:58

Microsoft Copilot – a year of transformation:...

The Catalyst by Softchoice ·

2024/10/17

In this special episode, host Heather Haskin dives deep into the world of AI-driven digital transformation with Rekha Narang, Director of Partner Technology at Microsoft. Rekha provides an inside look at the evolution of Microsoft Copilot, a tool that has transformed how organizations work, collaborate, and deliver results. They explore Copilot’s journey from its launch in November 2023 to its game-changing impact today, as well as the crucial role diversity, inclusion, and partnerships ...

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104 results

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