CDW Canada Tech Talks

In this episode, KJ Burke and John Encizo, Field CTO – ISG Americas at Lenovo discuss the current state of enterprise AI, exploring its potential, challenges and the reality behind the hype. They delve into the importance of data management, the role of AI in driving organizational change and how businesses can successfully adopt AI technologies. The conversation highlights the need for a strategic approach to AI implementation, focusing on user engagement and the integration of AI into existing workflows. John shares insights on the future of AI, emphasizing the importance of innovation and the evolving relationship between technology and human workers. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, KJ Burke and Qaiser Habib, head of engineering, Canada at Snowflake, discuss the challenges and strategies for unlocking the power of data within organizations. They explore the evolution of data management, the changing role of IT teams, the importance of data quality, and the shift towards unstructured data. The conversation also highlights the need for self-service data access, the accountability of C-suite executives, and the future trends in data and AI. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, host KJ Burke speaks with Frances Edmonds, head of sustainable impact at HP Canada, about the intersection of sustainability and technology. They discuss the importance of a circular economy, the role of procurement in sustainability, and the challenges organizations face in implementing sustainable practices. Frances shares insights from her extensive career, emphasizing the need for change management and leadership in driving sustainable initiatives. The conversation highlights the urgency of addressing climate change and the potential for technology companies to lead the way in creating a future that is environmentally responsible. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, KJ discusses the insights and experiences shared by various presenters at CDW Canada's Business Technology Expo (BTEX) 2025, highlighting the significance of the event in showcasing technological advancements and strategies for businesses. Key themes include the transition to Windows 11, the importance of cybersecurity, the evolution of AI and the future of hybrid cloud solutions. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of the CDW Canada Tech Talks podcast, host KJ Burke discusses the findings of the 2025 CDW Canada Cybersecurity Study with cybersecurity experts Ivo Wiens and Ben Boi-Doku. They explore the evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats, the importance of continuous security testing and the challenges faced by small and medium businesses. The conversation also delves into the role of AI in cybersecurity, the significance of data classification and the practical implementation of zero trust principles. The experts share insights on cloud security challenges, the necessity of tabletop exercises for preparedness and the future trends in cybersecurity as organizations move into 2025. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, Martin Bazinet and Joseph Reele join KJ to discuss why data centres both private and public are growing at such a rapid rate. As we see the surge of demand how do large organizations keep pace with power and cooling demands and how can we translate that into guidance for our private data centres and our edge deployments? At scale how do organizations like AWS align with environmental and sustainability without sacrificing resiliency? To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, we dive into the transformative impact of women in tech — breaking barriers, driving innovation and reshaping the tech landscape. Our host, KJ Burke, sits down with Sandi Jones, IT Operations Leader, Interac Corp., who has had a long, successful tech industry career spanning multiple organizations. Together, they explore the challenges women have faced, progress they've made and the exciting future of tech. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, host KJ Burke is joined by Kelly LaForest, Consultant, Microsoft Cloud, Professional Services and Brian Matthews, Head of Services Strategy & Development, Digital Workspace, CDW Canada, to discuss AI tools that empower our individual coworkers. As we see more AI capabilities being baked in to applications and as more organizations deploy individual tools like Microsoft Copilot we are seeing user initiated demand driving innovation in the personal tools space. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, host KJ Burke is joined by Adam Diallo, Senior Manager Customer Success, CDW Canada and Amanda Frank, Senior Manager Customer Success, CDW Canada to discuss how services organizations and technology providers continue to change the way they help customers, ensuring they have success throughout the full lifecycle of technology. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, host KJ Burke is joined by guests Daniel Pinsky, CSO & Head of Information Security, CDW Canada and David Shipley, CEO and Cofounder, Beauceron Security Inc. to discuss the need to educate our users on cybersecurity best practices and how we can build a security minded organization. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, host KJ Burke and guest Jim Love discuss some of the insights coming out of the 2024 Hybrid Cloud Report. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What are some of the traditional uses cases for HPC and AI that the Federal Government uses currently?·        What are some of the identified use cases that have been difficult to implement?·        What challenges have stalled those implementations historically?·        How has the current state of HPC and AI changed so that some of those use cases can now be realized?·        What needs to be done so the federal space can implement the remainder?·        How have traditional HPC and AI technologies changed and how has that made things easier for implementations?·        How have things become more complex or challenging?·        What types of investments are being made for infrastructure to support modern HPC and AI platforms?·        How has the density of HPC and AI created challenges for IT teams?·        How are large hosting providers and public cloud providers handling AI at scale challenges?·        What has the advent of Generative AI done to change the HPC and AI landscape?·        Let’s talk about deterministic vs probabilistic models.  How are they different?o   How does this difference make them more suitable to different use cases?·        When we think about data governance and AI governance it becomes a bit of safety vs innovation.  How do we create a healthy balance between those two? ·        How can we mitigate risk but still drive forward innovation of AI?·        As we look to the next 2 to 3 years what are some of the new use cases that you think will drive investment and also provide value? To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Up until recently access to AI was really restricted to fewer people.  The need for specialized tools, knowledge and technology created hurdles that many organizations were not able to clear.  How have you seen access to AI and the perceived value of AI change across different consumers?One of the ways we have been segmenting generative AI with customers has been drawing a distinction between the targeted consumer of the AI tools and the risk profile of the data that data consumer will be accessing.  How has the need for data governance become a barrier for broader AI use cases?How has the hype around generative AI changed the types of traditional AI conversations you are having?In addition to better establishing more mature data governance practices what are organizations doing to reduce the risk of over sharing data?Do organizations view digital sovereignty for AI services differently that other types of more traditional data and application services?What does the current distribution of AI workloads on premises, at the edge and in the public cloud look like?How sensitive is the data being used for the initial phase of generative AI services we are seeing organizations build today?Are some verticals more prepared to take advantage of their data with AI?How are organizations deciding between operating on premises vs in the public cloud for AI services?Are we able to put the factors that influence the decision-making process in order of importance?How do the traditional methods of managing data and technology limit our ability to integrate AI into our organizations quickly and effectively?What are some of the ways we can change to adapt to the new demands of AI?How can AI development platforms accelerate an organization’s AI journey?How does managing AI assets differ from traditional application deployment management?How will organizations decide to be a consumer of AI vs a creator of their own AI assets?What is the importance of measuring the efficacy of your AI model?  How do you see AI assets being measured for efficacy and compared between iterations?As we look to the future what are some of the trends that we predict in this space?What excites you about the future of AI and the tools that you will get into the hands of organizations and users?How can our listeners become advocates for AI in their organizations and where can they go to learn more to stay on top of all things Ai related? To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What has the role of supercomputers been historically?Has the advent of GPU clusters changed the role of HPC?How is the technology changing to meet new needs of researchers and organizations?As we look at supercomputing across different verticals, what parts of the technology and software stack stay similar and where does that stack depart from being similar?How do we continue to innovate the technology and software but also address the sprawl of new technology offerings?What is the role of a manufacturer in supporting open-source tools vs building tools optimized for your own hardware?How are we managing the cooling challenges more effectively today?As we move forward, what is the role of supercomputing?Will we see general access to supercomputing via generative AI like we are seeing with foundation models?What are some of your favourite supercomputer use cases that you have been involved with?What excites you about the future of supercomputing and AI?We can modify as needed but this gives us a starting point. To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why do organizations use staff augmentation and managed services?How do you differentiate and decide between filling roles that are internal, external consulting or managed services?What are some of the considerations that management focuses on when they build a plan to leverage managed services?What makes a good managed services partner?What are some of the risks of taking on a bad managed services partner?How do you incorporate a managed services provider into your IT management plan effectively?What is the best possible state for a managed services relationship to be in?How does the type of technology affect your decision making for how to support it?Where do you see managed services and consulting providing value to your team in the future? To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, we discuss smart retail innovations and how they lead to a better and more cost-effective environment for retail storefronts To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, we discuss technology innovations impacting the way patients are cared for, where they are cared for, and how effective that care ultimately is. The current state of healthcare. Where are we at and what is currently in flight as far as technology innovation that we are seeing?How is innovation in technology changing the way patients interact with their care providers?What is happening with technology from the provider side that patients may not be aware of that is changing the way they receive healthcare services?The idea of the “home hospital” where patients and especially the elderly can minimize the impact to their daily lives by bringing more services to the home. How are technology empowering healthcare providers to bring more services to the home and why is that so important?What types of technology will we see in the next few years that will really focus on improving the effectiveness of our healthcare providers?How will tools like natural language processing empower better communication?What are our expectations for innovations within AI and high-performance compute and how will that fundamentally change healthcare?What does the technology and care gap look like between highly innovative healthcare providers and providers that have struggled to keep pace with technology innovation?The innovation centres that CDW uses, and how we use those to help healthcare providers really see what technology innovation can mean to them and their patients?Future state of healthcare. What excites you about the future of healthcare? To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, we discuss...The hardware ecosystem from device to data centre and platformNPUs and endpointsCloud platforms for AIAccess to toolsFuture of AI – Multimodal – Multisensory - sora  To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode we discuss...Current state of cybersecurity Types of AI are impacting cybersecurityHow  bad actors are leveraging GenAI to be more productiveWhat is the measurable impact of GenAI to the risk profile of businesses?What keeps you up at night when you think about AI as a cybersecurity risk? To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, we discuss…The current and expected future state of the economyHow that state affects business investment planningDiscuss the unique aspects and benefits of CAPEXDiscuss the unique aspects and benefits of OPEXHow public cloud has changed the way businesses plan spendHow IT can communicate with the business more effectively to secure fundingWhat is FinOps?How businesses creating financial visibility To learn more, visit cdw.ca Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.