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So it's not about the technology, it's about the experience you're creating. And if you've chased the experience, then what you're applying now is the relevant technology that brings the best delivered experience for the cost, the infrastructure, the support, the cost of ownership and all the rest of it, the ongoing evolution of the technology.
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Welcome to Embracing Digital Transformation where we explore how people process policy and technology drive effective change. This is Dr. Darren, Chief Enterprise architect, educator, author and most importantly your host on this episode, the evolution of digital transformation from semiconductor tech to customer experiences with special guest Rick Lisa, General manager of Worldwide Government center of Excellence at Intel Corporation.
C
Rick, welcome to the show.
A
Thanks Darren. Always great to be with you on the show.
C
Hey, you know Rick, you've been a listener of the show for a long time, but we've done something interesting. Everyone knows that listens on my show, that I only have superheroes on my show and every superhero has a background story. So what's your origin story Rick?
A
Well, you know, origins, you know, I was actually, if you go back a little bit, all the way.
D
Right.
A
My father was a former Naval Academy graduate and went on to Rutgers Law School and then Harvard Law School when he got out of the service after flying jets, you know, et cetera. So I was raised in a rather disciplined, focused area and it's amazing that I've gotten this far without somehow re embodying that in everything that I do day in, day out. So I'm going to depend on you to help keep me focused. But I've been in the semiconductor industry and or the computing industry now for 45 years. I've been with every major semiconductor brand there is. I've worked for Motorola Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor, amd, Intel and through my associations through been the privilege of calling on at least 750 of the Fortune 1000 in my career. So I've seen every industry, I've seen every walk of life there is in technology, so to speak. And I've had the benefit of applying the cool technology from all these companies and helping my customers solve problems. So I've also dealt with channels and VARs and integrators and OEMs and software across the entire value chain. So for me, you know, figuring out how to apply all this various capability that I, that I've been able to collect over the decades and now helping, you know, our customers and our partners bring better, you know, capabilities and software and services and solutions to the needs of the market is really where I find the passion. And rooting back to My dad's origins, you know, I'm ending my career calling on the government and on the public sector and taking all the passion he had for the service and now somehow bringing that back to bear. And what we'll do going forward here.
C
Well, what an incredible career. In fact, it reminds me when you were talking about that the first thing that popped in my head was the chips war book.
D
Right.
C
Because you touched every single company that was described in that book. So. So you've seen it all. And are you seeing. And today we want to talk about digital transformation. Of course. But are you seeing a change in digital transformation now than what you have seen over the last 45 years of your career? And if you're seeing it now, what's so different about now than like in the 90s, right, when the Internet just blew up?
A
Yeah, I think, you know, if you trace all the way back to your point, I mean, I've had the opportunity over my career to sell every processing architecture there is. I've sold 68,000, I've sold PowerPC, I've sold ARM, I've sold MIPS, I've sold Intel's version of x86, and I've sold AMD's version of x86. Right. So I've seen basically all the various technologies, but I've also witnessed all the different methods by which those technologies sort of above all, I think probably as you talk about the industry, if you go back to the 80s, right, this was pre Internet. So the way the customer learned about technology was really by what salespeople walk through the door and what we bought by way of our portfolio.
D
Right.
A
That's how they learned technology. And then we went through this sort of iterative design process of fitting technology to the design requirements of the customer. But really technology led the discussion, not so much the design requirements. Then along comes, you know, the Internet and, you know, sales got a whole new challenge and marketing got a whole new challenge because now the customer didn't need someone to walk through the door to learn.
D
They.
A
They learned on their own way.
C
Way. Are you saying we don't need salespeople? Did you just say that?
A
I'm not saying that. I'm saying that it's changing. You had the question was, it's changing, right? And so we went from, you know, you couldn't get there without, you know, technology representatives, and then you got there where the technology was being presented through the channels of online distribution of content. And I think it forced, as you come through the 2000s, where we were still in the widgetry of what we were building, you know, into the 2010s and the Internet of things. And, and we started changing the dynamic of what, what it meant to apply technologies to the problems of the customer. Where it is today is it really isn't about the technology. I don't think the customers care as much about what the specific technologies are, but how the technologies can advantage what they're trying to do. And I think the more recent.
C
Wait just second on that, does that mean that a lot of these chip manufacturers, it's completely commoditized now, where we expect there's an expectation for certain feature set and certain. What's the right word? Performance or whatever it is that's just expected. So if you're in a highly commoditized marketplace, then doesn't that just drive prices and now you're just fighting on price?
A
No, not really. Because I think, you know, what happens is, you know, the function is probably commoditized, but how the technology is put together is really not as commoditized as it might appear. So when you look at like for example, a processor technology, you know, a company like intel implements certain features in their products that make certain applications behave differently. And then the really valuable element of it, and this has been true since the early 80s, is that it really comes down to the tools. We're not so much in a processor battle or a chip war as we are a tools war. It's the tools the customer uses to bring their application, their product, their environment, their use case, their service to life that actually drives what choices they make in technology. And so what's happening is there's a deeper connection now between what the customer's mission focus is, what they're trying to achieve, how the tools enable them to get to that mission focus, and then what are the underlying chemical elements, the chemistry of the product that allows them to get there with a better performance, with lower cost, lower cost of ownership. And I think a more important thing is around future enabling. I mean, I think probably the biggest issue customers are concerned about is when they bet on technology and technology changes and it evolves, which it does. It's the natural march of Moore's Law. And transistor capability drives more features in the products. The more features that you drive into the products, the more capabilities you have. But now what you're doing is changing the value proposition of the technology in the hands of the customer. So what the customer wants to know is not so much what the product is, but how it helps them Solve the mission and how do you help them? I think this is going to be an increasingly more important discussion. How do you help them avoid the cost of technical debt? I installed a bunch of stuff, but I can't use it going forward. And the even bigger fear of rip and replace. I've got things that work perfectly well, but to get modern features, I've got to tear out what I've deployed and put all new things in. I have some really interesting examples of how that manifests itself, but the customers, in my opinion, especially the end user community, is more worried about rip and replace and technical debt than they are about the root features of the products. And then it all comes down to mission capability and mission focus. And how do you help them deliver outcome that delivers real result for them as a, as an enterprise?
C
So that's really interesting because when you were talking about that, I thought there's other industries that have gone through the same sort of thing. And the differentiation, as you said, comes through how I can leverage this commoditized tool to get my work done more effectively. And whoever can present that in the most valuable way gives me, I, I'll have loyalty to. So. And the thing that brought to my mind was the difference between screws and nails. And if, and if you ever go to in the summertime, Lowe's or Home Depot in the summertime, they, they have woodworking with, with fathers and sons and fathers and daughters and brought to you by the screw companies, not the nail companies. Right. Because they're trying to teach the next generation. Even though screws and nails essentially do the same thing. You know, a carpenter is going to completely disagree with me on that, but they essentially do the same thing. They, they bind two things together. We see the same thing in silicon as well today. Right. You, you were saying they all do compute, but it's all the tools that you put with it that make the difference.
A
Yeah. And what I would say is in some cases we get so focused on the hammer, the screw or the nail that we forget that what we're really trying to do is build furniture. And I think the thing is that our customers are looking for us to not just talk about the hammer or come up with how the hammer drives a nail or how the screwdriver drives a screw. But tell me how what these things do help me deliver value back to my organization so that I get ROI on via acquisition to technology. And I think increasingly, as you said, what's changed is I think we've gone from getting really enamored of what our semiconductor products are to helping the customer really understand what the semiconductor technologies do to now helping the customer understand how the technology affects what their world does. And I think that's been the changing scope and I think as we get into all these ideas of value based selling and return on investment and return on net value and all these other things, we've gotta be able to now articulate not just what the technology does, but how the technology impacts the world in which the customer's operating. And in the case of government, how we help them serve their constituency and compete for what really drives their revenue, which is tax dollars. Right. And so, you know, how do we help them bring in more residents, more businesses, better equipped, more efficient work environments with more informed and better employees that help them deliver premier services that attracts again residents and businesses. So the value proposition is changing and I don't think we as a technology company can any longer afford just to stand back on the merits of our products. We have to be able to help the customer connect the merit of the product to the value delivery in their hands.
C
So, so that kind of explains what's happened over the last two years with Generative AI and why Nvidia has gone through the roof. Because there's a use case. It's not that Nvidia GPUs, no one really understands how they work that are buying, you know, millions of dollars worth of hardware. They just are buying it with the promise that Generative AI is going to change the way that they work. Would you, does that make sense? Does is that ringing true to you that hey, we know Generative AI and then I think Jensen's done an incredible job at selling well. Only Nvidia does generative AI, which is not true, but he's had that message and it's fallen on, on kind of everyone's like, well, of course, yeah, so.
A
So that's a great question. I think, you know what, what Nvidia has done exceptionally well is they've made an indelible connection between this thing called AI and the role of a gpu. And so what they've done is they've sort of mastered this concept that AI is a gpu. I really believe, and I've said this many times, that I think AI is a workload, it's an application, it's a means by which analytics gets carried out on data in order for us to then build meaningful applications using computer intelligence.
D
Right.
A
And computer intelligence comes in many, many forms. It's not just on a gpu, but I think Nvidia has done a masterful job of convincing the world that if you want AI, you gotta buy a gpu.
C
But it's really interesting because there's the promise of what AI could deliver, but we're not seeing it deliver. 80% of all AI projects fail.
A
Yeah, and I think it's.
C
Why do you think that is? Do you think that's because people aren't focusing on the use cases, that they're just, it's a shiny new technology. Is that what the problem is?
A
Again, I think, I think we've turned AI into a technology, not a workload. I think if you shift the thinking to AI as a workload, now what you're looking at, what does it take to get the workload executed and how do I deliver from the workload, the service?
D
Right.
A
I think we've got to refocus the value on the service to be extracted from AI. And when we look at geniturate AI and agentic AI and all these different ways in which computer intelligence can be delivered to augment an experience for a human user or for an ecological environment or for an animal kingdom, whatever you want to do to explain it, we're trying to deliver a better result. So I come back to sort of Intel's message of, of, you know, we're here to, you know, improve the lives of every plant person on the planet. Well, how do we do that? We do that by using technology to enrich their experience of living day in and day out. So it's not about the technology, it's about the experience you're creating. And if you've chased the experience, then what you're applying now is the relevant technology that brings the best delivered experience for the cost, the infrastructure, the support, the cost of ownership and all the rest of it, the ongoing evolution of the technology. So I think Nvidia is brilliant. And by the way, I would like Nvidia to Mount Everest. It's a magnificent edifice and it's amazing in its view and its context and what it represents as a bedrock of amazing territory.
D
Right.
A
That's Nvidia. But you can't live on Everest. You can ascend it and you can come back down and there's base camps that enable it, but there's no thriving ecosystem that lives on Everest.
C
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because what you said before is we can't just base everything on one technology or on a technology. You need a whole ecosystem to support these. Just like with, you know, building things on Saturday morning with your kids, your Grandkids, it's, you know, I'm only providing screws, but I need wood and I need instructors and I need a place to do it.
A
I need glue, I need, yeah, I need, I need all kinds of hardware and accessories in order to complete the build.
D
Right.
A
It's not just one thing that delivers, you know, an experience. And I think we, you know, intel and AMD and many processor vendors have created a rich ecosystem of thriving ecologies that are fundamentally enabling habitation, enabling life, and creating persistent, enabled life. We've got to combine the best of what every technology company brings in order to put holistic solutions together that when addressing the need of the user, of the experience to be delivered, we're actually creating compelling value, not for us as technology vendors per se, but for, but for the users and the target audiences for what those users are trying to deliver. And I think that that's where it takes. It takes a community, it takes a village. It's not just a single, a single technology or a single product.
C
Yeah. And you're creating full ecosystems that, that feed on themselves, essentially. I mean, think about just the last 20 year, 30 years, the consumption of silicon has skyrocketed and we talk about digital transformation like on the show, that wouldn't even exist without these ecosystems being built.
A
No, it's really funny. I went off and I think digital transformation is probably one of the most overused terms in the world today. In fact, it's used so much that I think it starts losing its meaning.
D
Right.
A
And so let's really talk about what digital and transformation means. I mean, we have to come back to the basic understanding. Digital is ones and zeros.
D
Right.
A
It's about taking the analog world that we live in and experience and turning it into ones and zeros so that we can apply computing technologies to those ones and zeros and create a value. And the transformation is about taking existing capabilities and existing capacities and improving them, making them different, turning them into something of greater value, greater capability, through the process of computing intelligence. So digital transformation is about the application of technology. We don't get ones and zeros in our world without semiconductor technologies because it's the process of converting analog world experiences to digital environments. And the only way you do that is with semiconductor technologies. That's what does that.
D
Right.
A
And so we sit at the crossroads of digital transformation without actually understanding that the purpose of what we do is to make the lives of every person on the planet better through the application of computer intelligence. That makes what we do more efficient, more capable, more, More Extensible and scalable. Turn it into something that helps everyone, not just a few. And so to me, this is what's going to. I've been in this industry for 45 years. Everybody asks me why I'm not retired. Because we sit on the precipice of incredible opportunity, especially with public sector and government organizations that will now have to go through this massive transformation from essentially manual analog processes to all new digital capacities to meet. By the way, what we're all doing every single day with cell phones and PCs and all the rest of it. I think probably the biggest change between the 80s and the 90s and the 2000s and 2010s and now the 20s is that what we can do with a cell phone today versus the way we did it in the 80s and 90s is actually miraculous journey of technology. And I think what we've done is changed the experience that we have. And I think for the first time in our history, technologically speaking, the consumer experience is driving the business and enterprise experience. And I think, you know, if you go back to the 90s, it was, you know, those at the enterprise implemented the technology long before we experienced it as consumers.
C
As consumers, yeah, I think, I think that's.
A
And it was the reverse in the 80s and 90s. Now it's the consumer experience driving the enterprise experience. And we've got to meet the user where they're at and where the user's at is give me the digital capability to interface with my life and manage my life. And that's going to put all new pressures on enterprise. And I think more so governments who need to go from analog and manual and hard processes to all new digital processes and build those services as deployable and consumable to their user base.
C
So, so if I'm, if I'm in government right now, what, what step do I take to move forward with this digital transformation? Because there's so much to look at. I, I don't know, you know, and I just spent $5 million on an, on an AI cluster and I haven't gotten results out of there and results out of it. Did I put the money in the wrong place? Where do I start? It's gotta be extremely confusing because every vendor in their dog is, is calling me on the phone saying, hey, let me, let me show you the latest technologies that we have that you need or you're going to be behind. How do I sort through all that? I mean, well, I think, you know.
A
I think by the way, you're, you're very accurate I think what, what most decision makers experience today is, and, you know, I'll use, you know, our friends in the cloud environment as an example. If I'm, if I'm a CIO or a CTO or CISO or Chief Digital Transformation Officer, I have Microsoft in my door one day, I have Amazon in my door the next day. I have Google in the next day. Oh, by the way, I get nervous because all three of them are telling me they're the answer for what appears to be a common sort of element of my solution stack. But then guess what? I got cumulocity and I got terramark and I got dozens of other cloud companies and their tools telling me they're my answer. I think what we've got to do is start mapping these technologies into. As you've been working with the digital transformation architecture and with Open Group and the enterprise architecture discussion that we've been having with many customers is we've got to start building a roadmap of technology and in a way in which it can be consumed and then delivered to the needs of the customer. Again, back to that main theme, but doing it in a planned roadmap type of environment where we can help them actually place the value of all these different technologies into a holistic view of technology as applied to the enterprise requirements of the given business, whether it be a public sector, government or agency, or whether an educational institution, or whether, you know, a Fortune 1000 company. I think we've got to be able to help them see how technology gets mapped to a purpose and then help them understand the values that all the different vendors bring and how those values manifest themselves in something that's meaningful to them as a consumer.
C
But can I do that at the speed. Because you, you were saying consumers are now driving technology adoption. And we, we see this with TikTok. We see this with, like, teams and zoom and things like that. Those really started not. I mean, they were touching an enterprise for a long time, but not real pure adoption until the consumers adopted it. And then it was like, wow, I can do more work at home than I can in the office. Same thing with generative AI. Big companies are stuck in their generative AI policies. I don't know what to do. I'm paralyzed. So people just go home and do the work at home and bring it back to work. Of which I am not guilty of that. Never.
A
And I know you've never done that nor me.
D
Right.
A
Again, I think what it comes down to, and I see this in operation every single day, you know, we have an opportunity to help mentor and coach the process by which technology gets applied to these problems. I think if we stop trying to sell for a minute and listen to the needs of the consumer, whether it be the end, the end consumer of a service or whether it's those deploying the service, I think what we do is we put ourselves in the moment of the work to be done, the service to be deployed, the capability to be enabled, and then we start working to articulate how technologies come together. I don't think the question is what people want to do. I think the question is how do I do it? And I think we've got to get into the how. And I think, you know, at least what I've been able to experience, especially with many different customers that I've worked with so far, is that it's possible to take the construct of what a consumer experiences on the point of delivery and, and map that functionality back into the enterprise architecture that makes the connection of the consumer behavior with the enterprise capability and put those two things together. We're seeing it in part in enterprise. I think there's more work to do there. I think we're seeing it less so in the public sector. There's more opportunity to inform that. But I think when we start looking at these platforms like TikTok and others, they just make it simple to be able to record, transcribe, take away and communicate. We've got to bring that simplicity to every service that's being deployed and do that through the use of technology. I think that's what's going to take all these sort of AI implementations that in their early stages were rooted in these sort of disjoint, disparate technologies that people sort of cobbled together to make something happen to more integrated answers built from a, a purposeful approach to technology orchestration as opposed to it being something that's a bespoke sort of deployment of pieces and parts to get to a holistic answer.
C
So that I love that holistic answer because that tells me that I, I'll have a job for a while because I'm an enterprise architect and having that view, right that I love how you pulled that all together because I do see a lot of point solutions out there and I think that's one of the reasons why 80% of gen AI and AI projects fail is because they stand up a shiny object and it does disco dancing cats and then you're like, wow, that's a cool disco dancing cat. What does that have to do with processing DMV Records at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Absolutely not.
A
Absolutely right. And by the way, this is kind of the lesson on why Internet of things struggled for so long to become mainstream, right? Is that everybody built these sort of one off siloed applications that then they wanted to do the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.
C
And they could talk to each other.
A
The architecture wasn't built to do that. The architecture was built on a bespoke answer here and a bespoke answer there and a bespoke answer over here. But what we were able to do was start showing, you know, our customers how they could use open systems technologies to build platforms. Not answers, but platforms that then answers could be built upon. So I'll give you a really perfect example. And this is out of left field. You know, we were working with a company that built, you know, rooftop air conditioning systems. And they, they knew they had this base problem of being able to tell when their machines were going to be in need of service and being able to predictively describe that to a service group so that they could come out and before the air conditioning unit would break down, they would be able to provide, you know, the, the, the preventative care that would keep that air conditioning running, which is important to the constituency, in this case, the building owner and their, their occupants.
D
Right.
A
And these weren't like your, your standard house air conditioning. These were rooftop air conditioning systems deployed to major, you know, commercial enterprise environments.
D
Right.
A
Millions and millions of them worldwide that were disconnected assets until they failed. Well, what we were able to do was show them how we could without them having to redesign the air conditioning unit, connect technology to that unit to extract data and put that into a place where the data could now be analyzed to start doing preventative, predictive and prescriptive maintenance analytics on that appliance. And what was really interesting, when that was successful, they came up with five more things. They. Well, that was great. That made it so simple. Well, here's five more things we want to do. Oh, oh, oh, we did those five. Now here's 10 more things we want to do. You know what? That same company today that deployed just a single service, let me know when my air conditioning unit is beginning to hit a service point. Now has deployed over 300 services on their air conditioning units worldwide. Because we gave them a vehicle by which data could be processed to services. And I think we've got to rethink this in that light that we're not building for one thing. We're building for many things that come iteratively not.
C
I really, really like that because that shows true digital transformation in that I'm taking something highly analog in a AC unit, right? It's very analog. And now I've created additional services that make it even better for my constituents. So saves money. I know one of them was to save money by not running the AC when it didn't mean to. Predicting wind to cool down the building and heat up the building. Very, very cool stuff. So Rick, if I am, if I want to find out more or if I want to engage more with this type of engagement, how do I get started? Where do I go to find out more?
A
You know, I, and, and I'm going to be a little bit self serving here, you know, vis a vis the company I work for today.
C
Well, that's your job, right?
A
Yeah, and, and so, you know, I think, look, intel has a very valuable position in the ecosystem. Notwithstanding all the things that Nvidia does and amd, these are great companies with great products that do great things. Intel remains or at least stands alone today as not only being the hotspot of this industry because we still build and manufacture and control our own foundries in terms of building semiconductors, but now we're transitioning those semiconductors into products that are going into equipment that are now at the root of digital transformation. And then together with partners like Nvidia and others that we can work with in the market, and we, our systems vendors and our equipment vendors, you know, we're able to actually translate our computing technology into the art of the possible in terms of what all this equipment can do to actually bring this discussion we've been having to life. What I would say is, you know, you need to start, look, the industry needs to start looking at these sort of base foundational players. A player like intel that's been one of the few brands that has survived the 60s. Right? We were here in the 60s and we're still here today. It's one of only two brands I'm aware of in the semiconductor industry, US and Texas Instruments, that have been able to sustain ourselves through decades of being in the market. And we're at the founding level of this industry and we continue here today. And the hallmark of that is we've been able to coach our customers through these evolutions of technologies that we've discussed today. And I think we stand at the, at the ready point to do that today. So what I would say is this, we're hanging a shingle out today. Our business shingle is out today saying if you have a Digital transformation, ambition. Call us. We will help you connect to the industry. We'll help you connect to these concepts of enterprise architecture, of building use case and service capabilities, building data operationalization capabilities, actually helping you sort the technology field into meaningful constructions that fit your business. And I think for us, we stand ready to help our customers engage the possibility while at the same time creating a mechanism, a means by which they can journey the path with safety, security, forward, enabling, and with the knowledge that will help them make the best decisions together with our ecosystem. So I would just say, don't wait, get started, pick up the phone, contact people like Darren, like myself, and others that are willing to sit with you and help you through this process without you having to journey it alone. And we'll stay with you for as long as we're contributing value.
C
So, hey, Rick, I'm gonna, I'll post your phone number, your personal number on the end of the podcast for people. So if I can just.
A
Yeah, I can't wait.
C
Yeah, or, you know, you can contact, you can contact us through intel.com there's lots of information there. Or find us on LinkedIn. That's a great place to go.
A
Yep.
C
So, Rick, thanks for coming on the show. This has been wonderful. Hopefully our, our audience loves us. I, I love talking to Rick. Anyway, we talk for hours and hours every week, so.
A
Well, I think the key message for me is that, and really from us is that we're here to help the customer achieve their success. And I think why these various things have failed is because I think the industry as a whole is more focused on selling what's on the truck today than helping the customer solve the problem. And so we sell widgets, we sell siloed technologies, we sell one off things without actually trying to architect an answer before we sell something. I'd rather get into a dialogue of architecting an answer to a problem and then figuring out what screw I need, what nail I need, what hammer I need, what glue I need. We can help the customer decipher those things once we know what the mission purpose is. I want to get into those mission discussions and those enterprise architecture discussions wherein we can help the customer move forward. And, and I think that's that change of what's happened over these 45 years where it's a completely different dynamic now. And yet this new dynamic, my opinion, is a once in a career life. It's a once in a lifetime career opportunity for not only our customers, but for us as technology vendors to really change the way we work together in deploying critical services to our constituencies.
C
Hey Rick, thanks again for coming on the show.
A
Awesome Darren. I appreciate the invite. Really appreciate the time. Thank you.
B
Thanks for listening to Embracing Digital Transformation. If you enjoyed today's conversation, give us five stars on your favorite podcasting app or on YouTube. It really helps others discover the show. If you want to go deeper, join our exclusive community@patreon.com embracing digital, where we share bonus content and you can always connect with other change makers like yourself. You can always find more resources at embracingdigital.
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Org.
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Until next time, keep Embracing the Digital Transformation.
Episode: Navigating the Future of Digital Transformation
Host: Dr. Darren Pulsipher
Guest: Rick Lisa, General Manager, Worldwide Government Center of Excellence, Intel Corp.
Date: October 2, 2025
In this episode, Dr. Darren Pulsipher welcomes Rick Lisa of Intel to discuss the ongoing evolution of digital transformation, particularly in the public sector. Their conversation roams across topics like the shifting value of technology, the role of ecosystems, how consumer tech is shaping enterprise approaches, and actionable strategies for government CIOs to cut through the noise. Bringing a career that spans 45 years at the heart of the semiconductor and computing industries, Rick shares essential insights into building for lasting change versus chasing technology fads.
"I've been in the semiconductor industry and or the computing industry now for 45 years [...] been the privilege of calling on at least 750 of the Fortune 1000 in my career." – Rick Lisa [01:27]
Earlier Eras:
"In the 80s... the way the customer learned about technology was really by what salespeople walk through the door." – Rick [04:54]
Shift with the Internet:
"Where it is today is it really isn't about the technology. I don't think the customers care as much about what the specific technologies are, but how the technologies can advantage what they're trying to do." – Rick [06:03]
"The function is probably commoditized, but how the technology is put together is really not as commoditized as it might appear." – Rick [06:42]
"We get so focused on the hammer, the screw or the nail that we forget that what we're really trying to do is build furniture." – Rick [10:56]
AI as Workload, Not Technology:
"We've turned AI into a technology, not a workload. If you shift the thinking to AI as a workload, now what you're looking at... is how do I deliver from the workload, the service?" – Rick [15:03]
Why So Many AI Projects Fail:
"80% of all AI projects fail." – Darren [14:40]
Notable Analogy:
"I would liken Nvidia to Mt. Everest... it's amazing... but you can't live on Everest. You can ascend it and you can come back down... but there's no thriving ecosystem that lives on Everest." – Rick [16:52]
"Digital is ones and zeros. It's about taking the analog world... and turning it into ones and zeros... and the transformation is about taking existing capabilities and... making them different, turning them into something of greater value." – Rick [19:29]
"For the first time in our history, technologically speaking, the consumer experience is driving the business and enterprise experience." – Rick [22:12]
Facing Vendor Overload:
"If I'm a CIO... I have Microsoft in my door one day, I have Amazon the next, Google the next... and all three are telling me they're the answer." – Rick [23:40]
How to Navigate:
"We've got to start building a roadmap of technology... mapping these technologies into a holistic view of technology as applied to the enterprise requirements." – Rick [24:08]
Speed of Change & Consumerization:
"We gave them a vehicle by which data could be processed to services... not building for one thing, but many things that come iteratively" – Rick [31:19]
"Intel... as not only being the hotspot of this industry because we still build and manufacture and control our own foundries... but now we're transitioning those semiconductors into products that are at the root of digital transformation." – Rick [32:56]
"We're hanging a shingle out today... If you have a digital transformation ambition, call us. We will help you connect to the industry... build use case and service capabilities... help you sort the technology field into meaningful constructions that fit your business." – Rick [34:55]
| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------|-----------------| | Rick Lisa introduction & origin story | 01:02 – 03:25 | | Evolution of digital transformation: past-now | 04:03 – 06:12 | | On commoditization & “tools war” | 06:42 – 10:56 | | GenAI, Nvidia, AI project failures | 12:56 – 16:52 | | Ecosystem thinking, consumer influence | 17:19 – 22:57 | | Advice for government/public sector CIOs | 22:57 – 26:12 | | Building holistic/iterative platforms | 29:27 – 32:48 | | Getting started/Intel’s support offer | 32:48 – 36:27 |
Dr. Darren Pulsipher and Rick Lisa explore why digital transformation success depends less on the next hot technology and more on assembling the right mix of people, processes, and holistic tools. The conversation offers hard-won advice for public sector and enterprise leaders seeking clarity amidst hype, suggesting that organizations must start with purpose, map technology to outcomes, avoid shoddy “point solutions,” and build with open, extensible platforms. Both warn against siloed thinking and push for more intentional, experience-focused design—reminding us that, in the end, it’s about serving real people, with real needs, in a digitally enabled world.