Podcast Summary: Leading the AI Shift with Santosh Kaveti | The Digital Executive, Ep 1147

Date: November 17, 2025
Host: Brian, Coruzant Technologies
Guest: Santosh Kaveti, CEO & Founder of ProArch

Episode Overview

This episode features Santosh Kaveti, a veteran technologist and CEO of ProArch, exploring the challenges and transformative opportunities brought about by AI, IT/OT convergence, and digital transformation—particularly in critical infrastructure sectors like energy and manufacturing. With an emphasis on lessons learned, proactive security, and the evolving future of enterprise technology, Santosh provides clear-eyed guidance for business and technology leaders navigating a rapidly shifting landscape.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Technology Failure & Lesson Learned

• Technology Is Only a Tool: Santosh recalls an early career failure where he built an elegant data analytics platform for a manufacturing client that failed due to lack of adoption and user engagement.
• Quote (Santosh, 02:44):
  "We had built this powerful engine where we had completely forgotten to build the roads and even teach anyone how to drive. If you can use that analogy, it's like building a stadium and not having the roads and infrastructure for people to really get there."
• Lesson:
  • Technology must serve people and business processes, not just technical elegance.
  • Success is measured by business outcomes, not software specs or billable hours.
  • Effective tech leaders are also change agents, strategists, and ethnographers.
• Quote (Santosh, 04:02):
  "Our job isn't just to be technologists, it's to be change agents... Our job should be—and it is—to empower [the people who live and breathe the business every day]."

2. Integrating Cloud, Data, Apps, and Security (IT/OT Convergence)

• ProArch’s Four-Pillar Approach:
  • Cloud: Foundational horsepower for scalability and resilience.
  • Data: The “fuel,” transformed into actionable intelligence.
  • Apps: User vehicles for engaging with data and processes.
  • Security: The non-negotiable, integral "steering and brakes," engineered from the start.
• Convergence Challenge:
  • The merging of legacy OT (operational tech) and modern IT brings both opportunity and risk.
  • OT systems are often unpatched, vulnerable, and not designed for Internet connectivity.
  • True transformation bridges these worlds, enabling predictive and prescriptive analytics that cross operational and business systems.
• Quote (Santosh, 06:05):
  "You can't just have one. These are not silos. You can't just bolt on stuff. It's like building a powerful engine with no fuel is useless. So for us, all of these are integrated and one part enables the other."
• Quote (Santosh, 07:46):
  "Our approach is to act as the bridge between these two worlds... You are actually able to provide true predictive maintenance or analytics, even prescriptive, I may say."

3. Shadow AI and Hidden Organizational Vulnerabilities

• Cultural Blind Spots Trump Technical Flaws:
  • The riskiest vulnerabilities aren’t just technical, but cultural—like unchecked "shadow AI" practices.
  • Shadow AI occurs when employees use public AI tools and inadvertently leak sensitive information.
• Quote (Santosh, 09:42):
  "We’re so focused on external threats that a lot of times we're missing massive risks that are hiding in plain sight right inside our organizations."
• Defensive Strategies:
  • Make secure practices the easy choice for employees.
  • Use enterprise AI tools and enable employee education rather than strict prohibition.
  • Modernize and monitor OT systems with Zero Trust models.
• Quote (Santosh, 11:32):
  "Most manufacturing companies or energy companies lack visibility into their OT networks. True visibility... There's a baseline security that you need to bring everything to and just that itself goes a long way."
• Culture of Security:
  • It must span from the C-suite to the factory floor; resilience is a shared responsibility.

4. The Future: Embedded AI, Talent, and Workflow Transformation

• Transformation Paradigm:
  • AI will shift from experimental to "embedded," becoming an invisible part of daily operations.
  • The real challenge is not just technology, but the adaptability of talent and culture.
• Three Major Shifts Santosh Predicts:
  1. Embedded AI:
     • AI will be woven into everything, moving toward agentic and autonomous systems.
     • Quote (14:27):
       "The next decade will be defined by the shift from experimental AI to embedded AI... it will be about the talent and culture and the adaptability."
  2. Vertical AI:
     • Highly specialized, industry-trained models (e.g., compliance engines for healthcare).
     • Quote (15:49):
       "Vertical AI... generic, one size fits all models will be replaced by highly specialized AI that is trained on industry specific data."
  3. Edge & SLMs ("Artificial Intelligence of Things"):
     • AI and analytics migrate to the edge; analysis happens directly on devices (cameras spotting factory defects in real time).
• Preparation for Leaders:
  • Data: Get organizational data in order.
  • Talent: Shift from hiring for credentials to skills.
  • Governance: Develop robust AI governance frameworks.
  • Build symbiotic human-AI relationships—ID and permissioning for AI agents just like humans.
  • Adopt AI-native workflows, not just AI-enabled ones; be ready for ongoing retraining and transformation.
• Quote (Santosh, 17:04):
  "I know right now many industries are trying to bolt on AI to their current workflows. In my opinion, that's not the right way to do it. AI offers an opportunity to reimagine your workflow across your people, functions, apps. And that's what I call as AI native."
• Security and Compliance:
  • The more AI is adopted, the more critical security and compliance will become.

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Humility and Mission (Santosh, 04:02):
  "The smartest people in the room are usually the ones who live and breathe the business every day. Our job should be to empower them."
• On Culture of Security (Santosh, 12:32):
  "...everyone from CEO to somebody on the plant floor, they have to feel a sense of shared responsibility for protecting the organization. And that's the only way to truly be resilient, in my opinion."
• On the Coming Transformation (Santosh, 13:45):
  "Every role, every function from top to bottom is changing and... the pace of change will increase and will be drastically different."
• On AI Native Workflows (Santosh, 17:04):
  "AI enabled is you're just trying to use AI to gain some efficiency. AI native is way new. I really see the opportunity to transform the way we really work."

Important Timestamps

• 01:37–04:02: Santosh's career-defining lesson on technology adoption failures
• 05:07–08:16: Integrating cloud, data, apps, and security in IT/OT convergence
• 09:02–12:52: Shadow AI, hidden vulnerabilities, and building a culture of security
• 13:45–18:06: Predictions for the next decade: embedded AI, the rise of vertical and edge AI, talent and governance imperatives

Takeaways for Listeners

• Success in digital transformation requires humility, user-centered design, and co-creation—not just technical brilliance.
• Companies must integrate cloud, data, apps, and security holistically, especially when connecting legacy OT with modern IT.
• The biggest risks are often human and cultural, like shadow AI and unmonitored convergence points, not just hacking or malware.
• The next decade promises a shift toward invisible, embedded, and agentic AI, with industry specialization and edge intelligence at the forefront.
• Leaders should prioritize adaptive culture, robust governance, and symbiotic collaboration between humans and AI to thrive in this rapidly changing landscape.