The AI Reality Check – Operationalizing for Business Value

There has never been a megatrend as transformative as AI. 2023 unlocked new possibilities, 2024 brought new proof of concepts and 2025 was the year to prove the ROI and business value generation of AI. 2026 is the year of the AI reality check and organizations that successfully operationalize AI to drive concrete efficiency and measurable impact will be the ultimate winners.

Join this session to discuss:

Adopting lean approaches to AI transformation that scale quickly to value
Balancing market, organizational, and stakeholder pressures in the roadmap to business outcomes
Shaping the new agentic enterprise as you move from experimentation to operationalization

Mike Burgio

Sr. Manager, Solution Architecture - OutSystems

Mike Burgio brings two decades of technical leadership to his role as Senior Manager, Solutions Architecture at OutSystems. Leading the East Region pre-sales team, Mike focuses on aligning business goals with technical capabilities to drive sustainable client value. With a background in core systems and managed services, he has a proven track record of steering global teams through complex sales cycles for enterprise and public sector clients.

Mitch Ashley

VP & Practice Lead, Software Lifecycle Engineering - The Futurum Group

Mitch Ashley is Vice President and Practice Lead, Software Lifecycle Engineering for The Futurum Group. Mitch has over 30+ years of experience as an entrepreneur, industry analyst, product development and IT leader, with expertise in software engineering, cybersecurity, DevOps, DevSecOps, cloud, and AI. Mitch comes to The Futurum Group through the acquisition of Techstrong Group (devops.com, securityboulevard.com, and techstrong.tv), where he serves as CTO and founder of Techstrong Research.

Alan Shimel

Founder and CEO - Techstrong Group

Alan is founder, CEO & editor-in-chief of Techstrong Group, the company behind DevOps.com, Container Journal, Security Boulevard and Digital Anarchist, as well as co-founder of the DevOps Institute. As such, he is attuned to the world of technology, particularly cloud, DevOps, security and open source. With almost 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, Alan has been instrumental in the success of several organizations. He is an often-cited personality in the security and technology community and is a sought-after speaker at industry and government conferences and events. In addition to his writing, his DevOps Chats podcast, DevOps TV and Digital Anarchist audio and videos are widely followed. Alan attributes his success to a combination of a strong business background and a deep knowledge of technology. His legal background, long experience in the field and New York street smarts combine to form a unique personality. He is a graduate of St. John's University with a Bachelor of Arts in Government and Politics, and holds a JD degree from NY Law School.

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