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Guest Spotlight: Keri Gilder, CEO, Colt
In this episode of Executives at the Edge, Pascal welcomed Keri Gilder, CEO of Colt and to share her thoughts on how AI, technology, and workplace transformation are reshaping industries, challenging job markets, and creating new opportunities.
She highlights her journey as a tech leader and her passion for telecommunications and connecting the world through fiber, voice, and data services across 34 countries. She notes how the pace of technological advancements is accelerating, citing her involvement in TCP/IP testing back in 1992. Today, she sees AI and quantum computing as technologies poised to revolutionize industries even faster, with innovation cycles shrinking from years to months.
As a complement to MEF’s Executives at the Edge podcast series, this episode recap provides key take-aways and highlights from our expert guest.
MEF’s Executives at the Edge podcast series brings you the latest insights and perspectives from industry leaders driving enterprise digital transformation. Hosted by MEF CTO Pascal Menezes, the podcast delves into the innovations shaping the future of digital transformation.
Workplace Transformation
Quantum computing, with its ability for parallel processing, is an ideal complement to AI, especially in areas like pharmaceuticals, where it can speed up the development and testing of new treatments. For industries like telecommunications, AI and quantum computing can help enhance network security by detecting anomalies and predicting threats more effectively.
Challenging Job Market but Creating New Opportunities
There are definite concerns about AI replacing jobs. While acknowledging the potential for disruption, Keri believes that AI will more likely augment human roles, creating new opportunities for those willing to learn new skills, particularly in data science and coding. She sees the real challenge lies in upskilling workers to adapt to new technologies.
Disparity in the tech industry was another key topic, stressing the importance of inclusivity and diverse talent. She reflects on her work around diversity, equity, and inclusion, noting that retaining this talent is often more challenging than attracting them, especially in rapidly evolving sectors. Apprenticeships and alternative learning paths, like coding for non-technical backgrounds, are crucial to addressing these disparities.
The conversation concludes with Keri sharing her vision of Network -as -a -Service (NaaS), a model that’s evolving beyond traditional telecommunications to offer flexible, cloud-based solutions with a focus on customer experience. She is optimistic about the future of global network federations, where multiple providers collaborate seamlessly to meet growing demands for connectivity, security, and rapid innovation.
Learn More
- Listen to the complete podcast episode with Keri Gilder of Colt, AI Transformation: Democratizing Knowledge.
Executives at the Edge podcast is brought to you by MEF, an industry association of 200 service, technology, and cloud providers who together accelerate enterprise digital transformation.
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Amy Foschetti
PR Executive | MEF