IoT promised to transform the physical world. Ten years on, adoption still lags behind expectation.

Despite proven technology and successful pilots, most IoT projects never make it to scale, and the reasons are not what many expect.

IoT product expert and author Afzal Mangal joins the podcast to challenge how the industry thinks about IoT adoption, and to explore whether AI could finally unlock its potential, including:

• Why the device remains the biggest single point of failure in IoT projects

• How firmware, not connectivity, determines long-term success

• The awareness and cultural gaps still blocking enterprise IoT adoption

• Why AI has reached the mainstream while IoT remains invisible

• Whether an AI-first approach could finally make IoT stick

Tune in to hear why rethinking IoT through an AI lens may be the reset the industry needs.

Key Topics & Chapters

(04:01) Cisco roots and telco beginnings

(06:17) Launching narrowband IoT networks

(07:16) Early global IoT developer demand

(08:34) B2B onboarding breaks IoT scale

(10:14) Pilots succeed, organizations resist

(11:05) Education missing from IoT adoption

(13:29) IoT innovation demands device failure

(14:37) Hardware failure destroys time and capital

(15:35) Device failure breaks entire IoT stack

(16:19) Firmware audits before global connectivity

(17:17) Firmware governs SIM and modem behavior

(18:10) Awareness blocks enterprise IoT progress

(21:37) Proven IoT solutions remain unknown

(24:18) AI awareness versus IoT invisibility

(26:01) AI prepares workers, IoT surprises them

(27:44) Fifty billion things prediction missed

(28:43) AI has consumed everything apart from IoT data

(29:56) Sound sensors gain meaning with AI

(31:40) Can IoT companies afford AI

(32:38) AI-first healthcare transformation model

(33:31) Smart hospitals track patients, staff, and assets

(34:24) AI exposes hospital process delays

(35:37) Do AI builders understand IoT

(37:24) Can AI simplify IoT integration?

(39:12) Humans still define data connections

(40:19) LLMs ignore IoT use cases

(41:03) AI quality depends on device data

(42:27) Selling IoT through AI consultants

Show Links

• Follow Afzal Mangal on LinkedIn

• Follow Nick Earle on LinkedIn

• Visit our website

AI is moving fast. And most enterprises are not ready for what comes next.

As organizations rush to deploy AI, the real constraint is no longer algorithms or compute. It is whether they have the right data, architecture, and operating model to turn intelligence into outcomes.

IDC Research Director Rob Tiffany joins the podcast to explain why private IoT data is becoming the foundation of enterprise AI:

• Why IoT data gives AI real-world context that scraped content never can
• The rise of private AI and IDC’s concept of the enterprise brain
• Why most enterprise data remains on-prem and what that means for AI infrastructure
• How IoT data feeds AI factories, vector databases, and real-time decision systems
• Why IoT leaders now sit at the center of AI-driven competitive advantage

Tune in to hear how IoT data unlocks enterprise intelligence and reshapes the future of AI.

Key Topics and Chapters



(01:25) —IoT and AI Leaders Podcast rebrand

(03:48) — Rob Tiffany introduction

(04:16) — Navy submarines and special operations experience

(06:38) — IDC analyst role covering cloud

(08:03) — First IoT exposure via submarine sensors

(08:54) — Early IoT vending machines in 1994

(09:32) — Microsoft era and smartphone revolution

(10:21) — Building Azure Cloud and Azure IoT

(10:27) — Industrial digital twins at Hitachi

(12:32) — Why AI concentrates in hyperscale clouds

(13:48) — ChatGPT’s unexpected industry impact

(14:14) — Elon Musk rapidly launches xAI

(16:25) — Edge computing promise remains unmet

(17:32) — Enterprise brain concept explained

(19:04) — Most IoT happens indoors

(21:18) — AGVs reveal need for indoor cellular

(23:39) — Rise of enterprise hybrid AI data centers

(24:27) — Samsung data leak into ChatGPT

(25:22) — Growing interest in private enterprise AI

(27:14) — Fine-tuning AI with company data

(28:27) — Building the enterprise brain

(29:23) — Hybrid AI and competitive advantage recap

(35:28) — Enterprises downloading pretrained LLMs

(37:14) — Jensen Huang’s AI factory vision

(38:08) — Small language models for domains

(41:39) — ServiceNow and agent-driven automation

(44:27) — Will agents replace applications?

(47:12) — Graduate unemployment and future of work

(53:58) — AI disruption moves exponentially

(57:51) — AI gives IoT professionals new relevance

(58:16) — IoT data powers AI vector databases

Show Links

• Follow Rob Tiffany from IDC on LinkedIn
• Follow Nick Earle on LinkedIn
• Follow Eseye on LinkedIn

Enterprises hold growing volumes of connected-device data, yet many are still stuck in early experimentation. The gap isn’t the technology, it’s the readiness of the workflows, processes, and skills that determine whether AI can turn IoT data into meaningful outcomes.

This episode explores:

• Why shadow AI is creating unseen risk
• How internal processes block AI-led progress
• What teams need before scaling automation
• Where IoT data adds unique value to AI models
• How leaders can move from experiments to results

Tune in to hear from Nassia Skoulikariti at Apiro Data about the shift from selling raw data to delivering actionable insights and outcomes.

Key Topics and Chapters

(01:40) — IoT-AI impact, org mistakes, 3-stage implementation framework

(04:50) — Sentient IoT, 80% AI training data from content

(05:51) — IoT data is real-time AI gold mine

(07:01) — IoT-AI enables execution intelligence and coordinated action

(07:27) — Apiro Data evolution to execution intelligence pillars

(08:41) — Core pillar: prepare internal ops for AI

(10:12) — IoT gives data, AI gives speed, execution layer avoids failed pilots

(11:05) — 70% test AI in one department only

(12:54) — Shadow AI and ungoverned internal AI experiments

(14:27) — Individual AI creates silos, not org strategy

(15:11) — Parallels to early ungoverned internet experiments

(16:10) — Mass AI pilots need policy and governance guardrails

(16:46) — Data leak risks and Big Tech policy shifts

(18:02) — Innovation vs guardrails balance

(19:15) — Three Ds framework: Discovery phase

(19:53) — Design phase, prioritize AI workflow impact

(21:41) — Internal AI boosts efficiency, protects margins

(22:01) — AI differentiates IoT products

(23:20) — Amazon and Volvo AI-driven IoT examples

(25:47) — Predictive maintenance now conversational and autonomous

(26:57) — AI agent autonomy fears and governance risks

(27:29) — Human checkpoints required in AI workflows

(28:38) — AI augments humans, frees time for strategy

(29:28) — IoT firm shift to intelligence services example

(30:23) — AI and youth experience gap

(35:10) — Practice turns AI knowledge into execution

(37:00) — Commodity to outcome-based pricing via AI

(38:03) — Outcome pricing precedent example

(38:42) — Risks and pricing challenges with outcomes

(40:07) — Why buy AI intelligence vs build?

(43:06) — IoT roles will evolve to super agents

(44:34) — IoT pros will orchestrate AI minions

(45:37) — IoT data pricing model is unsustainable

(47:40) — Final sign off: podcast evolution to IoT & AI Leaders in 2026

Show Links

• Read Eseye's 2026 IoT Predictions Report
• Follow Nassia Skoulikariti from Apiro Data on LinkedIn
• Follow Nick Earle on LinkedIn
• Follow Eseye on LinkedIn

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