Advertise on podcast: Tech Deep Dive

The demo was perfect. Then deployment happened. If your contact center AI “worked” in a pilot but fell apart in production - this episode explains why. Max Clark sits down with Jim K. Tennant (VP, Channel Sales at Observe.AI) to unpack the real reasons contact center AI projects fail after approval: weak data foundations, missing guardrails, messy knowledge sources, agent adoption breakdowns, and bots that can’t recover when customers go off-script. They also dig into what actually works—call analytics → automated QA → agent assist → targeted automation, and how to reduce churn and handle time without wrecking CSAT. Watch this before your AI pilot turns into an expensive failure.

What if the real problem isn’t Azure… it’s putting the wrong workloads there? In this episode, Max Clark sits down with William Sellers, Solutions Architect at DartPoints, to dissect a real-world migration from the energy sector: an internal research app that went into Azure “to move fast,” scaled to nearly $30K/month, and finally forced leadership to draw a line. You’ll hear how technical debt, predictable workloads, and opaque vCPU economics quietly turned a good idea into an unsustainable cloud bill—and what it actually took to unwind it. They break down: Why predictable, IaaS-style workloads get financially punished in hyperscale cloudHow finance, infrastructure, and application owners finally aligned around leaving AzureThe real definition of “minimal downtime” when you’re moving a 100+ TB VM and a Zerto bug derails your planHow DartPoints used private cloud to stabilize costs, simplify billing, and reduce complexityWhat VMware/Broadcom uncertainty really means for platform decisions—and why many teams now say, “we don’t care about the hypervisor; just make the VMs run.”If you’re responsible for infrastructure spend and you haven’t evaluated whether your workloads belong in Azure, you’re already behind.This episode gives you the decision framework, the warning signs, and the migration realities—so you don’t end up defending a runaway cloud bill with no exit plan.

If you’re betting on “the cloud is secure” and a few DLP rules to save you, you’re exposed. Most breaches aren’t a tool failure, they’re a visibility failure. You can’t protect data you can’t see. In this episode, Max Clark sits down with Sirena Ong from Secuvvy to break down Data Security Posture Management (DSPM): what it is, how it differs from DLP, and why every CISO is suddenly waking up to data blind spots across SaaS, cloud, endpoints, and AI workloads. They dig into: Why “shared responsibility” and cloud-native tools still leave massive data visibility gapsThe real difference between DSPM (data at rest) and DLP (data in motion)—and why you need bothHow sensitive data quietly sprawls across SaaS, file shares, endpoints, Snowflake, and AI training pipelinesUsing DSPM to quantify risk, justify security budget, and avoid getting crushed on cyber insuranceWhat actually happens when you run DSPM in a 1,000-user environment for the first time (yes, you will find things you don’t like)If you own cloud, data, or security risk, this isn’t optional anymore.What you don’t know about your data will hurt you—get visibility before it becomes a board-level incident.

You know that moment when the alerts start flooding in, and your entire network goes dark?Systems down. Phones silent. Operations frozen.Now imagine that happening inside a prison. Six hundred of them. One outage away from chaos. In this conversation, Max Clark sits down with Oliver Maxwell from APX Net, Inc who had to build a network that literally keeps the peace. They get into what happens when multi-carrier complexity meets mission-critical uptime, how “better internet” became a safety system, and the hard lessons from running connectivity in places most carriers won’t touch.  Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the problems you’re managing today might not cause riots — but they could still cost you everything when the network fails.  ⚡ Don’t scroll past this one — the next outage you prevent might be your own.

Ever feel trapped in the endless cycle of network refreshes, license renewals, and “surprise” upgrade costs?You’re not alone. One school faced the same uphill battle and decided to break free. The result? A $250K turnaround and a totally new way of thinking about IT infrastructure. In this episode, Max Clark sits down with Francisco Tello, Senior Sales Engineer at Meter, to unpack how a forward-thinking school ditched legacy networking gear and discovered a utility-style model that just works. They dive deep into why the traditional CapEx approach to networking is broken, what “network-as-a-service” really means, and how simplifying infrastructure can transform budgets, uptime, and sanity. If you’ve ever asked yourself, “There has to be a better way to do this,”—this is that conversation.Watch now and see how this shift could change how your organization builds and runs its network.

You know the risks. The board knows the budget. So how do you bridge the gap? For most IT and security leaders, convincing executives to prioritize security is the toughest job they face. In this episode, Max Clark sits down with Alejandro Ziegenhirt, Sr. Manager of InfoSec & DevOps at OfferUp, to unpack the real-world struggle of funding security. From cloud myths to phishing to why ROI arguments usually fall flat, Alejandro shares battle-tested ways to communicate risk in dollars and keep leadership listening. Don’t wait for a breach to prove your point. Hit play and find out how to frame security in a way that executives can’t ignore.

Every minute you wait to respond, another lead dies. Missed calls, ignored forms, slow follow-ups, your IT system might be the silent killer behind your pipeline collapse. In this episode, Max Clark sits down with Kaitlynn Crossno, Sales Engineering Manager at Capacity, to uncover the hidden IT gaps that kill pipeline in minutes. From speed-to-lead failures to dealer bottlenecks and weekend coverage gaps, they reveal why customers disappear faster than you can respond and how AI-powered solutions are rewriting the rules of engagement. Every day you wait, more deals die in silence. Don’t let yours be next. Watch now!

Imagine signing the lease, hiring the staff, setting the date and then realizing you can’t even open your doors.That’s exactly what happened to a fast-growing healthcare provider. In this episode, Max Clark and Darcy Guidry, Regional Channel Director at Epic iO, expose the hidden IT gap that can shut a business down: months-long fiber delays, shocking $1,000 copper POTS lines, and overlooked connectivity risks that stall growth. They explain how fixed wireless has gone from a last-resort backup to a proven growth enabler that IT leaders now depend on to launch faster, cut costs, and protect operations. If you think your expansion plans are safe, think again. Watch now and learn how to make sure this gap never shuts you down.

Imagine your call volume doubles overnight, but your hiring budget is stuck at zero.Most contact centers would collapse. Heritage Federal Credit Union didn’t. In this episode, Max Clark sits down with Brent Wilford and Patrick Russell from Glia to unpack how Heritage:Navigated a messy merger without adding agentsReimagined customer engagement with true omnichannel done rightUsed AI to empower agents instead of replacing them Unlike JPMorgan’s massive AI rollouts, Heritage shows what “AI done right” looks like in a mid-sized credit union. It is a blueprint any contact center can follow. 👉 Heritage doubled call volume without a single new hire. Watch how, and learn what your team can take from their playbook before you face the same challenge.

They had backups. The storm didn’t care.When a major client demanded proof of uptime and recovery, a Florida-based marketing company realized their DR plan was just a plan, not a solution. In this episode, Max Clark sits down with Keith Lukes from UbiStor to break down how backup confidence can quickly turn into recovery chaos. From untested runbooks to budget-busting HA demands, they dive into what actually works and what blows up  when disaster hits. This is a real conversation about recovery time, immutable storage, cloud myths, and the human pressure of getting it all back online. This one’s not about tech. It’s about survival. Hit play.

How many moving lawsuits are driving around with your logo on them right now?Fleet liability is no longer just a risk—it’s a ticking time bomb for your business. Accidents, claims, inflated insurance premiums, distracted drivers… the dangers are real, and they’re hiding in plain sight. In this episode, Max Clark sits down with Chris Johnson, VP of Business Development at Azuga, to break down how video telematics and real-time fleet data are transforming driver safety, insurance costs, and operational control. From gamifying driver performance to eliminating third-party claims, this episode exposes what your current GPS tracker isn't doing—and how top fleets are fixing it. Before the next claim hits your desk, hit play. The risk is real—but so is the solution.

What if you had no cyber insurance… and still walked away with the money?Most companies wouldn’t be so lucky. But one small manufacturer found themselves in the middle of a cybercrime event—and somehow, a loophole in the system worked in their favor. In this episode, Max Clark sits down with Joseph Cook of Arizona Group to unpack a real-world breach that started with a spoofed invoice and ended in a surprising insurance payout. They break down how cyber insurance policies really work, the hidden clauses that could make or break a claim, and what most business owners overlook when it comes to risk, protection, and coverage. From business email compromise to ransomware to evolving policy underwriting, this is a no-fluff crash course on what’s actually at stake—and what your policy probably doesn’t say. Think you're safe because you're small or “not a tech company”? Watch this episode before it costs you.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare—your child dials 911... and nothing happens.Most of us assume emergency services will be there when we need them. But what if your office phone, your cloud system, or your campus setup silently fails in a moment that counts? In this episode, Max Clark is joined by Mark “Fletch” Fletcher, ENP at 911 and a leading voice in public safety technology. They unpack shocking real-world failures—from tragic hotel incidents to multi-million-dollar lawsuits—and expose the hidden compliance gaps most companies don’t know they have. You’ll learn how outdated PBX systems, VoIP misconfigurations, and overlooked 911 laws like Kari’s Law and the Ray Baum’s Act can become legal and life-threatening liabilities. This episode isn’t just a tech conversation—it’s a wake-up call. Watch now before you assume you're protected.

Microsoft doesn’t just allow you to leave Calling Plans—they’ve built tools to help you do it. That’s not a glitch in the strategy. It is the strategy. In this episode, Max Clark sits down with Steve Forcum, Director of Marketing at SIPPIO, to explore the future of voice inside Microsoft Teams—and why legacy models like Cisco UC and Microsoft Calling Plans no longer fit. From the Operator Connect evolution to one school’s decision to remove 700 phones, they cover the shifting landscape of UC in real-world environments. You don’t need a desk phone to have a voice strategy. But you do need to hear this.

Could one missed alert put lives at risk?Hospitals were once worried about downtime. Now they're facing something far worse: real-world consequences when cybersecurity fails. One ransomware attack shut down a hospital—and a patient died. It was a moment that changed how healthcare leaders view risk forever. In this episode, Max Clark sits down with Eric Fromm of Trustwave to unpack the silent vulnerabilities plaguing healthcare systems, and how Temple Health made the shift from “good enough” security to fully operationalizing Microsoft E5. They dive into tool sprawl, MSSP gaps, the power of co-managed SOCs, and how to turn underutilized licenses into real protection. If you work in healthcare IT or security, this is your wake-up call. Watch now—because the next breach won’t just cost data.