Leading the AI Revolution: Key Takeaways from the First Ai day

Our Ai day tour kicked off in Dallas, Texas, last week with an exciting and successful day filled with groundbreaking insights and transformative ideas.

Held at the Omni Hotel, the full-day event, and the first of four Ai days in the U.S. (with expansion to London in 2025), explored practical AI applications for today's enterprises through expert presentations, interactive discussions and a deep dive into WWT's state-of-the-art AI Proving Ground.

If you missed us in Dallas, join us at one of our next AI days and be a key player in the AI revolution! Register now!

Jeff Fonke on stage, presenting on WWT's AI Proving Ground

WWT's presenters, whose AI expertise covers use case development, AI security, model development, infrastructure architecture and more, took the audience on a journey through the world of practical AI, highlighting the unprecedented pace of adoption compared to previous technological revolutions. They outlined the four key stages of the AI maturity curve — exploratory, experimental, operational and transformative — challenging attendees to consider how their organizations could navigate this rapidly evolving landscape.

The speakers didn't just theorize; they dove straight into WWT's internal use cases, showcasing the real-world impact of AI solutions. First, they introduced Atom Ai, an AI-powered chatbot that provides employees with access to a wealth of information from multiple data sources, revolutionizing internal knowledge sharing and boosting productivity across the organization.

Next, the audience learned about RFP Assistant, an AI-powered solution that streamlines the arduous RFP process. By automating the qualification, summarization and response generation, this tool is helping WWT's teams work smarter, not harder, freeing them up to focus on strategic priorities.

Throughout the discussion, our presenters emphasized the critical importance of investing in talent, infrastructure and data to achieve success with AI. This is no small feat, but the potential rewards are immense, as evidenced by the impressive returns WWT has already seen with our internal AI initiatives.

What is Practical AI?

Practical AI is WWT's approach to AI. It is a balanced approach that prioritizes targeted AI solutions to deliver fast outcomes while considering the viability, maturity and scalability of long-term AI and data strategies.

WWT's Practical AI Briefing is an exploration of our outcomes-based approach to AI, its applications and its transformational potential to drive organizational success.

Topics covered in Practical AI Briefing include:

What is "Practical AI"?
Definition of relevant applications in the enterprise
General use cases and their importance to the enterprise
AI readiness
Organizational needs and relevance
Overall data strategy and risk
Data management & security
Technical architecture considerations
Center of Excellence concepts for generative and predictive AI, deep and machine learning, and digital twin technology

Sign up for the Practical AI Briefing today!

Additional insights into the day

Enterprise data strategy: Data is critical for AI success, but you need a clear strategy to maximize its value. Bill Stanley, Chief Technology Advisor, emphasized aligning data assets to business outcomes through use case prioritization and a collaborative Center of Excellence. Understanding your data maturity and taking an iterative, value-driven approach is key.

AI & cybersecurity: AI brings incredible potential, but also new security risks. Kent Noyes, Global Head of AI & Cyber Innovation, outlined top threats like prompt injection and supply chain vulnerabilities. It's all about finding the right balance and using AI to enhance security while also securing AI systems.

Where should I run AI?: Deciding where to deploy AI workloads — on-premises, private cloud or public cloud — involves weighing factors like cost, scalability, data sensitivity and time to market. Chris Campbell, Sr. Director for AI Solutions, and Derrick Monahan, Technical Solutions Architect for High-Performance Architecture, emphasized the need for a tailored, hybrid approach aligned to your specific business needs and use cases.

Partner Village, where our attendees were able to learn about specific AI tools from industry-leading partners

WWT AI Proving Ground: WWT has invested heavily in an AI Proving Ground to help customers rapidly test, evaluate and operationalize AI. Jeff Fonke, Senior Practice Manager for High-Performance Architecture, unveiled our cutting-edge AI Proving Ground, a secure environment where you can test-drive the latest innovations. From use case development to infrastructure design, this collaborative lab environment helps you fast-track your AI journey so you can start seeing real results fast.

Choose your track: We also held breakout sessions where our attendees were able to "choose their track" based on where they were on their AI journey and interests: Using AI, Securing AI or Scaling AI. The "Using AI" track covered optimizing processes, uncovering valuable data insights and strategic next steps for AI implementation. "Securing AI" introduced WWT's AI Security Enclave, strategies for deepfake defense and securing the AI supply chain. The "Scaling AI" track discussed the limitations of legacy infrastructure, the critical role of data centers and considerations between building versus buying AI solutions.

The common thread in the whole day?

A strategic, practical mindset — one that balances innovation, security and business value.

Ai day is designed to provide our clients with the latest insights and practical strategies, whether you're aiming to optimize your current processes, secure your AI initiatives or scale your AI infrastructure to new heights.

Don't miss the opportunity to connect with industry leaders, explore groundbreaking advancements and propel your organization towards unprecedented success.

Accelerate your AI journey

Wherever you are in your AI journey, WWT can help get you there faster and more efficiently. Check out these offerings from our AI and data consultants, engineers and architects designed to help you achieve long-term AI success!

Workshops

High-Performance Architecture Workshop

Assessments

Briefings