The Beat

AI at HLTH: Sustaining Healthcare IT: The Shift from Reactive Response to Predictive Resilience

Episode Summary

Enterprise IT is drowning in repeat incidents, slow triage, and reactive firefighting—burning teams out while costs rise and service quality slips. In this episode, Sandy and Umesh Shiknis of Publicis Sapient explore how Sapient Sustain uses AI-driven automation, predictive insights, and self-healing workflows to break the cycle, turning IT operations from constant crisis mode into a resilient, proactive engine that sustains the business. They also discuss how Publicis Sapient is leveraging AI to address challenges in the healthcare sector. They put an importance on modernizing legacy systems while also emphasizing the concept of agentic AI. Check out their new website here : https://www.publicissapient.com/sapient-ai/sustain

Episode Notes

Enterprise IT is drowning in repeat incidents, slow triage, and reactive firefighting—burning teams out while costs rise and service quality slips. In this episode, Sandy and Umesh Shiknis of Publicis Sapient explore how Sapient Sustain uses AI-driven automation, predictive insights, and self-healing workflows to break the cycle, turning IT operations from constant crisis mode into a resilient, proactive engine that sustains the business. They also discuss how Publicis Sapient is leveraging AI to address challenges in the healthcare sector. They put an importance on modernizing legacy systems while also emphasizing the concept of agentic AI.

Check out more about Sapient Sustain here: https://www.publicissapient.com/sapient-ai/sustain

In this episode, they talk about:

• Publicis Sapient focuses on human-centered digital transformation in healthcare
• AI can accelerate product development and modernize legacy systems
• It's easy to confuse automation with simple elements of machine learning, which are progressively more deterministic
• Organizations must establish guardrails for AI implementation because of how powerful agentic AI can be
• Sapient Sustain helps healthcare companies manage and stabilize their applications
• The end-user experience is crucial in technology deployment
• AI can significantly reduce technical debt in healthcare organizations
• Healthcare leaders should look at the boring stuff and focus on practical AI applications
• Educate your workforce to embrace the future instead of fearing it

A Little About Umesh:

Umesh Shiknis is Executive Vice President and Global Chief Growth Officer at Publicis Sapient, a human-centered, product-led digital business transformation firm. He leads global growth and go-to-market strategy, scaling new buying centers, accelerating client impact, and driving transformational revenue across industries. Previously, Umesh held senior leadership roles at Capgemini, Infosys, and ISG. His current focus is on taking the Publicis Sapient AI product suite—Sapient Slingshot, Bodhi, and Sapient Sustain—to market, turning AI innovation into measurable, enterprise-wide outcomes.