EPISODE · Oct 30, 2025 · 43 MIN
Agentic Frontier: Re-imagining Enterprise AI with EY x Microsoft
from Scouting for Growth · host Sabine VdL
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Ulrich (Uli) Homann, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft, and Mark Luquire, EY Global Microsoft Alliance Co-innovation Leader, about how to build an agentic AI enterprise that doesn’t just work faster, but works smarter and, most importantly, works for everyone. KEY TAKEAWAYS In the past automation has been very task driven and specific, things had to go in a certain order and you needed to know that order ahead of time. While you need some of that with generative AI, we now have a system that can help do some of that thinking, so if things change in the process along the way, you can deal with it. Now you can rethink what processes even need to exist and focus on the outcome and how to get to it in a new way. By giving everyone at EY access to generative AI a couple of years ago we learned that people were able to accomplish more more quickly. They used it as a thought-partner, used it as a way to fine tune the product they were working on. Being able to see the evolution of generative AI to now where it’s coding applications on its own almost, seeing the new agent capabilities and tools, and being able to take action on its own with very little prompting, it opens the doors to possibilities and what you’ll be able to do in the future. BEST MOMENTS ‘Focus on where you want to be and then rethink how you’re going to get there, that’s the real key.’ ‘It’s not just an assistant to you, providing you with information, it’s actually taking on work it’s actually thinking through and processing those things as well.’ ABOUT THE GUESTS Ulrich (Uli) Homann is a Corporate Vice President & Distinguished Architect in the Cloud + AI business at Microsoft. As part of the senior engineering leadership team, he’s responsible for the customer-led innovation efforts across the cloud and enterprise platform portfolio. Previously Homann was the Chief Architect for Microsoft worldwide enterprise services, having formerly played a key role in the business’ newly formed Platforms, Technology and Strategy Group. Prior to joining Microsoft in 1991, he worked for several small consulting companies, where he designed and developed distributed systems and has spent most of his career using well-defined applications and architectures to simplify and streamline the development of business applications. Mark Luquire leads the EY organization’s global efforts to co-develop innovative solutions with Microsoft and clients, driving growth and accelerating technology strategy. He oversees cross-functional teams spanning sectors and service lines, serving as a key liaison to Microsoft’s product and engineering teams. Previously, Mark headed Platform Adoption for EY Global, leading enterprise-wide AI and cloud enablement, including integrating generative AI tools like EYQ, GitHub Copilot and Microsoft Copilot. He also created the first EY Global DevOps Practice and led cloud transformation efforts, making EY a leader in Microsoft Azure usage. Mark’s career includes leadership roles in large healthcare enterprises and technology startups, where he established scalable operations, spearheaded digital transformation, and built high-performing global teams. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
What this episode covers
On this episode of Scouting For Growth, Sabine VdL is joined by two powerhouse voices shaping the future of enterprise transformation: Ulrich (Uli) Homann, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, and Mark Luquire, EY Global Microsoft Alliance Co-innovation Leader. Together, they unpack a question every insurance and financial services executive is quietly asking right now: How do you build an agentic AI enterprise that doesn’t just move faster… but gets smarter — and works for everyone? From rigid automation to outcome-driven intelligence Uli and Mark draw a clear line between yesterday’s automation and today’s agentic AI reality. Traditional automation was task-driven and brittle: workflows had to follow a fixed sequence, and you needed to know that sequence in advance. If anything changed, the whole process broke or required manual intervention. Agentic AI flips that model. Instead of obsessing over steps, leaders can now focus on the outcome — and allow intelligent systems to help figure out how to get there, even when conditions shift mid-process. In other words, enterprises can begin to rethink not only how processes run… but which processes even need to exist. That’s not incremental change. That’s operational reinvention. What happens when everyone gets access? Mark shares a critical EY lesson: when EY gave broad access to generative AI across the organization early on, people didn’t just use it to speed up tasks. They used it as a thought-partner — a way to sharpen ideas, improve deliverables, and accelerate the quality of work. Productivity moved up. Confidence moved up. Curiosity moved up. And then the tech evolved again. Mark reflects on the rapid shift from early GenAI tools to today’s emerging agent capabilities — systems that can now write code, build applications, and take action with very little prompting. That evolution opens the door to a new enterprise reality: AI that doesn’t just assist… it executes. Or as the conversation makes crystal clear: It’s not just providing information anymore — it’s taking on work, processing decisions, and driving momentum. The leadership mindset shift: “start with where you want to be” One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is refreshingly simple—and extremely hard to do in practice: Focus on where you want to be… then rethink how you’re going to get there. That’s the key to unlocking agentic AI at scale. Because most organizations try to bolt AI onto existing workflows, legacy systems, and operating models. But agentic AI forces a different question: What if the old workflow is the problem? What if your best path forward is not optimization — but redesign? Why this matters for enterprise leaders (especially in insurance) For C-suite leaders, this episode is a strategic blueprint for what’s coming next: an enterprise where AI becomes a true digital workforce, operating alongside humans — amplifying expertise, reducing friction, and accelerating execution. But the goal isn’t speed for speed’s sake. It’s building intelligence that creates measurable business value and earns adoption across the organization — from the boardroom to the front line. Because the future won’t belong to companies that deploy the most AI tools. It will belong to the ones that build an agentic enterprise that’s trusted, scalable, and designed to work for people — not around them.
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Agentic Frontier: Re-imagining Enterprise AI with EY x Microsoft
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