AI-First Strategy at Scale: Pega's Roadmap with David Vidoni

Token subsidies are fading, AI prices are rising, and suddenly the fun part of experimentation comes with a nasty surprise: runaway spend. We dig into what that shift means for CIOs and IT leaders who still need to ship results, protect budgets, and prove ROI. If you have spent time counting tokens or worrying that one enthusiastic pilot will burn through a month’s AI budget, this conversation is for you.David Vidoni, CIO at Pega, shares why predictable cost matters as much as model capability and how “charging for outcomes” changes the way you govern AI. We talk about the practical tension between creativity and cost control, and why leaders should pause and ask whether AI is genuinely the best tool for a given challenge. The goal is not to slow innovation down, but to stop wasting energy on spend anxiety and refocus on measurable business value.We also get concrete on delivery: how Blueprint supports a design-first approach that clarifies what you are building before you build it, reduces costly mistakes, and speeds up time to first release. You will hear real internal stats, plus what it takes to deliver secure, compliant, repeatable outcomes rather than variable answers. Finally, we explore agentic AI wins in legal and contract work, including significant hours saved and major ticket deflection.Listen, then subscribe, share with a fellow CIO or product leader, and leave a review with your biggest AI cost or governance challenge.Support the showIf you are leading your businesses strategic transformation and need greater clarity, stronger execution and measurable results, let’s connect.  🌎 Website: www.KieranGilmurray.com📅 Book a call: https://calendly.com/kierangilmurray/catch-up📘 Kieran Gilmurray | LinkedIn🌐 Substack: https://kierangilmurray.substack.com📕 Amazon https://tinyurl.com/MyBooksOnAmazonUK AI Transparency Notice:  This podcast uses a hybrid format. When an episode features one of Kieran Gilmurray’s written articles, the narration is generated using a synthetic clone of his voice via ElevenLabs AI (the underlying article text is entirely human-authored). Episode descriptions and summaries are assisted by AI and should be considered unedited by a human unless specified.