The Catalyst by Softchoice

Almost every machine you can buy today is technically an “AI PC.” Which is exactly why the label can’t tell you what to buy. This episode skips the hype and asks the question IT leaders are actually wrestling with: why now, and what happens if you wait? Because two things just landed on the same calendar — the end of Windows 10 support, and an AI-driven memory shortage pushing hardware prices up every quarter — and together they’re quietly taking the refresh decision out of your hands.In this episode:Why “AI PC” has stopped being a useful filter — and what to look at insteadThe hidden tax you’re already paying on the machines that still turn onHow Windows 10’s end of support and the memory squeeze changed the math on waitingA practical way to make the refresh call: match the machine to the workload, not the org chartFeaturing Ivo van Selst, Senior Technical Solutions Architect for AI and Data at Softchoice, a World Wide Technology Company, and Brandon Boone of Dell Technologies’ Client Solutions Group. This episode is brought to you by Dell Technologies. Explore Dell’s AI PC lineup — Dell, Dell Pro and Dell Pro Max — and find the right fit for your fleet at softchoice.com/technology-partners/dell#AIPC #ITLeadership #DeviceRefresh #Windows11 #MidMarketIT #EndUserComputing #TheCatalystShow Notes & ResourcesReferenced in this episode:Windows 10 end of support (October 14, 2025) — Microsoft: support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-support-has-ended-on-october-14-2025The global memory shortage and its impact on device costs — IDC: idc.com/resource-center/blog/global-memory-shortage-crisisDRAM prices and the AI memory squeeze — IEEE Spectrum: spectrum.ieee.org/dram-shortageAI-capable PCs to surpass half of global shipments in 2026 — Counterpoint Research: counterpointresearch.com/en/reports/ai-advanced-pcs-to-surpass-half-of-global-shipments-in-2026The productivity cost of aging PCs — Intel research (PCs 4+ years old lose ~21 hours per year)Dell’s AI PC portfolio — Dell, Dell Pro, Dell Pro Max: dell.com/en-us/blog/dell-transforms-ai-pc-portfolio-for-anywhere-productivityWorkplace lifecycle services — Softchoice: softchoice.com/solutions/modern-workplace/managed-services/lifecycle-servicesGuests:Ivo van Selst, Senior Technical Solutions Architect for AI and Data, Softchoice — linkedin.com/in/ivo-van-selst-4579a96Brandon Boone, Dell Technologies, Client Solutions Group — dell.comKey moments:Cold open — the hidden tax: the laptop nobody complains aboutAct One — what an AI PC actually is, and why the label misleadsAct Two — the false economy of deferring a refreshAct Three — Windows 10, the memory squeeze, and losing control of your timelineAct Four — match, don’t guess: segmenting your fleet by workloadThe Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology. 

If you read the headlines, you'd think nearly every major employer marched its workforce back to the office five days a week. The data says otherwise. And so does the human cost when companies push it anyway.In this episode of The Catalyst, Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward, an anonymous 30-year IT veteran and former Marine, and Softchoice's Lisa Walkden lay out what return-to-office mandates are actually about — and what they cost the leaders who issue them.Here's what you'll take away:Why only about a third of US companies actually went back to five days — and what's really driving the ones that didHow a 30-year tech veteran ended up quiet-quitting his job, and what that reveals about the real cost of a mandateThe reframe one Softchoice leader uses with executives weighing RTO — and the data that backs it upWhy the same companies still picking the RTO fight are often the same ones struggling with AI adoptionFeaturing: Brian Elliott, founder of the Flex Index and CEO of Work Forward; Lisa Walkden, Senior Manager of Workplace Experience at Softchoice, a World Wide Technology Company; and an anonymous IT leader who agreed to share his story on condition we don't name his employer.#ReturnToOffice #HybridWork #ITLeadership #WorkplaceStrategy #FutureOfWork #FlexIndex #TheCatalystGuestsBrian Elliott — Work ForwardFlex Index (Brian's data set) — flexindex.comLisa Walkden — SoftchoiceAnonymous — 30-year tech veteran and former US MarineResearch & Data CitedFlex Index quarterly reports — flexindex.com/reportsStanford Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes (Nick Bloom, WFH Research) — wfhresearch.comRichmond Fed Economic Brief No. 24-16 (May 2024) — "Return-to-Office Orders: A Survey Analysis of Employment Impacts" by Grey Gordon and Sonya Ravindranath Waddell — richmondfed.org"Return-to-Office Mandates and Brain Drain" — research from the University of Pittsburgh and Baylor's Hankamer School of Business (3M+ workers tracked via LinkedIn data) — hankamer.baylor.eduCBRE data on workforce-manager geographic distribution (cited by Brian Elliott in interview)More from BrianWork Forward newsletter — theworkforward.substack.comThe Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology. 

There’s a quiet crisis running through IT leadership that nobody names in the meeting: the certainty that you’re in over your head, and that any minute now, someone’s going to find out. It comes with the job. And for women in tech, there’s a second layer underneath.In this episode of The Catalyst, from Softchoice, a World Wide Technology Company, host Katey Teekasingh sits with three women who’ve lived imposter syndrome from every altitude: an IT director who wasn’t the first pick for her role, a five-time CTO who argues the field itself is the problem, and an MIT scientist who built a whole technology field while the engineering world dismissed her work — then won one of its highest honors.Their answers about how to lead through doubt without faking it will reframe what most IT leaders quietly carry.Key takeawaysWhy getting promoted for being the best engineer sets you up to feel like a fraud — and why it’s structural, not personalThe second layer of doubt women in tech describe — the “merit, or a box to check?” question that follows them into every roomHow a top scientist reacted to winning one of engineering’s highest honors (hint: her first thought was “is this a scam?”)Three different strategies for leading through uncertainty — without pretending it isn’t thereGuest credentialsRosalind Picard, ScD — Founder and Director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab; co-founder of Empatica and Affectiva; 2026 recipient of the IEEE Medal for Innovations in Healthcare Technology.Meri Williams — Chief Technology Officer at Pleo; five-time CTO across fintech, retail, banking, and biotech; previously scaled the team that built GOV.UK at the UK’s Government Digital Service.Julie Szaj — Director of Organizational Change Management at Washington University; 25+ years across education, learning design, and technology leadership.About Our SponsorThis episode is brought to you by HP, in partnership with Softchoice. HP helps organizations shape the future of work with AI-powered solutions across devices, printing, and services. Learn more at https://www.softchoice.com/technology-partners/hpHashtags#TheCatalyst #Softchoice #HP #ITLeadership #ImposterSyndrome #WomenInTech #CTO #DigitalTransformation #MidMarketITShow Notes & ResourcesConnect with our guests:Rosalind Picard — MIT Media Lab Affective Computing Group: media.mit.edu/groups/affective-computingMeri Williams — Pleo: pleo.ioJulie Szaj — Washington University in St. Louis: wustl.eduReferenced in the episode:Affective Computing (1997) by Rosalind Picard — the founding text of the fieldIEEE Medal for Innovations in Healthcare Technology — 2026 recipient: Rosalind PicardEmpatica — wearable health technology co-founded by Picard: empatica.comLearn more about HP’s partnership with Softchoice: https://www.softchoice.com/technology-partners/hpThe Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology. 

Somewhere in your organization, an AI decision is sitting on someone’s desk right now. Who owns it? In most mid-market companies, nobody does — or rather, it’s landed on the IT leader who was already doing three other jobs.In this episode of The Catalyst, we follow Jeremy Wight, CTO of CareMessage — a patient engagement platform serving 22 million low-income patients across the US — who had to write his organization’s AI policy himself. No committee. No playbook. Just the weight of getting it right for some of the most vulnerable people in the healthcare system.Alongside Jeremy, we hear from Reid Blackman, author of The Ethical Nightmare Challenge and founder of Virtue, who argues that the standard policy-first approach to AI governance is already broken — and offers a framework any team can implement in weeks, not years. Olivia Gambelin, AI ethicist and author of Responsible AI, reframes the vendor selection question entirely: it’s not about auditing their product, it’s about whether their values align with yours. And Anthony Vinci, former intelligence officer and author of The Fourth Intelligence Revolution, draws an unexpected parallel — between the integrity required of a spy with no rulebook, and the integrity required of an IT leader doing the same.====This episode is brought to you by HPE.From AI to data center and network modernization, HPE delivers a cloud-like experience right on your own infrastructure — the full portfolio, from one partner. softchoice.com/technology-partners/hewlett-packard-enterprise ====In this episode:Why the policy-first approach to AI governance is broken — and what to do insteadA practical three-question framework any team can implement this weekHow to evaluate AI vendors by values alignment, not just product capabilityWhat it actually looks like when one IT leader has to make these calls alone — with 22 million patients on the lineFeatured guests: Jeremy Wight (CTO, CareMessage) • Reid Blackman (Founder/CEO, Virtue) • Olivia Gambelin (AI Ethicist & Author) • Anthony Vinci (CEO, VICO) • Craig McQueen (VP Microsoft Practice, Softchoice)#AIEthics #ResponsibleAI #ITLeadership #AIGovernance #TheCatalyst #Softchoice #MidMarket #HPE===Show Notes & ResourcesGuestsJeremy Wight, CTO — CareMessage: caremessage.orgReid Blackman, Founder/CEO — Virtue: reidblackman.com • The Ethical Nightmare Challenge (book, April 2025) • Ethical Machines (HBR Press, 2022)Olivia Gambelin, AI Ethicist: oliviagambelin.com • Responsible AI: Implement an Ethical Approach in Your Organization • Values Canvas framework — free download at oliviagambelin.comAnthony Vinci, CEO — VICO: anthonyvinci.com • The Fourth Intelligence Revolution (Henry Holt, 2025) • VICO forecasting platform: vico.aiCraig McQueen, VP Microsoft Practice — Softchoice, a World Wide Technology CompanySponsorHPE via Softchoice: softchoice.com/technology-partners/hewlett-packard-enterpriseSoftchoice AI & Ethics resources: softchoice.com/EASThe Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology. 

Every IT leader has a “day one” story. The moment they opened the server closet, logged into the admin console, or reviewed the vendor contracts and realized the job they were hired for isn’t the job they actually have.In this episode of The Catalyst, we follow Chris Schopf, an IT operations team lead who walked into a new job to find twelve-year-old servers, two unfinished infrastructure projects, and a team that had been poached by the outgoing manager. Then we hear from Leon Adato, a 37-year IT veteran who’s made a career of walking into other people’s messes, and Ned Bellavance, a former consultant who warns that not every mess is actually a mess. Some of it is “purposeful chaos” you just don’t understand yet.What you’ll learn:How to tell the difference between a real disaster and “purposeful chaos” with reasons you don’t understand yetWhy Chris convinced his CEO to stop all projects for two weeks — and how it saved the teamThe three-word business framework that gets IT leaders budget, staff, and permission to fix the mess: revenue, cost, riskWhy learning to “speak business” doesn’t make you less technical — it makes you bilingualFeaturing:Chris Schopf — IT Security Architect Leon Adato — Principal Technical Marketing Engineer, CriblNed Bellavance — Founder, Ned in the Cloud | Podcast Host From Softchoice, a World Wide Technology company — this is The Catalyst.The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology. 

After our biggest season ever — nearly 80,000 downloads, a top 2% global ranking, and a documentary-style approach unlike any other show in B2B tech — host Katey Teekasingh is back to set up what's coming next.Season 8 takes on the questions mid-market IT leaders are quietly wrestling with right now: the rise of accidental AI ethics officers. The imposter feeling that follows even the most senior leaders. The SaaSpocalypse threatening to undo years of cost optimization. What happens when you inherit a mess. The new realities of security and the return to the office. And a lot more.We're bringing you the human side of IT — told like a documentary, not a Q&A.New episodes every second Wednesday. Only on The Catalyst — from Softchoice, a World Wide Technology company.Subscribe now and join the thousands of IT leaders already listening.Listen to back episodes and more: https://www.softchoice.com/podcast The Catalyst by Softchoice is the podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of humans and technology.