The Progress Report

If the future of work is less about replacing people and more about helping them work differently, design deserves a seat at the planning table. Kyndryl's 2026 People Readiness Report found that 61% of organizations have already redesigned roles within or across functions.

In this episode, our guests explore how human-centered design can help organizations create experiences that drive meaningful business value and deepen trust. They suggest what AI makes faster, design must make smarter.

 

Featured experts

Kevin Bethune, President, Design Studio, ImagineCo

Nicholas Kim,Global Lead, Vital and Transformation, Kyndryl

Just because AI can, does it mean AI should?

 

Data cited in Kyndryl’s 2026 People Readiness Report suggests increasing numbers of leaders will soon answer the question with, “Yes.”

 

The People Readiness Report found that 81% of respondents expect within 12 months, autonomous AI agents will make decisions with material business impact for their organizations. How will they get there? Particularly when roughly half of the respondents cite questions about bias, transparency, explainability and trust as top barriers to activating their AI strategy?

 

The barriers are matters of responsible AI. In this episode, AWS joins us with a perspective on how—and how well—organizations are working toward a future AI makes decisions with material business impact.

 

Featured experts

 

Diya Wynn, Responsible AI Lead, Amazon Web Services (AWS) 

Tony De Bos, Global GTM and Consult leader for Security & Resilience, Kyndryl

AI can optimize every impression. It can personalize every message. It can tell you exactly what’s working. So why is trust getting harder to earn?

In this episode, McKinsey joins us to unpack a tradeoff at the heart of modern advertising: the more precisely you target, the more fragile your brand can become. We examine how personalization, performance and brand consistency are being reshaped in an AI-fueled market, and what leaders must rethink to scale impact without losing control.

Featured experts 

Craig Macdonald, Partner, Media and Advertising at McKinsey & Company

Richie Naylor, Partner, Kyndryl Consult, Kyndryl

As clinicians face rising administrative burden and burnout, there’s a growing need for technology that helps them be more present and informed at the point of care. At Kaiser Permanente, that means starting with real clinician pain points, from ambient AI scribes that reduce documentation burden to digital twins that enable more personalized, proactive care.

This episode explores how AI is being integrated into healthcare to improve clinician workflows and patient care, while balancing innovation with a human-centered approach.

 

Featured experts 

Dr. Kris Lee, Associate Executive Director, Chief Transformation Officer, The Permanente Medical Group

Anupama Ambe, SVP & Managing Director, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Kyndryl

Private cloud has become a priority topic as forces of change, from AI to geopolitics, reshape where critical data and workloads reside. With AI becomes more deeply embedded in core operations, enterprises are seeking a public cloud experience in private setting, with greater control over data, security, cost, and compliance.

This episode explores how private cloud can enable enterprise AI, resilience, and long-term competitiveness.

 

Featured experts 

 

KC Funk, Senior Director of Global Specialty Sales, Global Alliances, Dell Technologies

Noel Bravo, Vice President of Cloud Practice, Kyndryl

 

Learn how the foundation discussed in this episode can help enable an AI-ready enterprise in our guide to the Agentic AI era.

Discover how Kyndryl partnered with Dell and NVIDIA to accelerate AI adoption with proven frameworks and integrated services for measurable impact.

Explore Kyndryl’s Cloud Innovation Survey and insights on how organizations are advancing cloud transformation.

Read the ISG report naming Kyndryl a Leader in U.S. Private and Hybrid Cloud – Data Center Services.