Paul Lewis is the Chief Technology Officer at Pythian, a global IT services company that helps organizations transform by leveraging data, analytics, AI, and the cloud. With over 30 years of experience in technology leadership, he is recognized for his expertise in digital transformation and operational IT strategy. Before joining Pythian, Paul served as Global CTO for Hitachi Vantara and held senior technology roles in the financial services sector. He is also a frequent speaker at industry events and serves on advisory boards for programs in business analytics and artificial intelligence.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [2:09] Paul Lewis describes his journey from a developer to a technology leader
- [4:59] Why the AI boom today mirrors past tech cycles
- [5:54] Why AI isn’t replacing humans anytime soon and how hardware investments still dominate
- [7:23] How leadership in tech has evolved from managing blinking lights in a data center to enabling agile, outcome-driven teams
- [11:40] The five-part AI readiness framework Paul uses to guide enterprise clients toward meaningful adoption
- [16:22] What typically happens in AI readiness workshops and how 400 ideas often narrow down to just five that matter
- [24:54] Why using public LLMs with sensitive enterprise data can create major legal and reputational risks
- [38:17] How prompt engineering works like natural language coding and what makes a prompt effective in AI-driven workflows
In this episode…
The enterprise AI race is full of bold claims, rapid innovation, and mounting pressure to keep up or risk falling behind. But amid the hype, how can organizations cut through the noise to focus on what actually works? What does it take to win with AI at scale?
According to Paul Lewis, a globally recognized technology strategist and AI advisor, the answer lies in intellectual honesty and practical readiness. He highlights that most organizations are captivated by futuristic AI use cases but lack the foundational data quality and governance to support them. As a result, AI initiatives often stall or fail due to mismatched expectations and underdeveloped infrastructure.
In this episode of Built to Convert, host Tyler Lane sits down with Paul Lewis, Chief Technology Officer at Pythian, to discuss what it really takes to win with AI in the enterprise. They explore the five-part AI readiness framework, the gap between hype and execution, and how to uncover the five percent of AI ideas worth building. Paul also emphasizes the importance of prompt engineering and highlights why data quality is still the primary barrier to AI success.
Resources mentioned in this episode
- Tyler Lane on LinkedIn
- Session Interactive
- Paul Lewis: LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | X
- Pythian
- Amanda Natividad on LinkedIn
- Hitachi Vantara
- DeepMind
- Salesforce
- Atlassian
- Looker
- BigQuery
- Google Gemini
- Copilot
- Composer
Quotable Moments
- “Eventually, you always need a developer, because who do you think develops these things, right?”
- “There are coders that develop AI. AI gets applied to circumstance, right?”
- “The irony is that OT consumes more IT than IT does.”
- “The goal isn’t necessarily to displace humans, but to what I would generally refer to as being the microwave of language.”
- “Being a software developer would probably put you in a position to write that prompt even better.”
Action Steps
- Assess your AI readiness before investing: Understanding your current infrastructure, data quality, and team capabilities helps avoid wasted resources and failed initiatives.
- Prioritize high-ROI use cases: Focusing on AI projects with measurable outcomes maximizes value and accelerates enterprise adoption.
- Educate teams on prompt engineering: Training employees to communicate effectively with AI tools boosts productivity and enhances decision-making across departments.
- Establish clear governance policies for AI: Defining acceptable tools, data usage, and responsibilities minimizes risk and ensures ethical implementation.
- Align AI strategy with executive goals: Ensuring AI initiatives support broader business objectives leads to greater organizational impact and leadership buy-in.
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by Session Interactive — a digital marketing consultancy that helps businesses turn complex data into clear strategy.
From SEO and analytics to paid media and content, Session zeroes in on what truly drives growth: smarter decisions and better user experiences. Known for their collaborative approach and measurable results, they partner with forward-thinking companies across industries to solve digital challenges — and turn them into opportunities.
Learn more at sessioninteractive.com.
