AI, We See You: A Day to Appreciate Artificial Intelligence

AI Appreciation Day is a great time to acknowledge how AI is solving real problems in the enterprise storage sector. An effective example is AI-powered auto tiering. Rather than relying on fixed schedules or manual policies, AI observes how data is used and moves it between flash and disk tiers based on actual workload behavior. This ensures that frequently accessed data remains on high-performance storage, while infrequently used data is shifted to lower-cost media without affecting application performance.

This kind of automation simplifies operations while improving resource efficiency. It creates a storage environment that continuously adapts to changing demands, reducing overhead and supporting consistent performance at scale.

As we celebrate AI appreciation today, it is worth recognizing the critical role it plays in making data storage smarter, more efficient, and ready for the future.

At PEAK:AIO, we were built for AI from day one. Our platform is designed to handle the intensity and diversity of modern AI workloads, from local inference at the edge to training and fine-tuning large models in the data center.

As organizations adopt in-house AI for sensitive workloads, such as running private GPTs on company data or delivering AI-driven insights at the point of care, performance and efficiency become critical. Traditional storage systems often cannot keep up. PEAK:AIO removes those barriers, giving teams the speed, scalability and simplicity they need to innovate without compromise. From the edge to inference to full-scale deployment, we provide a complete solution.

Mark Klarzynski, CSO & Co-founder, PEAK:AIO

AI has helped our team improve operational efficiency by streamlining multiple business processes across our organization. We were able to significantly reduce the manual workload involved in day-to-day tasks, and AI enabled us to automate repetitive operations that previously took a lot of time. As a result, our team was able to focus on more growth-oriented initiatives.

Another benefit AI brought to our company was the ability to streamline our creative workflows. From content generation and idea testing to customer messaging and campaign iterations, AI allows us to move faster and with more agility. We’re able to test new ideas much faster, as the implementation process is AI-assisted.

As a relatively small team, AI has been a force multiplier. It has empowered us to accomplish the work of a much larger group without needing to expand headcount — especially in the marketing department.
Liutauras Morkaitis, Head of Customer Support Team, HOSTLINE

IoT and Internet

Here at Atombeam, we know that for the use of AI to become widespread it needs to be faster, consume less power and be more effective in its advice and actions. To do that, a different approach is needed. On AI Appreciation Day we celebrate the potential that AI has to change the way things are done, but we also recognize that the way AI is done needs to be changed as well.

Here at Atombeam, we’re developing an AI solution that we call the Persistent Cognitive Machine (PCM). Unlike LLMs that reset after each session, the PCM is designed to maintain persistent memory structures that accumulate knowledge and experience over time. It operates continuously rather than reactively. The combination of Atombeam’s data transmission technology and the PCM’s persistent memory system has the potential to enable AI to operate with 85% less power consumption than large LLMs, for equivalent operations.

When the PCM retrieves responses from its accumulated knowledge rather than performing fresh analysis, it requires minimal computational resources – all while delivering increasingly sophisticated insights based on experience. The system’s goal is to initiate interactions with users without prompts, and is designed to monitor real-world systems continuously, and even enter “sleep” modes where it curates and processes memories, analogous to dreaming.

We believe that for AI to truly live up to its potential, the way AI is done needs to evolve as well.

Charles Yeomans, CEO, Atombeam

At Zentro Internet, we’ve integrated AI into our marketing workflows to personalize customer journeys and predict campaign performance with amazing accuracy. Just recently, our AI-driven email segmentation increased open rates by 45% for a major client campaign, something I honestly didn’t think was possible with traditional methods. While we still rely heavily on human creativity and strategy, I’ve found that AI helps us make smarter decisions about where to focus our marketing efforts and resources.
Andrew Dunn, Vice President of Marketing, Zentro Internet

Security

Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t notional or optional, it’s here, and it’s necessary. A primary reason why our systems are built on AI is not only to maximize detection accuracy and minimize traveler inconvenience, but also because AI enables technology to be future-proofed, constantly upgraded to detect evolving threats without replacing hardware or altering security protocols. 

Bryan Cunningham, President, Liberty Defense

AI is reshaping enterprise operations and redefining the front lines of cybersecurity. From large language models (LLMs) to generative AI, these technologies are the ultimate force multipliers impacting Risk Operations Centers (ROCs), automating detection, predicting threats, and triaging risks at a scale humans simply can’t match. AI pinpoints anomalies in seconds, speeding up incident response, and transforming reactive security teams into proactive defense engines.

That same tech also opens up new attack surfaces. From prompt injection and data leakage to model manipulation and hallucinations, AI introduces a fresh class of vulnerabilities. Organizations that harness AI must also secure it across the full lifecycle: from development and deployment to monitoring and governance. That means embedding security by design, enforcing real-time oversight, and setting clear, ethical boundaries for AI behavior.

On AI Appreciation Day, let’s go beyond the hype. Let’s celebrate AI’s impact and reckon with its risks, ensuring security and compliance remain top priorities in our race towards innovation.

Dilip Bachwani, Chief Technology Officer, Qualys

AI Appreciation Day is a great reminder of how far technology has come and how much stronger we are when human insight and machine intelligence work together.

In cybersecurity, that partnership is essential. Threats don’t take breaks, and neither do the teams working to stop them. AI helps by spotting patterns, flagging suspicious activity, and speeding up response times. But it’s the people like analysts, engineers, and threat hunters who bring the experience and judgment needed to make the right call or provide detailed insights on what is important.

It’s not about choosing between humans or AI. It’s about combining the best of both. AI handles the scale and speed; humans bring the insight and strategy. Today we’re not just appreciating AI–we’re celebrating the partnership between people and technology that keeps organizations secure every day.

John DiLullo, CEO, Deepwatch

AI Appreciation Day presents a timely opportunity to consider AI’s immense potential, particularly the transformative role of Agentic AI. These autonomous agents are taking on complex tasks, making decisions, and engaging with core systems mainly through APIs, potentially gaining unfettered access to sensitive data. However, this powerful integration also introduces a significant security blind spot. It is crucial to maintain full visibility and robust governance over how these AI agents communicate through the API layer, including the use of emerging Model Context Protocols (MCPs). Doing so is essential to fully realize AI’s benefits safely and to prevent risks such as data leaks or fraud. 

Eric Schwake, Director of Cybersecurity Strategy, Salt Security

AI is a transformative technology that offers numerous benefits across various sectors, including healthcare, where it is used to detect diseases earlier, suggest personalized treatments, and accelerate the discovery of new medicines. However, AI also introduces new risks, particularly in cybersecurity and application security. Cybercriminals are leveraging AI to automate phishing attacks, bypass traditional defense mechanisms, and create convincing deepfakes. To mitigate these risks, organizations must adopt proactive security measures, such as integrating AI-trained security tools to detect AI threats in real-time and protecting AI models from data poisoning and manipulation through robust DevSecOps practices. By staying vigilant and addressing the evolving threats enabled by AI, we can embrace AI at scale with confidence and harness its potential to improve our lives while minimizing its risks.

Boris Cipot, Senior Sales Engineer, Black Duck

With the average cost of a data breach in the U.S. nearing $10 million, and public companies typically seeing a 3–5% drop in share price following a breach disclosure, the business case for investing in cybersecurity software is clear. For corporate IT organizations, this isn’t just about risk mitigation—it’s about financial responsibility. When you factor in legal fees, reputational damage, and the fact that recovery can take six months or more, the true operational cost to the business can far exceed the initial breach impact. Proactive cybersecurity investment is not a discretionary expense—it’s a strategic imperative.

Geoff Barrall, Chief Product Officer, Index Engines

At SIRP, AI isn’t a bolt-on. It’s the core of everything we do. Built as a fully AI-native platform, SIRP is powered by OmniSense™, our proprietary AI brain that drives an agentic mesh of specialized AI agents. These agents work autonomously to handle alert triage, investigation, and response at scale. We’ve gone beyond playbooks. Our L1 AI analyst, “Sara,” doesn’t just assist analysts. Instead, she eliminates the need for human L1 work entirely by delivering contextual, LLM-generated case summaries, prioritizing incidents based on business impact, and orchestrating response across the stack in real time. This isn’t about replacing people. It’s about empowering them to focus on what matters most.

On AI Appreciation Day, I want to spotlight a global financial services organization that completely redefined its SOC with SIRP. After implementation, we helped them cut their mean time to respond from over three hours to under ten minutes. We also enabled them to offload 100 percent of Tier-1 triage to autonomous AI agents, reduce alert fatigue by more than 90 percent, and scale incident handling by 12 times, all without expanding their analyst team. What was once a reactive, resource-strained operation quickly became a focused, proactive defense hub. That’s the kind of transformation AI should bring to cybersecurity, not just faster outcomes, but smarter, more resilient, and truly scalable security operations. And at SIRP, we’re proud to be leading that evolution.

Muhammad Omar Khan, Co-Founder, SIRP

AI is completely changing the game in cybersecurity—and not a moment too soon. The threat landscape has shifted from isolated incidents to modern, persistent, fast-moving hybrid attacks that move across data centers, identities, and clouds, and applications. The old ‘perimeter’ defense mindset doesn’t cut it anymore – without AI, it’s impossible to keep pace. Only AI connects the dots across these domains in real-time to surface real attack signals, and drive faster, smarter responses.

That said, AI adds fuel to both sides of the fire. Attackers are already using it to gain a competitive advantage scaling social engineering and automating full scale campaigns. But we see huge upside for SOC defenders to turn the tables harnessing AI across their workflow to accelerate threat detection, triage, correlation, prioritization, investigation, response, and reporting.  From natural language interfaces and SOC copilots to autonomous AI Agents, we see AI and human intelligence working in concert. The future of cybersecurity is intelligent collaboration between humans and machines.

Mark Wojtasiak, VP of Product Strategy, Vectra AI

Appreciation is growing for AI-powered security cameras and the benefits they can bring to businesses, schools and cities. Enhanced with AI, a standard security camera can proactively identify problematic situations and alert authorities so they can take action to resolve issues before accidents, theft, or other emergencies develop.

Furthermore, cloud-based video surveillance combined with AI can identify trends business owners can use to increase efficiency and optimize operations. Of course, the ethical use of technology and data privacy are always paramount. When designed, deployed, and operated with transparency and cybersecurity, AI-powered security cameras can dramatically improve business efficiency and make the world a safer place.

Dean Drako, CEO of Eagle Eye Networks

Today, AI is both an asset and a risk for users and organizations navigating the complex landscape of browser security. On one hand, cybercriminals are using AI to become more innovative and successful in their attacks, fueling a significant rise in sophisticated threats. Menlo’s 2025 State of Browser Security Report revealed a 140% year-over-year increase in browser-based phishing attacks with nearly 600 incidents of generative AI fraud, demonstrating the efficacy of which threat actors are leveraging AI to craft convincing phishing scams, impersonate trusted brands and websites, and embed malware into documents that appear to be harmless. With the help of AI, these attacks can now bypass traditional security tools by exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities and using evasive techniques.

On the other hand, enterprises can stay one step ahead by harnessing AI to fight back against these threats, making it a critical tool to help organizations prioritize defense. For example, AI-powered techniques like computer vision and real-time behavioral analysis can be leveraged to identify highly evasive threats and stop them in their path before they cause harm (and without disrupting the user’s experience on the browser). By taking advantage of the intelligence and protection these tools can provide, organizations can ensure that the browser remains secure, even in the face of sophisticated, AI-driven threats.

To remain defensive against AI as it continues to evolve and pose security concerns for enterprises, organizations must have the resources in place to detect, understand, and anticipate emerging threats.

Devin Ertel, CISO, Menlo Security

Green Tech

At EVhype, AI has proven to be a game changer for how we provide value to the electric vehicle (EV) community. We use AI to analyze large amounts of data, such as real-time charging station availability, vehicle characteristics, and user activities. This helps us to provide hyper-accurate, personalized recommendations to help drivers navigate the confusing world of EV infrastructure, so that going electric is as little hassle as possible. It’s also essential in helping to bring a more friction-free user experience with minimal manual effort.

Perhaps the single biggest benefit we’ve experienced from AI is optimizing our charging route planning. Using AI algorithms, we take into account several data points, including distance to stations, battery life, and user preferences, to suggest the most optimal routes. This resulted in a 44% reduction in the time spent planning trips, providing a better overall experience for users as well as freeing drivers to spend less time thinking about charging and more time behind the wheel.

Our mission to expedite the move to sustainable transportation is rooted in AI. By streamlining data, we are democratizing EV adoption, making it more approachable and user-friendly. The validation of our AI-driven solutions demonstrates how AI can drive niche industries to become a mainstream movement, serving as a useful tool for technology companies seeking ways to innovate and enhance user-centered services.
Rob Dillan, Founder, EVhype

Managed Service Providers

At ECS, we are at the forefront of enabling the AI revolution by delivering advanced infrastructure solutions purpose-built for the demands of next-generation workloads. As AI, 5G, and accelerated technologies continue to converge, our customers face the dual challenge of sustaining accelerated compute performance while managing the escalating heat generated by increasingly dense chip configurations. Traditional air-cooled systems are simply not keeping pace.

That’s why we’ve invested heavily in engineering integration solutions such as direct-to-chip (D2C) liquid cooling systems. These solutions bring the coolant directly to the surface of high-heat-generating CPUs and GPUs—absorbing heat at the source and removing it with far greater efficiency than conventional methods. Not only does D2C drastically reduce power consumption, but it also enhances performance stability and rack density—critical factors for AI-intensive environments. Liquid cooling isn’t just a response to AI heat—it’s a strategic advantage for organizations looking to scale intelligent workloads without compromise. It’s clear to us: liquid cooling is the future, and ECS is making it real for our partners today.

Jay Lawrence, CEO, Equus Compute Solutions

AI has been transformative for Pax8’s mission to empower small and medium-sized businesses through our partner community leveraging our cloud commerce Marketplace. We’ve integrated AI-powered tools throughout our Marketplace that help managed service providers (MSPs) discover new opportunities, design tailored technology solutions, and engage more effectively with their customers. Our AI-driven technology is redefining how partners manage their business operations, making enterprise-level capabilities accessible to SMBs that previously couldn’t afford them.

As we look to the end of 2025 and beyond, AI continues to be central to our vision of democratizing technology access. Our recent research into ‘The Agentic Inflection Point’ highlights how agentic labor and AI-powered automation are transforming SMB operations, as 54% of midsize enterprises have already deployed AI, and 83% of high-growth SMBs are actively experimenting with it. AI Appreciation Day is a perfect opportunity to recognize how this technology is not just changing how we work, but fundamentally improving how small businesses can compete and thrive in today’s digital economy.

Nick Heddy, President and Chief Commerce Officer, Pax8

At Titan Technologies, AI has revolutionized our cybersecurity defense capabilities in ways I never imagined when I started this company in 2008. We now deploy AI-driven security tools that detect and respond to threats in real-time, catching attacks that traditional antivirus software completely misses.

The most dramatic change came when we started using AI for vulnerability scanning across our clients’ networks. What used to require days of manual assessment now happens in minutes, and we’re identifying security gaps that would have taken weeks to find manually. One client avoided a potential ransomware attack because our AI tools flagged unusual network activity patterns that looked normal to human analysts.

Here’s the ironic part – while I spend most of my time warning businesses about AI-powered cyber attacks, we’re using that same AI technology to fight back. Our AI systems now recognize deepfake attempts, analyze phishing patterns, and even predict attack vectors before hackers can exploit them. It’s like having a cybersecurity team that never sleeps and learns from every threat it encounters.

The productivity gains are staggering. We’re now monitoring 4x more client networks with the same team size, while actually improving our threat detection accuracy. My team focuses on strategic security planning instead of staring at endless security logs all day.
Paul Nebb, CEO, Titan Technologies

At EnCompass, we’ve seen AI completely revolutionize our managed IT services delivery in ways that directly impact our bottom line. Our client portal now uses AI-driven predictive analytics to identify potential system failures before they happen, which has reduced emergency support calls by 35% and helped us maintain the exemplary uptime that got us on North America’s Excellence in Managed IT Services 250 List.

The real breakthrough came when we implemented AI for automated ticket routing and prioritization. Instead of our technicians manually sorting through hundreds of support requests, AI now categorizes and assigns tickets based on urgency and expertise required. This alone freed up 8 hours per week per technician, allowing us to take on 20% more clients without expanding our team.

From attending dozens of tech events annually, I’ve seen how other MSPs struggle with resource allocation. Our AI system tracks patterns in client issues and automatically schedules preventive maintenance during optimal windows. One manufacturing client avoided a potential 3-day production shutdown because our AI flagged unusual network behavior patterns that indicated an impending server failure.

The competitive advantage is huge – while other providers are still playing catch-up with reactive support, we’re preventing problems before clients even know they exist. This proactive approach has been key to our recognition on the Fast Growth 150 List.
Scott Crosby, General Manager, EnCompass

AI has become a core enabler of how we deliver fast, proactive, and secure IT support to our clients. By integrating AI into our remote monitoring and management systems, we can detect anomalies, flag vulnerabilities, and predict potential system failures before they impact business operations. This shift from reactive to predictive support has significantly reduced downtime, allowing our engineers to focus on complex, high-value tasks instead of routine troubleshooting. We also utilise AI in cybersecurity, leveraging behaviour-based threat detection and automated incident response tools to identify and neutralise threats in real-time. AI-driven analysis helps us cut through the noise of false positives and pinpoint actual risks more quickly than any manual process can. In short, AI hasn’t replaced our team; it’s empowered us to be faster, smarter, and more efficient in protecting and supporting the organisations that rely on us.
Craig Bird, Managing Director, CloudTech24

At GO Technology Group, AI plays an increasingly vital role in how we help strengthen IT operations through proactive support, intelligent automation, and trusted cybersecurity tools. Through our partnership with Huntress, we’ve integrated AI-assisted threat detection and automated response into our security stack, enabling us to identify and contain suspicious activity before it impacts client operations. We also leverage platforms like ConnectWise for real-time monitoring, predictive ticketing, and automated patch management. Combined with the advanced AI capabilities in Microsoft 365 and Defender, we’re able to deliver enterprise-grade protection and operational efficiency to growing organizations across the area.

As a Chicago-based managed service provider, we use these technologies to enhance our internal processes and deliver scalable, strategic IT consulting. By using AI-driven insights to assess cyber risk, guide compliance readiness, and inform infrastructure decisions, we help clients navigate today’s evolving threat landscape with clarity and confidence. The result is a truly proactive IT support model, backed by automation, expert guidance, and a deep commitment to security and business continuity, whether we’re working alongside in-house IT teams or serving as a full-service extension.
John Marta, Principal & Senior IT Architect, GO Technology Group

AI is a game-changer for application development teams battling with the twin challenges of increasing velocity to the business while striving to deliver a user experience that is pixel-to-pixel matched with designs. However, professional developers building serious enterprise apps need predictability and work with security and other compliance guardrails. Injecting AI into the design-to-code-to-deploy process without oversight or curation may not work for them.

Instead, a product-led operating model can get AI out of the lab into mainstream business of building end-to-end enterprise software: design, development, and lifecycle management. A fully configurable AI-powered developer platform that acts as a foundation to launch cross-platform, enterprise-grade apps with unmatched efficiency and scalability, is the key.

Also, modernization projects take up a significant share of the enterprise budget. Greenfield app development is very promising with AI led approaches, but when it comes to brownfield application modernization or feature enhancements, any AI needs to learn the context – components, architecture, best practices etc. – before it starts generating solid, reliable and maintainable code. Enterprise applications and solutions are complex and need a lot more enablement on top of existing AI orchestration to get it right.

In this Day 1 of AI-powered software development, beyond efficiency and velocity, an AI coding platform catalyzes new business thinking, holds your customer’s attention, and wins mindshare. That’s the single most enduring factor that will drive enterprise AI adoption and eventually power Day 2 (intent-based, on-demand software experiences).

 Marc Huffman, CEO, OnBoard

At Agentech, we’ve developed a roster of more than 200 digital ‘coworkers’- AI agents purposefully built to support desk adjusters throughout the insurance claims process. These agentic teammates handle repetitive, administrative tasks, freeing licensed adjusters to concentrate on complex decisions and personalized customer service.

Each digital coworker is designed to follow precise carrier guidelines and adhere to jurisdictional regulations, ensuring compliance across states and countries while providing adjusters with clear next best actions at critical decision points. Customers leveraging Agentech have experienced productivity gains of up to four times, along with reductions in claim costs by as much as 67%.

Because our digital coworkers never rest, insurers can rapidly scale operations to meet surges during catastrophic events, such as hurricanes, without adding staff.

Robin Roberson, President & Co-founder, Agentech

AI has completely reshaped our workflow by automating tedious manual tasks and unlocking new ways to serve customers. Our support team uses AI-driven chatbots to resolve common issues instantly, freeing up staff for more complex, high-value interactions. That shift alone improved response times and boosted customer satisfaction scores by 30% in under a year.

We also leverage AI for advanced data analysis, spotting trends and insights that would have taken a human team days to uncover. This lets us iterate products faster and personalize experiences in real time. For our clients, our in-house AI tools automate routine work, flag risks early, and help scale operations without ballooning overhead. It’s become the engine driving both our growth and our clients’ success.
Borets Stamenov, Co-Founder & CEO, SeekFast

With my experience building FuseBase, I’ve seen how our AI automation has transformed the way SaaS companies handle routine tasks, turning 8-hour workdays into 5-hour powerhouses of productivity. Just last quarter, we helped a client reduce their customer support response time from 24 hours to under 3 hours by implementing our AI-powered ticket routing and response suggestion system.
Pavel Sher, CEO, FuseBase

On this AI Appreciation Day, it’s important to look beyond the headlines about risk and focus on the measurable, positive impact AI is already having, especially in mission-critical sectors like healthcare and manufacturing.

In healthcare environments, for example, traditional AI and machine learning are helping security teams stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated cyber threats while maintaining continuity of care. These tools also provide deeper insight into user behavior and system performance, guiding smarter investments and workflow improvements.

While we should always consider the future risks of a new technology, we should recognize AI as a present-day asset – one that’s helping organizations make faster, more informed decisions. Advances in Generative AI with LLMs are a continuation and evolution of the AI journey we’re already on. The challenge now isn’t whether to embrace AI in cybersecurity – it’s how to scale and govern it responsibly to unlock its full potential.

Joel Burleson-Davis, CTO, Imprivata