Why AI in Healthcare Must Start With Strategy—Not Shiny Tools

Early Google engineer and Silicon Valley innovator Murali Vivekanandan, CEO of Ideas2IT,
brings a rare blend of tech and healthcare expertise to the Sparxcast Unleashed podcast. In this
conversation, he explains why AI’s impact on healthcare depends less on flashy pilots and more
on building a strategic foundation—one that balances operational efficiency, clinical safety, and
long-term competitiveness.

Vivekanandan shares how providers, payers, and service organizations can move beyond “vendor
roadmaps” to own their AI destiny, with practical advice on building data backbones, applying
human-in-the-loop safeguards, and proving ROI step by step. He also opens up about scaling a
750-person engineering firm with almost no turnover—by putting employee happiness ahead of
everything else.

•  AI’s Two Lanes in Healthcare – Operational efficiency (speed to care, speed to cash)
  and clinical enablement—both require different guardrails.
• Strategy First – Health systems shouldn’t outsource AI thinking to vendors. Own your
  roadmap, then decide what to buy vs. build.
• Data as the Backbone – Without strong data infrastructure, AI initiatives stall before
  reaching production.
• ROI You Can Prove – From fraud prevention to reducing administrative burden,
  Vivekanandan shows how to tie AI to measurable outcomes.
• People Over Everything – Building a thriving culture leads to both employee retention
  and customer success.
• Adopt Now or Fall Behind – The AI inflection is bigger than the internet, and
  competitors are already investing.