The adaptable enterprise:Why AI readiness is disruption readinessMichael FerrisSenior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Strategy OfficerFrom the Red Hat Executive’s Collection2Michael Ferris is Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Strategy Officer at Red Hat. In this role, he is focused on building the company’s global business strategy across all offerings and services, mergers and acquisitions, market-making partnerships, and internal operations.For more than 25 years at Red Hat, Ferris has focused on the value of the company’s business model and serving the needs of customers, partners and open source communities. He served as the first product manager for Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®, and he later led the evolution of Red Hat’s subscriptions from capacity to consumption models. This allowed for Red Hat products on public cloud providers and led to the creation of Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider Program, which includes more than 1,300 Red Hat partners and lets customers use multi- and hybrid-cloud paradigms across the entire Red Hat portfolio.Ferris has also worked to define the company’s business architecture, leading strategy and business negotiations on high-profile partnerships as well. These efforts have enabled Red Hat to combine the open source development model with its value propositions and various subscription models to meet changing market needs. Ferris is responsible for leading Red Hat’s efforts to become an AI-focused organization. Ferris is an inventor or co-inventor of more than 85 issued U.S. patents in the cloud computing space, all of which are covered under Red Hat’s patent promise in support and defense of open source development.About the authorTable of contents10Opening the future8The open source advantage: Taming the AI chaos6The blueprint for a durable, adaptable AI-ready enterprise5From resiliency to adaptability and durability4The new normal is not normal4There is nothing normal about the pace of change we face today. Technological disruption is rarely predictable, but the days where leaders could wait and see what advancements are worthy of adoption are waning. In fact, according to recent IBM research, “64% of CEOs said that the risk of falling behind drives them to invest in some technologies before they have a clear understanding of the value they bring to the organization.”1In the past, we often compared IT innovation to waves forming on the horizon—change we could see coming. Today’s pace, accelerated by growing technological capabilities and competitive demands, has turned that visible tide into a constantly churning sea of innovation. 1 IBM Institute for Business Value. “2025 CEO Study: 5 mindsets to supercharge business growth.” Global C-suite Series, 32nd edition, May 2025. 2 Gartner press release. “Gartner Forecasts Worldwide GenAI Spending t...