Busting the omnichannel - enterprise hacks and chats

Reaching the informed B2B buyer, audio recap 1 - where the funnel goes wrong

To kick off this informal audio book reading of his Reaching the B2B Informed Buyer d·book, Jon Reed gets right into the executive summary: why the sales funnel is broken, why marketers get B2B buyers wrong - and why the right content strategy still has a huge impact, even in the so-called age of AI. Note: you can get the full d·book on diginomica in the d·book section. It's also available now on Kindle and most ebook platforms, and a printed version and full audiobook version is coming soon. For now, you can get these chapters which will be issued in order on my main podcast feeds. Reader views impacted so much of this content, so let me know where you want to take this next...

Crashing the CRM Konvos AI Agent debate - full replay

I recently crashed the CRM Convos AI agents video show. Some of you may have seen me on there before - I have come on periodically in their AI debate series. So this time, they they had an interesting AI expert in the enterprise space, Andreas Welsch, to talk about the future of AI agents. At around the 27 minute mark, I crashed the podcast and start pressing some questions, and blowing a gasket of two. Here's the full conversation.

Via the CRM Konvos team, following is the official text preview: Join us for CRMKonvo #234 with Andreas Welsch: AI Agents—Where are WE headed? And where will WE be? Get ready for an insightful discussion with Andreas Welsch, Founder & Chief AI Strategist at Intelligence Briefing. Andreas is an internationally recognized AI leader, advisor, and speaker known for helping the world’s leading enterprises turn technology hype into business outcomes. In this session, we’ll explore the future of AI agents, ethical considerations, and the impact on businesses and employees. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to gain valuable insights from one of the top voices in AI! Reposted to Jon Reed's podcast feeds by permission of CRM Konvos - see the original video replay at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuHdXtU-zh4.

Hashing out CIO pitfalls - with Tim Crawford

CIOs are in the pressure cooker. But advice is often cookie cutter. No cookie cutters with my next guest, Tim Crawford. We'll count down top CIO mistakes and Tim's top/overlooked CIO moves for being business-relevant, AI-savvy etc. I've wanted to get Tim on the show for a while, this is going to be a dandy - bring your sharpest and snarkest questions as usual.... Note: part two of this discussion, on next-gen analyst relations, has already been released as a separate podcast on my channel.

Workshopping personalization - is great enterprise content still relevant?

Is great/human-generated enterprise content still relevant? And how does today's content strategy and AI content hype stack up with my views on reaching B2B audiences? Can I tie this back into the hype (and potential) of AI for content distribution and hyper-personalization? To sort this out, it took a live/opinionated audience, and a special guest appearance by CRM analyst Thomas Wieberneit of CRM Konvos and more. Wieberneit is an excellent foil and sounding board, and I think we actually got somewhere on all of this.

Enterprise month in review - IT FinOps and AI with Hyoun Park

Yep, it's that time again. Join Brian and Jon for their rollicking review of the highs and lows of the enterprise event circuit - along with their article picks and pans. Speaking of article picks, special guest Hyoun Park will join the show to talk about his notable blog post on the state of IT FinOps. We'll also revisit Hyoun Park's landmark post on the "instant mediocrity" of generative AI and what's changed since then. As always, bring your smartest and savviest commentary... Note: to check the slides, catch the video replay as always at https://www.youtube.com/@jonreedofdiginomica

How can analyst relations serve customers better? Hashing it out with Tim Crawford

In the end, shouldn't analyst relations service customers better? Shouldn't enterprise analysts advocate for customer concerns? After discussing CIO pitfalls/opportunities with Tim Crawford of AVOA, we pick up in this podcast with a spirited discussion of the future of analyst relations - with a vigorous chat of experts keeping us on track. This was not always an easy talk, getting into issues of independence and disclosure, but these are important topics in the analyst industry.

Note 1: Crawford's response to this was sparked by Jon's post on next-gen analyst relations: https://diginomica.com/what-does-next-gen-analyst-relations-look-and-why-should-customers-care.

Note 2: The CIO section of this conversation is not yet released as an audio podcast. You can see the entire show on video replay at https://www.youtube.com/@jonreedofdiginomica.

ASUG Tech Connect review - Jelena Perfiljeva of Boring Enterprise Nerds

On the final day of ASUG Tech Connect, Jon gets a strong (overdue) podcast debut from Jelena Perfiljeva of the Boring Enterprise Nerds. During this taping, Perfiljeva was fresh off her interactive session on the state of SAP developers - where clean core turned into the topic that stirred up the room. Perfiljeva explains why, which leads to a different discussion of clean core than Jon was expecting. The two also discuss the impact of AI on SAP developers, and why the sessions at Tech Connect brought customer concerns to the fore. They also trace back to Jelena's emergence in the SAP community, and why strong/outspoken voices matter to customers. Audiophile note: to remove static from the recording Jon's audio had to be adjusted, but this was still the best of the two recordings and hopefully is a good level of listenability for you.

What can Unit4’s strategy tell us about the direction of cloud ERP (and enterprise AI?)

At the end of a vigorous session with Unit4's leadership team, Jon Reed and Brian Sommer camped out in an unused conference room to break down what they learned. While successfully dodging interruptions from the hotel staff, Brian and Jon hash out Unit4's "self-driving" cloud ERP approach, the service industries they are targeting, and why this vendor brings the right cloud ERP issues to a head. The talk shifts to Unit4's potentially problematic end-of-maintenance deadline, and why they are handling this differently than we might expect. The pros and cons of Unit4's approach to AI are also covered - and Unit4 gets kudos for one of the few analyst days without any NDA material of note, which makes it easy to share an open podcast discussion with all.

CCE 2024 - how active inference shook up the AI conversation - with Esteban Kolsky

In this 15 minute companion podcast, Jon Reed asks Esteban Kolksy about the highlights of his "Beyond Gen AI" panel - and why active inference AI shook up the AI conversation this week. Active inference AI still has a lot to prove, but because it is *not* from the deep learning area of AI, its promise lies in moving beyond probabilistic AI (correlations) into a causal form of AI with a world model. In turn, the contrast highlights the shortcomings of LLMs, and gives Kolsky an AI to consider that he hasn't skewered on LinkedIn. For more on active interference AI, check out the work of Denise Holt, who appeared on the panel and keynoted at CCE. Also check out the work of Dr. Karl Friston of active inference AI vendor VERSES. One Holt blog post: https://deniseholt.us/active-inference-ai-the-future-of-enterprise-operations-and-industry-innovation/

Customer intelligence is what we’re missing - inside the evil plans of Esteban Kolsky

For part one of this on-site podcast from Constellation Connected Enterprise 2024, we have the triumphant return of Jon's sparring partner and occasional enterprise muse Esteban Kolsky, who has launched a new customer intelligence venture with Alan Berkson. Why? And how has this re-inspired Kolsky? We get into the context of the stale and/or noisy approach to enterprise advisory, and how Kolsky found a way out of his LinkedIn AI vinegar posts, without backing down from his AI criticism. Note: the AI part of this conversation, including how active inference AI shook up CCE 2024, is in the shorter companion podcast. Note: if you believe in unscripted, unsponsored unfiltered enterprise convos like these, consider a rating or share, it matters.

AI, RPA, and the realities of change - UiPath Forward review with Alyx MacQueen

On the final media/analyst day of UiPath Forward, Jon sat down with diginomica's own Alyx Macqueen, who makes their podcast series debut. Macqueen has been tracking UiPath closely, but given the AI agents fanfare and CEO Daniel Dines proclaiming an "act two" for the company, much has changed. What does this mean for customers, and what did we learn on the show floor? Macqueen shares their take, and we compare notes on our interviews and what we found pressing into the change from RPA to agentic AI - and where customers are coming from. We also explain why UiPath's keynotes were a cut above what we've heard this event season. Note: we had a bit of background noise to contend with here, some of that has been edited in post production.

SAP Spend Connect 24 review - assessing the SAP Business Network with Josh Greenbaum

Analyst Josh Greenbaum has been doing deep dives into the SAP Spend portfolio for years. Now it's time to assess the progress, via SAP Spend Connect 2024. After two days on the ground in Vegas, Josh and Jon grab a surprise quiet location and tape this rundown, looking at issues such as: can SAP Promote finally bring smaller suppliers needed network visibility? What were the highs and lows of the show, and what did we learn from customers and show floor demos? How does Josh view the growth of SAP Business Network - and what does SAP need to do from here? Can SAP Business Network provide a welcome and different way into SAP innovation than GROW and RISE? Let's hash it out...

SAP event blowout - decoding AI, clean core, TechEd news and ASUG data

Many events have passed since our post-Sapphire clean core review. Time to hash out AI, clean core and more - in the context of ASUG's fall events, and fresh research data. Analyst Josh Greenbaum, ASUG CEO Geoff Scott and your host Jon Reed rejoin for another unscripted review of event lessons learned - from SAP shows and beyond.

Along with Geoff's new ASUG data, Jon shares his top event gripes and learnings; Josh shares his clean core/BTP findings. Then we look ahead to what we want to learn from ASUG Tech Connect, and why Enterprise Architects are central to the changes afoot.

Show notes:

1 - 31:00 - fall event reviews, ASUG research findings, clean core, and AI hype vs customer reality

31:00 - SAP TechEd news review

51:00 - ASUG Tech Connect preview, why Enterprise Architects matter, and community as a learning framework

Jon recommends listeners look at SAP's Knowledge Graph pursuits, a notable TechEd topic not covered in this podcast. Here is a link to the smartShift research mentioned in the podcast.

Enterprise Month in Review - event halftime review with Brian Sommer

We're halfway through the fall event season, and it's time for Brian Sommer and Jon Reed to reveal the overrated, underrated, and most overhyped topics of the season to date. As always, bring your savviest/snarkiest commentary and we'll work that right into the live mix. We'll also share our most important article reads of the month.... Note: if you want to catch the slides, you can see the full video replay on YouTube at https://youtube.com/live/XQg2YcSDwB8.

Workday Rising 2024 - hashing out the HCM, payroll and AI news with Pete Tiliakos

In the final hours of Workday Rising 2024, Jon sat down with analyst Pete Tiliakos for an unscripted show review. Tiliakos has a focus on HCM, payroll and the future of work, so the podcast leaned towards those themes - and, of course, the unavoidable reckoning with AI-related news as well. Topics include: why payroll modernization matters, Workday's Extend strategy and whether AI will follow the same pattern, why AI in HR is a potent issue, and what we learned on the show floor - and in conversation with Workday execs. Jon also discusses his Rising post on "should you rip out your ERP/HCM for AI."

The dark side of HR tech - with Brian Sommer

After Jon Reed and Brian Sommer taped their Oracle CloudWorld and SuiteWorld review, they stuck around for a ten minute podcast on the dark side of HR tech, a preview of Brian Sommer's upcoming HR tech presentations.

The Oracle CloudWorld and SuiteWorld combined review - live from Las Vegas

Is it possible to manage two combined show reviews for Oracle CloudWorld and NetSuite SuiteWorld - without any help from AI agents or digital avatars. On the final evening of the final day, Jon Reed and podcast partner in tarmac crime Brian Sommer give it their best. With a tasty dinner awaiting them, Jon and Brian consulted their notes - and very different conference schedules - to give you a combined view of the hot issues and themes. There was a lot more show than we could handle in 30 minutes, but this should get you started. Note: after this we taped a short ten minute companion podcast on the dark side of HR tech.

Has AI changed the meaning of transformation - in ERP and beyond?

AI is purported to have an outsized impact on application areas like ERP - but is that true in practice? And what about the overall view of digital transformation? Bring your best and/or snarkiest questions for Eric Kimberling of Third Stage Consulting. Eric is fielding these topics firsthand from customers; let's find out what he's learned so far, and see if we can de-hype the tech a bit - and find the viable use cases. Note: if you like uncensored, unscripted enterprise content without ads or sponsors, consider giving me a strong rating on your favorite podcast service, thanks!

Enterprise month in review - the dark side of HR tech, and HR services

Yep, it's time! Bring your top picks and savviest/snarkest commentary to our Enterprise Month in Review show on Friday. I'll be joined as always by co-host Brian "Brain" Sommer - special guest Bonnie Duncan Tinder will join us also, where we will discuss upcoming presentations and data on "The dark side of HR" and "The dark side of HR services." Brian and I will also share our picks and underrated stories of the month, as well as a fail or two. Should be a good one, with major cloud HR events right around the corner. Update: Meg Bear also crashed the show at the 45:00 mark to give her take on the state of enterprise HR, as Brian regaled us with his ill-fated attempt to re-apply for a job at a company where he once held a major role. Note: to see the slides, check the video replay on my YouTube channel at youtube.com/jonathanwreed.

Enterprise media blowout - where are brands getting it wrong? (and right)

Before everyone gets into trouble at fall events, it's time to bear down on enterprise video and media, and look at where brands are getting it wrong - and right. Paul Greenberg and Brent Leary of PPN/CRM Playaz, the recipients of my informal enterprise video award, have lived the highs and lows of audience engagement with video - time to put them in the chair with your questions. This blowout edition will also include surprise mystery guests! (Thomas Wieberneit of CRMKonvos, another enterprise video finalist, will join for the post-game analysis and podcast wrap at the 30:00 mark). Note: by the time we finished this video, I think we had boiled down a bunch of key takeaways for getting enterprise media right.