Busting the omnichannel - enterprise hacks and chats

After Acumatica's analyst day, prior to the next-day launch of Acumatica 6, Jon Reed and Brian Sommer convene for an informal review of what they learned about Acumatica's cloud ERP pursuits. After a bit of fun at the expense of non-disclosure agreements, Jon and Brian hit on the areas that stood out from the show, including a different approach to IoT and machine learning, the emphasis on a platform partners can build on, and the merits of a vertical cloud strategy. The guys also kick around the long term future of multi-tenant/public clouds - and why Acumatica is optimistic about their midmarket cloud ERP approach. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

In this live conference wrap, taped on SuccessConnect day two, Jon Reed and SuccessFactors consultant Jarret Pazahanick kick around the key themes of the conference and provide a gut check. Pazahanick is known for his pesky questions, but this review catches Pazahanick in an upbeat mood. Pazahanick explains why his views on SuccessFactors have shifted, and the guys hit on multiple themes of the conference, including diversity and business without bias, Intelligent Services. mobile UX and more. The guys hit on under-reported news, keynote reviews, and Pazahanick detailed his biggest concerns going forward. Jon does manage to get Pazahanick in a feisty mood regarding ASUG's announcement of their "Partner Place" program for evaluating SAP consulting partners. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

In the second of their seat-of-the-pants Inforum 2016 podcasts, Jon and Brian Sommer discuss the radical future of finance, based on Brian's recent posts on radical EPM on diginomica.com. Brian makes his case for why big data threatens spreadsheet culture, and how robotics is changing the finance profession. He brings in real world examples on social media sentiment analysis, and why finance people and CIOs have to get on the same page. The guys wrap with a preview of Brian's piece on how the airlines can redeem the customer experience with applied analytics - the topic of a recent multi-part series, "The Right Stuff" - now up on diginomica.com. Listeners who make it to the end get to sample Brian's Rodney Dangerfield "no respect" impersonation, dedicated to frequent flyers everywhere. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

Jon Reed and Vinnie Mirchandani have their differences when it comes to the outlook for robotics and jobs. At Inforum 2016, they sat down for a podcast taping where Vinnie explained the motivations behind his soon-to-be-released book and why he is optimistic about robotics and how workers can find new ways of working with tech and alongside the robots of the future. Vinnie made his case for why alarmists aren't helping us and the guys do some back and forth over the responsibilities of workers and employers and our educational system for adapting to the changes that automation brings.Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

In this live chat from Inforum 2016, Jon talks with Brian Sommer about Infor's evolution, and how Brian sees Infor's cloud play based on his view of cloud business. The guys cover the takeaways from the show, and Infor's strengths and potential pitfalls. Brian closes with advice to customers on assessing Infor. Note: part two of this podcast, to be released soon, will look at radical enterprise performance management, data science, and the change in the accounting profession. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

In part one of his two part podcast with Vinnie Mirchandani, the guys review Inforum 2016 near the end of day 2. Mirchandani has been tracking Inforum for years, and weighs in on Infor's digital transformation and cloud transition themes. The guys weigh Infor's success in moving customers to a pure SaaS model, and Jon presses Vinnie on whether digital transformation is vendor BS or customer reality. In part two of this podcast, to be issued soon, the guys delve into the theme of Vinnie's new book on robotics and the future of work, Silicon Collar. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

In part two of their informal video hangout, Jon Reed of diginomica.com, Jarret Pazahanick and Luke Marson shift their focus to cloud HCM in the field. Using their recent podcast with Steve Bogner's SAP HCM Insighs as a starting point, Jarret and Luke talk about bad versus good practices in SuccessFactors consulting. the guys hit on the demand for SuccessFactors skills, the need for independent experts, and they hit the always-hot issue of SAP certification. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

At the day one LiveWorx keynotes, Internet of Things security was an overlooked topic. Jon set about to correct that by sitting down with Volker Gerstenberger and Tomi Ronkainen of Giesecke & Devrient, a firm with a deep history of security everything from bank notes to, now, the IoT. The guys talk about the thorny security issues raised by IoT, and how they can be addressed during the design process. Autonomous/smart cars are one hacking controversy the guys cover. They also discuss the tensions between airtight security and great UX, and what they tell end customers about security preparedness.   Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

During this candid interview with ASUG CEO Geoff Scott, Jon gets the skinny on ASUG's latest collaboration with DSAG - a position paper on digital transformation that is a key issue for SAP customers. Scott shares the story on how the collaboration came about, and Jon presses to find out if ASUG endorses S/4HANA and SAP's view of S/4HANA as the digital core. Taped live in Orlando the day before ASUG Annual Conference and Sapphire Now, Scott shares his goals for the show and beyond. He also gives the view on ASUG's surprise acquisition of the U.S. division of The Eventful Group. This is the audio of a video shoot - you can check the companion analysis Jon wrote of this shoot on diginomica.com. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

During this live interview, taped in the midst of a bustling Consensus 2016, Steemit co-founder Ned Scott gives Jon the inside view on the creation of Steemit, and their unique approach to rewarding/paying content creators and curators through their blockchain-based platform. He also announces the launch of Steemit.com. Ned talks about Steemit's different asset classes, including Steem dollars, and how they've sparked their launch with a Slack-based community. The guys also get into the failure of existing networks to compensate content creators, and create a civil environment for discourse.  Jon also vows to jump off a bridge it companies like Steemit can't build new media models as viable alternatives to living on Facebook. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

Jon Reed and Dick Hirsch steal an empty room - or in this case, a (mostly) empty hallway - for a review of the news and events of Sapphire Now and the ASUG Annual Conference, 2016. Hirsch shares his investigations, and the guys compare notes on topics such as the HANA Cloud Platform, the SAP-iOS partnership, and S/4HANA clarifications. The guys discuss S/4HANA's viability as a digital core, SAP's cloud positioning, and how attendees reacted. Customer feedback to SAP on integration, a big theme of the conference, is addressed. This podcast leans on the technical side, which was surprising given Sapphire Now is a business conference - but even Hasso Plattner's final day keynote had an in-depth S/4HANA migration demo. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

During this live taping at Collision 2016, Jon talks with "User researcher, artist, and digital anthropologist" Caroline Sinders about the intersection of UX design and machine learning. Sinders shares key points from her Collision talk on design for consent, and whether online harassment can be reduced via design. Sinders gives her assessment of Facebook's chatbots and explains why calling such chatbots "AI" is inaccurate. Finally, Sinders sets the record straight on the panel controversy at SXSW and what conference organizers should learn from that brouhaha.Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

In this frank/informal chat, recorded live at Collision 2016 in New Orleans, Mike Janke, Co-founder and Chairman of Silent Circle, shares his field views on enterprise security, starting with the advice and wake-up calls he gives to customers. Janke also gives a blunt take on the FBI vs Apple encryption controversy. The issue of user experience design versus security is addressed. The guys wrap with some reflection from Janke on his prior work as a Navy SEAL, and what he learned about risk that carries over into his work with Silent Circle. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

In this on-site podcast, live from MongoDB Palo Alto, Jon Reed talks with MongoDB's Kelly Stirman about his database research obsessions. Stirman hits on key trends pertaining to data streaming, analysis, graph databases, and cloud adoption. He also explains why he doesn't like it when MongoDB winds up in the NoSQL database bucket. Finally, Jon and Kelly discuss the potent issue of data security, including MongoDB's responses to recent industry security events. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

Live from Advocamp 2016, Jon Reed catches Joseph Jaffe in a spirited mood after his keynote, "Using your brand to create an army of zealots." This frank/informal chat debates the pros/cons of brand zealotry, with Jaffe explaining why politicians like Trump and Obama have changed the marketing discourse. Jon worries this groundswell marketing has a dark side - Jaffe responds. Jaffe also hits on key concepts from his last book Z.E.R.O., which explores the futility of paid media. The guys also kick around the viability of customer advocates and advocate-driven marketing - a key theme of Influitive's Advocamp event. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes

Live from the Acumatica Summit 2016, Jon talks to fellow diginomica contributor Brian Sommer about enterprise buyers and digital change. Brian shares some recent digital turbulence and stories of how companies are losing the plot. He also reflects on recent projects to discuss what enterprise buyers need. The guys then hit on why sales and marketing is too often out of step with today's enterprise buyer. Note: part two of this podcast gets into specifics on Acumatica's cloud ERP play. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

In this on-site podcast with a (hopefully) relaxing fountain providing the background, Jon and fellow diginomica contributor Brian Sommer discuss the 2016 Acumatica Summit and Acumatica's cloud ERP play. The guys explore the unique attributes and challenges of this rapidly growing firm. This podcast is the second from the topic - also check out the first on enterprise buyers and coping with digital change. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

In this unscripted chat with Brian Solis, author of a new book on experience design, Jon asks Brian about whether experience design can be a reality given the data silos and culture issues that prevent this from happening. Brian shares his research and provides a view on why user and customer experience can - and must - change. Jon aired out a number of cynical views on customer experience. Brian's answers included starting points for customers on this new "experience architecture."   Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes

During this informal, on-site podcast taping in Boston, Jon Reed of diginomica.com talks with three members of the Onapsis team (Alex, Alex, and Dave) about what "white hat hacking" means for today's enterprise. The guys also talk about how Onapsis identifies ERP security breaches, and how they work with Oracle and SAP to make sure those companies have appropriate patches before taking security issues public. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.

In this frank video chat from Jon and Den's studio at SAP TechEd Las Vegas, ASUG CEO Geoff Scott offers up strong opinions on ASUG's relationship to SAP and to the German user group DSAG. Scott also shares customer views on S/4HANA and SAP's digital themes. He responds directly to criticisms that ASUG is "soft" on SAP and reacts to Jon's views on customer discounts for S/4HANA migration. Yes, you can get Busting the Omnichannel on iTunes.