Busting the omnichannel - enterprise hacks and chats

ESG for finance - where do we stand now?

In this ten minute update, Jon Reed asks Brian Sommer for the latest on why ESG is disrupting finance - and touching just about every corporate cost center. This podcast took place in advance of Brian's session at Planful Perform 2024 on ESG for finance professionals. Jon also asks Brian to weigh in on why ESG is perceived as too political, and what the stakes are to sidelining this conversation for that reason. Note: this is the final section of a longer Planful Perform review that's also been released, so check the feed for that one.

Planful Perform ’24 Review - impact of AI on finance and customer priorities

In this on-site podcast taping in San Diego, Jon Reed and Brian Sommer review the hot topics at Planful Perform 2024. Obviously the potential and perils of AI for finance gets attention, but there is more - including the financial planning market, and what finance customers need to achieve better project results. Note: the final section of this podcast, on the impact of ESG for finance, is being released separately, so check the feed for that.

What is the role of partners in the SAP innovation debate?

In our prior podcasts on SAP's innovation direction, we debated everything from AI to RISE - with the goal of providing actions and context for customers. This time, we wade into deeper waters by looking at the role of SAP partners. Join us as Josh Greenbaum, ASUG CEO Geoff Scott and Jon Reed look at how SAP services partners are responding to disruptions inside and outside the SAP "ecosystem." How should partners address clean core/BTP versus customizations? How should customers evaluate partners? Are customers missing out on partners that are not on their radar screen? And what is the role of ASUG (and other SAP user groups) in helping customers engage and assess partners? What has ASUG learned from recent surveys on this topic? We cover all that and more in this lead up to SAP Sapphire and the ASUG Annual Conference.

Enterprise Month in Review - customer data pitfalls edition with Maureen Blandford

Join Brian Sommer and Jon Reed for another spicy, fun-filled edition of the Enterprise Month in Review. Our special guest feature is Maureen Blandford of Serendipitus, who will reveal her field lessons on the data pitfalls enterprises are falling into, and why slathering AI on questionable data is a fail. And: Blandford will tell us what the heck to do about it!

Note: you can follow along with the slides via the video replay on LinkedIn. 

Workshopping hyperpersonalization - defined, debunked, debated - with Thomas Wieberneit

Hyperpersonalization has been recognized as one of the seven defining patterns of AI. Why? Is it deserving? Useful? Buzzword mischief? Time for an enterprise BS detector dissection... Join me and CRM analyst and buzzword detoxifier Thomas Wieberneit as we pick apart hyperpsersonalization in this informal discussion. Where does hyperpersonalization work? Where does it fall short? Is the collateral damage of bad personalization worth the risk? As usual bring your sharpest insights and a bit of snark as well, we're going to need it. By the end, we even get around to the problem of music personalization - and Pink Floyd.

Enterprise month in review - the impact of AI on software selection and more

For this month's Enterprise Month in Review, Jon and Brian will be joined by a surprise special guest. We'll pick our top stories of the month, and then dig with our guest on the ups and downs of AI as a consideration in software selection, how to avoid the gotchas of software evaluation, how HR vendors are approaching AI, and more. As always, bring your smartest (and snarkiest) questions/comments. Note: if you enjoy these audio productions with unfiltered enterprise content, and no sponsors or commercials, consider leaving a good review so I can beat the algorithm...

The midmarket analytics (and AI) reality check - live from Sage Transform with Joni Girardi

On the final day of Sage Transform 2024, Jon Reed caught up with old school, returning podcast guest Joni Girardi of DataSelf. Girardi explained why self-service BI has fallen short for business and finance users in the midmarket. Jon gets Joni's take on what Sage Transform's AI announcements mean for customers when it comes to analytics, and the guys take on the impact of AI on analytics from a number of angles, until their room time expires and the podcast wraps.

Enterprise month in review - return to office blowout edition - featuring Molly Sands of Atlassian

Join Jon Reed, Brian Sommer and special guest Molly Sands, who heads up Atlassian's Team Anywhere, to hit the highs and lows of the enterprise year so far - with special attention to the impact of Return to Office mandates, and what companies should do differently. As always, bring your smartest and snarkiest commentary to share. Note: the link to Atlassian's Lessons Learned: 1,000 days of distributed at Atlassian can be found at: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/distributed-work/distributed-work-report

What does SAP’s AI push mean for customers? With Geoff Scott and Josh Greenbaum

Join Josh Greenbaum, ASUG CEO Geoff Scott and Jon Reed for their latest attempt to get to the bottom of SAP's innovation and AI strategy. But unlike their last contentious debate, this one is more of a back-and-forth on the impact of enterprise AI, what SAP's AI strategy means for customers - and how customers should respond. The main SAP news stories since the last podcast are also touched on, as well as another potent question: is RISE with SAP evolving into the transformation as a service tagline it has always been billed as? Is "cALM" (cloud ALM) an SAP buzzword to take seriously - especially when paired with Signavio and Lean IX? If so, why? Let's hash it out - and discuss how customers should respond.

Acumatica Summit 2024 - the podcast review

After a hectic week in Vegas, Jon asked returning champ Josh Greenbaum back onto the show to review impressions and takeaways from their time digging into Acumatica with customers, partners, and execs. Josh hadn't been to this show in a few years, so it was a good time to chart Acumatica's progress - and the work still ahead. Acumatica is one of the most differentiated cloud ERP vendors, and most interesting enterprise vendors period. But in the AI/data platform era, all vendors face new challenges. Where does Acumatica land? We discuss.

The five horsemen of the business apocalypse, with Josh Greenbaum - ”behind the blog” podcast edition

Time for another "blogs that matter" special edition. Bring your smartest/snarkiest questions as we dig into Josh's recent post, the five horsemen of the business apocalypse. Those of you with AI fatigue will especially enjoy this one, as it turns out there are other pressing business problems to talk about in 2024. Note: if you enjoy unfiltered podcasts without sponsors or a business model, consider giving a lovely review and help me beat the algo. Josh's post: to reference his post, see: https://eaconsult.com/the-five-horsemen-of-the-business-apocalypse-a-quick-guide-to-the-real-issues-that-should-be-keeping-every-ceo-awake-at-night/

Enterprise month in review - end of year blowout edition with Meg Bear and Brian Sommer

Bring your snarkiest snark, enterprise wit, and burning questions for one more enterprise month in review for 2023. Join Jon Reed, Brian "Brain" Sommer and special guest Meg Bear for our picks of enterprise highs and lows. Note: if you believe in the mission of this show: free/uncensored independent enterprise content with no commercial model, then consider giving me a good rating and review. It's the best way to keep the show momentum going. I know it's tedious but help us beat the algorithm... For any of these review shows that reference slides,  you can always catch the video replays on my YouTube channel. 

The future of SAP tech events - and the great SAP innovation debate

Sometimes, discussions go off the rails - in the best way possible. Earlier this fall, independent analyst Josh Greenbaum and ASUG CEO Geoff Scott joined Jon Reed to try to make sense of shift's in SAP's innovation/AI strategy - and the messaging around it. In this in-depth return, things get a bit heated. 

We start off with a catch up from the last talk - and what we learned from events such as ASUG Tech Connect about SAP customer priorities - as SAP tech leaders contend with S/4HANA deadlines, AI confusion/opportunities, economic headwinds and more. 

The conversation shifts to a discussion of the future of SAP tech events, particularly in North America. Should/will SAP TechEd return to Vegas? Where does ASUG Tech Connect fit in? How will SAP tech pros upskill for AI, BTP etc? 

The final phase of the conversation, on SAP's innovation strategy, goes off the rails as Jon and Geoff take very different positions, and Josh finds himself in an unexpected role as mediator of sorts, and calmest voice in the room. Final note: the goal here was to surface a conversation that matters to SAP and its customers. All three of us agree that customers should own/claim their own innovation agenda - the questions center around how SAP should fit into that. No, we didn't resolve anything here, but did we find some common ground? We hope this debate gives customers motivation to press forward on their innovation strategy - and to engage in dialogue with SAP and user groups, be it ASUG or in other regions.

Podcast timeline summary: 
2:00 - ASUG Tech Connect and customer priorities, including AI and clean core
30:00 - The future of SAP tech events
45:00 - The SAP innovation debate II

Prior September podcast discussion: https://jonerp.podbean.com/e/the-sap-innovation-debate-hashing-out-sap-s-rise-and-ai-plans-with-greenbaum-and-scott/

SAP tech leaders on the ground - AI or S/4HANA? Live from ASUG Tech Connect with Josh Greenbaum

On the last day of the first ASUG Tech Connect in New Orleans, Jon sat down with Josh Greenbaum to make sense of what just happened. What was on the agenda of the SAP tech leaders present? Was the show a success? If so - why? How did the interest in AI compare to the interest in S/4HANA? We discuss our own session with customers, what we learned in our pursuits - including Greenbaum's six week SAP show tour. Jon brings up the issue of the clean core, and Greenbaum shares why our talk with Juergen Mueller wound up in discussing new possibilities for RISE - as a process evaluation and landscape management solution. Would that fly? Greenbaum connects the Signavio and Cloud ALM dots, and we head out.

The enterprise month in review show - event highs and lows blowout edition

Join Jon Reed and Brian "Brain" Sommer for this special fall event review, featuring guest star Laurie McCabe from the SMB Group. As usual, your snarky comments and smart ideas are expected. We'll pick the most notable content of the month, and try to make sense of a hype-laden AI event season. Note: if you like uncensored, unsponsored enterprise content like this, help me surface it with a good rating, it's one of the only ways free content like this can beat today's algorithms. Thanks.

Work is broken - how are we going to fix it? With Melissa Swift

"We need a language on what's going wrong with work" - fantastic lead quote from my guest on Friday the 18, Melissa Swift. Bring your sharpest commentary on the problems of work, and what better work futures look like, with and without AI. Swift, the author of "Work Here Now: Think Like a Human and Build a Powerhouse Workplace," will count down the top reasons why work is broken, and skewer a few of her most disliked HCM catch phrases. Then we'll take stock: where do we go from here? What would a smart/savvy/inclusive workplace look like, and what are the building blocks of that? Bring your questions and let's see where this goes.

SuccessConnect 2023 in review - talking customer success, skills, and show surprises with Luke Marson

On the final day of SuccessConnect 2023, Jon sat down with Luke Marson for a wide ranging discussion on what he learned from his customer discussions at SuccessConnect, and how that matches up with what he heard from the keynote stage. Luke shares the questions about onboarding that were one big theme in his customer talks. He also details what the most successful SuccessFactors projects looks like. We compare notes on what constitutes customer success, the value of AI, and why skills is a core opportunity for SuccessFactors going forward.

SuccessConnect ’23 review - did the event deliver? With Chris Paine

Jon reignites his old school SuccessConnect podcast troublemaker series with SuccessFactors community leader and partner Chris Paine. Chris wrote a post prior to SuccessConnect about his predictions and expectations - did the show deliver? What did he learn as of the end of day one? The guys also get into the AI topic, reviewing how SAP can succeed in AI, what customers think, and how AI might impact implementation services in good and bad ways. *** Audio note: the main recording ran into an issue, so this final is a splice between two recordings. I've leveled over the volume but you may notice the splice - the result isn't perfect but I hope it's pretty listenable.***

Chris' pre-event blog post: https://www.wombling.com/hr/successconnect-2023-expectations/

Chris' post-event blog post: https://www.wombling.com/hr/successconnect-2023-expectations-met-and-exceeded/

Jon's 1st show post on gen AI and more: https://diginomica.com/successconnect-23-under-hood-saps-generative-ai-news-and-beyond

 

Generative AI in the enterprise - project myths and realities with Vijay Vijayasankar

On diginomica, I've been pushing back on the generative AI hype machine with vigor, but also digging into its enterprise possibilities. Who better for an enterprise AI gut check than Vijay Vijayasankar? Vijayasankar has a deep interest/passion for AI but also has a reputation for debunking its misconceptions.

In his role at IBM managing financial services clients, he can also speak to project realities - and how customers weigh GenAI risks and opportunities. I lay out my generative AI views/research for a gut check from Vijayasankar. We also discuss why he wrote his post on GenAI in the enterprise, and what he thinks customers should prioritize, as they move into GenAI projects. Vijayasankar also shares his own project learnings, and promising use cases.

We hit on many issues in this podcast, such as whether bias and hallucations can ever be eliminated from LLM, and whether domain experts, customer data and reinforcement learning can improve the accuracy/effectiveness of GenAI for the enterprise. As Vijayasankar notes in the podcast, the views he expresses here, and in his post, are his views alone, not his employer.

Vijay's AI post: https://andvijaysays.com/2023/08/05/genai-in-the-enterprise-nine-themes-that-i-have-seen-so-far/

My AI post: https://diginomica.com/enterprises-will-test-limits-llms-and-chatgpt-just-beginning

 

Oracle CloudWorld - the instant review with Brian Sommer

In this spontaneous podcast review on the final afternoon of Oracle CloudWorld 2023, Jon Reed and Brian Sommer compare what they learned, culminating in Sommer's quip, "You may have to partner with your enemy, because that's what your customer wants." Customers definitely want more vendor options in their strategic mix - did CloudWorld support that premise? Is Oracle's generative AI messaging differentiated? Does Oracle have an industry applications advantage from their acquisitions, which go well beyond Cerner? And: did Larry Ellison's strong keynote push on healthcare resonate? These are some of the topics we hash out during this 25 minute recap. Production note: Jon's audio was a bit quiet due to a tech glitch, worked on tweaking that as best possible in post production, hopefully it will be solid enough for this time around.