Busting the omnichannel - enterprise hacks and chats

Live from Controlling 2019, Jon talks with Kent Bettisworth, expert SAP consultant, about the research he's done into the relevance of robotic process automation (RPA) for auditors. Kent explains the RPA use cases that are emerging, but also the risk and downsides of RPA, and the problem auditors have with "black boxes." This topic is relevant to RPA or AI/ML projects who must also get past the ri...

After her customer keynote at Controlling 2019 , Barb Rojas of the Discovery Channel gives listeners her view on IT - business alignment in the cloud era. How do you balance business enthusiasm for cloud with proper governance? How do you drive/support business change in an SAP environment? Jon also asks Barb about how her Discovery Communications teams approaches robotic process automation, as we...

In part two of their talk on the dilemmas of the modern enterprise buyer, Jon Reed and Hank Barnes of Gartner dive right into Barnes' latest research on reaching enterprise buyers, and the strengths and flaws of reaching buyers with content. Other surprising Gartner data is discussed, including the surprising role of vendor responsiveness and why that is overlooked. The guys also hit on peer revie...

In part one of his first-ever podcast with Hank Barnes of Gartner, Reed and Barnes revisit their multi-year dialogue on the dilemmas of the modern enterprise buyer. Barnes has fresh research on modern buyers, including unsettling updates on project failures and buyer complacency. He also has fresh buzzwords for Jon to call out and break down, including "continuous buying" and "continuous customer...

In this live chat from Salesforce Connections, Jon catches up with pesky questions specialist and CX analyst Nicole France of Constellation Research. Nicole shares her approach to analyzing vendors and why we need to press vendors on their CX approach. She also sheds light on the motivations behind her recent blog post, 10 Signs You Have a Customer Understanding Deficit and Three Things to Do Abou...

During Jon's latest trip to Boston, he crashed the new offices of UpperEdge, an independent enterprise and IT advisory firm with strong views on the potent topics of digital transformation and getting value of out cloud. During this unscripted, 45 minute dialogue, Jon talks with UpperEdge's John Belden and Adam Mansfield about the problem of digital transformation in the real world. The guys shift...

As PowerPlex 2019 - the Plex Manufacturing Cloud user conference - kicks off, Jon Reed and Brian Sommer claim a quiet spot for an in-depth talk on why he finally wrote a book - Digital with Impact. After pressing Brian on why he entered the overhyped book area of digital transformation, Jon and Brian turn their attention to the exercises in the book. What has Brian learned by using these these exe...

Taping outside this year with a fountain percolating behind them, Jon Reed of diginomica talks with Dick Hirsch about why Sapphire Now felt different this year. Hirsch talks about SAP's changing views on the cloud and their relationship with hyperscalers like AWS, Google Cloud and Azure. The guys hit on some big themes of a show with little hard news but many big storylines, from the impact of Qua...

In this special "jokes included" edit of their Oracle CX and MBX 2019 review, Jon Reed and Brian Sommer, lead off with a few Vegas-inspired jokes, including the "manel" - all male conference panel - before diving into the Oracle CX/MBX shows. The guys vent their customer experience grievances along the way, but also talk about an inspiring Oracle customer that is pushing the AI limits in the servi...

During this first-ever sit down with Joe McKendrick, live from the MariaDB user conference, Jon talks with Joe about his recent articles on the impact of DevOps, agile, and digital transformation on IT - and the obstacles in the path. The guys talk about Joe's recent ZDNet articles and why over-hyped technologies like AI and machine learning fall short without a concerted change effort. Jon keeps...

In Jon's first ever podcast from NRF's retail "Big Show," Jon sits down with Joachim Klein of ThreeKit, where the two overcome NRF sounds to break down the key trends of the show, before the podcast is finally vanquished by a vacuum cleaner. The guys discuss the next-gen tech at the show, including robotics, facial recognition, and virtual fashion assistants, before digging into the problem of per...

"Up to 2/3 of all enterprise software projects fail to deliver their expected value. Will your project be one of them?" That's the basis for Jon's first-ever podcast with analyst and ProQ founder Josh Greenbaum. On some hidden bean bag chairs in the basement of SAP TechEd, the guys discuss the multiple ways that enterprise projects can fail or underperform, and why early interventions can change o...

In this review of Sage Intacct Advantage 2018, Brian shares his undying love for the baffling labyrinth of exquisite possibilities known as the Nashville Gaylord Opryland Hotel. The guys quickly move on to the matter at hand - assessing Intacct now that the acquisition by Sage is in year two. They guys discuss new product announcements, and mix in views on other vendors given that the fall confere...

In an SAP TechEd special, Jon Reed is joined by SAP Mentor Graham Robinson in the lost Vegas corridors to hash out what they learned behind the scenes - and how that stacks up with SAP's news announcements. Graham, who is an independent consultant and expert SAP developer, has plenty to say about SAP's ABAP PaaS announcement, and how ABAP on the SAP Cloud Platform impacts developers and customers....

What if HR customers had a way of assessing the quality of the partners servicing their implementations? Would less projects run into budget and scope problems - or outright failure. Well, now they do, thanks to the upstarts at Raven Intel. During "HR tech week" in Las Vegas, at SuccessConnect 2018, Jon sat down with Bonnie Tinder and Michele of Raven Intel on the day of their official launch to d...

In their first online talk in several years, Jon Reed of  www.diginomica.com  is reunited with one of his old school guests for a fresh talk on the problem of hiring data science skills - and what to do about it. Vijayasankar details the types of data science skills that a data science team needs, and where the hiring gaps are. There's plenty of advice for individuals on how to fill those gaps. Th...

In this in-depth on-site conversation, Jon Reed and SAP SuccessFactors expert and customer advocate Jarret Pazahanick break out what they've learned from a hectic two days in Vegas. The guys hit on the show's highs and lows, from news to executive keynotes to a powerful closer from Michael J. Fox. Jon asks Pazahanick to elaborate on his critique of the SuccessFactors partner and certification appr...

In their last sit-down of the spring event season, Brian and Jon huddle in the Alexa-free environment of FinancialForce Community Live 2018 to break down FinancialForce's goals and obstacles. Topics include the push for modern ERP and servitization, the pros and cons of their Salesforce platform play, and the keys to their current growth rate. The guys break out their talks with FinancialForce exe...

In this impromptu/underground recording with the implausible Esteban Kolsky, the guys grab some time as Salesforce Connections to discuss the future of the enterprise. Two Kolsky blog posts are up for consideration, one on his enterprise software priorities, the other on AI misconceptions. Since this taping is at a CX event, the guys also get into the epic problem of delivering a halfway-decent cu...

In their second podcast from Sapphire Now 2018, Jon Reed and guest Brian Dennett move on from SAPpy talk to discuss Brian's startup, Enable AI, and why they are taking a practical approach to AI as augmented intelligence. Brian shares his view on why AI and ML are getting market traction, and the customer problems that Enable AI is tackling. Brian also advises on how companies should get started w...

In Jon's annual Sapphire Now event review, he has a new guest, Brian Dennett of Enable AI, who was also part of the SAP blogger program coverage. Jon and Brian hash out the messages of the show, including the "intelligent enterprise" messaging and whether the Leonardo aspects actually made sense this year. They discuss Brian's pick for the sleeper announcement of the show, Master Data Management a...

In this lightly-edited version of Jon's Western Mass Podcamp 2018 workshop discussion, Jon presents his advanced content method for using deep work as a way of differentiating your business. This interactive content strategy session builds on themes of content positioning, avoiding social media marketing overdose, the power of curation, and earning sustained attention by building opt-in communitie...

We're halfway through the enterprise event season folks - so it's time for the sassy halftime review with Jon Reed and Brian Sommer. Taped at IFS World, this informal, unrehearsed podcast finds the guys in a chippy mood, with a few sacred cows taken off to pasture and a few chips off of Brian's shoulder. The overuse of IoT and AI buzzwords is mocked, as well as the problem of systems that claim to...

In this live recording from IFS World Conference 2018, Jon Reed and usual podcast suspect Brian Sommer review the first two days of the IFS World show, explaining to listeners why this industry-focused ERP solution is worth watching. They kick around the IFS push to modernize platform and partners, and look at whether this approach will work for existing and net new customers. The guys also hash o...

In this interactive live discussion from Western Mass Podcamp 2018, Jon shares his views on researching the so-called informed buyer, and why marketing and sales must change. Participants from the session share their own challenges, and Jon hits on the dynamics of winning (and sustaining) attention, and why topic authority and opt-in audiences are essential. He explains why social media is useless...