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.
Mar 04, 2024•41 min
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-...
Feb 18, 2024•1 hr
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 tag...
Feb 18, 2024•51 min
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 challen...
Feb 04, 2024•40 min
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...
Feb 04, 2024•1 hr 4 min
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......
Jan 07, 2024•1 hr 6 min
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, ...
Dec 10, 2023•1 hr 10 min
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 Juerge...
Nov 12, 2023•38 min
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.
Oct 29, 2023•1 hr 10 min
"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 ...
Oct 29, 2023•1 hr 13 min
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 ...
Oct 11, 2023•47 min
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 iss...
Oct 08, 2023•36 min
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 an 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/res...
Sep 24, 2023•50 min
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 we...
Sep 24, 2023•24 min
On July 20, 2023, during SAP's Q2 earnings call, SAP CEO Christian Klein made bold statements regarding the future of SAP innovation - in particular RISE, AI, and why SAP's close relationship with customers, including opt-in customer data, give SAP an AI advantage (and premium AI pricing). It is our view that these statements constitute a notable change/evolution in innovation strategy that warrant debate, user group dialogue - and discussion on how customers should track these issues. Since Kle...
Sep 17, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Okay, bring your popcorn and saltiest commentary - it's the debut of the enterprise month in review with Brian Sommer and yours truly. In this edition, we are joined by Hyoun Park of Amalgam Research to discuss his important post on Zoom's terms of service issues, and the implications for customers considering AI moves in the enterprise. In each edition of this show, we'll each pick our top stories of the month (and why), and the underrated story that got lost in the hype. We'll pick our most lo...
Sep 17, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Companies are whiffing on ESG - but why? Regulatory requirements bring added pressure, but the incentive to change goes well beyond that - as a new wave of ESG vendors demonstrate. This is now well beyond reporting. It's tracking/managing ESG in real-time across supply chains. Join Brian Sommer for his ESG research preview/reveal session - and bring your best/toughest questions. Bonus: for the final third of the show, sustainability expert Tom Raftery joins the show to weigh on in how the ESG ma...
Aug 27, 2023•1 hr 17 min
Returning champ Maureen Blandford is back, but much has changed. Now she's a founder of Serendipitus - and she's got some tough love talk (and data insights) into why digital transformations fail. Join our interactive, no filter discussion as Maureen takes us through the top digital transformation botches, and what we're gonna do about it. No buzzword (or tech event) is safe, as life as a female founder tends to surface a lot of industry BS - and we're gonna call it out on Friday. Let's do this....
Aug 27, 2023•59 min
Enterprise video can be effective - or a true yawner. Join special guest Brent Leary as we discuss the highs and lows of enterprise video, and the secrets of his portable video gear and Playaz Production Network adventures with Paul Greenberg. We're also going to hash out the AI for video editing use case, share recent experiments - and the best options out there. As always bring your questions and Friday attitude... Note: the video version, if you want to see the pics of Brent's setup, can be f...
Jul 16, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Enterprise spring events were a generative AI carnival - but did we learn anything customers can use now? Forget keynote reviews - what did customers learn that can actually help them compete in a spank tunnel economy? Let's have an informal rehash shall we? There was enough generative AI hype to create a circus, but did we actually learn anything customers can use? Let's hash this out. Jon also hands out letter grades for event achievements, and lack thereof. Also check the itunes channel for t...
Jul 16, 2023•35 min
We're back, and about to go live - What is MACH-washing? Why is it worse than cloud-washing? No one better than Phil Wainwright to discuss, fresh off a deep dive into headless architectures and the MACH Alliance show. We discuss the hype around the micrservices enterprises, including Amazon's recent decision to retreat from microservices for a Prime Video use case. As part one ends, Brian Sommer challenges Jon and Phil to a wardrobe duel, and we begin our generative AI discussion.
Jun 25, 2023•32 min
Brian Sommer crashes the show to exhibit his wardrobe versatility and a fresh tie. We dive back into microsservices, this time from an ESG data perspective. Then the audience moves us into a debate/discussion on generative AI for the enterprise. We discuss viable use cases, as well as the limits and shortfalls. Jon shares what he learned when pressing vendors on issues like 1:1 personalization with generative AI. (Note: to see the ties you'll want to check the youtube video replay at youtube.com...
Jun 25, 2023•52 min
To make sense of the barrage of news stories, keynotes and meetings, Jon gets Josh Greenbaum in the podcast chair. Josh hit on a few key storylines he was pursuing at the show: the state of SAP Business Networks, partner ecosystem issues, and whether SAP's sustainability push has progressed. The guys also talk about their discussion with ASUG members at the ASUG Executive Exchange program on the Monday prior to Sapphire's kick off. The discussion closes with Josh and Jon's personal reflections o...
May 21, 2023•47 min
I haven't caught up with Brian Dennett in a few years. After honing his tech chops in AI startups, Dennett is back in SAP land as an SAP Mentor. I was pleased to learn, during our conversation, he is keeping the tradition of the outspoken/critical/a little grouchy SAP Mentor alive. Dennett has strong views on the SAP Datasphere news, SAP's cloud business model transition challenges, and the future of SAP TechEd. This on-site podcast discussion also weaves in a few of my recent interviews and dig...
May 21, 2023•30 min
In this online podcast taping, Jon talks with Tim Rodman, creator of the first independent Acumatica cloud ERP user group, AUGforums.com. We talk about the importance of community and user group voices in the enterprise, and Tim shares what he's learned over the years by starting his own independent user group. He also shares how he has produced so much Acumatica-related content, and how he sustains these efforts.
Apr 09, 2023•36 min
Time to hash out what HR tech is getting right - and where it's falling short. Join us for an interactive discussion and research reveal. Bonnie Duncan Tinder, Stacey Harris and Brian Sommer will surely bring their A game, so bring your smartest questions. We'll also blow off steam via the most hated buzzwords in HR tech. You can bet ChatGPT is going to come up. Before we wrap, we'll have advice for HR leaders on making their talent goals stick, despite the economic "headwinds" and KPI overdose....
Apr 09, 2023•1 hr 4 min
In this on-site podcast from Acumatica Summit 2023, Jon Reed talks with Joni Girardi of DataSelf. ERP as a data platform? Extracting more value out of ERP was a big topic at the show. Acumatica customers - like all ERP customers - are looking to get more out of their ERP investment with analytics, planning, and improved reporting. Girardi has spent 20 years on this topic - he shares the pitfalls and potentials of BI projects, as the two hit on topics ranging from the impact of AI to the great da...
Feb 05, 2023•33 min
Jon didn't think SAP TechEd put enough emphasis on DevOps and AIOps, so he set about to correct that, via a roundtable with John Appleby and Brenton O'Callahan of Avantra, and Martin Fischer of Neptune Software (Fischer is also the lead for DSAG's DevOps interest group). But is DevOps even relevant in an ERP context? And what about AIOps? How do we move beyond dashboards and observability? What do SAP customers need to move forward with effective automation? Has this issue been overlooked by SAP...
Dec 11, 2022•56 min
Jon is back on the CRMKonvos show to make his case for why hybrid events matter - and to issue a scorching grade to vendors (and yet, the grade is an improvement over the spring). The CRMKonvos gang, Thomas Wieberneit, Ralf Korb and Marshall Lager once again keep the hot seat hot, but making sure that Jon is forced to comment on how the metaverse might play a role in hybrid events (the metaverse is Jon's favorite tech concept - err, not). But it does make for a convo with some surprises. Thanks ...
Dec 11, 2022•1 hr 15 min
In this special appearance, Jon joins the CRMKonvos gang in the hot seat, to help sort industry cloud BS from reality. Industry clouds matter - but customers should evaluate carefully. What are the true criteria? Jon shares his views, while the smart CRMKonvos gang of Thomas Wieberneit, Ralf Korb and Marshall Lager keep the hot seat hot. This replay is issued with the express permission of the CRMKonvos team - thanks to them. Catch all their replays on the CRMKonvos YouTube channel.
Dec 11, 2022•1 hr 1 min
