The dark side of HR tech - with Brian Sommer

Yes - it's time... Let's review the highs and lows of the enterprise month, with Jon, Brian, and the infamous slide deck like no other. Plus: we have special guest Barb Mosher Zinck in the virtual chair, to talk about her latest research on what B2B buyers care about, and how AI - or isn't - changing what they need and how they evaluate. As always, bring your snarky and savviest commentary. Note: if you appreciate enterprise content with NO commercials and no sponsors, consider sharing this content, leaving a favorable review, etc. I've funded my own podcasts since 2007 because I believe in this medium of free exchange of ideas. Your advocacy matters. To see the slide deck visuals, catch the youtube replay at: https://youtube.com/live/Mg_UKnWdeBo. To see the post on B2B buyers and AI by Barb Mosher Zinck on diginomica, check https://diginomica.com/buyers-are-engaging-vendors-sooner-not-reasons-you-may-think-heres-whats-really-driving-it

At ASUG Tech Connect 2025, Jon Reed, Josh Greenbaum, and ASUG CEO/Chief Community Champion Geoff Scott took the hot seats for 30 minutes of "ask us anything" audience questions on the show floor. We kick off the podcast with reactions to the show, before turning it over to a series of very sharp audience questions from customers, including issues of data licensing/access, and SAP public cloud ERP and industry readiness. ASUG Talks Senior Producer, Jim Lichtenwalter, also had top submitted questions from attendees ready for us as well (look out for a follow-on podcast with more of those questions in the new year). Note: this on-site podcast was an ASUG-diginomica collaboration, originally released as part of the ASUG Talks podcast series. ASUG produced this podcast audio.

In part two of my on-site taping at CCE 2025 with Esteban Kolsky, we get into what he's learned in the past year on curating intelligence for executives. But why is there a need for this service? How are the big analyst firms falling short? Is the AI research disruption real, BS, or some combination? Kolsky walks us through what he's learned in the last year, firming up a curated intelligence offering for executives and boards with Constellation Research. And yes, AI is involved, but with a twist.

In part one of my two part podcast series with Esteban Kolksy, Chief Distiller, Constellation Research, we discuss the AI debate, and our differences with that debate, and each other. Has the AI discussion changed this year at CCE 205? What were the key issues - and is there an AI gap between vendors and customers? We also hash out AI context, and why Kolksy doesn't like the "context engineering" catchprase, and why I have an equal problem with "grounding" of LLMs. Stay tuned for part two, where we shift gears to discuss Kolsky's progress on decision intelligence for executives and boards, why analyst firms are falling short, and how he uses AI (yes, AI) to assist with that research.

On the final day of Oracle AI World 2025, before their Vegas escape, Jon Reed and Brian Sommer sit down and look to make sense of what they just heard, from Oracle's AI visions to customer realities - how do the two match up? Where are the success stories coming from? What does AI readiness look like? Does Oracle have a competitive edge in AI, if so - why? We work off of Brian's trusty notebook and share views from our talks with customers and execs - along with live keynote Watch Parties and a flurry of diginomica pieces. We also review one of the most memorable/provocative enterprise keynotes of the year, via Oracle's Larry Ellison.

For my final podcast in the SAP Connect series, I get the process/line of business view from analyst and series regular Josh Greenbaum. Josh has advocated for an end-to-end SAP event for a while. So was the ambitious SAP Connect a success? What worked? What didn't? Was the end-to-end potential realized? What did we hear from customers on the ground? Before hitting the tarmac, we sorted it out. Note: this podcast was made from my backup recording, but I think you'll still find it pretty solid quality. If you enjoy unscripted enterprise podcasts with no sponsors, commercials, or business models, sharing this helps a lot to keep the momentum going....

In the first of two SAP Connect 2025 podcast wraps, I sat down with Brian Dennett of Lemongrass, and SAP Mentor. We discussed the pros and cons of this ambitious show, and what Brian learned on the ground in pursuit of BTP and BDC clarity. We also get into the state of SAP public cloud ERP, a topic that was not front and center at the show but remains important. The state of smaller SAP partners is another notable theme in this recap, a topic we both have strong opinions about. Stay tuned for my line of business show wrap with Josh Greenbaum as well.

In this recap of the SAP Connect opening keynote live Watch Party, you can hear the pre-game and post-game breakdowns with myself, Josh Greenbaum, Bonnie Tinder and Thomas Wieberneit, who crashed the post-game review. This was a compelling keynote to review, but as always we had our pros/cons, high points and nits. If you want to see the full video review with the entire keynote in the background, you can catch the LinkedIn replay at: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7380455623022321665/.

It's time - to rehash the event season to date and ask: where is the actual sign of innovation? Join us - and help sort out the promising HR tech from the BS, we've got special guest and HR tech analyst par excellence Stacey Harris joining Jon Reed and Brian Sommer. Harris should also have fresh data on what matters to customers and HR leaders. Brian and Jon will pick their enterprise highs and lows, with the spiffy help of Brian's infamous slide deck. Bring your savviest and snarkiest commentary, as always.... Note: if you want to see the video version with Brian's infamous slide deck, you can catch that on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/FCOpVpjtbhU

Yup, it's time folks - the Enterprise Month in Review is upon us. This time we'll bear down on the so-called AI disruption of professional services and research, with epic special guest Frank Scavo. We'll also get Frank's take on Brian's leadership research reveal, and why we may need a leadership detox - or detox from toxic leaders. As usual, bring your savviest and snarkiest as we share our picks and pans, along with Brian's infamous slide deck. Note: to see the slides in action, you can catch the full video replay on YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/t09j0chQ_Uc.