Salesforce Connections 2026 - a podcast review with Rebecca Wettemann

Yep, it's that time, the enterprise month in review is upon us. Special guest Tim Crawford will give his strong take on where CIOs are going wrong - and what the best CIOs are getting right. You co-hosts, Brian Sommer and Jon Reed, will have their underrate enterprise stories of the month - and Brian's infamous slide deck will have its share of surprises. As always, the audience is a jugular part of the show so bring you savviest and smartest commentary...

And now for something completely different! Let's have a live look at Analyst Relations disruptions - via a feedback session on AI-generated content on how AR needs to change. I generated this content from my own research and analysis - but did AI get it right? What went wrong? How can all of us - including analysts - serve customers better when they need an open, year round dialogue like never before? Joining me will be independent analysts Bonnie Tinder and Josh Greenbaum. I'll get their unscripted reactions to this collateral, some of which is quite edgy, but does it reflect our views? Where did AI go wrong, and where can data and analytics help us make changes in our industry? Join us and let's hear your reactions also. Note: you may want to see the visuals for these slides. If so, check the YouTube replay for easy scrolling through the visuals, https://youtube.com/live/nqD9jWEF0UQ. AD FREE CONTENT REVIEW REQUEST - this may be the longest running enterprise podcast and it has never had ads or sponsors, and never will. If you're weary of podcast ads and sponsor announcements, and love the kind of unscripted/unsponsored content as much as I do, consider leaving me a positive review, it's shocking how much of a difference this makes in bringing in more listeners. Thanks - these podcasts are for the community... always will be.

We know that enterprise data quality is a problem - and the biggest obstacle to successful AI. But the truth can quickly become a static phrase. What does the data really show? What are the savvy companies doing? How deep does this organizational problem go? Recently, a monster piece of independent research, co-authored by diginomica's Alyx Macqueen and Maureen Blandford for Serendipitus, investigated this problem, and surfaced surprising insights. So let's get Blandford and Macqueen in the proverbial hot seat, and find out about their method, what they learned, and the issues that this research sparked. As always, this is a live, interactive event where your questions and commentary are part of the mix. Maureen and Alyx have prepared their top surprises and fresh views for this program, you won't want to miss this one.

Yep, it's that time again. Join Jon Reed and Brian Sommer for the Enterprise Month in Review. We'll pick our underrated stories, and then, in a classic show mashup, Amy Wilson and Meg Bear of the Meg and Amy how will give their live reactions to Brian Sommer's run-down of where HR tech, AI and leadership is falling short. We'll also have some make-your-own-buzzword surprises, and of course, Brian's infamous slide deck. As always, bring your savviest and snarkiest commentary, as you help steer the show and we field your reactions in real-time. Note: for the full slide experience, catch the YouTube replay at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWtobJAsYqE

Yes, it's that time. As the spring event season winds down, we ramp up our month in review. What did vendors get right? What did they utterly miss? What underrated stories do buyers need to track? Where does AI fall short - and where is it getting results? We'll have Brian's infamous slide deck, and, as always, field all your live questions and comments in real time. End note: the audience did so bring their sharpest and snarkiest commentary - and we did your best to actually draw out some key lessons from the enterprise year to date, including our top three event highs and lows. But did we agree? Find out here... If you want to check Brian's slides, you can see our live YouTube video replay at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZAP70ErRp8&t=2s

In collaboration with ASUG Talks, we bring you another live edition of "Ask us Anything," recorded on the SAP Sapphire show floor during the ASUG annual conference as well. After the day two keynote, ASUG CEO Geoff Scott, Josh Greenbaum and Jon Reed fielded questions from the live show floor audience. As expected, there were some doozies, and some curveballs. From AI skills imperatives to outcome-based pricing, to the infamous "magic genie to change SAP" question, the seats were hot and the convo was interesting. We took as many questions as we could before running out of time - but we'll take more questions during a summer follow-on in July. Note: this podcast has already been released on ASUG Talks. You may notice a few differences in the recordings, as I tend to go with a raw file, as is the tone of my channel.

Salesforce Connections 2026 had an ambitious narrative: apply agentic AI to turn marketers from bogged-down admins to "makers." But how did that narrative go over with attendees? And how do Salesforce customers achieve these changes and reduce marketing/sales pain points - even on older "heritage" releases? Does the fragmentation of enterprise data remain an obstacle? Jon Reed hashes out these questions and more with Rebecca Wettemann, who has done notable research through Valoir on CX data fragmentation. Can the two get to the bottom of the show on the clock, before their conference room time expires? We're about to find out...

After day one of Epicor Insights 2026, Jon Reed and usual suspect Brian Sommer hashed out what they learned in a vigorous day of keynotes, exec meetings and customer discussions. Epicor's ERP manufacturing bona fides are well known, but what is the impact of their Cognitive ERP push? Is the AI strategy differentiated? Does it line up with what customers need? An unexpected AI candor came out from the keynote stage, but how are Epicor customers faring in their own AI pursuits? Yes, it's time to dissect the "forward deployed engineers" buzzword... Did Brian managed to avoid getting through the entire podcast without bashing the Gaylord Opryland Hotel venue? You're about to find out.

In a time-honored tradition, on the Thursday morning after Sapphire 2026, Josh Greenbaum and I commandeered an abandoned session room at the Hilton to ask ourselves the burning questions: what the heck just happened? What we can take away? Where did SAP advance the conversation, or come up short? Given I have issued multiple podcast from the event, I issued another challenge: let's not repeat prior podcast topics as much as possible. Also, in the context of SAP's new "autonomous enterprise" all-in messaging, the clear/awkward question must be asked: has Greenbaum, one of the most vociferous agentic AI critics in the SAP ecosystem, especially in terms of ROI, changed his stance? And: what did we learn from all of our interactions with SAP execs and customers? And yes: the API data controversy is addressed here. We had an hour of hot topics to work through, and didn't even get to them all. But, a few timestamps: 4:15 - AI and "Toolchain" advancements redux 16:43 - the API controversy breakdown - what we learned at Sapphire 26:00 - has Josh's stance on agentic AI changed? 38:00 - the autonomous enterprise framing 49:00 - SAP Connect, the business case challenge, and final hot seat questions Note to listeners - if you believe in totally ad-free, totally unsponsored podcasts like my series - an increasingly rare thing - consider giving me a positive rating or share. There is intentionally no business model - these podcasts are entirely self-funded and it's your engagement with them that keeps them going (thx).

At the tail end of SAP Sapphire Orlando, Jon Reed sat down in a semi-empty location with UKISUG Chair Conor Riordan to get his reactions to SAP's news, AI strategy and how customer value is changing. Amongst the hot topics Riordan brought up were: business cases and SAP's new AI migration tools (and Joule for Consultants). How impactful is this on business cases and customer AI adoption? Will partners/SIs make the shift? Where are we with public versus private cloud ERP? We also discuss Riordan's take on SAP's recent API policy changes - and how user groups got involved. Some back-and-forth on agentic accuracy and consumption pricing kept things lively as the event wrapped up. Note: after this conversation, Jon Reed talked with SAP's Philipp Herzig, who clarified that the ability to compare private and public cloud ERP readiness does already exist, and can likely be enhanced further, re: industry readiness assessments.