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

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.

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.

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.

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 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTlDLOdTRcM.

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.

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...

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.

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

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.

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.