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The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström®: Expert Mode Marketing Technology, AI, & CX
Domo Chief Design Officer Chris Willis on speed vs. trust in product design
What if the real risk with AI isn't moving too slowly, but instead moving fast on a foundation that hasn't quite earned its trust?
Because agility was never really about speed. It's about being able to change again and again without the whole thing coming apart — and that depends on groundwork most organizations are tempted to skip.
Today we're going to dig into that groundwork — the unglamorous part that decides whether AI actually pays off. Specifically:
- Why the same AI investment can compound trust in one company and quietly erode it in another — and what makes the difference.
- The tension between personalizing an interface for every individual user and keeping one coherent, recognizable product.
- Why building a real data culture is the step nearly everyone skips, and no one can skip for long.
To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Chris Willis, Chief Design Officer & Futurist at Domo.
About Chris Willis
Chris Willis is Chief Design Officer at Domo, where he brings more than 25 years of design and product leadership to the company’s data, analytics, and AI platform. Since joining Domo early in its history, he has played a key role in shaping the platform’s design strategy, helping make complex data more accessible and useful for customers across industries. Before Domo, Chris co-founded HOUR Detroit magazine and Footnote.com (now Fold3.com), which was acquired by Ancestry.com, and worked as an award-winning illustrator, journalist, and author. His experience blends design thinking, technology, and emerging trends to drive innovation and build tools that solve real business problems.,Yes,This will be completed shortly
Chris Willis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cwillis
---------- Resources ----------
The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703
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938. Fibr AI CEO Ankur Goyal on your website's second audience: getting AI agents to cite your brand correctly
31:55||Season 8, Ep. 938Ankur Goyal, CEO and Co-Founder at Fibr AI, says your website now has a second audience that never looks at it: the AI agents reading and summarizing your brand before a buyer ever arrives.He and Greg Kihlström get into what that does to pages enterprises have spent a decade optimizing for humans.Owned properties become the control point. Models keep changing what they cite and how, so the durable investment is in the properties a brand actually controls — not in chasing each platform's ranking behavior.One page, two requirements. A person needs to be persuaded; an agent needs a fact it can act on. Goyal on where those demands conflict, and how to resolve it without building two websites.Personalization stops being a segment and becomes a decision. The move from assigning visitors to predefined buckets to running a real-time decision system — and what a CMS, CDP, and testing stack can't be configured to do.About AJ GoyalAnkur "AJ" Goyal is Founder & CEO of Fibr AI. He has spent over a decade leading ventures across AI, digital marketing automation, and consumer product innovation. He specializes in personalization and marketing infrastructure, shifting web platforms toward agentic and automated consumer engagement. AJ Goyal on LinkedIn---------- Resources ---------- Fibr AICompanies put enormous effort into bringing people to their websites, but once someone arrives, most sites still show everyone the same generic experience. Fibr adds an intelligent layer to your existing website, without requiring a rebuild, a CMS migration, or engineering support for every update, so one URL can deliver a unique, relevant experience based on what each visitor is trying to accomplish.And today, your visitors aren’t always people. AI search tools and agents are also reading the web to decide what information to surface. When a brand’s own content isn’t clear or useful, they may rely on sources like Reddit comments and third-party reviews instead. Fibr helps make your website a clearer, more useful source for both people and AI systems, while keeping your brand in control.The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit!Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days).Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off.Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show.https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology.The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content.
937. Pega CFO and COO Ken Stillwell on AI budgets: the biggest cost is AI doing routine, rules-based work
27:51||Season 8, Ep. 937Ken Stillwell, CFO and COO at Pega, says most enterprise AI business cases fund a label rather than a specific capability — and that the gap shows up later, on the P&L. He and Greg Kihlström get into what financial discipline around AI actually looks like."AI" is not a budget category. A rules engine, a predictive model, and a system that acts on its own carry different costs, risks, and payback periods. Stillwell on making teams say which one they're asking for.The benefit gets modeled; the operational change doesn't. Where AI business cases reliably break down, and what tells you a case is going to miss before you fund it.Scaling a pilot is a coherence problem, not a technology problem. What it takes to let many teams decide faster without the enterprise ceasing to behave like one company — and who owns that.About Ken StillwellAs Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Ken Stillwell is responsible for finance, investor relations, legal, facilities, information technology, Pega Cloud, global client support, and business operations, overseeing more than one thousand employees globally. His leadership has been central to Pega’s transformation to an as-a-Service business through Pega’s Cloud transition. Recognized as incisive, transparent, clear, and empathetic, his opinions and counsel are sought after by peers, clients, and media. Ken is a regular contributor to numerous industry publications regarding financial and operational leadership.Ken has nearly 30 years of financial leadership experience in high-growth organizations in the technology sector. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned his undergraduate degree in business and economics, and the University of South Carolina, where he earned a Master's in accounting and finance. Ken is also a certified public accountant.Ken Stillwell on LinkedIn---------- Resources ---------- Pega delivers the platform to reimagine, run, and evolve the processes and decisions an enterprise can't afford to get wrong. We combine AI with proven architecture to keep mission-critical operations governed, scalable, and continuously adaptable. Since 1983, the world's largest organizations have trusted Pega to turn transformation ambition into durable results. The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms.Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit!Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days).Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off.Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show.Connect with Greg on LinkedInDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology. The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content.
936. CMO Council's Tom Kaneshige on overbuilt martech stacks: alignment is strategy, consolidation is just a tactic
29:36||Season 8, Ep. 936Tom Kaneshige, Chief Content Officer at the CMO Council, says there is no best martech stack — only a best-aligned one. New research on 988 enterprise stacks shows why more functionality rarely means more value.Alignment beats functionality, and the data says so. The Apex Martech Matrix compares real deployments against companies in the top 30% for revenue per employee in their industry. The same investment that correlates with outperformance in one industry shows nothing in another."Overbuilt" is the most common failure, not underinvestment. Kaneshige and Greg Kihlström get into what separates a stack whose capabilities exceed the organization's ability to use them from one that's genuinely aligned — and why maturity investment doesn't always pay off either.AI amplifies whatever foundation it's given. With 85% of organizations layering AI onto existing stacks and 30% replacing SaaS functionality outright, a misaligned foundation compounds fragmentation and technology debt instead of fixing it.About Tom KaneshigeTom Kaneshige is the Chief Content Officer at CMO Council. He creates all forms of digital thought leadership content that helps chief marketers, line of business leaders, as well as growth and revenue officers succeed in their rapidly evolving roles. As a content marketing strategist, he helps vendors shape and influence demand for their products and services. His pre-sales role is to gain brand influence, prominence and trust, as well as source qualified leads and customer opportunities. A Silicon Valley native, he has covered the intersection of business and technology for 20 years as an award-winning journalist at IDG (CIO Magazine, InfoWorld), Informa/Penton and TechTarget, and as a senior analyst at Forrester Research. He is immersed in the expanding marketing and sales technology landscape, disruptive trends impacting business leaders, and game-changing technology such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Kaneshige heads a team that produces research reports, articles, white papers, strategic briefs, news releases, social media and web site information. He also edits monthly journals, digital magazines, newsletters, blogs and web content for CMO Council’s executive networks. These include the Business Performance Innovation Network, and the newly formed Growth Officer Council and Growth Guidance Center.Tom Kaneshige on LinkedIn.---------- Resources ---------- CMO CouncilThe Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Read the CMO Council Report.The hardest part of martech is telling which tools are earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. So join and use code AGILE15 to save 15%. We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms.Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days).Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show.Connect with Greg on LinkedIn.Get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology.The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link.
935. Braze CTO Jon Hyman on where marketing judgment sits when AI runs the campaign
25:12||Season 8, Ep. 935Jon Hyman, Co-Founder & CTO of Braze, joins Greg Kihlström live at Braze Forge 2026 in Las Vegas on what's left for marketers when AI handles experimentation, verification, and execution.Recorded at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, the conversation gets into where the line sits between what AI decides on its own and what still needs a person.1:1 decisioning needs guardrails, not just more tests. Decisioning Studio Go moves teams beyond A/B testing toward continuous 1:1 optimization. Hyman on how brands keep thousands of automated decisions aligned with one set of priorities.Quality assurance becomes an automated control. Agentic Standards targets the operational risk that comes with moving faster, which raises the question of who defines the standard the system checks against.The platform goes headless. Operator Connect brings Braze into ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, and Conversational Agents extend two-way engagement to WhatsApp and SMS. Hyman on where governance lives when the work happens outside the platform.About Jon HymanJon Hyman is the Chief Technology Officer and Cofounder of Braze, and has been at the direct forefront of the company’s growth in the last 15 years, more recently leading the engineering organization through a rapid transformation in how it builds software with AI. He’s become an influential, practitioner-level voice on what it actually takes to move an established engineering organization, not an early-stage startup, into the agentic era.Jon Hyman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-hyman/---------- Resources ---------- Braze: https://www.braze.comThe Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. https://aglbrnd.co/r/c70c250b8d52dff3 We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. See more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f76be3a33cc491bb Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/491818c79fb1873fChaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days).Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765
934. Mixbook's CEO Andrew Laffoon on designing for permanence at the speed of AI
25:34||Season 8, Ep. 934We spend a lot of time asking how brands can be memorable. We spend almost none asking what happens when the memory is the product.Agility gets talked about as moving fast with new tools. It's really the ability to change repeatedly without losing what makes you recognizable — and that gets harder when what you sell is something a customer plans to keep for twenty years.Today, we're going to talk about:- Why designing for permanence is a strategic choice, not a nostalgic one- Getting specific about what AI is actually doing inside a creative product — and where the customer stays the author- What has to hold steady across a brand as volume, automation, and channels all multiplyTo help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Andrew Laffoon, CEO & Co-Founder at Mixbook.About Andrew LaffoonAndrew Laffoon is the CEO and co‑founder of Mixbook, a leading photo storytelling platform that helps people transform meaningful moments into beautifully crafted memories. Since founding the company in 2006, he has led Mixbook’s growth into a creative technology platform that makes it easier for people to tell, preserve, and share their stories.Andrew brings nearly three decades of experience in software development, product design, and entrepreneurship. His career began in the earliest days of the web, when he founded a web consultancy while still in high school. Prior to Mixbook, he built deep, cross‑functional expertise across engineering, design, operations, and go‑to‑market leadership.In addition to his entrepreneurial work, Andrew has been deeply engaged in education and community leadership. He has served as a Lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology since 2012 and was a member of the UC Berkeley Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) Advisory Board from 2015 to 2025. He is also the Founding Board Chair of the Bay Area Center for Faith, Work and Tech, helping explore the intersection of purpose, vocation, and innovation.Andrew Laffoon on LinkedIn---------- Resources ---------- MixbookThe Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit!Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days).Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off.Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show.Connect with Greg on LinkedInDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology.The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content.
933. Spotlight Summit Recap: John Rockhold on Influence Orchestration and the evolution of analyst relations
27:10||Season 8, Ep. 933John Rockhold, VP Market Engagement at Spotlight, says AI answer engines treat a company's own content as a ceiling — the citations that move buyers come from sources it doesn't control. He and Greg Kihlström get into what replaces the old B2B influence playbook.Self-citation is a ceiling, not a strategy. Publishing more owned content doesn't raise AI visibility past a point; third-party validation does the lifting.Analysts shape the vocabulary, peer platforms get the citation. The two do different jobs, and budget allocated as if they were the same tends to underperform.Influence is owned by everybody and therefore nobody. Rockhold on what has to change week to week across analyst relations, comms, and customer marketing — not just who it reports to.By the time a buyer contacts you, the influencing already happened. What that does to a marketing organization still structured around lead generation and MQLs.About John RockholdJohn Rockhold is VP of Market Engagement at Spotlight, an influence orchestration agency rooted in analyst relations. His background spans journalism, analyst relations, and years of close collaboration with industry analysts. His work focuses on how influence, visibility, and trust are earned in the modern B2B buyer journey, synthesizing signals from analysts, buyer research, and market behavior, and helping B2B brands understand how experts, customers, vendors, partners, and employees shape visibility and credibility. Spotlight calls this coordinated approach to earning trust across analysts, customers, and AI systems Influence Orchestration.John Rockhold on LinkedIn ResourcesThis episode is brought to you by Spotlight. Spotlight is pioneering the future of influence orchestration in the B2B buyer journey. Trusted by over 165 teams globally, Spotlight is the world’s leading analyst relations consultancy and industry platform.The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%.We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save!Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms.Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit!Chaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days).Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off.View the Spotlight Influence Orchestration report.Learn more about the Spotlight Future of Influence Awards.Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show.Connect with Greg on LinkedIn.Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology.The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging & informative content.
932. SAS's Jonathan Moran on experience debt: your brand under peak load is your real brand
28:01||Season 8, Ep. 932Brands have spent millions building out customer experience platforms — so why does the experience so often fall apart at the exact moment it matters most?Agility isn't just about moving faster or scaling up. It's about staying recognizably yourself when the pressure is highest — so the experience still holds together when every system is under strain.Today we're going to talk about what happens when the experience you designed on paper collides with the reality of peak customer demand. Specifically, we'll cover:- The idea of "experience debt" — and why high-traffic moments are where the hidden fractures in a customer journey finally show up.- Turning digital intelligence into actual decisions, not just dashboards, so friction gets fixed at the root instead of patched at the surface.- Where AI should predict and flag a problem versus act on its own — and what has to change across teams to own the experience end to end.To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome, Jonathan Moran, Senior Manager, Horizontal Solutions Marketing at SAS. About Jonathan MoranJonathan Moran is responsible for global marketing activities for SAS’ marketing solutions. He has more than 20 years of marketing technology and customer analytics industry experience. Jonathan has designed, developed and implemented analytical software solutions that helped Fortune 500 customers solve unique analytics business issues.Jonathan Moran on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanmoran/---------- Resources ---------- SAS: The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. https://aglbrnd.co/r/c70c250b8d52dff3 We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. See more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f76be3a33cc491bb Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/491818c79fb1873fChaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days).Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20 Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3 Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716ba The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765
931. Salesforce's Taksina Eammano on what happens when AI ambition outpaces frontline readiness
29:05||Season 8, Ep. 931What happens when an organization's AI ambition moves faster than its frontline's ability to absorb it?Agility isn't just deploying new technology quickly. It's whether the people and processes closest to the customer can change alongside it without the experience coming apart at the seams.Today we're going to talk about the friction between enterprise AI deployment and frontline readiness — and why the last mile of service is where AI investment either proves out or quietly falls apart. We'll get into:- What actually breaks between a strategic AI decision and the moment a technician has to act on it- Why fragmented data access is so costly when the person standing in front of the customer can't see the whole picture- How to measure success in field service when closing tickets faster isn't the same thing as a better outcomeTo help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Taksina Eammano, EVP and GM of Agentforce Field Service at Salesforce.About Taksina EammanoTaksina Eammano is the Executive Vice President & General Manager of Field Service at Salesforce. She is responsible for the overall strategy and vision, product and innovation narrative, and financial performance of Field Service.Taksina Eammano on LinkedIn---------- Resources ----------Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.comThe Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. https://aglbrnd.co/r/c70c250b8d52dff3We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms. See more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f76be3a33cc491bbReach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit! Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/491818c79fb1873fChaser is the only Slack-native project management platform that helps teams turn messages into tracked tasks, automate follow-ups, and maintain team-wide visibility, without adopting another tool. Now integrated with Claude and other GenAI tools. Learn more at trychaser.com and use code AGILEBRAND for a 3-month free trial (normal trial is 14 days).Start building your own apps with Replit and get $20 off. Learn more: https://aglbrnd.co/r/93531742a7625a20Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show: https://aglbrnd.co/r/faaed112fc9887f3Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://aglbrnd.co/r/35ded3ccfb6716baThe Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content: https://aglbrnd.co/r/f1782ab12211f765
930. TransUnion's Matt Spiegel on the AI confidence-readiness paradox: AI is only as good as the data you feed it
29:42||Season 8, Ep. 930Matt Spiegel, EVP of TruAudience Growth Strategy at TransUnion, says AI is not a shortcut around your data problems — it's a force multiplier that makes them bigger. New TransUnion research found 89% of marketers are increasing AI investment while only 13% have fully scaled it.Adoption is not the same as scale. Nearly half of surveyed leaders say AI now spans multiple core marketing functions, but only 13% have scaled it fully. Spiegel on what stalls organizations between a working pilot and enterprise integration.Confidence is running ahead of readiness. 64% are confident they'll hit their AI goals, yet just 42% rate their people readiness as high and only 36% say the same of data and process. Spiegel on what "data ready" actually requires — unification, identity resolution, or governance.Efficiency metrics are hiding the real question. 65% of marketers measure AI success primarily through time and cost savings, while fewer than half use marketing mix modeling, multi-touch attribution, or incrementality testing. Spiegel on building a measurement framework a board will accept.About Matt SpiegelAt TransUnion, Matt drives the growth strategy for TruAudience, the company’s suite of marketing data products. He partners with product and market leaders to align client needs with innovation, ensuring strategic synergy across teams. His leadership stems from deep experience: he previously led TransUnion’s Marketing Solutions and Media & Entertainment businesses, and has spent decades at the intersection of marketing, media, data, and technology.Before joining TransUnion in 2018, Matt was SVP at MediaLink, where he managed Fortune 100 client relationships and built their Data and Technology Practice. Earlier, he founded Resolution Media, Omnicom’s search marketing agency, and as Global Digital CEO of Omnicom Media Group, he launched the company’s programmatic buying capabilities.A recognized business builder and change agent, Matt has held roles as an entrepreneur, agency executive, and strategic consultant. He’s a Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 honoree and currently advises startups and young entrepreneurs. He also serves on the board of The KWOE Foundation. Matt lives in Chicago with his wife, Marnie, and their two children, Leo and Penny.Matt Spiegel on LinkedIn---------- Resources ----------TruAudience by TransUnion: https://www.transunion.com/solution/truaudienceThe Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems.The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%.We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save!Need to evaluate martech, AI, or CX platforms and don't know where to start? The Agile Brand Guide List is now in beta. We're building the most useful, free-to-use, and up-to-date way to assess what truly matters when evaluating platforms.Reach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad credit!Enjoyed the show? Tell us more and give us a rating so others can find the show.Connect with Greg on LinkedIn.Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter, and check out Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology.The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op.