SAP and Enterprise Trends Podcasts from Jon Reed (@jonerp) of diginomica.com

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.

What makes a good enterprise analyst? There is no one I'd rather ask that Hyoun Park. But then why did Park move away from his analyst firm to work for an emerging AI vendor? (Levelpath). And how will AI change the analyst profession? It's time to mark Hyoun Park's career shift with a send off like no other: an interactive discussion on everything he has learned. Join us with your sharpest questions, your tributes, and yeah, as always, your snark...

As the summer winds down, fall event season is about to heat up, with a slew of events from SAP (and SAP's biggest competitors). But what do customers need from SAP right now? And can fall events deliver on that? How do you get what your team needs from hectic events, without getting lost in the vendor narrative? It's time for another SAP-in-review podcast with Jon Reed, Josh Greenbaum, and Geoff Scott, CEO of ASUG. The podcast kicks off by assessing what we learned since SAP Sapphire, and where SAP may be headed next. Then we shift into fall event discussions, including a review of ASUG's upcoming events and a very intriguing SAP Connect event. We also get into the need for SAP business case development, particularly for technical SAP leadership, and how that has evolved into a new workshop for ASUG Tech Connect in November. This is mostly a US-centric event review, but we recommend listeners also check in with their international events and user groups, including: DSAG's Annual Conference: https://dsag-jahreskongress.plazz.net/ UKISUG Connect 2025: https://www.ukisugconnect.co.uk/

Get ready for another round of enterprise highs and lows, with Brian Sommer and Jon Reed issuing their top picks (and pans) of the month, and unveil another unexpected half-time segment - deconstructing AI and recruiting, with surprise guest Bonnie Tinder of Raven Intel. The three dig into the provocative prediction of the end of recruiters in six months, via Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Tinder also shares what she's learned from her own AI experiments, client deliverable, and her new AI show. Note: viewing the slides isn't necessary for the audio version, but if you want to see the slide deck, check the YouTube replay at https://www.youtube.com/live/RBC5ja21TO4.

Is LinkedIn now the business TikTok? Are keynotes legacy artifacts? And why are Watch Parties the future of enterprise keynotes? Here's the full version of Jon Reed's talk with Brent Leary of CRM Playaz - where we learn why unscripted video content is more trusted - and builds buyer confidence. Note: you don't need the video version for this one, but if you want to see the before/after of Jon's camera test, check the YouTube replay at https://www.youtube.com/live/B-LHU1tp5Gw. If you enjoy unfiltered enterprise content with no sponsors or commercials *ever*, consider giving me a review so I can beat that algorithm...

At the end of the first official day of SAP Sapphire Orlando 2025, we taped a live podcast at the ASUG Hub with questions from the audience. On the mic: Jon Reed, your host, ASUG CEO Geoff Scott and analyst Josh Greenbaum. We gave our instant keynote reactions, and discussed the topics SAP needs to address to deliver for users - at Sapphire and also beyond. Audience questions kept this one spicy, including a surprise question from Constellation analyst Holger Mueller, who was passing through the show floor. Note: this on-site podcast was a diginomica-ASUG collaboration, originally released as part of the ASUG Talks podcast series. ASUG produced this podcast audio.

As event season winds down, prognosticators have a lot to say about the future of the enterprise. Do Jon and Brian agree, or are these fever dreams? Let's review what we've learned this spring - and where customers go from here. As always, bring your savviest and snarkiest commentary, as you are an integral part of this show....

On the final afternoon of Salesforce Connections, I catch up with Rebecca Wettemann, CEO of Valoir, to make sense of the what we just saw. Rebecca has some instructive thoughts on Salesforce's planned acquisition of Informatica - a topic we didn't hear much about at the show, but one worth discussing. We also discussed how this show compared with Valoir's prior research on Salesforce and customer adoption of agentic AI. And: what does the end of "no-reply marketing" mean, and are customers ready for the Agentforce transition? How has Agentforce progressed since Valoir's initial research. Time to hash it out...

At Salesforce Connections 2025, Salesforce announced the Marketing Cloud Next - as the end of "do-not-reply" marketing. Is this a realistic goal for marketers? Is Marketing Cloud ready for the challenge? Time for a quick hot take from Constellation's Liz Miller, who was up for the challenge.

In a time-honored Sapphire 2025 tradition, I located an empty hallway and commandeered a couple of chairs to debrief on what we heard in Orlando. This time, with a new guest, Conor Riordan, Chair at UKISUG. Riordan brings a fascinating perspective to this conference review, as he's had a deep career in SAP IT leadership before moving over to the business side - and that's the gap that SAP (and all of us, really) still need to fully bridge. How well did SAP do? How did SAP's AI announcements stack up with UKISUG member data and priorities? Does Riordan agree with my take on the importance of public cloud ERP (formerly S/4HANA public cloud edition?). Are customers getting what they need to migrate and modernize? Is SAP's innovation strategy resonating? What has Riordan's team learned from their own dialogue with SAP? These are just some of the key topics we hit on, before we escaped to pack for the return.

For SAP Sapphire 2025 opening keynote, we took the old school retro chat backchannel, and turned it into a public watch party. I invited special guest commentators Bonnie Tinder and Josh Greenbaum, and it seemed to go pretty well. So for this podcast version, you can hear our pre-game keynote expectations, and then a post-game keynote wrap to see how it stacked up (the replay of most of the keynote commentary is also available on Jon Reed's LinkedIn stream). Many of the issues raised are ongoing topics to keep an eye on. If you haven't seen the keynote yet, you can still catch free on-demand replays on the SAP Virtual event site (just search on SAP Virtual Events and it will come up).