This week on the podcast - Andy and Brian look at how B2B eCommerce companies are thinking about investing in new hires in the coming year, and the challenges they may face when looking to bring on new talent.

This week - Andy and Brian dig into a thought-provoking article (link below) asking whether organizations should even have an AI strategy and the reasons why it may be better if they don't.

Mentioned in the podcast:

Rushing into an AI Strategy?

The Master B2B Nexus Program

Master B2B held its 3rd annual Mindshare Summit in Chicago recently, and Andy & Brian went over some of the key takeaways from the event including these 4 focus areas:

Successful digital business models

Data, analytics & data cleanliness

(Of course) AI

Stay up to date on all Master B2B events at http://www.masterb2b.com

We're all recovering from the Master B2B Mindshare Summit this week, so in lieu of a new Friday 15 episode we're bringing you a recent Fireside Chat that Brian Beck conducted with Jeff Reichert, Kimball Midwest's Director of eCommerce & Digital Marketing, and Eli Cooley, President of Industrial Data Associates, about how manufacturers and distributors can approach fixing their dirty product data.

This week on the podcast, Andy & Brian look at site search, and how today's site search solutions meet the needs of B2B eCommerce practitioners.  

Plus, Andy shares some takeaways from the Site Search Combine he conducted, where he looked at the strengths and weaknesses of site search vendors.

For more info on the Combine (and to get a copy of the report), visit ParadigmB2B.com.

When you measure the cost to acquire a customer, should you use narrow measures that only include the direct costs associated with getting a new customer, or should you go broad and include every cost used in your sales and marketing?

In B2B, the customer journey is extremely complex so we'd expect that measuring the cost to acquire a customer to be equally complex.  

This week, Andy & Brian talk about the challenges of getting CAC measured correctly in B2B.

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For upcoming events and to sign up for the Master B2B Forum, visit us at MasterB2B.com.

This week on the podcast, Andy & Brian talk about whether companies should think about their digital transformation as a project (that has a beginning or an end) or a program (which is an ongoing strategy for running the business).

They talk through the main reasons for failure, and how companies can change how they approach digital transformation (hint: for every operational person, you'll need 1 HR person...), plus more ideas for creating successful digital transformation strategies.

For upcoming Master B2B events, visit us at MasterB2B.com.

This week on the podcast, Andy & Brian talk through who should sit on the buying committee when the eCommerce team is considering making a new technology purchase.

When we asked our community what they thought, we heard many people say that "everyone" should be on it (which feels like a cop-out) or that the most important member was the operations team.  

But Andy & Brian share why they think finance and sales are underrepresented, and what problems are caused when they're not invited to the table.

Check out the upcoming Master B2B events on our website.

Andy and Brian wrap up Metrics Month with a look at Customer Lifetime Value, and whether it's the best measure of eCommerce success.  Spoiler alert: there is no one best measure of eCommerce success. 

But there are several best measures, and in this episode they share which ones.

This week on the Friday 15...

Andy and Brian speak with Deidre Peters, Head of Digital eCommerce at Boston Scientific about how they measure the impact of eCommerce on their entire business.  She shares insights in the metrics they look at, and how they were able to tell the full eCommerce story to senior leadership.