If I had to pick one overarching theme from the 15 or so CRM industry events I’ve attended so far this year it would probably center around the crossroads of where automation and AI intersect. And during last month’s PegaWorld user conference I had a chance to speak with the founder and host of the very popular This Week in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence podcast Sam Charrington, who in just over three years has over five million show downloads.

Sam shares his thoughts on we are today with technologies like machine learning, AI and natural language processing, and how companies are just scratching the surface in putting these tools to work to improve all aspects of their businesses, but have to be implemented with the proper perspective. And he also addresses another theme that I heard addressed at multiple conference this year; how AI will eventually lead to AE, artificial empathy.

Vidyard, a leading video platform for business, recently released their annual Video in Business Benchmark Report and it is full of great information on how businesses are leveraging video to engage customers and prospects. The study found on average, 52% of viewers watch a video all the way through, regardless of the video’s length. But over two-thirds (68%) of viewers watch a video to the end if it’s less than 60 seconds, while only 25% will finish a video if it’s more than 20 minutes.

These are just a few of the many data points coming from the survey, and I recently spoke with Vidyard’s VP of Marketing Tyler Lessard who shared his perspective on some of the key findings from the report

Two years ago I had a chance to speak with Merijn te Booij, CMO of Genesys, a leading provider of omnichannel customer experience (CX) and contact center solutions in the cloud and on-premises. And last week I had another sit down with him during the company’s annual user conference; Xperience 2019. And with two years feeling like two decades in terms of technological developments, I was curious to get Merijin’s perspective on just how much has changed in the areas of AI, customer experience and conversational interfaces. But what really captured my attention is how he feels these technologies will impact our abilities to apply human empathy to interactions with customers to improve experiences for both consumers and employees. And on top of that, how he feels that AI will also lead to AE – artificial empathy – somewhere down the line.

So this one is a little different, but what do you expect when somehow Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols (along with The Clash, Fugazi and other Punk Rock bands) are used to potentially put us back on the right path to creating the kinds of experiences important to customers today. A path CX thought leader Adrian Swinscoe says many companies have strayed from as they seem to be favoring opulence at the expense of providing the essentials customers depend on – which he illustrates with his new book Punk CX.

It appears like we may have averted a tariff war with Mexico, even though it’s still a bit early to tell if that will really be the case. But there’s another tariff war that’s still in effect right now between the two biggest economies in the world – The USA and China. But are these the only two superpowers involved in this fight? Some say there’s actually a third superpower involved in this – Amazon. Now is Amazon really a superpower in the same way that these two countries are? Of course not. They can’t use executive orders to remove or increase tariffs the same way USA or China can. But, can Amazon impact the impact of these tariffs due to online retail omnipotence and the role they play with both third-party sellers and consumers? Well that’s what I put to my buddy and Watching Amazon co-host John Lawson.

Michael Wu Of PROS - AI Mimics Humans But Won't Take Your Place by Brent Leary and Small Business Trends

Last year I caught up with my buddy Joe Galvin, Chief Research Officer of Vistage, a business advisory and executive coaching organization with a membership of more than 22,000 business owners and executive leaders. Recently I was able to catch up with him again to talk about a phrase that continues to get a lot of attention – digital transformation. But, despite all the focus and discussion we see on digital transformation, it’s digital transition Joe sees that is taking place at SMBs, which can definitely have a positive impact on business operations but does not come close to the potential transformative impact modern tech can have if given the chance.

While at Magento Imagine last week I had the chance to speak to Brooks Robinson, CEO of Springbot, a marketing automation application built specifically for SMB e-commerce retailers. They’ve been serving this audience for seven years, and are a long time Magento partner. So I stopped by their booth at the conference to get Brooks’ take on what Adobe acquisition of Magento means to SMB retailers, what have been the biggest changes to ecommerce over the past couple of years, what relationship SMB sellers should have with Amazon, and what smaller ecommerce players should be on the lookout for in the not too distant future.

During Magento Imagine I had the opportunity to chat with Jason Woolsey, Adobe’s VP of Commerce, about the combination of commerce and content and how that is impacting online merchants – and more importantly the digital shopping experience. Jason also touches on some of the more notable announcements coming out of the conference and their potential impact on Magento merchants, including integrations with the Amazon Marketplace and Google Ads that allow merchants to manage their whole operation from within the Magento console. And finally Jason talks about the $9 billion opportunity to capitalize on converting on the growing mobile shopping transition taking place, and how progressive web apps can help with that.

I had an opportunity to talk with Colin Morris, Director of Product Management for Adobe about how things like smart speakers and voice assistants are potential game changers for how companies engage customers and prospects. But now I think it’s safe to drop “potential” from that statement as its clear the game is already changing. Colin shares just how much the game has changed, because many people out there might not know the magnitude of the change – and the magnitude of what’s to come in the not too distant future.