With SAP Sapphire and the ASUG Annual Conference right around the corner, Jon Reed reconvened with analyst Josh Greenbaum and ASUG CEO Geoff Scott for a two part podcast. Part one: a review of SAP's ambitious Business Data Cloud announcement, what we've learned since the launch news, and the open questions heading into Orlando. Then we shift into a discussion of why so many customers have brought up the need for cloud/modernization business cases - and ways to bridge that vexing/persistent IT/business gap. We discuss the customer feedback we've received so far, and Greenbaum and Reed share their plans for an ASUG workshop on this topic in May, and why we think this issue is gaining momentum. Listeners are encouraged to chime in on how this lines up with their SAP migration plans/questions/concerns, and what other resources and discussions they want to see on this topic.

Yes, it's time to revisit my take on AI and human creativity, with trusted foil Thomas Wieberneit, who has plenty of insights and an ability to push my arguments. I'll have some fresh slides and fresh thinking on this topic, hot takes, and make a case for why enterprises are drastically underestimating the need for human creativity, and where AI does fit in - including pros and cons of various enterprise use cases. Bring your sharpest ideas... And note: the slides are not necessary to enjoy this audio content, but if you want to see the slides, you can catch the video replay at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eEcZ-6Ksbw.

Active Inference AI is not necessarily in conflict with LLMs, but Active Inference is definitely a different approach - one that challenges AI assumptions and opens up new thinking. It's been almost six months since Denise Holt shook up Constellation's Connected Enterprise event with a keynote on how Active Inference AI is changing the field. Since then, much has happened. In this audio-only podcast, Jon Reed gets the latest from Denise Holt, including upcoming Active Inference and Spatial Web milestones, and why the latter may prove crucial for grounding AI in world models. We also cover the educational coursework Holt has launched, and how listeners can learn more.

Yep, it's time - Brian Sommer and Jon Reed are back with the high and lows of the enterprise month, and your own salty commentary. Let's do this! Note - this is the first show of the year so there is a lot to cover, including a research dive into the flaws of LLMs and RAG/agent evaluation, and the status of the AI copyright situation. We attempt to give a new take on the return-to-office debate - and the online audience manages to get both of us to blow gaskets at different points. Note: the slide visuals aren't necessary to enjoy the discussion, but if you want to catch them, you can check them out on the video replay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVwQYWcSr1I&t=2403s

Eric Kimberling wrote a must-read post on the pros and cons of customization - and the debate is joined. In this special "blogs that matter" edition, we'll drill into Eric's analysis, and then take up some critical points customers should be aware of. As always, bring your sharpest and snarkiest viewpoints, your live comments are part of this show. If you appreciate unfiltered enterprise content without any attempts at monetization that is intentionally ad free and unsponsored, please consider giving me a nice rating to help other listeners find this content. Note: here is the link to Kimberling's blog post that we discuss, with strong feedback from our live audience: https://www.thirdstage-consulting.com/the-evolution-of-custom-development-is-it-really-overrated/

On the final afternoon of a whirlwind ZohoDay 2025 analyst event, I finally got a live sit down with Brian Sommer after a couple of near misses. The topics on deck: did Zoho make its enterprise case? And how different/effective is its AI strategy? We took a bit of extra time to delve into Zoho's interesting-and-provocative AI messaging in the aftermath of DeepSeek. (Zoho's Sridhar Vembu considered these disruptions of "big AI" significant enough to refer to this phase of AI as "After DeepSeek.") Though some of the ZohoDay content is confidential, ZohoDay includes enough open conversations to let us bring you many of the issues we debated. And: this includes a much higher than average integration of customers into the sessions, which inform our podcast review.

At ASUG Tech Connect 2024, for the first time, I hosted a joint podcast collaboration with the ASUG Talks team - to be issued on both of our platforms. Joining me in for a live podcast taping were familiar suspects: ASUG CEO Geoff Scott and analyst Josh Greenbaum. But this time around, we had a live audience - and pulled them into the conversation. The audience had a choice of an Enterprise Architect or AI focus. They chose Enterprise Architects - and, I think, for good reason. Effective AI is probably not possible for enterprises without the right data platform and Enterprise Architect approach. I think you'll agree that hearing so many articulate real world questions from the audience made this podcast a standout, and I'll look to do that again this year where possible. And, of course, we covered AI also - that topic always finds its way in. EDITING NOTE: This podcast was recorded and produced by the ASUG Talks team, and initially released on the ASUG Talks platform. The podcast was (very) lightly edited by ASUG Talks for listening clarity. The only difference between this version and the ASUG Talks version are the differences in musical intro (which I don't do) and my outro.

Acumatica has been a influential vendor in the cloud ERP midmarket - but does AI change the equation? Were there surprises on the ground in Vegas? Time to make sense of an important Acumatica Summit, but with a plot twist: Jon Reed is home in his bat cave, slugging down Vitamin C, while Brian Sommer grabbed an outdoor chair prior to his takeoff from Vegas. Jon gets into why Acumatica matters and asks Brian: what stood out this year? Was the AI narrative convincing? What did Brian hear that we didn't pick up on via the news announcement? Brian reveals the pesky questions he asked Acumatica execs, and we discuss how Acumatica is contending with its growth - a good problem to have, but nonetheless something to be tackled.

I was unable to get Josh Greenbaum and Brian Dennett together for an on-the-ground podcast at ASUG Tech Connect in November, but the show provoked important talks on RISE, clean core, and why SAP projects need enterprise architects. Those topics aren't going away, so we got together virtually to make sense of what we learned - and what's next. With looming ERP deadlines on the one hand, and modernization/AI on the other, it's a crucial year for SAP. The role of the S/4HANA public cloud edition is in the middle of this also. That's plenty for this discussion, which starts out on a humorous note as the cities and shows blurred together for your host. Note: there are more podcasts from this show, including an ASUG collaboration on Enterprise Architects coming soon - and my on the ground taping with Jelena Perfiljeva of the Boring Enterprise Nerds on SAP developer issues, clean core debates and more: https://jonerp.podbean.com/e/asug-tech-connect-review-jelena-perfiljeva-of-boring-enterprise-nerds/

AUDIO ECHO NOTE: the echo is addressed after the first three minutes. How effective are we at visually engaging enterprise content? I'd say - not very. But Heather Willems of Two Line Studios is doing something about that. Can we revive stale events with visual storytelling? How does AI hurt and/or help our cause here? As always, you can expect a jugular and interactive convo - and Heather will share illustrations from some of her favorite past events, including Constellation's Connected Enterprise, which is how I first learned of her team's work.... Note: to see the visuals on this, check out the YouTube replay at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ruqcx29swRQ.