Biographical Information

Articles for Brent Leary

Talking My Way Through Building an Agentforce AI Agent in Less Than 10 Minutes

Kareem Salman, distinguished solution engineer at Salesforce, spends a few good minutes with Brent at #TDX25 designing and building an AgentForce AI agent by having a verbal conversation with AI.

Brad Birnbaum of Kustomer: AI Will Lead the Move from Seat-Based to Conversation-Based Pricing

The traditional subscription model, dominant for decades in enterprise software, is being challenged by work-based pricing, offering greater flexibility and predictability for customers. In customer service, conversations are emerging as the primary unit of work for pricing, according to Kustomer CEO Brad Birnbaum.

Customers Want AgentForce Agents Interacting with Google DialogFlow

During Salesforce TDX, Nick Johnston, senior vice president of strategic partnerships and business development at Salesforce, gave me a few good minutes to provide some detail on how the recent partnership announcement with Google will help customer service reps provide a more seamless experience when taking handoffs from AI agents.

Remembering Marshall Lager

Family, coworkers, colleagues, and friends remember Marshall Lager who passed away Feb. 12.

Will We Need Big-Footprint CRM in 5 Years or Will Agents Follow Us Around Wherever We Work?

Jeff Rosenthal, head of CRM product strategy and go-to-market for North America at monday.com, discusses how the company's approach to integrating CRM into its platform has led to more than 27,000 CRM customers in two years and which AI will have the bigger impact on enterprise applications, generative or agentic.

Don Schuerman of Pega: LLMs + Agentic AI + Workflow Orchestration Bring Reliability and Predictability

Pega's Chief Technology Officer Don Schuerman discusses how its newest tool, Pega Agent Experience, enables any workflow to be transformed into an agent-driven experience while reducing the reliance on prompt engineering, which can yield inconsistent results.

David Roberts of SugarCRM: Mechanical Strategy, Contextual Intelligence and Pragmatism Key to Bringing AI to Sellers

SugarCRM's new CEO David Roberts tells why he joined the company as CEO, why he describes himself as a mechanical strategist, and how the company will help customers benefit the most from AI.

Colin Fleming of ServiceNow: We are a CRM Company in the Age of Agentic AI

ServiceNow Chief Marketing Officer Colin Fleming shares why the company is rebranding itself as a CRM company in the midst of the rapid and significant impact that agentic AI is having on the industry. He also shares a glimpse into how the focus on strategic partnerships with companies like NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Genesys assists when something like DeepSeek happens.

Sridhar Vembu on Becoming Zoho's Chief Scientist - I've Always Been Focused on Efficiency

During ZohoDay '25, I spoke with Sridhar Vembu about stepping down as CEO to become chief scientist to focus on efficient computing and technological innovation and to get his take on where Zoho stands as the company nears its 30th anniversary.

Why Zoho Co-Founder's Move to Step Down as CEO Isn't Surprising

Zoho Co-founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu surprised many with his announcement to step down as CEO to become the company's chief scientist. But when taking a closer look, was this really a big surprise?

IRL 2025 - A New CRM Industry Conference from Guys Who Aren't All That New

To mark their 16th anniversary, the CRM Playaz are holding IRL 2025 Wednesday, Jan. 22. It's a conversational thought-leadership event taking place physically in Atlanta and streaming everywhere else, featuring a variety of industry thought leaders, analysts, industry executives, and more.

What is CRM in 2025? 13 Senior Executives from Leading Industry Vendors Share Their Definitions

Senior executives from leading industry vendors including Adobe, Creatio, Microsoft, Oracle, Pegasystems, PROS, Salesforce, SAP, SugarCRM, UserTesting, Verint, Zoho and Zoom give their take on what CRM and CX are and how they're roles are evolving in the enterprise.

Partnering with Nvidia and Microsoft Helps ServiceNow Advance AI and Compute Power Responsibly for Customers

Kellie Romack, chief digital information officer of ServiceNow, discusses the company's strategic partnerships with Nvidia, Microsoft, and Genesys and the role those partnerships play in advancing AI and workflow technologies.

CRM in 2025: AI Should Be Used to Humanize Not "Hyperize" CX

While the term hyper-personalization has become a staple talking point and a goal in the industry in the plast few years, the executives participating in the CRM Playaz "What is CRM in 2025" series feel AI should focus more on helping to humanize personalization rather than "hyperize" it.

CRM in 2025: It's Not About AI, Agents, or Even CRM; It's Still About Data

During the CRM Playaz "CRM in 2025" series of shows, the analyst conversation with Sheryl Kingstone, Liz Miller, Rebecca Wettemann, and Michael Fauscette addressed about what CRM in 2025 should and shouldn't be. And surprisingly, the group agreed on one thing: It isn't about AI.

What Is CRM in 2025? 13 Senior Executives from Leading Industry Vendors Share Their Definitions

Senior executives from leading industry vendors, including Adobe, Creatio, Microsoft, Oracle, Pegasystems, PROS, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, SugarCRM, UserTesting, Verint, Zoho and Zoom, give their takes on what CRM and CX are and how their roles are evolving in the enterprise.

CRM in 2025: Less About Big Databases and Monolithic Apps, More About Creating Point-in-Time Experiences

John Bruno, vice president of strategy at PROS, shares why he feels that in 2025 CRM will be less about big databases, monolithic apps, and long end-to-end processes, and more about creating point-in-time experiences that elevate CX.

CRM in 2025: Data Is Key to Bringing Predictive, Generative, and Agentic AI Together

While everyone is fixated on prescriptive, generative, and agentic flavors of artificial intelligence, the executive CRM vendor panel brought together for the CRM Playaz "What is CRM in 2025" series say data should really be at the heart and forefront of any AI discussion, regardless of the type of AI being discussed. Defining successful outcomes and which data is needed to design those outcomes should be the primary concern.

CRM in 2025: Will the Promise of Agentic AI Be Enough to Overcome Organizational Inertia?

As part of the CRM Playaz conversation series on what 2025 has in store for CRM and CX, executives from Adobe, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, and ServiceNow discuss whether the promise of generative AI in the year ahead is powerful enough to overcome the organizational inertia that slows down adoption and limits the impact of disruptive tech in the enterprise.

The Next Frontier in Customer Engagement: Streaming Video

But be warned: Livestreaming isn't easy, even if it looks that way.

Subscription Models Equaled Strong CRM in Our Pandemic Year

Tighter bonds with customers helped subscription-based businesses weather the storm.

Video and LinkedIn: A Match Made In Business Heaven

Here's some advice from a not-quite video pro

3 CRM Lessons From This Year’s Conferences

Some key themes kept coming up among the CRM intelligentsia

How Can AI Help Small Businesses with CRM?

This year's installment of ‘ask the vendors' features the tech topic on everyone's mind

Amazon Serves Up CX Lessons

With Go and AR, the giant retailer is showing us how new tools can connect with customers

Which CRM Features Are Small Businesses Not Taking Advantage of?

This year's version of ‘ask the vendors' examines what SMBs might be missing

Alexa (and Her Cohorts) Will Change Your Business

The revolution is coming, and SMBs must get ready.

Some Big Numbers for Small Businesses to Embrace in 2018

Keep these eye-popping stats in mind when charting your course for the coming year.

What SMBs Want from Vendors

Technology executives share what their small-business customers are asking of them.

Companies Must Heed the Voice (Literally) of the Customer

Voice-first technologies could soon be the engagement tool of choice

AI (Artificial Intelligence) Needs to Drive AI (Automated Insights)

Getting customer insights served up by CRM lets reps focus on relationships

Are Chatbots and Recurring Revenue the Future of Business?

One conference, two big statements

Why Isn’t CRM Adoption Higher? CRM Vendor Execs Weigh In

An informal survey reveals what vendors, and SMBs, need to do better

Three Customer Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2016 (and Beyond)

Better service, experiences, and intelligence can mean the difference between getting ahead and stalling

Get Mobile Sites and Apps to Work for You

Creating better customer experiences on the go is the key to unlocking value

How SMBs Can Leverage the Internet of Things Today, and Tomorrow

Adapt, disrupt, and above all remember the customer

Subscribe to Better Service

A subscription model provides the flexibility customers want—but you have to engage them to make it work

Spring Events Yield Web Trends for SMBs

Digital touch points—and digital wallets—lead the way

SMBs See Strength in Intimacy

Context relevancy transforms interactions into experience.

Don't Drop the Ball on Your Digital Engagement Strategy

Customers' app journeys hold the key to new opportunities.

Sales Processes and Tools Must Adapt to Customer Behavior

New consumer expectations call for updating old practices.

Lessons in Customer Centricity from CRM Vendors

When CEOs listen to the voice of the customer, everyone wins.

Subscriptions Boost Customer Engagement...and Business

Think about business as a collection of consumers.

Why Customer Experience Is the True King

Content and context play essential supporting roles.

Riding the Wave of Shifting Platforms

Strategies may change, but the key to success remains the same.

Screaming for a Good, Fundamental Customer Experience

Sometimes the fun, shiny objects are just the cherry on top.

Cultivate a New Approach to Business and Customer Engagement

To meet expectations, try being FAIR.

Marketing Automation Goes Mainstream

As technology evolves, so must SMB strategies.

The Maturation of the Social SMB

Companies with strategic approaches see the most benefits.

SMBs Take to the Cloud

2012 holds great potential as a breakout year for CRM.

The Fast and the Curious

Building a business model to keep up with customer expectations.

Connecting with Customers Is Easier than Ever

Rising competition demands a holistic strategy.

The Tweet Is Mightier than the Sword

So speak softly and carry just 140 characters.

The New CRM: Community Relationship Management

Bridging the chasm between CRM and minority business.

The State of CRM in the Minority Business Community

It appears the challenge and solution to raising CRM awareness is another type of CRM: community relationship management.