Show Notes
The Fastest Marketing Cycle We Have Ever Seen When I sat down with Heidi Bullock, CMO at Tealium, at the CMO Huddles SuperHuddle in Palo Alto, she began with a statement that set the tone for everything that followed. “We are in a cycle of speed right now I have never seen before.” Marketing is shifting so quickly that messaging polished in Q1 might be irrelevant by Q2. Market noise, rapid AI adoption, and shifting customer expectations are compressing cycles and forcing teams to rebuild and rethink faster than ever. For Heidi, this pace is not just a challenge. It is reshaping how CMOs approach data, partners, and AI inside their organizations. AI Begins and Ends With Data Quality Tealium has long been a leader in real-time, consented customer data. But the rise of AI has pushed the value of that data to a new level. Heidi described a significant uptick in companies seeking reliable, clean data to feed AI models and power in-moment experiences. “Your AI outputs are only as good as the data going in.” Organizations now recognize that they cannot rely on historical records alone. They need real-time signals from mobile apps, web behavior, and customer touchpoints to make AI-driven interactions meaningful. This is where Tealium sits - collecting consented, high-quality data that can flow into LLMs, AI agents, and personalized activation workflows. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Why Partnerships Are Now a Core Pillar of GTM A major theme in our conversation was the role of partnerships in modern enterprise go-to-market motions. Tealium works closely with AWS, Databricks, and Snowflake, and each partnership plays a strategic role. Heidi framed partners not as optional channels, but as essential multipliers. “If we tried to do everything alone, it would take so much more time, work, and energy.” Customers already have a cloud data warehouse. They already use hyperscalers. They already operate in well-established ecosystems. Rather than compete with those environments, Tealium plugs into them, extending and enriching the systems customers already rely on. “Partners are a multiplier. They make everything simpler and more effective for the customer.” What stood out in Heidi’s explanation was the emphasis on specificity. Tealium does not sell broad, abstract solutions inside these partner environments. They lead with: * Industry competencies * Clear use cases * Targeted scenarios that sellers and customers can easily understand This clarity cuts through noise, especially in a crowded AI landscape. Building Use Cases the Right Way Heidi was very intentional about how Tealium builds industry use cases. They avoid assumptions and rely heavily on customer validation. “We do not build a use case because we talked to one customer. We talk to twenty.” The process is designed to ensure Tealium is addressing real problems that multiple customers actually feel. Once validated, AI helps scale the content, but never defines the direction. It is a disciplined approach grounded in truth, not internal brainstorming. AI Agents and the New Marketing Org Chart One of the most intriguing insights in our conversation was the emergence of AI agents inside marketing teams. Some org charts now show five or six marketers supported by specialized agents performing specific tasks. This is still new, but adoption is accelerating. Heidi noted that marketing might be one of the fastest AI adopters across the enterprise. “Marketing teams have adopted AI faster than any other group because we have had to.” Efficiency pressures, cost reduction, and the need to accelerate output make AI an obvious addition to modern marketing teams. AI is already taking on time-consuming tasks that marketers do not want to spend hours on - formatting, variations, tagging, scaling assets, and more. The shift is not theoretical. It is happening now. Avoiding AI Washing in a Nois
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Samrah Khan on partner specialization, faster customer outcomes, and Google Cloud’s evolving ecosystem strategy The system integrator business is undergoing a fundamental transformation. For years, the traditional model was relatively straightforward. Technology vendors sold platforms, customers selected implementation partners, and SIs delivered projects that could stretch across multiple years. AI is changing that equation. Customers want more than technology implementation. They’re looking for partners who can help define their AI strategies, identify business opportunities, develop specialized solutions, and deliver measurable results in months rather than years. In my latest Inside Partnering conversation, I welcomed back Samrah Khan, Director of Google Cloud SI/GSI Ecosystem North America, to explore how these changes are reshaping the partner ecosystem. Samrah leads Google’s SI/GSI partner relationships at a particularly interesting moment. Google Cloud’s business experienced an amazing 82% year-over-year growth in Q2! But the more interesting story isn’t the growth itself. It’s how the expectations of customers, technology providers, and partners are changing. Here are six insights from our conversation. 1. Customers Want a Unified AI Strategy, Not Another Technology Implementation One of Samrah’s clearest observations is that enterprise customers are approaching AI very differently from previous technology transitions. They’re no longer simply shopping for infrastructure or selecting a systems integrator after choosing a platform. Instead, they expect technology providers and partners to work together from the beginning, bringing a comprehensive perspective on business transformation. “Customers are looking at both the partners as well as the hyperscalers or technology providers to come in and look at the whole enterprise from A to Z.” Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
For partner leaders, one of the hardest questions isn’t identifying your best-performing partners. Most organizations already know who they are. The harder question is: Who should you invest in next? That question sits at the center of my conversation with Kenneth Fox, CTO and founder of ChannelScaler. Kenneth has spent his career in channels and partnerships, and his perspective combines the technology side of partner management with the practical realities of running partner programs. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
At Sage FUTURE in San Francisco, I sat down with Dan Miller, EVP of Financials and ERP at Sage, to talk about how Sage is thinking about AI, ecosystem partnerships, and the future of ERP platforms. One of the clearest themes from the conversation was this: finance leaders are not resisting AI. They simply want transparency, accountability, and confidence in the outputs. For partner leaders, ISVs, and ecosystem builders, that creates a very different opportunity than the generic “AI transformation” messaging dominating the market right now. Dan framed it around trust. “What finance and operations professionals really want is confidence in the tools that they’re deploying are doing exactly what they are expected to do.” That requirement shapes how Sage is building both its AI capabilities and its broader partner ecosystem. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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At Sage FUTURES in San Francisco, Gretchen O’Hara delivered a clear message to partners: the market is shifting fast - and the opportunity is massive. But despite the noise around AI, one thing hasn’t changed. Partners are still at the center of how businesses win. “The channel is one of the most important things because our partners are the ones that have the deepest industry expertise and are closest to customers that can really solve their unique, unique business challenges.” AI may accelerate execution, but it doesn’t replace the need for domain expertise, customer proximity, and trusted advisory. In fact, it amplifies it. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.