Perspectives from the frontlines of tech, AI, and commercial operations.
The AI Plateau and the Strategy Gap
As we pass the halfway mark of 2025, AI is still the loudest conversation in the room. But it is increasingly clear that implementation outpaces impact. Recent commentary from leaders at Boston Consulting Group and Bain underscores a troubling trend: enterprise organizations are investing heavily in AI without seeing meaningful returns.
What’s going wrong? Most businesses are spreading AI across too many pilots and skipping the organizational redesign required to extract value. We’re seeing a rise in “AI-as-a-feature” launches that generate buzz but don’t integrate deeply enough into workflows to change outcomes.
Our advice: Treat AI adoption less like a sprint and more like an operational transformation. Simplify the portfolio. Rethink who owns the workflow. And embed AI within existing processes rather than layering it on top.
Sources: Boston Consulting Group commentary on AI ROI; Bain & Company brief on GenAI scaling barriers (Q2 2025).
Generative AI Hits the Mainstream
While company-wide efforts have gaps, individual contributors have embraced AI use to varying degrees. No longer confined to hype cycles, generative AI is now firmly in the toolkit of enterprise teams – from developers to creatives to customer support. July offered several proof points that this technology has matured out of the lab and into real operations. Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, the AI pair-programmer, crossed 20 million users, indicating massive uptake among software developers globally. That means hordes of coders – many in enterprise IT departments – are relying on AI suggestions to write and fix code faster, a stark change in how software gets built.
In the customer experience arena, we’re seeing a similar embrace: Lloyds Bank in the UK announced a new generative AI assistant called “Athena” to help handle customer service queries and internal paperwork. This is a notable deployment of AI in a highly regulated industry (finance), showing that even conservative sectors now trust GPT-like tools for frontline work. On the creative side, generative AI is making movie magic – Netflix’s latest sci-fi series “El Eternauta” used AI to generate entire visual effects scenes, cutting production time and costs in the process.
Why it matters: Companies that once only experimented with ChatGPT on the side are now baking AI into core workflows – coding, customer engagement, marketing, you name it. As generative AI becomes a standard feature in software and cloud platforms, businesses will need a clear strategy for integrating these tools (and upskilling teams accordingly) to avoid falling behind.
Sources: GitHub Copilot usage stats via TechCrunch (July 2025); Lloyds Bank press release; The Guardian tech column on “El Eternauta.”
AI Governance Splits Between U.S. and EU
July saw major developments in how governments plan to police and promote artificial intelligence. In Washington, the Trump administration rolled out a sweeping AI Action Plan via executive orders, aiming to supercharge domestic AI development and bar certain “ideologically driven” AI models from federal use. The message is clear: American AI needs to be the default, at home and abroad.
Meanwhile, the European Union introduced a voluntary AI Code of Practice in July as a prelude to its upcoming AI Act regulations. The code asks firms to adopt transparency and risk management measures now, ahead of formal legislation expected in 2026.
Why it matters: Enterprises operating globally face a dual reality. U.S. policy is focused on deregulation and innovation, while the EU is pushing oversight and ethics. Businesses may need to maintain dual AI strategies to navigate the diverging regimes – a challenge, but also an opportunity to differentiate through responsible use.
Sources: U.S. AI Action Plan, July 2025; EU AI Code of Practice summary in Technology Magazine (July 2025).
Martech Consolidation Accelerates
July brought fresh moves in commercial tech: Adobe formally sunsetted several underperforming Experience Cloud modules, while Salesforce reorganized Commercial Cloud leadership post-Dreamforce ’24. Meanwhile, Oracle is ramping Eloqua integrations with Fusion apps, hoping to reverse client churn.
The subtext? Consolidation. Mid-market and enterprise commercial leaders want fewer disconnected tools and better interoperability across sales and service systems.
How to respond: Review your martech stack through the lens of consolidation and cost-of-ownership. Are your tools integrated with sales ops? Are you training teams on the systems they actually use?
Sources: TechCrunch July 2025 coverage on Adobe and Salesforce; Oracle investor call transcript, Q2 2025.
The Return of Account-Based Strategy (With AI Boosters)
Interest in account-based strategy (ABS) is resurging, but with a twist: AI-augmented segmentation and outreach. Several recent Forrester case studies highlight how mid-sized B2B companies are combining ABS playbooks with predictive lead scoring and automated personalization.
We’re watching closely how AI accelerates list building, content matching, and contact prioritization. But the underlying strategy still matters more than the tooling. Teams that get ABS right focus on orchestration between sales and marketing, not just automation.
Recommendation: If you’re revisiting ABS in 2025, start with a tight list of 20–50 accounts, align messaging across teams, and measure progressive engagement — not just MQLs.
Sources: Forrester ABS Playbook update, Summer 2025; Gartner digital engagement benchmarks, July 2025.
ServiceNow vs. Salesforce: CRM Lines Blur
One of the more buzzworthy stories of late July was ServiceNow’s announcement of expanded CRM-like capabilities, clearly aimed at Salesforce’s territory. While ServiceNow insists it isn’t building a CRM in the traditional sense, the new modules offer sales planning, revenue intelligence, and customer insights tools that sound a lot like… CRM.
The enterprise IT world is watching closely. Some teams already entrenched in ServiceNow for IT Service Management (ITSM) are considering expanding its footprint, especially if licensing dynamics remain favorable. The real question: Will Salesforce respond by doubling down on IT service integration?
Watch this space: For firms with mature ITSM programs, this may be an opportunity to reduce system sprawl. For commercial teams, it’s a reminder that CRM strategy now involves cross-functional infrastructure choices.
Sources: ServiceNow press release, July 22, 2025; Protocol Enterprise recap of Dreamforce CRM panel.
Wearables and Field Teams: Meta’s Ray-Ban Update
Meta’s July firmware update for its Ray-Ban smart glasses (powered by Meta AI) includes enhanced image recognition, GPS-tagged note dictation, and real-time translation. While the consumer play is still unclear, we’re seeing early experiments in field sales, logistics, and training environments.
Why it matters: These devices offer hands-free documentation and contextual support without bulky AR gear. Mid-sized firms deploying technical sales or support teams may want to test pilot use cases for training capture, site documentation, or real-time procedural guidance.
Sources: Meta product release notes; Wired wearable tech review, July 2025.
Microsoft Fabric Gains Ground as One-Stop Data Platform
Microsoft’s push to bundle analytics, BI, and data engineering into a single platform – Microsoft Fabric – is starting to resonate with enterprises. Two years after launch, Fabric is evolving fast with new AI features and multi-cloud connectivity, aiming to eliminate the patchwork of point solutions in corporate data estates. Microsoft even hosted a dedicated Fabric Community Conference this summer to showcase growing adoption.
Why it matters: Fabric promises lower integration overhead and better visibility, but Microsoft still has to prove it can truly match specialized competitors feature-for-feature. For enterprises eyeing data modernization, Fabric’s maturation is a storyline to watch in the second half of the year.
Sources: InfoWorld coverage of Microsoft Fabric launch and roadmap (2024–2025).
The Cloud Repatriation Debate Returns
After a decade of “cloud-first” mantra, some enterprises are rethinking where to run critical workloads. Cloud repatriation – moving certain systems from public clouds back to on-premises or private infrastructure – has become a hot discussion in 2025.
Why it matters: Cloud cost angst, resource sprawl, and strategic flexibility are driving the shift. But CIOs caution that repatriation isn’t a panacea – many projects overshoot cost and complexity estimates. The smart play may be hybrid: keep stable workloads on-prem while using cloud for elastic or innovation-driven needs.
Sources: Flexera State of the Cloud 2025; Solutions Review coverage of Dropbox and GEICO repatriation stories.
Security Shake-Up: Mega Mergers and Mega Breaches
It was a consequential month in enterprise security, marked by big moves on both offense and defense. Cybersecurity vendors are consolidating fast: Palo Alto Networks acquired CyberArk for $25B to expand into identity security, following Google’s $32B acquisition of Wiz earlier this year.
At the same time, Allianz Life suffered a July breach that exposed Social Security numbers and personal data for over a million customers – a reminder that human-focused attacks are still succeeding.
Why it matters: Major players are betting on integrated security suites to protect complex environments. But no stack is foolproof. Leadership must prioritize phishing training and response readiness while vetting the expanding vendor landscape.
Sources: TechCrunch reports on Palo Alto–CyberArk and Allianz breach (July 2025); Google–Wiz acquisition headlines from March 2025.
What’s Next
We’ll be watching the following into August:
- How Salesforce’s Q3 guidance reflects its shifting cloud mix
- Whether Google expands Duet AI support for enterprise Docs/Sheets automation
- How enterprise pricing evolves for GitHub Copilot and similar assistants
If you’d like to talk through any of these stories or what they mean for your team, we’re always happy to share perspective.