Marc Hoenke

It’s not just about closing deals—it’s about selling differently. IBM outlines the skills and mindsets that will define the next-generation sales superstar. Check it out before the game changes: Read here https://lnkd.in/dCfUDk_8 #Sales #FutureOfWork #CareerGrowth #DACH #IBM #NextGenSales #JoinIBM

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This infographic sums it up well: Security and Zero Trust are moving fast, but the network often lags behind. Only 16% have SD-WAN in place, even as SASE adoption accelerates. Worth a look 👇

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⚡ “Customer experience can’t wait.”   That was the bold realization at Stadtwerke Düsseldorf.   In the middle of their SAP S/4HANA Utilities transformation, the team faced a big choice: wait for the new ERP system — or start improving the customer experience now.   They chose action. 💪   Because when you serve more than 600,000 households with electricity, gas, water, and heat, customer proximity isn’t optional — it’s essential. With SAP Service Cloud, they replaced a 20-year-old legacy system, broke down silos, and gave their service teams the tools to truly understand and support their customers.   Supported by SAP Business Technology Platform, Emarsys, and SAP Customer Data Platform, the utility built a 360° customer view and laid the foundation for personalized, data-driven service. The CX integration was carried out by Power Reply. As a partner of Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, they were involved in this successful project from the very beginning. Their experience contributed to the project's success. “It would have been negligent to postpone customer orientation by two or three years just because the SAP S/4HANA transformation was still ongoing,” says Christian Hüging, Head of Process & System Integration. This story isn’t just about software — it’s about mindset. About moving fast, thinking customer-first, and showing that even in the energy sector, innovation and empathy can go hand in hand. 💙   #CustomerExperience #SAPServiceCloud #CXTransformation #Utilities #SAPBTP #CustomerSuccess #Innovation Ines Graefe Barbara Badiane Christian Blattgerste Christoph Hefner Thomas Ofenloch Olga Jilibert Stefanie Nuckelt Philipp Heitland Moritz Meurer Sven Gaßdorf Tim Holm Caroline Böttcher

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AI agents offer immense opportunities but also pose new challenges. At #Salesforce, transparency, security, and human oversight are core principles for responsible AI development and use - because trust isn’t optional, it’s essential. The EU AI Act is a major milestone, but regulation must evolve alongside technology. For businesses and policymakers alike, a deep understanding of how AI agents work is essential to set the right guardrails and mitigate risks. I summarize key aspects of responsible AI development and use from a business and policy perspective in my latest article "Balancing Innovation and Regulation: Why We Need Guardrails for Autonomous AI Agents". #AI #Agentforce #ResponsibleAI

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🆕 What’s new in ServiceNow’s “Zurich” release?   The latest update brings powerful new capabilities to help you do more—faster.   In this post, discover: ✅ The fate of ServiceNow Reporting and the “forced migration” to Platform Analytics ✅ Key Zurich features that improve performance and usability ✅ Enhancements for automation and AI-driven workflows   👉 Read the full breakdown: https://bit.ly/4hf6es3

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Migros is setting new standards for digital transformation by migrating its complex ERP landscape to RISE with SAP on Microsoft Azure. This bold move is harmonizing processes, enabling real-time data insights, and empowering nearly 100,000 employees to work smarter and drive sustainable growth.​ Thanks to RISE with SAP on Microsoft Azure, the results for Migros have been significant:​ 1️⃣ Centralized data flows: Streamlined operations and real-time insights across dozens of business units​ 2️⃣ AI & analytics ready: Laying the foundation for advanced forecasting and self-service analytics​ 3️⃣ Agility & growth: Faster processes, reduced IT complexity, and sustainable digital transformation ​ “Technology should never be an end in itself. Our goal was always to use it as a tool that makes everyday life easier for our staff and strengthens the companies in the Migros Group in the long term.”​ - Rainer Baumann, Group COO & CIO, Migros​ Don't miss the full story: https://msft.it/6043tTzEh​ #CustomerStory #MicrosoftAzure #SAP #DigitalTransformation #Innovation #Migros #MSFTadvocate​

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Alignment between sales and operations sounds simple. In reality, it’s one of the hardest things for manufacturers and distributors to get right. That’s why the new partnership between SugarCRM and SYSPRO matters. Sugar for SYSPRO connects ERP and CRM so teams aren’t working from different versions of the truth. The result: • Fewer handoff issues • More confident selling • No surprises for operations A solid step forward for teams that need systems to work together — not against each other. https://sgrcrm.co/4qpxoAn

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Had a fantastic meeting with the Salesforce team in Munich today, alongside my colleagues Alexandra von Wilcken and Konrad Hoffmann. A big thank you to Peter Brehm for organizing such a great event, and to Demen Selcan and Sebastian Schickhoff for their insightful presentations. Here are my 3 key takeaways: ➡️ Agentic AI is reshaping the way we approach digital transformation in pharma, enhancing communication between agents and streamlining workflows. ➡️ The Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud has immense potential to drive value by integrating multiple platforms, providing end-to-end solutions for pharma companies. ➡️ Focusing on business impact over just CRM functionality is key — it's all about understanding the customer journey and delivering real, measurable outcomes. Looking forward to applying these insights and continuing the conversation with the Salesforce team ! #Salesforce #LifeSciences #AI #Pharma #DigitalTransformation #Innovation

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Strong kick-off and a great example of how partnerships create real momentum. 🚀 Excited to see CGI and ServiceNow combining industry expertise, scalable platforms, and global delivery capabilitiesto accelerate digital transformation for German SMEs. Looking forward to the next phase and the impact this collaboration will bring to customers across Germany. 🇩🇪🌍 #WeAreCGI #DigitalTransformation #ServiceNow #CGI #Mittelstand #EnterpriseTransformation #Partnership #BusinessTransformation #Germany

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Why Executive Search Feels Different But Feels Right Kathrin Pantenburg's heart will always be in the Salesforce ecosystem. But the move into executive search brought a new kind of conversation — more strategic, more long-term, and focused on how technology enables the whole business. She shares why the shift stretched her into a bigger version of herself. Watch the full episode.

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Exciting times ahead for agentic AI in commerce. Our recent survey for Black Friday reveals consumers are shifting from impulse buys to strategic waits — and that’s exactly where AI-agents shine. By combining a unified data layer (e.g., our Data360 architecture) with advanced agent frameworks, brands can anticipate intent, personalise offers in real time and execute at scale. The technical challenge? Clean data, robust pipelines and seamless integration across systems. The opportunity? Transforming transactional touchpoints into proactive, value-driven agent interactions. Ready to build the engine behind the experience. 👉 Read the full story in 20 Minuten: https://lnkd.in/e-euRcAf

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AI is here to stay!! Our CTO & Chief AI Officer Dr. Philipp Herzig captures exactly how we feel about where we are with Business AI right now! At #SAPNOW Germany, he sat down with Laura Wontorra for a conversation that goes beyond the hype. Instead of superficial buzzword bingo, they tackled the topics we deal with every day working with our customers: - What beginners should actually focus on - The transformation trends reshaping companies right now - What truly excites us about AI's potential No buzzwords, just practical insights.

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Salesforce Agentforce World Tour — The transformation is real - and it’s redefining Customer Support with Agentforce Service. Today I had the chance to speak at the Agentforce Service Keynote together with Ragna Ghoreishi, CCXP, CCCX and Franz Klaus at the Salesforce World Tour in Düsseldorf and share our Salesforce Customer Zero story — how we’re already using AI Agents to fundamentally transform customer support at Salesforce. What stands out the most for me: • AI in support is no longer theory — it’s operating at scale. • Agentforce Service (formerly Service Cloud) is reshaping how teams deliver fast, accurate, human-centric support. • Digital frontends and AI-powered backends are finally coming together in a way that unlocks real efficiency and real customer impact. • The momentum in the ecosystem is bigger than I’ve ever seen — and it’s accelerating. Whether you’re leading a support team, building operations, running a business, or shaping your company strategy: AI Agents aren’t the next wave — they’re the new baseline. Düsseldorf was a strong reminder that this isn’t about AI replacing humans — it’s about AI working side by side with humans and becoming part of your company identity, your service culture, and your brand. Support organizations that embrace this shift won’t just operate better — they’ll be perceived differently. Anytime, everywhere, multilingual. Seeing what’s possible when AI and human expertise work together is energizing — and we’re only scratching the surface. More to come.

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How are automation and autonomous systems shaping the future of AI in customer service to be more efficient, proactive, and trustworthy? 🤨💻🤝 Listen to the conversation between Christina Raab (Accenture) and Alexander Wallner (Salesforce) from the Salesforce Agentforce World Tour in Frankfurt to gain further insights into these topics. #AI #Accenture #Salesforce #Agentforce

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Strong partnerships drive real impact. 🤝 Our collaboration with ServiceNow is a great example: since 2022, the platform has been at the heart of Deutsche Telekom‘s processes – with T-Systems International bringing transformation to life. What makes this story powerful isn’t just the technology, it’s the way it’s experienced. And When customers share their own journey, the message becomes authentic, credible, and inspiring. That’s why I value the testimonial from Sherif Rezkalla on how we jointly supported Deutsche Telekom’s digital transformation. A clear showcase of what strong partnerships can achieve. 🙌 Looking forward to continuing this journey – and to telling more stories together. #ServiceNow #ONETEAM #TeamTelekom #WeWontStop

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From Jeopardy! to #watsonx: How IBM transformed decades of AI experience into the ultimate Enterprise platform. When we talk about #AI today, names like OpenAI or Google dominate the conversation. But long before the current hype, one company was already setting milestones that redefined human-machine interaction: IBM. From Deep Blue defeating Garry Kasparov in 1997 to Watson’s legendary Jeopardy! victory in 2011, IBM pushed the boundaries of what we thought was possible. However, the journey wasn't without its hurdles. The ambitious "Watson Health" projects showed that the real world—especially in medicine—is far more complex than a quiz show. The Lesson? IBM took those "costly lessons" and pivoted. Instead of building a monolithic, "all-knowing" super-AI, they developed a modular, open, and enterprise-grade platform: watsonx. In my latest blog post, I trace this evolution and look at why IBM’s current B2B strategy is so effective: Openness: No vendor lock-in. Flexibility across any cloud with open-source integration (Hugging Face). Trust & Governance: Moving away from the "black box" toward transparent, explainable AI workflows. Data Sovereignty: Companies train models on their own trusted data—and they keep control of it. We are moving from "AI that chats" to "AI that acts" (Agentic AI). With the Granite foundation models, IBM is providing the efficiency and "guardrails" that industries like finance, law, and software engineering actually need to scale. From a pioneer to a pragmatic partner—IBM’s journey is a masterclass in strategic adaptability. 👇 Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/dFSjYTiS #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #IBM #watsonx #B2B #DigitalTransformation #Innovation #TechHistory #AgenticAI

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