Issue #36 - Agentic blah coupled with bourbon biscuits
In This Issue: Vile Rumour & Gossip | The Shopify Agency Battle Lines | Agentic - a new non word | Mentoring is Selfish
It’s not easy to put aside politics and global “OMG” at times like these. As we age we start reading the news - I yearn for younger days when I was too hungover and didn’t think the world was ending. Peace everyone - we have our own version of the “Truth” right here.
Vile Rumour & Gossip
Salesforce is hiring strongly to sell people “Agents”
Along with AWS and many others management have made sales targets so high as to be entirely unachievable, and so after some years of better behaviour, we predict a swift return to BDR attack mode. If AWS are becoming “salesy", God help the rest of the ecosystem.
GA4 - still driving everyone mad?
Now, they seem to have deliberately slowed down synching, so retailers are struggling to get collated numbers for the Monday trading meeting. We wonder why Google is killing its own analytics business. Something murkier going on? Do they think they’ll avoid being broken up at some point if they aren’t marking their own homework? Too late for that we think.
AI lead gen is already starting to grate on customers
Those creepy tools that make it look like you’ve done your research? Bin them - they’re awful.
The Shopify Agency Battle Lines
As Shopify gets rapidly adopted by mid-market and beyond, the implementation scrap begins. Unlike other platforms going on this journey, Shopify already has 1000’s of SI’s in the UK alone building sites…but most will never try to win a merchant like Boden (who went live in January).
Instead, there is a small group of “teenage” SI’s hoping to step up. In the UK, we see the fight happening between Swanky, Grebban, Woolman, Fuse Fabric and maybe Domaine. Only two of these are UK businesses, but the others are Nordic or US players and have several hundred merchant projects completed. A mention for Vervaunt, who have finally buckled and become a registered Shopify agency – no longer truly independent. We bet that was a tough call.
Of course, you cannot discount the established players. Every single large SI now has a Shopify practice (apart from one, can you guess?). But it’s NOT their core focus, and their cost models are not appropriate (for now). We just don’t see them winning in the room against those pro teams we’re betting on.
Shopify simply doesn't care. This is a land grab, and having 1000 agencies in Europe is just fine with them. Customers will benefit too; prices will come down and (hopefully) implementation times too.
Agentic - the new non-word
Ah, agentic AI - yet another dazzling rebrand in the endless churn of jargon. Agentic AI, we’re told, can perceive, reason, act, and – brace yourself – learn! Imagine that! AI… learning! Surely, this is unprecedented.
Except, of course, it isn’t.
Peel back the newish word, and what do you find? AI systems that are just slightly more self-directed than before. Tesla’s self-driving AI? Agentic. Cybersecurity systems that detect threats? Agentic. Amazon’s warehouse robots? Apparently, agentic now, too.
Funny how we weren’t calling them that a few months ago. Just Salesforce being Salesforcy.
Seriously though, “Search” is really the space where agents will compete, and we already know this is not a space where products are well differentiated, so maybe agents will see rapid adoption? NOT.
Grumpy. Old. Man.
Mentoring is selfish
Jamie here. I’ve done a fair bit of mentoring - always with ambitious women who were being ignored or patted on the head, and it’s always incredibly rewarding.
Frankly, there is very little effort involved.
Listen. Get your therapist hat ready, shut up and open your ears.
Don’t advise. Ask your very best pointy questions and your mentee will work out their own path
Show up. Don’t cancel or dick around
PUSH… don’t settle for phrases like “I feel imposter syndrome”...
Mentoring is the best value you’ll ever offer in your career, please do just offer the hand of help.
Buyingtime Dictionary
Frequently used (but never about you) phrases from Buyingtime Ltd.
Clocksucker
/ˈklɒkˌsʌk.ər/
adjective
1. time waster
"Sorry I was a minute late. What's this meeting about?"
"It's about the email I sent you last week..."
"THIS IS LITERALLY A MEETING THAT WAS AN EMAIL. NO! NO! CLOCKSUCKER!"
Flips chair. Leaves. Slams door.
