Pilots to Proof: AI Agents in the Enterprise with Keanu Taylor

AI agents are being positioned as the answer to shrinking budgets and rising expectations, but most enterprise teams are still stuck in pilot mode. In this Office Hours episode, Jacqueline is joined by guest host and industry analyst Keanu Taylor to examine what's actually working inside large organizations. Drawing on insights from his research, the conversation explores why many "AI strategies" amount to fragmented experiments, and what it really takes to move from internal pilots to external decisioning. Instead of chasing one all-powerful agent, leading teams are breaking work into hierarchies of specialized micro-agents, backed by better data context and governance.ROI shows up in unexpected ways: efficiency gains often unlock deeper strategic insight rather than just cost savings. And none of it works without adoption, which means real hand-holding, expectation management, and treating data governance as infrastructure, not a meeting-room exercise.Timestamps00:04 - Introducing Keanu Taylor and the marketing technology shift 01:42 - What 13 enterprise consumer brands are testing with AI agents02:56 - Navigating the era of doing more with less in martech 07:10 - Why autonomy doesn't mean AGI: the rise of micro-agent hierarchies10:33 - AI decisioning agents explained and how they're finally delivering value 15:02 - Two-sided ROI: efficiency gains that unlock effectiveness and insight20:52 - Adoption reality: mistrust, user inertia, and the need for hand-holding 31:21 - Moving data governance from meeting rooms to infrastructureSponsor Brought to you by Hightouch - Went all-in on a big marketing suite but still struggling to get value? You're not alone. Our sponsor, Hightouch, spoke with 50+ enterprise teams and found 79% are frustrated by high costs, slow innovation, and rising complexity, often needing specialized teams just to keep things running. They'll share the full findings in a live webinar on February 12, plus what they're seeing from organizations updating their Martech stacks. Get the report and register!Connect & SubscribeSubscribe to Making Sense of Martech wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on TikTok, LinkedIn, and don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube.