The world of enterprise tech is built on sturdy foundations. For decades, systems of record—the databases, customer relationship management (CRM), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms we’re all intimately familiar with—have served as reliable pillars underpinning every major business. Vendors selling them have become household names and the technology is a core component of how enterprises operate, scale, and report. They’ve embedded themselves, seemingly immovably, into how the world does business. But here’s the thing about immovable objects: Sometimes they meet unstoppable forces.
Today, the unstoppable forces of AI and automation are shaking the foundations of tech stacks built around systems of record. Yes, these systems can capture every transaction, record every interaction, and keep your enterprise humming along—but at their core, they’re passive. They exist to document what’s already happened. If a business focuses too heavily on them, it becomes passive as well, bound to tools that deliver what they’ve always delivered.
Good enough is not good enough anymore
For many business leaders, this kind of inertia is reliable, comforting, and easy. It’s good enough to make it to the next quarter, good enough to offer customers the same thing they’ve always offered, good enough to rely on what’s worked in the past. But in the age of AI and automation, good enough doesn’t cut it anymore. In fact, this mentality not only leaves you vulnerable to disruption, it also means you’ll quickly be eclipsed by businesses that understand it’s time to pivot from building around systems of record to building around a new paradigm: systems of action.
Systems of action are set to supplant systems of record because they aren’t just about storing or communicating data—they’re about taking action on that data. They’re powered by AI agents that act autonomously to retrieve data from multiple sources, process information, and even make decisions. Put another way, these AI agents offer us a new foundation on which to build the enterprise, one where a bias for action is embedded into everything we do.
This isn’t just hype. In fact, established enterprises are already experimenting with systems of action in ways that promise to change everything. Signet Jewelers, for example, is testing ways to combine conversational data with generative AI—or in other words, turn selling signals into action. It works as follows: The AI model looks at customer conversations, identifies which customers are ready to buy, and delivers that information to help agents create revenue opportunities. As the largest diamond retailer in the world, Signet is an incredible example of the impact systems of action will make in the years to come.
Ready for action
Thousands of tasks across enterprises are primed for this level of automation, from customer-facing actions like personalized messaging and proactive issue resolution, to back-end actions like lead qualification and inventory management. This means pivoting from systems of record to systems of action is much more than a minor upgrade or incremental step for the enterprise. It’s a total rethinking of the tech stack that finally bridges the gap between data and outcomes.
The end goal is not to tinker around the edges of systems of record with good enough automation use cases. That’s like putting Christmas lights on a fixer-upper—and expecting buyers to overlook the rotting foundation. This good enough mentality holds us back, keeping us dependent on outdated or only incrementally improvable systems. It prevents us from pushing the boundaries we as leaders need to push.
The future will not be built on systems of record and maintaining what’s worked in the past. It will be built on systems of action that drive outcomes for our stakeholders and our customers. Those who embrace this shift will lead the next chapter of enterprise success—not as passive record-keepers, but as unstoppable forces themselves.
John Sabino is CEO of LivePerson.
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