The Data Exec Series: Preparing for Agentic AI – Before It Was Cool
By Gertrude G. Van Horn, SVP & CIO, Cien.ai After 30 years as an IT executive—including 20 as a CIO—I didn’t just want to watch the AI wave. I wanted to be part of it. I wanted a seat at the table. That’s why I joined Cien.ai. – Gertrude G. Van Horn, SCP & CIO, […]
The Data Exec Series: X-ray Your Pipeline: A Look Beyond the Typical Surface Metrics
By Rob Kall, Co-Founder & CEO, Cien.ai “If all you ever measure is total pipeline value, you’re reading the X-ray without noticing the fracture.” – Rob Kall, CEO, Cien.ai Why We’re Talking About This For many revenue leaders, pipeline reports look healthy on the surface — big numbers, upward trends, and colorful stage charts. But […]
The Data Exec Series: New Acquisition? How to Get Your Combined Data House in Order
By Rob Kall, Co-Founder & CEO, Cien.ai “In five days, we went from two messy CRMs to a single source of truth — and a clear plan to hit our number. The board stopped asking if I had control over the pipeline.” – CRO, Global SaaS Company The Post-Acquisition Data Problem No One Talks About […]
The Data Exec Series: The AI Execution Gap: Why Data Foundations Matter More Than Ever
By Gertrude G. Van Horn, SVP & CIO, Cien.ai “An intelligent system built on bad data is just a faster, more confident mistake-maker.” – Spend Matters, August 2025 The Problem: Beautiful Dashboards, Rotten Foundations According to Gartner, up to 60% of AI projects will fail by 2026. Not due to algorithmic flaws or lack of […]
The Data Exec Series: Your Next AI Project? Homegrown, Off-the-Shelf, or Something In-Between?
By Gertude Van Horn, SVP & CIO, Cien.ai “After thousands of AI proof-of-concept projects have died on the vine, many organizations are scaling back internal efforts in favor of adopting commercial, off-the-shelf AI tools” – CIO Magazine, April, 2025 The Sales AI Trap: Why DIY Often Fails Building your own AI may sound empowering. You […]
