Predictions for 2025: AI Partners, CRM Shift, and a Timeless Tactic

As we look ahead to the new year, here are three predictions that I foresee will shape digital transformation as we progress through 2025.

Prediction #1: AI gets a seat at the table
AI is going to be actively and openly adopted at each level within the management hierarchy.

Executives, senior, and mid level managers are already using tools free and commercially available consumer products like ChatGPT for work related tasks, although their openness about this varies depending on the industry and organizational culture.

Instead of the relatively mundane use cases for content creation and editing, the shift will be regularly using it to react to ideas that management has for how to grow and improve efficiency within their respective business units.

In practice, this looks like:

•  Appending research or discussions with AI to the end of documents or meeting agendas
• Chatting with AI as a group within a meeting as though its a (toddler) human participant
• Action items that explicitly define using AI to assist with crafting and updating ideas

If you're curious about how to get started here, take a look at my previous newsletter about pair prompting with AI.

And yes, while not the core of this prediction, the rise of the AI notetaker joining your Zoom or Teams meetings will continue as the data produced becomes more useful for understanding prospect, customer, and internal interactions.

Prediction #2: Monolithic CRM atrophies in the middle
Companies like Salesforce will see their growth fully stagnate as their customers opt for either end of that market's competitive landscape.

While using marketing and deep discounts from their list prices fueled growth and made CRM interesting, the total cost of ownership for organizations is beginning to look like ERP-style costs without the associated benefits.

For context, the annual costs incurred by these programs are in the mid six figures for organizations with less than 100 people and all the way up to eight figures in the enterprise.

The collective hallucination that CRM solves all problems will be tempered by front office teams and CFOs alike deciding to explore more impactful, less costly alternatives.

Organizations will end up looking at different options based on their goals:

•  Using a combination of smaller apps and systems like HubSpot, Monday, etc that can be easily integrated together with existing no-code / low-code solutions like Zapier and Make
• Using extensible, full-blown ERP systems like Dynamics that easily integrates with other parts of the customer's existing Microsoft stack like Teams, Power Platform, and Azure

Specifically as it relates to Salesforce as a company, I predict an activist investor will apply more pressure than ever to change how the company operates. This includes a massive reduction in to their sales and marketing teams, a deeper focus on product, and a new CEO (not a co-CEO).

Prediction #3: Streamlining for efficiency still reigns supreme
Optimizing your strategy and ensuring business processes are delivering value efficiently is still the clearest path to achieving your organization's goals.

Even with all of the buzz around frontier technologies like AI and the race to have "agentic" interactions, you can still succeed without plugging those systems into your stack.

The biggest challenges that I have seen organizations face are with their strategy and business processes, which are at the top of the digital transformation hierarchy. Systems are often blamed but are rarely the root cause.

Using automation to support business process execution is critical as part of this tactic. It has also become cheaper and easier than ever to focus on automating parts or entire business processes.

If you're curious about how to focus on automation, take a look at my previous newsletters about how to identify and prioritize use cases and document use cases with a specific framework.

TLDR: AI evolves as a thought partner, CRM bifurcates, and efficiency through sound strategy and well-designed business process still drives growth in 2025.