What 2025 Taught Us About AI, Composable Tech, and Marketing Control

Описание: Marketing teams are heading into 2026 under pressure to prove value, simplify their MarTech stacks, and deliver more with fewer resources, all while AI noise gets louder every week. In this episode of The CX Equation, hosts Chantelle Casey and Mark Clydesdale are joined by James Gent and Neil Hughes of Tap CXM to unpack what really changed in 2025, what composable actually means in practice, and why the next wave isn’t more AI.

What You’ll Learn:
How to spot the difference between real AI capability and vendor hype
Why consolidating and simplifying your MarTech stack is now a business necessity
How to avoid the AI implementation trap
Why humans plus AI outperform AI-only solutions by every measure
The overlooked challenge that derails most AI projects
How decisioning architecture is becoming the real competitive advantage

Neil Hughes is the Marketing Solutions Director at Tap CXM, specialising in technology consolidation, stack optimisation, and data architecture for enterprise clients. With vast experience helping leading brands navigate the complexities of composable marketing technology stacks, Neil brings a critical, curiosity-driven approach to identifying which technologies genuinely deliver ROI versus which are riding the AI hype wave.

James Gent is a Director and Business Consultant at Tap CXM with a background in designing and delivering marketing technology solutions for global brands. With deep expertise in marketing automation, decisioning frameworks, and AI implementation, James has led numerous technology consolidation and standardisation initiatives across enterprises.


Episode Resources:
James Gent on LinkedIn:   / james-gent-28566221  
Neil Hughes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-hugh...
Chantelle Casey on LinkedIn:   / chantelle-casey-b2804876  
Mark Clydesdale on LinkedIn:   / mark-clydesdale-b45a0a6b  
Tap CXM Website: https://tapcxm.com/


Also available on your other favourite podcast platform.
Apple: https://bit.ly/4b8zXSC
Spotify: https://bit.ly/3LWmTp3

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:44 - The Big 2025 Shift
01:54 - Cutting MarTech Noise
02:56 - Global Standardisation vs. Local Empowerment
06:05 - Explaining Composable Stacks
08:09 - Use-Case Driven Investment Replaces Big Bang Platform Moves
09:19 - Why Teams Invest Earlier in the Data Chain
11:00 - Marketer-Friendly Tools Rise, But Technical Expectations Change
13:25 - Agentic AI: Hype, Buying Signals, and the Gap to Real Value
15:46 - The AI Turing Test
18:53 - Stop Asking for an AI Strategy
25:33 - Optimising for AI-Driven Discovery
28:35 - The Missing Link Between Data and Useful AI
34:20 - From Campaign Management to Systems Thinking
39:40 - Beyond AI: Values, Authenticity, and Trust
43:23 - Curiosity, Discipline, and Raising the Level of Thinking

#marketingai #martech #cx #customerexperience