Ep. 557 | How to harness AI decisioning without losing trust or control

OnBase: Smashing Sales and Marketing Misalignments

In this episode of OnBase, host Chris Moody is joined by Jonathan Moran from SAS for a deep dive into decisioning in the AI era. Jonathan explains the evolving relationship between enterprise decisioning (rule-based frameworks with governance) and AI-driven adaptive decisioning, and why businesses must strike the right balance to deliver innovation without sacrificing trust or accountability.

The conversation explores how organizations can integrate AI decisioning into their customer experience strategies, overcome silos across departments, and build governance frameworks that ensure ethical, explainable, and scalable AI. Jonathan also shares practical examples of modular architectures, insights from SAS research on AI readiness, and his perspective on the future of B2B marketing.

This episode is a must-listen for leaders looking to responsibly embrace AI while maintaining brand integrity, compliance, and customer trust.

Key Takeaways

• Balance AI with Governance: AI decisioning drives agility and adaptability, but enterprise governance ensures accountability, auditability, and risk mitigation.
  
• Customer Experience Impact: Enterprise rules provide consistency, while AI refines interactions in real-time to deliver personalized, proactive experiences.
  
• Breaking Down Silos: Leaders must align people, processes, and technology to create an enterprise-wide decisioning framework instead of fragmented departmental models.
  
• Ethics & Trust: SAS research shows that while 80% of employees use generative AI daily, fewer than 10% have governance frameworks in place, underscoring a major gap.
  
• Composable Architectures: Modular, API-first frameworks enable flexibility, scalability, and lower total costs while accelerating digital transformation

Quotes

“AI decisioning delivers speed, but without governance, it can lead to bias, compliance breaches, and brand damage.”
Best Moments

(02:50) – Jonathan defines enterprise vs. AI decisioning and why balance matters.

(09:30) – How AI decisioning elevates customer experience while enterprise rules ensure consistency.

(13:30) – Overcoming silos: the role of people, process, and technology.

(20:30) – SAS research on governance gaps and the 10 elements of a robust AI framework.

(28:00) – Use cases for composable modular architectures delivering ROI and efficiency.

(35:30) – The biggest challenge in B2B marketing today: measuring ROI and attribution.

Tech Recommendations:

• SAS Customer Intelligence 360
• Dynamic Yield
• Zapier
• Sora

Resource Recommendations

Podcasts

• Markigy hosted by Leanne Dow-Weimer

Blog and research

• Chief Martech blog

Shout-outs

• Brian Vellmure, a distinguished leader and strategic innovator.
• Keanu Taylor, Global Head of Research, The Martech Weekly
• Greg Kihlstrom, Consultant, Advisor, Speaker and Coach, The Agile Brand
• Christopher Penn, Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist, TrustInsights.ai
• Ronald van Loon, Principal Analyst, CEO, Intelligent World
• Bernard Marr, Best-selling author, futurist, and strategic business and technology advisor.

About the Guest

Jonathan Moran is responsible for global marketing activities for SAS’s marketing solutions. He has over 20 years of marketing technology and customer analytics industry experience. Prior to SAS, Jonathan worked at both Earnix and the Teradata Corporation in pre-sales, consulting, and marketing roles.

Over the past 25 years, Jonathan has not only architected, developed, demonstrated, and implemented analytical marketing software solutions, but he has also had the unique opportunity to work on-site with Fortune 500 customers across industries, helping them solve complex business challenges.

He graduated from North Carolina State University with an undergraduate double major in Marketing and Spanish Languages and Literatures, and also holds an MBA from NC State with a concentration in Technology Commercialization.

Connect with Jonathan.