In this episode of the DMI podcast, host ⁠⁠Will Francis⁠⁠ chats with ⁠⁠Dikshant Dave⁠⁠, CEO of Zigment, about the fast-evolving world of agentic AI — autonomous AI agents that execute multi-step marketing and sales tasks. Dikshant shares how agentic AI goes beyond basic automation to adapt, personalize, and optimize customer engagement in real time. He explains how this shift is affecting marketers today, how companies can start adopting it, and what roles are most impacted.

Dikshant brings deep insights from building Zigment, a platform designed to help brands move from patchwork automations to intelligent, contextual customer journeys — especially in industries with long buying cycles like healthcare, finance, and real estate.

What You’ll Learn:

• What agentic AI really is (and what it isn’t)

• The difference between traditional automation and AI agents

• How agentic AI can help marketers handle unstructured, real-time data

• Why personalization over long buying journeys is the killer use case

• Where AI fits into customer interactions — and where it doesn’t

• Practical advice for marketers looking to experiment with AI

Top 3 Tips from Dikshant

1. Start small but do start – pick low-risk workflows like unmanned channels to test AI agents.

2. Keep cold outreach human – use AI only where context is already established.

3. Don’t try to control every step – let agents figure out the best path to your goal using LLMs.

Timestamps & Key Sections:

• 00:00 – Intro to agentic AI and why it matters now

• 02:39 – Dikshant’s journey from a supplements startup to AI-powered sales

• 05:11 – Why personalization beats automation in complex sales

• 07:23 – Tackling hallucinations: reliability and transparency of agents

• 11:58 – The shift from structured to unstructured marketing data

• 15:30 – Real-time decision-making and customer intent detection

• 18:12 – Automation vs. agents: what’s the real difference?

• 21:18 – How Zigment builds agentic customer journeys

• 24:47 – Why long buying cycles are ideal for AI agents

• 26:16 – What parts of marketing to keep human

• 28:08 – Which roles are most at risk of being replaced

• 29:38 – How to stay relevant as a marketer in the AI era

• 32:27 – The “duct tape” problem in marketing stacks

• 35:24 – Why AI is a multiplier, not a workforce reducer

• 38:28 – How to start: small, smart use cases and tools to try

• 40:19 – Sneak peek: Zigment’s upcoming agent builder platform

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