In this episode of The Digital Executive, host Brian Thomas sits down with Maksim Ovsyannikov, a veteran enterprise product leader with over 25 years of experience shaping productivity solutions across supply chain, HR, marketing automation, customer success, and CRM. Now leading product and design at SugarCRM, Maksim shares how his diverse background led him to focus on redefining CRM for the AI-native era.

Maksim breaks down why traditional CRMs fail sellers, how SugarCRM’s “precision selling” framework addresses the gap, and the four critical components that enable AI to transform seller productivity: delivering better leads, identifying risks, improving preparedness, and empowering coaching. He also unpacks the difference between augmentation AI and generative AI—and why the real risk isn’t AI taking jobs, but humans losing jobs to those who master AI.

Looking ahead, Maksim predicts that nearly all enterprise software will soon be built around AI-driven workflows that deliver outcomes, not just dashboards. He explains how conversational and agentic AI will reshape seller experiences, enabling more intuitive, human-like interactions and dramatically higher productivity.

A forward-looking conversation for anyone interested in the future of CRM, sales technology, and AI-driven enterprise software.

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