Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have long been on marketers’ radars, but it’s only recently that they’ve begun to show up in customer relationship management tools. AI and ML are often viewed with skepticism, but many B2B marketers will discover that these features can enhance their effectiveness in contacting the right leads, closing deals and nurturing client relationships. The underlying fear has been that machines will replace marketers, but the reality is much more promising.

AI adoption is on the rise as more use cases in the B2B marketplace highlight the benefits of AI in various aspects of go-to-market strategies. According to new research from Demandbase, Salesforce Pardot and Demand Metric, less than one-fifth (18%) of marketers are leveraging AI solutions, while 66% are planning to use, evaluating or currently implementing AI solutions.

In this ever-evolving B2B landscape, organizations must embrace change and stay relevant with new generations of buyers. This means developing audience-centric content, maintaining a tight knit relationship between marketing and sales, leveraging new tools and technology — such as AI — to gain greater buyer insights and more.

The Bigtincan Hub aims to redefine sales, marketing and service processes to help teams to work together smarter and faster. As part of its fall release, the company enhanced its AI-driven automation platform with sales training, learning and coaching content.

The central tenet of ABM is that you choose your customers. It’s the flip side of inbound marketing where clients find and select you, drawn to your business by insightful, relevant content. While inbound marketing casts a wide net, catching everything that swims by, ABM is like spearfishing — you only aim at the fish you want.

Metadata is designed to automatically simplify and accelerate the effectiveness of account-based advertising campaigns. It aims to eliminate operational, manual tasks and optimize performance using AI and multivariate testing to execute hundreds of campaigns in a few clicks.

Nearly 90% of B2B companies say data quality is important to their sales and marketing teams. In an interview with Demand Gen Report, Adnan Zijadic, Principal Analyst at Gartner, shared his thoughts on the rise of data intelligence, its role in ABM and how to maximize your data intelligence solutions.

AI-Driven Email Prospecting from InsideSales.com aims to help sales teams create target and track prospecting emails, as well as generate insights into recipient actions and identify the best time to send.

Cloud contact center software provider Five9 has appointed Jonathan Rosenberg as CTO and head of artificial intelligence.

SAP Marketing Cloud is positioned to provide a single view of customers, as well as consent-based marketing and intelligent optimization tools to help marketers deliver personalized experiences and drive revenue.