Which team should be responsible for integrating AI into your product? - MarTech Podcast ™ // Marketing + Technology = Business Growth

Summary4 min read

MarTech Podcast ™ // Marketing + Technology = Business Growth

Episode: Which Team Should Be Responsible for Integrating AI into Your Product?
Release Date: July 1, 2025
Host: Benjamin Shapiro
Guest: Joyce Gordon, Head of AI at Imperity

Introduction

In this insightful episode of the MarTech Podcast ™, host Benjamin Shapiro engages in a thought-provoking discussion with Joyce Gordon, the Head of AI at Imperity. The episode delves into the pivotal question many organizations face today: "Which team should be responsible for integrating AI into your product?" As AI continues to reshape the marketing landscape, understanding the optimal team structure for its integration is crucial for driving business growth and enhancing customer experiences.

Overview of AI Integration in Products

Benjamin Shapiro sets the stage by emphasizing the transformative role of AI in modern marketing strategies. He introduces Joyce Gordon, highlighting her expertise in unifying fragmented customer data to deliver personalized marketing solutions. The conversation aims to unravel the complexities of AI integration, exploring the interplay between various teams within an organization.

Benjamin Shapiro [01:15]: "Joyce is going to explain how you can combine AI and a unified data foundation to transform your customer experience strategy."

Roles and Responsibilities in AI Integration

1. Company-Wide Ideation

Joyce Gordon underscores the importance of collective ideation when it comes to integrating AI. She believes that "the ideas for how to integrate AI and the use cases should be sourced from your entire company" [01:49]. This approach ensures a diverse range of perspectives and applications, fostering innovative solutions that are deeply aligned with the company's objectives and customer needs.

2. Technical Implementation by Product and Engineering Teams

While ideation is a collective effort, the technical implementation of AI solutions is best handled by the product and engineering teams. Joyce articulates that these teams are "best positioned to actually do the technical work of integrating" AI into products [01:49]. Their expertise is crucial for developing the underlying infrastructure, ensuring seamless integration of AI models, and maintaining the robustness of the product.

3. Role of Business and Marketing Teams

Benjamin Shapiro presents an alternative perspective, suggesting that as technological barriers lower, business and marketing teams might take a more active role in AI implementation. He posits that "business folks, the marketing team, hopefully that is going to take responsibility for AI implementation" [02:04]. This shift is driven by advancements that allow for non-technical communication layers, enabling business teams to participate more directly in the AI integration process.

4. Distinction Between Use Case Identification and Infrastructure Development

Joyce Gordon clarifies the delineation of responsibilities between different teams. She points out that while business users can excel at identifying and testing use cases for AI, the product and engineering teams should focus on setting up the underlying systems and integrating large language models (LLMs) across the business [02:50]. This separation ensures that while business teams drive the strategic applications of AI, technical teams maintain control over the complex infrastructure required for AI functionalities.

Joyce Gordon [02:50]: "It depends what we mean by implementation. I think in terms of identifying use cases and testing them out. Absolutely. I think business users will be able to do more and more of that, I think, setting up the underlying systems and hooking up the LLMs throughout your business and really developing the infrastructure that will still live with the product and engineering teams."

Insights and Takeaways

Collaborative Ideation: Successful AI integration begins with ideas sourced from across the organization, ensuring a comprehensive and customer-centric approach.
Technical Expertise: Product and engineering teams play a critical role in the seamless incorporation of AI, handling the technical complexities and maintaining system integrity.
Empowered Business Teams: With advancements in AI tools and interfaces, business and marketing teams can take a more proactive role in implementing AI strategies, especially in identifying relevant use cases.
Clear Role Definitions: Distinguishing between strategic use case development and technical infrastructure implementation fosters efficiency and leverages the strengths of each team.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with Benjamin Shapiro expressing gratitude to Joyce Gordon for her valuable insights. Listeners are encouraged to connect with Joyce via LinkedIn or visit Imperity's website for more information. Shapiro reinforces the importance of customer satisfaction as a paramount focus for marketing professionals.

Benjamin Shapiro [03:12]: "My advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy."

This episode offers a balanced perspective on AI integration, highlighting the necessity of cross-functional collaboration while respecting the specialized roles of different teams. For marketers and technologists alike, understanding these dynamics is essential for leveraging AI to drive business growth and enhance customer experiences.

Stay Connected:
To explore more episodes and gain daily insights into marketing and technology, subscribe to the MarTech Podcast ™ on your preferred podcast platform or visit martechpod.com.

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Transcript15 lines

[00:00]
Podcast Announcer
The Martech Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast, I Hear Everything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit iheareverything.com.
[00:26]
Benjamin Shapiro
From advertising to software as a service to data, across all.
[00:31]
Unknown Speaker
Of our programs and clients, we've seen a 55 to 65% open rate.
[00:36]
Joyce Gordon
Getting brands authentically integrated into content performs better than TV advertising.
[00:42]
Benjamin Shapiro
Typical lifespan of an article is about 24 to 36 hours.
[00:46]
Unknown Speaker
If we're reaching out to the right person with the right message and a clear call to action, then it's just a matter of timing.
[00:54]
Podcast Announcer
Welcome to the Martech Podcast, a member of the I Hear Everything Podcast network. In this podcast you'll hear the stories of world class marketers that you technology to drive business results and achieve career success. Here's the host of the Martech Podcast, Benjamin Shapiro.
[01:15]
Benjamin Shapiro
I'm Benjamin Shapiro and joining me today is Joyce Gordon, the head of AI at Imperity, which helps unify fragmented customer data to powerful personalized marketing. And Joyce is going to explain how you can combine AI and a unified data foundation to transform your customer experience strategy. Joyce, I want to move on to our lightning round where I'm going to ask you a couple of Martech related questions centered around AI and personalization. Are you ready?
[01:43]
Joyce Gordon
I'm ready.
[01:43]
Benjamin Shapiro
Okay, here we go. Which team should be responsible for integrating AI into your product?
[01:49]
Joyce Gordon
One thing that's super important is the ideas for how to integrate AI and the use cases should be sourced from your entire company. But I think when it comes down to it, the product and engineering teams are the ones best positioned to actually do the technical work of integrating.
[02:05]
Benjamin Shapiro
See, it's funny, I think that the business people are actually going to be much more forward in the new development cycles. Right? It's the business logic, all of the hurdles for being able to create strategies, do the technical implementation. It seems like everybody can vibe code now so you can use plain language text. That sort of communication layer between business and technology is being decreased. So I would assume that it's more the business folks, the marketing team, hopefully that is going to take responsibility for AI implementation. And then we have the engineers hopefully, you know, still helping with the plumbing and everything like that. Not to call every engineer a plumber, but aren't the business folks going to be more capable of doing implementation now that we are doing everything in basically spoken language?
[02:51]
Joyce Gordon
It depends what we mean by implementation. I think in terms of identifying use cases and testing them out. Absolutely. I think business users will be able to do more and more of that, I think, setting up the underlying systems and hooking up the LLMs throughout your business and really developing the infrastructure that will still live with the product and engineering teams.
[03:13]
Benjamin Shapiro
All right, and that wraps up this episode of the Martech Podcast. Thanks to Joyce Gordon, the head of Generative AI at Imperity, for joining us. If you'd like to contact Joyce, you can find a link to her LinkedIn profile in our show notes or visit martechpod.com you could also visit her company's website, which is mperity.com and if you haven't subscribed yet and you want a daily stream of marketing and technology knowledge in your podcast feed, hit the subscribe button in your podcast app or over on YouTube and we'll be back in your feed every week. All right, that's it for today, but until next time, my advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy.
[04:01]
Podcast Announcer
Foreign thanks for listening to the Martech Podcast and I hear everything. Production Looking to launch or scale a podcast like this one for your brand? Then visit iheareverything.com.