Ian Thomas

Ian Thomas is a strategist and technology advisor who has spent his career wondering whether he is a CTO, CMO, or CSO. He’s tested this proposition in a wide range of national and international environments, including global enterprises like Fujitsu, international venture portfolios like OKIN Group, and national champions such as Lloyds Banking Group. He is also a member of the external advisory board of the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering in Germany and holds a range of advisory roles with early-stage technology companies in both the US and Europe.

When he’s not thinking about new business models or scouting the next big thing in technology, you’ll probably find him speaking or writing at the intersection of strategy, narrative, and technology.

Articles by Ian Thomas

AI agents won’t kill shopping – but agentic commerce could make most of it redundant

A conversation with the co-CEOs of marketing automation company Klaviyo suggests that, as agents take over the work of finding and evaluating products, much of what we know as ‘shopping’ may simply disappear.

Trolley underwater © INFINITY - Fotolia.com

Monday Morning Moan - stop saying autonomy, before things really get out of control

Now hang on a minute. When you describe AI as autonomous, you're making a very dangerous leap of faith that doesn't reflect the reality of how AI agency actually works.

Salesforce TDX 2026 – how AgentExchange moves the point of purchase closer to actual work

Drilling down into the details of Salesforce's AgentExchange announcement...

Salesforce TDX 2026 – why Salesforce’s Headless 360 announcement at TDX is really about operating model transformation

All together now - off with their heads!!! Day one of this year's TDX gathering in San Francisco comes to a close.

What if natural language interfaces are a journey not a destination?

An interview with integration vendor Celigo about Ora, its new conversational agent, sparks some thoughts about the future of how we interact with AI and the limitations of chat.

People carryng speech bubble icons sitting in a row, CRM conversation concept © Rawpixel.com - Shutterstock

From ‘buy’ to ‘build’ – how FranklinCovey CIO Blaine Carter is replacing packaged apps with low-code and AI

The rise of AI-powered vibe coding is tempting enterprise teams to custom-build apps rather than buy packaged solutions. This is the story of how FranklinCovey long ago made the same choice using the low-code Make app builder.

Model house construction on left vs bag of money on right, both on grass

Why CEOs can’t delegate AI responsibility – Wrike’s Thomas Scott on leading through AI

A conversation with Thomas Scott, CEO of Wrike, raises important questions about AI governance and why leaders need to understand the trade-offs involved when handing off work to agents.

Support or help employee to progress and achieve business target, leadership solution to overcome obstacle concept, businessman manager draw line as a bridge to help team members to cross the cliff © eamesbot - Shutterstock

If you can’t trust your people, you won’t trust your agents – RTO mandates mean you’re not ready for AI

If you aren't willing to trust your workers to work remotely, then will you be able to trust autonomous AI agents? This seeming paradox reveals a mentality steeped in operating model debt that will hold enterprises back.

Young man carrying big laptop on back against cityscape © Sergey Nivens - Fotolia.com

Eloi vs Morlocks - does AI prove the spreadsheet rebels were right all along?

Poorly aligned data is typically seen as an obstacle to enterprise AI adoption, but is this the wrong way to look at things?

Eloi above discuss ideas in pristine conditions while Morlocks below grapple with messy reality

Three blockers are holding up enterprise AI adoption, says OutSystems CEO - and it's not the tech

A conversation with Woodson Martin, CEO of OutSystems, uncovers three blockers to enterprise adoption of AI for practical business use cases.

From low code to philosophy - how ChargeGuru learnt to scale custom apps without chaos

ChargeGuru’s Head of Engineering, Laurent Salomon, tells us how he used low-code tooling and an explicit ontology to build custom apps and re-engineer a fast-growing EV charging company – while making sure the wheels didn’t come off in the process.

Techno-optimists vs enterprise-incrementalists – why agent platforms encode very different futures

While vendors increasingly converge on the language of agency, they diverge on its substance – masking very different philosophies of agency, value creation, and governance. Enterprises must look behind the messaging to avoid getting locked into future operating models that won't work for them.

Black businessman shoes in front of arrows facing two ways on gray background

You’re doing agents all wrong – why you should focus on human attention

Most AI agent projects in the enterprise focus on autonomous automation of established processes - but does the real value lie elsewhere?

Gray cat with attitude showing paws on wooden table with yellow chair behind and in foreground the word wrong! in yellow