• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, Yesterday

When enterprises recently reported third-quarter 2025 earnings, some of the biggest names in technology and advertising demonstrated major revenue and profit gains.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, for example, reported an increase in total revenue to $102.3 billion in Q3 2025 -- up from $88.2 billion in the year-ago quarter. Publicis Groupe reported 7.1% net revenue growth.

Merkle’s former CEO Craig Dempster believes all have an opportunity to reverse a projected slide in earnings despite economic uncertainties, rising competition, and changing buyer behavior.

He cofounded a company two years ago to help B2B businesses cope with emerging and complex technology and tasks as more come online by walking executives through solutions, one after the other.

It seems simple, at least to me. Dempster agreed and said some executives just do not follow through. It's that simple.

Should we call Dempster a “hand-holder” as more technology, data, and agentic services come online? No, he said, indirectly.

Some companies have been talking about integrating siloed data for more than a decade, and "they have done nothing about it," Dempster said.

Somehow integrating siloed data within an organization and identifying its customers’ path to purchase -- the same strategy that helped B2C companies succeed -- has eluded B2B companies. Dempster believes he can change that.

B2B company executives need to look at the path to purchase “more like a consumer journey,” Dempster said. “That’s what the buyer is used to in their personal life, and they want the same experience in their professional life."

If a growth management advisor finds opportunities to improve a company's business by establishing metrics and measurement, the business becomes less dependent on internal politics. A consulting firm can work across a company’s business, whereas the business units within the organization may not have the authority to do so.

Dempster says Trilliad’s role as a “growth service provider” -- a trend that will emerge and become more prevalent as AI carries out the purchase for B2B buyers -- is similar to the way AI agents will do this for consumers.

Although it is already a crowded service space when specializing in sales or marketing, few if any companies today focus across the entire enterprise, he said.

"Sales only knows about sales, and marketers only know about marketing," he said. "It's not about being an advisor in one area, but a service provider for all."

In other words, data that exists in CRM systems has supported marketing, but not sales.

Trilliad works with B2B companies to determine their ideal customer profiles (ICPs) -- another way to know their customers, as in B2C. Then a detailed description of the type of companies that would benefit most from the business’ products or services is created.

In the past, that meant outsourcing the role of a chief revenue officer, or in technology, a chief technology officer.

A Trilliad survey of more than 350 senior professionals reveals multiple growth challenges identified by organizations. While 59% of customer success teams report it is easier to accomplish, 45% cite sales and 40% of marketing report it has become more difficult. It challenges traditional top-of-funnel acquisition models by emphasizing expansion and optimization with existing customers over aggressive new acquisition strategies.

While AI adoption is widespread — 70% of respondents use predictive analytics, while 68% use chatbots and 65% use AI-powered analytics — only one-third of users report these tools deliver expected business outcomes. This calls attention to a gap between technological capability and business.

Even after a decade of attempting to reduce silos within a business, many organizations struggle with data integration, particularly in creating one customer file to view a complete journey.

Some 75% of organizations have access to client data, but only 37% report having leadership and buying group insights crucial for developing coordinated account strategies, according to Trilliad’s internal study.