AI, Automation, and the Real Edge in Marketing Ops

AI in marketing automation has reached an inflection point. The tools are powerful, budgets are rising, and AI now touches everything from campaign planning to personalization. But outcomes are still inconsistent.In this episode, Diego Pineda sits down with Chris Bentley (Director, Marketing Operations and Analytics at StackAdapt) and Wayne Coburn (Director of Product at StackAdapt) to unpack why.The core insight is simple: AI advantage no longer comes from features alone. Performance now comes from consolidation, integration, and activating AI as a shared intelligence layer across fewer, more powerful systems—so journeys connect, learnings compound, and waste drops.We also dig into a structural problem highlighted by StackAdapt research: 66% of marketers say up to 30% of programmatic budget is wasted due to siloed or fragmented execution. Adoption has moved faster than coordination—and that gap creates “automation debt.”