Practical AI Agents:
Real business problems solved through thoughtfully designed AI agents (code review, documentation, product knowledge, customer service).
Podcast with Marc Vasquez
Inside B2B’s AI Shift with Marc Vasquez
January 13, 2026 · 43:48
Watch on YouTube
About This Episode
Marc Vasquez from Ideal Triton brings a practitioner's perspective on AI implementation in manufacturing and B2B e-commerce. With a background transitioning from IT and networking to building e-commerce operations for a company that manufactures support products, secure products, and connectivity solutions across multiple brands and 18 global locations, Marc shares practical insights into how real companies are deploying AI. His LinkedIn presence and personal brand as a thought leader in B2B e-commerce gives him unique visibility into industry trends and challenges.
The conversation covers Marc's journey from B2C to B2B commerce, his evolution as a personal brand builder within the space, and his work building AI agents to solve specific business problems—from code review and documentation standardization to customer service tools and product knowledge systems. Marc emphasizes the importance of prompt engineering, starting with clear business cases rather than AI for its own sake, and the value of continuous learning in keeping pace with AI advancement. He also discusses practical applications like SMS communication for delivery notifications and how B2B companies can adopt B2C-style personalization and communication practices.
The episode balances enthusiasm for AI's potential with healthy skepticism about hype, emphasizing that AI is best deployed as an augmentation tool for human expertise rather than a replacement for human judgment and knowledge.
Key Themes
Prompt Engineering:
The skill of effectively communicating with AI systems is becoming critical, and it can be learned through platforms like Coursera and free online resources.
B2C to B2B Translation:
Many innovations from B2C e-commerce (SMS, personalization, targeted communication) are now being adapted for B2B with good results.
Augmentation Not Replacement:
AI is most effective when it augments human expertise and knowledge rather than attempting to replace human judgment and decision-making.
Business Case First:
AI initiatives fail when companies get excited about the technology without clearly defining the business problem being solved.
Notable Quotes
“Yeah, I really enjoy being able to talk about this kind of stuff with other people. I feel like, and I'm sure we'll talk about the recent conference that you guys just hosted, but the B2B space has lacked for a long time, really good, strong community where the people in the trenches doing the work can collaborate, can share ideas, can figure out what's working and what's not." — [[Marc Vasquez]]”
“I feel like B2B is now catching up with, you know, the idea of sending SMS text messages, the idea of some of the personalization, some of the portals, things customers in B2C have long expected are now making their way into the B2B world." — [[Marc Vasquez]]”
“So I would say it's the people. It's building that LinkedIn brand. I was networking. It was meeting influential people who knew the businesses and what they were doing, like a Jason Hyne, like yourself, like a Jason Greenwood, like some of the guys at Master B2B and B2B Online and other areas." — [[Marc Vasquez]]”
Guest
Marc Vasquez — Ideal Triton
Topics
Ai Agentic Commerce Manufacturing Thought Leadership Product Data Sms Communication
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