The Agentic Marketer | Episode 12: FourKites on why agentic AI is not set-and-forget

This episode features an interview with Amanda Dyson, Vice President and Head of Marketing at FourKites, a leading supply chain orchestration platform helping global enterprises move from traditional visibility to end-to-end execution with AI-powered digital workers.

Amanda shares how FourKites is embracing agentic marketing by “drinking its own champagne,” using AI agents internally the same way customers use them externally. She explains why marketing teams are often at the forefront of AI adoption, how leadership support accelerates experimentation, and what it takes to move from testing tools to embedding AI into daily workflows.

The conversation dives into FourKites’ use of Felix, their AI SDR, to improve speed-to-lead, ensure every MQL gets followed up with, and drive measurable pipeline impact. Amanda also discusses how AI is reshaping buyer expectations around personalization and instant expertise, why soft skills matter more than ever in an AI-first world, and what agentic use cases she’s most excited about in the year ahead.

Key Takeaways:
-Marketing leads AI adoption by necessity. With pressure to do more with less, marketing teams are often the first to operationalize AI to maintain content velocity, lead flow, and pipeline goals.

-AI SDRs close the speed-to-lead gap. By deploying Felix, FourKites ensures every MQL is followed up with, improves MQL-to-SQL conversion, and sets meetings directly from events and campaigns.

-Pipeline is the ultimate success metric. AI SDRs should be measured the same way as human SDRs, with a focus on meetings set, conversion rates, and sourced pipeline.

-Buyer expectations have shifted. AI has normalized instant expertise and hyper-personalization, even when buyers don’t want to give up their data.

-Soft skills matter more in the agentic era. Leadership, change management, collaboration, and problem solving are essential as marketers manage teams of both humans and AI agents.