AI-Enablement, Trends & Insights, Financial Services
5 Takeaways from Seismic City Tours NYC
By John Rivers — On June 22, 2026
1. AI isn't the strategy. The customer is.
Early on in his opening keynote, Seismic CMO Rob Pinkerton asked the audience to “Raise your hand if you've been asked to just implement AI for AI's sake.” As hands raised across the room, Pinkerton added that, “AI has become more of an assignment than anything else.” He noted that somewhere along the way AI stopped being a tool and became the goal.
Many organizations believe that growth requires more AI and faster adoption. Yet, despite being deeply involved in nearly every AI initiative affecting the front office, most revenue and enablement leaders admit they aren’t using AI strategically, according Seismic’s latest research.
Pinkerton argued that layering AI tools on top of existing processes creates more challenges than building new processes with the customer at the center. He added that leading organizations are distinguishing themselves by investing in trusted relationships, buying confidence, retention, and differentiated experiences.
In a world of infinite information, the hardest thing for a customer is knowing what and whom to trust. This dynamic makes the personal relationship even more valuable, and reframes the central question for enablement leaders from "how do we adopt more AI?" to "where are we making it harder for our customer to buy?"
Rob Pinkerton
Chief Marketing Officer, Seismic
2. Governance is the accelerator, not the brake
During the product keynote, Anthony Russo, Head of Product Marketing at Seismic, opened with a story that had nothing to do with sales. An AI agent deployed to handle flight rebooking during a weather disruption misrouted more than 1,200 passengers because it prioritized speed over accuracy, and continued making decisions even as its confidence dropped, rather than escalating to a human.
Russo's point was simple: AI without adequate context, guardrails, or human checkpoints creates risk. In revenue teams, that shows up as inconsistent messaging that slows win rates or unapproved content that creates legal exposure. According to Deloitte's 2026 State of AI research, nearly three-quarters of companies plan to deploy agentic AI within two years, yet only 21% have a mature model for governing those systems.
The organizations seeing the strongest results from AI aren't the ones moving fastest, but those that have established the proper foundation. That includes clear content ownership, defined permissions, and real-time governance of what AI can and can't do. Governance is the solution that helps organizations ensure that AI is trustworthy enough to use at scale.
Anthony Russo
Head of Product Marketing, Seismic
When AI operates on a foundation of trusted content, clear permissions, and defined guardrails, revenue teams gain confidence and work faster. They spend less time second-guessing what's approved and more time focused on the customer. That foundation is what turns AI into something the business can rely on, and it starts with enablement.
3. Digital Sales Rooms (DSRs) are changing how deals get done
Digital Sales Rooms are quickly becoming both a seller and a buyer’s favorite tool. Greg Schramm, Sr. Product Manager at Seismic, led a session on best practices for DSRs — and it stood out as one of the few conversations of the day that wasn't primarily about AI. At their core, DSRs provide a shared space where buyers and sellers can access relevant content, collaborate, and stay aligned throughout the entire customer journey. The session got straight to the point by asking how sellers can use DSRs to keep buyers engaged, maintain control of a deal, and deliver great digital experiences consistently?
The opportunity is significant, as Seismic's own analysis shows a 5x increase in engagement with DSRs compared to non-DSR interactions. DSRs have moved past the early adopter stage, and the organizations treating them as a core piece of their sales motion will create an immediate advantage.
Schramm’s session made the case that DSRs work best when they're built around outcomes and decision points rather than used simply as content repositories. The best ones tell a story, organized around what the buyer needs to decide, not just what the seller needs to share. Sellers can leverage templates for an immediate starting point and tailor them for the individual buyer, as well as track buyer engagement to inform relevant follow-up actions and messaging.
Beyond content, DSRs are evolving into genuine collaboration spaces. Mutual Action Plans keep both sides aligned on next steps and accountable to timelines. Buyers can upload documents directly, eliminating back-and-forth. And Client Access Controls ensure the right people see the right content at every stage of the deal.
For organizations getting started, Schramm recommended securing internal alignment and leadership buy-in first, building momentum through a small group of champions, and rolling out DSRs in a way that ties adoption to specific business goals. Discover what’s possible for your organization with Seismic DSRs.
4. In financial services, operating models will determine success
In a financial services session, Dean Perry, Seismic’s Sr. Director of Strategic Consulting, argued that the competitive question has changed in the industry. Instead of firms asking if they’re using the right tools, they should be asking whether enablement operates as an enterprise capability.
Perry walked attendees through what his team calls the Growth Blueprint — a six-station framework for building enablement that scales:
1. Technology & AI
2. Strategic Roadmap
3. Ownership Models
4. Governance by Design
5. Change Activation
6. Continuous Optimisation
The sequence is deliberate, as each station builds upon the one before it. And the further along the framework a firm operates, the greater the business impact.
Most firms get the platform right and build a strategic roadmap. But then they stall because they’re missing the same three things: clear ownership of specific outcomes, governance that allows AI to operate safely at scale, and the change management required to shift how people work. As Perry emphasised, firms making the most progress are focusing on those operational aspects with the same rigor they applied to selecting the platform in the first place.
Dean Perry
Senior Director, Strategic Consulting, Seismic
Perry closed with a reminder: It’s no longer about access to technology, but ensuring the right operation and scale behind it.
5. Every interaction shapes trust in financial services
The closing financial services session brought together Dave Myron, SVP of Financial Services Solutions, and Craig Schachter, SVP of Global Sales for Financial Services, for a conversation on what it takes to scale trust across every client interaction.
Both Seismic leaders emphasized that growth in financial services runs on trust. And trust is built or lost in every client interaction. Today's clients expect communications that are relevant, timely, and personalized. Firms also face pressure to ensure every interaction is accurate, compliant, and measurable. As digital channels multiply, that balancing act only gets harder. Outdated content and inconsistent messaging create friction in client relationships that can undermine confidence over time.
Myron and Schacter argued that financial services has been operating at the intersection of trust, governance, and human judgment long before AI entered the conversation. Regulated content, compliant messaging, approved materials, and audit trails aren't new constraints. They also made the case that firms already understand how to govern at scale, they just need to use that knowledge to its full potential.
According to Myron and Schachter, the firms that are getting this right have stopped thinking about content as a marketing asset or a sales resource. They're treating it as the foundation of every client relationship. That means governance ensures what's in front of client-facing teams is accurate and approved. Guidance helps them understand what's relevant, for whom, and when. And activation puts that content into the moments where client conversations are actually happening. When these three things work together, client-facing professionals can deliver experiences that deepen relationships and build lasting trust.
Next stop: Seismic Shift
Get ready to continue the conversations from Seismic City Tours in sunny California this October. Seismic Shift brings together the global enablement and revenue community for three days of strategy, camaraderie, and innovation.
Save the date: October 12–14 | Omni La Costa, Carlsbad, California