Most companies are either racing to bolt AI onto everything or frozen because they don't know where to start. Angela Hill does neither.

Angela runs e-commerce for Batteries Plus and has spent 20+ years in the industry — enough hype cycles to be skeptical of the next one. Her rule: test it, use it if it solves a real problem, fire it if it doesn't.

In this episode of The Human Side of MarTech, Angela breaks down:

✅ Why AI doesn't create new problems — it exposes the ones you already had (messy data, disorganized content, broken search)

✅ Her team's 90/10 rule for using AI as an assistant, not a replacement

✅ How she filters vendor pitches using the "fitment" test in a market of 20,000+ MarTech vendors

✅ Why franchise e-commerce (BOPIS, franchise owners, urgent-need customers) breaks the standard MarTech playbook

✅ What separates a vendor pitch that earns her attention from one that wastes her time

✅ What she actually looks for in an "AI-native" hire

This isn't hype or fear — it's a grounded look at how an experienced operator adopts technology on her own terms.

📖 Read the full breakdown + key takeaways: [INSERT POST URL]

🔗 Compare MarTech vendors on Blurbs: https://www.trustblurbs.com

─────────────────────────────

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

─────────────────────────────

00:00 — Introduction: Angela's 20+ years in e-commerce

02:00 — The biggest surprise across every hype cycle: the fundamentals never change

05:49 — Walking into Batteries Plus: legacy tech debt and where to start

09:07 — How she audited the existing tech stack

10:56 — AI adoption: from resistance to "we have to test this"

13:15 — What AI is really exposing: messy data, disorganized content

14:22 — Agentic search and preparing the business to be found

14:43 — How AI is used day-to-day across the team

18:13 — Why franchise e-commerce is a different game

20:36 — The "fitment" test: how she filters vendor pitches

24:09 — Why standard personalization playbooks don't work for BOPIS

25:52 — From 250 vendors to 20,000: how to even know where to start

29:10 — Why she relies on conferences and peer networks over cold research

32:57 — How a lean team stays aligned on what tools everyone's using

34:20 — The difference between a pitch that respects her time and one that wastes it

38:17 — What trade shows get right — and where they could improve

42:24 — What she'd want every AI vendor to know before pitching her

44:40 — What an "AI-native" hire actually looks like

47:29 — Closing thoughts

─────────────────────────────

🎙️ ABOUT THE SHOW

─────────────────────────────

The Human Side of MarTech is part of The MarTech Matrix podcast network — hosted by Sean Simon, founder of Cogent and Blurbs (trustblurbs.com).

Each episode goes behind the tools to shine a light on the people who use them — marketers, marketing ops leaders, and technology practitioners inside brands and agencies sharing what actually works, what doesn't, and what the industry needs to know.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes

👍 Like this video if it was useful

💬 Drop your biggest AI adoption question in the comments

─────────────────────────────

🔗 LINKS

─────────────────────────────

• Full episode post + show notes: [INSERT BLOG POST URL]

• Blurbs — discover marketing technology without the sales noise: https://trustblurbs.com

• The MarTech Matrix: https://themartechmatrix.com

• Connect with Angela Hill on LinkedIn: [INSERT ANGELA'S LINKEDIN URL]

• Connect with Sean Simon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seansimon