“To thrive in a digital economy, create a safe and empowered environment for employees to learn and take risks.” Technology may be at the core of digital transformation, but it’s severely limited in its promise if it’s not influenced by human beings. Yet, every day, companies invest in digital transformation strategies and roadmaps that are absent of human-centered insights and perspectives. On this episode of Digital Outliers, I sit down with Steve Snyder, CIO, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority to talk…
It’s not the End of Retail, It’s the End of Retail As We Know It
Retail, like every industry, faces digital Darwinism as technology and markets evolve and disrupt. This isn’t new. But what is clear, executives are not prioritizing bold strategies and investments that save them from their “Kodak Moment,” that moment when consumer behaviors and values evolve beyond brand recognition. If you read about the state of retail today, you’ll see dramatic descriptors such as “apocalypse,” “the end…,” “dying,” you get the picture. While doom and gloom and disruption is inherent in every…
Brand Innovation and Customer Experience Design: An Interview with Comcast’s Chris Satchell
The potential for breakthrough innovation is at its greatest when there’s purpose. And in an age of disruptive technology, humanity is becoming a killer app. Often in my research on digital transformation and innovation, I find the most compelling catalyst for finding purpose and accelerating change and improvement is customer experience (CX). Think about it. Who owns the customer experience? Yes. The customer owns it. That might seem like one big “duh.” But, believe it or note, many organizations are…
Digital Transformation – Rewriting the Rules of Business
We live in an era of digital Darwinism. As customer expectations evolve and move toward personalized experiences and beyond transactions, companies in every industry must focus digital transformation on not only digital, but also people, purpose, and relevance. Digital transformation has become an absolute must-have to secure future growth, improve customer experience and loyalty as well as operational efficiency. Along with it, digital transformation also represents an opportunity to rewrite the rules of business? I got to spend some time with…
Digital Transformation Must Lead to Business Transformation: An Interview with Didier Bonnet of CapGemini Consulting
Who owns digital transformation within your organization? Is it the C-Suite, marketing, IT, HR? It’s now essential for all stakeholders – no matter their level or role – to become acquainted in the purpose of digital technology if orgs are to succeed in this new economy. We live in an era of digital Darwinism. As technology and society evolve, all organizations must also adapt how they operate and compete. To do so however, requires much more than digital transformation and…
Is Retail Dying or is it Time for a Renaissance?
Guest post from Michel Lewis (@BizMike), founder of RoomSignal and long-time friend of Brian. Retail is dead. Heard that phrase before? For the last decade we have watched as digital companies like Amazon & Netflix received much of the credit, for putting brands like Borders and Blockbuster out to pasture. Poor stock performances and gloomy headlines about the death of retail only fuel reports about the demise of brick & mortar stores. For many retail brands like Nordstrom and Target,…
It’s Time to Bring Digital Literacy to the C-Suite: An Interview with Paul Miller of the Digital Workplace Group,
I think the next big thing following massive innovation on the CX front is EX…employee experience. But, to do so requires a level of inward empathy not usually found roaming the halls of the C-Suite. This is something though, I believe, will become more pronounced as the move to customer-centricity is more closely linked to employee-centricity. To do so however, requires that companies empower employees, giving them access to information, expertise, and the reward mechanisms they need to innovate and…
Innovation is a gift worth getting: Competing for the future starts with challenging business as usual
Every day when you get to the office, there is a surmountable volume of work that greets you. The list is usually pretty long, with calls to return, to do items stacked up, emails overflowing, meetings, marketing and sales planning to fill the pipeline. It’s all in a day’s work. But what if one day you woke up and noticed that the volume of work was notably less? I’m sure you’d be relieved for a bit. But then each day,…
Boldly Go: The Confluence of Digital Transformation, Innovation, Culture and Experience
There are almost too many technology trends to track these days and it’s only getting more complicated to keep up. At some point, one must focus, dive deeper and learn. This year, I’m centering my research and speaking on a few different but complementary areas: Corporate Innovation Digital Transformation Digital Culture/Culture 2.0 X – Experience Design Recently, I had the opportunity to present a combination of all of the above at the RocketSpace Corporate Innovation Summit hosted by Docusign. It…
The New Kodak Moment = That Moment When You Lose Market Relevance
“You press the button, we do the rest.” These are the touching words of Kodak’s first advertising slogan. Coined by George Eastman, Kodak’s iconic founder in 1892, this tagline almost seems relevant 120 years later. Almost. There was a time in history where uttering those words evoked an emotional sense of nostalgia. Now, unfortunately, the Kodak moment represents that moment when executives fail to realize how consumers are changing and how markets will ultimately evolve in new directions without them….
