When I set out to research digital transformation several years ago, I did so with the belief that there was more to the story than technology, IT and modernization. Yet, the name itself implies that change is focused on or prioritizes all things digital. But there’s more to the story than how CMOs or CIOs are deploying modern platforms to better engage customers and employees. The story I set out to uncover was that of the people behind change. To…
Enhancing Customer Experience With Wearable Tech
Guest post byĀ Blake Morgan (@blakemichellem), Customer Experience Futurist, Keynote Speaker, Author of the new book,Ā More Is More In X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, author Brian Solis talks about how Disney created its MagicBandāan all-in-one device that connects users with their vacation optionsāembedded with technology that allows customers to make purchases without a credit card or cash, get in andĀ out of the park, review and optimize wait times, book FastPass, open their hotel room door, make dinner reservations, and…
Moving Beyond Demographics: Today’s Hyperconnected ‘Generation C’
Several years ago as I was writing The End of Business as Usual, I researched how the customer journey was evolving. Specifically, I studied how traditional touch points compared to digital touch points and more so, how customers were hacking their way to desired outcomes. Along the way, I found that when it comes to “digital customers,” alignment in behaviors and preferences spanned generations beyond traditional demographics. At the time, I referenced this group of hyperconnected customers “Generation C” where…
Would you make a decision to join or leave a company based on how you work?
Did you know that employees and employee prospects judge the immediate and long-term potential of a company by their reliance on desktop phones? To some it makes total sense. Why would any company have tethered devices to talk to someone else? Don’t we have mobile devices and apps for that? Besides, I’m always on the go. On the other hand, some might wonder as to why we would be having this conversation at all. Of course there are desktop phones!…
Innovation Begins with a Shift in Perspective; It’s Personal
The team at Ode Management asked me to introductory video for their audience of event planners, speaker bureaus and agents. The topic was innovation and my mission was to keep it casual and brief, with a target length ofĀ twoĀ minutes. I guess I wasĀ too excited. On my first take, I overshot that goal by 10 minutes and needed to re-record it. However, I couldn’t bring myself to delete thisĀ though!Ā Instead, I wanted to share it with you here. This video was meant…
Why Disruptive Technology is Hijacking Your Customers
Disruptive technology is not just a commodity anymore; it has become a necessity. I recently met with Rilke Thomsen ofĀ Sleeknote to talk aboutĀ how disruptive technology is shaping customer behaviors, preferences and expectations. OurĀ conversation turned into a short but interesting three-part audio series that I wanted to share with you here. What is disruptive technology? Disruptive technology is something that comes along early on and has the potential to disrupt markets, behavior, and processes models. According to Brian, there are three…
Customer Experience Should Be Designed For And Measured By What Customerās Actually Experience
Customer experience (CX) is the new black and it is, for all intents and purposes, the catalyst for accelerated and purposeful digital transformation. In my research however, I find that customer experience is not truly a customer-first initiative. It is in many cases relegated to enterprise-first approaches to improve customer flowĀ from an infrastructure perspective. It’s not necessarily something I’m calling out as a problem. Optimizing customer journeysĀ is indeed necessary. But, it is not a means to an end. It is…
Why the future of corporate marketing may hang on the personal brand
Guest post by Mark W. Schaefer (@markwschaefer) I hate the term āpersonal branding.ā And yet, personal branding may be the salvation of corporate marketing. Allow me to explain today why both statements are true! For the past few years Iāve been immersed in the world of personal branding as I wrote my new book KNOWN: The Handbook for Building and Unleashing Your Personal Brand in the Digital Age. I started the process by exploring what the experts thought it meant…
Why tech companies are uniting to fight Trumpās immigration ban
In February 2017, My good friend Matt Kapko of CIO asked a few tech pundits, “Why tech companies are uniting to fight Trumpās immigration ban?” The result was published here. A group of 127 technology companies, including Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Snap and Twitter, filed an amicus brief (official friend-of-the-court brief) in the pending lawsuits opposing the administration’s executive order. Per the filing, the heavy hitting tech consortium attested that immigration is core to technology innovation. āImmigrants make many…
10 Things Modern Digital Commerce Players are Doing To Thrive and Survive
The future of commerce is already unfolding. Even though everyone says, “yes we know the world is changing,” I don’t believe that executives have shiftedĀ their thinking or belief system to change how they make decisions toĀ compete differently. The challenge is that many decision-makersĀ are caught in a state of “future shock,” stuck in the past and unable to move in ways that matter to an incessantly evolving market. Why? Because they still operate in an ecosystem that prioritizes quarter-to-quarter performance while…
