The one thing about CRM is that it often has very little to do with “customers” or “relationships” and more to do with the “management” of dated perspectives, systems and processes. So many executives these days are chasing technology and recruiting new expertise to track customers, analyze their data, map journeys and push the most relevant content, messages, promo on the right device at the right time. You’re probably asking, “what’s wrong with that?” In many ways, it is exactly the…
The Key to Creativity and Innovation is Empathy
Growing up in Los Angeles and living in Silicon Valley for 20-plus years has plugged me into a unique network of creativity and innovation. Although many would say that I technically live in a bubble, I have practiced the art of participation and observation to earn a balanced perspective when it comes to ideation and design. While I am surrounded by some of the most amazing  minds, I am also inspired by those shaping innovation hubs. If it’s one thing I’ve learned,…
Digital Darwinism: Evolve with Your Customers or Regress Toward Irrelevance
I recently had the pleasure of speaking at Unite host by Satmetrix in New Orleans. Customer experience, IT and management executives from around the world met in the “Big Easy” to learn from one another, share experiences and envision a new future for customer engagement. Prior to the event, I met with the Satmetrix team to discuss my presentation so that we could share the message for those that could not be there live. The conversation was summarized over at…
Experiences Become Brands and Great Brands Become Experiences
These days, it seems that IÂ travel to events overseas more than in the United States. While many companies around the world believe they are behind U.S. companies, I can say that from first hand experience, any company pursuing the future of customer experience, innovation, and brand is ahead of the game…regardless of where it’s based. When I receive an invitation to present, it exemplifies, at least to me, that those attending the event are keen on learning about how to…
Experiences are The Core Pillars of Any Brand.Â
This is for my Danish friends and anyone who believes that the future of business lies in experience design. Via  MarkedsfĂžringdagen, I juni 2016 havde Dansk MarkedsfĂžring besĂžg af Brian Solis fra Altimeter ved markedsfĂžringsdagen. Vi fik lejlighed til at tale bĂ„de med ham og med deltagere, som havde fornĂžjelsen af at hĂžre ham pĂ„ dagen I’ve been spending quite a bit of time lately in Copenhagen. To be honest, I already miss it. There are three recurring topics that…
4 Keys to Designing New Customer Experiences
On a cold and rainy day in Minneapolis before year’s end, I joined my Prophet colleagues at Le Meridien Chambers where we hosted a breakfast of brand champions. It was the second time this year that I was invited to speak to some of the city’s (and the country’s) most prominent companies and this time I had even more new research and ideas to share. During the two hours that we were together, I presented findings from “The 6 Stages of Digital…
CX Starts with Understanding Today’s Customer Experience, Then Designing Them To Be Amazing and Integrated
The following discussion represents Part 2 of my conversation with Loyalty360 CEO and CMO Mark Johnson. In this last part of the series, Change Starts with You Altimeter Groupâs Principal Analyst Brian Solis is dedicated to creating change within brands and bringing customer experience into the spotlight. The first step, Solis told Loyalty360 in a recent discussion, is to define the CX problem and use that to guide solutions. More specifically, he challenged businesses to rethink what CX really means across the…
It’s Time to Change How Companies Perceive Customer Experience (CX)
Last year, I spent time with Mark Johnson, CEO and CMO of Loyalty360, to discuss all things Customer Experience (CX). The conversation was so rich, it resulted into a two-part series exclusively for the Loyalty360 community. Now however, I’ve been given the green light to share the conversation (parts 1 and 2) with you here. Part 1 – This is the Year of Customer Experience If you ask 100 executives what customer experience means to them, you would likely get 100 different answers. The need to…
Wynn Las Vegas Hires Digital Butlers, Places Amazon Echo in 4,748 Guest Rooms
Many hotels offer USAToday for guests. Now guests at the Wynn Las Vegas will simply say, “Alexa, read today’s USAToday headlines.” I believe the future of any brand is directly tied to the experiences they design and deliver consistently through the customer lifecycle. It’s not just any one thing, it’s everything. That’s the definition of customer experience after all. It’s not the technology company’s invest in, nor the touch points they modernize, nor the new policies and processes they introduce…
What CMOs Must Get Right In 2017 To Succeed as an âExperience Businessâ
Like clockwork, every December, experts voice their predictions and advice to guide us in the coming year. Sometimes I offer my thoughts. Mostly, I spend my time curating emerging and disruptive technology trends. This year however, my dear friend Giselle Abramovich with CMO.com, reached out with an exceptional question and I couldn’t resist…especially since the answer was limited to 25 words. Digital transformation and becoming a “customer experience business” is clearly the future for marketing. What is the one thing CMOs…
