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!…
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 shifted their thinking or belief system to change how they make decisions to compete differently. The challenge is that many decision-makers 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…
Culture is Either the Roadblock or Highway to Innovation – We Need Leadership not Management
After studying customer experience, digital transformation and innovation for so many years, I’ve found that the next big thing in business (r)evolution is culture. The other most interesting thing I’ve learned is that while businesses are readying or investing in change, the definition of meaningful culture is elusive or inconsequential. Yet, company culture is either the number one catalyst or inhibitor to progress. Culture needs a champion. As Peter Drucker once famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast…” Like most aspects in business, management…
What Makes Someone a Thought Leader?
That was the question I was recently asked by my friend Vivienne Neale. I wasn’t sure how to reply. After all, we all have our “thought leaders” whom we follow. Me, I always wanted to be part of a community where doing meaningful things made belonging matter. Honestly, I don’t consider myself a thought leader. I simply shared my ideas and work because I felt alone in my mission to change the future of business. I’ve always believed I couldn’t do…
Executives Don’t Live the Brand the Way Customers Do and This is Why CX is Shorted
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 Definition of Digital Transformation
The definition of digital transformation is… 2019: Digital transformation is the evolving pursuit of innovative and agile business and operational models — fueled by evolving technologies, processes, analytics, and talent — to create new value and experiences for customers, employees, and stakeholders. 2014 – 2019: The realignment of, or new investment in, technology, business models, and processes to drive new value for customers and employees and more effectively compete in an ever-changing digital economy. This is how I define digital…
Experiences Become Brands and Great Brands Become Experiences
These days, it seems that I 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…
Sharing a Personal Story – A Rare Glimpse into What Inspires Me and How I Got Here
Believe it or not, I’m a private person. I know it seems ironic. After all, I was one of the early group that worked to bring social media to the forefront in the early 2000s. But, I still tend to not share personal information online. I do however, share my work freely with everyone in the hopes of creating a community of betterment in business, government and society. There are rare occasions however when I do open up to share stories 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 Group’s 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…
