One on One Interviews

We’ve been pulling out cash and credit cards out of our wallets to pay for things forever. But more and more people are using their phones (and watches) to pay for the things they buy. And while mobile payments are a major part of consumers “going digital”, it’s only one aspect of the mobile wallet.

Matt Stringer, EVP of Marketing for Men’s Wearhouse, discusses how the company has implemented a mobile wallet strategy, and how it has helped them dramatically increase conversions - turning emails into in-store visits and purchases.

Not only are the Golden State Warriors the reigning champions of the National Basketball Association, but they are also known for being just as successful off the court when it comes to digital marketing. Kenny Lauer, Vice President of Marketing and Digital for the Golden State Warriors, shares the team’s philosophy of being in the experience creation business, when and how they use social media to drive ticket and merchandise sales, and the roles their website plays in engagement compared to their mobile app.

At this week’s Dell World event, as the case at last month’s Dreamforce event, some of the main focus was around the Internet of Things (IoT). And while much of the discussion with IoT is usually aimed at big enterprises, small and mid-size businesses need to understand what opportunities and risks there may be to their success as more and more devices begin communicating with each other.

Andy Rhodes, Executive Director for Dell’s IoT Solutions, shares his perspective on why the IoT today is where the cloud was eight years ago. And why it’s important for small businesses to understand what opportunities come with it, before those opportunities become nails in the coffin of their business.

UPS has over 1.5M liking their Facebook page. And it’s not out of the ordinary for them to receives thousands of likes, comments and shares on content they post. But, according to Brian Pember, Director of Customer Communications for UPS, the company can get more meaningful engagement from their LinkedIn activities – even though their following is only a fifth of what it is on Facebook.

Brian shares how the company uses LinkedIn to narrowcast messages to targeted audiences, rather than broadcast to people who haven’t shown interest in a particular subject. And how through a mix of thought leadership, organic optimization and ad placement, UPS has found higher return on investment (ROI) and engagement (ROE) with LinkedIn.

I’ve been using the Amazon Echo device for almost a year. And most of what I do is ask Alexa – the virtual assistant in Echo – what the weather is, who won the Rams game, add batteries to my shopping list, or even to play the new song from Prince.

I also use Siri to dial people on my iPhone when I’m in the car. And, with Windows 10, I’m beginning to ask Cortana – Microsoft’s virtual assistant – for stuff as well.

More and more we’re all using intelligent agents/services to handle routine things that take up time. Dennis Mortensen, co-founder of X.ai – the service behind virtual scheduling assistant Amy – shares why he feels we’re at the tipping point with artificial intelligence. He also shares his vision of a world where services like Siri, Alexa, Cortana and Amy will work together on our behalf to free us up from mundane tasks, and allow us to focus on more important things.

While more and more customer interactions are taking place via Twitter, Facebook, text messages and other forms, most of the important interactions still take place in email. And in many instances information in those emails is overlooked – information that could provide important insight that doesn’t come from human eyeballs.

Art Papas, founder and CEO of Bullhorn CRM, discusses how email analytics can help find those insights that can drive real engagement opportunities and help you stay on top of what’s important to customers and prospects.

Last week during Salesforce.com’s massive Dreamforce conference, they officially announced their Internet of Things (IoT) Cloud to help organizations leverage the power of connected devices - and the information they can provide - to create better realtime experiences throughout the customer lifecycle. Adam Bosworth, Salesforce’s Executive Vice President of the IoT Cloud, shared with me the importance of understanding what the IoT has to offer businesses, how it impacts customer engagement, and why becoming a connected company doesn’t make you customer-centric on its own.

Julia Kurnia is the CEO and founder of Zidisha, an online microlending community directly connecting lenders and entrepreneurs, bypassing local banks and intermediaries charging high interest rates. Zidisha offers a person-to-person platform that lets lenders and entrepreneurs communicate openly and instantly.

Julia shares how, without a background in technology but with guidance from Y Combinator, she was able to pursue her passion and create a platform/marketplace connecting borrowers with lenders half a world away, at a fraction of the cost offered by larger, better funded organizations.

Digital is on the minds of everyone today, from a variety of perspectives. But it’s important to connect those online activities and touchpoints to real life interactions to complete customer experiences, especially in the hotel industry. Nick Ayres, global director of social marketing for Intercontinental Hotels Group, shares how IHG ties digital touchpoints together to complete the customer journey; from the dream, through to the stay, and beyond.

There is a lot of talk around the term digital disruption today. The vast majority of it centers around the latest and greatest technology. And while smartphones, wearable technologies and connected appliances are changing the way we experience the world today, the foundational change in how organizations operate and engage customers may be the biggest disruption taking place of all.

Ray Wang, founder of Constellation Research and author of the best-selling book Disrupting Digital Business, shares his thoughts on why it’s important for companies born before the digital age to transform their culture and approach to prepare for the full effect of digital disruption. And why it’s important for even companies like Amazon.com to move faster to fully embrace what’s coming ahead.