One on One Interviews

Jeremy Epstein, cryptoeconomist and one of the leading experts on digital currencies, is my go-to person when I need to really understand where we are with these technologies. When I last had a LinkedIn Live almost three years ago, I asked him where we are and he said we were in the very early stages. So with all that has happened in the years since we last spoke (like NFTs, Web3, oh yeah and that pandemic thing) I needed an update from him. And fortunately I caught up with Jeremy recently to see where we are now, and also to get his take on some of these newer technologies and how they are shaping the digital currency landscape.

All I can say is if you have even the slightest interest in this area, do yourself a favor and check this one out.

In a recent conversation with Molly Sullivan, VP of Brand, Content, and Creative at Pegasystems, she said that before people buy products and services they first buy into ideas. And in order for them to want to buy from you, you have to have the kind of ideas that make them want to buy what you’re selling. And one way, a good way, for them to buy into your ideas is to be an effective storyteller that can share a compelling theme or narrative in a way that makes people not only listen, but also be a meaningful partner in charting the path they go on with you.

Having a meaningful narrative and being able to share it in a way that connects and enlists your target audience in developing that narrative is becoming incredibly important in building a community around your business. And being able to tell/share that grand story in a comprehensive and compelling way calls for a strategy that uses a variety of formats, channels, apps and any other way necessary to get connect your ideas to the right folks.

A person who has been helping companies tell stories, from Walt Disney movies (like Pirates of the Caribbean), 20th Century Fox (James Cameron's Avatar), Showtime (Dexter), Microsoft (Halo) and even Coca-Cola, is transmedia storyteller expert Jeff Gomez, who is also CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment. I recently had a LinkedIn Live conversation with Jeff to learn more about what transmedia storytelling is, who it can work for, and how companies of any size can leverage it to more meaningfully connect with an audience.

Everyday more of us livestreaming, using things like Zoom, Streamyard and Restream among other platforms. But that doesn't mean asynchronous video is a thing of the past. I recently spoke with Michael Litt, cofounder and CEO video platform Vidyard, to understand the importance of asynchronous video and why you might need to put to use more than ever, especially within your sales process.

Over fifteen years ago I hosted a weekly radio show here in Atlanta called Technology for Business Sake. One of my earliest guests was Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of this online storage company Box.com. I remember having a fun conversation with him as we talked about a number of things, from entrepreneurship to what Box did to whatever came to mind back then. I even remember thinking why would anybody want to store their data files in the cloud…. Yeah, I have to admit to thinking that. But I know I wasn’t the only one!

Anyways, as great as that conversation was, and as successful as I watched Aaron and Box become from afar (Box is now publicly traded and has move way past just providing online storage to become a collaborative platform used by thousands of businesses), we haven’t talked once since our initial conversation on my old radio show 14+ years ago. It goes without saying a lot has happened since then, and I was so glad to have caught up with Aaron recently for a LinkedIn Live conversation to talk about a number of different items, including how the future of work is being shaped by everything from the Internet, the metaverse and other recently emerging technologies.

Anybody who has checked out this weekly series probably knows I have a kind of infatuation with voice technology and conversational AI. I really look forward to the day where I can use natural language instead of typing, clicking and swiping for more of my interactions. Which is why I’m always on the lookout for progressions, evolutions and transformations that may be leading to a day when that may be getting closer to happening.

One of the areas where you’re seeing lots of interesting stuff going on in the area of voice tech is customer experience. And one way to improve that experience, particularly when you’re in need for assistance, is to have great interactions with a customer service agent who knows how to help you and can do it efficiently.

Earlier this week Pegasystems, a leading customer engagement platform, announced two new products, Voice AI and Messaging AI, that is looking to provide customer service agents with their own “co-pilot” to assist them in realtime as they help customers looking for immediate help. And I was able to speak with Sabrina Atienza, director of product management at Pega, to share her thoughts on how voice and messaging AI can help human agents provide a better experience for customers in need and turn them into brand ambassadors for the company.

There were a few eye-catching numbers that had Amazon's stock blasting off after their earnings report was published. But two other things grabbed my attention the most. For the first time that I can remember, Amazon reported making $31 billion last year from their advertising platform, which is a pretty huge number for a company that hasn’t really been known for being in that business compared to Facebook and Google. But with numbers like that, it may not be long before advertising surpasses AWS as the biggest driver of operational profit.

The last thing that caught just about everybody’s attention was the other piece of news that came out of the earnings announcement – the price increase for Amazon Prime membership going from $119 to $139 a year. So with all this news coming out, my Watching Amazon show co-host John Lawson and I gave our take on what all of this added up to, and how we thought it would be received by consumers and sellers on the platform. And if there is anything on the horizon that could disrupt Amazon’s dominance in digital commerce.

Data is seemingly coming from every interaction, from every direction, from a growing number of channels, while using a growing number of devices… and it’s coming nonstop. This presents a great opportunity for companies to understand what customers and prospects need and what at levels unimaginable only a few short years ago. And while that’s sounds great, trying to pull all that data together in order to make the best use of the information coming from all that data is no easy task. In fact it’s incredibly difficult unless because most of the system businesses have been using over the years weren’t meant to specifically handle that task. Which is why Customer Data Platforms (CDP) were created and have grown of great importance over the last six years or so. But over those years there has been some apprehension and confusion about where CDPs fit and how they compare with other applications organizations depend on like CRM.

But it feels like some of that confusion and apprehension over what CDP is and what it does has been dissipating at an accelerated pace over the last year or so, as more interactions go digital. And to get more insight into the current state of CDP and how it’s being used in businesses today, I recently spoke with David Raab, founder and CEO of The CDP Institute, and to all in the industry the preeminent thought leader on the subject.

My CRM Playaz co-host Paul Greenberg and I introduced a new segment on the show we call Venerableness. It’s all about having conversations with folks that for decades have “been there, done that”, and are continuing to do it at the highest levels in the tech industry. And we were really glad to have two folks who completely fit that description to kick this off:

• Steve Gillmor – One of the forefathers of podcasting founding one of the first two podcasts in history with The Gillmor Gang (which is still going strong and I’m proud to be a member of) and currently serves as Head of Technical Media Strategy for Salesforce.

• Michael Moaz – Former Distinguished Analyst for Gartner and current Senior Vice President of Innovation Strategy for Salesforce

Consumers have never been more in need of the combination of more empathy from vendors to go with the products and services they need to adapt their lives to the situations they’ve been hit with. However, technology has also given them the opportunity to be more selective in choosing companies that not only show they understand their needs, but also can communicate to them and act on that understanding in a way that makes them feel valuable. But how well are marketers, in particular, doing communicating with customers and prospects today?

I recently spoke with Shoel Perelman, Vice President of Product for 1:1 Customer Engagement of Pegasystems, a leading customer engagement platform provider, to get his take on how marketers have evolved their engagement methods and interaction approach over the past few years.

Slack, a messaging platform recently acquired by Salesforce and used by millions of people to collaborate with customers, partners and fellow employees, recently held their annual Frontiers user conference. And having a chance to check out the virtual event there were a number of interesting themes that resonated with me, but the most important is how different the way we work and collaborate has and will continue to change as we (hopefully) move closer to a post-pandemic world. And to dig in deeper on that theme my CRM Playaz co-host Paul Greenberg and I recently had a LinkedIn Live conversation with Brad Mattick, SVP of Slack Marketing at Salesforce.