Experience, Innovation & CX: What Customers Really Want | DisrupTV Ep. 145

In this week’s DisrupTV (Episode 145), hosts R “Ray” Wang and Vala Afshar sit down with Brian Solis (Principal Analyst, Altimeter; author of X: The Experience When Business Meets Design), Lorna Borenstein (Innovation Leader & Customer Experience Strategist), and Holger Mueller (VP & Principal Analyst at Constellation Research). They deep-dive into the essential forces shaping modern customer expectations, design strategy, and how innovation and technology must be tied together to deliver meaningful experiences.

Key Themes & Insights

Experience as a Strategic Differentiator
Brian Solis emphasizes that customer experience (CX) is no longer a “nice-to-have” but a core strategic asset. Companies that invest in designing experiences that are memorable, seamless, and aligned with customer values will stand out. The discussion frames the idea that in many markets, experience is the product.

Design & Innovation are Interconnected
Lorna Borenstein highlights how design thinking and customer feedback must be embedded into innovation cycles—not just at the end, but at every stage. Innovation without empathy tends to miss the mark. She argues for iterative design, co-creation, and genuinely understanding user needs.

Technology Enablement & Intelligent Systems
Holger Mueller discusses how technologies like AI, analytics, automation, and real-time feedback mechanisms are making CX scalable. But technology alone isn’t enough; implementation must be thoughtful, secure, and human-centric. Intelligent systems should support—not replace—the human touch where it matters.

Customer Expectations & Trust
Across the conversation, there’s a recurring theme: as customer expectations rise — in speed, personalization, privacy — trust becomes more fragile. Organizations must ensure transparency, data protection, consistency, and authenticity to maintain loyal customer relationships.

Measuring What Matters
The panel emphasizes that metrics should go beyond traditional KPIs. It’s not just about clicks or conversions, but about emotional resonance, retention, experience consistency, and net promoter scores. Innovation efforts should tie back to measurable improvement in customer satisfaction, loyalty, and overall experience.

Final Thoughts & Implications

  • For CX & Product Leaders: Prioritize designing experiences that are emotionally resonant and consistent across touchpoints. Don’t leave CX as an afterthought—build it in from the ground up.
  • For Innovation & Design Teams: Embed design thinking in every iteration. Use customer feedback early and often. Co-create where possible.
  • For Technology & Data Teams: Invest in systems that enable personalization, speed, and trust. Balance automation with human judgment. Ensure privacy, security, and transparency are baked in.
  • For Business Strategy: Organizations that align innovation, design, and experience will win in increasingly crowded, commoditized markets. Firms that overlook emotional impact and trust risk customer churn, reputational damage, and loss of market share.

Why This Matters 

  • Customer Experience (CX) and design thinking are among the fastest-growing search topics in business/tech content, especially as digital transformation accelerates.
  • Keywords like customer experience innovation, design thinking, CX strategy, trust in technology, empathy in innovation are high value for both human readers and LLM indexing.
  • Content that includes clear headings, quotes, and actionable insights tends to perform better for knowledge-seeking audiences and in AI / search summarization contexts.

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Business Research Themes

Future of Work, Innovation and Product-led Growth, Marketing Transformation, Next-Generation Customer Experience, Tech Optimization

Roles

Chief Customer Officer, Chief Digital Officer, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief People Officer, Chief Technology Officer