My Top 10 Tweets From January 2014

Alan Lepofsky

Vice President & Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Alan Lepofsky - VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research. With almost two decades of experience in the collaboration software industry, Lepofsky helps organizations improve the way their employees work together to get their jobs done. Lepofsky’s primary research area The Future of Work, focuses on: integrating collaboration and business processes (Purposeful Collaboration), structuring work via Social Task Management, leveraging analytics and digital assistants to work more productively, the strategic impact of mobile computing on business transformation, and measuring workforce culture based on Digital Proficiency instead of age. Twitter: @alanlepoLinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/alanlepo     , Title: Big IdeasIntelligent Collaboration: The Intersection of…...

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Below are my top 10 tweets from Jan 2014 based on combined number of replies, favourites and retweets. I weighted each of those three actions equally.

I believe personal analytics such as this can help people know which topics they should spend more time working on (are popular with your audience) and which don't resonate as well. Of course, a single snapshot does not provide all the details you need, but each data point helps.

Jan 2014 Top Tweets New C-Suite Future of Work Sales Marketing Data to Decisions X ML Machine Learning LLMs Agentic AI Generative AI AI Analytics Automation business Marketing SaaS PaaS IaaS Digital Transformation Disruptive Technology Enterprise IT Enterprise Acceleration Enterprise Software Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP finance Healthcare Customer Service Content Management Collaboration Chief Customer Officer Chief People Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer

Chuck Johnston Joins Exigen as CMO

Constellation Research

J. Bruce Daley is a former vice president and principal analyst at Constellation Research, Inc.  , Title: Big Ideas Age Before Beauty Before there can be a wholesale conversion to the Cloud legacy applications must be converted. This will take decades and not every vendor has taken this obstacle into account when projecting growth. Professional Services Firms Need a Recurring Revenue Model The services business has a lot of advantages but one big disadvantage in that you are always going out of business. Some organizations are using the Cloud to offer clients new ways to spend money than just time-and-materials or fixed price projects. ...

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Siebel veteran Chuck Johnston has joined Exigen Insurance Solutions (EIS) as the Chief Marketing Officer.  At Siebel Systems Johnston was a group director responsible for financial services product strategy for Siebel's Incentive Compensation and Distribution Management Solutions.

Chuck Johnston joins EIS from analyst firm Celent, where he served as research director, focused on insurance technology and business strategies, specializing in life insurance and group. He brings more than 25 years of expertise in insurance and information technology to the role of managing marketing and product at EIS. Prior to joining Celent, he held several roles at Oracle Insurance including vice president of Global Insurance Strategy and Solutions. He previously served in senior management roles focusing on go to market strategy and execution at Callidus software. Prior to this, he was vice president and director of Insurance Information Strategies at META Group. Johnston also has held technology and business leadership positions at Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance.

Exigen Insurance Solutions is provider of systems for insurers including policy administration, billing and claims management.  EIS is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in the USA, Canada, Europe, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

The company has some current openings for a Director of Engineering, Product Manager, and Executive Assistant. More information can found on the careers page of the company's web site, or by emailing [email protected]. 

Johnson can be reached at 415-402-2622.

Tech Optimization Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer

IBM makes Connections - introduces the Talent Suite at IBMconnect 2014

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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Earlier this week IBM kicked off their yearly Connect conference in Orlando. Think of Connect as the conference for all things formerly Lotus, collaboration, customer and employee experience - and everything around the Kenexa products. With over 5000 participants the conference was well attended, in a Q&A session IBM shared, that over 35% of attendees are first time attendees. That's an encouraging sign for renewed interest around the products being part of Connect.

 

Opening Keynote Takeaways

Anybody sleepy for the (early) 8 AM start was certainly woken up by American Authors, Jay Bear led through the keynote with his usual flair and Seth Meyers told us how social media has changed recruiting in the comedy space. It used to be - have you seen the comedian? - today it's - what is your Twitter account?

 

Notice Hayman's shoes - un-IBM-esque

30 minutes in it was up to Craig Hayman to bring in the over arching message - not only is there a re-branding in regards of product names with Connections in the bushes - but the overarching message is around rhythm - something Hayman made plausible - as it's all about orchestrating employees in the right rhythm - but it was somewhat lost later in the keynote and other sessions.

Check out my colleague Alan Lepovsky's blog - he will have something on the re branding to Connection and the overall social and collaborative take aways up there soon. 

From the cloud perspective the interesting part is that IBM announced to move Domino Application capabilities over to a PaaS powered by - no surprise here - SoftLayer. A good move for IBM to bring more load to it's SoftLayer data centers and help customers to renovate their Domino Applications.
 

Demo Showcase - well done - but still dizzying amount of product 

IBM faces the challenge on how to tie together the diverse product set shown at Connect in a compelling keynote demo. And IBM did a good job - picking a bank as the showcase - with IBM employees picking roles that dealt with customer experience, talent management and mail / collaboration. The product scope is dazzling - and while IBM did a great job of showing the product name in the middle of a giant screen - as it was demoed - it was hard to keep the overview. 

 

IBM Social Learning as part of the demo with Abby Euler and Tim Geisert

Jeff Schick then walked through the new product announcements in detail - but it would have been good to know what was really new during the demo. 

Customer testimonials by Pepsi, Performance Bicycle, Sika and Petrobas were powerful and spanned the range of products well.  
 

Kenexa Talent Suite

Not surprisingly Kenexa is bringing together its various products in a talent suite, complemented by the new Connections collaboration suite. So in detail the Kenexa Talent Suite comprises

• Talent Acquisition - which brings together recruiting, assessment and onboarding. 

• Talent Optimization - which brings together performance management, succession and compensation planning

• Social Networking - basically the capabilities of the (newly branded) Connections products

Additionally IBM has a BigData angle on talent management and - again not surprisingly - Watson is there to help - with the recent announcement of Watson Foundations. 

 

Kenexa keeps growing

IBM acquired Kenexa about 14 months ago - and it's interesting to chart the strategy IBM is taking - here are some of the pointers we learnt about in Florida:

Product vs Services

One of our concerns around enabling more decision management and analytical processes - is that these are usually service driven businesses. And IBM certainly has enough smart consultants and data scientist to deliver amazing value to customers in these engagements. But the holy grail for analytical software is to enable these decisions in software, without a professional services intervention. This is not easily done - neither for IBM nor its competitors - but IBM's strong professional services DNA may not help the productization process. 

MyPOV

Overall good progress on all fronts by IBM for all products being part of IBMconnect. Bundling Kenexa capabilities to a Talent Suite is a good move - but to a certain point an overdue one. Complementing Kenexa with other IBM capabilities (e.g. Watson) makes sense - but these need to be productized - not services offerings in order for IBM to protect license revenues vs. the usual competitors. 

If IBM can pull off the productization process, Kenexa will have a strong DNA of differentiators vs the competition. Always helpful when selling enterprise software. 2014 will be a key year for IBM to make this productization happen - the out of the box delivery of analytical, BigData, collaborative and Watson capabilities as a productized offering complementing Kenexa talent processes. 

 

You can find a Storify collection of the keynote here.

Future of Work Data to Decisions Innovation & Product-led Growth New C-Suite Sales Marketing Next-Generation Customer Experience Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity Tech Optimization IBM softlayer AI Analytics Automation CX EX Employee Experience HCM Machine Learning ML SaaS PaaS Cloud Digital Transformation Enterprise Software Enterprise IT Leadership HR IaaS Disruptive Technology Enterprise Acceleration Next Gen Apps IoT Blockchain CRM ERP CCaaS UCaaS Collaboration Enterprise Service Chief People Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Customer Officer Chief Human Resources Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer Chief Executive Officer

Airline Passengers Aren't Guests, They're Cargo

Partner, Sensei Marketing
Partner, Sensei Marketing

Sales & marketing veteran with almost 30 years’ experience and now 1800 digital projects to his credit for clients including Morgan Stanley, AOL, Hyatt Gaming Management, Snyder's of Hanover, Hitachi, the Home Depot, Kraft Foods, Drees Homes, American Idol, and hundreds more, including leading agencies around the North America.     ...

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This image depicts the vision of Boeing's 747 economy seating by engineer Joe Sutter, Boeing's lead designer on the 747 and author of 747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation. It's a far cry from the air travel experience of today. Mr. Sutter and his team sought to create a luxurious experience for travelers by designing an interior that made passengers feel like they were being pampered at a high-end resort. Traveling on the 747 wasn't just a means to an end; it was an experience in and of itself.

Airlines, like many businesses in the 60s, understood the value of customer experiences as a brand differentiator. Fast forward to today and airlines promote low CO2 emissions, speed, and safety when speaking about travel and their fleets of 747s, not the experience of traveling. Somewhere along the line, airline passengers stopped being passengers and became cargo.

"Customer-Centric" is Merely a Buzzword

In the 1960s brand marketers sought to make their mark by creating experiences that resonated emotionally with the customer. Their efforts went beyond the use of the term as a buzzword, and was a true effort to create a physical environment that personified the brand's interest in the satisfaction and loyalty of the customer.

Today, brands use terms like "customer-centric" and "customer-focus" loosely. They're attempting to retrain customers to believe that factors such as speed and efficiency are the guidelines for customer satisfaction. And we're buying it.

Sadly, we've failed to notice this shift. Or we noticed and simply accepted it. We've all become accustomed to lower service levels for higher fees. Our society is driven by speed and profit. At most gas stations, we pump the gas, check the oil level, and clean the windshield ourselves, receiving less service than in the past, yet we pay more. We manage our finances through ATMs and websites, and no longer through tellers. Yet we often pay the same or more service fees to the bank.

The Customer Experience Caste System

I'm not suggesting that brands which continue to provide a superior customer experience no longer exist. However, superior customer experiences have become more hierarchical in nature, creating a caste system of sorts. Status, both financial and social, has become a dividing line for how brands design and offer superior customer experiences.

Airlines have created multiple classes of seats today, offering both First Class and Business Class. Within the economy cabin there are regular economy seats as well as "preferred seating" or "economy-comfort seating" that provide early boarding privileges and slightly extra legroom for those who can afford it. Airlines are creating brand experience that revolve around price, not experience. They offer the lowest possible price by stripping all the fun, prestige, and service that was once associated with air travel and offer a cafeteria-style menu of extras that just serves to further infuriate patrons.

The idea of skewing superior customer experiences towards those with stronger balance sheets seems intuitive at first pass. Customers with more money, those who purchase first class seats, may drive greater short-term profits. However, as the divide between the "haves" and "have-nots" in our society widens, businesses may be chasing the wrong group.

A Case For The Lower Class

When President Barack Obama was campaigning against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2008, Ms. Clinton focused on fundraising from her well-connected and wealthy Rolodex. Most of her personal contributors contributed the maximum personal donation allowed ($2,300) whereas Mr. Obama, who was less connected at the time, received a good portion of his donations from those contributing less than $200 each. It's well-documented that Obama out-fundraised Clinton by a large margin, in part, because of the strategy of appealing to the larger base.

Of course, social media enabled this strategy to work; however, the lesson remains: In today's economy, if you can capture the loyalty of those with less disposable cash, due to their sheer numbers, the net result can be greater.

Of course, such as a strategy requires a corporate culture that rewards long-term planning and gives more leeway to customer experience strategists and less to shareholders seeking bigger and bigger quarterly returns. The fact is that focusing on an improved customer experience often pits the marketing team at odds with the bottom-line needs of the business and its stakeholders. Yet, when done right, the payoff can be huge.

Who Will Have The Courage?

In the face of the furor over the poor quality of the service aboard airlines, narrower seats, less leg room, and higher fees, imagine if an airline chose to proactively improve the flying experience for the vast majority of customers who could not afford to purchase first class tickets? Instead of re-branding an airline with new paint, logos, and viral social media videos, what if it created an experience that resembles Mr. Sutter's original vision of economy seating in the 747 wide-body aircraft? Re-introduced luxury in air travel without significantly increasing fees?

Sure, the company would take an immediate hit on the bottom line, but imagine the market share that could be captured. Lower profit on each flight might very well be offset by an expanded fleet, more flights, and more routes. More importantly, the loyalty and good will that would be earned from re-engineering the customer experience, so that passengers were once again valuable customers deserving of respect -- instead of cargo -- would drive up customer lifetime value and keep shareholders happy.

But this takes courage. Which airline will dare to have that courage and know-how?
Which are your favorite airlines -- and why? Join the conversation in the comments below.

 

New C-Suite Future of Work Next-Generation Customer Experience Innovation & Product-led Growth Chief Customer Officer

Former Forrester Analyst and PWC Management Consultant, Dr. Natalie Petouhoff Joins Constellation Research to Cover Digital Marketing

January 28, 2014, Santa Monica, CA  – Constellation Research, Inc., the award-winning research and advisory firm focused on how disruptive technologies transform business models announced today the addition of Dr. Natalie Petouhoff to the research team as Vice President and Principal Analyst covering digital marketing. Dr. Natalie whose research focuses on Digital Marketing Transformation, Next Generation Customer Experience and Data to Decisions expands Constellation’s ability to provide practical business and leadership transformation research/solutions to its early adopter clients worldwide. 

The addition of Petouhoff, a leading analyst in providing companies with solutions that drive increased customer lifetime value and social return on investment (ROI), signals Constellation’s commitment to providing its clients with the most comprehensive analysis of disruptive technologies that drive real business results.

As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff will be working with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic marketing and customer experience solutions along with the big data insights to inform programs to engage customers, build brands and grow businesses.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to leverage all my experience from my roles diverse in Marketing/ PR, Sales, Customer Service, Customer Experience and Product Innovation— to provide down-to-earth guidance, with a strong cross-functional point of view for clients looking to integrate and leverage their people, process and technology across and within their company” says Petouhoff.

Combining her experience as a Chief Strategist for a Social and Digital Marketing Agency, Forrester software analyst, PWC software systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff will guide executive think tanks in open discussion about how the C-suite can take ownership of technology decisions and transform them into initiatives designed derive ROI from customer and social media engagement.

“We’re excited to have Natalie join us to add to our CMO and Customer Experience offerings. At a time when legacy analyst firms have driven out their star analysts by artificially dividing their teams into research and consultants, Constellation is taking a different approach,” noted R “Ray” Wang, Founder and Chairman, “Our clients seek experts who can not only ascertain insights and deliver analysis, but also provide much needed training, education, and advisory.  Natalie’s cross-functional expertise is what’s needed for clients who want to dominate digital disruption.”

Dr. Natalie Petouhoff will begin taking briefings immediately. Contact Constellation Research directly to set up a briefing.

COORDINATES
Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrNatalie
Website:  https://www.constellationr.com/users/nataliepetouhoff
Linkedin:  www.linkedin.com/in/drnataliepetouhoff/
Geo: Los Angeles, CA

Dr. Natalie Petouhoff Biographical Information

As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Dr. Natalie Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic marketing and customer experience solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC software systems integrator, Chief Strategist for Social and Digital Agency and a change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only choosing the right software, but understanding how to derive ROI from customer lifetime value initiatives and social media / digital customer engagement. She leverages her pragmatic experience from roles diverse as—Digital / Social PR, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Customer Experience and Product Innovation— to provide down-to-earth guidance for clients. 

And as a keynote speaker and storyteller, Petouhoff shares the hottest trends & how to’s of industry leaders— the top strategies to deliver excellence at scale in marketing automation, next generation customer experience, social analytics and big data business insights. Petouhoff's experiential knowledge comes from working with a wide range of industries and brands such at General Electric, General Motors, HP, Sony Pictures Entertainment and various sports teams and their management.

Petouhoff teaches at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management Summer Institute in Managing Enterprise in Media, Entertainment & Sports. Petouhoff stays on the cutting edge by being on the advisory board of several start-ups, works with VCs and is often asked for her pragmatic and poignant point of view by the New York Times, Fast Company, Forbes, Huffington Post, TV, radio and other global outlets.

Petouhoff's foundation was built in the world of engineering where she learned strategic thinking that could be easily applied in the real-world and deliver concrete results. She studied at University of Michigan where she obtained her B.S. and M.S. in Metallurgy and Material Science Engineering. She was awarded a Fellowship by General Motors to continue her education in engineering at UCLA, where she graduated in Material Science and Metallurgical Engineering.

Petouhoff currently serves on the Board of Advisors for UCLA Extension's Management and Business Programs. This program has been delivering practical education since in 1917, serving nearly 100,000 students each year. 

Dr. Natalie Petouhoff’s 2014 Research Agenda

Research will focus on Marketing Automation, Next Generation Customer Experiences and Social Analytics

• Marketing Is the New Customer Service
• Customer Service is the New Marketing
• It’s The Age of Common Sense
• The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
• Social Business Requires Leaders To Self-Reflect
• You Can’t Get To “Tomorrow” With Yesterday Thinking; Results Require Transformative Strategy
• Social Media: The Witness Factor and How It’s Alone Transforming Business Strategy & Behaviors

Contact

Press/Influencer Relations: Courtney@ConstellationR[dot]com
Sales: sales@ConstellationR[dot]com

Marketing Transformation Next-Generation Customer Experience Chief Customer Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Marketing Officer

Constellation Research

this is a test orbit post. ignore

New C-Suite Chief Customer Officer

10 Things I Bet You Didn't Know About Innovation

1

Most of these will not help you be a better manager or leader, but will serve you well when faced with someone who thinks innovation is either really new, only done in silicon valley or only limited to things like Facebook.

Below is a slide deck I assembled.

For those that want a bit more details, below is the list with the text from each slide above, and a link with more information for each of the 10 items.

1. YOUR EARS CHOPPED OFF -- In the 1600s, the punishment for being an "innovator" was getting your ears chopped off. You were seen as a troublemaker.

2. FIVE YEAR OLD INVENTOR -- In 2008, a British five year old was issued a patent for a "Sweeping Device With Two Heads" invention.

3. CHINA ON THE MOVE -- In 2012, China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) granted more patents than any other patent office in the world, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

4. WOMEN INVENTORS RISE (LEAN IN) -- While men still file many more patents than women, female inventors are increasing their share of U.S. Women were listed as inventors on 18 percent of all patents issued to U.S. inventors.

5. LIPITOR WINS -- Lipitor, a cholesterol-lowering drug used to help reduce heart attack and stroke risk, represents the most valued patent in history.

6. WORD INNOVATION OVERUSED -- In 2011 the SEC shows companies mentioned some form of the word "innovation" 33,528 in annual reports, which was a 64 percent increase from five years before that.

7. WORST INNOVATIONS -- TIME's 50 worst innovations listed in 2010 include Foursquare, Farmville and the Segway. Go figure.

8. MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANY -- SalesForce.com does not even make the well-respected top 20 most innovative companies in the world list published by Booze & Co.

9. PATENT WARS HEAT UP -- In 2012 both Google and Apple spent more on patent litigation than on R&D -- 20 Billion in smartphone industry alone in two years.

10. FIRST PATENT EVER -- On July 31, 1790 Samuel Hopkins was issued the first patent for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer.

 

New C-Suite Tech Optimization Data to Decisions Future of Work Innovation & Product-led Growth Chief Customer Officer Chief Executive Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Marketing Officer

Disruption Revolution: The ROI of Acknowledgement

Vice President and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research
Constellation Research

Role: Vice President and Principal Analyst focusing on the IOT of Customer Experience and how the cloud is driving more flexible, agile, and robust customer service and customer experiences. In-app or in device customer service is the future. Coverage Areas: Next Generation Customer, Digital Marketing Transformation Bio: As a Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, Inc, Petouhoff works with Fortune 100 and 500’s Senior Leadership teams to create strategic customer experience (marketing, sales and service) solutions which engage customers, build brands and grow businesses. Combining her experience as a former Forrester software analyst, PWC systems integrator and change management consultant, Petouhoff leads executive workshops to discuss to not only…...

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The following is an excerpt from “Disruption Revolution”, a great e-book that you can download for free here.

You were one of the first people to calculate an ROI model for social media. Can you explain how to go about quantifying the value of things that a lot of people think are intangible? How does what you do now with social media ROI models relate to the work that you did before the rise of social media?

Calculating the ROI for social media is not for the faint of heart. It requires three basic components:

1. Your traditional business goals and how you measure them
2. Your social media goals and how you are measuring them (Most people don’t have goals or if they do, they are measuring metrics– Likes, Impressions. Metrics are important, but KPIs are not ROI.)
3. Knowing how social media affects your traditional business goals

Being able to give attribution to how social media is affecting in the business is not easy. You have to use software to measure and track attribution. But it’s not just about technology. It’s also about strategy

Being able to give attribution to how social media is affecting in the business is not easy. You have to use software to measure and track attribution. But it’s not just about technology. It’s also about strategy. And Chasm Crossers must have the ability to see both sides of the conversation. That’s why I created a 7-step framework and a methodology for executive business success for social media ROI— it gives a point of reference for both sides.

Most companies started in social media with a tactical approach. Creating a Twitter handle and a Facebook page, they said, “Happy Monday and buy our stuff.” And then were disappointed in the business results. Why? Most companies don’t have a point of reference to know if what they are doing will drive better business results in Customer Service, Marketing, PR, Innovation.

Dr. Natalie Petouhoff – UCLA Anderson 

Related articles

• The Trouble With ‘Social ROI’ – Companies Are Moving Away From Trying To Track Social Media’s Dollar Value
• Customer Conversations are Key to Your Business
• Investing in Social Media
• ROI in Social Media
• Advertisers See Growing ROI with Social Media

Marketing Transformation Next-Generation Customer Experience B2C CX Chief Customer Officer Chief Marketing Officer Chief People Officer Chief Human Resources Officer

Marketing in the Modern Attention Econo-me, 9 M-words Modern CMOs Should Consider

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Marketing has always been an inexact science. Starting with John Wanamaker famously saying over a century ago "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half" to modern day marketing pundits suggesting social media tips and tricks are the new marketing.

Digging deep, we find marketing is psychological, and personal; not technical and mathematical as some may suggest, and very much just as inexact as John Wanamaker described. Ergo, modernizing marketing is a study of the modernization of psychology. The psychology of the world is now more about "me" than us. In 2010 the New York Times published an article on the "Me Economy" suggesting that every individual is now a marketer. While this is true and I am guilty of this, there is something new happening in psychology affecting marketing and advertising beyond every individual becoming a individual marketer.

We are going from a Me Economy, to an Econo-Me.

Consumers want marketing and advertising to be more personal, engaging, and meaningful. Consumers want to skip ads, we want shorter versions, we want mini stories, we want to be emotionally and psychologically jolted before we buy. Telling us about your product is boring.

I call this, marketing and advertising in the "Modern Attention Econo-Me"


Below are nine things CMOs should consider about consumers who now no longer want to give their attention to boring and scripted product descriptions.


1. Messaging - Be greater than the sum of your products. Winning brands are within narratives beyond their offerings. Think Nike: do you remember the last time they implored you to buy their shoes?

2. Media - We're a visual culture. Aesthetics are equal part to your message. Engagement statistics don't lie: posts with photos and videos garner highest-level buzz.

3. Measured - Strive to quantify your effectiveness. Otherwise, you're at risk of appearing out-of-touch with consumers that are increasingly less forgiving.

4. Medium - Be ubiquitous across all devices--achieve ominchannel. Undoubtedly, mobile is the new mission critical. By being ever-present, ever-visible, you have an opportunity to generate incredible emotional equity with consumers.

5. Many - Accept that people are more influenced by others than brands. It's a secondary influence marketplace. Elevate the share-ability of your message. You now need to capture your audience's audience.

 

Elevate the share-ability of your message. You now need to capture your audience's audience.

6. Minutes - The one-post-a-day mentality is dead. It's now minute-by-minute updating. Strive for rapid-fire, top-of-feed content initiatives. Be consistently visible to capture consumers with now microscopic attention spans.

7. Multi-directional - Touchpoints are everywhere, in every direction. Listen to and understand the diverse ecosystems where consumers are letting their voices be heard.

8. Meaningful - Intelligence is being democratized. Consumers don't read ads, they're reading for brain food. If your message isn't contextual and focused on proliferating valuable information, it will fall flat.

9. Movement - Join one. No brand is an island. All of today's market leaders are a part of a movement--whether it's about celebrating the human spirit or educating someone--it centers on something good that you just happen to be a part of.

Is your CMO a modern marketer?
-r

 

New C-Suite Marketing Transformation Data to Decisions Future of Work Innovation & Product-led Growth Tech Optimization Chief Customer Officer Chief Marketing Officer

Workday Update 21 - All about the User Experience ... and some more

Holger Mueller

Vice President and Principal Analyst
Constellation Research

Holger Mueller is VP and Principal Analyst for Constellation Research for the fundamental enablers of the cloud, IaaS, PaaS and next generation Applications, with forays up the tech stack into BigData and Analytics, HR Tech, and sometimes SaaS. Holger provides strategy and counsel to key clients, including Chief Information Officers, Chief Technology Officers, Chief Product Officers, Chief HR Officers, investment analysts, venture capitalists, sell-side firms, and technology buyers.  Coverage Areas: Future of Work Tech Optimization & Innovation  Background: Before joining Constellation Research, Mueller was VP of Products for NorthgateArinso, a KKR company. There, he led the transformation of products to the cloud and laid the foundation for new Business Process as a…...

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On January 23rd Workday officially unveiled its Update 21 to the public in various webcasts, the details of the release can be found in the press release here. The new user interface was certainly the highlight of the release - but there was more - and Workday always packages its view on the release highlights on a website that can be found here.

Download report snapshot: Six Things to Watch About Workday

A new user experience

With Update 21 Workday (finally) gets away with its decision to run its user interface on top of Adobe flex - a decision that in hindsight (that is always 20:20) - wasn't the best. It is never easy for enterprise software vendors to change user interfaces - first and foremost for their customer's users that need to learn a new user interface - but it is also a lot of work for the vendor. Even when you build on a declarative architecture as Workday says they do, it means testing and validating all the screens - not to mention the time to design and improve existing screen layouts. There are simply only so few hours and days between releases in the SaaS world - so moving the whole user experience is a huge task that the Workday team deserves kudos for. 

Tech Optimization Future of Work Innovation & Product-led Growth Data to Decisions Digital Safety, Privacy & Cybersecurity infor workday SAP Oracle AI Analytics Automation CX EX Employee Experience HCM Machine Learning ML SaaS PaaS Cloud Digital Transformation Enterprise Software Enterprise IT Leadership HR Chief People Officer Chief Information Officer Chief Customer Officer Chief Human Resources Officer Chief Technology Officer Chief Information Security Officer Chief Data Officer