Businesses have more access to data today than ever before. Cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and Internet 4.0 are making amazing things possible in today’s business landscape. But, most experts feel that what’s been accomplished thus far is only a fraction of our potential for innovation. As a result, there’s been a growing movement to democratize innovation via business ecosystems. Companies with business ecosystems are in a unique position. They can leverage those ecosystems to innovate at a faster pace than their competition. Today, we’re going to discuss how these businesses can harness their true innovation potential through democratization. …
Category: Articles
As UX and business strategies collide, experiences become more complex. Some have even said that over a quarter of large enterprise apps will be multiexperience by the year 2023. But why is that important, and what do you get for embracing that? This article will help you understand what multiexperience is, why it is important and how you can apply it to your business. So, read on to learn about why multiexperience is the future of customer journeys and business value. What Is Multiexperience? Multiexperience refers to the various combinations of modalities (e.g., touch, voice, and gesture), devices, and apps that users interact …
Despite innovation itself being very difficult to measure, we should still aim to foster a culture of innovation where we work. One of the issues with this, though, is the question of how to do that and what to do with it once you have it. Lucky for you, people have already answered some of these questions. This article will help you understand what a culture of innovation is, what its benefits are, and what you need to foster one. By the end, you should be able to help your company create such a culture and in doing so lead it to …
When you think about a successful company, what do you see? Visionary growth? An in-depth understanding of the industry’s market? A company with a strategy that encompasses not only the technological standpoint but also the cultural standpoint? Yes! All of these make a company great, but something else sets thriving companies apart from those who aren’t doing as well. An innovative culture. A company that fosters a culture of innovation is sure to have continued success for the years that they are in business. If you are looking for more information on how to create a culture of innovation, then …
Customers today are more different than ever before, and their expectations shift quickly. This is where customer transformation begins. The modern consumer is more digitally savvy. They also spend their money on items that matter and toward businesses they want to support. But these are facts that the average business already knows. The question is, how can you use this to your advantage? Businesses have previously been told to adopt a digital transformation plan. However, you should look into a customer transformation strategy for the best results. That’s because your customers have more power than you think. But what does …
Our recent CIO survey with Oxford Economics contained a few takeaways that stood out to me: most companies are using API-first strategies, and those most committed to this concept report faster innovation and greater value from business partnerships. Even so, the survey indicates that a healthy minority of enterprises still think of APIs in integration-first terms. This mindset can block these organizations from many of today’s most important business opportunities and impede their ability to adapt to new opportunities that may emerge in the future. Being API-first means anticipating that an API may have many use cases and enable numerous business opportunities. …
Today, retail customers have more digital-first, convenient ways of shopping than ever before. And APIs are one of the critical pieces of technology that have made this possible by giving retailers the ability to transform their systems and processes in an efficient and quick way. APIs have allowed retailers to be more accessible to their remote customers with services such as order online and pick up in-store, curbside pickup, fulfillment of orders through delivery partners, and personalized recommendations while shopping online, etc. These capabilities have been especially important over the last year, as the world has changed at a rapid …
It's no secret that most businesses are scared of failure. They spend time trying to avoid mistakes at all costs, even if it means not taking risks or driving innovation. But suppose you want your business to grow and be successful in the future. In that case, you have to learn how to embrace failure as a part of the process, especially since disruption and change can happen at any moment. …
In 2020, virtually all industries, from retail and manufacturing to finance and hospitality, shifted how they do business. The uniting trait across all of them? A sharpened, more urgent focus on digital maturity and an API Economy. In fact, according to our new report, 75% of companies continued focusing on their digital transformation initiatives, despite all the disruptions, and almost two-thirds of those companies actually increased their investments and efforts. APIs replace incompatibilities created by different platforms by enabling once separate software components to communicate by allowing customer-facing, customizable interfaces. APIs have significantly increased connectivity and data exchange. Every day, …
Many of today’s most successful and technologically-adept companies view and manage their application programming interfaces, or APIs, as products — not merely as middleware that forges a connection but as software products that let developers leverage data and functionality for new purposes, digital experiences, and business opportunities. These APIs should be easy to consume and helpful to developers building the digital experiences that partners, customers, and employees are asking for. APIs have been around for decades as a systems integration technology and are not intrinsically useful outside their initial projects. A poorly-documented API that receives no maintenance might only be used once — but …
Product teams often serve as the nexus between all organizational units within a company, but often lose sight of developing API Products to ensure that cross-functional alignment drives success. At their most empowered, product owners are like miniature CEOs for each offering within a company. In my time as a digital consultant, I’ve seen one particular technology too often dismissed as back-office minutiae — application programming interfaces, or API Products. APIs are the glue that binds a company’s resources together and the mechanisms through which an enterprise’s data, functionality, and other digital assets are accessed and distributed. They enable software systems …
In my experience as a digital consultant for Google Cloud’s Apigee team, I’ve found that when a technology gets classified as “middleware,” it’s often encumbered with a scarlet letter of sorts. Business leaders find it unexciting — so much so that they often resign it to the purview of technology professionals and don’t spare a second thinking about it. Those technology professionals, meanwhile, sometimes recognize that “middleware” can be a misnomer, but may see technologies in this category as little more than bland mechanisms for integrating applications. Bluntly, “middleware” technologies are too often regarded as a dull back-office necessity and …
Content development is not as scary as it may sound. In fact developing unique content to be used online is much easier than you’d expect. As you’ve probably heard, ‘content is king,’ and the seemingly endless need for fresh content is a demand facing everyone with an internet presence. This need is particularly true if you have an online business that you want to grow. Here are 3 easy steps you can use to locate, develop, and distribute any content online. Search for content to write about Your first step is to located sources of information to gather and organize …
In e-commerce, shopping cart abandonment is ubiquitous. A meta-analysis conducted by the Baymard Institute found that about 70 percent of all online shopping carts are abandoned. Chris Hood discussed this issue along with several ideas around what to do about it with Joni Sweet at NCR Silver. “If you’re able to capture their email, you can also send them a message and ask why they abandoned the cart. Offer them a 20 percent discount for completing the survey. That way, you’re incentivizing them to give you the information you need and it might turn into a sale.” If you do …
Online learning has evolved tremendously over the last decade, and as technology has helped us learn through new channels, it has also developed new challenges that some argue put learners in a passive role and reduce interactivity. In a recent article, eServe spoke with a few digital specialists and e-learning companies to look at how effective videos are in the training and educational process. Included in the article, Chris Hood shared some thoughts, “true video learning should be developed out of content the viewer truly desires to learn. If the desire to learn is genuine and the materials are something …
Digital marketers are truly multifunctional people. The statement is increasingly more true as businesses navigate social media, user experiences, SEO and coming up with new ways to connect with customers. In a recent article by Alina Gorbatch, 14 experts reveal their essential marketing tools. Chris Hood shares some of his favorites, focusing on SEO, Content Scheduling and Performance Tracking. As we build experiences around data, all three of these tools help businesses make better decisions in their marketing efforts. WooRank is a great SEO program. Keeps track of your SEO rank for your site, as well as offers great insights …
Customer centricity is not a new concept. Until they changed their slogan in 2014, Burger King had been telling customers to “Have it your way” for 40 years. Harry Selfridge, the founder of Selfridge’s department store, coined the phrase “the customer is always right” in 1909. Focusing on pleasing the customer is nothing new. What’s changed are the tools we use to do it. We live in the digital age and the rate of digital change is a challenge for all organizations to keep up with. This transformation is at the heart of creating experiences that meet the expectations of …
There’s no doubt that the pressure of rapidly evolving technology has affected business culture. The speed at which changes are being adapted is increasing, which means that businesses that embrace a less top-down culture and open up to more collaborative and creative forms of entrepreneurship are in a position to be more successful. That’s because the majority of business leaders aren’t IT buffs and need the buy-in of their entire teams as well as the assistance of outside resources in order to implement better practices that adapt to new technologies, by embracing digital transformation. This is true for all sectors: …
Customer experience and technology must be treated as a shared relationship. At the core of a digital strategy, both must rely on each other to thrive. Creating exceptional experiences depend on businesses understanding these key trends to transform into digitally mature organizations. …
Many people would consider a lack of pizza as an omen to the apocalypse. However it’s not the lack of pizza that is creating a stir, it’s what’s causing the shift in the pizza industry that has people talking. The argument is this: “Technology is killing off independent pizzerias in the United States at the rate of roughly 2,549 locations per year (in 2015 alone),” according to Aaron D. Allen, Global Restaurant Consultant at Aaron Allen & Associates. Although there is some truth in Allen’s article, “How Tech is Killing Off Independent Pizzerias,” I’d like to look at this in …
All businesses, no matter their size, are composed of different departments, each with distinct yet overlapping responsibilities. The ability to effectively establish processes that allow for these different departments to collaborate can make or break a business. Did you know that 30 percent of employees believe that there is poor collaboration in their organization? And that a stunning 96 percent of executives list the lack of collaboration as one of their biggest downfalls? Failure to enlist appropriate collaborative processes and tools can lead to high employee turnover as well, stalling progress within departments and increasing costs in recruiting, interviewing and …
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