Having just come back from CES 2019 (Consumer Electronics Show), it’s clear: legacy companies need to step up their digital game. If you don’t have a digital technology strategy, you’ll become obsolete very fast. Even more importantly, you need a customer experience (CX) strategy – experience is key to every value proposition. Hyper-personalization, convenience, intelligence, 24/7 accessibility, and storytelling are essential to engage today’s consumers.
The hottest technologies to enhance CX include 5G, AI, sensors, VR, and AR. These technologies are converging across all industries– changing interactions as well as products.
Voice activation, digital assistants, and machine learning are becoming integral to user experience, providing consumers with more personalized benefits. In particular, digital health products are giving the consumer more control.
In general, autonomous capabilities, always-on accessibility, and intelligence are the ‘new normal’ and consumers will not be satisfied with less. These offerings require seamless collaboration among providers as well as embedded technologies – and they require utmost security and privacy protection to gain consumer trust and adoption.
The big questions for product innovators and manufacturers are: At what cost (are there adequate profits to be made)? How soon can you get to market? Who should you collaborate with? Who is your target market, and what is your unique niche?
Overall, my top 3 takeaways are:
- Craft your strategy to build on your company’s core, don’t just chase the leaders.
- Improving user experience is key to every value proposition; focus on your customers’ needs before you develop technology solutions.
- Digital strategy is actually business model strategy. Your long-range vision should guide decisions.