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Three Ways to Win With The New Digital Care Continuum

The right platforms can fix breakdowns between care settings.

Ten years ago, it was all about the patient experience. More recently, it was all about healthcare consumerism and now, the focus is shifting towards enablement – the healthcare platforms. For years, healthcare companies have been talking about the full continuum of care but nobody wanted to own it. Even when you look at the so-called Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs), they weren’t truly “integrated,” meaning their urgent care clinics, surgery centers and home care were all run as different business units by different leaders (often with different incentives).

Back in 2016, Prophet and GE Healthcare’s Patient Experience study found that because nobody owned the full care continuum, patient experiences often broke down in between care settings. At the time, we saw the opportunity for digital solutions to bridge those gaps. Now, enter the modern healthcare platforms and the digital care continuum.

“The biggest disconnect between how patients experience healthcare and how executives rate their performance was around non-clinical aspects.”

With two decades of extensive M&A activity within health systems and little improvement in the patient experiences, healthcare platforms are rapidly scaling to become not only the digital care continuum for patients but THE care continuum.  By now, we all know Teladoc Health and Livongo, as well as Carbon Health and One Medical. And let’s not forget the original healthcare platform, Kaiser Permanente. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they are approaching $100 billion in revenue. They were half of that a few years ago, and they have the leading market share in most of their markets. While not digitally native, they are more of a true platform business than virtually all of their peers of the same age.

You might be asking, what is a platform? A platform business facilitates value exchanges between two or more interdependent groups, usually consumers and suppliers. The next question becomes, how can I prepare my business for the future of healthcare platforms and digital care?

Here are a few things to consider when building your digital care continuum:

Stop Running Your Business as Self-Contained Units

Enterprises with standalone businesses and distinct P&Ls are great for managing costs, but terrible at delivering integrated care experience. This is not to say you can’t do discrete budgeting and hold people accountable for fiscal performance. But combine that with organizing and incentivizing them to create products and services that integrate into a platform that supports a patient (or any type of customer) continuum. “Warm handoffs” is a commonly used approach with today’s healthcare systems, but it’s no longer enough. It now has to be an integrated handoff. And you don’t have to be digital, Kaiser Permanente has always taken this approach.

Don’t Think About the Healthcare Experience as Care Points

Healthcare execs often say that success resides in delivering the right care, at the time, and at the right place. As patients self-navigate the U.S. healthcare system, the healthcare experience feels more like jumping from one experience to the next. As we learned in our patient experience study, the biggest disconnect between how patients experience healthcare and how executives rate their performance was around non-clinical aspects. University Health has already called out creating a seamless patient experience as a strategic priority with the digital care continuum as a critical enabler, and they intend to, offer programs and digital tools that allow patients to connect with their care team to manage episodic care or chronic diseases. Their orthopedic and pediatric cardiology specialties have utilized these tools for facilitating disease management and patient engagement. The next step for enterprises is to go beyond their specialty practices having a self-contained digital care continuum. Organizations need to view patients as people who often have multiple conditions and use health systems for a variety of care needs.

Start With the Holistic Patient Experience

It’s surprising how many large healthcare companies still don’t view patients as people. Patients with osteoporosis, heart disease and depression, are still seen as independent patients of rheumatology, cardiology, and psychiatry departments. The system is aware of the different conditions, but the experience -from treatment to bill payment to diagnostics- will differ. For pharma companies, that means three independent business units with separate brands providing drug treatments. Patients are seen as three unique conditions, not as a single, person.

Making this shift doesn’t happen overnight.  Prisma Health took its first step toward delivering a holistic patient experience by enlisting the help of PerfectService, a unified platform for clinical communication and collaboration that helps physicians, nurses and care team members improve patient care. You can’t deliver an integrated patient experience if your clinical teams can’t seamlessly collaborate on a single platform. Things like EHR systems have primarily been designed to store medical records and file claims, not optimize care coordination. Restructuring your technology footprint can go a long way to address this gap. And if you’re a digitally native healthcare provider, you’re likely already a step ahead.

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The reality is that todays’ care continuum is still largely conceptual. ACOs are designed to own the full care continuum but they are a small fraction of the U.S. healthcare spend. Look at your own company’s claims data. For commercial plans, you’ll be fortunate if 25 percent of the claims are tied to a value-based care model, and don’t be surprised if it’s under 5 percent. We’re still very much living in a fee-for-service world. And while payers have visibility across the care continuum, they don’t often have full control. Providers typically focus on just one area; primary care, specialty service lines, post-acute care, etc. which is why understanding the emerging modern healthcare platforms is so critical. Whether it is the rapid expansion of digital natives like Teladoc Health, legacy players going through a transformation like Prisma Health, or the steady growth of Kaiser Permanente, it’s coming faster you think.

For more help in getting your healthcare organization ready for the new world of healthcare platforms, and winning with the new digital care continuums, connect with our healthcare team.

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How Innovation Is Powering the Most Relevant Experiences

Costco, LEGO and Peloton prove that the stickiest engagements build the strongest fan base.

Prophet’s 2021 Prophet Brand Relevance Index® ranks hundreds of U.S. brands on the characteristics that consumers care about the most. In the sixth edition of our ground-breaking research, we measured brands’ relevancy based on how customer-obsessed, ruthlessly pragmatic, pervasively innovative and distinctively inspired they were.

After a year of global economic and social upheaval, it’s no surprise that the rankings have shifted dramatically. Our world’s abrupt transition from physical to digital, high degrees of consumer uncertainty and an increased need for human connection have all impacted how strongly brands across all industries showed up for consumers and continued to deliver innovative experiences.

Here are three brands that led the way in the innovation stakes over the past year:

1. Peloton: Improving virtual experiences through real-time data immersion

Its bike may be stationary, but the Peloton brand wasn’t, cruising in at No.2 in our Index, up 33 spots. The pandemic’s closure of workout studios and gyms definitely helped boost its brand relevance, but to get customers paying a premium for at-home sweat sessions, a fine-tuned experience was core to success. Peloton’s personalized workouts, digitally connected community and relentless in-category innovation delivered experiential excellence by enabling customers to be in unparalleled control of their health.

Peloton now has over 3.6 million users, with the average Connected Fitness subscription user clocking in 20.7 workouts a month. The brand has innovated its product line by expanding from bikes to treadmills and even commercial fitness equipment, all while establishing itself as an on-demand content powerhouse with over 10,000 classes in its digital library. Users can track every joule generated and calorie burned – and Peloton’s UX acts as a personal trainer, providing personalized “power zones” and class recommendations to optimize individual performance.

On our Index, Peloton scored highest on providing emotional connection and meeting new user needs. We see these attributes inextricably linked with the powerful, data-powered experience it consistently delivers. For consumers looking for sanctuary in a time of record uncertainty and atrophy, Peloton doesn’t just sell exercise equipment or even a good workout – it sells motivation.

Takeaway: Truly innovative brands are the ones pushing the status quo by finding new ways to engage customers in experiences that most matter to them.

2. LEGO: Blurring the lines between physical and digital experiences

LEGO zipped into 5th place, rising from No.28. As the pandemic shut schools and corralled an entire generation into at-home classrooms, LEGO unleashed countless experiences that combined play and education. Its ability to blend the digital with the physical, collaborate with innovative out-of-category players and craft experiences that make consumers feel safe and connected all helped the brand stack up high on our experience & innovation winners list.

With some 90 percent of children outside their usual learning environments, the Danish toymaker launched digital initiatives like “Let’s Build Together,” which produced thousands of hours of online content for kids. It also maintained a strong product design offensive with new toys like LEGO VIDIYO, which is AR-enabled and comes with an app to build music videos in a modular fashion.

LEGO was also unafraid to explore collaborations in verticals like fashion and multimedia, recognizing that entertainment has fewer bounds today than ever before. At the same time, it also catered to a clear consumer desire for online safety by creating kid-safe digital ecosystems through its LEGO Life App.

With these innovative pushes, it’s no wonder LEGO received top scores on the Prophet Brand Relevance Index for “engages with me in new and different ways” and “has better products, services and experiences than competitors​.”

Takeaway: Innovation winners are extending their lead by finding new ways to inspire their customers, especially with innovative out-of-category partnerships.

3. Costco: Keeping the customer experience fresh

Grocery stores got plenty of attention in 2020, but Costco made the biggest strides in relevance, rising to No. 6 from No.15. Even more impressively, it’s the first time any retailer (except Apple and Amazon) has ever appeared in the Top 10. Beyond a nice categorical boost, Costco’s north star of fair pricing, membership-based business model and simplified product matrix helped it excel in its customer experience strategy.

“Simplifying choice amidst chaos and focusing on quality products is, in an age of information overload, a revolutionary act..”

Costco is a bit of a dark horse among its peers – a low-tech, brick-and-mortar play in the age of e-commerce and grocery aisle robots. Last year, it held back on curbside pickup despite many other retailers doing so and has kept its retail experience famously streamlined, with utilitarian signage, bulk bins and nary an external ad to be seen. Yet the brand boasts a 90 percent member retention rate, thanks to its ability to double-down on the right customer segments and make each warehouse trip a satisfying haul.

Costco understands the psychology of their target consumer to a tee, enabling the brand to deliver a consistently excellent experience. Simplifying choice amidst chaos and focusing on quality products is, in an age of information overload, a revolutionary act. As a result, Costco scored highly on our Index for “lives up to its promises” and “is a brand I trust.”

Takeaway: Stay true to your brand experience “north star”, consistently delivering against this matters most to your customers.

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While the end of the pandemic appears in sight, people’s expectations of brand experiences have changed for good. Brands must be more diligent than ever by crafting strategic consumer experiences and infusing continuous innovation into their business portfolio. Those that develop more connected, emotionally compelling and pragmatic experiences will win the race to relevance, generating greater revenues – and uncommon growth.

Learn more about the brands that stood out in this year’s Prophet Brand Relevance Index®. And if you’re looking to build and maintain the capacity to innovate then our Experience & Innovation practice can help, get in touch today.

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The Experience Revolution: Three Essential Innovation Trends

How equity-centered design, digital project management and profitable waste can spark brand-new concepts.

While 2020 may go down in history as among the most challenging years, it’s been a surprisingly encouraging time for those working in experience and innovation. As the pandemic pushed stuck-at-home people into an almost entirely digital world, they had time to think about bigger questions–like social justice and community impact.

Without their usual in-person channels, companies scrambled into new realms of inventiveness, often accomplishing difficult tasks in days and weeks. Braced by this crash course in risk-taking, many are emerging with clear eyes and new energy.

Amid so many changes, we believe three trends will shape the months ahead. Smart companies are already using them as a springboard to a stronger purpose and uncommon growth.

Equity-Centered Design Goes Mainstream

The intersection of social responsibility and design isn’t new. But between Black Lives Matter protests and stark inequities, CX and innovation strategists spent much of 2020 asking each other hard questions. As a result, organizations are taking a closer at how their work perpetuates (and possibly amplifies) the deepening of privilege in a world full of unequal access, opportunities and outcomes.

That means enlarging definitions of human-centered design by expanding to community-focused thinking. And it requires stepping beyond the usual approach of designing for an individual, persona or archetype, making decisions based on empathy and inclusion.

“By thinking beyond the “average” person, companies often find innovations that benefit everyone.”

We expect more companies to strive to design for fairness, especially as it becomes clear that doing so can lead to growth. Tapping into previously ignored markets, such as the disabled, non-English speakers and older consumers, are important avenues for new customers. Microsoft’s Seeing AI app, for instance, was developed by a designer who is blind, recognizes facial expressions, reads documents and more for people with visual limitations. But by thinking beyond the “average” person, companies often find innovations that benefit everyone. Those include easier-to-navigate digital experiences, better audio services and more accessible product design.

Certainly, these innovations can prevent legal troubles down the line. But the best design thinking includes equity from the very beginning, not as a late-in-the-game modification from the compliance department.

Led by organizations like the Creative Reaction Lab and the Stanford DSchool, more practitioners recognize that good experiences must reflect diversity, equity and inclusion at every level. Often, that means including inspirational stories of people who have been shut out in the past. Fairness serves the triple bottom line—profits, people and the planet.

Digital Project Management Grows Up

By now, businesses are well aware that digital projects need continuous management, led by a professional community of digital natives. But increasingly, companies are switching from a project management perspective to one of product management. The former are things a company makes. The latter are businesses that must be managed.

That means viewing them through the lens of finance, governed by profit and loss. Companies like Google have always done this. But increasingly, legacy brands, including CapitalOne, are waking up to the reality that these digital efforts are core to an organization’s value chain. This isn’t a fad. It’s a fundamental way of organizing. Rather than evaluating their work as engineering projects delivered on time and on budget, these professionals are becoming mini-CEOs.

Mature Enterprises Learn to be Young Again, Warming Up to the Reality of Profitable Waste

Google, with its well-publicized history of rewarding failure and encouraging moonshots, has gotten more than its share of attention, especially for Google X. But older companies know they have to become young again if they want to keep pace with digital natives. And more of these legacy brands–including Philips, Verizon 5G, Citi and Nestle–are owning up to the reality that meaningful innovation can’t be predicted in advance. When businesses take only small chances, they can only achieve small wins.

Businesses are aware of this, of course. A study from Partners In Leadership found that 84 percent of executives agree that their company’s future depends on innovation. But only 37 partners in their organization are willing to take the necessary risks.

These forward-looking companies are, in effect, learning to plan for breakage. This new realism means recognizing that every success may have required ten flops. They’re developing more practical ways to encourage risks. And most importantly, they are looking for new ways to measure success and reward innovation.

Those that don’t do this will have to be content with small incremental wins while bolder competitors make meaningful gains.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Consistent with the notion that times of great struggle can bring great changes, we are seeing long-standing constructs in design and innovation evolve in new directions. Diversity, equity and inclusion are increasingly becoming requisite elements of product and service experience design methodologies and outcomes. The way in which successful digital product creation is positioned and prioritized within an enterprise is not only connected to project delivery but to strategic accountability and tangible business results.

And while ambiguity has long been something that designers and innovator leaders have needed to be comfortable with, they also need to be open to productive waste that leads to bigger and bolder outcomes in the end. The most successful companies will be those that embrace and apply these shifts in thoughtful and scalable ways.

To learn more about innovation-led transformation for your organization, contact us today.

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Reclaiming Interest: A Transformation Playbook for the Insurance Industry

Learn to transform your organization from the inside-out, adding the capabilities and talent needed right now.

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While insurance companies have made much progress in reinventing themselves for today’s customers, the results are clear: there’s still some way to go. As many turn their attention toward planning and formulating their strategies for the year ahead, this playbook from our Financial Services practice outlines the different levers to pull in order to speed up digital transformation efforts and customer experience initiatives.

In this playbook you will learn:

  • How insurers can transform their organizations from the inside out by effecting culture change and equipping the business with the right talent and capabilities to succeed in 2021.
  • How a customer-centric approach can help your business, how to get started and how to measure you efforts.
  • What the state of transformation is in the industry today and the reasons to hit the gas now.

Download the full report below.

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Human or Abstract? Defining Your Conversational Brand Experience

Gender, name, visual identity and personality all factor into what a brand should sound like.

Consumers are becoming increasingly comfortable with voice technology. Digital assistants, whether chatbots or voice agents, can bring brands to life in new ways, adding personality, differentiation, warmth – and even humor. They can turn static digital experiences into dynamic conversations, deepening the connection between brands and their customers.

The Conversational Brand: Strategy for a Digital-First World report by Altimeter, Prophet’s research arm, outlines the key decisions to consider to bring a conversational experience to life. The report seeks to answer the following questions:

  • What is the role of the conversational experience in the broader brand portfolio?
  • How closely linked should it be to the master brand?
  • What use cases will it deliver on?
  • What benefits will it bring to its users and to the company?

If the goal of the conversational experience is owned by one product or channel, it may look and talk very differently than if its role is to represent the master brand and provide a connective thread across different touchpoints.

Human or Abstract: That Is the Question

First, one must decide how to design the persona –either human-like or abstract. The main factor that should influence this decision is the strategic intent of the conversational experience: is the goal to humanize the brand? To create a deeper relationship with customers? To stand out in the market with a relatable character? If the answer to these questions is yes, then a human-like persona may be preferred. If, on the other hand, the goal of the experience is to automate repetitive tasks, to increase the speed of transactions, or to simplify processes in the background, then an abstract persona may be preferred.

In practice…

When AXA asked Prophet to create a conversational experience, we aligned on some clear strategic objectives: deepen customer engagement while humanizing the AXA brand as it was making the shift from payer to partner. A human-like avatar made the most sense, and so Emma was born. We built Emma to become an empathetic navigator, helping customers easily navigate the journey – from accessing services and making claims to reviewing health information and checking symptoms.

“The experience is futuristic and high-tech to create a futuristic and high-tech identity.”

Choosing a human conversational identity is an approach other companies are finding success with, as well. For example, Microsoft recently announced that it would turn Xiaoice, its highly empathetic chatbot, into her own entity, paving the way for new licenses and ventures.

Microsoft has described this virtual teenager as “sometimes sweet, sometimes sassy and always streetwise.” She’s fond of joking with users, even offering encouraging advice on life and love. With 660 million users worldwide, Xiaoice works on multiple chat services and is trained on data that Microsoft gleaned through the Bing search engine.

In addition to its abstract Google Assistant, Google is developing Meena, a human-like avatar that observers expect to deliver the best conversational AI yet.

But for some purposes, abstract identities offer more possibilities. For example, Bixby, Samsung’s digital assistant, is designed to help customers unlock their Samsung devices’ full potential. Bixby is an always-on feature. But instead of simply following commands, it’s built to have conversations. It encourages exploration and offers insightful curation, all the while making the everyday tasks feel easier.

In other words, it acts as a users’ bright sidekick, bringing together more information than a human could possibly manage. And while the technology is friendly, its features are best expressed through an abstract experience, not a human one. The experience is futuristic and high-tech to create a futuristic and high-tech identity. Even its name is not human, which allows it to appear and perform consistently in markets worldwide.

Developing Your Brand’s Conversational Identity

Once a company has decided what type of AI assistant it will create, there are still many decisions to make in developing its identity. For example, we established guidelines for the many ways Emma communicates with consumers, allowing personality to shine through in every interaction. She is curious, smart and thoughtful, determined to help users take care of their physical, financial and emotional well-being. Even her physical appearance is distinctive: She’s an approachable Pan-Asian woman with a little French flair.

Often, these seem like minor details. But digital assistants are functional, transactional touchpoints that benefit from small, purposeful doses of personality, including:

Gender

Users expect a gender even in abstract assistants. If it’s not immediately apparent, they’ll often ask. Both Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, for example, are positioned as vaguely female. And Samsung made this question a core part of the Bixby’s user experience, with devices prompting people to assign Bixby a voice that is either male or female.

Names

Even beyond suggesting gender, names are a key part of developing an identity. Some names sound young. Some sound formal. Choosing a too familiar name might at first make customers think they’re dealing with an actual human. And some names have specific class, geographic or even religious associations.

Visual Representation

Since users see these assistants while they are talking, aesthetic considerations are important. These questions go far beyond simple graphic design and are at the heart of strategic positioning. Should the assistant look like it is closely connected to the master brand? Should the visuals be able to translate into more extensive advertising efforts? Or can it take on new dimensions, possibly paving the way for new offers, markets and customers?

Personality

Customers will only respond to digital representations that are likable. Like in real human relationships, personality traits shape communication. Should it be bold? Curious? Serious? Funny? Thoughtful? Clever? A Gen Z customer expects a different type of conversation than a Baby Boomer does. Use cases also matter – customers probably won’t feel like joking if they’re sick or just lost their credit card.

But ultimately, the best choices all support the strategic foundation, turning digital assistants into brand allies. And built carefully, with thoughtful updates as more data is collected, they can spark growth and deepen digital connections.

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When designing the conversational experience’s identity, merely finding an interesting avatar or mascot is not enough. It is crucial to consider the strategic imperatives to make the experience consistent with the master brand.

Interested in developing a powerful digital experience and virtual assistant for your brand? Contact us today.

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The Way Forward – Key Tips to Reimagine Your Business in Southeast Asia

The future lies in an agile operating model, diversified delivery models and reimagined stores.

his is the second article of our two-part series “Digital Transformation in Times of Turbulence” originally published on Brandberries.

“What’s next? The future of shopping will continue to be conducted largely from the home, while remote learning, gaming, cashless and proximity payments will all ramp up and become the norm.”

Thriving in the post-COVID-19 future will ultimately require changes in how companies think about staying relevant to consumers while managing increased operational complexity, as well as potential delays in the rebound of demand and customer traffic. Combined with sales migration toward online channels and the renewed focus on value, these changes could contribute to margin compression. Moreover, there are certain behaviors that are likely to shift fundamentally, requiring reconsideration of the consumer proposition and companies’ go-to-market strategy and operating model.

What’s the “New Possible”? Four Tips to Reimagine Your Business

New attitudes toward physical distance, health and remote working will create opportunities related to therapeutic properties and mental wellbeing. Companies will work to diversify supply chains while continuing to invest in digital tech and virtual experiences to maintain engagement. Based on our research, there are four tips to prepare for the Next Possible:

  1. Rethink Role of Physical Store
  2. Rethink and Diversify Delivery Model
  3. Double Down on Digital
  4. Embrace an Agile Operating Model

1. Rethink Role of Physical Store

Although digital shopping has accelerated, physical stores retain appeal. Consumers in SEA expressed the desire to return to physical stores, particularly to shop for apparel, mobile phones and domestic appliances. Clobbered by the crushing effects of the pandemic, thousands of retailers from Bangkok to Singapore have rushed to set up online shops on big e-commerce platforms to stay afloat this year. Now shopping malls across the region are going virtual for the first time. The pandemic has pushed retailers to move beyond the traditional view that physical locations are primarily for in-store customer engagement. Promising new models have begun to take hold.

New Replica Virtual Mall

In Singapore, Marina Square Shopping Mall — nestled among luxury hotels and popular tourist attractions — is taking more than 30 of its tenants online with Lazada, the Southeast Asian arm of Alibaba Group. It’s the first shopping center in the city-state to create a mini virtual replica of its physical mall. This follows similar moves by Siam Center, a landmark shopping mall in Bangkok built in the 1970s, which teamed up with Lazada to set up its virtual mall with about 40 tenants. In Indonesia, more than 100 tenants of three malls by developer Pakuwon Group are going live on Lazada. Lazada, which operates in six countries in Southeast Asia, launched its virtual mall called Lazmall in 2018, allowing brands to set up their own online stores.

Bring an In-Store Feel to the Digital Experience

The inability to engage customers in a physical environment has pushed some retailers to bring more of the in-store experience online. First, leading retailers have substituted in-store personalized interactions with offerings such as virtual appointments, where sales associates use videoconferencing platforms to offer personalized attention to customers. Similarly, retailers are using live streaming to engage with customers and increase revenue and loyalty by sharing experiential content. Second, retailers have been developing alternative engagement models to take the risk out of digital-purchasing decisions. In apparel and fashion, for example, one of the main impediments to online purchasing has historically been the inability for customers to see how items would look on them. Jewelry brand Kendra Scott is tackling that problem by launching a new platform, Virtual Try-On, which uses augmented reality (AR), machine-learning and computer-vision techniques. Shopify, which allows its merchants to add 3-D models to their product pages, found that conversion rates increased by 250 percent when consumers viewed 3-D products in AR.

2. Rethink and Diversify Delivery Model

COVID-19 has heightened the importance of safe delivery modes, including curbside pick-up and aggregator delivery. Retailers have scrambled to launch services to meet this demand. Retailers are also reassessing store formats to support third-party delivery services. Some groceries are creating “speed zones” near the front of the store and stocking them with the most popular items to enable delivery companies to accelerate pick, pack and delivery of orders.

New Partnership to Enhance Convenience

Many retailers have explored strategic partnerships to enhance convenience for customers and boost sales. These new ecosystems allow retailers to gain access to new capabilities and extend their brand reach to new customers. There will be higher expectations for offline experiences to create even higher value beyond what can now (mostly) be done online. Customers can order from food halls or PD Pasar Jaya (Wet market) through Whatsapp in Indonesia, and goods will be delivered via Gojek. The Singapore government also helps food and beverage owners go digital through the Food Delivery Booster Package. Aprindo, which groups about 150 local and national retail companies with a total of around 45,000 outlets across Indonesia, launched a novelty “Park & Pickup” feature. It allows customers to order their groceries via WhatsApp or the Hypermart online store and pick up their orders at the parking lot. There’s no need to get out of the car because staff will deliver the goods to the car.

3. Double down on Digital

As consumers use more digital channels, it is important for companies to ensure that their experiences at each touchpoint are consistent, generate delight and further enhance companies’ understanding of consumers. This requires brands and companies to not only be open to shifting their marketing messages but also invest in analytics capabilities and reallocate financial and talent resources as needed.

Dial up the Acquisition and Drive Traffic to Digital Assets

Retailers can partially offset diminished foot traffic in physical stores by boosting investments in online acquisition. With more investment in online marketing, winners are adapting their strategies to account for shifts in consumer behavior.

Extend Digital-Channel Presence and Engagement

Shelter-in-place orders have led companies to test new methods of customer engagement. Many retailers with established mobile apps have cited record downloads, while others sought to make up ground quickly. In addition, while building and nurturing online communities are not new ideas, they have gained significant momentum. Retailers are augmenting direct customer interactions with engagement in apps and other relevant channels. Nike, for example, activated its digital community by offering virtual workouts and saw an 80 percent increase in weekly active users of its app.

Ensure That the Digital Experience Is Truly ‘Zero Friction’

Customer expectations are rising for digital channels in terms of site loading speed, stability and delivery times. To keep pace, retailers should start by designing web pages that are optimized for digital shopping. For example, making the highest-selling (and ideally highest-margin) products easy to find helps to make the customer journey more seamless. The first page of Lazada listings receives nearly two-thirds of all product clicks. With more customers now engaging through mobile devices, retailers must ensure that all digital channels are integrated and offer consistent services (such as payment options) and experiences (such as shopping carts updated in real-time across devices).

4. Embrace an Agile Operating Model

The pace of change in the post-pandemic environment will force retailers to continually reassess their strategies. This approach requires more real-time insights on customers as well as a new agile operating model to harness these insights and put them into action. The next normal is still taking shape, and customer expectations will continue to shift in response. Retailers that focus on customer experience and respond with agility and innovation in their omnichannel experiences will fare better and strengthen their ties to customers.

Real-Time Behavioral Tracking

Before the pandemic, digital leaders were using data to optimize customer experience, gauge satisfaction, identify foot traffic trends and generate purchase recommendations. Winning retailers are moving beyond surveys as a mechanism for customer input and toward near-real-time tracking of consumer trends and behavior With the rise of digital in recent months, companies will have even more dynamic data at their fingertips, and they can use these data to extract immediate insights. For example, many retailers have seen an influx of new customers to physical stores (for essential retail) or digital channels. Winners will generate insights from these new customers and construct targeted retention plans, messages and offers to maintain the customer relationship in this era of brand switching and cost-consciousness. Social media is another channel that offers insights on rapidly changing consumer behaviors.

Agile Innovation and Test & Launch

By adopting agile practices alongside the generation of real-time consumer insights, retailers can more quickly re-calibrate their business model and offerings to meet consumer expectations. Retailers need to raise their metabolic rate—that is, the speed at which they process information and develop new offerings. The speed at which some retailers have been able to stand up new omnichannel models (for example, launching a new delivery business in three weeks) shows what a truly agile operating model can unleash. A rapid approach to tests and trials can enable retailers to launch offerings at scale more quickly and avoid losing share in the face of shifting consumer behavior.

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This is the second article of our two-part series “Digital Transformation in Times of Turbulence”. Read the first part of our series here to learn more about the emerging consumer trends in the new normal in Southeast Asia.

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As the saying goes, “disrupt or be disrupted.”

For those who think and hope things will basically go back to the way they were: Stop. They won’t. All businesses, especially retailers, that do not start embracing digital as part of their business strategy may see themselves left behind as their businesses falter.

Finally, shoppers still appreciate the “touch and feel experience” of physical stores. As such stores need to reimagine end-to-end consumer engagement on digital channels and seamlessly link online and offline experiences to radically accelerate in-store omnichannel integration. Companies that are both digital and offline, rather than one or the other, will be better positioned in the days ahead—especially if they can use both to create a mutually reinforcing customer ecosystem.

Contact us to learn more about what levers you can pull to reimagine your business for uncommon growth in the post-COVID-19 era.

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The Human Need for Shared Spaces

The human need for shared spaces

As businesses welcome people back after months of fear and uncertainty, nearly all have been forced to think differently about their “shared spaces.” For all the anxiety about the details, (Are we opening too soon? Too slow?) there’s an undeniable joy, too. People want to be together.

“I don’t know when it will be safe to return,” wrote musician Dave Grohl, in a recent Atlantic Monthly essay about the return of live concerts. “But I do know that we will do it again, because we have to. It’s not a choice. We’re human…we need each other.”

Businesses know this is true. And in amazingly short order, they’re figuring out the safety protocols, redesigning experiences for physical distance and better sanitation. But the post-pandemic reopening is offering the opportunity for something much bigger: A complete reimagining of these spaces, a reset of their purpose, a shift to in their development and, most of all, a new standard for trust.

The smartest companies are asking how they can use this moment not just to reignite, but also to accelerate the transformation that was in front of them even before the crisis. Doing so requires a teardown of current thinking, with great sensitivity to the many ways the world has changed. These leaders aren’t waiting around for “the new normal.” They are looking ahead to what some are calling “New Possible.”

Purpose: Finding meaning in shared spaces

From retailers and restaurants, to hotels and hospitals, the best practices for sanitation, hygiene and crowd density become clearer every day. Many organizations are making customers and employees protection from illness their highest priority. But now that doors are opening, what’s missing is the bigger issue of purpose, and why these spaces exist at all.

Their function is obvious. Everyone knows what people do at airports, theaters and sushi bars. But that’s not the same as understanding purpose. These places exist to connect, inspire and nourish us, to feed our larger need to be with others. It’s what we feel in these spaces, not what we buy there. Companies need to take this moment to reimagine the potential of shared spaces to fill these deeper needs.

Office buildings are a good example. Initially designed as a place for productivity, architects typically devoted 70 percent to productivity-focused areas and 30 percent to collaboration spaces, such as conference rooms and teaming rooms. Now that we know people can be productive anywhere, offices need a new purpose and perhaps a different allocation of space. Are they centers for occasional collaboration? Are they places where coworkers can bond and support each other?

Service design: Empathy-driven innovation

Increasingly, companies are viewing shared spaces with an eye toward service design, which means treating space as a tool to make lives easier for those who use them. They’re developing new experience principles, and aligning those with overall business strategy.

That includes physical innovations to make layouts, interiors, materials, fixtures, furnishings and equipment work together to deliver effective yet safer interactions. New spaces will be easier for employees to sanitize, and built in a way that this cleanliness is evident to worried customers.

Digital tools in physical spaces play an enormous role. These include no-touch operations, such as motion actuation, facial recognition, voice activation and gestural interfaces. Mobile devices are emerging as a critical component, allowing for seamless experiences within a physical space, developing “sensing” capabilities and user-data capture to track behaviors for better and safer operations.

Some of these innovations are small, obvious and even quick, like foot-activated doors. Others require major mind shifts and soon, new buildings. As health experts learn more about air quality and its role in disease transmission, for example, heating, ventilation and air conditioning are no longer architectural afterthoughts. They’ll become key considerations in new design.

Trust: Re-earning confidence

When it comes to shared spaces, nothing is as important as trust. People need to feel that they can count on the companies they deal with to keep them safe when they venture out–including protecting them from people who might be less concerned with physical distancing than they are.

Foundationally, people build relationships with brands through trust. In recent years, that’s focused on brand quality. But today, trust is measured by how the company did or did not respond to the crisis, or how it is restarting. People are asking: Do I trust this airline to keep me safe? This shoe store?

This won’t be easy, especially since many companies have already broken this trust, and continue to do so. Those that can regain customer confidence by offering safety and consistency will find themselves more relevant than their competitors.

Creating a culture of care

All three of these–purpose, service design and trust–require companies to lead with radical empathy, creating spaces where humans feel safe, respected and happy.

It calls for a culture of care. This need for empathy is profound, based on the knowledge that even as many people long to be back in shared spaces so they can feel more human, many are also frightened.

Cultural care becomes a key ingredient. Germ control and crowd management may be essential, but if handled too aggressively, they can seem hostile and unfriendly. And that can interfere with the elements of hospitality, warmth and sanctuary people crave in public spaces.

With that in mind, companies can approach every decision about physical space through these three lenses:

START: What new functions, services or physical elements should the space contain that are not part of the current design?

STOP: What functions, services or physical elements of the current model should no longer be part of the experience?

CONTINUE: What functions, services or physical elements of the current model should be kept as part of the experience?

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Companies must remember that what matters is the experiences people have in these spaces. People will remember what companies do, not what they say, no matter how many “We’re in this together” signs they hang. The old saying “actions speak louder than words” is truer than ever.

Are you interesting in redesigning your shared spaces so your business can achieve uncommon growth tomorrow and into the future?

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REPORT

Post-COVID Shared Spaces: From Response to Reimagination

Shared spaces need to be reimagined. Here’s how to deliver thoughtful experiences and services.

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COVID-19 has changed our perceptions of physical spaces. It has caused an upheaval in how we work, shop, interact with one another and so much more. But as society re-opens, we need to move past the short-term “fixes” that many essential businesses introduced during the onset of the crisis and think about the long-term implications of what comes next.

Businesses and brands need to understand what are and what will be, the drivers of customer behavior in this next period so that they can reimagine their experiences and services to deliver against them. Without question, digitally-enabled experiences will play a major part of the “new possible” and brands need to respond and prepare their organizations today.

Read our guide to learn:

  • What does the “new possible” look like and how to accelerate transformation
  • Where to start and what are the steps required to develop the right strategy and new experience principles
  • What are the next generation experiences that will define how to operate effectively in this new environment

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Five Enablers Accelerating Digital Transformation Today

Partnerships, 5G and contactless delivery can speed the pace of change.

The post-COVID-19 era provides a unique opportunity for companies to reimagine their businesses and accelerate digital transformation. In Asia in particular, companies were already prioritizing digital transformation companies – COVID-19 has sparked an acceleration and scaling of digital efforts as consumer behaviors evolve. According to a recent Prophet survey, acceleration of overall digital transformation is the second most impacted area for companies by COVID-19, following business continuity and employee safety.

In this article, we have identified five major enablers of digital transformation that businesses should consider and capture.

1. Accelerating 5G: Fueling Innovations & Greater Connectivity

The new normal has catalyzed the need for smarter and more integrated solutions, all of which demand greater connectivity enabled by 5G. The effects on businesses are far-reaching, changing the way we approach manufacturing, logistics, public security, healthcare, entertainment and more. We have seen many industries tapping into 5G to accelerate automation. For example, mining companies across Asia have deployed intelligent unmanned mining trucks to maintain productivity and safety during COVID-19.

5G also unlocks the potential for a seamless and immersive shopping experience, making the shopper’s journey more efficient and entertaining. Chinese e-commerce player JD (京东) accelerated the implementation of its automated logistics and delivery system during the pandemic. Packages were automatically sorted in their smart warehouses and delivered to shoppers via robots and drones 24 hours a day. Alibaba’s Tmall (天猫) launched a 3D virtual shopping experience at the 618 Shopping Festival. Over 100 brands have participated in the initiative, among which, IKEA has created a 1:1 virtual showroom, bringing its 3,000 sq m Shanghai store to consumers’ mobile phones.

As 5G is being more widely deployed in China and across Asia, companies have an opportunity to reimagine their businesses from both an operational and a customer experience standpoint.

2. Virtual Business: Digitally Enabled Selling and Customer Servicing

Consumers have become comfortable with going online to fulfill needs that are traditionally served in person. Seizing this opportunity, companies have to re-design their end-to-end customer experience to enable digital engagement from discovery and purchase to after-sales service to capture and retain these new ‘digital natives.’

Retail companies have to upskill their sales employees as they adapt and migrate their sales force online. Cosmo Lady (都市丽人), one of China’s largest underwear and lingerie companies, transformed its employees into a WeChat salesforce with the aim of achieving closer proximity to consumers.

Financial institutions are also evolving their traditional way of interacting with customers through digital tools. In May 2020, Citibank HK introduced its industry-first remote video insurance application service, where financial advisors can recommend and sell insurance products through virtual meetings.

Coming out of the COVID-19 crisis, many companies have an opportunity to rethink their selling and customer service processes to be far more digital and in tune with customers’ new expectations.

3. Unexpected Partnerships: Creating New Value for Consumers

Companies across industries have shown tremendous resourcefulness during the pandemic in creating new solutions through partnerships. To create new and integrated customer experiences, they looked beyond ancillary partnerships to combine capabilities, resources and technologies in innovative ways.

Global FMCG giants are exploring partnerships across industries to create new offerings, especially when traditional channels are faltering. In India, P&G partnered with Swiggy, a food delivery app, to deliver essential household products to consumers, in the absence of a delivery supply chain.

Companies are also sharing their consumer ecosystem as a new media platform to amplify their reach to a broader audience. Back in March this year, H&M granted the Red Cross access to its official Instagram account to spread health and safety messages to the brand’s 120 million followers, compared to the health organization’s 300,000 followers.

Companies that are constantly seeking out new ways to create value through various resources and capabilities will be the leaders of tomorrow.

4. Data Exchange Unlocked: Mainstream Acceptance

Big data has been an invaluable tool for companies to identify and respond to consumer needs in creative and agile ways. While privacy concerns have always been a sensitive issue, the pandemic has made consumers become more comfortable with sharing data and having it tracked across platforms, in exchange for safety, health, transparency and efficiency. The many success stories of government-led, data-driven contact-tracing programs implemented in South Korea, Singapore and China, have shifted consumers’ perceptions and opened up their minds to what is acceptable.

But there is a caveat. Consumers now hold even higher expectations for the value they get in return from the data they share. Therefore, companies must find ways to deliver greater value in exchange for more data. For example, gaming hardware company Razer is giving out free surgical face masks to every adult Singaporean. In exchange, consumers are required to download the Razer Pay app and register their personal info for verification.

In the world of finance, global financial institutions are creating new, appealing offers in exchange for customers’ personal data. DBS Bank in Singapore launched a 30-day free COVID-19 relief insurance for its customers. To enjoy the free coverage, customers needed to provide information about their demographics, finance and health. DBS saw 52,000 sign-ups within a day, showing that customers are willing to share data in exchange for the desired value.

Thinking of the post-COVID-19 era, companies need to reconsider how they access and collect data and whether value they provide in exchange makes it worthwhile and acceptable to customers.

5. Contactless Economy: A New Mindset Towards Customer Experience

For years, advances in digital technology have been raising the expectations for convenience. But in a post-COVID-19 world, convenience is no longer simply about speed or being frictionless, it is also about being contactless – eliminating the need for any human contact or interaction.

Prominent service providers in Southeast Asia like Gojek and Grab, have become a critical node for the e-commerce business during COVID-19 as consumers opt for contactless delivery due to health and safety concerns. Hotels and restaurants that were previously shielded away from a direct-to-consumer delivery service are now partnering with Gojek and Grab to sustain their business.

The new normal consumers have embraced the contactless experience and are expecting more value beyond safety and hygiene. To respond to these needs, global retailers are investing in technology to deliver superior experiences. To address the frequent issue of buying the wrong shoe size online, Nike introduced the app Nike Fit for customers to find the right size by scanning their feet, eliminating the need to go to a physical store.

There is a new mandate for businesses to adopt a ‘contactless mindset’ and to rethink their operations and customer experiences, even after the pandemic is over.

“The post-COVID-19 era provides a unique opportunity for companies to reimagine their businesses and accelerate digital transformation.”

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There is no doubt that businesses will have to stay digitally agile in this new normal. By understanding these important enablers that have come to shape digital transformation, business leaders can identify new opportunities and map out their next growth moves.

What to do next to spark uncommon growth in the new normal? Stay tuned for the final part of our series, in which we will discuss the distinct patterns emerging across industries and the unique opportunities for businesses to accelerate their digital transformation agenda.

Download the full PDF report here, or read the first part of the series, where we explored the new consumer perspectives and habits to have emerged in the post-COVID-19 era.

Connect to learn more about what levers you can pull to reimagine your business for uncommon growth in the post-COVID-19 era.

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4 Ways Financial Services Companies are Supporting Customers Through COVID-19

Look for new and empathetic ways to offer guidance and provide relief.

COVID-19 is undeniably reshaping how we live and work. 

Financial services companies may be better positioned than some other industries to weather this storm, but they – and the customers they serve – are nonetheless grappling with a variety of major shifts. 

COVID-19 is not only impacting the way consumers and businesses interact with their financial services providers, but it is also impacting what they need from their financial services providers. For instance:

  • More businesses are seeking small business loans in response to the stimulus package. 
  • More consumers need mobile banking solutions for items they previously would have visited for in-branch.
  • Increasingly, employers need to find the best way to keep their employees updated about potentially changing benefits. 

As the effects of the COVID-19 crisis continue to unfold, we’re seeing four themes emerge.

Here’s how financial services and insurance companies are responding to the crisis today:

1. Providing an empathetic approach to addressing customers’ rapidly evolving needs, even “from a distance” 

Banks, credit card companies, and insurance providers are working to provide easy access to information in a time of high uncertainty. 

Banks that have previously been leaders in offering online banking – like Capital One and PNC – have been encouraging customers now more than ever to service their banking needs online with digital tools and services by reminding them how to check balances, pay bills, and transfer money online. They have also been expanding systems to ensure that they are able to handle an increase in inbound digital servicing. And, where possible, companies are deploying additional digital tools, including options to request payment deferrals and online chat services to enable customers to avoid longer than usual hold times at call centers.

“Companies are deploying additional digital tools, including options to request payment deferrals and online chat services to enable customers to avoid longer than usual hold times at call centers.”

Financial services and insurance companies are also empowering call service representatives to take action and address customers’ concerns directly without additional approvals. To deploy these new working norms, companies are launching additional training for customer service representatives who are bombarded by anxious customers. The trainings are focused on leading with empathy while being empowered to offer additional forms of financial relief.

2. Finding new ways to guide customers through a time of crisis

Some financial services companies are helping customers address their evolving financial situations through either an increase in available information or planning tools that enable customers to better navigate their financial picture given the uncertainty of the crisis. Examples of this response include Vanguard holding live webcasts and using a dedicated section of their website to educate customers on how to navigate market volatility, and HSBC is using its financial expertise to help customers manage their emergency finances with access to an Emergency Savings Fund Calculator tool.

3. Providing direct financial relief to customers or easing the pressure of monthly payments

Financial institutions including American Express, Chase, Discover, and many others have reported offering financial assistance or deferring payments in order to address the evolving financial situation caused by COVID-19. Furthermore, most companies are offering additional forms of relief that may be made available to customers who reach out and explain how COVID-19 has personally affected their personal financial situation or has caused hardship for their business. Depending on the provider, forms of relief include:

  • Waiving interest fees, late fees, or minimum payments for a period of time.
  • Not reporting payment deferrals such as late payments to credit bureaus.
  • Delaying due dates for some borrowers on cards, auto loans and mortgages.
  • Increasing spending limits for certain cardholders on a case-by-case basis.

In addition to providing payment deferral options, the top ten sellers of personal car insurance have pledged to give back more than $7 billion in reduced premiums through programs like Allstate’s ‘Shelter-in-Place Payback’ and Statefarm’s ‘Good Neighbor Relief Program.’

4. Giving philanthropic donations to support organizations that are providing direct aid to addressing the crisis

Many financial services and insurance companies have also already provided philanthropic donations focused on addressing issues of hunger and food insecurity, or to provide direct relief to community development organizations where the majority of their employees are located. Beyond giving donations to local communities and to support basic needs, some financial services companies have also provided additional donations to support broader communities including Bank of America’s pledge to support an initiative with Khan Academy to offer free online learning for Pre-K – Grade 12 students throughout this crisis. While USAA has committed that a portion of its donations will be designated to non-profits focused specifically on helping members of the military.

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In the medium-term, we expect to see financial services and insurance companies begin to launch preliminary, near-term strategic responses. Given the continuously evolving nature of this ongoing situation, longer-term strategies will emerge as the pandemic slows and economies emerge with a clearer view of the new current state.

For many companies, the near-term and long-term strategies will require an accelerated digital transformation in order to meet changing customer needs and experience expectations. Companies will need to build smarter, faster and more flexible organizations to create new business models that operate at the pace of ever-changing markets in order to build and sustain crucial brand relevance.

If you need help figuring out what path to take now, in the next 6-8 months, or beyond, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re happy to have a conversation. Also, if you have any questions you’d like answered by our experts, drop them into the comments below or reach out directly here.

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Why Healthcare Must View Customer Experience as a Product

Drugs and devices matter less. Today’s patients look at care as an experience.

Leading organizations are no longer viewing customer experience as an add-on, but instead as a core product, and the healthcare industry has been slow to adapt. In an earlier article, I introduced execution-based barriers in delivering a winning customer experience. The first of those barriers are not viewing experience for any customer – B2B, patient, consumer, etc. – as a core product. Most companies that are not digitally native are guilty of this. They have locked themselves into how they operate or what they manufacture.

“They have gone beyond customer-centric and are customer-experience-centric.

If you ask the CEOs of pharmaceutical companies, health insurers, or health systems what their core products are, they will tell you drugs, plans, and care delivery, respectively. This is reinforced by their categorical descriptors, and that’s what their customers, investors, and the larger healthcare community want from them; pharma = drugs, payers = plans, providers = care. Now step outside of healthcare and consider everyone’s favorite “best company” for example, Amazon. Are they in the retail, logistics, or media business? The answer: it doesn’t matter. They build products around experiences. They have gone beyond customer-centric and are customer-experience-centric.

This Isn’t Another Sloppy Amazon Reference.

No one wants to read another naïve article about what healthcare can learn from Amazon, Uber, or Netflix. I want to make sure I bring this down into a very specific insight that all healthcare organizations can act upon: manage customer experiences as core products. The reason everyone raves about the experiences with the winning, digitally native brands is that each micro-moment is a product. Micro-experiences such as sign-up, sign-on, payment, and search are managed as discrete products with product teams of these famed digital brands.

Healthcare Organizations Are Already Skilled in This.

Most healthcare organizations have developed well-structured businesses around what they view as their core product. Insurers have a head of Medicare Advantage plans.  Health systems have a head of neurosciences. Life sciences companies have a head of Diabetes Care. And they also have multiple product managers that report up to these leaders. While easier-said-than-done, these organizations need to deploy that same model to experiences, and declare experiences and supporting micro-experiences as products.

Equally important is how healthcare companies deploy product management teams. As new products become mature, scaled products, the product management teams behind them need to adjust.  For healthcare leaders that haven’t kept tabs on modern product development, it has changed dramatically in recent years, as my colleague Tony Fross summarized.

Blending New Products With Legacy Products Is the Trick

Value from legacy products isn’t going away. Hospitals always need to treat sick people, pharma companies always need to invest in the next life-changing drug, and the opportunity to create new payment products seems endless. However, there is a difference between creating value and winning. All things equal, companies that focus on delivering great customer experiences within their competitive sets will be winners in the future.

Let’s take a quick look at the following three examples of healthcare organizations that are treating the customer experience as a core product:

  1. Pill Pack: It’s not the world’s first pharmacy, nor the first one to leverage digital. What has accelerated its success is that the entire operation is centered around customer experience. Yes, the drugs themselves and logistics are critical, but they are wrapped-around an experience-first “product”.
  2. Oscar Health: It’s nearly impossible to separate legal and regulatory policy from an insurance company’s performance. That said, Oscar Health has gone from 15,000 members in 2014 to 257,000 members in 2019 – even though its plan pricing and network coverage are nearly the same as established players, and even has fewer insurance products to pick from. Oscar’s rapid growth and continued expansion is based primarily around being “a health insurance company centered around the patient.” They even jokingly claim, “We didn’t create Oscar because we liked health insurance.”
  3. Geisinger Medical Center: Not all best-in-class examples are start-ups. Geisinger’s money-back guarantee is a great example of putting the customer experience first. Over the past three years, the organization has refunded between $200,000 to $400,000. Roughly the cost of three billboards for a year. Yet, it rallies employees to ensure they are putting the patient experience first. Patients feel like they are treated as people,     not objectives, and are more empowered and less anxious, which is unfortunately often the opposite in most hospitals.  The “money-back guarantee” is one of many examples where Geisinger is treating customer experience as a core product, and why it’s one of the most admired health systems in the US.

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When it comes to executing a customer experience strategy, healthcare organizations need to acquire new skills and expertise. Most health organizations have proven product management teams, sometimes called service lines or brand teams, but still maintain a highly focused approach to innovating and managing products. The critical shift is recognizing that customer experience is a product and should receive the same treatment, structure, and incentives as a legacy core product. Just as it’s being done in the companies transforming the world of healthcare as we know it today.

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Experience and Innovation Trends: What to Expect in 2020

Simplicity makes a comeback, as companies scurry to connect with customers and employees.

It’s no secret to us (or any of our clients) that advancements in experience and innovation are moving faster than almost every other aspect of business. In fact, spending on experience technologies jumped nearly 8 percent this year to $508 billion, and experts expect it to grow another 8.2 percent in the year ahead.

As companies raise the experience bar, we’re seeing major shifts in the way customers and employees interact with brands. If people can’t see a reason one brand stands out over another, they move on. In a world of practically limitless options, there’s always another choice.

Here are four ways we expect to see more companies – both B2B and B2C – shake up their approach to developing, launching and implementing better experiences.

1. Experience becomes the product, and vice versa.

It’s getting harder to differentiate an experience from a product and a product from an experience. Digitally native companies–especially those with a direct relationship to their customers – have led the way.

While it may be hard to define the “product” from a company like Uber, Spotify or Airbnb, these companies are monetizing experience. They understand that it is their primary commodity.

That means more complex experiences and a broader offering of products. It’s no surprise to companies in Silicon Valley, where companies like Slack, Glassdoor and PayPal have dedicated “product” teams versus “experience” teams. Legacy companies, including Adobe and Capital One, are also adopting this approach.

2. Jobs become talent incubators.

Unemployment rates, currently at a 50-year-low, are expected to stay that way in the year ahead, turning up the pressure on employers who are increasingly desperate to find new workers. That means making even more significant changes in the employee value proposition, especially to attract Gen Z and Centennials. Unlike older workers, these younger people favor purpose-driven employers, with 60 percent saying they believe brands should speak up about social issues. They want to work for companies that align with their own values and expect employers to adapt to and support their changing interests and lifestyles.

They don’t see their first job as merely a paycheck but as a stepping-stone. To win these young workers over, employers need to position themselves as enablers of a career path, whether they are a professional services firm, a tech startup or a fast-food brand. And they need to do so regardless of whether their workers stay with them or not.

“To win these young workers over, employers need to position themselves as enablers of a career path.”

Starbucks led this trend back in 2015, announcing free tuition at Arizona State University’s online program. The company, which had already offered two years of free classes, expanded it to cover four years, offering an undergraduate degree to full and part-time workers.

McDonald’s is taking steps in this direction with a “Where You Want To Be” Campaign, a concerted effort to help employees connect the skills they learn on the job with education, tuition assistance and career tools to take the next step in their professional journey.

McDonald’s developed the program by analyzing generational segments, zeroing in on the soft skills and industries that matter most to these young workers, which include arts and entertainment, technology, entrepreneurship and healthcare, as well as restaurants and food service. It teamed up with five influencers aligned to each industry, offering a few employees once-in-a-lifetime first-hand work experience.

It’s all part of a larger “Archways to Opportunity” program, which offers a suite of career development services, funds and tools designed to help restaurant employees identify potential career paths and chart a course of action to pursue them.

3. Companies build CX portfolios.

Increasingly, we see companies like Bose take steps to formalize the customer-experience role. They’re adding operational complexities to several internal initiatives, managing broad portfolios of customer-experience moves. That includes moving from idea to concept to prototype to scale, but also fixing what’s broken, getting up to par and trying to become “best in class.” Mature companies can manage this broad portfolio by creating experience and innovation organizations.

As they begin to manage these portfolios better, they’re also bearing down on CX measurement. The more companies spend, the more the burden of proof rises. Mature organizations have built-in processes that calculate customer experiences’ contribution to business and brand results, such as increased consumer satisfaction or better conversion rates.

But many companies still get stuck measuring across multiple channels. It’s not enough to know how well an e-commerce site does. Companies are striving for metrics that encompass the success of the full experience. Marketing tools like Adobe are already working on holistic measurements, but we expect the year ahead to bring new players to the field.

4. Simplified design makes a comeback.

With their attention pulled in so many different directions, people are craving more focus. That means simplicity has a higher perceived value. As a result, we expect to see more products and services that streamline experiences and choices.

Some of our favorite examples include Spotify’s Wrapped and Netflix’s updated approach to recommendations and categorization. Shopify is a leader too, with its one-click ordering, chat-based commerce and AR tools. Essentially, the future looks exciting and inspiring for those who adapt and pretty deadly for those who don’t.

Want to learn more about how experience and innovation can transform your business? Hear from our team about why experience matters here or get in touch today. 

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As companies continue to find new and better ways to develop high-impact customer experiences, they need to come to terms with fast-rising customer and employee expectations. Measuring the entire portfolio of experiences becomes more important.

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