10 ‘Experience Makers’ Weigh In On Future Of CX
On the eve of 2018 Adobe Summit, this week in Las Vegas, digital leaders from a range of leading brands focused on three main topics: emerging tech, personalization, and design-led thinking.
This article is part of CMO.com’s March/April series about emerging technology. Click here for more.
Just two years ago, Adobe EVP and GM Brad Rencher welcomed Summit 2016 attendees to the “Experience Era” —a new wave of business transformation not about what brands sell but “about the consumer and the experiences we provide them.”
We’ve come a long way since that introduction. On the eve of the 2018 Adobe Summit, this week in Las Vegas, a community of “Experience Makers” from a range of leading brands gathered to discuss the future of experience.
This Think Tank by Adobe—moderated by Ray Wang, principal analyst, founder, and chairman of Constellation Research—focused on three main topics:
- Emerging technologies: Reshaping the way we engage with the world and the experiences we have. Examples include artificial intelligence, mixed reality, blockchain, and voice/IoT interaction.
- Personalization: Creating relevant, one-to-one customer interactions based on analytics combined with technologies that enable personal experiences.
- Design-led thinking: Placing design at the very core of a brand. Design principles weave through everything, from research and strategy to creating content.
The following are key pieces of insight shared by this elite group of Experience Makers.
Emerging Technologies
“By 2020, AI will be table stakes.”
—Penny Wilson, CMO, Hootsuite
“AI is sensing, sensitizing, and coaching humans to improve the customer experience and deliver personalization. This is good for the brand. People will expect AI-plus-human execution.”
—Wendy Steinle, Head of Digital Experience Web Strategy, Adobe
“AR will force us to reinvent industries like shopping, [turning] a store into a personalized experience.”
—Jeriad Zoghby, Global Personalization Lead, Accenture Interactive
“In digital, 80% of what you think will work won’t work exactly as you anticipated.”
—Giles Richardson, VP of Digital Journeys, T-Mobile
“AI cannot replicate what’s going on in a designer’s head.”
—Leland Maschmeyer, Chief Creative Officer, Chobani
“[Even with] AI at its best, you’ll still want a person with a design frame of mind.”
—Khoi Vinh, Principal Designer, Adobe
**Personalization__
__**“If you’re going to collect data on me, you need to be transparent and ensure that your relationship with me isn’t hurt.”
—Zoghby, Accenture Interactive
“As a brand, you have to have a listening mechanism.”
—Kelly Soligon, GM of Digital Stores Marketing, Microsoft
“Is privacy the new luxury? Are we trading privacy for convenience?”
—Wang, Constellation Research
“As a customer, I’m dictating the service terms and setting new protocols in how companies interact with me. This is an empowerment model.”
—Leland Maschmeyer, Chief Creative Officer, Chobani
“Customer expectations continue to rise and will force an increase in personalization budgets.”
—Cecilia Farooqi, Digital Design Lead, Equinox Fitness
Design-Led Thinking
“In the next half decade, any successful company will have a designer at the top of leadership and will be a difference maker.”
—Vinh, Adobe
“Everyone must have a design-led mindset, no matter your role in the company.”
—Wilson, Hootsuite
“Visualization is a massively important component to enact change.”
—Maschmeyer, Chobani
“Breaking down organization silos is key to design thinking.”
—Steinle, Adobe
“The point of design thinking is to spur innovation with diverse backgrounds of individuals.”
—Wang, Constellation Research
Watch the panel discussion in its entirety below: