Latest Event Updates
Perspective and Expectations Establish Your Starting Point
We may have seen the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now I am seeing more and more articles about the “New Normal” and “Next Normal.” Interestingly enough, I have also been seeing a few articles over the past two weeks about this being an opportunity. Once the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (aka “FUD”) began to diminish, people finally started looking for a silver lining.
Fear is a powerful demotivator, so I find it interesting that some managers and executives use it to help achieve their goals. There may be short-term gains, but the long-term effects can be devastating. In times of chaos (real or perceived), one of the best things a leader can do is be genuine and concerned for their team’s welfare, communicate honestly and promptly, and display confidence to help shift emotions from a negative state to a positive one. Fear holds you and your team back.
What I find interesting is that two months ago, I posted about this unfortunate time being an opportunity – something that led to several negative comments at the time. Three weeks ago, I posted about changes coming as part of the “New Normal.” I believe this is simply insight coming into play, which is one reason why Consultants, great Salespeople, and new Executives can often add immediate value to an organization.
As an aside, diversity of backgrounds, experiences, knowledge, expertise, and opinions leads to various perspectives- fostering creativity. The best team-building practice is finding people whose strengths help cover your weaknesses.
So, perspective and expectations determine where you begin, not where you end. The benefit of a better starting point is that you’re in a much better position to win. The best part is that you can teach yourself to identify different perspectives. You may find it much easier to understand the big picture of whatever problem you face with that new skill.
From time to time, we all face situations we know will suck. Avoidance may be an option, but it usually isn’t the best option. The military has a saying, “Embrace the Suck,” that essentially boils down to “just deal with it.” Focusing on “the gain” (rather than “the suck”), identifying small wins along the way, and visualizing success is part of the process I’ve found helpful for maintaining a positive attitude and an open mind. This simple process helps balance optimism with realism and, most importantly, creates high expectations.
So, what are your thoughts? Do you want to lead or follow? There is nothing wrong with following, especially when contributing to the team’s success. Perspective and Expectations are two tools that can help in any role.
Blockchain, Data Governance, and Smart Contracts in a Post-COVID-19 World
The last few months have been very disruptive to nearly everyone across the globe. There are business challenges galore, such as managing large remote workforces – many of whom are new to working remotely and managing risk while attempting to conduct “business as usual.” Unfortunately, most businesses’ systems, processes, and internal controls were not designed for this “new normal.”
While there have been many predictions around Blockchain for the past few years, it is still not widely adopted. We are beginning to see an uptick in adopting Supply Chain Management Systems for reasons that include traceability of items – especially food and drugs. However, large-scale adoption has been elusive to date.
I believe we will soon see major shifts in mindset, investment, and effort toward modern digital technology driven by Data Governance and Risk Management. I also believe that this will lead to these technologies becoming easier to use via new platforms and integration tools, which will lead to faster adoption by SMBs and other non-enterprise organizations, and that will lead to the greater need for DevOps, Monitoring, and Automation solutions as a way to maintain control of a more agile environment.
Here are a few predictions:
- New wearable technology supporting Medical IoT will be developed to help provide an early warning system for disease and future pandemics. That will fuel innovations across industries, including Biotech and Pharma.
- Blockchain can provide data privacy, ownership, and provenance to ensure the data’s veracity.
- New legislation will be created to protect medical providers and other users of that data from being held liable for missing information or trends that could have saved lives or avoided other negative outcomes.
- In the meantime, Hospitals, Insurance Providers, and others will do everything possible to mitigate the risk of using Medical IoT data, which could include Smart Contracts to ensure compliance (assuming a benefit is provided to the data providers).
- Platforms may be created to offer individuals control over their own data, how it is used and by whom, ownership of that data, and payment for the use of that data. I wrote about this in 2013.
- Data Governance will be taken more seriously by every business. Today, companies talk about Data Privacy, Data Security, or Data Consistency, but few have a strategic end-to-end systematic approach to managing and protecting their data and their company.
- Comprehensive Data Governance will become a driving and gating force as organizations modernize and grow. Even before the pandemic, there were growing needs due to new data privacy laws and concerns around areas such as the data used for Machine Learning.
- In a business environment where more systems are distributed, the risk of data breaches and Cybercrime Increases. That must be addressed as a foundational component of any new system or platform.
- One or two Data Integration Companies will emerge as undisputed industry leaders because of their capabilities in MDM, Data Provenance and Traceability, and Data Access (an area typically managed by application systems).
- New standardized APIs akin to HL7 FHIR will be created to support a variety of industries as well as interoperability between systems and industries. Frictionless integration of key systems becomes even more important than it is today.
- Anything that can be maintained and managed in a secure and flexible distributed digital environment will be implemented to allow companies to quickly pivot and adapt to new challenges and opportunities on a global scale.
- Smart Contracts and Digital Currency Payment Processing Systems will likely be core components of those systems.
- This will also foster the growth of next-generation Business Ecosystems and more dynamic collaborations.
- Ongoing compliance monitoring, internal and external, will likely become a priority (“trust but verify”).
All in all, this is exciting from a business and technology perspective. Most companies must review and adjust their strategies and tactics to embrace these concepts and adapt to the coming New Normal.
The steps we take today will shape what we see and do in the coming decade, so it is important to get this right quickly, knowing that whatever is implemented today will live, evolve, and hopefully improve over time. Don’t wait for perfection, as the risks are too high.
What are you doing to improve CX today?
In challenging times, minor frustrations can lead to harmful, long-term negative sentiment. Your approach to Customer Experience (CX) matters more than ever during this pandemic crisis. Your business needs to protect relationship capital and see this as an opportunity to appeal to your next generation of loyal customers.
Recently, I sold a few gold coins on an auction website. The transactions were great and concluded quickly. However, the payment arm of this organization appears to have a bug in its tracking system for USPS Registered Mail. The transaction status displayed “shipped,” but when you clicked the “Tracking” button, it was clear the package had been delivered a few weeks earlier. Still, they were holding a significant amount of money without a clear release date.
While that was a little frustrating, what happened next changed my feelings about this company. I sent several emails to Support and received canned responses. I used their chat option and spoke to a couple of “people” who were either chatbots or should be replaced by chatbots, because no matter what information I provided, the response was always the same and not helpful.
Now, think about tens, hundreds, or even thousands of customers or prospects having problems getting information about your products and services, getting assistance with questions or support for problems, and working with your company in general. In times of increased stress, uncertainty, or competition, the customer experience for each anticipated archetype must be as ideal as possible to increase engagement and loyalty.
Consistently positive interactions, from interactions with branding and marketing, to the customer journey, to onboarding new customers, to successful implementations and support, increase lifetime customer value, repeat business, and overall business growth. Every touchpoint should increase your emotional connection with that customer.
I’ve always told my teams that “People buy easy,” so, as a group or organization, we aim to make it as efficient and frictionless as possible to conduct business with us. By doing that, being fair, and acting with integrity, we earn loyal customers who support our business’s growth.
Relationships develop over time, and each interaction helps determine the eventual outcome. Understanding what differentiates your company and products in your customers’ and prospects’ eyes can help you create more meaningful, consistent, and valuable interactions. People appreciate a positive customer experience, so those efforts may ultimately lead to developing Customers for Life.
Now is the time to evaluate your end-to-end processes, procedures, guidelines, and interfaces. Be extremely critical as you ask yourself, “Is this how I would like to be treated as a customer?” By making CX a strategic priority, your business or organization will eliminate friction and ensure customers are treated well and feel valued. Moreover, as you increase install base loyalty and engagement, you will be rewarded with renewals, expansion, references, referrals, and suggestions to improve your products. Everyone wins.
Investments in CX today can deliver an immediate payback and increase long-term growth.
Innovation, Optimization, and Business Continuity
Originally posted on LinkedIn.com/in/chipn
Recently I read that the U.S. is experiencing a significant jump in unemployment claims. Much of that is understandable given the recent decline in many businesses, concerns about how long this crisis may last, and the need for business owners and executives to protect ongoing viability. But, in the near future, business activity will resume, and it will be very important that businesses maintain a business pipeline and retain qualified staff to deliver their products and services.
Now could be the ideal time to challenge your team to focus on improving your business. Look at business processes and identify:
- What works well today? Can you identify what makes it work so well? Simplicity, automation, and a lack of friction are typical attributes of effective, efficient systems and processes that positively impact any business.
- What could be improved and why? Specific examples and real data will help quantify the impact and support prioritizing follow-up activities.
- What is missing today?
- Good ideas have likely been raised in the past, so why not revisit them?
- What are competitors or businesses in other segments doing that could be helpful?
- Brainstorm and consider something completely new that could help your business.
- Start a list, describe the needs and benefits, provide specific examples, and then estimate each idea’s potential impact and time to value.
- Take the ideas with the greatest promise and estimate the cost, people/skills needed, and other dependencies to see how they stack up.
Another option is to create or update Business Continuity Plans. Now is a perfect time – while everything is fresh in the minds of your team. This will help in the future, and you may also find several useful ideas for the coming weeks.
For example, do you have enough documentation for someone who isn’t an expert in your business to take over with a relatively short ramp-up time? How will you maintain quality and control of those processes? Are your plans stored in a repository that is accessible yet secure outside of your organization? Do you have the processes and tools to collect documentation and feedback on things that did not work as documented or could be improved? Are your Risk Management plans and mitigation procedures up to date and adequate?
Investing in your business during this slowdown could have many benefits, including maintaining employee morale, enhancing employee and customer loyalty, retaining employees and their expertise and skills, and increasing sustainability and long-term growth potential.
Could this Pandemic Create New Business Opportunities?
Originally posted on LinkedIn.com/in/chipn
For most businesses, now is a time of caution and uncertainty. Mitigation and emergency planning are likely underway. The CDC has provided solid guidance, and new information is forthcoming daily. Communication Plans are being rolled out and revised as needed. Travel and meetings are being curtailed. Disruption may become the new normal for the next several months.
Alexander Fleming, the Nobel Prize winner who invented Penicillin, is quoted as saying:
“The unprepared mind cannot see the outstretched hand of opportunity.”
More people will be working from home, face-to-face meetings will be limited, large gatherings will be avoided, and travel to those meetings or gatherings. Working from home can be challenging for people not accustomed to it, so helping them transition may be very important to your financial bottom line.
Collaboration tools like Slack, Basecamp, and Asana can help maintain productivity and foster necessary interaction. Some tools include video conferencing; tools like Zoom or Webex can help internally and externally. Seeing the person you are speaking with increases engagement and leads to more effective communication by helping you spot nuances, such as facial expressions, that could otherwise be missed.
Secure, easy-to-implement tools (cloud-based solutions have an advantage here) that are easy to learn and use can be a cost-effective way to keep your business on track. Another benefit is building an effective distributed workforce.
But wait, there is more!
You may have important projects you can pull in and start now. That is another way to keep your teams engaged and focused. This could also be an opportunity to enhance skills with online training or research new technologies or business models.
This could also be a great time to buy and sell products and services. Business demands could temporarily decrease in many market segments.
- Sales organizations could use that opportunity to offer appealing deals to customers and prospects.
- Buyers could use their ability to purchase quickly to secure better deals during this lull in business.
Reasonable concessions can be mutually beneficial and a boon for both parties.
Negative events like a pandemic are not ideal and should not be taken lightly, but they can create opportunities to advance your business and position you for even greater success once the situation is under control. It is like that old saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
Where Ideas, Experiences, and Lessons Learned Intersect 