Mobilizing technology to meet growing expectations

Business leaders see that technology is increasingly significant to their companies.  The relationship to the customer is evolving as technology allows companies to get closer to the customer.  Smart CEO’s are engaged with these emerging trends.  PricewaterhouseCoopers’ recent, “Redefining Business Success in a Changing World, CEO Survey”, which recorded data from 1,409 CEOs in 83 countries, indicates that CEOs view technology as the top way to assess and deliver on changing customer expectations.  Nearly 70% of them believe that the power of data and analytics is the best way to assess and deliver on changing customer expectations.  More than half of the CEOs were making significant changes in their technology to better interpret the complex and emerging needs of customers.

Mobile technology in particular can help a company to better know the customer.  In her fascinating new book, Mobilized: An Insider’s Guide to the Business and Future of Connected Technology, SC Moatti, a “mobile veteran” from Silicon Valley, reports that globally in the last two years, there have been more mobile devices than desktop computers, and people spend more time browsing the Internet on their Smartphones than on their desktops.

Smartphones are always there, and personalization of mobile products is essential to make them successful.  Successful apps put the user in control of the experience.  The software notes what is important to customers and it connects them to what matters.  She describes that the best mobile products are simple and elegant.  They help us learn.  They also learn from us and with us.  They focus on the things that matter, and they constantly adapt to our environment.“

Apps like Uber meet these conditions of success and society is finding them transformational.  Moreover, mobile products can be transformational in the developing world as well.  They are changing the face of healthcare delivery among the world’s poorest.  For example, in Mozambique, mobile technology advances the fight against HIV and AIDs through texts that remind patients about appointment dates and to take their medication.  Compared to the non-mobile average of 72%, 96% of participants were following protocols after six months and 85% after 12 months.  The Grameen Foundation’s African “Mobile Midwife” program has improved outcomes with delivery of daily texts and weekly voicemails to women in their native languages with advice during pregnancy and the first year of the child’s life.

Whether it’s providing day-to-day services or managing the data analytics, with transformational technology, people skills are even more important.  Three-quarters of PwC’s surveyed CEOs named as a top priority, creating a skilled, educated and adaptable workforce.  Millennials’ can bring something particularly useful to companies, given their native comfort with constantly changing technology and preference for apps over sites.  They are part of this new wave.  Moreover, leaders know that the growing role of technology in business, changes the dynamics of managing such a workforce.  Skill and mental agility are required more than ever.  As the surveyed CEOs reported, they know they must be conversant with data, analytics and new technology.  Technology can transform industries.  Leaders know they must be ready.

Stuart R. Levine

Stuart R. Levine

Founded in 1996, Stuart Levine & Associates LLC is an international strategic planning and leadership development company with focus on adding member value by strengthening corporate culture. SL&A ... Web: www.Stuartlevine.com Details