Manufacturing, Reimagined 

In the past, manufacturing and operations were linear processes. The focus was on the customer at the end of the sales cycle. Lacking was the ability to center the entire manufacturing process around the customer and support an ongoing relationship.

Today, for the first time in many decades, technology has outpaced the evolution of business processes. Though smart products have existed for some time, it was difficult to realize their business potential. Now, due to the proliferation of the cloud and big data, continually connected smart products can deliver real value.

Read the whitepaper

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[inlinequote]“Everyone can get the tech, but refining [your] business model is the secret to success. We’re in a post sale, on demand, attention economy[…] you’ve got to continuously engage in the customer, you’ve got to change the way to transform your engagement experience…”[/inlinequote]

These are the words of Ray Wang, Principal Analyst & CEO of Constellation Research, a man who’s been researching digital transformation longer than many traditional businesses even knew it existed. He’s even written a book on it. So when Mr. Wang says it’s time to take a hard look at your business model, it just might be a good idea to take notice.

As an example of the sort of restructuring he’s talking about, Wang puts forward the concept of a shower fixture company looking to increase their market share. By taking a look at the customer data surrounding the hotel chains they’re courting, this product-based company notices that many of the hotel’s complaints are due to water pressure issues. They then approach the hotel chain with the offer of free, world-wide water pressure monitoring, included when they sign a new service contract.

It’s this sort of data-driven, relationship-centric sales model that Mr. Wang sees leading the charge as businesses in every sector begin the process of digital transformation. For more insights, and the full version of the water pressure story, check out our full interview with Ray Wang.

Related Content

• For more on implementing IOT solutions, check out Gartner’s Predicts 2016: Rising to the Challenge of Building IoT solutions.

The post New Business Models are the Key to Successful Digital Transformation appeared first on Microsoft Industry Blogs - Canada.

What we can learn from retailers on improving the customer and employee experience

In 2015, the retail industry saw sales increase by a mere 1.2% over 2014, despite an eCommerce growth of 14.6%.¹ Today, only 39% of retailers equip their sales staff to look up product information for them online, despite the expectations of half of all customers when entering a store.² There is a clear divide between online and in-person sales processes, despite 71% of in-store shoppers integrating smart phones into their in-store experience.³ We’ve heard the cautionary tales of store closings by many formerly successful retail brands, but what actionable business lessons can we take from recent shifts in retail?

Will the store survive?

While brick-and-mortar retailers do face challenges, it’s also become clear that physical stores are relevant and important to shoppers’ experience. Witness former online pure-plays experimenting with actual retail locations, like Amazon did in late 2015.⁴ For retail stores to survive and thrive like their digital counterparts in 2016, they will need to provide a personalized and unified commerce experience across the shopper journey. This will include maximizing what makes the physical store experience so unique—the people.

Employees provide physical retailers with an enormously valuable asset that online stores can’t replicate. Their ability to drive exceptional customer experiences, react in real time, and utilize everyday technologies fits perfectly into a modern shopping experience. There is no online equivalent of the informed and engaged employee that makes your customer feel like royalty.

Of course, a good customer experience starts with employees that are highly engaged, informed and well trained. This is another area where retailers are now focusing: making their workforce more digitally connected, and providing the technology and open channels of communication that a new generation of workers expect.

How are retailers making this a reality?

Whether you work in a company with a retail presence, or know someone who does, you’ll want to explore the tips and trends covered in The Modern Retailer’s Survival Guide. It takes a no-nonsense look at the current state of retail, and shows how brick-and-mortar and multichannel retailers are innovating. In the eBook, you will learn how to use digital tools to break down barriers in communication, empower employees to make smart, quick decisions, and energize your workforce to provide outstanding customer service.

Download The Modern Retailer’s Survival Guide for these top 4 survival strategies for 2016:

• How to equip employees with up-to-the-minute information
• How to make employees feel heard, valued, and invested
• How employee engagement tools can create exceptional customer experiences
• How retailers in a variety of industries realized amazing results with integrated communication

The success of online retailers does not mean the end of brick-and-mortar stores. What it does mean is that successful retailers will need to rethink the way they serve empowered, well-informed customers in a competitive, always-connected world.

Get the Guide

[1] US Department of Commerce, February 17 2016 news release, https://www.census.gov/retail/mrts/www/data/pdf/ec_current.pdf

[2] https://www.sap.com/bin/sapcom/en_us/downloadasset.2014-05-may-29-15.customer-desires-vs-retailer-capabilities-minding-the-omni-channel-commerce-gap-pdf.bypassReg.html

[3] http://www.dialogtech.com/blog/call-routing/6-stats-that-reinforce-why-omni-channel-marketing-is-here-to-stay

[4] http://www.thestreet.com/story/13460792/1/why-amazon-doesn-rsquo-t-really-care-if-you-buy-anything-at-its-bookstore.html

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