Aug. 20, 2020

#CX66: The 4 Stages To Successfully Adopt Video

In this episode of the #CX series, Ethan Beute, Chief Evangelist at BombBomb, shares the four stages you and your team must go through to successfully adopt video messaging as a new habit and skill - and what successful adoption looks like.

Listen to more CX conversations on Ethan's podcast, The Customer Experience Podcast by clicking through one of the following links to your favorite podcast player:

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Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:10.189 Digital, virtual, contactless or contact free, no matter how you describe it, 2 00:00:10.310 --> 00:00:15.470 no matter what business you're in, your customer experiences more physically handsoff today 3 00:00:15.949 --> 00:00:18.230 than it was at the start of two thousand and twenty, and it's going 4 00:00:18.269 --> 00:00:22.179 to stay that way for the foreseeable future. So today we're talking about how 5 00:00:22.219 --> 00:00:28.940 to create exceptional online experiences that drive customer engagement and produce results, and we're 6 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:33.939 doing it with a gentleman who researches and designs human computer interactions and who's focused 7 00:00:33.979 --> 00:00:40.009 on customer experience, user experience and learning experience. He spent years inside companies 8 00:00:40.090 --> 00:00:45.210 like Hewlett Packard, adulant technologies and Deluxe Corporation. He's currently a speaker, 9 00:00:45.250 --> 00:00:50.759 author, researcher and presenter with the Human Computer Mastermind Academy at it's the USERSCOM. 10 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:56.439 He also serves as principal user experience researcher with answer lab and is leading 11 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:00.560 in depth research for Google, Amazon, Cisco and other world class companies. 12 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:06.109 Bob Berry, welcome to the customer experience podcast. Thanks you thing. Glad 13 00:01:06.109 --> 00:01:07.349 to be here. Looking forward to this. Yeah, me too. We 14 00:01:07.430 --> 00:01:11.950 haven't done I'm hoping we get maybe a little bit technical or we really operate 15 00:01:12.030 --> 00:01:17.430 at that human machine intersection point. It comes up thematically, but certainly not 16 00:01:17.629 --> 00:01:21.659 with the depth of exposure and knowledge that you have to that. But before 17 00:01:21.659 --> 00:01:25.299 we get going, in earnest answer, lab is based in San Francisco, 18 00:01:25.379 --> 00:01:29.099 but you're here with me, not physically, but you're here with me on 19 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:34.010 zoom in Colorado Springs and you've been here for years. So how did you 20 00:01:34.049 --> 00:01:37.569 land here and what do you love about being here? Well, I actually 21 00:01:37.569 --> 00:01:40.650 grew up in Colorado. I'm not originally from Colorado, but I've spend the 22 00:01:40.730 --> 00:01:44.489 majority of my life here. So, as you mentioned, I worked for 23 00:01:44.530 --> 00:01:49.040 Lett Packard and you know the asual and still has that facility out on gardener 24 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:51.840 the God's road. So that's the thing. I work there for fifteen years, 25 00:01:52.439 --> 00:01:55.319 back in the days when Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were still alive. 26 00:01:55.480 --> 00:02:00.840 So I've always enjoyed Colorado. Love the outdoor life, love the business opportunities 27 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:05.269 here. So colorail springs and the front rangement home for most of my years 28 00:02:05.870 --> 00:02:08.189 awesome. And it is a much different town than it was even before I 29 00:02:08.389 --> 00:02:13.389 arrived, which was about thirteen years ago. So I can't imagine the amount 30 00:02:13.389 --> 00:02:15.939 of change you've seen here locally. Yeah, it has changed a lot. 31 00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:21.939 Fortunately, a lot of the beautiful mountain areas and wilderness and everything that's west 32 00:02:21.979 --> 00:02:24.259 of here hasn't changed that much. So we still get a chance to get 33 00:02:24.259 --> 00:02:30.569 away, and especially these days when we're looking for opportunities for extreme social distancing 34 00:02:30.729 --> 00:02:34.849 that you know, those those places are still available to us. Absolutely as 35 00:02:35.009 --> 00:02:38.009 fortune to be able to get out with my son a couple times last week 36 00:02:38.009 --> 00:02:42.370 and it's awesome. I love how close everything is to Colorado Springs with regard 37 00:02:42.490 --> 00:02:47.000 to wilderness, outdoors, etc. So you do a lot of work with 38 00:02:47.479 --> 00:02:53.680 experience. So we'll start with your definition or your thoughts or characteristics of customer 39 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:57.199 experience, in particular. When I say customer experience, what does that mean? 40 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:01.469 Do you Bob? So I interpret that pretty broadly. So I interpret 41 00:03:01.550 --> 00:03:08.270 customer experience is virtually any contact that you have with any individuals, humans, 42 00:03:08.430 --> 00:03:15.340 prospects, customers, users that may interact with your business. And you know, 43 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:19.819 we tend to think of this whole concept of Omni Channel, which is 44 00:03:20.259 --> 00:03:24.539 really looking holistically at all of the ways that you might interact with or touch 45 00:03:24.580 --> 00:03:29.610 a customer. That certainly could include many different ways online, but it can 46 00:03:29.650 --> 00:03:36.009 also include phone, it can include facetoface contact. That can include printed materials, 47 00:03:36.330 --> 00:03:43.560 pr it doesn't really leave anything out when it comes to your interactions and 48 00:03:44.039 --> 00:03:49.800 how you might make offers to, or serve or support customers at any point 49 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:53.879 through the product or customer life cycle. Great definition covers a lot of the 50 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:58.349 themes that we talk about here. In particular, the one that you really 51 00:03:58.389 --> 00:04:01.509 hit in a variety of different ways is that it's every single touch point, 52 00:04:01.830 --> 00:04:06.189 human, analog, digital, etc. And it's so important that. So 53 00:04:06.310 --> 00:04:09.909 that's the reason we host this show is to is to talk about how, 54 00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:14.580 if so many people, different people inside your organization, are involved in creating 55 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:17.500 and delivering these various aspects of the experience, how do we do it in 56 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:23.100 a way that's intentional and aligned? And so you also are a user experience 57 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:27.569 expert. You've done a lot of work and learning experience talk about these other 58 00:04:27.730 --> 00:04:33.250 experiences and maybe where they intersect with or diverge from customer experience. So I 59 00:04:33.490 --> 00:04:40.560 guess it's difficult to come up with a lot of really comprehensive definitions because this 60 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:44.920 can vary a lot from one type of business to another, from one type 61 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:49.680 of customer to another. One type of system or interactive platform or interface to 62 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:56.629 another. But in general user experience tends to go deeper. It probably does 63 00:04:56.790 --> 00:05:00.750 not cover as many of those touch points that we discussed when we were defining 64 00:05:01.269 --> 00:05:05.550 customer experience. So, for example, it may not cover as much around 65 00:05:05.550 --> 00:05:11.180 what might you what you might consider customer service or support, although there may 66 00:05:11.220 --> 00:05:15.980 be elements of that as well. The user experience really talks a lot more 67 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:20.850 about the the fine points, in the particulars of how a human being interacts 68 00:05:20.889 --> 00:05:28.209 with some kind of interactive system or platform or APP or website or device, 69 00:05:29.250 --> 00:05:33.290 and that back human computer interaction, that HCI that we often refer to. 70 00:05:34.290 --> 00:05:39.480 There's a lot of science that goes into creating those types of interactions and a 71 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:45.680 lot of science that goes into evaluating and optimizing those interactions. We work on 72 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:51.230 a basic premise that all business results, and it challenge anyone to think of 73 00:05:51.430 --> 00:05:59.750 one that doesn't fall within this definition. All business results are individuals making specific 74 00:05:59.870 --> 00:06:05.540 choices within the user experiences we provide them and in a sense the user experience 75 00:06:05.699 --> 00:06:11.939 then drives all business results and actually drives the world economy because all of those 76 00:06:11.980 --> 00:06:19.290 individual decisions and reactions and choices and responses from users or customers add up to 77 00:06:19.410 --> 00:06:24.850 all the business outcomes that we can imagine and therefore what drives the world world 78 00:06:24.850 --> 00:06:30.089 economy. So experience and how somebody interacts with those virtual interfaces is really at 79 00:06:30.129 --> 00:06:33.600 the center of so much of what we're trying to do and ways that we're 80 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:40.040 trying to serve and influence our customers in our prospects. Do you separate at 81 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:43.920 all or are they all bundled together? And if you do separate them, 82 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:49.790 is there any hierarchy with regard to the human feelings or thoughts or behaviors? 83 00:06:49.870 --> 00:06:55.470 Do you separate those elements? Do you study them independently, and what is 84 00:06:55.550 --> 00:06:59.269 the relationship between those? Yeah, I'm glad you ask that. So in 85 00:06:59.389 --> 00:07:02.300 user experience research, and there's certainly elements of this, and customer experience as 86 00:07:02.339 --> 00:07:08.620 well, and user experience research, we really create a context around that virtual 87 00:07:08.740 --> 00:07:14.620 interaction, around those human computer interactions, and that context is really understanding the 88 00:07:14.819 --> 00:07:19.529 individual, understanding their narrative. So we talk about things like ethnographies, we 89 00:07:19.649 --> 00:07:26.490 talk about journeys, we talk about personas, and that really all that out 90 00:07:26.649 --> 00:07:31.160 happens before we actually get into those virtual interactions. We want to understand these 91 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:36.040 individuals, their lives, whether it's a business or a personal context. What 92 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:42.439 motivates them? What are their needs? What kind of outcomes are they looking 93 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:47.350 for? What is their level of technical capability? How savvy are they about 94 00:07:47.470 --> 00:07:51.430 technology? What's their economic status? So there's a whole lot of things we 95 00:07:51.509 --> 00:07:57.670 want to learn about all those individuals. That puts that virtual interaction, that 96 00:07:57.790 --> 00:08:01.339 interface, in a much more relevant context when we try to interact with them 97 00:08:01.379 --> 00:08:05.779 and serve them, to do something useful for them. So that's that context 98 00:08:05.819 --> 00:08:11.259 is really critical to understanding the experience because you can't like separate their interactive experience 99 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:15.970 with your APP or your website from the larger context of their lives and what's 100 00:08:15.970 --> 00:08:18.209 important to them and what they're trying to accomplish. Right, it's the whole 101 00:08:18.290 --> 00:08:22.810 picture, or as much of the picture as you can get, is so 102 00:08:22.889 --> 00:08:26.129 much more useful in terms of making decisions that are going to be helpful for 103 00:08:26.290 --> 00:08:30.079 them. Do you work? I'm going to go one follow up there. 104 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:35.240 You know, when we start talking about ethnographies and journeys and Personas you know, 105 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:39.799 you're obviously talking about things that sales and marketing likes to talk about. 106 00:08:41.549 --> 00:08:45.470 Have you found from an organizational standpoint, from a workflow standpoint, from a 107 00:08:45.669 --> 00:08:50.110 project development and management standpoint. Does this work? It seems like it could. 108 00:08:50.110 --> 00:08:54.029 Should would intersect very directly with with what sales and marketing is doing in 109 00:08:54.110 --> 00:08:56.539 terms of who they're bringing to the experience. Do you find that that tends 110 00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:00.460 to be the case? Absolutely, and a lot of the work that I 111 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:03.299 do with a lot of the brands that you mentioned, with Google, facebook, 112 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:07.500 Amazon, a lot of the work we do with them is in fact 113 00:09:07.779 --> 00:09:15.289 evaluating and guiding people through the the front end experiences. How do people interact 114 00:09:15.370 --> 00:09:22.450 with those companies offerings, their marketing programs, their online catalogs, their offers, 115 00:09:22.889 --> 00:09:26.440 their social media, so the whole upfront process when they're still in the 116 00:09:26.519 --> 00:09:31.720 prospect stage or they're still in the learning and discovering and shopping stage. In 117 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.759 many cases, we we in many cases may actually focus more on that then 118 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:41.309 we do the actual transaction or what happens after the transaction, because that part 119 00:09:41.309 --> 00:09:46.470 of it is so essential to those companies, in those businesses being successful and 120 00:09:46.629 --> 00:09:50.669 those users, in those customers finding what they need. You've already kind of 121 00:09:50.190 --> 00:09:54.980 driven by this. I always like to ask something like this for folks who 122 00:09:54.980 --> 00:09:58.259 aren't familiar. Can you tell us a little bit about answer lab, like 123 00:09:58.379 --> 00:10:01.860 who is your ideal customer? Is it these these giant, you know, 124 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:03.779 world class brands, or is it more than that? Like, who's your 125 00:10:03.820 --> 00:10:09.690 ideal customer and what specifically do you solve for them? So we do a 126 00:10:09.850 --> 00:10:15.009 lot of the kind of research we've been talked about for those brands and a 127 00:10:15.090 --> 00:10:20.210 lot of major brands in high tech, in automotive, in pharmaceuticals and financial 128 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:28.240 in just about any of the major industrial categories or customer segments that you can 129 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:35.039 imagine. And these are companies that rely heavily on the the virtual platforms, 130 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:39.190 in the virtual tools and the virtual offerings that they provide to the market place. 131 00:10:39.269 --> 00:10:43.389 And again, that can include everything from the online catalogs that they provide, 132 00:10:43.750 --> 00:10:48.870 the shopping experiences, the social media programs that they run, all of 133 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:56.299 the ways that they do actually actually do business with customers and transact orders, 134 00:10:56.659 --> 00:11:00.940 and then, in many cases, how they support those customers and how they 135 00:11:00.940 --> 00:11:05.970 maintain ongoing relationships with them once they become customers. And so these are these 136 00:11:05.009 --> 00:11:09.809 are companies that, for them, user experience and customer experience is not an 137 00:11:09.850 --> 00:11:15.289 event it's an ongoing process. It's built into their culture. You look at 138 00:11:15.289 --> 00:11:20.000 a company like Amazon and they've been doing this from the very beginning and the 139 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:24.320 user experience that they have is often pointed to as sort of the gold standard 140 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:28.600 and it's one that obviously has served them very well. And if you look 141 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:33.470 at the recent performance and everything that's happened over the last few months and how 142 00:11:33.590 --> 00:11:37.389 successful they've been in providing all of the products that we don't go out and 143 00:11:37.509 --> 00:11:43.990 shop for anymore, clearly they have an interface that billions of people are familiar 144 00:11:45.110 --> 00:11:48.299 with and comfortable with and use on a regular basis and has really become a 145 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:54.019 critical part of the world we live in today. So we help them optimize 146 00:11:54.059 --> 00:11:58.059 those experiences so people at all levels can make sense out of those, can 147 00:11:58.139 --> 00:12:01.649 get what they need and can be successful and getting the products and services that 148 00:12:03.610 --> 00:12:07.330 are required for them to be to be successful. Awesome. It's a great 149 00:12:07.330 --> 00:12:11.370 example and I think almost all of us listening should be able to relate to 150 00:12:11.450 --> 00:12:13.730 that one. For me, I think the most dangerous thing they've done is 151 00:12:13.809 --> 00:12:18.080 the buy now button. Particularly in mobile. It's just so easy to hit 152 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:22.279 it on purpose or at accident, like here we go it's shoes, just 153 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:26.080 that easy. So before we go one step further, and you were right 154 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:31.830 there into you know how things are changing maybe for some other businesses. You 155 00:12:31.870 --> 00:12:33.509 know the Amazon had this built in from day one, but other people are 156 00:12:33.870 --> 00:12:39.149 need to figure out how do we turn maybe the physical into the virtual or 157 00:12:39.350 --> 00:12:43.620 the you know, things where we might hand off physically to contactless operations, 158 00:12:45.019 --> 00:12:50.740 and getting into that, what part of the organization are you typically plugging into 159 00:12:50.259 --> 00:12:54.179 when you come into do this type of research? What I'm thinking about now 160 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:56.779 is a listener who might be saying, Gosh, I don't know that I 161 00:12:56.820 --> 00:13:01.529 can hire answer lab because we're a much, much smaller organization and we don't 162 00:13:01.529 --> 00:13:05.210 have a figured out yet and we don't even know what research questions to ask. 163 00:13:05.769 --> 00:13:09.409 But we should be doing this type of work, whether we do it 164 00:13:09.450 --> 00:13:13.480 internally or we hire it out. Where do usually plug into the organization? 165 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:16.919 We plug into a lot of different places and actually I'm led you ask the 166 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:20.720 question about the smaller organization. So in addition to answer lab, as you 167 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:26.360 mentioned at the beginning, I also run this operation called it's the USERSCOM, 168 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:31.750 which is the human computer mastermind academy. The mission there is to help smaller 169 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:37.070 companies, entrepreneurs, professionals get introduced to this world of understanding their users, 170 00:13:37.230 --> 00:13:41.379 really understanding the context and the narrative and figuring out how to create the right 171 00:13:41.419 --> 00:13:46.019 kinds of experiences that are going to help their businesses succeed and also help their 172 00:13:46.100 --> 00:13:48.820 customers, in their end users, succeed. And so we do a lot 173 00:13:48.860 --> 00:13:52.500 of stuff for free. We do a lot of stuff the very low cost. 174 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:56.730 That's a whole different scale economically than what a lot of those big brands 175 00:13:56.769 --> 00:14:00.289 do. So we provide that as well. About to answer your question about 176 00:14:00.289 --> 00:14:03.490 where do you plug in in? You used to be that the user experience, 177 00:14:03.570 --> 00:14:09.129 customer experience with sort of a side operation. You know, it might 178 00:14:09.250 --> 00:14:13.279 be up attached somewhere in marketing and might be attached somewhere in the IT Department 179 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:20.440 or some cases it might be even part of the sales operation. Right now, 180 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:24.909 in many of these companies it's deeply embedded in the culture and from top 181 00:14:26.029 --> 00:14:31.110 leadership on down, the boards of directors, the CEOS, the CEIOS, 182 00:14:31.029 --> 00:14:35.590 they all pay very close attention to this and the amount of funding that they 183 00:14:35.830 --> 00:14:39.019 provide is pretty substantial to continue these this type of research, in this type 184 00:14:39.059 --> 00:14:45.620 kind of optimization ongoing. So in many cases we may be talking to organizations 185 00:14:45.700 --> 00:14:50.179 that are running, you know, the large marketing programs that are trying to 186 00:14:50.820 --> 00:14:56.649 promote and merchandise products and try to influence customers and transact business online or offline 187 00:14:56.690 --> 00:15:03.210 as well. We may also plug into the parts of the organization that are 188 00:15:03.250 --> 00:15:09.480 specifically responsible for Web and e commerce and virtual platforms. You know, some 189 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:13.200 companies are all about virtual their whole operation, their whole mission is based on 190 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:20.159 interactive virtual platforms, and so we may plug into various parts of the organization 191 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:24.909 depending on, you know, what aspect of promotion and outbound or inbound marketing. 192 00:15:24.950 --> 00:15:28.629 You know, they probably have a social media team, they probably have 193 00:15:28.629 --> 00:15:33.590 a content development team, they probably have online catalogs that they're working with product 194 00:15:33.629 --> 00:15:39.980 merchandising. So all of these are areas that that we might singularly plug in 195 00:15:39.059 --> 00:15:43.500 or we might plug into multiple aspects of those as well. But in many 196 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:48.139 cases a lot of this is recognized and funded and tracked very closely from the 197 00:15:48.179 --> 00:15:52.330 top of the organization in the more successful companies. It's fantastic and I am 198 00:15:52.409 --> 00:15:54.850 going to go out on limb. I'm sure you'll go out there with me, 199 00:15:54.889 --> 00:15:58.929 if you have to, and say these are the companies that are built 200 00:15:58.970 --> 00:16:03.409 to last, people that have that embedded in the culture. So let's it. 201 00:16:03.490 --> 00:16:07.759 Let's get really specific to all the changes that were forced upon basically every 202 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:12.720 business that exists for the most part, and of course, some more than 203 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:18.789 others, because some relied so much more heavily on physical contact and physical interaction, 204 00:16:18.909 --> 00:16:22.629 human to human interaction, not just via zoom or via phone or whatever, 205 00:16:22.669 --> 00:16:29.070 but actual human to human interactions. At the risk of stating the obvious, 206 00:16:29.149 --> 00:16:32.710 can use start at the beginning and maybe talk about the transformations that you've 207 00:16:32.750 --> 00:16:37.419 been seeing, or maybe the accelerated rates of trance of transformation that you're seeing 208 00:16:37.820 --> 00:16:41.620 in reaction to the pandemic. Well, they the big driver, of course, 209 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:48.850 is the need to go contactless. So there are still tremendous amount of 210 00:16:48.169 --> 00:16:55.250 conflicting science out there about exactly how this virus is transmitted and in the last 211 00:16:55.250 --> 00:16:59.850 few weeks in many parts of the country the numbers of new cases has gone 212 00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:04.240 up dramatically. Yet we still don't really understand how this was transmitted. You 213 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:08.000 know, my wife and I have five kids that are scattered throughout the west 214 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:14.279 and we're debating going on a road trip in a few weeks to go visit 215 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:19.670 them. But we really it's an ongoing research and discussion process about is this 216 00:17:19.829 --> 00:17:23.390 really feasible and what are the risks that we're taking and what are the things 217 00:17:23.430 --> 00:17:26.950 we should do and shouldn't do? On any given day, if you follow 218 00:17:27.029 --> 00:17:32.819 the news, you get conflicting stories and data and science and recommendations. So 219 00:17:33.500 --> 00:17:38.299 it's about contactless and in so many ways not just businesses but organizations of all 220 00:17:38.420 --> 00:17:45.369 types have been forced to figure out how to do what they do without doing 221 00:17:45.450 --> 00:17:49.329 any physical contact or minimizing physical contact. You know, I gradle off a 222 00:17:49.369 --> 00:17:55.650 number of examples just all the companies and businesses, operations and their employees that 223 00:17:55.730 --> 00:17:59.839 have simply gone home to work, that have gone remote. And so here 224 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.680 we are on zoom and the use of zoom is exploded. So telework in 225 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:07.920 and of itself has been a major transformation. Some of that's not going to 226 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:10.319 go back. It's going to stay where people are going to continue to do 227 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:15.150 that. You look at education at all levels, from preschool all the way 228 00:18:15.190 --> 00:18:21.829 up to postgraduate in college, it's completely changed and honestly, we haven't figured 229 00:18:21.869 --> 00:18:23.750 that out. If you look the jury still out on how to make that 230 00:18:23.910 --> 00:18:30.140 work and with everybody pulling students out of classes at all levels back in March 231 00:18:30.579 --> 00:18:34.779 and then trying to cope from March until now, I think the general consisus 232 00:18:34.900 --> 00:18:37.980 is we failed, we didn't we haven't figured it out. We have a 233 00:18:37.059 --> 00:18:41.569 long way to go. Health and medicine is changed dramatically. So I'm trying 234 00:18:41.569 --> 00:18:45.970 to catch up on some of my doctor's appointments that I've been procrastinating on the 235 00:18:45.009 --> 00:18:48.490 last few months, and a lot of these now we're doing virtually. We're 236 00:18:48.490 --> 00:18:53.490 doing through zoom meeting, we're doing through, you know, sharing records online, 237 00:18:53.529 --> 00:18:56.759 scheduling things and trying to do as much as possible. You know. 238 00:18:57.160 --> 00:19:02.039 So pull examples in small businesses, the restaurants that are allowing you to order 239 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:04.799 online and pick up at the curb. You know, there's another example here 240 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:11.950 in Colorado Springs up a construction company that has gone totally video, where they 241 00:19:11.029 --> 00:19:17.309 will show you how to do video with your phone of the space in your 242 00:19:17.349 --> 00:19:19.630 home that you want to have remodeled and you send them the video, they'll 243 00:19:19.630 --> 00:19:23.460 come back to you with simulations of what that space would look like with new 244 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:27.140 materials, with a redesign. Then they'll come back and they'll show you a 245 00:19:27.220 --> 00:19:30.980 simulation of how they're actually going to come in and do the work and how 246 00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:34.700 they're going to maintain social distance. And I've heard other examples of tailors that 247 00:19:34.819 --> 00:19:40.650 have figured out how to do measurements using APPS and how to measure your body 248 00:19:40.730 --> 00:19:45.569 and send them your body measurements for a new suit without having any we could 249 00:19:45.609 --> 00:19:48.890 go on and on and on about all these examples of all the ways that 250 00:19:48.970 --> 00:19:52.119 we're figuring out how to do this. So it's some it's pervasive, a 251 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:56.279 lot of it is very creative and you know, as they say, necessity 252 00:19:56.359 --> 00:20:00.359 is the mother of invention and there's a lot of new stuff being invented. 253 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.799 Yeah, I love it in some some of these examples, for example the 254 00:20:03.880 --> 00:20:07.190 one about the tailor you were use the APP and it takes your measurements and 255 00:20:07.230 --> 00:20:11.269 get a custom cut suit for like five or six hundred bucks. That's one 256 00:20:11.309 --> 00:20:15.670 of those where the idea, it's an idea whose time has come. And 257 00:20:15.789 --> 00:20:18.309 then there's this other camp where it's we've been doing this for a long time, 258 00:20:18.349 --> 00:20:22.259 successfully or unsuccessfully. How do we adapt? And I think that's the 259 00:20:22.339 --> 00:20:25.259 that's the majority of a lot of them and you know to your point, 260 00:20:25.259 --> 00:20:27.779 I mean we've added a couple trips to Arizona. We have family down there 261 00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:33.420 and my son is looking at a couple schools in Arizona. We've canceled two 262 00:20:33.460 --> 00:20:37.529 of those trips. So I can imagine your thoughts around is this, is 263 00:20:37.609 --> 00:20:41.369 this good or not? In the science is very, very challenging. It's 264 00:20:41.369 --> 00:20:45.569 also a lot of it is politicized, which makes it more confusing and there's 265 00:20:45.569 --> 00:20:48.769 a great deal of challenge here for you know. I know that you're talking 266 00:20:48.849 --> 00:20:52.400 with a lot of folks, you're doing a lot of presentations and engagements like 267 00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:56.480 this one we're enjoying right now. What are a couple things that people have 268 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:03.519 have found surprising or lowhanging fruit or missed opportunities? What are some things that 269 00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:10.109 you're seeing that might be practical from a takeaway standpoint for someone listening to improve 270 00:21:10.269 --> 00:21:14.630 what they're doing? For example, specific to your touchless I just released an 271 00:21:14.670 --> 00:21:17.789 episode, by the time this releases, will have released a week or two 272 00:21:17.829 --> 00:21:21.940 before, with a gentleman who works at a company. Michael Ashford works this 273 00:21:22.019 --> 00:21:26.859 company called the receptionist. They're based up in Denver coincidentally, and they provide 274 00:21:26.900 --> 00:21:30.220 those ipads where people can punch in and then it alerts the person you're coming 275 00:21:30.259 --> 00:21:33.890 to visit at the office, you know, and all of this. And 276 00:21:33.450 --> 00:21:38.329 just to remove the idea that someone has to touch an IPAD, they're adapting 277 00:21:38.410 --> 00:21:41.009 it so that it talks to your mobile device, so you can check in 278 00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:45.250 on your own phone via this this, you know, the rest of this 279 00:21:45.329 --> 00:21:48.480 infrastructure. And so anyway, I would assume that you're hearing a lot of 280 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:53.640 star stories like that. Is there anything surprising or easy see or challenging in 281 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:57.400 particular, that that's been interesting to you or helpful to others? Well, 282 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:00.990 one of the things that we've done, and answer lab, which is very 283 00:22:02.029 --> 00:22:04.670 important in in and we have worked with a lot of our customers and clients 284 00:22:04.710 --> 00:22:10.109 on this too, is the probably the first priority is to make sure that 285 00:22:11.750 --> 00:22:17.859 you're being safe. So whatever whatever new direction you're going or however you're running 286 00:22:17.900 --> 00:22:21.140 your option operation, make sure that, based on the best knowledge we have 287 00:22:21.220 --> 00:22:26.180 available today, make sure that you're taking care of yourself, your family, 288 00:22:27.059 --> 00:22:30.890 your employees, your customers, your clients. So as much as possible, 289 00:22:32.250 --> 00:22:37.650 minimize that physical contact and try to find creative ways to deal and in a 290 00:22:37.690 --> 00:22:40.849 lot of the examples we've been talking about. Companies of all sizes, of 291 00:22:40.970 --> 00:22:44.089 course, are doing this. They're figuring out how to and even in the 292 00:22:44.289 --> 00:22:48.799 in the example you just mentioned with the IPAD, even just physically touching something 293 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:52.720 could be risky. So now let's use voice, and certainly the voice technology 294 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:56.039 has come far enough that we can do that today. So look at the 295 00:22:56.119 --> 00:23:00.109 technologies that are available, look at where you might be at risk or where 296 00:23:00.150 --> 00:23:03.509 you might be putting other people at risk and, first of all, figured 297 00:23:03.509 --> 00:23:08.589 out how to maintain that safety in that distance and minimize or eliminate those points 298 00:23:08.630 --> 00:23:12.980 of context so that you're not spreading the virus first of all. Next, 299 00:23:14.059 --> 00:23:18.940 it's probably important to really look carefully at where your customers are headed. One 300 00:23:18.980 --> 00:23:22.380 of the things that we're also book missing a lot on is customer data. 301 00:23:23.500 --> 00:23:27.569 So in all of the marketing that we do, certainly in many aspects of 302 00:23:27.650 --> 00:23:34.329 customer experience and User Experience, we've learned a lot about our customers and as 303 00:23:34.410 --> 00:23:41.170 well as our prospects and and the our ability to manage these data sets and 304 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:45.119 optimize what we offer people and when we offer it and all the things that 305 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:48.319 we do before and after the sale is based on these massive data sets that 306 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:52.200 we've collected about our customers. Well, some of that data, maybe a 307 00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:56.789 lot of that data, may now be suspect because people are losing their jobs, 308 00:23:57.710 --> 00:24:02.029 people are now working at home, so they may no longer be using 309 00:24:02.509 --> 00:24:04.869 the, you know, the same email systems that they did before, the 310 00:24:04.910 --> 00:24:11.140 same phone numbers that they did before. People may be changing jobs, customers 311 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:15.339 may be pivoting, they may be shifting their budgets or scaling back those all 312 00:24:15.420 --> 00:24:22.579 this transformation going on that's going to render some, some portion of your customer 313 00:24:22.660 --> 00:24:26.250 data, your customer knowledge, obsolete, and so one of the things you 314 00:24:26.289 --> 00:24:30.410 have to start right now to do is really start to understand how you're going 315 00:24:30.490 --> 00:24:33.450 to rebuild that knowledge, because if you lose track of those customers and who 316 00:24:33.450 --> 00:24:37.690 they are and what their need, that's going to create additional risk way. 317 00:24:37.769 --> 00:24:42.400 So that's a really important one. Another short term, really important aspect of 318 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:45.680 this is really to understand, you know, as I mentioned earlier, all 319 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:51.960 business outcomes are those individual choices that people make within the experiences we provide them. 320 00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:56.750 So it's really important to understand what those choices are, what represents a 321 00:24:57.230 --> 00:25:03.990 specific outcome that your customers have to achieve that's going to have them be successful. 322 00:25:03.750 --> 00:25:07.619 And what outcomes do you need to achieve as a business for you to 323 00:25:07.740 --> 00:25:12.259 be successful? You need to very clearly articulate those and then begin to understand 324 00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:17.220 whether they're diverging or they're converging. You know, as I've used this metaphor 325 00:25:17.299 --> 00:25:22.170 before about Wayne Gretzky, made the point about his some of his success, 326 00:25:22.250 --> 00:25:25.569 or a lot of his success, was based on skating to where the puck 327 00:25:25.730 --> 00:25:27.529 was going to be stead of where the puck is or where it's been. 328 00:25:29.210 --> 00:25:32.369 So try to figure out three months, six months, a year out, 329 00:25:32.529 --> 00:25:34.799 and that's going to be difficult, but try to figure out where the PUCK 330 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:38.799 is going to be and decide whether you're skating in the right are you going 331 00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:42.640 to be there when the puck gets there or will hit it have already passed? 332 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:47.680 So you got to understand those points of success, those those outcomes and 333 00:25:47.799 --> 00:25:51.069 begin to anticipate what that future looks like and what kind of data you're going 334 00:25:51.109 --> 00:25:53.670 to need and then how you're going to make all of that happen in environment 335 00:25:53.670 --> 00:26:00.869 where you're keeping everybody safe. Three fantastic caution sensitivity areas. I and of 336 00:26:00.910 --> 00:26:04.140 course, I really like where you left there with the with the Gretzky quote, 337 00:26:04.339 --> 00:26:07.380 because there is so much changing, just like there is in a live 338 00:26:07.700 --> 00:26:11.779 fast action you know, best players in the world hockey game. There's a 339 00:26:11.859 --> 00:26:15.819 lot that's moving really, really quickly. You know, with regard to your 340 00:26:15.859 --> 00:26:21.130 own business, your own team members, your customers, their actual needs, 341 00:26:21.210 --> 00:26:23.089 the solution that you provide or the way that you provide a has to change. 342 00:26:23.130 --> 00:26:26.210 It's been thematic, of course, throughout the conversation so far. I 343 00:26:26.289 --> 00:26:32.450 want to double back really quickly, Bob, to have this problem of asking 344 00:26:32.450 --> 00:26:36.720 multiple questions all the same time. So I have partly held myself back there. 345 00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:40.200 But you know, this is something that I see in in conversations on 346 00:26:40.359 --> 00:26:45.079 linked in in that type of thing, which is from your perspective. Is, 347 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:48.029 you know, the way we're talking about customer experience today or the way 348 00:26:48.069 --> 00:26:53.789 that we're talking about user experience? Is this just new language or return to 349 00:26:53.829 --> 00:26:57.549 language for things that we've always worked on and focused on? Is there actually 350 00:26:57.549 --> 00:27:02.779 anything new here? What's changed? What stayed the same maybe over the past 351 00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:07.779 twenty years or so in these areas? So there, yeah, they're glad 352 00:27:07.819 --> 00:27:10.099 you asked that's a really good question. So there have been a number of 353 00:27:10.259 --> 00:27:14.259 major changes that have happened. Certainly the shift to mobile has been a big 354 00:27:14.299 --> 00:27:17.690 one. So back in the day, when I first started doing this, 355 00:27:17.809 --> 00:27:23.450 when I worked with Hewlett Packard, you know, we did everything on desktop 356 00:27:23.490 --> 00:27:30.920 computer using windows explorer browser, and ninety five percent of the world that was 357 00:27:32.319 --> 00:27:34.640 what they used. Since so you could just test that. The world is 358 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:38.440 much different now. So there are so many different devices out there, so 359 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:47.670 many different APPS, different operating systems, and so it's really important that mobile 360 00:27:47.869 --> 00:27:51.269 be first, you know, and that's really what our focus is on, 361 00:27:51.349 --> 00:27:56.950 especially now that a lot of people have moved away from their work desktop and 362 00:27:56.029 --> 00:28:00.539 they're relying more and more on mobile. Even though they're not as mobile, 363 00:28:00.819 --> 00:28:04.539 they're actually relying more and more on mobile devices to do what they need to 364 00:28:04.660 --> 00:28:10.779 do. So mobile is the is the one of the big transformations. The 365 00:28:10.900 --> 00:28:14.769 other thing that we're starting to see is a lot more intelligence in interactive systems, 366 00:28:15.049 --> 00:28:21.410 so augmented reality, virtual reality intelligence systems, the ability for these interfaces 367 00:28:21.490 --> 00:28:25.369 to begin to learn who we are at anticipate who we are. Those are 368 00:28:25.450 --> 00:28:29.079 going to be a those are going to take a much larger role now in 369 00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:33.200 the ways that we're going to be able to stay contactless. So you know, 370 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:38.319 driverless cars and trucks are obviously coming. You know, the any of 371 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:44.150 these examples that we've named, like, for example, the tailor example. 372 00:28:44.670 --> 00:28:48.910 You know, in order to be able to measure body dimensions and translate those 373 00:28:48.950 --> 00:28:52.869 into something physical that actually it's on your body, there has to be some 374 00:28:52.990 --> 00:28:56.660 intelligence built into those to be able to understand how to process those algorithms. 375 00:28:56.700 --> 00:29:02.980 So those, those models, those systems, those tools are going to become 376 00:29:03.019 --> 00:29:04.500 a lot more intelligent. So that's a big deal and you're going to start 377 00:29:04.539 --> 00:29:08.660 to see more and more intelligence built in two interfaces and tools and ways of 378 00:29:08.740 --> 00:29:12.849 interacting with one another and keeping things contactless. And again, all those are 379 00:29:12.890 --> 00:29:17.369 all of those are individual experiences. People are going to learn, need to 380 00:29:17.450 --> 00:29:21.890 learn how to use those, learn how to make them effective for whatever outcomes 381 00:29:21.930 --> 00:29:26.000 they're seeking, and that's going to require us to do more and more evaluation 382 00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:29.359 of those systems to make sure they're functional, make sure people can make sense 383 00:29:29.400 --> 00:29:32.559 out of them. You know, another one that we're going to start to 384 00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:34.200 see and which is going to be a big deal is already a big deal, 385 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:37.200 but it's going to become even more a big deal is data privacy. 386 00:29:38.430 --> 00:29:41.470 So you know, we hear a lot about that now, but if you 387 00:29:41.509 --> 00:29:45.309 you know, if you watch the news, there are some major issues going 388 00:29:45.430 --> 00:29:48.309 on with some of our social media platforms around data privacy. We have an 389 00:29:48.349 --> 00:29:55.019 election coming up which is going to continue to a surface significant data privacy issues. 390 00:29:55.700 --> 00:29:59.140 You know, with all of the social justice and all the protests going 391 00:29:59.259 --> 00:30:03.579 on. There's a lot of talk about police use of facial recognition. That's 392 00:30:03.619 --> 00:30:06.180 going to be a big deal. And what and the biggest one is probably 393 00:30:06.259 --> 00:30:10.890 going to be a key part of solving in the coronavirus problem is going to 394 00:30:10.970 --> 00:30:15.690 be testing, tracing and tracking. Now, smart devices and all the the 395 00:30:15.769 --> 00:30:18.690 phones we have in our pockets are not going to be the solution, but 396 00:30:18.769 --> 00:30:22.039 they're probably going to be a key part of the solution and people are going 397 00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:26.079 to resist, especially in this country. People are going to resist mightily having 398 00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:30.759 themselves tracked and their personal health tracked and made available to other people. But 399 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:34.480 are we going to be able to solve the coronavirus problem if we can't do 400 00:30:34.710 --> 00:30:37.789 that? So that's a big deal. We haven't. We're a long way 401 00:30:37.829 --> 00:30:41.190 from even really backling that, much less solving it. So those are some 402 00:30:41.230 --> 00:30:45.710 of the major things going on right now and in some of these work just 403 00:30:45.829 --> 00:30:48.349 on the front end of them. Really good observations, a lot of big 404 00:30:48.470 --> 00:30:52.019 ideas there. For folks who are listening, I recommend that bounce back button 405 00:30:52.099 --> 00:30:55.900 on my phone. It in the APP that I use. It's a sixty 406 00:30:55.980 --> 00:30:59.220 two bounce back, so maybe hit that thing twice or a lot of really 407 00:30:59.259 --> 00:31:03.180 good ideas in there. I appreciate you making that pass and it's really interesting 408 00:31:03.259 --> 00:31:07.450 that the what will we give away in terms of privacy or information personally in 409 00:31:07.569 --> 00:31:14.049 exchange for what type of value or experience or entertainment? And it just mind 410 00:31:14.130 --> 00:31:15.650 blowing to me. As you said it, I was like, yeah, 411 00:31:15.650 --> 00:31:18.599 there is going to be a lot of resistance to health data and tracking. 412 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:22.279 At the same time, you know, you already pointed to the vulnerabilities of 413 00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:26.720 social networks. Like I want to see these, you know, ten second 414 00:31:26.759 --> 00:31:30.279 video clips and I'm willing to, you know, put my personal information at 415 00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:33.150 risk in exchange for that, but I'm not going to help track this virus 416 00:31:33.190 --> 00:31:37.750 down anyway. So much interesting stuff going on. Can you do a quick 417 00:31:37.789 --> 00:31:41.670 pass here on learning in particular? You know, I saw learning experiences as 418 00:31:41.710 --> 00:31:45.630 a lot of your background and it's just something that's really of interest to me. 419 00:31:45.710 --> 00:31:49.259 I would assume that folks who are this deep in a podcast episode are 420 00:31:49.380 --> 00:31:53.660 learners. If you listen to podcasts, you probably read books, digitally or 421 00:31:53.700 --> 00:31:59.099 physically. You're probably a tight a learner type. GIFF, any tips on 422 00:31:59.259 --> 00:32:04.130 learning, something that you've learned along the way that would help people learn more 423 00:32:04.250 --> 00:32:07.730 effectively or something like that? Yeah, I think one of the biggest challenges, 424 00:32:08.049 --> 00:32:13.049 and I that I'm sure you've experienced this, one of the biggest challenges 425 00:32:13.210 --> 00:32:16.680 with with learning, especially virtual learning, now that we're doing all of this 426 00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:23.000 so remotely, is the retention in the application. So and I can't tell 427 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:27.960 you that I've that I have any any secret solutions to that. I think 428 00:32:28.039 --> 00:32:31.069 again, if we referred earlier to all the challenges going on now with trying 429 00:32:31.109 --> 00:32:36.589 to do remote learning for school at all different levels and so, I mean 430 00:32:36.630 --> 00:32:42.069 I consume a tremendous amount of information and learning, but my ability to remember 431 00:32:42.109 --> 00:32:46.019 it is one challenge and then my ability to apply it, whether it's to 432 00:32:46.140 --> 00:32:51.700 my personal life or to my career or to my professional work, is a 433 00:32:51.740 --> 00:32:55.740 whole another challenge. So I think that you know and I have done quite 434 00:32:55.740 --> 00:32:59.049 a bit of e learning in the past. In fact, a years ago 435 00:32:59.049 --> 00:33:04.450 I did a start up where we developed a lot of learning tools and evaluation 436 00:33:04.569 --> 00:33:08.769 tools to help young people prepare for life and and some of the things that 437 00:33:08.890 --> 00:33:14.079 we were able to accomplish there to kind of make a dent in this retention 438 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:22.799 and application challenge is is really making things very personal is really trying to make 439 00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:30.910 the tools adaptable to a particular individuals life and context, learning style and and 440 00:33:30.150 --> 00:33:35.670 current level of knowledge and confidence. So knowledge and confidence are two very important 441 00:33:35.670 --> 00:33:40.150 vectors on that and the more adaptable and personalized you can make that learning to 442 00:33:40.309 --> 00:33:44.900 the individual, the more they're going to pay attention to it and then the 443 00:33:45.019 --> 00:33:47.660 more relevant it's going to be for them in their lives and therefore their ability 444 00:33:47.700 --> 00:33:52.299 to apply it in useful ways is going to be more important. And again 445 00:33:52.380 --> 00:33:54.140 that's where some of this intelligence is going to come in. So some of 446 00:33:54.180 --> 00:33:58.289 the early tools that we were able to develop, and there's more of this 447 00:33:58.410 --> 00:34:00.769 going on now, like a lot more of this where you can assess an 448 00:34:00.809 --> 00:34:06.609 individual ahead of time and actually adapt the learning content, the learning delivery, 449 00:34:07.009 --> 00:34:13.199 the media types, the speed, the depth, everything to that individual so 450 00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:16.079 one size fits all doesn't fit in most cases. We need to find ways 451 00:34:16.119 --> 00:34:21.559 again at all levels of learning. Also, learning is to be experiential and 452 00:34:21.679 --> 00:34:23.989 I think that's one of the biggest failings of what's happened over the last few 453 00:34:23.989 --> 00:34:29.670 months is, you know, that classroom experience, interacting with other students, 454 00:34:30.269 --> 00:34:35.710 interacting with the instructor, all the other enriching activities that happen in a school. 455 00:34:35.829 --> 00:34:37.780 They'll serve. For example, one of my sons is in college and 456 00:34:37.900 --> 00:34:44.099 he's premed and he's at the lab stage of his premed studies where he's got 457 00:34:44.179 --> 00:34:46.900 to lay hands on a lot of things in a laboratory. Well, now 458 00:34:46.980 --> 00:34:52.090 he can't do that and you simply can't simulate that by watching videos online. 459 00:34:52.130 --> 00:34:58.730 It's just not going to happen. So so I think removing that experiential aspect 460 00:34:58.769 --> 00:35:04.210 and that interpersonal aspect of our education in response to coronavirus has been a real 461 00:35:04.250 --> 00:35:06.929 risk and honestly I'm not sure how we replace that. I think there's a 462 00:35:06.929 --> 00:35:08.760 lot of ways we're going to have to continue to work on that to make 463 00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:14.039 that work better, really, really good it. I was recently able to 464 00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:19.440 go to the dentist and and the dental hygienist apologize to me for having to 465 00:35:19.559 --> 00:35:22.510 pause for a moment because she had to put a gown over her gown. 466 00:35:22.389 --> 00:35:27.630 She had to put a whole plastic sheeting over her already. You know, 467 00:35:28.070 --> 00:35:30.909 mask the face, mask, all these other things, and it's I just 468 00:35:30.030 --> 00:35:35.150 think about a med school student and what's required there, and you're right, 469 00:35:35.230 --> 00:35:37.179 it is. A lot of it is so tactile. Gosh, it's got 470 00:35:37.219 --> 00:35:39.139 to be so challenging. In to your point a, you know, we're 471 00:35:39.179 --> 00:35:43.500 in this some kind of a holding pattern until we figure it out at some 472 00:35:43.659 --> 00:35:46.460 level. What you also shared there about learning reminded me of an episode that 473 00:35:46.619 --> 00:35:51.690 we did with Pianca Jane, who is a data analytics expert, and she 474 00:35:51.730 --> 00:35:57.690 shared some ways to improve data literacy in this idea of application asap. You 475 00:35:57.809 --> 00:36:00.409 know, as soon as the learning happens that you can start applying it, 476 00:36:00.489 --> 00:36:05.599 and so we talked a bit about data personas within an organization. Of course 477 00:36:05.639 --> 00:36:08.840 that's not truly individualized and personalized, but it at least takes a step in 478 00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:13.800 that direction to make sure that how deep does someone need to get to be 479 00:36:14.039 --> 00:36:20.190 appropriately data literate for their role, and how can we make assignments and interactivity 480 00:36:20.710 --> 00:36:23.110 so that the learning is taken right away and is appropriate again to the role 481 00:36:23.230 --> 00:36:27.510 or the depth of knowledge that the person needs. If you're listening to this 482 00:36:27.590 --> 00:36:30.789 episode even enjoyed it so far with that with Bob, as I have, 483 00:36:30.309 --> 00:36:35.699 you might also like episode fifty of the customer experience podcast. That was with 484 00:36:35.820 --> 00:36:38.019 Bill Ammerman. He's the author of a great book called the invisible brand. 485 00:36:38.340 --> 00:36:43.260 In fact, porchlight books called it their marketing book of the year and we 486 00:36:43.420 --> 00:36:49.690 titled that Episode Episode Fifty, the ethics of AI customer persuasion versus customer coercion, 487 00:36:49.730 --> 00:36:52.210 and you did a pass there toward the end, Bob, about you 488 00:36:52.289 --> 00:36:57.250 know some of the tradeoffs that were making and you know what's motivating the intelligence 489 00:36:57.289 --> 00:37:01.119 behind these systems and what's motivating the way that the massive data collection we've been 490 00:37:01.159 --> 00:37:07.000 doing for years is actually applied in in an experiential way and for whose benefits. 491 00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:10.239 So that was episode fifty with Bill Ammerman and episode seventy four a little 492 00:37:10.239 --> 00:37:14.599 more recently with Steph called well of narrative science. Are Really Cool Company in 493 00:37:14.679 --> 00:37:19.190 Chicago and we called that using tech to scale the human touch, and we 494 00:37:19.309 --> 00:37:22.349 were at that intersection, a little bit of human and machine. And you 495 00:37:22.429 --> 00:37:25.469 know, how do we still create that personal and human experience for people in 496 00:37:25.750 --> 00:37:35.539 a scaled and partly automated and eventually artificially intelligent interactivity? And so, Bob, 497 00:37:35.619 --> 00:37:37.539 this has been great. I've really enjoyed our time together. And before 498 00:37:37.539 --> 00:37:42.139 I let you go, because relationships are our number one core value at bombomb, 499 00:37:42.539 --> 00:37:45.929 I like to give you two opportunities. One to think or mention a 500 00:37:45.010 --> 00:37:47.730 person and two, to think or mentioned a company or a brand. And 501 00:37:49.010 --> 00:37:52.130 the person is someone who's had a positive impact on your life or your career, 502 00:37:52.570 --> 00:37:57.650 and the brand is one that you appreciate or respect for the experience that 503 00:37:57.730 --> 00:38:00.159 they deliver for you as a customer. Well, you know, I say, 504 00:38:00.159 --> 00:38:05.000 I have to go back to my early days of my career and, 505 00:38:05.159 --> 00:38:07.280 as I mentioned, I work for Hewlett Packard, back in the days when 506 00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:12.119 bill and day were still alive and I had the opportunity to meet them on 507 00:38:12.199 --> 00:38:16.710 various occasions, and you know they were. They were the original Silicon Valley 508 00:38:17.630 --> 00:38:22.510 start the new business in your garage duo, and there have been so many 509 00:38:22.750 --> 00:38:25.429 duos that have done that, and they did it back in the late s 510 00:38:27.659 --> 00:38:30.460 and I think a lot of people don't realize that they were the original, 511 00:38:30.739 --> 00:38:36.539 you know, technology company founders. So their story and their values and how 512 00:38:36.619 --> 00:38:38.780 they there was a very different company back then. You know, they invented 513 00:38:38.820 --> 00:38:43.690 the HP way and they inventagement management by walking around and, you know, 514 00:38:43.809 --> 00:38:46.210 in the open door policy and there was so much this just become embedded in 515 00:38:46.329 --> 00:38:50.929 our corporate culture these days. That so they were. They were a true 516 00:38:50.929 --> 00:38:54.090 inspiration then. I you know, appreciate I had the opportunity to work in 517 00:38:54.210 --> 00:38:59.920 that environment back back in the S and s when when they were still around. 518 00:39:00.360 --> 00:39:02.480 So I mentioned them. Their long past, but they they had a 519 00:39:02.519 --> 00:39:07.840 really impact on the on the industry and the just corporate culture in general. 520 00:39:07.880 --> 00:39:13.110 The other one I would mention that I really appreciate is Jeff Walker and product 521 00:39:13.150 --> 00:39:16.030 launch formula. So he invented you're shaking your not in your head. So 522 00:39:16.070 --> 00:39:19.829 I assume you've heard of him. Oh, yeah, he's. You know, 523 00:39:20.230 --> 00:39:28.219 he invented ways of creating experiences for customers that really focus a lot on 524 00:39:28.380 --> 00:39:34.460 education, focus a lot on creating an effective experience that brings the prospector of 525 00:39:34.539 --> 00:39:38.730 the customer into the value of whatever it is you're offering and lead you down 526 00:39:39.010 --> 00:39:45.210 a process of engaging in a way that is, I think, is so 527 00:39:45.409 --> 00:39:51.170 widely used anymore in marketing, and especially an online in digital marketing, that 528 00:39:51.329 --> 00:39:53.000 I think we forget that. Jeff and beent a a lot of that back. 529 00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:57.119 I've probably been twelve years ago now that he did that it and a 530 00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:00.400 lot of companies are using aspects of that today. So those are a couple 531 00:40:00.440 --> 00:40:05.599 of professionals, systems, individuals that I think had a pretty, pretty big 532 00:40:05.599 --> 00:40:10.110 impact on me. Awesome. Any companies or brands come to mind? You 533 00:40:10.190 --> 00:40:15.989 know, I I follow apple very closely. You know, I own virtually 534 00:40:16.030 --> 00:40:22.500 every apple device that has known to exist and just the quality of the products 535 00:40:22.539 --> 00:40:29.420 that they create and and you talk about experience, and so every aspect of 536 00:40:29.539 --> 00:40:34.380 what they do, whether it's in the APPS or the websites that they create, 537 00:40:35.260 --> 00:40:37.610 if it's in the devices themselves, whether it's an apple watch or an 538 00:40:37.610 --> 00:40:43.329 iphone or a Mac, I just think I always turn to them when we're 539 00:40:43.329 --> 00:40:46.809 talking about experience. I always think about them as being the gold standard as 540 00:40:46.929 --> 00:40:52.320 far as the quality of the experience and how intuitive it is and how how 541 00:40:52.480 --> 00:40:54.519 truly delightful it is to interact with the things that they make, so I'll 542 00:40:54.960 --> 00:40:59.079 definitely want to mention them because I'm a big fan cool. I love all 543 00:40:59.159 --> 00:41:02.559 three of those choices. I when I think about companies today that really think 544 00:41:02.599 --> 00:41:08.150 about the relationship between humans and their devices, apple is obviously first or second 545 00:41:08.190 --> 00:41:12.670 to come to mind, with Amazon being right there with them. Jeff Walker, 546 00:41:12.750 --> 00:41:15.670 we all read that at bombomb years ago and we've generated at least a 547 00:41:15.710 --> 00:41:21.780 million dollars in revenue. And that my favorite thing about that process that he 548 00:41:21.860 --> 00:41:25.659 advocates in the product launch formula. I forget the exact name of the book 549 00:41:25.659 --> 00:41:30.179 but it's something like that, is that it's actually called launch. Is the 550 00:41:30.219 --> 00:41:34.250 body there. You go right, and so even for people who don't take 551 00:41:34.289 --> 00:41:37.650 you up on the offer and don't pay you a dollar of revenue, they 552 00:41:37.730 --> 00:41:42.170 still got a massive amount of value. And so from a at bomb when 553 00:41:42.210 --> 00:41:45.610 we would do these teachings and things that would lead to some opportunity for someone 554 00:41:45.650 --> 00:41:49.320 to spend time or money with us, even people who didn't opt to follow 555 00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:53.079 along to that last stage still got a massive amount of value. Huge engagement 556 00:41:53.239 --> 00:41:57.840 with the software and with our team is just really positive experience. So I 557 00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:01.429 love with that leaves customers with in a huge proponent of managing by walking around. 558 00:42:01.469 --> 00:42:05.949 It's something I discovered on my own and then I realized, you know, 559 00:42:06.150 --> 00:42:10.789 in doing some more traditional corporate culture and business reading as I was coming 560 00:42:10.829 --> 00:42:13.710 up in my career, as like, Oh, this is actually a thing, 561 00:42:14.349 --> 00:42:19.500 you know, there's actually a useful philosophy and practice. I'm so legitimate. 562 00:42:20.139 --> 00:42:22.900 Anyway, Bob, this has been great. I've really enjoyed it. 563 00:42:22.019 --> 00:42:24.900 If someone wants to follow up on this conversation, they want to connect with 564 00:42:24.980 --> 00:42:30.090 you or answer lab or, it's the USERSCOM. If people enjoyed this, 565 00:42:30.170 --> 00:42:34.010 where would you send them to follow up? So we have a lot of 566 00:42:34.130 --> 00:42:37.610 free materials to help people get started in this world of user and customer experience 567 00:42:38.210 --> 00:42:44.050 and a lot of advanced materials, learning courses, tools, platforms, etc. 568 00:42:45.119 --> 00:42:49.880 Also, I offer a free personalized consult so if you if you go 569 00:42:50.159 --> 00:42:54.920 to it's the USERSCOM, bombomb, then you can sign up for all those 570 00:42:54.960 --> 00:42:59.670 free materials and that extensive library and you can also sign up for some time 571 00:42:59.710 --> 00:43:02.630 with me to guide you through this and talk specifically about Your Business, your 572 00:43:02.670 --> 00:43:07.550 customers and how to make all of this work for you. Awesome. Thank 573 00:43:07.590 --> 00:43:10.670 you so much, Bob. That's it's the USERSCOM bomb bomb. If you 574 00:43:10.710 --> 00:43:15.099 want to see video clips from this episode links to some of the things that 575 00:43:15.179 --> 00:43:20.340 we talked about, you can always visit Bombombcom podcast. Thank you so much 576 00:43:20.340 --> 00:43:22.940 for listening, and Bob, thank you so much for your time and insights. 577 00:43:22.260 --> 00:43:28.650 Ethan, all the best, take care. Is Your buyer a BBB 578 00:43:28.769 --> 00:43:31.929 marketer? If so, you should think about sponsoring this podcast. BB growth 579 00:43:31.969 --> 00:43:36.929 gets downloaded over a hundred and thirty thousand times each month and our listeners are 580 00:43:37.050 --> 00:43:40.480 marketing decision makers. If it sounds interesting, send logan and email logan at 581 00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:42.840 sweet fish mediacom.