Omni Channel customer engagement has been a hot topic for the past several years. But despite all the buzz the real status of Omni Channel has been lagging at best. The question to ask is: Are organizations themselves integrated enough to be capable of initiating and delivering Omni Channel customer engagement initiatives? Instead of looking at third party reports and statistics, […]
There’s a lot of ongoing debate regarding future of payments which includes a discussion on credit cards, wallets, loyalty, banking, among other related topics. Meanwhile, we need to ask if the current financial services players have really made progress preparing themselves for the future of payments (or banking for that matter). I believe we still need to work on “setting the right […]
The artificial intelligence strategy buzz is everywhere. But now we need to move beyond rule based personalization and predictive analytics based recommendations. That kind of AI has been going on for 20 years if not more. Calling every analytics based project AI using a lot of jargon is definitely fashionable. But it also adversely affects the maturity of your artificial intelligence […]
It’s human nature. We try to protect what we have even though we know that change is coming. In this post I’ll bring out some real drivers of customer engagement, and provide some tactics to get ahead. There has been lots of buzz that the store can never die (Amazon is also getting into physical now), and how customer experience […]
For many years now we’ve been witnessing the phenomenal rise of Amazon.com. Retailers and manufacturers of all kinds have been scurrying to get their digital act together. The media has been rife with questions about traditional business models of stores and distributor channels. And now finally, Amazon has opened physical stores in key categories – grocery and books to name a few. The […]
In today’s fast paced, connected world, it has become crucial to engage with our customers, not just find ways to advertise to them. Customer engagement is actually a strong branding vehicle because it helps us align with the causes our customers love. And it can drive more profitable growth because it realigns our business with its higher purpose. The UNICEF Kid […]
There’s so much is happening in the financial services world that its enough to make your head spin. At the same time, if you take a look at the news today, you can see who’s getting it and moving forward, and who’s content with playing the same old game risking their very survival. Here’s my Fintech Innovation Watch. With a […]
Excited to announce from Barcelona, Spain, that my second book “Connected! How #platforms of today will become apps of tomorrow” is now live as a Kindle eBook! The paperback & hard cover versions will out through the distributors soon. I’ll also make the eBook available on Barnes & Noble & Apple in the next few weeks. For a limited time, get it […]
Let’s start with some cool statistics to set the stage for customer engagement. The numbers are hard hitting. Online sales clearly exceeded offline sales as nicely explained here. 25% more people did not stand in early morning lines. Obviously the availability of blockbuster deals is not an issue anymore. Good in a way but kind of takes some fun and thrill […]
I recently had the privilege of speaking at the BAI Beacon conference in Chicago. The topic was about the potential for APIs in financial services. The focus was on customer engagement. Update: A more detailed version of this blog is now on BAI.org as an article titled: Pieces in Place: The Rubik’s Cube Model of APIs This session presented a 3-step model for how […]
In a turn of events that demonstrates how rapidly the financial payments market is evolving, Visa and MasterCard have both entered into separate deals with PayPal. (ref 1 and 2 below) Image courtesy It was puzzling. Didn’t PayPal already accept both Visa and MasterCard? Yes it did, but the growth of PayPal (and now Stripe), also posed a very real risk […]
Timing is everything. Brands and businesses worldwide were quick to cash in on the Pokemon Go launch mania. Businesses jumped in with all kinds of promotions and offers as millions of people took to the streets hunting Pokemon on their mobile phones (I did too). For the most part, the promotional tactics for customer engagement by businesses can be categorized […]
The impact of API economy is across all industries. Because APIs by their very definition are supposed to promote interaction and dialog across multiple companies, often in different industries. In my article on American Banker Don’t Give Away The Store When Enabling APIs, I brought out the focus on ensuring that banks maintain their customer experience front end, while allowing additional channels […]
A recent report on The Disruption of Banking by The Economist highlighted that more than half of the banks are either ignoring the Fintech trend, or talking but not doing anything about it. In 2016, we are now seeing banks finally starting to tackle the emerging trends by partnering on many fronts, utilizing application program interfaces (APIs) and experimenting with […]
In a recent article on American Banker (Don’t Give Away the Store When Enabling APIs), I brought out three best practices for banks to adopt as they think of leveraging the Fintech and Banking API phenomenon. Even as Banking API are being touted as a must for banks, the common position of argument is from the perspective of emerging companies and […]