The Digital Consumer

I have strong ties to New Mexico and love the chapter in human history that it represents.

New Mexico has much evidence of the natural history of man in its pueblos, its archeological bounty, and its settlements of early civilization: cave dwellings -> tribal communities -> and eventual trading posts.  It got me to thinking about some of the intuitiveness of mankind that has been underemphasized in our digitally normalized life.

We stand on the shoulders of prior generations, but in the age of the digital consumer, how much of that is lost?  What is the new normal – doesn’t always require input from the pre-digital world.   Last year’s high school graduating class was the first to be “born digital.”  They were born after the World Wide Web or http “anything” existed.

I’m sure there are many studies, findings and discussions about this; but it occurred to me – watching my own kindergartener – that there’s this notion of a Human 2.0 in our midst.   It is natural for their expectations to be different; they’ve enabled the best digital experiences to rise to the top and have already redefined standards for their generation and ours.

They embody the NetFlix debacle – with the lack of content to “Play Instantly”; suddenly a novel concept emerged: our postman – and he better be here instantly! [the US Mail provided “what’s new” in the digital channels in the form of a DVD doorstop.]

But beyond the under 4-foot tall crowd; we as digital consumers ourselves have succumbed to new norms.

This study by Columbia University’s department of psychology points to the changing nature of human memory – today we don’t necessarily remember the facts and figures of our questions, but we remember the channel in which we are likely to find our answer.

In “Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips” in September 2011’s issue of “Science” – Columbia’s Betsy Sparrow says that ‘transitive memory’ is:

“recollections that are external to us but that we know when and how to access.” 

As the level of expectation rises and the barriers blur for what can be available; when, how, who, what and where – what comes to the forefront is the experience of the digital consumer.   They are the channel itself; they continually find new abstract and improved ways to distance themselves from the days of lore.  What impact is this having on new generations of products and services?  Look forward to your comments.

The Next Consumer

New Mexico is a place that enchants me – the chapter in human history that it represents fascinates me time and again.

Its evidence of the natural history of man in its pueblos, its archeological bounty, and its settlements of early civilization include cave dwellings -> tribal communities -> and eventually trading posts.  New Mexico got me to thinking about some of the intuitiveness of mankind that has been underemphasized in our digitally normalized lives. 

We stand on the shoulders of prior generations, but in the age of the digital consumer, how much of that is lost?  What is the new normal – doesn’t always require input from the pre-digital world.   Last year’s high school graduating class was the first to be “born digital.”  They were born after the World Wide Web or http://www “anything” existed.

I’m sure there are many studies, findings and discussions about this; but it occurred to me – watching my own kindergartener – that there’s this notion of a human 2.0 in our midst.   It is natural for their expectations to be different; they’ve enabled the best digital experiences to rise to the top and have already set new standards for their generation and ours.

They embody the NetFlix debacle – with the lack of content to “Play Instantly” – suddenly a novel concept emerged: our postman – and he better be fast!  [The US Mail provided “what’s new” in the digital channels in the format of a DVD]

But beyond the under 4-foot tall crowd; we as digital consumers ourselves have succumbed to new norms.

This study by Columbia University’s department of psychology points to the changing nature of human memory – today we don’t necessarily remember the facts and figures of our questions, but we remember the channel in which we are likely to find our answer.

In “Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips” in September 2011’s issue of “Science” Magazine – Columbia University’s Betsy Sparrow says that ‘transitive memory’ is:

“recollections that are external to us but that we know when and how to access.” 

As the level of expectation rises and the barriers blur for what can be available; when, how, who, what and where become less important and the experience of the digital consumer comes to the forefront.   They become the channel itself; as they continually find new abstract and improved ways to distance themselves from the days of lore.  What is the impact for the next generation of products and services?  I look forward to your comments.

What I Know About Customers I Learned from a Kangaroo or “Competitive Advantage through Caring”

Kangaroo, courtesy of flickr: .robbie

“Canguro”, the Spanish word for kangaroo got me thinking. Well, not just because it has a sweet ring to it – but it is also the word for babysitter. And what does a babysitter do? A canguro, or babysitter, cares for our young. Now take a logical broadjump and ponder “caring” in the customer sense.

After several conversations with Marketing Science Professor Kalyan Raman, of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, it became more apparent that as we strive to exceed our customers’ expectations and address some of our burning business themes – “Customer 360”, ”Customer Experience” or ”Customer Support” – we often overlook caring, which truly is this business unifier.

In his words:“Caring is a differentiator—done well, it sets a company apart from its rivals; Caring is unifying—it unites the organization through a shared vision.”

From what I know of Professor Raman’s work in Integrated Marketing and Communications (and he is specialized in computational advertising and allocation modeling) he applies evidence-based approaches to decision making, and requires students to take real world projects with real data to model, analyze and then create information. He has proven that this approach can be applied to most any problem, which may be the reason that he’s been involved in solving problems in disciplines as far afield as the medical profession.

But back to the theme of Caring in business practice, how do we know when we’re doing it right – and how can we find the ROI within customer insights and truly affect the bottom line?

Raman says “Caring opens a new way of looking at business practices, because today’s customers – socially outfitted in the driver’s seat – are equipped and prepared to challenge conventional or traditional marketing tactics. Social customers have become suspicious of marketing devices developed in times that were entirely different from those of today.”

“Caring is central to connecting with customers and earning their loyalty. We all understand caring intuitively – and paradoxically – that can get in the way of being truly caring. Caring is a subtle and elusive concept because it means different things to different people, it is culturally determined, socially influenced and dynamic because it’s meaning changes over time even for the same person. Caring is influenced by the organizational structure and therefore visionary leadership is a key element in caring.”

On November 9th, SAP holds a Chicago-based customer event where we here at SAP will have the pleasure of inviting Prof. Kalyan Raman – to continue this dialogue amongst our customers. He’ll share how a new scientific understanding of Caring can be harnessed to improve the process of connecting with customers, engaging them, improving customer satisfaction and dramatically increasing profitability.