An Intuitive Customer Experience (ICE) is a key differentiator in a consumer-led marketplace, but to be truly effective it requires the marriage of marketing and IT. It’s the theme of this year’s Nedbank Digital Edge Live, in Johannesburg on 3 October 2013, which brings together some of the top advertising and digital marketing heavyweights with leading Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs).
ICE is about understanding people as individuals: their needs and behaviours, their likes and dislikes and then innovating around these to deliver solutions that make their lives easier, simpler and more meaningful. “With consumers constantly becoming more digitally literate, ICE requires quality interactions with customers backed by a solid IT infrastructure,” says Jason Xenopoulos, NATIVE CEO. “The Nedbank Digital Edge Live provides a back drop for a conversation with some of the industry’s thought leaders on this topic.”
One of the biggest barriers to creating a truly customer-centred offering is the lack of integration between marketing and IT. Most CMOs today understand the challenges involved in winning business in a consumer-led marketplace, but the IT systems and processes that govern their customers’ paths-to-purchase are often unable to facilitate the growing demands of the empowered-consumer.
Creating Intuitive Customer Experiences requires the breaking down of silos that currently exist between the two departments, because they essentially become barriers between businesses and their customers. As marketers and technologists become increasingly dependent on one another, the lines between the two will become blurred and the integration of IT and marketing will require people to work in new ways, to adjust their priorities, to rethink existing structures and processes, and to adopt new tools – all with the customer top of mind. At its core it is about using technology to create better human experiences.
“The last 15 years have witnessed a revolution in customer service, with digital brands such as Amazon, Netflix, Mint and M-Pesa creating intuitive experiences that anticipate consumers’ wants and needs by remembering and analysing past behaviours,” says Xenopoulos. “The ICE Age sees the development of a tapestry of products and services that are responsive and personalised to individual customer needs. To prosper in this environment, brands need to provide customers with the best and most intuitive experiences possible.”
Event Details:
- 03 October 2013
- Vodadome Midrand
- 12.00 – 17.00 (registration opens at 11.00)
- Full ticket price: R900 p/p
- Student ticket price: R400
- All tickets include free parking, lunch and beverages
- Website: www.thedigitaledge.co.za
The Nedbank Digital Edge Live 2013 is proudly partnered with Everlytic, Primedia, Your Business Magazine, eNCA and Maggs on Media, Bizcommunity, Memeburn and Techsmart.
Ends
Compiled on behalf of NATIVE by Cathy Findley Public Relations
