David Bressler

The next twenty

A non-obvious point about measuring your digital transformation

I keep emailing myself articles that I’d like to write about, but then my inbox gets cluttered… and the thought passes. Here’s a post that’s shorter than the one in my head, but hopefully a bit of insight you can chew on.

In Brazil a couple of weeks ago, I hammered the fact that you can’t improve what you don’t measure, and you can’t measure something that you don’t clearly define. About the same time, I came across an article on measuring digital transformation success that listed four pillars to digital transformation (as determined by a survey of executives).

I don’t agree that the first two points are digital transformation, but I’m going to have to leave that without explanation because I want to write about something important.

The second two points are actually in conflict unless you realize some nuance. Here they are:

  • Improve operational efficiency (41 per cent). Companies want to better harness data to improve their decision-making.
  • Improve the internal or external customer experience (41 per cent). Enterprises want improved customer touch-points from mobile to in-store to call centers.

Operational efficiency is about YOUR process. Customer experience is about YOUR CUSTOMERS’ “process”. Often, these are at odds, because by making yourself more efficient you reduce your customer experience (defined as being able to deliver highly personal service).

Let me share two examples:

  1. Bank ATMs vs Tellers
  2. Call center support

Bank ATMs vs Tellers

You can make this about data if you like – as the point above suggests. You can look at the data and realize that some percentage of customers go to the bank to deposit checks and take out some money at the same time. So, you optimize your ATM… and then put those ATMs in between the teller and the customer to get them to be used (as a bank I use has done).

The thing is, when I go to the bank, it’s because I want a bit of human connection. Not just an ATM. I want someone to treat me as if my business matters. And, I’m not alone. Though I have misplaced the link, I have seen a wealth management report about millennials – they want their advisors to dress casually and throw parties where they can meet VIPs. Millenials may not want to go into a branch but they want to be treated well.

If you improve your efficiency by treating every customer the same, you are making your own processes more efficient but quite possibly at the expense of the customer experience. Which leads into the second example… call centers.

Call Center Support

I generally speak to audiences that are more technical than most, so my example here always resonates. And, let’s pick on the internet service providers / cable companies for a minute.

Your internet access stops working (or is slow). What do you do? Do you call? Hell no. They suck, and I can do a lot myself you think. So you do all the things one would expect — you ping the host looking for DNS issues. You try your work’s VPN to make sure it’s your network. You reboot everything (making sure to wait 60 seconds before powering back on…WTF?!). You try your mobile phone on the carrier network instead of your home’s wifi.

Nothing works and you call the call center.

What happens?

“Ok Mr. Bressler. Do you have a cable to plug your computer directly into the cable modem? Let’s unplug the power…”

You patiently explain that you’ve been through this before… that you’ve spent 20 years as a networking expert. That you’ve trained people like him/her. You ask “can’t we please skip to page 18 of the manual, the part after…”.

“I’m sorry Mr. Bressler, but I have to start on page 1.”

Yeah. That’s efficient for the company, not so much on customer experience though, right?

Summary

I don’t mean this to be the best-written post of mine, but I want to make this point.

In the past, consistency of experience was valued. The sales pitch for McDonalds was “go anywhere in the world, and you know you’re in a McDonalds.” That’s not the case anymore.

Who wants the same experience over-and-over-and-over anymore? We crave variety and to be known. We want things our way not your way and that’s not always the most efficient way for you to deliver your process to me… which is why digital transformation is no longer about ‘access to your process’ but about ’embedding your process in my experience’.

Filed Under: CA

An observation on the Software Factory

As Wendell Weeks (Corning) put it during the press conference:

One of the reasons Apple is such as successful innovator is because they recognize that product innovation depends on process innovation and they understand that market leadership can be won or lost on the manufacturing floor.

When companies become software companies (because software is eating the world) they have to innovate both in their own products as well as in the creation of software (how their products are produced).

I find this completely obvious.

More about CA’s Modern Software Factory

Own your content, own your future

I’ve been saying this for years. You’ve got to own your content. It’s why I blog on my own domain. I have total control (which by the way, is one reason it’s ugly… I just don’t have the time to make it prettier).

As you probably know, I believe “blogging” is the future of enterprise knowledge work. I think it’s so important to write (and through writing, think!). That said, I also have a lot of experience in the blogging world as an author.

In that world of solopreneur “digital marketing” there are many who say – as an author, you may not even need a website. To that I have always cried bullshit!. Usually to no avail. So many are looking for the cheap way out and then for someone “smart” to validate it.

You need a website (I like LiquidWeb and WPEngine). And you need an email list. Period. (Exclamation point.) For bloggers, you have only one choice and that’s ConvertKit. If I loved ConvertKit any more, it would be one of my children.

Facebook offers a lot when it comes to connecting to others and community building. No doubt it’s a great tool.

But you must have a home for both your content and your community. A home that you completely control.

I do. I have my domain with a blog and an email address, and I have an email list. I don’t use either much (well, other than the email address) but they are there should I retire. (Go ahead, read that retire link… it’s not what you think and it’s good.)

Together, they cost less than $60/month which at this point is completely offset with affiliate “sales”. But, even annualized, it’s the cost of a single training course you might take to improve your skills. With this investment, you get so much more. You get to build a community around your expertise and connect with others.

In case I haven’t convinced you, you definitely need to read this.

FHIR APIs in Healthcare

Even though I was hired into CA as someone with financial services experience, I’ve spent the last year launching a solution in  healthcare.

In fact, as a solution, lately it’s been getting quite a good response — and funny enough, we couldn’t figure out why.

Out of curiosity, we put ‘FHIR’ into Google, and wouldn’t you know it. We’re advertising.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a solution that I worked on be worthy of an ad, so it’s stuck with me.

Why blog?

I have been thinking of this idea for some time, but haven’t had as much time as I’d like to expand on this basic thought:

Traditional enterprise employees should adopt modern digital marketing technologies as a way to build a personal brand. Specifically, they should blog and they should build an email list.

The why’s for this include (in no particular order at the moment):

  1. Work is changing, these techniques are for everyone. You never know when you need your network, and if you think your network is LinkedIn you are sadly mistaken.
  2. Blogging (really writing) is even more critical as a way to communicate in the short-attention span of today’s business world. Understanding how people consume information is important to proving value. The only way to communicate well is to practice.
  3. When people give permission for you to email them, it’s like in the past when they’d share their mobile phone number only for “special people”. It’s the most personal form of communication, and that makes it valuable.
  4. You wouldn’t want someone to think you didn’t know how to use PowerPoint or Excel regardless of your job function, why would you want them to think you didn’t know how to use the social-web?
  5. It’s a great way of learning, both about yourself and a subject in which you have an interest.

I write for a number of reasons, but one of the most satisfying results is when I write something that stands the test of time (and that I end up sharing with people for years).

I’d like to expand this article over time, but it’s been in my head so long that I just wanted to hit publish on something. So, here you go. Two quotes to help you understand the importance of writing:

The changing nature of work

The very nature of work is changing. We can see this from the employee side, in terms of the social infrastructure that we have from work. For example, when was the last time you went out to dinner with the people you work with and their spouses? This literally can’t happen when teams are remote.

Anyways, this is one of the lines of thought I’m developing for this post.

I came across this perspective on the organization and it is truly breathtaking:

That quote is from a NY Times article on the Decline of the Baronical CEO.

When companies are smaller, we either need more of them to keep employment the same, or… well, work is going to have to change. How are you going to be more competitive? How are people going to find you? When they do, will they understand what you do? You need to blog if you are an enterprise employee because the “things” that have made entrepreneurs successful are going to be important to enterprise workers as work is unbundled from the organization.

Help me win a Webby

CNN Democratic National Convention

In truth, I played only a small part in the CNN Politics app to help evangelize it and represent it at the Democratic National Convention.

That said, the app is up for a Webby Award. It would be really cool to win. For me, for the company, and for the team who worked really hard to make it happen.

The app is using both CA’s API Management solution on the back-end, and our App Experience Analytics solution embedded in the application.

Can you please vote for the CNN Politics app?