Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

Where is Home?

We tend to associate the concept of "home" with a physical place. Yet, more and more, many of us belong to several places and our identity is a resulting mash up of those influences. In a gentle TED Talk, Pico Iyer reminds us that: It's only by stopping movement that you can see where to go. And it's only by stepping out of your life and the world that you can see what you most deeply care about and find a home. [...] Movement is a fantastic privilege. And it allows us to do so much that our grandparents never... Read more →

Mobile Centric, Data Roaming, Apple's MVP and in Defense of Marketing Technology Point Solutions

In brief: What I'm reading now about technology trends that affect business. What does mobile first mean? Above the Crowd Bill Gurley explains the implications of transitioning to a mobile centric world. His core thesis: we're in the middle of a critical platform transition, a rare occurrence with broad consequences. We see this in our work. Extrapolating from the post: design takes a greater role simplicity rules native vs. html5 considerations -- a dangerous decision is where the developer is optimizing for themselves and not the user lack of search engine optimization (SEO) in mobile first "search" is how the... Read more →

Linking Customer Feedback and Business Decisions

A new study# by The Economist Business Intelligence Unit found that corporate marketing departments are increasingly more proactive in making product design and delivery decisions. Among the key conclusions: Marketing departments are increasingly shifting their focus from attracting new customers to linking customer feedback and data more closely into their companies’ strategic decisions -- this enables organizations to operate under shorter in market testing time frames and to iterate quickly based upon product acceptance. Defining customer segments more accurately and tailoring product and service/support appropriately is helping increase customer satisfaction and retention. Diane Adams, CMO of Pennsylvania-based FXI said: “The... Read more →

Focusing Too Much on the Object

Anything you buy, you must maintain. Each tool you use requires time to learn how to use, to install, to upgrade, or to fix. A purchase is just the beginning. You can expect to devote as much energy/money/time in maintaining a technology as you did in acquiring it. This is one of the techno life skills Kevin Kelly listed in a post at the end of April 2011. It jumped at me because it is true not just of technology -- it's one of those concepts you can apply more broadly. Any object you own ends up owning you when... Read more →

3 Top Stories on Customer Service

Why so Many Companies Fail to Deliver on Customer Service It is disheartening to experience such a race to the bottom. This past week I made three separate inquiries about a recent booking to American Express Travel, the last one on Twitter because I was hoping against hope... No response. [read more] +++ CMOs Play Greater Role in Delivering Customer Experiences A recent survey (requires email to download) from Neolane and The CMO Club found that 9 out of 10 CMOs say they are personally responsible for the overall customer experience for their brand, yet may not be fully equipped... Read more →

Bucket List

Being born in the middle of the summer means it is incredibly challenging to organize a party. In Europe, this is the time when people take their holidays with family. This is part of the reason why I began to use my anniversaire (this is how you say birthday in French) as an opportunity to take stock of the things I accomplished and make note of what I want to do next. I'm also terrible at asking and my "clues" as to what I'd like to do are generally so subtle that they get lost in the shuffle of daily... Read more →

Success Creates Success

In the same way that happiness creates opportunity. A prequel to this thought if you are the person or the group of people influencing the context and you lead by example, is an environment filled with respect. It is a joy to work in such a positive space, and your energy carries far and wide. A consequence to this thought for the individual contributor is learning to recognize and celebrate personal achievements. Technology has accelerated the pace of stimulation and simulation to the point that we may surpass our wildest dreams and not ever realize we've just done so. Success... Read more →

What's Going on That Matters

What's going on that matters is the first of a small number of questions we should ask as businesses. Next come decision moments -- what change(s) is(are) needed, and what should we do first, then second, third, etc. This is how you know a strategy is appropriate -- it first identifies the nature of the challenge, it then looks to prove and/or disprove a thesis, then offers a set of coherent analyses, concepts, arguments, and actions to respond to that challenge with focus and discipline. A while back I created a set of statements to describe meaningful actions for businesses:... Read more →

Why on Earth Would You Still Bother with Blogging?

Especially now that so many social networks are courting you with frictionless sharing. And the question of RSS readers is top of mind. Seriously, aren't there quick grunt-like posts you can do on Twitter? Schedule all your links to post automagically. Scan titles and headlines, hit a "like" and you're done. Finito. And in real time. That was easy! Except for they are your breadcrumbs, your digital legacy, your chance to shape a conversation (even when you feel it's just with yourself), your gift to the world (even when that world is only a handful people who barely have time... Read more →

45 Quotes on Innovation and Execution

Innovation is not just about coming up with new ideas -- we do have a fair number in circulation. Execution can be innovative, we see it all the time. Yet, many consider innovation sexy and execution... well, it is work isn't it? I was also thinking about what having a spirit of inquiry means to me. Given my lifelong pursuit of good questions -- mostly why questions -- I thought I would share with you a few nuggets I came across and saved from books and other readings that talk about execution and innovation to inspire us to lean into... Read more →