10 Ways to Achieve Multichannel Commerce In the Year of the Digital Customer

10 Ways to Achieve Multichannel Commerce In the Year of the Digital Customer:

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Part 1: Who is the Digital Customer in a Multichannel Commerce World?

Towards the end of 2011, we sponsored a discussion piece focusing on the evolution of Customer Interaction in the 21^st century, something that we’ve come to refer to as: the advent of the Digital Customer. What do we mean by the term ‘Digital Customer’?

Well, often and increasingly we have heard analysts and IT commentators throw around the topic of the consumerization of IT. In simple terms the ‘consumerization of IT’ speaks to the rapid adoption of new, high-tech consumer devices by individuals – and their subsequent desire, and expectation – to achieve the same ease-of-use and intuitive user experience from their organisations’ enterprise systems and applications.

Articles like this one at CIO.com, highlight its impact on organisations from an internal perspective, particularly, its impact on the unenviable CIO operating in this new multi-device, multi-OS world.

However, when you consider that these same employees are also consumers themselves, and that this ‘demand’ for a more intuitive and contextual ‘enterprise’ experience is being influenced by both; their adoption of smartphone and tablet devices, and their personal adoption of Social tools, like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn then you can begin to opine on the impact of customer-specific systems & processes. It marks a distinct paradigm shift in the relationship between customer and Brand. From a pure commerce perspective (whether that be e, m, s or f) mobile increasingly offers convenience, whilst social delivers a whole new platform of interaction which is out-with the brand’s control. The question then becomes about how the brand (or enterprise) is able to equip itself to effectively engage its audience through these digital channels and – once engaged – how it can differentiate itself by offering the most intuitive and contextually-aware experience across all channels of customer interaction.

This is what frames the discussion around the new ‘Digital Customer’.

Digitally-armed consumers can collaborate, share opinions, browse, compare, and buy products and services online, in real-time, with a simple tap on their devices – but that’s just the first part. From transactions, to interactions, to engagement that builds loyalty and advocacy, the Digital Customer mini-series looks into some of the trends and topics which are driving the next generation of customer interaction.

Hosted by The Pulse Network, featuring contributions from Allen Bonde (CMO, The Pulse Network) and Michael Krigsman (CEO, Asuret & ZDNET blogger), hear Part 1 of this discussion now by clicking here or watching here: Stay tuned for Parts 2-10 in the series on this topic with more ways to achieve multichannel commerce in the year of the Digital Customer.