FAST-TRACK THE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY BY CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK

FAST-TRACK THE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY BY CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK
LOOK at what is happening in the world, link it to your company's vision and then experiment. This is the simple three-step process Kate Eriksson, head of Innovation and disruption at PwC, advises marketing professionals when it comes to helping their companies stay on top in a fast changing world.

At last week's 2016 MarTech Summit in Sydney, Eriksson spoke about how marketing technology can power an organisation to where they want to go. Crucially, she believes that it is the "where you want to go" part which needs further discussion.

One fact which cannot be ignored is that the world, as we know it, is different. It is different because of the changing values of society and it is different because of the proliferation of technology. In turn, she encourages companies to change with it and represent the customer's changing needs.

"Australia needs to grow, we need to innovate, we need to create things, we need to be confident, creative and support each other," says Eriksson. 

Eriksson believes that marketing technology needs to be considered in the context of each business and the environment it exists in. This will help guide businesses to determine what sort of technology is suitable for its particular purposes.

"Technology changes all the time, but it is how we think about things and what our vision and aspirations are which then informs the marketing and marketing technology for companies to use."

She also encourages businesses to be flexible and not look at changes insularly.        

"What we are seeing is that even when the technology comes along to improve your marketing, the business model for example, is often not changing," she says.  

"If you think of it like a Rubix's Cube, if the market is changing quite quickly, you can't change just the marketing without having the other things as well."

In Eriksson's view, the future success of a business lies in customer focus, agility and innovation. In particular, she cites virtual reality as being a valuable technology when it comes to helping organisations design new products and understand their customers. 

"Customer centricity is about empathy and virtual reality is a great tool," she says.

"We were playing around with it a couple of months ago and we were looking at good and bad customer experience in a bank. When you put on the virtual reality headset and you see what is happening, you feel as though you were there and you feel like you can't let that bad experience continue."

In today's disruptive economy, Eriksson says nothing can be taken for granted and everyone has the opportunity to create value.

"Fundamentally, it's about changing the way we think. We believe that the world has changed and customers have different expectations but this is an incredible set of opportunities for you and for Australia to be the ones to build, create and design marketing experiences that the rest of the world want to use," she says.

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