How retailers can keep up with rising customer expectations

Changes in the marketplace are driven by customer expectations, which are constantly shifting. This requires a nimble approach to retail customer experience strategy to keep pace with expectations. Retailers that offer the best customer experiences can impress new customers and enhance the loyalty of existing customers.

Today, customers expect their retail experience to feel like a relationship. They don't want to simply leave with their purchase; they want maximum choice in how, when and where they interact with the brand, and they expect brands to know who they are at every stage of their journey.

This has left many organizations wondering how to enhance customer experience in retail, but it's not as complicated as you may think. The best way to meet rising customer expectations is to rely on advanced technologies and their associated methodologies.

How to speed up IoT adoption

The Internet of Things (IoT) is helping to transform business. The insights enabled by IoT bring unprecedented levels of awareness and automation into business processes and decision-making.

The IoT revolution is ushering in a new age of digital business. And that makes sense—the benefits are enormous. Network-connected, sensor-equipped devices can enable powerful monitoring of activity, environment, location and other factors. They can cut operating costs. Organizations can enjoy improved mobility, seize new business opportunities and gain better control over processes and facilities.

So, with all the benefits of IoT, what is slowing down IoT adoption?

The art and practice of digital workplace governance

In the past, some viewed the digital workplace as a kind of inevitability—something that will emerge organically as business tools and processes improve with the advance of new technology. But the pandemic changed everything. It prompted a swift move to cloud-based tools and a sharp rise in remote work.

The overwhelming majority of companies around the world believe that in the future, remote working will increase (78%) and that the digital workplace and the physical workplace will coexist (86%), according to a 2020 report from Harvard Business Review. Rather than allowing gradual trends to shape the digital workplace, many organizations are keen on accelerating the process to get in front of the changes happening to business and the culture. Success in these efforts will require deliberate digital workplace governance.

By driving a digital workplace culture, organizations can improve communication, connection and collaboration—leveraging the power of unified action across the organization. This can remove the barriers of time and place, enabling teams to work in physically distant locations, while mobile and in all time zones while staying coordinated and connected. It also boosts business agility, which is increasingly necessary in today's fast-moving, fast-changing and unpredictable world.

But the digital workplace needs more than the right tools. The other vital part? A digital workplace framework and workplace governance.

Technology is to blame for the ‘Great Resignation’

Have you heard about the September exodus? More than four million Americans quit their jobs that month, shattering the record for resignations previously set the month before. And some 40% of remaining employees are thinking of quitting, too, according to a Microsoft report.

The crisis is even worse in technology. TalentLMS and Workable reported recently that 72% of US-based tech employees are thinking of quitting their job in the next 12 months.

Pundits point to many causes for the trend, from government stimulus checks to the rise of remote work to entitled millennials and even pandemic-driven stress.

In general, it’s clear that there’s a growing incompatibility between the reality and the expectation of the employee experience.

Making matters worse: The more people quit, the harder life gets for those who remain on the job. This is especially true of tech workers. IT departments have been notoriously understaffed, and as the Great Resignation increasingly hits tech workers, all employees suffer more downtime, cyberattacks, and tech implementation slowdowns.

This is an emergency. You need to know why people are resigning in such high numbers. 

How to bring digital retail experiences to your brick-and-mortar store

Despite the growing popularity of online retail, good old-fashioned brick-and-mortar retail stores are here to stay. What's changing is customer expectations about the retail experience.

In short, online retail and physical retail each have upsides and downsides. Consumers have come to expect all the upsides (like digital retail technology in stores and easily navigable store flow) and as few of the downsides (long lines and poor customer experiences, for instance) as possible. Many stores are accomplishing this balance by establishing digital experiences and technology in retail stores.

Feeling vulnerable? Here’s how to build a cybersecurity vulnerability management program!

As businesses grow, so does their attack surface. More network-connected devices drive innovation and efficiency. But with more devices comes more cyber risk.  Protecting the ever-expanding attack surface is more important than ever, with high-profile vulnerabilities being exploited more frequently—and with more impact. 

One of the most effective ways to mitigate cyber risk is by creating and maintaining a robust vulnerability management program.