CIO Asia: Global Managing Director of Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work Writes About Creating Moments of Magic By Engaging with ‘The Virtual You’

“Customer expectations for engagement are changing even more rapidly than the technologies that make it happen,” writes Paul Roehrig. “So what should decision makers who orchestrate customer engagement do to unlock new value? The first step is to see the customer experience through a Code Halo lens.”

Roehrig, Malcolm Frank, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Marketing at Cognizant, and Ben Pring, Director, CFW, are the authors of Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business. Excerpts from the article:

“Over time, every click, swipe, “like,” buy, comment, deposit, jog, and search produces information that creates a unique pattern of accumulated data and information that becomes your virtual identity. This virtual identity is your personal Code Halo. What’s new is that the concept of Code Halos is now playing out in the corporate world. People, organizations, and things can now have a Code Halo, and this phenomenon is changing how organizations—and not just the digital native companies—create economic value.

Data, algorithms, and analysis are essential, of course,  but it's their ability to wrap Code Halos around people, processes, organizations and things is what is creating a sea-change in industries where upstarts are usurping market dominance from historical leaders.

When used to re-shape customer experiences, Code Halos can mean the difference between a successful product (the iPhone, Nest thermostats, the Nike+ FuelBand) and flops (Nook, Blackberry, Zune, Yahoo Mail).

Digital leaders such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Netflix, and Pandora use technology to forge deep human connections and create aha moments informed by our unique needs, wants, and history contained in the digital information we  share.

These firms are using data and information to re-code and re-shape customer relationships. Many more companies—in banking, life sciences, retail, transportation, retail and insurance—are now actively investing to re-imagine moments of engagement.

As the digital economy expands, industry leaders across sectors worry whether their companies could face the same extinction events that sunk Borders, Kodak, HMV, Blockbuster, and others. The truth is that many are already at the crossroads of digital business change. Therefore, these leaders have tough choices to make. They must come to grips with the notion that winning companies will be those that see customers as more than just physical entities. They will see “the virtual you.”

To win at the crossroads, to attract and retain customers in a world of digital transformation, it’s time to unlock value by applying Code Halo thinking to your business.”

Click here to read more.

*This article can also be read here: Computerworld Malaysia | Computerworld Singapore | MIS Asia