Organizations: Start Thinking About the Connected Customer
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
One of the conversations that frustrates me is the one about generations. Mainly because a lot of people get the generation conversation wrong. They assume that because you were born in a certain year and fall into a generational date range like Boomer, Gen X, or Millennial that you’re a certain type of person.
Granted, some of the conversations about generations are true. If you were born before the launch of the iPhone, then you might remember these things called pagers. Or you might remember when airlines printed paper tickets instead of using your watch to board a plane. That makes sense. New things are invented all the time.
What frustrates me is the “if you’re a Millennial, you’re confident with technology”. Like Gen X and Boomers can’t be confident with technology. Or “if you’re Gen X, you’re pragmatic”. Like no one else can be pragmatic.
All that being said, I do realize that the conversation about generations doesn’t seem to be going away, so I wanted to share with you a new generation: Gen C, also known as the connected customer. I read about this concept on Brian Solis’ blog. Brian is the head of global innovation at Service Now.
What was interesting about Generation C, the connected customer, is that it wasn’t age related. Gen C is about technology and the role technology plays in our lives. According to Pew Research:
- 97% of Americans own a cellphone of some kind.
- 85% of Americans own a smartphone.
- 77% of U.S. homes have broadband subscriptions.
From a business perspective, organizations need to think about their consumers (obviously). The question becomes are they thinking about them in terms of being “connected” and what that means for the customer experience.
The same is true for the “unconnected customer”. Does the organization have unconnected customers? What does that mean to the organization and its future plans? Let’s say the organization is a small retail operation. Most of their customers come into a physical store. But the organization wants to expand and have a greater online presence and get into e-commerce. How can the organization do that and keep customer loyalty?
Now take this down to the employee level. As more people rely on technology in their personal lives, they will expect their work experience to be comparable. Human resources departments have to think about their candidate and employee experiences. What interactions make sense to take place online, and which ones should be done in person? Like the rest of the organization, HR has to think about the unconnected candidate and employee. What kind of experience will they get?
The concept of Generation Connected got me thinking about the role of technology. Are organizations (and individuals) still stuck on the “old people don’t know tech” thinking? And if they are, is that kind of generational thinking holding you and the organization back? Technology is a great thing and it’s evolving all the time. Which means that at some point in the near future, we will all have exposure to modern technologies…and we will expect organizations to realize that.
Image capture by Sharlyn Lauby while trying to connect with pie in Reykjavík, Iceland
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