NOTA AICEX: siamo nell’era del cliente “Empowered”. Le aziende si lasciano condizionare da quello che dicono i loro clienti? Oppure, come faceva Steve Jobs, non li ascoltano perché troppo poco convinti di ciò che davvero vogliono?
We are supposed to be in the Age of the Empowered Consumer — because the all-powerful consumer is in the driver’s seat. The consumer has unlimited information literally at her fingertips anytime, anywhere – for almost no cost. The almighty consumer will know it all, heck there will even be corporate Edward Snowden-style leaks to further inform the customer. On top of that, the barrier of switching providers is so low that the empowered consumer will ditch your service at the slightest sign of a bad experience. Not only will they defect, they also have a huge megaphone to broadcast your dirty laundry to the world and bring you to your knees. For self-preservation sake, every organization will be so scared that they will be forced to treat customers better. There will be ongoing one-upmanship in the customer experience space, with everyone trying to “out-experience” the others, all to avoid mass exodus of the empowered consumer.
As I considered the examples given—Burberry and Netflix—I couldn’t help but think of Jim Collins and Jerry Porras’ Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. The companies that are able to envision a future are the ones that succeed. They aspire to become or create something that may not even exist or be achievable—at least not by current thinking. As the article notes, Netflix was a successful renter of DVDs, but it aspired to become a leader in a technology that was only in its infancy—streaming video. At the end of last year, NetFlix had 40 million streaming subscribers. Not bad for a bunch of dreamers. 
