Take Marc, your typical citizen and consumer. In this series, we are going to explore what a perfect day in the life of Marc could look like. Let’s begin with his morning.
It Begins Before Even Waking Up
Since we are going to imagine Marc’s perfect morning in the 21st century, we have to consider his interactions with technology and the companies he interacts with on a daily basis. Just as well-integrated companies always have round-the-clock work going on in the back office, Marc’s perfect morning begins with technology working for him many hours before her gets up. His dashboard of data is the result of a clever collection of smartphone apps he has tested and customized to give him the info he needs on demand, starting at 6:30am.
Start the Day Perfectly
Marc will rise to his appointment calendar and weather forecast, so he knows how to dress. He is perfectly comfortable as the temperature of his room has been pre-set to his desired temperature via his smart thermostat connected to his appliances app, and if he so chooses, he can make adjustments by time, date, season, or through user-defined rules. The light turns on automatically as the shades open based on his choice of rules based on movement after a certain time, a press on his tablet, or user-defined times by day. The light and temperature system are integrated with his water heater so he never has to turn the water on before he hops in the shower. It’s always the perfect temperature he wants.
Perfectly Personalized Service
When Marc is dressed and ready to prepare his breakfast, he walks to his front door where his weekly delivery of fruits and vegetables are waiting. One of Marc’s New Year’s resolutions is to eat healthier, so Marc found a company that delivers fresh, seasonal produce every week. He’s now opened almost a dozen boxes of fresh produce, and each one is a pleasant surprise. The boxes are seasonal, based on current supply and freshness, and he doesn’t know what he’s going to get ahead of time. Marc gives customzied feedback on each box via the delivery service’s app to make sure his boxes fit his tastes each time.
Luxury Services for Everyone
This allows the produce delivery company to index Marc’s preferences, yet also maintain the agility needed to keep deliveries seasonal and affordable. Using each individual’s ranked preferences in context of current stock, global produce import schedule, and distribution routes, the delivery service has all the contextual information they need to maximize customer satisfaction and loyalty, reduce costs, and increase operational efficiency. While this might seem like an expensive luxury service, it is possible using analytics, event, and automation technology available today to deliver seasonal, perishable goods at a comparable delivery cost to Amazon or take-out, not hundreds of dollars.
Based on Individual Preference
This morning, Marc feels good about his options, apples (nice!), oranges (cool), and beets (gross, noted on preference feedback app, Marc should have unchecked when he initially registered). With his morning bowl of cereal and fruit ready, Marc sits down with his tablet to read news alerts regarding his company, industry, competitors, partners and clients, so he’s fully briefed to discuss his thoughts on the important trends of the day. He logs on to his social media aggregator to read and contribute to the conversations on the issues he is interested in. He bookmarks longer business articles to read later at his leisure and takes a look at some personalized deal alert emails he got for some new athletic gear he is in the market for. He won’t need to pay full price, because his app continually searches for deals on items he has marked and ranks them based on quality of the deal and product. If anything has four stars for both deal and quality of product, all Marc has to do is tap one button and the replacement ski goggles he needs will show up at his door in 2-3 business days. No product reviews, no hassle, no time wasted on comparative research or deal comparisons are needed to be sure he got the best product at the best price based on his preferences.
The Perfect Start to the Perfect Day
And, that’s the end of Marc’s perfectly integrated morning at home. He tosses an apple into his laptop bag, re-checks his e-mail to see if there are some calls he should make in the car, and re-checks traffic before starting his commute.
Some might look at Marc’s morning and find it mundane, perhaps even boring. But isn’t Marc’s living the integrated, scheduled, and fully productive lifestyle everyone dreams about putting into place? Marc’s mornings are the cumulative effect of his investments in seeking out solutions and improving his life through thoughtfulness and feedback. Integration has given him more time for much needed sleep, more of the food he wants and is good for health and longevity, and the knowledge he needs to connect more impactfully with his job and network.
Just as consumers been attracted to making technology work for them, companies need to make a habit of constant improvement through feedback and thoughtfulness. The foundation for this needs to be the backbone of systems integration so companies have the information ready to be agile and evolve to meet the changing marketplace.
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