Custom, Effortless Experience: Can It Be Realized? - Episode 7 of the Inflection Points Podcast

It sounds both simple and impossible: Improve people’s lives with a custom, yet effortless customer experience.

That was the advice of three of the business leaders we spoke to this year on Inflection Points, and that’s why we put together an episode to assess, discuss and debate how beneficial that approach is in the real world.

David Coleman and Marcus Burton, two of the leaders in the Office of the CTO at Extreme Networks, join hosts Tim Harrison and Carla Guzzetti on Episode 7 of Season 2 of the Inflection Points podcast.

Topic 1

We split episode 7 into three segments. The first discussion is: “What do people need in order to accept tech?” And one key answer is that they should not look or feel like idiots when using technology! Adam Price, head of sales at Gravit8 Software, a virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) development company, is quite convincing when he lays out the issues for getting people to adopt tech. And not surprisingly, consumers emotions matter as much as anything physical or practical, with embarrassment a necessary aspect to overcome.

Topic 2

The second issue is “How far should technology be specialized and tailored to meet any individual's specific needs?” And the answer? I’m spoiling it, but in a world where customization almost always wins the customer experience, tech should be incredibly, absurdly, wonderfully specific. Nisha Kesavan of Design Duality outlines the incredible levels of customization that her software generates for anyone ordering her custom line of clothing.

Topic 3

The third segment tackles the viability of biometrics in the real world. For example, will we use our DNA to unlock our doors? Does that feel natural or unnatural? Can technology ever feel frictionless, or do we want to be aware of it and recognize when biometric security exists? The quest is to make technology natural, or the pursuit of an “effortless experience” or “frictionless experience.” Can this be realized? Do we want it to be?

If you add up all three segments, we can draw three conclusions about where the tech world is headed. People will work with tech if it improves their lives, but not to the point that they might feel ridiculous: it still has to fit into their lives in a workable way. The tech that customizes for people will outperform others. And lastly, consumers desire technology that is effortless or frictionless. Who is going to turn down a custom, effortless experience that improves your life?

It sounds so easy when it’s written like that. Tune into the latest Inflection Points podcast to listen to three successful entrepreneurs who have figured out how to modernize their businesses for today’s distributed world.