Contributed by Dana Corey

"You've got to start with the customer experience and work back to the technology — not the other way around." –Steve Jobs

Leading enterprises have long understood that one of the most powerful ways to attract and engage prospects (especially executive decision-makers) is to provide them with a visually impressive, immersive demonstration of their products or services in an executive briefing center (EBC) video wall. These centers can be used to give your customers a first-hand experience of both current and future offerings in an environment that allows your company to really "wow" your customers.

However, the role of the EBC is evolving. These days, rather than being a tool for pure demonstration (a one-way communication), there is a new focus on collaboration (a dynamic contribution). As part of this shift, many enterprises around the globe — such as Cisco, Wipro, Sprint, and AT&T — are now touting next-generation customer experience centers (CECs). 

CECs represents a new model of customer engagement. They allow for a truly collaborative experience that addresses all stakeholders in every stage of contribution, review, and presentation. A successful CEC will take clients on a journey to experience the enterprise's values, people, products and partnership, and leave the prospect excited and ready to engage.

The following are key areas to focus on when developing a high-impact customer experience or kicking off a CEC initiative:

Extend the collaboration to everyone. A spectacular client meeting requires meticulous preparation, including a thorough understanding of the customer's goals and success factors. By extending the preparation collaboration to all stakeholders (internal and external) you can corral the right ecosystem of talent, perspectives, and solutions. Utilizing the Prysm Visual Workplace, you can work with remote participants, generate workspaces and allow for pre-meeting collaboration on material, objective planning, and outcome goal setting. You can customize the client's experience by creating tailored, individualized workspaces. Remote participants can share, join and collaborate from any location or device.

Digitize the experience so the information persists. Digital meeting content (including video, data, and web apps) is stored in the secured cloud for permanent future access. The collection becomes more than the sum of its parts — providing continuity and context that is infinitely useful as discussions progress. The value is very apparent when, for example, we start a dialogue about a customer's specific use case or business problem. A great first meeting can kick off the relationship and set the stage for future discussions. In subsequent meetings, we can retrieve the workspace and continue right where we left off. Because these workspaces can be accessed remotely (from a computer, tablet, or phone), the customer can return to the content later or share it with colleagues. This asynchronous experience can often provide as much value as the initial discussion.

Unify content and applications. Today, there are a wide variety of available tools for enterprise collaboration and communication. To future-proof your CEC, make sure it supports as many of these devices, web apps, and video-conferencing platforms as possible. If you choose Prysm technology for your CEC, you can leverage its open, scalable architecture to set up inputs from web-based applications and hardwired sources (laptops, tablets, whiteboards, video players, and so on), as well as custom integrations, for a complete view of your data. Another great feature is its virtual whiteboards, which allow annotation on the display. Prysm’s Broadcast feature lets you share your in-room content with video-conferencing multipoint control units and endpoints. You can integrate with existing video-conferencing networks by adding the codec of your choices, such as Cisco, Polycom, or Microsoft Skype for Business.

Make sure each room in the new CEC offers the same collaboration experience. At Prysm, we feel that every room in the CEC, regardless of size, should wow the client and create a consistent experience. We think your content (or "digital briefcase," as we like to call it) should be available anytime, anyplace, and on any device. The Prysm platform is available on displays that fit large meeting rooms, small huddle rooms, and everything in between. Our mobile interface even allows you to have a consistent experience on smartphones, laptops, and tablets. The interface is so intuitive and easy to use that any user can quickly become a Prysm "expert," leveraging its high-value collaboration capabilities.

Here at Prysm, we've been outfitting our CECs with our legendary, touch-interactive displays and video walls. In concert with our Prysm Application Suite software, these become dynamic cloud-based workspaces, where applications and rich content from a number of different sources (video, audio, web pages, presentations, spreadsheets, video conferences, and so on) are combined into one visually spectacular view. 

If your company is considering building an EBC or CEC, I encourage you to learn more about Prysm Visual Workplace. Also, check out this article from Architect Magazine, to get a behind-the-scenes look at the redesign of Sprint's world-class CEC, a 2,300 sq. ft. circular space centering around a massive concave Prysm video wall.  The company uses Prysm Visual Workplace to create unforgettable experiences of its products and services for its highest-profile customers and prospects.