On January 30, the World Health Organization labeled coronavirus (COVID-19) "a public health emergency of international concern". Presently the global coronavirus count has surpassed 1, 000,000 confirmed cases, with over 50, 000 deaths, raising fresh questions about how companies and individuals plan to adapt to growing public health concerns around travel and working in close contact.

Interactive large format display tools for Visual Collaboration have been the buzzword of late. So, how about one that is 20 ft wide and 5 ft high? One that offers a panoramic image uninterrupted by seams or bezels? One that can bring people together across multiple locations through a unique combination of hardware and software that makes a working group believe that they are all sitting together in one room, even as they may be separated by thousands of kilometers? 

Marketing as a function has experienced a major transformation. With the mainstreaming of the internet and social media, the pervasiveness of technology, and the world becoming a more combined place, marketing is no longer confined to conventional methods. Marketing has grown multi-dimensional. For each of the kinds of marketing, there is a business side, an analytics side, a creative side, an experiential side, and many more. Moreover, the intent could vary, for instance, some marketing operations are done solely to create leads while some could be done to build the brand name and ensure brand recall. Gone are the times when marketing choices were influenced by intuition and experience. Important marketing decisions are now determined by big data. Conversions cost per click (CPC), traffic sources—with so many potential variables to interpret, it's vital to identify the data that is most relevant to your company. Data-driven marketing choices can boost spending, ROI and provide better, faster results, and present a mathematical basis for marketing campaign effectiveness.

Use Case Flexibility

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend Forrester's journey mapping workshop in their San Francisco office. It was a great mix of content and group exercises to give everyone hands-on experience mapping the journey of a customer. We had a pretty impressive journey map by the end of the afternoon!

I was talking to an "experience marketer" today (someone who designs flashy customer-experience centers for large companies, such as AT&T, Cisco, etc.) and he mentioned something about how strongly the environment influences a customer or prospect to buy. As a marketer myself, this is a phenomenon I'm well familiar with. The reason is simple: We don't just buy products or services. We buy the way they make us feel.