The second day of the Teradata Connect conference started with a fairly low key breakfast networking session – the previous night conference party no doubt partly responsible for the amount of coffee consumed.
In the first keynote Mario Aichlseder, from Health and fitness wearable business Runtastic, talked about how the internet of things should really be referred to as the Internet of People. There are 3 key pillars that will drive progress and development in this area;
– Sensors collecting data
– Service and products that enable data to be integrated vertically
– Trust in brands around privacy and data protection.
Simon Russell from John Lewis spoke next to talk about the challenges in running a multi-channel retail business. He talked about similar expectations some Fantastic Media clients have in terms of understanding and delivering a seamless customer experience regardless if customers are buying online or in store.
Following Simon, Jennifer Marx from global shopping club Westwing talked about improving performance in email marketing. As with a number of Fantastic clients, email is the main sales channel for Westwing and Jennifer was able to share insight as to how they were able to improve performance.
While many of the actions they take are already standard practice for campaigns we manage, there are a few ideas we’ll be introducing into email design for clients moving forward – so expect further improvements in email performance!!
Jean-Louis Kerauaden from Hilti talked about the penetration of digital in the construction market including how they are looking to use different channels to deliver a great experience for target customers.
Although his talk touched on the technology they use, his key take out however – which was a sentiment a number of other speakers made – was the importance of people and staff within a business to drive success – something that is at the very heart of Fantastic Media.
The afternoon sessions started with a talk from Accenture Digital consultant Guidi Van Den Boom around the importance of brands focussing on customer expectations around experience of interactions,
Several examples were shown of this ‘Omni-experience’ approach including collaboration between Tesla and Smartcar to deliver services that join up connected devices to make the experience of driving the car as enjoyable as possible.
Teradata evangelist John Timmerman gave one of the most engaging talks about four truths brands need to face to deliver a great Omni channel experience. His points were relevant for a lot of Fantastic clients in terms of ensuring that all channels brands use to speak to customers need to be as strong as each other, and that timing and exposure of messages and offers to customers is critical for success.
The final keynote was delivered by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jim McKelvey. As an engineer by training he talked through how indoor location tracking will work and how it will provide retailers with opportunities to interact with customers in different ways.
The conference was wrapped up with final remarks from Bob Fair who summarised some of the key points made by speakers including talks around the growth in mobile and closed a thoroughly engaging and insightful couple of days.
