Fiserv’s August 2026 Small Business Index reports that sales increased 1.3 percent from a year earlier. Keep reading, though, and the reassuring number becomes less reassuring: average tickets increased 3.0 percent while transactions declined 1.8 percent. More money was being spent across fewer transactions. Those figures do not explain what …more
Why voice is the natural endpoint of human-computer interaction, why the model layer may be disintermediated by the interaction layer, and why a neglected Gartner category may be hiding the next operating system company. “People often overestimate what will happen in the next two years and underestimate what will …more
Seismic, Not Incremental — Why Microsoft’s AI Reorg Matters & What Comes Next By Grad Conn, for the Copernican Shift community In January, Ars Technica published a sharp piece, “Amid a flurry of hype, Microsoft reorganizes entire dev team around AI.” It described how Microsoft is combining its developer division, …more
In today’s CXM Experience podcast I rather cryptically referenced “shrimp vs. weenies.” No, it’s not a new video game, or a short-lived reality TV show. “Shrimp vs. Weenies” is a classic Microsoft memo. And even though it was written almost 30 years ago, the gist of the memo is every …more
Before joining Sprinklr as CXMO, I was a customer. And eight years ago, as US CMO at Microsoft when I was reviewing more than 17 different social media management tools, Sprinklr was an easy decision. One of the key reasons? Security. It was obvious that the Sprinklr team put a …more
A little over a year ago I said “bye-bye” to both Microsoft and Seattle (previously) and started a new adventure at Sprinklr. If I were to summarize the last 16 months it would be: INTENSE. It’s exactly the kind of adventure I was looking for — with some amazing highs …more
“Mr Jobs, you’re a bright and influential man … and it’s sad and clear on several accounts that you don’t know what you’re talking about…” begins the developer at the 1997 Apple WWDC. I don’t know if he continued with Apple or not, but if he didn’t he missed one …more
It was 2006 — the housing crisis wasn’t on anyone’s radar … the iPhone had just been launched … and George Bush was in the White House. I had just gotten my Green Card after an 18-year wait, and was wondering how to get out of Canada and down to …more
Throwback Thursday: Today we take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to jump in the Wayback Machine to re-visit a classic Wonderful World of Marketing post. And since the new Spielberg movie (and Ernest Cline book) Ready Player One was released this week, what better topic than the venerable …more
I had the recent honor of being the closing keynote speaker at the Lexus Western Area Dealer Meeting, and it was one of my best audiences ever! They were sharp, asked great questions, and most importantly — laughed at all my jokes. Well, most of my jokes 🙂 They seemed to …more
This image has been making the rounds of the Interwebs lately, and ofc I got a chuckle out of it — at …more
I had a ton of fun in on February 8th at the CTI (Commercial Theatre Institute) Marketing Conference. It was the first …more
Digital transformation touches almost every facet of our lives, including the way we communicate and sell our products and services. According …more
Thank you Uberflip for the opportunity to talk about digital transformation at the 2017 Content Experience. The event provided me with the …more
We have a really amazing event coming up on November 1 in Chicago called Business Forward … and I’ll be speaking! This …more
People are talking about you. Right now. They’re saying good things, and not so good things. They’re making comments and asking questions. …more
Happy customers are profitable customers, which will come as a surprise to exactly no one. So, how do we make customers happy? …more
For decades, science has teased us with the prospect of the flying car. As I sit in barely-crawling Seattle traffic (in a …more
Here’s today’s Leo: “I have always taken the attitude that no account is a ‘problem account’ but that all accounts have important …more
If data is the lifeblood of an organization, then reporting is the arterial plaque that builds up from eating too much bacon. …more
Guess what? I’ve got a fever… and the only prescription, is more MarTech. So that’s what you’re going to get. We’re going …more
Take a moment to conjure up a mental list of mix-and-match pairs: Two unrelated items that nonetheless end up being inexorably linked …more
I recently had an article published in Alphr (pretty much The Economist for Millennials, if that’s a thing) where I talked about …more
The Millennium Tower is sinking. Literally sinking in the soft, San Francisco subsoil. As of a few months ago it had sunk …more
There’s a strange and wonderful room in the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain (actually, they’re all strange, but this one …more
Moderation is a virtue, so I’m told. But if you’re the type of person who devours an entire sleeve of Thin Mints …more
Up until now, there have been exactly three reasons to visit Nashville: great music, hot chicken, and buy-one-get-two-free cowboy boots. Well now …more
Imagine if you had decided to stop learning when you were nine years old. You would know how to ride a bike, …more
Famous Part 2s: The Empire Strikes Back, Buzz Aldrin, the IBM AT, Dawn of the Dead…and this Wonderful World of Marketing episode. …more
I’m a Sprinklr fan. I don’t have their logo tattooed on my bicep (not yet, anyway), or paint my face blue, green, …more
