I just had to replace the cases with some new ones that had a little more international appeal. Write a little more about what's new in AI and then update here and there. But alas – time shows no mercy to omnichannel marketing and when I revisited the 4-year-old script and dealt with it in detail, it was quite clear that it was going to be another tough task.
Is it an old or a new book?
I am now sitting with a book in which 70% of the text has been completely rewritten. The biggest change is probably in the way companies organize themselves in relation to omnichannel. Omnichannel is no longer just the CMO's pipe dream, but has today become a recognized business strategy for companies that want to compete on unique customer experiences. The digital transformation has peaked and it is time to set a new direction for all the digital initiatives – namely in the direction of the customer. Many companies have realized that it is time for an omnichannel transformation.
On the more marketing-related side, quite a lot has happened within what used to be called Paid, Owned and Earned media. Earned media has been nearly killed by Facebook's greedy algorithms and Google's ever-growing ad hijacking of page 1 of Google's search results. Influencer marketing has become a concept and the apps have really become the home of the modern customer clubs. Owned media is placed in more and more places before Paid Media and the watertight division between the two disciplines and silos are slowly breaking down. GDPR has awakened the IT departments when it comes to managing customer data and the AI hype is rolling on, where the term 'Big Data' previously had a conceptual monopoly. More about the many changes in a later article from here…
In any case, the fact is that the script has been heavily rewritten and edited. However, still with a focus on striking the fine balance between explaining complex concepts without making it neither banal nor superficial. Whether it has been successful will soon become clear to both me and Colin Shearer, who has come on board as co-author. If you don't know Colin, I can briefly mention that he has more than 25 years of experience in advanced data analysis (AI à Business Intelligence à Predictive Analytics à Big Data à AI, yes again) and is, by the way, a great guy who based his Scottish parentage talks a bit like Sean Connery.
Despite the changes, we have chosen to retain the concept of the Omnichannel Hexagon. Although companies have of course come further in general terms, the basic concept of a customer-centric maturity model still holds. It is still relevant to look away from the channels and instead focus on getting closer to customers by being able to recognize them, collect data, analyze data and use data and insights to create a better customer experience on a 1:1 level or at least segmented and personalized to the extent that there is now enough data on the customers and it is thus profitable. That is why the Omnichannel Hexagon is a slightly updated version. Thanks to massive support from both educational institutions in Denmark and abroad and not least the ambitions of the Networked Business Initiative, our online omnichannel marketing benchmark tool has also received a major overhaul with a new updated question frame.
So yes, it's actually new, but we've kept the best from the last edition. I myself am very proud and happy with the result. And if you can't read it, the talented designer from LID Publishing has at least made it nice enough for your coffee table.