From production to connection

As the customer becomes ever more powerful, companies will be defined by how they connect their offers with current and future customers preferences, with profound implications both for traditional corporate structures and their customer relationship metrics. Whether companies are selling business-to-business or business-to-consumer, their increasingly sophisticated, educated and hard-to-categorize customers are more and more calling the shots. These customers do not really care about what companies produce; they have come to expect useful products and services. They do care about experiences and relationships that can help them live their lives and run their businesses the way they want. They want to connect with companies that enable them to reduce stress and hassle; create more time for them; and free them to focus on the things that really matter to them. They want choice; real choice. And they will reward the companies that provide it.