My Goal Today

Provide both:– companies seeking to become omnichannel– software vendors providing the enterprise tools to

facilitate omnichannel culture

With:– Perspectives– Understanding– Tools to ensure successful implementation of an

Omnichannel Culture.

Quick About Me

• CEO of Collin Group, Inc.• Specialize in Building Customer Commitment• Approach and systems originally designed for:• life-affecting ultra-mission-critical situations• making one of the largest technological transitions

and changing processes across diverse and complex organizations globally.

Quick About Me

• Based on my years of research on the Stanford University campus

• Chronicled/cited in over 200 books in multiple languages; taught in university courses

• Implemented at myriad companies, SMB through global enterprises.

Customer Commitment?So why Omnichannel?

• Omnichannel is not so much a “surprise” or “delight”

• It’s simply expected by customers• An omnichannel culture helps build strong

customer commitment• Don’t have it? Appear to customers as a

gaping whole in your customer experience.

Why This is Critical for You

• This is a social world• Customer success is your successes• For omnichannel software sales:

Installs that don’t go well are broadcast to the world... even by one employee.

Challenges to Omnichannel

Part I

Is Tech the Core Challenge?

• Omnichannel requires new software and hardware technologies

• Tech facilitates omnichannel, but also introduces a new challenges

• But the tech challenges are not what put companies into disarray

• It’s the human challenges that will be the most significant.

The “Human” Challenge

Omnichannel=

Omni-ChangeAlmost everyone is impacted.

The “Human” Challenge

Hardest thing for:• Markets• Industries• Companies• Divisions• Groups, teams and people

to do is CHANGE.

Omnichannel requires just about every employee to think, interact

and execute differently.

Some Omnichannel Required Changes

• Company Culture (!)• Team communication, interaction, sharing and

learning• How employees view customers• Tools like software solutions• Processes, from department to individual.

Why Change is Hard

• People spend about as much awake time at work than in their personal lives

• Changing work means changing your life – and how easy is that?

• Often very intimidating• Harder the longer you’ve done something a

certain way.

Simply mandating it won’t make it successful.

“We’re going to use software from a bunch of teenagers?”

“Yes Captain. And Wesley Crusher is their CEO.”

“But his omnichannel software is ready to launch and we can be first...”

“...for beta testing.”

Building Success

Part II

Omnichannel requires more than project managers to ensure success, because omnichannel is more than just procedural implementation.

It’s Not Just Process

Ways to CreateOmnichannel Culture

The Power of theCultural Middleware™ Approach

What is theCultural Middleware™ Approach?• Internal people throughout your organization

that understand your company’s many internal subtleties

• They understand:– Processes– Concerns– Communications issues and the connections

required to achieve omnichannel culture.

What is theCultural Middleware™ Approach?• They build the necessary connections

between:– People– Current systems and processes– Omnichannel thinking and operations

• They’re connectors, counselors and enablers• They ensure the project becomes a

sustainable, profitable reality.

Basic Qualifications for theCultural Middleware Approach

To be a member, they must:• be from your company• be culturally- and process-savvy to the

“coverage areas” they’re responsible for• not be recent transferees, interns and the like• Accept being culture and process facilitators,

counselors, problem solvers, friction reducers.

Basic Qualifications for theCultural Middleware Approach

• Knowledgeable: about what needs to be done• Understanding: of their coverage areas’

people, processes and concerns• Compassion: for the challenges of a “rethink”• Sharp Eyes and Ears: for spotting active,

passive, or unintentional push-back• Engagement, Connection, Problem Solving,

Enthusiasm and Energy.

The Roles of theCultural Middleware Approach

• Make the change to omnichannel culture smooth• Address the human stresses involved with

change• Work with key, or if small enough, all members of

their coverage area making the change• Decide on best approach to work with project

manager and coverage area members• Empathetically listen, understand, appreciate

and address all concerns of the coverage group.

The Roles of theCultural Middleware Approach

• Ensure training is appropriate for specific coverage area

• Create bridges and connections – “smart seams” to other groups via other Cultural Middleware Approach members

• Request guidance and other resources as needed

• Prevent “drop and plop”.

Give Them the Tools They Need

• Understanding of the overall changes to take place, top-down:– Concept– Company– Coverage Area– Individual

• Must be presented:– Strategically– Operationally– Processes

Give Them the Tools They Need

From software providers:• Their best effort at determining in general,

how and which processes, specialties, and teams will be impacted

• Software companies can’t know all the cultural and process changes that will be required

• Every company is different.

Keep them connected to:

• Company experts on the changes• Their fellow Cultural Middleware Approach

members in other coverage areas across the company

• Software vendor contacts (internal/external)• The highest-level executive involved in the

omnichannel conversion process.

Tools for Connection:

TEDxNASA video for connecting specialists:

bcln.us/tedxnasa

Wrap-Up

• Customers connect with omnichannel companies both via technology and people

• Everyone and everything must be:– connected, cooperative, cohesive, contiguous– congenial, confident, convenient and committed

• It’s what customers demand, and what you must deliver

• With the Cultural Middleware Approach, you can.

barry@collingroup.com