70 %

The number of remote workers who say they feel “left out” of their workplace from researcher Zippia

25 %

The percent of remote workers saying they “struggle with being able to unplug” from research company Statista

So “going remote” - either partial or full remote - isn’t the be all end all for sure. And yet the “work remote movement” marches on.

One researcher reported that as of 2022 “16 % of companies worldwide” are “100 % remote.” A huge number!

Going the opposite way, “44 % of global companies” say the same researchers, “don’t allow remote work,” Again, a stunning number, and a reminder that all of the world does not work remotely.

A famous example of the “no remote movement” is popular Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Paraphrasing his recent remarks, Musk said something to the effect that “if you’re not at your desk, we will assume that you’ve resigned from the company.” Enough said, huh.

Legacy. 

Heritage. Legend. Tradition. 

The term has received a lot of air time in recent years. And for good reason.  

And leaving a “legacy” of a world class customer experience is something else. Not something many companies will ever see.  

But national indices like the American Customer Satisfaction Index or ACSI purport to shine a light on those organizations that are at the top of their game. And those companies all embody what it means to leave a legacy. 

My question for your business: will you leave a legacy of great customer experience?  

Let's take a quick look at the “top 20” ACSI companies and why they’ve reached that “legacy status” in the eyes of customers. 

$ 3 Trillion

Size of global fashion industry in 2022

95 %

The number of customer interactions by 2025 using A I technology

36 %

Annual Growth, Social Media platforms in Fashion last several years

With responsibility for some 2% of the entire world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Fashion Industry – materials, design, manufacturing, retail sales – is formidable. And new technologies are having an impact on the customer experience in many ways.

LVMH, or Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy www.lvmh.com , is one of the world’s leading luxury brands and they embrace technology wholeheartedly to help deliver a world class experience to their customers.

The Unexpected. 

Amazing.  

Astonishing. 

When’s the last time you were genuinely “surprised”? 

Turns out, real “surprises” don’t really come along very often. But when they do, they stay around in our heads for some time. Don’t you agree? 

And there’s some interesting new research about the “surprise” factor that supports this from noted author Tania Luna.  

400 %. That’s the change in emotional intensity we experience when we are genuinely “surprised” by something. And if that surprise is “positive”, we tend to feel more emotions of happiness or joy. 

So then isn’t surprise a great brand strategy for these disruptive times we now live in?

No, no. I don’t mean we need to stop using the wildly popular online video meeting platform all together.  

What I mean is breaking the “ZOOM culture” of every encounter having to be online – online – online. And nothing else! Seriously? Hey, the pandemic is pretty much over, huh? 

Even as I point out in my new book to be published this fall, “The Coming Customer Disruption Economy”, that we’ll approach things like Talent - read Employees - Engagement in different ways than before, humans remain “social beings”. And as such, in-person interaction will always be the most effective way to communicate with others. Period. 

Okay, okay, I know you’re going to probably bombard me with all the reasons why this just won’t work and how convenient it is to ZOOM the world at the drop of a hat. But I’m here to tell you that ZOOM  - and Google Meet, and others -  has gotten way out of hand. And I say it’s diminishing our efforts to communicate effectively today! Especially in business. 

69 million.

The number of employees – Talent – who quit their jobs in 2021 according to consultant McKinsey.

3 million.

Talent leaving, says the Wall Street Journal, who say they plan to stay away from work “indefinitely.”

4.

The number of “very distinct company cultures”, noted popular technology author Geoffrey Moore said, that exist out in the workplace today.

So, in the great race for Talent, Talent won. And they won big time.

79%. People surveyed say they’ve “completely lost control of their data”

$ 17 Trillion. Market size expected by 2023 for everything Metaverse

So, the New No-Office, the changing Customer Journey and The New Metaverse – read “disruption - attracted the most eyeballs over the last few months for my Articles on LinkedIn.

The New No-Office for obvious reasons, has been getting a lot of attention lately from everywhere.

The office as we all once knew it is now gone. And it’s a fair certainty that it’s probably never coming back.

Employees are still leery of going back to the office. That number was 66 % when Prudential recently completed a global survey.

And 68 % said that they preferred a “hybrid” workplace when they returned to the office eventually.

All of us will feel the effects of this phenomenon in future years.

67 %.

The percent of consumers worldwide researcher Legaljobs indicated that said recently they’re more concerned about their data privacy than ever before.

79 %.

The number of internet users globally who say that they “have completely lost control of their personal data”.

$ 9.

How much researcher TechJury found that a valid working credit card number can be purchased on the “dark web” for.

Customers. Talent (Employees). Prospects.

We all are affected today by Data Privacy matters. All of us. And it’s attendant repercussions continue to snowball.

However, there are remedies to this issue. And help is on the way.

“It goes forward. It goes back. It takes you to a place. A place where you know you are loved.”

Remarked Mad Men’s Don Draper sitting in a 1960’s Manhattan advertising agency presenting a radical new idea for a “rotary wheel” slide holder to top executives of former photography icon Eastman Kodak. Draper – played by actor Jon Hamm - knew full well about the power and pull of the past. Nostalgia.

Sentiment is the term I use for Nostalgia in my newest book, The New Customer Disruption Economy. And Sentiment is the newest “Brand Promise” to Customers in the latest iteration of the Customer Experience.

Will “Disruption” Forever Define The ‘20’s we are now in?

Time will tell for certain but it’s transforming the world for now.

And Elon Musk’s statement above just about describes where we are right now with the plethora of “good ideas” rollin’ around all over the place.

And all these good ideas are causing “disruptions” today in virtually every industry that they touch on the planet.

The Customer Experience business is no different.

It didn’t used to be this way, remember? Businesses and processes would just naturally “evolve” over time and then we would adjust.

No more.

Offices are no more.

The Metaverse is the new customer experience.

The Customer takes charge.

Say what?

Below are 5 predictions for 2025 - just three short years from now - and they’re based on connected events happening right now. And they all had their beginnings several years back.

Some folks look at the year just passed. I prefer to look ahead.

68 %. 

Number of workers - “Talent” - who researcher Envoy says are still “worried” about returning to the office.  

Another 66 %. 

Workers preferring a “Hybrid Workplace” from a recent survey by insurance giant Prudential.  

It’s called “The Great Return”. 

And a “buyers market” no doubt! 

So, how long before “the great return”? 

Today? Next week? Never? 

No one really knows at this point and, according to most workplace experts, not probably for a while. And the confusion it’s creating for companies is palpable. 

$ 280 billion.

2025 forecast value by researcher Earthweb of the global “Metaverse” marketplace and exploding in size almost daily ( BTW, it was worth just $ 46 billion in 2020).

10,000.

The number of jobs Earthweb says that will be created over the next 5 years in the Metaverse orbit.

The new Metaverse is a once-in-a-generation game changer in our increasingly online lives where physical and digital worlds seem to merge.

And, as such, it will radically transform the “customer experience” as we know it. I’m serious.

So, with the current 5 Key Steps in the Customer Experience ( i.e. Investigate, Evaluate, etc. ) consisting mostly of online – human – interaction, adding the “realities” (Virtual, Augmented) to the mix means something entirely new.

66 %

Number of workers who researcher Envoy says are still “worried” about returning to the office.

68 %

Workers preferring a “Hybrid Workplace” from a recent survey by insurance giant Prudential.

Another 66 %.

The number of organizations saying – again from Prudential - they are delaying their office reopening until later.

It’s called “The Great Wait”.

And for Employees who are hesitant to return to the office, it’s producing repercussions that will generate profound changes in the workplace the next few years and how we work.

And the uncertainty that this is evoking will be expensive for Employers. Very expensive.

What is it that Employees – “Talent” in today’s parlance - really want?

Increasing employee burnout. 

“Burnout” was a topic I covered half dozen times in my LinkedIn articles over the past few months and it attracted a lot of viewers each time. 

78 % was the number researcher Spring Health said was the per cent of employees in a recent study who said they had experienced some level of “burnout” over the past year of the Pandemic in 2020. 

Relatedly, 53 % of employees said they were “unengaged” at work according to another recent study. Burnout and “not being engaged at the office” says to me there’s a “crises” in today’s office workplace. What do you say? 

76 %.

The percent of workers, researcher Spring Health said recently, who admit they are experiencing “burnout” at their jobs today.

2020 has taken it’s toll on everyone it seems. And that effect is likely to last for some time, U.S. healthcare officials reported just last month.

O.K., I know what you’re thinking. Porter is always reminding us about delivering a great customer experience and now he’s saying don’t spend time with customers – say what?

73 %

The percentage of a recent National Association of Business Economists ( NABE ) panel who said that pre – pandemic sales levels will return by the end of 2021.

38 %

The percentage of the NABE who reported on it just two months ago.

Lot of differing opinions out there these days over when business revenues will get back to normal pre Covid levels – whatever that is today! What are you hearing out there?

No matter. I predict that sales activity will pick up dramatically as we get into Q4. And I say this for several reasons.

67 %.

The number of companies reporting to researchers recently that they have no plan for the developing “hybrid office”.

The “hybrid office” is now upon us. And many companies are taking a closer look at what it portends for the future of work at their organizations.

Below are several of the big takeaways from the “Hybrid Discussion.”

55 %

Percent of Millennials, The Conference Board recently reported, who say they have doubts about returning to the office.

45 % of Gen Xers react similarly while 36 % of Boomers report the same feelings.

Reluctance to return. New found flexibility. Accelerating office digitalization.

The U. S. workplace is being transformed in a once-in-a-generation shift. And three factors are driving that transformation.

Reluctance returning to the office. As the opening number suggests, there is a real resistance to returning to work as usual and, this reluctance is especially true among younger employees.

65 %.

The increase in “Sales jobs” over previous months according to a new Wall Street Journal article.

Companies are hiring sales people again. Lots of ‘em.

According to one source, advertised sales jobs have now “doubled” over the previous five-month period signally expansion as we emerge from Covid. In fact, one software company reported that they plan to “triple” their sales staff this year.

However, along with this welcome growth spurt, experts say is a new shift to more “consultative selling”. Problem solving really. Not just taking orders like we might infer from the recent popular Netflix series Mad Men, for example.