Google recently discovered something called “Micro-Moments” after talking withpeople about their needs and discovering that people evaluate purchase decisions, solve unexpected problems, try new things and pursue big goals in the moment. These “moments” take place, and have developed as a result of widespread, and growing, mobile phone usage.
As Google puts it, “Mobile has forever changed the way we live, and it’s forever changed what we expect of brands. It’s fractured the consumer journey into hundreds of real-time, intent-driven micro-moments. Each one is a critical opportunity for brands to shape our decisions and preferences.”
The discovery of micro-moments is truly a game-changer. It means that companies must take a very personalized approach to their customer journey — making it less about the tools available and how they will benefit the company, and wholeheartedly about people. Specifically, it’s about the community of people that a company serves. One company’s community, or customers, are unlike any other. And therefore a company’s customer journey and the technology put into place to support the customer journey at each “micro moment” with contextual content in the form of blogs, videos, etc., will be unique.
The Customer is at the Center of Digital Transformation. Stay Focused.
A Prophet Company, Altimeter, has been studying digital transformation for the past several years, with research led by Brian Solis and Jaimy Szymanski. They have 
worked alongside some of the biggest change agents in the field and have broken the process of digital transformation down into six phases. These phases are very open and fluid, leaving the ability for companies to skip a phase or be in multiple phases at the same time. The first phase in Altimeter’s road map to digital transformation is known as “Business as Usual” and the last stage is “Innovative and Adaptive” – where companies reach a point of actualization in that their customer journey has not only been uncovered, but is supported, digitally, with processes in sync with their unique customer’s journey.
For digital transformation to have meaning and to be effective, companies must let customers take the lead by studying, in-depth, the journey that they take. From awareness stage >> consideration stage >> decision stage — and every micro-step in between. Customers must be met with the right content at the right time.
Leaders in every industry are realizing that in order to maintain customer loyalty and continue to grow profits, they must be willing to undergo a digital transformation so that they can meet their customers at critical points within the customer journey.
The current definition of digital transformation is:
“The realignment of, or new investment in technology, business models, and processes to drive new value for customers and employees to effectively compete in an ever-changing digital economy.”
Your Company’s Customer Journey is Unique – And Likely More Complex Than You Think
The good news is that there are increasingly more points to meet your customers 
where they are. These “micro-moments” are varied and plentiful. The difficult part is uncovering these segments and building context around them so that content can be created to “serve” the customer where they are.
This first stage of Digital Business Transformation is where most organizations begin — under a “business as usual” model. They treat customers the same way they have for the past several decades. They use the same metrics and processes that were used before mobile phones and social media existed. And instead of using technology to help tie all of the various pieces of the business together, and to capitalize on business that is being left on the table, technology is used sparingly and in isolation — and thought of as an “add-on” vs. an integral piece. Because of this, quantifying results captured using technology is difficult, and therefore obtaining business goals is oftentimes accomplished apart from technology.
Technology is mainly used as a means to an end internally — to scale-up or to increase efficiency within a company, but it is not empathetic to customers. This limited use of technology is seen, by companies in this phase, as “sufficient” to maintain digital relevance. A presence here and a presence there…unaware that integral segments of the customer journey are being ignored.
Business as Usual Does Not Meet Customers Where They Are
Oftentimes, organizations get caught in this first stage because they are overly risk-averse and because they do not have workplace cultures that encourage 
innovation where change agents within a company feel that they have the freedom to emerge and to be the catalyst for change.
To see if your organization might be caught in the “Business as Usual” phase of digital transformation, take a look at five tell-tale signs in various organizational areas:
- Governance and leadership: In this phase, leadership is not concerned with a need for change, much less a need for digital expertise. Departments do not collaborate, and instead they each work on their respective area, creating silos, which lead to a disjointed customer experience. Because of these silos, digital literacy may exist in a few areas of the organization — but it is rare and isolated.
- Customer experience: The best description of the customer experience in the “Business as Usual” stage is disjointed and outdated. Rather than allowing customers to influence the road map used, the road map is designed around technological processes that are outdated and their acceptance with customers has been minimally researched. The disjoint of the customer experience is caused by limited collaboration between departments.
- Data and analytics: During this phase, understanding the customer is not a priority, very little unification of measurement exists and the value of analytics is minimized (i.e. results are not acted on). There is also a lack of shared key performance indicators across the organization and most departments measure their individual efforts in isolation.
- Technology integration: While there might be several promising digital solutions being used by different divisions in an organization, it’s all done independently and without oversight from the IT department. In addition, the IT department, or IT specialist, uses technology-based road maps instead of customer-based road maps. This then leads to technology being used based on its ability to further business goals rather than improve the customer experience.
- Digital literacy: For organizations in the “Business as Usual” stage, digital training is seen as anything but a priority. It might make it into marketing training programs, but if individuals want to learn more, it is their responsibility.
Making the Customer THE Priority Enables Growth
When these areas of your organization are showing similar signs, you are in the “Business as Usual” stage. There are two main downsides to remaining here.
1.) You will see minimal growth in your organization. Growth will remain a problem until you make the customer experience the priority. This means that technology should not only be utilized, but embraced to create a more unified and holistic customer view and an improved customer experience.
2.) Your workforce will remain uninspired in this stage because they are stuck in a risk-averse environment. You might have several very innovative and passionate employees. To stay on top of valuable employee retention in an increasingly competitive job market, encourage inspiration and ownership of the organization. Leadership can do this by allowing employees to take risks and pursue digital transformations that can be tested and then implemented uniformly throughout the organization.
Remember, Digital Business Transformation Starts With the Customer Journey
The micro-moments mentioned above are the first step in discovering your company’s unique customer journey — a series of moments that portray customer behavior. These steps, when uncovered, can be managed in winnable scenarios that meet the customer where he is with content that speaks to the stage where he is.
Guiding customers to and through purchase while also delivering great experiences requires new, intentional, empathy-based strategies and investments to help brands become discover-able and capture attention.
Stay tuned for the next five stages of Digital Business Transformation!
