The Year of Business Intimacy

In this series, professionals predict the ideas and trends that will shape 2016. Read the posts here, then write your own (use #BigIdeas2016 in your piece).

This time last year, I suggested that 2015 would bring great advancements in the way we interact with businesses, retailers and potentially government agencies. I said that we would be buying products and services in new ways. And there is evidence that this is happening. However what I see as important in 2016 will be how people feel about the businesses they transact with. They will want to be up close and personal...

So what’s likely for 2016? What's big will be small (or even intimate). I have voiced that the more ways we have to connect could in fact 'disconnect us' as we stare at small screens rather than look at each other in the eye. I have written about this connected issue before. As we gravitate to technologies and devices to connect us — small, local and real interactions will be the trend of 2016.

Big data is interesting not just because of what it can calculate — but because it has the power to bring back the intimacy in customer relationships.

Recently Microsoft opened a flagship store in Sydney. I attended the launch and noted that whilst Microsoft might have had direct contact with enterprise customers prior to the opening of retail stores — that these stores represent an opportunity for employees as much as customers, because team members now have the opportunity to witness the impact that their employer's (Microsoft in this case) products have on people. That these 'human' interactions will drive emotions — from joy, accomplishment, pride and perhaps a sense of achievement. When an employee gets to 'experience' customer intimacy — they too get satisfaction in the work they do.

Microsoft has created the opportunity for its employees to have intimate, direct relationships with its customers. In the world of big data, sometimes we forget the importance of empathy and understanding.

I have shopped at the local farmers market on Saturday mornings for many years. I like it because I meet the people who produce the food. And they get to see my delight in the 'miracles' that they have produced. It feels wholesome and nurturing. I also believe I am supporting them directly.  This is what Microsoft is attempting to emulate (as other big brands have done.) It's putting a personality and a face to the brand. After all, business is just made up of a whole lot of people all pushing in the same direction.

Part of this intimate customer relationship is about the 'conscious' nature of business.

We will continue to be very conscious of social enterprise models and the rise of businesses such as Thankyou that operate purely to put money into communities that need it. Thankyou is not just a business. It is a consumer movement. I honestly think it reflects so highly on us as consumers. There are many other hand soaps on the market, but we purchase consciously when we choose the Thankyou option over the Palmolive or the Dettol. We see on the back of the bottle the tracking ID linked to where our money is going. And we trust the organisation to deliver on its word. Social enterprise models demand an incredible amount of mutual trust between consumer and brand — without it, they no longer have a movement, they just have confusion and disenfranchisement.

Transparency will be key in 2016 and beyond — organisations will no longer be able to hide behind closed doors and balance sheets. Their customers are demanding much more from them. It remains to be all about the customer experience.

Naomi Simson is the founding director of Australian online tech success story RedBalloon and Redii. She has written more than 950 blog posts at NaomiSimson.com, is a professional speaker, author of Live What You Love & Ready To Soar and is one of five “Sharks” on TEN’s business reality show Shark Tank 9.00pm. Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook