In recent years, innovative technologies have made it possible for companies to transform their business models and find new ways to interact with their customers. However, as an increasing number of businesses climb aboard the bandwagon for the latest technology, some analysts are beginning to question whether people are driving technology or being driven by it. In other words, are companies using technology to transform their businesses, or are they adopting technology just because it exists?

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Throughout history, technology has led to numerous transformations in the buying and selling process. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing was typically a cottage industry; rural families would produce goods in their homes or a small shop with hand tools or simple machines. Advances in technology and a shifting consumer base led to the factory system. During the early 20th century, another technological advance — the automobile — again transformed the retail industry. Stores no longer had to be clustered along trolley lines or located in residential neighborhoods. Instead, retailers could place their stores in shopping centers or malls where they could sell their goods to customers from all neighborhoods. The internet brought yet another transformation, opening the door to the world of online sales. However, the retail industry is now undergoing a transformation that is more sweeping than any since the Industrial Revolution — and it is being driven by Millennials and their attachment to the digital world.

Big data, mobile, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and other innovative technologies have given companies more ways to connect with their customers than ever before. Businesses looking to maintain or grow their market share have embraced the concept of a digital transformation to help them use new technology efficiently. However, digital transformation has driven an atmosphere of continuous delivery in which the time from concept to market must be kept to a minimum if the effort is to be successful. At the same time, security cannot be ignored. Unfortunately, many companies remain mired in traditional approaches to security, severely hampering their efforts to be the first to market. 

Digital transformation offers many new opportunities for companies to expand their reach, engage with their customers and streamline their business processes. However, a digital transformation is not without challenges. Business goals must be interwoven with technologies that provide a seamless experience across a variety of channels. The demands of making a successful transformation to a digital enterprise have led many companies to add a chief digital officer to their C-suite. However, despite the increased hiring of CDOs, there are some who wonder whether the position is necessary. 

In recent years, an increasing number of companies have embraced the idea of becoming digital enterprises. A successful digital enterprise often involves new technologies and a variety of projects to complete a digital transformation. Since a digital transformation is a journey rather than a single project, it can be difficult to measure the return on the company's investment using traditional methods. Nevertheless, organizations typically want to accelerate the ROI as much as possible. With the advances in AI technology, however, the ROI can be achieved faster, and the transformation can be more extensive and easier as well.

It is no secret that customers have become increasingly demanding in recent years. It often seems that they expect you to know what they want before they do, understand how they prefer to be contacted and know whether they are ready to buy or just shopping. Furthermore, they want you to know which of your messages are of interest to them and deliver only those messages. Even if a customer interacts with you via social media, your mobile app, email, a kiosk located inside your physical store and your website, he or she expects you to track the entire communication journey and deliver content in the proper context. To accomplish this, you need data regarding every customer's purchase history, behavior, location and preferred method of interacting with you. You may already possess the data you need, but that does not necessarily mean that you can turn the data into actionable steps. However, combining the power of Dynamics 365 with the power of Sitecore can help you achieve your goals.

Effective outreach demands that you leverage technology to fulfill the needs of not only your consumers but also the team members who work so hard to see your organization expand. Could Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 help your teams activities evolve from hesitant undertakings into decisively smooth operations?

As global competition has become more intense, most businesses have increased their efforts to retain existing customers. Acquiring a new customer can cost as much as 25 times more than retaining a current customer. To help them reduce customer churn and improve their retention rates, marketers have increasingly turned to CRM technologies. The unprecedented growth of the CRM industry reflects the importance of providing meaningful, engaging experiences to customers as well as the constant evolution of CRM technology. This evolution will continue to bring new trends and innovative technologies during the coming years, but there are several enhancements that you can expect to see in 2017.

The concept of retail personalization has been around for several years. A decade ago, Netflix and Amazon led the industry when it came to personalized experiences for their visitors. Netflix made recommendations based on the visitor's past history or stated preferences — a practice that continues today but was unexpected when it first launched. Amazon was especially adept at using visitors' previous purchases or navigation paths to show items of potential interest to each specific visitor. Other early attempts at personalization included greeting returning visitors by name, enabling site-specific preferences or using different versions of a site for specific audiences.