Speaker 1: Transforming your business for the digital age. It means more
Speaker 1: than just putting up a website. Here to tell us
Speaker 1: more is Vinnie Schoenfelder. He is a principal and chief
Speaker 1: technology officer for cap Tech Ventures. He's based in Richmond, Virginia,
Speaker 1: but he joins me here in our New York studio. Vinnie,
Speaker 1: thank you very much for being here, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Tell people what is cap tech Ventures. We are a
Speaker 1: national I T management consulting firm about six and fifty
Speaker 1: people across eleven locations. Think of it as um most
Speaker 1: of our clients being fortune of the Fortune fifty. We
Speaker 1: partner with them to create custom solutions for their business
Speaker 1: initiatives and challenges. And it could be everything from a
Speaker 1: digital marketing campaign to a financial secure financial payment system. Sure,
Speaker 1: I mean think of mobile devices, iPhones, androids, tablets, mobile banking,
Speaker 1: taking a photo of your check and having it being deposited,
Speaker 1: or in the case of retail UH finding locations of
Speaker 1: shop shopping online loyalty rewards program amps, those types of things.
Speaker 1: What are some of the biggest challenges you face when
Speaker 1: you talk to non technology people inside of these corporations
Speaker 1: is that that they get it, but they don't know
Speaker 1: what the first steps are, or maybe just explain that
Speaker 1: there's a transformation that's going on. So it's not about
Speaker 1: writing an iPhone app or an Android app. It's about
Speaker 1: thinking about how your customer engages with you across a
Speaker 1: range of experiences and devices. UM common mistake in the
Speaker 1: past would be to try to match web to print
Speaker 1: or match mobile to web. Now we're saying, if we
Speaker 1: understand you have a work computer or computer at home,
Speaker 1: a tablet, an iPhone, your spouse's phone. So how do
Speaker 1: we give you just what you need at the moment
Speaker 1: you need it with some of the unique capabilities of
Speaker 1: that device, whether it be location awareness or um, you know,
Speaker 1: GPS with beacon locations for indoor, that type of thing.
Speaker 1: What would be an example. I know you did some
Speaker 1: work for utility companies, have also worked for government. Maybe
Speaker 1: give us an example of some of the things you've learned. Sure,
Speaker 1: I think at its core it's it's there's an interesting
Speaker 1: psychology around this. People have a more personal relationship with
Speaker 1: their mobile device than they have with any other piece
Speaker 1: of technology. I read something recently where the human brain
Speaker 1: reacts most quickly to a baby crying. Number two is
Speaker 1: their phone, and it took you know, a long time
Speaker 1: for us to get tuned into the first in a
Speaker 1: very short time to the second. So there's a genuine
Speaker 1: and authenticity that an organization has to bring to to
Speaker 1: these designs. UH. Users will sniff out very quickly if
Speaker 1: the features and functionality are there to benefit the company
Speaker 1: or if they're genuine to benefiting them. So business value
Speaker 1: has to be uh the side effect what you mentioned.
Speaker 1: For example, I know in one of your reports that
Speaker 1: digital marketing in order to be successful it needs to
Speaker 1: be authentic. What does that mean, Well, let's look about
Speaker 1: information sharing. So big data and data analytics is huge
Speaker 1: and and refining the features and functionality and use ability
Speaker 1: and apps, and people will share that information if they
Speaker 1: believe honestly that you're giving them the best experience for
Speaker 1: that as opposed to just using it for your own benefit.
Speaker 1: So some examples, UM, let's say you're in a retail location.
Speaker 1: About of e commerce transactions fall out of the shopping
Speaker 1: cart area, so it's a huge amount of people to
Speaker 1: get all the way to the shopping cart and don't
Speaker 1: check out. So if you're walking through a mall, or
Speaker 1: you're walking through and you know, um, any kind of
Speaker 1: retail location and that store sees your phone through bluetooth
Speaker 1: low energy technology, it can remind you of those items,
Speaker 1: let you know that they're in stock, in your color,
Speaker 1: in your size, and as you're coming in, the store
Speaker 1: manager can be informed of that and have those items
Speaker 1: waiting for you. You mentioned that part of the issue
Speaker 1: is that people just copy what they see, let's say,
Speaker 1: on their iPhone. They see these little, uh, sort of
Speaker 1: designed elements and they look appealing, and they think that's
Speaker 1: really what they have to focus on. Can you give
Speaker 1: us an example of a of a company or a
Speaker 1: case study where that was what they thought at the beginning,
Speaker 1: but then you kind of moved them along to show
Speaker 1: them how they had to think rethink the way their
Speaker 1: business was being done. Sure. Um, we'll start with a
Speaker 1: sort of theme park example, if you will. The important
Speaker 1: thing here was to compete with you know, larger, more
Speaker 1: nationally known theme parks and not jump to e commerce,
Speaker 1: not jump to vacation planning. So one of the things
Speaker 1: that's different about mobile technologies is there's an expectation that's
Speaker 1: been set that you start small with something really really good,
Speaker 1: and you put it out quickly and you add to
Speaker 1: it quickly. So a lot of times companies will focus
Speaker 1: on a commerce aspect or a loyalty rewards aspect, something
Speaker 1: that's big, uh and difficult to solve, which we can do. Um,
Speaker 1: but even that should be done incrementally. Financial services and
Speaker 1: the banking industry know that cap tech does a lot
Speaker 1: of work there. Um. Is there a convergence that you
Speaker 1: can describe between this sort of multi channel world, as
Speaker 1: you said, writing checks, mobile phone, desktop, also the regular phone. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What's interesting, especially in financial services and retail and healthcare
Speaker 1: for that matter, is the business functions have been well
Speaker 1: thought out for a long period of time, So it's
Speaker 1: hard to be creative in a banking app or savings
Speaker 1: app two do something completely innovative. Part of that can
Speaker 1: be solved with gamification, and that doesn't mean create a game.
Speaker 1: It means take the aspects of a game and put
Speaker 1: it into the app. For instance, saving for a goal
Speaker 1: can earn you badges that can be then shared socially
Speaker 1: on Facebook or Twitter to encourage positive behavior. I want
Speaker 1: to thank you very much for coming in and spending
Speaker 1: time with us of any show and Felder is principal
Speaker 1: and chief technology officer for a cap tech ventures. He's
Speaker 1: based in Richmond, Virginia. This is taking stock. I'm pim Fox.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg.