The dawn of the Real-time CEO
Bringing speed, connection and visibility to executive leaders
by Blair Hudson
11.47am @disgruntledcustomer, public tweet, ↩️ 10 🔁 2 💟 7:
hey @company, i got home yesterday to find your #greatproduct having #majorproblem. i just got it last week. what gives? 👎
11.53am @realtimeceo, public tweet, ↩️ 1 🔁 2 💟 6:
sorry to hear that @disgruntledcustomer, DM me your details (incl order # if you have it) and we’ll express ship a replacement today!
11.59am @disgruntledcustomer, public tweet, ↩️ 2 🔁 0 💟 3:
😲 thanks @realtimeceo, sending now
12.05pm @disgruntledcustomer, DM to @realtimeceo:
1/23 #address st, #suburb order #1234–5678 thanks again 👏
12.15pm @realtimeceo, DM to @disgruntledcustomer:
thanks @disgruntledcustomer, already on its way!
3.35pm @disgruntledcustomer, public tweet, ↩️ 23 🔁 40 💟 93:
wow best experience today, had #majorproblem with #greatproduct but @realtimeceo fixed it up over lunch and it just arrived! ❤️ @company!
Does that sound like a fairy tale? Maybe it sounds more like something that’s possible only for all these strange and curious new startups you keep hearing stories about.
You might even laugh at the thought of your bosses (bosses?) boss responding directly to customers in the middle of the day. After all, are they not meant to be busy leading a business of hundreds or thousands of employees or more?
They would hardly have time to answer their phone or speak with most of the staff, let alone be browsing through on social media and respond quicker than the customer service team.
What if there was a way to give this speed to your CEO?
What if a CEO could be real-time?
Humanising brands
Imagine creating the sense of connection between a person and a brand, where that person (as a customer) feels so valued when the leaders behind that brand communicate with them personally. How would you feel as a customer if your problem prioritised right to the top, or if your public compliment was responded to by those you praise?
Imaging how (often emotionless) brands could be strengthened by the people within, placing them at the front and centre of social communications.
Reality check
The tweet exchange described above might be fictional, but it is also a real possibility for any company. With the right technology and a well-aligned social media strategy, any willing executive leader can become real-time.
If you are unsure about how this could work in a company of any size, here’s a run-down of some of the trends and advancements turning the concept of a real-time CEO into reality:
- Tweets are high-velocity (one of the oft-spoken ‘V’s of Big Data), and Twitter offers the data streaming services for capturing and processing tweets as they occur, much faster than any person could even view a notification.
- Natural language processing is used to recognise the sentiment (positive or negative), and classify the intention of a message (a compliment or a complaint). You could even further classify the intention to be more specific.
- Social graphs allow us to analyse and quantify the reach and relevance of a particular person’s profile and network, providing answers to questions such as “are they in our target market?” and “what is the potential viral impact?”.
- We can initiate and run automated processes (such as customer orders or courier delivery) with minimal delay, meaning promises can be fulfilled and needs can be quicker than ever before.
- Software integrations are increasingly demanded, allowing ‘better together’ environments where one app can simply connect to another — so we can check when people are in meetings or available, and use that information elsewhere.
- Machine learning and neural networks allow us to approach human-like levels of suggestions and prompts for writing. With simple templates, messages can be generated as personalised and suited towards specific customers — based on their profile or own message.
- The uptake of mobile-first designs open more development opportunities to be in everyone’s pocket (or watch), all of the time, to reach those who matter most wherever they are. Conversational user interfaces let us bypass the need for an app altogether, and offer a message wherever best.
Unlike Barry Allen (The Flash), you don’t need a supernatural phenomenon to move this quick. You just need to connect the dots and ask:
Do you have the willingness to do what it takes to become a real-time CEO?
If you enjoyed reading this and want to learn more about the Real-time CEO in the future, make sure to hit the 💚 below.
Blair Hudson is a data analytics specialist, working with businesses to help them achieve their full potential — one decision at a time. As the world demands the intersection of innovation and data science, he’s on a journey to answer the question “How do you design data for change?”.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of any employer.
