On this episode of The Small Business Radio Show…
Listen to “#609 Has Big Tech Lost Its Way?” on Spreaker.
SEGMENT 1 with Maëlle Gavet, starting at 0:00: While there are a lot of amazing things that Big Tech has brought to the world, there are also a lot of things that are questionable, especially in terms of how they’ve improve humanity. We discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of big tech, and if there is a solution to be found.
SEGMENT 2 with Mark and Katrina Parris, starting at 18:00: What’s it like to run a retail store and a community center for local artists in NYC during the pandemic? Mark and Katrina share their experience.
SEGMENT 3 with Paul Jarman, starting at 38:00: Your ability to connect with your customers digitally during COVID will determine if your company survives this pandemic. How do we connect with our customers online effectively?
Sponsored by The Hanover Insurance Group
More on each segment below.
Segment 1: One of the tech industry’s brightest stars, Maëlle Gavet has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, one of Fortune’s 40 Under 40, one of the Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company and was fifth among Time magazine’s List of the Top 25 ‘Female Techpreneurs’. After six years as a Principal at the Boston Consulting Group she went on to become CEO of OZON.ru, Russia’s largest e-commerce site, and executive VP of operations of the Priceline Group, the largest online and travel agency in the world which includes brands like OpenTable, Kayak, and Booking.com. She is the author of the book, “Trampled by Unicorns.”
1:15 – Why the title of the book, Trampled by Unicorns?
4:15 – What is the bad and ugly of Big Tech?
6:45 – What does Big Tech have to do to get back to their original ideals?
10:45 – Who should hold these Big Tech companies accountable?
13:15 – What does Big Tech need to achieve change and become true champions of diversity?
Segment 2: Mark and Katrina Parris have lived and worked in Harlem for the past 20 years. After running their own designer flower shop in Harlem, they recognized the need for a retail store where people could shop for elegant, eclectic, beautiful gifts, above 96th street. They sold the flower business and kept the retail store and opened NiLu in 2015. Named after their two sons Nigel and Lucas, NiLu functions not only as a retail store but also as a community center for local artists and designers.
18:00 – Why make the pivot from a floral business to a retail shop?
20:30 – What drives people to come to a retail store of local brands versus shopping online?
22:30 – What competition have you seen from big box stores?
24:15 – How do you figure out which items to feature in your store?
26:30 – Why is it important for you to feature products celebrating the black and multicultural community?
29:45 – How has the Black Lives Matter impacted your business over the past year?
32:45 – Is this a pivotal time in our history for black-owned businesses?
Segment 3: Paul Jarman is the CEO of NICE inContact and is responsible for the enterprise, SMB, government organizations and business process outsourcers (BPOs) who operate in multiple divisions, locations and global regions. A pioneer of the cloud movement, Paul was instrumental in guiding inContact from its roots in telecommunications to its strategic offering of cloud-based contact center solutions and has been a part of every major enhancement the company has made since 1997.
38:00 – Now is a time to be communicating more with our customers, not less. In what ways can we be reaching them better than ever before?
42:15 – How are customers interacting with businesses in 2020?
44:45 – What data can businesses leverage with contact center platforms?
46:30 – What types of companies work with NICE inContact?
48:00 – When kind of ROI can small businesses expect when it comes to customer experience and investing in a contact center platform?
Sponsored by The Hanover Insurance Group
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