In 2025, businesses must think beyond the old ways and embrace new strategies for growth and efficiency. A key component of this shift is enhancing value through creativity, whether that means refining service delivery, optimising customer experience, or using tools like a collage editor to visually engage with clients. These small, but effective innovations can set service based businesses apart in a competitive market.
I started my career working for the Philippines tourism board. At that time, the Philippines - and its 7,000 islands - as a destination was relatively unknown in UK and Europe. In my 10 and a half years there, I had all sorts of roles learning about the industry and learning about marketing in general. My first task was to build the website, at a time when online travel portals were pretty much in their infancy.
Chipotle's use of AI for smarter scheduling has led to labor costs dropping significantly, adapting staff schedules to meet real demand and improving operational efficiency.
Brands are stuck between wanting to stand for something and constantly needing quick wins. Marketing has become a bit like fast fashion, cranking out disposable content for short-term clicks.
Olive Garden's mints are distinct with custom branding, featuring a green top and brown bottom, differentiating them from standard Andes mints which have all-brown packaging.
Gabaldon emphasized the need for legacy brands to evolve while maintaining authenticity, stating it's about adapting without sacrificing their heritage. Collaborations serve as bridges to connect with cultural icons and modern consumers.
In our GFiber Labs demo, we used gaming as the test scenario. We ran two gaming consoles next to each other and injected congestion into the network with the lab's traffic generator. Predictably, things fell apart: lag, stuttering, pixelation. Then we carved out a dedicated lane (a "slice") in the network that reserved bandwidth just for gaming traffic. The result: the driving game demo went from jittery and glitchy to smooth and responsive.
In many organizations, decisions are made in boardrooms, far removed from the customer's reality. Metrics are dissected. Dashboards are studied. Yet somehow, the real customer experience gets overlooked or misrepresented.
Shoppers have alternatives, so curating the perfect customer experience requires attention to branding and customer touchpoints, including the critical role of kiosks in retail.
Holiday cover is a business-critical task, yet it's often overlooked until the last minute. We want to help businesses plan ahead so their customers still receive a five-star experience while their teams enjoy a well-deserved break.
Customer support has shifted from a defensive necessity into an offensive growth lever, emphasizing proactive personalization and predictive service models to enhance customer experience.