Marketing 0

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Assess the digital readiness of your organization as well as
that of your customers. How ready are you to go digital?
Think about how you can improve your organization's digital
readiness and create a plan to implement the
transformation.

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CHAPTER 6
The Next Tech: It's Time for Human-
Like Technologies to Take Off
During World War II, the Germans extensively used the Enigma
machine to encrypt military communications. Intercepting and
breaking the encrypted codes would allow the British and the Allies
to anticipate the movement of German forces. To prevent more war
casualties, a group of scientists raced against time to decipher the
military codes by creating a machine called the Bombe. After several
attempts to “train” the Bombe, they finally succeeded. One of the
scientists was Alan Turing, a mathematician widely credited as one
of the very first thinkers in artificial intelligence (AI). His personal
goal was to create a machine that could learn from experience—
paving the way for machine learning.
Similar to how the early form of AI helped the Allies win World War
II, technologies will empower businesses and allow companies to do
things that were not possible before. The next tech—those
technologies that will be mainstream in the next decade—will be the
foundation of Marketing 5.0. It liberates companies from past
business limitations. Tedious, repetitive tasks that typically cause
human errors can be automated. Tele-technologies can help
companies overcome geographical hurdles. The use of blockchain
enhances security in data-sensitive industries, such as financial
services. The use of robotics and the Internet of Things (IoT) reduces
the need for human resources in high-risk environments.
But most importantly, the next tech allows for a more humanistic
marketing approach. Augmented and virtual reality—or mixed reality
(MR)—allow companies to visualize their offering to customers, for
example, in the real estate sector. Sensors and artificial intelligence
enable companies to personalize their content, such as in facial
recognition–powered advertising billboards.

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