2011 Engage Summit
SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hundreds of Voice of Customer (VOC) professionals and customer intelligence experts gathered on Tuesday, May 18, 2011, for day two of the Allegiance Engage Summit in Park City, Utah. Highlights of the day included author and former Apple chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki and social technology expert Jeremiah Owyang. Workshops focused on real world examples and expert advice concerning how to uncover and apply insights from customer feedback to achieve positive business outcomes.

Highlighting the growing number of customer feedback channels, including social media, email, Web and mobile devices, Tuesday’s presenters focused on the importance of improving the customer experience. In his keynote address “The Art of Enchantment,” Guy Kawasaki provided attendees with creative ways that businesses can become more likeable and trustworthy while engaging customers and winning more business. He pointed out that companies should “remove the speed bumps” and make it easier for customers to do business with them.

Jeremiah Owyang echoed this in his presentation “The Customer of the Future,” which focused on social technologies. He cautioned companies that the customer of the future is armed with information and empowered to share their brand experiences with others. He pointed out that market research must expand to include socialgraphics, which is the understanding of how customers use social technologies. Businesses also need to apply social strategies to each phase of the customer experience.

Attendees also heard from experts about Voice of Employee (VOE) and employee engagement topics, including how to connect employee engagement to customer loyalty and business outcomes as well as employee survey and feedback topics. Leaders in data analytics, Voice of Customer and employee program start up, market research, demographic studies and social business also presented practical case studies and shared thought leadership.

Sponsors of this year’s Summit included Attensity, Jive Software, Nunwood, J.D. Power and Associates, 1to1 Media, CMO Council and Juice Analytics. Organized by Allegiance, Inc., a provider of VOCi (Voice of Customer Intelligence) technology and services, the 2011 Engage Summit included three days of speakers, workshops, panel discussions and product training. Due to the growing interest in VOC programs, next year’s event, renamed as VOCFusion, will be held at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas in 2012.