This is Digital, Special Episode: The Best of Season 3

As a digitally native brand, what makes you different?

Ekta Chopra, Chief Digital Officer, e.l.f Beauty: “We don't have big budgets. But what we do have is this ability to move fast. The origin of our brand is that we want to be the first one everywhere; we want to make the headlines, which help us get into spaces that people are just not even thinking about yet or they're reluctant to enter. A great example of that is TikTok. TikTok is this big thing now, but we were the first brand to test and learn when it was just getting started. We did a campaign, which showed us that our community is on TikTok. So, we thought: ‘Why aren't we there?’ And we invested further. The next thing you know…we are five times TikTok billionaires. There's a reason for our success on TikTok…we don't dwell and we don't have red tape."

Don White, CEO, Satsfi Labs: “We wanted to create a personalized experience for a fan or someone attending a Taylor Swift concert, for example. There are 40,000 fans at an arena, and maybe 100 to 150 employees. How does that work? We realized that there was no way for a human to provide this level of service; only AI could. So, the people that helped us train our chatbot system did so by emulating what they would do if they could clone or replicate 50 or 1,000 of their best employees. This is what curated the product and what people are interested in, especially since fan expectations gets higher every year.” 

Is it fair to say that EVs are digital products?

Tyson Jominy, Vice President, Data & Analytics, J.D. Power: “EVs should be digital products. They want to be. It's like Michelangelo carving out the David statue from within the marble. It's always there. We just have to bring it out. Tesla has proven that EVs are digital products because it's not just about technology. We see that with how Tesla brought their EVs to market. Just something as common now as over-the-air updates for their vehicles, it was so groundbreaking. You wake up in the morning and your vehicle now has more range, capabilities, and potentially more features—so your vehicle is constantly evolving.”  

How can the concept of a flywheel be utilized in the healthcare industry to address the holistic needs of individuals and leverage digitization for continuous engagement?

Sara Vaezy, EVP, Chief Strategy and Digital Officer, Providence: “A flywheel is a model that keeps folks coming back, and this concept has recently been introduced in the healthcare industry. Something unique about the healthcare industry is that we need to think about people holistically beyond the few times they need care in a clinical setting. There are other things that people need, like over-the-counter medications or vaccinations. Therefore, with digitization, we can get to know user is a healthcare context around their needs and build a flywheel around them.” 

What trends do you see shaping enterprise software and its landscape today? And how are these impacting growth opportunities in your businesses?

Scott Crabill, Managing Partner, Thoma Bravo: “Taking a look back, a big trend that has been driving our market that started 10-12 years ago was the advent of cloud delivery capabilities for software and the subscription business model that went alongside of that cloud delivery. This trend has done many things. First, it has lowered the total cost of ownership of software for customers. The customer doesn't have to buy the software upfront, so they can rent it. They can buy it out of the operating budget rather than buying it out of the capital budget, which makes it easier. They don't have to install it on the customer side. It's installed by the software vendor up in the cloud. They don't have to upgrade to a new version every time. A new version is just pushed out to them. All these changes have opened digital revolution across various business sectors unlocked the ability to automate smaller and more business processes, enabled old-world companies to become technology businesses in many ways.” 

How will advancements in AI and technology impact various sectors, and what approach should be taken when implementing AI solutions in businesses?

Curtis Dubay, Chief Economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “AI will impact both white-collar and blue-collar jobs. As for white collar jobs, I think instead of having a team of research assistants, people will rely on AI. For example, people will have AI schedule meetings or draft emails. Another instance is that in law, a lot of the paralegal work will be done by AI. As for blue-collar jobs, for instance, hotels have been having a difficult time retaining workers for a while now. Going forward, they’re going to rely on AI to be able to function with fewer permanent hotels.”