Alan Berkson

What skills do we need to develop in the 21st Century to stay relevant? Competitive? Or even just stay in the loop? What skills will our children need? The turn of the century is bringing with it the Information Age. The challenge? We live and learn based on an education and skills system designed to feed the needs of an industrial society. In what is now a post-industrial society we need new skills to live and work. Alan Berkson lays out three essential skills necessary to thrive in this… Show more

What skills do we need to develop in the 21st Century to stay relevant? Competitive? Or even just stay in the loop? What skills will our children need? The turn of the century is bringing with it the Information Age. The challenge? We live and learn based on an education and skills system designed to feed the needs of an industrial society. In what is now a post-industrial society we need new skills to live and work. Alan Berkson lays out three essential skills necessary to thrive in this Information Age. Show less

We live in a world of abbreviated communications. In place of extended conversation we have text messages, 140 character tweets, and emoticons. While these shortcuts provide velocity to communications it’s often at the expense of understanding.

What skills do I really want my children to learn? What skills will serve them as they enter the workforce? What skills will lead to success in the 21st Century? It came down to three essential skills,

You can feel it. The role and nature of customer service is changing. Looking back on 2013 we have seen the continued evolution of customer service to meet the demands of 21st century consumers. The maturing of social channels combined with the adaptation of traditional channels is creating a multichannel experience full of promise but creating challenges for customer service organizations.

So what does the new year have in store for us? Here are 5 trends in customer service for 2014:

Entertainment and corporate communications have intertwined for as long as there have been things to sell and stories to tell. Marketing has traditionally shown consumers what they want the consumer to see, but pervasive communications—the explosion of multi-directional media channels—has made this model obsolete. The age of broadcast is clearly dead. We are not just dealing with an audience, but an audience of audiences; people whose collective voice can have far greater power than any single… Show more

Entertainment and corporate communications have intertwined for as long as there have been things to sell and stories to tell. Marketing has traditionally shown consumers what they want the consumer to see, but pervasive communications—the explosion of multi-directional media channels—has made this model obsolete. The age of broadcast is clearly dead. We are not just dealing with an audience, but an audience of audiences; people whose collective voice can have far greater power than any single television commercial or even advertising campaign.
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Entertainment and corporate communications have intertwined for as long as there have been things to sell and stories to tell. Marketing has traditionally shown consumers what they want the consumer to see, but pervasive communications– the explosion of multi-directional communication channels – has made this model obsolete. The age of broadcast is clearly dead and we are not just dealing with an audience, but an audience of audiences. This requires new techniques and processes. The solution… Show more

Entertainment and corporate communications have intertwined for as long as there have been things to sell and stories to tell. Marketing has traditionally shown consumers what they want the consumer to see, but pervasive communications– the explosion of multi-directional communication channels – has made this model obsolete. The age of broadcast is clearly dead and we are not just dealing with an audience, but an audience of audiences. This requires new techniques and processes. The solution lies in the substance of the corporate story world. Show less

For many companies there is a gap between what business they believe they are in versus what business their customers believe they are in. This gap can be problematic. Or it can represent an opportunity to grow.

The arrival of pervasive communication was disruptive. It threw a monkey wrench in traditional communication channels, and global concerns loomed larger than us or our businesses. We now have conversations occurring worldwide, no longer constrained by national or natural borders. We have adapted and learned to deal with it.

The challenge now is pervasive communication has become chaotic — the sprawl of communication mediums offer competing, yet similar functions. Conversations now leap… Show more

The arrival of pervasive communication was disruptive. It threw a monkey wrench in traditional communication channels, and global concerns loomed larger than us or our businesses. We now have conversations occurring worldwide, no longer constrained by national or natural borders. We have adapted and learned to deal with it.

The challenge now is pervasive communication has become chaotic — the sprawl of communication mediums offer competing, yet similar functions. Conversations now leap among platforms and channels with an unprecedented fluidity — a Twitter update engenders an SMS text which leads to a phone conversation that informs a blog post that points to a web-site viewed on a mobile device which generates a sale in a brick-and-mortar venue – yes, chaotic, hyper-connected, ubiquitous and non-linear.

With this change comes both risk and reward. This disruption presents opportunity: to leverage a new communication paradigm, or be crushed under the weight of it. Show less