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dipulb3 · 4 years

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2021 Chevy Trailblazer review: Reborn SUV is a hit-or-miss proposition

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2021 Chevy Trailblazer review: Reborn SUV is a hit-or-miss proposition

Once upon a time, the Chevrolet Trailblazer was a body-on-frame, midsize SUV. The old-school Trailblazer was a beefy thing, available with a V8 engine and rear-wheel drive. But as shoppers’ needs have evolved, so have the SUVs themselves. After more than a decade, the Trailblazer is back in the form of a kinder, gentler, subcompact crossover.

Snappy turbocharged engine

Excellent styling

Great infotainment tech

Don’t Like

Bland interior

Can get more expensive than most of its competitors

The 2021 Chevy Trailblazer is offered in LS, LT, Activ and RS trims. The Activ is the one pictured here, which has a rugged-ish look, while the RS is a little sportier. Like the Buick Encore GX with which it shares a platform, the Trailblazer is available with either a 1.2-liter turbo I3 and a continuously variable transmission, or a 1.3-liter turbo I3 with either a CVT or a nine-speed automatic. For this review, I’m focusing on the uplevel 1.3T and nine-speed combo.

The Trailblazer is larger than the Chevy Trax, but with its sub-$20,000 starting price, is actually the least expensive SUV in the company’s lineup. It shares a lot of its design with its big brother, the Blazer, and to good effect. The dual-port grille and squinty headlights look great, but don’t be fooled by what Chevy calls the “simulated” skid plate down below. Still, I like the sculpted hood and I am always here for a two-tone paint scheme. Personally, I think the Trailblazer looks best in RS guise.

The Trailblazer shares a lot of its design cues with its midsize big brother, the Blazer.

Chevrolet

Chevy’s 1.3-liter I3 is surprisingly perky. Sure, it only makes 155 horsepower, but it’s the 174 pound-feet of torque that really helps with acceleration. It comes on early at 1,600 rpm and stays flat until 4,000 rpm, making highway merging almost effortless. The nine-speed automatic transmission is tuned more for fuel economy than anything else, upshifting early to maximize efficiency. During my time with the car, I averaged 29.1 miles per gallon, which is on the better side of the EPA’s ratings of 26 mpg city, 30 mpg highway and 28 mpg combined for this engine.

That’s not to say the Trailblazer is fun to drive, though. Get it on backroads and the soft suspension and generous body roll will make you think twice about making any quick directional changes, and it’s easy to upset the overall smoothness on uneven stretches of pavement. Then again, nothing in this small SUV class is all that rewarding to drive, save for the Mazda CX-3. I think most folks will find that the Trailblazer does an adequate job day to day, with lots of usable low-end power and easy-to-drive dynamics.

There is a Sport mode in the Trailblazer, which Chevy says changes the transmission’s shift logic, giving the steering a heavier feel. This also activates the all-wheel-drive setting — which is something the driver can turn on and off with a button — though the difference here is hard to feel. The transmission holds revs a bit longer under aggressive acceleration, but it doesn’t really change the Trailblazer’s overall demeanor. If you live in a cold-weather climate, a Snow mode makes the throttle less aggressive, potentially resulting in less wheelspin when setting off from a stop.

The Trailblazer comes standard with Chevy’s Safety Assist package, which includes forward-collision warning and braking, front pedestrian braking, lane-keeping assist, a following distance indicator and automatic high beams. Adaptive cruise control is part of a $620 package and blind-spot monitoring is part of a separate $345 package. That’s weird, considering both those options are standard on the Toyota CH-R. If you want more tech like a hands-on steering assist feature, check out the Kia Seltos. Regardless of their price, the driver assistance features work as advertised, keeping me at a set distance from a lead car, warning me of other vehicles in my blind spot and producing a ding while gently bringing me back into the lane if I start to drift out.

Inside the Trailblazer, a standard 7-inch touchscreen runs Chevy’s Infotainment 3 system, but my tester has the upgraded 8-inch screen. It responds rapidly to my inputs and I love how easy and intuitive it is to use. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are here, and with wireless connectivity in upper trim levels. Both the driver and passenger can connect their phones to the system with a nifty dual-Bluetooth interface. Charging is taken care of by USB Type-A and Type-C ports, plus a 12-volt outlet up front. Wireless charging is available, as are additional USB-A and USB-C ports for rear-seat passengers.

The interior design is kind of meh, but the infotainment tech is great.

Chevrolet

Parents will rest easy with Chevy’s standard Teen Driver feature, a black box of sorts that records driving behavior when a particular key fob is used, and can even set a speed limiter and prohibit the audio volume from going too high. It’s a feature that my rebellious high school self would hate, but the grumpy grown woman I’ve become takes gleeful joy in knowing younger drivers can’t be hooligans.

Much as I like the onboard tech, I’m less impressed by the rest of the Trailblazer’s interior. Sure, the materials are mostly fine and I like how much storage space is available, but the design lacks the spunk of the Nissan Kicks, the sophistication of the Mazda CX-3 or the quirky details of the Kia Seltos. What’s more, the backup camera quality is middling, though drivers can opt for a high-definition camera as part of a $1,720 technology package (Come on, just make this standard!). Overall, function definitely takes priority over form here.

The Trailblazer’s cargo space puts it in the middle of the class, at 25.3 cubic feet behind the second row of seats, expanding to 54.4 cubes when folded. Fold down the front passenger seat and you can accommodate items up to 8.5 feet long, like kayaks or lumber. If you need more space, however, you should look at the Kia Seltos, with 26.6 and 63 cubic feet respectively, or the Honda HR-V, with 24.3/58.8.

The Trailblazer is a fine little SUV, but many of its competitors are more well-rounded.

Chevrolet

The 2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer starts at $19,995 including $995 for destination. However, my LT tester ups the starting price to $25,600, and once the options are tacked on, I’m looking at $28,180 including destination. For that price I can get a nicely equipped Kia Seltos or Honda HR-V, or I can get a loaded Nissan Kicks with nearly $7,000 to spare.

The Trailblazer is a nice addition to the subcompact SUV segment with its lively powertrain and bold exterior styling. But considering how well-rounded so many of its competitors are, unfortunately for the Trailblazer, that might not be enough.

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elfigmlinkbf16insurance-blog · 5 years

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martechadvisor-blog · 5 years

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Transforming ‘Content Marketing’ to ‘Content Experiences’: 3 insights for Marketers

What are the 3 things CMOs need to know to transform their content marketing efforts into a content experience strategy? Randy Frisch: Co-Founder, CMO, and President of Uberflip; and drinker of their own (content-experience) champagne shares insights based on hundreds of conversations with CMOs about ‘the new CX’.

Marketers – aka MTA readers - have been showing a voracious appetite for all content related content…and it’s no surprise either. Some estimates put the budget spent directly or indirectly on content creation/management/ distribution/ analytics at 30% of the marketing budget. And most all players- B2B and B2C – have plans to increase that in 2019. This is because, in the DIY economy, customers – aka ‘all of us’ - prefer to use publicly-available content to ‘inform themselves’ about proposed purchases before we actually choose the vendors we want to talk to. This choice is based on the credibility, engagement, experience, and excitement they are able to build during the consideration phase, through; most dominantly, content.

There are many ways to get the content right, and yet, most marketers will end up falling into one of these content marketing traps:

Creating content without compelling insight into the audience who will consume it

Not focusing content on the ‘problem the prospect is seeking to solve’ but to say the things they want prospects to hear

Creating content but not making it accessible to touchpoints where customers can access, including Salespeople (especially true in B2B situations)

Creating too much content instead of intelligently amplifying some content

Not basing content strategy on data, not knowing the right performance metrics to focus ons

Not connecting content outcomes to business outcomes… the list goes on.

It is no surprise that CMOs are frustrated with Content – can’t live without it, don’t know how to elevate it to a more strategic tool – but going to spend more on it anyway.

So when we decided to focus on content experiences as a strategic CMO imperative for 2019, who better to share some key lessons than Randy Frisch: Co-Founder, CMO, and President of Uberflip. A company that has been relentlessly championing the cause of Content Experience; and of course; precisely because of that, a company that needs to put their own content experiences where their mouth is.

Randy confirms our initial understanding: when embarking on content marketing, the first thing marketers do, is go and create a bunch of content. Or they curate a bunch of content. As Randy puts it, “CMOs jumped in hard on the “idea” of content marketing 5–10 years ago. But the “idea” got a bit confused along the way. Many organizations believed if they simply created content, people would come. You know like Kevin Costner in “Field of Dreams” …if you (create) it they will (buy). Fast forward to recent years, **CMOs have realized that creating content isn’t the key to winning - it’s aligning content to the needs of an audience at specific stages of the buyer journey**. Randy reminds us of the SiriusDecisions report that found 80 percent of content created goes unused. So, what lies beyond content creation – no matter how great that content may be? “In some ways, marketers are realizing that if content marketing is heavily focused on creation, content experience and content distribution are the real keys to driving engagement.”

Here are 3 Content Experience insights we distilled from our conversation with Randy.

Lesson 1: Content Marketing is not Content Experience

If content experience is distinct from content marketing, what does “content experience” entail?

“We’re all obsessed with better experiences. We cut our cables for Netflix because it delivered a better recommendation experience; we switched from Walmart to Amazon for the experience; and we buy the most tedious furniture to build from Ikea because they display it in an amazing in-store environment. The same reasons that these customer experiences win are the reasons a content experience will help you win or lose. **We are all delivering a content experience—even if we haven’t focused on it. The question is whether we’re delivering one that embraces or turns away our customers**.”

Randy specifies 3 core components of Content experience, that make a strategic distinction from content marketing (which focuses on content creation and distribution aspects):

The environment in which we serve our content

The structure in which we organize it

The way we compel people to engage through elements like personalization

No marketer wants to wait around passively hoping their content gets discovered or hits the right mark at the right time for the right prospect. **Following the Content Experience approach helps put more control back in the hands of the marketer than the content marketing approach; while also focusing on the Brand experience rather than our own marketing objectives.**

As Randy says, “We need to lead with the stuff that keeps marketers up at night, not the stuff we want to sell. For a while, our team was always trying to sell by leading with content experience. Then one day I told a bad joke: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a noise?” Debatable, right? “Well, if we’re not around, do people talk about content experience?” Again, debatable. We had to lead with the items keeping our audience up at night (for us, topics like demand generation, inbound, ABM and sales enablement) and Trojan horse in our mission (that content experience could help). The same idea applies to all marketers. Make sure the stories you tell speak to the items that people talk about when you’re not around.”

Storytelling is still the key element of content marketing. Memorable experiences are not about the gimmicks- they are about relevance and context. Randy enriches that by making a distinction between the experience needed to win a considered purchase (whether high-value B2B or even high-involvement B2C verticals like financial, education and automotive) versus content for low-consideration purchases, “where the content is important, but it’s more about building brand loyalty out of the gate, so people continue to buy time and time again—think Coke vs. Pepsi.”

Lesson 2: Content Discovery is not (just) about the first click

Popular wisdom says Search Optimization is a crucial component of successful content discovery. What should marketers know about content discovery that they don’t do enough of today? Randy says it depends on the stage of the journey you are building the experience for. “Google has gotten a lot smarter than you. If you’re looking for best practices, look to experts like Moz or other platforms and agencies that can help you optimize for the top of the funnel. But, even at the top of the funnel, it is worth remembering that discoverability has evolved. “There used to be a funny joke that the best place to hide something was on page two of Google results. Well that’s an old joke because now we speak to a Google Home and instantly trust the first result as authority. Our ability to search and rank content will become more important than ever. Whether on Google search or what people expect when they land on your home page, we have come to expect that you (the brand) know what I (the buyer) want.

But once you’ve captured someone, then what? That’s the big question. Most of us are obsessed with the first click. But to me, true content discovery happens once you’re found.

It’s so easy for people to click back to Google results after the first piece you serve. It’s the same on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. The challenge is to keep someone engaged. On average, it takes seeing seven assets before someone is ready to buy, according to IDC. So, build content journeys that can accelerate sales velocity. That is true discovery!”

Lesson 3: It’s not about the tech, it’s about the 2 P’s: people & processes

This one is not much of a surprise to us, in spite of being a martech-focused publication. Undoubtedly, tech helps drive consistency, accessibility, personalization – at scale. But the correct path, as Randy confirms, in spite of being from a martech platform himself, is people>process>technology.

Buying tech should be the last thing you do. The first is invest in great people—talent trumps all!

Once you have great people, implement sound processes and frameworks for the strategies that will be key to your success. Then, once you see the horizon where those people and the processes won’t scale, introduce tech that takes it to the next level. One of our customers, Snowflake, took this approach when they were delivering streams of hand-picked content to target accounts. Daniel Day, Snowflake’s ABM Director, first built a kickass team, hacking away at a template that worked for the first 12 or so accounts he wanted to target. When Daniel’s concept caught fire, and his execs asked him to deliver the same experience to 300 accounts per quarter, he needed to invest in a content experience platform. That’s when he turned to Uberflip for a framework that could manage content at scale.”

Speaking of scale, AI in content creation and distribution is a hot topic right now. A simplified view of AI, Randy says, is asking how we as marketers can leverage all the data we have (on visitors and campaigns) to deliver a better experience. “When we get into AI, we’re really talking about taking that data when it reaches scale to make split-second decisions and recommendations. But marketers still need to inform those recommendations – a content experience platform should allow a marketer to organize content and inject other ingredients like third-party intent data (at Uberflip we have a partnership with Bombora for this) to deliver the right content at the right time.”

Involving the right subject matter experts while creating content, and making the content available to the right stakeholders are two additional aspects of internal engagement that will help transform content marketing to content experience. “Great content is all about adding or revealing value. The tricky part is making sure your sales teams can find the right content to serve to your audience”. That is yet another trap marketers’ fall into - investing disproportionately in content being ‘discovered’ by prospects but ignoring how internal stakeholders and other customer touchpoints will find/ use the content they need to serve customers ‘in the moment’. This is even more relevant in the omnichannel environment customers operate in today.

As is the tradition for MarTech Musings - I wrap by asking Randy what trends he was tracking in the space as we head into 2020 and beyond. The themes he is tracking prove just how central to marketing he views content experience. “We’re in a world where we expect a balance of personalization, but also privacy. The trick will be to personalize without being creepy about it. After a year of marketers scrambling to become GDPR-compliant, there’s going to be an ongoing threat to our ability to personalize unless we find ways to show that we can be trusted to turn that data into a relevant experience. Or perhaps I finish with a play on the late Stan Lee’s Spiderman line: “With great data comes great personalization.”

More about Randy

Randy has defined and led the content experience movement, prompting marketers to think beyond content creation and focus on the experience. He also hosts Conex: The Content Experience Show podcast; was named one of the Top 50 Fearless Marketers in the world by Marketo, and is the author of the upcoming book, F#*k Content Marketing (yeah, he swears sometimes).

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor

#martech #marketing #technology #business #cmo

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robertkstone · 5 years

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2017 Mazda CX-5 Long-Term Verdict

When MotorTrend road test editor Chris Walton first drove the thoroughly refreshed 2017 CX-5 in the spring of 2017, he came away impressed. Mazda improved on an already winning package (the previous generation won a comparison), adding a quieter, more refined interior, sharp new exterior, and retaining its fun factor. In June 2017, the 9,550 CX-5s sold made up 42.7 percent of all Mazdas sold that month. The vehicle is Mazda’s bread and butter, so we had to have one for a year to see how the redesign would hold up.

From the first week with the CX-5, I knew I would like it. My previous long-termers needed a few months to convince me of their worth, but the CX-5 won me over pretty quickly. I was struck by its curb appeal: Its chiseled face and character lines gave it an upscale look, and the optional Machine Gray paint sparkled in direct sunlight while the LED headlights, foglights, and taillights add to the luxurious look at night. The looks have aged nicely, as opposed to some rivals whose jarring lines and creases have already gotten a bit old. I, along with almost every first-time passenger, was also impressed by the interior’s simple elegance. Passengers were always surprised to find that level of luxury in a Mazda; I think the white leather makes it feel more upscale than the all-black interior, which can look a bit bland. Speaking of that white leather, it held up better than I thought it would after almost 30,000 miles. It didn’t get as dirty as I expected, and by no means do we baby these cars. The CX-5 gets passed around, and it’s been used to haul tons of photo gear haphazardly thrown in. Broken trim pieces and scratched leather are common in a support car, but neither had happened before the CX-5’s year was up.

Other things I appreciated were the 40/20/40 split rear seats, which made hauling long Ikea boxes and our helpers during a recent move a breeze. It was also very quiet at highway cruising speeds, a welcome trait for my ears on the many long road trips over the year. It’s as quiet as a Lexus NX cruising at 65 mph, according to a recent MotorTrend comparison. Mazda’s adaptive cruise control also aided in reducing my stress while sitting in traffic during my commute home. The system works well in stop-and-go traffic, and it was smooth enough to let me relax a little bit. It was great for commutes, but when I had to chase a couple of Workshop 5001 Porsches or a Mustang PP1 and Camaro 1LE up some twisty roads to shoot, it demonstrated it still had the fun and playful chassis we came to love in the previous CX-5. It also proved it can tackle some light off-roading when we took it on a 1,700-mile road trip through Utah.

There are a few things that keep the CX-5 from being the perfect ride. The engine felt underpowered, especially with a car full of people (learn about the 2019 model’s new, second engine option here). Gas mileage was also a bit underwhelming at 24.7 mpg after 28,307 miles compared to our long-term CR-V, which averaged 28.6 mpg over 12 months and 20,447. The seats are too flat and lack support, and the seat bottoms feel a tad too short. The front USB plugs are only 1.0 amp, which made for very slow charging compared to the 2.1-amp second-row USBs. I would sometimes run a phone cord to the rear USBs for faster charging. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto would’ve been nice to have, as well, but Apple CarPlay is now available for the 2019 model year. I also couldn’t stand the overzealous blind-spot monitoring that would warn me of cars that were two or three car lengths back.

The CX-5 went in for four scheduled services, which cost $340.57. For comparison, our 2015 CX-5 cost a total of $320.37 for three service visits, and our 2017 Honda CR-V cost $417.60 for two, not including the unscheduled battery and differential fluid change. IntelliChoice calculates a five-year cost of ownership of $36,310 and gives the CX-5 an average value rating. A CR-V Touring AWD would cost a similar $36,484 over five years, so the Mazda’s cost is on par with its competition.

From downtown L.A. to off-roading in Canyonlands National Park to chasing purpose-built Porsches on Malibu canyon roads, the CX-5 has proven to be a well-rounded ride. It’s stylish, a decently capable off-roader, loaded with convenience and luxury features that rival crossovers from more luxurious brands, yet it’s been trouble-free and has held up well over our time with it. If I were in the market for a small crossover, the CX-5 would be at the top of my list. According to Mazda’s November 2018 sales numbers, its improved formula is selling better than ever, with 10,882 CX-5s sold in November, up 20.6 percent YTD. Now that Mazda has added the 2.5L I-4 turbo from the CX-9 and Mazda6 as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the CX-5 is a sure bet in my book.

Read more about our long-term 2017 Mazda CX-5:

Arrival

Update 1: Shifting Upmarket

Update 2: Mileage and the Blind-Spot Monitoring System

Update 3: Assessing the CUV’s Active Safety Tech

Update 4: Interior Design

Update 5: Road Trip to Utah

Our Car SERVICE LIFE 13 mo / 28,307 mi BASE PRICE $31,635 OPTIONS Premium package ($1,830: driver seat memory, power front-passenger seat, heated steering wheel & rear seats, active driving display, wiper de-icer), premium paint ($300), rear bumper guard ($125), cargo mat ($30) PRICE AS TESTED $33,960 AVG ECON/CO2 24.7 mpg / 0.79 lb/mi PROBLEM AREAS None MAINTENANCE COST $308 NORMAL-WEAR COST $32 3-YEAR RESIDUAL VALUE* $24,500 (72%) RECALLS None *IntelliChoice data; assumes 42,000 miles at the end of 3-years

2017 Mazda CX-5 AWD (Grand Touring) POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT Front-engine, AWD ENGINE TYPE I-4, alum block/head VALVETRAIN DOHC, 4 valves/cyl DISPLACEMENT 151.9 cu in/2,488 cc COMPRESSION RATIO 13.0:1 POWER (SAE NET) 187 hp @ 6,000 rpm TORQUE (SAE NET) 185 lb-ft @ 4,000 rpm REDLINE 6,500 rpm WEIGHT TO POWER 19.5 lb/hp TRANSMISSION 6-speed automatic AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO 4.62:1/2.77:1 SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR Struts, coil springs, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, anti-roll bar STEERING RATIO 15.5:1 TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK 2.7 BRAKES, F; R 11.7-in vented disc; 11.9-in disc, ABS WHEELS 7.0 x 19-in cast aluminum TIRES 225/55R19 99V (M+S) Toyo A36 DIMENSIONS WHEELBASE 106.2 in TRACK, F/R 62.8/62.8 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 179.1 x 72.5 x 65.3 in GROUND CLEARANCE 7.6 in APPRCH/DEPART ANGLE 17.0/20.0 deg TURNING CIRCLE 36.0 ft CURB WEIGHT 3,653 lb WEIGHT DIST, F/R 57/43% TOWING CAPACITY 2,000 lb SEATING CAPACITY 5 HEADROOM, F/R 39.3/39.0 in LEGROOM, F/R 41.0/39.6 in SHOULDER ROOM, F/R 57.1/54.8 in CARGO VOLUME, BEH F/R 59.6/30.9 cu ft TEST DATA ACCELERATION TO MPH 0-30 2.7 sec 0-40 4.2 0-50 6.1 0-60 8.3 0-70 10.9 0-80 14.5 PASSING, 45-65 MPH 4.5 QUARTER MILE 16.3 sec @ 84.0 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 124 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.81 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 28.0 sec @ 0.59 g (avg) TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH 2,000 rpm CONSUMER INFO BASE PRICE $31,635 PRICE AS TESTED $33,960 STABILITY/TRACTION CONTROL Yes/Yes AIRBAGS 6: Dual front, front side, f/r curtain BASIC WARRANTY 3 yrs/36,000 miles POWERTRAIN WARRANTY 5 yrs/60,000 miles ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE 3 yrs/36,000 miles FUEL CAPACITY 15.3 gal REAL MPG, CITY/HWY/COMB 19.7/31.2/23.6 mpg EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON 23/29/26 mpg ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY 147/116 kW-hrs/100 miles CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB 0.76 lb/mile RECOMMENDED FUEL Unleaded regular

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iyarpage · 6 years

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6 Design Predictions for 2018 (That Might Actually Happen)

Happy New Year! At this time every January we try to predict what’s going to happen in our industry over the next 12 months.

I hope that 2018 will be a great year for inclusive design, for standards-compliance, for ethical practices. I hope for those things every year, and annually it does feel like we’re inching closer.

However this post is about unexpected trends, changes, and an attempt to predict the landscape ahead of us, because it feels like there’s change in the air…

How Did I Do in 2017?

This time last year I made seven predictions for 2017 that were surprisingly accurate.

Last year I predicted that 2017 would not be the year of VR. I was proved correct, the constraints of the physical tech is too much of an obstruction.

I predicted that we’d be more security conscious than ever, but that we’d drop passwords. I was half right. SSL for instance has become all but mandatory over the last 12 months, but sadly we’re still using passwords. I’m scoring myself half a point for that one.

I suggested that AI would finally come of age, not as a technology, but as a marketing tool. Hundreds of apps and services have claimed to be powered by AI in the last year, at least half of the press releases we receive mention AI somewhere, and yet no one has made AI work.

I thought we’d see an end to websites as closed systems, and an end to online advertising. I still think that trend is apparent (see below) but this one might take more than 12 months.

I thought the web would become more beautiful in 2017, with an end to utilitarian design. And then we got Brutalism. However I do think clients are beginning to engage with the idea of beauty, or at least aesthetic considerations beyond the purely functional. Gradients made a comeback, and we fell in love with color again. I’m giving myself that one.

I said we’d see a huge growth in the number of design tools, and we did. Countless site builders were released—most boasting AI features of some kind. Quality was admittedly variable, but when it comes to tools, more options is always more.

Finally I predicted—somewhat tongue in cheek—the unstoppable rise of ‘VX Design’ as a rival to UX. This was a joke. Until I saw an advert late in 2017 seeking an ‘experienced CX [Customer Experience] Designer’. Facepalm.

I’m scoring myself 5.5 out of 7 for 2017, an unexpectedly accurate 79% success rate. Let’s see if we can beat that this year…

6 Design Predictions for 2018 (That Might Actually Happen)

In almost all cases trends within the design industry come from two places: firstly, design is hugely influenced by the tools used to create it, new tech drives new trends; secondly, design—in fact all culture—is cyclical, following a pattern of revolution and counter-revolution, so to predict tomorrow we need simply look at yesterday.

1. Skeuomorphism Strikes Back

Skeuomorphism has been dressed up as the antithesis of effective design for some years, but its return is inevitable.

I’m not suggesting we start designing faux-leather wallpapers for our iPhone X, with a little wrinkle to accommodate the notch. But skeuomorphism does something better than flat design: it communicates function.

Widespread adoption of design patterns and homogenized design lowered the usability bar for flat design. Just about any rectilinear shape in a contrasting color looked like a button. As the digital world merges with the physical, skeuomorphic UI design lends itself to affordances in a way that flat design does not.

2. The Agonisingly Slow Demise of WordPress

WordPress we’re told powers somewhere around 26% of the web. So it would be somewhat cavalier to predict that it’s a technology on the wane. However there are several reasons to think WordPress’ number may be up.

Firstly its performance is being artificially inflated. The usage stats assume that all sites are created equal instead of weighting traffic-heavy sites; the stats treat a blog that was started 10 years ago and contains a single post, as of equal significance as Facebook.

Furthermore the success of WordPress is arguably less to do with its performance as a CMS, and more to do with the third party industry that feeds it. The site builder/theme market has centered around WordPress for some time. However the rise of proprietary site builders like Wix, Webydo, Squarespace, and so on, is siphoning off the lower end of the market.

WordPress is still a great option for blogs (like this one) but this type of site does not make up 26% of the web. As with many tools, the issue is legacy code, and a legacy mentality. If you were going to sit down and design a modern CMS from scratch it would not look like WordPress.

A lot of people have a lot invested in WordPress, and it is already present in enough sites to be around for years to come, but its decline will begin in 2018.

3. 2018 Will be the Year of AR

VR is still an amazing experience, but it fails in one key area: VR is all or nothing, you put on a headset or you don’t.

Augmented Reality (AR) on the other hand is, by definition, a progressive enhancement. Unlike VR, AR offers an optional experience. Hugely popular already thanks to pioneering projects like Pokémon Go, new uses for AR are being found all the time, and the technology for generating AR content gets increasingly accessible.

Traditionally, technology like AR that progressively enhances existing content is exactly the type of tech that is successful on the web.

4. The End of Online Advertising (Again)

Online advertising has been limping along for years. It exists solely because sites (yes, like this one) need to recoup some of the costs involved in publishing. However you’re more likely to survive a plane crash than click a banner ad.

With the all but certain demise of net neutrality in the US, we’re likely to see new payment models emerge over the next year. If consumers are paying for high-speed access to certain sites (because costs are always passed on to the consumer) they are unlikely to tolerate advertising as well. To compound this issue for advertising companies, one simple way for telecoms companies to deliver a faster web with minimal investment is to cache pages without adverts.

Even if an ad-free web is not offered on your cable bill in the near future, there are plenty of ad-blockers on the market, and Chrome will be blocking some adverts itself from February.

Paywalls are not a popular alternative to adverts, but Medium’s clap-o-meter appears to be successful, and The Guardian newspaper raised more money asking for voluntary donations than it did from advertising.

Most online advertising doesn’t work, and as soon as alternatives are a proven success adverts will be a thing of the past.

5. Flamboyant, Responsive Lettering

The preferred typographic flavor of the last few years has been the geometric sans-serif. It’s plain, functional, inoffensive, and the darling of every tech entrepreneur—or at least the ones that have already made their billions. In 2018, the reaction to this tired style will be the rediscovery of serifs, ligatures, swashes, and decorative lettering.

Over the last couple of years we’ve seen enormous growth in illustration as a mainstay online. Illustration solves numerous design issues: it enables a unique brand identity, it’s naturally responsive when exported as SVG, and even an animated SVG is smaller than a typical static bitmap.

A lettering renaissance, coupled with what we’ve learned coding SVG in the last couple of years will result in wildly creative lettering that is responsive, and unlike anything we’ve seen on the web before.

6. We’ll Abandon AI in Favor of Craft

Over the last 12 months we’ve seen numerous startups (and established companies who should really know better) boast of their implementations of AI. All this despite the fact that no one has created an AI yet.

To understand the state of AI development ask an AI to select a brand color for you. It will present you with one of two options: tech-blue, or muddy brown. That’s because the current level of decision making is based on averages. Blue is the most common color online, and brown would be a mixture of all the colors found online. Which one is presented will depend on whether the AI is coded to calculate the average as mode or mean.

The only people to successfully create an AI are marketing departments, who simply changed the definition of the term to fit their product.

As a result, the term ‘AI’ is now sullied. Not because it wouldn’t be a wonderful technological achievement to develop an AI, but because any such achievement would be lost amongst a thousand press releases claiming to have achieved the same thing.

AI will not stand out in 2018, but rather its antithesis, a return to human-designed. A celebration of craft.

Looking Forward to 2018

It is of course very easy to pluck a few trends out of the air, and call them predictions. There’s no way of actually seeing into the future with any accuracy.

Trends that are already noticeable will inevitably continue into 2018. Technology that is past its sell-by-date will be replaced by better technology. Evolved tools will enable and inspire. Wider culture will influence us. And if history is anything to go by we’ll make some pretty stupid mistakes.

But by and large we’re getting better at this web thing. Honestly, I can hardly wait to get started.

Source p img {display:inline-block; margin-right:10px;} .alignleft {float:left;} p.showcase {clear:both;} body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;} 6 Design Predictions for 2018 (That Might Actually Happen) published first on http://ift.tt/2fA8nUr

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unixcommerce · 6 years

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6 Design Predictions for 2018 (That Might Actually Happen)

Happy New Year! At this time every January we try to predict what’s going to happen in our industry over the next 12 months.

I hope that 2018 will be a great year for inclusive design, for standards-compliance, for ethical practices. I hope for those things every year, and annually it does feel like we’re inching closer.

However this post is about unexpected trends, changes, and an attempt to predict the landscape ahead of us, because it feels like there’s change in the air…

How Did I Do in 2017?

This time last year I made seven predictions for 2017 that were surprisingly accurate.

Last year I predicted that 2017 would not be the year of VR. I was proved correct, the constraints of the physical tech is too much of an obstruction.

I thought we’d see an end to websites as closed systems, and an end to online advertising. I still think that trend is apparent (see below) but this one might take more than 12 months.

I’m scoring myself 5.5 out of 7 for 2017, an unexpectedly accurate 79% success rate. Let’s see if we can beat that this year…

6 Design Predictions for 2018 (That Might Actually Happen)

1. Skeuomorphism Strikes Back

Skeuomorphism has been dressed up as the antithesis of effective design for some years, but its return is inevitable.

2. The Agonisingly Slow Demise of WordPress

A lot of people have a lot invested in WordPress, and it is already present in enough sites to be around for years to come, but its decline will begin in 2018.

3. 2018 Will be the Year of AR

VR is still an amazing experience, but it fails in one key area: VR is all or nothing, you put on a headset or you don’t.

Traditionally, technology like AR that progressively enhances existing content is exactly the type of tech that is successful on the web.

4. The End of Online Advertising (Again)

Even if an ad-free web is not offered on your cable bill in the near future, there are plenty of ad-blockers on the market, and Chrome will be blocking some adverts itself from February.

Most online advertising doesn’t work, and as soon as alternatives are a proven success adverts will be a thing of the past.

5. Flamboyant, Responsive Lettering

6. We’ll Abandon AI in Favor of Craft

The only people to successfully create an AI are marketing departments, who simply changed the definition of the term to fit their product.

AI will not stand out in 2018, but rather its antithesis, a return to human-designed. A celebration of craft.

Looking Forward to 2018

It is of course very easy to pluck a few trends out of the air, and call them predictions. There’s no way of actually seeing into the future with any accuracy.

But by and large we’re getting better at this web thing. Honestly, I can hardly wait to get started.

Source p img {display:inline-block; margin-right:10px;} .alignleft {float:left;} p.showcase {clear:both;} body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;}

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The post 6 Design Predictions for 2018 (That Might Actually Happen) appeared first on Web Design, Hosting, Domains, and Marketing.

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mablecwk58142-blog · 6 years

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MLA Format And Type Guide.

As you would anticipate, what with the impending release from Grand Fraud Automobile V on PC, the hardcore games market has been actually sleuthing around the net plus all traits connected to this in a try to winkle out some new divots of information concerning the activity. One day in the not-too-distant future, self-driving car crashes won't be actually especially newsworthy, however while the tech is actually still being cultivated there's a lot of focus on any kind of potential issues - and Uber merely found yet another one in Arizona. Self-driving cars are going to certainly not be actually the 1st task to become drawn out of Alphabet's X department. Virtually every condition in the U.S. demands motorists to carry a minimum level of auto insurance coverage to shield on their own and also their building, and also other vehicle drivers and also guests. 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Google says the autos need to be road-ready through early next year, yet that screening would have greater than 2 years. If you're going to need to have more opportunity, contact the company ahead of time to stretch the length from your service.

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smoothshift · 7 years

Text

Time to haul some family -- 3 Row SUVs review. via /r/cars

Time to haul some family -- 3 Row SUVs review.

Hi Cars,

Wanted a bigger car for my growing family and learned a lot on the way. This is a super competitive segment because every make is wanting to play. Hopefully my experience can help some others out because there really isn't a clear winner here. Even though I'm going to be critical, you really can't go wrong with any new 3 row SUV. Really just about which flavor you want.

Must have:

3Row/Spacious

AWD

Leather

Rear Cam

No maintenance / Reliable / Safe

Reasoning:

Need space for 2 rear facing car seats in the back(with ability for me 6' to sit comfortably upfront) the double stroller(thing just eats space) in the trunk. Road trips, luggage, gear, maybe more people as well, space is good.

AWD - better in weather, resale, camping? etc

Leather would be easier for cleaning up any random spills or boogers or puke or mud or ..kids are messy :)

Rear cam - besides the obvious reasons, I live in a younger community with tons of kids near by so I always want to know who/what is behind me.

With little kids, I definitely never want to be stranded. I don't really want to spend time taking my car to the shop. This would make me lean toward new. And most SUVs are safe just based on their size alone.

Wanted:

Power/Speed

Off road prowess

Tech/features

Panoramic sun roof

Comfort

LED accent lights (I don't think it looks like a NEW car without it)

Cool factor

To get everything I MUST HAVE new, MSRP would be close to 40k for a lot of the big players. So I kinda set that as my price tag. However, one of the main points I wanted to talk about in this post was that MSRP isn't too relevant in this segment. As far as MSRP are concerned, brand new, the Pilot and the Highlander should be your only choices, maybe the Santa fe.

Pilot

pros: This thing is a beast. It's the fastest one out there, 0-60 in 6ish seconds in an family hauler, hell ya now we're talking. It FEELS more spacious than all of the others. I sat comfortably in the 3rd row. They have a little area you can pull up behind the 3rd row to make it deeper and give you even more space back there. EX-L will get you leather and an 8 inch screen. You can save 1k off of getting Nav because it has android/apple. So you can decide for another 1k for their collision system or 1500 for entertainment set up...or you can just give your kid a tablet and call it a day. LED accent lights on all trims. Elite trim has some cool stuff but eh not much difference between the 9 speed and 6 speed MPG wise. One of the better AWD systems from some reviews I've seen. Seemed to out preform the highlander on a tame off road course.

cons: Looks like a mini van. Like seriously, I hate how it looks. This is what initially threw me off. NOW, after looking at how boring most of these SUVs are... If I got a black pilot with roof rails and running boards ...maybe blacked out the grill, blacked out the rims, blacked out my eyes so I didn't have to look at it.. It would be acceptable. They weren't giving me as much for my trade and these fly off the lot, especially the black ones. So they weren't going to give me much off MSRP either, maybe 3k if I ping pong between dealers. Bland interior, but functional at least.

Highlander

pros: All trims come with their collision system. Looks pretty nice actually, but it looked pretty good before their minor refresh too. New more powerful engine for 2017. Good amount of space. Toyota so you know its going to be reliable and it will hold its value better than any other SUV. Stepping up to the SE trim will get you some cooler looking ones and a sportier suspension, however I didn't really notice much. Pretty standard, safe choice overall. 2nd row Captain seats or Bench option is no extra cost.

cons: Won't get much off MSRP 2-3k again / Won't give much for my trade. They know they have high resale value so they get to be a bit stingy. SE trim and up have the accent LEDs but XLE would cover my Must Haves. Not fast, but not slow for the segment. No Android / apple. Even though new engine, performance was better on previous one.

4Runner

Still running a 5 speed? This thing is dated in many ways and doesn't give much except for basic features. You do get a big reliable vehicle with awesome off road ability. I love how they look but interior a lot smaller than the Highlander. Couldn't justify putting this in the running...4running.

Santa Fe

Seemed like a great value for what it was. Looks decent too. Interior seemed okay, I just didn't like the design personally. Overall, just wasn't feeling it. Didn't drive one. I think the other two edged it out, however I'm betting I could have gotten a better deal on this. And they have the better standard warranty than the others.

Arcadia

Redesigned for 2017 - v6 camaro engine in a caddy. This thing breaks the GMC formula a bit. There are deals to be had on this. I could get my must haves and more for maybe 34-35k(Because they had big discounts 9k+ off MSRP). On paper seemed decently quick, but didn't actually test drive. So that's where it would come back into the picture vs the pilot/highlander, since you would get a lot for less money. I really like how it looks too, but in the end I decided I'm don't want to be a guinea pig for basically a brand new SUV right now. But I wouldn't knock anyone who gets one. Seems like a great SUV.

Atlas

I actually know some early adapters for the Atlas and have seen it. It looks great in person, interior is nice and crisp, drives well. Didn't want to wait though and again a new vehicle so they may need to work out some kinks.

CX-9

4banger in a 3row SUV? Stop it. Mazda, Subaru, Ford, Volvo pls. You can't tell me you can load up your SUV, which is like their main purpose, and then preform adequately at highway speeds. Maybe you can and I'm just used to some power, but nope not for me. I really wanted to give the CX-9 a chance anyways since it got such a glorious review from car and driver and sits at their #1. But it really is a dumb car. I love mazda, I like what they do. Sure it has a nice interior and all that, and it drives like a smaller SUV and has a sporty feel to it...uhh nope. It drives like a smaller SUV because it is one. The thing has 71 sqft cargo volume. You can't win the sporty drive in 3rowSUVs when you're really smaller than a ford EDGE but you crammed a 3rd row back there. They may as well throw the Nissan rogue in the picture, I think it actually comes with a 3rd row option and has about the same cargo volume, but you can get it for way cheaper. As a side note, Nissan killed it with the Rogue! I'm a sucker for their star wars edition too. Anyways, I think the Mazda looks the awesome interior and exterior, but if you're missing 12ish sq feet, it's like cheating to be in the segment.

Explorer

Almost almost pulled the trigger. But the Explorer's bones are OLD. Due for a full redesign in a few years. They gave it a brand new look in 2016 but its still heavy and feels cramped inside but drives big. It's still based on the Taurus / Flex I think. The 4banger and even the 6 banger? Hard pass, they are damn slow cause the thing is so heavy. Now the sport...365hp, now we're talking. Now I got about 8k+ off MSRP and they were doing me good on my trade too. So that made it closer to the Pilot/Highlander price range. Sync 3 is great too, it has android/apple integrated. But, even with 365hp, its only barely faster than the Pilot. Still...faster is faster. Well, what really made me step back is for NEARLY the same price, I could just get a F150 with the new version of the engine. It has tons of interior room and great off road and can tow 10k+. POWER: 375 hp @ 5000 rpm TORQUE: 470 lb-ft @ 3500 rpm 10 speed auto 0-60 in 5.7sec SHHWAANGGG! Yes please! Just couldn't convince the wife to make this our family hauler haha.

MDX

Okay you're going to hate me if you're still with me here. I went USED with a 2014 MDX with advance package. So it literally has every feature known to man. Drives great, fast, sporty, looks sexy af. Got it in silver. I got it at bout 8k less than a new Pilot which basically has the same engine. Literally love this car, it has everything I want, the space and a ton more features than any of the new cars except the andriod/apple. I know a must have was reliability and no maintenance for me, however I'm lucky enough to live a few houses down from a honda tech. He's awesome and has a lift . So when I factor my unique situation I decided to roll the dice with used. As far as Acura goes, I'll take their reliability and cheap repair costs.

So Used is a different ball game. Looking for a 2014 specifically was tough because that's right when they did their redesign BUT it's also right at the mark that people turn in leases. And from what I've seen, people don't really give a crap about their lease. They do the bare minimum, treat em rough, and then turn in their keys in 3 years. So there were a lot of poorly loved MDXs for sale. The trick here was to drive a new one, then drive some used ones that fit your budget and keep an eye on their carfax. In my area, it seems like they were trying to sell a bunch that they probably got from auction, originally leased in NY/NJ. Crappy roads, crappy traffic, salted roads...Yeah definitely avoided those and didn't even bother looking at them.

So eventually one came up that hit all my checkboxes. My goal was to come out a little better than KBB dealer suggestion. But then feel like I got a "deal" with little extras that wasn't factored into the price. So the one I got had roof rails($400-500 + installation), all weather floor mats($100-200), and brand new tires. Local owner, and they definitely took care of it. Seems like they just traded it in for something nicer. Honestly, if this is actually as good of condition as I believe it to be, I feel I got a steal over all. I think MDXs are great, and the only reason their used value drops as much as it does is because so many people have them. So thanks to supply and demand, I can get away with a premium SUV for a great price.

All of these SUVs aren't the tough rugged ones from the past, but they will get you to the beach comfortably. Decent family SUVs, you really can't go wrong. If I had a larger budget, the current Tahoe's are pretty bad ass, also they're redesigning the Sequoia and the Expedition 2018, they both seem pretty ridiculous as well. Just more $.$ than I got and my MDX does get over 30mpg on the highway...so there's that too.

Thanks for sticking with me. Hope this helps someone, even though I know this is generally a younger crowd.

#reddit #autonews #auto #cars

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sugarbubbleslove · 7 years

Text

Chapter 4: Maybe it was there all this time

Timeline: 'Community'

One thing – changed the outfits, especially since Liam told everyone to change

I had originally written this chapter before I posted the first one but upon re-reading it; it didn't make any sense so I ended up re-writing the whole thing to make it fit in a little better.

CX Posted to AO3, LJ, & Sugarfudge

Chapter 1: These Frustrating Unwanted Feelings

Chapter 2: The drawbacks of being intimate

Chapter 3: Jealously is not a good look

Sara shifted nervously, twisting the cuff of her sleeve of her hoodie; her eyes kept flicking over to Liam, who was also dressed in a hoodie and sweats. She had to blink when she first saw the hoodie – she had never seen anyone else on board wearing a hoodie – hadn't even realized that everyone else had gotten an Initiative Hoodie.

Something she felt a bit put out to find. They got one – where was hers? The hoodie she wore was one of the things she brought from the Milky Way.

Turned out her hoodie got mislabeled as Scott's. So she went digging and found her hoodie mixed in with Scott's, found it was kind of on the small side – dear god, she knew her breasts were big but the hoodie made them seem even bigger – so she grabbed her brother's.

They could always find him another one once he woke up.

She looked at Liam again before she worried her bottom lip.

After Kadara, and the completely stupid dumb 'duel' incident – she was calling it an incident and she was never speaking of it again - Liam had approached her asking for her help on a special mission.

He wanted to go back to Eos, and they needed to have a talk.

It made her nervous, sent ice through her blood and she nodded weakly, giving him the brightest smile she could muster at that point.

He must have noticed because he seemed concerned – when was the man never concerned about her? – Then gave her a weak smile and walked away.

She stumbled into her room, the door closing behind her, and she slumped to the ground.

She was going to lose him. Stupid as it sound, considering they never made anything official, just sex – and feelings, and talking, and laughing, and the man made her want everything – she had finally pushed him away.

She had done something that made him realized that she was just unlucky. She had already lost her father, she lost her mother before the trip, and her brother was in a coma.

Better get out of the friends with benefit before something happened to him.

She swallowed nervously, shaking away the despair and twisted her cuff even harder as she came out of her thoughts.

"Hey," a hand reached out and covered hers, making her look up into those concerned brown eyes, a frown knitting his forehead, "You twist that even harder, you will end up losing this hoodie," He smiled softly but it didn't reach his eyes, "and I know you love this hoodie."

She gave him a weak smile, wondering how he knew her so damn well, before she shifted again.

"So, are you going to tell me what the surprise is?" she asked.

"Nope," he popped the 'P' and she tried not to frown. She wasn't that big of a fan when it came to surprises, mostly because the surprises weren't good for her but she needed to have a little trust in Liam.

The ramp for the Tempest lowered, allowing them to see they were on Eos and Liam grinned.

"Come on everyone, out of the ship!" Liam called and got grumbles from the crew as each of them left.

Suvi was the more excited one, almost skipping down the ramp after grabbing Sara's hand and giving it a gentle squeeze, with concern and reassurance shining in her grey eyes.

Kallo and Gil were pretty much pushing and pulling each other off the Tempest. Both of them didn't want to leave the ship but it had been assured since they were all going to be on Eos, and the Tempest would be parked in Prodromos, it should be safe for them to leave it.

Vetra and Drack were already off board, getting as much information as they could and arranging to have supplies brought in.

Cora was currently pushing Peebee – who was protesting, loudly, that she has already seen Eos and there was nothing more for her to see – down the ramp. Cora was ignoring her as she gave Sara and Liam a short nod.

Jaal merely followed the two women curiously before he got side tracked and wandered off in his own direction. He had not had much of a chance to explore Eos since he had boarded the Tempest.

Sara followed Liam off the Tempest and onto the hard ground of Eos. She looked around, feeling a sense of satisfaction when she saw the people milling around. It had been a long hard road for them to gain an outpost on Eos and she was always happy to see it.

"Come on," Liam gently tugged on her arm, pulling her over to where some poles lay in the sand and she frowned, curious to what was going on.

Liam picked up one of the poles, and she helped him, planting it in the ground before they did the same on the other side before it started to dawn on her what he was doing.

August Bradley kicking a soccer ball over to Liam only cemented the surprise. She looked at Liam and he grinned at her before he looked at the group that was milling around, a mixture of turians, Salarian, Asari, Humans, and Angara.

"Get your civvies on, it's going to get hot," he told them. They did what he told them do and he quickly went over the basic rules for them before he and Sara stood off to the side to watch the game.

"I…" she shook her head before she looked at him, "What made you think of this?"

"Didn't take much," he gave her a soft shrug, "A ball, a flat ground. HUSTL would start games at Refugee's camps. I didn't get it then, but after the attack here, and the shit with Verand's rescue, I wanted to try something…low tech."

He was barely looking at her and it made her heart hurt. "So, what do you think?"

She swallowed nervously as she looked out at the group, a faint smile crossing her lips when she saw how much fun everyone was having before she sighed. Honesty was the best policy, wasn't it?

And maybe she could build another bridge between them.

"I think it's wonderful that you never stop trying to build your bridge," she told him, finally getting him to look at her. She gave him a small smile, and damn it – why did he look so damn concerned?

"Heh," he laughed softly, "It feels like I finally stopped trying too hard." He gave her a sheepish smile, "Crisis after crisis, trying to force people not to be outsiders. Even using the 'Pathfinder' as a symbol."

She looked away sharply at that. She still had trouble accepting the title, even though she was doing the job it was named after. It still didn't feel right, or fit right on her.

"I mean, you rally people like a champ," it sounded like he was trying to explain it to her and she wished he wouldn't, "But when it's life or death, is that friendship at the end, or relief?"

She puzzled over his words. It felt like he was trying to say something but she was missing the clues.

"I get it now. Why just getting together is so important."

She shifted again, wringing the cuff of her hoodie and worrying her bottom lip.

"Hey!" He grabbed her shoulder, getting her attention by pointing outward. "Check the play!"

She watched as the Angara and Asari both jumped up for the ball only to bump into each other and the Asari to fall onto the sand with a heavy thud. Sara winced in sympathy before she watched, her lips parting in a small gasp as the Angara reached out a hand to help the Asari up.

Both of them held hands and gaze for a moment longer than necessary and she felt a faint smile cross her lips at the understanding, her heart thudding painfully.

"Free kick for charging!" called out Liam, reminding them of the rules before he leaned in a little to Sara, lowering his voice, and making her shiver. "No charge for matchmaking."

She felt her cheeks heat up and she ducked her head, hiding her face behind her hair.

Damn the man, he was making her feel like she was a teenager again.

"I couldn't do any of this without you," his voice sounded soft and her throat felt like it was going to close up as tears filmed her eyes.

She cleared her throat, glancing at him before gently shaking her head.

"You're sweet Kosta," she told him. Last name was good, last name keeps the distance. And she needed it if he was going to break her heart.

"No, I mean it," he told her. She swallowed, keeping her vision straight again. "We're the same about a lot of things." She frowned, "So…what about us?"

Her heart stuttered painfully in her chest. Confusion whirled around in her head. He gently bumped shoulders with hers and she turned to look at him, needing to know where he was taking this.

"Fun is fun." He looked at her, "It's okay if it's just 'we used to flirt'," She looked away, frowning but he turned his body toward hers and she looked at his chest. "But if you're serious, I'd like to be serious."

Her eyes snapped up to meet his gaze, "What you are doing deserves it."

She stared at him, speechless.

Out of everything that went through her mind, Liam wanting to become serious never once entered it.

"I…" she shook her head, still bewildered.

"Hey, no pressure," he reminded her. She swallowed before she shook her head and took a step closer to him, nearly squinting due to the sun as she looked up at him. Seriously – what was it with her and heights?

"If we are going to be a thing," she started, "No pedestal." She looked out at the group before them, "The whole cluster wants a piece of the Pathfinder," she swallowed back the pain before she looked at Liam again to see he had looked away, shame briefly crossing his face.

Sara stepped in a little bit closer, just enough to brush him but not enough to touch him and he looked at her once more.

"Make us about us," her bottom lip trembled, with impending tears or excitement, she didn't know.

Liam stared at her before he sighed softly, that beautiful smile of his crossing his face as he reached up one hand and cupped her cheek. She leaned into his touch as he lowered his face so she was no longer squinting up at him.

"Sara Ryder," a shiver went through her spine, "It's about us."

She smiled, her hand covering his before she pushed herself up on tiptoes and kissed him, for the first time, in front of everyone.

It felt freeing, to be with him in front of everyone and not having to worry. His other hand came up to the back of her head. Her free hand went around his waist, holding on and she laughed, making Liam smile against her lips.

A thud registered and Liam jerked in her embrace, groaning as he lifted his head making her dazed from the lack of kisses before she followed his gaze to see the ball lying on the sand next to them before looking to see Gil was smirking, Suvi was hiding a smile behind her hand as she stood behind him.

Gil gave them a two-fingered salute.

"Either you're joining or going back to the Tempest. Don't make us all jealous we haven't found our partner yet," Gil informed them.

Liam merely gave him a one-fingered flip off, making Sara squeal as she swatted him on the chest and making Gil laugh.

Liam turned to face her again.

"So, wanna switch in?" he asked.

Sara looked up at him before she gave him a sly smile, turned her body and kicked the ball as hard as she could – thanks to Scott's training – and the ball slammed into Gil's stomach, making him double over as he coughed.

Suvi laughed as she came up behind Gil, gently patting him on the back as Gil tried to wave her off.

Sara merely turned to Liam, licked her bottom lip before she grabbed his hoodie, and then started walking backward toward the Tempest.

The wicked knowing smile on Liam's lips told her he understood her intentions before he swooped her up into his arms, making her squeal with delight and laughter before he rushed them into the Tempest.

They had a chance, now they were going to take it.

Sara lost track of time since they entered the Tempest and made a hasty bid for her bedroom. It had a bed, lots of room and a lock. Plus it was near the gallery and bathroom if they needed a quick break.

But they had mostly spent it in her bed, exploring each other and taking them time to get to know each other, better than before now they are officially in a relationship.

It still made her shiver to think of that word – relationship.

Her previous relationships were nothing to write home about but Liam…she had a feeling she would have been gushing about him to her mother should she still be alive, and it hurt her to know that Ellen was going to miss out on that.

Scott, on the other hand, was going to be insufferable when he finds out about his sister and her relationship. She can envision it – can already hear his voice in her head.

"Okay, I'm going to say this once, and only once," she told Liam as she shifted onto her side, mindful of the ache between her legs. Liam was lying on his back next to her, the sheet modestly covering his lower region should anyone enter her room – not that they would, SAM was protective of her privacy.

"Hmm?" he hummed as he turned to look at her and she swatted his bare arm.

"You are a jerk for making me worry like that."

"Hey! What did I do?" he asked, holding up his hands.

"I thought you were going to stop this…thing we had going," she admitted, scrunching her nose as she tried to think up what to call their previous relationship-thing they had.

It wasn't exactly friends with benefits, but it wasn't a relationship.

"Pff," Liam laughed. "I'm not an idiot, Sara. I know a good thing when I have one."

That stung – not because it was him, but because that was how her other relationships burned.

She looked at the ceiling, wringing the sheets under her hands when a hand covered hers and she turned to look at Liam, who had an unreadable expression – the first one she had ever seen.

"Okay, this is probably going to bite me on the ass, but I need to ask this," he told her and she looked at him, confused. "Cora told me your previous relationships were nothing to write home about. Does that have anything to do with what you are feeling?"

Sara frowned; Cora said that?

"How did Cora…" she trailed off as understanding dawned on her. The way her father had been after her first relationship. The e-mails she got from him after her second relationship. "Dad," she shook her head. "Mom must have told him. He never said anything to me."

"Were they that bad?" Liam asked concern in his voice and she sighed.

"Depends on your definition of bad," she tried to jest but regretted it when concern knitted his eyebrows. She hated making him concerned. She sighed.

"How many partners?" She swallowed.

"Two – not including you," she told him. "First was when I was 17, in college and had a crush on the hottest boy in one of my classes." She rolled her eyes. "Second was when I was 20 and I fell for my boss because she was so worldly and larger than life." She shook her head. "Big mistakes."

"Can you tell me?" he asked. Sara looked at him, surprised but there was no hesitation there, just concern and honesty.

"Do you really want to hear this?"

"Yes, because I have an idea but I want to wait until I hear it from you."

"Will you tell me this idea?"

"Nope," he popped the 'p' again.

"That is becoming a habit of yours," she warned him and he just grinned. "Fine. He was my crush and when he asked me out, I didn't even hesitate to say yes. It wasn't until we broke up that he told why he dated me. He wanted to get my father's attention and when my father didn't give it to him, he decided he'll take what he could get, and then we broke up." She laughed bitterly. "My first breakup wasn't exactly my best moment."

"Jackass," Liam breathed out furiously, anger in his eyes.

"He's in the past, Liam," she reminded.

"Still a jackass," he repeated. She rolled her eyes.

"My boss was another crush and we had a relationship up until I found out she was married – and I found that out by meeting her husband – and when I confronted her, she laughed and told me that she only wanted me for my intelligence and our sex helped spiced up her sex life with her husband."

Even now, it still stung. She had developed feelings for her so finding out she was basically being used as a sex toy had hurt her a lot more than her boyfriend telling her he only wanted her for her dad and decided to have her body before he was finished with her.

"And now everything makes sense," Liam breathed out, bringing her back to the present and she focused on him.

"What makes sense?" she asked.

"Your little comments here and there that always made me wonder what you were really thinking. That fear in your eyes when I caught you sneaking out after our first time. You probably thought I was going to say I regretted it or say something stupid like 'thanks for the sex, let's not do it again anytime soon'."

Sara looked away from his knowing look, was she really that open of a book?

"Then there was that comment about how you let the distance between us grows rather than confront me about it. You probably thought I was getting bored with you and didn't know how to tell you and…shit!" he suddenly swore and she jumped, her heart going to her throat. "And you being all nervous and kept looking away from me today. You really thought I was dumb enough to break up with you."

"I…" she stared to protest but stop when she got the annoyed glare from him and sighed. "Fine, I thought you were going to break up with me. I've not exactly had the best experience in relationships. Plus, I don't really instigate anything between us – it was always you to start it so I kind of figured…" she shrugged helplessly.

"They were the ones to start whatever they wanted with you, didn't they?" he asked softly. She worried her lower lip. "Did they ever give you anything?"

Sara laughed, surprised at the question and bitter at the answer.

"No." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose before she met his gaze, "Beside myself, you were the first to give me an orgasm because it was always about what they could get from me."

"A part of me is proud of that," he shot her a wry smile and she rolled her eyes, a smile tugging at her lips. "And another part of me is pissed at that because you are such a giving passionate person and I am only sorry that they didn't see that in the first place, and glad because I mean I got to meet and get the chance to know you."

Sara couldn't help but smile at that. He was such a romantic.

Liam cleared his throat, looking away embarrassed and she laughed softly, leaning in and cupping his cheek, turning him back to face her before she kissed him.

His hand slid over her hip as he shifted so he was facing her and he broke the kiss.

"You know, it's nice just having this time alone," he told her and she hummed softly as she rubbed their noses together.

"It is, especially without having to worry about someone walking in on us," she told him.

"So I see Gil and Suvi knows about us."

Sara laughed wryly, making him pull away to look at her curious.

"Yeah, they might have known about us for a while now. Vetra knows about us too."

Liam stared at her before he sighed and smiled, making her arch an eyebrow.

"Cora, Lexi and Peebee also know about us."

She stared at him, her eyes widening before she frowned.

"How?" she asked to ask.

"You first."

"Urgh," she gently pushed Liam's shoulder before she shook her head. "Remember that time you surprised me in the gallery?" Liam nodded. "That was Suvi."

"That was Suvi? I thought it was a mouse!" he exclaimed and she laughed.

"Gil may have accidently spied on us one time and relayed the whole thing to Kallo. That was actually how I found out. Kallo confronted me and told me to keep my personal life in privacy since he was never going to un-hear everything."

"How…" he shook his head, confused.

"Remember that time with the Nomad?" She bit her lip at the memory – that had been one of the most hilarious yet sexist thing she had done – and Liam groaned, his head dropping forward so his forehead was resting against hers.

"Are you serious? We had a watcher?" She felt him twitch and arched an eyebrow.

"Liam, you have a kinky side, and you know," she reminded him with a laugh. He just cleared his throat and looked away before he frowned.

"And Vetra?"

"She caught me sneaking out after our first time. She got the wrong idea and only realized it after we saved Verand."

"Oh," he nodded before he frowned, "Hold on a minute, is that why everyone was asking me for hand-to-hand combat lessons?"

Sara just smiled at him, unsure what to say and he rolled his eyes. "That was a nightmare!"

"I helped make up for it," she reminded him.

"And they still managed to cut into our time," he reminded her hotly. She worried her lower lip. Liam just groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose before he waved it. "It happened; we'll just accept it and make up for all the extra lost time."

Sara had to laugh at that before she gently rubbed his shoulder.

"So, your turn," she told him, "How do Cora, Lexi, and Peebee know?"

"Remember that time I got you out of the shower?" She nodded.

"A little, it's still a little fuzzy," she admitted.

"Cora was outside the shower when I offered to go in and get you out," he explained and her eyes widened.

"Oh Liam," he looked so uncomfortable that she had to hide her smile, "That explains why you were so shifty around her."

Liam merely cleared his throat.

"Lexi found out the same time. Cora had called her to come and check on you," he told her. "She warned me no activities when trying to keep you warm."

A giggle slipped free and she covered her mouth.

"Yeah, my first time people finding out about us were pretty much warning me."

"I'm sorry," she shook her head.

"It was better than Peebee, I promise you that. She called me out for being jealous when we were on Kadara."

Sara rolled her eyes. She really hated Kadara. Loved the world itself – the water was beautiful – she hated the port so damn much. And she was in two mind over the incident. On one hand, she was glad that she and Liam had sorted their distance. Two – there should have never been a distance and she still blamed herself for that.

"So that means Jaal and Drack are the only two that doesn't know," she quickly counted and gave him a smile. "Not bad, considering," she told him.

"Let's not give them any ammunition to use against us," he told her and she laughed. Drack would be the worst. And Jaal would probably have so many questions.

His hand slid over her hip and ran up her back. Her hand slid down his arm and she closed her eyes, taking in the moment. A moment she never thought she would get since she became the Pathfinder.

"Happy?" he asked.

"Can you tell?"

"Hmm, you have that quirk to your lips. That tells me when you are happy," he told her and she opened her eyes to pin him with a curious glare.

"Either you are spending too much time with Lexi or you have a secret degree in psychology," she told him. That wasn't the first time she noticed he seemed to notice her mood.

"You twist the cuff of your hoodie when you want to say something but don't think you should – or are scared of the answer. You bite your lower lip when you are embarrassed and worry it when you start worrying the worst."

She pulled away from him, her eyes widening.

"Your eyes flit to the side whenever you think up a lie or I say something that hits a little too close to home."

"No I don't!" she protested. He merely arched an eyebrow.

"And you have a sly smile you use whenever you know you are about to say or do something that will inevitable end up pissing off someone."

She wanted to protest against that but her brother's singsong voice sounded through her head, reminding her of when he told her that and ended up conceded.

"And that is only from watching you since we started out together."

"You are one scary man, Liam Kosta," she informed him sourly and he laughed.

"You can be scary yourself, Sara Ryder," he kissed her nose and she wrinkled it, making him giggle that ended up making her giggle in return. "Can I confess something?"

"Hmm," she nodded.

"Do you remember when we first met, after we woke up from Cryo sleep?"

Sara smiled fondly at the memory.

"You waved at me," she told him, "Then laughed your head off as you spun around when the gravity field went off." He chuckled.

"Yeah, about that – I never knew who you were. I just thought you were another pathfinder team." He almost looked desperate, like he thought she was going to be angry and she just smiled, laughing before she gave him a gentle kiss.

"And you were being you."

"Is that okay?" he asked and she nodded.

"It got tiring, being known as Alec Ryder's daughter. Or for Scott, being known as Alec Ryder's Son.

"Was it that bad?" he asked and she shrugged softly.

"For me, I could get away because I worked with relics. Scott was the one who ended up with the black mark. He wanted to explore, to go through the relay, and find adventure. So when SAM was revealed and Dad was discharged dishonourably, it cut Scott's chances."

"Is that why he came to Andromeda?" Liam asked, gently rubbing her hip and she nodded.

"Here, they don't care about SAM…well, they do care about SAM, but not as much as they would have done in Milky Way," she hastily explained, "So Scott wouldn't have been shackled by that. They need everyone and Scott would have been able to have the Adventure he wanted."

Her smile faded as she thought about her lovely younger brother. He will be kicking himself when he woke up, for missing all of this.

"Hey," she looked up at him, "Scott will be fine. As I said, you both have a part of your father in you. He will wake up before you know it and you can yell at him for oversleeping after having 600 year nap."

"He really likes his naps," she giggled before she sighed, "He'll hate he has missed this, you know. He was supposed to be the one going on the adventure and making alliances. I was the one who was supposed to be exploring and getting to know all the technology."

"And you got both," Liam told her. She wrinkled her nose.

"And it sucks."

Liam laughed softly as he leaned in and kissed her forehead. She sighed softly, closing her eyes. The last time she remembered him kissing her forehead was a while ago, when she asked him to stay night after seeing the memories of her mother.

It was familiar, and she liked that it was familiar.

Liam pressed their foreheads together, she tilted slightly upward, kissing his nose, and she felt him smile, which made her smile.

"I know I said Sara in here, the Pathfinder out there," he told her, "But I need to tell you this. You are doing a good job of being a Pathfinder. You are getting out there and you are giving these people hope. I just need you to believe in yourself a little longer, just push a little more then, before you know it, you will be exploring the cluster and getting to know the entire alien tech you can handle."

"You always know the right thing to say," she told him.

"Scott will wake up and you will have your brother by your side, and the cluster will quiver in fear at the thought of two Ryders."

She laughed.

"They didn't quiver in fear when they had my father and me?" she had to ask.

"That was probably because your father would try and be professional while you tend to mock those who piss you off."

"I…" she thought back on it then huffed out her cheeks at Liam's knowing look, "Fine, I do."

"And I have no doubt that Scott will probably be the same as you which means double trouble."

"You think you are cute," she told him.

"Oh, I know I'm cute," he retorted, "You couldn't stay from me even if you tried." She pushed at his chest, he laughed, leaning back in, and he lifted a hand to cup her cheek. "You can do this, Sara, and I will always have your back."

Sara smiled before she leaned in and kissed him. Her mother made her promise to fall in love, at least once. At the time, back in the Milky Way, she thought it would never happen.

But here in Andromeda, she thinks she might have been falling for him when he flashed that smile at her and told her 'that blunt'.

The End

So I made this fit in a little more better with the previous chapters, all romance and angst with a good dose of tears.

And it ended up a good deal longer than the others – fitting, isn't it?

#Rydam #Liam Kosta #Sara Ryder #My Sara Ryder #Liam Kosta/Sara Ryder #Liam Kosta x Female Ryder #liam kosta x sara ryder #My Fanfiction #mass effect andromeda #Navigating the Unknown #OTP: Make us about Us

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energitix · 7 years

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IT service management (ITSM) best practice is a great thing. Whether taken from ITIL – the most commonly adopted ITSM best practice framework – or not, it has helped countless individuals and organizations to improve. Whether it’s starting something new more quickly, or improving on the service delivery and support status quo, ITSM best practice can make one’s life so much easier AND help to deliver a better outcome.The annual itSMF Norway conference is a great source of in-person ITSM best practice, offering an English-speaking stream in addition to local-language best practice sessions. This year, however, not only did I take away best practices, I also took away some advice on how to best use the best practices.1. Stop Blindly Following ITSM Best Practice“Don’t be prescriptive!” I found this to be a strong message throughout the conference, regardless of the ITSM topic in question. Whether it be service integration and management (SIAM), ITIL, self-service, enterprise service management, strategy building, or anything else; the directive was clear – we shouldn’t be prescriptive in how we adopt best practice.We need to remember that one size does not fit all with best practice. We shouldn’t blindly follow the books and the blogs we read, or start to do something just because we’ve heard it mentioned at a conference or because it’s an “ITSM industry trend.”The #ITIL police aren't going to turn up & arrest you if you don't follow ITIL exactly as it's displayed in the books – @ESCOUTE1 #itsmfno17— Freshservice (@freshserviceapp) March 7, 2017It sounds like common sense, but time and time again it appears to be one of the causes of failure in ITSM or IT-related projects. We’ve all heard it said… “ITIL doesn’t work,” and if you rigidly follow the best practice line by line then it probably won’t.There are 355 metrics across 26 processes detailed in #ITIL – there's no need to use all of them ~ @jour_civil #itsmfno17 #itsm— ITSM.tools (@itsm_tools) March 7, 2017Andrea Kis made a great point in her SIAM presentation – that we learn at a very early age how certain things do and don’t fit. She used my 17-month-old daughter as an example – as she has known for a couple of months now that, in her shape sorter toy, the triangle will never fit into the rectangle-shaped hole. Nor does the square fit into the circle-shaped hole. So why, when it comes to IT and business, do we forget knowledge and logic that’s so simple that you can learn it before you’re even two years of age?Self-service is a great example – as far too many IT departments have introduced self-service technology only to see low employee-adoption levels. They’re trying to fit a technology-shaped block in to a people-shaped hole. You can’t force your organization, your customers, or your end users to work in a certain way “just because.” Instead you need to tailor models and practices to suit your organizational needs. You need to adopt and adapt as per ITIL. Plus, you need to remember that sadly silver bullets for ITSM don’t exist (something which just about every presenter I saw speak reminded the audience of). And, in the case of self-service, the use of organizational change management techniques is just as important as the technology being introduced.Some examples from where you can choose, and this is only part of the picture #itsmfno17 @ESCOUTE1 http://pic.twitter.com/LNmI98Ekeu— Paula Määttänen (@PMaattanen) March 7, 2017There’s a lot of available best practice – as per Paula’s tweet from Mark Thomas’ session. So you don’t have to use just a single ITSM best practice framework – you can mix and match. Nor do you have to adopt all of it, which has certainly been the case with ITIL over the decades. And finally, don’t prescriptively use what you do adopt, instead tailor it to fit your needs and your organization’s ways of working.2. Stop speaking “technology”Another noticeable theme throughout the various streams of ITSM content was the usual “it’s not IT and the business, IT is the business” mantra and that we need to stop alienating people by talking in technology jargon.The usual solution quoted for this issue is to “talk in a language the business understands.” But not here in Norway – at least not quite. Here the message was not to speak in neither tech nor business language, but to simply speak “human.” Building on the previous theme of not being prescriptive, you should adapt and change your language to suit any given situation, and to remember that – most importantly – you’re dealing with humans, i.e. real, live people.When rolling out services to end users don't speak tech. Don't even speak business. Just speak HUMAN – @msnarain #itsmfno17— Sophie Danby (@SophieDanby) March 8, 2017“Remove the exhausting acronyms” (said Mark Thomas), “Remember it’s about people” (said Kevin Holland), “Amend your terminology as required” (said Stephen Mann), and “Speak the language called human” (said Sathyanarain Muralidharan).All are great points and, if we stop to think about it, each corporate line of business has it’s own version of business language (for instance, listen to a finance lady and then a HR guy, and notice the difference). Yet all employees speak “human.”3. Stop ignoring your customersInstead involve your customers. This message is continuously repeated at events, in articles, during webinars etc., yet it’s still a message that seems to be ignored by many. There’s still what seems to be a need for many IT teams to “think about and involve your customers.” A good example was provided by an audience member who, after being given lots of great suggestions on how to improve self-service and empower users/customers, still wanted to simply force end users to work in the way that IT wanted them to work. They wanted to mandate self-service over other access and communication channels.Q from audience "why not just FORCE users to use #selfservice by removing all other options"…. *head in hands* #itsmfno17— Sophie Danby (@SophieDanby) March 8, 2017IT, and the people that work within it, has to wake up and smell the coffee. Times are changing. You can’t ignore what your customers think and feel anymore – well not if you want to succeed at least.And it’s not just related to initiatives like self-service either. Even something as “day-to-day” as incident management is changing, it’s no longer just about break-fix – it’s about making your end users more effective and ultimately supporting the business (as covered by David Cannon in one of his presentations). And in case you hadn’t worked it out yet, the future of IT service delivery and support is going to be a very long and uphill struggle if you don’t talk to and involve your customers when trying to help them to be more effective.The message on this at itSMF Norway was very clear, even if there appeared to be a handful of people who didn’t want to hear it – everything we do in IT should start with the customer. My good friend Joe the IT Guy has been talking about the importance of involving your customers in processes since back in 2014, and at this event those sentiments were echoed throughout nearly all of the sessions I attended.Service models should start with the customer journey. NOT with questions about applications & servers – @itilso #itsmfno17— Sophie Danby (@SophieDanby) March 7, 2017Forrester has been talking about “The Age of the Customer” for what seems like a decade and more recently customer experience (CX). Unfortunately, and fortunately, for corporate IT organizations, consumerization has brought CX into the workplace and all corporate service providers (not just IT) need to get better aligned with employee needs and expectations.The hot “topics” in NorwayBeyond the three things we need to stop, it’s also worth noting the conference themes. And the beauty of the itSMF Norway conference is that roughly 75% of the content is in Norwegian, which means that for those of us who don’t speak it, choices on sessions are more limited than at other similar size events. You might think that less choice is a bad thing, but flip your thinking here. This, in my opinion, is a very good thing because when there’s only circa 25% of a program to fill (in English at least) the quality of the sessions and content immediately increases because the demand to speak is far higher than the spaces to fill. It’s a great way of “weeding out” mediocre-average sessions, and thus means that I didn’t attend a single “bad” presentation in Norway.What does this have to do with “hot topics” you’re wondering? Well, it means the opportunities for repeated and recurring topics decreases. Unless of course there were 10 sessions about flying meerkats that I was blissfully unaware of because, in addition to not being able to speak Norwegian, I can’t read it (in the agenda) either.From what I could see in the agenda, and from what I attended, there were only two clear recurring topics:Enterprise service management – “Considering using your ITSM tool beyond IT? Do your homework first” and “Enterprise service management: it’s time to share best practice outside of IT.”SIAM – “Riding the winds of SIAM” and “Introduction to SIAM.” Neither we have content specific to, but you can read plenty more about SIAM here.There wasn’t as much discussion related to topics such as DevOps, customer experience, or consumerization as we might see in the US or UK right now(though there were sessions touching on the first two). Instead the content was more aligned to service desk processes and strategy, which perhaps is an indication of ITSM maturity in Norway. I’m not sure if this is the case in reality – the most I know about Norwegians is that they like a good party (yes, I’m looking at you Sofi Fahlberg.)Speaking of which…As always, the entertainment, organization, hospitality, and atmosphere of the itSMF Norway conference was exceptional. It remains (in my opinion) one of the best ITSM conferences on the annual event agenda, and one that I would recommend to anybody interested in service management.If you’re reading this thinking “But I don’t live in Norway”; trust me, the fact you live in a different country is not a reason to rule this event out in future. As already stated, the more limited options of English content helps to increase the quality of the presentations with a good line up of international speakers. Plus, the ticket price, even with the associated flight costs and hotel, still makes it one of the most affordable ITSM events on offer.And finally,…Slightly unrelated, but from the itSMF Noway conference, a little something for all my ITSM friends who know Paula Määttänen…The highlight of #itsmfno17? This @elt5u!!! http://pic.twitter.com/0VeKi1H732— Sophie Danby (@SophieDanby) March 7, 2017You’re welcome The post 3 Things ITSM Practitioners Need to Stop Doing appeared first on ITSM.tools.

https://itsm.tools/2017/03/10/3-things-itsm-practitioners/

#IFTTT #ITSM.tools

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martechadvisor-blog · 5 years

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AI for Beginners: 5 Questions to Ask Before You Start

If you are a newbie in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and not sure about how AI works in marketing, here are 5 questions you need to ask before getting started.

AI is at the forefront of marketing, helping marketers fundamentally change the way marketing is done. Despite its adoption on a massive scale, AI still remains a mystery to many. If you are new to AI and contemplating buying into AI, here are 5 questions to ask before you get started:

1.What is the Impact of AI on sales?

AI can act as an assistant to sales reps by helping them with sales forecasting, upselling, cross-selling, prospecting, lead scoring, lead nurturing, etc. AI is also helping sales reps deliver a personalized customer experience, which has now become a staple of customer experience.

Seth Redmore (CMO, Lexalytics) explains while discussing how AI is optimizing the sales funnel, “AI can pre-qualify prospects based on behavior rather than input. It can automatically scour internet forums or social media to identify where someone is in the sales process based on what they’re saying. If a consumer is already on your site AI can identify certain patterns of behavior, such as time spent or pages visited, to determine where they land in the funnel.”

Also Read: Is Artificial Intelligence the Future of Sales?

2. How Can AI Enhance Customer Experience?

The way brands interact with customers has changed drastically. Brands are working hard to provide an omnichannel experience by being visible to customers throughout their journey. **AI-powered tools and features such as chatbots, virtual assistants, personalization, sentiment analysis, recommendation engines, and customer analytics are helping marketers deliver impeccable CX.**

Mark Floisand (CMO, Coveo) shares 3 key applications of AI in CX in this article. He says, “Every customer is different. In the past, this was the key drawback to broad-based marketing - it missed the mark for most people - but in today’s plugged-in world, it’s an opportunity. Your customer data, paired with AI and machine learning, allows you to track each customer’s behavior, understand their preferences and tailor your approach to their needs automatically. AI-powered search and recommendations ensure they see the most relevant content and are able to access the best information to meet their needs in that moment, allowing you to wow them at every touch point of their digital experience and earn their trust.”

Also Read: 3 Ways AI Can Enhance Customer Experience and Boost Profitability

3. How Is AI Helping Marketers with Content and Social Media?

AI is helping marketers with content creation and curation. With AI, marketers can understand the latest patterns, trends, and insights prevalent on social media. Marketers can also learn more about their audience, their behavior, tastes and preferences to personalize their marketing efforts.

Emphasizing the potential of AI in social media, Olga Egorsheva (Co-Founder and CEO, Lobster) sums it up as follows, “AI acts as a way for brands to scope the vast pool that is social media. They can cover bases that were once hard to monitor. Think of AI as the airplane moment, when people finally had the chance to go from one country to another.

“2.5-billion people will be within easy reach, and it’s down to AI.”

Also Read: AI 5 Ways: How AI can help Content Marketing Drive Business Outcomes

4.What Are the Necessary Skills to Succeed as a Marketer in the Age of AI?

How does the role of marketers change with the introduction of AI? In this article, Alice Oh (Digital Marketing Specialist, MarketPro) enlists various skills required to succeed as a marketer as the adoption of AI continues. Alice Oh says, “**AI and other disruptive technologies will decrease the amount of efforts and time spent on day-to-day tasks. But it can never replace the human touch successful marketing requires.** In the midst of constant transformation and developments in the tech space, marketers who are able to continuously learn, expand their skills, and evolve quickly alongside technology will always be able to survive.”

Also Read: 5 Marketing Skills That Artificial Intelligence Can Never Replace

5. Can AI Contribute to Creative Endeavors?

We are still finding it difficult to wrap our heads around how AI contributes to something abstract. After all, how can an entity that is governed by instructions contribute to something that has no rules? Although AI is not completely equipped to express itself artistically yet, it can certainly complement marketers by providing large sets of data to help them make the right decisions.

Pedro Alves (CEO, Ople) summarizes it as, “Artificial intelligence and machine learning have come a long way since the movies of the 80’s. **Instead of the fear that many people have of AI replacing their jobs, these latest platforms represent the next major step forward for marketers to truly express their inherent creativity.** Machine learning will always be better than humans at the calculations and predictions necessary for good campaign execution. But it’s the creativity of the humans that really makes those campaigns stand out.”

Also Read: 3 ways AI can help Improve Creative Teams' Performance

Conclusion

Amid all the questions and discussions about how AI is revolutionizing marketing, one thing is clear. In the foreseeable future, AI will remain a faithful assistant to marketers. It is strong in certain areas, but you cannot replicate human qualities such as strategic thinking, creativity, and empathy.

What’s your perspective on AI in marketing? Let us know in the comments below.

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor

#martech #marketing #technology #business #cmo

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martechadvisor-blog · 6 years

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AI and the Future of Brand-Customer Interactions

“In the future, AI-powered brands will solve problems for you without you even having to ask,” says Jesse Wolfersberger, Chief Data Officer at Maritz Motivation Solutions, which provides loyalty programs to US and global companies. Jesse and I talk about how CMOs can approach the AI-powered CX opportunity in practice, and how AI can make future brand-customer interactions feel more personalized, seamless, and helpful. It’s a discussion packed with practical takeaways and thought starters!

1. Preference Prediction: a great early use case for AI in CX

Chitra: Most people still talk about AI like it’s something that is going to happen, yet it’s already here. Can you list 4-5 of the most common, immediate and accessible use cases for AI in CX today? If a B2C marketer wanted to ‘start using AI today’ to improve their CX outcomes, what would be the areas of immediate business impact?

Jesse: The “low hanging fruit” of Artificial Intelligence overlaps with the areas where data is most abundant, like email customization, website experience, digital media targeting, or push notifications.

I think those can be a good start to getting a business used to implementing AI, but the real game-changing examples are less straightforward. The more data sources you connect, the broader the use for AI.

In a CX context, what are the signals that someone is having a bad experience with your brand? Maybe he or she is using your app less often, unfollowing your brand on social media, or changing his or her behavior in-store. Realistically, it’s a combination of all those things, plus several others. If your data can’t connect between those touchpoints, then each will be a black hole to the other, and that full customer journey won’t emerge.

I think an early, attainable use for AI is preference prediction. With the data you have on your frequent customers, you should be able to train a model that can predict those customers’ preferences with good accuracy. Use that insight to surprise and delight your customers. Don’t just promote the things they always buy – that’s easy – promote the things they have never bought, but will probably like.

Also read: 3 Ways AI Can Enhance Customer Experience and Boost Profitability

2. AI and the future of B2B CX:

Chitra: What is the future of CX for B2B brands and how will AI impact that future?

Jesse: I think the future in B2B is about enablement. By doing business with your company, how will it improve the consumer’s workday? **Brands should be able to use AI to help solve problems for their B2B customers**. Stock the items that are predicted to sell more. Give me tools that help me save costs.

I think about it like selling seed to farmers. A good seed salesman will know about what kind of seed will work well on my farm because he knows my farm. That level of professional advice is hard to scale. How many farms can one salesperson keep track of? Both scale and personalization are possible through Artificial Intelligence.

Also read: Disruption, Digital and the B2B CMO

3. Spending your AI dollars on the right things

Chitra: What are the typical errors in judgment marketers trying to leverage AI will tend to make?

Jesse: I’m a huge advocate for open source technology. I don’t think many people realize that world-class machine learning and AI can be done using free technology. I don’t think the big software companies want that fact to be broadcast too widely. If you have good data scientists and data engineers, and empower them to learn and experiment in AI, you can achieve better results than you could with an expensive software license.

Also Read: 3 reasons your AI-driven Customer Experiences are falling short

4. When AI meets Customer Loyalty

Chitra: In customer loyalty programs specifically, what role can AI play and how can marketers improve the ROI on their Loyalty programs with the use of AI?

Loyalty is an interesting industry because it raises the expectations that the customer has of the brand. If I’ve been a loyal customer for years, I expect that you already know that I have your credit card, so don’t keep marketing it to me.

I think that good consumer-facing AI will just raise the bar for brands across the board. If my Google Home knows my favorite music, my Waze knows when I need to leave for work, and my chat apps can predict my likely responses to a text, then I’m going to expect my interactions with every brand to be at that level – especially the brands that should know me the best.

Also read: The proper role of Loyalty Programs

5. The CMOs balancing act: humans, data, and AI

Chitra: Loyalty is a lot about customer psychology - brands understanding what will drive an authentic long-term relationship with that customer. How do you think CMOs can approach the balance between humans, data and AI in delivering seamless CX?

As marketers, I think we all became a little too enamored with the instant gratification of A/B testing in a digital environment. It was so cool to be able to run a test and get quick results. I think the downside of that trend was that we trained ourselves to view everything through that micro window of behavior. When all you care about is whether the consumer immediately clicked, marketing becomes focused on that click-through metric. Loyalty is a long-term game. Sure, maybe “Email A” resulted in twice as many opens than “Email B,” but which one helped tell the story of your brand? Which one raised your brand’s profile in the eyes of your consumers? I think we need to start asking broader and longer-term questions about our marketing efforts.

Also read: Is there room for Loyalty Cards in the age of Experience Analytics?

6. What came first: the CX or the tech?

Chitra: Do you think the Technology teams need to play a more central role in shaping CX? How can CIO/CDOs and CMOs work more effectively together to build this AI-driven future of CX?

I think the technology team has been put in front in too many cases. Tech should enable great customer experiences, but that’s not why customers choose brands. When is the last time you heard someone say, “You should try this brand! Its product isn’t any good, but its app is so slick!”

The customer journey is a joint venture across departments. These teams need to collaborate to bring it to life. I often try to start with the question, “What would we do if money and technology weren’t obstacles at all?” Start with your ideal customer experience, then work it back to what is realistic, rather than starting with the tools and trying to find uses for them. Just because AR or VR exists, for example, doesn’t mean they are right for your brand.

Chitra: Amen!

Also read: Activating Customer Data as a Differentiator

More about Jesse

Jesse Wolfersberger, Chief Data Officer for Maritz Motivation Solutions leads their Decision Sciences team - a group of data scientists who specialize in merging the fields of behavioral science and artificial intelligence, helping brands apply data science and machine learning to consumer behavior. Jesse began his career as a sports writer, before jumping into marketing as Director of Consumer insights for digital media thinktank GroupM Next. In his free time, Jesse uses his data skills in the baseball world, where he consults for a Major League team.

Also Read: Hey CMOs! Customer-facing technology is your Golden Ticket

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor

#martech #marketing #technology #business #cmo

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martechadvisor-blog · 6 years

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The Season of Fear and Gratitude for Marketers

In the spirit of this season, Kerry Nelson, Senior Director of Global Marketing, Infor CX and Kevin Joyce, CMO of Pedowitz Group share some of marketing horror stories to remind all of us that life is a learning process and we should be grateful for the experiences that have made us the marketers we are today

Fall is our favorite season. It is bookended by two holidays that represent extremes of the human psyche: Halloween and Thanksgiving. This means everyone in the U.S. starts the season in fear and ends it in gratitude.

Here are some of marketing horror stories:

Horror Story #1: Email Marketing

One marketing department regularly used its marketing automation solution for all communication with their prospects, customers, and internal team. Not only was this a way to get more from their marketing software investment, it also allowed them to track response metrics across the board—including for items like the internal company newsletter. Due to a few mis-clicks on one edition, the internal newsletter was accidentally sent to the entire database of 30,000 contacts – including press and analysts. This is an embarrassing, but not fatal mistake.

The lesson was firmly imprinted on everyone in marketing—double- and triple-check the send list for every email that goes out, and always have more than one set of eyes on the message and the list.

Horror Story #2: Managing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Databases

Sales people have good intentions, but marketers need to check the data twice when sales gets close to the contact database. In one case, a sales team added the gender of a database contact in parentheses when the contact had a gender-neutral name. However, they did not anticipate the consequences when marketing sent direct mail to contacts that read: Dear Jesse (Female). Those same sales people were not very diligent about updating their CRM profile information, and did not understand it was the basis for their signature in emails sent from the marketing automation system – so, a few prospects got an email from Bob “Big Dog” Dawson.

The lesson learned here was to manage data quality, establish proper naming conventions in the CRM system, and enforce these points across the board. It is also good practice to review send lists and email signatures prior to hitting send.

Horror Story #3: Attention to Detail

Back when all collateral was print, note every desktop publishing software had spellcheck capabilities. It’s hard to imagine there was a time before those red squiggly lines appeared on documents, but one company experienced this mistake first hand. After printing thousands of copies of an expensive, 28-page, four-color brochure, they realized a significant mistake. However, instead of eating the costs of high-end print job to fix a tiny error that appeared on each page of every brochure, they decided it would be easier to change their target market focus from Logistics to Logosticks.

While today marketing collateral is oftentimes digital, and even if it is printed, you can expect spellcheck will catch mistakes, the lesson learned is to have two, three, or even four sets of eyes on materials before anything is considered final.

Horror Story #4: When Copywriters Care Too Much . . .

Copywriters are passionate about their work. They can pour their soul into every word. Saying you do not like their work is essentially saying you do not like them. One copywriter believed in a project so much that when the head of advertising – the copywriter’s boss – vetoed it, he decided to pitch it directly to the VP of marketing anyway, assuming some things are too important to worry about the chain of command. When the copywriter went to the VP’s office to make his case with the draft of the ad in hand, he found his boss was already in the room.

While the executives did come around to the copywriter’s way of thinking, the lesson here is that the chain of command is still very important in today’s workplace. This type of behavior can be risky to anyone’s career.

Horror Story #5: Always Have Backup

Minutes prior to a big presentation, the presenter’s computer – with the only copy of his slides – stopped working. The presenter’s topic: high-availability computing. Just like the Boy Scout mantra of always being prepared, good marketers know to bring a backup copy of their materials on a thumb-drive, but it is often a lesson that is learned the hard way.

Marketing is not all about site visits, photo shoots, and open-bar client parties. It can be hard, but rewarding, work. Despite the cringe-worthy, panic-inducing, career-threatening horror stories we have accumulated along the way, we are all grateful for the chance to do what we love!

Co-Author - Kevin Joyce, CMO and VP of Strategy Services, The Pedowitz Group: Kevin is a marketing executive with 35 years of experience in high tech, holding positions that include engineering, marketing, and sales. For more than 16 years, Kevin has worked with SMB to enterprise companies on their journeys to transform their demand generation strategies as it relates to the six key components of a successful Revenue Marketing™ engine: strategy, people, process, technology, customers and results.

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor

#martech #marketing #technology #business #cmo

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martechadvisor-blog · 7 years

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Interview with Jillian Falconi, VP Marketing at Falcon.io

Jillian Falconi, VP Marketing at Falcon.io shares her thoughts about being on the frontlines of digital and social, building meaningful customer relationships and understanding how people are navigating the complex digital world. Read on to learn why she thinks the social space is a goldmine of insights for attracting and retaining your customers. Born in the Caribbean, and having lived in many different places, Jillian calls herself a “wandering gypsy,” and wants to continue exploring when time allows. She also loves scuba diving

1. Could you tell me a little about your background and how you came to be the VP Marketing at Falcon.io?

I’ve worked in marketing and demand generation for over 12 years, and I have a background in finance and technology. I’ve spent my career working on the frontlines of digital and social, and I’ve been lucky enough to witness the industry change pretty dramatically over the years. The way we consume news and find content is more dynamic now than ever before, and I’m fascinated by it. My job is about understanding how people are navigating a very complex digital world, and this isn’t always easy, but I love the challenge.

Falcon.io came to me two years ago with a unique approach to this challenge in both their vision and product, and I was interested straight away. The company's vision is simple, shed light on the modern customer journey, and they have a platform that genuinely fulfills this promise. I hadn’t come across that before, so I was excited to get involved. They also an impressive roster of clients on board, and I was keen to dive and start working with those names.

2. What is the core marketing technology capability of Falcon.io that you bring to a marketer? Where does your product fit in vis-a- vis the customer life cycle?

Falcon.io helps marketers build meaningful relationships with their customers. Our platform doesn’t cater to any one specific stage of the customer journey, we give our users a better understanding of the customer journey as a whole.

The Falcon platform is built up of five key products that support the core social marketing machine - from content marketing through to community management through to analytics. We then have a sixth feature called Audience, which collates all the insights generated through the platform into profiles. Audience enables our users to map their customer lifecycle, and build audience segments based on filters like trending topics, or affinity for purchase.

You can’t just map your customer’s purchase journey with a funnel anymore, social media has made this process much more complicated and difficult to predict

Couple this with the fact that most of the customer journey is happening outside of your brand’s owned channels, out there in the public sphere, and you have a real problem. Marketers are lost.

What our clients need is a way to understand how their customers are moving through their journey, and a tangible way to act on this understanding. With Falcon marketers can collect insights from every stage in the customer lifecycle - be that from social media listening, community management, content marketing or ads - and use this understanding to approach every brand interaction with contextual insight.

3. How can social listening help brands who are making progress in the social space get a one up on their competitors?

Social listening can be really useful to competitive benchmarking, and there are a number of ways you can use it to give your brand an edge.

A great place to start is a simple share of voice analysis. Set up a listening report to monitor how often your brand is being mentioned in relation to key themes, and benchmark this against your competitors. This will give you an idea of where you to need to focus your marketing efforts - is there a particular market, social network or audience demographic that is being dominated by a competitor?

Next, dive in a little deeper. Look at the sentiment of conversation about your competitors. Positive sentiment can show you what your competitors are doing well, and how they are building strong connections with customers. Instances of negative sentiment can be a great opportunity for your brand to intervene and offer your service as an alternative.

More generally, listening can help you pinpoint new opportunities for products development (is your audience expressing a need you didn’t know they had?) and opportunities for new markets.

4. From a technology perspective, what are some of the biggest challenges that your marketing team faces today?

From a technology perspective, our biggest challenge right now is building scalable workflows around our tech stack, and this can be tricky for a company experiencing such rapid growth in both new business and headcount. We’ve addressed this challenge by ensuring we bring the right talent on board. Within the marketing team for example, I have set a precedent to make all decisions as data-driven as possible, so I’ve been careful to bring on the right talent profiles that would feel comfortable in this environment.

5. Could you relate for our readers some of the best practices you’ve come across of companies who have mastered the art of B2B social marketing? Please share some specific tips and tricks to guide marketers in this regard.

The challenge with B2B marketing is that the customer lifecycle is generally much longer. This means that marketers have to invest more time and resources into nurturing a prospect through the discovery, research and consideration phase. It also means that the number of brand/customer touch points is increased, so making sense of the data available is a more complex task. Post-sale, more resources go into retention (think customer care, CX etc).

Social marketing can be a great way to manage this prolonged life cycle in a cost-efficient way, and to encourage your customers to interact with each other within your brand’s ecosystem.

Build up your social channels as a forum for customers to speak to you and each other - and prioritise nurturing these conversations in your social strategy. Eventually, this space will be a goldmine for insights about how to attract and keep your customers

6. In your experience what should marketers allocate resources and efforts to – hopping onto a fad that has gone viral or following the regular social media plan to harvest traditional but long-term followers?

Maximizing customer lifetime value should be the foundation of any social marketing strategy. Nurturing long-term relationship with your customers on social will give rise to brand advocates - the people who rave about your brand to their peers out in the public sphere.

A social strategy should be about 80% following the plan, and 20% leaving space for flexibility, testing, and “following fads”. You need to make sure you still reach your targets, and grow long-term, valuable followers while also remaining flexible. Given the chance, and if the trend is aligned with your brand identity, go ahead and jump on something for quick returns. Choosing wisely will give your brand a healthy boost in reach and visibility for your target audience.

Social media is all about trends and quick changes, so brands should prioritize keeping up and staying relevant

Beware of the pitfalls however. Jumping on a trend just because “it’s cool” can also quickly lead to a crisis if the target audience and the message isn’t aligned.

7. Are there any new features or upcoming upgrades that you’re excited about and would like to give us a sneak peek into?

Yes. As you know, our mission at Falcon.io is to make every aspect of social marketing easy and efficient for the companies that use our platform, and we’re now working on extending this enablement to paid activities and retargeting.

We’ll soon be launching an integration that connects our ads campaign manager, Audience and Facebook’s marketing platform. With this integration, the audience segments that are built by our clients can be used to build custom audiences and lookalike audiences within Facebook’s marketing platform. These audiences can then be used to define the targeting of ad campaigns that our clients are building within the Falcon platform.

This will simplify the retargeting workflow for marketing teams. Instead of using a CRM system, CSV export and a tool like Facebook ads manager, as well as the social media manger, ads specialist and content specialist, it will be possible to handle the entire ad campaign workflow form one very intuitive platform, with just one user.

8. What is your take on the massive explosion of MarTech cos across so many categories? Do you see competition, opportunities to partner and/or integrate?

The Martech sector is certainly expanding rapidly, because of this growing need brands have for visibility in a fragmented customer journey. Right now I see a lot of strong point vendors, but none that offer the kind of connected visibility we offer at Falcon - our platform is in a unique position in the market, which is why we experienced 93% YoY growth last year in the US alone.

A symptom of a crowded marketplace is that we’re also seeing a lot of vendors merging and acquiring, this can lead to clunky platforms that require long roll-out periods. We have stayed well clear of this trend at Falcon, by growing all of our product in-house, and this ultimately benefits the brands that work with us. Instead of a long integration and training process to get the system adopted in the organization, you have plug-and-play platform that lights up and starts working immediately.

We have some integrations coming up in our roadmap - these partnerships will allow our users to connect the visibility we offer on the customer journey from social media to insights from other marketing platforms - this will deliver a truly 360 degree view of the customer.

9. Who’s the one person from the martech space whose interview you would look forward to reading?

Simon Sinek, motivational speaker and marketing consultant, author of Start With Why

Connect with Jillian

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor

#martech #marketing #technology #business #cmo

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