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<div class="image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">ShutterstockThese days, the customer truly is king.</div></div></div>This post is sponsored by <a href="http://www.sap.com/index.epx">SAP</a>.
Successful companies have always catered to their <keyword id="6359672" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="customers">customers</keyword>, but today's consumers want more.
Customers expect companies to come to them - and to provide a pleasant, productive, and personalized experience that makes them feel special. Smart companies are responding to these changing customer expectations by putting customers first, engaging them in new ways, and focusing on customer service and satisfaction.
<h2>How Data Can Reinvent The Customer Experience</h2>
An organization that is truly customer-centric today uses new technology to reinvent the customer experience. Businesses now have the ability to predict customer behavior based on their past experiences and purchases, and to use that information to create marketing tailored to individual customers.
"Without good data it becomes more difficult to consistently improve the customer experience," SAP CMO Jonathan Becher wrote in a <a href="http://jonathanbecher.com/" target="_blank">recent blog post</a>. "It's not enough to have surveys and anecdotal feedback from customers; you must analyze their entire experience over time."
Analytics can also help companies understand how their customers differ, to ensure each customer gets an experience that he or she will appreciate. Millennials, for example, often approach shopping and business transactions differently from many Baby Boomers or Gen-Xers, relying much more on social networks and peer relationships to inform their decisions - and quickly sharing their complaints with the world if they have a bad experience.
<h2>Why It's A Challenge To Create Customer-Centric Companies</h2>
Making a business customer-centric isn't like flipping a switch. Established processes and attitudes are sometimes barriers to that shift, even if everyone generally agrees on the company's new direction.
According to Becher, companies often have organizational disconnects that interfere with the customer experience. "The challenge is that each of these channels, from the in-person experience to the website to the call center to post-sales support, are usually developed and managed independently - and often by different groups within the organization," he says. "Given the way business units and functional groups are organized and measured inside companies today, most care only about the slice of the experience they're directly involved with."
Even small steps can sometimes cause companies to stumble. Mark McDonald, group vice president and head of research at Gartner Executive Programs, <a href="http://blogs.gartner.com/mark_mcdonald/2012/12/03/what-does-it-take-for-executives-to-get-behind-social-media/" target="_blank">points out </a>that many executives want the energy and engagement social media can offer - but they may conclude that it's too distracting from "meaningful work."
"How do I know?" McDonald asks. "Because frequently executives ask about the productivity impact of social media and see it as a reason to reinforce control rather than reinvest in collaboration."
Companies that want to become more <a href="http://blogs.sap.com/innovation/tag/customer-experience" target="_blank">customer-centric</a> need to use every tool and strategy at their disposal to improve the customer experience. It's important for them to know their customers better and engage them more fully. Because now more than ever, with access to infinitely more purchasing options, customers have the power to decide how, when, and whether they will do business with a particular company.
In the future, the companies that will thrive are those able to give customers exactly what they want, the way they want it, when they want it - before they even know what they want.
- Adapted from a post written by <a href="http://blogs.sap.com/innovation/author/jimfields" target="_blank">Jim Fields</a> for the <a href="http://blogs.sap.com/innovation/human-resources/conversations-future-business-unlocking-human-potential-0502310" target="_blank">SAP Business Innovation</a> blog.
To join the conversation on the <keyword id="1737939" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Future-Of-Business">future of business</keyword> and the changing workplace, check out <a href="http://www.sap.com/campaign/na/usa/CRM-US13-CRP-2HFORHPE/index.html" target="_blank">SAP.com/conversations</a>
Find out <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sponsor-posts">more about Sponsor Posts.</a>

Successful Companies Are Giving Customers What They Want - Before They Even Know They Want It

<div style="padding: 15px; border: 1px solid #999999; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 15px!important; line-height: 25px; overflow: auto; vertical-align: middle;">This post is part of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/future-of-business">"Future of Business"</a> series, which examines how cutting-edge technologies are rapidly reshaping our world, from how businesses run to how we live. "The <keyword id="1737939" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Future-Of-Business">Future of Business</keyword>" is sponsored by SAP. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/future-of-business">More in the series »</a></div><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image">Courtesy of SoulCycle</div></div>SoulCycle just might be the hottest thing in fitness right now.
On a typical day, some 6,000 people will slip on their spinning shoes and climb atop a stationary bike in one of SoulCycle's 25 studios across the U.S. The lights will dim and, for the next 45 minutes or so, riders will surge up in down in sweaty, unified motion as the instructor barks out commands and inspirational sayings over the throb and sway of the music. Most of them will pay upward of $34 for one class.
Part boutique <keyword id="6358589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="exercise">exercise</keyword> class, part dance rave, part cult, SoulCycle is a carefully marketed and differentiated exercise service. Its challenge? To grow its following while keeping loyal customers coming back for more pricey spin sessions. For that reason, the target SoulCycle customer is not just someone who wants a workout, but someone who yearns to take part in a communal experience that is at once trendy, energized, and healthy. To go to SoulCycle is to be young and hip.
<a href="http://www.soul-cycle.com/soul-east/" target="_blank">SoulCycle</a> advertises itself as a full-body workout that has "revolutionized indoor <keyword id="6366594" type="SPORT" weightage="60" keywordseo="cycling">cycling</keyword> and taken the world of fitness by storm." The company currently has 18 locations in New York and seven in California, and is planning studios in Massachusetts and Washington D.C. It boasts an 85% retention rate among riders, and revenue has risen 60% each year since 2010.
Its <keyword id="6354632" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Social-media">social media</keyword> metrics are similarly impressive. SoulCycle has nearly 30,000 followers on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/SoulCycle/64759509591" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, another 25,000 followers on <a href="https://twitter.com/soulcycle" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and some 23,000 followers on <a href="http://instagram.com/soulcycle" target="_blank">Instagram</a>. Its digital strategy is a simple extension of its feel-good branding. Online, the company posts stories and responds to tweets with a cheerful, upbeat persona and a liberal dose of exclamation points and smiley faces. It also recently launched "<a href="http://www.soul-cycle.com/tunes.cfm" target="_blank">Soul Tunes</a>" to compile the hottest hits from the studio and share them through a Spotify profile.
All in all, SoulCycle has come a long way since co-founders Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler opened their first studio in a Craigslist sublet on Manhattan's Upper West Side in mid-2006. The building didn't have a front desk and wouldn't allow them to post an outdoor sign, so at first the pair struggled to market their company. They handed out fliers and gave away tons of free classes to bring in riders. But Rice and Cutler also saw SoulCycle as filling a fitness niche in New York and, because of that, trusted that people would come.
<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_left"><div class="image on-image">Courtesy of SoulCycleCo-founders Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler</div></div>"Elizabeth and I started SoulCycle because we were actually the customers - we were looking for an exercise experience that was going to be fun, exciting, challenging," Rice explains. "There were a lot of workouts, but there was really nothing out there that was efficient, that was joyful, that was about community, that was something that you really looked forward to."
Joy, fitness, and community. That was the central philosophy that Rice and Cutler emphasized again and again to would-be riders. It was also their answer to the most commonly voiced skepticism: "I could do this for free at my gym. Why would I come to you?"
It is, undoubtedly, a fair question. SoulCycle is many things, but cheap is not one of them. The regular single-class price is $34. Add in the $3 shoe rentals (you need special cycling equipment to participate) and a $2 water bottle, and you've hit $39 a session. By comparison, plenty of spinning classes in New York can be found for closer to $25 apiece. 
SoulCycle also doesn't offer monthly passes, and its multi-class packages are barely discounted: 5 for $165 (that's $33 a pop), 10 for $320 ($32), 20 for $600 ($30), and 30 for $850 ($28.33). Those packages also come with expiration dates, so it's use it or lose it.
Why are SoulCyclers willing to spend so much? "People value what they pay for," Cutler says. "If someone pays to take that class, they are going to come in and work so hard that the energy in that class is going to be epic."
Rice points out that money spent on one SoulCycle class could as easily be thrown at two or three cocktails in New York. "It is so easy in this city to spend dumb money on things that don't matter," she says.
Customers certainly have bought in. Just six months after it opened in 2006, SoulCycle had long waiting lists, and the first studio became profitable. Its rider base has since expanded from mainly 30-something moms to men, teens, tweens, and even the elderly (one customer is 89). Its merchandise line now features dozens of items, including sweatshirts that retail for $125 and tank tops that go for $54.
"We used to say to people, 'This is really different; this is going to be an experience that you'll remember,'" Rice says. "[SoulCycle] will change your attitude about fitness."

Here's How SoulCycle Keeps Customers Paying $34 For A Spinning Class

<div style="padding: 15px; border: 1px solid #999999; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 15px!important; line-height: 25px; overflow: auto; vertical-align: middle;">This post is part of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/future-of-business">"Future of Business"</a> series, which examines how cutting-edge technologies are rapidly reshaping our world, from how businesses run to how we live. "The <keyword id="1737939" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Future-Of-Business">Future of Business</keyword>" is sponsored by SAP. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/future-of-business">More in the series »</a></div><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://mickeyhart.net/news/mickey-hart-and-dr-adam-gazzaley-make-history-visualizing-and-sonifying-brain-activity-real">YouTube/Mickey Hart</a>Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's brain via an EEG headset</div></div>Do you want to start a company or come up with that genius idea for your current company?
Of course you do.
But if it was easy to come up with the Next Big Thing, we would all do it. So here's a secret. There are two websites created by the same guy, Reinier Evers, that have some 17,000 thousand people worldwide scouring the world for the coolest, most creative business ideas and reporting on them for all to see and be inspired: <a href="http://www.springwise.com/">Springwise</a> and <a href="http://trendwatching.com/">trendwatching.com</a>. 
For instance:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.springwise.com/rock-musician-eeg-control-live-music-visuals/">Former Grateful Dead drummer</a> Mickey Hart is using a mind-reading EEG headset to create thought-controlled visuals and music for his Superorganism tour.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.springwise.com/smart-food-scale-measures-meals-nutritional-balance/">A smart scale and Kickstarter project called the Prep Pad</a> is a chopping board and weighing scale that can determine the exact nutritional content of the meal being prepared, and tracking users' eating habits.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.springwise.com/japan-web-search-3d-prints-results-visually-impaired/">Yahoo! Japan has created Hands On Search</a>, a machine that allows users to search by voice and receive a result in 3D-printed form.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A <a href="http://www.springwise.com/foldable-handheld-3d-printer-fit-backpack/">new 3D printer called LumiFold</a> is designed to be folded, so it can fit in a backpack.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.springwise.com/led-embedded-fashion-enables-wearers-change-color/">A clothing designer</a> Elizabeth Fraguada, founder of the Jorge &amp; Esther studio, has created a collection of clothing that embeds LED lights into the fabric (like color or cuff) and these lights can change color via a smartphone app.</li>
</ul>
We recently caught up with Chris Kreinczes, managing director for the Springwise blog, to ask about the business of trend spotting.
Business Insider: Why have two sites that seem to do basically the same thing?
Chris Kreinczes: The companies are actually very different in what they do. Trendwatching.com focuses on trends, offering free monthly trend briefings and, as part of their Premium service, access to their Innovations Database, Industry Bulletins, Trend Reports and an Apply Toolkit.
Springwise differs in both its content and its delivery of that content. The site is designed as an online magazine for daily viewing, and we deliver free weekly and daily newsletters (170,000+ subscribers total). The content consists primarily of overviews of innovative <keyword id="6362513" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Startups">startups</keyword> (we feature three a day), and we offer an interview series with founders.
We also offer a service for professionals called Springwise Access, giving access to our database of over 4,000 innovative business ideas, a personalized homepage tailored to our clients interests, and bookmarking and folder sharing <keyword id="35660" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="features">features</keyword>.
BI: How many spotters/Trendwatchers do you have currently?
CK: There are now slightly over 15,000 Springspotters and 2,500 Happy Spotters (the trendwatching.com equivalent).
BI: Can anyone be a spotter/trendwatcher, or are these contract, trained, paid jobs?
CK: Anyone can sign up to be a Springspotter and they will be automatically accepted. To become a Happy Spotter, applicants must first meet certain criteria. Both sets of spotters can earn points for accepted spottings, redeemable in our gift galleries.
BI: In 2013, what would you say are the big tech trends that define the year so far?
CK: According to the trendwatching.com team, a tech trend we highlighted last December as being key for 2013 was "Mobile Moments," how consumers would look to their mobile devices to maximize every single moment.
We've since seen an explosion of innovations that tap into micro pockets of time, from the boom in mini video sharing (including Vine and Instagram), to the high adoption of ephemeral messaging platforms such as SnapChat or Frankly.
Another trend that broke from the lab and into the consumer market was what we call "Emotive Tech," technologies that read and respond to emotions. It is a strand of the larger trend of "Intuitive Interfaces" where devices are designed to be natural, and therefore more pleasant, to use.
An example of Emotive Tech would be the Japanese-developed <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/headphones-read-brainwaves-2013-3">Mico headset</a>, a pair of headphones that measures the wearer's brainwaves and selects music to fit their mood. Another is the recently funded <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/484175508/the-pip-a-biosensor-that-helps-you-relax-through-p">Kickstarter project PIP</a>, a stress detecting biosensor that helps users relax through gameplay.

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