The event, led by Ravi Mattu, focused on how businesses must adapt to changing customer needs driven by digital technology, emphasizing the importance of the customer journey and engagement over mere transactions. A panel of experts discussed the role of the CIO in navigating these changes, particularly regarding the rise of mobile technology and the need for organizations to break down silos to enhance customer experience. The session highlighted the profound opportunities presented by digital transformation while acknowledging the challenges faced by businesses in this evolving landscape.

1. SUMMARY REPORT
22 May 2014
Paris
The Convergence of Digital
and the Customer Experience
Driving change across
the business

2. Agenda
19.00 Registration and Drinks Reception
19.30 Welcome Remarks
Ravi Mattu, Acting Editor, FT Weekend Magazine and former Editor,
Business Life, Financial Times
19.40 Dinner
20.45 Panel Discussion
Themes to be addressed:
• In what ways are customer needs changing, and how can businesses adapt accordingly?
• What is driving this increased customer empowerment?
• How does the IT function need to reinvent itself in order to be strategically relevant in
respect of the customer?
• How is your organisation addressing the issues and opportunities associated with
multiple channels?
• How can we prepare for next-generation advances, such as the Internet of Things and
augmented reality?
• To what extent could the use of analytics help to make businesses more
customer-centric?
• How can you get support from the board for customer experience initiatives and
ensure that it is considered a priority?
• The rise of the Chief Digital Officer – what could this mean for your institution?
Michael Aidan, Global Head of Digital and VP Digital Brand Platforms, Danone
Jean-Luc Chrétien, Executive Vice-President, Sales and Distribution, Accor
Jean-Christophe Lalanne, Executive Vice-President, Information Systems, Air France
Thomas Romieu, Group Digital Director, LVMH
Robert-Jan Thomassen, Sales Director, HP Enterprise Services France
Q&A session included
Moderated by
Ravi Mattu, Acting Editor, FT Weekend Magazine and former Editor,
Business Life, Financial Times
21.45 Concluding Remarks
Ravi Mattu, Acting Editor, FT Weekend Magazine and former Editor,
Business Life, Financial Times
21.50 Networking Drinks
THE CONVERGENCE OF DIGITAL AND
THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

3. Summary Report
By Ravi Mattu
To understand how technology is changing companies - and how the role of the Chief Information
Officer is evolving as a consequence - comes down to one thing: figuring out how to change the
way you do business to reflect how customers are using technology.
This was the conclusion which underlined the discussion at the latest in our series of FT events held
in partnership with HP, on the convergence of digital and the customer experience.
The panel was comprised of a mix of CIOs, marketing, brand and sales professionals from some
of France’s leading companies.They worked in a range of sectors and industries and yet the
challenges - and opportunities - identified by each boiled down the same fundamental questions.
Digital has changed everything about how we do business. Initially, dealing with this was about
trying to find a way of putting all transactions online. But now, in the words of one panellist, we
are at“the second stage of the digital revolution”.This is all about“the customer journey”, that is
building a system that will engage consumers in a way that reflects how individuals want to be
approached rather than how companies think they want to be engaged.
How does this manifest itself? First, responding to consumers on whatever device - desktop, tablet,
smartphone - they want to use and whenever they choose to do it.The CIO of a leading luxury group
described this process as providing“the right level of relevant services”. In a world where“there are
zillions of touch points on the internet; the main challenge is to ensure that we understand which
ones are the most important to tackle”. So, if a person wants to order a handbag at 2am, a company
needs to provide the infrastructure to enable them to do it.
For example, the use of the smartphone as the key device connecting a company and its clients has
exploded.According to another CIO, three years ago“between 11 and 15 per cent of people were
using a smartphone. It’s over 50 per cent now, so you want to make sure that you can have a decent
experience on a small screen.”
Beyond the technology, engagement is the magic word when it comes to designing the user
experience.This is about much more than a transactional, you-buy-I-sell relationship. Unless a
business can develop a deeper relationship with its customers - whether they are individuals or
other companies - they will be lost. On this point, it is about devices, and more about technology.
An executive from a fast-moving consumer goods group said:“The best brands in the world in the
coming years - and we have a few examples already - are the ones that will be able to combine the
emotional bond with their audience with the technology.”

4. Another participant said that this shift posed more profound questions about how organisations are
structured and how they operate to maximise opportunity.“One thing is absolutely crucial,”he said.
“People think the digital transformation is about technology.To me, it has literally nothing to do with
technology.Technology is just highlighting the fact that most corporations have been little by little
working in silos, whether they were silos by division, by brands, by function or by region.”
Where did this leave the executives in the room? These are challenging and uncertain times - but
there are also huge opportunities.“I really think that this is the most exciting period of time I’ve ever
seen,”said one of the CIOs.“It’s absolutely beautiful, because the technologies are creating the
condition of a total massive competition, and this is something exciting.”
THE CONVERGENCE OF DIGITAL AND
THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

5. BIOGRAPHIES
CHAIR
Ravi Mattu
Acting Editor, FT Weekend Magazine
former Editor, Business Life, Financial Times
Ravi Mattu is part of the features and comment team at the
Financial Times. Mr Mattu joined the FT in 2000 and has worked in
a variety of senior roles including: Acting Editor of the FT Weekend
Magazine; Editor of Business Life, the management section of the
Financial Times, from 2009 to 2013; Editor of Special Reports
(magazines and websites) and Mastering Management; and Launch
Editor of FT Wealth.
He writes on management, innovation, entrepreneurship, technology and business, and
is co-host of FT Innovate, the Financial Times’ premier annual event on innovation.
Before joining the FT, Mr Mattu was an editor at Prospect magazine from 1997-2000.
He began his career at Harper’s Magazine in New York.

6. For more updates, please see our Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/FinancialTimesLive
Financial Times Live group:
http://on.ft.com/linkedin
FOLLOW FT LIVE
For live updates from events and to participate on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/ftlivedigital
t
v
ą
Financial Times Live, the global conferences and events arm of the Financial Times,
gathers pre-eminent public and private sector decision-makers, visionaries and
strategists from the world’s most important economies and industries for a wide range
of interactive, agenda-setting programmes that combine the power of on-site discussion
and networking with the flexibility of live-streamed and on-demand broadcasting.
Chaired by senior journalists from the Financial Times and its group publications,
the summits, conferences, awards and strategic forums organised by FT Live provide
audiences with the opportunity to listen to and interact with speakers of the highest
calibre in lively and stimulating debates that cover the key issues of our time.
The Financial Times provides essential news, comment, data and analysis for the global
business community. It has a combined print and online average daily readership of 2.1
million people worldwide and a combined paid print and digital circulation of almost
629,000 (Deloitte assured, Q3 2013). FT education products now serve 34 of the world’s
top 50 business schools.
www.ft-live.com
www.ft.com
ORGANISERS

7. The work we do at HP Enterprise Services starts and ends with our clients. We listen,
we care, and we stand by them – aspiring to deliver the best client experience in
the industry with targeted business and technology solutions to over 1,000 large
businesses and governments in 90 countries.
For more than 50 years, HP Enterprise Services has been a safe pair of hands and
dedicated partner to enterprises and governments around the globe. We help our
clients evolve their IT to enable business strategies – creating better customer
experience, empowering employees, or driving new business models. It’s what keeps
our clients relevant and ahead of the competition.
We advance the way they use technology through our infrastructure outsourcing and
project services, business process outsourcing, and applications services. We advise,
transform, and manage to advance each enterprise, no matter where they are in the
journey. We are successful when they are successful.
www.businessvalueexchange.com
THE CONVERGENCE OF DIGITAL AND
THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

8. Financial Times Live
One Southwark Bridge
London SE1 9HL
UK
T: +44 (0) 20 7775 6653
E: ftlive@ft.com
www.ft-live.com/hpcio
www.ft-live.com