In our 2019 book, Connected Strategy: Building Continuous Customer Relationships for Competitive Advantage, we discussed these developments and argued that such emerging connected strategies can become a powerful new source of competitive advantage. Now, technologies such as the Apple Watch, Fitbit, or WHOOP are collecting health data 24/7, allowing healthcare providers and others to learn about patient behavior and nudge them into making healthy decisions rather than just waiting for the patient to fall ill. And, in healthcare, it used to be that patients often made decisions related to diet, exercise regimen, or medication adherence without the involvement of care providers.

This data can enable a connected insurance business model by providing safety feedback to drivers (and their parents) as well as informing future underwriting decisions. Similarly, automotive insurance companies used to interact with the drivers they insured only at predefined touch points, such as policy renewals or claims events, but now sensors and mobile apps can continuously monitor driving behavior. Now, online and mobile banking connect the two parties almost seamlessly, creating a delivery model known as connected banking.

Perhaps the biggest change firms have made is that, rather than having a few episodic interactions, they are trying to create a continuous relationship with their customers.įor example, in the past, consumers would only interact with their bank sporadically, when they visited a retail branch. Over the last couple of years, more and more companies have been trying to fundamentally reshape the way in which they interact with their customers - a trend that has been accelerated by the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

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