What customer engagement strategies does Trefler recommend?

Key strategies include: - Prioritizing contextual awareness over broad marketing campaigns - Designing reciprocal relationships that build trust - Using real-time feedback to predict customer needs

What are the key criticisms of traditional IT systems in the book?

Trefler highlights three fatal flaws: 1. Excessive focus on data collection over actionable insights 2. Slow response times to changing customer expectations 3. Disconnection between technical capabilities and business goals

Build for Change

Q: What is *Build For Change* by Alan Trefler about?

*Build For Change* outlines strategies for businesses to thrive in the digital age by revolutionizing customer engagement through adaptive technology and organizational transformation. Trefler emphasizes overcoming outdated IT systems, understanding Generation D consumers, and fostering collaboration between technical teams and business leaders.

Revolutionizing Customer Engagement Through Continuous Digital Innovation

Alan Trefler

3.49 (57 Reviews)

Build for Change 개요

In "Build for Change," Pegasystems CEO Alan Trefler reveals why today's businesses fail when facing Generation D consumers who discover, devour, then demonize brands. How did Nokia and Borders collapse? The answer lies in continuous digital innovation that tech leaders now consider essential.

학습 시작

소개

Build for Change 요약

1
The Digital Revolution That's Eating Your Business
00:00
00:00
Imagine waking up to discover your once-loyal customers have suddenly vanished. This isn't science fiction-it's the "customerpocalypse" that Alan Trefler warns is already underway. In today's hyper-connected world, traditional notions of customer loyalty have been turned upside down by what Trefler calls "Generation D"-consumers defined not by age but by digital behavior patterns. These customers are hyper-connected, tech-savvy, and extraordinarily demanding. They don't just expect good service; they demand perfect experiences across every touchpoint. When pleased, they incorporate brands into their identity. When disappointed, they transform into brand assassins, leveraging social media to inflict maximum damage with unprecedented speed. Remember Microsoft's Xbox One launch disaster? When they announced restrictions on used games and mandatory online connectivity, the backlash wasn't just complaints-it was organized boycotts and viral campaigns that forced a complete reversal within days. This is the raw power of Generation D, and they're reshaping expectations across all consumer demographics. The old power dynamic has flipped: as former GM CEO Rick Wagoner admitted, "We used to 'own' the customer. Now we hope and pray that they want to 'own' us."
2
When More Data Creates Less Understanding
Companies respond to rising customer expectations by collecting vast amounts of data-tracking website paths, abandoned carts, page time, social interactions, and in-store movements. Yet this approach often backfires with Generation D customers, who are increasingly protective of their information. The fundamental problem? Data represents only the past-memory without intelligence. Customer service agents drown in dashboards while customers wait. Sony exemplifies this danger; despite extensive market research, they missed the shift from physical to digital music, allowing Apple to disrupt them with iPod and iTunes. While Sony remained fixated on protecting assets and analyzing CD sales, Apple combined data with customer desires to create an integrated ecosystem. Excessive data collection breeds customer resentment. Target's pregnancy prediction model demonstrates this-they identified a pregnant teenager through purchase patterns and sent baby-related coupons before her father knew, causing family conflict. Such invasive practices permanently damage trust. The solution isn't more data but better context-understanding not just who customers are but why they engage with you.
3
From Raw Data to Meaningful Relationships
What transforms raw data into actionable insight? Context. Businesses must understand all "six Ws": who customers are, why they engage, what to offer them, where they prefer service, when they need it, and how to deliver on expectations. Consider baseball star C.C. Sabathia's pitches. Batters don't prepare for his "average" throw - that would be as useless as knowing barnyard animals average three legs. Instead, they look for specific clues that add context to "fastball" and inform their judgment. Similarly, businesses need to move beyond averages to understand the nuance in each customer interaction. Farmers Insurance applied this approach, enabling agents to provide tailored small business insurance quotes in 15 minutes instead of two weeks. This doubled their market share and increased umbrella policy sales by 70%. They focused on getting the right data rather than simply accumulating more. The key is offering the right thing to the right person at the right time, balancing customer needs with business objectives. This "next-best-action" approach replaces product-first thinking with true customer-centricity, requiring adaptable customer processes beyond just data.
4장
Building Customer Processes That Actually Work
BB&T Corporation found that merely digitizing their account opening process created frustration when customers couldn't transition between channels. Their solution was a unified process connecting operations across all touchpoints. This halved application abandonment, cut operational costs by 75%, reduced account opening time from weeks to minutes, and raised customer satisfaction to 90%. Traditional process modeling fails by documenting internal steps rather than customer journeys. Start with: How does my customer want to engage with me? This prevents creating disconnected silos when adding new channels. American Express transformed by shifting from physical cards to trust-based relationships. They replaced "Customer Service Representatives" with empowered "Customer Care Professionals" across their 16,000 global staff. This "Relationship Care" philosophy, emphasizing emotional connections over transaction speed, helped them win seven consecutive J.D. Power awards for customer satisfaction. Creating a comprehensive customer view requires three perspectives: 360 degrees of data, intent, and customer process. Together, these form a "1080" panorama revealing customers with unprecedented clarity, though the business-IT divide remains a major implementation obstacle.
5장
Breaking Down the Business-IT Barrier
A profound disconnect exists between business and IT departments in most organizations. Business users expect consumer-grade experiences, while IT struggles with limited budgets and aging systems. Marketing teams are particularly frustrated, with 32% viewing IT as an obstacle. Traditional development starts with comprehensive requirements documents attempting to predict years of future needs. These requirements undergo multiple transformations - from business requirements to design specifications to code - each translation distancing the product from its original purpose. When users finally test the application (often 12-18 months later), both concept and code have diverged from initial intentions. When businesspeople can't secure needed changes, they create workarounds using Excel, databases, or procedural policies. These makeshift solutions waste resources and lack proper controls, as JPMorgan's $6.2 billion "London Whale" trading losses in 2012 demonstrated. The solution is integration between business and IT. One leading U.S. benefits management company established "innovation centers" where IT employees worked directly with business units. This competitive model prioritized customer experience projects delivering results within a quarter. The outcome was transformative - business and IT evolved from a user/provider relationship into a unified team.
6장
Becoming a Digital-First Organization
The digital future demands fundamental transformation in how businesses engage with customers. OCBC's FRANK initiative exemplifies this through Apple-inspired retail spaces, jargon-free websites, competitive rates, and intuitive "savings jars" that mirror younger customers' habits - demonstrating how traditional institutions can reinvent themselves. Three principles are essential for survival: democratize technology, think in layers, and use analytics to optimize continually. Democratization replaces technical jargon with business language and intuitive interfaces, enabling non-technical staff to implement changes directly. When business drives technology rather than the reverse, solutions better address customer needs. Traditional systems often result in rigid structures. The solution is identifying common elements versus distinctive features across multiple dimensions - customer segments, products, and contexts - while computers handle the underlying complexity.
7장
Your Software Is Your Business Now
The pressure to transform is intensifying as Generation Digital reshapes expectations. Accenture's research reveals a $5.9 trillion "switching economy," with 66% of consumers switching companies due to poor service. As Marc Andreessen noted, "Software is eating the world," requiring companies across all industries to become software companies to survive. This transformation demands that your software embody your brand promise, company DNA, ethics, and authentic customer commitment - elements that cannot be outsourced to third-party providers selling standardized solutions or superficial "placebo" apps. Traditional brand loyalty has evolved into transaction-by-transaction evaluation, with crucial moments increasingly occurring in virtual spaces. Customers now judge your entire organization by the digital experience before considering your actual product. The customerpocalypse isn't a future threat but a present reality. Companies that fail to transform customer engagement through technology face extinction, while survivors will build adaptive systems that evolve with customer expectations. Your software isn't just supporting your business anymore - it is your business.

Build for Change의 핵심 주제

digital customer experience
omnichannel business transformation
consumer power shift
data driven agility
brand authenticity

Build for Change의 명언

Businesses that can't adapt...will cease to exist entirely.
Gen D stands for discover, devour, demonize.
Now we hope and pray that they want to 'own' us.
Data alone is like memory without judgment.
They distinguish clearly between chosen vulnerability and corporate surveillance.

Build for Change의 등장인물

Alan TreflerAuthor and founder/CEO of Pegasystems
Jamie DimonCEO of JPMorgan Chase and reader of the book
Rick WagonerFormer GM CEO quoted on customer relationships

저자 소개

Alan Trefler, bestselling author of Build for Change and visionary CEO of Pegasystems, is a globally recognized authority on digital transformation and business process innovation.

The book, which explores strategies for thriving in customer-driven markets, draws on Trefler’s four-decade career pioneering low-code software solutions used by Fortune 500 companies. A Dartmouth-educated technologist and chess prodigy who tied for first in the 1975 World Open Chess Championship, he combines analytical rigor with real-world insights on organizational agility.

As founder of the Trefler Foundation, his commitment to education and equitable access to technology informs the book’s emphasis on ethical innovation. Recognized as Software CEO of the Year and named to Forbes’ billionaire list, Trefler’s frameworks power enterprises worldwide.

Build for Change has been hailed as an international business bestseller, cementing his status as a thought leader in adaptive enterprise strategy.

Build for Change 요약 다운로드

Build for Change 요약을 무료 PDF 또는 EPUB으로 받으세요. 인쇄하거나 오프라인에서 언제든 읽을 수 있습니다.

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이 책에 대한 FAQ

Build For Change outlines strategies for businesses to thrive in the digital age by revolutionizing customer engagement through adaptive technology and organizational transformation. Trefler emphasizes overcoming outdated IT systems, understanding Generation D consumers, and fostering collaboration between technical teams and business leaders.

This book is essential for CEOs, digital transformation leaders, and IT professionals seeking to align technology with customer needs. It’s particularly valuable for organizations struggling with outdated systems or declining customer loyalty in competitive markets.

Yes – its insights on predictive customer analytics and continuous digital innovation remain critical as AI and real-time personalization dominate modern business strategies. Trefler’s framework for avoiding "customerpocalypse" makes it a timely read despite its 2014 publication date.

Generation D represents digitally empowered consumers who demand transparency and instant gratification. These tech-savvy customers use social media to amplify feedback, forcing businesses to adopt agile processes or risk reputation damage.

Trefler criticizes rigid IT systems that hinder adaptation, advocating for business-driven continuous improvement instead of data hoarding. He proposes replacing legacy systems with flexible architectures that let non-technical staff modify customer processes.

Key strategies include:

Prioritizing contextual awareness over broad marketing campaigns
Designing reciprocal relationships that build trust
Using real-time feedback to predict customer needs

The book urges companies to break silos by involving IT teams in strategic planning and training business leaders in basic system design. Trefler compares this synergy to botanical cross-pollination for creating resilient solutions.

Trefler highlights three fatal flaws:

Excessive focus on data collection over actionable insights
Slow response times to changing customer expectations
Disconnection between technical capabilities and business goals

It advocates redefining roles to blend technical and customer expertise, with examples of companies that empowered frontline staff to modify digital workflows. Trefler stresses this prevents costly over-reliance on external developers.

Unlike typical tech-focused guides, Trefler positions organizational culture as the innovation driver. He emphasizes trust-building with customers through transparency rather than just deploying new tools.

The book teaches how to turn satisfied customers into brand advocates by:

Delivering personalized experiences at scale
Rapidly addressing negative feedback before it trends
Creating viral-worthy engagement loops

While light on specific case studies, the book draws on Trefler’s experience building Pegasystems. It references companies that survived digital disruption by letting business teams directly adjust customer journey maps without coding.

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샌프란시스코에서 컬럼비아 대학교 동문들이 만들었습니다

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Build for Change

Build for Change 개요

Build for Change 요약

The Digital Revolution That's Eating Your Business

When More Data Creates Less Understanding

From Raw Data to Meaningful Relationships

Building Customer Processes That Actually Work

Breaking Down the Business-IT Barrier

Becoming a Digital-First Organization

Your Software Is Your Business Now

Build for Change의 핵심 주제

Build for Change의 명언

Build for Change의 등장인물

저자 소개

Build for Change 요약 다운로드

다른 사용자들도 좋아한 책

이 책에 대한 FAQ

What is Build For Change by Alan Trefler about?

Who should read Build For Change?

Is Build For Change worth reading in 2025?

What is Generation D in Build For Change?

How does Build For Change address outdated technology?

What customer engagement strategies does Trefler recommend?

How does Build For Change suggest improving IT-business collaboration?

What are the key criticisms of traditional IT systems in the book?

How does Build For Change approach organizational change?

What’s unique about Trefler’s approach to digital innovation?

How does Build For Change help with customer retention?

What real-world examples support Trefler’s arguments?

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빠른 요약 모드

Build for Change 요약을 9분 만에 읽거나 듣기

재미있게 모드

Build for Change의 교훈을 19분 스토리로

개인화 모드

Build for Change을 나만의 학습 스타일로 경험하기

더 많은 이야기를 보시겠어요?

Build for Change 요약

The Digital Revolution That's Eating Your Business

When More Data Creates Less Understanding

From Raw Data to Meaningful Relationships

Building Customer Processes That Actually Work

Breaking Down the Business-IT Barrier

Becoming a Digital-First Organization

Your Software Is Your Business Now

다른 사용자들도 좋아한 책

더 알아보기