Articles by Jeff Kagan

Unified communications is coming on strong and growing fast. It is positioned as the next big step forward in the communications industry, both wireline and wireless. In the past, companies of every size had to have telephone gear -- like an expensive and complicated private branch exchange -- that was paid for, installed and continually updated.

A solid brand is key to business success, but over the years I have seen many companies try to commit suicide by killing the brand identities they spent so many years and so much money creating. Many are now gone. Others are still around, but in a weakened position. You must give the customer a compelling, emotional reason to want to be connected...

Customers often make investments in their relationships with the businesses they choose to patronize. There is plenty of competition, so companies must pay attention to this. It's only when a company respects and wants a customer as much as the customer wants the company that things will go well, and a long-term brand relationship will be created ...

Google Pay launched last week, becoming the latest entry in the world of master-brand confusion. The new Google Pay combines features of Android Pay and Google Wallet, brands that each had different brand relationships with customers. That means the master brand message, which should be simple and clean, and which Google should have been building all along, is shaky at best...

One fundamental element of building a brand relationship with customers is consistency. Widely franchised companies like Starbucks, however, compromise consistency. They employ several different business models instead of sticking to one. This approach confuses customers and hurts the master brand since customers never really know what to expect Be...

Companies are run by people. Some do a great job of putting the customer first and growing, which ultimately rewards investors. Others don't. Some first focus on investors and numbers, simply not caring about or taking care of the customer. That approach can have a serious and long-term negative impact on the company. Following are several example...

What accounts for the amazing success of Apple and Starbucks? They both connect with users on an emotional level. This "secret" is evident to anyone who looks closely, and you can apply it to succeed with your own company and improve your own life Apple was a struggling computer maker until the 1990s, when Steve Jobs returned. Jobs connected with t...

Verizon is finally snapping out of the doldrums it has been stuck in for the last several years. It seems to be on a comeback trail, thanks to its new advertising campaign. Having followed the company for decades, I've noticed how all of a sudden, it is blowing its own horn again. This is what it should have been doing all along Verizon and Verizo...

Uber works great -- until it stops working, leaving your kid walking home alone on a cold and rainy winter night. Wireless technology opens up new avenues for innovation and excitement, with companies like Uber and Lyft. Most of the time, their technologies work just fine, but don't let your guard down Prepare for the moment when something goes wr...

Why is it that in-flight WiFi is almost always problematic? Every time I take a commercial flight, I sign up for the GoGo WiFi service -- and every time I am disappointed by something. My experience last week flying on Delta was no exception. After takeoff, I struggled to connect my iPhone. After spending quite a long time making unsuccessful att...

Apple's iPhone and Google's Android operating system hit the marketplace one decade ago. Ten years later, there's still plenty of debate over which is better. I've lately been asked which of three new flagship phones is better: Apple's iPhone 8, its iPhone X, or Samsung's new Galaxy S8, which runs Google Android? Smartphones have gone through some...

A decade ago, there wasn't much talk about self-driving cars or autonomous-cars, but Toyota and Lexus were setting the stage with their self-parking cars. They aired television commercials showing how cars magically parallel-parked themselves. That was before any mention of the first iPhone or Android. At the time, it seemed amazing, but that was nothing compared to what's coming next...

There's a lot of excitement about all the new artificial intelligence technology hitting the market -- like Amazon's Echo and Google's Home smart speakers, among many other products. However, there's also growing concern over how these devices may invade our privacy. These AI devices are designed for use throughout our homes -- and despite the com...

Here's a disturbing thought: A RoboCEO powered by artificial intelligence -- possibly based on IBM's Watson -- could be running some companies within the next decade. Not every company will warm to the idea, to be sure, but it's conceivable that the practice could begin. Are you ready to work for a RoboCEO? Though it seems farfetched, this idea ha...

The artificial intelligence speaker war is now being waged, and it is escalating. Today you can choose between Amazon Echo and Google Home. Harman Kardon's Invoke is coming this fall. By the end of the year, Apple's HomePod will be competing in the market, and Samsung has indicated it will join the fray as well. With all these choices, how can you determine which smart speaker is right for you?...

Advertising technology, or ad tech, is a relatively new business segment. Both Google and Facebook have been very successful with this new advertising model. That's great for today, but what is the future of ad tech going forward? Will it be important and rapidly expand to a wider segment, or will it be limited to the way certain companies show value and grow?...

There has been quite a bit of churn in the waters around Uber during the last few years. Now that founder Travis Kalanick is no longer CEO, what does the future look like for the company, workers, drivers, investors and customers? Will Uber continue to grow and lead, or has it seen its best days? Most people connected to the company probably would...

Amazon's plan to buy Whole Foods Market has raised many new questions. If the company is successful in making the acquisition, and then successful in operating the business, it could transform the entire grocery industry. If we pull the camera back, we can see how success on the grocery side could foreshadow Amazon's success in many other parts of...

Amazon recently launched its Echo Show, which brings a visual screen to its smart speaker device. The screen changes the Echo experience quite a bit, and I wonder whether we're ready to start living in what seems like a futuristic Star Trek world The Echo Show experience is sort of like having a laptop sitting on your table -- one that uses artifi...

Things change quickly. A few short years ago, Netflix was nothing more than a mail order Blockbuster-type video rental business. Since then, it has been growing rapidly and changing. Believe it or not, Netflix today has more U.S. subscribers than cable TV. That's an amazing accomplishment for Netflix -- and a major hit to traditional cable television...