Stop saying that in the future digital transformation will do this and that. Digital transformation has already happened – and a long time ago. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, many large companies still did not have basic digital structures, such as a WhatsApp for customer service. Today, using the cell phone for research and shopping is something the customer doesn't even consider not using. It's something natural. We are in the post-digital world, where the digital experience is universal; Brazil, for example, has one of the most challenging competitive landscapes on the planet in terms of the number of retailers.pure playersdigital ones competing fiercely for consumers' attention and funds.
The big problem, however, is that many companies still treat digital and physical as separate entities, while for the customer, everything is part of the same experience. The true digital transformation, therefore, lies in knowing how to use the best that digital offers in favor of a more empowered customer and ahead of the companies themselves. It's a race for organizations to use digital tools that make them more agile, pragmatic, and capable of delivering a customer journey that truly improves their lives. Global competition and the always imminent disruption by startups reinforce this urgency.
Customer experience as the only genuine competitive differentiator
In a market where technology is easily replicable and cloneable, a company's true competitive advantage no longer lies solely in its products or technologies. The only sustainable competitive advantage is the relationship with the customer.
Great academic theorists, such as Kotler, argue that the long-term success of any company depends on having a truly customer-centric experience. Personalization and, more recently, hyper-personalization driven by converging technologies are essential to meet the specific needs of each customer at their particular moment during the relationship journey with the company. The challenge is that many companies still fail to minimally understand their customers, offering inconsistent experiences across different channels.
For a company to be genuinely customer-centric, it is essential to have a team of employees engaged with the brand's purpose and aligned with the customer. This is only possible with a very strong organizational culture. A company's culture is like a family, where shared values, a greater purpose, and strategic alignment make all the difference. In the case of the company, this adds value to the service for the customer and creates a culture that is reflected to the consumer. Building all of this is the greatest challenge for experienced leaders, as it takes a lot of time and is based on intangible and attitudinal assets in most cases.
In this context, leadership plays a fundamental role, not only in what it verbalizes but also in its behavior, posture, and the way it interacts. In a world where hard skills are increasingly delegated to machines and AIs, soft skills become preferable and essential for leaders and their followers.
The essential role of Big Data and artificial intelligence
Another point of attention is the importance of data in a highly competitive environment. Customers are already aware that their data has value and is used to generate advertising and offers for themselves. The expectation is that companies use this information to generate value in return, providing better and more relevant solutions.
This is where Big Data plays an essential role. It allows data from various sources to be fed into a centralized intelligence structure, where algorithms work to find increasingly better solutions. The well-known and always relevant example of Netflix illustrates this: the platform uses artificial intelligence to compare descriptions of movies and series that the user watches, programming its screen to offer choices more aligned with their interests.
Despite the potential, many companies, including large leading firms in their fields, still do not know how to use Big Data effectively. Among the challenges, data accuracy is the greatest. In a scenario ofdeepfakesandbig fakesthe quality and authenticity of the sources are critical to avoid erroneous conclusions.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially generative AI, is also developing at a frighteningly rapid pace, becoming indispensable for business. AI acts as support for human intelligence, delegating complex tasks to algorithms. However, generative AI, popularized by tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek, presents the (gradually decreasing) risk of "hallucinations," that is, the generation of unreal information. Yes, without a doubt, a significant danger that requires the user's keen critical sense to discern the truth. And, in a complex world desperate for seemingly certain answers, this is a quite real risk of cognition for consumers and companies.
The next frontiers of digital transformation
Quantum Computing: Exponentially accelerates the power of artificial intelligence, promising a "new world" and greater power for big tech companies than for governments themselves.
· Robotics with AI: Robots with applied and functional artificial intelligence, including generative intelligence and access to our data, can assist with household chores and other functions. Although they offer hyper-personalization and do not "sicken," they pose significant cybersecurity risks.
Cybersecurity: Growing challenge and one of the biggest businesses on the planet (digital crime is the third largest)businessfrom the planet, according to executives from Palantir and Palo Alto, driven by the increase in attacks and frauds. Quantum computing will further amplify this challenge, as it can break current passwords and cryptographic keys.
· Delegation of decisions to AI: A growing trend of delegating decisions to artificial intelligence, as seen in autonomous cars or robotic surgeries, with the expectation that the machine's error will be lower than that of humans.
· AI Avatars: The vision of assistants like Iron Man's Jarvis is a standard trend, with cell phones and other devices acting as extensions of memory and cognitive capacity.
Return of the Metaverse: Although it was considered an "early" experience during its first boom, the evolution of hardware and the familiarity of new generations with virtual environments may bring the Metaverse back as a common environment for more immersive and natural interactions.
The human at the center of technology
In the face of all these changes and expectations, leadership is no longer about control, but about purpose. The world will become increasingly automated, and autonomous agents driven by artificial intelligence are expected to dominate the scene in the next five years, but the true differentiator will remain human. Therefore, reading works such as"In Search of Meaning", by Viktor Frankl, is essential for those leading in high-pressure and complex contexts. Frankl's experience in Auschwitz shows us that even in the most extreme situations, it is possible to find meaning, and it is this sense of purpose that guides difficult decisions.
When I look at my journey as a leader, I realize that my biggest mistake was, for a long time, trying to shape others according to my way of working. I learned — often with difficulty — that the role of a leader is not to centralize, but to empower. The leader who makes a difference is the one who awakens the best in each person around them, allowing diverse talents to come together to create something greater than any individual effort. This is the kind of leadership I want to see grow: open, generous, and deeply human.
Digital transformation is no longer a distant promise — it is among us. But no technology, no matter how advanced, replaces the need for genuine relationships and clear purpose. Data is essential. Strong culture, indispensable. But it is at the intersection of artificial intelligence and emotional intelligence that things truly happen in a productive way, genuinely enhancing the customer's experience in its entirety.
