Episode 125 / Zurich Insurance / Monika Schulze / Head of Customer and Innovation Management
Embracing Innovation and Practicality with Augmented Reality
Monika Schulze is the Head of Customer and Innovation Management at Zurich Insurance, where she is always looking for ways to bring innovative ideas to customers and enhance their experience with her brand. Her Shiny New Object is focused on the B2B experience: augmented reality glasses and how they can help in a multitude of industries.
Monika’s career rests on three pillars: her experience working at Unilever, her entrepreneurial work and her career in the insurance industry. Throughout, one common theme has been turning strategy into action and always trusting her gut instinct, especially since she’s become more experienced in marketing.
Why trust gut instincts? Because, too often, Monika believes that companies put off acting on strategy recommendations or they over-rationalise projects. This is something she has experienced in strategy consulting, so her advice is: “Don’t overanalyse – turn strategy into action.”
Monika’s Shiny New Object is somewhat connected to this idea: augmented reality (AR) glasses and how they can be used in work. AR can be extremely helpful in settings where, for example, risk engineers are visiting a site and have to move around while also taking in information and accessing past reports or discussing with colleagues back in the office. The ability to do this all via the AR glasses will enhance their experience on-site and make their work a lot easier and more efficient.
However, AR glasses have a while to go before the technology and its acceptance are at the right level for them to become widespread. But, Monika believes they are the future and we can see how adopting them while they’re being perfected is a great example of turning strategy into action and reaping the benefits.
The other lesson from AR glasses for marketers is that both the basics and the “sexy stuff” need to fixed before a product can work best. AR glasses need to not only be helpful, interesting and futuristic, but they also need to be easy to wear and use. Therefore, as a marketer, you need to work on both and, importantly: “Don’t tell people that fixing the basics is boring!”
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