Companies getting their customer-centric sea legs are hungry for best practices to guide them. But as data constantly reveals new details about customers, practices need to change in parallel. It’s important to have technology and cultures that can roll with the changes.

“I think the idea of best practices is sort of on its way out; I think it’s what we call evolving practices,” said Amber Hameed (pictured), vice president of information systems at Dollar Shave Club Inc.

The point of achieving a 360 view of customers is to take in new data about them as it becomes available. Companies need to be ready to act on customer data and feedback at a moment’s notice. This means training teams to always be thinking about the future, according to Hameed. It also requires switching from infrastructure-first information technology to “information systems” built to enable agile business.

Hameed spoke with John Furrier (@furrier) and Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during Adobe Summit in Las Vegas. They discussed the tools and methods businesses need in order to be customer-focused (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

Keeping up with customers spoiled by subscription

Dollar Shave Club leverages an event-driven architecture. Event-driven methods trigger reactions after tiny events instead of waiting for longer sequences to complete. They result in smarter software applications and better customer experiences.

The company has invested heavily in data infrastructure. It then added Adobe Inc.’s Audience Manager — a data management platform that builds 360-degree profiles of customers.

Hameed also recommends giving teams the freedom to look beyond the daily grind and be a part of the innovation process. She allows members of her team to think about what they’d like to deliver to the customers next and make suggestions. “That gets their creativity going, and it adds a lot of value to the brand itself,” she said.

This is all key to securing loyalty for a month-to-month, subscription-based business like Dollar Shave Club. “The way we keep them interested is refreshing all of that information that we’re providing to them in a very personalized way,” Hameed concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Adobe Summit 2019. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Adobe Summit 2019. Neither Adobe Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE