Bennett, Head of Global Customer Management, Beiersdorf
We must look to the future and focus on our client requirements, competitive pressures and solution design for what our clients will want and need tomorrow. The pace of change is relentless and the rate of digital transformation continues to accelerate. Anders challenges us to imagine this future and its implications and consequences for our clients, industry and our business and we need to listen and understand that we need one foot in the future and one in the present to win in this market.
Andrew Briggs, Group Executive of Sales, Dimension Data Group
Anders Sörman-Nilsson analyses historical patterns to provide an insightful interpretation of the future. Underlying his message is the importance of good old fashioned storytelling to engage customers and connect them to your brand. Seamless is a very thought-provoking read.
Matt Lucas, Head of Content and Social Media, Australia Post
Retail payments are undergoing massive transformation as we embrace contactless, mobile NFC, tokenisation and in-app payments in both the offline and online worlds. This will re-shape customer interaction with retailers, removing friction from the experience, creating seamless journeys and rendering payments invisible. As the customer navigates between the ordinary, analogue world and the extraordinary digital world, we need contributions from futurists like Anders Sörman-Nilsson to help us plot our paths in to the future.
Bruce Mansfield, Managing Director, Eftpos
Anders Sorman-Nilsson has provided a compelling narrative, which provides readers with both the context and framework to adapt and transform themselves and their organisations. It's an essential guide to navigating the disruption we are all experiencing in our personal and professional lives.
Martin Perelmuter, President, Speakers' Spotlight
Seamless is an excellent guide to how we can navigate and stay relevant in the digital age. Anders Sorman-Nilsson helps us realise why digitalisation is not just a risk, but an opportunity to enhance our unique qualities.
Rasmus Ankersen, Chairman, FC Midtjylland A/S
Seamless
A hero's journey of digital disruption, adaptation and human transformation.
anders sörman-nilsson
with research from Anton Järild and the foresights team at Thinque
First published in 2017 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd
42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064
Office also in Melbourne
© Thinque Pty. Ltd 2017
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.
Cover design by Hema Patel
Internal figures by Clementine D'Arco
Cover image (paperback): © Marthu
Figure 1.4 and 1.5: Photographs by Greve Kalling
Figure 1.6: Photograph(s) taken by Relmi Damiano
Figure 2.2: Photograph by Philip Bäckman
Figure 4.1: Photograph by Gustav Arnetz
Figure 5.2: © picturelibrary / Alamy Stock Photo
Figure 5.3: © Gordon Shoosmith / Alamy Stock Photo
Figure 12.2: Photograph by Anton Järild
Figure 12.3: Photograph by Birgitta Sörman-Nilsson
Disclaimer
The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.
About the author
Anders Sörman-Nilsson
Avant-garde ideas that expand minds and inspire a change of heart
Anders Sörman-Nilsson (LLB / EMBA) is a global futurist and innovation strategist who helps leaders decode trends, decipher what's next and turn provocative questions into proactive strategies. With an average of 240 international travel days a year, Anders' view is that the future and the now are converging in a city or village near you, giving the curious, the creative and the courageous a competitive and sustainable edge. At the same time, that same future contains fearsome forecasts for futurephobes.
This Swedish-Australian futurist has shared stage with Hillary Clinton, Nobel Laureates, and Portuguese, Swedish and Australian heads of state. He is an active member of TEDGlobal, has keynoted at TEDx in the United States and Australia, was nominated to the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders in 2015, and was the keynote speaker at the G20's Y20 Summit in Sydney. His thought leadership has been featured in international media like Monocle, Business Insider, Sky News Business, Chicago Tribune, Financial Review, CIO Magazine and Boss. In addition to Seamless, he is also the author of the books Digilogue: how to win the digital minds and analogue hearts of tomorrow's customers (2013) and Thinque Funky: Upgrade Your Thinking (2009).
As a futurist and strategist, his foresights are meticulously researched, deeply impactful and always fascinating with futures tailored to his clients, which is why brands like Apple, Cisco, Mercedes Benz, Hilton, SAP, Gartner and Macquarie Bank have turned to Anders over the years to help them turn research into foresight and business impact.
When he is not globetrotting, he enjoys feeling deeply connected with his partner, Nicole, enjoys lazy long weekends in Pittwater on Sydney's northern beaches, morning swims, and hanging out with his family and friends – from Elvina Bay to Färingsö, Stockholm.
Acknowledgements
George Orwell once said that an ‘autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful'. While this book is by no means an autobiography, the story behind it has taken me to both depths of despair and elated excitement, from furious frustration to zen sensations. It certainly is revelatory, vulnerable, and hopefully
