Vice President of Projects & Implementations, Robert Pontious, Looks at How Good Stress in Ecommerce Drives Productivity
Eustress: The anxiety or stress one gets from doing something new, different, exciting, and ultimately beneficial.
This anxiety or stress can take many forms. It could be digging into a new home improvement project, allowing your child to start dating, going back to school for that secondary degree you’ve always wanted, or maybe it’s simply stepping into a new position during a time of unprecedented global difficulty.
A little over a year ago, at the height of Covid19, I took on a new role as Vice President of the Projects and Implementations at PixelMEDIA. I was drawn to this position and the vision that this B2C Commerce Business offered, attracted by the challenges we would face in 2020.
Relationships Matter
PixelMEDIA puts relationships first, with clients and with each other. This amazing team supported one another with the worries of health, home, and family, working side-by-side with our clients as “the new normal” shifted all of us to the new economy.
Our clients needed support. After all, when stores closed, websites got busier and digital commerce became far more important. Emphasis moved from launching and managing Salesforce Commerce Cloud B2C platform to truly driving customization and personalization. Those who often relied on the in-store experience needed ‘Buy Online, Pickup In-Store’ implemented quickly, or more specifically, curbside. This feature wasn’t executed by a developer in a small room alone, this was an entire team that knows one another, can be flexible, and can help our clients stay nimble. But these challenges weren’t only met by the developers. The finance team also needed to consider how to best structure options to fund these expedited (and often unplanned) expenditures. The User Experience team dove into the most frictionless way to frame a seamless buying experience, including BOPIS. Technical architects combed through our most successful partner integration options to foster better shopping experiences and be rapidly deployed with social content, reviews, and payment options. Account and project management helped leadership and project teams to shift priorities and resources while managing the uncertainties of home and family.
Home and family are key. While we were all working from home, it was through technology that many of us could still connect to the global community. Excuse the pets. Sorry, the bandwidth is suffering because the kids are on with their teacher. Oh, you’re on mute. We’ve all experienced these lines and have all gotten a little closer as we get a peek into our private lives and welcome people into our homes by video. We’ve gotten to know one another on a personal level. We recognize that we, ourselves, behave as our shoppers and buyers, and brand stories need to be told. Our Digital Marketing and User Experience teams gleaned from their ecommerce knowledge to advise our clients around those first-touch growth initiatives, expanding their acquisition channels and implementing personalized brand experiences.
Sometimes the best way through a challenging time is to be able to focus on the work ahead, for our coworkers, our friends, four families, and one another.
Embracing the Unknown
It was challenging yet thrilling finding opportunities for growth improvement. We solutioned how to train previously in-store personnel to do new content, campaigns, and promotions to keep them all working. The Digital Marketing team accelerated acquisition plans for Email Strategies, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Shopping Feeds, as shoppers browsed more than ever from home. Marketing pivoted content and advertising to suit new specific needs: the home office, more relaxed wardrobes, and home improvement products because suddenly shoppers shifted to the home and were inspired to change out the light fixtures or finally install a pool.
Highly experienced technical architecture and software teams have been able to invest in the expansion of content creation on Salesforce Page Designer with more options for brand storytelling with clicks, not code through the newly launched Pixel Page Designer.
Together we have fostered more time with our families and outlined solutions for our future success in a digital economy. Our product roadmap is pushing these innovations for brands to offer personalized experiences and retain customer-centricity. Highly experienced technical architecture and software teams have been able to invest in the expansion of content creation on Salesforce Page Designer. By focusing on more options for brand storytelling with clicks, not code, the newly launched Pixel Page Designer was born. Our ongoing projects including Propel, an accelerated reference architecture for SFRA, expanded email solutions, and analytical tag management cartridges in synergy with continued training through our partnership with eSSENTIAL Accessibility, for web accessibility and Salesforce for their Lightning OMS offerings. We are focused more than ever to deliver for our clients. Over the last year, we worked with Salesforce to develop and launch the first HIPAA compliant storefronts, leveraging all aspects of the business and developing toward a more usable, more customer-focused, and peak-performing site.
Eustress, Not ‘You’ Stress
More and more people see we are a global community. If something affects one of us, it affects us all. We truly succeed together. PixelMEDIA is interested in learning your story and launching you into the future, so we can grow together. As we’ve seen in the last year, that’s not always easy. Sometimes, you can’t fix everything. So, we must consider what we can do. What can we create or solve? How can we work towards the future? It’s a hike, but we’ll make it over the next hill, especially working with the right team. Last year had its challenges, but for me, it was positive stress.
In the end, the best way to manage stress is through exciting opportunities with your team, internally and externally, and to embrace that eustress together.
– Rob Pontious, Vice President, Projects and Implementations, PixelMEDIA
