Our economy has become a service economy. The shift away from manufacturing has been happening for some time, but lately the pace of change is increasing. New offerings make it easier and cheaper for individuals to become service providers, and expanding networks are changing the business landscape day by day. The level of coherency consumers demand across an ever-increasing range of digital and analog interactions is on the rise, too. Established businesses complain of being internally siloed, or not nimble enough to keep up; agile startups struggle to escape price wars in commodified industries. The challenge for organizations large and small is actually the same: how do we connect better? How can we mean more?

The answer lies in understanding the nature of change, which our panel will investigate:

--How can businesses learn to identify when change presents opportunity?

--What does it take to continually understand and adapt to changing customers?

--How do businesses know what to change to stay relevant?

Innovation is essential to meeting today’s challenges through new services or reimagining mature offerings. The changes demanded aren’t limited to improving existing service offerings: innovation is the crucial ingredient to keep meeting changing markets and improve bottom lines, online or in person. We hope you’ll join us for our discussion about what it means to keep up (and forge ahead) in the service economy.

PANEL MEMBERS:

Katie Dill, Head of Experience Design Airbnb As the Head of AirBnB's Experience Design, Katie leads the interaction and visual design team defining Airbnb’s digital products and services. She joined AirBnB from Greenstart venture design where, as a Partner and Creative Director, she worked with early stage startups to design their user experience and brand strategy. Katie's expertise includes interaction and industrial design, business strategy and user research.

Cliff Kuang, Senior Editor WIRED Cliff is an articles editor at WIRED, where he oversees design coverage in-print and online. He also oversees WIRED's homepage and its business coverage online. Previously, he was design editor at Fast Company, where he founded its award-winning spin-off site, Co.Design.

Cale Thompson, Creative Director Ziba Design Cale Thompson is a creative director at Ziba, providing relevant and compelling insights that inspire, inform and affect innovative products and services. He leads multidisciplinary teams of designers and researchers to develop innovative new experiences for businesses.