As a provider of vehicle-related assistance and safety services, we always focus our innovation on improving the customer experience.

We start by embedding innovation and service improvement metrics into the organizational development plans of my entire staff. Everyone needs to be engaged in thinking about innovation that will improve the customer experience, including the people who build the products. Having those metrics in the annual review process keeps creativity front of mind and measurable. We also have centers of excellence that focus on the user experience. One of our greatest successes was the implementation of a visual storyboard to model the lifecycle of a customer, which has greatly improved usability testing of new services prior to development.

I also try to get our Connected Vehicle products into the hands of as many employees as possible. The use of telematics is booming right now in the automotive industry­--in the years ahead, all cars will be digitally connected. For our employees, this means constant use of loaner vehicles, test benches and simulators. We even maintain a full-size model of a car dashboard with our latest offerings. There is never a shortage of volunteers for the evaluation teams, and that enthusiasm feeds the creative energy that produces new ideas.

Hoag, Radecki and Carbrey are all members of the CIO Executive Council, a global peer advisory service and professional association of more than 500 CIOs, founded by CIO's publisher. To learn more, visit council.cio.com.