Technology and customer experience – many people keep the two separate in the enterprise. Most of the time, people on each team rarely talk to each other, let alone strategize together. It’s not that they don’t want to, a lot of people just don’t want to. In most companies, this is not a normal thing.
Most companies have tech teams focus on building new tools and improving the general tech environment, while CX teams focus on serving customers, improving SLAs, and more. In fact, if you were to go to most enterprise companies today and ask the tech team when was the last time they had a strategy discussion with the CX team, you might be surprised how many people would say they haven’t discussed it in a long time.
The point of this article is to explain the potential value and impact companies can have if technology and CX work together. The benefits are endless.
Digital transformation is more than implementing agile practices and maintaining a high level of agility. Agile practices are very beneficial and can help organizations transform. But implementing such an approach does not guarantee transformation. So, what should be the core and key drivers of digital transformation?
The 2022 GetSmarter survey finds that the latest technology tools do not guarantee success; digital transformation must also be people-centred. “If businesses – especially individuals – are not prepared, their digital transformation initiatives are doomed to fail.” In fact, 74% of transformation initiatives fail to reap the full benefits because internal people don’t have the capacity to change. The most common stumbling blocks are low employee engagement, insufficient management support, insufficient or absent cross-functional collaboration, and lack of accountability.
Jim Swanson, CIO of Johnson & Johnson and former CIO of Monsanto, agrees. “You can have all these things—customer views, products and services, data and really cool technology—but if leadership and culture aren’t central, it’s going to fail. Understand what digital means for your company — whether you’re a financial, agricultural, pharmaceutical, or retail organization — it matters.” Partnerships between management and different teams are critical to building and driving transformation.
Successful digital outcomes are critical for every business. You’ll meet the expectations of digital-first consumers, remain competitive in your market, reduce operating costs and attract talent. These will improve your bottom line.
Some of the biggest difficulties in implementing digital transformation are the adoption of complex technologies and processes, budget constraints, resistance to change, security concerns, and how to adapt the technology to the changing needs of customers. Agile methods provide solutions to these challenges.
Agile methods are the framework for software development projects. It’s not just about technology. This set of practices and methods is based on collaboration between teams, how they adapt to new technologies, and feedback from customers. In other words, you assess the ecosystem as you go along, and then find a way to deal with any uncertainty or difficulty.
The agile process starts with dividing the project into smaller pieces. Each subsection is a software feature that the user wants. Developers will prioritize and group them into iterations. Each iteration has a deadline, usually two weeks. This process is also known as a sprint. After the iteration is complete, users will test it and provide feedback. The developers will then change the software in the easiest way possible to meet the user’s needs. Repeat iterations and sprints until the project is complete.
An agile approach to rolling out digital initiatives brings many benefits to the entire organization. At the heart of agility is flexibility. Changes are expected, and teams can move to another process that provides better results. This leads to continuous improvement. Agile teams are always collaborating, reviewing, and adjusting. Ideas are shared and applied to each stage before moving forward. This culture increases the efficiency of the entire organization because teams work together and the people involved understand their specific roles in the process. Sprints and iterations help project managers estimate costs and timelines. Regular testing and changes reduce risk. Problems found in the middle of a project are easier to fix than at the end of the project. Teams deliver value faster, resulting in faster ROI.
A global survey by McKinsey found that successful transformations employ agile ways of working. The road to digitization across the enterprise is long and challenging, especially for companies still using legacy processes. With agile practices, the risk of failure is significantly reduced.
Agile is not only used to adopt digital transformation within a company. Businesses can also use it to upgrade the customer experience offered to consumers. Living the agile values of relationships over interactions, results over process, engagement over transactions, and flexibility over policy will encourage a truly customer-centric CX strategy. “We have to think about how to apply these principles and build the right capabilities for ongoing customer acquisition, retention, product adoption, value realization and branding,” said Jeb Dasteel, founder of Dasteel Consulting.
How important is the customer experience to the business? Let’s look at some statistics.
- A Temkin study found that companies with $1 billion in revenue could earn an additional $700 million by investing in customer experience over 3 years.
- American Express research found that 86% of buyers surveyed are willing to pay more for an amazing CX.
- According to a PwC survey, customers are willing to pay 13% to 18% more for luxury and indulgence because they receive a great customer experience.
- According to Forbes Insights and Arm Treasure data, 74% of consumers are likely to make purchases based solely on their CX.
- Empifli reports that four out of five respondents refuse to patronize a brand after 3 or more poor CX events.
you get the picture. Today is the age of the customer. Companies know this. Most of their digital transformations start with Augmented CX at their core. They know that customer satisfaction will drive loyalty, provide word-of-mouth marketing, and will become advocates for your brand. These have a significant impact on business reputation and increase revenue by 20% to 50% of the cost base, according to a McKinsey article. When done right, technology can help companies build great customer experiences and ultimately pay off.
A digital process that focuses on the following elements is critical to creating an effective CX strategy:
- Value – It’s not just about delivering a high-quality product or service; it’s delivering and demonstrating value through offers and recommendations that customers are truly interested in. They trust you more when they feel that you give them value by giving them what they really need. This fosters customer loyalty and advocacy.
- Personalize – Make them feel important and that they are considered individuals. Personalization increases engagement and customer satisfaction.
- Convenience – Service and purchases are easy and comfortable. Customers are happy when they can easily take advantage of self-service tools and a smooth buying experience.
- Reliability and Availability – Systems and networks must be reliable and responsive to customer needs, whether it’s customer service or product inquiries. Crucially, brands are available through whatever channel customers prefer.
- Simplicity – Ease of use provides customers with a fast and minimal friction buying process.
“You have to start with customer experience and then go back to technology, not the other way around.” – Steve Jobs
Meeting customer expectations and delivering a positive customer experience is a daunting task, which is why digital processes and systems exist. They are constantly evolving as customer needs change. Businesses have been using IVR menus, chatbots, live chat, CRM platforms and social media tools. Here are some emerging technologies that can complement your existing technologies.
Customer Experience Management (CXM) System
CXM systems do more than manage customer relationships. It provides a holistic view of the customer experience by collecting feedback and data from all customer touchpoints. Data can also be used to improve customer interactions and marketing campaigns.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is the driver of growth in personalization of top customer experiences. Based on customer feedback and real-time behavior, AI and predictive modeling can make personalized recommendations. AI also works well for customer service. The program can identify customers that require human participation from those that do not, thereby reducing queue times. Over the next decade, we will see the evolution of AI towards conversational AI – a mix of voice with video and emotional AI. This will enhance communication by better understanding the emotions of all participants, understanding their level of engagement, and building empathy and trust.
analyze
Analytics can provide insights so brands can identify customer needs and behaviors, correlate customer feedback surveys with employee performance, or evaluate and improve agency performance. To be effective, companies need to act on data results. If you fail to improve what your analytics information says “Needs Correction”, you will lose customer satisfaction.
Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR)
VR and AR have changed the way people communicate and engage. They help increase empathy and enable employees to provide better solutions, similar to conversational AI. These technologies also provide customers with an immersive visual experience. Enabling a customer’s visual journey leads to better engagement.
Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM)
These digital tools enable businesses to securely capture and manage customer identities. Through these data profiles, companies can control which applications, services and information each customer can access without compromising the convenience of security. CIAM also helps simplify the customer journey by introducing single sign-on (SSO) and requiring multi-factor authentication only when necessary. It also protects your customers’ data while protecting your business from cyberattacks and fraud.
CXM by Santalucia Seguros
The Spanish insurance company uses CXM tools to provide personalized service by connecting customers and products across all of its business lines, including home, life, finance, retirement and pets.
Walmart’s AI data analysis
Walmart combines their supply chain solutions with AI-driven data analytics, giving them access to customer data. By understanding the needs of their customers, they can adjust their marketing efforts and make decisions based on the data.
VR/AR events at Timberland and L’Oréal
Timberland built a virtual fitting room using VR and AR. Using Kinect motion-sensing technology, shoppers can “try on” different garments without the inconvenience of queuing in the locker room. L’Oreal’s Genius app lets customers apply lipstick by applying it to a photo on their smartphone. Shoppers can decide whether a particular shade is right for them before making a purchase. In both examples, customers are satisfied and return rates are low.
Tesco Bank’s CIAM
PingAccess and PingFederate provide banks with flexible authorization capabilities to deliver a customer-centric experience. Unified customer identity enables Tesco Bank to gain customer insights and deliver a better customer experience. It also implements a common security layer that relieves developers of responsibilities and saves cost and time.