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Are you ready for your 'MACHINE CUSTOMERS ?!...it could be closer than you think.
Or why don't we just start with your current 'customer experience / journey'.
Customer experience is simple and sophisticated in the same breathe
Your customer experience mapping is specific to your company. All customers will go through similar steps in the buying process and you can influence and help the customer along each step.
At a broad level your customer experience journey will look like this:
3 Main Phases to the Customer Journey
Phase 1
AWARENESS - know that you even exist.
Phase 2
CONSIDER - explore and research your offer.
Phase 3
ACTION - take a form of action, whether an enquiry, a quote, subscribe to more information, or buy.
Remember, this is all relative to your competitors. And it's much easier for customers to be doing quick online research or even generating an impression about your brand long before they are ready to buy...successful companies know this and start the 'lead warming' process very early on.
Newer companies today sometimes have it easier, as they can build their whole offerings around customer delight and treat the whole company as one path.
Whether big or small, new or heritage, online or offline, product or service, there are a few fundamentals that have a common thread. Of course it all revolves around your customer and the experience your customer has across all online and offline touch points of your company and brand.
Most customers still have a very clunky experience path for their customers, especially longer standing companies that have always done things a certain way - change isn't easy or not always welcome by established managers.
Just think like a customer thinks and does - from start to finish.
But is it the digital bit or the customer bit?...
Digital technologies also fundamentally change customer engagement and experiences.
Digital transformation at its core is a business transformation focusing on increasing customer experience and operational efficiency (Weill & Woerner, 2018).
And what are we doing it for?...
Driven by efficiency and growth ambitions, we expect firms' focus on digital technologies to continue increasing by two-digit annual growth rates (World Economic Forum, 2018).
And what does it even mean?...
The term digital is rather washed-out. It is a synonym for many terms and only a few people can tell you what it means. (I3) … from gluing technologies together to designing new business models so that new markets can be created using digital technology. (I6)
Where to start?...just start and just keep moving.
Strategy / Transformation / Digitalisation..is your business ready to evolve?
People / Functions / Culture...are your people ready?
Customers / Partners / Distributors...are your customers ready?
Data / Information / Insights...have you got all the data?, what to do with it?
Technology / Integrations / Automations...have you got the 'stack' aligned?
In order to excel in digital transformation, companies should be clear on what they are good at, what their core competencies are, and how they can complement them.
The successful navigation of a digital transformation starts with a clear strategy combined with the operational backbone and organizational culture (Iansiti & Lakhani, 2020; Sebastian et al., 2017). As the speed of change is extremely high, firms need to be alert and responsive, even to weak signals in their environment (Venkatraman, 2019).
There are so many elements to align these days.
Data, tech, tools, time, WFH...who says it's getting easier?!@&$#%?
As the famous management guru Peter Drucker said...
"a managers job is to manage'...and...make a profit". (DRUCKER)
But what to hit first?!
Manage the existing company? Or focused on managing improvements for the future?
Or likely, BOTH.
Managers have always been faced with challenges and ongoing changes, with competing priorities, both short (fix today/week) and long-term (fix the future).
And we are in an always-on and always-changing world...
The digital transformation's central paradigm has emerged owing to the variety of digital technologies over the years, which enabled constant connectivity between objects and people and allowed generating and processing data in new manners.
Which is leveling the playing field for all...
To be successful in the digital environment, firms need to overcome legacy IT infrastructure challenges quickly, as everything their competitors do with data is scalable, defensible, and reinforceable (Wessel, Levie, & Siegel, 2016).
So, we like to keep it really simple...
START (& END) WITH YOUR CUSTOMER.
This might seem obvious, but it's very easy to get distracted internally.
And this goes for everyone - all the traditional functional boundaries are a lot blurrier these days so everyone really needs to have a broader skill base to cut across (or see across) all areas to serve the customer better. Sure, zoom in to your specialty area, but having the capability to zoom out across all perspectives is a very important future-proof skill.
Just like you have a clear vision / mission / values.
Just like you have a clear strategy / objectives.
Start with your customer and work back...every time...and don't stop!
"Lead with the customer experience not the technology". (STEVE JOBS)
Alot of the time you will be taken off track - so simply come back to the test...
'how will this help improve our customer experience?'
You see, your customer doesn't really care about all your different business functions and teams and projects and all...they care about them.
Your customer doesn't care about your financials or your working from home/office policy...they care about them.
Your customer doesn't care about what software you use, or how you transact and make things happen...they care about them.
Lead with your customers experience (just like the ol' customer need) and you will find the answer.
Listen to them, talk to them, understand them...serve them better...they win more = you win more.
Just ask your customers...they will give you the answers of what to fix first...and usually its the little things that really bug them (e.g. a log on portal to get a PDF of an invoice).
And best of all, some of them will tell your what you do well or not do well relative to your competitors.
Try this...
1 hour in the market is equivalent to 1 day in the office
Once the pain points / problem definition is crystal clear you have your 'digital transformation map'.
Put them in a list.
Then classify them into something like this:
a) Quick Hits - what can we fix this week / this month.
b) Big Hits - what can we fix this year (schedule out for year 2, 3).
You might not necessarily have the right process or technology tools in place right now - but you can define the future offline first, to get it right for your customers.
Obviously there is a lot more to it - a lot more - especially the whole change management methodology you use in engaging and helping your people on the journey.
TIP - get an awesome Change Manager to lead it and guide it - worth every cent/dollar. Most companies completely undercook this and try and use the same team and resources who are running the business daily to try and fix the future state...it'll take way longer and not be as good. Everyone learns the hard way.
And obviously, you can keep classifying your Hit List even more based on 'efficiency savings / cost down via automations' all the way through to full-blown 'blue ocean strategy' moves like...
You can order whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want and we will deliver it the same day for the best value/price' (AMAZON)
Let's recreate the modern circus as a sensory experience, with no animals (CIRQUE DU SOLEIL)
Any car can be a taxi, driven by anyone, anytime (UBER)
Then start moving in your 'getting better - continuous improvement' direction.
So the trick is get going and adapt along the way, because it will be changing ongoing...oh, and it's all hands on deck as this is going to impact everyone and needs everyone...
The digital transformation implies shifts in organizational structures and cultures, such as from management-driven to data-driven decision-making, from silos to interdisciplinary collaboration, and from risk-averse approaches to agility, experimentation, and improvisation (Levallet & Chan, 2018).
Digital transformation thereby refers to the “process that aims to improve an entity by triggering significant changes to its properties through combinations of information, computing, communication, and connectivity technologies” (Vial, 2019, p. 118)
Blending more agile and flexible approaches with more traditional processes and accustomed behaviours should be taken into account when transforming the existing workforce or bringing new digital talent into the workforce.
But not all companies are the same. And not all industry sectors are the same...or are they?
Obviously, there are differences in product or service offering. There are differences in company style and culture. And differences in how you do things...your processes, your systems...your ways of working and getting things done. But there is a common theme in that this is going to keep effecting everyone across every part of the personal and work lives...so we need to get better at it...
Let's go through a few digital tools....to help bring some more reality check concepts into play. Sometimes cutting through all the hype and demystifying some of the important tech tools helps to see their usefulness or place in your company - today and into the future.
DIGITAL TOOLS
CRM
We have small businesses that already have their own real life CRM without even knowing it. Many small businesses will know or get to know everything about their local customer base in the normal course of doing business. Just think about your local cafe, local restaurant, the plumber or tradesperson you use regularly, or even better the local hair dresser who knows everything thats going on!
You see, Customer Relationship Management is exactly what is says. A pre-defined way of managing the customer...the journey, the experience...from start to finish. Getting to know the customer with more depth - to adapt the offering to what they like / need / want. And the customer is equally getting to know more about you who is servicing their product or service need...the 'relationship' bit.
CRM is not just the software technology....that's the enabler.
All the incredible features and functionality to help 'replicate the corner story mentality'.
CRM is a way of thinking / a way of doing for your customers.
A better, more relevant customer experience that you can replicate, learn from and improve.
May big businesses are trying to become small businesses and shake off some of the reputation of 'big' when it comes to serving the customer. You can see it come and go in cycles...suddenly our first name pops up everywhere in communications (instead of a formal surname), and the langauge is more casual and cooler than it used to be.
Big business uses the technology, such as CRM systems, to replicate the 'corner store mentality' with every single customer they can - remembering their preferences, profiling their attributes, and tailoring future offerings to better suit likely needs of each customer...and it only getting deeper and better.
And interestingly, most small and medium businesses that invest in a CRM software system really use only a fraction of the features - imagine if instead of paying the full feature price, they just paid for what they really need today!
Don't get me wrong - I love CRM and the purpose and vision it brings to a company, but like any manager, sales person or customer service person will know, the administration not to mention the adaption and learning curve is massive, particularly if you are starting from scratch.
How many companies hit download and expect CRM to just take off in their company?!
Like anything...how you use it, feed it, track it, manage it and improve it..is what matters!
Any system is only as good as the input - use - output that goes into it
DASHBOARDS
Managers need great information to make decisions - thats always been the case. Today, there is so much data flying around, but still not as much rich helpful information.
But we are so spoilt with data that we have lost a sense of touch with what is relevant for the situation.
And when we talk data and dashboards, it's not just the numbers. It's time, it's words...a rich collection of insights...LIVE!
Dashboard your Customer Journey
Now, realign all your data and dashboards from the perspective of your Customer Journey...from start to finish. Not just endless data and reports about internal factors, but real value-adding, profit generating dashboards that show you upstream and downstream...through the customer journey.
3 biggest data dashboard challenges:
Getting all your data reports into one view / one system (vs jumping around)
Simplifying down to your core metrics (cutting back to the critical few)
Sequencing all your reports from start to finish (in terms of customer journey)
We will assume you can access it, share it with your team, and its live accurate.
Once you have much of the insights in your hand, you will get to a point where you need more answers to the Whys?
Most data will only tell you the What? and the When? (eg. most financial reports).
You can look upstream and downstream trends to start forming a complete picture. But you will get to a point where you need to go and test some theories with deeper dive qualitative research.
Alot of the deeper diving you can do yourself thorugh your team, or this is a great tool:
Power BI is obviously on the go-to Dashboard Platforms - honestly there are so many. But you know, many of them are very generic and can give you what ever you what but...you need to be very clear on what you asking it.
OUTRO
We love exploring some of the fundamentals across all companies and dig into some interesting perspectives from some of the worlds thought leaders and how companies can make massive leeps in 'customer experience' with just some of the smarts.
The list goes on, so keep switching your thinking back to your customer and your specific business. One of the constants is...technology is going to keep evolving and we are going to keep changing...which is nothing really that new if you think about it...that always been life!
Individual Customer experience (iX)
Transformation / Change Management (CM)
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Technology adoption (TA)
In their paper 'Digital transformation: What we have learned (thus far) and what is next 'Sabrina Schneider, and Olga Kokshagina state it really well...do what needs to be done first.
"Customised transformation means finding those methods and tools that fit the company and that enable the company to make the transformative moves that fit and need to be done."
Undoubtedly, digital technologies have become omnipresent and play a growing role in our lives (Colbert, Yee, & George, 2016). The option scope that digital technologies offer and, with this, the impact digital technologies have on individuals, business, and society, have grown ever since the diffusion of the Internet around the turn of the millennium. Throughout this time, the nature of the digital technologies has changed.
For 2015, Gartner identified three themes across its top 10 strategy technology trends:
intelligence everywhere,
merging of the real and the virtual world, and the,
emerging new information technology (IT) reality
(Spender, 2015).
For 2020, Gartner's top 10 strategic technology trends include:
hyper-automation
blockchain, and,
human augmentation
(Panetta, 2019).
For 2024, Gartner's top 10 strategic technology trends include:
AI Trust, Risk and Security Management (AI TRiSM)
Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)
Sustainable Technology
Platform Engineering
AI-Augmented Development
Industry Cloud Platforms
Intelligent Applications
Democratized Generative AI
Augmented Connected Workforce
Machine Customers
We particularly like (?) the sounds of that last one!
These strategic technology trends will factor into business and technology decisions over the next three years. Gartner urges you to evaluate the impacts and benefits of each of these technology trends to determine which innovation — or strategic combination — will have the most significant impact on your organization’s success.
Each of the trends relates to one or more key themes for business: protecting and preserving past and future investments, building the right solutions for the right stakeholders at the right time, and delivering value for the changing environment of both internal and external customers.
REFERENCES
'Digital transformation: What we have learned (thus far) and what is next'
First published: 06 January 2021
Gartner
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