How to craft the building blocks of an effective CX solution

Despite consensus among business executives that customer experience (CX) holds the key to the future of their going concern, not many are actively working on a CX strategy — let alone executing one.

However, this is fast changing as organizations realize that sustained incremental innovation is not delivering expected results.

When business embraces modern customer experience technology, they should brace themselves for radical, transformational innovation. 

For a CX project to be referred to as successful, it should at least cause constructive shake ups across the business. Marketing, sales, customer service and operations particularly benefit from a well-executed CX project. Considering these functions are responsible for the business’ top and bottom line, it is not surprising that CEOs find every reason to sponsor and keep the pulse on such projects. As a consequence, CX projects seldom suffer funding woes. 

From my experience working as a CX consultant across the continent, I have more often than not found that organizations are out there looking for CX solutions without a well thought out specification and scope.

This is the primary reason why most CX projects conclude without delivering the value that was envisioned in their kick off charter. So what, at the very minimum, should constitute the specifications for a CX solution?

First of all, CX solutions have seven major functional categories:

1.  Marketing automation

2.  Sales force automation (SFA)

3.  Order configuration

4.  Pricing and quoting engines (CPQ)

5.  Commerce

6.  Customer Service

7.  Social

An organization’s IT business analysts should be responsible for identifying the most pressing business requirements and categorizing them into these functional areas. By doing so it is easy to determine where to start.

For example, distinct business pain points around post-sales interactions can make automation of customer service take precedence over, say, marketing automation. A complete CX solution should at least be able to integrate the 7 functional areas seamlessly even if they are implemented incrementally. 

CX solutions are only as formidable as the technology platform they are perched on. Mobility, social, integration, customer master data management (MDM) and analytics are critical propping pillars for any of the functional categories described above. Be certain to confirm how the prospective technology provider for your CX product supports these platform capabilities.

Lastly, multichannel support is an imperative in the digitally disrupted world we are living today. Research by reputable analysts has shown that customers interact with an organization using at least three channels. If an organization does not open up a plethora of practical channels for customers to engage, it is probably losing prospects or churning on the existing customer base.

Support for web, social, e-mail, mobile, traditional face to face (F2F), field service and call centre channels is essential. Realize, for example, that a customer purchase can emanate from one channel and get fulfilled on the other. Omni-channel support is the secret weapon to ensuring that customers’ experience is never fraught by a dissonant disconnect.

Finally, always rethink people and business process readiness before setting course with a CX project. The technology alone won’t deliver the magic expected if it is not buttressed by a knowledgeable and equipped project team. Optimized, known, clear and documented business processes go a long way to eliminating ambiguity. In my experience implementing CX projects, I cannot over emphasize how having the right mix of people, process and technology can amplify success probability.

If one considers these guidelines at the very least, chances are the CX project will tick. This way, a strategy hinging on acquiring more customers, retaining the existing ones while operating efficiently will most certainly deliver the expected results.

The writer is Master Principal Solutions Consultant, Oracle Kenya – CRM/CX.