EXPERT SPEAK
Four-step approach to
blending technology
and business
Ahmed Hamzawy at BT explains how selecting and
blending the right technology can help reduce the
expectation gap for digital customers.
I
n a world where technology has made
it easier to seek out the best deal
and to move to greener pastures, a
better digital customer experience is the
competitive differentiation. CEOs today
are prioritising the customer experience
and are well aware of the role played by
digital transformation in developing these
richer relationships with their customers.
Organisations are racing to catch up
with the digital consumer who expects
a seamless, personal and engaging
experience, while they switch from in-
store showrooms to their smartphones.
According to BT’s Digital Customer 2017
research, 69% of consumers say they
find dealing with customer service issues
is exhausting.
It is very clear what customers want:
they want transactions to be easy, the
vendor to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week and their personal data to be secure.
Companies need to shift their focus to
delivering the outcomes that keep customer
engaged and anticipates their preferences
based on their purchasing history.
In an age when customer experience is
increasingly the benchmark for choosing
between brands, it is time to start thinking
about each customer experience as a
journey. Customers make decisions at
each stage of the journey based on their
motivation, context and attitude.
An organisation must understand the
needs and objectives of customers who
behave in certain ways, provide signposts
and personalise every interaction until the
52
customer achieves their goal, whether that
is booking a flight, changing an account,
stopping a service, or reporting a fault.
To help organisations move ahead with
digital transformation, we have developed
a structured approach that brings business
and technology together:
1. Define your customer journey
Digital customers are blending the
digital and physical worlds to interact
directly and indirectly with you. They are
dictating the stages in the journey, and
they are choosing how, where and when
they interact with you at each stage.
2. Understand customer behaviour
and expectations
The second step is to understand
customer behaviour and expectations.
How customers behave and what they
expect at each stage of the journey is
not a function of their age, nationality
or wealth. It is a function of what
they are trying to achieve. In short,
customers are goal-centric.
3. Choose the right technology mix
By this point you are committed to
enhancing your digital customer
experience. You may currently be
focused on the voice channel as a way
to service customers, but now you need
to do more. It is important to note that
voice is not being replaced – in fact it is
still very much one of the key ways that
customers want to interact.
Ahmed Hamzawy is General Manager, Sales
and Business Development, Middle East and
North Africa, BT.
4. Analyse customer interactions
Successful innovations are those that
customers want, organisations need,
and technology can deliver. At the end
of this four-step approach, you will want
to make sure it is delivering everything
you want. It is time to analyse the
customer journey and interactions,
find out if the journey is smooth, and
whether the experience is great for the
customer, and, ultimately, what this is
really costing your business.
Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and
Google or FANG have changed customer
expectations of service, engagement and
response. More traditional companies
are under real pressure to catch up.
Using digital technology to transform the
everyday customer experience is, quite
rightly, high on the boardroom agenda.
However, it is important to resist the
temptation to throw every new technology
at the problem.
Digital innovations only work when
three things come together: customers
want it; the business needs it; and the
technology can deliver it, reliably and
at scale. Miss out one of these, and the
desired transformation may not occur.
Using cloud-based contact centres and
omni-channel services can help you to
overcome the restrictions of ageing legacy
infrastructure, as well as ensure compliance
with data protection legislation. In turn,
this builds consumer trust in the way
personal data is handled.
Issue 13
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS