In today’s fast-moving world of globalized competition and skyrocketing expectations, customer experience (CX) is becoming a top priority in any enterprise. A customer’s experience with a particular brand, its services, or its products gets etched in stone over time.
The experience gets engraved right from the time the customers get to know a brand and buys a product of that brand. The perception of whether the promises made by the brand are realized during the product’s actual use further defines the level of customer experience.
The better the customer experience, the higher the chances of repeat purchases and the creation of a loyal customer. More loyal customers result in overtaking of competition and better business. All in all, a good customer experience is good business.
However, not all enterprises are able to provide a perfect customer experience. In many cases, the reason is inadequate technology paired with poor service quality. To achieve the perfect balance, enterprise CIOs must look at CX in conjunction with their enterprise IT objectives — precisely what this article elaborates on.
Customer Experience Is Linked to Digital Transformation
The adoption of technology enhances the meeting of customer expectations. Technology gets infused into every department to increase productivity, and customer needs get addressed at every level of an organization. This leads to digital transformation across all entities of a corporation so as to be able to IT enable an enterprise.
Customer Experience Is Linked to Information Technology
The adoption of Information Technology (IT) plays a crucial role as corporations scramble to increase customer experience to higher levels of satisfaction. The deeper the penetration of IT and digital transformation across all departments in a company, the higher the chances of achieving a favorable customer experience.
A blip in the IT component of a business would most certainly result in a downgrade of achieved elevated levels of customer experience. The brand could be well placed, the pricing might be right, and sales and marketing are well oiled, but a single misstep in IT of the enterprise could result in customer experience dropping several points.
The management of a business enterprise is well aware of this, and the role of the CIO has begun to play a crucial role in business operations and strategies as well. The CIO, in turn, has to have the IT infrastructure up and running at all times to ensure the business is maintaining high levels of customer experience at all times. In essence, the CIO has to ensure that IT goals are in SYNC with the direction and expectations of the business as a whole.
Keeping the IT Engine Running Is Critical
The pulse of any business is fed by a healthy IT infrastructure and it is up to the CIO to ensure it is a well-oiled engine running smoothly. From people to a choice of technologies to compliances and cybersecurity, the IT beast needs to be fed, leashed, and monitored at all times.
IT and Company Management
IT decision-making cannot be left to the lower echelons of corporate management. The CIO needs to be a part of all high-level decision-making of the company, its current standing, and where it is headed.
Information technology is no more about installing computers and software in an enterprise; it’s now an integral part of every operational decision involving customer experience and its enhancement.
Retention of the Best
Just as CX is to be maintained at the highest level, the talent behind the IT force of a company has to be trained, molded, and retained. The best of the best has to be hired, but with that comes the challenge of talent retention.
Today’s tech talent is a premium, and there is a global demand for technocrats who forge the customer experience of a company, its policies, and various offerings via state-of-the-art IT infrastructure and technology implementations. This band of professionals is always on the move from one company to another and adequate care has to be taken that employee retention and business continuity processes are in place at all times.
Ever-Changing Cybersecurity Norms, Practices, and Threats
Cybersecurity threats and the sophistication of hacker attacks are increasing by the day. A data breach or ransomware attack could severely dent the operations of a company which in turn could affect critical customer experience data points.
To ensure the smooth running of the IT enterprise, the CIO must ensure the highest level of cybersecurity practices, compliances, and policies are applied throughout the enterprise at all times.
Increasing Demands for Digital Transformation
Digital transformation is a continuous process. As the company grows, more functions, departments, and resources get IT enabled. This means that digital transformation takes place at an ever-increasing rate throughout the enterprise.
As digital transformation grows, so do all the factors that are influenced by its growth. Deployment of IT, data management, cybersecurity, networking, migration to the cloud, and upgrade or replacement of legacy systems are just some of the entities that must be addressed at all times.
Analytics, Data Mining, Warehousing, and Observability
Customer experience has to be monitored and reviewed throughout a given life cycle. Based on feedback collected and data analyzed, decisions can be taken on how to increase the quality of customer experience.
With digital transformation and the enabling of IT across the enterprise, critical data must be collected, stored, processed, and analyzed at all times to give the required results on increasing customer expectations. This means the CIO must ensure that all tools, technologies, and practices are adopted to improve an organization’s data awareness and observability.
Cost Overruns and Budget Control
As with any other business process, cost overruns caused due to demands, delays, and management errors must be monitored and controlled by the CIO.
Customer experience is now directly related to IT and its implementation aimed at keeping a customer satisfied. The customer demands continuously increase and change, resulting in IT implementation upgrades, digital transformation demands, and system demands.
Altogether, there will be cost overruns and increasing IT expenditure to meet these demands, and it will be up to the CIO if it is kept within budget and control at all times.
CX and the CIO
Customer Experience and the CIO in this day and age are directly linked. The responsibility has steadily forced upper management to include the CIO in decisions involving customer expectations and customer experience standards.
An enhanced level of CX is impossible to realize without the direct involvement of the CIO. The decisions of the CIO also directly impact the data points of customer experience.