There is no more vital, or over-tasked, role in digital transformation than Customer Experience (CX) leaders–leading service and CX experience transformation efforts. Responsible not just for robust performance goals and daily management of customer teams, CX managers must also build the alliances and strategies needed to implement the C-suite’s digital transformation strategy in a scaled and measurable way.
Sure, efficient CX teams can “do more with less,” but leaders should avoid taking sole responsibility for the complexity and organizational demands of remote enterprise transformation. Leaders need to stretch beyond their comfort zone to collect the data, C-suite allies, and support from People Teams needed to establish a culture of transformation up-and-down the org chart.
Read more to learn four strategies CX managers can use to transform their customer experience—and their bottom line.
Remote digital transformation series
This series highlights the different teams and stakeholders you’ll need to engage in your digital transformation efforts and the ways in which those teams will need to adapt and collaborate in order to deliver results with a remote customer mindset.
- Explore What Customer-first Digital Transformation Looks Like in 2022
- 4 Key Ways Executives Support Remote Digital Transformation Strategy
- Three Ways Leading IT Teams Support Remote Digital Transformation
- How HR & Training Can Lead Digital Workforce Transformation
- Get the Remote Transformation eBook
What is customer experience transformation?
"“Customer experience is an excellent starting point for a digital transformation because it places the emphasis on creating a happy customer and will also solve a lot of inherent inefficiencies.” –McKinsey
Customer experience transformation is the process of prioritizing the customer in all business strategies and processes and digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all business areas.
Put together, you get digital customer experience transformation (digital CX)–a focus on creating digital, customer-focused processes and experiences throughout a business. It is the process of reviewing and optimizing a business in order to make significant, often disruptive changes, to better serve customers with efficient and memorable brand experiences.
By adopting a remote customer-first mindset, CX managers can think outside of traditional touch-points and workflows to meet customers where they are, create new valuable engagement models, and build resilient technology-enabled capabilities for their teams.
How to transform customer experience:
- Moving from a reactive “finger-in-the-dam” support approach to a proactive and responsive customer service model.
- Updating customer contact systems to integrated cloud tools that enable real-time omnichannel communication.
- Training customer teams with the digital and remote-first skill sets to build strong customer relationships; no matter the channel.
- Using business data, customer insights, and cross-team collaboration to iteratively improve and automate the customer journey.
How to transform customer experiences
Customer experience transformation is a core element of your overarching digital transformation strategy. Its successful implementation requires inputs and efforts across teams and departments.
Align CX transformation to executive initiatives & business goals
The complexity and gravity of enterprise change require vision and leadership from day-one. Executives must set the mandate for change and then support teams with the technology and resources they need to succeed.
To answer the C-suite call to action, Customer Experience leaders must strategically align new initiatives to core business strategy, goals, and capabilities. CX managers should actively court and manage executive sponsors as core collaborators.
“Aligning CX/digital initiatives with the overall enterprise goals means the program will have the support and visibility of the organization’s top executives, rather than some lower-level executive who hires a niche-agency.
-Iliya Rybchin, Elixirr in CMSWire
Gaining a C-suite champion may require additional alignment, testing, and reporting, but the preparation is worth every bit of the effort when executives can authoritatively communicate the what, how, and why of your remote customer experience transformation program.
Leverage executive support to think differently, strategically
Customer experience transformation requires new, bold ways of thinking about old problems. CX leaders should use their executive mandate to challenge the “we’ve always done it this way” mindset and refocus teams on delivering customer value first, digitally, and remotely.
An outdated process, locked in emails, was costing Traeger Grills millions in support costs and a customer satisfaction score that did not reflect their passionate brand community. A finger-in-the-dam approach meant complaints and costs increased yearly, while the underlying problems weren't being addressed.
By moving to a remote, customer-first approach using StreemCore™ live video, Traeger was able to pivot to a responsive omnichannel model, reduced their warranty spend by 51%, and now regularly reports CSAT scores above 90.
Old habits die hard. Share the customer data. Include front-line teams in discovery, consideration, and training development. You may even need to give them overt permission to break old rules in service of delivering a new level of customer value.
Work with IT to activate customer journey data
By working with IT teams to capture, share, and activate customer data—CX teams can un-silo insights and help spread a user-first mindset across the org.Democratizing data, Becky Sherman notes in a 2021 CX industry report, “[Puts] the research into the hands of more people, so that we can do more with less.”
Leverage your partnership with IT to collect user data and research, then work with them to tell the full transformation story to leadership stakeholders. A shared ownership for communicating custom data across teams is step one to building the agile, collaborative process that delivers ROI at scale. Start this partnership today.
Partner with HR & Training to socialize the “so what” of your CX transformation strategy
Communicating the value of change to front-line employees is a regular pain-point for transformation efforts. Any professional focused on their quota will want to know why you’re asking them to change and why it will be worth it to them.
Furthermore your highly-intuitive, experienced customer teams will need coaching, time, and practice in order to feel the same confidence using remote tools and workflows to develop these new customer relationships.
Deep and early collaboration with HR and Training functions is essential and ensures that programs can launch on time with the training, guides, and desk aids teams need. But don’t stop at discovery and training.
Leverage your People teams to learn from your workforce and include them in agile review and optimization of your transformation program. Their reports from the front-lines can accelerate innovation and problem solving; building virtuous-cycles where customer insights supercharge efforts in real time.
See the world from your customer’s perspective
However you approach cx digital transformation in your organization, it’s crucial that you focus every precious moment on improving your customer’s journey.
Using easy to implement, omnichannel customer tools like StreemCore™ video calls, CX leaders can quickly prove the value of new customer-first workflows while integrating rich customer data into their existing systems—unlocking customer-first insights and value throughout the entire journey. Explore the AR remote assistance FAQs to learn more!
Get a demo to get started today.
