‘DIGITAL transformation’ is a buzzphrase frequently thrown around by the technology press and management consultants. While it can refer to the use of new software or hardware in an organization, it can also be used to refer to a sea-change in the way that enterprise works.

When a product or service which is based on new tech comes to market, a businessperson’s first reaction is usually one of asking how this new thing can be used to help sell more product, or in some way be used to bring more potential customers to the door.

Marketers, in particular, like to jump on products, services, and communications channels as means to engage with, educate, inform, and convince prospects and turn them into customers.

Thousands of martech tools exist to incentivize people to progress down the sales funnel, and some can unify messaging across channels and touchpoints, so there’s a degree of intelligent coordination between, for instance, website, emails, SMS, social posts, online advertising and remarketing.

This can even extend to the physical world – in stores, for example, or even personalized advertising billboards which are now quite real!

A relatively new software product, Acquia Journey is a powerful solution which can achieve connected, unified marketing and customer experiences with ease, and with a great deal of power, reach and efficiency. The company, known for its open-source underpinnings, has baked openness and extensibility into its journey orchestration solution, allowing organizations to establish a connective “glue” across disparate existing technology, and different sources of customer data, to serve the right information to the right channel in real time.

But what also differentiates Acquia Journey from purely marketing-based products or simple marketing automation systems is that it enables the relationship between the organization and customers grow, well past the point of conversion or sale. This is long-term relationship and engagement management, between customer and the enterprise or brand, writ large.

Everyone knows the concept of a sales funnel:

But what if the funnel were just the beginning?

With Acquia Journey, the digital transformation project can enable and unify the “marketing” engagement activity, bringing together marketing tech and ad tech systems to operate together, informed by unified customer data, to deliver seamless experiences across every channel or device.

However, this idea extends further than just the marketing-funnel efforts. Acquia Journey can unify activity across back-office functions to serve to the customer the right content or information, on the right touchpoint, at the right moment, beyond the conversion or sale. This can include steps to engage the customer via digital or non-digital communication channels (e.g. contact center or in-store) for point-of-sale, customer onboarding, proactive account management, service and support, and upsell and cross sell activity.

All the while it keeps the focus on personalized, 1:1 engagement made possible by utilizing centralized data that provides a complete, 360-degree view of each individual. By keeping customers feeling as valued as they did at the point of sale, brands can continue to provide the best possible, personalized service and information at every touchpoint, making every individual client feel valued, prioritised, informed and engaged.

This is particularly important in today’s interconnected world where the consumer is king. Moving from provider or supplier A to supplier B is as simple as clicking a mouse. Interacting with prospects and customers to keep them engaged, loyal, and coming back for more is key to long term business growth and competitiveness.

This ability to orchestrate the customer journey, by unifying disparate martech, ad tech and data, and intelligently trigger the best-next action, offer, or information, offers a new level of competitive differentiation.

What does this mean in practical terms? As an imaginary example, a rapidly expanding company, John Doe Widgets (JDW), decides the time’s right to sign up for a new package from a telco, which combines fast internet connectivity and cybersecurity services for a monthly price.

JDW’s decision maker, Jane Doe, has received personalized messages and specific advertising collateral, based on her previous purchases, demographics, expressed preferences, email inquiries and historic interactions, including calls to the telco. She has also visited a specific website built very quickly by the telco, specially designed to showcase the package combination. She signs on the dotted line.

All the data accompanying Jane’s journey (down the sales funnel) is gathered and centralized in a single customer view in Acquia’s solution, and the software’s decision engine has triggered the right messages using the telco’s existing martech and adtech tools, in Jane’s language.

As the hardware is on its way to the JDW head office, Jane is kept informed by email or automated text messages as to dispatch times and expected delivery slots. The messages allow her to plan the installation: staffing, required resources, predicted downtime and so on.

The moment the equipment is delivered to Jane’s team, they receive a cadence of instructions, information, and support resources delivered in context to what they’ve ordered, what they need to do first, second, and so on, to become fully enabled on the new technology. Jane’s team is given access electronically to the correct firmware updates to apply to the new equipment, plus, queries posed by the IT department via JDW’s Alexa units are answered quickly. The telco has even triggered the delivery of instructional videos to help with installation and configuration, timed to answer common questions before they become calls into the help centre.

A few weeks later, she receives personalized messages asking if all is functioning as expected, and offering a relevant, targeted offer: an endpoint security package for her company at a discounted rate. If she takes it, her bespoke connection package can be given a speed hike, gratis.

With Acquia Journey, the sales funnel becomes part of a robust, comprehensive customer journey; fully open, and the Acquia platform manages touchpoints throughout the relationship by means of an overarching system which integrates, manages and directs existing engagement systems and customer data. From planning the customer journey (via multiple what-if models and trials) to implementing first-rate customer care, Acquia’s solutions drive conversions and growth, as well as customer satisfaction.

But the Acquia platform offers more than just further opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell. Journey lowers friction points between the supplier and the customer – there are fewer calls to call center staff, little time spent waiting in call-queues in the wee small hours, and the customer gets the best possible service levels. Right from the point of their initial expression of interest, throughout the product’s eventual lifespan, and beyond.

Digital transformation in the enterprise is therefore now possible and offers realistic positive business outcomes, not just guesswork as to which digital marketing initiatives are producing results.

Of course, better sales are great, but contented customers who, in this social media age, share their positive experiences widely, are worth their weight in gold. Highly satisfied customers are the best advertising any organization can have.

To learn more about the exciting opportunities Acquia Journey can offer your customers, get in touch with a local representative today.