Here’s how CIOs can help deliver best-in-class CX

THE role of a CIO has evolved considerably in the last decade or so — from primarily a technical one to leading the organization’s digital transformation efforts.

Delivering an enhanced customer experience (CX) has, in recent times, emerged as every company’s top digital priority, as businesses seek to differentiate themselves in the face of a saturated market and increased competition.

Improving CX, while may seem straightforward in theory, requires a complete revamp of how the organization interacts with its customers to ensure a frictionless customer journey over multiple touchpoints.

To achieve this, companies need to bridge different silos that are sales, marketing, and customer service.

By collapsing the walls between these units, businesses can gain a 360-degree view of the customer journey and derive valuable insights from the data to better serve customers.

Addressing the disconnect

More and more businesses are automating their sales and marketing functions by deploying MarTech tools, while customer service is typically carried out in a contact center, which sometimes isn’t even in the same geography.

The current process is designed in such a way that agents only interact with customers when there is a response to a marketing campaign.

The customer service team may have little to no knowledge of the initial outbound activity or the pertinent details of the customer of the channel of which they contacted, which creates friction.

Though marketing teams everywhere are slowly being equipped with contact center tools and solutions, the same does not happen the other way around.

This disconnect continues to hinder organizations from providing the CX that they strive for.

Taking CX to new heights via integration

Combined with other emerging technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, integrating the two crucial functions, will without a doubt deliver an entirely different level of CX.

For instance, vital customer information and data that was stored in and used by MarTech platforms could be used by a customer service agent for better management.

Specific metrics such as net promoter score (NPS) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores from the marketing department could be used by contact center agents to handle the call and address customer concerns more effectively.

If the volume of data is a concern, AI-powered tools could be used to sort and process the data, which enables consistent, customized interactions.

Further, information from the MarTech platform will also provide customer interest, profile, and journey intelligence, which can be used to deliver personalized service and promotional offers to clients.

In a nutshell, CX has become a new battlefront for businesses to differentiate themselves and gain a competitive edge.

CIOs need to find ways to break down silos and deploy tools that are fully integrated, which will help companies create experiences that delight customers.

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