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U
nless you are one of the rare
companies that don’t need
customers (do those even exist?),
you should be concerned over the customer
experience you offer. We are after all in the
‘experience economy’, where customer
experience has overtaken price and product
as the most important brand differentiator.
How do companies fare in offering a
superior customer experience? It depends
on who you ask. A total of 88% of
companies in one study believed they offer
a superior customer experience; only 8% of
their customers agreed.
Why the disconnect? In our work with
African organisations of all sizes and across
all industries, we have seen similarities
among companies that consistently deliver a
great customer experience. These could offer
valuable lessons to organisations wishing to
win in the modern experience economy.
Five things companies with
excellent customer experiences
have in common
1. Culture: Even though technology plays
an ever-greater role in our everyday
lives, not all problems can be solved
with technology alone. Companies that
instil a ‘customer-first’ culture among
all employees are better able to deliver
a consistent customer experience. A
customer first culture offers a more
focused, unified and personalised
experience to customers, one that
exceeds expectations and secures you as
their partner of choice for the long term.
2. Longevity: Customer experience success
is a long game. It takes sales and
sustainability to win in the experience
economy. Successful customer
experience (CX) strategies take a long-
term approach to customer success and
attempt to offer value and consistency
across the customer journey. It’s no
longer enough to have only moments of
once-off value to customers.
3. Measurement: Data-driven decision-
making has been one of the great
advances in modern business, with
technology enabling the collection,
storage and analysis of vast amounts
of organisational data to inform
www.intelligentcio.com
Cameron Beveridge, Regional Director:
Southern Africa at SAP Africa
“
DESPITE
ORGANISATIONS’
BEST
INTENTIONS,
SOME CX
PROJECTS
SIMPLY DON’T
DELIVER ON
THEIR PROMISE
AND FAIL TO
DRIVE BUSINESS
SUCCESS.
more accurate decisions at every level
of the organisation. For CX success,
organisations should be able to measure
and analyse operational data (O-data)
and experiential data (X-data). Tools
such as Qualtrics give organisations
a clear view to measurable CX and
INTELLIGENTCIO
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