FEATURE: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
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following. But how can businesses bridge
the gap between these shifting expectations
and IT reality? For business leaders today,
the puzzle is two-fold.
The first challenge lies in developing a view
of what customers want and what matters
to them. Businesses must understand
the layers that determine a customer’s
perception of and reaction to their brand,
mindset-shift is needed. Three main points
need to be taken into consideration:
• IT needs to keep tabs on emerging
technologies and explore them constantly
for the benefit of the business.
• Innovation needs to be continuously
applied: there is no one-off solution.
Business’ IT needs continuous innovation,
so that IT systems can offer new
GIVEN THAT CONSUMERS TODAY
ARE UNAFRAID OF SPEAKING OUT
WHEN SERVICES DO NOT MEET
THEIR EXPECTATIONS, MAINTAINING
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IS NOW
ESSENTIAL FOR BUSINESS SURVIVAL.
and how they can mobilise to meet these
needs accordingly.
The second is in addressing the difference
between these expectations and what a
business can offer by closing IT gaps.
Bridging the gap towards
zero-latency
Businesses today require applications and
IT that work with new technologies to bring
about meaningful transformation. This means
simpler, more predictable, scalable, costeffective
and outcome-based consumption
models that are smoothly deployed and
focused on key business goals. To guarantee
that IT and business applications can deliver
in this rapidly changing landscape, it’s crucial
to create a blueprint for harmonising the
goals of IT functions with business needs.
To achieve this, businesses need to break
down IT barriers to create a ‘zero-latency
enterprise’, wherein business leaders are
meeting their own needs as well as satisfying
customer expectations.
Gartner defines a zero-latency enterprise
as one that ‘exploits the immediate
exchange of information across technical
and organisational boundaries to achieve
business benefit’. To transform into a
customer-led business, an organisation-wide
technologies that solve business problems
in near-real time.
• Embodying a mindset of zero latency
innovation demands a behavioural
change – switching from a delivery-based
paradigm to a problem-solving one.
As today’s trends become tomorrow’s norm,
a proactive stance is the only way to leapfrog
the competition. An open and collaborative
approach and harnessing real-time
innovation across the entire ecosystem are
integral to making this happen. It’s here that
a unified, seamless and innovation-centric IT
business collaboration can ultimately deliver
a zero-latency customer experience – where
they can intuitively engage with a brand like
never before.
Paving the road ahead
– defining your
business imperatives
Once this change in mindset has been
realised, business leaders need to align IT
with their strategic imperatives. Businesses
today are increasingly complex and
comprise ecosystems with more suppliers
and stakeholders than previously thought
possible. For businesses looking to harness
their IT potential, strategic partner
programmes and true collaboration are
critical to their success. For this to work, the
goals of an organisation’s IT need to be
dynamic. While operational efficiency and
cost effectiveness remain core imperatives,
businesses need to expect IT to function as
a true partner and not just as a cost centre.
Developing, deploying and maintaining IT
systems is simply not enough. It’s about
aligning IT with measurable business
performance goals and outcomes.
The road ahead for most businesses is
not easy. Many organisations fall prey to
legacy-minded ways of working and often
invest poorly in their IT infrastructure,
choosing front-end application servicing
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