slow and steady and the comprehensibility of it is getting less taxing across the leadership divide . This in itself marks a major milestone from hitherto difficult times trying to structure and onboard for CX roles .
However , the reporting lines in the corporate org charts , the positioning of CX professionals and the titling of the roles still remains a grey area not as yet refined . In many instances customer experience strategy and delivery objectives are led mainly by Heads of Marketing , Heads of Business Development , Heads of Corporate Communication , Heads of Operations and not driven by CX Leads at the position of Directorships or General Manager levels .
CX needs to be more widely embraced at C-suite level with the titles Chief Customer Experience Officer , Director Customer Experience , Vice President - Customer Experience and Customer Experience Principal Lead , being normalized in every corporate big or small relative to their organization structure , in the automatic vein as which financial roles are placed .
What a glorious day it will be when this wave takes over nationally , regionally and globally . The positioning of CX is directly proportional to the authoritative command held in institutions , and until such a time that this setting gets breathed into life , CX will continue in its upward struggle .
In the CX March to freedom there needs to be a big placard demanding the reengineering and retitling of CX roles with immediate effect !
CX Strategy
Budget is a key planning and operational tool for corporate strategy delivery and organizational budgeting season is usually a flurry of planning meetings and forecasting sessions . The process is often quite involving with each department building up their budgets into the main overall budget . This is traditionally a no brainer and when budget time arrives , everyone swings into it .
Does it not then present a perplexing paradox that the very thing for which departments are budgeting - business sustainability - that is anchored on the inflow and retention of customers , faces rabid skepticism ? With CX Team leads facing budget decision making committees with the same disposition as defense lawyers , seeking to prove the credibility and validity of their CX budgets , in the face of budgetary concerns and a myriad competing priorities thrown at them by the prosecution .
If CX strategy however was developed and reviewed in the very same manner as the budgeting process is conducted , where this is struck out as a preserve of senior management in the boardroom , and conducted as an all-encompassing , allinclusive activity from bottom up , then the CX war will have been won . Each department internally or externally facing , whether a profit or cost center , whether a direct business related or support unit , would need to think about their activities that touch on customer experience elements from a strategy view , coming down to operational tasks and assignments , and then put in their budgets for each item , building up to the greater CX budget aligned to strategy . That would ensure that customers are at the core of all the organization ’ s initiatives and the budget allocation would flow seamlessly .
The reality on the ground though is that although a significant shift has happened towards organizations acknowledging that CX is an important business driver , numbers do not lie and the budget apportionment numbers are not reflective of this commitment . Until such a time that this imbalance is righted , CX will continue in its upward struggle .
In the CX March to freedom there needs to be a big placard demanding that CX budgets are given the attention and allocation they deserve forthwith !
CX Reporting
Present any board director with the task of explaining what factors or parameters make a standard finance report or a standard HR report and , they would be quick to tick off key elements that need to be presented in a board meeting . Pose the same question about a standard customer experience report and there would be a struggle to enumerate what CX parameters the board needs towards their oversight , decision making and policy guidance roles .
Customer experience excellence as a direct contributor to the bottom line , remains largely unfamiliar at both senior management and governance levels . There is dire need to establish a clear link between customer-oriented projects and the bottom-line figures . A deliberate campaign is needed to have comprehensive CX reports that are directly linked to financial reporting .
These need to be banded into both the financial gains of customer delight including repeat patronage , purchase , referrals and loyalty , as well as the financial pains of customer hurt including attrition , loss , and diminution , owing to brand use seepage and damage from expressed negative sentiment . These reports also need not truncate at being reported to senior management and the board , but also cascaded to staff at all levels .
This constitutes best practice , to enable an in-depth understanding of the direct and associated impact of their roles in delivering exceptional service levels , and ultimately contributing to profitability . Governance awareness creation sessions also need to be designed to ensure increased executive attention to CX for business sustainability .
The empty chair model needs to be adopted in boardrooms where an empty board chair is left unoccupied and deliberately labelled ‘ The Customer ’ to ensure that the voice of the customer is not overlooked in decision making , and as a reminder of who is truly holding the key to the company ’ s financial vaults . Until such a time that CX reporting takes center stage in boardrooms , CX will continue in its upward struggle .
In the CX March to freedom there needs to be a big placard demanding that an empty chair named after the customer is present at every board meeting else the meeting is aborted post haste !
So … there we have it . The die is cast in favor of advocacy and activism for abolition of mediocre CX leadership and adoption of CX centered leadership . Is this a pipe dream ? Is it possible to deliver a turnround in both the public and private sector ? The compelling case for CX evangelism remains uncontested . What is needed is to seal the cracks in knowledge , attitudes , beliefs and perceptions of where CX should sit . It is currently in a subservient position , and needs to move at full gallop to the throne . Meanwhile the CX troops need to keep rallying and armoring and keep fighting the good CX fight … soon to a victorious end .
Carolyne Gathuru is the founder and director of strategy at LifeSkills Consulting . She has several years of experience in customer experience strategy development and training . You can commune with her on this or related issues via mail at : CGathuru @ life-skills . co . ke .