For over eight years now, I have been travelling around the globe, sharing knowledge with people on how to deliver the customer experience (CX) as robustly and effectively as possible. It has been an amazing, if not exhausting, journey. I have met thousands of committed and dedicated professionals who are passionate about doing what is right for people – customers and employees. Among other things, their goal has been to establish an understanding of how the customer customer journey MUST become embedded into the way their organisations think and act.
However, anyone who has heard me speak, or preach (which may be a more pertinent way to describe it), will know that embedding the customer journey into the way organisations think and act is just NOT happening. Whilst many have ‘mapped’ their journeys, few are actively and continuously ‘managing’ the journey as a living breathing organism! Customer journey MANAGEMENT is what is required to drive sustainable improvement to the customer experience.
The ‘customer journey management cycle’
Sticky notes can only get you so far…
There are a number of companies providing customer mapping tools. However, few of these tools deliver the ‘catalytic conversion’ of customer data, overlaid onto the customer journey and turned into real hands-on information for companies to move their CX experience to the next level.
This ‘data catalytic conversion’ consists of:
- feeding the right information to the right people and
- empowering them to get the job done with accurate and real-time information
Sticky notes can only get you so far…
In my previous article, I discussed how we have reached the limits of what a static journey map can yield in terms of business value. You have invested a considerable amount of time, energy and resources in creating this map, but you have no way of capitalising on all of this investment and making it last and evolve.
Technology to the rescue….
How can technology play a part in addressing this dilemma? To start with, the answer partly lies in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). A well applied CRM centralises all the data related to prospects and customers onto a single platform, enabling companies to record, track and act on customer interactions. The better the CRM is applied, the greater its effect on revenue is likely to be.
Now, imagine a tool that could help you capture information and data on your customers by monitoring their customer journeys within your organisation. A tool that would allow you to instantly share that data, also known as customer insight, with the relevant stakeholders. A tool that integrates with your CRM in order to follow through on every single insight and align them to business metrics while validating the conclusions with real customer feedback – how is that for innovation?
Imagine if this process would enable you to record, track and follow through on every single insight in order to empower the relevant employees in the organisation to make better informed decisions to ultimately deliver exceptional experiences to your customers.
Imagine even more, that all the conclusions derived from the journey map (most often based on your point of view as a company) could be validated by real customer feedback – in my opinion, this is what the world of CX has needed for a long time!
Next generation CRM
Last year, I come across an amazing group of people working for a startup called CEMantica. They have developed a CX solution that does exactly what I have just described. They have actually added an integrated artificial intelligence (AI) component which sits within the CRM and processes all incoming and outgoing customer interactions related to the stages of the customer journey. It is like CRM data mining applied to customer experience. Oh, and incidentally, it integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365…
I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like it before. Moreover, this AI complement is a telling illustration of how technology ties into the digital revolution phenomenon to address and solve a strategic and practical business issue. It is worth mentioning because, as it often happens, many companies miss their digital targets overwhelmed by that “going digital” surge. They feel pressured into taking that digital leap without properly assessing how technology can enhance the customer journey and their business processes.
What we all want, is to embed a customer experience strategy that leaves our customers feeling the way we WANT them to feel, fostering their loyalty and attracting new customers.
So let’s get back to our example of the frustrated customer who is having a hard time getting in touch with someone from customer service – how does CEMantica handle their experience?
Simple.
All-in-one CX solution
First off, reaching customer service in the connected CRM configuration would translate into contacting a CHAT or digital assistant. So, we are dealing with a touchpoint that can’t pick up the request. This incident would automatically be logged within Dynamics 365.
This logged incident would be converted into a “task” assigned to the Customer Service department with the full history of the failed contact attempt. This now qualified data insight can be handled by the right people and acted on to resolve the issue. Actionable insight!
Moreover, this all-in-one CX tool also allows for overall change assessment before actually proceeding with a change within the customer journey map, as if you were simulating the application of that change and testing it before deciding on implementing it or not.
So here we have a great example of digital transformation at work bringing value and a new user experience to business processes. CEMantica in association with Dynamics 365 unleashes an outstanding customer experience model while enhancing and personalising the customer journey – built-in mechanisms that capture emotion levels, analyse text, voice and much more…
This solution is a lot more than just about saving costs. It is an all-in-one platform empowering brands to deliver the ultimate experience to their customers.
CEMantica is a customer-centric company that helps you build a memorable connection with your customers engaging them with your brand. Their proven CX approach combined with their innovative technologies deliver compelling insights to help you:
- Identify your customers’ pain points, areas of improvement, new growth paths
- and take immediate and tailored actions within your organisation
CEMantica’s comprehensive end-to-end value proposition, from CX assessment to Customer Journey Mapping and solution roll out, is your “customer experience ready” enablement model.
Meet the team behind CEMantica:
Julia Perez
Sales Manager at CEMantica Ltd. With a passion for CX, a thorough experience in digital Marketing and online social media presence, Julia thrives to develop the business of dynamic digital journey maps on the market and help customers transform journey data into actionable insights.
Eytan Hattem
Chief Innovation & Business Solutions Officer at Prodware Group. With over +20 years of experience in customer engagement technology implementations and customer experience consulting, Eytan is driving the international CX practice of Prodware worldwide.
Prodware Group
Prodware Group, founded in 1989, is a creator and integrator of industry and role-based solutions. Prodware is Microsoft’s leading partner in the EMEA offering a comprehensive value proposition around business application that combines consulting services, implementation services and managed services on an international scale.
“We help our customers step into the future by building the business processes of tomorrow”
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