In the past, the office of the CIO wasn’t necessarily involved in the customer experience (CX). While the CIO might’ve defined how to support enterprise operations from a technology standpoint, CX was often entirely left up to marketing and sales teams. Today’s CIOs, however, not only help roll out CX but also help decide what it should look like. With all the data and predictive analytics available today, the office of the CIO can use that information to help marketing and sales teams personalize the customer experience (and keep it consistent) across an array of marketing channels and devices.
As CIO, you should be deeply involved in discussions on how to attract and retain customers. If you’re not, it’s’ time to become part of the CX solutions team. After all, your office is providing the technology that drives, supports, and solidifies the customer experience. Operations are the connective fibers between your organization’s employees and customers. When you’re thinking about 2021 goals, make sure one of them is to exceed customer expectations.
Here are three CIO solutions for prioritizing, defining, and implementing the best customer experience possible in 2021:
1. Ensure enterprise-wide satisfaction
Employee and customer satisfaction typically go hand in hand. If employees feel supported at work with the opportunity to engage in meaningful and productive projects, it will reflect in both their work and interactions with customers.
Did you know 60% of employees surveyed in 2020 think their workflow processes are inefficient? A critical way the office of the CIO can fix this problem is with enterprise-wide adoption of a productivity platform that digitizes workflows, streamlines document processing, and enhances internal and external collaboration processes.
2. Increase omnichannel communications
Customers should be able to easily get in touch with your company, whether that’s with email, chatbots, contact forms, community forums, or phone support. According to a Gartner CIO survey, organizations that have increased their use of digital channels to reach customers are 3.5 times more likely to be a top performer than a trailing performer. If you’re lacking in this department, it’s time to invest in more omnichannel solutions. Doing this will decrease incidents of frustration and increase customer retention.
Whether they’re using a chatbot or contact form on your website, customers should experience simple, consistent, and honest interactions with your organization that effectively address their needs and concerns.
3. Use analytics to inform future customer needs
How well do you know your customers’ pain points? If you’re not already using technologies like machine learning and natural language generation, now’s the time to get on board. These solutions automate customer behavior analysis so you can gain a more in-depth understanding of your current customer experience. Assess how customers use your product, and then look for ways to redefine, fix, and improve processes to better meet their expectations.
While CIOs already have a lot on their plates, they must add or prioritize CX — especially in today’s environment. Investing in tools that digitize workflows, improve collaboration, enhance communications, and analyze behavior will completely transform your company’s customer experience.
