The time has come to turn to automation and cloud providers as much as possible, and to reconsider the roles of experts and chief technology officers. It’s time to make them more strategic advocates for business transformation. The company recognizes that this is necessary. It’s about adapting the corporate culture and finding or developing the skills that can get things done.
All of this was sparked by the digital rush that began in the spring of 2020, and which transformed tech professionals into customer experience champions almost overnight.
“Over the past two years, technology professionals have evolved their skills to deliver resilient and transformative customer experiences,” said Chris Rittler, vice president of CX product management at Cisco. “Working closely together, tech teams have established effective processes to re-imagine how they create, capture and prioritize customer experiences to keep pace with evolving professionals.”
Stronger links between business and tech
Expanding the roles of technology professionals is necessary as organizations rely on digital customer experience for their business. “Tech professionals are now responsible for personalizing and automating customer experience solutions,” said Venu Gooty, senior vice president of digital strategy and transformation at HGS.
The key is to create the strongest possible links between technology and business. “When technology professionals can share their data with marketing, sales and other customer-facing departments, it’s easier to define the changes and developments needed to improve the customer experience,” said Sharad Varshney, CEO of OvalEdge.
Customer experience and user experience design approaches “enable business analysts and business owners to demand better experiences for consumers from technology teams, which, in turn, helps technology teams , such as developers, to better appreciate and understand the need to improve CX,” said Venu Gooty.
Essential skills to have
This extends to hiring models – a need to “mix, develop and hire talent based on their needs to meet customer experience skill demands,” Chris Rittler said. “Skills are fundamental to the success of digital transformation, as they represent almost 40% of a successful transformation investment.”
As with many things, this shift in focus requires a shift in culture. “Executing effective customer experience strategies isn’t just about the technology you implement; it’s about investing in a culture that prioritizes having resilient, adaptive technologies in place. and transformative,” said Chris Rittler. “To grow, those working in the technology sector should engage with digital learning platforms to help today’s learners become tomorrow’s experts.”
Another headwind is the fact that “in the world of business and technology, there is always an ‘old guard’ standing in the way of progress, which sees technology as a background,” said Sharad Varshney. “It’s a stumbling block, but it shouldn’t be.” On the contrary, technical and commercial managers must have equal status within the companies.
Cultural change
As part of the cultural shift, there is a “continued segregation between business teams and technical teams,” Venu Gooty said. “Different geographies, different departments, or a different reporting structure – that separation is always a barrier to delivering great customer experiences. Redesigned team structures are needed to be successful – it requires a combination of technologists, owners managers, experience designers, test experts and project managers to work closely together.”
Ultimately, it’s about empowering business users to use technology as much as tech professionals themselves. “When an organization presents a united front committed to building a better technology-driven customer experience through tools and training, technical teams can refine and implement those measures,” said Sharad Varshney. “Ultimately, transparent and accessible governance in an organization can foster collaboration across different groups, and data governance tools can be used to directly impact user experience.”
Source: ZDNet.com