Sync or Swim? · and metrics; but don’t forget about people. To deliver an effective strategy, every employee must commit to both the CX strategy (the big picture) and tools they

Sync or Swim? The key to successful CX transformation

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We live in an age where positive brand experiences are key points of differentiation. Customers are more demanding than ever, and barriers to switching are at an all-time low.

For brands, success comes from understanding customer needs and expectations; tapping into their emotions to design products and services that create positive, memorable experiences. Against this backdrop, it is no wonder that 91% of business leaders believe customer centricity is a top

priority and essential to driving growth. And indeed: research shows that CX leaders achieve a 2.4 times higher share of wallet than CX laggards.

Mastering the art of customer centricity is not a simple process. It requires a cultural change within the organisation, facilitated by employee buy-in across all departments.

Think of the departments like the tentacles of an octopus: aligned and pulling together, they can get amazingly powerful.

Unsynchronised, their conflicting priorities end up working against each other or against the company’s strategic goals. Any change of direction must be facilitated by all tentacles together – connected by a shared vision and enabled by the right structure, processes and tools.

Having worked across different industries and markets with a variety of brands, we know that building CX momentum is not a quick win. It often takes two or three years, sometimes even longer.

CX transformation usually occurs across four maturity phases:Establish The brand lays the foundation and defines customer centricity as one of its top priorities. They start changing their approach to customers and create awareness of CX and why it is important. Sporadic CX activities are set up.

Develop The brand acknowledges the need for deep organisational change to enable a successful CX transformation. They define what CX is and set up more effective tools and processes. A CX programme is launched to improve the delivery of CX.

Realise Customer feedback guides business decisions and customer relationships strengthen significantly. The brand sees and communicates success and continues to embed customer-centric thinking and behaviour in the organisation. All CX activities get aligned and processes automated. The value of CX is measured and used to enhance trust in the programme and embed change.

Maintain The impact on business growth is visible. The brand achieves a high level of CX maturity. Brand promise and actual customer experiences are aligned. Further investments are required to maintain the momentum and sustain engagement in order to continuously delight customers in moments that matter.

Customer centricity

EstablishBrands start building the foundation, awareness and understanding for CX management

DevelopBrands define the structure and processes for their CX programme

RealiseBrands validate results and communicate success and embed CX in the organisation

CX Maturity

CX maturity phasesMaintain Brands continuously invest in maintaining the momentum to sustain engagement

Where is your organisation on this journey? How can you gain momentum and reach the next level of CX maturity?

CX Maturity Audits assess an organisation’s current CX maturity level. They help identify gaps, optimise existing CX activities and align the organisation’s tentacles to a common goal for a successful CX transformation.

1 Insights 2020, Kantar2 CX+ 2019 Netherlands report, Kantar

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“Our problem is not that we do not have enough data, we have tons of data… it’s all about what you do with the data. But we struggle to do something about it and make the right moves. We have lots of engagement and activity in the organisation, but everything is a little tentative, experimental.”

C-level manager, US based global corporation, maturity level: Develop

Successful brands need effective tools to monitor and manage customer experiences across all relevant touchpoints. As customer centricity is one of the top priorities for CEOs, most brands have various CX activities in place.

But how effective are these activities? Do they support cultural change and create true customer-centric behaviour within an organisation? Are all employees aware of the customer vision and strategy and do they follow a common goal? Are they empowered to deliver memorable experiences to their customers? Are brand promise and actual customer experiences aligned? And what is the impact of all these activities on the business?

Clarity on where you are now is key to ensure effective CX activities and organisational change.

Start with your main decision makers and involve your front-line staff to get a broader idea of what is needed, what employees and managers know about existing CX tools and structures and how mature your organisation is.

CX Maturity Audits are an assessment tool to understand what is in place already and what needs to change – helping to identify areas for improvement, alignment and optimisation to take your organisation to the next maturity level.

Taking a maturity snapshot

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The foundations for successful transformation While every journey to customer centricity is different, we have identified six enablers for a successful transformation process. These six areas lay the foundation and help create the momentum an organisation needs to get aligned and to master the art of customer centricity.

We conducted an in-depth CX Maturity Audit for a global insurance client to evaluate their CX assets and their organisation’s current state of customer centricity. The key objective was to identify barriers to becoming customer-centric and to help accelerate the transformation process.

The first step was to get a collective view from across the business on the various aspects of the company’s CX activities, including its tools and data, processes and governance structures. Using a standardised maturity assessment questionnaire, we surveyed 63 employees from C-suite executives to front-line staff. The CX Maturity Audit revealed that our client had already made significant progress towards customer centricity: Delivering positive experiences was considered a top priority within

the organisation. A CX technology platform had already been implemented to capture and respond to customer feedback continuously and in real-time. These closed-the-loop processes were set up and running.

Despite having many critical tools and processes already in place, the CX Maturity Audit suggested a few roadblocks on the path to customer centricity. Employees acknowledged the importance of customer centricity, but creating positive experiences was not easy for all employees. One quarter mentioned that they needed their line manager’s approval for specific actions to improve the customer experience. This took time and hindered their ability to respond to customer feedback effectively.

In an action planning workshop, we then developed a defined list of pre-approved actions to

help front-line staff quickly and independently take decisions and create memorable customer experiences.

As well as identifying weaknesses regarding people empowerment and decision-making processes, the audit also identified issues related to their vision and strategy. While CX was broadly seen as a top priority across departments, employees were not fully aware of the company’s specific CX strategy, their values and principles. The octopus knew where to go but not how to get there. The tentacles were still unsynchronised. A refined communication campaign was needed to raise awareness of the CX strategy and to ensure that everyone in the organisation understood how it connected to their area of business.

Optimising CX Activities

CX MATURITY

Vision & Strategy

Tools & Data

GovernanceValue of CX

PeopleProcesses

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10% is managing customer experiences and 90% is culture. Start with your VoC programme, tools and processes, measures and metrics; but don’t forget about people.

To deliver an effective strategy, every employee must commit to both the CX strategy (the big picture) and tools they use (e.g. the customer experience management platform and KPIs).

Although change in many organisations is driven top down, embedding a customer-centric

mindset will require buy-in from everyone. Thus, it is essential to involve the key people who will act as catalysts for cultural change. CX Maturity Audits provide an opportunity to allow everyone to contribute and win them as catalysts; the benefits will be reaped further down the line.

Align your organisation to a common goal

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One of our clients, a large telecommunications provider, realised that their transformation process had stalled. Despite a range of activities and engagement, they were unable to see an impact on their business. To evaluate the current situation and identify roadblocks and challenges, we conducted a CX Maturity Audit to evaluate their existing CX programme and its application across departments.

We conducted 15 qualitative interviews with stakeholders from three different product lines. One-on-one sessions revealed inconsistencies in the deployment of the CX Management System, reservations about the programme itself and conflicting needs regarding the technology platform. While some departments closely monitored customer experiences and had already set up effective processes to analyse and respond to feedback, others questioned the reported metrics and data and rarely viewed the results. In addition, the qualitative audits suggested different needs for dashboard and reporting: some stakeholders preferred more

detailed reports on a team level, while others favoured an aggregated view.

Following on from the findings we conducted a workshop to discuss the results and give all stakeholders the opportunity to contribute and define the next steps. Various actions were commonly agreed: the CX Management Platform was revisited and personalised dashboards were set up to provide both detailed and summary outputs. In partnership we developed a comprehensive communication and training plan with guidelines on how to interpret metrics and KPIs, how to respond to customer feedback and close the loop with customers in a consistent manner. We also set up cross-functional learning and activation sessions to analyse and solve frequently encountered negative feedback. This workshop was one of the key activities to revive the transformation process: it not only helped optimise processes but also increased overall acceptance rallying all key stakeholders around the end goal.

Delivering Impact

The telecoms example demonstrates the power of participation, even the best communications won’t produce the level of engagement that being involved in shaping a plan does.

Actively involving a variety of people from different areas of an organisation requires careful management of disparate and sometimes conflicting needs. If done successfully, it can help raise commitment from all stakeholders which is essential to embed a customer-centric culture.

Become truly customer- centric CX Maturity Audits are a powerful way to enable a successful CX transformation and organisational change. They assess existing CX initiatives within the organisation and evaluate the state of customer centricity. The insights gained enable the creation and refinement of an appropriate and relevant strategy for embedding organisational change. We can identify gaps, optimise existing CX initiatives, and prioritise ideas to show where to focus efforts and spend.

Involving the key stakeholders throughout the business ensures the buy-in of those who will implement and drive change. You will need their support for your company- and process-wide synchronisation: After all, we want all tentacles pulling in the same direction, to have the best chance of creating the change necessary to master the art of customer centricity.

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The authors

Get in touchTo find out more please contact [email protected] or visit kantar.com.

Daniela KlosGlobal Director for CX Kantar in Dubai

Daniela Lötterle Global Consultant for CXKantar in Munich

About KantarKantar is the world’s leading evidence-based insights and consulting company. We have a complete, unique and rounded understanding of how people think, feel and act; globally and locally in over 90 markets. By combining the deep expertise of our people, our data resources and benchmarks, our innovative analytics and technology, we help our clients understand people and inspire growth.

About CX+Customer experience is everything these days. But are you exceeding or falling short of your customers’ expectations? Our CX+ programme shows you how to close the gap between your brand promise and customer experience. Discover what makes your experience unique, and how it helps deliver your brand promise. Find out more about CX+.

Rollo GraysonSenior Manager for CXKantar in UK