Digital transformation can mean many things to many people. To some it means offering email communications, to others it means switching project management to the cloud or simply offering video calls to hybrid workers.
Where does digitising the customer experience (CX) fit in among these different initiatives? Often, it’s just one part of a much larger transformation project and might only come 3-5 years down the line. Businesses often have to rely on a major overhaul of systems before they can implement CX focused processes.
However, now with regulatory changes like Consumer Duty, the pressure is on to put CX at the top of the list, flipping the usual cadence of digital transformation projects. The need now is for agility, and the ability to solve pain points in the customer journey in a few weeks and not months. The upside to this is that switching to targeted and tactical digitisation saves money because it delivers benefits to CX much more quickly and in some cases can negate the need for larger overhauls. There is no need to wait for the project to get to the right line of business.
Taking small steps with digitisation can lead to big transformation, especially in customer communications, where the goal is to optimise customer journeys that lead to an excellent customer experience. Ideally, one that also leads to operational efficiencies and cost savings while being compliant and sustainable.
Digitising customer interactions – by employing digital channels such as email, SMS and online customer portals – is a powerful way to achieve this goal. Identifying, assessing and solving pain points tactically can avoid the expense and often unnecessary changes made when deploying blanket digitisation of customer journeys, which can introduce new frictions, hindering your customer experience strategy.