By Rachelle McLure -
Back in the early 2000s, customer experience focused on a business’s ability to provide positive service delivery in person and over the phone during set business hours.
Fast forward to today and businesses also have to know how to provide personalized and responsive service to customers online, via social media, and via a range of mobile platforms at all hours.
While every business understands these new realities of customer experience, not every organization has the digital technology or even the digital-first mindset needed to evolve their business processes to meet today’s customer’s expectations.
That’s where understanding digital transformation becomes the key next step for organizations looking to retain their competitive edge.
What Digital Transformation Means for Customer Experience
According to one definition1, digital transformation is the “process of using digital technologies to create new—or modify existing—business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements.” A key aspect of this definition is that, instead of being a specific initiative, digital transformation transcends business functions and changes how businesses engage with customers.
In other words, embracing digital transformation is not about changing your business’s mission, but instead about making it run faster and more efficiently to adapt to changes in business and customer demands. Particularly for customer service, digital transformation means capturing and using data as well as AI, machine learning, and other digital tools to:
- Provide more responsive services.
- Deliver more personalized experiences.
- Identify new methods to engage with customers.
5 Ways Digital Transformation Improves Customer Experience
Digital transformation revolutionizes the way businesses engage with customers. Here are five of the key ways it can enhance customer experience:
1. Increased Personalization Leads to More Engaging Experiences
Personalization is a crucial component of modern customer experience, and digital transformation can help businesses deliver tailored experiences to their customers. By capturing and analyzing customer data, businesses can identify unique preferences and behaviors, and use this information to personalize interactions and create more engaging experiences.
This can lead to increased customer loyalty and a better understanding of related services or products that a customer may be interested in. Additionally, by leveraging historical customer data, businesses can continually refine the customer journey to make it even more personalized for their customers.
2. Customer Journeys Become More Consistent
Digital transformation can help businesses provide more consistent and seamless customer journeys across multiple channels, ensuring that customers receive a similar experience regardless of the platform they choose to interact with. By creating a familiar and cohesive experience, customers are more likely to engage and stay engaged.
3. You Can Provide Around-The-Clock, Cloud-Enabled, and Responsive Service
Automation is a key aspect at the intersection of customer service and digital transformation. It helps organizations provide around-the-clock, cloud-enabled, and responsive service.
This can save time for both customers and staff while also freeing up resources to handle more complex customer requests and strategic projects. In addition, organizations can use the power of automation to assist with key aspects of data management, such as data consolidation, integration, and analysis that can help to provide more comprehensive and real-time feedback.
4. You Introduce New Ways for Customers to Interact with Your Brand
Digital transformation can introduce new ways for customers to interact with a brand, such as by enabling new channels that align with their preferences and needs. By providing customers with the flexibility to engage when, where, and how they prefer, businesses not only make it easier for customers to get the service they need, but it can also build a deeper level of engagement and loyalty.
Automation can be used as an additional communication mechanism, enabling transactions, replies, and updates to help ensure that customers remain informed and engaged throughout the transaction.
5. Your Customers Can Better Articulate What They Want
Digital transformation provides businesses with a data-driven approach to understanding customer preferences and behaviors, helping them to articulate what their customers want and how they can deliver it.
By more quickly and easily collecting and analyzing customer data, businesses can gain insights into customer preferences, behaviors, and pain points, which can be used to develop new products or optimize existing offerings. Similarly, businesses can use these insights to refine their marketing and sales strategies, ensuring that they are effectively communicating with their target customers in a way that aligns with their business goals.
Digital Transformation Is a Mindset, Not a Destination
Digital transformation is essential to maintaining a competitive edge.
But because digital transformation is an ongoing process that involves a continuous evaluation of new technologies and how they can enhance customer experience, organizations need the right tools, strategy, and support to align all of the foundational elements.
That is exactly why RCG Global Services wants your organization to have a copy of our comprehensive resource, Be Ready for Tomorrow’s Tech Challenges with the Right Digital Services Partner, to learn the steps involved in staying ahead of the digital curve.
Works Cited
1. Salesforce "What is Digital Transformation" Retrieved from https://www.salesforce.com/products/platform/what-is-digital-transformation/