Hi Dorit, tell us about yourself and your background.
I am the CEO and owner of Experity. Our company specializes in business transformation and customer experience to maximize efficiency and profitability.
We work primarily with large organizations and do so from the strategic level to the operational and service aspects. We bring innovative solutions and know-how to help organizations stay relevant in the eyes of their customers in the new era.
I research innovations and trends that influence customer and business behavior. I have vast experience in senior managerial positions. In my last position, I was VP of Information Systems at a large telecom company. I graduated with honors from the Technion – MBA in Business Administration and BSc in Industrial Engineering and Management.
Alongside Experity, I lead a comprehensive, multi-dimensional mindset – a combination of the relevant aspects of managing a successful company in the new era, including practical strategy, customer experience, innovation, business processes, and technologies.
I lecture at the academy about innovative means to improve the customer experience while combining the four most significant pillars, in my opinion, that contribute to the customer experience:
- Business strategy
- Business processes
- Innovative technological solutions
- Organizational mindset.
How did you start working in the customer experience space?
I have always put myself in the “shoes” of the other side to understand and approach the situation from a relatable point of view. In every organization I worked for, my managerial focus was first and foremost on the customer experience. When I started talking about customer experience, as a practice, it was a rare topic that was not as talked about as it is today.
Throughout my career, I understood that one of my main strengths is how to improve the efficiency of processes – identify bottlenecks, save costs, and implement unconventional unique solutions. I’ve always been a person that looks at the bottom line.
The combination of being able to be in the customer’s shoes and improve the efficiency of processes paved my path to the world of customer experience.
In 2010, after many years in senior managerial positions and as a CIO at a leading telecom company, I started doing independent consulting for leading organizations in the market. My goal was to help them succeed.
As someone who loves to look at trends, I realized that over the years, the power balance between organizations and customers has changed. The power is no longer in the hands of the organization, it’s in the hands of the customers. Thanks to social networks and technological advancement, customers have plenty of alternatives, access to information, and the ability to express their opinions.
If the balance of power has changed, then organizations also need to change and adapt to the new era in all aspects – business, process, technological and cultural.
I have built a consulting methodology that incorporates all of these aspects. This methodology offers organizations a comprehensive solution to business transformation, with maximum ROI.
Can you tell us a little bit about your current role?
I am the CEO and owner of Experity, a company that specializes in consulting and accompanying organizations in their business transformations, digital transformations, customer experience, and customer-focused management processes. The company is made up of an elite group of experts in complementary areas of expertise.
As CEO, I am involved in every project, outlining the strategy and the concept of the solution. I enjoy bringing innovation and practicality to the organizations we accompany.
How can companies better listen and understand their customer base?
I believe it all starts with the attitude of being willing to listen. The attitude shouldn’t be how do I sell to my customers, but rather how do I help them live a better life. This is achieved by listening first.
Listening can be achieved through various techniques like interviews, questionnaires, and observations. In addition, analysis of unstructured data, for example, customer behavior in various social networks and digital channels to understand what the customers’ needs are.
Perhaps most of all, it’s important for me to understand the routine of our customers’ lives, and how the product or service we provide integrates into their daily routines and helps them live better lives.
Since there are sometimes differences between how customers behave and what they testify about themselves, I always prefer to look at what customers are doing, rather than just what they say and use all this information that’s coming from the customers indirectly.
What are some companies that you think are doing an excellent job at customer experience, and why?
Whenever this question comes up, there are a few companies that immediately and intuitively come to mind – Disney, Amazon, Netflix.
I think there are several reasons for this – they usually produce frictionless customer journeys, maximize convenience, and minimize bureaucracy.
Aside from their ability to get into the minds of their customers and understand their characteristics, they manage to take initiative and dare. They don’t only meet customers’ needs, but anticipate what customers want, and offer it to them.
In addition, I like to follow Walmart – the largest retail company in the world and Sephora – one of the leading cosmetics companies, due to their innovative actions in improving customer experience. I also follow less known companies, like the Vitality insurance company that offers value to their customers by encouraging them to live healthier lives. The more the customers practice healthy life habits, the less they pay.
Many companies are currently undergoing digital transformation processes – what are your tips on a successful digital transformation?
The most important tip in my opinion is to understand that it’s not just a digital transformation, it’s a business transformation that is reflected at all levels of the organization. This is an end-to-end organizational change. It starts with a practical strategy and the right organizational mindset, goes through effective processes, and only then moves to digital elements that will support the change.
An organization must first decide what role it wants to play in the lives of its customers and understand how it improves their lives.
The application will be reflected in new business models, new channels, applications, etc.
What are some CX solutions or tools that you’re keeping your eyes on right now
As CEO of a consulting company in the field of customer experience, I must constantly keep up with the new trends and tools.
I think that the areas of forecasting and being proactive are the next steps that organizations should strive for. Therefore, I have focused on tools of predictive customer analytics lately.
In recent years organizations have invested efforts primarily in digitally accessing manually performed processes, providing self-service options, and reducing points of friction in the customer journey.
The next thing is the ability of organizations to be proactive with their customers. To do this, they need tools for analyzing unstructured and unmediated information regarding customer behavior, which in turn will help them in providing a personal and proactive service.
Did you read any interesting books this past summer that you’d like to recommend?
I constantly learn about new trends in customer experience. One of the ways to learn is to read lots of new books as they are published. One of the latest books I read was “Customer Experience 3” which was edited by Naeem Arif and Andrew Priestley. In this book 28 International CX professionals share their current best thinking on achieving impact and visibility through worldclass best-practice CX.
What is your favorite CX metric?
In my opinion, the best customer experience metrics are business metrics. Every organization wants to generate more revenue, bring in more customers, and make them continue to buy from it rather than from competitors. That’s the bottom line.
Customer experience metrics are just means to an end. Therefore, an organization should always make sure that any improvement in customer experience metrics has a positive effect on business metrics. Otherwise, the organization may be investing improvement efforts in the wrong place.
In my opinion, it is correct to measure Customer Churn Rate or Renewal rate, and of course Customer Lifetime value or Monthly revenue. It is advisable to cross-reference these metrics with the Customer Trust Index, which shows how much customers believe in the brand, feel it is there for them, and how much they can trust it.
