Hi Falguni, tell us about yourself and your background.
I am currently the Assistant Vice President, Digital Strategy & transformation at Emxcel
Solutions, India. Since school, I was fascinated by computers & so I did my graduation in
Computer Technology followed by Masters in Information Systems & ERP Systems. My
techno-functional experience spans more than 17 years within SAP HCM,
SuccessFactors, process optimization and automation, and business transformation across
a matrix of industries.
I was exposed to the incredible possibilities of using technology to
find solutions to problems that maximizes the execution and velocity. This includes
helping companies in their journey towards digital process automation by building
capabilities like value creation, simplifying processes, end-to-end customer experience,
and more.
How did you start working in the customer experience space?
As I was evolving into the digital space with a purely automation background, I
understand that the customer experience plays a crucial role in digital transformation.
Most digital transformation programs are initiated due to the business or customer’s pain
points. Customer experience transformation and innovation are imperative for business
sustainability and growth. While working on several innovative projects, I realized the
impact of an ongoing focus on customer experience and that there are some important
things I need to keep in mind when defining digital transformation strategy and make sure
that customer experience optimization and process optimization should go hand in hand.
What do you think the top priority should be for a company that wants to improve
its customer experience?
First and foremost, companies need to improve their internal operations in order to
deliver the exceptional customer experiences and for these they need to be agile, increase
internal efficiency and productivity, have better alignment of business and IT, integrate
systems and processes together for a unified tech stack and gather and manage data in a
structured manner.
How can companies better listen and understand their customer base?
For a business to succeed, companies need to understand their customers through the following means.
- Walk in your customer’s shoes: One should feel being a customer and understand the
touch points, interaction process and learn the issues and time taken for the
transactions and the method they prefer. - Engage with customers at their preferred platforms: Make your customer comfortable
by communicating with them on channels that they prefer. This will help to align
customer service with marketing. - Conduct customer research: Create customer personas and identify what customer
inputs are needed to create breakthrough products and then capture customer inputs and
feedback through customer interviews, quizzes, surveys and focus groups. - Active listening: This places the focus on the customer’s speech. Listen what the
customer is saying and try to fully understand their issue and requirements rather than
directly suggesting the solution or product. - Request a feedback or review: This is a good strategy that not only helps to initiate a
conversation with your customers but also helps to identify areas of improvement to
keep ahead of customer trends - Competitor analysis: Locate your competitors and learn what they offer and how they
attract your potential customers and this will provide you with better understanding into
what your customer base really wants.
Many companies are currently undergoing digital transformation processes – what
are your tips on a successful digital transformation?
The digital transformation is a mindset and it more about people than just technology.
Companies both small and large must re-design their enterprise architecture with realtime context and streamlined processes. Digital transformation, has many approaches, but
the one I prefer is customer-focused because it starts at the heart of what digital
transformation is supposed to do, helping customer to engage with businesses digitally to
maximize their experiences. Today, it is of prime importance, to take into consideration,
not only the existing needs of customer but also those where customer start sensing the
need.
What are some CX companies/solutions you’re keeping your eyes on right now
I am looking forward to CloudCherry by CISCO, Gainsight CX and SAS.
What are some of your tips for people who want to work in the CX sphere?
Customer experience is about knowing and understanding your customers completely so
that you can define and deliver personalized experiences that will entice them to not only
remain loyal to you, but also to evangelize to others about you. One needs to gain
customer insight from all touch points and collect data from various platforms across
entire organization. Create consistent brand experiences with integrated channels. Next,
facilitate creating unified, coordinated customer communications.
So many things changed in 2020. While some things are going to return to
“normal,” what are new trends and habits you think will stay with us in the long
term?
Today digital transformation is one of the major influence on the way customers are
interacting with enterprises and brands through online channels. We have already witness
a remarkable shift in CX landscape with respect to latest technologies like artificial
intelligence (AI) enabled CX, Machine Learning, Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented
Reality and Virtual Reality and Hyper-automation. We’re heavily relying upon such
technologies and it is difficult to imagine things without them. These advance
technologies and developments are there to improve the speed, quality, and cost of
products/services and to ease people’s lives. They have great potential with wide scope
and ability to transform existing businesses and personal lives. And therefore, they are
going to stay with us for long time.
eCommerce boomed in 2020, and consumers started leaving more product
reviews online. How can we make the most out of this momentum?
The eCommerce landscape is continually evolving and online product reviews have
substantial impact on businesses. However, if used strategically, reviews can be a
powerful tools to persuade people to buy. We can build the trust between brand and
customer and can enhance conversion rate. With more customer reviews, we can improve
product quality and provide better customer service. Moreover, reviews help boost
products’s SEO.
What is your favorite CX metric? Why?
The Customer Experience Metrics are the KPIs the business follows to get a deeper
understanding of CX success and identify areas for improvement. My favorite CX metric
is Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), although it is advisable to use a combination of many
different CX metrics to understand how loyal or satisfied the customers are. CSAT is used
to measure if a customer is satisfied or not with one-time interaction. It reflects what your
customers think about you and helps to evaluate the efficiency of the customer service
department.
