Business - Bitpipedocs.media.bitpipe.com/io_10x/io_107247/item_615930...Business 2020 • Issue 3...

Business 2020 • Issue 3 • 1

Home

companies must use tecHnology

in a smarter way to better

engage witH tHeir customers

give a customer a positive

experience and not only will

tHey be loyal but tHey migHt tell

tHeir friends

crm will be a key factor in an

organisation’s survival as more

cHannels are added to tHe mix

A speciAl report on the future of business And it from computer Weekly, in AssociAtion With orAcle • issue 3 of 4

isto

ck

pho

to/t

hin

ksto

ck

Engaging with the technology enabled customer

Produced by

Business


Home







tHeir friends




Companies want to get closer to their cus-tomers and find out as much as possible about their likes and dislikes in an effort

to foster loyalty and stay ahead of competitors.however, they have to get it right; there is

a balance between knowing what your cus-tomer wants before they have even articulated their desires, and intrusiveness. it is essential that any information learned about customers is used in a positive way to improve service or deliver better products because the relation-ship between organisations and their custom-ers has never been more volatile or offered so many new opportunities to interact.

Mark Langley, business intelligence spe-cialist at consultancy Drpete inc, says it is not so much customer relationship manage-ment (cRM) any more; it is cEM – customer experience management.

“cRM used to be a piece of technology where the customer was a record for contact management, but those days have long gone. organisations are expected to know a lot more about individuals – their hobbies, likes, dislikes, opinions and friends – and be able to listen to them and react appropriately within the interests of the business,” says Langley.

if organisations do not respond quickly to engage with customers in whichever way those customers choose, it is easy to post negative comments on social media sites, such as Facebook and twitter.

“Before you know it, 60 people have com-mented and the negative feedback can escalate. customers expect to be treated like a king or queen today, and you need to personalise their experiences and make them feel special,” says Langley.

Roadmap

shEn

En

Min

/ist

oc

kph

oto

Engaging with customers in

whichever way they choose

As we share more and more data about ourselves via the internet, social networks and mobiles, the companies that can use technology in a smarter way to better engage with their customers will be the ones to succeed, says Lisa Kelly


Home







tHeir friends




he says by focusing on the science of mobile engagement and how it has changed people’s behaviour, organisations are better placed to understand their customers and adjust how they interact with them.

“When do customers respond to emails – as they come in, or in a batch on the bus on the way home, for example? A richer profile of each customer is available compared to a few years ago, and analysing individual behaviours will become more critical over the next five years, as organisations find the best times and ways to engage with their custom-ers,” says patel.

tien tzuo, cEo at software provider Zuora, says offering subscription services for many digital products offers long-term opportuni-ties and regular contact with consumers.

“this intimacy means that every company is going to have to manage a direct, complex, responsive, multi-channel relationship with its customers. contrast companies such as netflix against traditional video rental com-panies, and so on,” he says.

it is imperative to know how many custom-ers you can address, how many customers you acquired, how many customers you can retain, and how much revenue you can get per customer.

“You have to know all of this in great detail and in real time. Rather than putting the focus of the business on the product or the transaction, subscription companies live and die by their ability to focus on the customer,” says tzuo.

integration is one area that many organisa-tions are getting to grips with. those that man-age to integrate their cRM technology with social media platforms are in a good position to succeed, says Langley. he cites the example of a retailer that picked up a distressed tweet

Choice is keyoffering a personalised experience to clients and alternative ways of accessing coun-sellors is a driver for charity Relate, which provides relationship support to more than 150,000 people annually.

“For us, client choice is key. people don’t fit into boxes and we want to provide support in different ways,” says stephen thorlby-coy, head of Relate Response at Relate Uk.

Relate may be a charity, but it operates in a mixed economy and while some of its serv-ices are free or subsidised, many people will pay for counselling services out of their own pocket, so it needs to remain competitive.

the charity added Moxie Livechat software to its website to complement what it does nationally, says thorlby-coy, and this focus on adapting customer services to develop-ments in technology and changes in lifestyle will continue.

“For a lot of people, walking into their local Relate centre is a big step. We are the ‘Dr Google’ generation – people are used to look-ing up their problems online and Livechat recognises people online approach help in a different way,” he says.

the service is free, and may lead to a client choosing one-to-one counselling, but the crucial part is offering choice.

“people may go on to make an appoint-ment at the end of Livechat, but the blended approach is important for the future of cus-tomer service; whether services are accessed via phone, online or face to face. We have to fit in with modern lifestyles, and flexibility is the future,” says thorlby-coy.

Flexibility and agilityFlexibility and agility is at the crux of suc-cessful cRM strategies, but many organisa-tions have invested in technologies which are buckling under the strain.

“over the past five years, many companies have invested heavily in data warehouses, but it is difficult to say what return they’ve got because the world is changing so quickly. smartphones have revolutionised cRM because customers have something in their hands which is as powerful as a pc was a few years ago, and that’s a game-changer,” says Jay patel, chief executive officer (cEo) of mobile specialist iMimobile.

“SubScription companieS live and die by their ability to focuS on the cuStomer”tien tzuo, zuora

Roadmap


Home







tHeir friends




one-size-fits-all has gone – they must cater for the multiple devices used by customers and for diverse methods of engagement.

“A customer may use Android, an ipad or Microsoft surface. the challenge is they all behave differently and if a company goes down the app route, it requires multiple apps which become a cost and resource issue,” says Langley.

one approach organisations might take is the “agnostic app”. “it looks like an app and behaves like an app, but it’s actually a web page because it is more consistent,” he says.

Langley says Google is pushing for its chrome software to be the dominant browser in the tablet and mobile market, and this will accelerate the drive towards web page tech-nology rather than specific app technology.

“You get a richer user experience with a tailored app, but there are limited resources in keeping up with the variety of operating systems,” he says.

the biggest game-changer for cRM over the next five years and beyond is the growth of big data. “Every single touch of someone’s socially enabled life will be known, from the food they buy to where they go on holiday; and individuals will have a social aggregated score used by organisations to target them more effectively,” says Langley.

More social responsibilityorganisations will have to take more social responsibility around privacy issues, or risk alienating their customers. Langley foresees new rules might be brought in to enforce responsibilities.

“there may be some sort of social respon-sibility charter as the government recognises the importance of respecting privacy,” he says.

proactive engagement with customers will be critical over the next five years.

“there is the worry that if you haven’t got a social media channel, you’re doomed. if you don’t proactively engage with customers, they will post comments about you and you can’t take appropriate steps to address any problems,” says Langley.

the technologies suited to cRM in the world of big data are cloud-based, he believes.

“cloud is the obvious solution because it is scalable and cost-effective. the data has to reside somewhere and organisations will

by a customer who had bought one of its coats and left it in the airport shop – the retailer delivered it to his hotel room.

“if you can deliver a customer experience which is second to none, you will nail down the loyalty piece, because with that level of service, why would you shop elsewhere?” he says.

the internet and online shopping means competition is not just on the high street.

“competition is global, and you have a glo-bal audience, which intensifies the need for responsive cRM,” says Langley.

Cross-channel consistencycross-channel consistency is important and feeds into the precept of integration.

“the brand and message has to be consist-ent from back to front – on the website, the social media platform, etc – you must give the same experience,” says Langley.

he says there is no longer a “traditional customer”. Employees are also customers and it is no longer safe to assume everything about the organisation stays within its walls.

“You must be consistent with your mes-sage throughout, because employees and partners are also customers and there is complete transparency. For example, a fish supplier to a restaurant who is told to leave his delivery on the doorstep in the sun might tweet, ‘Don’t have the fish today.’ the walls have disappeared and there is complete transparency,” he says.

the other challenge facing organisa-tions and their cios is the concept of

Roadmap

“organiSationS muSt underStand that the future of crm meanS their cuStomer iS not juSt a cuStomer, they are an individual with likeS and diSlikeS”mark langley, drpete inc


Home







tHeir friends




need answers to questions about customers in real time,” he says.

As 4G mobile services develop, iMimobile’s patel says this will magnify the multi-channel approach.

“some people will have very high band-width and may want to video call an organi-sation, or they may want to interact with you on social media, for example. the very high bandwidth will fragment audiences and the channels they choose even further, so it will be critical to have a multi-channel approach, based not just on blunt demo-graphics such as old versus young, but based on the personality traits of individual customers,” he says.

Langley agrees that over the next five years, the norm will be to treat each customer as an individual and tailor services accordingly.

“newsletters, for example, will die out – we will see the growth of personalised engage-ment material. the actual content will be unique to you and not just personalised by name. organisations must understand that the future of cRM means their customer is not just a customer, they are an individual with likes and dislikes and there will be no excuse for not getting it right as the technol-ogy is there,” he says.

“if you get it wrong, people are becoming less tolerant of poor service and will go to a rival who understands them as an individual.” n

Roadmap

How and wHy customers complain

Social media is growing in influence, as customers engage with organisations through a variety of channels, but they still want to be able to have a real conversation.

Social reviews are becoming increasingly influential in buying decisions, according to a survey of more than 3,000 european consumers by eGain communications.

Looking at how consumers engage with brands in different sectors, internet retailers scored highest at every stage of the customer engagement cycle, while utilities scored lowest.

the top reasons for abandoning a purchase are unclear or confusing expectation of service (26%), payment or sign-up processes were lengthy or complicated (21%) and negative social reviews (20%). in the uk, negative social reviews and ratings were an even more important factor than in other european countries for preventing a sale (30%) – and this became even more critical for the 18-34 year age group.

“It’s a brave business who would ignore social media as a legitimate channel of engagement. customers are proven to use social media as a springboard for publicly airing their grievances about a product, service or brand experience,” says dennis fois, director uk and northern europe, eGain.

consumers like to use multiple channels and two out of five will begin a service transaction with phone or email, while a fifth will choose to help themselves via web self-service.

email (48%) and phone (32%) are still the top channels for complaints, while 17% use web chat or social media as their first-choice channel to complain.

“it’s within your power to turn a negative social media mention around. taking the engagement offline and speaking to the customer directly and offering a valuable response can be a great way to deal with disgruntled customers airing their complaints online,” says fois.

consumers are empowered and impatient – they want the right answer and they want it fast, often in the way they choose. no matter what the starting point for the consumer, whether phone, chat or fAQs (frequently asked questions), the tendency to channel-hop means they expect consistency and context on whatever platform they’re interacting on, says fois.

Although consumers don’t like spam, if the timing and offer is right, they don’t object to promo-tional material, with 59% saying they would consider a loyalty reward offer sent through email.

price might seal a deal, but customers still expect good service – consumers strongly disagreed with the statement, ‘When i pay a bargain price for a product or service, i’m willing to accept a lower level of customer support.’ however, 50% of respondents expect an even higher level of customer support when they demonstrate loyalty or pay a premium for service.


Home







tHeir friends




Jamie turner, technical director and founder of postcode Anywhere, has based his business on knowing what the

customer wants and delivering it effectively.the address management and location

services provider offers more than 250 serv-ices including addressing and validation for e-commerce and customer profiling, geo-graphic and spatial web services and route optimisation. All services are geared towards ensuring customers have a happy and effi-cient experience, leading to strong customer loyalty, essential for survival in today’s turbu-lent economic climate.

Great customer service is one of the firm’s core values: “We should treat every cus-tomer with the utmost respect and leave them with an experience they will tell others about,” says the promise on its website.

this ethos is even more important in an age when customers are increasingly con-nected and willing to share their experiences – negative or positive – via the internet, social media and mobile technology.

“our proposition was about customer expe-rience. if you want people to trade with you, you have to give them a positive experience. if a customer shops online, they don’t want to have their goods sent to stockport rather than southwark. it is one small piece of the cus-tomer experience, but it is often the most tac-tile part of their experience where you have to type in and divulge information. We wanted to make it as painless as possible,” says turner.

Getting the correct addresses quickly is essential for the success of retailers – whether customers are shopping online or via a call centre.

Find out what the customer wants and deliver it effectivelyConsumers want to be able to buy something on their smartphones, without having to turn on a PC. If they have a happy and efficient experience, strong loyalty will result – and they might tell others via social media, says Lisa Kelly

case study

“it iS important to Stay ahead of the competition and think

about different wayS of better Serving cuStomerS. we are conStantly looking at our

internal SyStemS and proceSSeS”jamie turner, poStcode anywhere


Home







tHeir friends




“Addresses in this country are long and are not well structured. if you outsource to a call centre in india and the agent is trying to capture and spell a Welsh address, it can be extremely annoying for the customer. our services give a dual benefit – customer serv-ice is better and for the client, it is cheaper because they need fewer agents,” says turner.

Good customer servicesome online sites are ruthlessly efficient about pushing their customers down the online route because it is cheaper than being contacted any other way, but turner believes it is important to give customers options to ensure good customer service.

“it’s fine if someone’s buying a cD and knows what they’re going to get, but some purchases or services are more sophisticated and people expect old-fashioned service even in the new world. We want to offer strong customer service as well as strong self-service,” he says.

organisations can often learn most and engage more meaningfully with customers who call up directly.

“Rather than just go down the self-service route, we did the opposite and deliberately put our numbers online. We always answer a call and we don’t have buttons to press – 1 for sales, 2 for accounts, etc. if people phone us it is a brilliant opportunity to have a conversation with the customer to learn about them and how we can improve our product,” says turner.

“if organisations don’t innovate and try to improve customer service, they always have to be on the defensive, but it is no good try-ing to put lipstick on a pig.”

he says organisations need to address problems head-on and digest and learn from that experience so they can improve: “As long as you admit it, the best experience for customers and the strongest relationships can come out of making things right.”

Cloud-based CRMpostcode Anywhere has developed its own cloud-based customer relationship manage-ment (cRM) software because it has the in-house expertise, but turner believes the cloud is the most efficient way forward for organisations.

“We developed our own cRM technologies because the products we looked at did not offer the level of integration necessary for us to run our business, and it would have cost a fortune,” he says.

his advice for getting cRM right is to marry the business and the technology.

“the business as well as the technology has to be properly tied together, otherwise you end up with a big mess if you disassoci-ate the two,” he says.

to gain greater visibility of the customer and to become more proactive, turner says integration is key.

“We integrate the cRM system with every-thing – the support system, the phone sys-tem, every platform. if there is no integration, cRM technologies can be extremely over-rated and people end up making the same mistakes bigger and twice,” he says.

case study

“if organiSationS don’t innovate and try to improve cuStomer Service, they alwayS have to be on the defenSive, but it iS no good trying to put lipStick on a pig”jamie turner, poStcode anywhere

GEo

RGE

Do

YLE

/sto

ck

BYtE

/th

inks

toc

k


Home







tHeir friends




the cloud approach means postcode Anywhere is extremely efficient in sweating its assets.

“We are ruthless with our hardware – for what we do with our amount of kit, we rinse every £10 out of it, and this approach forces us to build carefully,” says turner.

he says organisations can be prone to throw away hundreds of pounds in “fear and danger money”, but if they think about design carefully, they can iron out problems.

“We have been operating in the cloud for over 12 years and we have learned from real innovators like Google. thanks to cloud we can do performance releases which give customers a progressively better experience. organisations always need to be thinking about things carefully and how they can approach problems or sticking points in a different way so they are always improving their customer experience,” says turner.

if postcode Anywhere doesn’t get it right, then clients will lose customers, and the company in turn will lose business, so focus-ing on innovation is key to future survival.

“We have to be very efficient and think about improving our business to improve customer service. We are investing more in design than in the past and making the prod-uct better to improve the interactive touch-points of clients’ sites,” says turner.

to this end, products have been developed that are more user-friendly and able to be incorporated into sites more easily by non-technical marketing workers who need to respond rapidly to customers’ demands in an increasingly demanding market where access can be from a variety of devices.

Time for innovationtime is earmarked for innovation, such as “Friday projects”, when employees think creatively and play with ideas which might come to fruition.

“having a playful spirit keeps everyone sane and sometimes amazing things can come out of it, which goes towards improv-ing customer experience. the challenge is to think, ‘Why not?’, because it is important to stay ahead of the competition and think about different ways of better serving cus-tomers. We are constantly looking at our internal systems and processes,” says turner.

With the democratisation of technology, one trend is to make technology open and easily accessible to all, not just the techni-cally able.

“typically, we provided Apis [application programming interfaces] to techies, but now we have more pre-packaged products which work on mobile devices properly for exam-ple, and you don’t need a computer science graduate to do it. it’s all point and click. if you think about how customers want to consume services differently by removing any possible barriers, then you give consumers a nicer experience and improve trade,” says turner.

this is crucial for any organisation’s ability to keep up with the widening choice available to consumers.

“You have to make sure everything works on everything. For example, a few years ago it was ok if something worked on internet Explorer, but now there is a much wider vari-ety of browsers. consumers want to be able to buy something from their smartphones, without having to necessarily turn on a pc,” says turner.

nobody today has the same browser or the same device or wants to be forced down one interaction and if they are, they will react by voting with their feet and going elsewhere.

Sensitive to consumers“You need to be more sensitive to consum-ers’ different environments; they are more

case study

“you have to make Sure everything workS on everything. conSumerS want to be able to buy Something from their SmartphoneS, without having to neceSSarily turn on a pc”jamie turner, poStcode anywhere


Home







tHeir friends




case study

advanced and agile with a proliferation of devices,” he says.

this is especially true of younger custom-ers and turner says it is essential to cater for their tastes in technology: “it is a new world and if you ignore the kids and don’t deliver great customer service to them, you will alienate a future market.”

he says there are real opportunities to get closer and learn from customers through social networking sites, and it is worth exploring in order to deliver better prod-ucts and improved services, and generate greater customer loyalty. “one can be a cynic about social networks, but it is important to

recognise there are real opportunities there as a lot of people use them as a way to exchange information and will start to engage with companies, but it’s important not to engage with them in a ‘shouty’ way with all upper case letters. You need to use it as an opportu-nity to learn. social networks are like villages – vocal, chatty and accessible,” says turner.

setting the bar higher is important to any organisation’s success, and learning comes through engaging with customers.

“We look at how to avoid potholes,” he concludes. “if you use technology to engage with your customer, you can do smarter things in a more intelligent way.” n

Big data and crm

Jamie Turner, founder and technical director of Postcode Anywhere, says there is a danger of mis-selling through accessing irrelevant data that does not improve the customer experience.

Although there is the opportunity to learn more about customers today than ever before because of the wealth of data they generate about their opinions and experience, he says there can be pitfalls using big data for crm.

“you have to be super-careful commercially. you can’t assume because you find out a customer’s favourite colour is yellow, they now need a pair of yellow shoes,” he says.

Social networking should be a better way to talk to customers.“it is possible to interact in a way that gets you much closer to the customer. We use technology

to understand our customers. I love big data but you have to be so careful that you don’t come across as big brotherish, and also that you don’t infer ridiculous things,” warns turner.

he suggests spending time listening to how customers communicate, but says it is worth remembering that using social networking sites is often not a subtle means of communication.

“it can be like waving your arms and using flashlights. there are extremes of behaviour exhib-ited, but you need to understand that you can have very vocal minorities, but you don’t need to react all the time,” says turner.

it is important to respond to consumers positively through what you learn, but turner points out that high feeling may be transient and it is important not to overreact.

“be open to suggestions, but carry on doing your thing and don’t prejudice your values because someone is having a bad hair day,” he says.

He also warns that CRM technologies can get it wrong. “There was an ad in the US for a CRM system that showed an English country manor house owned by someone with a name like tarquin and the milkman delivered an extra pint because the son was back from oxford in his green sports car. often crm technologies are newer and bigger, but can fail to deliver because they get it wrong on a big scale,” he says.

one of the most important things to learn when capturing big data about customers is to under-stand that they move into different states and to plan your interactions with them accordingly.

“We integrate all the interactions we have so we can bring everything together and build up a picture of our customers, so we understand what’s going on with them and we use crm tech-nologies to watch and learn where they struggle. It’s snakes and ladders. If an invoice is coming up, they are probably in a negative state so it’s not a good idea to send out marketing material. We try and build up a picture so we can identify patterns, intervene earlier if something is going wrong and try and offer a good price and an efficient service,” says turner.


Home







tHeir friends




Predicting the future for how technology will change companies’ relationships with customers is not straightforward.

“A year in technology is a long time, so predicting how cRM [customer relationship management] will look in the future is not easy, but with 4G mobile services accelerat-ing, people are going to have more power in the palms of their hands than in a FtsE100 company’s traditional desktop and with high bandwidths available, organisations will be even more accessible.”

so says Mark Langley, business intelligence specialist at consultancy Drpete inc. he says the growth of big data is the biggest game-changer as it means information is provided about customers at every single touch in their socially enabled life.

“the food you eat, the programmes you

watch, where you go on holiday – everything will be known about you,” he says.

At the Financial Times (FT), big data and insights about customers are more manage-able since the creation of one internal team to look after customer service – a key devel-opment in keeping up with new trends in cRM in the run-up to 2020.

“We had external agencies and internal people looking after single products and systems were scattered. if a customer sub-scribed to different products, it wasn’t neces-sarily known they were the same person,” says christina scott, cio at the FT.

this has changed with the introduction of the new team, and by consolidating on a cloud service – which scott says will help the FT put the customer at the centre of opera-tions as we approach 2020 (see box on p13).

JUpi

tERi

MA

GEs

/co

Mst

oc

k/t

hin

ksto

ck

Big data will be a game-changer. Customer information is provided at every touch in our socially enabled lives – what we eat, the programmes we watch, where we holiday. By 2020, everything will be known about us, says Lisa Kelly

the WoRld in 2020

Power in the palms of their hands: serving the customers of the future


Home







tHeir friends




“With one platform view of the customer, we can think in terms of pure customer experience which is consistent, irrespective of which chan-nel they choose to interact with us,” she says.

Customer-focused technologieschoice is key to success and customer-focused technologies will help businesses stay in tune with their customers, says chris chamberlain, head of marketing for digital marketing specialist htk horizon.

“Vital to all this will be the ability to main-tain a single customer view across all trans-actions and touchpoints, bringing together and exploiting data that historically has been in separate systems like billing and cRM. Without a single view of each customer, engaging in a personalised, relevant conversa-tion with them is simply not possible,” he says.

complexity can only increase and make the job more exacting, because more chan-nels will be added to the mix in the run-up to 2020. But Jay patel, chief executive officer (cEo) of mobile specialist iMimobile, says whatever new technologies develop and however disruptive they are, old technologies will not disappear.

“Just because there is on-demand stream-ing, the radio hasn’t gone. history shows that every new bit of technology doesn’t totally replace what went before so it will just make the job of engaging with customers even more complex,” he says.

organisations will have to run many varie-ties of engagement, but will not be able to shut down older forms. “the call centre will not become redundant, and it will still be good to have a physical presence, but the variety of channels means a silo approach will not work. it will be even more vital to have a single customer view,” says patel.

scott’s experience at the FT demonstrates that new channels do not replace older ones.

it is still early days, but new tools mean query times have been cut by more than half, and channels such as “click to chat” have been added to satisfy the growing demand for new ways of talking to organisations, which scott foresees continuing. “click to chat has not replaced people phoning, but it has provided additional traffic, and is telling us things we didn’t know before,” she says.

however, with this holistic in-depth view of the customer, organisations should be cautious about protecting privacy and not abusing the knowledge they have.

counselling charity Relate is exploring social channels, and is considering Facebook, but is conscious of its social responsibility and the sensitive nature of its services.

“clients may be able to have interaction via Facebook in the future, but we don’t know how comfortable people will be interacting with Facebook for counselling,” says stephen thorlby-coy, head of Relate Response at Relate Uk.

the WoRld in 2020

“work in perSonaliSation will feed into cuStomer

ServiceS So we can preSent content that iS relevant and of intereSt”

chriStina Scott, financial timeS


Home







tHeir friends




the lesson here is that just because you can do something due to technology doesn’t mean you should, although thorlby-coy recognises the growing popularity of social media channels, which he expects to con-tinue as we approach 2020.

“We will increasingly make more services available online,” he says.

Speed of responseif organisations do web-enable services and use more social media channels, the pace of cRM necessarily speeds up, which is a factor the FT’s scott is aware of living up to.

she says “speed of response” is the inter-esting thing about the newer channels.

“We used twitter to broadcast delivery delays in the Us when it snowed. We also use it to listen to what people say about the FT. if you use twitter, the frame of mind is instant, and you have to live up to that speed of response,” she says.

this real-time responsiveness will become more critical in the future and scott says customers should be able to speak to the organisations through whatever channel they choose. “social media will grow in terms of customer service,” she says.

thinking ahead to how customers want to be communicated with – whether online or via emerging or traditional channels – is vital.

Ben norman, managing director of digital marketing agency koozai, believes the impor-tance of being customer-centric will grow over the rest of the decade. he is aware that cRM will not stand still and organisations need to tackle increasing customer expectations.

“Brands will no longer be able to churn stuff out depicting how people should listen to them. the successful organisations will be asking, ‘how do you want to be communi-cated with?’ and marketing interactions with customers, including campaigns, must be integrated and across every platform,” he says.

Social data miningconsumers will become even more social, and the data generated from social network sites will be mined in different ways by organisations for insights.

“Using links on websites to determine whether an organisation gets the thumbs-up or not will decrease in importance. A better

factor in deciding ranking will be looking at what people say socially,” says norman.

What people say socially and being able to mine data more creatively will help organisa-tions exploit new customer-led opportunities and deliver real business benefits.

scott says cRM will help the FT focus on the lifetime value of the customer – she believes real-time evaluation of customers will feed into levels of responsiveness and retention strategies. “if you have the data and the right tools, it can help the decision-making process. For example, you could put more effort into lower-value customers by letting them know the advantages they’ll receive if they upgrade. it will allow us to be more proactive,” she says.

the move to digital has increased focus on engagement and provided more feedback from customers, which will flow into new products over the coming years. At the heart of any decision will be developing a closer relationship with the customer.

“We chose an htML5 app rather than the Apple App store because we want customer data and to have that direct relationship with the customer. if we are just the content provider, we lose that relationship, which we want to retain,” says scott.

the future will be about intensifying work in personalisation and recommendation and driving engagement with customers.

“Work in personalisation will feed into customer services so we can present content that is relevant and of interest,” says scott.

the WoRld in 2020

“reactionS to poor cuStomer Service hang around on Social networkS and cannot be eraSed. even the bigger brandS will fail if they don’t get cuStomer Service right”ben norman, koozai


Home







tHeir friends




the WoRld in 2020

CRM for survivalkoozai’s norman says cRM will be the most important element for any business to get right by 2020.

“cRM will be the key factor in an organi-sation’s survival. it used to be possible to treat customers like cattle and they’d get angry and then calm down and forget, but now reactions to poor customer service hang around on social networks and can’t be erased. this will ruin companies. Even the bigger brands will fail if they don’t get cus-tomer service right. You just need to look at hMV. there will be more such failures along the way if organisations don’t keep up with developments in technology, and we will see them getting beaten by smaller brands that get cRM right,” says norman.

he predicts more companies will employ

social media managers: “social media man-agers will help organisations address their social profiles and fix problems instead of fighting them. if they don’t they will lose market share and money.”

Whether or not organisations decide to develop new cRM roles for technology-savvy employees, one thing is certain – 2020 will witness closer engagement between organi-sations and their customers and the organi-sations that don’t develop this two-way relationship will struggle.

scott concludes: “We have moved from being an inbound customer services organi-sation to being a lot more outbound. this will increase as we engage further and get thoughts fed back, so we move from being a newspaper company in broadcast mode to a digital company in two-way mode.” n

serving multi-cHannel media users at tHe Ft

The Financial Times (FT) now has one internal team to look after customer service, and will be looking at how it can cater for the variety of ways users want to interact with the FT, which CIO christina scott sees accelerating over the next seven years.

she sees some interesting trends – channels such as mobile and social media are driving traffic, and she expects this to accelerate as we head towards 2020. mobile now drives 30% of traffic and 15% of subscriptions to ft.com, and accounts for 10% of advertising revenue.

The FT’s social media community consists of more than 2.8 million twitter followers, 500,000 facebook fans, more than 1.6 million Google+ fans (more than any other newspaper globally, claims the FT) and 23,000 members across the FT’s linkedin company page and groups. the FT’s global social media audience is more than five million.

the younger readership, not surprisingly, is especially keen on social media and using mobile devices to access ft.com. Globally, the number of ft.com registered users under the age of 25 grew 17% from 2009 to 2011, according to the FT Global Survey.

Users under the age of 25 are more likely to access FT content through the mobile app, showing support for the strategy of developing new product channels that appeal to different demographics, says scott.

As new channels grow, they must be supported, and scott has identified that more and more calls about FT products are along the lines of, “how do i do that on my ipad?”

“the future means that people who are customer service agents are increasingly going to have to be technically minded and understand how to use devices with different operating systems, although it will be impossible to know everything about everything as devices proliferate,” she says.

scott believes the future focus will be on building self-help communities, so it is possible to find out pain points and help work things out. “our experience from other channels, for example when we launched the first digital product, was that users would get in contact to say it was not working when really it was a problem with their internet connection. We always try and provide self-help guides that are searchable so you can find what you need,” she says.

She also foresees devices becoming even more varied, and the need to understand what cus-tomers are using to engage with the FT. “With external agencies and different systems, we didn’t have a good view of data. now we can focus on being more proactive,” says scott.

Business - Bitpipedocs.media.bitpipe.com/io_10x/io_107247/item_615930...Business 2020 • Issue 3...

Documents

Transcript of Business - Bitpipedocs.media.bitpipe.com/io_10x/io_107247/item_615930...Business 2020 • Issue 3...