There was a time when the role of the CTO was mainly concerned with the provision of internal resources. However, with the rise of digital transformation, it has developed into a more customer-centric position, intrinsically linked to achieving Customer Experience excellence.
The evolution of this role could easily be equated to the the shift in customer expectations. Today, a high-quality product is a baseline assumption from a customer perspective, with the the experience leveraging the value differentiation potential.
While providing this experience was traditionally the responsibility of the marketing or product-development departments, the increased demand for an exceptionally personalised service now requires the expertise of a technology professional.
The importance of technology in achieving Customer Experience excellence
Quite simply, this is a result of the disruptive rise of digital transformation. In this enhanced, omni-channel environment, where technology is synonymous with data-fuelled, omni-channel personalisation, the CTO’s expertise becomes invaluable. If a company fails to adapt to this new reality, they are certain to risk increased churn and incur financial losses.
However, the future of achieving consistent and inspirational Customer Experience excellence is also driven, and dictated, by technological innovation. Tech trends such as omni-channel, machine learning, and AI are going to shape the Customer Experience in the future as they will reduce costs (driving efficiency) and deliver excellence in customer service (driving effectiveness).
This means the CTO’s role in leverraging technology to achieve a great Customer Experience excellence in the mid-to-long term is truly fundamental to drive sustainable company growth. But, how exactly is this done?
The CTO’s role in driving Customer Experience excellence
Personalisation
As previously mentioned, personalisation is a key factor in driving Customer Experience excellence. Going much further than target marketing, which seeks to simply reach a certain demographic, personalisation aims to recommend the right product or enhance a current service based on the unique needs of the individual.
Creating this type of highly personal relationship with a broad number of clients is a significant challenge for any marketing or product-development team. A CTO, on the other hand, can effectively leverage the right insights and technology to ensure excellence by:
- Providing an effective omni-channel service experience
An omni-channel service is essential to meet customer expectations, drive loyalty, and improve the overall experience. However, avoiding a siloed experience means using the right software that is holistically integrated and improved by an expert.
- Using data to continually improve processes
Simply having an omni-channel service isn’t enough. You have to know how to use it. Customer data is a vital tool in improving services to better understand your customers’ current needs, as well as predicting future ones.
A CTO can effectively convert customer insights into new practices and resolve technological pain points. CTOs resolve challenging data issues to improve Customer Experience. Data is often not accurate as it is a dynamic component. CTOs help makes sense of that data by delivering up-to-date data at the right time and in the right context, so customer service agents can make best use of it to deliver their functions.”
The CTO’s understanding of when and how to deliver data is essential to improving the omni-channel customer service, resulting in a better, more personalised experience.
Leveraging emerging technology
The CTO’s expertise goes beyond using current technology to improve current processes and provide a more frictionless experience. Due to their position and background, they are often visionaries or forerunners of emerging technology like chatbots or VR. This means they are better able to forecast future trends, implement new processes accordingly, and ensure the Customer Experience continues to excel.
A holistic plan
A strong CTO understands that many moving parts must work together for customers to have the best experience possible. Developing a coherent plan is the most important aspect in achieving Customer Experience excellence. This plan is all about collaboration. It’s about aligning all business areas to understand and help deliver a better Customer Experience as well as properly implementing technology, process design, training, and mentoring.
With a detailed plan in place, CTOs can insightfully and consistently improve processes and implement emerging technology to provide their customers with a quality experience.
In any sector, achieving customer service excellence is the most effective method of value differentiation against competitors. It’s a CTO’s responsibility to make sure technologies perform their desired functions, because CTOs are in charge of making sure the capabilities, at a technology level, are well implemented for robustness, scalability, and cost control and can execute as desired.
It’s fundamental you have a strong omni-channel experience that is personalised to the customer and implements emerging technology in an effective manner. The CTO is more than a cog in the wheel of a successful omni-channel experience. They are key players who drive continued and visionary customer experience excellence, allowing businesses to implement new technological processes and scale-up existing ones, driving success into the long-term.
To begin your journey to a flawless customer service strategy, join us at the upcoming Zendesk event on November 15th. Click here for more details.