Looking Over the Next CX Hill

This article was originally published on thecustomer.net.

One of the problems that CX faces is that, despite the universality of the issues it seeks to resolve, there is no clear, agree-upon definition of what customer experience is and means.  That is, its definition is as tied to its category as its solution is.  Defining what CX is and how it gets managed is fully-dependent on the context of the case.

One of the other problems that seems to be a near-universal hurdle for CX practitioners is that, in many cases, it still lives inside the organization as a marketing initiative and not an operational one. One leading practitioner I spoke with even went so far as to say that if your CX initiative doesn’t have the real, express support of the CEO then you should hang it up and not waste your money because it will never get beyond the first silo wall. Ouch.

On the other hand, there are plenty of CX practitioners who are experiencing broad successes from deep within the operational trenches.  We spoke with two of them recently to get their views on – and predictions for – CX success this coming year. Carthey Van Dyke is VP of Customer Success at Gryphon.ai, and her counterpart, Michele Tilton, VP of Marketing at Gryphon.ai.

Talk to us about what you as see as the bigger factors that CX practitioners will have to deal with?  What does the CX practitioner’s customer journey look like this year?

“Throughout 2022, the customer experience will continue to grow in importance across all verticals. Figuring out how to hit the perfect balance of automated versus personal touch will be a topic that will continue to be hashed out. And as more people go back to the office the re-emergence of onsite visits will bring another interesting complexity of when to add this back to the mix of interactions.”

Good points.  I’m wondering though, how some of the workplace paradigm shifts will affect the course of that thinking? There are a lot of people who have chosen to leave their skilled positions and that, in turn has affected all kinds of things that could skew an otherwise solid CX strategy.

“Real-time guided selling and coaching has taken the market by storm for a few reasons. First, consumers continue to expect real-time responses at their fingertips, whether online or over the phone. They want answers to their questions instantly. Companies who provide accurate, real-time responses to consumers will thrive over the competition.

Second, the Great Resignation has resulted in mass hiring initiatives, with companies needing to ramp new employees faster than ever before. Guided selling enables less tenured employees to contribute to revenue exponentially quicker than traditional onboarding programs.

Third, companies are beginning to realize that Intellectual Property of their top performers is part of the value of their organization. By capturing conversations and providing best-in-class recommendations, they are able to leverage this IP and quickly disseminate this information to all staff, raising the bar across the organization.”