The Importance of Analytics in CX and DT Interventions

Analytics in CX and DT

Customer experience (CX) and Digital Transformation (DT) are the buzzwords for success in corporate corridors today. Top management has woken up to the competitive advantage on offer through CX and DT. They realize facilitating the customer and delivering an engaging experience is the route to success, considering more than half of all customers having switched providers just because of poor user experience.

Analytics – the Driving Force

The driving force behind CX and DT is data analytics. Advanced analytics allow enterprises to deliver better user experiences, leading to higher satisfaction and in turn greater customer loyalty.  Today’s fast-paced nature of business leaves no room for finding out what customers want or what they prefer by actually asking the customer.  Businesses have little choice but to ascertain customer wants and preferences proactively, by crunching data, and engaging with them on their terms.

A seamless app or a portal is no longer a big deal. Rather, what impresses the customer is an interface which recognizes their interests or preferences, preferably leveraging Artificial Intelligence to make choices for the customer. Netflix, Spotify and Amazon have already adopted the art of such personalization to a high degree of perfection. Personalization is not possible without crunching data of customer preferences, wants, needs, and sentiments.

A direct corollary to creating better CX is DT. The best DT initiatives stem from customer preferences, or making things better for the customer. Enterprises create new value for their customers by leveraging new technologies such as IoT and Machine Learning to disrupt existing models. Analytics connects these technologies to the enterprise platform, enabling insights which allow strategists to make smarter decisions, keeping pace with the speed of changes in the external environment.

Measuring CX

A fallout of data dominance is the need to quantify decisions and actions. It is not enough if someone at the top “knows” CX and DT will enhance customer engagement, and deliver rich returns. Today’s highly challenging and competitive environment places a premium on every investment dollar, and assurance of a positive ROI, made explicit in quantifiable terms, is imperative.

A methodological approach to measure CX, as expounded by research major Forrester includes prioritizing customer segments most important to the business as the first step. The enterprise next selects the level of experiences – discrete customer journeys, or individual interactions, again depending on what is most important for the business, to measure: overall relationship. Next, the enterprise defines CX metrics for the selected experiences, in terms of customer perceptions, what actually happened, and the business outcomes connected with each experience. The enterprise then collects data for the selected CX metrics.

Effective data analytics and comparing results with an internal benchmark for each metric would not just set performance targets, but also motivate both internal stakeholders and external partners to work towards improving CX in a mythological way. The insights a good analytics engine offers enable the enterprise to identify problems of individual customers, collate it prioritize broad-scale improvement opportunities.

End-to-end interaction metrics

The importance of data can never be understated. About 80% of data remains dark, or never actually used to improve CX. Many enterprises burn themselves out collecting data that they are not able to do the critical step of putting such data to analysis.

Again, the type and nature of data matter just as the quantity of data matters. For all the talk on the importance of live and real-time data in the scheme of things, only about 23% of companies are actually able to integrate customer insights in real-time, as a SAS study reveals. However, at the same time, enterprises caught on the real-time data trap run the risk of losing sight of the bigger picture.

What truly sets apart an enterprise is the ability to use both active and passive data to gauge customer sentiment not just at any one point of time, including current time, but to get an end-to-end understanding of CX data.

An end-to-end understanding of CX data not only reveals what the customer did but also the rationale of why he did so. For instance, live analytics would make explicit a customer who is making a “high effort.”  Business managers usually indulge in fire-fighting to facilitate such customers and resolve their wants. However, it could be the customer, having visited the website and not finding what he sought, turned to online chat and ended up dissatisfied with the partial or vague answers provided by the chat agent, ended up making two or more phone calls to indicate the “high effort,” and finally reached resolution three days later. Considering the end-to-end interaction metrics enables the business to address the root cause of the customer’s frustration, and make the necessary CX and DT changes, rather than merely offer a remedy the symptom.

Across the business landscape of today, the common thread running across market leaders is them having integrated analytics into everything, right from everyday discussions to formal contracts. They align appropriate internal resources with analytical skills and ensure each relevant business area feeds into the larger data management strategy.

A successful end-to-end data management strategy co-opts not just structured data but also various unstructured data even outside the provider’s systems. Twitter feeds, Facebook updates or any external source where customers indicate their mood, like or dislike for the product or service is useful in making course corrections and upgrades. Smart businesses adapt to procedures based on customer preferences rather than expect the customer to adjust to their internal process efficiency requirements, applying DT initiatives to cater to what their customers want.

Data improve the customer journey dramatically, but only for companies willing to be led to where the data leads them. Enterprises entrapped in the sentiments of legacy structures or incumbent products will find their CX and DT interventions stifled and pay a heavy price in terms of missed opportunities.

Speeding up Enterprise Digital Transformation with IoT

MK IoT

“Without digital transformation, enterprises will fail, and without IoT, digitization never happens!”

Internet of Things (IoT) is critical for successful enterprise digital transformation, though many organizations do not specifically mention the term IoT.

However, IoT is not just about devices

IoT ushers in a new Digital Age with optimized manufacturing production and supply chain networks, and interconnectivity of disparate systems through sensors. IoT and cloud-based GPS solutions improve the visibility of goods in transit by tracking their exact location, temperature, humidity etc. Though the devices generate valuable data, IoT is not limited to devices. IoT in digital transformation encompasses the intelligence that is infused in the assets to consume and analyze the data to develop actionable insights.

Digital Transformation and IoT- the Inseparables

Internet of Things (IoT) brings the paradigm of connectivity into business and furthers digital transformation by uniting people, processes, and devices under one umbrella. This integration empowers industries by helping them gather valuable business insights. IoT, regardless of any industry, refers to connecting physical devices to a common network so that they can collect and exchange data easily.

Many industries, especially manufacturing companies, are traditionally known for investing more in operational technology (OT) and less in information technology (IT). This is probably due to the asset-intensive nature of those companies. As new digital technologies evolve, many of these industries are hamstrung by decades-old legacy systems and processes. Digital transformation demands the integration of OT and IT that will help enterprises unlock opportunities and make their products and services more valuable and efficient.

When IoT meets Digital Transformation

IoT merges both digital and physical worlds. The massive amount of data collected by the connected devices can help in formulating new business models and fundamentally change enterprise operations. So what happens when IoT and digital transformation converge?

  • Explosion of data– By 2020, there will be 50 billion connected devices These devices- smart appliances, meters, connected machineries, automobiles, and more- produce massive amount of data.
  • Cloud will drive business– Cloud offers the agility and flexibility with which businesses are able to respond to the changing market needs. Cloud platforms are cost-effective, fast, and connect to people and devices across the globe.
  • Boosts business and customer engagement– The invasion of mobile and social media networks gives decision-making power to people as they are equipped with real-time information. This integration brings up novel ways to engage businesses and its customers.

When the devices are allowed to communicate, it brings multiple benefits to enterprises including improved decision making, dynamic response to product/ service demands, increased productivity, and real-time availability of actionable insights. IoT is not just limited to these organizational advantages, it can contribute to asset management through predictive maintenance and statistical evaluation that help increase reliability.

Next steps to IoT success?

Most of the established companies have digital assets, but they don’t know how to truly monetize those assets in the emerging digital world. IoT projects should create scalable software distribution systems, third-party ecosystems, and billing solutions to create new revenue streams that are flexible and ever-expanding.

To taste success in the digital sphere, IoT projects must undergo these six steps:

  1. How to design and deploy the devices?
  2. Connecting the device to a cloud platform (this will improve connectivity)
  3. Secure software distribution (with minimal user intervention)
  4. Create a vibrant third-party ecosystem to stay relevant in the market
  5. Find the right marketplace to promote and sell solutions
  6. Securely bill the apps globally and manage revenue flows (monetization)

The digital transformation journey is complex and application of IoT will bring brand new use cases in the coming years. The bottom line of IoT in enterprise digital transformation is best summarized in the words of Juha Pankakoski, EVP of Konecranes, who says, “The industrial Internet brings machinery alive”. Break-up the words of Juha, and you get the essence of what he means:

  • IoT provides real-time insight into any device so that the data collected by the asset is available for processing. This enormously influences decision making in enterprises.
  • Embedding IoT into product establishes a real-time connection with customer. This opens up new horizons to build customer relationship and experience by fostering personalization.

Delight your customer with IoT driven Digital Transformation

In earlier days, the only connection between brand and consumer was the often discarded warranty cards. Today, as soon as the user turns on an IoT device, the manufacturer is immediately connected to the user. When it comes to customer experience, IoT is also a “data capturing tool” that empowers companies with information on their customers and followers. The IoT-powered data can be leveraged to personalize online content, transform online marketing and run analytics. The connection of physical and digital world established by IoT increases the opportunity to co-create with customers. IoT makes enterprises understand the significance of the digital customer interface and improves the scope for personalization.

For the enterprises, it would mean reduction in operational cost, smarter decision making, enhanced customer service and improved customer engagement. Supporting IoT initiatives might require a hefty investment initially, but IoT is perceived as the key to unlocking the doors of digital transformation. And, that’s what big brands like Philips, Mercedes, Walmart and others are doing.

To paraphrase William Gibson, “The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.”

Innovation is imperative for businesses and IoT will open the gates for innovation in the coming years.

Entrepreneurship in the days of digital disruption

digital disruption

The average life span of companies in the S&P 500 is just 20 years today, which means only 43% of those companies that existed in 1995 are left standing now. If this trend continues, 75 percent of the S&P 500 firms today will be replaced by new ones by 2027.

How to be the disruptor?

The new generation of entrepreneurs can achieve better and faster revenue growth if their business has higher engagement levels with digital technologies. Data, artificial intelligence and predictive analytics can assist today’s enterprises to make more balanced and informed decisions than just relying on past experiences and gut feel.
Businesses need to use digital platforms in novel ways to create new revenue streams, and to improve social and business interactions. Data-driven decisions can be the foundation to create a company of substance. Enterprises can leverage the huge consumer data created every day to innovate or to offer personalized services to their customers.

Disruption in the personal transportation space:

How do you think an India based start-up could beat a giant like Uber? True, there were other businesses that tried to attack the same problems that typical consumers faced daily. In fact, much before Ola and Uber, Meru Cabs introduced a service to overcome poor taxi service in India. It did not turn out to be a profitable business, as they owned a fleet of cars. This was the flaw in their business model – it was asset-heavy.

Ola, introduced for the first time in India, the concept of driver-entrepreneurs. Their strategy was to offer transportation as a service. Ola stands apart as they give the riders the choice of size and comfort – cars, shuttle services and auto-rickshaws. They offered training to drivers to use the app and helped them make a good income with a branded company. Operating across 100 cities with 550,000 drivers, this Indian start-up enjoys a dominant market share in India’s $12 billion taxi market. Uber and Ola were successful because they created a platform – an interactive app. Besides offering an efficient mode of transport, they optimized logistics and followed demand balance principle. Addressing another key priority to increase market reach, Ola launched a new offering – the progressive web app at the Google’s I/O Developers’ conference in San Francisco. This app will consume less data compared to a native app, aimed to expand its reach to more customers and driver partners in rural India, with low-end smartphones and slow internet connection.

Related: Why Digital Transformation is the Only Way Forward for Business

Disruption in the job search space:

In 2015, Stéphanie Delestre won the Accelerating Tech Entrepreneurs award from EY for her online jobsite Qapa. What difference did she make?

She questioned the traditional system and designed an online jobsite, which can be easily replicated in any other country. For the first time in the recruitment space, big data was used. Her argument was that blue collar jobseekers did not require to make a resume, then why make them go through this turmoil. Her site used matching algorithm to search a candidate’s information and find the right job based on various criteria, in real-time. Employers saved money by posting free ads, and had to pay only when they successfully found someone to fill the job.

Disruption Lessons for entrepreneurs:

Steven Krupp and Paul Schoemaker, authors of ‘Winning the Long Game’, affirm that successful businesses “need to integrate, build, and reconfigure competencies in order to succeed in rapidly changing environments.” The brands that once enjoyed monopoly are forced to squeeze their profit margin, keep pace with the changes around, alter their business model, modify internal work culture, and if required implement, new technologies to exist and maintain its position as market leader.

As developing new products and technologies is not a viable option for all, partnering with startups or acquiring them is the ongoing trend. For instance, Whole Foods Markets Inc. a specialized organic and natural food grocery store struck a five-year deal with Instacart, an on-demand grocery delivery partner. In 2014 when they had this deal, Whole Foods had 440 stores across the US but their sales were dipping. After closing down a few stores, and embracing the online route, they have begun making profits again.

Are you a disruptor?

Today, more than ever before, customers want their solutions to be addressed fast and in the most convenient way possible. Business models that flex or meet the changing expectations of the consumers are going to be the winners.
Newer revenue streams, digital platforms, and automation apps are disrupting almost every industry, driving the scale, growth and operation of businesses. This situation brings both risk and opportunity. You can either be the disruptor who shake things up in your sector or be the one who is disrupted.

Related:
How startups can hire exceptional talent, consistently
Are Entrepreneurs Born Or Made?
Building a Happier Workforce with AI

The Indian Telecom revolution: A promising story in the making

digital transformation in telecom

According to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), the total mobile services market revenue in India is expected to touch USD 37 billion by 2017. India is presently the second-largest telecommunication market in the world, and ranks third among the number of internet users. The ongoing wave of digital transformation is impacting the telecom sector both directly and indirectly. It is not merely connecting people, but also providing a robust platform for budding innovations in other sectors to flourish.

Here are some key events and factors that are ensuring not just a booming telecom market, but also a vibrant digital revolution that ensures that the customer wins hands down.

Telecom and retail unite

Favourable government policies, 4G services hitting the market, and the deregulation of FDI norms is helping telecom sector grow by leaps and bounds. Moreover, with the launch of Reliance Jio, the sale of 4G VoLTE compatible smart phones have correspondingly gone up. International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts India to overtake US as the second-largest smartphone market globally by 2017. To make up for their lost customers due to Reliance Jio and to attract new ones, the soon to be merged entity operators Idea Cellular and Vodafone India have partnered with India’s leading e-commerce sites Flipkart and Amazon respectively. When prospective 4G smartphone buyers visit these ecommerce sites for attractive offers, they are also offered bundling schemes by these service providers. Thus, all three entities, and the customer, gains.

Related: Why Digital Transformation is the Only Way Forward for Business

Reliance Jio and its after effects 

Digital transformation is not just about decreasing cost, it is more about giving an exceptional customer experience that impels growth. In this case, Reliance Jio came up with 4G with VoLTE, which not only gives high speed data but superior call quality, additional services, and seamless omnichannel digital experience.

Unlike 3G and 2G, which are primarily designed with voice calls in mind, Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is a data-only networking technology. The catch is, in places where 4G signal is unavailable, the chances of call dropping is high. But to address this issue, Jio ensured they have Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC) in place to allow the phone to switch back to a 2G or 3G signal wherever 4G is not available.

Support and development by the Indian government

For any service to achieve scale it has to be affordable, available throughout the country and easily accessible. As a step to modernize cities in India and offer smarter living experience to its citizens, Gandhinagar, capital of Gujarat, is the first city in India to have high-speed (2Mbps) Wi-Fi service covering 75% open area of the city.
To encourage online booking, the government is not levying any service charges on booking e-tickets on IRCTC.
Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, announced in the budget this year that the government has so far received over 250 investment proposals worth Rs 126,000 crore in the electronic manufacturing sector to make phones and television sets in India.

As part of the ‘Digital Village’ initiative, the government will be deploying free Wi-Fi in 1050 rural villages in the country. This initiative has promised that by the end of 2018, high speed broadband will reach more than 150,000 gram panchayats via Wifi hotspots.

Potential new services due to digital transformation

The 2017 global edition of the GSMA’s ‘Mobile Economy’ report reveals by the end of this decade the 5.7 billion-subscriber milestone will be achieved, of which India alone is expected to add 310 million new unique customers.
With enterprises having global presence and employees travelling between offices, more and more businesses are going for web-based applications and embracing cloud services (IaaS, SaaS or PaaS) to store data. Telecom companies have a vital role to play as cloud service providers and cloud carriers.

Telecom companies have access to enormous data including customer profiles, location data, device data, customer usage patterns, apps downloaded, etc. They can create new revenue streams by tying up with businesses from other sectors. By studying these data, companies can unlock hidden knowledge about their customers’ habits, predict their requirements, make more informed decisions, create new innovations and build forward-looking plans for the future.

One of the most important infrastructure for the new breed of disruptive industries is high-speed mobile broadband. Broadband services user-base in India is expected to grow to 250 million connections by 2017. With a total of over 50 million video calling minutes per day, India leads WhatsApp’s video calling market.

What is next for telecom’s digital revolution?

At a time when global telecom players are getting ready for 5G, in India, the service providers are struggling to reach 4G services. Although India has the second largest internet user base, it still lags behind when it comes to internet speed. To solve this issue, ISRO will be launching three satellites (GSAT-19, GSAT-II and GSAT-20) in the coming months. The multiple spot beams used by these satellites will provide high quality internet, phone and video services, covering the entire country. GSAT-19, which is slated to be launched in June 2017, will be able to transfer data at 4 gigabytes/sec.

The Government of India plans to auction the 5G spectrum in bands like 3,300 MHz and 3,400 MHz to promote initiatives like Internet of Things (IoT), machine-to-machine communications, instant high definition video transfer, as well as its Smart Cities initiative – Sectoral report from IBEF.org

Banking on this announcement, there is heavy investment pouring in from the government as well as corporates (both Indian as well as International). For instance, Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson is introducing a new radio system in the Indian market, which will provide the necessary infrastructure required by mobile companies in order to provide Fifth-Generation (5G) services in future.

Though 5G is going to be a bit of journey, once the required standards are in place, the rollout will be quick and the customer experience will improve by several folds. Market Research Store – a leading research firm – predicts 10.3 per cent year-on-year growth for the Indian telecommunication services, which is expected to reach USD 103.9 billion by 2020.

The Indian telecom sector’s contribution towards the national GDP is estimated to double from Rs 7.7 lakh crore in 2014 to Rs 14 lakh crore by 2020. With management of spectrum, telecom infrastructure development, broadband strategy, licensing and regulatory issues, strategies planned for revival of public sector undertakings, and shift to a world that is AI-first, the Indian telecom growth story seems to be on track to achieve all the projected goals.