Pushing the CX Needle from Engagement to Delight with Tech Solutions

16 February, 2023

The customer has always been at the core of business strategy. However, now, with the integration of digital technology into every aspect of anenterprise’s operations, outcomes are shifting from mere customer engagement to customer delight.

Companies that have set sail on this journey have been enjoying a competitive advantage, which results in an improvementin revenue and profitability.Additionally, applying digital solutions to customer engagement allows companies to anticipate and meet customer needs more effectively.

By garnering and analysing data on customer preferences and how they respond to various products and processes, businesses have been able to achieve better decision-making, increase employee engagement and satisfaction and sustain long-term growth. Essentially, providing great customer experiences has proved to be an ideal way to win customers and their loyalty while driving organisational growth.

To gain valuable insight on how advancements in technology - specifically AI-led conversational engagement, analytics, automation, and the cloud - have revolutionized the field of customer experience, ServiceNow in partnership with Forbes India hosted a Round Table discussion in Bengaluru, themed ‘CX Shifts: Engagement to Delight’.

The power-packed panel comprised Bindya S Raj, SME - Operations,Infosys; ShreejithMenon, COO, Operations, Customer Service & Facilities, Fincare Bank; Siva Prasad Nanduri, CBO, Team Lease and VenugopalArcot, Sr. Director, Solution Consulting, ServiceNow. Moderated by ParomitaChatterjee, the panel also explored the potential impact of developing emotional intelligence in chatbots on the future of CX and its role in transforming the game.

The discussion began with each participant talking about how their respective companies were integrating digital technology into various aspects of the business,to transform customer engagement to delight. They shared their roadmaps for tech-adoption and talked about various milestones that they had achieved and what stage of the journey they had reached.

Having orchestrated many enterprise journeys from customer engagement to delight, ServiceNow’sVenugopalArcotoffered his insights into the pre-requisitesfor a successful transition.

Bindya S Raj described how Infosys’ activities towards developing emotional intelligence in chatbots were facilitating the future of customer experiences (CX) as envisaged by the company. She also narrated how the company was balancing providing great customer experience with the need to reduce costs.

With data and analytics playing a critical role in understanding and meeting customer needs,ShreejithMenonsharedsome interesting use cases of how Fincare Bank was leveragingthese assets. He also elaborated on how the Bank was creating a sustainable long-term growth strategy by focusing on customer experience.

Despite aiming to deliver outstanding and memorable experience to customers, in reality problems can occur. This could be due to disconnected touch-points or unresolved customerrequests which result in astruggle and frustration for both the customer and employees. Highlighting the challenges that Team Leasefaced in its endeavours to implement a customer-centric strategySiva Prasad Nanduri described how the company overcame these using various tech solutions. He explained how the company had identified gaps and resolved them to ensure consistent and seamless CX across channels.

Lending an agency perspective, VenugopalArcot explained how companies could measure the success of their customer experience initiatives. He also discussed the role of cultural change in an organization and how it goes a long way towards creating a customer-centric strategy.

ServiceNowhas been supporting companies in their endeavours to create better customer experiences by providing a single platform that can connect teams, processes and systems to fix issues quickly. With such solutions, enterprises have been able to elevate their customer service from request to resolution and become customer service champions by increasing customer satisfaction, boosting efficiency and improving products and services.

The discussion concluded with a consensus among the participants that focusing on customer experience leads to increased revenue and profitability for a business and positively impacts employee engagement and satisfaction.