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Up your customer experience to survive digital economy

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 30 Aug 2018
Arihant Jain, Freshworks director for Middle East and Africa.
Arihant Jain, Freshworks director for Middle East and Africa.

In order to survive, it is crucial that businesses take customer experience (CX) seriously. Organisations are realising they need to track customer expectations, pain points and trends, and use this data to deliver unbeatable experiences.

This was one of the key take-outs of the inaugural "CX in the age of digital transformation event", held last week at The Venue, Melrose Arch.

During his keynote address, Arihant Jain, Freshworks director for Middle East and Africa, said businesses are searching for better tools to assist them in offering an improved connection and communication with their customers and co-workers.

"Digital transformation on the customer experience level is not just a matter of the front-end and customer-facing functions. It requires a new and enterprise-wide approach to tracking customer expectations, along with top-management commitment and cross-functional teamwork."

He said organisations need to put customer experience at the centre of the universe, and design digital transformation around each customer's experience.

Keeping with the theme, another keynote address by Clint Payne, programme manager of customer experience at MultiChoice, highlighted the six key customers: achievers, die-hards, hopefuls, stragglers, optimists and trailblazers, and delved into the digital customer's views and opinions.

The next-gen customer

In addition, two panels were held during the event. The first, consisting of experts from Teleforge, Edcon, Uber, EOH and SA Taxi, discussed crafting an engaging experience for the next-generation customer.

Experts mulled over who the next-gen customers are, their needs, and how to create an ideal customer experience for them. They also talked about the roadblocks to realising the vision of turning an enterprise into a customer-centric digital business.

The second panel, based around the question: "Okay, Google, are we there yet?", centred around whether emerging technology was a discussion for now or later.

Experts from Fresh Tech Africa, CIB Africa, MultiChoice, Merchants and Barclays Africa Group addressed issues such as the interaction between customers and artificial intelligence (AI) during customer service interactions, as well as the correct way to implement AI in the customer experience.

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