Johannesburg, 23 Jan 2020
While it has become easy to fall into the trap of only paying lip service to customer experience (CX), it is one of the most important aspects of doing business in 2020. But how can companies differentiate themselves when their customers have so many different and unique options available to them?
People today have access to a wealth of knowledge that feeds directly to their mobile devices via social media channels. They can easily find out anything about any product and use aggregators to compare service provider quotes at the swipe of a finger. This connected customer also expects companies to engage with them using their channels of choice, whether that is via a chatbot, social media, e-mail, or an instant messaging platform.
This puts the pressure on the organisation to adopt a leadership position when it comes to CX. To be successful requires not only a more customer-centric way of working, but also all the components in the business to work together, with technology underpinning the numerous engagement platforms. To this end, the cloud has become one of the most vital tools to empower organisations with the solutions needed to capitalise on the customer data (reflecting their unique requirements and expectations) at hand.
Out with the old
Fortunately, South African businesses have embraced the change from capex to opex as the need to replace ageing legacy infrastructure with more agile and cloud-centric solutions becomes a priority. The cloud does provide the opportunity for quick wins, enabling the organisation to influence its business in more positive ways. And, best of all, it is consumption-based, so the company only pays for what is used.
Driving all this must be CX initiatives. If organisations are not interacting with their customers in the way customers would like to, it is very easy for customers to simply move to a company willing to do so. This opens the business to an even bigger risk: Those who do CX well will also offer better products and services, resulting in a customer never going back to its previous service provider.
And never forget the adage that it costs seven times more to acquire a new customer than servicing and growing an existing one.
Cloud-friendly
While last year saw a shift to software as a service (SaaS) as more companies embraced hosted platforms in local multinational data centres, 2020 will see "true cloud" providers investing in the country. Their platforms will be deployed within SA, empowering companies to maximise a true consumption-based model.
Furthermore, decision-makers will be able to move away from risky (and expensive) hardware-based solutions that are becoming difficult to support. Already, this has resulted in the evolution of CX platforms that offer similar features to what was previously seen as back-office solutions.
It has therefore become easier to transform a company into a more coherent CX-focused organisation using a centralised platform. This environment makes the same technology accessible to everyone throughout the business. And because the organisation only pays for the features it needs to fulfil user requirements, it becomes easy to customise everything in a more agile manner.
And because such a cloud-centric environment does not require upgrades or is not dependent on specific hardware, once someone logs in to the system, they have access to the latest features and functions. That speed, flexibility and organisation-wide engagement deliver tangible bottom-line results.
Beyond happiness
Technology is very much the enabler to affect change. It provides decision-makers with the foundation on which they can evolve to become more customer-centric. The business requirements of today are focused on seeing investments in a flexible, omni-channel solution.
Of course, CX entails more than just putting a smile on a customer’s face. It is a methodology that becomes a way of life for any organisation. If a company is unwilling to embrace becoming an inclusive, connected and informed organisation when dealing with customers, then no solution can fix its problems.
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Elingo
Elingo (Pty) Ltd. is a Johannesburg-based ICT company focused on services and solutions within the multimedia contact centre and enterprise IP telephony space.
The technology firm has partnered with established industry leaders to ensure the supply of tailor-made, versatile and customisable solutions that integrate with any process or system.
The company’s product offering is designed primarily to automate each process within the call centre including phone calls, SMS, e-mail, fax or web chat.
Elingo’s pre-sales teams have unmatched product, technical and architectural knowledge and the quality of its product guarantees value-add and innovation to contact centres of any size.
The company has kept ahead of game-changing trends including the cloud (on-premise and cloud-based Communications as a Service (CaaS), contact centre automation, enterprise IP telephony – as well as consulting, support and education.
Elingo is an industry leader in business process automation and is run by a core team with over 25 years’ experience in contact centre design, deployment and support.