Why CIOs need to focus on Customer Experience

A Chief Information Officer (CIO) must be able to balance several types of spinning plates at once. According to Forbes, “…a CIO must address tactical components of data management as well as strategic ones, manage infrastructure as well as people, and ultimately maintain responsibility for information.”  Other 2024 research calls out that 84% of CIOs are leading digital transformation.

Defined as the “integration of digital technology into all areas of a business,” digital transformation both enables and requires a shift in how organizations interact with their customers. This means that CIOs, especially those that have strategic scope, must be able to understand the technologies that allow for superior customer experience. In fact, a 2022 study shows that customer experience technologies were among the top IT investments.

Moreover, customer experience is transforming into a data-heavy field of expertise. The prevalence of online activities – all of which can and do collect data about those activities – and Artificial Intelligence (AI), which can help companies make sense of those enormous sets of data, combine to make data and intelligence central to customer experience. Given that information is a key part of a CIO’s role, customer experience’s data revolution becomes equally important to that role.

Additionally, because personal information is a critical part of the data for which a CIO is responsible, and as customer experience has a tremendous impact on the amount and quality of data that an organization can collect, customer experience is a vital part of the CIO’s wheelhouse.

With this in mind, here are a few key Customer Experience concepts that will help a CIO succeed in their role.

• Personalization
• Data Driven CX
• Omni-Channel Engagement
• Proactive Customer Support
• Customer Journey Mapping
• Customer-Centric Design

Personalization

With today’s AI-driven analytics ability and given the amount of time most active generations spend online and expressing their preferences and wishes, experience personalization is the most practical it has ever been. Even hyper-personalization, also known as one-to-one marketing, can help brands connect to today’s consumers in a deeper, personal way that goes beyond mere segmentation. Moreover, younger generations expect companies to know them on an individual basis and provide unique experiences based on their expressed preferences. In other words, personalization is table stakes in the online marketplace. Without experience personalization of its online assets, a company risks obsolescence as older generations taper off in buying power.

Data driven CX

Again, with AI driving the capability to collect information and turn that information into usable knowledge, companies can begin to not only understand the sticking points of its customer experiences, but also anticipate and modify those experiences real-time. This predictive capability can help shift customer experiences, including customer support experiences, from reactive to proactive.

This critical shift may require connecting data silos to understand the ideal experience end-to-end. Data and data analytics throughout and across experiences can help a company make predictions about how changes early in the experience can positively affect latter points in that same experience. Thay can also help a company see how changes in one experience (like customer support) can positively affect other experiences (like purchasing). Regardless, data, especially connected data across experiences, can drive superior customer experiences that result in increased brand loyalty, trust, and sales.

Omni-channel engagement

Most companies do not just interact with customers through a single channel Rather, a typical company may interact through marketing sites, special-purpose websites, phone support, various apps, email interactions, social media communications, in-person store-based interactions, and many others. Without a way to connect these multiple channels into a single, united experience, customers may drop off. Especially given that younger generations expect to use multiple channels when interacting with a single company, a company that can engage equally well and consistently across all its channels will find it easier to attract and retain customers.

Proactive customer support

As Zendesk describes it, proactive customer support is “anticipating and addressing customer needs before they arise. It involves taking the initiative to resolve issues, provide information, or offer solutions before the customer even asks.” For example, a company can wait until a customer realizes that they need to change out their light bulbs and send them a coupon for 10% off new LEDs, in which case the company will be one of many options the customer is considering. On the other hand, if it is able to use data to predict when that customer’s light bulbs will need replacing, it can send the customer a notification that their light bulbs will go out in 30 days, that company will both be doing the customer a service and be top of mind to the customer for the sale.

Customer journey mapping

The large amount of available data about customer experiences can also contribute to analysis paralysis within companies. One technique that companies successfully use to better understand the data about customer experiences is that of customer journey mapping. A visual presentation of all the stages in a customer’s experience, a customer journey map can help a company make sense of the data it collects about blockers, successes, and end results of its experiences.

Many companies create customer journey maps on a per-persona basis. That is, they identify unique personas for users and map their customer journey – its ups, downs, met and unmet demands. This visual, fed by data about users within that persona, can help a company visualize concrete and practical challenges and needed changes to the customer experience.

Customer-centric design

Customer-centric design is a way of organizing technology stacks and customer interactions with customer needs in mind. Customer-centric design requires that a company not only asks, but also listens to customers about their needs and expectations. It also requires an open-mindedness to consider ways of organizing company technologies, functions, and departments in a way that better serves the customer rather than makes the company itself more efficient.

Like the above concepts, customer-centric design requires data. Without information about what customers need and want, a company cannot adjust its products, services, experiences, and organization to accommodate. Fortunately, more customers are willing – and even expect -to answer questions about their preferences. A company only needs to ask.

In summary, most today’s CIOs are responsible for data and the technologies that support collecting and turning that data into useable knowledge. Customer experience, partly due to AI, is transforming into a field that relies on data to create superior, predictive, and individually tailored customer interactions. With a CIO’s understanding and support, customer experience has the opportunity to result in revenue, sales, and brand loyalty like never before.