The optimism of #Purpose & science of #design in forging #digital customer experiences! Opinions my own!

Nothing moves, until the heart does. If we believe, there’s much the human spirit can do; and being nice to each other (CX) is primal. It’s so primal, so biological, that our very fabric rejects non authenticity. We are walking, talking authenticity/ lie detectors, and we’re all striving to play the infinite game.

1 ) Elevating Purpose. Over the past year, we’ve seen more articles discussing purpose, and leaders are beginning to recognize the role that it plays in motivating employees. At the same time, I believe that the uncertainty around the world creates an increasing desire for people to find purpose and meaning in their lives. In 2018 and 2019, we expect to see more brands sharpening and sharing their organization’s purpose – it’s really becoming a limiting constraint, before effective transformations can take place. Years and years of IT and Network related “mega projects” nothing moves the needle (market share, equity) as much as CX, and the underlying transformation of hearts. Sinek says, Find your Why.

2) Orienting Around Customer Journeys. Customer journey mapping continues to grow in popularity as companies recognize the need to develop a more customer-oriented viewpoint. It’s a “map”, that pivots on outside-in and inside-out. However, without purposeful change, without companies reimagining their metrics, analytics, experience design, and innovation around customer journeys, we’re still running on the same spot (or, like a duck paddling incessantly under water). Don’t fret as much the framework being used, focus on the executional aspects, and the ability of these CJMs to drive pain point fixes, big and small – some clients have called this “pounding the rock”, like MMA, but it really just is discipline and unwavering focus on solving for magical customer experiences. Start like the army said, to make your bed daily, and then move on to bigger things, we find the first few steps daunting at first but then it becomes muscle memory. It’s more the discipline that counts, and typically at this stage, many JxA (journey analytics tools) exist throughout the organisation – in siloes. Eventually, all these would have to coalesce, and in my opinion, be made under CX custody.

3 ) Digital first, not just mobile first. Picasso said “..what we can imagine is true.”. The same can be said of humanistic experiences. Without the “fifth” element – Humanistic – digital in all its forms fall flat. Humans interact with purpose, with a need, and this is quintessential for frictionless experiences. In 2018 and 2019 expect more companies to pivot and shift right towards being ever more authentic, designing their customer offerings with the assumption that the primary interface must be personalised, empathetic, and human.

4) Embracing Employee Engagement – it’s all about EX (Employee Experience) this year. Sinek spoke about the Circle of Trust. If we treat our own well, they will in turn, treat theirs (well). . While EE and EX has always been critical to how we view customer experience, brands are finally starting to recognize that it’s a limiting constraint in all their CX efforts – a lot of agile ways of working/ pods put heavy emphasis on what I call the “transformation of hearts”, as it’s ultimately about heart counts not head counts. In 2019, expect to see a jump in EE/ EX activities e.g. redefining the employee experience, and let’s  CX and human resources groups finally coming together to work on engaging employees – from working with top talents to hiring the best talents. After all, that’s what a company is, people..

5) Agile Ways of Working fuels magical Customer Experiences. Many brands are making headway with their CX efforts by using agile pods and focused teams with singular focus on execution – I call these microcosms. These are living artefacts, an Elysium, where perfection (hyper trust, team work, collaboration, transparency, exists). If we see our better selves at work, many would follow suit. In 2018 and beyond, we expect these pods to proliferate throughout the organisation. I’ve given much thought to a “transposed”, Journey-led organisation (J.Lo) – an organisation laid flat on its tummy, focusing on customer journeys, putting customer experience truly above anything else. There are extremities e.g. imagine if the entire company’s P&L is described by I Buy, I Use and I Reconsider journeys, regardless of function, or channel (..or similar variants – most clients have 3-7 steps/ episodes in their customer life cycles. ) . In 2019, expect more and more brands to build out their CX Centers of Excellence, Enterprise CX Coordination – a shared services outfit pooling scarce skillsets, and Distributed CX Skills and Mindset – basically an increasing % of the organisation would be flipped and journey led, and skill sets would be highly interchangeable, multidisciplinary.

6) Data is the new Oil. With the rise of digital and mobile interactions, companies now have more data on what their customers are doing – and can make fair ventures on their intentions at any point in time, now even their purposes. With the proliferation of AI and cognitive -> quantum computing, our ability to glean insights from a myriad of data spectrums have increased exponentially , These behavioral data can both provide rich insights into what drives customers and fuel strong predictive -> prescriptive models. In 2019, expect more companies to start collecting behavioral data and then using it to predict -> prescribe customer attitudes and future activities; but beyond predictive (staid for 2017-2018), would be prescriptive applications of data science.

7) Ecosystems. It’s no surprise that with a North Star, we (should) tend to be really good at what inspires us, our Why, and have friends and partners – that resonate with our Why – help us with the rest. No man is an island. Never more true moving forward, as we see Telco operators reselling energy, Retailers owning the last mile, and selling us pretty much anything etc.