By Nada daVeiga
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about customer experience (CX) and the most direct, most effective ways for companies to transform it. As I recently blogged, data is the centerpiece – the metaphorical cake, as it were, compared to the martech frosting – of creating winning customer experiences.
That being said, which internal organization could possibly be better than marketing, to shape customer experience?
Nearly every enterprise function shapes CX
As it turns out, there are many teams within the modern enterprise that serve as CX architects. Think of all the different groups that contribute to customer engagement, acquisition, retention, and satisfaction: marketing, sales, service, and support are the most obvious, but what about product development, finance, manufacturing, logistics, and shipping? All of these functions impact the customer experience, directly or indirectly, and thus should be empowered to improve it through unbridled data access.
This point of view is reflected in SnapLogic’s new white paper, “Integration in the age of the customer: The five keys to connecting and elevating customer experience.” From it, a key thought:
[W]ho should corral the data? The best outcomes from customer initiatives happen when the business takes control and leads the initiative. The closer the integrators are to the customer, the better they can put themselves in their customers’ shoes and understand their needs. Often, they have a clear handle on metrics, the business processes, the data, and real-world customer experiences, whether they’re in marketing, sales, or service, and are the first to see how the changes they’re making are improving customer experience — or not.
Democratizing data integration
Because most departmental leaders in sales, service, and marketing are typically not familiar with programming, they look for integration solutions that provide click-not-code graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that enable a visual, intuitive process to democratize customer data integration. SnapLogic believes that GUI-driven, democratic data integration is an essential first step in empowering today’s CX architects to gain the analytic insight they need to improve customer experience.
In short, we believe that “citizen integrator” is really just another name for “citizen innovator;” fast, easy, seamless data integration shatters stubborn barriers to CX innovation by igniting exploration and problem-solving creativity.
To learn how to design your integration strategy to improve customer experience across the organization, download the white paper, “Integration in the age of the customer: The five keys to connecting and elevating customer experience.” In it, you’ll find actionable insights on how to optimize your organization’s data integration strategy to unlock CX innovation, including:
- Why you need to ensure your organization’s integration strategy is customer-focused
- How to plan around the entire customer lifecycle
- Which five integration strategies help speed customer analytics and experience initiatives
- How to put the odds of customer success in your favor
Nada daVeiga is VP Worldwide Pre-Sales, Customer Success, and Professional Services at SnapLogic. Follow her on Twitter @nrdaveiga.
