A tale of two execs: who ‘owns’ the customer experience space?

‘Inconsistency’ and ‘organizational fragmentation’ have been cited as the reason for poor quality customer experience in a survey carried out by Pegasystems and nFusion this week, as highlighted in an article on the Forbes website.

Now this I wouldn’t argue with. You see, the question of who owns customer service in the digital age has been one of the big debates of the past year.

With this discussion continuing to dominate in the corridors and meeting rooms of businesses globally, it is little wonder that fragmentation and inconsistency become an issue. And it is the customer that suffers.

What really did surprise me, however, as I read the article was the fact that the CCO was not mentioned at any point.

The headline of the story is: ‘CMOs as bridge builders’, a title, in its abstract, I would not disagree with either. But in the context, within which, this article sits, the CCO surely plays a key role, strategically, in determining the future of customer service and how the unification of various departments can ensure that the customer journey is a positive experience.

In its report: ‘The Chief Customer Officer, 2012′, Forresters updated its 2010 research: ‘The Rise of the CCO’, explaining, ‘a new type of customer-focused executive continues to gain traction.’

It is noted in the report that the CCO is most often a newly created position and more commonly an internal hire, indicative that companies are taking tentative steps when considering the role as part of the wider business infrastructure.

As someone who has worked in the capacity of a CMO and now gravitated into the CCO position here at Thunderhead.com, however, I understand the importance of the CMO and the CCO for an organisation in building those bridges together.

The Pegasystems/nFusion research found that there is a correlation between actual delivery of customer experiences and impact on brand reputation and strength.

In addition to this, technologies that can improve customer experiences were found to yield a positive impact but are not being widely adopted.

With this in mind, it is, therefore, vital for companies to not only talk about customer experience and the value it adds to a business but also look towards what value the clever deployment of technology can add to benefit consumers operating within the online world.

The point is, there are many ways to build bridges, depending on many environmental factors, but it always requires people with different skills, team work and the right technology, to ensure the process is effective and yields the best end result.