With CX Technology Investments – Are you putting the cart before the horse?

Investing in tools and technology to support your organization’s customer experience is important, necessary and often expensive.  Sometimes, it’s also the first place some leaders start when they want to kick start improving their CX.  Tools, along with people and processes make up the three-legged stool of customer experience.  These three components work together to make it easier for customers to experience the true meaning of your brand promise. 

Trying to select the appropriate technology without an established CX strategy is risky business. I’ve heard it more than a few times from leaders, “I need to fix my CX, what technology should I buy?”  It’s putting the cart (technology) before the horse (customer expectations).  It’s important to ask these ten questions BEFORE buying CX technology:

1.       Do you have an established CX strategy so you can align your technology to the strategy?

2.       Have you communicated this strategy within the organization, so the other two components of people and processes are in alignment to the technology?

3.       What problem are you trying to solve?

4.       What customer expectations have been identified?

5.       How will the technology application address the identified expectations?

6.       Do you understand the touch points customers have with your organization to help define the tools your employees need to do their job?

7.       What adjacent organizations (sales, supply chain, etc.) might benefit from the investment in your technology?   

8.       How much will the technology cost and can you identify specific results that will deliver a return on your investment? 

9.       Do you need to integrate existing applications into the new technology?  Have you determined how they will work together to create a seamless experience?

10.   How will you measure your success in using technology to improve your customer’s experience?

The good news is that most of the CX technology business partners will help you answer these questions.  They want to ensure the technology you buy will be successful in achieving your goals.  The last thing they want is to sell you an application that requires substantial investment and doesn’t work or meet customer expectations.  CX technology partners also produce a lot of meaningful content applicable to building your CX strategy and executing it successfully. 

Finally, when you decide to acquire technology to support your customer experience strategy, ensure you consider the impact on employees and processes.  Technology is an enabler but it’s not the exclusive solution for all things CX.  As mentioned earlier, the three-legged stool of people, processes and tools when executed properly will ensure a successful customer experience improvement for your organization. 

It’s easy to get excited about new technologies but putting the cart before the horse is a sure way of turning that excitement into disappointment for your organization and your customers!