Gap analysis: maximizing your technology for a better customer experience

 

Do you have what it takes to support a superior customer experience?

It starts with a solid understanding of customer requirements, a vision for the future and a plan to execute that vision. Next, prioritize the technology improvements that will most significantly improve how your customers interact with your organization, and how they think about it. Complete this gap analysis for a better understanding of what you need to do to support the customer experience with technology.

Note: this tool is intended to stimulate focused conversations about technology's role in supporting the customer experience. When you have completed this assessment, contact your Bell representative for information on a more thorough assessment and sample implementation scenarios. You can also click here to request that a Bell representative contact you.

1.0 Understand and prioritize customer experience needs

An improved customer experience begins with a vision for the future. Who are your customers? How do you see the customer experience developing in six months, a year, or three years from now? A deep understanding of what stands between your customers and a great experience will help shed light on what you need to improve.

Who do you consider your customers?

  • End users of our products/services
  • Employees
  • Partners

Which interaction channels do customers want to use to reach you?

  • Telephone – live agent
  • Telephone – interactive voice response
  • Web
  • Point of sale
  • In-person sales calls
  • Text messaging
  • Instant messaging
  • Social media tools (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
  • Other (please explain)
  • Not sure of preferred channels

Describe what customers would consider a great experience with your organization.

Do you know all of the business problems your organization faces that impact the customer experience?

  • Yes
  • No

Do you have ways to understand what makes your customers satisfied and not so satisfied?

  • Yes
  • No

If not, how will you discover and prioritize those problems?

  • Surveys
  • Focus groups
  • Voice analytics
  • Web analytics
  • Customer-led social media monitoring
  • Your own social-networking capability

How would you describe your executive team's goals for the customer experience?

  • Differentiate ourselves from all firms across any industry
  • Differentiate ourselves from competitors in our industry
  • Maintain parity with leaders in our industry
  • Keep from falling behind leaders in our industry
  • Stay in the mainstream of our industry

To what extent have you mapped out a vision for the customer experience?

  • We have a fairly clear vision of what our ultimate customer experience looks like
  • We have identified specific areas that need improvement
  • We have a clear vision and a detailed, multi-year plan for achieving our goals, including timelines and specific actions

How often do you revisit your customer experience vision?

  • Quarterly
  • Bi-annually
  • Yearly
  • As needed, but not on a scheduled basis

2.0 Separate technology from process

It can be difficult to know how important technology is in improving the customer experience, since it is bound closely together with business processes. But separating the two will reveal where improvements are most needed: process, technology, or both.

To what extent have you examined the processes that affect the customer experience?

  • We have an idea of what's not working properly
  • We have examined certain processes in detail
  • We have deconstructed processes, and we know specifically how technology supports each process
  • We know what the business process problems are and what the technology problems are

When existing customer support technology was put into place, was it chosen with the customer experience in mind?

  • No – we ended up having to force-fit customers into a bulky process that doesn't suit them
  • To some extent
  • Yes

When you reviewed existing technological capabilities against your vision, what did you find?

  • We need better technological support for employees
  • Customer-facing technology doesn't fully serve the needs of customers in interacting with our organization
  • Existing technology fully supports our vision

What employee-facing customer experience-related technology solutions do you have in place?

  • Powerful search capabilities for employees
  • Contact centre and Web technology providing contextual information to employees
  • Organization-wide CRM system that provides valuable customer information
  • Voice analytics for aggregate keyword analysis
  • Web site analytics for aggregate Web site pattern analysis
  • Presence and instant messaging, for fast internal communication
  • Searchable employee profiles, useful for finding subject matter experts
  • Point-of-sale integrated with CRM

What customer-facing technology solutions do you have in place?

  • A sound information base from which to deliver quality cross-channel information and services
  • Systems supporting online business automation
  • Powerful online search capabilities
  • Universal contact routing capabilities (calls, emails, faxes, etc.)
  • Advanced electronic commerce functionalities that support personalization
  • Ability to connect with a live agent from the Web site through a chat or voice session
  • Ability to communicate via the interaction channel of choice
  • Systems supporting tracking of pending requests
  • Your own social networking capability
  • Other (please list)

Of the technology that you have in place, do you know what parts will continue to support employees in delivering a positive customer experience without need for modification or replacement?

  • Yes, in great detail
  • We know some technology infrastructure elements that will continue to provide support without modification
  • Not sure

3.0 Executing for success

You have a vision, and you know what technological improvements will support it. Now how do you execute your vision – within budget – to fulfill long-term communications and customer experience goals while leveraging what you already have?

Do you have an executive in charge of improving the customer experience across products and channels?

  • No
  • We are planning to appoint one
  • We have one, but with little authority
  • Yes – with the proper authority to make things happen

Have you allocated a budget for customer experience-related technology improvements?

  • Yes, a specific amount or range
  • In principle, but the numbers have not been decided
  • We have yet to determine the budget

If you know your budget, do you know how it's going to be allocated?

  • Yes, we have allowances for each area of improvement
  • We have some idea of allocation
  • No, we need to choose priorities and technology options first

Are you planning a phased rollout for customer experience improvements?

  • Yes, we have established the number of stages and determined the specifics of each stage
  • Yes, in all likelihood
  • No, we're going to do it all at once
  • Not sure

How aware are you of technology options attached to each area of the customer experience?

  • We need to get on top of the technology in many areas
  • We have a good idea about some areas, less about others
  • We have invested the time in making a full study of the technology that concerns contact centre processes, Web site processes, unified communications, text messaging processes, online billing, package tracking, back-end CRM systems integration, social media monitoring and other areas
  • We have enlisted the services of outside expert(s) to present options and make recommendations

Does unified communications (UC) fit into your long-term customer experience strategy?

  • We're not sure how it leads to an improved customer experience
  • There are higher priorities than UC
  • Not yet, but it's an option we are considering
  • Yes, in addition to other advantages UC tools will enable employees to deliver a superior customer experience
  • We have already implemented UC

How are you going to ensure that the technology options you choose will fulfill your long-term vision?

  • Not sure
  • We will go with a consultant's recommendations
  • That is one of the criteria for selection. We will map options against our long-term plan, and ensure that each technology option chosen forms a foundation for the next stage of our vision

How will you know that you are pulling maximum value from the choices you make?

  • Not sure
  • We'll have an idea after it's all executed
  • By comparing price, function, interoperability and other factors
  • Our first phase concerns investments in technology that addresses the commonalities between top customer experience pain points

Talk to Bell

You have taken the time to answer these questions, now what? This analysis was designed to cast light on the thinking and actions that need to take place upstream of selecting specific technologies to improve the customer experience. For help interpreting the information you have generated with this tool, or to find out more about the specifics of technology options available to you, click here to request that a Bell representative contact you.