Customer Journey in Change

Customer Journey in Change

Customer Journey in Change A survey on how Swedish companies and organisations adapt competence, technology and work methods for a changing customer journey.

Hammer & Hanborg have together with Microsoft Dynamics conducted a survey of where Swedish companies and organisations stand today and where they are heading in their adaptation to the changed customer journey. What does it take for organisations to succeed in meeting customers on a journey where there is no difference between the physical and the digital? The respondents to the survey were 405 Swedish marketing, sales and customer service executives. Below is an summary of the results of the survey, with comments from Ă…sa Falkman, Founding Partner, Hammer & Hanborg, Karin Netzell, Chief Business Development Officer, Hammer & Hanborg and Helena Fuchs, manager of Microsoft Dynamics. For the whole report, visit : https://hammerhanborg.com/tool-and-insight/future-professional-life-4-0/ Digitalisation places new demands on companies and organisations Accelerating digitalisation affects and changes large parts of our society. It aids and streamlines our lives and businesses, thereby creating great value for everyone, individuals as well as companies, organisations and public authorities. Even industries that have not traditionally been concerned with technological change will sooner or later be affected by digitalisation as society as a whole changes.

There is an increasing need to adapt competences, systems, work methods and organisational structures, in order to meet customers in right way, through the right channels and at the right time. The motto “The customer is always right� is relevant as the

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customer journey is designed. This is done to create satisfied customers, increased productivity and profitability – and in the long term to stay relevant, and to survive in an environment of tough competition.

Access to large amounts of data on customer behaviour together with new technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), opens up new opportunities for companies to improve their products and services, increase sales and create larger profits. Those companies that do not adapt to this development and digitalise their business at the rate of customer expectations will fall behind in terms of competition. The future belongs to the companies that have started early on building a sophisticated sales and marketing organisation that supports the entire customer experience.

Omni-customers – a changed customer behaviour One of the most important drivers of digitalisation in marketing, sales and customer service is, today and will be in the years to come, changed customer behaviour. Today, a larger part of the purchasing process is conducted before we have contact with a sales person. We use rating sites and social media to find the best and most price worthy products and service, and to evaluate suppliers. After the purchase we ask questions through digital channels. We review the supplier and the product or service in social media, and may often receive service and help online.

Lately we have seen how physical commerce and E-commerce develop synergies so as to meet the customer’s needs together. An example could be that we order online, but collect in the shop. We shop using our phones (M-commerce), research and make decisions online but conduct the purchase in a shop, so called web-rooming. Alternatively we do it the other way round, visit physical showrooms where we get a feel for the product, and then order them online. This new purchasing behaviour concerns B2C as well as B2B, it involves relations and Human to Human.

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Ă…sa Falkman Founding Partner, Hammer & Hanborg

A large majority (93%) say digitalisation has changed customer behaviour. This concerns mainly:

• Increased e-commerces

• Higher demands on the digital relationship with companies and organisations. We want to be able to communicate digitally and expect fast feedback, which leads to fewer physical encounters between customer and supplier

• Increased expectations on digital self-service and access to more and better digital information ”Customers do all their research online. They come to us to place their order, which entails a significantly lower amount of floor traffic and a higher frequency of sales.

Customers are extremely well researched. It is easier for them to bargain since all prices can be found online.”

– It is clear that customers have higher demands than before. They have generally come further than business customers in using digital channels. But there is also a clear trend that business customers are adopting this same customer behaviour to a higher degree, says Åsa Falkman.

– As the customers place higher demands on communication with suppliers, they also want more self-service online. This applies to both consumers and business customers, says Karin Netzell.

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Customers are extremely well researched. It is easier for them to bargain since all

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prices can be found online.

CUSTOMER JOURNEY IN CHANGE 2017

Karin Netzell Chief Business Development Officer, Hammer & Hanborg

– A small amount of respondents say they have not noted changed customer behaviour. This might be interpreted as them having less insight into their customers, or that they don’t allow customers to act in new ways. Both interpretations are unfortunately equally bad when it comes to delivering a good customer journey, says Helena Fuchs.

Changed customer behaviour demands extended cooperation The functions in organisations that are affected first by the changed customer journey are marketing, sales and customer service. Digitalisation changes work methods fundamentally. To be able to follow customers in their complex customer journey through physical and digital channels, internal cooperation and integration between these areas become a prerequisite. Marketing, sales and customer service need to a higher degree to work as one machine. This means that roles need to change and develop. More employees with new areas of expertise and also with a broad perspective of the whole customer journey will be necessary.

About eight out of ten respondents say changed customer behaviour has contributed to an increased level of cooperation between marketing, sales and customer service.

– We have seen this trend clearly develop over time, says Åsa Falkman. Marketing and sales departments have successively merged. The changed customer journey forces them to work together.

– This effects recruitment of new employees, says Karin Netzell. In the last few years, the demand for increased skills in cooperation has grown. All employees are required to cooperate with everyone else regardless of role and position, both internally and externally.

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We have merged all units working towards customers, regardless of whether they work with marketing, web-development, digital solutions or customer service. We do this to avoid bottlenecks and to be able to work faster when meeting the customer.

CUSTOMER JOURNEY IN CHANGE 2017

Further changes in organisational work methods are:

• A majority of respondents say they experience an increased level of digitally adapted customer dialogue • Almost half say their different departments have more common projects than before • Nearly a third say customer dialogue has become more frequent • About a fourth say there are more development projects in collaboration with customers • Around a sixth say self-leadership has increased in their organisation – Customer service tops the list, says Åsa Falkman. This is not surprising considering the revolution in customer service. The main method of communication has gone from letters and telephone, to e-mail, social media and chat, which are nowadays the obvious channels. Simultaneously, customer service is getting more proactive and predicting. It is all about seeing the needs of the customers before they do themselves.

– What is interesting is that self-leadership gets more important, says Karin Netzell.

This is a clear consequence of the new customer demands. In a rapid dialogue, rapid

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decisions must be made. A greater mandate and possibility of action are required, based on the organisational culture and values rather than rules and processes.

One respondent says, “We must develop tools and use web-robots that speak to the customers’ systems. Customers no longer want to follow up on the portals of suppliers for status and communication, rather they want this information entered into their own portals.”

One challenge for companies is to handle all channels simultaneously, both digital and traditional. – The companies that are digital from the start have created an increased pressure on traditional companies, says Åsa Falkman. One sector is retail, which has been strongly affected by competition from e-commerce.

Everyone is involved Almost two thirds of respondents of Customer Journey in Change claim that the whole organisation is affected by the digital customer journey. Concerning individual areas, about half of respondents say marketing is the most concerned. The share is slightly lower for Communication/PR and sales. About a third say customer service is affected. Other areas are at lower levels of concern or are not mentioned as much.

– We had expected more respondents to say customer service is affected, says Åsa Falkman. It is therefore probable that those who say that the whole company is affected in the digital customer service also include customer service.

– It is easy to interpret the digital customer journey as internet, bots, chats and e-commerce, but a digital experience may include connected units, service technicians, and retail staff with digital tools that solve a problem as painlessly and smoothly

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Helena Fuchs Affärsområdeschef Dynamics, Microsoft.

as possible, says Helena Fuchs. Here we have a job to do – to inform about what is actually possible to achieve today.

Closer to eight out of ten of respondents say their IT-system has in some cases constituted an obstacle for new work methods and processes that more effectively meet the demands of new customer needs. They say among other things that this might depend on aged and slow systems, problems of integration and too much focus on technology at the cost of customer focus and functionality.

One respondent writes that the company’s IT-system is two years behind the customers’. A few others say their systems are not sufficiently integrated. And a number of respondents say security issues and requirements on IT-security have been hindrances in implementing new work methods.

New Tools Sweden has come further than most when it comes to using mobile work tools. According to a study by Spiceworks, 6 out of 10 employees in USA, the UK and Canada use a desktop computer as their main tool. About a fourth use a laptop, and only two per cent say they use a smart phone as their main tool.

The dominating main tool in Sweden is the laptop, three fourths of respondents use this tool mainly. In second place is the smart phone, with about 10 per cent of respondents. Almost as many use a desktop. The biggest hindrance for using mobile tools, such as phones and tablets, is the lack of programs and systems. The second hindrance is routines and old habits.

– In some cases companies provide their employees with smart phones, without giving them the necessary programs they need to do their work. This shows the im12

It is easy to interpret the digital customer journey as internet, bots, chats and e-commerce, but a digital experience may include connected units, service technicians, and retail staff with digital tools that solve a problem as painlessly and smoothly as possible.

CUSTOMER JOURNEY IN CHANGE 2017

portance of effective management of change in capitalising from such an investment, says Helena Fuchs.

– In other cases the employer has given the employee the right tools and programs, but disregarded the power of habit. Without changing the habit, one will not get the results necessary to catch that opportunity or reach that goal, says Karin Netzell.

New Work Methods and Competence in Demand Changed customer behaviour and technological development will lead to changes in many professions. This means that competence and work methods will need to be updated at the same pace as societal change.

Nearly eight out of ten respondents say they have had to change their work methods to meet the new customer journey. A comparison between the areas marketing, sales and customer journey shows that it is within customer service that these changes have to be made first.

To the question of which way they have needed to change their work methods, six out of ten say they often need to question their current work methods.

– This is interesting, says Åsa Falkman. Employees seem to be aware that they cannot act as they have always done, because they are now faced with entirely new challenges.

– That employees question their work methods is only a positive, since it means that they take responsibility for their own development, as well as that of the company. It simply shows a higher degree of self-leadership in working life, says Karin Netzell.

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Almost half of respondents say they use more time to inspire and motivate their colleagues and employees. And more than four out of ten say they have improved their ability to collaborate with their closest unit.

– It is quite surprising that only 41 per cent say they have improved at collaborating, says Åsa Falkman. We expected a higher amount to feel that they are now more dependent on other parts of the organisations.

About a third of respondents say they have become better at pushing change. And around a fifth have improved their ability to cooperate with customers.

When the customer journey changes, work methods are affected and roles are required to develop. More than a third of respondents experience a lack of knowledge to succeed in their role.

– One might think this quite a low amount, says Karin Netzell. Perhaps it takes a bit of courage to admit that one hasn’t got what it takes in one’s profession. But basically, everyone has to develop their competence. I think however that this amount is higher today than it has been earlier.

Of those responsible for marketing, four out of ten say they lack knowledge. Corresponding figures for marketing and sales are a third and a fourth respectively.

– Marketing and sales are high on the list, says Åsa Falkman. This is because they are more exposed to the rapid change than are other areas. These are the ones that get noticed first when demands and expectations of the customers change.

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Almost half in the age group 31-40 say they lack knowledge to succeed in their role.

Corresponding figures are lower in younger and older age groups.

Answers on what kind of knowledge respondents lack can be roughly divided into three groups: Those that want more know-how of technical tools, for example AI, the cloud, marketing automation and programming; Those that want to be better at seeing the new opportunities that open up with technical progress; And those that regard their need for knowledge as something constant and general.

“Technical and analytic knowledge. The more digital we become, the more we are required to understand and succeed in creating the optimal customer journey.” Another writes: “A continuous development of competence is required, and for this there must be time during work hours. Only to keep oneself up to date takes an enormous amount of time, but it is of course also interesting. It is easy to place lower priority on this kind of work when there are many other things to do.”

Summary and Conclusions Digitalisation has given rise to large changes in Swedish companies and organisations. A large amount of respondents say digitalisation has changed their work methods and increased their customer dialogue.

– But this picture looks different depending on which company you look at, says Åsa Falkman. The variation depends on the size of the company and its sector.

– Customers tend to tar all suppliers with the same brush, says Helena Fuchs. Their expectations are the same for energy companies as they are for Netflix and their

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hairdresser. If it is possible to book an appointment with the hairdresser online, then it should also be possible to access services from the energy company online.

Work Methods of Companies and Organisations have changed In most cases the entire organisation is affected by the digital customer journey.

Among specific areas, most affected are marketing, sales and customer service, and we see that collaboration between these units has increased the most. In some cases they have even merged into one unit.

Regardless of how the company is organised, there has arisen a need for new competencies for the company to be able to adapt their business to the changed customer behaviour and technical development. Simultaneously, changes have arisen in current work roles. Competence and work methods have to be changed at the same rate as societal change. – At the companies there is a high level of understanding of the fact that they need to develop their competence and work methods in the right way. It is also important to create a positive employee experience so as to increase motivation during these changes, says Karin Netzell.

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5 tips to succed 1. Use Non-Linear Thinking Work from needs instead of specific lists of requirements. This list will instead be the result of the development project.

2. Improve your ability to work in collaboration with robots and computers Dare to use technology! Robots are no threat – they are tools that can let you use your brain to the right things.

3. Focus on what the robots cannot do Develop human abilities such as creativity, imagination and feelings.

Get good at working close to people, as technical things will be automated. Drop your guard your human failures and shortcomings are what makes you attractive in a world of perfect technology.

4. Include more in business development Include all employees in the development of work processes and methods. Those that are closest to the customer are those that know the most of their needs and follow development in real time.

5. Turn the perspective – work across borders Let the customer’s journey through the organisation steer the work process. Share data, systems and knowledge between departments to meet the customer at the right time, in the right channel and with the right information.