Change comes in waves.
The wave of change resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is having far reaching effects on the way we live, work and play. Like a tsunami it is sweeping through the business world and there is no doubt that there will be casualties. But while change can be destructive; destruction can be creative. It washes away old and outdated practices and enables us to start afresh.
It is a mistake to think you can survive the wave of change we’re now experiencing. That’s akin to standing on the beach and watching the wave roll in while hoping for the best. Instead, you need to assemble expertise, fresh thinking and new ideas so that you can surf the change. Those that move with the times and act quickly will go furthest.
A key example of where huge changes are coming is in our approach to customers. Their lives are changing. We need to change what we offer them, how we support them and even how we think about them.
For example, there is no need for marketers to painstakingly segment customer bases, construct personas or assemble ‘typical products’ in a world where automation, AI and Big Data enable us to automatically analyse patterns, support self-assembly and digital autonomy, and allow service providers to predict rather than react.
Instead, our precious and creative human resources should be focusing on where they can add depth and value to the customer relationship – delivering the authenticity and warmth of experience that machines still struggle with.
These changes have been coming for some time. Other verticals have embraced them faster than us and are much further ahead in their journey. Often this is because they too haven’t had a choice. Financial services, once an old-fashioned and entirely operationally-centric industry, has transformed itself in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Hypercompetition from digitally-astute retailers such as Amazon has forced the entire retail vertical to innovate and reinvent itself. Many won’t make the transition; but new retailers will emerge to fill the gaps.
While we in telecoms are fantastic at innovating technically and supporting digital innovation, we’re not very good at innovating commercially. Which is why we’re still languishing at the bottom of multi-vertical CSAT tables (see The customer still isn’t king in telecom-land). And why we still use outdated segmentation methods, implement generic marketing campaigns and focus on acquisition not retention.
We blame our systems for a lot of this. There’s some truth in this. But the painful issue we don’t want to face is that entire careers and processes have been built on being an expert on what customers want and delivering what we think is right in a certain way. It’s very hard to convince people to let go of what they know and try something else instead. In fact, ‘people’ are one of the hardest and most frequently overlooked parts of digital transformation (both employees and customers).
But the inflection point has arrived. As service providers, customer experience professionals, marketers and PRs you have a clear choice: stick with what you know or invest in a new approach. Before you make your choice bear in mind four things:
- the old ways have reached the end of their useful lives and are no longer delivering the differentiation or value needed for you or your customers
- those who move with the times will travel the furthest
- your choice is effectively to wait on the beach for the wave to hit (you may have a year or two left if you’re lucky) or get on your board and surf the change. In this analogy, your board is built out of cutting-edge thought, knowledge and skills
- you have a *fantastic* opportunity to rethink the way you’re doing things. And to help you along your way we have a Green Paper for you to download to get you started in your thinking. (We’re also great at acting as provocateur and fresh thinker when you begin your process of renewal.)
Read: Are segmentation mistakes costing your business millions?