CX and EX are one … Tahn Shannon, writes about how leading companies are merging customer and employee experiences to thrive.
The widespread shift to hybrid work has been a life-changer for employees and a gamechanger for employers. What was once considered a nice perk is now a basic requirement.
digital investments, prioritising lower costs and growth, AI-based tools and technologies that create outstanding experiences for employees and customers are at the top of their shopping lists.
At the same time, many Australians report their need for customer service increased during the pandemic. Yet many felt service experiences got worse.
In research commissioned by ServiceNow, AI expert Catriona Wallace predicts that as organisations move up the digital transformation maturity curve, the lines between customer and employee experiences will increasingly blur. Some forward-thinking organisations are already moving in this direction. One leading food and beverage brand has merged its employee and customer support desks to deliver a simple and consistent experience to all its stakeholders. “I expect more companies will take a similar approach in future,” says ServiceNow Chief Innovation Officer Dave Wright. RELATEDThe case for merging customer and employee experience Reimagining EX for public service AI is no longer just the domain of leading-edge innovators. Even historically conservative Australian organisations are investing in technologies such as robotic process automation and machine learning to transform experiences. In a recent job listing for a data lab general manager, for example, Australia Post declared that its mission was to build an “AI-enabled’ postal service.
Whether they show up as employees or customers, people are generally united in what they want: speed, simplicity, and personalisation wherever and whenever they need it. As organisations struggle to meet new employee and customer expectations, artificial intelligence (AI) adoption has grown 15%. Corporate spending on information technology is tipped to rise for a third straight year. Gartner predicts that by 2024, organisations providing a unified customer and employee experience will outperform competitors by 25% in satisfaction metrics for both EX and CX. The Aussie experience equation Coming out of the pandemic, many Australian companies have boosted digital investments in response to global uncertainty and a major skills crisis. Yet just 16% of executives say they have a clearly defined strategy for digital, according to EY-Parthenon research. CEOs worry that systems to improve organisational resilience are too complicated to implement. As a result, some of the country’s most complex businesses still rely on spreadsheets, email, and whiteboards. Although many managers focus primarily on revenue and customer satisfaction metrics, individual decisions made by employees will be the difference between business stagnation and growth. Change has been forced upon a lot of institutions that have been operating much the same way for decades. Today, great experiences separate leaders from laggards. As companies evaluate the return on
Over the next decade, we can expect Australian government agencies to focus on providing citizen services that match the convenience and flexibility of digital consumer experiences. This perspective was championed by Victor Dominello MP, state minister for customer experience and digital government in New South Wales, at ServiceNow’s recent Knowledge 2022 conference in Sydney. The state’s Department of Customer Service is one of many government departments offering employees a single front door for IT, HR, payroll, and finance services as part of an effort to reimagine the way its people work. By automating manual tasks and improving outdated and clunky processes, the department aims to streamline EX,
