On Thursday November 19th, 2015, GMC Software hosted 9 executive delegates from the Financial Services and Insurance industries for a thought leadership roundtable at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong. Contributing to the discussion around improving the customer experience through modern customer journey mapping were:
Sudesh Thevasenabathy, Head of Customer Experience, AXA General Insurance (Moderator)
Anne Lee, Executive General Manager, CITIC Bank
David Schillmoeller, Chief Customer Officer, Prudential Corporation Asia
Dhvani Bhatt, Head of Direct Insurance, HSBC
Dick Ho Wai Man, Assistant General Manager, Bank of China
Gavin Gollogley, Head of Marketing, AIA Group
Paul Carson, Chief Operating Officer, AXA
Stephen Druce, Customer and Marketing Head, BUPA
Vidal Chan, First Vice President, Head of eBusiness, Online Sales & Marketing, China Construction Bank
Based on our engaging discussion, we’ve identified 5 key challenges offered by our panel of experts when it comes to customer experience and customer journey mapping.
1. Customer Experience is a make or break
All of our panelists agreed that providing an exceptional customer experience is critical to the long-term success of an organization, and is a serious competitive advantage. According to a new Forrester Research study, 85% of participants stressed that delivering a seamless customer experience is critically important or extremely important to their overall CX strategy and business goals.
2. Outside-in thinking is critical
Our panelists stressed the importance of employee belief in supporting and creating an exceptional customer experience at every touch point. One of the biggest challenges ithey are facing today is getting the organization on board to embrace outside-in thinking.
3. Organizational silos a key barrier
For many organizations, customer communications live within various organizational and technological silos that don’t connect with one another, making it difficult to provide a seamless customer experience. 48% of respondents in our Forrester Research study said that their technology platforms don’t let them integrate documents into multichannel communications. And, “widely used artifacts like bills and account statements do not get the same customer experience attention they deserve. As a result, document-based communication is often sidelined due to legacy systems and ineffective processes to ensure content produced is accurate and relevant.”
4. Customer journey maps are expensive masterpieces
Participants all agreed that customer journey maps are expensive masterpieces that are rarely actionable, because they don’t connect to anything. They agreed that most platforms do not make it possible to track what has been delivered, when, and why it was created in the first place.
5. The failure-based CEM model doesn’t work
Participants agreed that most Customer Experience Management (CEM) platforms have a fundamental flaw in that they use a failure-based model. In other words, these ‘replay-type products’ only see the past and require ‘failures’ in order to identify problems. All agreed that a more proactive approach organized around every touch point is necessary.
“Unlike other industries, the financial services sector’s greatest opportunity for revenue growth does not hinge on its ability to simply provide new products or through geographical expansion but rather the ability to deliver high quality and transformative customer experience. Those that get this right will not only capture more customers but will be better placed to keep and enhance their existing relationships.”
~ Overcoming Document Communication Roadblocks to Boost Customer Experience. Forrester Research. October 2015.