The merger of CXM and CCM just makes sense
In 2005 Procter & Gamble (P&G) announced the purchase of razor company Gillette for $57 billion in stock. The impetus for the merger was the end goal: P&G wanted to spark internal growth and innovation in their company by incorporating many of the processes Gillette employed in theirs.
P&G took their time researching and formulating a calculated approach to the merger. The plan proved successful. P&G ended up retaining 90% of Gillette’s top managers, and the company met their revenue and cost goals within one year and achieved significant growth.
In the eyes of the P&G executives, the merger of Gillette with their company was a logical endeavour that would pay dividends. If those same executives were considering the value of merging CXM with CCM they would feel the same way.
CXM and CCM: the merger that every company could benefit from
Each day more and more companies are realizing that delighting the customer and delivering a great customer experience is a huge advantage to have over their competition.
But accomplishing this feat takes a unified approach.
Every touch, every interaction a customer has with a company matters. Whether that interaction is digital, mobile, print or verbal the experience should be seamless but unless CXM and CCM converge, it is highly unlikely that the customer experience will be viewed as a uniform one.
Source: 4 of “The Convergence of Customer Communications Management (CCM) and Customer Experience Management (CXM).
The old way of doing CXM and CCM
In this day and age when people talk about the key to enhancing the customer experience many focus on the digital side of things i.e. website, blog posts, white papers, email marketing, etc. However, if a company truly wants to create a great customer experience, they can’t overlook the other elements that make up the communications picture.
Things like contracts, invoices, statements, welcome kits and call centre enquiries are all important, major components of the customer experience. If these touchpoints aren’t consistent with the tone and manner of the digital ones, customers can end up confused, disappointed and even leaving for a competitor.
Remember what a great customer experience is: the sum of all the interactions that a customer has with a company. Therefore it only makes sense the CXM and CCM can no longer work in isolation from one another. The urge to merge must be acted on.
What roadblocks impede a CXM/CCM merger?
If the reason for CXM and CCM converging is so strong, why haven’t more companies acted on it?. The barriers are many:
• Organizational silos
• Complex infrastructure of new and legacy systems
• Changing regulations
• Outdated processes
• Outdated technology
On top of these barriers there is the fact that, historically, in most organizations traditional communication pieces such as contracts, welcome kits, customer correspondence, bills and account statements have been owned and compiled by IT and operations, while the social and digital channels have been the responsibility of marketing and the digital teams.
If companies want to ensure that all of these channels are communicating to the customer in one voice, CXM and CCM must converge and be invited to have an influence on the development, creation and execution of all touch points.
Uniting CXM and CCM: where to start
Converging CXM and CCM all starts with journey mapping.
By mapping customer journeys organizations will be able to give the CMO, the CXO, the CIO and the rest of the company visibility into the end-to-end customer experience, not just with communications but all interactions.
For many organizations the obvious benefits that the merging of CXM and CCM present make the decision to follow through on this initiative a no brainer.
Those who have taken the plunge already are glad they did as they are now enjoying the fruits of their labour--cross-channel communications that are streamlined, consistent, personalized and relevant across the entire customer journey.
Explore the benefits of merging CXM and CCM further. Download a complimentary copy of the white paper “The Convergence of Customer Communications Management (CCM) and Customer Experience Management (CXM)” by clicking here: https://de.quadient.com/resources/convergence-customer-communications-management-ccm-and-customer-experience-management-cxm
