As digital business is emerging, it’s disrupting business. What does that mean? It means that how you do business must change. And it’s not just adding a Twitter feed or creating a Facebook page. It’s much more than that. It really means that you have to look at how you are doing business – your processes, your policies, your departments, your people, your technology and make major changes. I can remember when organization change management first became a discipline. But back then there were so many that pushed it aside, crossed it off their to do list and basically thought it was “Kumbaya” and the “soft stuff you can’t measure.” Which quadrant is your business in?
Well guess what? Organizational Change is back and here to stay. Because that is what is at the root of digital business. It really means you have to change your organization! Some ways to think about this are what we call the 9 C’s and Customer Engagement Optimization. Our research shows there are 9 C’s of Customer Engagement:
- Culture
- Community
- Credibility
- Channels
- Content
- Cadence
- Context
- Catalysts and
- Currency
Digital Business Disruption Starts with People-Centric Values
You need to understand culture, community, and credibility. This means that you need to start with Customer Engagement Optimization. How do you make sure you understand your prospects and customers? Where does listening play a role? Do you have a process to listen to what your employees as well as what your customers think about the company, its products and services? If not, start here.
Digital Business Disruption Is About Communication
You need to understand how channels, content, and cadence of the content on the channels work with each other. So once we understand the people centric values, how do we engage? What are effective models to connect? Organizations need to transform the way that they interact with their customers – online and offline. What’s the best way to start doing this? Do you just jump into the online conversations? Is it even the right channel? What content makes sense? How often do you reach out? Are your customers and prospects responding?
Digital Business Disruption Is About Right Time Drivers
This is where context, catalyst, and currency play a role in enabling engagement optimization. You might ask yourself, “What can you do to make sure your interactions remain relevant? How do you deliver compelling offers that influence a call to action? What’s required to build sustainable engagement.”
Digital Business Disruption Is About Actionable Insights/Intelligence
Once you have some sense about what customers are talking about – to each other, to your company, to your competitors, how do you deliver an end-to-end actionable intelligence where the workforce is optimized to respond or hear about the issues or kudos? What should be measured? How do you focus in on the right metrics that matter?
Digital Business Disruption Is About Journey Mapping to Make Improvements
Businesses must realize there is a real need for continuous improvement and optimization. It’s not a one time – take a look at things, change a few of them and then you are done. Nope. It’s about continuous, measurable change. Questions for an organization might be, “How do you improve enterprise processes with the information you learn from this collective solution that is giving you all this actionable intelligence? What organizational issues can this bring about? Is this an easy process? Do people need special skills to collaborate cross-functionally? How do you take where ever you are in the process and manage and enrich these customer interactions? How do you start, how to do improve and how do you maintain this process over time?”
Digital Business Disruption Is About Developing A Customer Engagement Optimization Culture
I can tell you from being a management consultant and having worked in many companies, nothing is going to change unless there is true and authentic leadership that is dedicated to making this types of changes. Senior leadership involvement on a day-to-day business required for success in transforming the company culture. Questions for an organization might be along these lines, “Who should drive the initiatives? What’s required to build a culture of customer engagement? What kind of training is required? What kind of skill sets?”
Digital Business Disruption Is About Doing So Via Digital Transformation
What this means is that there is the need to change your business model. What business are you really in? Are you selling printers or customer experiences? The shift to digital business changes not only business models but also how companies engage with their customers. And you have to know what business you are in to do this.
If you want to know more about digital business disruption, join Ray Wang and myself on a webinar, May 26th at 11 AM PST.
MY POV: Most business are not prepared for what it takes to make the shift to a digital business. Where do you think you stand with respect to your business’s readiness for change?
@drnatalie, VP and Principal Analyst, Constellation Research, Covering Marketing, Sales and Customer Service to Deliver Amazing Customer Experiences