CX needs more attention from organisations, says ZOHO

Customer experience (CX) has gained global traction and regional brands will be compelled to adapt to innovative solutions to retain existing customers. Marketing sector itself has witnessed disruptive trends as target segment and their profiles keep evolving. Ali Shabdar, regional director MEA, Zoho, UAE shared some insights with Khaleej Times on how CX is poised to undergo major transformation as consumers desire more personalised experience.

What has been your most significant CX achievement in recent months?

Our most significant CX achievement has been the launch of Canvas- a no-code design studio that allows organisations to redesign the user interface of their CRM. One of the biggest challenge that organisations face is low adoption of CRM by the workforce because most CRM offerings are designed only to improve customer experience, not employee experience. However, you cannot deliver a great customer experience without a workforce that is engaged and happy with their CRM. Zoho CRM's Canvas changes all that by helping organisations create a personalised interface that is easier to navigate and work on. This results in happier employees, better CRM adoption, and in turn, happier customers.

The top challenge that keeps you awake at night, and how are you solving that?

We want to simplify the experience for every stakeholder in the CX journey, not just for customers, but also for employees and the ecosystem. For example, the adoption challenge in CRM solutions has been around for a while. Most teams see their deals updated in CRM only in the last week of the month, while the usage remains low in the first few weeks. After years of deep R&D, we developed Canvas to solve this issue, by giving companies the freedom to design their UI. We intend to continue providing innovative solutions to simplify the CX solution experience at every stage for everyone.

Over the past years, the CX landscape has dramatically changed. How much has it changed in your perspective?

True, the past couple of years have brought about dramatic changes. That being said, the means might have changed, but not the ends. There is more focus on remote collaboration, hybrid working tools, etc, but the ultimate goal of the CX landscape remains the same: great customer experience. Of course, the path to achieving this goal is increasingly complex today, thanks to extremely non-linear customer journeys that have multiple touchpoints. Businesses should be mindful of this while selecting their CRM system, and choose ones that help them navigate this challenge.

How do you see the future of CX, and what challenges need to be solved to reach that “elusive” next level in CX?

The experience offered by most CX products is largely utilitarian in nature. The employees who actually use the CRM, are exposed to wonderfully intuitive experiences across consumer apps like Spotify, Youtube, etc. It's only natural that they expect such an experience from their CRM and other workplace tools as well. And that's where we see the future of CX - the ability of CX software to offer rich consumer app like experiences without compromising on crucial business use-cases. In order to achieve that, CX software vendors need to acknowledge it first and concentrate on providing a rich personalised experience to their users and build no-code customisation mechanisms. That means being ready to forego a large chunk of their revenue from implementation and training. We feel it's a small cost to pay for securing a great future.

Is CX being overrated or not getting the attention it truly deserves? Why? What should organisations do or instead not do towards getting better RoI?

We feel that CX needs more attention from organisations. Its fundamentals are being overlooked today such as the fact that employee experience correlate closely with customer experience. Not enough focus is being given to the adoption of CX software in general. When employees use CRM more, they ensure assimilation of more customer information, and that means better insights thanks to advanced AI and ML technologies. All these ultimately translate to hyper-personalised experience for the end customer, which is the true purpose of any CX software.

Message to fellow CX community.

Focus on the basics, and the rest will follow. Intuitive and easy-to-customise CX software leads to happy employees, who make the most out of the software they use. This helps in delivering hyper-personalised customer experience, ultimately translating to delighted customers who stick with you. — business@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai