Customer Engagement Trends

The customer is the centre of every successful business, and digital technology allows you to interact with them in more ways than ever before. It is also important to remember that customers expect more as well. A lot more.

Create a bad experience, and you’re more likely to lose that customer. Improve your customer’s experience and get more business.

The question is, how do you create better customer experiences that will encourage new business and loyalty from your customers?

New business opportunities are being created as a result of seismic shifts in the global business landscape. Customer-experience-focused executives understand that a linear process based on megaphone messaging is no longer sufficient to connect with customers. Hyper-personalised, orchestrated journeys, which elevate customer experiences, are the future of marketing. Customer-driven journeys that deliver customer-centred messages in real-time will succeed.

Create personalised interactions

It is essential that customers have the ability to construct their own paths to purchase decisions in order for personalisation to succeed. A better understanding of customer needs will enable organisations to develop hyper-personalised messages that are more tailored and relevant. Further, there needs to be a greater focus on nurturing and retaining long-term, high-value customers.

Drive personalised interactions with real-time customer journey orchestration

Engage customers in real-time with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing. By applying these technologies, organizations have the ability to establish close relationships with each of their customers, and they can communicate with them in the channels they prefer, with a great deal of assistance from artificial intelligence.

Personalise customer experiences, messages, and channels with Artificial Intelligence

In order to provide personalised service to customers, organisations should consider the range of experiences their customers have with them. Dynamics 365 Marketing uses AI to help determine which channel—email, text, push notification—a customer will be most receptive to. Business users of this application can also draw on a new AI-driven content library to help select the content elements that will resonate better with the customer. Focus on your best opportunities.

Dynamics 365 Marketing supports:

• Real-time customer journey orchestration.
• Customer-led, event-based journey triggers.
• AI-driven recommendations for channels and content.
• Stronger integration with Microsoft Teams for nurturing webinars and meeting attendees.
• Works well with Microsoft’s customer data platform, Dynamics 365 Customer Insights.
• The collection of detailed feedback using Dynamics 365 Customer Voice surveys.
• The development of customer trust with a secure, unified, and adaptable platform.

All of which help you win customers and earn loyalty.

Optimise customer journeys

Dynamics 365 Marketing provides real-time customer journey orchestration to help organisations understand, orchestrate, and engage their customers better across marketing, sales, commerce, and service. Dynamics 365 Marketing has a unique, direct connection to data and insights from Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and can use its continuously updating, multi-data source segments dynamically.

Enhance engagements

Marketing technology requires substantial amounts of data to understand, orchestrate, and engage customers at scale and in real-time. The more data available, the higher the likelihood of intervening at the right time, in the right way, and prompting the next best action. The number of touchpoints per customer per journey is increasing. Capturing data across those touchpoints and making sure it is fed into the next customer interaction using advanced AI is vital.

Design end-to-end journeys

Customer journeys orchestrated by Dynamics 365 Marketing are based on real-time interactions across email, mobile, social media, custom channels, and in-person touchpoints. They reach customers in a personal way, encouraging greater understanding between organisations and customers to win customer confidence and loyalty.

Engage in real-time 

The next leap in customer journey effectiveness is the introduction of real-time responses to customer-triggered events. AI helps guide a journey to refine the message, offer, and delivery—and assists in conducting dynamic experimentation to determine the content that resonates best—all with unprecedented speed. When a company can rapidly adjust to triggering events that indicate a change in customer focus or signal a new activity, customers then know that they are valued.

Use analytics to monitor and measure success 

Activating digital selling and marketing makes it easier to collect data for sophisticated analytics. As part of your analytics process, ensure that your customer journey orchestration software offers a set of built-in analytics dashboards and cross-journey insights to improve journey effectiveness and achieve your business goals. In real-time, monitor your customer journeys and channel KPIs and guide evaluating performance metrics for messages and channels. Is a social channel effective for a specific interaction? Thoughtfully designed analytics capabilities can provide the answer.

Orchestrated customer journeys: essential to success 

Organisations must deliver personalised messages that customers can identify with explicitly or implicitly—the right message, at the right time, using the channel that customer prefers—to show that they understand and care about their customers. Strong, sustained growth is a constant requirement for every business. But in today’s world of uncertainties, organisations must not only reach new customers; they must strengthen existing relationships. Demonstrating a commitment to customers is now centre stage in forward-thinking organisations. Customer-led, real-time orchestrated customer journeys are the way to help existing customers progress from one-time engagements to repeat customers to fans of the company.

The Four Hurdles To Jump In The
Digital Adoption Race

With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, it was as if the entire world went digital. Companies enabled remote work, retailers encouraged online shopping, and staying in touch with loved ones became entirely virtual. Although so many aspects of our personal lives have been transformed through digital services, there is still a great deal of work to be done when it comes to digital adoption within the workplace.

Let’s take a look at some of the challenges companies face when it comes to digital adoption and how we can help you overcome them.

Change Management

The ultimate goal for most organisations is to create happy clients who return. A digital-first strategy should not only enhance customer service but also create a meaningful and positive experience for employees. However, even investing in the most advanced software money can buy will yield a low ROI if no one in the organisation wants to use it.

This is where we can help you through change management. We focus on changing the mentality and approach throughout all the levels in your organisation in order for the implementation of new technology processes to be met with enthusiasm and optimism instead of resistance and fear of change.

A 2021 Digital Business study mentions that businesses who adopt a digital-first strategy can expect an average revenue increase of 34%.

Digitally-adept Employees

According to a study published, employees spend an average of 22 minutes every day figuring out how new applications work.

To decrease and potentially eliminate this time expenditure, companies need to prioritise the onboarding process of new employees, upskilling existing employees while tackling challenges linked to data processing, customer intimacy, speed and customer journey optimisation.

In order to drive digital adoption and boost a digital skillset, organisations have to work on making the interaction between humans and machines as natural as possible.

In areas like automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence; innovative applications that provide and organise information into usable data in real time is required. So are the skills to utilise the software.

Instilling Curiosity and A Hunger To Learn

In life there is always something new to learn. So, implementing the same lifelong learning culture and mentality within your organisation will help keep your company on top.

Investing in your employees and regularly upskilling them with crucial digital know-how is vital to guarantee scalability and sustainability. This will dramatically increase the ROI derived from the implementation of new software and creates more room for innovation as employees gain an understanding of digital workflows and processes.

Strategy Supportive Solutions

A digital-first strategy and its supportive solutions go hand-in-hand. One cannot thrive without the other.

Many businesses realise the need to transform and that being digitally enabled will help them gain a competitive advantage. However, there are many businesses that feel they’re missing the mark when it comes to solutions that support their strategy.

As we know with digital infrastructures and software, updates and changes in technology occur so frequently that traditional training simply can’t keep up. Combining that with the fact that people forget 90% of their training within a month, it’s easy to see just how important it is to have solutions that support your digital strategy.

Here’s Where We Come In

To compensate for the training and retraining programmes, you need to have an agile solution that provides performance support, such as a User Adoption Strategy which happens to be our forte!

If you’re ready to become a confident, digital-adept organisation, click below.

What Are The Top 5
Digital Transformation Trends

Over the last two decades, most global companies have had the luxury of digitising over time, so why is it such a buzzword in 2022? As technology changes, companies need to be agile enough to adapt to the changes. Digital transformation is not a once-off deal, it’s a process that’s constantly evolving.

If you’re looking to get ahead of the cultural shift, there are five digital trends that are set to take off in the near future.

What Is Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is fundamentally shaping new ways for businesses to improve experiences, from internal departments to the end-consumer. It’s a cultural shift that involves adopting new technologies and harnessing the benefits to improve innovation, value, and efficiency.

Because of the pandemic, hybrid work models have been the forefront topic across the globe. We’ve had to change the way we work and interact with customers in all areas of business. It created a space where we had to shift the way we collect and integrate data while implementing a new space for employees to thrive.

Benefits Of Digital Transformation

Successful digital transformation can unlock business potential and help you  increase your return on investments. Based on their transformational efforts, the following benefits highlight what most companies find rewarding.

1. Improved Data Collection

Digital transformation optimises the way businesses collect and translate data. This means that departments can integrate raw data into insights across numerous touchpoints.  This is fundamental to accessing a single view of the operations, customer journey, production, and finance. With this, you can use data-driven insights to improve workflow efficiency and enhance customer experiences.

2. Managing Resources Effectively

From marketing and sales to C-suite, every department will be able to leverage off integrated applications, software and databases – a centralised portal that optimises business intelligence. This is a sure way to help keep employees connected while managing their day-to-day operations.

3. Access To Data-Driven Insights

You can now unlock insights that meet the needs of your customers. This is the perfect way to create a more effective customer-centric strategy. Data-driven insights not only help you become more agile, but it also helps you make informed decisions, improve operations and discover new business opportunities with sufficient market evidence. If you’re an enterprise that places high-value on data, you’re set to see competitors use more data insight practices and collaboration.

4. Improved Customer Experiences (CX)

One way to deliver a seamless customer experience is through digital transformation. Transformation affects the cadence of how your sales and marketing team discover new prospects. The challenge for most brands starts with the customer experience. Customers have limitless products and services offered to them day-to-day and it’s important to break through the noise. One way of enhancing CX is to give customers autonomous control over their data. When you provide the right features to meet customers’ needs, this will help your team manage expectations and earn long-term trust.

5. Shifting Digital Culture & Collaboration

Trends predicted that by 2020, “83% of enterprise workloads” will run on the cloud. Approximately 41% of these workloads were predicted to run on public cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services. Private-cloud-based services were predicted to have an additional 20%, while hybrid cloud platforms accommodated 22%.

Not only do these tools deliver effortless collaboration, they also help your enterprise move forward digitally. In order for your business to remain sustainable, the latest digital shift is a crucial one.

With this, upskilling and digital learning can be enforced and employees are able to take advantage of the benefits.

6. Increasing Digital Adoption

In the evolving digital space, Implementing the right digital assets will elevate your business from the inside-out. Getting your employees to help drive the mission is a crucial part of your transformation.

To achieve business objectives, finding an effective user adoption strategy is a great place to start. Whether it’s increasing CRM user adoption,  implementing AI applications, or both — It’s important to find the relevant strategy that meets your business needs and employees’ capabilities.

Top 5 Digital Transformation Trends For 2022

Getting to know what’s ahead in the digital landscape will help you understand the why’s and how’s. Take note of the digital transformation trends that are set to take off in the near future.

1. Protecting data and efficient cybersecurity

Now more than ever, cybersecurity and data protection has become the next priority for 2022. During the course of the pandemic, customers spent more time on smart devices and companies were forced to move to hybrid work – having to adapt to new technologies in the process. As a result, a lot of companies recognise that automation and applications need to be secure in order to earn customer trust.

With that being said, customers are going to see a lot more high-placed value on security features that are being deployed to applications and software.

2. Automation

Small businesses are likely to adopt and automate processes going forward. It’s predicted that within the next year, automation will go as far as medium-to-large enterprises due to more accessible solutions. Whether you conduct business in manufacturing, market research or customer support, a number of businesses will start implementing a combination of digital assets into daily workloads.

3. Cloud Solutions

Cloud-based services are incredibly scaleable, cost-effective and easy to use. As more enterprises move away from on-premise safekeeping, running applications on cloud platforms have become a ‘must-have’ solution. Where security is concerned, cloud platforms come with improved cybersecurity features that help keep data and sensitive information safe. In addition, your team will be able to collaborate more effectively and the cloud’s scalability allows big data to thrive.

4. Hybrid Models (Working From Home)

Brought to you by the pandemic, hybrid working is set to become part of a permanent business model. What we can expect in the next year is an increase in employee expectations, and as the future of work heavily relies on connection – organisations will be forced to adapt. For instance, connecting virtually with colleagues is becoming a common hybrid solution for most. To drive productivity and employee retention, you will need to deliver digital-first solutions along with connected experiences that fit into the work from home space.

5. 5G and The IoT

Introducing the new age of mobile communication, the 5G network is set to define interaction on another level. When you invest in 5G and expand on the internet of things, your business will improve its cost and production. It will also become a concrete benefit for organisations that have adopted hybrid working. Greater flexibility, responsive networks and improved security are just some of the benefits that accommodate a connected future.

Digital Adoption Strategies

Within the last year, it was reported that 73% of businesses failed to meet the value out of their digital transformation efforts. According to forbes, 70% had failed adoption programs due to employee resistance. Businesses may understand the value of digital transformation but they’re not getting the value from these assets because of poor adoption practices.

Adapting to the following strategies will help you get the most out of your digital assets:

1. First explore the digital assets that your business needs and plan how you’re going to roll out new technologies. You can do this by creating awareness in phases. Use the first phase to highlight how the benefits will help your employees’ manage day-to-day workload.

2. Create a workshop or event to drive hype around the new digital asset/s. You can successfully onboard employees by showcasing a detailed presentation and answer any questions that they may have. This could include training activities, benefits of the technology, and how it fits into the enterprise as a whole.

3. Poor communication leads to poor decision making. Start providing departments with the right know-how to prevent future project failures. Open up and support staff by letting them ask questions. Until the user gets comfortable with the tech, it becomes relatively easier to achieve adoption.

4. Training doesn’t always come with a one-size-fits-all approach. Tailored learning can be super beneficial when dealing with new processes. People tend to learn and upskill at different stages, so be sure to personalise training.

5. Following up from time to time will allow employees to grow with your transformational efforts. It also helps them feel confident enough to implement future digital assets more effectively. Start surveying how well the programs are working and identify any gaps that are hindering growth and development.

Bottom Line

Companies are continuing to digitally transform their workforce. With the latest predictions, you’ll be set to deliver steady, high-value solutions to your customers — while fostering happier, more productive teams. In addition to this, you’ll be able to improve operational efficiencies every step of the way.

Explore the future scope of digital transformation. Learn how The CRM team can help you get there.

Digital Technology Adoption Survey Findings

The CRM Team, in partnership with ITWeb, conducted a Digital Technology Adoption survey in May 2022 to find out how effectively South African companies and people are adopting technology in different industries.

The survey was met with great participation with a total of 209 valid responses recorded.

From these captured responses, the key findings were that only 53% of the respondents stated that they had the right software to serve their customers, and 32% said they did not.

49% of the survey respondents stated that they had a digital adoption strategy for at least three years. While 20% of respondents reported having a digital adoption strategy for one to three years, and 13% of respondents said that they are not currently planning to deploy a digital adoption strategy. 12% said they were just about to roll out a digital adoption strategy, while 6% said it had been in place for less than a year.

The survey asked participants how familiar they were with the ADKAR model of change management. 57% said they had no idea what it was. 25% of respondents are aware of ADKAR but have never used it, while 12% stated that they use ADKAR to manage change on various projects.

According to the respondents, when asked which factors assisted their organisation’s adoption of digital technologies, 22% said online training, 14% said cross-functional collaboration, 14% said integration with customer experience, and 12% said change management practices.

There were five main points cited by respondents as the primary drivers for adopting digital technology: increased agility (15%), easier customer service (14%), better innovation (14%), improved departmental collaboration (12%), increased revenue (10%), and reduced non-value-added work (10%).

Within their digital adoption strategies, respondents plan to implement the following technologies:

According to the survey findings, the top 3 drivers for digital technology adoption are customer experience improvement innovation, and process improvement.

Respondents responded that the most common barriers to digital transformation are: economy (29%), lack of resources (21%), and lack of digital business skills (17%).

The survey results indicate that CEOs are most likely to adopt digital technology (32%), followed by CIOs (21%).

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey we value your feedback and we received quite insightful results. The participants who completed the survey stood a chance to win a R3000 Takealot voucher. A draw was conducted from the 209 valid participants, and Riaan Myburgh won the voucher! A huge congratulations to Riaan.

Drive Change And Adoption Of Your Technology Investments

The CRM Team will be hosting a free webinar titled Adapting To Change: User Adoption & Technology, helping business leaders optimise their software investment through effective change management.

This topical session will illustrate how effective change management and training improve user adoption and help maximise investment in new solutions. Whether one is planning to implement a new solution or already has a solution that users are failing to embrace, this user adoption, training, and change management session will outline how to improve adoption through proven methodologies.

Mark James, head of training at The CRM Team, says new technology solutions may promise to improve your business, however, without user buy-in and adoption, your ROI and business impacts may be disappointing. “Imagine you have to complete a series of tasks in a dark room. The fact that there is low to no visibility makes it almost impossible to execute your tasks effectively.” 

“At the risk of stating the obvious, it might be easier if you could simply flick a switch and light up your playing field. Creating the ideal systems solution for all your users and stakeholders can be just as challenging, but you can light up your playing field by consulting and involving key users in the process, from planning, through execution, all the way to realising a return on your investment,” he explains.

Discover what works and what does not in change management and user adoption programmes. Join The CRM Team and get an overview of the most effective Adoption and Change Management strategies to accelerate one’s digital transformation.

Delegates will see first-hand how to rapidly release the value from your technology investments as these change management specialists share their insight and practical tips for maximising user adoption.

The webinar will be held at 10:00 on 21 June 2022, for more information visit https://www.itweb.co.za/webinar/crm-team-adapting-to-change-user-adoption-technology/

The CRM Team Welcomes Changes To The Microsoft Cloud Partner Program

Microsoft continues to evolve its partner program and will be rolling out a new Microsoft Cloud Partner Program. This change reflects the vast transition of business operations to the cloud, and Microsoft plans to support its partners in the future.

Microsoft is terminating its Silver and Gold competencies, achievements that partners could earn to help differentiate their businesses to customers beyond a baseline partner network membership status.

The CRM Team Head of Delivery Operations, Bertha Musanhu, says Microsoft is simplifying its partner programs with solutions partner designations, anchored on the Microsoft Cloud in six solution areas aligned to how Microsoft goes to market.

“By attaining these designations, you can demonstrate your organisation’s capabilities in delivering customer success in the solution areas. That’s valuable for you, because it’s where we see customer demand, and where the opportunity is for partners to scale to meet customer needs,” she explains.

The Microsoft Cloud Partner Program will be open to Microsoft’s current partners including managed services providers, resellers, systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs) and device partners.

The new partner program opens the opportunity to grow and develop as a Microsoft Partner. This model provides two qualifying levels: solutions partner and specialist/expert. The partner designations will be aligned to the six Microsoft Cloud solution areas including:

• Data & AI (Azure)
• Infrastructure (Azure)
• Digital & App Innovation (Azure)
• Business Applications
• Modern Work
• Security

Musanhu says a new partner capability score will rank partners’ performance and technical skills based on their certifications, new customers, successful implementations and overall growth.

“Microsoft’s new program will be mainly focused on several different areas: Azure data and AI, Azure infrastructure, Azure digital and app innovation, business applications, modern work, and security,” she concludes.

Microsoft continues to invest its partner ecosystem and continues to grow its Azure cloud offerings. These changes to the partner program certainly reflect their cloud-first approach. The new program introduces three levels of competency for partners who demonstrate expertise in the various Azure offerings. This partner status will solidify their authority as Microsoft experts.

Bertha has been with The CRM Team for 5 years overseeing Delivery Operations, she is a Prosci Certified Change Management Practitioner, a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing Functional Consultant Associate and she holds a BCOM in Marketing Degree. She is currently busy with an Advanced Project Management Certification and is equipped to deliver projects using Agile Principles. Her Favorite workplace Moto is  “When our Customers Win, We win! ”