The case for a ‘Customer Experience Officer’

Effective management of customer’s interaction with the company and brand has been widely accepted as a source of competitive advantage by organizations. In Singapore, this extends even to the public sector, where service excellence is a key indicator for performance measurement. Whilst the passion to ensure a positive experience is high on the agenda, the question to be asked is “do Singaporean firms have the right structure in place to drive customer experience-oriented businesses?”

Traditionally, the focus of customer experience has primarily been on improving service delivery – either at the sales or service counters. Yet today, the customer no longer separates the brand message from the product or service they consume, their in-store or online experience, or their interaction with customer support staff.

The emergence of online channels has moved these interactions to the internet, yet traditional touch points haven’t gone away. Organizations today have to deal with increased customer expectations, ability to make instant comparisons, and an abundance of social media tools – turning each customer to a potential supporter or detractor with ability to reach (and influence the buying decisions of) ever larger audiences.

In this context, who owns the customer’s experience? Is it marketing, or sales, or support? If everyone is responsible, who is really responsible? This is the reason organizations today are introducing a key leadership role at the highest level – the Customer Experience Officer (sometimes called the Chief Customer Officer). This role serves as the voice of the customer within the organization, and works across different functional units to ensure organization wide buy-in for customer experience driven initiatives and innovations.

The attributes that make the Customer Experience Officer role a success are:
1. External awareness – the person needs to be well-versed in industry trends, factors and issues that impact the customer’s interaction with the organization and their perspective (as a result of that experience). Ability to listen to social media and understand what’s trending online, as well a rigorous analytical capability to drive measurements and the ability to utilize survey tools (e.g., Net Promoter Survey) to understand customer experience is vital for the success of this role.

2. Ability to manage innovation – an understanding of industry best practices and bringing that perspective to bear on all functions across the organization is needed. Ability to drive innovation internally and externally (with business partners and customers) is another expectation from this role.

3. Relationship building ability – getting buy-in is equally, if not more important as the improvements or innovations them selves. The Customer Experience Officer should be adept at influencing others in the organization (often those whom she has no direct control), and be able to forge relationships (internally and externally) that help bring customer experience to the forefront. She should also drive the relationship between the organization and various customer groupings, be it online forums or through traditional user groups.

In the market today, customer-driven businesses have no option but to transform themselves and their thinking. The times call for more than a traditional marketing or a service executive to drive this transformation to a customer experience-oriented organization. It calls for a more specialized role with a seat at the table – the role of the Customer Experience Officer.

Haren Samarasekera, Director, Business Development - APAC,  Infor Global Solutions