September 20, 2024
Why Organizational Structure Matters in Customer Journey Management

The Gist

  • Break down silos for better CX. Address organizational silos to ensure a seamless customer journey across all touchpoints.
  • Leverage customer journey mapping. Use journey mapping to identify inefficiencies and improve customer interactions.
  • Prioritize collaboration in CX. CMOs and CIOs should collaborate closely to drive next-gen customer experience improvements.

In the upcoming book, “Personalized,” the authors emphasize that personalization is essential throughout the customer journey. Their research highlights that leaders in personalization consistently deliver exceptional value and customer satisfaction.

They achieve this by empowering, knowing, reaching, showing and delighting customers. For this reason, it is self-evident that actively managing the customer journey is mission critical. Let’s explore how organizations can ensure effective customer journey management for a seamless experience.

Key areas to address include identifying and fixing silos where customer service representatives struggle with system integration, leveraging customer journey mapping to uncover inefficiencies and drive improvements, understanding the impact of organizational structure on the customer journey and prioritizing enhancements that boost integration and customer experience.

With these questions answered, where should CMOs and CIOs focus first to ensure a seamless and effective customer journeys. These were the topics that I inquired of the #CIOChat recently.

Identifying and Addressing Siloed Customer Journeys

Effective customer journey management is often challenged by siloed systems, causing friction when customers move between different systems. Integration efforts, including AI, have reduced these issues, but challenges remain. Common problems include poor communication between marketing, sales and operations due to separate systems, leading to information gaps.

In-transition CIO Martin Davis says, “all too often the customer journey falls between sales and operations, frequently caused by the lack of common systems. For example, sales may be recorded into a CRM system but fail to make it over to operations where they work on the order.”

For many, the elusive “single view of a customer” remains a challenge. However, integration and digital transformation efforts are gradually improving this situation.

Enterprise Architect Ed Featherston claims, “sadly many organizations still strive for the ‘single view of a customer’ but have been unable to attain it; silos are perpetuated, all with their own view of ‘who’ the customer is.”

Manhattanville College CIO Jim Russell adds, “much can be done inside the silos but typically when customers reach out it is related to confusion when they hit friction in our student or employee journey, or they straddle them. Without question, CIOs across other industries are seeing the same breakdown disrupting CX and EX. When you have best of breed systems at each stage, they serve the business more than they serve the customer.”

Futurum Group Vice President Dion Hinchcliffe concludes, “much of the customer journey is siloed. A natural consequence of the functional specialization firms went through last century in sales, marketing, operations, etc. But this doesn’t work well in a digital world. Fortunately, integration is improving.”

Related Article: 6 Elements Needed for High-Impact Customer Journey Management & Operations

The Critical Role of Customer Journey Mapping in CX

Customer journey mapping is a key component of successful customer journey management, though its effectiveness depends on the business or organization’s model. Russell says, “Journey mapping should be a required. We discovered orphaned data and processes, re-keyed data between systems, amplifications of population inequities all in just a week. And we’ve done them before but every time we add new voices, we learn more.”

Hinchcliffe agrees and says, “A customer journey map is an invaluable exercise, especially as a living document representing ground truth in customer experience. As we move to low/no code tools, the digital systems of delivery in CX will self-document. That said, we all must get a lot better at CX.”

Without question, regular mapping uncovers new insights with each iteration, emphasizing the need for diverse voices in the process. It highlights friction points, isolated systems and the true spread of challenges across units.

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