International Data Corporation (IDC) has released a new MaturityScape report which indicates that, while customer experience (CX) initiatives are on the rise within end-user organizations, a true, robust CX strategy requires clear directives from management, the support of the culture, a commitment to give the strategy an opportunity to become engrained, and for all employees, partners, and suppliers to embrace it.
"Placing the customer at the center of business decisions is at the heart of a CX-driven company philosophy. A customer experience practice or initiative is not a replacement for a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy. CRM is a component of the much larger umbrella of customer handling or experience," said Mary Wardley, vice president, CRM Applications and Customer Experience at IDC. "In addition, the CX practice must be balanced and supported by the employee, partner, and supplier experiences."
Increasingly today, market differentiation is being found in "who" an organization is and "how" it interacts with its prospects and customers. Enhancing an organization's "persona" and responding to the need to provide a stand-out customer experience are leading many organizations to rethink how they engage with their customers, employees, partners, and suppliers.
The new study, IDC MaturityScape: Customer Experience (IDC #253315), provides guidance for organizations of all sizes interested in advancing along the five maturity stages of the MaturityScape framework to maximize benefits derived from building a culture centered on customer experience. This study identifies the stages, critical measures, outcomes, and actions required for companies to effectively develop a customer experience strategy and competencies in a holistic, organizational customer experience workflow.
About IDC MaturityScape
IDC MaturityScape provides a detailed explanation of the stages of 3rd Platform adoption from the simplest, unstructured ad hoc stage to the advanced, systematized optimized level. IDC MaturityScape reports offer an opportunity for CIOs and their enterprise partners to have a structured way to identify their current level of capability, or maturity, and the gap between where they are and where they want (or need) to be to maintain competitive balance or achieve industry superiority. Combined with focused IDC research, benchmarking, expert insights, and an ongoing commitment to developing forward-thinking 3rd Platform insights, IDC MaturityScapes can be a critical cog in enabling the CIO role in the enterprise.
"Placing the customer at the center of business decisions is at the heart of a CX-driven company philosophy. A customer experience practice or initiative is not a replacement for a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy. CRM is a component of the much larger umbrella of customer handling or experience," said Mary Wardley, vice president, CRM Applications and Customer Experience at IDC. "In addition, the CX practice must be balanced and supported by the employee, partner, and supplier experiences."
Increasingly today, market differentiation is being found in "who" an organization is and "how" it interacts with its prospects and customers. Enhancing an organization's "persona" and responding to the need to provide a stand-out customer experience are leading many organizations to rethink how they engage with their customers, employees, partners, and suppliers.
The new study, IDC MaturityScape: Customer Experience (IDC #253315), provides guidance for organizations of all sizes interested in advancing along the five maturity stages of the MaturityScape framework to maximize benefits derived from building a culture centered on customer experience. This study identifies the stages, critical measures, outcomes, and actions required for companies to effectively develop a customer experience strategy and competencies in a holistic, organizational customer experience workflow.
About IDC MaturityScape
IDC MaturityScape provides a detailed explanation of the stages of 3rd Platform adoption from the simplest, unstructured ad hoc stage to the advanced, systematized optimized level. IDC MaturityScape reports offer an opportunity for CIOs and their enterprise partners to have a structured way to identify their current level of capability, or maturity, and the gap between where they are and where they want (or need) to be to maintain competitive balance or achieve industry superiority. Combined with focused IDC research, benchmarking, expert insights, and an ongoing commitment to developing forward-thinking 3rd Platform insights, IDC MaturityScapes can be a critical cog in enabling the CIO role in the enterprise.
