Opening the Black Box of a competitive customer experience strategy

Strong legacy systems, a silo development approach, difficulties in managing both internal and external end-to-end data together with changes in customer behaviour has made it even more difficult to meet customer expectations and manage customer relationships in the digital frenzy of today. Customer experience (CX) seems to be the remedy to the challenges presented in the ever-changing omnichannel environments within which financial institutions are struggling. However many companies, especially in the financial sector, lack a clear strategy for their CX. The situation has developed into something that we call the Black Box of customer experience, where the responsibility for managing the customer relationship has been outsourced from the corporation even as far as to the customers themselves. This paper presents some views and discusses how organisations can define a clear vision and strategy for turning their CX Black Box into a competitive advantage. Our ambition has been to present a hands on approach to help companies exceed customer expectations in chosen touchpoints throughout the customer journey. The paper is divided into four themes: (1) discussing the challenges of most financial institutions on the matter, (2) introducing the Black Box of customer experience approach, (3) creating a common understanding and framework for customer experience with essential performance indicators and metrics, and finally, (4) discussing the organisational aspects and management support to secure a fertile ground for growth.