In today’s world of ubiquitous, always-on, always-available digital connectivity, nothing is more critical than customer experience (CX). If you are not meeting the needs of customers, they can do a quick search and be engaged with a competitor in minutes. If that competitor is more adept at fulfilling—and anticipating—customer needs, you risk not only losing the immediate business but, worse, the ongoing customer relationship.
It is no surprise that customer experience is now a top priority for business and IT decision-makers. Ninety percent of decision-makers say customer service is important to customers’ choice of and loyalty to a brand. More than 30% of consumers say they will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience, and 54% say customer experience at most companies needs improvement. More than 55% of IT decision-makers are increasing investments in customer experience in 2021, and more than 40% are accelerating CX transformation, per proprietary research by TechTarget.
Customers Are More Demanding
Customer expectations have changed as connected digital technologies and cloud computing have transformed buying habits and user experiences. Customers expect all interactions to be informed, insightful, mobile and interactive. They are less tolerant of delays or mishaps. Security, resiliency, agility, performance and data-driven interactions are not value adds—they are table stakes.
Even in areas where there is less threat of competition—say, local government or K-12 public education—it is essential to deliver insightful, resilient, secure and connected experiences to customers, constituents, students and employees. Otherwise, they won’t be able to maximize the value of your services, which could have long-lasting consequences, as we’ve seen in use cases such as remote learning and distribution of medical supplies and vaccines in response to COVID-19.
Microsoft Dynamics 365: Empowering All Facets of CX Transformation
Empowering and accelerating CX transformation requires a platform that delivers all facets of a modern customer experience and provides a future-proofed foundation that can adapt as customer needs change. Today’s best-in-class solution for customer experience is Microsoft Dynamics 365. Here are some of the reasons why.
Data-driven: In today’s era of digital democratization, customers expect personalized interactions based on the information they’ve shared with your company over time. With Microsoft Dynamics 365, employees at all locations have access to current, accurate, complete and consistent data. With Dynamics 365 Customer Service, customers can take advantage of an omnichannel platform with a self-service and collaboration-enabled portal.
Insightful and intelligent: Microsoft Dynamics 365 is infused with advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities throughout the portfolio. For example, with Dynamics 365 Customer Service, virtual agents use AI to answer many standard questions and deliver a complete customer history to live service agents. With Dynamics 365 Field Service, intelligence enables organizations to efficiently dispatch the right technician with the right experience and the right parts and tools at the right time.
Common data platform: Microsoft Dynamics 365 has the huge advantage of being part of the Microsoft cloud, which is tightly integrated through a common data platform to enable organizations to deliver exceptional experiences across the entire customer journey. Native integrations across Microsoft 365 and Teams enhance secure remote collaboration and employee productivity. Simple connectors and integration options with internal and external sources give customers assurance that they are connected to and accessing all relevant and timely data at all times.
Highly secure, with data privacy protections: Customers are leveraging the built-in, multi-layered and integrated security controls and threat intelligence of Azure to keep up with a cybersecurity landscape that is far more challenging in today’s era of expanded remote work. Microsoft’s philosophy is that each company owns its digital vision, Microsoft doesn’t compete with its customers, and customers own all their data.
Connected, resilient, automated: Customers today are less tolerant of downtime, performance lags or delays in getting the information they need when, where and in whatever format they want. Dynamics 365 connects all aspects of customer experience, from marketing to sales to service, at all times. The platform is resilient, highly automated, simple to deploy and manage, and easily scalable.
Innovative: With Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, as just one example of innovation, organizations can use mixed reality to modernize and innovate the customer experience. Service technicians can connect with remote experts via video, audio, text, file sharing and real-world annotations, either through a mobile device or a rich, immersive experience leveraging the HoloLens. Doctors can collaborate with experts anywhere, in real time, even while performing surgery. Students can enjoy collaborative and exciting interactive experiences that elicit enthusiasm in remote learning.
Takeaways
To meet the needs of this moving target called customer experience, organizations need an integrated, flexible, cloud-powered, secure, resilient and intelligent platform, one that is simple to deploy, manage and scale.
Viewed through this lens, customer experience becomes less of a challenge to overcome and more of an opportunity to differentiate your organization and help customers be proactive in growing their businesses and embracing innovation.
For more information on how your organization can expand and accelerate CX transformation, please review the articles and resources on this website and visit Dynamics.Microsoft.com.
