Empower Employees and Improve Customer Satisfaction Through Digital Transformation
Though the pandemic is long past, the rapid digital transformation it triggered has permanently reshaped how customers, workers, and businesses engage.
For example, a 2023 Salesforce study found that out of 14,300 customers, 73% expect more personalization as technology advances. Meanwhile, a 2021 MIT Sloan business school survey revealed that 93% of workers across industries and geographies view digital savviness as essential to performing well in their roles.
For professional services to address these new customer and employee demands, one thing is clear: digital transformation is no longer optional. But what exactly is digital transformation, and why is it important?
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is the strategic use of digital technologies to create foundational changes in how a business operates, creates value, and engages with customers.
Think of it as a business-wide overhaul where you use tech to change old ways of working, even redefining your company culture, as part of a grand strategy.
The end goal is to make it easier for everyone in the company to achieve your business goals (e.g. become cost-efficient, free employees for higher value work, etc.) and build competitive advantage.
Initial focus: The concept of digital transformation has evolved significantly. Previously, it was undertaken by large enterprises to make incremental improvements across various business areas. It was seen as a complex endeavor that could take months or even years to initiate.
Modern approach: However, advancements in IoT, AI, and cloud technologies have introduced a new perspective on digital transformation—one that integrates disparate tools and technologies into an agile, unified platform.
Benefits all business sizes, especially professional services: Moreover, digital transformation is no longer exclusive to enterprises. Across industries, especially within professional services, digital and analytics transformations are underway.
A key driver behind these transformations? Enhancing customer outcomes.
Equip Your Team With the Tools to Deliver Exceptional Value to Your Customers
The top three business benefits of digital transformation for services providers are: streamlined operational workflows, improved employee productivity, and most importantly, enhanced customer satisfaction.
But what does a satisfying experience mean to customers?
According to Harvard Business Review, a compelling customer experience has two ingredients: 1) customer understanding and empathy and 2) total experience. Customers want you to know who they are, what they want, what they must achieve, and even what they feel about themselves. Next is using this knowledge to help them reach their goals—and help them gain greater sense of control and confidence along the way.
Numerous factors contribute to creating a winning customer experience, but one stands out: empowered employees. By undergoing digital transformation, you can equip your teams with the tools and information to deliver excellent customer experiences.
Ideally, you should build a “smart business,” which can analyze data to predict each client’s unique needs and deliver a hyperpersonalized experience across all touchpoints.
The Impact of Digital Transformation on Customer Experience
Your employees and customers stand to gain the most from a unified platform powered by digital transformation. Employees benefit from a streamlined workflow that makes it easier to deliver great customer experiences. Customers, in turn, enjoy seamless, personalized interactions across all channels—directly impacting your bottom line.
As reported by the 2023 Salesforce survey, 88% of customers say good customer service makes them more likely to purchase again, and 75% have recommended a company based on excellent customer service.
Here’s how digital, unified systems improve customer outcomes.
In a typical B2B customer journey, sales, delivery, and support teams often use disconnected systems, preventing valuable customer insights from being effectively shared. This forces customers to repeatedly provide the same information at multiple touchpoints. And if some data “falls through the cracks” in the process, your customer success teams miss opportunities to strengthen customer relationships.
But with a digital, unified system, companies gain the tools to transform their culture from a “launch and leave” model to one that embraces seamlessly sharing customer knowledge throughout the lifecycle, ensuring consistent and compelling customer experiences.
To summarize, here are the key benefits employees and customers gain from a digital, unified platform:
Employee Benefits:
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Streamlined operational workflows
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Access to better tools and information
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Increased productivity and efficiency
Customer Benefits:
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Enhanced service quality
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Personalized customer experiences
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Quicker resolution of inquiries and issues
In fact, studies show businesses increasingly recognize the link between digital solutions and customer service.
According to a 2024 survey by TEKsystems, improving customer experience ranks first out of 12 digital transformation goals identified by business decision-makers, surpassing internally-focused objectives such as replacing legacy IT systems and improving operational efficiency.
These findings highlight a significant shift in business mindsets in recent years. Business leaders acknowledge that prioritizing customer outcomes is essential. Without this focus, other business objectives like revenue growth or product launches may not achieve their full potential—or may not materialize at all.
The key takeaway is that the ideal digital transformation solution must benefit both employees and customers. Take Certinia PS Cloud enhanced with CS Cloud, for example. These solutions unify your sales, delivery, and customer success databases into a single platform with a master customer record. Analytics then scrapes this data to provide all teams actionable insights, helping build a truly customer-centric culture.
How do you build a truly customer-centric organization?
Key Components of an Effective Digital Transformation Strategy
Two factors contribute to a successful digital transformation: 1) your employees and 2) your chosen solution.
Your employees are central to the success of your digital transformation, as you must win their buy-in for the digital solution to be effectively utilized. Meanwhile, your solution must be able to equip employees with the fundamental business capabilities required to serve customers, or else their buy-in becomes irrelevant.
When planning your digital transformation strategy, ensure it encompasses all the essential applications your business relies on, including:
- Sales and Opportunity Management
- Configure Price Quote
- Project Delivery
- Ordering and Procurement
- Inventory Management
- Subscriptions
- Customer Success Management
- Services
- Billing & Revenue Management
Each of these functions helps streamline internal processes, thereby improving the customer experience.
To help facilitate a successful digital transformation that empowers employees and enhances the customer experience, a digital, unified platform solution should include these 10 key features:
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Automatic Project Tracking
Immediately upon closing a services opportunity, your digital platform automatically generates a project based on a predefined template, initiating project tracking and status updates to keep deliverables on track.
Employee-to-Customer Benefit: Internal resources are allocated to specific customer needs, and project information is readily accessible to all team members, ensuring smooth project execution and timely delivery of customer expectations. -
Data-Driven Alerts
Data lies at the core of your digital transformation. When data is collected from every touchpoint and transformed into alerts, your team gains valuable insights throughout the opportunity-to-cash lifecycle.
Employee-to-Customer Benefit: With intelligent, automated alerts driven by real-time data analysis, you can break down silos, eliminate delays, and reduce errors—all necessary to employee empowerment. Valuable alerts include instant detection of customer needs or jeopardy to key performance indicators (KPIs). -
Customer Insights
All customer and project information is consolidated in one place, facilitating a clear understanding of profitability, cost-to-serve, and customer lifetime value across sales, services, finance, and other involved departments.
Employee-to-Customer Benefit: Anytime data access empowers your employees to collaborate effectively, make better decisions, and identify business opportunities and customer relationships, such as product renewals or sales follow-ups based on purchase history. -
One Customer Record
A single source of truth for data grants immediate access to specific customer information for employees at any time, enabling them to anticipate customer needs and provide personalized service.
Employee-to-Customer Benefit: Seamless access to comprehensive customer information empowers employees to address customer inquiries promptly and proactively cater to their needs. -
Personalized Workspaces
Role-based workspaces aggregate relevant information for each employee, enhancing productivity and facilitating collaboration among project teams.
Employee-to-Customer Benefit: Configurable workspaces enable project teams to track project financials and mitigate challenges, ultimately improving productivity and customer satisfaction. -
Communities
Online communities foster collaboration among teams, ensuring effective sharing and exchange of project information with customers and partners, thereby enhancing transparency and customer satisfaction.
Employee-to-Customer Benefit: Customers are kept informed about project progress, milestones, and updates, fostering trust and confidence in your organization’s ability to deliver. -
Same Interface, Multiple Apps
Integrated apps provide a seamless user experience, enabling deeper insights into customers and business operations, facilitating rapid responses to customer needs.
Employee-to-Customer Benefit: Seamless integration enhances operational efficiency, enabling your organization to respond effectively to customer demands. -
Built-In Social Networking
Integrated apps with built-in social features enable employees to access relevant conversation threads, fostering collaboration and ensuring everyone stays informed.
Employee-to-Customer Benefit: Enhanced accessibility to information promotes a better customer experience by facilitating quick decision-making and efficient project management. -
Mobility
Access to real-time information from any device ensures that employees stay connected and informed, enabling timely responses to customer needs.
Employee-to-Customer Benefit: By accessing up-to-date data and alerts on the go, teams can focus on customer opportunities and growth, improving overall customer satisfaction. -
Single Sign-On
A single sign-on feature ensures secure access to multiple systems, safeguarding sensitive data and maintaining uninterrupted operations.
Employee-to-Customer Benefit: A secure system protects both company and customer data, instilling confidence in your organization’s commitment to data security.
Digital Transformation for a Future-Ready Workforce
Your company’s digital transformation presents an opportunity to enhance the core of the customer experience—your employees. By empowering your teams with the right tools, you can deliver outstanding customer service and meet evolving customer expectations.
Empower your teams, elevate the customer experience. Schedule a demo to learn more about how Certinia PS Cloud and CS Cloud can streamline your operations and augment your digital customer success strategies on your existing Salesforce CRM.
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