• "The centralized model. The centralized model consists of a customer experience leader with clear direct-line support from an executive or executives where insights gathering, data analysis, root cause analysis and improvement initiatives are all managed in one function – and the work to improve customer experience is assigned and followed up on by the central function, with high visibility from the C-suite. This model works better in small, flat organizational structures, where interactions between groups is a natural part of the culture. There are few, if any, silos in this model. 
• The decentralized model. The decentralized model takes advantage of customer-oriented thinking and approaches in multiple functions. In a decentralized governance model, the customer experience practitioner acts as a coach and advisor, sharing best practices and bringing initiative enhancing and validating data, insights, measures and best practices insight. The actual work is done in the regions, functions and product teams. 
• The committee model. The committee model is a version of the decentralized model, which utilizes a customer experience council or board that meets regularly to understand the latest research, share updates or launch new projects, report on projects that are already underway, and work together to clear roadblocks. The committee is made of individuals who are accountable for customer experience in their own areas. The committee model generally has two tiers, the first being executive sponsors."

This year’s Customer Experience Index report for US brands revealed a CX leadership gap — not a single brand has risen to the top of our rankings and continue to move upward. The report is based on Forrester’s CX Index™ methodology, which measures how well a brand’s CX strengthens the loyalty of its customers. We revealed the …

Growing numbers of B2B companies are focusing on digitization to succeed with customer-centric strategies. Here’s how to get it right.

It all starts with our ambition and practice to measure and report on everything. We measure a plethora of metrics through a ever growing variety of methodologies and frameworks. And we try to create this fine-mazed system of measurements that allows us to pin-point exactly, and preferably in real-time, where what is happening with a Customer and how it effects the Customer’s Experience score, and – last but not least -who’s to blame(!) for it.

Through our measurements we actually get to understand how the dynamics of internal and external drivers influence the Customer’s experience. As a consequence we build a nuanced view of what should be done and how it will effect our strategic objectives. 

Nothing happens because we have over-engineered the Customer’s experience. The future state journey is so far off the current offering that everything needs to be re-engineered and dependencies of other projects become too complicated too handle. Desired emotional Customer responses are drawn onto a canvas whilst the organization is still trying to get a grip on process fulfillment. Contextual personalization is designed in for 6 to 8 different persona’s that all have been crafted with the exact same rigor and detail.

This article highlights two lessons to help companies capture the greatest value from improving their customer experience.

First, how do you find out what really matters to customers? Companies that excel at this do two things: they streamline their operations and take out cost, and they create new experiences and tap new sources of value. Many organizations simply take a “problem view”—treating internal processes as a cost that needs to be reduced, and looking for customer pain points that need to be eliminated. That’s a good place to start, but if it’s the only view, it misses out on the idea of creating additional customer value.

Once a company has found out what its customers value, it faces the second big question: how do you link customer experience to operational improvements? Most organizations manage operations, track performance, and measure customer satisfaction along functional lines. Yet the best way to tackle customer experience is to follow it from the customer’s point of view, along a journey that cuts across functions and channels. That’s because customers frequently use multiple channels to interact with their service provider, and need multiple interactions to complete a transaction.

The role of marketing is changing, moving beyond acquisition and deeper into the funnel to support sales, according to C-level marketers and experts at the B2B Marketing Exchange (B2BMX) in Arizona in February. As part of that, B2B marketing executives are shifting more focus on the overall customer experience (CX) and customer life cycle.

We tested several models to find the “shape” that best describes the data. We found that the relationship between CX and revenue potential tends to follow three main shapes:

• Linear. CX and revenue move in lockstep. Whether you improve a poor experience, a mediocre experience, or a good experience, the impact on revenue will be the same.
• Diminishing returns. Revenue potential increases sharply when poor experiences are improved, but it tapers off at higher levels of CX. Fixing poor experiences will have a bigger impact on revenue than optimizing good experiences.
• Exponential. Revenue potential remains relatively flat when poor experiences are improved, but it begins to increase dramatically at higher levels of CX. Making good experiences great will lead to larger revenue gains than making poor experiences OK.

Understanding the shape of the relationship between CX and revenue allows brands to prioritize the CX improvements that will most affect revenue.

"How to Get Started With Real-Time Communication

• Live Chat on your Site
• Messaging support
• Chatbots

How to Get Started

• Make a comprehensive communication plan.
• Set up a dedicated service team.
• Empower frontline employees.
• Set up communication guidelines. 
• Play together with your other channels.
• Track key metrics."

Many aren’t confident of their company’s understanding of big data either

Six broad categories have emerged over the last decade in response to specific needs.

• The broadest category in the customer technology stack is Customer Relationship Management (CRM). 
• Customer Communication solutions simplify conversations between vendors and customers, and make it easier to communicate. 
• Customer Satisfaction solutions enable companies to get answers to specific questions. 
• Customer Experience solutions are a more focused variant of the previous category. They take the pulse of customers and objectively capture their experience with a product or service. They are typically embedded within the product and emphasize simplicity and ease of use over detail.
• Customer Loyalty solutions make it easier for companies to reward their customers for specific actions that they perform. 
• The newest category on the block, Customer Success, has significant new investments and has been featured in Mary Meeker's 2015 Internet Trends Report as one of the disruptive new enterprise technologies to watch. 

To begin the process of describing how you create Value, it's important to keep the following definitions in mind. It also helps to think of them as expectations that customers have of your company.

1. Response

• A focused dialogue with customers: understanding how you contribute to their success
• Identifying and meeting customers' changing needs

2. Service

• Accessibility: an open and reassuring organization
• Clear information on products, services, processes, and project status

3. Time

• Dependable lead times
• Consistent delivery format

4. Quality

• Consistent products, services, and processes
• Meets the brief or specifications: achieves the customer's goal

5. Price

• Clear
• Structured
• Rational
• Competitive

Marketing Strategy - Senior marketers say Big Data is the emerging technology that will have the biggest impact on the customer experience, according to recent research from the CMO Council and SAP Hybris.

1. Organizational design (re)thinking: Customer journeys transcend functions and can include physical, human, and digital touchpoints. This is forcing companies to place experience as a top design consideration to ensure consistent experiences across all touchpoints. 
2. The new process reengineering model: The process buzz is back. Different than the heady days of lean six sigma, we are now in a customer-led process world.
3. The theory of relativity or the speed of people: The buy-in phase is tricky and can be long — it can delay when employees finally get moving their feet in the new model. 
4. Measures, not gates: Measurement is essential to understand reality and manage to success. 
5. The world keeps spinning: CX is not a "one and done" accomplishment, as customer expectations seem to be ever-increasing and wave-after-wave of digital innovations just fuels their appetites for more. 
6. CX in a dynamic economic environment: CX is THE best weapon to retain customers and garner the kind of affinity to compel spend if consumer confidence wanes.

Customer Experience Drives Revenue Growth, 2016

Customer Relationships - Poor customer experience drives brand switching—a key reason for three quarters of lost customers. And customers who suffer a bad customer experience spread negative word-of-mouth.