Are we putting our customer at the center of our business?

Are we ‘customer-focussed’ or ‘process-focussed’? This is a question many leadership teams tackle at different stages of growth, especially when escalations are hitting the roof. 

If the customer is the reason for our organization's existence, then fundamentally we need technology infrastructure to be built around the customer and for the customer. We also need to be there for our customers, when they need us.

It is imperative to have a consent- ready “persistent, unified customer database that is accessible to other systems”; a system that persists all personal, demographic, behavioural and transactional data across customer touch points to form a ‘golden unified profile’ of the customer. 

This golden unified profile is enriched with insights to become the driver of personalized engagement in real-time through CRM, Marketing, Digital and other delivery applications. We are then able to hyper-personalize and impress our customers in moments of truth such as when they are seeking out help over a product or service.

In today’s cookie-less, privacy conscious world, our customers are constantly leaving behind digital footprints in zero party to third party data sources using multiple identities. Earning the trust of the customer while resolving their multiple identities is just as important in collecting and building that unified customer profile. 

Yet most organizations invest in tools that have a process focus or task focus, like helping teams sell, market or service a customer. Important questions come up much later, like if we are indeed engaging with the customer the right way or at the right time.

I have implemented these '360 - degree views of the customer' in the past and have seen these become internal process compliance and workbench projects rather than focussing on the most important persona which is the Customer and her needs.

Most enterprise organizations have tried standing up myriad tools to have that persistent unified view of the customer either in their CRM (Customer Relationship Management) or in a DMP (Data Management Platform) or in a DW (Data warehouse).

A big reason for such projects not meeting their objectives is because we try to retrofit the view with data that we are only aware of from different internal systems, and we end up building a very heavy internal data based view that benefits only the process and not the customer.

I have experienced FOH (Front of House) & BOH (Back of House) teams come back with feedback that the view provides them data that is static or post event. This defeats the very purpose of knowing either ‘ahead of time’ or ‘in time’ for us to be able to proactively reach out to the customer with an offer or a resolution to their query (moments of truth).

This is exactly where a CDP (Customer Data Platform) comes in to perform the core functions of ingesting, unifying, segmenting and activating insight-driven customer workflows, all in one platform to form the foundation of a single source of truth and an enabler of personalized engagement.

The world of CDPs is transforming and redefining itself, not just in the scope of capability that is on offer but also the way that a CDP can be part of the customer journey and IT stack (it could be a Standalone CDP or Composable CDP or Decomposable CDP).

The advancements in AI & data platforms including CDPs are taking center stage. There is a lot of buzz and excitement in this space- the $54M Series D fund raise from Simon Data, Hubspot Ventures investment in Hightouch and Klaviyo now offering a CDP. The space will evolve and morph into a foundational piece of technology for every organization, one that will transform the way we recognise and engage with our customers.

As nations around the world start drafting and implementing privacy legislation and with technology players sunsetting cookies, all segments of customers from SMB (Small Medium Businesses) to Enterprise will need platforms and solutions that can provide a holistic view of the customer which becomes the centerpiece of an organization's go to market strategy.  

I believe organizations, no matter the stage of growth they are in, require a CDP that is easy to set-up, industry-focussed and ecosystem-friendly to enable synchronised cross-platform, personalized engagement.

This is why I am very excited for my journey with ZEPIC. This team has the customer at the center of their thinking & has done a lot in the customer engagement space in the past. Our DNA is well-built over the years in creating what we'd like to call a Customer Data and Experience Platform (CDXP) that's intelligent and super customer-focussed.

I look forward to meeting, sharing and learning from our partners and customers over the months and years ahead. If you need a fast track route to any requests from ZEPIC, email us at hello@zepic.com and mention ‘Roheet said.’ 🙂

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