How companies care for customers in 21st century

Customer experience is the 21st-century term for managing contact with an organization from start to finish. Building a great customer experience is a strategic activity that involves integration of technology, orchestration of business models, managing the brand and CEO commitment. The customer experience happens online, in person or via telephone.

Clearly, the customer experience is dramatically affected by technology, primarily the Internet, which provides unprecedented instant access to goods, services and information.

Innovation in customer service using new technologies transforms the functions within organizations. Functional transformation then impacts the organization, culture and the skill sets of the workers themselves.

From an operational perspective, new technology creates greater service capacity per employee, increases the number of options for service, and provides access to huge amounts of information.

Changing expectations

Libraries are a dramatic example of the changing customer experience. Today’s library facilitates Internet access inside and outside the facility, provides access to proprietary databases, teaches computer skills, allows users to reserve books and media via the Internet for future pickup in person, and to renew materials from home. Libraries remain the authoritative locus for information.

The ability to check books and materials in and out without librarian assistance using a technology called Radio Frequency Identification or RFID is a major innovation that has dramatically changed the customer experience and the culture of the library system.

Janine Reid, executive director of High Plains Library District serving Weld County, says the role of the librarian has changed as a result of the use of new technologies.

With the advent of the Internet, anyone can find almost anything from a computer desktop. We can find answers to questions we did not even know we had. However, when we are unable to find the information we want, we turn to the librarians, who are viewed as the experts in matters of research and indexing of materials.

“Because of the Internet, librarians cannot definitively say no to any request for information,” Reid said.

Customer expectations are higher based upon the instantaneous nature of the Internet and the belief that everything is available from somewhere quickly.

Librarians help customers sort through information that may have questionable validity due to today’s open publishing world. The librarian can determine the integrity and authentication of information.

Customer experience evolves

But libraries are not the only locales that have evolved with the changing wants and needs of the public.

TST Inc., an engineering and land planning company in Fort Collins, has a progressive approach to the customer experience. Company executives believe business has gone beyond the service economy to the experience economy, a concept defined by authors B. Joseph Pine and James H. Gilmore in their 1999 book of the same name.

Ed Goodman, TST Inc. chief experience officer and an engineer/planner who spent 14 years at the Walt Disney Co., teamed with CEO Don Taranto to lead the re-imagining of TST’s business and corporate culture.

When clients enter TST’s headquarters, they step into an environment unique in color, image and feeling. Surrounded by the sound of running water, they immediately feel the presence of nature inside and out.

The Experience Concierge initiates conversation with a warm greeting, and an etched glass monolith provides a welcome to the “Engineerium,” a place where the TST community is a priority and lifelong learning a daily journey.

To create a highly engaged and personalized experience, TST does not separate the customer experience from the business process. In the last five years, the company has replaced the traditional hierarchical structure with a dynamic team concept and transformed the physical facility to match the new organizational model and philosophy.

“Everything here has meaning through metaphor in the hope that we inspire ourselves and our customers,” Goodman said during a tour of the Engineerium.

The learning organization is characterized by the image of a living organism that is constantly changing. TST epitomizes this in metaphor, philosophy and physical environment.

Delight and surprise

The organizational culture of both TST and the library district is based upon continuous learning and constant change. They look different in implementation but the intent is the same: to create a positive customer experience that will delight and surprise.

The High Plains librarian has evolved from the expert who serves as gatekeeper to an expert who applies skills and knowledge to expand the customer experience beyond past boundaries and assumptions. The TST employee comes to work in an environment customized to meet customer desires, project requirements and the individual employee’s work style.

In the 21st century, it’s up to the organization to decide how to meet customer expectations – and continue to evolve based on the customer experience.

How has the customer experience evolved at your organization? Please contact me with examples of unique situations that create your customer experience of the 21st century.

Shirley Esterly is a master facilitator who assists her clients to explore opportunities for innovation, strengthen collaboration and build sustainable practices. Her company, QuantumWest, is based in Greeley and she can be reached at [email protected].