Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 97 | Page 75

IF BUSINESSES WANT TO STRATEGICALLY IMPROVE THEIR CX , THEY HAVE TO DO SO ACROSS ALL PHASES OF THE CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP , INCLUDING THE POST-PURCHASE PHASES .
INDUSTRY WATCH

The vast majority of companies see improving customer experience as the key to successfully mastering their digital transformation , which as per a forecast by IDC , is expected to more than double across the 2021 to 2026 period in the META region . As per the report , digital transformation spending in the region will accelerate at a CAGR of 16 % over the five years , topping US $ 74 billion in 2026 .

Customer experience is one of the key business dimensions , in addition to operations and financial management , that are being tested for greater efficiencies for business success with digital transformation investments . Meeting and exceeding customer experiences , no doubt , has become essential to increase sales output . Numerous other studies also establish a direct correlation between growth or profit and an improvement in the customer experience .

IF BUSINESSES WANT TO STRATEGICALLY IMPROVE THEIR CX , THEY HAVE TO DO SO ACROSS ALL PHASES OF THE CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP , INCLUDING THE POST-PURCHASE PHASES .

a single provider ? Optimising the customer experience has become a strategic priority for business success .
When it comes to customer experience , the entire customer journey should be envisioned . This means that if businesses want to strategically improve their CX , they have to do so across all phases of the customer relationship , including the post-purchase phases .
From a strategic point of view , if businesses want to improve their customer experience , they must make this a top priority and anchor it on its corporate strategy and drive it from the management . From an organisational point of view , if organisations want to improve their customer experience , they have to work across departments .
From a technical point of view , if businesses are looking to improve their customer experience , they have to rely on a digital experience platform . This is because these new web platforms enable personalised customer experiences throughout the entire business cycle .
But even that does not answer all the questions . After all , it is quite important whether a digital experience platform is based on an open source standard or represents a proprietary provider solution . The Middle East has shown significant interest in adoption of opensource technologies for various reasons .
Here are five reasons why companies should build their customer experience on a secure opensource foundation :
# 1 Independence
Customer experience becomes the core of your business model , do you want to become dependent on
This makes the idea all the more frightening when , for example , the provider of a proprietary software solution discontinues its services , for whatever reason , or takes completely new development paths , which may trap a business in a chosen system and lose valuable time because , and in case of doubt , businesses may have to build a completely new platform at an increased expense .
There is no doubt that technical change and product discontinuations also occur with open source solutions . Nevertheless , it makes things more flexible , because the open code means that one can still work with the software themselves or with external developers and make changes .
# 2 Customisability
For an individual customer experience , off-the-shelf solutions ? Businesses grow and thrive because they offer specialised , beneficial services and products for customers . That is why it is crucial to map the customer experience as individually as possible .
Of course , some functions are based on learned standards , such as log-ins , shopping cart functions . Some other offers , such as highly specialised service offerings , training courses or configurations , are very special for companies .
And here , too , open-source technology supports . In addition to a large platform functionality with ready-made standard functions , additional plug-ins or developments for individual needs can be created more quickly and easily with the open code .
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