While we are all grappling with a very different world right now, in time business and consumer confidence will return, bolstering transformation and ultimately driving growth. Many people are referring to the perfect storm; I see huge potential related to the outcomes of disruption. A force majeure like COVID-19 can be every bit as transformative as a financial crisis or other world events that have had global significance through the ages. Enterprises are rethinking their business models, their supply chains and changing their approaches to security, business continuity, and remote work. Governments are rallying their resources to get insights into the effects of the crisis and to get on top of the catastrophe.

There’s never been a better opportunity to help our customers deliver unique insights, and ensure agility, control and the ability to execute – not just now, but also post-crisis. People will need to work, and agile, transformative businesses will flourish. Companies that effectively navigate disruptions often succeed because they invest in their core customer segments early and anticipate behaviours.

So how can a company like Â鶹ԭ´´ become part of the global solution to the pandemic? For a start, we’re offering a slew of free technology tools and platforms to customers (and anyone else) to help them not only deal with pandemic-related issues but anticipate what sorts of opportunities the crisis will open up:

We’re helping companies redesign their supply chains, and find new sources of supply when existing supply chains are disrupted. We’re opening access to the network, so any buyer can post their immediate sourcing needs, and any supplier can respond to show they can deliver. It’s free to post, free to respond. Using this network, one Â鶹ԭ´´ customer that is building a new hospital in the US was able to find a supplier with 500 hospital beds in less than 30 minutes.

We’re helping managers check in with their employees. The world went virtual overnight, and any company that hopes to continue operating anywhere near normal levels will need to make sure their workers are okay, safe and healthy – and this doesn’t end in the first week they’re home. We’ve seen a spike in the usage of our free , which enables companies to detect the sentiment of their employees since the crisis began. The mental health of their employees has to be on the mind of companies.

In Italy, our presales team developed a Coronavirus dashboard and offered it for free to customers, partners, our communities. The dashboard allows users to analyse the contagion spread in depth, compared to that one included in the Johns Hopkins CSSE dashboard.

We’re supporting the next generation of professionals and users with our best-in-class digital learning, by offering students and subject-matter experts safe and healthy learning environments to continue their education virtually. We’re offering them free access to select learning journeys for students at one of the 3,800 member universities of the Â鶹ԭ´´ University Alliances program, online courses allowing young learners to explore technology, as well as the massive open online courses (MOOCs) available on the openÂ鶹ԭ´´ platform.

Many businesses are taking advantage of the ‘locate’ feature within software to track employees stranded overseas. While business travel has abruptly ended, other business expenses tracked by Â鶹ԭ´´ Concur offerings confirm that activity in China is picking up a little.

Together with EY and Qualtrics, we’re helping governments around the world who are struggling to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes capturing and monitoring community concerns, tracking and reporting on the progression of the virus, providing accurate information on transmission and cure, directing people to the right resources for help, and communicating effectively with their citizens in a time of lockdown.

Our vision to help the world run better and improve people’s lives has never been more important than in this current moment. We remain focused on our people, our customers, and our communities. Together, we will persevere.

The post Technology Powered Opportunities in a Time of Crisis appeared first on Â鶹ԭ´´ Africa News Center.

Trust me, we’d love to sell you some technology. But before you make any major technology investment, first ask yourself this: will more CRM help differentiate you from your competitors? Will technology alone help you win new business, or retain your most profitable customers? Do you really understand what your end-customers want?

Businesses clearly need happy customers to survive and thrive. But every day, we see companies that have forgotten who their customers are and what their real needs comprise. The fancier the technology they install, the further they grow away from their customers. In fact, one study found 80% of CEOs believed they were delivering a superior experience. .

This may sound odd coming from a dyed-in-the-wool technology guy, but trust me on this. We need to put our end-customers at the very heart of what we do. Undoubtedly, you will need technology to be able to orchestrate the entire customer experience. But we do not want that to be your starting point. We first need to jointly understand our end-users. And the first thing to understand is that .

Successful businesses that put their customers at the centre of their business need to make 100% sure that anyone who interacts with customers has the right information and insight to help those customers get what they want. As we say at Â鶹ԭ´´, customers want songs, not CDs; they want sleep, not mattresses.

Today’s customers are firmly in the driver’s seat and relationships with them can’t be ‘managed’, but instead evolved, developed and nurtured. And these relationships don’t end once a deal has closed, but are ongoing. Making connections with customers is easy. Turning those connections into lifelong relationships and partnerships is what makes businesses truly successful. Do it right and the rewards are huge: .

To do this, though, businesses first need to attain the almost mythical single view of the customer. This means collating all their records and interactions from various sources and offline databases and knowing their history, passions, likes and preferences. Only then can we accurately start anticipating their needs, and providing the slickest possible experience for every customer: an experience that directly links sales and support, and has a connected supply chain that will help businesses keep their promises.

A great example of this is the automotive industry, which is fast becoming a leader in the experience economy. Why? Because car-makers have been quick to realise that actually driving the car is only one part of the experience. Passengers and drivers want to access the Internet, consume digital content, even know where the closest fuel station and open parking spot is. They want to know if the mall or restaurant they’re driving past has a sale on. In response, car manufacturers are delivering previously unheard-of levels of customisation. In some markets, customers can order – and customise – their car using an app. Google, Apple, Microsoft and other tech giants are jostling to be the dominant in-car connected system. The customer really is in the driver’s seat.

In the same vein, successful retail spaces have been completely reinvented and feel more like cozy lounges, where consumers can chill out and spend time browsing through books, artefacts and the like before they go on to actually making their purchases. This is all about understanding the need to deliver more than just a product and that the experience itself is elevating smart industry players way above their competitors.

Modern CRM is not about automation and efficiency. It’s about adding some intelligence to customer engagement, knowing when to talk to them, and what to say. It’s also about the insight into how the enterprise is fulfilling the promise. Is our supply chain efficient? Do we have the raw material or the engineers on stand-by? It’s about emphasising customer-centricity, a consistent experience and trustworthy data. That’s why it’s so important that you understand the strategic importance and the implications of your technology choices. These are strategic considerations that often involve a complete transformation of a company’s business model, with huge effects on your business and its culture. You can’t simply apply technology to operational silos, or existing processes, and think you’re driving customer loyalty.

This kind of sublime experience with a product or a service can only be pulled off when businesses exactly understand their customer – and have the technology to back up their promises. That’s how you turn your customers into fans.

The post Don’t Improve Your Customer Experience. Revolutionise It appeared first on Â鶹ԭ´´ Africa News Center.