Enhancing the customer experience

based services, devices, and any number of applications outside the aegis of the IT department – to promptly achieve a new function or mobile application, leading to integration issues that can outweigh the desired benefits. What has been consistent is that these organizations are working to put the customer at the center while trying to figure out how not put them through technology siloes that offer a disjointed customer experience. When consumers can smoothly switch between brick-andmortar, mobile, or social channels, it enables them to utilize all avenues as one cohesive experience. A classic example is a prospective buyer reading product reviews on his or her phone while looking at physical products in the retail store and receiving fluid, consistent information across both points. Inertia can also be a major challenge, though, evidenced by over a third of survey respondents who cite change management or organizational culture as an inhibitor. Even though the How do technology advances change the way companies interact with customers? To succeed in an omnichannel world, businesses must flip this question around, and ask how technology can help customers interact in ways that meet their needs. Increasingly, that necessitates an omnichannel approach that provides the customer a consistent, engaging experience across all mediums. The many moving parts of an omnichannel strategy – from mobile apps to embedded store technology to pointof-sale (POS) systems to end-to-end supply chain – must work in harmony to deliver a seamless experience for customers, whether window shopping, comparing products, making purchases, or seeking post-sales support. Furthermore, retailers are struggling to efficiently manage back-end inventory on aging platforms that demand modernization. A recent IDG Enterprise survey titled “Spotlight on Consumer Services: Delivering a Seamless Multichannel Experience” looked into best practices of consumer services organizations to understand how their current strategies and future plans for multichannel services are evolving. Some of those results are presented here.