The Other CEO: In Search of the Customer Experience Officer

Receiving a truly unique and rewarding customer experience is a business imperative that has become the goal of brands across multiple industries in recent years. The question, however, is who will pave the way to a better customer experience? A leader in any organization must take responsibility for the decisions that will prioritize customer service over other less important and distracting objectives. This leader needs to address how a player in the converging communications industry — with multiple channels and product lines — can deliver positive customer experiences comparable to those that banking services retailers or even the local coffee shop can offer.

The delivery of positive customer experiences increasingly is pegged on the customer experience officer. In the past year, the "other CEO" has become a familiar figure globally in many industries. The role may have special significance to the telecom service provider market, as requirements mount to devote more attention and investment to creating meaningful customer experiences. In telecom, it is no longer enough to just manage customer relationships. It is necessary to create positive experiences that keep customers loyal, satisfied and intrigued.

That can be challenging in an industry where convergence means it is not uncommon to hold three sets of data on the same customer. The frustration customers feel as they receive three times as many bills and marketing materials is rightly felt, because the operator has not coordinated itself internally to provide a seamless experience. For that reason, an increasing number of companies are focusing on protocols for driving a positive, profitable and intentional customer experience.

Until now, responsibility for the customer experience has traversed many people across organizations, with no one decision maker or group of people focused on a single  set of critical success factors. Amdocs conducted research that found there is a dearth of benchmarks or methodologies by which the industry can address customer-experience issues.

Customer-experience creation has been, for many firms, a byproduct of the separate goals of many groups within the organization. For example, within a service provider, the network capacity planners may control the customer experience by ensuring the network has the bandwidth to deliver services. The product marketers build products for which they believe there is demand, and the outbound marketing department ensures customers are targeted with products, messages and materials to drive awareness and create brand loyalty. On the customer-service front lines, contact-center staff is motivated to create a welcoming and helpful relationship with customers.

What has been missing is one cohesive strategy to which operators can look to define principles throughout selling and retention cycles. With the emergence of the new C-level positions, the existing pockets of positive strategies can be linked more strongly to enhance the customer experience.

Executive-level interest in customer service is not a new phenomenon, particularly in the retail industry. At Dell, board members regularly join staff at contact centers to listen in on customer calls and hear the real story.

Customer-experience excellence has become a share-price boosting issue too. U.K. supermarket Tesco attributes its recent 10 percent rise in half-year, pre-tax profits to the introduction of thermal imaging cameras that alert managers when the need arises to open additional checkouts. This campaign known as the "one in front" ensures customers are not stuck in queues.

The fact that this supermarket giant is investing in expensive technology to increase customer satisfaction only reinforces the importance of a positive experience. Investment such as this requires board-level buy-in. Similarly, the creation of the C-level or CExO position is an acknowledgement that a company is focusing on the issues at the highest level.

By creating such a position, it should not necessarily be assumed that the responsibility for customer satisfaction rests with just one person. While the "other CEO" can be an agent for change that essentially is accountable to the customer, there still exists accountability among C-level management. But it is the customer experience officer whose principle role is to bring the voice of the customer into the boardroom, and make sure it is heard.

A recent Forrester Research Inc. report, "Considering a Chief Experience Officer?" highlights several key responsibilities that should be part of the position. According to the report, the role is that of a facilitator who connects staff over multiple geographies with collaborative tools and strategies that "institutionalize" the customer’s voice in the business.

While a certain group may set the customer experience strategy, it is the customer experience officer who ensures that the group strategy is deployed effectively. When wider corporate decisions are under evaluation, the customer experience officer is there to examine, assess and measure the impact on customers.

For example, in the U.K., when Carphone Warehouse merged with AOL, the merger had a direct impact on many customers. Customers had been disappointed by the Carphone Warehouse Talk Talk brand, which combined free broadband and mobile phone services, because the company was unable to fulfill customer demand for the product. Customers abandoned Carphone Warehouse’s services altogether because they assumed that the apparently poor service would only worsen.

A 2006 London Business School report, "Wanted, Chief Experience Officer," concludes that only one-third of companies surveyed had appointed an individual responsible for customer experience. The report suggested that a fundamental problem with making this role successful is the disparity in the reporting structure. Respondents varied in their opinions regarding where in an organization the other CEO belongs, from the managing director to the head of market research. Ultimately, this role’s reach and influence within an organization, particularly with C-level executives and the board, will determine its success or failure.

Reporting to the board, particularly within the communications industry, means the customer experience officer must be measured on specific metrics. This is doubly important in a newly created role, where the role must be defined clearly and justified potentially. Objectives should be based on the concept of change, after all, the principle role is to alter the company’s approach to customer interactions.

The customer experience officer not only should facilitate information flow between the service provider and its customers, but also help shape unique communication channels and dialogue for generic or personalized service. Information flow can take the shape of portals and customer forums through which customers can take an "open-source" approach to sharing their own experiences.

Consumer giant Apple has perfected this technique with its in-house tutorials and knowledge sharing at its flagship stores. Through this focus on the customer, Apple retail stores are the most profitable retail space in the world, with an average of $4,032 in sales per square foot, outpacing even Tiffany & Co. at $2,666 per square foot.

Driving employee programs and communications is essential to ensuring products and services appeal to the end customer. Some communications companies, like 02, create incentives by basing bonuses on the success of cross-organizational metrics. Getting the whole company working together toward the same goals, and the same rewards, has become a critical success factor.

So how should the customer experience officer be given incentives and compensated, and should the position be linked directly to financial improvements or customer numbers? It is more logical to link compensation to a set of objectives and metrics that measure an increase in meaningful customer experiences among new and existing customers. The success of the person in the role also should be measured by a positive change in corporate attitude toward this ethos.

The only sure qualification for a customer experience officer is that this person be able to take an uncluttered, creative view of a company’s proposition through the customers’ eyes. The ideal person is a troubleshooter, and perhaps someone who is not tainted with company politics or scarred by previous customer-service debacles. The person must be respected across the organization, from operational groups to customer service representatives.

Above all, passion for change should be one of his or her key attributes. This person is, in effect, a spokesperson for the company and brand and has to believe in the experience.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, chief executive for low-cost airline Easyjet, always flies on his own planes, demonstrating his passion and commitment to the brand. Similarly, no one is surprised to see Richard Branson on a Virgin airliner.

Forrester Research suggests the other CEO’s role be temporary, such as a two-to-five-year position to ensure a continually fresh perspective. However, in order to change perception, particularly in the telco industry, the change-management should not be temporary. It must be an ongoing process embedded in the company’s culture.

One of the key challenges is acceptance of this role by all stakeholders. How customers, employees or even shareholders react to this new role being created must be considered. The customer experience officer must justify his or her existence and face what could be negative perceptions at the inception of the position. The first step in creating good customer experiences is accepting that there is room for improvement.

Seth Nesbitt is vice president of Amdocs, which provides software, service and expertise for integrated customer experience systems innovation.

For a closer look at a customer experience officer, see this issue’s Q&A: "The Rise of the Customer Experience Officer."