Transforming Tech Through Customer Centric Leadership: A women's Perspective on Digital Evolution by Özge Tekalp

Özge Tekalp
Chief Customer and Project Officer

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Transforming Customer Experience: The Power of Emotional Intelligence in Technology

As the Chief Customer Project Officer at Locksmith Super Technologies, I have over twenty years of experience dedicated to enhancing growth through customer transformation and visualization. My passion centers on fostering meaningful connections between customers and teams to propel organizational success. Today, I invite you to explore a provoking question: What if our technology was designed with as much emotional intelligence as technical intelligence?

The Need for Emotional Intelligence in Technology

Imagine the evolution of our digital landscape if empathy was integrated into our development cycle, alongside technical features. This shift could significantly impact customer satisfaction and loyalty. Current statistics reveal:

  • 54% of customers believe the customer experience across many companies needs improvement.
  • 64% of customers wish for quicker responses to their evolving needs.
  • 87% expect relevant, personalized information throughout their decision journeys.
  • 32% abandon beloved brands after just one negative experience.

The need for hyper-personalized customer experiences is undeniable, as this differentiation drives loyalty and satisfaction. Studies show that while 86% of customers are willing to pay more for exceptional experiences, only 1% of companies meet their expectations consistently.

Customer-Centric Culture: A Key to Revenue Growth

Building a customer-centric culture is not just beneficial; it's proven to be a significant revenue driver. Companies recognized for excellent customer experiences:

  • Grow faster, with customer experience leaders reporting more than double the revenue growth.
  • Achieve up to 80% higher revenue according to Forrester research.
  • Are 60% more profitable when led by women, highlighting the value of diverse leadership.

To achieve such success, organizations must embrace collaborative decision-making, diverse perspectives, and multidimensional problem-solving rooted in empathy.

Practical Strategies for Customer-Centric Leadership

Understanding the Customer Journey

Leadership in customer-centric organizations should begin with the essential query: When was the last time you experienced your product as your customer does? For instance, founders of platforms like Airbnb often immerse themselves in the customer experience to uncover areas for improvement and innovation.

Measuring Customer Health

Successfully navigating customer relationships means developing a robust measurement system. Consider these elements:

  • Engagement levels
  • Recent customer feedback
  • Retention rates and renewal plans

Identifying and interpreting customer health scores allows organizations to proactively address issues before they escalate.

The Role of AI in Customer Experience

Integrating artificial intelligence into business applications emphasizes the importance of data-driven insights. AI can transform customer experiences by:

  • Providing speech analytics to understand customer sentiments.
  • Creating seamless customer journeys through interconnected marketing, sales, and service.
  • Personalizing interactions in real-time based on customer data.

Effective Change Management Practices

Implementing change management strategies is crucial in fostering a customer-centric culture. Key elements include:

  • Clear communication of the change vision.
  • Building capability among team members.
  • Encouraging collaboration across departments.
  • Ensuring continuity of customer focus throughout the transition.

Engaging with Diverse Customers

Scheduling regular conversations with a varied customer base helps foster open lines of communication. This practice allows organizations to gather valuable insights and promote innovation.

Conclusion: Embracing Customer-Centric Transformation

In a world where customer expectations are rapidly evolving, embracing a customer-centric approach combined with technological advancements can create a significant competitive edge. By addressing emotional intelligence in technology, organizations will not only enhance customer satisfaction but also drive sustainable growth.

For more insights on building a customer-centric culture and effective strategies, feel free to reach out. Let's collaboratively transform our approach to customer experience!


Video Transcription

Basically, I'm the chief customer project officer in Locksmith Super Technologies. I have more than twenty years of experience working on growth through customer transformation and visualization.My passion is on Sound Trading One human, both the customers and the, team working to make, the organization successful. I would like to ask a question. I think we have the power to transform in our industry. What if the technology was designed with as much emotional intelligence as technical intelligence? How might our digital landscape change if empathy draw our development cycle along with feature lists? And what would our customers say about our products? Are they using are they getting the benefits? When did they did the business case is it still the case? So I would like to take a moment and ask us these questions.

Because in locksmiths of technologies, we have a good CEO who is asking these questions all the time. That's why she named, missus, she linked, the products, like, satisfy so that we ask these questions all the time. Our agenda is less concentrated on three. The customer's advantage, what is the advantage of having a customer centric, culture, and then practical strategies for customer centric leadership and change method framework for tech organizations. Each customer uses their own journey. For instance, today, this morning, before coming here in a hotel room, I was just learning that I was, coming to because one of our place couldn't come, so I was replacing her. I was happy to do that. She had a good reason, so I wouldn't wear it.

But, it was a little bit sudden approach and having the Wi Fi and making sure that, the delay in the light this morning, didn't hinder me coming here, was a challenge. So and customer expectations are higher than ever. Now 54% of customers say the customer experience at most companies needs improvement. So these are the consultant companies' statistics, and 64% of the customers wish companies would respond faster to their changing needs. And 87 of the customers increasingly expect relevant personalized information based on their decision journey. And 32 of customers should walk away from the brands they love after just one bad experience. So we need to have hyper personalized customer experiences, because this is here is the differentiator.

It's now about utilizing customer data to personalize and customize experiences, offers, and content in real time. Even though 86% of the customers will pay more for a better customer experience, Only 1% of customers tell us companies constantly meet their expectations. So this is a differentiator. And why we need to be customer centric finding to be looking at revenue growth, growth because customer experience leaders, it's more than double revenue growth of customer experience leverage. So if you can see it on the graph. So these are also proven. Sometimes it is difficult to justify return of the customer experience, and these are the statistics that has been met by the cost of the products. So the customer centric advantage business case for customer and services companies with strong customer experience of others, 80% in revenue according to Forrester.

And perhaps most striking, customers and the companies are 60% more profitable the women leaders. Organizations with women in labor positions are 21% more likely to experience above average profitability as reported by accuracy. And teams with general drivers are 25% more likely to do their projects on time before in the Boston Consulting Group. So, our what are our strengths? Because we have a we need to have a collaborative decision making approach, and we have to have diverse perspectives. And we must have multidimensional problem solving, and they need to have empathy. So we and the company who has implemented this approach like a stitch fix, has created some profitability, and they are using this approach.

So for practical strategies for customer centric leadership so again, I would like to ask question. When was the last time you experienced your product exactly as your customer does? For instance, Airbnb, founders go and, you know, stay in one of the houses just to make sure that, they are experienced what customers are experiencing so that they can come up with some additional features. How do you measure your customer health score? You know, sometimes health score doesn't complain, but, nobody has with it. It's nobody has asked the customer if you have a technology that invested. So when the the renewal plan comes, the customer doesn't find or say a competitor or just go on the project. So that's why we wanted to look at the customer health score. It doesn't have to be very complicated. You know, what is our engagement? What is the latest feedback?

Sometimes the feedback is very positive, but the customer is not losing the product. So that's a problem, etcetera. And is customer centrist in the values and KPIs? Is there a customer centrist playbook? There are always business playbooks, marketing playbooks. So when customer centered playbook, most companies do not have, but they are starting to implement. So for practical strategies for customer focused leadership, the first one is AI. So I would like to go to the next stage, next slide and talk about AI. First of all, in the next generation of business applications, we need to have a data first. Starting from data, thinking, new insights and automation to our business processes and customer experiences. For instance, with speech analytics, we can look at what the customer is saying and, how that's this is just one example that are much more complicated and integrated data.

There are AI copilots and collaborate, AI that we are using customer standards. Now with AI, many things have changed and it's going to change. So anybody needs to be in the AI learning. So it is, also it is, as last week, I attended the organization or boards. And, the boards, generally are curious. They are sometimes conservative, but it was said that we need to have consultants on AI at the board level. Well, generally, I will have an impact across all industrial sectors, business model, products and services, customer experience, and operations. So basically, if I'm looking at the revenue of each industry, we see that this has been much more sorry. Impact. The connected experience for every customer journey, we need to have, this, value with this marketing, sales, and service.

They all have to be interconnected so that the customer has a, connect experience. And AI is possible that, AI is making it possible that we have more seamless customer journeys. Basically, we can do seamless personalized customer experience. I will pass this slide, but it is basically empowering things, sales exploration, eliminating customer engagement, and customer insights and journeys. So, with the other strategies, it is important that, we implement English feedback sessions. Which is you know, there there are there are three more, and they are self explanatory. And when you are interested because of time, you can always meet me, and we can talk about sound based practices. To observe the time, I want to pass the change management. When we look at the change management, Will Bachman, has identified since before change management practices.

But, I will summarize in my presentation if it's possible to implement it. Basically, if we can go back to the previous slide, change management, you know, there are one more slide, please, previous. You know, it is important to have clarity, communication, capability, collaboration, and continuity. And, these are the guidelines, and I am giving you the basic highlights and these best practices of all the 64. And there are also best practices when you need, please contact me. I will be happy to share more details. And to observe that I'm asked in terms of leadership actions. And just if you can go back to previous one more previous, please. Yeah. It is important.

I mean, in my presentation, I talked about management and how to manage resistance. The important thing is we go ask digital leadership access. One of them is scheduling customer service call within, the next week, implementing customer voice, segments with every product meeting, create vulnerability practice by sharing your own user experience. As I said, we have many features to create safety, like some apps, they used, and they received the con you know, customer feedback and resolving enhanced versions. And building feedback, explanation with numbers for every division so that there is no disconnect. And instituting how might be because when we listen to complaints, problems, then make it a big world, but when the mindset is how there might be a session to replace problem statements with possibility of, statements, then the culture becomes more innovative and the change management becomes easier.

Reading all metrics to a customer impact class is important. For instance, when we look at return on investment, for instance, some, customer focused, companies look at what is it that the customer is benefiting from that change, like Amazon has. Scheduling monthly contact conversations with diverse customers, creating informal settings where customers can speak freely and mobile team members who rarely interact with customers, like compliance, like, you know, budgeting and forecasting. They make decisions, and decisions like that. The customer experience already listened to the customers, and their approach in a preset is more of a customer savvy. And as clear guide, I know, when to, attractive features that those were customers. These are some things, actually, I think that I could summarize. So in my presentation, I talked about, why we should be talking about, change management, why should customers interested me?

With our how can we become more customer centric, and how can we overcome, this change management during digitization and customer centricity. Those are the, basic principles that I wanted to share with you. Due to the time I was able to give you a small, over week, when you advise it, when you want to add some benchmarks, details, action items, I will be happy to head off and share my notes. Any questions? Thank you very much.