Digital technology is radically changing the power balance between customers and companies. Customers gain the power of information and choice: digital technology dramatically improves the economics of the business.
There are four actionable rules and principles that can help managers and leaders to transform their business. The first rule is to deliver effective, easy and emotional customer experiences. The second is to focus operations on parts of your value proposition customers value. The third rule is to strategically build platforms and partnerships that accelerate and scale the business. The fourth and final rule is to innovate at the critical juncture of experience and operations.
Rule 1: Deliver effective, easy and emotional customer experiences
Our service manager Kris Garbet, highlights the importance of building internal metrics that track and reward aspects of the service offering which are particularly important to the customer, even if they make slightly less sense from a business point of view. “Here at Scout, we place a high premium on customer satisfaction, because we know at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. While conventional metrics may focus on efficiency, we broaden our focus to what makes positive emotional customer experiences.”
Rule 2: Focus operations on parts of your value proposition that customers value
Any great conversationalist (or tech expert) knows that focusing on what you like is easy. Recognizing and focusing on what others, such as customers, value is more challenging. In theory, this sounds easy but in reality, business leaders can sometimes find the distinction less clear.
Kris notes, the more expertise you accumulate the easier it becomes to focus on being at the forefront of technology and expertise, and risk losing touch with what ties clearly and directly to what customers value. Even trusted guides such as Scout, struggle with this distinction at times. Recently Scout achieved a 3CX Platinum status, an accomplishment reserved for only a small percentage of companies. While any tech expert will see the value and accomplishment in this certification, the average person may not. Kris notes “it’s not because clients think an achievement like being a 3CX Platinum partner is inherently lacking in value. They simply don’t assign it value because it exists outside the scope of their top priorities – service, guidance and problem solving”, and that distinction is important. Matt, CEO and Founder notes that on a strategic level, “Scout’s ability to be on the forefront of technology and our ability to focus our operations on parts of what matters to customers is what allows us to exceed expectations.”
Rule 3: Strategically build platforms and partnerships that accelerate and scale the business
Developing partnerships that combine scalability with low-cost customization is critical. Designing solutions and using technology around specific partnership objectives can give firms a broader and longer-term advantage. Scout Technology Guides uses core know-how and innovative technology to provide IT solutions tailored to each of our client’s needs. So, working at Scout offers employees a unique opportunity to understand how to scale a business using technology – an attractive quality for recruiters from large organizations or future-entrepreneurs alike.
Matt notes that “regardless of what a particular business does, or how it scales, one piece of the puzzle is always invaluable: communication.” Increasingly, the partnerships required to accelerate and scale a business necessitates seamless communication and organization. While there are many points that may be included under this broad category, Matt recently published a blog post, “The End of Emails”, which touches on the topic of how digital communication is rapidly evolving.
Rule 4: Innovate at the critical juncture of experience and operations
The fourth and final rule is to innovate at the critical juncture of experience and operations. Matt remarks that “the hardest part of a successful digital transformation is the cultural piece. Much like the journey of a thousand miles, it begins with two things: taking steps forward and having a guide.”
Too often companies get distracted by what their competitors are doing. The best and most powerful advice Scout gives to companies seeking to embrace digital transformation is to focus on what they are good at and use digital to compliment it. According to Matt, “We have worked hard to build a great culture and we recently used digital to reach out to potential talent and showcase what we could offer them. You see, the value is not in the video itself – it is in the culture we have built, and how we have used digital to communicate what makes us different.” To view the video Scout recently produced, click out our “Careers” page.