Transitioning to new, innovative customer communications management solutions can be challenging.
The business case for improving customer communications seems simple. Timely, relevant communications that reach customers through their channels of choice, result in a better customer experience, thereby creating happier and more loyal customers. In today’s increasingly competitive environment, businesses that take every opportunity to add value to customer relationships will surely pull ahead of those which maintain the status quo.
If that is the case, what is preventing organisations from implementing the latest customer communications management (CCM) solutions?
In some cases, the sheer complexity of managing communications in an increasingly regulated world with an ever-expanding array of channels, is overwhelming.
But thankfully, with the right Customer Communications Management partnership and technology stack, an organization can conquer CCM complexity and access the many benefits of customer communication management.
Roadblocks to achieving successful CCM
Communicators and decision makers in regulated industries operate in an increasingly complex world. There are external pressures (such as regulatory mandates, customer expectations, and an ever-changing mix of communication channels) and internal factors (including creating and managing a large library of documents and managing the needs of multiple stakeholders).
Our clients mention the following six areas of complexity when discussing customer communications roadblocks with us:
- Complex businesses
Financial services such as banks and wealth management are complex to begin with, regardless of how one decides to manage communications. Customer communication initiatives must compete with other leadership priorities.
- Complex regulations
Leaders must respond to ever-evolving legislation, privacy, and security requirements, covering every area of their already complex, regulated business.
- Complex documents
Documents include multiple types, templates, delivery channel requirements, lifecycle management rules, and deadlines. Many different teams are involved in the design, generation, and quality assurance of these documents.
- Complex consumer behavior
Customers have ever-increasing expectations and points of reference for what a communication experience must look like, based on experiences in other industries that may not have the limitations imposed by regulatory pressures.
- Complex technology landscape
Technology options include a myriad of viable solutions with many implementations and integration options, in addition to the need to maintain and integrate with legacy infrastructure.
- Complex internal change management practices
Many people, systems and processes must be organized around any new initiative.
Deliver positive business outcomes sooner with a strategic Customer Communications Management partnership
Given the complex requirements for customer communications management, it is no surprise that an increasing number of organisations are electing to outsource some, or all, of their CCM requirements.
Today, digital communications outsourcing is growing at an 8.9% CAGR, as companies look for ways to leverage the latest technology, while cutting costs and improving security and compliance.
But, while compliance and cost reduction drive outsourcing, there are some processes that organisations want to retain full control of by empowering business users to execute on them.
For example, your organisation may choose to outsource the complexities of omnichannel campaign setup, workflow design, and data integration. However, in-house marketers, content authors, customer service and operations personnel may take care of some, or all the following: template and asset management, email marketing campaigns, or reporting and analytics.
When deciding how to tackle complexity in a way that retains control over your strategy and execution, you should include some key considerations about your CCM strategy, such as:
- Your top communication challenges,
- 3-year CCM improvement plan, and
- How you can shorten the time to market for regulatory and marketing communications
You can also consider how your business users could benefit from content management, personalisation, targeting, marketing, customer service, customer profile information, and reporting if they had access to these capabilities any time through a self-serve portal.
Answering such questions will build a clear picture of a) the current state and b) the goal state of your CCM.
You’ll see where you have sufficient internal resources and were working with an experienced CCM partner can help you deliver positive business outcomes sooner.
