Marketing, sales and service converging on digital platforms

02/07/21

Digital tools can lead to optimisation

Digitalisation is changing the way companies’ front offices operate. Whether the operations concern marketing, sales or service, digital tools can lead to optimisation in each of these domains. ‘In fact,’ says PwC Director Jasper Kakes, ‘we’re seeing a growing trend towards convergence between the domains. Separate departments may well have had their day.’

Digital platforms

Jasper Kakes has noticed a number of digital front office trends that are changing customer-centric work. Robot Process Automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), chatbots and voice assistants are taking over and freeing up employees to spend more time on more high-value customer contact. ‘CRM systems, like Salesforce, have evolved into digital platforms that harness everything related to customer interaction, collaboration and accountability,’ says Kakes. ‘A platform like that provides the basis for all other technological trends. Marketing, sales and service converge there to serve the customer even better. And the platform can also drive the transformation of processes and human resources.’

Customer transformation

Kakes lists the issues that may inspire companies to embark on a customer transformation journey: ‘Maybe they want to use customer segmentation for marketing campaigns, improve the lead-to-cash process or increase their post-service net promoter score. Or they may want to improve the way their internal organisation performs, or they may be lacking the necessary data analytics. A CRM platform is part of the solution for all these issues.’ In addition, customers have grown used to fast and seamless online shopping in B2C and expect the same experience in other sectors. ‘The discipline of the market also applies to customer expectations.’

Customer experience at every touchpoint

To meet these expectations, companies must manage and optimise the customer experience from start to finish. ‘To properly understand customers, it’s helpful to develop personas that capture customer groups. What’s the customer journey of these personas like? The organisation has to analyse every touchpoint, online and offline, for each persona to deliver a seamless, superior customer experience. A CRM platform makes this possible because all the information converges there.’

From transaction to relationship

When companies focus on customer experience management, the distinction between sales, marketing and service automatically becomes less relevant, Kakes says. ‘When transactions are largely automated, employees move into a coordinating role to optimise the customer experience. Take the front office sales employee who spends her day on the phone taking orders. That work becomes unnecessary because customers can place orders themselves online. The employee can then talk to customers more like an account manager because he or she sees all the information in the system and knows the customer. That’s how you can achieve a more holistic customer relationship in which sales, marketing and service converge.’

'But when companies truly put the customer first, whether the sales is closed by a salesperson or a marketing agent becomes irrelevant.’

Jasper KakesPwC

Digital enablement

Kakes acknowledges that companies often still have many obstacles to overcome before they can forge this holistic customer relationship. ‘That’s just how we do things here, they say. Or, that’s how our customers want it. We then need to tread carefully, in conjunction with our colleagues in digital enablement, to ensure that everyone understands the value of the new way of working.’ After all, says Kakes, customers are usually more than willing to change if the new alternative dovetails with their experience: ‘They are often more accepting than companies give them credit for. And if there are customers who prefer to leave things as they are, then customer segmentation will identify them and the company can differentiate per group.’

Operational difference

Although Kakes notes a growing trends towards convergence between marketing, sales and service, he finds it useful to maintain the distinction for operational purposes. ‘Targets will still be set for each of the domains, and they’ll want to monitor progress. We’ll continue supporting these departments in facing their specific challenges. But when companies truly put the customer first, whether the sales is closed by a salesperson or a marketing agent becomes irrelevant.’

Lasting success

What does Kakes think the future holds for the domains? ‘They will probably be populated by a smaller, strategically focused team, with the actual work being done by a broad group of employees outside the domains. They’ll work on the customer relationship, they’ll know the customer and they’ll make sure the customer is well served. And in fact, that’s always been the key to lasting success in the market.’