31 July 2018
5 minutes
James Norris
Customer engagement consultant
Enzo Ferrari once said “I don’t sell cars, I sell engines. I throw the car in for free since something has to hold the engine.” Enzo was a man clearly passionate about his core technology! Let’s imagine though that we took one of Enzo’s glorious engines and placed it in an old, dilapidated car one sharp turn from the scrap heap. What would happen? The vibrations alone would cause the wheels to fall off, and the beautiful engine would go to waste. Like Enzo, we love our core technology. However, a powerful engine is useless without a strong chassis and a committed driver.
Therefore, to be able to enjoy the full potential of our technology, every single element around it needs to be perfectly orchestrated. Now, let’s translate this to our business. Marketing technology is a powerful tool, but to create seamless customer experiences that drive value, alignment between the people, processes and technology in your organisation is essential. This requires business transformation. It’s obvious many of you feel that transformation and change isn’t easy, and I get that – the stakes are high, and transformations can be complex and costly. However, without holistic transformation it’s impossible to realise the absolute value of a customer-centric business.
Often, we see companies focus on technology first – they buy a stack of software and dive straight in the deep end without any consideration of the environment around the tech. Typically, we visit these companies after a year of ownership and find that there’s been very little progress in organisational maturity, or value realisation. Technology is an enabler of amazing things, but like your washing machine, if you put garbage in you get garbage out (GIGO). Most companies will have baggage, legacy systems, data or processes that limit their ability to deliver an engaging customer experience.
It’s also a shift in mentality for most businesses, and that’s where change comes into play. The good news is that the implementation of a new solution is the perfect time to address some of these issues!
Many of our clients find it useful to consider people, process and technology, in that order. First you need to ensure you have the requisite skills available. Then you need processes that remove any blockers to success. Then, and only then, you can build your technology around your people and processes to achieve the optimal fit.
Here are some key points to consider when reviewing people, process and technology.
If you’d like more advice about business transformation to become truly customer-centric, reach out to our team of experts!