The Age of the Customer
In the past 20 years, we’ve seen a technology explosion. Some of you may remember when cell phones came out and the internet was born; these two pieces of technology have dramatically shaped connectivity and interconnectivity—how we communicate, how we shop, how we purchase products and services, and whom and what we have access to. Even developing nations enjoy high levels of mobile technology adoption, effectively leapfrogging traditional telecom offerings (like landlines) for more advanced technology like smartphones and mobile web connections. It’s been nothing short of revolutionary.
In the old days, before this tech boom, competitive markets were more limited, customers had little influence over product offerings, and marketing was a one-way flow of communication. As you read last week in the textbook, technology advancement has forever changed how businesses serve and interact with customers. Today, customers' influence is undeniable. They demand that organizations provide high-quality, targeted customer experiences—and they’ll use their voices and buying power to make these requirements known. Forrester Research, a world-class technology consulting firm, has dubbed this the Age of the Customer (Fontanella, 2020).
Video: Welcome to the Age of the Customer
The Power of Engagement Platforms
SPEAKER: The days when we determine how our customers engage with us are now gone. Feedback forms and call centers are being bypassed as customers turn to Facebook, Twitter, and their mobile devices to reach us and their friends and followers with their praise, questions, and complaints. Because today's customer won't let corporate structure and processes stand in their way, today's customer takes the path of least resistance to get what they need from your brand. It's time to open up new channels, create new engagement platforms, and streamline your processes so that engaging with you not only becomes easier but more enjoyable than with your competition. Welcome to the Age of the Customer, an era in which customers armed with mobile devices and the internet now have more options and more information available to them than ever before to search, browse, compare, and bargain, an era in which the customer's unprecedented power to influence others via social media has made ensuring an easy and enjoyable customer experience the number-one priority for IT spend worldwide in 2014. We're entering the Age of the Customer, a 20-year business cycle in which the most successful enterprises will reinvent themselves to systematically understand and serve increasingly powerful customers. In the Age of the Customer, market share and customer satisfaction for corporations will hinge on the quality of their customer technology. But it's no longer enough to be customer-focused. In the Age of the Customer, the businesses that will thrive are customer-obsessed. Customer-obsessed companies are already shifting IT investments from building systems that run their business more efficiently to building systems that make it easier and more enjoyable for customers to engage with them. Relate Technologies would like to help you make that shift and thrive in the Age of the Customer. We'll help you identify and build ways to make it easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable for your customers to engage with your brand across the customer journey. We'll combine the latest technology and our development and systems integration skills to customize or build innovative solutions to win, serve, and retain your customers. We'll help you digitize your entire customer journey from in-store lead generation using NFC technology to digital onboarding, mobile self-service, proactive communication systems, NFC rewards activation, and voucher distribution. We'll provide you with the technology solutions that help you understand your customers and enable you to engage with them on their terms, when, where, and how they want to engage with your brand. Your customers now hold the power to build or break your brand in the palm of their hands. Let us help you put them in the palm of your hands with Relate Technologies, customer experience technology solutions. [MUSIC PLAYING]
In the Age of the Customer
- Customers have more access to what’s available in the market—product availability is no longer limited to what’s stocked on the shelves of their local stores. This creates wider markets, making competition even fiercer.
- They’re savvier—customers have significant access to information about brands, products, and services, and they use it to make purchase decisions.
- They have communication power—online consumer ratings, social media, and other platforms give them a global forum to express their opinions about brands and offerings. These communications can have serious business impacts.
