Relics unearthed by archaeological digs prove silos have been part of human history a long time, at least since the Bronze Age, when vessels for grain storage helped early civilizations to thrive, evolve, and eventually invent AI.
Those of us aiming for the gold standard of CX, however, know all too well that today’s silos sabotage our efforts to optimize the customer journey.
With data and processes walled off in numerous, unconnected systems, we lack the visibility to identify pain points and opportunities to enhance the experience across multiple touchpoints. This fragmentation creates inconsistency and friction that frustrates customers. Meanwhile, siloed CX projects deployed across various functional areas within an organization can work at cross purposes — and no one even realizes it.
Exhausting? Seemingly. Insurmountable? No.
Dismantle barriers for unified CX
We can break the shackles of silos by roadmapping a CX transformation. Break down the process into manageable steps and it’s a whole lot less intimidating. While an average company might have 2,000 data repositories, there are only four types of silos that we need to focus on:
- Technology/data silos: Lack of clear mapping between core systems undermines an organization’s ability to leverage one of its most valuable assets, customer data. Tech stack transformations help identify silos and measure the impact they are having on your bottom line.
- Channel silos: A single customer interaction can straddle multiple channels, from voice to chat to self-serve, and all these platforms must be integrated. When channels are siloed off, a company lacks visibility into the total journey, customers hit dead ends, and they get aggravated. Voice of the Customer strategies show how to view CX through your customers’ eyes.
- Organizational silos: Different functional areas such as sales, marketing, IT, and contact center operations each want to own a part of the customer experience. Sales may claim CRM while IT may feel proprietary about data and analytics platforms. However, a disjointed, siloed ownership structure leads to disconnected customer experiences. Change management helps with organizational alignment.
- CX vision silos: It’s exceedingly difficult to achieve a meaningful, long-term customer experience transformation when CX leaders don’t have a seat at the table or are deprived of the resources needed to drive change. This results in CX vision silos with competing priorities, goals, and custom metrics that are not meaningful for the total enterprise.
It’s not unusual for organizations to struggle with more than one type of CX silo. While each of the four types is important, let’s look closer at one of them, CX vision silos. CX vision and strategy, by its very nature, is fluid and invites lots of finger-pointing when things go south so it’s a good one to tackle.
Execute the full CX equation
When we work with clients to help them achieve their CX vision, we focus on five phases of transformation — evaluate, envision, execute, engage, and evolve. In any successful CX transformation project, a CX champion is critical to serve as the connective tissue between
departments, competing objectives, and siloed data as the project moves from phase 1 to phase 5.
If that’s you, here are a handful of time-tested tips and tactics you can use to make sure systemic silos don’t derail your brand’s CX vision and hold back program performance.
Conduct an inventory of all CX projects across the enterprise — not just the shiny new ones everyone’s jazzed about but also the legacy programs whose longstanding protocols may no longer be useful. Make a business case for a unified CX transformation by showing functional leaders how unified CX creates synergies that benefit every department, from revenue creation to improved productivity, to cost containment and beyond.
Connect siloed CX projects
Once everyone’s onboard with a unified CX vision, it’s key to establish communications across the enterprise, especially for new CX channels. With a forum that encourages feedback and candid dialogue for internal stakeholders, you’ve now got a robust coalition of CX champions who are invested in success, not only within their own areas but across the organization.
Lastly, don’t forget about your front-line associates. CX is a people-first endeavor and the people interacting directly with your customers on a daily basis know things you don’t. They’re tuned in to shifting behaviors, preferences, and needs. A feedback channel that’s engaging for associates — not another chore on their task list — enables you to capture this vital information to build CX that bolsters your brand promise and supports key business value drivers.
To detect and disarm the forces compromising your customer experience, check out TTEC Digital’s Strategy Toolkit, “Exceptional Customer Experiences Don’t Happen in Silos.” The toolkit, full of practical tips and templates, was built on insights curated from more than 1,000 client engagements.
