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We are in the midst of an experiential economy, where the customer has further cemented his place as the king. Pleasing the king is not an easy ask as he wants the best of experience for every product or service consumed. Customers today expect organizations to deliver more holistic, innovative, and hyper-personalized experiences. The emphasis on customer experience has made it the top priority for businesses across industries. The same seems to be resonating with supply chains which are the quintessential factor helping businesses around the globe deliver on their promise of superior customer experience. World over as many as 83% of supply chain practitioners are rethinking their customer experience initiatives as part of their digital business strategy. But becoming customer-centric is no easy task and requires a dedicated effort to becoming a customer favorite.
This blog outlines the key factors essential to building a customer-centric supply chain.
A holistic focus on customer experience
Many big organizations like Amazon, USB, Uber, have embraced the customer-centric approach by taking the risk of disrupting their businesses and industries and reinventing the entire value chain with unprecedented innovation. According to Hubspot , customer-centric businesses are 60% more lucrative than non-customer-focused businesses. Organizations must concentrate on four key principles if they wish to strengthen their supply chain networks to provide hyper-personalized customer experiences across departments or functions.
Emphasis to achieve set targets
The impact of the supply chain on customer experience begins with the price charged and the services offered. These are foundational and align with the top two expected outcomes from supply chain investments in CX. As a result, some supply chains are supplementing standard CX outcomes centered on costs and services with new CX measurements such as improvised service metrics, high-speed, optimized inventory, and customer turnover ratio.
To develop customer-focused solutions and ensure the success of service transformation efforts, supply chain leaders should synchronize customer-facing departments and touchpoints across the organization. Also, create a single repository of customer data by partnering with data experts and prioritize initiatives with highest impact on CX.
Learn from actions initiated
Data has become the harbinger for progress across functions and organizations. It is no different in case of supply chains that in the true sense are data-generating networks with data flowing in from across vendors, suppliers, machines and devices. Supply chains need to successfully accumulate this data and more to drive better understanding of their customers and deliver superior experiences. According to Gartner, supply chain leaders recognize the need to make additional investments in sensing technologies and focus on the information provided directly by customers, such as CX measurements and KPIs.
Collaboration provides an opportunity for businesses to develop close bonds with customers and capitalize on those bonds to create partnerships that help them gain valuable insights, improve experiences, and generate shared value. Integrating processes, such as order-to-cash to procure-to-pay, helps mould relationship based partnerships encouraging cooperative forecasting, risk sharing, integrated innovation planning, and improving routes to market.
Put your learnings to practice
Supply chains must incorporate the learnings they generate about their customers into an effective response that enhances CX and in turn leads to improved business outcomes. According to a Gartner survey supply chains are investing predominantly to maximize visibility into order and shipment status and into product availability data. Johnson & Johnson with the use of cutting-edge technology automatically tracks hundreds of thousands of orders submitted by significant clients like hospitals and governments and notifies if any uncertain pattern occurs. Supply chains are increasingly leveraging advanced technologies like automation to capture customer service responses, advance analytics, all integrated to a central control tower helping them better comprehend customer needs, wants and preferences.
Driving towards a customer-centric supply chain
Supply chains are evolving at a fast pace and so are customer preferences. Supply chain customers are actively looking for improvements in On Time In Full (OTIF) areas besides expecting shorter lead times, personalized products and packaging. Supply chain leaders keen on meeting these expectations are investing handsomely on capabilities to capture, analyze and leverage supply chain specific customer satisfaction data. The aim is to realign supply chain operations and resources to meet customer expectations and achieve higher standards of customer service and experience. Innover, a leader in providing contemporary Digital Supply Chain Solutions is at the forefront empowering supply chains to evolve with the times. Our solutions powered by new-age technologies and advanced analytics are designed to delight your customers and create a sustainable, profitable, long-lasting relationship.
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