The freedom to put customers first with your tech choice
The definition of marketing has changed, it's far more technical and quantifiable than ever before, but consumers have changed the most – especially in how they regard digital touch points and their relationships to the brands and organisations in their personal and business lives.
ORM is the company re-aligning systems and processes to make them more sustainable.
Companies are expected to own the “customer experience” or the “customer journey”. The modern marketer is given the data function and looked to for insights into the market and customer expectations. Somewhere along the way in this evolution we’ve all changed, but our approach to our systems and tools have not. A decade or so ago, big proprietary enterprise vendors like IBM and Oracle could do it all, but this is changing with the advancement in technology with hundreds of different technology platforms that can deliver expertise in specialist areas. When speaking with our customers one of the key questions we are asked is: “which technology should I use and how will it all work together?”
There is no right answer to this question.
Which is OK, and why we prefer to steer businesses to consider what the customer needs are first, and the technology choice taking a secondary position. By leading with customer experience, choosing the right technology or even aligning existing technology so it works better for your business’s needs, will naturally follow.
Yet, when you do get to the stage of looking at tech, you want to ensure you’ve decided on a system that is going to streamline processes. Harnessing best of breed technology means having solutions that work hard for you and automates tasks to improve efficiencies across the organisation.
The companies we work with at ORM have the challenge of fulfilling a varying amount of requirements, so we propose a best of breed approach to support them. However, maintaining multiple systems can cause a lack of connectivity, which creates maintenance and integration challenges. This requires a digital partner who acts as the glue to bring it all together.
As an example, we work with a leading transport operator to help them put people at the heart of everything they do and provide an experience that delights their customers. We have helped them develop a retailing solution that works alongside over 10 different systems, from a ticketing system, CRM, tag management, martech and CMS, to provide a high quality online and mobile app experience for journey planning, ticket selection, customisation and fulfilment. By following the best of breed approach they have developed and now own, their retailing solution differentiates them from many of their competitors. The solution provides a platform that allows the business to tailor the end-to-end customer experience, utilising cloud and microservices architecture that means the platform is scalable and resilient for future projects added to the retailing solution.
It may seem a laborious and daunting task to re-align the systems and processes your company uses, but it’s so important to becoming a forward-thinking digital business that your competitors aspire to be like. Here are a few points to help with the task:
- Don’t start with the tech– consider what you’re really looking to deliver to your customers, and then it’s easier to choose the right technology to support
- Give automation a chance– there are so many solutions that can automate tasks and streamline processes, which gives you more time to focus on other areas of the business
- Engage with providers – when you are ready to discuss technology, speak with different providers to ensure they match up to your needs and requirements
- Think best of breed – having the right technology in place that’s working hard for you will make your business more efficient and aligned – not just in marketing but across other departments too
Come and talk to ORM to find out how we can help build platforms and products that are customer-centred and fully integrated into your business systems. What we create is often business critical, and we provide management, support and continuous optimisation for the products we produce.
Neil Clayton is the head of sales and marketing for ORM.
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