A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives, a curated forum for enterprise technology leaders, nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the CIOApplications Editorial Board.

Ebara Corp

Where did the Customer Experience go?

I recently had the opportunity to fly with an airline that I don’t normally fly with. It’s still a major airline. It reminded me of what I missed and took for granted with a great customer experience while flying. I didn’t save money by flying with them. The flight options were limited and you can forget about service on the plane. This was a “no frills” flying experience and I just could not wait to get off the plane. Based on my personal customer experience, I will not recommend them. I will always continue to choose the airline where I don’t feel like a number, can easily board the plane, and am greeted with a smile.

With service work, between business to business, we have seen service slowly change, get worse, or even go away. The term “customer experience” seems to be an afterthought.

Companies today, at this point, are hoping for the right product, at the right time, at the right price. But delayed delivery, back ordered parts, and increased pricing are now expected. They even plan for it. “This is just how it is since Covid.”

But here is the reality of what is to come in the near future. Companies are going to figure out how to operate post-covid and the supply chain issues will continue to level out. Inflation will calm down. But the companies who continue to invest in the customer experience will be who the customers come back to.

Let’s keep it simple. In our personal lives where do we choose to purchase from? Are we buying based on price? Because this company is our only option? Or are we buying because it’s right in front of you and its convenient? Maybe because of the experience? Factors like ease of doing business, convenience, and consistency of service mean something. Why would these not be deciding factors for businesses?

Does your company invest in customer experience? Do you understand what the building blocks of the organization’s customer experience are? Are you measuring them? Do you even know what your customers are saying?

Take it to another level. Are you training your people based on you organization’s customer experience? Or, like many companies, are you investing in technical training only?

Customers expect companies to deliver on time. They expect you to deliver the products per the specifications that were agreed to. They expect you to deliver for the price of the purchase order. There are going to be dozens of companies that deliver based on just that. Some will be cheaper, some may be faster. But, what truly separates one company verses another is the experience they receive throughout the service cycle, beginning to end.

What truly separates one company verses another is the experience clients receive throughout the service cycle, beginning to end


So I leave with one final question around you and your company. When you deliver to your customer with your product or service which airline are you most like? Are you the “no frills” airline? Are you the airline that just focuses on getting the customer to their destination? Or are you the airline that greets the customer on the jet way and thanks the customer for flying with you today? You just might be surprised by what your customers are saying.
The articles from these contributors are based on their personal expertise and viewpoints, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employers or affiliated organizations.