The age of the customer is here. If you need further confirmation, watch the webinar: 5 ways to deliver amazing client experiences hosted by HighQ Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Stuart Barr with guest speaker Forrester Principal Analyst, Cheryl McKinnon.
Good service for your customers isn’t a new concept. But over the last decade or so, a shift in power has given customers the ability to influence the way business is done. As a result, it’s easier than ever to draw a direct line from client experience to revenue.
Clients expect services to be delivered expertly, affordably, efficiently and transparently. Traditional business tools can’t keep up and businesses are embracing digital transformation to pick up the slack. Technology is rising to the challenge and providing new ways to quickly interact, collaborate and adapt to the customer, while reducing cost.
McKinnon elaborates, “Companies who lead their industry and see success are customer led. They are responsive and able to adjust their processes and capabilities to better align to their customer expectations.”
While technology is creating better experiences and greater accessibility, it also creates a heavy burden of responsibility for businesses to safely and securely manage client data, interactions and information. In addition to complying with data security regulation, companies must build trust to inspire customer loyalty. Responsible data handling is a new market imperative and digital tools must find a way to balance usability with security.
Both Barr and McKinnon agree. Industry trends and data provided by Forrester surveys indicate that real-time collaboration and security are on the minds of businesses and clients alike. They offered five ways to deliver an amazing client experience with secure, intelligent collaboration tools.
1. Embrace your extended enterprise
Serving a client isn’t a one-to-one relationship anymore. In the course of a single day, you may interact with the client as well as consultants, suppliers, regulators, and contractors. Each of these parties plays a role in reviewing, editing, following-up and managing tasks to move the work forward.
McKinnon explains, “As we move into more digital ways of working we’re also breaking through the fourth wall of enterprise. We need to work with our clients, suppliers, subcontractors, subject matter experts and make them a part of this end-to-end work collaborative experience.”
Your platform will be most useful if it can speak to all of these relationships and truly be the nerve-center for your business. Simple file-share technology doesn’t allow that level of transparent collaboration. A true digital collaboration tool will offer a single, unified experience that gives the client a peek behind the curtain to see the true value of your work.
2. Reap the rewards of cloud-based collaboration and content services
One of the greatest benefits of digital transformation is the ability to be more agile. Software as a service (SaaS) perfectly embodies this powerful flexibility. Using cloud-based SaaS solutions, businesses can lower costs while quickly adapting to better serve changing customer needs. Cloud-based solutions can be quickly developed, deployed and adopted by businesses.
The rise of SaaS has made consumers more aware of the importance of security. They are displaying a new depth of knowledge and asking key questions about access, data protection, and application integrations. Businesses must make the security of their cloud-based tool a top priority to protect their clients and themselves.
Barr gives SaaS industry insight saying, “For us, at HighQ, this is really a crucial aspect around security--differentiating between what we would consider to be enterprise-grade security and what is more suited to the consumer world.”
While the security of a simple file-sharing platform may be good enough for family snapshots, businesses dealing with sensitive client information have to be more discerning. Consider tools that can offer your business a private cloud, hybrid storage, a dedicated instance, encryption key management, relevant security certifications and data sovereignty controls.
3. Put great usability on the list of security requirements
As businesses consider secure collaboration platforms, they are discovering that usability is absolutely essential. You can adopt secure technology, but if your users are confused or frustrated they will bypass approved systems in favor of consumer-grade tools they are familiar with, putting your data at risk. Eliminate the temptation to rely on less secure, consumer-grade software by selecting tools that have a great user experience.
“We’ve been shown how easy, powerful and simple it can be. IT doesn’t need to be complex.” Barr explains “You can have the best of both worlds. You can have the fantastic user experience and the simplicity of consumer-grade tools with the power and control you need for an enterprise system.”
4. Put agility, flexibility and responsiveness on the priority list
Equipped with secure collaboration platforms, businesses can better understand how clients and external stakeholders are engaging with content. By identifying activity patterns including how, where and when users are active you can develop better business practices.
Barr recommends promoting business agility by “enabling people to get work done, to be productive but also enabling them to connect with the right people and find the right information.”
The best way to do this? By embedding collaboration into your work process, allowing you to:
- Make knowledge discoverable
- Create team connections
- Make decisions more quickly
- Break down silos and reduce information overload
- Reduce email traffic and inefficiency
5. Try new things - avoid becoming digital prey
Businesses that have been operating for many years are feeling the pressure to keep pace with newer businesses that have enjoyed the advantage of technology from day one. Established organizations must begin to try new things or risk losing their clients to others who can offer better experiences.
Try something new:
- Don’t just automate existing processes, take the opportunity to innovate
- Test and use data to make better decisions
- Move from linear processes to modular, nimble systems
- Shift focus from your product and services to improved experiences
- Adopt a culture of innovation - remember that people drive transformation
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The expectations and demands of clients will always evolve and change. Businesses should equip themselves now to adapt for the future by adopting secure, intelligent collaboration tools that deliver amazing client experiences.
To hear all the insights from Stuart Barr and Cheryl McKinnon, view the webinar on demand.
5 ways to deliver an amazing client experience with secure, intelligent collaboration tools
