Ahead of Customer 360 Africa 2019, we caught up with Joshua Knight, Jet Customer Strategic Analyst, Edcon, to discuss his opinion on where Customer Experience is in South Africa today.
Cornium: Do you feel that most organisations are where they should be in terms of delivering a great CX experience?
Joshua Knight: No especially in South Africa
Corinium: What do you feel the biggest barriers to organisations are when implementing a great CX journey?
Knight: Culture – Companies are stuck in outdated thinking and methodologies
Failure to implement effective Digital Technology – Even though we are in the Information age companies are still using outdated methods that are expensive and lack innovation
Drive and buy-in from management – Concerns over costs and hype mean managers tend to no prioritize getting the right people and tools in place to as they do not believe it draw in direct value
Failure – In some time or the other companies have invested in CX but due to failure as result of execution or other inefficiencies their appetite to invest in CX has been decreased
Corinium: What do you feel as a CX professional are your greatest challenges?
Knight: Challenging the status quo and conventional thinking – In order to effect change companies to drive innovation and believe that prioritizing CX directly impacts a business’s performance
Corinium: Are there any final thoughts you would like to leave the readers with on this subject?
Knight: We have seen so many success stories of companies that have invested and taken a leap in improving CX and drawing direct value from it. It is clear that this important as every business has a customer. Why then are we found lacking? In order to achieve real success we have to put the customer first and think how we can really be their champions at any cost.