According to Forbes, 87% of business leaders think digital will disrupt their industry, but only 44% feel they’re prepared for the impending transition.
That’s good news for innovative leaders, because:
- It’s easier than ever for organizations to modernize their management practices through digital technology
- Digital transformation can revolutionize business processes, making organizations more transparent, more efficient, and better able to serve their clients—outcompeting the late adopters and absorbing their market share.
- With workflows, organizations can automate routine tasks to better streamline the full client lifecycle.
Streamline processes with client interaction workflows
Client-facing digital experiences have been very much integrated into consumers’ day-to-day lives, but for high-touch service experiences, client interaction workflows can enhance the entire end-to-end business lifecycle.
Picture a financial services company that gives its clients access to their own branded portal where they can call or text advisors (skipping the hold music), initiate trades, schedule meetings, sign legal documents electronically, and do anything else related to their business needs. Additionally, they would experience the added benefit of full insight into the history of interactions. This paves the way for creating a better service experience. In high-touch businesses where personalized relationships are paramount, client accounts need to be managed for quality service delivery, and with an all-in-one platform for account onboarding, servicing and exception handling, organizations can manage the entire client lifecycle.
Unprecedented transparency and efficiency
Digital transformation makes it easier for clients to connect and do business with companies, but that only represents half the equation. Digital gives organizations an unprecedented level of transparency and efficiency, however, disparate, disjointed technology creates more chaos and is difficult to track and manage. A comprehensive one-stop approach for managing client business from end-to-end.
Digital strategies give executives and business owners a level of insight and control over their business that simply isn’t possible with antiquated systems. By managing the entire client lifecycle in one platform, businesses can completely transform their processes to reduce costs, retain clients, and dominate their market.
Companies can also tie task lists to any account to:
- Streamline their service efforts
- Keep every employee who interacts with a client informed about that client’s needs
- Spot gaps in processes in order to optimize them
- Identify practices that improve client retention (and double-down on what works)
- A one-stop straightforward digital transformation offers tremendous return because it improves the client experience, while also enabling companies to streamline their internal processes for more efficient organizational practices.
Automated workflows
With a digital workflow-centric solution for managing high touch client interactions, organizations can orchestrate both structured and unstructured communications. By customizing workflows as it pertains to their particular operations, businesses can automate routine tasks and processes, thereby streamlining the entire client lifecycle to meet deadlines. Additionally, on-demand automated workflows eliminate human error for procedural processes. With exception handling and the ability to escalate high-touch interactions as necessary, organizations can deliver just-in-time personalized service while maximizing efficiencies.
Digital management and the just-in-time model
Just-in-time delivery is a model commonly used in manufacturing and logistics, but its reach is much broader than that. A retail store, for example, could use historical data surrounding product sales to order just the right amount of a certain item to keep up with consumer demand, without over-ordering items that won’t sell or inventory that will go to waste (e.g., perishables at a grocery store). This reduces costs and improves their bottom line.
Just-in-time for service industries
The just-in-time approach is extremely effective in client-centric service industries, such as banking, healthcare, and other high-touch sectors.
Clients in these industries have inquiries and requests around-the-clock, but it’s usually not economically feasible to staff companies 24/7.
Even during normal business hours, demand for client support waxes and wanes. Significantly reducing or eliminating hold-times would require over-staffing much of the time. Yes, customers could have their questions answered on demand, but staff would have nothing to do during the downtimes and the cost would be prohibitive.
On-demand service vs. Just-in-time service
The on-demand model can be a drain on resources, as clients don’t always need an immediate response to their inquiries. With a just-in-time service experience, organizations can automate workflows so clients can access routine service at their own time, giving clients access to escalate to representatives when needed, without exhausting resources. Clients can reach in whenever they need to access the business and receive just-in-time, individualized responsiveness.
Moreover, since management has access to every conversation, every request, and every unanswered inquiry, they can use this data to optimize service. The end result is an efficient, seamless, just-in-time service that improves the client experience and supports client retention.
