Hi Bill, please tell us about your role and the team/technology you handle at Capgemini?
As one of the leaders in our DCX practice in North America, my role focuses on helping our clients transform experiences for their customers in the areas of sales, service, marketing, and commerce. We work with a host of industry-leading partners to realize these transformations for our clients.
What is the most exciting part about working in the CX Management industry? What do you like the most about the technologies used to create and deliver best CX?
The most exciting part about helping our clients improve their technology and processes is seeing the results from the end-customers’ perspective – whether that includes opening new business channels for expanding commerce initiatives, improving loyalty with marketing or service solutions, or improving the ability to offer tailored pricing and products with sales teams – being able to measure those results for our customers is always rewarding.
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How do you compare CX trends in pre-covid days with what’s happening now?
Many of the digital optimizations that organizations prioritized during the pandemic were already in the works to some degree. This includes initiatives like direct-to-consumer (D2C) commerce, immersive capabilities for service, commerce, configure, price, quote (CPQ), more reliance on self-service and BOTs – as well as implementing solutions with limited contact for selling and service processes.
Which industries have been leading versus lagging in CX adoption?
In terms of commerce channels, retail and consumer goods industries are leading the charge in CX adoption. Manufacturing and life sciences are also seeing high rates of CX adoption specifically in the areas of sales and service modernization. Overall, we have seen all industries investing in CX initiatives at a higher rate than ever before.
How does Capgemini enable these teams to scale their CX efforts for higher efficiency and ROI?
Qualitative business impact and quantitative ROI are at the core of our CX work. Being impactful with a quick initial release and iteratively layering more functionality in time is the approach we have been taking more regularly. In terms of importance, our clients want fast business results while efficiently managing spend.
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Which tools should a CMO have in the CX Management stack?
CMOs and other C-level executives own the CX strategy – it is no longer the sole responsibility of the CMO today. Leaders need to implement technology that goes beyond traditional campaign tools and marketing systems. The systems that support sales and service must also be taken into consideration by CMOs. In addition, mobile strategy is becoming more important as buyer behavior continues to be influenced by the pandemic – and many consumers expect a robust mobile shopping experience.
Your prediction on the “future of mobile CX platforms – how are you planning for the future at Capgemini?
Mobile is already a key component of the CX strategy for most of our clients. I believe mobile will continue to evolve as a central component to marketing, personalization, and loyalty programs. Mobile optimizations continue to adapt at impressive speed – for example, mobile technology can use geography and preferences to identify where customers are in real-time and provide relevant offers and promotions. As companies become more mobile mature, they’ll get better at integrating mobile into their marketing strategy.
Any advice to every CX leader in 2021?
It is no longer enough to be the best in your product category. You must be compared favorably to the companies that are best at CX – regardless of the industry in which you (or they) operate.
Tag a person from the industry whose answers you would like to read here:
Steve Spadafora at Salesforce.
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Thank you, Bill! That was fun and we hope to see you back on iTechnologyseries.com soon.
Bill Donlan is Executive Vice President, Digital Customer Experience at Capgemini North America. Bill has more than 26 years of experience helping companies improve customer and value chain relationships through a combination of business strategy, process tuning and industry best practices, and technology integration. He is experienced with all of the leading software vendors in the CRM space as well as several of the mid-market packaged solutions. Bill is based in Miami, Florida.
Capgemini is a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business by harnessing the power of technology. The Group is guided everyday by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future. It is a responsible and diverse organization of 270,000 team members in nearly 50 countries. With its strong 50 year heritage and deep industry expertise, Capgemini is trusted by its clients to address the entire breadth of their business needs, from strategy and design to operations, fueled by the fast evolving and innovative world of cloud, data, AI, connectivity, software, digital engineering and platforms.
