Next-level CX: Embrace ‘intelligent orchestration’

A recent Forrester Consulting study, commissioned by Cognizant, suggests that a greater investment in CX can accelerate business growth for the retail, consumer goods, travel and hospitality industries.

The importance of delivering exceptional customer experience (CX) cannot be overlooked. For businesses in the retail, consumer goods, and travel and hospitality sectors, the stakes are particularly high.

Almost 90% of consumers say that the experience a company provides is as important as the products it offers.

This shift in consumer expectations requires businesses to stop focusing solely on transactions, and dedicate themselves instead to creating memorable, seamless and personalized experiences that resonate with customers and build meaningful connections. For brands in the already customer-centric sectors of retail, consumer goods, travel and hospitality sectors, the stakes are particularly high.

For a clearer picture of this historic shift, Cognizant commissioned Forrester Consulting to create a survey and maturity model, gauging not only leading company’s commitment to this new, customer-centric paradigm, but their progress in making it a reality. Among other findings, the survey found that US businesses have faced a significant drop in customer satisfaction for two consecutive years due to CX challenges, highlighting an urgent need to revamp CX strategies.

But how can businesses right the ship? Enter 'intelligent orchestration,' a powerful new CX model that leverages technology, data, and AI to deliver seamless, personalized experiences at scale. In this article, we will discuss the steps retail, consumer goods, travel and hospitality brands can take to embrace next-level CX.

Understanding the CX landscape

Forrester Consulting’s study surveyed 769 decision-makers globally about the challenges and opportunities around delivering exceptional customer experiences. Next, they grouped respondents’ companies into three maturity categories based on their current capabilities: Laggards, Intermediates and Leaders.

Of the retail, consumer goods and travel and hospitality brand surveyed, 81% of respondents agreed that their organization needs better alignment on CX priorities. This is in line with a wider consensus that businesses are missing key capabilities and lacking organizational support.

Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant
Figure 1

Even more eye-opening, 52% of the same group said they do not feel like their business intuitively anticipates the needs of their customers. Indeed, among all the businesses surveyed, retail, consumer goods and travel and hospitality businesses were the second most likely to be ranked as a Laggard - the group most likely to report siloed operations, employer fewer customer experience (CX) metrics and adopt an ad hoc approach to achieving outcomes.

Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant
Figure 2

Why this relatively slow adoption, in sectors where good CX has always been front and center? Internal resistance. When retail, consumer goods and travel and hospitality decision makers were asked to rank the top CX strategy challenges facing their business, the majority agreed that data challenges, organizational silos and leadership alignment issues are impeding them from building a more robust CX strategy.

How intelligent orchestration is driving business growth and differentiation

The study found that companies with mature orchestration practices enjoy levels of trust and relevance in customer interactions that are 20% higher than those of their peers. And the benefits do not stop there.

For retail, consumer goods and travel and hospitality brands to accelerate their maturity, they should focus on four key areas: strategy, data, technology and operations.

1. Strategy: To deliver truly exceptional CX, companies need a strategy to implement intelligent orchestration on a large scale. Developing and implementing such a strategy requires strong executive leadership, to ensure alignment across the entire organization.
   
   What leaders do differently: Emphasize the business impact of CX investments and hire more CX-skilled employees.
   
   
2. Data: To power AI models, businesses must ensure their data is complete, accurate and accessible. Additionally, data must be well-managed to ensure it stays reliable and that its usage adheres to regulatory standards.
   
   What leaders do differently: Develop a 360-customer view and leverage trusted second- and third-party data.
   
   
3. Technology: Intelligent orchestration demands the integration of interoperable applications, data and AI to build a dynamic ecosystem for experiences.
   
   What leaders do differently: Expand strategic vendor partnerships, and implement next-generation technology with automation, cognition and learning capabilities.
   
   
4. Operations: To break down organizational silos and deliver consistent CX, businesses need synchronized processes and operations to provide value to both customers and the business.
   
   What leaders do differently: Increase CX process automation and embed AI into business processes.

Making the case

To effectively address these areas of opportunity, retail, consumer goods, travel and hospitality brands need to tie business outcomes to positive customer experience. By demonstrating the direct impact of CX on business performance, companies can secure buy-in from stakeholders and justify investments in CX initiatives. This will create a customer-centric culture, where CX is not only considered in every business decision but made a priority. In short, companies need to become customer obsessed to truly reap the benefits of intelligent orchestration.

Thes study shows 45% of retail, consumer goods and travel and hospitality brands are planning to increase investment in CX by at least 5% over the next year. This investment will be used not only to improve CX practices, but also to address existing gaps in CX delivery.

Over the next 12 months, these decision-makers expect to invest in things like their core technology stack, system interoperability, AI/ML capabilities and more. This same group reports that technology consolidation and better data quality are the most likely organizational outcomes from more investment in CX.

Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cognizant
Figure 3

The way forward

A steadfast commitment to CX will be essential, in the coming years, for brands in the retail, consumer goods, travel and hospitality sectors. Especially in industries where challenges like inflation, supply chain disruptions and labor shortages are complicating the path to growth, developing intelligent orchestration and delivering next-level CX will be crucial for building strong relationships with customers, creating a runway for growth, and maintaining the agility to navigate new technologies coming to market.