From UX to CX: Rethinking the Digital User Experience as a Collaborative Exchange is a new report by Capgemini Consulting and MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) that highlights the development of a new approach to the management of digital customer experience, defined by the concept of Collaborative Exchanges (CX).
The report illustrates the transition from the interaction with the customer managed by the digital economy where the place of control of the client experience lies neither in the hands of the company nor those of the customer, but is negotiated through Collaborative exchanges.
This new form of collaborative exchange with the client consists of two main dimensions, namely the active participation of the customer along the organization’s value chain and the gathering of more information at every point of contact (touch point), so as to target and customize the offer.
Customers are now able to be involved at different levels in the value chain of a company, from research and product development, through the creation of content and logistics, right up to services.
At the same time companies are able to gather information at all levels to discover and define the knowledge of customers. The combination of strategic decisions based on the level of participation with mutually beneficial information flow determines a collaborative exchange of success.
Intersecting these two dimensions, four archetypes emerge Collaborative Customer Exchanges, which can help businesses to design exchanges a collaborative success.
- Hosts gather information about its users, opening its value chain to the shared participation.
- The companion work alongside their customers so that the shared involvement and user information are used to change the customer experience.
- Advisors using information about their customers, while maintaining a tight grip on participation.
- The directors provide services based on the subsidiary participation of the customer and the information collected.
The collaborative exchanges in a digital world require that companies are not based solely on scientific data, but develop a parallel competence of behavioral sciences. The granular analysis must be balanced with a focus on empathy. That’s why developing a comprehensive understanding of human behavior, values and feelings will be more important than ever in the digital economy.
Marketers are told daily that the success of their actions lies in the analytical data, the algorithms and artificial intelligence. Of course, this is imperative, but what this research clearly shows is that, in this digitally oriented economy, the human element is more important than ever.
More than four out of five people use the Internet. In the developing world, the figure is at 40 percent as compared to the developed countries. In countries that the ITU defines “less developed” – such as Haiti, Yemen, Myanmar and Ethiopia – only 15.2 percent of people are online.
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