Improve an existing value proposition

This article is based on the idea that organizations which require a Digital Transformation are facing a technology adoption gap. A gap that grew silently but steadily for the last 10-15 years. This article aims to address business as usual improvement as one of the Digital Transformation triggers. If needed please refer to my?first article.

Technology has and is reshaping how we interact with the world around us. Organizations have ignored how it affects internal operations (check this article) and also its impact for customers. The impact of technology on each of us, as a customer, needs to be understood and its byproducts addressed if any organization wishes to strive for the next years.

The technology impacts on customers must be analyzed taking into consideration the topic of technology adoption, directly followed by the natural consequences of said adoption.

Technology adoption

There are two big groups of technology users that we need to take into consideration when talking about technology adoption. This is a topic already identified back in 2001 by Marc Prensky in his article “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”.?

• Digital Natives - a person born or brought up in the era of ubiquitous technology, including computers and the internet.
• Digital Immigrant - a person born or brought up before the widespread use of digital technology, but has adopted many aspects of technology

Twenty years have gone by, technology adoption is still undergoing and we could say that analog persons are now a minority in developed countries. The digital natives are becoming mainstream consumers and digital immigrants are a gradient that follows Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation?theory.?

Groups of consumers adopting the new technology (shown in blue) and its market share (yellow)?source

A critical aspect of technology is that it is always evolving, thus when looking at the curve above, please bear in mind that there are multiple curves. E-mail was once considered an innovation, smartphones as well, blockchain and AI are the new kids on the block. Each technology wave triggers its own adoption curve.

Adoption consequences

Customers are adopting technology, so what? How is that affecting business??A few topics to understand its impacts…

• Digital User Experience – Technology is setting expectations for performance and interaction cross-industry. As an example digital experiences in financial services or retail will be compared to the experience provided by tech giants like Apple, Google or Amazon.
• Explosion of touchpoints – Both in terms of hardware (smartphones, tablets, watches, tvs, cars, home appliances, fashion) and in terms of software (social networks, messaging, newsletters, forums, metaverse), customers are reaching out to businesses in endless ways.?
• Information availability - Knowledge is all over the place, often customers check reviews, follow brands or influencers, make comparisons, all before making a purchase. All this out of reach of the business attempting to serve them.

The topics above bring several problems to traditional organizations. The digital experiences created are often below expectations. Multiple touchpoints make it hard to be present and relevant. Information availability forces a new way of doing business, requiring more training and a change of role in the customer relationship.

The way out is… Service Experience

Existing value propositions need to be revisited with service experience and technology lenses. Nike made a great move understanding how their existing products made a perfect fit into the metaverse experience. Customers are exploring new technologies and the value within… and so is Nike, that’s how it should be.

Organizations need to keep pace with technology. Every desired interaction/transaction must be understood as part of a value constellation experience, where customers have multiple options which are not necessarily competitors in a traditional business perspective. For those curious minds, do check Lia Patrício’s?Multilevel Service Design (MSD)?as a method for designing complex service systems.

Once organizations realize providing a great service experience is the key to improving their business as usual, that’s when the journey starts. Please note that I’m purposely not stating Customer Experience, as great customer experience is the product of a great experience for all stakeholders. The question that remains is,?how can experience be addressed??Some high-level steps:

1. Understand what is happening and is being perceived by customers (e.g. contextual interviews, workshops). Make use of service blueprints and customer journeys to map actions, emotions, stakeholders, as well as processes and systems.
2. Orchestrate product features and service delivery to address the identified shortcomings, opportunities, needs and pain points. These changes must take into consideration the multiple stakeholders and personas identified in the previous point.
3. Integrate digital interfaces and technology trends, if applicable, along the new journey and blueprint. Technology can boost the existing stakeholder experience through speed, flexibility and differentiation.?
4. Leave data collection points across the service, define success for the new adjustments and start measuring. The data generated must be used to continuously improve the existing product and service, as well as identify new business opportunities.
5. Go to #1

If organizations adopt the cycle above improvements will be notorious for:

• Customer loyalty and satisfaction - the main topic for decision making is experience, which in turn generates engagement, loyalty and referrals.
• Employee retention - improving the overall journey implies that every stakeholder must be brought onboard, this is a major motivational driver… being part of good change and innovative threads.
• Demand planning - customer data and the insights that come with it must be used to improve demand planning, more accuracy means more sales and less dead stock.
• Product development - the loop above ensures a continuous learning with users and is the foundation for good product development.

Is your organization’s value proposition providing a great experience?

To have a successful value proposition in the next years, organizations must evolve on technology enabled service experiences. Technology will keep evolving, customers will keep adapting and businesses need to keep the pace.