This week, for once it seemed all of the UK was united about something; we all wanted Wales to get through in the Euros!

 
The final result brought mixed responses from those fans interviewed post result, for most there was sheer elation in getting so far; something they honestly never thought was possible. For others, admittedly a minority, their expectations were higher and they were deflated and devastated at the defeat. The same match the same result, different customer experience ratings.
 
Keeping most of the customers happy most of the time is the Holy Grail for all types of organisations in the world of public sector, sport and business today. Finding accurate authentic real-time answers to how customers feel, and more importantly, what they will do next as a result, is the biggest conundrum in the customer experience world we face. 
 
CCA held our two-day 'digital, social, mobile' event in London this week and we heard from a wide range of speakers about the challenge of transforming in a hectic, fast-paced, always on world, where the customer escalator doesn't stop just because we have a change programme.  
 
We heard from DVLA about the challenge of channel shift and the pivotal role they play in verification processes with 3rd parties. As the largest contact centre in public sector they lead the way in the digital by default agenda, with a wealth of insights which apply equally across the private sector in general. 
 
Matt Bateson from Oracle contested that organisations today are getting away with making customers complete complex journeys, where arguably more effort is expended by the customer than the company. However this may change as new technologies like Magic Leap are just around the corner. These technologies will aggregate what's relevant from our customer history, and provide us with much more power at our fingertips, as the software accumulates intelligence and summarises real-time data. The provision of relevant reviews for whichever product or service considered completes the offering, shifting the effort and taking the pain from the consumer, and helping them make an easy and informed choice about all sorts of service from mobiles to holidays to insurance.
 
Already Facebook independently list latest wait times for responses on social media by leading brands; EE are currently sitting at 90% response rate in 15 minutes meeting a 'very response to messages' status. A rating dictated and set, not by the customer or the business, but by Facebook who track how quickly the business replies to messages posted on the site. 
 
These are perfect examples of how disruptive technologies in the consumer space are now pressuring organisations to shape up in the B to C market - a passive pressure yet visible to all whether organisations like it or not. The power of Facebook is something large consumer brands simply can't ignore.
 
Against all of this slightly scary backdrop, there was a consensus that much of the transformation required is cultural, and frankly common sense. If digital transformation seems like too big a beast to wrestle with, then bite sized chunks and experimentation in discrete areas seems sensible. Behaving like a new entrant is actually possible by ruthlessly simplifying touch points, for example constantly road-testing new apps, and versions thereafter to ensure that eager creatives understand where things can wrong in customer journeys once the clicking is done.  We can't destroy legacy and in many cases it would be detrimental to do so. But we can start to seriously reduce barriers, one helpful tip seems to be establishing a common language between marketing and service (customer service is the new marketing?). Indeed not to do so is so much more damaging in a transparent, digital world where discrepancies between different parts of your organisation become magnified. 
 
We had a packed house over two days, and a huge amount of experience shared; a lot of 'a-ha' moments. At the end of the day the (slightly adapted) words of Darwin have never seemed more relevant: 
 
"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."