| | June 20168CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONAs many leading enterprises begin­or continue­their digital journey, two focus areas tend to emerge on the priority list: customer sales and service.Industry analysts, consultants and companies themselves continue to identify customer experience and engagement as a key competitive differentiator and revenue generator for businesses and we fully agree. This has led business executives and IT decision-makers to prioritize the building of capabilities that meet the distinct demands of digitally focused customers. With this new emphasis on the digital customer, expectations are higher than ever and it's up to the digital sales and service teams to deliver relevant and personalized engagements to cultivate relationships that lead to lifelong loyalty.So, How Do we Do it? To satisfy the needs of the digital customer, technology must be an integral part of every customer engagement. Digital sales and service systems must be built to help employees sell and resolve customer issues in a manner that fits their varying expectations and value. It is no longer acceptable to have disjointed applications and processes or to assume a one-size-fits-all approach will work. Simply collecting and presenting data, no matter how comprehensive, is insufficient without some intelligent interpretation of what that data means.The most successful companies to develop strong relationships with customers are those that empower their workforce with solutions that can be tailored with the right information readily available for employees at the point of sale/ transaction. Sales and services teams need a `one stop shop' that provides relevant information, application, workflow and collaboration tools in order to be effective.This shift requires a substantial re-evaluation of traditional IT buying behavior. Shifting from a `One-Size-Fits-All' to a Tailored ApproachWhile it may have been commonly acceptable to say `yes' to software and cloud solution providers pushing individual products or suites as the answer to any scenario, this is no longer the case.Instead of trying to force-fit a set of often disparate requirements into a single software platform, such as a CRM or digital commerce tool, IT decision-makers must thoughtfully examine the desired tasks they want customers and employees How Sales and Service Strategies for the Digital Customer are Shaping IT Buying ConsiderationsBy Dave Nelson, SVP-Portfolio Lead, Avanade, Inc.
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