This is the age of the customer, according to the 2012 Forrester white paper, “The Evolution of the Customer Engagement Agency” and they “expect relevant content and offers to be available when and where they want them.” The specific findings indicate:

• Customer-obsessed companies deliver a seamless, coordinated, consistent experience from call center to website to field sales.
• As consumers begin to take control of their data, marketers need to find new ways to engage with them.
• Organizations that use customer intelligence (CI) to drive business strategy and customer engagement will thrive in the age of the customer.

Therefore, successful businesses must be customer-obsessed, like Best Buy, IBM, and Amazon.com. And executives must shift their budget dollars from traditional areas, such as brand advertising and supplier relationships, to four new areas:

• Real-time customer intelligence
• Customer experience and customer service
• Sales channels that deliver customer intelligence
• Useful content and interactive marketing

However, customer engagement doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It flows from good customer service because employees are driven to make it happen.

In the 2011 Chief Learning Officer Magazine article, “Creating an Engagement Culture,” writers Michael Leimbach and Tim Roth note:

Why do some organizations succeed in spite of harsh external business conditions while others do not? Engagement is a key reason.

Leimbach and Roth suggest that organizations need to create the conditions under which engagement occurs by allowing employees – and ultimately customers – the opportunity to make the “engagement choice.” They suggest creating a culture of:

• Opportunity
• Personal accountability
• Validation
• Inclusion
• Community

Ultimately, it’s up to organizations to create the right environment where employees and customers make the choice to be engaged. Let us help you engage the people that make your business successful. USAN offers call center software and customer engagement solutions in the cloud. Contact us today for more information on how your team can deliver the ultimate customer experience.