Architecture
Does your CX architecture give you a single view of customer communication?There are many ways to approach the design of the ideal CX architecture. Some organizations prefer to buy a solution, rather than build one in-house. One may opt for a single enterprise-level solution, while another adopts a best of breed approach.
Each organization must consider what is best for their particular circumstances.
While there is no definitive path to building the ideal architecture, it is vital that your CX technology stack supports a single view of customer communication.
Without this key ability, it’s likely that your customers will continue to experience a fractured CX.
What to consider when designing the ideal CX architecture
There are a number of key considerations when designing the ideal CX architecture. Such as deciding to build vs buy the technology, and whether what you need a product only or a solution that includes supporting services.
Another is whether to engage with a single enterprise vendor or go for best of breed solutions.
Single vendor vs best of breed
Investigating, purchasing and managing a single enterprise platform from one vendor sounds attractively simple. Especially when compared with how complex and time-consuming it can be to manage multiple vendors that each play different roles in a CX architecture.
However, that simplicity may become a hindrance if your strategy changes. A single enterprise vendor or product may not have the flexibility to meet your new requirements.
The alternative is to source vendors that specialize in each of the required functions and to integrate these separate platforms and products to create a hybrid CX architecture.
Yes, vendor management will require more effort, but each specialist product provides the highest level of functionality and performance for that function, and the approach provides more flexibility to adjust as requirements evolve.
Build vs Buy
Digital customer communication management may seem simple – it’s just sending an email, right?
In reality, customer communication management requires a significant investment – both financial and human.
In addition to investing in the development of a software platform, specialist skills are needed to keep up with technology updates and specific skills around implementation and best practices are required.
Many fail to consider the complexity of the security and compliance requirements, especially at a time when data privacy legislation is becoming stricter, and cyber-criminals continue to find more sophisticated ways of stealing information.
Another area that is underestimated, is the effort and cost involved to continually monitor, upgrade or scale the software platform.
Striata’s platform is easily integrated into a hybrid CX architecture, as part of a best-of-breed approach for other core CCM functions.