Peter Drucker said, “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.” This is often the case when a new leader is hired, whether it’s a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Customer Experience Officer (CCX0), or any other CxO. When making such a leadership change, the board or CEO is often looking for a change in strategy, direction, execution, or operations.
Reason #4: You’re Looking to or Hired a New CMO, CIO, or CXO
There are a couple of scenarios in which a change in leadership will trigger the evaluation or selection of a new digital experience platform. This first scenario is far more common and follows this pattern: A new CMO or CCXO will likely have responsibility for the company’s digital experiences, and their first initiative will be to develop an overall digital or customer experience strategy for the organization.
When we help an organization develop a strategy, we determine customer and business expectations and the current state of the technology, resources, and operations. Next, as we develop the vision and strategy, we identify gaps between future technology needs and the current state. When these gaps are significant, it’s time to evaluate new platforms.
Consider Another Scenario
When the new CxO is hired, they often want to bring in resources and systems with which they are most familiar and experienced and previously provided success. In this scenario, the leader arrives knowing that the existing system is not going to meet their needs, and replacing it with something better will be imperative. However, it is often not acceptable just to proclaim one platform as the new replacement without going through some formal evaluation or RFP process.
So, what should you do?
In either scenario, it is important to follow a sound process for selecting a new platform, as you should expect to use the system for at least five years. Our selection process starts with understanding and prioritizing requirements, then using those requirements to evaluate the major vendors in the market. After you narrow it down to a few vendors that will meet most of those requirements, experiencing hands-on demos to see the systems live and better understand how they work will be key in your decision-making.
You should also take into account the costs of the systems at this time. You may ask, “Why not evaluate costs for all vendors at the beginning?” While it’s not a bad thing to consider, the truth is that many vendors are reluctant to share costs without jumping into complicated sales processes. It’s not worth putting your business through that process if a vendor has no chance of meeting your requirements. You’ll be in good shape to make your final decision when you have all of your information on your leading contenders.
How We Can Help
To help you find the right platform, learn more about our Platform Selection Jumpstart, which helps your business by evaluating your technology needs and essential requirements to help you find and choose the right platform to alleviate your current issues and provide successful business outcomes in six weeks. In the meantime, stay tuned for the final installation of our #reasonstoreplatform series. For any questions, contact our customer experience experts today.
