The evolving digital ecosystem presents new choices to consumers on what services (and how) they would consume. We are also observing new and disruptive ways for service creation and delivery by service providers. Since connectivity and communication are the backbone for delivering any digital service, it is only natural for service providers from Communications, Media and Utilities (CMU) industries having a lead in service delivery.

However, with the rise of Over-The-Top (OTT) service providers (such as Facebook, WhatsApp), traditional service providers are forced to embrace the new reality that other providers such as Amazon can excel in service delivery – from physical assets such as books to digital content as movies. To keep up with this digital lifestyle, we now see many communication service providers (in partnerships with enterprises from industry verticals) offering rich digital services such as Connected Home, eHealth etc.

In this digital economy, CMU service providers should consider re-branding themselves as Digital Service Provider (DSP).The notion of DSP is not new. Lightreading defines DSP as any company that distributes media online. I think DSP can include any company that provides a service which can be distributed over the public data network (Internet). Obviously this broadens the landscape. And why not? Starbucks may be selling you coffee product, but they could be selling you a digital service providing “seamless connection” between the ordering experience and the in-store pick up, as pointed out by Adam Brotman, Starbucks Chief Digital Officer, in Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference. So, through this wide angle lens, Starbucks is as much of a DSP as any other provider from the CMU industries.

This broader definition only introduces more challenges for a service provider to define new processes for connecting with their customers – when, how and where? In her recent blog (2015: The Year of the Customer Journey), Lynn Vojvodich (CMO, Salesforce) discusses four ways on how service providers can embark on Customer Journey to enhance the experience of their customers. Inspired by her blog, I would like to highlight three key factors that would be relevant to a DSP, to shape the Customer Journey.

What Business Entities play a role in the Customer Journey?

A customer’s journey doesn’t happen in isolation within a DSP. Every touchpoint deals with a single or multiple Business Entities (BEs). A BE is usually characterized by specific attributes and how it relates to other BEs. Examples are Order, Bill, Usage, Service etc. BEs can be grouped hierarchically into functional domains (which we will not get into here), but the key point here is how do all parties involved in supporting the Customer Journey have access to the BEs that they need to service the customer. 

Salesforce1 platform provides the flexibility to easily align with the MDM (Master Data Management) strategy of an enterprise. We provide multiple options on what data should be mastered in Salesforce. Best practice recommendation is to have Salesforce serve as the master (and system of entry) for customer data. In other situations, where data is mastered in external systems, based on business requirements, external data can be brought over to Salesforce by leveraging the multiple batch data integration patterns. In other scenarios (where data needn’t be stored in Salesforce), visibility to external data can be provided through simple UI mashups. Since security is built into the data layer, a system administrator can configure what data would be visible/editable to different sets of users. Once configured, visibility and access to data is consistent across all channels.

Who are the players in the Customer Journey?

In the new digital services economy, a DSP has to rely on a broad ecosystem to be successful. It would include retailers, wholesalers, resellers, agencies, vendors, brokers and of course employees. Traditional communication service providers, operating in a vertically integrated product centric mode, struggle to connect customers, partners and employees in a cohesive fashion to drive business results.

Salesforce Community Cloud (Partner Community, Customer Community and Employee Community) provides a collaboration platform that is connected to the business data and processes, since Communities are built on the same Salesforce1 platform. In a typical Ordering and Activating process, where multiple players (e.g. retailers, workforce manager, contact center agent and customer ) play a role, each member can access, update and create Salesforce records (as their permissions allow) to support the process. This results in faster trouble resolution, higher sales conversion and finding the experts in much less time.

How do you connect with your customers during the Customer Journey?

In his opening keynote presentation for Dreamforce’13, Marc Benioff, CEO Salesforce, painted his vision of Internet of Customers - Behind everything put on the Internet, every device, every app, and every tweet, is a customer… We need to reassess how we connect to our customers in a whole new way. With multiple players and several touchpoints for executing a single business process (such as purchase journey), it is highly likely that the touchpoints will involve multiple channels – mobile, in-store interaction, contact center – phone or Live Chat, just to name a few. In a digital economy, a case (trouble ticket) can be registered from a machine (say your washing machine directly contacting n your behalf).

Omni Channel capability enables service providers to execute a unique and consistent customer engagement across multiple channels and provide a common view of all interactions during any business process. Salesforce Service Cloud provides a multi channel agent console (Live Chat, Telephony with CTI integration) and a social customer service that helps a provider listen and engage across multiple social channels. Self Service, provided through a collaborative customer community unifies case management, knowledge and social channels, resulting in a highly engaging customer experience. So, irrespective of which channel is being used, a user can get full 360 degree view of the customer (including the customer herself) in compliance with the data security rules configured within the system for that user.

In conclusion, as Digital Service Providers define their Customer Journey processes with their Internet of Customers, the main question that they have to answer is – when they should start this journey with their customer. The answer to the other piece of the puzzle – when it should end – is pretty much solved. It never does!!

About the Author

Abhi Sur is currently a Director of Cloud Practice at Salesforce. Sur is an accomplished Communications Industry Technologist with twenty years of experience in Technology Strategy, Enterprise Architecture and Design, driving large-scale Telecom BSS/OSS implementation projects. He is currently engaged in leading customer centric transformation for enterprises using Salesforce platform.