The role of the retail-industry CIOs is changing

Recent research shows that 40% of customer experience (CX) leaders believe customer engagement and experience will be the job of everyone in their organization by 2030. For many, this will change what Chief Information Officers (CIOs) do—and how they do it— to make customer service and customer-centric digital transformation an organizational-wide initiative.

CIOs are moving away from the traditional role of simply delivering technical operations. In addition, they’re leading strategic business initiatives that create agile environments to support evolving consumer needs, build customer loyalty, and maximize revenue opportunities at every touchpoint.

And while it may seem so, it is not necessarily true that everyone these days is shopping online. More than half (54% of buyers report) they prefer to browse online, but then pick up in-store. Stores that enable this present increased sales opportunities, as many of these shoppers say that they are inclined to buy another item once in-store. Gathering valuable data on these and other online and in-store shopping experiences is critical to creating shopper profiles and personalized experiences that will build brand loyalty and maximize future revenue.

Key considerations for retail CIOs

Today’s retail CIO also needs to consider consumer drivers such as environmental and socio-economic factors and how to promote them. It is no longer good enough to have a fast delivery system and the lowest-priced items. Customers demand ethical behavior from their suppliers and their providers throughout the supply chain. Increasingly, retailers unable to demonstrate this will lose business.

The decision-making role of the CIO in retail is strategically important in ensuring technology builds meaningful connections with customers and drives the behavior required to meet strategic goals across all functions: local stores, back-office, logistics, contact center—even HQ.

Overcoming legacy retail customer service constraints

Modernization is a must. But, whether it’s budget or employee resistance to change, many CIOs in the retail sector struggle with the challenge of replacing outdated legacy technology and the many disconnected systems across stores and the head office. Systems that make it impossible to deliver the quick and consistent customer experiences businesses need today will lose customer loyalty, but stand to lose much more.

Think back to the environmental and new technology expectations today’s customers and employees have, especially millennials and Gen Z. A modern cloud communications platform reduces emissions and replaces on-site hardware and support with a SaaS model offering intuitive desktop, laptop and mobile applications. But in addition, cloud environments bring customers and employees together across all locations using voice, chatbot, video, and SMS in a secure environment, improving performance through modern, effective communication and collaboration tools.

Understanding the retail customer journey

But CIOs and their team that comprise the IT organization need to know more than just which technology to choose. They need to have complete visibility of the customer journey at every touchpoint to understand the actual value of that technology. They need to work closely with stakeholders across the business to deliver an omnichannel experience that allows customers to communicate through the channel of their choice, whether that’s voice, chatbot, video, SMS, or social media, and get a consistent response from all areas of the business, including local stores and contact center agents.

CIOs are strategic advisers and need to understand the organization as a whole, the systems used, and how they can be connected and integrated to deliver cost savings and improve operational excellence. Their skill set is constantly evolving.

Delivering an exceptional customer experience

Integration with existing CRM systems provides users of the 8x8 cloud-based communication platform with a single view of individual customer experiences, enabling agents and store operatives to provide more personalized customer experiences, every time.

8x8 Contact Center seamlessly integrates into existing workflows, enabling self-service environments and automation of routine tasks and reminders, plus secure PCI/DSS payment processing. Intuitive interfaces for desktop, laptop and mobile devices allow team leaders to create and manage workflows using drag-and-drop technology and provide agents and store operatives with all the information they need to maximize any revenue generation opportunity.

Implementing new retail technology

Implementing a new system for a retail CIO means so much more than just delivering the tech. When rolled out successfully with the right training, good tech forms the culture of a business and can dramatically affect brand awareness, loyalty, and collaboration. We are not saying CIOs need to be marketers, but they do need to make sure tech delivers an intuitive, user-friendly interface that can be easily adopted and used to develop consistent behaviors across all departments to maximize operational efficiency.

Just imagine a world where revenue opportunities are more effortlessly maximized:

  • a world with reports to drive data-driven decisions
  • speech analytics and sentiment analysis to guide agents to deliver the best outcomes
  • automated messages that are tailored to customer preferences to generate new revenue opportunities and encourage repeat purchases and ordering of similar items
  • digital signage from LOOK for effortless special offers management
  • automated surveys to gather essential feedback
  • and a single view of all customer interactions across the organization to deliver the exceptional level of personalized service that will keep your customers returning

Increasingly CIOs are turning to an Experience Communications as a Service (XCaaS) deployment model to bring all customer and employee communications together. A truly integrated Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as Service (CCaaS) platform connects the whole organization through a single directory, with tailored user roles, centralized management, collaborative communication, cross-platform analytics and real-time reporting to increase operational efficiency and reduce TCO.

How 8x8 benefits today’s retail CIO

8x8 is transforming the future of business communications in the retail industry by integrating voice, video, chat, contact center, and enterprise-class API solutions on one global, secure, reliable cloud communications platform.

An 11-time Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as Service, 8x8 delivers reliable, resilient business communications for peace of mind and ease of use in improving both employee and customer experiences.

Find out more about 8x8 for Retail.