Partners in Digital Experience: everis on Evolving Customer Expectations

The world is in the midst of a digital revolution and keeping up means adapting to new technologies and business models as soon as they arrive. The ability to evolve and scale digital experience requires strategic partners that can look ahead and choose the best fit solution. everis, an NTT Data company, serves as technology consultants and strategists for enterprise companies across the globe. Recently, everis Brazil was named the 2020 Acquia Partner of the Year for Latin America  for their work creating frictionless, strategic experiences for enterprises with Acquia’s Digital Experience Platform (DXP). Recently, we invited Pedro Javier López, everis Americas’ Head of Digital Experience, to discuss what’s on the horizon in the digital experience space and a few ways companies can prepare themselves for the future. 

Digital Acceleration Opens New Opportunities in Latin America

The digital transformation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic shook up the way every business operated and embraced technology, but this transformation was especially extreme in developing regions like Latin America that were less mature in their digital transformation process. “The pandemic made areas where cash was common switch over to credit card and touchless transactions,” said Pedro. “The amount of businesses using e-commerce has doubled in Latin America as a result!” Global digitization is putting pressure on every company to grow their reach and diversify the channels and methods they use to serve their customers. 

“Digital commerce is particularly hot right now, not just in retail, but across every sector,” Pedro explained. Brazil’s e-commerce market saw a 57% growth in e-commerce sales in the first half of 2020, and this has led to massive investments being made in areas like digital advertising, online marketplaces and fintech. With the rapid rise of digital commerce, there’s a need to revamp the traditional online marketplace model and better integrate commerce within a connected, wider digital experience. Even as more areas begin to open up again, this progress is not expected to slow down any time soon. 

Breaking Down Organizational, Technical and Data Silos 

The transformative technology we’re seeing right now across the globe must also be paired with cultural and organizational transformation. As a cross-functional, global corporation that works with leading enterprises, everis understands the challenges of managing multiple teams, workflows and lines of business. Success requires providing employees the flexibility and open communication they need to effectively do their job and stay in tune with their ultimate goal: creating an exceptional customer experience.

“Customer experience doesn’t exist as its own department anymore. Marketing, customer success, sales and IT all play an important part in building a great customer experience, so they need to be in sync and working from integrated solutions,” said Pedro. “In the old world, there were clear boundaries between all these functions. Developments in technology are knocking those down in order to offer a seamless experience,” he explained. 

Being Data-First Means Putting the Customer First

Of all the exciting digital innovations and trends appearing on the scene every day, for Pedro and everis, the most important things for digital leaders to pay attention to are data and privacy. Customers are increasingly worried about how businesses are using their personal data, and every year more countries are enacting laws regarding data privacy standards that businesses need to adhere to. With customers so cautious about who they trust with their personal information, the bar has been raised for every business to create a worthwhile customer experience. 

“Every time a customer makes the decision to trust you with their data, whether that’s filling in their email to download a report or creating an account on a website to sign up for a service, they’re weighing the risk versus the reward to them,” said Pedro. Therefore, if you are granted that trust, it’s essential to provide real value immediately as well as throughout the entire customer journey. “The data and the information companies are gathering about their customers shouldn’t be limited to just an initial personalized welcome email; that data needs to be put to use across every touchpoint in their journey.”

Pedro also noted the rising importance of behavioral data in marketing. “With customers now less willing to share their data, it’s critical for a company to make sure the data they are getting is useful,” said Pedro. Like many digital leaders, everis has noticed the shift to businesses embracing a first-party data strategy and wanting to own more of their data internally. Instead of less specific data about a customer’s age, gender or location, there is a need to focus more on person-specific data that tells you how someone really behaves. The more organizations can humanize their digital experience, the more likely it will be that customers will trust them and want to grow alongside them. 

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To learn more about how to build a successful first-party data strategy and build customer loyalty, get our e-book: The Evolution of Digital Experience in a Cookieless World.