How Brands Can Build a Foundation of Awesome Customer Experience

Covid-19 has been the biggest game changer disrupting entire industries almost overnight. Many rules of the game – be it routine workplace operations, social distancing guidelines, customer facing “standard operating procedures”, complaints addressal systems, supply chain efficiencies or delays etc. – had to be rewritten and businesses had to work incessantly to realign with new realities.

The Retail and Wholesale industry was impacted in particular. Definite advantage in responding to effects of coronavirus was to those enterprises that were already equipped for rapid innovation in different workstreams of their business.

Customer experience has always been important;  it is more important in Covid-19 times. New customer acquisition and existing customer retention are crucial pillars of customer experience.  Research shows that existing customers buy more frequently and buy more each time than new customers. It is 4-6 times cheaper to sell to existing customers than it is to new customers.  Organizations take pains to retain existing customers as they recommend your organization to other friends and family.  

There has undoubtedly been an acceleration of digital transformation of business as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.  However 2020 research from the Boston Consulting Group shows only 70 percent of initiatives are successful due to a lack of strategy, top down leadership, high quality talent, agile governance, progress monitoring and modern tech stack. To magnify the challenge,

Forrester has found that less than one-third of customer experience professionals say their businesses consider the impact to customer experience when making business decisions (Ref.: Kyle McNabb and Josh Bernoff: The CIO’s Blueprint For Strategy In The Age Of The Customer, September 12, 2014).

Retail and wholesale businesses keen to enable great customer experiences will soon realise their efforts may be hindered by legacy systems and siloed IT purchases aimed at improving only one part of the entire customer experience and requiring significant resources to maintain. This  creates a bottleneck for companies to respond quickly to ever changing economic events and market opportunities, or to make holistic changes to transform their customer experience. It is imperative to acquire the right technology stack to enable delivery of great customer experiences, and also put an end to unsustainable IT practices that inhibit a company’s inherent capability to innovate and transform.

How do you create customer experiences when so many companies are struggling to acquire new customers or failing to retain existing customers? It calls for developing a customer strategy aimed at retaining your existing customer base.  Establishing the right technological foundation is crucial for achieving success in today’s rapidly changing marketplace.  You need to adopt two pronged approach:

  • Get rid of legacy systems that are the result of technology decisions made over years. As a result, there are siloed, on-premise, channel-specific solutions, cluttering technology platforms with islands of channel-specific data that prevent a cohesive customer experience across all touchpoints. While adopting many incremental siloed systems, this will not be a good long term solution.
  • Replace with a unified system approach that creates a single source of truth for customer, order, inventory and promotion data. It is this seamless integration that will enable you to use this information in unique innovative ways to enable the brand experiences that your customers want.

For a long time, our customers have been demanding seamless and relevant brand experiences to move effortlessly between online and offline channels, from initial contact to purchase and beyond. Along the way, they expect you to know their interests and preferences, provide consistent, timely, relevant and personalised engagement, and have real-time access to their purchase and interaction history.

With a unified e-commerce platform in place, technology will no longer be a limiting factor. Delivering superb customer experience will mean that you no longer depend on technology providers to help you create and engage in new, disruptive ways. Businesses can take disruption into their own hands. With a single source of truth, you’ll provide consistent and relevant experiences across all customer touchpoints and sales channels. You will differentiate your brand by seamlessly moving with your customers from their desktop, to their smartphone, to your stores and to your call center.  Shoppers will be provided with relevant, timely, personalised engagements. As an outcome, you will be able to give a unique brand experience to shoppers, gain their loyalty and be rewarded with their repeat purchases.

Awesome Customer Experience must be :

Consistent, Accurate, Timely & Relevant

Consistent: When customers engage with your brand, they don’t see channels. You need to engage with them in the same way on your website, their mobile device, in-store and when they contact your call centre or a sales representative. With a single version of customer, item and order data, you can deliver consistent engagements across all touchpoints and sales channels

Accurate: Lack of accuracy will lead to customers losing trust in your brand. Driving traffic to your website or encouraging in-store visits via email promotions for unavailable products will result in  credibility loss. Instead, you need a single view of enterprise-wide inventory visibility to accurately plan and deliver to your customers.

Timely: Customers use multiple channels as they inquire, consider and purchase your products and services. With a 360-degree view of cross-channel customer information, you can deliver the right message at the right time on the right channel to engage customers throughout their purchasing journeys.

Relevant: Gone are the days of blasting the same email to everyone in your database. The engagements that a merchant has with customers must be based on what you know about someone. A single view of a customer’s purchasing preferences, as well as past purchase data, makes online and offline engagements relevant and personal.

When Does Customer Experience Break ?

When you ignore the fact that a customer experience problem is really a back-end problem. A seamless, consistent and personalised experience is not about which frontend, customer-facing systems you deploy. It is about having the right foundational back-end system in place to create a single source of truth for customer, order and inventory data.

The temptation to purchase the latest ecommerce or point-of-sale (POS) software may provide new features that slightly enhance channel experience, but they do not address your siloed channels and islands of data. Customers will still feel the disconnect of moving from one channel to another. Your customer service and sales associates or representatives will not have a complete, accurate and available picture of every customer across all of your touchpoints. And you will not gain the agility needed to meet ever-changing consumer expectations if you are constantly chasing front-end functionality.

A word of caution for you :  expensive system integrations don’t work.  Very large enterprises can afford to invest millions of dollars to integrate disparate systems across their operations to improve the customer experience. But even then, those integrations don’t deliver 100 percent accuracy to the customer or your business, and they are difficult and costly to maintain. When a single system requires a simple upgrade it creates a domino effect, requiring upgrades to all other systems.

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About BOD Consulting Team

BOD Consulting is a strategy and design consulting partner for those who lead into the future with humility and fortitude. We solve the leadership’s most pressing business challenges, unlock value creation, and implement transformative solutions to help them grow meaningfully and compete sustainably, as they tread into the future.

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Ravi Kant

Founder and CEO, Innovation Spark Asia | Ex-RBS, Polaris | Delhi University | University of Virginia Darden School of Business

Ravi Kant has over 30 years of experience in IT outsourcing and a decade dedicated to fostering innovation through Design Thinking. He holds a B.Sc (Hons) degree from Delhi University and a specialization in Design Thinking and Innovation from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Ravi is passionate about integrating user-centric design and strategic planning to cultivate a culture of innovation. Throughout his career, he has held senior leadership positions at RBS and Polaris. As the Founder and CEO of Innovation Spark Asia, he specializes in helping organizations achieve growth and profitability through creative problem-solving and strategic innovation.

Ravi’s extensive experience and dedication to mentoring emerging leaders and fostering continuous learning have made him a valuable asset in driving transformative change and cultivating high-performing teams.

Bhaskar Pramanik

Expert Advisor at BOD Consulting | Ex-Microsoft, Oracle and Sun Microsystems | Advisory Member of Board of Schulich University, Canada and Bennett University, India | IIT Kanpur

Bhaskar Pramanik is an accomplished management leader and professional from the Technology Industry. He is currently appointed as a Senior Advisor at Rothschild & Co. and Board Member and Independent Director of TCNS Clothing Company Ltd. He is also on the Advisory Board of Schulich University, Canada, and Bennett University, India.

He has previously held National and Global Leadership positions in leading Multinational Technology Companies like Microsoft, Oracle & Sun Microsystems. He has worked in India, Singapore, and the US.

He recently retired from the Board of SBI, India’s largest bank. He has also been on the Executive Committee of NASSCOM and the National Committee of CII and AMCHAM. He regularly speaks at Industry and Leadership forums.

Sidharth Balakrishna

Senior Partner at BOD Consulting | Mentor-MIT Boston, Faster Capital & Tiger Hall| Ex-Essel (Zee) Group and Cairn India| Authored 6 books | IIM Calcutta | SRCC

Sidharth Balakrishna has 18+ years of experience in senior management roles across many noteworthy organisations including the Essel (Zee) Group, Cairn India, KPMG, and Shell. He holds a post-graduate diploma from IIM Calcutta and an Economics (Hons) degree from SRCC, Delhi University.

He is a mentor with MIT Boston (USA), Faster Capital (Dubai), and TigerHall (Singapore) and mentors startups with MassChallenge (Boston and Tel Aviv). He has authored six books and is an adjunct faculty at many leading management institutes.

Deepak Vats

Senior Partner at BOD Consulting | Managing Director, Corpspark Advisors | Ex-BCG and ITC | IIM Calcutta | IIT Kharagpur

Deepak Vats has 16+ years of experience in defining strategic direction for global corporate leaders and new-age start-ups. He holds a post-graduate diploma from IIM Calcutta and a B-Tech degree from IIT Kharagpur.

He is an expert in growth strategy, organisational transformation & new business build. He has previously worked with leading global & Indian corporates and is a Co-founder and incubator of multiple startups in the E-Commerce, SAAS and Technology domains.

Atul Takle

Senior Partner at BOD Consulting | Senior Advisor to PR24x7 and Bridgeweave Technologies | Ex-RPG group, Tata Consultancy Services and Accenture | JBIMS Mumbai | Sydenham

Atul Takle has 30+ years of experience in corporate communications and marketing. He holds a postgraduate degree from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai and a bachelor’s degree from Sydenham college in Mumbai.

He has worked with renowned organisations like RPG group, Tata Consultancy Services, Accenture in India, Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited and SKS Microfinance.
He is currently engaged as a Marketing Consultant to the Scindia School and NIIT University and is a Senior Advisor to PR24x7 & Bridgeweave Technologies.

Sandeep Das

Senior Partner at BOD Consulting | Ex-McKinsey & Co., Kantar Consulting and Interbrand | Delhi University

Sandeep Das has 20+ years of experience working with global brands across multiple geographies on brand, growth and corporate strategy. He holds a master’s degree in Business Economics and Marketing from Delhi University.

He has a successful track record of working in impactful, senior and high client-exposure roles in leading research organisations like McKinsey & Co., Kantar Consulting, Interbrand & Ipsos Strategy3.

Anjali Malhotra

Senior Partner at BOD Consulting | Founder, C-Xcel | Member of FICCI Wise Council | Director, Founder Institute | UCLA Anderson School of Management

Anjali Malhotra has 30+ years of corporate experience across industries like Media, FMCG, Retail and BFSI sectors. She holds a postgraduate degree in Business administration and Management from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

She is the founder of C-Xcel, a boutique advisory practice that helps B2C businesses to achieve greater success through Customer Centricity. She has built brands in highly competitive markets including early-stage businesses like Revlon, Dishtv and Aviva. Over the years, the industry has recognised her as Cx100, Digi 100, Top 10 CDO, Digitalist Thought Leader, Marketer of the year- Media & Entertainment and Best use of Technology in Marketing.

Saurabh Uboweja

Founder & Managing Partner at BOD Consulting | Board member-World Communication Forum Association | Adjunct faculty-EU Business School | Ex-Citibank | IIM Calcutta | NIT Bhopal

Saurabh Uboweja has 16+ years of experience in consulting, branding, leadership development and digital transformation. He holds a post-graduate diploma from IIM Calcutta and a B-Tech degree from NIT Bhopal.

Recognised as one of the 50 Most Influential Strategy Leaders by the World Marketing Congress two times, he serves as an advisor on the boards of both listed and non-listed firms. He is an adjunct faculty at many leading business schools including the EU Business School.

Ajay Kohli

Expert Advisor at BOD Consulting | Chair and Regents Professor at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business | Among 100 most cited authors in the fields of Business and Economics combined in a decade | University of Pittsburgh | IIM Calcutta | IIT Kharagpur

Dr Ajay K. Kohli is Gary T. and Elizabeth R. Jones Chair and Regents Professor at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business. He previously taught at eminent institutions like Emory University, Harvard Business School & The University of Texas at Austin.

He holds a doctorate degree from the University of Pittsburgh, a post-graduate diploma from IIM Calcutta and a B-Tech degree from IIT Kharagpur.

He is among the 100 most cited authors in the fields of Business and Economics combined in a decade, and two of his articles are among the 10 most cited Journal of Marketing articles in the past 25 years. In 2017, he received the AMA-Irwin-McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator Award and in 2016, he received the Paul D. Converse Award, termed “Marketing Hall of Fame” by Fortune.

Anil Kejriwal

Expert Advisor at BOD Consulting | Founder-I2Cure Pte. Ltd | Board Advisor of Felix Realty | Chairman of the Board of Uttar Industrial Estate- Uttar Development Pvt. Ltd. | IIT Kanpur

Besides investing in several IT start-up companies globally, Anil Kejriwal is the founder of I2Cure Pte. Ltd a global Biotech Company that manufactures patented Molecular Iodine (I₂) products for the global market. The company aims to bring the first-ever range of Cosmeceutical, Pharmaceutical, and Veterinary products based on a breakthrough in Advanced Molecular Iodine (I₂) Science; to provide the world with a solution to deliver more than just short-term, superficial protection against germs and bacteria, viruses, and fungi.

Anil is a B.Tech from IIT Kanpur with over three decades of experience and serves as a Board Advisor of Felix Realty and Chairman of the Board of Uttar Industrial Estate- Uttar Development Pvt. Ltd.

Manoj Agarwal

Expert Advisor at BOD Consulting | COO-Algonomy | Ex-Future Group India and Procter & Gamble | Chartered Accountant | Mumbai University

Manoj Agarwal is the Chief Operating Officer of Algonomy, a Bengaluru-based digital retail solutions company. A certified Chartered Accountant, he has over 20+ years of experience in global organisations, playing diverse roles with increasing responsibilities, including leading and managing high-performance groups to deliver impactful business results.

His expertise lies in Information Architecture and Strategy, Organization Design for productivity, Organisation Change Management, Data-Driven decision-making, Customer service model, Business Intelligence, Enterprise Performance Management & Financial Reporting and Consolidation.

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Arun Gupta

Senior Partner at BOD Consulting | Independent Director & Board Member: Hemas Pharmaceuticals, Sri Lanka and Locuz Enterprise Solutions, India | Co-founder, Fortytwo Labs | Ex-Head eCommerce at DHL | Ex- Head Internet Services at Hughes Telecom | Leadership Development Program- The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth | Leadership Development Program- ISB | Post Graduation in Software Technology from NCST. 

With 38 years of professional experience, Arun has led many groundbreaking IT-driven ventures, shaping the industry and fostering technology adoption. His consulting practice has its foundations based on success as a CIO/CTO across various verticals, geographies, and businesses in mid-market, large enterprises, and Government entities.

Arun’s expertise lies in IT strategy alignment to business strategy & plan, project planning and management, identifying and creating business value from IT, technology team effectiveness, and business Intelligence and analytics. His domain expertise includes Retail, pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, and logistics – though he has consulted across other verticals too.

He has garnered numerous industry awards and recognitions, including the Hall of Fame Awards by CIO Magazine and Information Week. Furthermore, Arun is a celebrated speaker globally and has a passion for photography and travelling.

J Suresh

Expert Advisor at BOD Consulting | National Council Member of Retailers Association of India | Ex-HUL and Arvind Fashions Ltd. | IIM Bangalore

J Suresh is a highly respected leader and key spokesperson in the Consumer and Retail Industry who is currently working as an Independent Consultant. In a career spanning over 4 decades, he has largely worked for Hindustan Unilever Ltd. & Arvind Fashions Ltd. He retired as the MD & CEO of Arvind Fashions Ltd in 2021. He holds a post-graduate diploma from IIM Bangalore.

He serves as the National Council Member of the Retailers Association of India and in the past has been the Chairman of CII’s National Council on Retail & Chairman of India Fashion Forum.

He has played a key role in mentoring & leadership development of his subordinates. Many of them have grown to be successful CEOs of many companies.

Thomas Varghese

Expert Advisor at BOD Consulting | Business Head-Aditya Birla Group’s Textile Businesses | Ex-Chairman, CII – National Committee on Retail (2009-11) | Harvard Business School | IIT Delhi

Thomas Varghese is the Business Head of Domestic Textiles, Overseas Spinning and Acrylic Fiber Businesses of The Aditya Birla Group’s Textile Businesses. In the last 21 years, he has held multiple positions in the group and helped Aditya Birla Retail emerge as one of India’s foremost Supermarket & Hypermarket Retailers as its MD & CEO.

He holds an Advanced Management Program degree from Harvard Business School and Bachelor’s degree in Textile Sciences and Engineering from IIT Delhi.

Apart from being the Chairman of the CII – National Committee on Retail for 3 years (2009-11) and a member of the Coca-Cola Retail Research Council for Eurasia & Africa, he has received many accolades including CEO of the Year by the Asian Retail Congress in Mumbai (2012), Most Admired Retail Professional of the Year at IRF (2010), Outstanding Business Leader by Aditya Birla Group (2004) and Distinguished Alumnus award of the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi (2002).

Dr Raman Kumar

Professor | Researches on Asset Pricing, Derivative Securities and Financial Markets | Served on over 50 dissertation committees | Ph.D.-University of Pittsburgh | PGDM-IIM Calcutta

Raman Kumar is the R.V. and A.F. Oliver Professor of Investment Management in the Department of Finance, Insurance and Business Law at the R.B. Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. He received his PGDM (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. He teaches finance and economics courses in the undergraduate, MBA, Executive MBA, and PhD programs.
His research work largely centres around Asset Pricing, Derivative Securities, Financial Markets, Market Microstructure, and Empirical Research Methods in Finance, with some of his works published in prestigious publications such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Finance and Economics, and Journal of Corporate Finance. 

He has served on over 50 dissertation committees as Chair, Co-chair or member for PhD students in the Departments of Finance, Accounting and Information Systems, Marketing, Management, Hospitality and Tourism Management, Economics, Building Construction, and Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech.
Shubhendu Agrawal

Shubhendu Agrawal

Senior Partner at BOD Consulting | General Electric (USA), Nestlé, Tata Motors | IIM Calcutta | University of Pune

Shubhendu Agrawal has 18+ years of experience in Strategy, Business Operations, Organisation Transformation, Process Design & Implementation and Commercial Excellence. He also has extensive experience in the end-to-end New Product Development cycle – from consumer insights to product adoption & growth. He holds a postgraduate diploma from IIM Calcutta and a B-Tech degree from the University of Pune.

He is passionate about profitable growth & social impact and serves as an advisor/member on the boards of several social enterprises & non-profits.

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Kanika Mathur

Senior Partner, BOD Consulting | Founder, K-Trends | Ex COO APAC Mullen Lowe I Ex-Senior Vice President (Digital & Content Marketing), Dubai Tourism | Ex-Managing Director, Digitas | Ex-CMO, Harappa Education

As a Marketing & Digital Transformation Strategist, Kanika Mathur has 30+ years of extensive interdisciplinary experience across Technology, CPG, Travel and Ed-tech. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Arts from Delhi University.

Her professional career spans multiple industries and renowned organisations. She founded ‘Solutions Integrated Marketing Services’ in India. She set up Razorfish for the Publicis Groupe & shaped it into one of the country’s largest interactive agencies. As its first CMO, she also helped bolster the Harappa Education brand.

Sumit Singla

Sumit Singla

Senior Partner, BOD Consulting | Independent HR Advisor at MSMEs | People Strategist, CompTeam | Guest Faculty Member, MDI | ex-Deloitte | ex-Accenture | ex-Aon

With 18+ years of experience in the HR and Consulting domain, Sumit Singla has worked with various prominent organisations. He holds a Bachelor’s in Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh & a PG Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from XLRI Jamshedpur.

He has teamed up with diverse clients on a variety of high-impact projects relating to HR transformation, organisation restructuring, M&A, and HR tech.

Currently, he consults with micro, small & medium enterprises to intensify their HR capabilities, while also mentoring young professionals. He has authored a book that deals with workforce experience & also participates in speaking engagements, forums, and guest lectures at business schools.

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Dr PV Ramana Murthy

Expert Advisor at BOD Consulting | Managing Partner at Pinsight By PV | Adviser – Employment and Labour Law Practice at Economic Laws Practice | Board Member at Swadha Foundation | Ex Global CHRO, Indian Hotels Company Ltd | Ex Executive VP HR, Coca-Cola

Dr Murthy boasts an extensive 35-year corporate career, during which he contributed to renowned Fortune 500 and Global organisations. Apart from being a Lawyer, he holds a Master’s Degree in Organisational Psychology from INSEAD, Singapore. Additionally, he earned his Ph.D. in Strategic Human Resource Management from Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Andhra Pradesh. 

Beyond his legal background, he serves as an HR Advisor and Consultant, extending his expertise to Indian and multinational companies. His focus spans leadership development, culture transformation, and integrated talent management services. His recent collaborations include supporting organisations like Bosch, Tata Projects, Novo Nordisk, and Taj SATs.

During his stint at Coca-Cola, Dr Murthy not only managed the global leadership development function for the Bottling Investment Group (BIG) but also facilitated impactful leadership development initiatives.

    Mukesh Mathur

    Senior Partner at BOD Consulting |Ex-Godrej & Boyce, Polaris Retail Infotech and Oracle India | IIM Calcutta | IIT Kanpur

    Mukesh Mathur has 40+ years of experience in sales, marketing, and general management with leading Indian Companies and MNCs. He holds a post-graduate diploma from IIM Calcutta and a B-Tech degree from IIT Kanpur.

    He is passionate about training managers in KAM, value selling, and negotiations. He has been in senior leadership positions in Godrej & Boyce, Polaris Retail Infotech, and Oracle India, successfully managing multiple product categories including consumer durables, office automation, banking equipment, industrial material handling, and service engineers.