Organizations know the importance of the overall interaction and perception that customers have with a company throughout their entire journey, encompassing every touchpoint from initial contact to post-purchase support. The thing about the modern-day customer, however, is that they demand more personalized and convenient experiences.
That requires organizations to adapt different customer strategies. And delivering personalized customer experiences (CXs) doesn’t come without challenges, requiring businesses to combine a deep understanding of the customer journey with an integrated tech stack.
The challenges organizations face, according to a study by Jitterbit, are due to application proliferation, IT resource constraints and manual integration. Jitterbit enables business transformation through automated critical processes, leading to quicker and well-informed decision-making. It integrates integration, API Management and no-code app creation to enhance the value of technology stacks and accelerate digital transformations.
So, naturally, Jitterbit has expertise in these challenges it found within its study.
Application proliferation refers to the exponential growth of software applications used by organizations to manage different aspects of their operations. From CRM systems to marketing automation tools, organizations rely on a plethora of applications to support their business processes. Managing and integrating these diverse applications is a complex task as each application may have its own data structure, UI and integration requirements.
This leads to the second challenge. As the number of applications increases, so does the demand for IT resources, including skilled personnel and infrastructure. Organizations often face limitations in terms of budget, personnel or expertise, which impede their ability to effectively manage and integrate the diverse set of applications in their technology ecosystem. This results in delays, inefficiencies and difficulties in maintaining a seamless customer experience.
Speaking of a seamless customer experience, another challenge organizations face is manual integration. Integrating applications manually involves time-consuming and error-prone processes. IT teams often need to write custom code or rely on manual data transfers between applications, leading to delays, data discrepancies and a lack of real-time insights. These manual integration efforts are resource-intensive and limit the organization's ability to respond quickly to customer needs and preferences.
Additionally, the proliferation of the Martech stack further complicates integration challenges. The Martech landscape encompasses various tools and platforms used for marketing and customer engagement purposes. Each Martech tool typically operates independently, and integrating them with other systems is complex because it often requires specialized knowledge and technical expertise.
"Our survey reveals that customer experience is a vital differentiating factor in today's market,” said Ron Wastal, Senior Vice President, Global Business Development, Channel and Alliances at Jitterbit. “While organizations have made progress in optimizing CX, there is still a need to automate customer-facing workflows and address integration challenges.”
To overcome these obstacles, organizations are adopting integration platforms, cloud-based solutions and APIs to streamline processes and enhance the customer experience. In fact, the study reveals that most organizations reported plans to invest in integrating the marketing function over the next 12 months. Respondents also intend to automate and integrate additional business processes to deliver the best possible customer experience.
These measures improve operational efficiency, provide real-time insights and differentiate organizations in the marketplace.
“By integrating systems across the ‘lead to loyalty’ customer lifecycle, organizations can provide a consistent and exceptional experience, ultimately standing out from the competition,” said Wastal.
Edited by
Alex Passett
