Embarking on a full-scale customer experience transformation is a huge undertaking, especially for an organization as large as Cisco. The company has made huge strides recently as it evolves its customer experience to build on its existing customer-first culture. Cisco Live is the premier event for education, inspiration and making connections for technology professionals. This year had 27,000 in-person attendees and more than half a million online views of the keynotes and sessions. Cisco Live is also a great opportunity to showcase and celebrate Cisco’s ongoing customer experience transformation. It’s rare to see a large company make such bold moves on customer experience. But as Cisco Senior Vice President Ish Limkakeng says, the goal is to become the best customer experience company—period. One of the reasons for Cisco’s success is the clarity of vision from executives. According to Jason McLaurin, Managing Director, Customer Experience – Japan, the bold moves from leadership help customer teams move quickly and keep up with changing trends and demands. That laser-focus on customers starts from the top, and sharing the vision with all employees creates an energizing culture ready to make positive change. Mike Adams, Vice President, Learning at Cisco, says successful change starts when executives commit to sticking with the transformation during its ups and downs. Empathy is vital to driving customer experience. McLaurin recommends spending time in the customers’ shoes and consuming their technology. Learn what it really means to live their work for a day. Find their end goal and trace back the requirements. Customer experience should be outcome-based and driven by a strong vision of how to help customers achieve their goals. Part of helping customers reach their goals is providing useful solutions. Many of Cisco’s products have transitioned to subscription and cloud-based models in recent years. Adams says those updates change how the company engages with its customers and pushes the need to add value at every stage of the customer lifecycle. The goal is to create a friction-less renewal process because customers see the overwhelming value of the products. Limkakeng says Cisco aims to help customers realize the full value of their investments. Culture plays a huge role at Cisco. Employees are encouraged to innovate and put customers first. Customer experience is ingrained in the culture and is part of everyday life for all employees. Limkakeng also lives by the principle of explaining to employees what’s in it for them so they can see how what they do every day fits into the overall business strategy. When employees know their role in the puzzle, they are more engaged. Cisco’s customer experience transformation is one of the biggest in recent decades and can be summed up in five words: move fast and move big. Cisco is well on its way to becoming an experience leader across all industries.
