IT Essentials: Shift happens

'You were so preoccupied with whether you could, you didn't stop to think if you should'

Shifting CX left to lower costs risks degrading the actual experience.

How many times have you answered security questions with a chatbot, and then had to answer the same questions again when you (finally) reach an agent?

This degrades the customer experience (CX) - something IT really does need to care about.

The topic came up last week at our final in-person conference of 2023 - always a time of mixed emotions, and one where we start looking ahead to the year to come. Customer experience, delegates agreed, will be a major area of focus in the future.

We've been talking about the importance of shift left - aka DevSecOps - for years now. Under this model, security and testing moves left on a project timeline, earlier in the process.

Other industries have their own versions of shift left. In CX it means moving support costs to their earliest (and lowest) possible level, which inevitably means heavy involvement from IT to make sure the cheap automated FAQ and self-service platforms are working.

But, just as you can't simply install a firewall and call security solved, an automated service that isn't integrated into the wider company doesn't shift CX left at all: see my earlier question about chatbots. This week it took me nearly 10 minutes to make my way through an automated system, including repeating my postcode three times and my date of birth five times. Five! Editorially, it was opportune; in the moment, I was ready to throw my phone through the window.

To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum: So much work has gone into wondering if we could shift CX left, nobody stopped to think if they should. *

Is this approach actually improving the experience for customers? Is it time for CX to shift right again?

I (and Jeff Goldblum) am not alone in thinking we need a new approach: Imperial War Museum's Nick Hodder spoke passionately about IT's involvement with CX at our IT Leaders Summit last month. He pointed out that technology is a key pillar of CX. In fact, IT leaders are uniquely well positioned to advise on the subject with their experience of agile development and transformation.

Your customer experience is your product or service. Why would you want it to annoy your customers?

* Told you it would make sense.