The term “governance” might feel out of place in the context of customer experience innovation. In fact, to some, creating a governance process might sound limiting or even stifling. But as a customer experience consultant, I’ve found the opposite to be true. It’s the department-spanning nature of customer experience that is precisely why governance is so important to innovation. Opportunities will impact budgets, the organization chart and the status quo.

Here’s an example. (Of course, your organization and circumstances will be different, but you’ll get the gist.) Let’s say you provide business systems to corporate customers, and your customer feedback points to dissatisfaction in how you train new customers. You currently require them to fly their system engineers to your central “university” for a five-day training class. Or, given Covid-19 restrictions, you give them the option of attending these classes online — a grueling virtual marathon. They must pass a challenging test at the end, timed perfectly to cause your in-person visitors to just miss the early evening round of flights home.

They do it — they don’t have a choice — but lately, your sales reps have been discounting travel and training costs because customers balk at the time and expense. And the engineers hate it. In a recent survey, you even found that one customer said their IT department has been pushing them to change vendors just so they don’t have to send engineers to your training. Read more.

Continue reading the article “Good Governance Boosts Customer Experience Innovation” by Brad Cleveland in Forbes.