IDC Manufacturing Insights Asks: What Does the Customer Experience Mean for Manufacturers?

IDC Manufacturing Insights announced a new report, “Perspective: Customer Experience – What Does IT Mean for Manufacturers,” (Document # MI247040) that offers a closer look at a topic of increased interest to manufacturers today, across manufacturing value chains.  Customer experience (CX) is increasingly being viewed by manufacturers as a necessary element of business-to-business (B2B) transactions, one that is enabled by the 3rd Platform, specifically social, mobile, cloud, and big data analytics. CX for B2B can be framed by the customer journey and involves supporting customers as they explore, evaluate, purchase, and receive service for manufactured products.

According to Heather Ashton, research manager, IDC Manufacturing Insights, “Competitive pressures and the desire for more meaningful relationships with customers are driving manufacturers to reconsider what customer experience means within a B2B context. A major catalyst is the expectation of business users for the same level of rich interaction and capabilities in their business transactions that characterize their personal transactions.”

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This engagement/experience theme is receiving a significant amount of interest from manufacturers, and it resonates with one of IDC Manufacturing Insights predictions in 2014 Manufacturing Commerce Strategies Top 10 Predictions (#MI245067): Manufacturers seek more meaningful relationships with their customers.

This new Perspective will help manufacturers:

Realize the implications of applying a customer experience lens to relationships with channel partners and end customers.

Understand how some manufacturing leaders in the various value chains are applying a customer engagement approach.

Identify some of the technologies available for enhancing customer experience.

For manufacturers, the customer is varied and complex. ”Customer“ could mean the wholesaler that takes a manufacturer’s product to its distribution channels or the licensed dealer network for automakers. For consumer products manufacturers, customer can mean the big-box retailers where their product is prominently displayed or the end consumer who has come to know and love their brand and wants a more direct relationship. 

IDC Retail Insights initially identified the ”5i“ customers: instrumented, interconnected, informed, in-place, and immediate. Since then, the 5i profile has spread beyond retail. The implications of this for a manufacturer are that the customers, whether they are distributors, resellers, or consumers of its products, expect to have an experience with the manufacturer that is digitally executed and enriched by 3rd Platform capabilities throughout the customer journey.

The new report highlights the role social, mobile, and big data play throughout the 5i customer journey. These expectations are driving many manufacturers to consider how to integrate the tenants of customer experience into B2B processes and transactions. While the approaches to this vary widely among manufacturers, there are several key considerations including:

Understand What Your ”Customer" Wants from the Experience

Appreciate the Importance of a Unified Brand Experience

Identify Where Customer Experience Will Have the Greatest Impact on Business Drivers

Customer experience is becoming an area for manufacturers to differentiate from competitors and find new ways to achieve business goals. Identifying which customer to target with a specific CX undertaking is an essential first step for manufacturers. Manufacturers should tie a CX project with their top business drivers and choose tools and applications that support these efforts. In many cases, this is an entirely new way for manufacturers to consider their customer, and it is important to establish the intended outcome of a CX initiative. IDC Manufacturing Insights recommends that manufacturers address any potential channel conflicts up front and work with their partners to establish the highest levels of brand and customer loyalty that will mutually benefit them.

For additional information about this report or to arrange a one-on-one briefing with Heather Ashton, please contact Sarah Murray at 781-378-2674 or sarah@attunecommunications.com. Reports are available to qualified members of the media. For information on purchasing reports, contact insights@idc.com; reporters should email sarah@attunecommunications.com.

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About IDC Manufacturing Insights

IDC Manufacturing Insights assists manufacturing businesses and IT leaders, as well as the suppliers who serve them in making more effective technology decisions by providing accurate, timely, and insightful fact-based research and consulting services. Staffed by senior analysts with decades of industry experience, our global research analyzes and advises on business and technology issues facing asset intensive, brand oriented, technology oriented, and engineering oriented manufacturing industries. International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology market. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology, media, research, and events company. For more information, please visit www.idc-mi.com, email info@idc-mi.com, or call 508-988-7900. Visit the IDC Manufacturing Insights Community at http://idc-community.com/manufacturing.