“30% is about the product, but 70% is about the customer experience. True customer experience originates and is driven by the company culture, not just customer-facing personnel.” 

INN8 CEO, Mickey Gambale 

In an era of instant gratification, customers want something now because they can have it now thanks to technology making many services and products available to us on-demand. Driven by social media, the Internet, and smart devices, this incredible accessibility has driven consumers to crave experiences that are both instant and convenient, and the most successful companies have risen to meet and exceed those expectations. 

Because it’s those companies that understand that while customers will approach your business for the sold functionality, they will leave because of a bad experience. 

As a business analyst, for you to add significant insight into transforming your business to one that focuses on client experience, there are some questions you need to ask: 

• How can you avoid the costs of poor client experience (CX)? 
• How detailed is your knowledge of your customers and their experiences? 
• What technologies do you have to support the customer’s experience? 
• Are your customers’ journeys fully mapped out? 
• Where and how do you start a CX management (CEM) programme? 
• How do you measure and report on your success? 
• And who on your team should own the entire initiative? 

Armed with these questions, a business analyst can then look to change internal company culture via access to multiple internal channels spanning across the company which directly and indirectly affect the CX. You need to gain a deeper understanding of the business process, both internal and external, as well as data flow and quality. Get close to the decision makers and project sponsors and make sure there’s a culture of Data Democratization for both technical and non-technical users. 

You can even be a part of the company’s digital experience strategy and tie it back to the underlying business processes. Create a digital client experience strategy by mapping a customer’s journey across the product set, which can highlight both customer friction points, as well as repetitive activity that might be ready for automation – an  Outside-In approach. By moving closer to the customer’s needs and experiences, you can prioritise the correct areas of focus and enable stronger collaboration across silos, whether this be departments, and/or business processes and/or data sources. 

You can then use customer research and operational data to link customer satisfaction with financial outcomes. 

And so, the new business analyst role and touchpoints will include: 

• Collaboration across silos 
• Process mapping 
• Business insights 
• Data mapping and cleansing 
• Data warehousing 
• Master Data Management 
• Customer journeys 
• Data analysis 
• Democratize Data 
• Business requirements 
• Business processes 
• Communication 
• Governance (Process & Data) 
• Customer Experience Management 

At the end of the day, if your CX programme doesn’t move and evolve faster than the pace of your customers’ expectations, it will eventually fall short. The new BA will have many overlapping roles, capabilities and responsibilities; beyond being a business analyst, you will also be a data analyst and work closer to the enterprise and data architect. 

To be successful, the modern business analyst has to evolve by continuously learning new technologies and methodologies and have a deeper understanding of the relevant technologies.