In October 2016, we announced our initial plans for IT Customer Experience (CX). We’d now like to take this opportunity to review what CX is, why it is one of our strategic priorities, and update you on how far we’ve come in just a few months.
What is CX?
There are varying definitions, but simply put, CX is the sum of all the interactions — direct and indirect — customers have with a service organisation. It is about people, and the human interactions they have with staff, and the systems, products and services provided.
Why is CX one of our strategic priorities?
Following a review of the Vice-Chancellor’s report in 2016, the IT Leadership Team committed to becoming far more customer-focused, embedding CX across IT Services (ITS), and maintaining it as a high priority and strategic function. CX will help us to develop an improved relationship with internal and external customers.
How will we bring CX to life across IT Services?
In order to make CX a success, we all need to work together as one team. We need to build our brand, break down silo working, and create a cultural change across ITS. Change doesn’t happen over night! It will take time however, it is important that we work towards the same overall vision, in order to support the University’s strategic initiatives.
How far have we come?
In December, we invited guest speaker Dr Brownell O’Conner, an accomplished CX consultant, trainer and facilitator, to run a number of CX workshops. The workshops were very hands-on and productive, and staff had the opportunity to complete journey mapping activities, which they can now share with their teams. Brownell also presented to our external senior stakeholders, provided them with an overview of CX, the benefits, and explained how they can help us achieve our goals.
The workshops and presentations were all very engaging, and the feedback overall has been extremely positive!
Next steps
Over the coming months, we will begin using the journey mapping skills learned during the workshops, in various teams across ITS, to map the student journey. We will communicate more about these as they begin to take shape. We will also continue to develop the IT personas, engage with customers across the business, and conduct interviews and focus groups to gather feedback.
A CX SharePoint site is currently being developed, where we will soon be able to share the strategy, roadmap, presentations, workshop material and more.
If you have any questions regarding Customer Experience, please contact Kim Yeandle-Hignell, Customer Experience Manager.