Retail must focus on observability and collaboration to deliver the best experiences to its customers

In the retail industry, customer experience is everything. Not coincidentally, most retailers have been talking openly about a consumer-centric transformation journey for some time now. However, the truth is that the speed of changes in customer expectations and needs has dramatically accelerated digitalization and modernization roadmaps in stores around the world.  

In a survey we conducted globally, for example, nearly 90% of retail industry CIOs admit that digital transformation has accelerated in recent years, and 61% predict it will continue to accelerate. To keep up with these demands and become more customer-centric, therefore, the challenge lies in the increasingly latent need for retailers to change their transformation approaches, adding more agility and intelligence to decision-making. 

This means that, although the modernization of technologies and processes is still fundamental, this step is no longer enough. Retailers must embark on a full-scale business transformation, focusing on people, processes, roles and responsibilities, as well as measurement and execution. Teams within these organizations (both in IT and the broader business) must work within the same guidelines and align to shared goals. This will allow these companies to move all of their strategic actions towards the goal of becoming truly customer-centric.  

In this scenario, there are two main pillars on which retailers must build this transformation. The first of these is the success assessment, in which IT and business leaders are not only concerned with continually developing new customer-facing digital experiences, but also are dedicated to measuring the performance and efficiency of these experiences, understanding whether new projects of innovation they are executing have the desired impact on business results. There are a number of technical and business metrics that can help retailers do this. This includes quantitative technical metrics such as response time and application availability.tions, business metrics (such as conversion and abandonment rates), number of sessions and real users, among others. 

The second essential pillar is the collaboration between technology and operation. As the demands to innovate faster and become more agile increase, and as customers continue to seek the best, fastest, and most seamless experiences, closer alignment between IT and the broader business will be critical to make sure everyone is going in the same direction. However, this is often easier said than done, as every organization experiences teams working in silos.  

As a result, this siled dynamic is also likely to be accompanied by the use of different monitoring and analytics solutions, which in turn can mean that each team has its own version of the truth, making dialogue and collaboration difficult. Data is siphoned off, productivity decreases, and time is wasted searching for those responsible when issues arise. It's worth noting, for example, that our research indicates that IT and business teams in retail organizations spend, on average, more than 9 hours a week trying to combine disparate data to find solutions to problems, consuming innovation time. If left unchecked, this could jeopardize the future customer experience and business success. 

To deal with these challenges, there needs to be a major transformation, not just in the technology, but in the culture of the entire company. Retail business leaders must encourage their teams to change the way they think about their roles and adopt a more collaborative approach. This can help IT teams shift their mindsets and ensure that at the heart of every innovation project is always a clear vision of how that initiative will drive the excellence that supports great customer experiences. 

This collaboration can be facilitated by adopting an approach that reinforces observability over environments, whether to monitor status, anticipate conditions or foresee opportunities for the future. Today, through platforms based on Artificial Intelligence, for example, it's possible manage customer experience and business results by evaluating step-by-step (or click-by-click) application and process performance. With everyone working on a single platform and receiving the same precise answers to their mutual issues, the entire company can identify key objectives their teams can work on to improve the customer experience and the operational delivery that underpins it. Leaders can also define shared KPIs and SLOs that can be used to measure the impact that IT innovation has on customer experience and business outcomes in a more meaningful way. 

With customer focus now at the top of retailers' agenda, continuous transformation is a business imperative. This goes beyond technology and must encompass people, processes, roles and responsibilities, as well as intelligence for measurement and execution. Transforming the business in this way will allow retailers to move from a reactive model to one that is inherently proactive, anticipating their customers' future needs and delivering unparalleled shopping experiences. It is undoubtedly a challenging undertaking, but this enterprise-wide transformation will see retailers prosper, grow their customer bases and remain competitive for a long time to come.

*Flavio Bolieiro, Regional Sales Director for Retail from Dynatrace

Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies