2014 ICMI RESEARCH RELEASED: Customer Experience Management in Action! Insight to Differentiate YOUR Company & Contact Center

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) has released its 2014 report, Customer Experience Management in Action! Insight to Differentiate YOUR Company & Contact Center, a composition guide to customer experience management.

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Today, customer experience management (CXM) is no longer a luxury; rather CXM is a competitive necessity. In fact, customer experience programs can optimize an organization's customer service, provide valuable competitive data, and give a brand the competitive edge to create a more loyal customer base.

It's unfortunate, but customer experience management doesn't just happen naturally. It needs to be consciously created, holistically supported by the organization; and tracked, measured and acted upon.

In response, ICMI decided to conduct a research survey in the third quarter of 2013. This new research, along with other current ICMI data, provides contact center professionals the ingredients they need to create or refine their customer experience management culture in 2014.

"The customer experience needs to be holistically owned by the organization," said Sarah Stealey Reed, Content Director, ICMI. "It's not enough for marketing or the contact center to be involved; everyone from the CEO on down needs to understand and respect their impact on customer experience. We are pleased that almost half of contact centers have a CXM program in place, but that doesn't mean their company has the culture to truly make it effective! You want successful CXM? Establish organizational readiness, create a CXM team, ensure committed executives, and have visible metrics, measurement and actionable data!"

The rigorous study had 459 respondents (primarily executives, directors and managers) from every major industry in both the U.S. and abroad. Findings from the study were compiled and analyzed by ICMI's research team.

The results showed:

• Customer engagement and loyalty is an important priority to 92% of organizations
• 81% report their organization recognizes correlations between the customer experience and loyalty
• 49% of contact centers have a customer experience management program currently in place
• Only 27% say their C-level executives have ownership in the customer engagement strategy
• Three-quarters of contact centers are measuring the customer experience through CSAT surveys and quality monitoring

Fortunately, Customer Experience Management in Action! Insight to Differentiate YOUR Company & Contact Center provides guidance and best practices to remedy some of these matters.

Also included are ICMI Expert Spotlight accompaniments with advice on two key aspects of customer experience management - Turning CXM Measurement into Action and Customer Experience: A Cross-Functional Responsibility.

A complete review of the study's final results can be found within the research report, Customer Experience Management in Action! Insight to Differentiate YOUR Company & Contact Center.

About ICMI

The International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) is the leading global provider of comprehensive resources for customer management professionals -- from frontline agents to executives -- who wish to improve customer experiences and increase efficiencies at every level of the contact center. Since 1985, ICMI has helped more than 50,000 organizations in 167 countries through training, events, certification, consulting, and informational resources. ICMI's experienced and dedicated team of industry insiders, trainers, and consultants are committed to helping you raise the strategic value of your contact center, optimize your operations and improve your customer service. For more information, visit www.icmi.com. ICMI is a part of UBM (www.ubm.com), a global live media and B2B communications, marketing service and data provider.

About the Sponsor

Avaya is a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, providing unified communications, contact centers, data solutions and related services to companies of all sizes around the world. For more information please visit www.avaya.com.

Questions or interview requests may be directed to:  Sarah Stealey Reed, [email protected]

SOURCE International Customer Management Institute (ICMI)