We caught up with Jagdish Mitra, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer – Head Growth Factories, Tech Mahindra at Futurist Business Conclave 2017 for a quick & informative CX chat.
As an organization, how important is customer experience (CX) as a strategy?
Customer Experience is an essential and important aspect since we deal with a limited set of customers in a B2B organization and the process for acquiring a customer is a very long drawn out process. In fact there is direct correlation between greater focus on customer experience and increase in revenue. In a B2B engagement, there is a closer connect where you know them individually and understand their needs and requirements. There is an expectation to create a high customer delight providing us with increased opportunities to grow with them.
Tech Mahindra as a company has this aspect in their DNA to invest and partner with customers to enable them in the long run. We anticipate our customer needs and try to fulfill those needs in order to help them leverage it in their own organizations to work better. Customer experience at the end of the day is about making sure that the customer is engaged with you and the process is intuitive, responsive and analytical. So that we can constantly deliver value before the customer asks on his requirements.
An organization/brand that you think has aced CX?
There are a couple of brands that have been able to ace customer experience. Some notable ones like Apple and Amazon are great examples in consistently sustaining the cycle of telling and delivering to the customers a feel of the future experience. It was unimaginable to ask and get a great shopping experience on a virtual platform until Amazon successfully was able to do it.
From an India perspective, the Mahindra Group is a very pertinent example. The transition from a tractor and utility vehicle brand to become a world class auto major with presence in diversified interests, was through keeping the customer at the center of its strategy. Taking that core forward, for Tech Mahindra too what worked as a brand was the ability to be entrepreneurial on behalf of its customer. To take risks, embed technology and engage better with the customers. The human touch has always been there for us as the prime driver.
What are few basics to get your CX right?
Customer Experience ideally needs one to think from the customer’s point of view, delving into what the customer needs. Therefore anticipation is extremely important. Additionally, engagement is of great significance and only happens if you are making sure that both parties are connected on a common forum or a common engagement thread. These conversations allow one to connect the customer needs and their capabilities to understand and derive those needs effortlessly through conversations. In today’s digital world, the best way to do it is through social media.
Engagement is the holy- grail for businesses. How do you encourage this? How do you measure it? Are you seeing a correlation between engagement and revenue?
Engagement is vital. An important part of driving any engagement today, in a world with multiple sources, is the ability to connect with each other on different forums for a range of purposes. Each of them are avenues to connect with people and disengage customers to agree to your terms and consider on what you have on the plate to offer. Even the connect between revenue and engagement can be sourced from these conversations. Engagement can often lead to additional opportunities in the future. Therefore being mindful of conversations, creating credible leads for customers over their competitors in time and enabling them to invest right and grow can aid in our growth as well.
Even the connect between revenue and engagement can be sourced from these conversations. Engagement can often lead to additional opportunities in the future. Therefore being mindful of conversations, creating credible leads for customers over their competitors in time and enabling them to invest right and grow can aid in our growth as well.
About Jagdish Mitra
Jagdish Mitra heads the Strategy for Tech Mahindra and is responsible for new growth business at Tech Mahindra. He served as the CEO of CanvasM, the mobility unit of Tech Mahindra and a joint venture with Motorola that was founded in 2006 and also headed the Large Deals Business of Tech Mahindra before taking up this role.
Jagdish has over 20 years of IT experience in the areas of business development and marketing in the global information services market. He has handled several responsibilities within Tech Mahindra for the last 20 years, including opening up new markets like North America, Middle East and Asia along with the Global Marketing function and has been actively involved in building several strategic business relationships with key accounts for Tech Mahindra worldwide.
Jagdish holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Applications from Birla Institute of Technology and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of London.
