IoT and the customer experience factor
Delivering a seamless customer experience (CX) has never been more critical. We are all reliant now on our digital connections, and any problems or glitches are not only frustrating but can impact businesses negatively.
In the case of IoT, a single weakness on one device is likely to have an effect on every device in the chain. Emergent behaviors also mean this effect is likely to be highly unpredictable and difficult to track down. In short, multiple applications and multiple interfaces are likely to cause even bigger frustrations than we face in a non-IoT environment. The situation is magnified by the fact that many IoT systems are fragmented.
If organizations want to realize all the benefits of IoT, they need to deliver a seamless CX that makes interacting with IoT devices across the entire ecosystem simple. This requires businesses to understand how customers use their products so they can better fulfill their needs and improve the CX.
How organizations can understand CX
In order to better understand CX, organizations must incorporate CX testing. Simply testing whether code meets a specification doesn’t provide any insight into if the digital experience you are delivering meets expectations. There is a misconception that CX testing has to be a manual process. When you take this view, effective and comprehensive CX testing isn’t feasible, especially given the pace of DevOps, where you need to operate quickly and at scale.
As a result of the pandemic, all commerce is dependent on digital channels. So, organizations must incorporate automated CX testing to ensure that the quality of the digital experience they are delivering at a minimum meets expectations.
In the case of IoT, it is dependent on delivering a connected experience. In healthcare, medical asset tracking services can locate equipment and audit the number of supplies and reorder when inventory levels run low. With the current pressure on hospitals reducing the time spent on administrative tasks to care for patients and improve outcomes is critical. However, if there is a disconnect in this ecosystem, the impact can result in lives being lost.
In a less critical but still frustrating situation, if the connected fridge promises to ensure that you never run out of fat-free milk but there is a glitch between the dairy farmer’s supply chain and the retailer, then the trickle-down effect means the fridge will not always contain fat-free milk. These are two very different IoT examples highlighting the need to test the CX.
IoT is in the spotlight. If organizations are to seize the opportunity presented by the rapid shift to digital, then they need to be able to ensure a high-quality experience across connected systems. From healthcare to retail, evaluating the CX rather than code is the key to unlocking the potential of IoT.
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