Dive Brief:
- CIOs aiming to improve customer and end-user experiences should focus on removing complexity, according to Michael Chiu, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner.
- IT leaders typically perceive the addition of new features and tools as the best way to improve customer experience. When asked to give ideas on how to enhance CX, fewer than 10% of IT leaders mentioned taking something away, according to a Harvard Business Review study.
- “You cannot add your way to a better customer experience forever,” Chiu said during Gartner’s annual IT Symposium/Xpo last week in Orlando, Florida.
Dive Insight:
CIOs know the struggle of prioritization. From budget allocation to project selection, trade-offs are unavoidable when determining what gets time and resources. It’s on IT leaders to carry that mindset into how they build end-user experiences.
End users have a limited amount of time and effort to expend on tasks. Simply adding a feature or tool isn’t always the solution to solving a poor experience — it can actually make matters worse, according to Chiu.
Nearly two-thirds of employees believe that unnecessary effort prevents their company from delivering a higher quality CX, according to a Gartner survey of more than 1,000 workers.
CIOs can declutter the experience to cut through complexity. For IT leaders wondering where to start, Chiu suggested holding a subtraction brainstorm, discussing where the experience could benefit from streamlining.
“We need to unlearn some things in customer experience in order to move forward,” Chiu said. “Unlearning works best when you’ve got something to replace it.”
Leaders could appoint an individual to suggest subtraction ideas to balance out the expected flood of suggestions for additives.
“It’s typically addition that gets all the glory,” Chiu said. “Figure out how you’re going to recognize and reward subtraction ideas.”
