What Does it Mean to Invest in Digital Operations?

Krista: Thanks Lance, for joining us today. So today we're talking about investing in digital operations. So tell me what does it mean to actually invest in digital operations. We see a lot of Forbes and Inc. papers about it, but what does it mean to you, what does it mean to the CEO?

Lance: Yeah, like well, if we look at kind of the state of the union today, this term digital has thrown around now for a number of years, three or four years, five years at this point.

Lance: Typically, these strategies have revolved around, let's call it the front-end digital experience. Right? The new mobile app, the branded kind of functions that you may have in there to provide commerce for transportation or whatever widget or service your company is in.

Lance: And typically, these things kind of stay on the front-end. The problem ... the good part about that, is yes, absolutely we want to increase the experience level of everyone, so it's a good investment to have. But in isolation you're going to run into problems. Things don't always happen the way you want them to.

Lance: You could buy an airline ticket online very, very quickly or on your phone. Right? And all of a sudden get an email saying, "Oh, we're changing the schedule of your flight." Okay, well, alright, let me click the button to see what happens, and all of a sudden, boom! You're off the happy path, and now you got to call a number, and then you're sitting through a [inaudible 00:01:29] or a wait, and then how long it's going to take for someone to answer the call, "Oh, we'll get to you in about two and a half hours."

Lance: That is a massive disconnect in terms of the customer experience. All the goodwill that you just fostered through all those investments in your digital strategy, in that experiential point up front, the minute that customer journey departs. Right? From just that front-end piece alone, and the wheels come off, that's all gone. There is no forgiveness, there is no pass going to be provided, they don't forget.

Lance: So, in that one instance, you could blow 20 to 200 million dollars of what a company's spending every five years just on the front-end alone. Digital operations investment is to make sure that doesn't happen. You want to connect that experience of that customer with the realities of your operation, innovate around those realities, so that that journey is congruent from the beginning to the end to the middle, and the cycle that is the customer. It's not a funnel, it's not capture the revenue now they're out the door, it's done. There always going to be a cycle there to that.

Lance: And operations, digital operations specifically, connecting with those experience, and those strategies and transformative programs, that makes everything real. That's what it's about.

Krista: I love that, connecting what you experience as a customer to the employees' work every day.

Lance: That's exactly what it is.

Krista: Making work work.

Lance: Making work work. Alright.

Krista: Thanks, Lance, for joining us, that was great.

Lance: Thank you.