IT Vendor Customer Experience Teams Projected to Nearly Double Through 2008

IDC: Staffing of the Customer Experience function in IT vendor companies will grow by over 40% per year through 2008. Organizations that have previously invested in customer experience leadership expect their teams to grow more than 80 percent during the same period. IT vendors are beginning to focus on an end-to-end orientation, looking beyond customer satisfaction to include prospects and buyers in their customer experience efforts. However, across the vendor landscape there is a clear delineation as some organizations give lip service to an end-to-end approach but focus on post-sales efforts.

IT vendors must look more closely at how they staff, measure, and impact the customer experience. Too often, vendor leadership gives high praise to the role of customer experience teams but does not empower them to drive marketing, sales and operational change. 2006 represents a critical point where vendors will invest in better management of the customer experience from an end-to-end perspective across awareness, consideration, purchase, application, leverage and advocacy.

Customer Experience Gap: A Call for Leadership and Authority Publ 20051205