Prioritizing an Excellent Digital Customer Experience Strategy Within Order-to-Cash

In recent times, focus on customer experience has become essential for any business that’s seeking to grow. Not too long ago, this topic was not significantly focused within the B2B world. However, we are now in a world where business buyers expect a customer experience on par with that delivered by B2C brands. Failing to deliver upon this not only tarnishes the brand but it has very real consequences to a B2B brand’s ability to close new deals and retain long-term customers. As a result, many companies are now mandating that the customer experience be prioritized across the organization, even on teams like finance and accounting which have historically not been responsible for this part of the business strategy.

It is not easy to change the culture of a company to be customer-first across all teams and functions, but here are 5 actionable ways your organization can be on a path to leveraging every customer touchpoint and interaction as an opportunity to deliver an exceptional experience.
1. Make sure every team feels ownership and responsibility around the customer experience.
Traditionally, only the customer-facing teams, like marketing, product, and customer service, put any significant thought into the customer experience. Then came the rise of the Chief Experience Officer, but today, the reality is that companies have an opportunity to deliver value to their customers with every human and digital interaction – from order placement to collections notices. Ensuring every team across the organization is embracing a customer-first mindset is how great brands are built.
2. Take customer expectations, feedback, and preferences into consideration.
Uncovering where your customers are facing friction in their interactions with your brand is critical to delivering a seamless experience. It is also just as important to note customer expectations and ensure preferences are captured in the customer account information. Knowing what your customers need and want is the only way to meet, and sometimes exceed, expectations.
3. Invest in automation and technology
In the past, leveraging technology and automation often meant that you were compromising the customer experience. Times have changed. Customers actually prefer the consistency that comes with automated communications and reminders as well as the autonomy that online self-service offers. A well-designed online portal offers customers a single point of access to all relevant account information, including order history, payment status, and outstanding invoices. It also gives your customer flexibility in terms of payment type and timing.
4. Ensure customer data is centralized and up-to-date at all times
Ensuring that customer data is accurate at all times requires tight integration across all order-to-cash software and core business systems. For example, real-time integration between collections and cash application software ensures that a collector does not spend time following up with a customer who has already paid. Centralizing the data and integrating across the order to cash process also enables better collaboration between internal teams, leading to faster issue resolution and more time to deliver value to customers in other ways.
Cforia’s end-to-end order to cash platform enables businesses to achieve a single view of cash across the company while also centralizing the integration of customer data that is integral to efficiently turning A/R to cash and delivering a seamless customer experience.