Deepak Nayak, SVP—Customer Experience, Gameskraft, 0
If the reports are anything to go by, the Indian Gaming Market size is expected to reach $3.49 billion in 2024 by the end of the year and grow at a CAGR of 15.68 percent to reach $7.24 billion by 2029. Needless to say, the opportunities are humongous. However, with the market ready to take off, it is paramount for the leaders in the industry to set the right benchmarks in terms of customer experience. Engaging in an exclusive interaction with CEO Insights to share his insights about leading customer experience to the future is Deepak Nayak, SVP—Customer Experience, Gameskraft, which is one of India’s fastest-growing companies.
In Conversation with Deepak Nayak, SVP—Customer Experience, Gameskraft.
Given the industry's increasing competition and growing awareness among customers, leaders face a challenge in getting the CX strategy right. What are some of the latest strategies deployed?
I have seen three broad types of strategies getting deployed in organizations to ensure better CX and, hence, better business.
One of them is being proactive rather than reactive. Traditionally, organizations have invested in areas to ensure that support is available for customers when they need it. The new thinking is to design experiences that will eliminate the need for such support in the first place.
The second is personalized vs. one-size-fits-all. Recent advancements in technologies are enabling companies to offer personalization / hyper-personalization instead of offering one-size-fits-all solutions.
Data—and research-driven CX is another one. With the greater digitization of business, there is now an abundance of data. Similarly, advancements in communication technologies have made it easier than before to engage/interact with customers efficiently. Increasingly, companies are using these two advancements to create a deeper understanding of customers, their needs and expectations.
Could you specify how leaders are harnessing data-driven insights to craft CX strategies?
The availability of data-driven deep insights is making it easier for leaders to truly harness it to maximize customer satisfaction and hence create win-win value propositions. A few ways I have seen it getting deployed are as follows:
A deeper understanding of the customer: Businesses with good transaction data availability are using the same to create customer segments / micro-segments. This allows a uniform understanding of who the customer is and their value across the organization, further enabling easier execution of business strategies.
Understanding of customer journey: Customer data is also being harnessed to understand the customer journey. This understanding is again being deployed to drive business outcomes such as reducing customer drop-offs, enhancing engagements, etc.
Understanding the value of a customer action: An acute understanding of customer transaction data can illuminate actions that add value to the business (called High-Value Actions, or HVAs) or destroy value for the business (called Negative-Value Actions, or NVAs). This understanding helps businesses maximize HVAs and minimize NVAs for their target customers.
What are the stumbling blocks leaders often face when implementing customer-centric strategies, and what would be your suggestion to overcome them?
The most common barriers leaders face are cultural barriers in an organization. These barriers prevent organizations from really keeping customers at the front and center while making business decisions. They can manifest themselves in many ways, such as inadequate resource commitment to create a deep understanding of customers, a tendency to avoid short-term losses for long-term benefits, etc.
The other barrier is the inability to meticulously assess customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The absence of these measurements prevents organizations from deploying customer-centric strategies.
What would be your advice to budding CX leaders?
CX leaders will have to work overtime to Institutionalize “Customer Obsession” across the organization. It is easier said than done. They will have to ensure that it is not merely a slogan for the organization. Instead, demonstrating customer obsession needs to be made all pervasive across organization. For this to happen, multiple HR processes such as performance management, recruiting, onboarding etc. will have to be re-designed.
CX leaders will also need to invest in deploying design thinking methodologies to ensure that customer experiences are made more proactive than reactive. They will also need to develop and deploy suitable analytical models that can measure impact of longer-term customer behaviour. This will enable them to influence organizational thinking.
Lastly, they will need to continue investing in emerging technologies to drive and improve CSAT. Advancements in conversational AI is one such emerging technology that is expected to fundamentally alter how we drive CX.
Going forward, what kind of role should CX leaders play while hacking the new opportunities?
I believe, more often than not, the role of a CX leader is misunderstood. A CX leader is expected to track and improve customer satisfaction and influence decision-making across the organization. Increasingly, CX leaders will need to actively co-own business topline / bottom line metrics as enhancing CX has a direct impact on them. Also, they will need to own end-to-end design and delivery of experiences rather than influencing other teams (e.g., Marketing, Business, Product.)
Understanding the value of a customer action: An acute understanding of customer transaction data can illuminate actions that add value to the business (called High-Value Actions, or HVAs) or destroy value for the business (called Negative-Value Actions, or NVAs). This understanding helps businesses maximize HVAs and minimize NVAs for their target customers.
What are the stumbling blocks leaders often face when implementing customer-centric strategies, and what would be your suggestion to overcome them?
The most common barriers leaders face are cultural barriers in an organization. These barriers prevent organizations from really keeping customers at the front and center while making business decisions. They can manifest themselves in many ways, such as inadequate resource commitment to create a deep understanding of customers, a tendency to avoid short-term losses for long-term benefits, etc.
A CX leader is expected to track and improve customer satisfaction and influence decision-making across the organization
The other barrier is the inability to meticulously assess customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The absence of these measurements prevents organizations from deploying customer-centric strategies.
What would be your advice to budding CX leaders?
CX leaders will have to work overtime to Institutionalize “Customer Obsession” across the organization. It is easier said than done. They will have to ensure that it is not merely a slogan for the organization. Instead, demonstrating customer obsession needs to be made all pervasive across organization. For this to happen, multiple HR processes such as performance management, recruiting, onboarding etc. will have to be re-designed.
CX leaders will also need to invest in deploying design thinking methodologies to ensure that customer experiences are made more proactive than reactive. They will also need to develop and deploy suitable analytical models that can measure impact of longer-term customer behaviour. This will enable them to influence organizational thinking.
Lastly, they will need to continue investing in emerging technologies to drive and improve CSAT. Advancements in conversational AI is one such emerging technology that is expected to fundamentally alter how we drive CX.
Going forward, what kind of role should CX leaders play while hacking the new opportunities?
I believe, more often than not, the role of a CX leader is misunderstood. A CX leader is expected to track and improve customer satisfaction and influence decision-making across the organization. Increasingly, CX leaders will need to actively co-own business topline / bottom line metrics as enhancing CX has a direct impact on them. Also, they will need to own end-to-end design and delivery of experiences rather than influencing other teams (e.g., Marketing, Business, Product.)