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Low-Code CX: Smoother Than a Fresh Jar of Skippy

Roland Alston, Appian
October 7, 2016

Catchy musicalhooks only need a few seconds to get stuck in your head.

So let's drop the beat on this Funtime Friday blog, with a low-code parody of Uptown Funk. A monster hit by Mark Ronson,featuring Bruno Mars. And one of the funkiest Billboard Hot 100 songs ever.... Ahem...testing, one two, one two...testing, one two, one two...

...Stop. Wait a minute.

Upgrade my platform, put some low-code in it.

From finance and healthcare to retail and smart cities,

Low-code crushesCX goals

Smoother than a fresh jar of Skippy....

Skippy peanut butter could be the perfect metaphor for effortless customer interactions likemy latest online shopping experience with Nordstrom.com.

It beganwith an email confirmation of my order. Which included shipment tracking numbers. And the expected delivery dates for my two packages.One package was scheduled for delivery by FedEx. The other by the US Postal Service.

Unfortunately, both packages were shippedto the wrong address. (My bad. I fat fingered the shipping address, while binge watching Bosch on Amazon Prime. I called FedEx to update the address. But got redirected to Nordstrom customer care. Ditto for USPS.

So I callNordstrom. And a contact center rep immediately answers the phone.

"Hello Mr. Alston. This is JenniferÖ.How can I help you today?

"Hi Jennifer. I need toupdate the shipping addresson myonlineorder. Can you help me with that?

"Sure. Let me take a look at your order.... (She pulls up my order history on her computer). OK, I see your order. I can update your shipping address with FedEx, and have that package re-routed. But the postal service delivered your other package to the original address today...Give me a minute, and I'll process a replacement order for this item, and get a new one sent to you right awayÖ."

"Perfect, I said. So, willI get charged for the order delivered to the wrong address?

"No, said the rep. "You won't be charged any additional fees for that...." Is there anything else I can help you with Mr. Alston?

"Nope, that's it. Thanks for your help."

This is what smooth CX looks like. Speedy, effortless problem resolution. No clunky self-service menu to navigate. No waiting in a call queue, or gettingtransferred to contact center rep, who has no idea why Icalled in the first place. Nope, myNordstrom experience was the opposite of that. The contact center rep made me feel like my time was valued.

This kind of smooth customer interaction tends to be sticky. It clicks, on an emotional level. Which is precisely why I'm hooked on Nordstrom.com.

There's a parallel in the world of business process automation.

It turns out that the best low-code platforms allow you to quickly build customer-facing apps that deliversmooth customer interactions across mobile, chat, desktop social media, whatever. Intuitively, this seamless approach builds brand loyalty, drives repeat sales, and increases customer value. The question is, does your Business Process Management (BPM) platform measure up?

This is an important question, because BPM failurecan be catastrophic. Like the back office meltdowns that derailed CX with the major airlines this summer. It caused massive delays and flight cancellations at Delta, Southwest, JetBlue, and United. And stranded thousands of ticked-off customers.

And, then there's the cost of this back office mayhem. And the huge penalty paid in bad PR, customer dissatisfaction,and lost revenue.

Back to the CX low-code connection. Does it really matter whetheryour app development platform is low code or not? Whetherlow-code platforms are more flexible than traditional app development software? That low code development multiplies your productivity, and allows you to build enterpriseapps 10x faster than conventionalBPM platforms? Or that low-code platforms will help you unify data across multiple systems, and streamline processes todrivesmooth customer interactions?

Damn skippy!

We're Appian platform, and we're in the spot

Don't believe me just watch (break it down)

Don't believe me just watch (break it down)

Low-code platform pump you up,

Low code pump you up (say whaa?!)

Roland Alston