A lack of consistency and alignment between the external brand experience and the internal employee experience has led to the rise of the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) in many organisations, according to Alexander Mann Solutions.

The role of the CXO is to ensure that the whole organisation is on-message, that management and employees alike can act as solid brand ambassadors for their organisation, and that all the customer-facing aspects of the organisation are lined up correctly, said Caleb Baker, managing director, APAC & emerging markets, Alexander Mann Solutions.

“Too few companies have a distinct, unique product or service value proposition to help define their organisation and the same is generally true of their talent agenda,” he said.

“In the current era of always-on social and digital communications and connections, where 140 characters can make or break a brand, it is ever more important to ensure consistency of this experience.”

For many companies, Baker said a huge gulf exists between the brand experience they offer to their customers and the day-to-day experience of their employees and candidates.

“This situation is unsustainable. Ensuring the user experience is candidate and employee facing as well as customer facing has never been more vital,” he said.

Rebecca Dakin, head of client services for Alexander Mann Solutions, said the role of the CXO covers most levels and departments of an organisation.

“Marketing is the most obvious, with all customer-related collateral as a key area of engagement for the CXO,” she said.

“Negative messages can spread virally in the blink of an eye, so the role of the CXO will become all the more crucial”

“However the role crosses into territory such as community and public relations, interaction with HR, sales, even industrial and investor relations.

“The keyword when looking at the whole organisation’s user experience is ‘holistic’, because it encapsulates everything the company wants the public to see it as being,” said Dakin.

She observed that public-facing collateral is only going to increase in scope over the next few years, with an organisation’s online presence having a more profound impact on public sentiment.

“Social media will continue to grow as a means to transport company messaging, but also as a tool that empowers consumers to have their say,” she said.

“Negative messages can spread virally in the blink of an eye, so the role of the CXO will become all the more crucial, and complex, as the digital space takes an ever-larger slice of our productive work time.”

Beyond the critical agenda item of customer (or consumer) experience, Baker also said the CXO also understands that the experience of candidates, employees and alumni (or “employment consumers”), is critical in ensuring the attraction and retention of the very best talent to drive business forward and deliver on the customer value proposition.

“When employees are the foundation of an organisation’s success, we must start treating the employment consumer as well as we treat our consumers,” he said.

Image source: iStock

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