By Dickey Singh
In today's economic climate, companies are looking for ways to be more efficient and do more with less. They want their dollar to do much more for them.
They are focusing on Maximizing the Business Value.
The answer generally falls into four categories when you categorize why problems are critical to a business.
Similarly, why do businesses buy and prioritize products and services? The products and services maximize business value.
Executives and operators are scrutinizing and consolidating their investments and explicitly looking for productivity and efficiency value drivers when they look at new products and services.
Automation is one of the most effective ways to drive business value, as it increases efficiency, reduces cost, and drives efficient growth and revenue.
Of course, automation varies from robotics to supply chain, to business process automation, to workflow automation, to IT automation, and so on.
Here we focus on using automation to maximize business value with direct customer interactions without intermediaries and differentiate from productivity tools which also provide efficiency but not the same magnitude as automation tools.
By automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks, companies can free up customer success managers, account managers, and content writers to focus on more strategic and direct value-adding activities. It leads to significant cost savings, productivity gains, and efficiency in both operations and growth.
Additionally, automation can help reduce errors, leading to productivity gains and cost savings.
For example, generating and sharing personalized content directly from customer data and insights reduces human error significantly.
Furthermore, automation can also improve accuracy, compliance, and time to value (for example, by automating onboarding).
One example of automation is in the field of workflow automation.
Automating repetitive and manual steps in a process, such as producing reports and presentations, asking for approvals, or collecting feedback and customer data via forms, can significantly reduce the time and resources required to complete tasks, helping businesses increase productivity and reduce costs.
Automating many aspects of customer and user onboarding helps reduce time to value significantly. Read more about automating onboarding here.
Every good onboarding starts with preboarding, where you focus on "perceived time to value" and tell the customer how they will be onboarded to the product, what is expected from the customer, and what the vendor will provide. Even before they close as a customer, it demonstrates to a prospect that the customer-facing teams will be there to maximize the business value.
"Speed to value" refers to how quickly a product or service can be implemented and start delivering value to the customer.
"Time to value" refers to the length of time it takes for the customer to see a return on their investment or realize the benefits of the product or service.
Both measure the value delivered, but "speed to value" focuses on the implementation process, while "time to value" focuses on the outcome.
Perceived time to value helps set expectations from potential customers, i.e., prospects and vendors, so there are minimal surprises during onboarding. It outlines tasks at a high level that the customer and vendor will need to complete before the customer can start getting continuous value.
Another example of maximizing value is using the best tool for the job at hand.
Yes, you can use an excel spreadsheet with macros, a CRM tool, or a CS Tool for everything, but your efficiency will be equivalent.
In the context of software-as-a-service (SaaS), using the right tool for the right job refers to selecting the most appropriate software solution to meet the specific needs of a business or organization. It means choosing software designed for the task or problem that needs solving with the highest efficiency.
This goes against the conventional wisdom of "consolidating" tasks under a specific product that bundles "check-mark" implementations of several features.
Usually, do-it-all tools continue to have months to years of implementation time and require an operations team to manage.
Companies often use "bundled" software for solving different problems, leading to inefficiencies, increased costs, and additional employee time.
While the goal may be to save costs, using the wrong product for a job increases costs.
In reaction to the economic climate, some customers may cut costs across the board to use products they have or invest in products that can drive efficiencies and save on costs.
However, companies can improve their operations and avoid unnecessary expenses by selecting the right tool for each specific task and process.
Companies can streamline their processes, reduce complexity, and improve data flow by using the right tool for the right job, helping them to save money and improve their operations.
A CMO would differentiate Customer Marketing from Acquisition Marketing and customer marketing tools from acquisition marketing tools.
Companies can reduce complexity and improve outcomes by using the best tool for the job, focusing on the pain points, and demonstrating value in the current economic climate.
In conclusion, companies are focused on maximizing value by automating processes, increasing efficiency in both growth and operations, cutting costs, and reducing risk.
Doing this can help your customers increase efficiency, reduce costs, and drive more value from their investments.
Pick the right tool for the right job that help you increase the effectiveness of your customer success and account management dollars with efficient growth, reduced costs and risks, and accelerated time-to-value.
Insights-driven upselling and cross-selling in an economic downturn become more critical to add revenue from existing customers. Automation, benchmarking, and personalizing the benefits to each persona can make a difference.
Remember, 75% of revenue for scaled companies comes from existing customers.