Successful companies focus on it – experience management (XM). Which experience is managed in this business area and why is it so important that the second largest acquisition of a SaaS company was generated in the experience management area?

In November 2018 SAP announced to acquire Qualtrics for $8 billion in cash. Qualtrics is supporting companies to improve their experience management eg with clients (CX or CEM) and employees (EX) but also related to their brand or product experience as they are all seen as interrelated.  Supporting companies to manage their experience with individuals they are interacting with is a highly successful business model with numerous global players in addition to Qualtrics – Here is a sample of options  for Customer experience software provided by Capterra.

 So – why is the focus on experience management so important specifically in the digital age? Besides the fact that experience – good and bad – can be shared faster and wider then ever before I want to take a closer look at two aspects of experience management.

Client Experience

Clients are more autonomous and choose which company they want to spend their money on. Unless you have a very unique product or offering, you will see yourself in direct competition with numerous companies for the same client set. How will your clients take their buying decisions?

We see changed buying habits in the digital age with a direct impact, but what are the ultimate drivers for a client to buy in a competitive market?

Clients spend their money with companies they trust. They want to be taken seriously in their needs & wishes. They like companies that are easy to work with and listen to their concerns. The company that provides the best client experience will be more successful in keeping existing clients, reducing churn and gaining new clients. Ultimately this will help secure a company´s future success. A company needs satisfied clients that are happy to return and buy again.

Employee experience

Times are more competitive then ever before. We learned already that many companies compete for the same client set. What about the best employees? Is there a strong competition for the best workforce on the market? The answer is yes.

Companies need to differentiate themselves today to be chosen as workplace for the best employees in the market. Millenials (Generation Y) have been raised under the mantra “follow your dreams” and have been told they were special so they tend to be confident and Work-Life-Balance is important for them.

A company that wants to attract the best employees and wishes to keep them, needs to offer special perks to be chosen by the candidate as future employer. We do not talk about income as the highest rated aspect to decide for a company. As per Maslow´s hierarchy of needs  self-actualization is the ultimate goal of each individual – and this cannot be reached on the long term by only focusing on the highest income.

Companies offering their employees individual treatments that meet the needs of the employee in the current stage of life, like flexible working hours and locations, additional benefits like childcare, parental leave or other leave of absence models, insurance support etc will be rewarded with engaged, motivated employees that feel personally connected to this company.

An employee wants to be respected and is best motivated to work for a company that understands and respects the wishes and needs of this employee. Fluctuation will be lower, health issues will be reduced and employees will be more satisfied and happy to work for this company, which again will have a positive impact on the company´s client experience.