By Wendy Harmon

Wendy Harmon

Working in the channel, we often think of ourselves as primarily business-to-business professionals. And yes, while partners are our lifeblood, we still must always keep the customer top of mind in everything we do.

A well-thought-out customer experience (CX) software-as-a-service (SaaS) strategy improves not only the product, but also how we position it to both partners and users. Ultimately, a customer-centric mindset is critical to the success of any company, no matter the distribution channel.

Reducing Churn

But, in a recurring revenue model, a strong customer journey road map has another destination as well — reduced churn.

To accomplish this, we must go past the sale, promoting usage and adoption through the onboarding process and beyond. In doing so, not only do we reduce churn, but we provide a better return on investment for our customers.

Closing a deal is the halfway point — a thrilling step, yes, but only the first for the customer on their journey to successful adoption. It’s in helping users learn a product’s full benefits that partners can truly demonstrate value for their client. The full power of unified cloud communications is only unlocked when the end user is engaged. Everything we preach about productivity and connectivity is moot without a plan to enable usage and adoption.

New Insights Through AI

Thankfully, the tools to measure usage and adoption have never been stronger. With real-time analytics and AI-driven reporting, IT teams can now see how well employees are taking to new technology, no matter where those users are located.

These types of insights are critical to enabling the shift to a true work-from-anywhere culture. Tomorrow’s workforces will be increasingly hybrid, and organizations are realizing that company success starts with the employee experience.

Therefore, connecting a blend of in-office and remote employees will be any global company’s top challenge in 2021. And without proper attention to usage and adoption, dispersed employees may miss out on critical aspects of company culture.

EX+CX Intertwined

Failing to promote usage and adoption has real consequences for organizations as well. Experts agree the best customer service comes from engaged, empowered employees. When an employee gets left behind in a company’s employee experience (EX) strategy, there’s a trickle-down effect of lost opportunity.

Usage and adoption lead to a better employee experience, which in turn leads to an overall improved customer experience. The organization thrives, and the partner who helped make it happen delivered above and beyond expectations. It’s a win-win for all involved.

In the end, we are more than salespeople — we are problem-solvers for our customers. We all know the benefits of fully wrapping our processes in the cloud. But often, demonstrating those benefits takes a little nurturing.

And by promoting and educating on usage and adoption, we can bring the customer journey full circle.

Wendy Harmon is AVP of global partner programs at RingCentral, where she heads its worldwide channel partner enablement and support and strives to create balance between risk and the need for standards and consistency. Previously, she led global on-premises and SaaS teams for 14 years, most recently at insightsoftware.com for Hubble business performance management apps. You may follow her on LinkedIn or @RingCentral on Twitter.