Customer Experience in Technology Consulting

Abstract

Customer experience (CX) is becoming increasingly important for companies in the financial sector. Digital engagement accelerated due to the pandemic, resulting in a higher demand for optimized digital customer experiences and user-friendly IT systems. Companies in the financial sector have to keep up with the digital transformation and bring their CX to the next level.

This project is done in collaboration with the Technology Transformation (TT) team of Ernst & Young (EY) which navigates its clients through transformations. The team implements the backend of new IT systems for their clients and therefore focuses on the business and technical side of these systems. TT works from a viability and a feasibility point-of-view, overlooking the desirability. The desirability of products and services is important because a negative customer experience leads to customers leaving their service-providing companies. Therefore, it’s becoming increasingly important for TT to pay more attention to the CX of the IT systems they implement. For TT to be able to provide its clients with viable, feasible, and desirable IT systems, this research investigates how TT’s service offering can be enhanced by developing new capabilities.

In this thesis, the first step towards a future where CX is incorporated into TT’s projects will be created. The ultimate reason for conducting this thesis is to add to the team's growing body of knowledge about CX and offer the team useful insights and suggestions on how to enhance CX in their future projects and provide more value to their clients.

The findings of this thesis might also be applicable to other groups and companies trying to improve their CX and gain a competitive edge in today's customer-driven market. The research phase finds accessibility, communicability, and traceability as key factors in contributing to the desirability of IT, and convenience, usability, security, trust, and personalization as key drivers in the financial sector for enhancing CX.

By involving a collaborative design approach with co-creation sessions with fellow SPD students and design consultants from VODW, ideas were generated, and concepts were created. The final concept for TT is The CX Innovator’s Guide. The CX Guide serves as a starting point for TT to develop and enhance its CX capabilities and work towards delivering more desirable solutions. The Guide is a tool for the team to get acquainted with the new topic, learn about current CX developments in the market, and how they can include CX in their projects.