When The Halal Guys started as a New York City food cart in 1990, technology was the furthest thing from the founders’ minds. Today, the growing and thriving restaurant is rapidly expanding, thanks largely to a customer-focused digital approach to dining.
Customers will always seek out great food, but they increasingly want a digital dining experience. Chief Development Officer Margaret Carrera says being open to evolving with new technology demands has allowed The Halal Guys to innovate and offer new digital capabilities. Technology has the power to enhance how people experience the food, from ordering to the in-restaurant dining and delivery experiences.
Employee experience and customer experience are clearly linked—especially on a large scale at the world’s largest employer.
According to Donna Morris, Chief People Officer at Walmart, if employees don’t have a great experience, it’s difficult for people who don’t get a paycheck to have a great experience.
A great customer experience starts with a great employee experience, and the line between the two is increasingly blurring. After all, employees are customers of the brand. And with more than 2 million global associates, Walmart’s employees have an incredible impact on the brand and the customer experience.
How do you move an iconic brand towards the future?
That was the question Harry Overly, President and CEO of Sun-Maid, faced when he took over the company in 2017. The brand had vast stores of emotional equity, not to mention the familiarity and fondness for its iconic red raisin boxes. But it didn’t have a coordinated consumer marketing strategy and had missed an entire generation of consumers. Overly relied on data and customer feedback to bring the brand to the present.
Creating A Customer-Centric Utility Company
Utility companies aren’t typically known for their customer-centricity.
But Kevin Walker, CEO of Duquesne Light in Pittsburgh, is transforming the industry by making customers a central focus.
Walker admits that the system used to be a one-way flow from facilities to customers. Until recently, most utility companies referred to their customers as “meters” or inanimate objects instead of focusing on them as humans.
But customers are more involved in their utilities than before, and an increasing number of companies like Duquesne Light are transforming to provide personalized, digital service.
Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here.
Customer Experience Is A Decision
People often refer to customer experience as a discipline. But it’s more than that—customer experience is a decision. No matter where you are in your career, customer experience is a decision to wake up and care about customers, influence change and create a better world.
Customer experience is constantly changing and isn’t something you can check off your list once. You have to decide to show up every day and carry the energy with you to go above and beyond. Customer experience is a decision. You have to work like you have skin in the game and decide daily to care more and do more.
Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here.