A shift towards digital technologies is empowering external customers to execute transactions independently. Loan applications, insurance claims, and purchases that use to require intervention now need to be self-service, available from your smart phone. This changing landscape means that customer service representatives, claims adjusters, and loan officers (among others) are no longer the focus of solution development activities and therefore are no longer primary stakeholders. In a customer-centric business models, your external customer is the primary stakeholder, subject matter expert, and focus of business analysis activities.

But do you know your customers? Less than 15% of business analysts actually have a direct connection to their organization’s end customer. To understand the business needs and define the solutions that are going to deliver value tomorrow, business analysts need to understand their customer and the friction or challenges that this customer experiences when conducting a transaction.

This presentation will introduce the concept of customer friction and how by understanding the customer friction that exists today, business analysts can define the solutions that are going to drive digital business transformation.

Traditionally, organizations have been product or services focused. The idea was to build the best and the customers will come. Today, products and services are table stakes, easily copied commodities. Tomorrow’s successful organizations will need to differentiate on customer experience by redesigning themselves to transact business directly with the customer, reducing customer friction and increasing satisfaction.

Key Takeaways

1. Impact of digital business transformation on the role of the business analyst
2. Strategies for understanding your customer and their requirements
3. How to lead your organization towards a customer-centric future