For customer experience to work, everyone needs to understand their role – and the RACI model can help.
Though the model was developed back in the 1970s, well before CX became truly top-of-mind for most organizations, its principles apply very well today.
What is the RACI Model?
The RACI model is a responsibility assignment matrix that helps clarify roles and responsibilities within a project or organizational process. Here’s a brief overview of the components:
- Responsible (R): The individuals or teams who perform the work.
- Accountable (A): The person who is ultimately answerable for the correct and thorough completion of the task. The buck stops here, so to speak, so this should always be a single person.
- Consulted (C): Those whose opinions are sought, typically subject matter experts, and with whom there is two-way communication.
- Informed (I): Those who are kept up-to-date on progress, often via one-way communication.
Applying the RACI model ensures that all aspects of the customer journey are effectively managed and continuously improved.
Who Should Be in Charge of Customer Experience?
Should CX have its own department? In my opinion, a separate department dedicated to CX is necessary but not sufficient. Here’s why:
Necessary: A dedicated department ensures that someone is consistently looking at the 30,000-foot view of the customer journey. This department, typically led by a Chief Experience Officer (CXO) or a Chief Customer Officer (CCO), is responsible for overseeing every interaction and handoff across the departments of the organization. The CXO is instrumental in breaking down silos and ensuring a cohesive strategy.
Not Sufficient: While a dedicated CX department is essential, customer experience should really be everyone’s job. However, it’s often said that when something is everyone’s job, it ends up being no one’s job. This paradox underscores why having a dedicated CX department is necessary—to ensure there is accountability and strategic oversight. At the same time, fostering a truly customer-centric culture means every employee, regardless of their title or job description, should be inspired and empowered to make CX part of their role.
Related: What Does A Chief Experience Officer Do?
Applying the RACI Model to Customer Experience
In the customer experience and RACI model, the roles could be delineated as follows:
- Responsible (R): In a truly customer-centric organization, every employee could be seen as responsible for customer experience. This includes customer service representatives, sales teams, product developers, and even back-office staff. Each of these roles contributes to the customer journey in different ways and is responsible for ensuring a positive customer interaction at every touchpoint. Even if an employee never talks with a customer, they are still making decisions every day that impact the overall customer experience.
- Accountable (A): The head of the CX department, such as the CXO or CCO. This person is ultimately responsible for the overall customer experience strategy and its execution. They ensure that all CX initiatives align with the company’s goals and that customer feedback is continuously integrated into business processes.
- Consulted (C): The heads of other departments, such as marketing, finance, and operations. These leaders need to collaborate with the CXO to ensure that their departments’ strategies and actions align with the overall CX strategy. For example, marketing should ensure that the brand promise communicated through campaigns is fulfilled by the actual customer experience.
- Informed (I): The CEO and senior leadership team. The CEO must lead by example and demonstrate a commitment to customer experience. By keeping the CEO informed, the CXO ensures that CX remains a strategic priority at the highest level of the organization.
Example of a CX Project Using the RACI Model
Let’s consider a project to revamp the company’s online customer service portal, a common CX initiative.
Objective: Improve the online customer service portal to enhance user experience, increase self-service, and reduce support call volume.
- Responsible (R): The IT department is responsible for the technical implementation, while the Customer Service team provides input on necessary features based on customer feedback. Marketing is responsible for communicating the changes to customers.
- Accountable (A): The CXO is accountable for the project’s success, ensuring it aligns with the overall customer experience strategy. Alternatively, the Chief Operations Officer or the head of the Customer Service department might take charge of such a project.
- Consulted (C): The Legal team is consulted to ensure compliance with data protection regulations. The Finance department is consulted for budgetary considerations and cost-benefit analysis. And individual Customer Service agents might be consulted to better understand frequent call types after failed self-service attempts.
- Informed (I): The CEO and senior leadership are informed about the project’s progress and any major milestones or challenges. Regular updates are provided to ensure alignment with strategic objectives.
Creating a Customer-Centric Culture
For a company to truly benefit from a dedicated CX department, it must foster a culture where customer experience is everyone’s responsibility. This involves several key steps:
- Empower Employees: Provide the necessary training and tools for all employees to contribute to CX. This could include customer service training, access to customer feedback, and recognition programs that reward exceptional customer service. In addition, teach the organization that no one will ever get in trouble for helping a customer.
- Encourage Collaboration: Break down silos between departments and encourage cross-functional teams to work together on CX initiatives. This helps ensure that every aspect of the customer journey is considered and improved. One simple change: train every department to look at where the customer was before arriving at their area, and where they’re going next. This will help smooth out transitions during which CX often slips.
- Lead by Example: Senior leaders, especially the CEO, must demonstrate their commitment to CX. This could be through regular communication about the importance of CX, celebrating CX successes, and integrating customer feedback into strategic decisions.
- Continuous Improvement: Customer expectations are always evolving, so it’s crucial to continuously seek feedback and make improvements. The CXO should lead efforts to gather and analyze customer data, identify trends, and implement changes that enhance the customer experience.
Conclusion
Viewing customer experience through the lens of the RACI model provides a clear framework for assigning roles and responsibilities. While a dedicated CX department is necessary to oversee and drive the customer experience strategy, it is not sufficient on its own. A truly customer-centric organization empowers every employee to take responsibility for CX, collaborates across departments, and is led by senior leaders who prioritize customer experience.
By applying the RACI model, companies can ensure that their CX efforts are well-coordinated and effective, ultimately leading to happier customers, empowered employees, and better business outcomes.
Image by This_is_Engineering from Pixabay.
