WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

This my first original piece on the Digital Transformation of Business blog. I was spurred by an inquiry from the CDO of Ville de Montreal as he looks to shape the job description of the head of customer service. I assume this is also meaningful to other executives looking to enhance or transform their customer service department.

First I suggest reading a lot on the customer decision journey, as it evolves from the old "funnel" model to the "journey" model, an endless loop centered around the customer.

- McKinsey describes the Customer Decision Journey very eloquently in this 2009 article. http://bit.ly/Z1Ck1r

- An article in The Economist may provide an easier to read version (believe it or not!). http://bit.ly/Z1DjPh 

- McKinsey then shows in 2014 how digital shapes the customer decision journey interactions with customers, an essential component being customer service. http://bit.ly/Z1CuG2

- Forrester has written extensively on the creation of customer journey maps which I believe are amazing ways to vizualize the new interactions in the digital age. http://bit.ly/Z1HTgi

- Forrester proposes the 6 Cs of customer centricity which may help guide your initial strategic thinking. http://adobe.ly/Z1IVZC 

- a pinterest board provides an interesting view of different journey maps. http://bit.ly/Z1Iwq8

Then a number of firms have written specifically about the customer service in the digital age including:

- Deloitte which includes mobile first, omni channel, social networks, etc. http://bit.ly/Z1JliP

- McKinsey about What it takes to digitize customer care http://bit.ly/Z1JOl3

- Capgemini has a number of papers on digitization of customer experience, part of their wider and well researched digital transformation of businesses http://bit.ly/Z1K1oq

- Mashable provides simple web-based solutions to self-service customer care, which I assume every VP should understand and put in his master plan http://on.mash.to/Z1Kgj6

- Accenture has a customer survey that may shed some lights into the needs of customers regarding service they expect form organizations in the digital age http://bit.ly/Z1KqqT

That being said there are lots of other sources and I welcome in the comments any other references that may be useful.