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The customer experience means different things to different people. This is the challenge that every company faces when trying to outperform the competition and claim more of the market share. Those able to identify what the customer wants and deliver it consistently will pull out ahead. To maintain that spot, however, they have to be able to continue to keep pace with changing customer expectations.

To that end, a number of companies have discovered the magic answer. Zappos takes customer service to a level unseen in other organizations. It doesn’t matter the problem, the reason or the person involved, the company empowers its agents to do whatever it takes to achieve satisfaction. It’s one of the reasons the company continues to outperform its competitors, although the free shipping also helps.

Amazon is another company that has it wrapped up when it comes to giving the customer what he wants. The company’s site perfected the personalized experience for those who visit often. Based on your search history, Amazon would make suggestions relevant for you to not only improve the experience, but also increase the chance you would make a purchase. It works well as long as you don’t mind cookies on your machine; and let’s face it, most of us Prime customers don’t mind at all.

When it comes to the call center, meeting the customers’ expectations is a little more difficult. Yes, Zappos has a great strategy, but it has to keep evolving if the company hopes to stay on top. And, consumers shopping for shoes have different needs and expectations than those who are shopping for airline tickets or furniture for a new house. The point is to understand the expectations before they come forward in frustration.

To reach this understanding, companies need information. They need to capture what is important to the customer and embed this information into their customer service policies. When the process has been perfected, they have to continue it on a regular basis. Capturing information over time ensures processes can change to keep pace with emerging trends. It’s a tall order and one often more difficult to achieve when software is involved. How easily the software evolves with processes will dictate long-term success.

ANPI is one company on the forefront in technology to support the customer experience. Its customer administration portal is making positive waves and the company was on hand at ITEXPO to explain. To learn more, check out this interview between TMC’s (News - Alert) Rich Tehrani and ANPI’s David Byrd.