A power shift is underway in the world of customer service as customers derive both power and influence from advances in technology. Companies that want to survive this shift need to understand that the age of the customer is upon us, and customer experience is the key differentiator when it comes to standing out among competitors.

Customer experience directly impacts customer loyalty along many phases of the entire customer lifecycle. From bringing in repeat business to influencing customers to recommending your organization to other customers, the experience is both powerful and critical to the success of any company.

“Customer experience has become sort of the one thing that stands out,” said Suresh Chandrasekaran, senior VP, North America, Denodo (News - Alert) Technologies, Inc. “It’s become a sustainable competitive advantage.”

Organizations that wish to compete effectively in the new customer-driven culture absolutely must have a comprehensive customer experience strategy. To develop a successful strategy, companies need to understand their customers from a holistic level, throughout the entire customer lifecycle. A comprehensive customer data management platform can go a long way toward achieving this, but there also needs to be broader, company-wide policies to effectively analyze, manage and use this data.

Megan Burns, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester (News - Alert) Research, will be discussing how companies can succeed in the age of the customer in the second session of a free series of webinars presented by Denodo on Thursday, August 27 at 11 a.m. PT. “Understanding the Customer Experience Ecosystem to Succeed in the Age of the Customer” will discuss what Forrester has learned about the importance of customer experience and how it affects customer loyalty. The session will also include an example of one of Denodo’s telco customers that has successfully used data virtualization to develop a comprehensive customer experience strategy. The company is using kiosks, booths and mobile delivery vans in tandem with its call center as part of a service strategy that extends across the entire customer lifecycle.

Ultimately, a customer experience strategy relies heavily on maintaining a deep understanding of customers and managing their entire experience. Having actionable data on customer behavior and interactions can go a long way toward developing that strategy, but that data is only the beginning.

Companies need to develop a customer-centric culture throughout their entire organizations, giving their employees access to customer data and information so they can provide a complete customer experience from all touch points. This “democratization” of information is a critical element when it comes to remaining competitive in the age of the customer, and an important part of the development of a successful customer experience strategy.