ASPIRE MATURITY ASSESSMENT - For The Enterprise

Martin Pack, COO | GM | Principle Consultant

Background

To complement our range of services, including research, thought leadership, webinars and strategic planning reviews, as well as value-added marketing and business development, Aspire has recently introduced a new offering we call Aspire Maturity Assessments, or AMAs. This combines Aspire's extensive knowledge and experience with verified research and industry best practices through a series of assessment questions that determine an enterprise's place on a maturity curve, from simple, reactive communications management to proactive and interactive engagement that improves Customer Experience Management (CXM).

In today's competitive business environment, organizations are striving to deliver exceptional customer experiences and build strong relationships with their audiences. Customer Communications Management (CCM) and CXM play a critical role in achieving these goals. Aspire's CCM-to-CXM Maturity Assessment provides a comprehensive evaluation of an organization's communications management strategy, workflow, and mindset, enabling stakeholders to better understand their current capabilities, identify areas for growth, and chart a path to customer-centric excellence.

Understanding CCM and CXM

CCM focuses on managing and optimizing customer communications across multiple channels and touchpoints. It includes the creation, management, and delivery of personalized and relevant communications to improve customer interactions and achieve desired outcomes. CXM, on the other hand, takes a broader view and encompasses the entire customer journey. It involves understanding customer needs, preferences, and expectations to create seamless, consistent, and engaging experiences across all customer interactions. As organizations work to transition from CCM to CXM, maturity assessments can provide valuable insights into the organization's strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. Knowing exactly where your organization falls on the CCM to CXM maturity scale gives stakeholders the information they need to make data-driven decisions, allocate resources effectively, and set realistic goals. In short, Aspire's CCM-to-CXM Maturity Assessment enables organizations to bridge the gap between their current state and their desired customer-centric future. 

Why you should consider taking an Aspire Maturity Assessment?

1. To create a shared vision

Aspire's CCM-to-CXM Maturity Assessment is an excellent first step for organizations embarking on a journey to transform their customer communications to become customer-centric. After taking stock of the organization's current practices, processes, and technologies, the assessment engages key decision makers while identifying opportunities for improvement and providing guidance on how to improve customer centricity across the organization. We do this by looking at the technology stack, the operating model (teams & processes), and your omnichannel culture/mindset, among other areas. It's very important to know where you're going and to have the support of key stakeholders, because improvements tend to happen in incremental steps.

2. To gain (top management) support

Gaining top management support is critical. The Aspire Maturity Assessment comes in two versions: the AMA Online and the AMA Onsite. The online version is a 30 page report based on an online survey of approximately 60-70 questions to be completed by a CCM domain expert in your organization. This report provides your current score on the CXM maturity curve, identifies gaps, and provides areas of interest to explore in more depth. This is an excellent report to get the attention of top management or seek funding. The Onsite Assessment is a follow-up in which Aspire consultants conduct one-on-one interviews with key stakeholders to validate or gain consensus on strategic direction. These stakeholders are often on the business side and help the IT or CCM teams create a vision that is supported by key constituents.

3. Establish a baseline against which future improvements can be measured

Having regular, data-driven checkpoints against which to measure progress is very helpful. CCM-CXM transformation doesn't happen overnight, the domain is too complex or expansive, so it's important to continually look for the low-hanging fruit. Our assessments, combined with our market research and domain insights, give you access to deep expertise to help you achieve your goals. 

Timelines and cost

The cost of the AMA Online is $10K (USD) and takes about 1-2 weeks to complete - we will have a kick-off call to walk you through the questionnaire, once completed it will take about a week to generate the report. We will then schedule a call to discuss the key findings.

The onsite AMA depends on the scope required - it typically starts with a plenary market update session where an Aspire analyst will provide an overview of the latest CXM trends and thinking, how other companies are responding in terms of operating model or how they are evolving their CX models (we will discuss things we see in practice such as Centers of Excellence, centralization vs. decentralization, BizDevOps structures, Federated CX models). We will then have a plenary discussion about your organization's challenges, followed by one-on-one interviews over one to two weeks, depending on scope and availability. We will then write the report (3-4 weeks) and return it to you. The entire process typically takes 6-8 weeks, but again this largely depends on the scope and availability of your stakeholders. During COVID, we moved to doing our assessment online, so hybrid formats are also possible. Costs start at $50,000.

Why Aspire?

• As trusted advisors in Strategic Consulting within the CCM to CXM space, we can help you transform your communications into digital experiences. We extend this to certified independent consultants with training on AMA - Online.  
• We provide market insights, strategy, and operational best practice to help our clients meet the evolving communication needs of their customers. For the ARC, this can help you position your practice with our Strategic advice and knowledge.
• Unlike generalist consultancy firms, we are highly specialised in all inbound and outbound communications across all Industries
• We bring together a thorough understanding of the modern communications world with the complexities stemming from back-office, regulations, and legacy systems
• Aspire is perfectly placed to help you navigate the regulated world of communications.  

How can Aspire help you?

• Aspire's Maturity Assessment helps you and your client understand your readiness for change in your journey from CCM to CXM
• Based on our assessment, we work with you and your client on strategy that includes a technological roadmap, vendor/partner evaluation and selection, and developing an operating model blueprint based on journey management and a CCM/CXM centre of excellence 
• Aspire's Customer Journey Management toolkits and templates can help you deliver improved communications that increase customer experience through effective journey mapping 
• Aspire's Centre of Excellence models can help you achieve consistency in customer communications
• You work as an extension of our team to provide an independent, unbiased view to help you achieve trusted strategy support.

Amanda Beesley
VP Consulting
Aspire