In my 40 years of work experience in helping businesses leverage their business through customer services, I have seen that even large organisations, with abundant resources and expertise, often fail to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Despite declarations like “customer is king,” operational challenges and outdated practices are still prevalent in businesses’ daily operations, which lead to customer experience issues in large corporations.
I have spent 4 decades working with businesses like Aircel, Airtel, Escotel Mobile Communication, ATS Infrastructure, Centum, Worxpertise, and Bignify to understand why failures in customer experience management persist and what contributes to poor service in big organisations.
Suggested Blogs: Customer Experience
- Importance of Customer Experience
- Customer Service Management
- Elevating Consumer Satisfaction
- CX Leadership
- Customer Experience Enhancement
- Poor service to customers and citizens
Most failures in customer experience management
following key reasons:
1. The Shift from Product-Centric to Experience-Centric Models
Historically, organisations focused on efficiency through product specialisation and cost reduction. While this worked in the industrial era, modern consumers value experiences beyond the product itself.
Challenge: One of the major challenges in corporate customer satisfaction remains that large corporations struggle to transition their systems and processes to align with customer needs.
Results: Outdated models lead to challenges in corporate customer satisfaction where the customer’s journey feels disjointed, ultimately leading to failures in customer experience management.
2. Lack of Strategic Focus on Customer Experience
In many large corporations, the customer experience (CX) function is reactive, dealing primarily with complaints and operational issues. It rarely influences strategic decisions.
Challenge: CX leaders often lack the tools, skills, or organisational influence to integrate customer feedback into decision-making.
Result: This contributes to why large companies underperform in customer service, as CX remains isolated rather than a company-wide priority.
3. Absence of International Standards for CX Management
Unlike manufacturing or software services, customer experience lacks universally accepted standards to guide organisations in developing robust systems.
Challenge: Companies lack a structured framework to assess and improve their CX maturity.
Result: Poor service in big organisations, inconsistent service delivery, leading to failures in customer experience management.
4. The Role of Academia in Bridging the Gap
The adoption of CX tools and techniques in corporate practices remains limited due to a disconnect between academia and the corporate world.
Challenge: Few certified courses in customer experience exist, leaving professionals without proper training.
Result: This knowledge gap exacerbates customer experience issues in large corporations, where innovative solutions are slow to emerge.
5. Inefficiencies in Citizen Services
Government services often face similar challenges in corporate customer satisfaction. While initiatives like e-governance have improved processes, execution gaps persist.
Case Study: The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan introduced performance audits for municipalities to drive accountability and improve results.
Challenge: Digital initiatives often fail at the execution stage, especially at touchpoints for semi-literate or elderly users.
Solution: Adopting peer benchmarking and feedback mechanisms can enhance citizen experience at every touchpoint.
6. Underinvestment in Customer Experience as a Strategic Priority
Large organisations often view CX investments as optional, focusing instead on immediate ROI from sales and marketing efforts.
Challenge: Delayed ROI from CX programs discourages leaders from prioritising them. Thus, businesses press pause on customer services and continue with their sales initiatives.
Result: This mindset makes the efficiency of customer service suffer, thereby leading to poor service in big organisations and long-term benefits being overlooked.
How Large Corporations Can Overcome CX Challenges
- Adopt a customer-centric framework: Corporations can switch to holistic customer experience design from product-focused models.
- Empower CX Leadership: Teams must be empowered and equipped with tools and CX trainings. This will influence them to integrate customer feedback into strategic decisions.
- Implement Universal Standards: Implement globally accepted CX guidelines in your business to ensure long-term consistency and global quality.
- Collaborate with Academia: Invest in customer service skill upgradation and certification to empower them to provide better customer service.
- Enhance Digital Touchpoints: Audit regularly and address each and every execution gap in the digital services to improve accessibility for diverse user groups. This will improve your customer service.
Conclusion: Why Large Companies Underperform in Customer Service
The challenges in corporate customer satisfaction are rooted in outdated systems, a lack of standards, and underinvestment in customer services as a priority. Addressing customer experience issues in large corporations requires attention, commitment, innovative strategies, and industry-wide collaboration.
Organisations that prioritise customer service and align it with modern consumer expectations will not only overcome failures in customer experience management but also secure a competitive advantage in today’s experience-driven economy.
FAQs
Why do large companies often struggle with providing excellent customer service?
Large companies may face challenges like complex organizational structures, slow decision-making, and a lack of personalized attention to customers. These factors can hinder their ability to deliver outstanding service.
How does bureaucracy impact customer service in large companies?
Bureaucracy can lead to rigid processes, slow responses to customer issues, and inefficiency. This often results in a frustrating experience for customers seeking quick resolutions.
Do large companies prioritize cost over customer satisfaction?
Some large companies prioritize cost-cutting to maintain profits, which can lead to understaffing, insufficient training, or outdated technology, negatively impacting customer service quality.
Why is personalization challenging for large companies?
With a vast customer base, large companies often rely on standardized approaches rather than tailored solutions. This lack of personalization can leave customers feeling undervalued and dissatisfied.
What can large companies do to improve customer service?
Large companies can invest in advanced customer service technologies, empower employees with better training, streamline processes to reduce bureaucracy, and focus on building stronger, personalized customer relationships.
