Delivery of As-Is analysis can be in the form of gaps, BPMN diagrams, Pareto diagrams, and fishbone diagrams, which combine the need to present a unified view of the company with the focus on customer-facing processes.
Good analysis should clarify the following points:
- Clarify the company's stance regarding CX
- Clarify what is currently being done right, and what is missing or being ignored
- Clarify and quantify the impact of these deficiencies on the business
- Clarify gaps from both the customers' and employees' perspective
- Clarify overall qualitative and quantitative impacts
To be able to do this, it is imperative to structure the gap analysis appropriately and have sufficient time and resources. The best practice in gap analysis is to hire external resources, since that will provide an impartial view of the company and facilitate interdepartmental cooperation.
Tools and methods that can be used to achieve this are as follows:
- Interviews: One of the most useful methods of gathering information regarding CX gaps is interviewing key employees across the company. These employees are domain experts, usually aware of the difficulties that customers face and the internal challenges that are preventing the company from providing an appropriate customer experience.
- Internal reports: These can provide a deep understanding of how the company conducts its own business and what the values and KPIs are that are important to the company. Gap analysis can conclude that metrics used in reports need to be changed to facilitate CX implementation.
- Market research: Market research reports usually contain customer feedback, with their views and experience regarding products or services provided by the company. They also can outline the company's focus on specific market segments.
- Customer interactions data: Usually, the company has a wealth of data regarding customer issues as a result of contact with their customer service team. This information is usually not analyzed and utilized appropriately. This is usually because of complex interdepartmental relations and conflicting objectives. The objective of this exercise should be to impartially assess and bring to light customer issues.
- Customer journey mapping workshops: These workshops should be conducted with interdepartmental resources, and they should highlight different customer's experiences interacting with the company.
GAP analysis usually results with a large number of GAPs identified. GAPs need to be identified and constructed so that they can be understood as part of the processes in BPMN/UML notation, and connected to root causes in the fishbone diagram. Also, to be able to address gaps in an appropriate manner, their impact should be quantified. Some low-level gaps may be omitted from a project plan or placed in subsequent phases.