By Thomas Lai
In this blog post, I’ll share some success stories about businesses in the Asia-Pacific region delivering great customer experiences even in the face of daunting economic and operational challenges.
First, though, I thought I’d back up and ask an important question: What does it take to deliver a great customer experience — a fast, frictionless interaction that meets a customer’s expectations and hopefully even exceeds them?
Data is obviously a key requirement. Businesses need data about customers, so they can know what customers need, when they need it, and how they would like it delivered.
Customers need data, too, ideally presented in a highly comprehensible way, so they can quickly understand offerings, make choices, and know exactly how their needs are being addressed and what they should expect next.
Addressing all these aspects of customer experiences — from understanding customers to guiding them through purchases and fulfillment — requires data from a wide range of data sources, often including CRM systems, website personalization systems, inventory management systems, shipping systems, credit approval services — perhaps even real-time feeds about currency conversions or weather patterns.
For most businesses, bringing all that data together isn’t easy. To collect and manage that data and put it to work, IT teams need to contend with monolithic applications, complex programming interfaces, service bus architectures, and other legacy technologies. Traditionally, this work has involved lots of custom programming and point-to-point connections. All too often, these projects stretch from weeks to months or even longer.
Boomi helps companies collect and deliver that data so they can provide great customer experiences, leveraging all their data effectively. We provide that rapid integration and automation capabilities that dramatically accelerate the work of integration and automation. The Boomi platform, with its low-code development environment, drag-and-drop interface, and library of ready-to-use connectors, can cut integration times by 65%, according to a study conducted by Forrester Research.
In a previous blog post, I wrote about the commitment of companies in the Asia Pacific region to delivering great customer experiences. Now let’s look at three specific examples of companies using Boomi to overcome integration challenges and succeed in their missions by delivering great experiences to customers.
Munro Footwear Switched From Brick and Mortar to Online Sales While Also Integrating Systems From M&A Activity
Munro Footwear Group (MFG) is Australia’s largest privately-owned footwear company, offering an extensive portfolio of trusted brands such as Midas, Django and Juliette, Colorado, and Diana Ferrari.
Even before the pandemic, MFG had already decided to modernize its online services to improve the quality of its customer interactions. When the pandemic hit and the company was forced to temporarily close its brick-and-mortar stores, the company’s leadership realized their migration to online sales had become a top priority. To avoid losing sales, the IT team would need to quickly integrate applications across every aspect of its business.
The company’s application portfolio had grown substantially as a result of eight M&A transactions. Now all those applications would need to be integrated to support new online sales and shipping processes. To achieve the connectivity it needed, MFG decided to build an intelligent digital backend that would connect all aspects of its operations.
MFG selected the Boomi platform to integrate all the systems for both its brick-and-mortar operations as well as its ecommerce operations. The company’s IT team selected the Boomi platform for its versatility, development speed, and ease of use. Using Boomi’s low-code development environment, ready-to-use connectors, and AI-powered configuration guidance, MFG was able to bridge its in-house retail application with its enterprise resource planning (ERP) and ordering systems in less than a month.
MFG now has visibility and control over its data, supporting real-time decision-making. With more than 200 integrations currently live, MFG is launching services faster, has the resilience needed to manage external disruptions and further its online expansion, and the flexibility to add new systems and applications as needed.
MFG used Boomi to enable “ship-from-store” capabilities across 26 pilot stores, facilitating business continuity during the pandemic. The new connections also helped MFG mitigate supply chain issues by enacting quick, tactical changes while some of its containers were held up in Asia for several months.
Based on the online revenue generated from this initiative, MFG plans to roll out this service across its remaining retail network.
“The Boomi plans enables us to connect operations, so we have visibility and control over our data, allowing us to make real-time decisions and furthering our expansion online,” says Keng Ng, chief technology officer at MFG. “These connections also helped us mitigate supply chain issues by enacting quick, tactical changes while some of our containers were held up in Asia for several months.”
The Disability Trust Creates a Secure, Authoritative View of Data for Improving Participant Care
In Australia, the Disability Trust has chosen the Boomi platform for integrating data sources and standardizing data to improve care for more than 4,000 people living with disabilities. The Trust is a not-for-profit (NFP) with 1,800 employees and care staff who provide a range of services to support people with disabilities to live the lives they choose. The organization’s services include life skills training, independent living and accommodation assistance, social and networking opportunities, sports and recreation, and employment help.
To better personalize its care services, the Trust staff and caregivers needed a secure, singular view of operational, employee, and participant information. As part of its cloud migration initiative, the Trust deployed the Boomi platform to eliminate business siloes, integrate business-critical systems, and centralize data from its applications.
It’s obvious to the Trust’s leadership and staff that they can improve care by ensuring that caregivers have all the information they need in one place, so they can more easily meet unique needs of each participant. And having access to centralized data enables executives and managers to understand what’s happening in their regions at a click of a button.
Before it began using the Boomi platform, the Trust’s data was distributed across multiple, custom applications and stored in multiple formats. Now, using Boomi Integration, the Trust’s IT team will connect those application and use Boomi Master Data Hub to create a single “version of the truth” that can be quickly accessed across the organization. They are also using Master Data Hub to migrate employee and participant data to a secure data warehouse.
As a result, the Trust will be better to able to fulfill its mission serving those living with disability in Australia. Data, once again, proves key to delivering great experiences to stakeholders.
Watch our product demo to find out how you can build the integrations and automation that will enable your organization to deliver even better experiences for your customers and partners.