Solution

As a follow-up to their successful X-Day event, Sanoma asked Shirute to design and facilitate an employee experience workshop using CX Play, as they kicked off the work of two newly merged business units specialising in IT, data and analytics. The main goal was to get the team members to discuss and plan how they could, coming from two distinct organisational cultures, work better together. Through this work, SMF also aimed to develop employee experiences to motivate everyone to give their best performance. Altogether, about 80 people joined in on the seriously fun challenges.

To begin with, the participants had to come up with their own Lego models, portraying their previous experiences in team dynamics. After everyone had shared their stories, and each model was properly explained and understood, the work to understand which topic would be most helpful to focus on further collectively within each team began. Together, the teams addressed the biggest challenges they were facing and used their Lego models to join forces so as to create one common model incorporating their shared story. This model represented everything from what they had previously experienced.

Participants also needed to depict the good elements of what makes a great team, as they were challenged to address what would make their team experiences better in the future. In addition, they were asked to share what made employee experiences great in their previous occupations.

Overall, the results were very positive. Given the individuals’ characteristics and backgrounds, the discussions around the Lego models brought together everyone – even those employees, who would usually not openly share their thoughts and ideas with others.

The key takeaways from this CX Play session were:

• Understanding cultural backgrounds and the different traditional norms that each individual experienced
• To openly communicate and provide feedback when and where it was needed, but in a way that doesn’t affect everyone’s emotional mood negatively
• Come together for a general meeting, to discuss the performance levels at the individual and the whole team’s level

Solution

The training created by Shirute for Fazer Food Services was built on three parts. It started with getting to know oneself as a performer and influential interactor. Secondly, the focus was shifted to influencing others. As a third stage, participants worked together by giving feedback, sparring peers and encouraging each other, as well as concretely practicing their newly acquired skills in various real-life situations to influence people.

An important part of the training consisted of understanding customer experiences and learning how to use CX/EX tools and methods to improve it. From the perspective of a research and development expert, the client can often be also a colleague or someone else from within the organisation. That is why the training also touched employee and partner experience.

The training built the participants’ courage to throw oneself into new situations. They also learned new skills to cope with challenging and stressful situations.

The next phase of the training will be about revising and reflecting successes in different interaction situations, where the participants have been able to practice their new skills, as well as getting direct feedback for their live performance.

• Gaining more knowledge about different types of interaction styles and personas
• Preparing tools for encounters and measuring success
• Identifying interaction situations at different parts of the service path
• Practical tips for turning the new knowledge into habits

Solution

Shirute’s CEM Audit Strategy module examines the current state of customer experience strategy e.g. from the point of view of preparing strategies, concretisation, tools and implementation.

The audit started with our CEM Benchmark survey, which helped look into the different areas of customer experience management at Kesko, and compare the results with other companies. This study resulted in a good overall picture of the current state. Based on the results, the content, needs and scope of the next phases of the audit were decided upon.

Themed interviews play a central role in the CEM Audit process. Views on the current state were gathered from across the organisation by conducting these interviews. In addition to analysing the CEM Benchmark survey and interview results, existing customer experience materials, presentations and strategies were examined to deepen the overall understanding.

The findings and development ideas that were discovered during the CEM Audit project were combined to a final report that gave Kesko concrete development ideas to act upon. With Shirute’s digital solution, the results can be studied from many perspectives. In addition, the final project report works as a tool to communicating the results within Kesko’s organisation.

The aim of the CEM Audit was to help Kesko to identify the strengths and development areas of their customer experience strategy and to discover development ideas that they can implement in the future.

From these practical development ideas, Kesko has used the results for example to develop their customer journey management.

• An overall picture of the current customer experience strategy
• Information from benchmark results
• Insights on the current state and best practices to be introduced
• Objectivity, knowledge and depth to inspect matters from an outside professional’s point of view
• Development of customer journey management practices based on the new knowledge gained from the project

Solution

The participants received an eye-opening introduction into customer experience development. They were introduced to customer experience from the perspective of competitive advantage and tools that marketing and communication people themselves can use to influence customer experience in their organisations.

Through team discussions, they learned about the role of marketing and communication people in relation to customer experiences in their respective organisations.

As part of the training, the participants also got to try out the new tools and methodologies for CX development for a real-life case example. In the workshop part, they e.g. got to recognize and build customer personas and journeys.

• An understanding of customer experience as a competitive advantage
• Customer experience knowledge needed in the job roles of the participants in their own organisations
• Tools and methodologies for developing customer experiences
• Capability to influence customer experience from own professional background

Solution

Shirute was asked by Nordea Life Assurance to give a CX training, organise a workshop, and facilitate crucial skills-building exercises with the intent of kicking off the work of their newly formed CX team.

This gathering brought together everyone to start learning, sharing and defining the most common CX practices, the considerations that must be taken into account, and the means to achieving those goals.

As these were some of the first steps in formulating the team, the solutions were for everyone to first opening up, getting familiar with the terms revolving around CX, and improving on the people aspect in better working with one another.

The main challenges set forth for the team members to think about were understanding their overall purpose and everyone’s own role in helping to develop customer experience in the organisation. They also spend time together discussing the kind of customer experiences Nordea Life is currently offering to its clients. Finally, they defined together the characteristics of a memorable customer experience, and shared their views on the must-have elements of great customer experiences. These simple guiding principles form a basis that can be followed in the upcoming work of the CX team.

By using Legos to propel these discussions, everyone on the team was able to have their say and get their opinions heard by others on equal terms. That was an important aspect in building a team that has trust in and respect for each other.

Key takeaways from this work:

• Being able to define, understand, and put into practice the theories of customer experiences
• Better understanding their internal capabilities, to be able to work and gain from each other’s strengths
• Solidifying their shared journey and development path towards the goal they set out for themselves

Solution

The development project created an inspiring, ecological, healthy, efficient work environment that enables changing ways of working and helps generating innovations, with facilities and services designed for various work communities. The move from technology-centricity to thinking first about the office space’s user-centricity and workday experiences was conducted through the study of values and modelling of personas.

At the beginning of the project, a large-scale round of interviews was conducted with experts in the construction and real estate sectors. As the development project focused on the customer experience, end-user interviews and involvement of employees also played an essential role, e.g. in the form of co-creation workshops with a visual facilitator. The interviews were used to map the course and content of the participants’ workdays in different roles, different industries and organisational levels. The aim was to find out what kind of daily work tasks a so-called “Smart Office” should be able to support.

As a result of this research, it was concluded that “Smart Office” means to people their own environment wherever they perform their work tasks at different times. As multi-site or non-site-based Nomad work has become more common, solutions and practical concepts for the phenomenon were considered. One of the key outcomes of the project was to build thought leadership around how a smart office should first and foremost be designed to support the well-being of employees. This thinking was concretised with concept drafts.

• Creating the Smart Office concept to cover and support the needs of the office user in a variety of ways
• Putting the end user at the center by obtaining information e.g. through large-scale, visualized interviews
• Employee and customer experience skills and understanding of different work environments and working days for consortium participants from many industries
• Creating models that support Nomad work and future ways of working as part of the solution to the important changes in worklife identified in the horizon

Solution

The coaching series created for Finnpilot Pilotage consisted of two separate development and training sessions and discussions with the Leadership Team.

The first session with the Leadership Team focused on the foundations of customer experiences – through purpose and values. The discussions revolved around the different customer types and personas involved in operations at different levels and stages of the service chain.

The second training dove into a more detailed level of personas with pilots working in the customer interface, senior pilots and staff working in other roles involved in customer service. The hands-on exercises addressed real customer situations and descriptions.

As a result of the training, the management gained better skills to develop customer experiences, starting from value drivers. Concrete customer descriptions and the personas created in the training sessions, in turn, serve as a tool for communication, planning and customer understanding for the staff in creating a customer-centric culture. The participants of the training became more involved and learned to think more about their customers after stopping to think about pilotage and customer service situations from the perspective of their customers.

• An overall view of the customer’s perspective in customer encounters
• Tools for creating a customer-centric culture
• Identifying customer personas at different stages and levels of the service chain
• Describing customer personas with concrete examples
• Evaluation of customer encounters and situations
• Basics of customer experience measurement

Solution

Shirute organized a two-day CX Masterclass for Elisa’s self-services and customer service solutions team as an internal coaching. The training was conducted under the guidance of British CX guru Ian Golding and international CX expert Sirte Pihlaja.

At CX Masterclass, the different areas of customer experience development and management were comprehensively and practically walked through. The training consisted of plenty of tasks and exercises that were conducted as teamwork. Furthermore, CX Masterclass included case examples from different industries selected according to Elisa’s wishes, which were introduced by representatives of customer companies from around the world.

As a pre-assignment, participants were involved in thinking about customer experience management capabilities with the help of Shirute’s CEM Benchmark. The results were analysed and reviewed together, which provided a sound basis to spend two days together on a journey through the CX Masterclass.

The training program continued with a one-day course organised by Shirute for Elisa to prepare the attendees to take the CCXP certification. Many participants were interested in completing the certificate. The Elisa attendees were introduced to the criteria for the completion of the CCXP certification and were given practical advice and excercises to get ready to pass this globally highly appreciated certificate.

The day-long training covered possible types of questions and practical tips for answering them. The aim was to enable as many participants as possible to complete this international certificate of CX competence and to develop their own skills.

• Shared customer understanding and CX framework
• A common language to discuss customer experience development
• A unified way of working
• Practical tools and methods
• Direction for future development measures
• Skills and tips for completing the CCXP certificate

Solution

With the help of the successfully conducted audit project Elisa received a broad overall view of the strengths and development points related to the processes and tools used in Voice of Customer. The project was started by interviewing all the key executives, decision makers and workers in private or in group interviews. The theme interviews covered a big part of the employees working with the VoC from all the different levels of the organisation. To deepen the understanding of the current state, a VoC focused survey was conducted. Based on the interviews and the survey results Elisa received company-specific overall results, analysis, conclusions and suggestions for development areas.

Elisa was able to gather views broadly and analyse the level of their know-how on the topic at hand. With Shirute’s audit and evaluation tools they can fine-tune their state of VoC that is already on advanced level. The results were immediately usable on another ongoing projects. The possibility of using the results to take the topic forward in the organisation was seen as one of the project’s merits. Also Shirute’s know-how about the international state and best practices on the topic were seen as value adding elements to the project. The project group saw audit taking the topic a notch higher in the organisation and they also saw benefits in redoing the project regularly in the future.

• Cross-section of the views about the state of Voc from different levels and parts of the organisation
• The results of the audit were immediately usable for other ongoing projects
• The results were used to communicate the current situation in the company
• Based on the evaluation decisions about new plans and actions can be done
• The possibility to benchmark with uniform audit concept

Solution

In the coaching directed by Shirute, a new methodology was used to model customers’ multichannel behaviour and customer experiences at different touchpoints, in order to develop the Marimekko Shopping Experience.

The participants visited Marimekko and competitor stores to evaluate the shopping experiences and to model the current customer journey, phases and channels with methods learned during the training sessions. Based on their shopping experiences, the staff became aware of how different Marimekko looks from the customer perspective.

• Getting Marimekko staff to realise how the store visitors see the different customer service situations
• Models of the most critical customer journeys, along with conclusions made during the shopping experiments
• Activity suggestions and action plan to create a better Marimekko Shopping Experience

Solution

Fiskars is renowned as the number one design brand in the Nordic region. Today, it wants to put customers’ needs first and provide great customer experiences. That is why Fiskars uses rigorous customer experience design based on solid consumer insight.

Fiskars Home was able to conduct a very practical consumer research with expert help from Shirute Ltd. The customer experience audit phase included e.g. themed interviews for understanding consumers’ buying habits, and a survey on consumers’ habits in Iittala’s own stores all over Europe.

The everyday shopping practices were analysed to identify gaps, pain points and development opportunities. Using this information, Fiskars Home can respond to customers’ situations and needs better than any of its rivals.

The project was very practically-oriented. The findings could be translated directly into activities on the sales floors and the online shop. It also helped in disseminating a common understanding of the importance of customer experience. In the next phases of Fiskars’s Customer Experience Path®, the target state of the company’s customer experience will be defined, along with the means to achieve it.

• Consumer insight regarding cooking, table setting and home decoration related buying models and factors affecting these
• Full visibility to current customer dialogue and customer situations
• A customer-driven, multi-channel operational model that increases sales, improves the effect of marketing activities and introduces cost savings
• Ideating new ways to develop customer experiences in various customer situations

Solution

Shirute conducted a comprehensive customer experience study for Marimekko, with the aim to find out what customers appreciate in their shopping experiences with Marimekko, and to compare customers’ and sales staff feelings about the current customer experience, with focus on the in-store encounters.

Customer-side participants were recruited during their store visits, and they responded through an online survey. Store managers and sales staff were presented with the same questions, and the results were combined into a Customer Experience Index™ and an Experience Attitudes Map™. This map visualises the problem areas, and helps drive future improvements. Based on the results, Marimekko has been able to develop the multi-channel shopping experiences of its customers, and make buying easier for its customers who move between channels during their shopping journey.

• Understanding the multichannel shopping behaviour and identifying the critical moments in the customer journey
• Scoring and prioritization of the most important steps of the shopping experience, including the Customer Experience Index™ level for Marimekko
• Detailed customer knowledge about over 40 stores in 7 countries
• Visualised results (Experience Attitudes Map™), conclusions and recommendations for activities needed to develop the customer experiences of Marimekko customers

Solution

Hotel Helka asked Shirute to do as part of Business Fit™ audit a customer research, which focused on its different target groups. The goal was to understand the buying behaviour of hotel customers – both guests and those in charge of the bookings, as well as their preferences regarding the booking process and accomodation. In addition, the hotel staff and management were interviewed, in order to evaluate how well their views on the customer experience are aligned with the guests and other clients. Also the customer data quality and development opportunities were investigated.

Based on the audit results, Hotel Helka’s customer experience management maturity level was scored. Armed with these conclusions and recommendations, Helka can make informed decisions on where it should invest to improve the customer experiences and how to use customer data to serve them better.

• A clear view of hotel customer processes regarding booking and buying and preferences for hotel services of Helka’s very own customer groups
• Customer and expert evaluations of current customer dialogue and customer service processes
• Data quality assessment and immediate activity recommendations to improve customer data
• Recommendations and roadmap for developing the customer experience management organisation and processes

Solution

Shirute helped Rovio to build the staff members’ knowledge of the business benefits and their technological competences related to Big Data. The training explained how gaming data and customer data combined can help the company drive further sales from their different businesses.

In further co-operation, Shirute has advised Rovio in the use of Big Data analytics to engage more fans and increase sales, through data auditing, data quality assesments, as well as data assets management planning. Shirute has also supported Rovio in evaluating offered technological solutions to leverage Big Data for Rovio’s business. 

• Improving the skills of the business users and technology experts on Big Data
• Expert advice and implementation help related to technological solutions and scoring model for using Big Data analytics
• Proof-of-Concept for Big Data mining analytics and suggested next steps

Solution

With a fast-paced, visual workshop methodology, Shirute made it possible for TeliaSonera to crystallize its customer experience management needs, organisation and activities. As a result, Telia-Sonera was able to design a path to follow, in order to successfully develop its customer experience strategy. This plan is in line with the vision to become a world-class service company, as suggested by the company’s brand promise.

• A fast way to draw a comprehensive picture of the currently on-going efforts and needs for customer experience development in TeliaSonera
• Shared understanding of the current challenges and programme priorities
• Preliminary ideas on the strategic focus and objectives, roles and responsibilities for the Sonera Experience target state planning

Solution

In this project, Shirute Ltd studied customers’ paying behavior and preferences for buying lottery products. Shirute used these results and trend research, to envision future scenarios for payment methods and their effect on the operational environment. Armed with this knowledge, Veikkaus can create even better customer experiences in the years to come.

• An understanding of consumers’ current paying & buying behavior and preferences
• Latest knowledge on existing and future payment methods
• Tools & up-to-date information to drive further future scenario planning and to prepare for different outcomes
• Common vision on the need to follow the development of payment methods

Solution

Shirute conducted a benchmarking study, and concretized and visualised VR Group’s future travel concept, with special focus on the online services. With the help of Shirute, VR was able to begin its development process to modify the service experiences of its customers, both for passenger services and the multichannel customer services.

• Competitor intelligence regarding passenger service companies and their multichannel offering
• A concrete, visualised concept for future travel services that introduces new services for VR’s customers, increases sales and brings in ancillary revenues
• Ideas to make providing better customer experiences both before and during the journey, as well as at the final destination, possible right away