CyberCX is the leading provider of professional cyber security and cloud services across Australia and New Zealand. Formed in 2019, CyberCX brought together 12 of Australia’s independent cybersecurity brands and has been growing rapidly ever since.
In this case study, Tom Allan (COO) and Anita Chai (NPS Program Manager) at CyberCX share insights on how they successfully launched a robust, valuable, and profitable customer experience (CX) program using NPS (Net Promoter Score) and CustomerGauge.
Tom Allan, having established a consulting organisation, later acquired by CyberCX, took the helm as COO. As part of his role, Tom oversees both customer and employee experiences, acting as the senior executive champion of CX.
Anita Chai, an expert in IT and service delivery, orchestrated the day-to-day rollout of the program.
The CyberCX Customer Experience program has been operational for about two years. It is perceived by both customers and the organisation as a value-adding initiative, receiving high praise from stakeholders across the company, including CyberCX’s senior management team.
Even though their program does not directly target NPS for individuals, it has delivered consistently high and improving NPS across the business; proof that a focus on continuous improvement and dedication to customers, not simple score targets drive customer experience success.
Interestingly, the sales team emerged as one of the strongest advocates for the new CX process. Successful Account Managers recognised the program as a pathway to stimulating additional discussion with clients. Because CyberCX’s focus was aligned with the right KPIs, not solely NPS, and was centred on business improvement rather than simply individual responsibility, account managers saw only upside in the process.
Customers categorised as Promoters provided opportunities to expand business relationships, while those identified as Detractors allowed Account Managers to garner organisational support to get the customer back on the right track.
CyberCX’s success was achieved through the implementation of several best practices.
Active Senior Executive Sponsorship
From the program’s inception, active senior executive support was evident. The COO led the initiative, but the entire executive leadership team, from the CEO down, was vocally and visibly supportive.
Beyond mere words, Tom and Anita formulated a detailed strategy and vision for the program. They clearly communicated the program’s benefits (“what’s in it for me”) to internal stakeholders and customers, focusing on understanding and improving based on customer feedback, not tracking scores.
The plan received approval from the Executive Leadership Team, and the implementation phase began.
It’s more than just a survey. It’s the whole customer experience program. There are different steps and each step is important. The survey quantifies the results of each of those steps.
ANITA CHAI (NPS Project Manager)
Communicate: Not Once, But Repeatedly:
The next step was an extensive and ongoing communication process.
An extensive and ongoing communication process followed. Tom personally presented the strategy, logic, and plan to different internal stakeholders, each time tailored to emphasise its importance and potential impact on them and the business. There were more than 25 such formal presentation along with many more informal discussions, follow-ups and other sessions
We spent a lot of time getting people to understand this was not just about NPS. From the start, we made it clear, ‘This is about listening to our customers, understanding their feedback, and critically, taking action based on that feedback.
Tom Allan (Chief Operating Officer)
Communication was not a one-time affair. Data related to the program is routinely presented and discussed across the business, including regional town halls where each region shares their customer experience data.
Build and Continually Improve the CX Process
From day one, CyberCX built processes around the CX program and enhanced them over time.
After the strategy and communication phase, staff understood the program’s desired outcome, but well-managed CX processes were critical to instruct staff on how to implement the strategy.
Use the right KPIs
Unlike many organisations, CyberCX doesn’t focus solely on the Net Promoter Score. Their primary KPI is Response Rate.
Staff don’t have individual NPS goals. While a good score is appreciated and frequently achieved, CyberCX values the volume of feedback received because customer experience responsibility is shared among many individuals across the organisation.
No single individual is responsible for the score, instead, everyone is responsible for the score.
This is a recurring theme in organisations that are successful in implementing NPS.
See these two case studies for more examples:
- [Case Study] How AccessPay Lifted NPS from 15 to 50 in 2 Years
- [Case Study] How Zip Water UK Lifted NPS from 5 to 73]
The emphasis is not on achieving the highest score, it’s on receiving genuine feedback and achieving the highest response rate. The question is, what are our customers really saying? Once we have that insight, we can repeat what works well, and make improvements where needed. If we’re oblivious to the problems, we’re just wasting time.
Tom Allan
Focus on Continuous Improvement.
CyberCX’s program integrates touchpoint-based surveys at the end of engagements and regular relationship surveys, delivering data across business units and customer segments.
Feedback is meticulously analysed and summarised by Tom’s team.
Questions are raised – is this an issue specific to a particular region, or is it systemic?
If systemic, the COO takes up ownership to resolve it. If it’s within a region or team, they are expected to commit to addressing it. Businesses devise and own action plans to solve business process issues and individual client interactions.
The COO’s office doesn’t dictate what needs to be done, but rather provides suggestions and insights to aid business units in formulating actions that will enhance the customer experience.
The approach is iterative – rinse and repeat. It’s a textbook continuous improvement process.
A testament to the positive culture is that staff quickly realised that being summoned to a meeting with the COO due to Detractor feedback wasn’t a cause for alarm. Instead, constructive feedback serves as a rallying point for the organisation to assess and improve, focusing resources to rectify the issue, rather than apportioning blame to an individual.
This mindset shift has been instrumental to success: a lower score is viewed not as a finger-pointing exercise, but as an opportunity to improve.
Look for What’s Not There
When analysing feedback, CyberCX devotes as much time looking for what is absent as it does for what is present.
For instance; if a client has been surveyed over the last four quarters and you received; response, response, response, no response, that “no response” is information to add into your analysis.
Who’s speaking to that client? What do you know about them? Are they engaging with you?
Look for the lack of signal as much as the presence of signal.
Close the Loop on Every Response: Customers and Internally
Closing the loop has probably been one of the most important parts of making this a success.
Tom Allan
Firstly, there is an internal mandate to respond to the customer for every single piece of feedback received.
This is done through a structured process, with the COO having direct oversight of any Detractor feedback.
When a customer suggests an improvement, it is assessed for its potential impact and appropriateness. If deemed suitable, it is quickly actioned and communicated to the customer.
We heard your suggestion for improvement. Here’s what we’ve determined is relevant and what we’re doing about it.
This approach conveys to customers that CyberCX actively listens to them and acts on the feedback received. This, in turn, has shown that the more a company interacts with its clients, the more likely they are to respond to the next survey.
I have had dozens of conversations over the last two years with clients who were like, “Okay. I knew your name was on the survey, but I can’t believe we’re having a conversation off the back of my feedback. I just wanna say thank you for reaching out and having the conversation.
Tom Allan
The second part is ensuring that positive feedback is also disseminated internally, both directly and via regional town halls, group town halls, etc. This strategy has been instrumental in securing widespread buy-in for the process.
High five. This customer gave you great feedback. Let’s make sure that’s passed on to the team that’s relevant or even broader in the organisation.
CustomerGauge Enabled Success
The CustomerGauge platform also played a significant role in CyberCX’s CX success journey.
Leading with Data Analysis
Data analysis has been instrumental in driving business improvements, and out-of-the-box, CustomerGauge proved to be a powerful tool for this analysis. Particularly for segmentation of data in a complex organisation like CyberCX, CustomerGauge allowed the company to pinpoint customer feedback for specific product lines or services across the business.
The platform also allowed CyberCX to analyse its customer segments – does Segment A perceive us differently from Segment B? Does Product A yield different results than Product B?
This reporting capability has been crucial in analysing the data, presenting it back to the business to sustain buy-in, and continuing to grow and embed the program.
We have a comprehensive understanding of the program’s impact across our client base. We have analytics showing which clients are improving, which are not, and what actions we’ve taken to make a difference. We have access to all that data.
Tom Allan
Fast Time to Value
CustomerGauge proved to be a user-friendly platform that could be quickly implemented, providing a fast turnaround time in terms of sending surveys out to the pilot group and validating the processes that CyberCX had developed.
Conclusion
The introduction of the Customer Experience program at CyberCX has generated significant success as evidenced by consistently high and improving NPS across the business. The sales team also recognises the program’s potential for opening up additional discussions with clients. This proactive feedback-driven approach has resulted in a win-win situation – identifying advocates to expand the business relationship and detractors who offer insights into potential improvements.
Coupled with continuous improvements and analysis, this program has resulted in increased customer satisfaction, and CyberCX is committed to maintaining the momentum, fostering a culture of active listening and responsiveness to customer feedback.
The success of the CyberCX customer experience program is a testament to the company’s commitment to its customers, active leadership, and willingness to leverage technology in pursuit of excellence. It is an example other organisations can look to when designing and implementing their own customer experience programs.
