The future of CX requires women in leadership
The future of CX is built on emotional commerce, meaning that to compete in the experience economy, businesses must connect with customers on an emotional and meaningful level.
“You are an analog girl, living in a digital world.”
– Neil Gaiman, American Gods
Recently, a marketer I admire on Twitter posted an article that grabbed my attention. It was a piece strongly declaring the value of and need for the individual contributor.
It encouraged the path of an ever more experienced individual contributor as a career choice over what is often deemed the more rational, popular choice: to become an expert in a single domain and then move into leadership. First, you become a manager. Later, a director. And even later, perhaps you make it to the c-suite.
But it’s not a journey for everyone. Amber Naslund’s article makes that incredibly clear. And me, well, I’m living proof.
After all, I’ve had a different career path than most.
SAP brings together bright, innovative, and diverse talent to build breakthroughs in technology that change the world. Watch closely, and you might just see a familiar face in the video below 😉 #LifeatSAP https://t.co/jzAI7XhOk2 pic.twitter.com/qpuDEFAqMM
— Julia White (@julwhite) May 7, 2021
My 15 year journey with a single company
In February of 2021, I celebrated my 40th birthday, and at the end of June, I’ll celebrate 15 years at SAP.
I started here as a contractor in 2005 – when I was 25 years old. After 15 months, I converted to a full time executive assistant, and spent 13 years in the role, serving various organizations at all levels of SAP.
After two years of partnering with CMOs, I transitioned fully into marketing – in 2020. (Welcome to it, right?) While I very much knew what I was getting into, the experience since joining the marketing team full time has only deepened my love and appreciation for SAP and for CX as an industry.
See, I was part of SAP #CX from the very beginning, as SAP pulled together Cloud for Customer, combining it with Hybris, which later became SAP Hybris. I was there, too, for the evolution to SAP Customer Experience with the addition of Abakus, SeeWhy, Gigya, and Callidus.
The customer experience directly impacts how I buy, how I request service, how my data is handled, how I’m contacted. If these experiences are important to me, they are important to all consumers – that’s the spirit of everyone here at SAP Customer Experience.
CX feels like home to me, and my colleagues over the last 15 years, well, they are family. We share a passion for improving the customer experience – yes, for our customers, but also for ourselves.
Remote working before remote working was cool: An employee experience you simply can’t leave
It’s unusual for Xennials, those people who were born on the edge of the Gen X and Millennial generations, to stay at a single company for as long as I have. But the employee experience at SAP is something I could never bring myself to trade in.
And the company just keeps getting better. Flex schedules and remote work have been common at SAP for the last five years, long before the pandemic made it necessary and, dare I say, cool.
SAP has also spent the last 5 years on the list of the top 100 best companies to work for. It’s clear to see why. There are endless upskilling and learning opportunities, with coaches and mentors at the ready. It’s how I made it to the marketing team, partnering with the c-suite to find new roles and new opportunities at every step of the way.
But it’s not just about SAP or even the individual employee. The company highly values sustainability, diversity and inclusion, women in leadership, and so much more. SAP stands on the right side of history – and is a global force for good, with the power to impact true change for causes like these.
Sustainability in fashion: Industry teeters on ethical catwalk
Fashion is a $2.5 trillion industry, producing 10% of global carbon emissions, 20% of global wastewater, and vast biodiversity loss. Consumers are demanding change, forcing sustainability in fashion as a requirement, not a trend.
When I say the opportunities to learn are endless: Year 15 – and it still feels like year 1!
I’ve changed over the last 15 years. My family, my education, my career – they’ve all morphed into something beyond my wildest expectations. SAP has changed, too. Leadership, strategy, culture: nothing is static, and I’ve been here long enough to see the inner workings of this place.
Together, we’ve evolved.
Year 15 feels just as fresh as year 1.
I’m still that bright-eyed 25 year-old, excited to work for a global company, with so much opportunity and room to grow. I truly believe SAP is one of the few organizations prepared to lead in the future, and it’s because it’s an organization that allows for individual contributors, that helps individual employees grow and learn, no matter their final career path.
People stay here for decades because they are truly, deeply happy with their work, with their colleagues, with the satisfaction that they are a drop in an ocean of SAP employees helping to solve world-wide issues like sustainability and diversity.
SAPPHIRE NOW keynote: Chasing zero, with eye on the future of business
SAP is chasing zero with the world’s biggest business network, and innovations to drive digital transformation, sustainability, and equality.
CX has been my career passion, and what SAP has taught me about how to take care of customers is exactly how they take care of employees. I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to optimize my career for personal happiness and growth, all while at the same company.
My 16 year old self would be incredibly proud.
It occurred to me today that 16/yo me would think that 40/yo me is really cool. That made me feel pretty awesome. Also, 16/yo me was much cooler than I remember in her being in the 90's. #ThrowbackThursday pic.twitter.com/wsLSjT0IRe
— Cindy (@MrsBeauchamp2U) June 4, 2021
My final piece of advice would be to treat your career path like CX: Always optimize for the user – and that’s you!
