In today’s fast-paced world, delivering a convenient and memorable Customer Experience (CX) is the key to differentiation. However, one of the biggest challenges many organisations face is working across silos. Silos arise when departments operate independently, with poor interaction or communication between each other. This limits internal interaction that creates misunderstandings, and, worst of all, makes it difficult for the customer to enjoy a seamless experience through the full journey. For CX practitioners, breaking down these silos is a game-changer, helping to build stronger teams and, ultimately, stronger bonds between the customer and the organisation. While CX is incredibly easy to understand, it is challenging to implement and breaking down silo walls is the key hurdle to overcome.
What Are Silos, and Why Do They Harm Customer Experience?
Silos develop when departments within a company—such as Operations, Tech, HR, Sales and Marketing and Customer Service—work separately rather than in collaboration. Each group has its own goals and may focus solely on its tasks without considering how it fits into the bigger picture of CX. While it’s natural for departments to specialise in their tasks, when communication breaks down, it’s the customer who suffers most.
Imagine a customer landing on a website through a clever marketing campaign and finding something they love. The campaign offers them a special promo code for a price reduction. They proceed to the checkout, only to face difficulties because the sales team and the digital team haven’t worked together and the promo code now doesn’t work. That initial excitement quickly turns into frustration.
Another example would be a customer who purchases a product online, expecting to return it in-store, as mentioned in the company’s return policy. However, when they arrive at the physical store, the staff are unaware of this online return policy because the e-commerce and retail teams haven’t coordinated. The customer is left frustrated and confused, feeling like the online and the physical stores are separate, which leads to a poor overall experience.
In both examples above, the miscommunication between departments highlights how silos can negatively impact customer satisfaction and trust.
Silos and Exceptional Customer Experience
A company that wants to deliver outstanding customer experiences must ensure that every interaction feels cohesive, no matter who the customer is speaking to or what platform they’re using. Silos or Kindoms, however, make this goal hard to achieve. When different teams don’t collaborate, the customer experience becomes disjointed. Customers might receive conflicting information or feel like they’re interacting with different companies instead of one unified brand.
For example, when Marketing runs a promotion but customer service isn’t informed, customers who call in may not receive the expected discounts or benefits. Similarly, if teams don’t share customer data, service representatives might be unaware of previous interactions, leading to frustrating and impersonal conversations.
As Gerard du Toit, partner and head of global customer experience capabilities at Bain & Co, notes, “Companies don’t have to reorganise themselves in order to avoid siloed thinking. They can create cross-functional and agile teams to address a particular challenge such as setting up a new account or improving online checkout.” This approach helps break down the barriers that prevent smooth customer experiences without needing to restructure the entire organisation.
How CX Teams Can Break Down Silos
As a CX professional, you are in a unique position to encourage more connection between teams. By championing collaboration and improving communication, you can help create a more harmonious organisation that places the customer at the heart of everything you do.
- Create a Shared Vision for Customer Experience
The first step in breaking down silos is ensuring that everyone in the organisation understands the importance of CX. The best way to do this is by creating a shared language and vision – one that clearly communicates the company’s commitment to delivering an excellent CX at every touchpoint in the customer journey. Every department must recognise its role in achieving this goal.
CX teams can work with leadership to define this vision, mapping out the ideal customer journey and sharing it with the entire organisation. They can also work with HR to ensure that all departments are trained in CX, at a level that is appropriate for their needs.
At the CX Academy we offer training for all teams in every organisation that inspire and empower your staff to speak the same customer-centric language and go above and beyond in delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Find out more here: Team Training
By providing everyone with a clear view of what great CX looks like, you ensure that all departments are aligned and working towards the same goal.
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Encourage Cross-Department Collaboration
One of the most effective ways to break down silos is to encourage different teams to work together on CX-related projects. Forming a CX Taskforce that includes members from different departments, will help to foster collaboration, build deeper relationships, and increase understanding of how each department contributes to delivering CX Excellence.
For instance, bringing together marketing, product, and customer service teams to work on improving online checkout can lead to better insights and solutions. This approach ensures that different perspectives are considered and helps build a sense of shared responsibility for the customer journey.
A great example of cross-departmental collaboration is Amazon, where the company uses the “two-pizza rule” to foster better communication and agility. This rule, championed by leaders like Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy, limits the size of teams to no more than the number of people who can be fed by two pizzas. By keeping the teams small (up to 10 people), Amazon minimises lines of communication and enhances coordination between departments.
As well as this by sharing customer feedback across departments Amazon ensures that teams across the business—from tech to customer service—work together to solve specific customer pain points.
These cross-functional teams are encouraged to work closely together, sharing insights from different areas of the business, all while maintaining a culture of customer obsession and centricity. This approach ensures that no matter the project—whether it’s improving delivery times or enhancing online shopping—everyone is aligned and focused on delivering exceptional customer experiences.
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Improve Communication
Communication is the foundation of any successful collaboration. Silos often develop when teams don’t have the opportunity or tools to communicate effectively. By creating open and regular communication channels, CX teams can encourage departments to share information and ideas more freely.
One practical way to do this is by implementing collaborative tools, such as project management software, to keep everyone informed and on the same page.
However, this is where setting up a CX Taskforce will shine. These regular meetings that focus on customer experience allow representatives of different teams to exchange insights, discuss challenges, and align on solutions.
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Set Incentives for Teamwork
Creating a more collaborative environment may require a bit of encouragement. If departments are only rewarded for their own success, they may not prioritise teamwork or cross-department collaboration. CX leaders must work with HR to develop incentives that promote collective success and shared goals.
For example, departments can be rewarded based on company-wide customer satisfaction metrics, such as CSAT or NPS scores. Celebrating teams that collaborate well and improve the customer experience is a powerful way to reinforce the importance of teamwork.
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Centralise Customer Data
One of the quickest ways to break down silos is to ensure teams have access to the same customer data. Centralising customer information on a shared system, like a CRM, allows every department to see the full picture of the customer journey. This helps teams deliver more personalised and consistent experiences, no matter which part of the organisation the customer is interacting with.
When everyone has access to the same insights—such as purchase history or previous customer interactions—it becomes easier to anticipate customer needs and provide a more seamless and omnichannel experience across touchpoints.
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Establish Feedback Loops Between Teams
Continuous improvement is vital in creating a great customer experience, and feedback loops can help achieve this. By setting up formal channels for teams to share feedback, CX leaders can ensure that valuable customer data flows across the organisation.
For example, feedback from customer service will provide powerful insights for the marketing and product development teams. By encouraging teams to share information regularly, CX practitioners can help organisations spot patterns and opportunities for improvement much quicker.
Working Together for a Better Customer Experience
Breaking down silos is essential for creating an exceptional customer experience. For CX practitioners, the task is to lead the way in fostering collaboration, improving communication, and ensuring that every team understands its role in delivering CX Excellence.
By establishing a shared CX vision and language, encouraging cross-department teamwork, improving communication, centralising data, and creating feedback loops, we can help our organisations build the strong connections needed to provide seamless customer experiences.
If you would like to learn more about CX Excellence delivery and how to break down internal silos effectively, Contact our team about the benefits of enrolling in our Professional Diploma in CX today.
