SmartCOMM Archives - Page 6 of 13 - Smart Communications Blogs

4 Reasons to Attend the Banking Automation Summit

Posted on March 8, 2024 by Scott Draeger

By Scott Draeger, SVP of Product Marketing and Vertical Solutions

One of the reasons I enjoy working at Smart Communications is because it allows me to learn about, and discuss, the products that help banking leaders around the world improve the way they onboard new clients, better serve their current clients, and stay ahead of regulatory changes in an uncertain economic climate.

Getting out to learn what’s on the mind of bankers, and the description for the Banking Automation Summit in Nashville, TN seemed like my kind of event. I’ll be there March 18-19th with others from my team at Smart Communcations, and we hope to see you there! In this article, we’ll dig into four reasons to attend the event, but first let’s look at how our software solutions help banks and FSIs provide exceptional customer experiences.

Digital-First Engagement for Banks

The event description grabbed us, “Anchored in intelligent automation strategies, this event gathers stars from the financial sector, offering unparalleled insights into the merger of cutting-edge tech and banking. Amidst a relaxed yet professional setting, attendees are poised for genuine, high-quality networking, ensuring they engage, learn, and collaborate.”

Smart Communications has helped financial services organizations like yours deliver better conversations with your customers using our market-leading customer communications management technology. We help drive digital-first engagement across banking, credit, and asset management applications. Our SmartCOMM™ and SmartIQ offerings help banks save millions with account opening, onboarding, and client servicing conversations made faster and simpler.

1. Learn from Banking Leaders in Transformational Roles

As the Smart Communications team prepares for the summit, we’re building out our schedules just like you. The team is looking forward to presentations from a variety of speakers with a wide range of perspectives from their specialties. We are looking forward to Anuj Shah from PNC’s AI perspective, Dominic Cugini from Key Bank for a Chief Transformation Officer’s view, Jude Schramm from Fifth Third for the CIO’s frame of reference, and Maria Mason from Citizens Bank for an Enterprise Product Manager’s outlook.

2. Align Your Challenges to Customer Feedback

While we are certainly interested in learning at the event, we have a lot to offer as well. On your way to the conference, check out our 2023 Benchmark Report for the Financial Services Industry. The three key findings show that customer communications are a strong driver of loyalty, generational channel preferences should not be dismissed, and consumers perceive ease of interaction as trust from their banks.

3. Level Up Your Professional Network

While you are at the Banking Automation Summit, make sure to meet with some of our team members. We can show you how our customers are staying ahead of regulations while exceeding customer expectations. We will show you how our cloud-native Customer Communications Management (CCM) and forms automation technology is instantly deployed, quickly implemented, and in line with your bank’s 2024 goals.

As you think about collaborating with peers at the Banking Automation Summit, it is important to seek out people from other banks with different roles. At Smart Communications, we find the greatest successes start with larger teams. As you look at the customer experiences that are associated with communications, you will find people that focus on challenges at the customer-facing front office, integrations of the middle office, and regulatory constraints of the back office.

4. Tap into an Amazing Source of Peer Insights

If you want to engage, learn, and collaborate, think about some small talk you could make with the people at the summit. Ask some of the speakers and other attendees about their roles, and how they approach communication and customer experience. Chat with some of the attendees over a snack break what they could automate if rates go up three percent.

At the cocktail reception, see what projects others would accelerate if rates decreased by three percentage points. While you are waiting for the session to begin, see if your neighbor turns regulations into communications quickly? Ask how they track the history of the conversations that make up each customer’s relationship with your bank.

Connect with the Smart Communications Team

We’ll be in the sessions, learning with you. Connect with us at the summit. If you can’t wait until then, take a look at our Loan Application Demo, Loan Servicing Demo, or book a demonstration before the event. We’re excited to see the sessions, watch the keynotes, and meet people like you at the Bank Automation Summit. See you in Nashville!

7 Ways to Build a Customer Obsessed Communications Strategy

Posted on March 5, 2024October 19, 2026 by Chris Murphy

By: Smart Communications

In a world where customer expectations are evolving rapidly, your business must pivot towards a customer-centric approach to stay competitive. Since over 50% of customers would be likely to switch from a company if their communications did not meet expectations, prioritizing a customer obsessed strategy is vital—now more than ever.

This article will guide you through the process of developing essential strategies that can transform your Customer Communications Management (CCM) and propel your organization toward maintaining a standard of excellence.

1. Understanding Your Audience: The Center of Customer Obsession

To truly engage your customers, you must first understand them. Dive into demographic considerations, market changes, and emerging trends that shape your audience. Given that customers are more diverse and dynamic than ever, it's critical to go beyond surface-level knowledge.

A deep understanding of your audience's demographics, preferences, and behaviors will lay the foundation for crafting messages that resonate. This is the first step towards a customer obsessed communications strategy.

2. Harnessing the Power of Personalization in Customer Communications

Personalization is more than a buzzword; it's a game-changer when communicating with customers. Utilizing customer data to create a personalized experience that goes beyond just addressing customers by their names will make a big difference in retaining customers and attracting new ones. For example, in healthcare and banking, leading CCM solutions are instrumental in personalizing appointment reminders and billing statements for individuals.

For healthcare, the system can leverage patient appointment data, ensuring reminders include specific details, location, and any pre-visit instructions. This improves attendance rates, enhances patient preparation prior to their appointment, and ensures compliance with healthcare regulations by securing patient information.

In the banking sector, personalized billing statements improve clarity and understanding with clear insights into transactions and charges. This tailored approach helps your customers receive relevant and timely information.

3. Content Intelligence

Content intelligence offers a user-friendly way to both manage and optimize the content used in customer communications. Content intelligence capabilities allow you to optimize the readability, tone, and sentiment within your communications, enabling you to focus on truly engaging with your customers. As a communications author, you’ll gain a better understanding of your existing content and more easily identify areas of repetition or redundancy with variants that are being used across your business.

4. Omnichannel Excellence: Meeting Customers Where They Are

Navigating the channels of customer communication should be as smooth as a well-choreographed dance. Picture this: A customer seamlessly transitions from their computer to their mobile device and the experience is the same. This fluidity is not just a convenience—it's a cornerstone of an exceptional customer experience.

We’ve all experienced the frustration of being confined to a single channel. Your organization's ability to break free from this limitation is a testament to its commitment to omnichannel excellence. It's about providing a seamless, interconnected journey for your customers, regardless of the touchpoint.

5. Proactive Communication: Anticipate Needs Before They Arise

Imagine a scenario where your business not only meets customer expectations but surpasses them by anticipating their needs before they do. Studies, such as our recent Benchmark report, consistently demonstrate that having this foresight substantially enhances satisfaction levels.

In practical terms, this means staying one step ahead. Employ predictive analytics and market research (like customer surveys, for instance) to understand what your customers may require in the future and integrate it into your CCM solution. This will help you create an experience that feels tailored, attentive, and ahead of the curve.

Keep in mind: proactive doesn't necessarily mean your customer communications need to be predictive. Simply sending communications about how a patient/policyholder/customer can get more out of their relationship is still proactive communication and something that adds value.

6. Agility in CCM: Adapting to Rapid Market Changes

Your CCM strategy should be as flexible as your customers' needs and as adaptive as market trends. Rapid changes are inevitable, and the ability to adjust your communication strategy accordingly is what sets customer-centric organizations apart.

For example, if a bank or insurer needs to adapt to new government regulations quickly, a CCM solution that allows them to manage and control content elements centrally will greatly reduce the time and effort spent manually updating communications. That’s because they’ll be able to make the change in one place and it will automatically propagate the change across any impacted communications, regardless of channel.

7. Feedback Loops: Closing the Circle of Customer Engagement

Closing the loop on customer engagement involves more than just delivering messages; it requires a keen understanding of what your customers think and feel. Enter the realm of feedback loops—a vital component in maintaining a truly customer obsessed strategy. Establishing effective feedback mechanisms ensures a continuous improvement cycle based on valuable customer insights.

Encourage customers to share their opinions, preferences, and grievances. Use surveys, social media interactions, and direct communication channels to gather this feedback. Once collected, analyze it systematically to identify areas for improvement. This iterative process not only refines your communication strategy but also strengthens the bond between your brand and customers, showcasing your commitment to meeting their evolving expectations.

Conclusion

Becoming customer obsessed is not a one-time effort but an ongoing commitment. Implementing these seven strategies into your customer communications strategy will help you transform your organization into one that retains, attracts, and values the customers’ voice—ultimately leading to a positive impact on your bottom line and future success.

Ready to Supercharge Your customer Communications?

In a world where customers are the heartbeat of business, a customer obsessed communications strategy is a necessity. The best news is that it’s an easily achievable goal for your organization and one that will pay dividends. Take the first step towards a more connected and customer-centric future by embracing these transformative strategies in your CCM.

Download the latest Benchmark Report for in-depth insights and actionable strategies to drive customer obsession in your business.

Smart Communications Named a CCM ‘Technology Leader’ in SPARK Matrix 2024 Report

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Scott Draeger

By Scott Draeger, SVP of Product Marketing and Vertical Solutions at Smart Communications

As 2023 drew to a close, the analysts at Quadrant Knowledge Solutions were busy evaluating 18 customer communications management (CCM) technology vendors on the Customer Impact and Technology Excellence of their solutions. Smart Communications’ position in the Technology Leaders category improved significantly and is the highest-placed cloud-native SaaS CCM vendor. The Smart Communications team is eager to share some highlights of the 2024 SPARK Matrix for Customer Communication Management (CCM) Q1, 2024 with you in this article. You can download the entire report here to see these highlights in the full context of a transforming CCM market.

SPARK Matrix 2024 Report at a Glance

The report stresses the importance of customer communications to the entire customer lifecycle for all types of organizations. “Recently, it has become crucial to enhance the customer experience at every stage of the customer lifecycle. Therefore, organizations are focusing on becoming more customer-centric, hence the need for customer communication management.” The analysts claim that “The key objectives of a CCM platform are to enhance the customer experience, ensure regulatory compliance, and optimize communication processes by providing a unified and automated approach to managing customer communications.”

The benefits of CCM modernization are clearly articulated, “Implementing a CCM platform offers significant business benefits by optimizing operational workflows and delivering a more tailored customer experience. The platform’s integration of communication channels, including print, email, SMS, and web, enhances operational efficiency, reduces manual intervention, and minimizes the risk of errors. Improved resource utilization and streamlined document creation contribute to operational efficiency.”

We are proud of their findings, “Smart Communications specializes in delivering robust Customer Communications Management (CCM) solutions, providing organizations with a platform to streamline and elevate their communication processes.” They continue to stress how communications are efficiently designed, implemented, and managed, “Smart Communications facilitates seamless communication workflows, spanning content creation to distribution, ensuring a standardized and personalized customer experience with its adaptable and scalable features.”

SaaS CCM Moves Onward and Upward

The latest SPARK Matrix for Customer Communication Management (CCM) Q1, 2024 recognizes our company’s innovations within the Technology Leaders grouping with significant upward movements on the Customer Impact axis and a major shift to the right on the Technology Excellence axis. Our positioning as the highest placed cloud-native SaaS CCM solution proves that the CCM market is rewarding the pioneering approach to pure-SaaS CCM that we started in 2016.

Throughout the report, Quadrant’s analysts consider solutions implementations through evaluation, demonstration, and input from live client implementations. They recognize our dedication to elevating customer communications in the age of customer experience by writing, “Smart Communications also helps users turn one-way communications into two-way customer conversations to enhance customer experiences and build a positive brand image.” The analysts also note the flexibility and broad vertical application of our technology, “Smart Communications offers a versatile solution, streamlining processes and enhancing efficiency across different industries.”

Flexibility and Usability Differentiate Smart Communications

Some of today’s toughest challenges are in managing communications as regulations change language requirements, compliance needs, and business priorities in a rapidly changing market.

The report understands the efficient approach of our solutions, “Its cloud-native SmartCOMM™ CCM platform features a unique 4-layer model for comprehensive template management. This breaks down structural elements, promoting reuse and sharing, unlike industry norms, which require separate templates for each language, channel, brand, and jurisdiction.”

SaaS-based CCM deployments reduce implementation times, and innovative user interfaces drive flexibility and efficiency for organizations with complex communication needs. The SPARK Matrix focuses on the time and money saving aspects of our design technology, “The Template Designer, accessible through standard web browsers, empowers business users to edit and maintain templates amid evolving landscapes, reducing IT dependence. The Conversation Cloud platform offers capabilities that enable organizations to design personalized and interactive communications that can be delivered across various channels and engage with customers.”

The SPARK Matrix report highlights the benefits of one of our differentiating features that drive savings and eliminates the source of design and implementation errors that is common in CCM technology, “The Editions feature in SmartCOMM simplifies segmentation in the CCM industry, it combines application of brand, language, jurisdictions, effective dates, idiom, and channels, making it the most user-friendly solution for multi-line and multi-brand businesses serving diverse cultural markets.”

CCM Technology for Now and the Future

Decisions around CCM technology investments last for years, with the average solution lasting more than 7 years. As you evaluate CCM technology to bring into your organization, or to apply your existing technology to adjacent projects within your organization, it is important to consider your future needs. As the analysts evaluated 18 technology vendors, they pointed out the end-to-end impacts Smart Communications’ portfolio is bringing, “Simultaneously, the roadmap includes enhanced upstream process optimization from SmartIQ, creating end-to-end customer experiences that improve outcomes and reduce overall effort. This positions Smart Communications at the forefront of innovation in the CCM landscape.”

With an emphasis on improving experiences, reducing cost, accelerating change, and remaining compliant, it’s no wonder the Quadrant analysts wrote, “Organizations are increasingly investing in CCM solutions to streamline communication processes across various channels and offer personalized interactions. The rise of omnichannel communication, coupled with a focus on customer-centric strategies, is steering the market toward solutions that seamlessly integrate with diverse platforms.” Our integrations with Guidewire Software, OneSpan, Pega, Duck Creek Technologies, Salesforce, and other leading technologies are proof that Smart Communications will be a great integration partner for many years.

We are excited to share these findings with you. We encourage you to download a copy and digest the full report for yourself. Its insights highlight how our approach to CCM offers you a way to elevate your customer communications by transforming them into two-way conversations.

What the CMS Prior Authorization Rule Means for Healthcare Payers

Posted on February 19, 2024 by John Zimmerer

By John Zimmerer, VP of Healthcare Marketing at Smart Communications

It took a little longer than I expected, but on January 17, 2024, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its final rule regarding data interoperability and prior authorizations (PAs).

In this article, I address some of the most frequently asked questions about the final rule, and what I see as key takeaways for health payers. Plus, learn how leading customer communications management (CCM) solutions can help you comply with new, and existing, regulations.

Past Is Prologue for the CMS Prior Authorization Rule

In December of 2022, CMS issued a proposed rule, “that would improve patient and provider access to health information and streamline processes related to prior authorization for medical items and services.”

To improve access to health information, CMS proposed payers adopt Health Level 7® (HL7®) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources® (FHIR®) standards and publish new or updated patient and provider application programming interfaces (APIs). The proposed rule also outlined an electronic prior authorization process that would require payers to determine and communicate a decision within 72 hours (expedited PAs) or seven calendar days (standard PAs) and include a specific reason with any denial.

It took CMS just over one year to release the final rule. I’m sure that the lag was due in no small part to the large volume of correspondence they received about the proposed rule. CMS had to parse nearly 900 letters “with hundreds of individual comments specific to the importance of the topic of prior authorization and the critical timing of addressing this issue.”

Who Is Affected by the CMS Prior Authorization Final Rule?

Many US health payers and plans (and a few types of providers) are subject to the final rule, including:

Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs)
Medicaid managed care plans
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) fee-for-service plans
Qualified Health Plan (QHP) Issuers on the Federally-facilitated Exchanges (FFE)

What Are the CMS Prior Authorization Final Rule Compliance Deadlines?

Most of the implementation deadlines are January 1, 2027, including the Patient Access API, Provider Access API, Payer-to-Payer API. However, beginning January 1, 2026 (or plan years beginning on or after that date for QHP issuers on the FFEs), impacted payers will be required to annually report “certain metrics about patient access requests made via the Patient Access API.” These metrics include:

The number of prior authorizations requested by type (expedited/standard);
The average time between submission and decision; and
The percentage of prior authorizations approved, denied, and approved after appeal.

Which Prior Authorizations Are Impacted by the Final Rule?

Prior authorizations for things like medical services and equipment are subject to the final rule. Prior authorizations for medications are specifically carved out of the final rule. CMS didn’t provide a reason (that I could find) for specifically excluding things like specialty pharmacy prior auths.

What Is the ‘Plain Language’ Requirement in the Final Rule?

CMS has mandated that payers communicate several things in “plain language”, including:

The reason for denying a prior authorization
The benefits to patients of API data exchange with their providers
The benefits of Payer-to-Payer API data exchange
The ability for patients to opt in or out of certain data exchanges and how to do it
Explaining the process for requesting patient data using the Provider Access API

CMS encourages impacted payers to follow the Federal Government’s plain language guidelines available at the plainlanguage.gov website. CMS “did not propose standardized denial codes or a specific set of denial reasons for payers to use.” Instead, they referred to the X12 Service Review Decision Reason Codes, which I find interesting for a few reasons.

For one, even though they’ve been in use for a long time, I wouldn’t consider the X12 codes to meet the “plain language” test. And throughout the final rule document, CMS appears to be leaning away from X12 in favor of FHIR. For example, CMS refers to the HL7 FHIR Da Vinci Prior Authorization Support (PAS) implementation guide, which maps between FHIR and X12 transactions. Talk about emerging standards: As of this writing, that standard is in the trial use stage. I’m willing to bet it will be finalized relatively quickly, though, given the final rule deadlines.

What Else Is Included in the Prior Authorization Final Rule?

Quite a bit, considering it’s over 700 pages! I’ve expanded on some highlights below.

Impacted payers must establish and maintain a process that allows patients to opt out of data exchange via the Provider Access API, including allowing patients to change their permissions at any time. If there’s one thing providers have proven they’re not good at, it is preference management, so this will be a challenge.

Impacted payers are required to provide “educational resources in plain language” to patients about the Provider Access API. This must include:

Information about the benefits of API data exchange with provider
The patients’ opt out rights
Instructions for both opting out of data exchange and for subsequently opting in

“Impacted payers must make this information available to patients before the first date on which the payer makes their information available via the Provider Access API, no later than one week after the start of coverage, and at least annually. These resources must also be available in an easily accessible location on payers’ public websites.”

Furthermore, “impacted payers must provide on their website and through other appropriate provider communications, information in plain language explaining the process for requesting patient data using the Provider Access API. The resources must include information about how to use the payers’ attribution process to associate patients with their providers.”

Payers will need to be able to provide prior authorization information, including “related administrative and clinical documentation”, “while the prior authorization is active and for one year after the last status change”. Payers will also be required to maintain five years’ worth of prior authorization history.

For additional information, you might want to check out the overview presentation from CMS.

How Can Smart Communications Help Payers Comply with the CMS Prior Authorization Final Rule?

There are a few ways Smart Communications can help you meet the requirements of the CMS final rule.

First, we can help you meet the communication-related requirements, particularly the explanatory and educational communications that will need to be sent to patients, providers and members. SmartCOMM™ would be a great choice for this use case. It’s perfect for high-volume communications like these and it has content analysis tools built in to make sure you’re using plain language. And, with our large and growing list of prebuilt integrations, you can connect it to your enterprise architecture to generate and send communications on demand over the member’s preferred channel.

If your current prior authorization solutions won’t be enough to handle some of the new requirements, particularly when PAs can’t be auto approved and you need something to manage the back-and-forth between provider and payer, then our SmartIQ™ software might be able to help. It’s particularly good at managing workflows and tracking the metrics you’ll need to start reporting in 2026.

If you’d like to know more about how we and our partners can help meet the new prior authorization requirements, get in touch with us. We’re here for you.

2023 Review and 2024 Preview for Customer Communications in Financial Services

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Scott Draeger

By Scott Draeger, SVP Product Marketing and Vertical Solutions

As we start a new year, it’s important to take time to reflect on lessons learned from the past year and anticipate the challenges and opportunities that we’ll face in 2024. As the SVP of Vertical Solutions at Smart Communications, I am responsible for positioning Smart Communications as a market leader of customer communications management (CCM) and forms automation technology in the financial services market.

In this blog, I will review 2023 and examine the challenges and opportunities that we may see in 2024 and beyond.

2023 Year in Review: A Tough Year in Financial Services

For macroeconomic context, let’s look at the highs and lows of 2023.

Interest Rates

The fed funds rate started the past year at 4.33% and closed at 5.33%. A November 2023 article from Bankrate found that high home prices and high mortgage rates continue to make this a challenging market for hopeful homebuyers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) inflation calculator, consumer buying power increased by 3% during the year. We can’t forget about the headline-making regional bank collapses.

Unemployment Rates Pose Challenge

Unemployment started the year at 3.3% and looks to finish at about 3.7%, according to data from the BLS. Commercial real estate had a difficult year as RTO (Return to Office) initiatives met with mixed success. An article from JP Morgan highlighted that the market was up 24% in 2023, compared to being down 18.1% in 2022. That’s quite a year for financial services.

Growth Amid Changing Behaviors and Market Shifts

From a business perspective, Smart Communications was proud to achieve growth in both the CCM and forms automation markets, adding over 50 new customers in 2023. With SmartCOMM™, SmartIQ™, and SmartDX™ offerings leading their SaaS market segments, it’s no surprise Smart Communications appears on the top 100 list of IDC FinTech rankings for 2023. Smart Communications clients have been expanding by supporting their customers and employees with new use cases for Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, Lending, Credit Servicing, Wealth Management, Capital Markets, and Investment Banking.

I met several key clients face to face in my first quarter with Smart Communications, including DLL, The Bancorp, and the bank featured in our Total Economic Impact report from Forrester. I presented on the challenges faced by wealth managers who cannot meet the needs of multi-generational clients with their legacy technology at the Wealth Transformation Summit in London.

What Does This Mean for Customer Communications in Financial Institutions?

With 2023 behind us, let’s see what the experts think about 2024. According to Wayne Duggan and Michael Adams of Forbes, “the bond market is pricing in a nearly 80% chance the [Federal Open Market Committee] FOMC will pivot from rate hikes to rate cuts by May 2024.” An interesting Nasdaq article cites sources with similar predictions of decreasing interest rates with different impacts, but generally agreeing on direction and timing.

One thing is certain: digitally transformed organizations will be able to provide exceptional service when their front and back-office activities are ready for whatever the market brings in 2024.

Rate Decreases Require Front Office Optimization

If interest rates decrease by enough, consumers may want to refinance mortgages from the past few years, buy new items, or finance more durable goods. This will increase demand and require that your CCM and forms automation technology are ready for a spike in demand in front-office activities like loan applications without manual intervention, duplicated work, or expensive third-party integrations.

Rate Increases Create Back Office Problems

If rates increase, your most expensive transactions become more frequent as heavily regulated (Consumer Duty in the UK, ECOA Regulation B in the US, or others) transactions for loan modifications, rejections, and other extraordinary transactions become frequent enough to drive you to create efficiencies. Using forms automation technology like SmartIQ puts you in a position to turn complex processes into digitally transformed interactions that save time, reduce expenses, and retain customer relationships.

How Will Rate Changes Impact Your Organization?

The future is coming faster than you expect. The time to comply with regulations is compressing. Competitive pressure from banks, neobanks, and other differentiated offerings is intensifying. You’ll have less time than ever to respond to market pressure. If you’re not already using cloud-native technology, you’re already at a disadvantage regarding deployment times. On-prem and hybrid cloud offerings have set-up and provisioning burdens that may take six months, which is longer than your time to comply with some new regulations.

Looking For More Resources?

To get ahead, it’s important to listen to your customers. Smart Communications has been listening to your customers for you. Check out our latest Industry Benchmark Report that shows how your customers (and employees) feel about the communications your organization provides.

Whether rates go up or down, whether the market is for bears or bulls, whether unemployment rises or falls; We are here to help you digitally transform to meet the needs of your customers, prospects, and even regulators in 2024 and beyond.

Unpacking Forrester’s 5 CX Predictions for 2024 and Their Implications for Healthcare Payers

Posted on February 12, 2024 by John Zimmerer

By John Zimmerer, VP of Healthcare Marketing at Smart Communications

Forrester Research analysts Judy Weader, Christina McAllister, Su Doyle, and Senem Biyikli recently hosted a webinar where they presented their five customer experience (CX) predictions for 2024. As I watched, I couldn’t help but think about the degree to which each applies to healthcare. I won’t give away too much, as you should really watch the webinar and download the related presentation to get Forrester’s full perspectives. But below, I’ll go through each headline and offer some color commentary.

Prediction 1: Global Average CX Will Improve for the First Time in Three Years

Well, that would be nice. If you’ve been following Forrester’s CX Index reports, you know that healthcare has one of the lowest industry average scores. In the webinar, Weader made the point that the trendline for CX says we’re due to see improvements. For healthcare, we’re long overdue. Weader also noted that Forrester expects APAC and EMEA to make outsized gains in CX. I would have to agree when it comes to healthcare. From my experience, payers and providers outside of North America are further up the CX maturity curve, on balance.

Prediction 2: 50% of Large Global Firms Will Experiment with Customer-Facing Generative AI

That might be high for healthcare. For the most part, the firms I’ve spoken with are very reluctant to put generative AI (GenAI) out front. Only those that are playing with their own large language models (LLMs) or a hybrid public/private model are thinking of being that bold. Most are looking to use GenAI for creating initial drafts, suggesting edits to existing content, or for first-pass language translation. That’s all behind the firewall. The recent negative headlines about how some payers have been using AI will only slow the adoption of GenAI in healthcare.

Prediction 3: 50% of Large Global Firms Will Report CX Metrics; Only 5% Will Link to Financials

Both are probably high for healthcare. I’ve only seen a handful of firms publicly disclose their CX metrics. That’s partly because only a few have good metrics to report, but mostly because their CX practices are relatively immature. I have only seen one payer sophisticated enough to link CX through operations to their income statement. I’m sure there are others; the point is, they’re rare.

Prediction 4: One-Third of Brands Will Launch Experiences That Are Biased, Inaccessible or Harmful

Here’s where healthcare might shine. That’s because we’ve been subject to accessibility regulations for decades. That created a certain disposition towards empathy and formalized processes and procedures. I’ve seen user experience (UX) and CX teams with their own accessibility manuals and style guides. I’ll be very surprised if a single healthcare organization shows up on the offender list.

Prediction 5: Two out of Five CX Teams Will Turn Away Work Because Their Remit Exceeds Resources

This one is a mixed bag for healthcare organizations. I doubt their CX teams will be flooded with requests; however, I’m sure they are under-resourced. It is a rare payer or provider that fully funds a CX team. That has more to do with company culture than cost structure. The customer just isn’t at the center of many healthcare organizations in the way you’d hope they would be.

How to Link Forms and Communications to CX and Financial Metrics

I applaud the Forrester analysts for putting these predictions – and themselves – out there. I know they’re basing these prognostications on the past year’s inquiries and briefings they’ve been involved in, so they’re well founded. The one I think that matters most to healthcare payers is the inability to demonstrate the link between CX metrics and business outcomes.

CX impacts the bottom lines of healthcare organizations. Period. And yes, it is possible to connect CX improvements to financial outcomes. In an upcoming webinar with Judy Weader, I’ll show you:

Examples of how forms drive call volume;
How communications are linked to appeals; and
Ways to improve CX and business metrics tied to forms and communications.

If you’re ready to discover how to accelerate the healthcare customer experience at your organization, click the link to register for the webinar: Register Now!

5 Ways Digital Transformation Experts Can Be the Dragon in the “Year of the Dragon”

Posted on February 6, 2024 by Scott Draeger

By Scott Draeger, SVP of Product Marketing and Vertical Solutions at Smart Communications

On the Chinese Zodiac calendar, February 10, 2024, marks the end of the Year of the Rabbit and the beginning of the Year of the Wood Dragon. Traditional interpretation portrays the Rabbit as gentle, quiet, and polite. 2024’s Dragon is bold by contrast, fitting for the world of advancements in business, technology, and transformation. The Chinese Zodiac.org captures the spirit of the Dragon.

As we leave the Year of the Rabbit and enter the Year of the Dragon, let’s move away from a gentle, polite, and quiet year of sending the same old messages with the same old technology to generate unspectacular results. Let’s bring the spirit of the Dragon to our approach to customer communication in 2024.

1. The Dragon is a Visionary

Dragons have a bold vision for the future, and this means thinking about how you will engage with your clients, partners, and employees for the long term. A Dragon’s vision for the future isn’t hampered by technical limitations created by legacy technology. A Dragon doesn’t accept, “that’s the way it’s always been done.” This is a year to evaluate new vendors, challenge your current suppliers, and define where you want to take your organization. A bold vision for the future always centers on customers, partners, and employees.

2. The Dragon is Compassionate and Loyal

Having a vision is important, but a bold vision cannot damage long standing relationships with your clients, partners, and employees. Move too fast or too far and you could sacrifice relationships. Dragons are compassionate and understand how to interact with customers. In 2024, Dragons will look at customer communications with an eye towards making them easier to understand, richer in context, and available on a variety of channels. Dragons understand that loyalty works both ways and being loyal to customers fosters loyalty in return. Dragons understand customer preference, respect context, and interact with authenticity.

3. The Dragon is Ambitious

A gentle, quiet, and polite Rabbit will keep an outdated strategy running for another year to avoid confrontation, but a Dragon feels no need to accept flaws, limitations, or inefficiencies as excuses. Summon your inner Dragon to passionately articulate your ambitions for improving customer experiences, employee engagement, and organizational performance. This is a year to research options, knowing that leading communication technology providers are out there to understand your ambitions and collaborate on solutions that put you on a path towards realizing your customer-focused ambitions.

4. The Dragon is Optimistic

“It’s not going to work” isn’t in a Dragon’s vocabulary. Dragons are concerned with making it work with creativity and an open mind. Working with new technologies means understanding new approaches, taking new perspectives, and learning by collaborating. Dragons are successful because they put creativity and determination into their work. Dragons don’t just accept forecasts and projections. They create opportunities that reshape the future, expand the market, and deepen customer relationships.

5. The Dragon is Adventurous

Lastly, Dragons are adventurous. They aren’t looking to migrate the same communications to a new system for the sake of changing platforms. They are aspirational, transformational, and enthusiastic. They look to use their resources wisely to realize the vision they set forth. Dragons aren’t afraid of making a few mistakes along the way because they have willing internal partners, strong customer relationships, and deep vendor relationships that are needed to grow.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE | ‘Customer Communications: Exploring the Huge Gap Between Customer Perception Versus Company Perception’

Bring on the Year of the Dragon!

So, as we look forward to the Year of the Dragon, consider Smart Communications as a partner that listens to your vision, validates your optimism, ensures your ambition, shares your sense of loyalty, and is proud to go on adventure with you. As you get ready for the Year of the Dragon, let’s finish with some wisdom from TheChineseZodiac.org.

If you’re a Dragon, take a look at Smart Communications. Dragons are bold, challenging vendors. Share your RFI with us, and we’ll help you set and realize your bold vision. This is the year for your transformations. Smart Communications works with Dragons to help them realize their vision by surrounding our leading software offerings with the accelerated migrations, bundled professional services, and transactions structures that match your investments to your ambitious vision.

No Time to Waste! The Top CX Trends of 2025 and 2026 Begin with RFPs in 2024

Posted on January 4, 2024 by Scott Draeger

Breaking Down 5 IDC FutureScape Predictions from Worldwide Future of Customer Experience in 2024

By Scott Draeger, SVP of Product Marketing & Vertical Solutions at Smart Communications

I love the end-of-the-year predictions from analysts. It helps me frame the challenges and opportunities of a new year. While many analyst firms offered insights for 2024, the way IDC organizes predictions in their IDC FutureScape report makes them actionable.

This article shares Smart Communications’ view of five predictions that are slated to be major market trends impacting customer communications and customer experience in 2025 and 2026. If you subscribe to IDC’s research, I encourage you to read “IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Customer Experience 2024 Top 10 Predictions (doc #US50111423, October 2023).”

This report is authored by leading IDC analysts in the customer communications management (CCM), content intelligence, and customer experience areas. Authors include Marci Maddox, Sudhir Rajagopal, Mary Wardley, and others. With big predictions slated for 2025 and 2026, innovative companies are already making moves. If your organization wants to be at the right place at the right time when these predictions turn to trends, you need to generate RFPs, RFIs, and RFQs as soon as possible. Let’s explore what five of these predictions mean for you and your business while you still have time to act.

Conversations Undergird All Experiences in 2025

Each customer’s experience is part of their entire relationship with your brand, making it vital that your systems understand the context of each customer conversation. This is the most imminent prediction, expected to happen in 2025, which means you need to prepare now. Look at how your business uses customer communications software and forms automation solutions to keep the customer experience conversational. With SmartCOMM™’s conversation history feature and SmartIQ™’s workflow automation, you can keep your story straight as transactions move across various departments within your organization.

Contextual Outcomes Dominate CX in 2026

This will require you to act upon all the customer data you’re collecting and generating in new ways. Your customers know you collect data on their experiences with your organization. By 2026, leading organizations will use this data to customize experiences based on product usage, sentiment, and other factors. This means your customer communications, data collection methods, and other iterative interaction software must be adaptable to leverage this data. Collecting data with SmartIQ allows enterprises to seamlessly move from traditional paper-based forms to streamlined, contextual digital experiences.

Data Underpins Next-Gen CX in 2026

Organizations are expected to deliver some large returns to cover their Customer Data Platform (CDP) investments in 2024. Moving to a new CDP creates an opportunity to escape the constraints of legacy CCM systems from the early 2000s. As customer data becomes granular, and more is analyzed by AI, it becomes easier to create personalized omnichannel communications and streamline business processes. We recommend leveraging customer data to:

Improve your customer-facing processes
Empower customer preferences
Personalize interactions
Automate back-end processes, and
Reduce customer effort

Customer Communications Go Dynamic in 2026

If your competition is farther along in their digital transformation efforts than you, you put customer retention, loyalty, and trust at risk. Print documents turn digital because customers demand contextual videos, interactive charts, easier sharing, and transaction filtering. As experiences become conversational, communications become an invitation to inbound interactions, new sales opportunities, and self-service opportunities.

Value Streams Trump Experiences in 2026

In the very near future, the concept of “value parity” will increasingly shape customer interactions by acknowledging the value of the data exchanged by all sides of the transaction. Your customers know their data is highly valuable, so they’re expecting to get something valuable in return. They will expect rewards, special offers, and discounts in exchange for the data and access they provide. Additionally, you’ll need to be prepared for consumers to push for maximum penalties when they feel their data is not being managed or protected with their best interests in mind.

Conclusion

All five of these predictions are slated to turn into major market trends that impact customer communications and customer experiences in 2025 and 2026. From a practical standpoint, the average RFP process can take six to 12 months. Buying cycles easily burn through a year if your technology vendor is difficult to negotiate with. Implementation times often consume six months of planning after the purchase is made, more if your IT team must provision hybrid cloud resources or procure on-prem environments outside of the existing budget or capacity. Furthermore, by charging full price during implementation with services billed separately on top, you’ll struggle to meet the trends of 2025 and 2026.

Revolutionizing Medicare Member Engagement: A Guide to Seamless Advantage Enrollment

Posted on December 31, 2023October 19, 2026 by Dani Duffy

By John Zimmerer, VP of Healthcare Marketing at Smart Communications

Navigating the world of senior market member engagement poses unique challenges for healthcare payers. As you strive to enhance member satisfaction and enrollment processes, it’s crucial that you address the rising complexities within the Medicare Advantage landscape.

This blog will shed light on key challenges and provide insights into revolutionizing member engagement for a seamless enrollment process.

The Challenge of Medicare Member Engagement

Let’s delve into the pressing issues and explore how a strategic approach can transform the member engagement experience.

Increased Competition

Picture this: in the 2023 plan year, the average Medicare beneficiary found themselves amidst a sea of choices, with over 40 plans to sift through, as per CMS data reported by KFF. This staggering number reflects a doubling of available plans over just five years. As a healthcare payer, the challenge lies not only in offering competitive plans but also in ensuring that your members can navigate this abundance with ease.

Poor Customer Experience

Adding to the complexity, the US Health Insurers Customer Experience Index Rankings for 2023, presented by Forrester, highlighted a persistent issue. The average health insurer’s customer experience (CX) remained stagnant, placing them at the lower end of the ranking. What’s more, Forrester’s findings revealed that the CX of commercial plans tend to trail behind that of government plans.

The Influence of Star Ratings

Amidst the challenges mentioned above, the influence of customer experience on Star Ratings has undergone a significant shift. CX measures currently constitute a substantial 57% of a plan’s Rating. This evolution is pivotal because Star Ratings, as numerous studies affirm, play a decisive role in driving enrollment. As healthcare payers, the question that beckons is clear: In the evolving Medicare landscape, are you positioned to retain or lose members as they transition into this critical phase of healthcare decision-making? Keep reading for strategies to not only meet these challenges head-on but also to redefine the Medicare member engagement experience at your organization.

Trends Driving the Need for Better Medicare Member Engagement

According to internal and external research, we’ve highlighted the key trends that will have an impact on Medicare member engagement for the 2024 plan year and beyond.

1. CX Will Continue to Make a Big Impact to Member Enrollment

For decades, Forrester has researched the realm of customer experience, consistently revealing its profound impact on customer loyalty and retention. Our latest Healthcare benchmark report aligns with Forrester’s insights, emphasizing that simply one negative experience can drive customers away. Given the weight Star Ratings places on CX, this trend should be top of mind as you plan how you’ll prioritize enhancement to your customer.

2. Technology Will Play a Pivotal Role in Attracting and Retaining Members

While commercial plan members may find themselves with limited choices, the scenario shifts when it comes to Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, or prescription (Part D) plans. KFF’s data underscores that merely 18% of Medicare Advantage enrollees are in employer- or union-sponsored plans. Now, consider this: Most Medicare Advantage enrollees (88-94%) rarely switch plans voluntarily. It’s a one-shot opportunity for you as a healthcare insurer to secure a new Medicare Advantage enrollee.

The potential lies in leveraging data, artificial intelligence (AI), research, and technology to guide existing commercial members seamlessly into the “right” Medicare Advantage plan for them – and crucially, to retain them. Even if you haven’t delivered optimal CX to your commercial members, offering them a seamless Medicare enrollment process—like the one made possible by SmartCOMM™ and SmartIQ™—can alter their perception of your company for the better.

3. Seamless Processes Will Make or Break Your Medicare Member Engagement Strategy

Let’s dive into the numbers. An analysis of CMS data by KFF unveils a revealing insight. One-third of Medicare beneficiaries reported finding it challenging to compare plan options. This underscores the key role you play as a healthcare payer. By enhancing the enrollment experience, you’re not just facilitating a process; you’re transforming perceptions and cementing lasting connections with your members. The evolving landscape demands more than traditional approaches; it calls for a strategic shift in how you engage with and guide your members through the complexities of Medicare enrollment.

Roadblocks to Increasing Medicare Member Engagement

You know that the process of developing Medicare plans can be demanding and stressful, especially with disjointed systems. It’s a full-time job to enable members to retain their current (in-network) providers, to curate drug formularies, and meet regulated timelines. It doesn’t have to be, though. With the lack of integration and siloed processes, your current enrollment tools can’t harness essential claim data that’s locked within your core systems. This limits your capacity to make personalized plan recommendations. By dismantling these silos, you can unlock valuable and necessary insights, empowering you to provide guidance to your members during the Medicare plan selection process.

Cognizant’s Medicare Navigator, Powered by SmartIQ™

Streamlining the enrollment process for your Medicare Advantage (MA) plan can make all the difference. The American Economic Association emphasizes that reducing customer effort leads to higher completion rates. Building on this, Forrester’s body of research has consistently shown that enhancing customer experience aids in retaining existing members and expanding your market share in the fiercely competitive MA landscape.

The stickiness of MA plans offers a unique advantage, creating members for life and boosting Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) due to their higher profitability compared to commercial plans. With a simple, efficient enrollment process, you position yourself for greater competitive differentiation in a crowded marketplace, where happy members become your advocates.

The good news is that the technology now exists to help you leverage members’ historical claim data, enabling you to identify the best plan option(s) for them. Cognizant’s Medicare Navigator, powered by our SmartIQ software, provides a friction-free process for your members to select and enroll into a plan. Together, we can integrate the front-end plan selection process seamlessly with solutions such as TriZetto® Elements Enrollment Administrations Manager (EAM) to streamline operations. Ultimately, a better process for enrollments will increase retention and profitability.

Addressing Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt

If you’re on the verge of losing members as they transition from commercial plans to the Medicare population, Smart Communications’ leading solutions are the key to boosting your conversion and retention rates. While your competitors lack the tools, experience, and relationships needed, we, in partnership with Cognizant, provide solutions that set your business apart.

Through our large partner network and the integrations that make possible your Medicare member engagement goals, our solutions offer more than the necessary functionality. We’re uniquely positioned to help your organization shine in the eyes of prospects, current members, and the C-Suite.

And the best part? Our sophisticated cloud software has been proven to save money for enterprises in highly regulated industries, freeing up valuable resources for the initiatives your company leaders keep striking out of the budget. It’s time to embrace a cloud solution that not only enhances Medicare member engagement but also propels you toward professional success.

Conclusion

You’re on a mission to boost senior market enrollment and retention, but member fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD)— coupled with past experiences with commercial plans— are roadblocks. The key lies in enhancing the plan selection and enrollment process and offering personalized plan recommendations based on individual claim histories to foster trust and convert commercial members into Medicare Advantage (MA) members.

Partnering with Cognizant, we’re here to guide you through the entire process, from segmentation and outreach to plan selection and enrollment. Cognizant’s research validates our approach, analyst accolades showcase our capability, and customer testimonials, including success stories from healthcare payers like you, assure success.

Streamlining the enrollment process holds the promise of lower abandonment rates, higher conversion rates, upselling opportunities, and reduced administrative costs.

The cost of doing nothing outweighs the benefits of taking action. The resulting revenue and savings not only mitigate opportunity risk but also secure your position. It’s time to turn challenges into triumphs with a solution designed to drive Medicare engagement.

To learn more, access the on-demand webinar with Cognizant and Smart Communications hosted by Fierce Healthcare or request a demo of SmartIQ for Enrollment.

Customer Communications: Exploring the Huge Gap Between Customer Perception Versus Company Perception

Posted on December 6, 2023 by Scott Draeger

By Scott Draeger, SVP of Product Marketing & Vertical Solutions at Smart Communications

In this digital era, enterprises like yours heavily invest in advanced Customer Communication Management (CCM) solutions to elevate their communication strategies. However, you may not even realize the investment as customer communications might be disjointed and spread across hundreds of disconnected projects.

As a result, enterprises think their communications are better than they are. In fact, 73% of companies believe their customer communications are improving while only 29% of customers agree. This glaring perception gap poses a critical challenge, impacting customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and, ultimately, your organization’s bottom line.

Understanding this difference in perception between what businesses think they’re delivering and what customers truly experience is pivotal. If you ignore this blind spot, problems will appear out of the blue to undermine even the most sophisticated communication strategies. The ramifications are clear: dissatisfied customers, missed opportunities, and a potential erosion of trust.

In this blog, you’ll discover the potential causes for this perception gap based on insightful data from Smart Communication’s 2023 Benchmark Study. The actionable insights, both in this article and our Benchmark reports, can help you navigate the evolving landscape of customer interactions, revealing the untapped potential that lies within understanding and addressing the subtle yet impactful nuances of the communication divide.

Understanding the CCM Perception Gap

According to recent data from our Benchmark report, a compelling 81% of customers believe communications are somewhat or very important to their overall experience with a company. That said, this perception gap we mentioned in the previous section is a potential Achilles’ heel for businesses.

So, why do companies tend to overestimate their CCM effectiveness when they’re aware a poor experience directly impacts churn? The answer lies in a mix of internal biases, inadequate feedback mechanisms, and reliance on outdated communication methods. Internal biases, often born from proximity to the creation process, can cloud your judgment. The lack of feedback mechanisms can create an echo chamber where assumptions go unchallenged. Meanwhile, clinging to outdated communication methods in a rapidly evolving digital age can inadvertently perpetuate the perception gap. Let’s look at the potential causes for this disconnect from an industry perspective:

Insurance: 72% of insurance professionals say their company’s customer communications are getting better yet only 27% of customers agree. While this seems like a direct source of feedback that should be reliable, something must be getting lost in translation. It’s possible that insurance companies aren’t asking their customers the right questions. Are the surveys asking about a specific interaction with their insurer or are they more general in nature?

Maybe they’re not acting on the input they’re receiving. Sometimes an insurer will spend a lot to make improvements, but the spend could be on maintenance to IT infrastructure that the customer won’t notice. This is a case of insurers acknowledging the investment and effort they invested, but customers not seeing a measurable difference in the output. Or perhaps insurers are just not doing a good job of interpreting the survey data. Whatever the cause, your insurance organization must find a way to close the feedback loop and get customer communications on track with expectations.

Healthcare: Let’s look at the way healthcare organizations collect the customer feedback they’re using to guide their efforts. The majority (59%) of companies rely on customer surveys to measure the effectiveness of their communications.

While this may seem like the best way to gauge how well things are working, it’s possible that payors and providers are not asking the right questions. The good news is, moving away from basic measurements, such as net promoter score (NPS), and adopting more granular, customer-focused metrics, such as customer effort score (CES) and customer experience index (CXI), may help you gain more nuanced insights into what is and isn’t working for your members.

Whatever the cause, this dissonance underscores the need for a reality check. By acknowledging and dismantling these barriers, businesses can recalibrate their CCM strategies, aligning them more closely with the authentic needs and expectations of their customer base.

5 Ways to Close the Gap

The data-backed tips below can help your organization enhance internal processes and prepare for a future-forward approach to customer communications.

Invest in Customer-Centric Communication Platforms. Opt for advanced CCM software that prioritizes customer-centricity. The benchmark report highlights a disparity—while 90% of companies believe they prioritize customer needs in communication, only 58% of customers feel this is evident. Choose platforms that facilitate personalized, relevant, and timely interactions, aligning with customer preferences and expectations.

Establish Clear Communication Goals. Define specific communication objectives aligned with customer satisfaction metrics. According to our data, 68% of dissatisfied customers attribute their discontent to perceived communication failures. Set clear goals such as reducing response times, enhancing clarity, and ensuring consistency across channels.

Implement Multichannel Integration. Recognize the diversity of customer touchpoints. Our benchmark report reveals that 64% of customers prefer a combination of online and offline communication. Integrate various channels seamlessly to create a unified customer experience. Ensure consistency in messaging and branding across platforms to minimize the perception gap.

Embrace Data Analytics for Insightful Decision-Making. Leverage analytics to gain actionable insights. While 75% of companies believe they effectively use data to inform communication strategies, only 46% of customers agree. Analyze customer interactions, preferences, and feedback to make informed decisions. This data-driven approach enhances communication relevance and effectiveness.

Conduct Regular Communication Audits. Periodically assess the effectiveness of your communication strategy. Our benchmark data reveals that 56% of companies do not conduct regular audits of their customer communication processes. Regular audits help identify gaps, measure performance against goals, and adapt strategies to evolving customer expectations.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE | ‘How CCM Software Can Bridge the Generational CX Divide: The Latest Research and Data’

Final Thoughts on the Perception Gap in Customer Communications

Many companies are focused on improving the wrong customer communications channels — namely the website and mobile app. These may be important points of contact, but if your members are unable to follow the company’s communications or purchased a plan without understanding the benefits, they’re much more likely to pick up the phone and call for help, driving up service costs.

Your company might also be ignoring member channel preferences altogether. For example, Benchmark data found that older populations overwhelmingly prefer paper-based communications. And yet, many healthcare organizations are trying to force digital interactions on them. Taking a more nuanced approach could potentially result in improved satisfaction metrics and better long-term loyalty for your brand.

The rise of customer-focused metrics shows a desire to improve CX, but not necessarily the ability to do so unless the data is actionable. The focus should be on customer journeys, designing interactions based on individual needs, and building trust through easy, transparent communications. Working with a trusted CCM vendor will give companies a competitive edge to help them close the perception gap and meet member needs.

Insurance

Financial Services

Healthcare Payers

Healthcare Providers

Government

Utility

Resource Center

Customer Resources

Events

News

About us

Partners

Analysts

SmartCOMM

SmartIQ

SmartHUB

SmartPath

SmartDX

Insurance

Financial Services

Healthcare Payers

Healthcare Providers

Government

Utility

Resource Center

Customer Resources

Events

News

About us

Partners

Analysts

Digital-First Engagement for Banks

1. Learn from Banking Leaders in Transformational Roles

2. Align Your Challenges to Customer Feedback

3. Level Up Your Professional Network

4. Tap into an Amazing Source of Peer Insights

Connect with the Smart Communications Team

1. Understanding Your Audience: The Center of Customer Obsession

2. Harnessing the Power of Personalization in Customer Communications

3. Content Intelligence

4. Omnichannel Excellence: Meeting Customers Where They Are

5. Proactive Communication: Anticipate Needs Before They Arise

6. Agility in CCM: Adapting to Rapid Market Changes

7. Feedback Loops: Closing the Circle of Customer Engagement

Conclusion

Ready to Supercharge Your customer Communications?

SPARK Matrix 2024 Report at a Glance

SaaS CCM Moves Onward and Upward

Flexibility and Usability Differentiate Smart Communications

CCM Technology for Now and the Future

We are excited to share these findings with you. We encourage you to download a copy and digest the full report for yourself. Its insights highlight how our approach to CCM offers you a way to elevate your customer communications by transforming them into two-way conversations.

Past Is Prologue for the CMS Prior Authorization Rule

Who Is Affected by the CMS Prior Authorization Final Rule?

What Are the CMS Prior Authorization Final Rule Compliance Deadlines?

Which Prior Authorizations Are Impacted by the Final Rule?

What Is the ‘Plain Language’ Requirement in the Final Rule?

What Else Is Included in the Prior Authorization Final Rule?

How Can Smart Communications Help Payers Comply with the CMS Prior Authorization Final Rule?

If you’d like to know more about how we and our partners can help meet the new prior authorization requirements, get in touch with us. We’re here for you.

2023 Year in Review: A Tough Year in Financial Services

Interest Rates

Unemployment Rates Pose Challenge

Growth Amid Changing Behaviors and Market Shifts

What Does This Mean for Customer Communications in Financial Institutions?

Rate Decreases Require Front Office Optimization

Rate Increases Create Back Office Problems

How Will Rate Changes Impact Your Organization?

Looking For More Resources?

Prediction 1: Global Average CX Will Improve for the First Time in Three Years

Prediction 2: 50% of Large Global Firms Will Experiment with Customer-Facing Generative AI

Prediction 3: 50% of Large Global Firms Will Report CX Metrics; Only 5% Will Link to Financials

Prediction 4: One-Third of Brands Will Launch Experiences That Are Biased, Inaccessible or Harmful

Prediction 5: Two out of Five CX Teams Will Turn Away Work Because Their Remit Exceeds Resources

How to Link Forms and Communications to CX and Financial Metrics

If you’re ready to discover how to accelerate the healthcare customer experience at your organization, click the link to register for the webinar: Register Now!

1. The Dragon is a Visionary

2. The Dragon is Compassionate and Loyal

3. The Dragon is Ambitious

4. The Dragon is Optimistic

5. The Dragon is Adventurous