Next Generation Customer Experience with DITA and Intelligent Content

Howard Schwartz, Ph.D., SVP Content TechnologiesChip Gettinger, VP XML Technologies

Our Presenters

Howard Schwartz, Ph.D.SVP Content TechnologiesSDL

Chip GettingerVP XML SolutionsSDL

Agenda TodayDefining Customer Experience and Why it MattersHow Customer Experience Expectations are ChangingThe Barriers and Challenges for Technical Information How DITA and Intelligent Content Provides a FoundationNext Generation Customer Engagement VisionSteps to Get ThereQ&A

The Hypothesis

Technical Documentation / Information Development is beingtransformed from a backend delivery organization into an organization that impacts customer experience and customer engagement.

This transformation is a significantparadigm shift. It is momentous.

It impacts people, process and technology.

It is comparable to the impact of marketing moving to the Web.

Major Pressures Are Changing How Companies Manage Technical Information

Responses to These Changes

Key Strategic Goals

Let’s look at the customer experience side of this equation.

The Integrated Customer Experience

Importance of Customer Experience

Language of Customer Experience Customer Satisfaction Customer Experience Customer Loyalty Customer’s Journey Customer Engagement

Types of Customers Fully Engaged Engaged Not Engaged Actively Disengaged

Organizations can be categorized based on the percentage of customer engagement.

Engagement Ratio

Fully engaged customers are 23% more valuable to an organization in terms of profitability, revenue and relationship growth compared to the average customer.

Source:Gallop

Importance of Customer Engagement Upselling a customer is significantly

easier and less costly than bringing on a new customer.

A frustrated customer not only means a loss of that customer’s next sale but loss of other people’s revenue through word of mouth.

Customer Engagement

In one study , 65% of people surveyed said they wouldn’t come back to a Website that did not provide satisfactory customer experience.

Source: Forrester

According to some studies in behavioral economics, 30% of human decisions and behaviors are actually driven by rational considerations.

Up to two-thirds of consumer loyalty and spending decisions are based on emotional factors. Source: Gallop

What Keeps Customers Engaged

Simply satisfying customers is not enoughKey Touchpoints: every time customers interact with your organization, they either become a little more or a little less engagedBrand Alignment: no organization has a single unified “brand.” All must be measured and managedLocal Variation: strong customer relationships cannot be managed solely from the center

Technical Documentation / Information Development is transforming from a backend delivery organization into an organization that impacts customer experience and customer engagement.

Trends Impacting Consumption of Technical Information

Intensification of the problem These trends are intensified by the Internet and Internet Technologies New delivery platforms (Smartphones, iPads, Tablets) are all changing

customer’s expectations about access to technical information

The Mobile Channel 37,000 people were surveyed 65% of respondents in a survey indicate they use Smartphone devices 35% of those use them on a daily basis

(Source: Forrester Research)

Smartphone Unit Shipments Expected to exceed PC shipments by 2012 (Source: Morgan Stanley)

Trends in Customer Expectations

Customer Expectations Are Changing With Regard to Technical Information

Higher levels of Internet usePurchase and fact find more often over the WebDownload docs before purchasingShow me just the information I need - when I need it (my product on my platform)Want answers on Smartphone Desire visual videos and interactive contentWant to see video not just text

Trends in Customer Expectations

Customer Expectations Are Changing With Regard to Technical Information

Signs of the times• At HP, customers buy more than

80% of their products without touching the product

• At one large software company, 18% of their customers want technical support on their Smartphone

• At another software company, customers are expecting more highly graphic and interactive documentation

• At a scientific instrumentation company, 80% of their customers download the documentation before buying

But What Customers Experience

The Current Challenges

What are the Barriers?

Types of Info in Enterprise

Technical Docs

FAQs

Specs

Engineering Info

Training

Technical Support

Sales

Brochures

Product Positioning

Marketing

Operations

Professional Services

RFPPersuasive Content

Competitive

Financial Info

Multiple Touchpoints, Many Conflicting Sources of Information

Executives’ Eyes Need to be Opened

Customer Experience Impacts

Aberdeen’s research indicates that companies creating documentation that is automatically

customizable to various use-cases achieve a 39% increase in customer satisfaction scores and a

16% decrease in inquiries made to customer support organizations. In both cases, this represents

over twice the impact achieved by companies without this capability.

David Houlihan, Senior Research Associate, Product Content Management

The Way Forward

Massive Paradigm Shift to Adoption Of XML and Dynamic Publishing

Content locked in contextInformation can’t easily appear in multiple context and can’t be tailored readily to audienceHigh costs of formattingContent gets out of synch and is difficult to refreshCustomers can’t find what they need

XML Topic MethodologyContent can be reshuffled for deliverableSame content can live in multiple outputsContent can be delivered easily as web pages to consumeMetadata and conditions can allow content to be tailored on the fly Content can be easily refreshed

Traditional Book Methodology Topic Based / DITA Methodology

Contracting Product Life Cycles

Research & Development

Market Life

PRDInternational

ReleaseEnglish Release Shelf Life

Trad

ition

al

Research & Development

Global Revenue & Market Capture Life

Mod

ular

writ

ing

LocalizationAuthor Review Publish

Author Review Publish Localize

Key:

VariationsOf Deliverables

Paradigm of Topics andDynamic Publishing

Market SegmentsVariations in Customer

Profiles

Product Variations

CD / Web

CD / Web

In the box

PDF, HTML, Web, Device

Evolution of Technical Information

Paper

PDF

HTML

DITA

Next Generation Customer Engagement

•DITA IS THE DELIVERY MECHANISM•NO PRE-CONVERSION TO HTML AHEAD OF TIME•FEEDBACK LOOPS FROM COMMUNITY•COMMUNITY COLLABORATION

DITA Flattening Out vs. Direct

HTMLDITA

Good: DITA Flattened Out

Best: DITA Direct

DITA DITA

HTML

Transform

Transform

Sub-setting

DITA CCM Web CMS

What about Wikis and Collaboration?

Methods PDF DITA to HTML Wikis Just in Time DITA

Search Weak Better Good StrongContent Reuse Yes Yes No YesCommunity Weak Better Yes YesConsistency of Information.Ability to Update

Weak Better Not easily Yes

Roundtrip Commenting

Weak Better Not easily Yes

Personalized Content

None Better Weak Best

Next Gen Interactive Technical Information

Next Generation Web Architecture

What about Support and Training and Learning

DITA is being adopted by Training and Learning organizationsDITA 1.2 has Training and Learning specializationThere is also a specialization for support contentOrganizations are looking for ways to leverage DITA content to professional services organizations as well

People, Process and Technology

Steps To Get There

Customer Engagement Content Model

Three steps in the deliveryPeople Change Management Learn to write in DITA topics and

collaboratively Develop new roles in an organization

Process Become “engineering like” Write once for reuse Collaborate on content Develop next generation Customer

Engagement Content Model

Technology Deploy Component Content

Management (CCM) systems Deploy Customer Facing DITA

Application

Developing the Customer Engagement Content Model

Step 1: Develop the ROI and sell itStep 2: DITA: The foundation Move from book methodology to “topic-based” structured writing Adopt DITA Expand DITA from Tech Pubs into other parts of the organization

Step 3: Map product taxonomies into DITA Using Maps, Conditions, Variables and Keyrefs

Step 4: Develop Personas / Market Segments Understand business market segments Within those segments understand roles and personas of customers Advocate and understand the customer Map into advanced conditions and metadata

Step 5: Deploy next generation online content architecture Interactive technical publication goes online and becomes personalized

Expanded Notions of Information Architecture

Product Categorization

MarketSegments

RolesPersonas

Sales / UpsellTouchpoints

SDL: Customer EngagementContent Model™

Sales

Marketing / Prod. Mgmt.

Marketing / Prod. Mgmt.

Engineering / Prod. Mgmt.

OutputsInputs

Current state

Future requirements

Leading practices

Strategic vision and goals

Consistent with vision and goals

Addresses current state issues

Meets future needs

Incorporates success factors

Best practices Plan

Recommendations

Discovery

SDL Discovery Day

Thank You for Joining Us

Next DITA webinar…The Path to Global Customer Experience: DITA with Quality Built InThursday, February 24, 2011To register: http://www.sdl.com/en/xml/events

Hear about DITA in person…2 day conference - Santa Clara,CAFocus on Engaged Global CustomerNo cost – Registration is requiredwww.sdl.com/innovate

Questions?