Multiexperience: A new approach to Digital Transformation

Gartner has placed Multiexperience amongst the top technology trends of 2020. As per the analyst, the multiexperience trend will replace technology-literate people with people-literate technology. Instead of people getting accustomed to the evolving technologies, it will so happen that the technology will evolve to understand the people better. 

Multiexperience is about leveraging various modalities, digital touchpoints, apps, and devices to design and develop a seamless experience for the customers. The idea is to interact with the customers at as many touch points as possible to offer a consistent customer experience across the web, mobile, app, and other modalities. 

Gartner predicts that by 2023, more than 25% of the mobile apps, progressive web apps and conversational apps at large enterprises will be built and/or run through a multiexperience development platform. Multiexperience technology is a step ahead in the journey of complete digital transformation. As businesses are investing in state-of-the-art digital solutions to develop smooth experiences for their consumers, multiexperience may prove to be just the right catalyst for guaranteeing fruition. 

Daniel Sun, VP Analyst at Gartner says, “Development teams should master mobile app design, development and architecture because ‘mobile’ is typically the gateway to multiexperience.” Businesses looking to design multiexperience should take technologies such as Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, wearables, chatbots, IoT into consideration. These technologies along with apps, websites, social media channels will assist in developing a whole multiexperience. 

Mind you, multiexperience is not omnichannel 

Thinking of multiexperience to be same as omnichannel is a rather common mistake. While omnichannel involves tapping the user touch points across all the channels, multiexperience is about developing effortless customer experiences across apps, websites, and modalities of voice, touch, and text, irrespective of the channel. 

The key difference between omnichannel and multiexperience is the core. Omnichannel is all about technology, whereas, multiexperience is all about people. This difference marks the shift from technology-literate people to people-literate technology. 

The four-step multiexperience model 

Jason Wong, Research Vice President at Gartner proposes a four-step model for applying multiexperience to a digital user journey: 

• Sync me: Storing a user’s information, which the user can find and access anytime. 
• See me: Understanding a user’s context, location, situation, historical preferences, and then offering a better information and interaction to the user. 
• Know me: Using predictive analytics to make suggestions to the user 
• Be me: Acting on user’s behalf, when given permission, and making the best decision for the user. 

The stored information about the users can help business understand their likes and preferences under various contextual situations. This would then enable them to implement predictive analytics for offering recommendations to users for their next course of action. 

“Development platform vendors are expanding their value proposition beyond mobile apps and web development to meet user and industry demands. The result is the emergence of multiexperience development platforms, which are used in developing chat, voice, augmented reality (AR) and wearable experiences in support of the digital business.” says Wong. 

Although mobile apps still remain the most common type of applications that enterprises deploy other than their website, cloud-hosted Artificial Intelligence (AI) services such as conversational user interfaces, image recognition, and voice recognition are among the most commonly used technologies for developing multiexperiences. A well-crafted multiexperience development strategy is required for an enterprise to scale the digital initiatives. However, one key barrier that emerges in the process is the gap in the business and IT alignment, which is further widened by the lack of user experience expertise among the developers. 

Domino’s – leading the digital race with multiexperience 

Domino’s is striving to change the game of customer experiences using innovative solutions. Over the past few years, Domino’s is investing in cutting-edge technologies to fulfill its mission of becoming the best pizza delivery company in the world. The multinational pizza restaurant chain is among the pioneers of multiexperience development. 

Domino’s Anyware™ allows users to order pizzas on their favorite devices. The customers can order their choice of pizza via: 

• Google Home: By simply saying “Ok Google, talk to Domino’s”, customers can build a new order from scratch, place their Easy Order, reorder their most recent order, track their order using Domino’s Tracker®. 
• Amazon Alexa: Ordering on Amazon Alexa works same as Google Home. As Alexa can hear the users’ voices from across the room, they can place their order without even getting up. 
• Slack: By installing the Domino’s app in the Slack workplace application, users can send a direct message to place an order. 
• Facebook messenger: Using the messenger bot, users can place order for their preferred pizza in seconds. 
• Zero click: This is a customized application which allows users to place their ‘Easy Orders’ after a 10-second countdown, without needing a single click. 

• Text: Domino’s also leverages the text or messaging platforms where users can initiate their order by simply sending a pizza emoji. 
• Tweet: Users can simply tweet a hashtagged post and tagging the Domino’s account. 
• Car: Ford owners can open the Domino’s app using the Ford SYNC® Applink™ to place their order. 
• Smart TV: The Domino’s app for Samsung Smart TVs enable users to place their favorite orders while watching their favorite show. 
• Voice: Domino’s intelligent assistant, Dom, is integrated in the Domino’s app for Android and iOS. Customers can place an order using their voice. 

• Smart Watch: Apple Watch® and ANDROID WEAR® allows easy order placing and tracking. 

In addition to all these platforms, Domino’s is also working on getting CAA approvals for its pizza-delivery drones. It has created the 1st ever autonomous pizza delivery vehicle called Domino’s Robotic Unit or DRU. 

Digital assurance for assured multiexperience 

Building digital automation and operations is becoming imperative to sustain digital transformation. Digital transformation for the future is marked by the shift from mobile to multiexperience. Now, enterprises looking to accelerate their digital journey need to rethink their transformational strategy. This would require them to place their customers at the center of the transformation. The technology they use should be a facilitator of creating a truly seamless customer experiences. Multiexperience-driven digital transformation necessitates a three-part customer strategy that involves the physical, contextual, and experiential aspects for the users to enjoy a smooth journey. 

With the rising demand of multiexperience, the need for digital assurance is also rising. Enterprises are demanding software testing services that can facilitate accelerated speed-to-market while allowing them to embrace newer technologies. 

Cigniti’s Digital assurance & testing solutions address the multi-faceted needs of digital transformation testing. We assure digital transformations by conducting comprehensive testing across your digital value chain encompassing digital marketing, web portals, web content, digital assets, web analytics, and the entire digital ecosystem – which includes cloud, mobility, big data, and connected devices. Connect with us today.