Latest Technology News Today – Get Latest Information Technology Updates and Services Latest Technology News Today – Get Latest Information Technology Updates and Services 
In today’s fiercely competitive IT landscape, customer experience (CX) has become more than just a buzzword—it’s now a business imperative. For IT channel partners, delivering more than just technical solutions is the key to winning long-term client loyalty. It’s about enhancing every touchpoint in the customer journey through personalized, proactive service. This story dives into how leading IT solution providers are evolving their CX strategies to meet rising customer expectations and drive sustainable growth. Through real-world success stories, we explore how they are leveraging technology, AI, and proactive communication to not only improve service delivery but also redefine the customer experience for their clients
Amit Singh
In today’s competitive IT landscape, customer experience (CX) has transformed from a ‘nice-to-have’ feature into a mission-critical differentiator for businesses. A staggering 81% of organizations now expect to compete primarily based on CX, as reported by a Gartner study. This evolution in client expectations has profoundly impacted the IT channel, where the customer journey is no longer limited to technical delivery alone. It’s about how services are delivered, how customer needs are met, and how businesses can leverage personalized, proactive service to foster client loyalty and ensure long-term success.
As Anuj Gupta, CEO of Hitachi Systems, articulates, “In the IT channel, service delivery excellence is table stakes. What truly sets companies apart today is the ability to provide an extraordinary customer experience. Businesses must focus on creating value at every touchpoint with the client, ensuring the service is not just functional but also exceptional.”
This sentiment is echoed by Paresh Shah, CEO of Allied Digital Services, who notes that customer expectations have evolved rapidly. “Clients no longer want a one-size-fits-all solution. They’re looking for personalized services that cater specifically to their needs, available anytime and delivered seamlessly across platforms. The IT channel players who understand this shift and invest in customer experience will be the ones that thrive.”
Evolving Customer Expectations
The IT channel market is more competitive than ever, driven by trends such as cloud adoption, cybersecurity concerns, and digital transformation. These technological advancements have created new demands and challenges for IT providers. Additionally, the rise of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and managed services has transformed the customer-vendor relationship into one that requires continuous engagement and support, making customer experience (CX) a critical factor for success.
Today’s IT clients expect more than just technical expertise. They seek IT partners who understand their unique needs, deliver personalized solutions, and offer proactive support. “The pace of technology adoption has changed customer expectations,” notes Shah of Allied Digital. “Clients now demand proactive problem-solving, constant communication, and flexibility in service delivery. Meeting these expectations is what separates successful companies from the rest.”
According to PwC, one in three customers will leave a brand they love after just one bad experience, while 92% would abandon a company after two or three negative interactions. This level of churn is alarming for businesses that aren’t prioritizing a positive customer experience at every stage of the customer journey.
In the past, CX was primarily driven by the IT team—if they were satisfied, the job was done. Now, CX is a holistic process. From business leaders to supply chain and logistics teams, everyone’s satisfaction contributes to the overall customer experience. “We now find ourselves interacting with warehouse managers, supply chain teams, and even ground-level staff who expect IT to ensure their operations run smoothly. Customer experience has become a 360-degree evaluation, where all aspects of interaction—from sales to execution and maintenance—must be seamless and satisfying,” says Gunjana Shah, Chief Marketing Officer at Insight Business Machines.
Gupta adds, “Clients today expect their service providers to not only fix issues but anticipate them. They value personalized attention and proactive communication, and they reward companies that can deliver this with long-term loyalty.”
In this context, personalization is key. IT providers must tailor their offerings to each client’s specific needs, ensuring they deliver maximum value at every touchpoint.
Impact on Business Growth
Focusing on customer experience (CX) has undeniable business benefits, particularly when it comes to client retention and long-term growth. “When customers feel that their specific needs are being addressed, they are more likely to remain loyal and extend their contracts,” explains Gupta. “In fact, our top clients are those we have nurtured by consistently meeting their CX expectations.”
For Allied Digital, the impact of prioritizing CX is equally significant. “By offering personalized services and proactive support, we’ve seen not only a reduction in churn but an increase in the long-term value of our client relationships,” shares Shah of Allied Digital. “Many of our clients have signed recurring contracts, which directly contributes to our overall growth.”
The importance of CX becomes even clearer when considering that improving customer retention by just 5% can boost profitability by 25% to 95%.
Challenges in Delivering Exceptional CX
While enhancing CX yields significant benefits, it also comes with its challenges. Experts point out the complexity of delivering consistent CX across different regions and managing varied client expectations.
One of the biggest challenges IT solution providers face is logistics, especially for clients in tier-3 and tier-4 cities. “While tier-1 and tier-2 cities have established logistics networks, deeper regions still pose difficulties. With modernization and digitization efforts reaching these areas, many industries are moving to decentralized manufacturing in remote locations,” says Shah of Insight Business Machines. “We focus on standardizing workspaces and maintaining contingency stock at these remote locations to avoid delays, ensuring standardized processes across all regions.”
Additionally, delivering consistent CX across diverse geographies can be difficult due to varying customer expectations. “Clients in different regions may have different expectations in terms of response times, communication, and service delivery,” notes Shah of Allied Digital. “We’ve addressed this by developing region-specific teams trained to understand local cultures and business practices.”
Gupta echoes this sentiment. “Operating in multiple regions requires us to be highly adaptable. We’ve established regional hubs to ensure we meet the unique needs of clients in each geography, without sacrificing consistency or quality.”
Keeping up with rapid technological advancements is another challenge. “The pace of technological change means we’re constantly updating our systems and training our teams to stay ahead,” adds Gupta.
Shah of Allied Digital also points out the challenge of managing resources efficiently. “It’s crucial to strike the right balance between maintaining high service levels and managing costs. By investing in automation and AI, we’ve improved service efficiency without overextending our resources.”
Strategies for Enhancing Customer Experience
- Personalized Service Delivery
Personalized service delivery has become essential for success in the IT channel. Experts highlight the importance of understanding each client’s unique needs and tailoring services accordingly.
“We’ve implemented a centralized help desk and monitoring system that provides a unified platform for remote support. We also offer a hybrid approach where we integrate with our customers’ systems. Additionally, we enable clients to access our ticketing system directly through their portals, allowing them to log, track, and review tickets in real-time,” explains Shah of Insight Business Machines.
Hitachi Systems has categorized its customers based on their sales revenue to offer more customized solutions. “This helps us provide tailored offerings, delivering a more personalized experience. Furthermore, our dedicated Customer Success Management (CSM) team regularly visits clients to understand their needs and pain points. This enables us to proactively address concerns and build stronger relationships,” says Gupta.
At Hitachi Systems, AI-driven customer analytics also plays a pivotal role in personalizing offerings. “Our AI systems predict client needs and help us deliver solutions before issues even arise. This has transformed how we manage client relationships and allows us to offer greater value,” Gupta adds.
Similarly, Shah of Allied Digital highlights the importance of AI and CRM systems integrated with customer data. “By leveraging customer data analytics, we can offer personalized services to each client, delivering exactly what they need when they need it. This not only boosts customer satisfaction but also ensures that we remain relevant and indispensable to their operations.”
- Proactive Support and Communication
In today’s IT market, proactive support is critical to building trust and fostering long-term relationships. Regular communication, timely updates, and the ability to resolve issues before they escalate are vital components of excellent CX.
“Allied Digital has made significant investments to ensure that our clients receive proactive support,” says Shah. “Our account managers maintain constant contact with clients, enabling us to stay ahead of potential issues and resolve them before they become serious problems.”
Shah from Insight Business Machines emphasizes the importance of transparent communication. “We ensure open communication with customers at all levels by providing a single, unified escalation matrix that applies to everyone, regardless of their size or importance.”
Gupta agrees, highlighting the importance of transparency and clear communication. “We keep our clients fully informed, whether it’s about ongoing projects or potential risks. This proactive approach has helped us earn the trust and loyalty of our clients.”
Nilesh Kuvadia, Founder Director of ITCG Solutions, supports this view: “There are times when we foresee delays in project completion. Informing the customer proactively, with valid reasons, helps build trust and creates lasting bonds. In our projects, we provide customers with an execution plan, escalation matrix, and emergency contact information. This transparency helps alleviate concerns and strengthens long-term relationships.”
- Leveraging Technology for Enhanced CX
Technology is at the core of improving CX, and IT channel partners are making significant investments in automation, AI, and cloud-based systems to streamline service delivery.
AI-driven customer analytics plays a key role in creating more personalized service offerings. “This enables us to anticipate client needs and offer solutions proactively. We use Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems integrated with AI to track interactions, preferences, and service history, enabling a highly customized approach,” says Shah of Allied Digital.
The company employs predictive analytics models to analyze engagement patterns, support ticket trends, and usage data to identify potential customer churn. “A dip in product utilization, an increase in support tickets, or declining engagement often signals churn risk. We also analyze support tickets to identify recurring issues. By addressing these trends, we can resolve systemic problems, streamline processes, and implement preventative measures to reduce customer dissatisfaction,” Shah explains.
Allied Digital’s proprietary “Digital Desk” platform enhances service management and customer support. “Our Digital Desk platform provides end-to-end visibility of all services delivered by different business units. Powered by AI, it accelerates issue resolution and enables us to offer a self-service experience to clients,” Shah adds.
Gupta stresses that technology should not only resolve issues quickly but also enhance the entire customer journey. “AI and automation allow us to anticipate customer needs, reduce response times, and offer services that are more aligned with client expectations. Technology is about making the customer experience smoother, more efficient, and more personalized.”
On the other hand, many vendors are raising the bar on partner experience with new digital tools like incentive centers and pricing and quoting tools. “Our new Incentives Center gives partners increased visibility and insights across all their program incentives in one centralized location. We’ve also invested in configuration, pricing, and quoting through the Online Solutions Configurator (OSC) tool to reduce turnaround times and deliver greater pricing transparency for partners while enhancing their online self-service capabilities,” shares Vivek Malhotra, Senior Director – India Channels, Dell Technologies.
- Continuous Feedback and Improvement
Continuous feedback is critical to staying competitive, and industry leaders agree that gathering and acting on client feedback is key to improving service quality.
“We’ve centralized all tickets into a unified system to gather insights on customer satisfaction. Additionally, we’re developing an AI tool that analyzes the efficiency and deficiencies in our service delivery, helping us achieve just-in-time service improvements,” says Shah of Insight Business Machines.
Gupta adds that gathering feedback is only the first step; acting on it is equally important. “We regularly collect feedback through NPS (Net Promoter Score) surveys and customer reviews, but the real value lies in implementing changes based on that feedback. We conduct regular review sessions to ensure we’re meeting and exceeding client expectations.”
He highlights that Hitachi Systems’ dedicated customer success teams are crucial in gathering ongoing feedback. These teams check in with clients not just to troubleshoot, but also to proactively seek insights on their evolving needs and future challenges. “We’ve implemented structured escalation mechanisms to ensure critical feedback is addressed quickly and escalated to the right teams. These matrices are shared with customers, and feedback loops help share insights across departments so we can make swift adjustments and optimize services.”
At Allied Digital, feedback loops are also integral to success. “We have a structured process where feedback is reviewed immediately, and necessary changes are implemented. This allows us to remain agile and aligned with our clients’ evolving needs,” says Shah.
Shah from Insight adds, “We regularly hold town halls within our service teams to reduce churn. These meetings are collaborative and allow everyone to share their experiences with customers. This two-way communication helps team members learn from each other—what works and what doesn’t—while fostering a culture of continuous improvement.”
Success Stories
Many IT solution providers have successfully enhanced their CX strategies, offering valuable lessons for others in the IT channel.
Hitachi Systems improved the online banking platform for one of its BFSI clients, who had been struggling with higher-than-average customer drop-off rates during key transactions such as loan applications and fund transfers.
Hitachi’s solution involved redesigning the digital experience, starting with a simplified user interface and ensuring seamless navigation across all devices. It also integrated real-time support, including chatbots and the option to request immediate human assistance during complex transactions. To ensure that these changes addressed customer pain points, they implemented A/B testing and customer feedback loops throughout the process.
The results were substantial. “This proactive approach transformed both the customer experience and our client relationships. Within six months of the revamped platform going live, the bank saw a 25% increase in completed loan applications and a 15% rise in overall transaction volume. Our customer satisfaction scores improved by 30%, and the Net Promoter Score (NPS) experienced double-digit growth,” highlights Gupta.
Allied Digital’s “Digital Desk” platform has also been a game-changer, streamlining service delivery and enhancing CX. “By offering an intuitive, AI-powered ITSM platform, we’ve been able to provide scalable solutions that grow alongside our clients,” says Shah of Allied Digital. “This has resulted in a significant improvement in customer satisfaction, long-term contracts, and reduced churn.”
Both companies’ success stories demonstrate the importance of investing in technology and focusing on proactive, personalized service delivery to enhance CX.
The Future of Customer Experience in IT
Customer experience has emerged as a crucial differentiator in the highly competitive IT channel market. Personalized service delivery, proactive support, and leveraging technology are all essential strategies for improving CX and ensuring client satisfaction. Experts emphasize the importance of continuous feedback, transparent communication, and investing in customer-centric technologies to stay competitive.
For IT channel partners, the message is clear: assess your current CX strategies, invest in personalized, proactive service delivery, and adopt the necessary technologies to stay ahead of the curve. Only by delivering exceptional customer experiences will IT providers secure long-term growth and thrive in this evolving market.
