If you've attended our classes in the past, you'll be aware of the concept of an Experience Management Office, or XMO. In short, an XMO will manage the lifecycle of the XLAs your organisation has in place. If you have not heard the term before, we would highly recommend you read our earlier article on the importance of experience management and the XMO.
The XMO architecture can be a confusing aspect of understanding the whole concept in general. Split into three 3 missions, with 1 - 3 roles within each mission, as well as the underlying arts and sciences for each, you can understand why this takes in class participation and discussion to fully grasp. However, it is not as daunting as it appears. Here we will establish the various roles and tasks of the XMO, as this is the important part to grasp for any business. What does it do, and what kind of people do I need?
The XMO Architecture ©XLACollab
Mission 1 - Managing Experience Measures
As would make the most sense to start with, mission 1 is concerned with managing the measures by which we generate experience data. This is where you may want dedicated people to build surveys, and certainly not the same one over and over again. The data you receive back in your XMO, and any subsequent action, will influence the kind of questions for future surveys.
The Experience Measures are not only about the surveys though but also about all other supporting measures. The XMO needs to keep challenging the Experience Ambitions. Have we met them? Are they still valid? Is it still what our employees/customers need? Should we be going in a different direction? What else could we do to truly understand experience?
As well as the Experience Ambitions and the X Data (XI Question surveys), the XMO needs to continually look at all the supporting measures from O Data (operating data such as SLAs and KPIs) and T Data (technical data from tools like Nexthink or MS technologies) - are these still valid? Can we find more measures to give us a rounded, more deeper view of experience?
Survey Architect
As alluded to, this is the individual responsible for constructing the surveys that will be sent out with the aim of gathering sentiment data. The architect would use survey best practices, which we cover in our Mastering the XMO course, to build effective surveys that will both engage the respondents and be aligned to measuring experience. The benefit of this role is that it sets the XMO up for success from the start. If the architect can create the optimum surveys to garner sentiment, the XMO stands at a better chance of receiving rich and actionable data.
Statistical Validation Expert
Ensuring the validity of the data is important. This is the role of the validation expert. They will analyse factors such as the population and any commonalities within said population for elements that could cause bias or otherwise detract from the validity of the survey results. The reason this role is in effect placed above the following role is because we want the survey to be statistically valid before we send it out to respondents. Otherwise, we risk wasting resources on something that we cannot apply to reality. The survey architect wants to set up the XMO for success; the validation expert is the individual who will take action to make the success achievable.
Measurement Collection Expert
This role involves, as the name suggests, the collection of data from those surveys completed by respondents and collecting the relevant T-Data and O-Data from the same period. This individual may need to go about this collection in a number of ways, ranging from in-person to managing a basic or bespoke online survey and Digital Experience tool. It could also be a mixture of both depending on the geographical location of the respondents. Not only does this role need to gather the data but also work out the most appropriate ways of scoring and weighting each data point as well. Dedicating a role to said collection will ensure a efficient process and help to set the stage for the next mission.
Mission 2 - Interpret and Action Experience Findings
Findings Interpretation Lead
The starting point of mission 2, the findings interpretation lead will present the findings collected from mission 1 and begin the task of interpreting the data. Essentially, they will discover the sentiment, what people are thinking and feeling and match this to O-Data and T-Data so context of why people feel that way. This precedes the next role as this is the first step of thinking 'we want to know how people feel, then what could be done'. It is at this stage that the organisation needs to think about what technology will be used to present the data - for example, Microsoft Excel, Business Intelligence Dashboards or Advanced Technology Tools. Once the sentiment can be interpreted, the analyst can glide in and add action to the sentiment interpretation.
Investigation Analyst
The investigation analyst is an individual knowledgeable on the subject of experience who will analyse the data received to build conclusions around the experience gap. This is the gap between the experience an organisation wants to deliver, as set out in their ambitions, and the experience being encountered. The main difference between this role and the next is that whilst the analyst may support the making of decisions regarding experience, they would not be the owner of the overall interpretation of experience data.
Experience Interpretation Lead
The overall head of the second mission, an experience interpretation lead will take ownership and make the final judgement on the interpretation of the experience data. They will will determine the overall experience being had and the kind of action that needs taking. They will compile these factors and present them to the XMO lead for the final mission of the XMO.
Mission 3 - Manage Experience
XMO Lead
The final and most important role of the XMO, the XMO leader is just that, a guiding leader, an individual to own, manage, and report on the progress of the XMO team on a whole, across all 3 missions. They will take findings and report to other teams and stakeholders in the organisation whose interpretations and recommend actions directly affects. The XMO leader is essential for any XMO as a owner. Throughout their leadership, an XMO lead can maintain relationships with those teams of whom the XMO-recommended action will be directed towards. It isn't often a popular notion, to be recommended action by those you may perceive as not having to walk in your shoes. Therefore, an empathetic leader who can emphasise the importance and rationale behind the XMO's purpose will be greatly beneficial to ensuring the longevity of the XMO in an organisation.
Explore the Experience Management Office
What we talk about in a few minute read is just an introduction compared to the time devoted in our 1 - 2 day courses. If this is your first introduction to the XMO and all its inner workings with sentiment, O data and T data, the overarching subject matter is part of our Mastering the XMO course. Take a look over our preceding courses where we cover the essence and importance of experience if you'd like to see our starting point. Alternatively, if this is a refresher and you'd like some more information on how implementing an XMO can benefit your business, you can see our XMO consulting page, or contact us for more details.