Praxity Global Alliance - Case Study: ClearlyRated Agency Partnership
Praxity partners with ClearlyRated to measure customer experience across the alliance
Praxity has partnered with third-party ratings agency ClearlyRated, allowing each member firm to find out their own verified customer experience (CX) score, and contribute to an aggregate score for the Praxity Alliance. Firms will be able to showcase their positive CX scores in marketing communications and pitches, while using them to identify areas for improvement internally. This is scalable and competitively priced, making it viable for all firms and markets.
Acommon debate held at firms, events, within publications or even across social media is which approach provides higher value: ‘best of breed’ or ‘best of suite’. However, firms are also beginning to apply their technology expertise utilising APIs to connect different cloud-based solutions somewhat dissolving the ‘groupings’.
Regardless of the debate and approach, firms have shifted mindset seen by the wide adoption of automation-led tools in an effort to address increasing workloads and resource capacity limitations. Accounting and audit firms are now busier than ever.
Many audit firms use a variety of technology solutions to streamline workflows, covering the likes of client collaboration, data analysis and access to transactions. This myriad of technology solutions may not have been by design due to periodic advancements by software vendors and firms themselves, plus limited capacity meaning only one or two key areas can be addressed each year leaving other areas to lag behind. This myriad of solutions can be inefficient and lead to a slowdown in the completion of jobs, more human interventions and reduced productivity from staff.
Reasons for Action
Praxity member firms have often scored highly on CX, but until now there has been no consistent measurement of this metric Alliance-wide. With a great deal of diversity in data collection, it was clear that the opportunity to capitalise on this good work could be missed. Praxity members could even be passed over by prospective clients due to the lack of a published CX score.
Daxin COO Yue Hong Meets with Daxin Saudi Chairman Abdullah Fahad Al sahli. Credit: Daxin Global
Amit Popat
Director at Rickard Luckin
The Solution
ClearlyRated will offer Alliance-wide CX scores with third-party verification, giving a credible, crowd-sourced, data-driven score for firms to use in the marketplace. In the case of multi-firm pitches, clients can get an aggregate score for all firms involved, giving clarity and transparency to assist their decision-making. ClearlyRated also offers suggestions about how data is collected, helping to refine the process and guide action.
Challenges
Defining CX under one numeric score is challenging. Having a third-party expert involved helps to give the data credibility and rigour, as well as making data collection easier and more reliable.
The Praxity Alliance has members of all sizes and levels of resource. Diversity and independence are key to the alliance model and the ClearlyRated offering needed to suit the needs of all members equally well.
Communicating what an alliance constitutes and how it differs from each individual firm can be a challenge. By creating separate scores for each member firm and for Praxity as a whole, any confusion can be clarified.
Results
Praxity member firms FORVIS in the USA and JA Del Río in Mexico were among the first to implement the partnership, trialling the ClearlyRated tools with their clients and throughout their firms.
Feedback from FORVIS suggested that the personal relationships available were a huge benefit. Marketers spoke positively about the sense of care and enthusiasm and said that their teams appreciated the in-depth information about how data could be put into practice.
Simply adding the question “are there any additional services you would need?” brought 850 opportunities for new business or expanded business. The data gave an overview of how the firm was performing, helping leaders to set and measure internal benchmarks for CX/UX.
For his firm’s part, JA Del Río Managing Partner Bernardo Del Río points to the effect that verified NPS (Net Promotor Score) scores have had on client relationships, “When we have our business review with our clients, we are one step ahead, knowing where we need to improve and where we “shine.” Clients feel they are listened to and considered, which in turn improves the communication and trust level which can lead to more business opportunities.”
Future Developments
After working so closely with these two firms, Praxity will be supporting all their members in implementing the strategy worldwide. Each firm will have a point of contact at ClearlyRated who will take charge of their programme, managing data collection and handling.
CX scores will be published widely across firm’s websites and will make cross-firm pitching far easier. Praxity Alliance member firms will be able to capitalise on their good results, as well as being able to reflect on possible improvements and to manage their risk more effectively.
