VRA Session #4: Building Executive Sponsorship for Support of Adobe Journey Optimizer (AJO) Success

Transcript

All right Greetings everyone Welcome and thank you for joining today’s session We’re gonna give a lot of work you want us to give folks another couple minutes to come in. Yeah. All right So while yeah, well, we’ll probably get started in a couple minutes so settle in get get a glass of water coffee tea And we’ll start at 1003 Alana does that sound okay sounds great. All right Welcome I think I saw other folks join we’re gonna we’re gonna give everybody a couple minutes to join the session and Then we’ll start in about two minutes. So We’re all very excited to hear about this topic All right, we’re gonna start in about one minute Thank you all for your patience while we get things people roll in I can see myself Alana It’s all right, okay Just a few more seconds and then we’re gonna kick this off All right Thank you again everyone for joining Today today’s session is going to be focused on building executive sponsorship to support AJO success. I’m Tasha Sims I will be your host today. I work in Adobe’s ultimate success as a principal success strategist I know I’ve said success a lot of times Our team advises Adobe’s customers to realize value from their investments in our solutions I’m going to go ahead and kick off our session But first and foremost, thank you again for we appreciate your your time and attention and spending this with us This session is going to be recorded and a link to the recording will be sent out to everyone who registered This live webinar is a listen-only format, but do feel free to share any questions into the chat or the Q&A pod Our team will answer where we can as possible and then we’re gonna have an end a Q&A session at the end So while we are waiting I just want to also pop this into chat that we have another session coming up as part of this series And it’s the change management strategies so This link is there for you So just today today’s session will be led by Alana Hutchinson. She’s a senior customer success manager within our team and She’s dedicated to helping our customers achieve maximum value and and success. She has a wealth of knowledge She knows a lot about customers at Adobe She’s one of our favorite people and so we’re very excited to have her join us today and lead this session So Alana without any further ado, I will pass it over to you Thanks Tasha, you’re one of my favorite people, too Happy Thursday everyone, and I’m excited to walk you through our session Building executive sponsorship for support of AGO success today So we’re going to focus on three main topics The first one is to define the role of the executive sponsor in the Adobe operating model The second is to understand the part journey optimizer plays in crafting your customer centric strategy And third is how to successfully identify and collaborate with an executive sponsor at your organization to implement and scale your customer experiences So let’s kick this off and talk about why we’re all here today So Just a little background here a few years ago Adobe interviewed a hundred executives to identify the most common barriers to value realization Particularly with Adobe experience platform or AEP these insights became the foundation for the value realization framework We use today each pillar in the framework represents a critical theme Tied to delivering value and the absence of strategic planning within any one of them is often the root cause of failure Each session in this mini series will highlight one pillar from that framework and share key artifacts to support strategic planning and accelerate value realization within your organization For today’s session. We will be focusing on sponsorship and as Tasha mentioned We also have another one next week the last one in our series about org readiness and change management That’s gonna be November 12th at 7 a.m. Pacific. You can’t join live. Please still register and you can watch it on demand So what is an executive sponsor and why do I need one the executive sponsor is a Project teams by shaping vision aligning strategy setting priorities Supporting change management and driving clear communication across the organization Let’s start with endorsement. So this isn’t just about signing off on a project. It’s about active leadership The executive sponsor is typically a senior leader who champions the initiative from the top their endorsement Signals to the organization that this effort is not optional. It’s strategic Helps at the tone allocate resources and ensure alignment with broader business priorities Next we have influence sponsors hold sway over culture collaboration and decision-making Their attitude toward the initiative can either energize or deflate the organization when they model commitment others follow when they challenge resistance Barriers fall their influence shapes how quickly and effectively change takes root and finally navigation Change is rarely linear and it comes with budget constraints competing priorities and unexpected roadblocks The executive sponsor acts as a compass helping teams navigate complexity secure visibility and unlock support Their presence can be the difference between a stalled effort and a breakthrough moment So Let’s walk through the Adobe operating model and the critical role of the executive sponsor in driving that strategic alignment and execution At the top of this model We have our executives and senior managers the executive sponsor playing a pivotal role Their job isn’t just to provide the oversight. They’re the visionaries They ensure that the roadmap aligns with broader business goals and secure the capital investment needed to bring initiatives to life Without their sponsorship it’s difficult to maintain momentum or ensure that projects are prioritized appropriately Moving into the steering committee or the steer Co This group acts as the governance engine with Adobe product owners and cross-functional leads at the helm They prioritize use cases based on strategic relevance and customer impact. They ensure cross organizational alignment and vet initiatives to confirm that they’re tied to enterprise strategy this structured prioritization Process prevents business silos and ensures that resources are getting allocated to the highest value opportunities Accelerating time to value by focusing execution on what matters most to leadership Then we have our working team, which is where the rubber meets the road Their role is to execute defined use cases using enterprise digital capabilities such as Adobe journey optimizer What’s powerful here is the built-in collaboration loop They work hand in hand with their steer Co and the executive sponsor Which means fewer handoffs faster decisions and quicker pivots when needed this tight feedback cycle Dramatically shortens the time from ideation to delivery This model creates a structured accountable framework where business and technology Strategies are aligned and where every stakeholder all the way from the executive to the delivery team has a clear role in Speed clarity and purpose Let’s walk through how the operating model supports the onboarding and maturation of a new journey optimizer capability or use case So this framework isn’t just theoretical it’s designed to accelerate time to value while ensuring that governance and strategic alignment every step of the way while that executive sponsor monitors organizational metrics and business results from the top We start with the implementation phase So this is where the journey optimizer capability is introduced and onboarded at this stage success means more than just turning on a tool It’s about ensuring the capability is configured to meet business needs integrated with existing systems and aligned to a clearly defined use case governance here ensures that the onboarding is purposeful secure and compliant with executive sponsorship and cross-functional buy-in right from the start and Once our capability is live we move on to the run and operate phase This is where the business use case begins to deliver value for example Maybe we’re optimizing a customer onboarding journey or or personalizing a retention campaign The focus here is on execution ensuring the journey optimizer is orchestrating experiences as intended And that teams are using it effectively here. We also introduce a measurement framework It allows us to track KPIs like conversion rates engagement lift or time to resolution and ensures that our performance is continuously monitored and reported and Last but definitely not least we enter the CL phase. This is where we take what’s working and we amplify it Continuously optimized journey optimizer capability by refining logic expanding use cases and integrating new data sources We also begin benchmarking and assessing how our digital capabilities compare to best in class standards and Identifying opportunities to elevate that customer experience even further So whether we’re launching a single use case or rolling out a broader journey optimizer Capability this operating model provides a clear path from onboarding to impact In this example we see how kind of all this comes together This airline for example restructured its personalization efforts to unlock measurable ROI Moving from fragmented execution to a centralized cross-functional operating model Let’s start with the why so initially personalization was scattered across departments with disconnected efforts and limited impact sound familiar Leaders at this organization recognize the need for a unified approach One that aligned teams data and strategy under a single op model at the top We see our executive sponsor setting the goals and priorities Then that’s your co composed of leaders from marketing digital IT and loyalty Who set those strategic priorities and ensure that personalization efforts ladder up to leadership’s key business objectives And then we have our working team focused on the data the analytics the channel strategy and activation So they work together to activate the personalization use cases prioritized by the CIRCO The working team then feeds insights back from a EP into the cycle for continuous optimization and scale As you can see this closed loop model ensures that every personalization effort is strategic Measurable and scalable resulting in increased revenue for the airline So keeping personalization at scale in mind Let’s pivot to deeper dive into AJO and all the benefits unlocked when using this tool to the fullest Customer journeys are becoming increasingly complex for marketers to manage In the pre digital era things were much simpler right the customer lifecycle of discover explore by engage It’s as straightforward as it gets and this era was marked by mass media like TV and radio and brick-and-mortar Locations then came the digital era bringing with it new channels like websites email and social media But now now we’re in the omni-channel era And not only do you have more ways to discover more ways to explore an explosion of channels to engage on you also have transactional capabilities embedded in all of these channels consumer expectations for brand interactions are higher than ever before and Ultimately the customer is in control of when Where and how they engage with a brand? Consumers expect the companies they interact with to know them and anticipate their every need AJO certainly helps organizations meet this rising customer expectation by enabling real-time personalized and omni-channel engagement giving brands that agility to respond to customers on their terms and across any touch point Bring those physical and digital channels together for a true omni-channel experience AJO eliminates fragmentation by bringing data sources decisioning orchestration and measurement into one cohesive space Teams to faster collaborate better and meet increasingly customer expectations with precision In this slide we just illustrate how rapidly customer journeys are evolving across industries blurring those lines between physical and digital Experiences whether it’s fitness retail or amusement parks We’re seeing a shift how consumers now expect to interact with brands on their own terms Digitally when it’s convenient and physically when it’s immersive and fitness for example mobile apps and virtual trainers extend the gym experience into the home and In retail digital reservations and locker pickups turn store visits into curated convenient and tech enabled moments and theme parks mobile apps act as personal concierges managing wait times purchases and itinerary and itineraries in real time and This evolution reflects a broader truth that the customer is in total control of when where and how they engage and for brands meeting these expectations means designing journeys that are fluid responsive and Channel agnostic AJO plays another key role here enabling organizations to orchestrate these complex cross-channel experiences from a single platform in real time So it’s not just about messaging it’s about delivering relevance and convenience at every touch point So take a moment to reflect on your own organization How are you meeting consumers where they are and if your customers were to rate their overall experience with your brand today? What would it be? How are you delivering convening convenience or thoughtful content to them? But you know delivering those types of advanced omni-channel customer journeys is much easier said than done Those journeys require the right vision process skills resources Technology and not to mention time to deliver. So let’s talk about the challenges organizations are facing which creates barriers to execution Let’s start with external pressures privacy and data governance They’re evolving rapidly and organizations must navigate stricter regulations while still delivering relevant experiences Organizations are also shifting towards first-party data strategies which require new tools and new thinking to connect with consumers and We already talked about just how drastically customer expectations have increased in recent years and Even with the best intentions internal challenges often stand in the way just as much if not more than those external ones First we see disconnected tools so many systems that don’t talk to each other causing delays manual workarounds and inconsistent data This makes it nearly impossible to activate journeys in real time Then we have fragmented data incomplete records duplicated profiles and siloed systems Preventing teams from seeing the full customer picture without unified profile personalization is at best just guesswork and Then insight generation is difficult Reporting is often out of context slow and disconnected from the actual customer journey this limits agility and makes it hard to optimize experiences with data that just isn’t actionable and finally governance isn’t Complicated managing data lineage compliance and risk across multiple systems is not only time-consuming It can be a liability not to mention the people challenges such as lack of leadership gaps in skill sets employee turnover missing races for roles and responsibilities But with all that said with the right tool like an AJO the right operating model accountable resources and an influential data-sponsor championing change your organization can evolve and can deliver the experiences your Consumers desire all while addressing these internal and external challenges head-on so What’s stopping you? Let’s take a minute to reflect on your own experience using journey optimizer How can you better use AJO to create customer centric and engaging? Experiences that also support your organization’s KBOs If you were able to remove any and all challenges all challenges and blockers what does your North Star look like and What capabilities do you need to achieve that North Star? So while brainstorming let’s remember that it’s not just about having a good idea It’s about showing how that idea supports a strategic outcome Start by clearly articulating the purpose of your AJO initiative. For example, what customer gap are you? Are you solving or what business outcome are you targeting? And Once you have a clear AJO initiative in mind You need to work on linking it to leaderships priorities with a compelling data back titch to hook an executive sponsor Whether it’s accelerating time to value improving personalization or increasing operational efficiency let’s make it clear how your new capability or use case will help move the needle and Don’t forget to quantify the impact use KPIs that matter to leadership conversion rates engagement lift cost savings or speed to market Executive sponsors need to see that your initiative is not just innovative It’s worth their time and it demands their visible and active support Let’s look at this example together At this company the C suite executives share their top customer pain point which is they have a one-size-fits-all marketing approach with very little personalization and Instead of spending a significant portion of their marketing budget to acquire new customers They are looking for the current customers to move the needle on KPI such as revenue churn and customer lifetime value so you as the innovator And just need the right support and advocacy to utilize AJO to its full potential You identify a few high-impact capabilities in AJO such as event based triggers dynamic segmentation AI power decisioning and mobile push which will ultimately bring ROI to your organization and help leadership accomplish their objectives to create Highly personalized journeys that increase customer lifetime value So next you craft your pitch for executives to get the buy-in needed since these new capabilities require implementation training as well as capital and time investment I’ll pause there is was there any issue with the I just heard some beeping on the computer I didn’t hear anything on our end. Okay, great. I’ll keep going then Alright so here we have our activation checklist So this is designed to help you pressure test your idea before bringing it to an executive sponsor It’s not just about having a compelling concept. It’s about showing that it’s feasible valuable and ready to scale Can your use case be implemented with your current a EP infrastructure and data? Where the resources you need to implement these case are they people from other teams or do you need to hire a new skill set? These are just some of those foundational questions that determine whether your initiative can move forward by walking through this checklist You’re preparing a strategic pitch that anticipates questions Removes roadblocks and sets the stage for executive sponsorship to come in with clarity on the project. They’re taking on Knowing that obstacles that we can anticipate will inevitably come up anyway But there really is truly nothing worse than misleading an executive sponsor at this early stage Starting your initiative off on the wrong foot So we’ve identified our big idea and now it’s time to identify Who is going to be the executive sponsor to champion that project through all the competing noise in your organization? Your goal is to find leaders who not only have influence but also care deeply about the outcomes of your AJO initiative Perhaps a chief digital officer or senior vice president of marketing seek an executive sponsor who cultivates a culture of strategic thinking one that empowers teams to move beyond isolated solutions and towards sustainable Experience led transformation you’ll be working closely with your sponsor to build momentum Remove roadblocks and ensure the organization is ready to adopt and sustain the transformation So having the right executive is everything to the success of your project So this slide really outlines the foundational attributes of an effective executive sponsor an Individual who not only endorses change but actively steers the organization through it Since projects typically demand a several month time commitment to actually realize that value Starting with influence and an effective sponsor articulates a clear vision Communicates the strategic importance of the initiative and fosters cross-functional alignment by building a coalition of support Their leadership establishes the conditions for collaboration and shared accountability next acumen Sponsors must demonstrate operational credibility by translating strategy into measurable outcomes This includes proactively removing barriers securing necessary resources and modeling behaviors required for success their strategic foresight is instrumental in driving execution and ensuring the project viability and Then we have customer advocacy Exceptional sponsors acknowledge organizational complexity without allowing it to impede progress They cultivate a culture of experimentation and continuous learning and they rigorously measure progress against defined goals to ensure that the initiative delivers meaningful value to customers When thinking about your own organization are their leaders who come to mind when thinking about these core attributes or sponsor? So at first glance this may look like a regular org chart But this is actually a stakeholder strategy map a tool used to identify and engage the right people to champion your initiative The stakeholder strategy map helps you identify the right executive sponsors and cross-functional allies by assessing three key dimensions influence alignment and capacity For example who has the authority to champion experience-led transformation whose goals naturally align with the outcomes AJO delivers like personalization retention time to value and Who is the bandwidth to actively actively support the initiative? By mapping stakeholders you can tailor engagement strategies Anticipate resistance and build coalitions that accelerate adoption. It’s not just about who’s involved How and when you engage them to unlock enterprise ride value After today’s session I urge you to use this blank stakeholder map to start placing your peers and leaders in these values Who are you familiar with on your map and who can you get in your corner to connect you to yours? managing the relationships and selecting your executive sponsor starts here I would love for you to Take a moment and just add additional layers onto here because I know you have some very valuable insights when it comes to the stakeholder map Sure, Alana Absolutely. So when you think about this, I know it’s a blank slate and you might have different roles. You might have different titles You might have you know other teams that you’re relying on like marketing operations and etc what you need to think about when you’re Laying out your map and figuring out who has the acumen who has The influence who is the customer advocate? you might have different layers of you know a person in who owns the tool who has actually a Great deal of influence and has the the technical and the business know-how that person may be a Champion you’ll want to you want to kind of look at them and and say okay this person knows what they’re doing as You’re building out your vision But but moving like up the chain You have to think about the the leader who can also say okay. I want to move across I need influence I need an influential person who’s going to pull in other people. You can also look at this as a Where you know, I think Alana kind of noted it which is who Could be a potential blocker. What kind of strategies can you come up with to alleviate their concerns? Why are they you know, why what would it take for them to be convinced? So it’s it’s a it’s a great exercise to kind of figure out Who’s who and? How to tap into the talent that’s around you to sort of say, okay Yes, you know many hands make light work But if you have a very solid vision of what you want to achieve and you can pull in these folks Your time to value will increase so that that’s kind of my spiel I’ll pass it back to you Alana. And if there’s any other questions or you know, please pop up in the chat or Q&A Great great insight here So for all intensive purposes We’ll say we’ve identified our executive sponsor and now we can move on to fostering a mutually beneficial relationship that requires support communication and partnership to thrive and when you know and when you nurture the sponsor relationship with intention and Transparency you really transform executive support from passive approval into a strategic partnership Especially when driving strategic initiatives that have to do with like Adobe experience platform the executives visible Participation is critical to overcoming resistance securing those resources and reinforcing the strategic value of the initiative across the organization To nurture this relationship effectively begin by aligning on time to value expectations Many AJO transformation efforts require a several month runway Maybe even nine to twelve months and it’s essential that your sponsor understands it commits to that timeline This means not confirming not only their endorsement But their willingness to actively support the initiative in doing things like delivering program messages at key milestones Recognizing the team’s contributions to the org and helping course-correct when needed sponsors will also need clarity on what success looks like And how it will be tracked establishing a cadence for sharing insights ensures they remain informed and invested throughout the journey And because AJO is a catalyst for customer centric transformation in Transformation requires strategic change management. The sponsor really does oversee every phase of delivery, but at a very high level In the delivery phases we start with defining our goals They identify the business outcomes AJO will drive whether it’s improving customer onboarding boosting retention or personalizing engagement scale and here the hot this and here the sponsor helps define the KPIs that will measure success and Ensure the use case is tied to enterprise priorities During the design strategy the roadmap for AJO comes to life with leadership guiding how it fits into the bigger Interprets into the greater enterprise ecosystem Your executive alignment helps break down silos prioritizes new use cases and makes key decisions around data orchestration and governance and Then preparing the organization this the executive sponsor builds trust and momentum from the top It signals to teams that this isn’t just a tech deployment It’s a whole strategic shift and how we are now engaging customers They help drive stakeholder engagement secure resources and reinforce the importance of enablement and readiness helping reduce change fatigue in Supporting the organization our sponsor plays a hands-on role in reinforcing the change they celebrate early wins and ensure teams have the resources and clarity they need to execute effectively and Finally and adopt and sustained Leadership ensures that AJO becomes part of business as usual. They monitor that adoption champion continuous optimization and Communicate results to other leaders. So the benefits of implementing and operating AJO remain a critical priority to the organization So on the previous slide we touched a little on the executives part in delivering key messages and celebrating wins But more than that the sponsor really sets the cultural tone from the top So when the sponsor communicates the purpose and value of the initiative it signals the change is not just optional It’s a strategic priority sponsors can address concerns dispel misinformation and reinforce why the change matters, especially during moments of uncertainty Like for an example the change journey highlighted on this slide Their messaging helps all the impacted teams understand how the change supports broader business outcomes like growth efficiency or customer experience when the change communications come from a respected incredible leader, it just carries more weight and You can continue to support and nurture your sponsor during the change management process By helping create the right messaging for the right audiences Hosting office hours for teams affected by the change and really leaning into team bonding events to boost employee morale So in coming toward the end of our session today I really want to reinforce the change management process and the importance of a committed and accountable Executive sponsor the change management framework is built around three pillars leadership involvement Alignment and sustainable change and these aren’t just bud word buzzwords. They’re the foundation for driving change that lasts we begin with phase one awareness and Urgency change starts when your organization creates a compelling reason to act This space is about surfacing the challenges the opportunities and the risks that demand attention Phase two is vision and strategy. That’s where we define that future state. What are we moving toward? How does this change support our broader business goals? Your sponsors will develop a clear and inspiring vision for what the organization should look like post change and then Prioritize the key initiatives and projects that will help achieve that vision Engagement and coalition building sponsors activate the influencers Change champions cross-functional leaders and early adopters will help build momentum This is where the leadership helps build a coalition of support among other senior leaders and key influencers in capability development After assessing current skills and capabilities against the future needs leaders will help ensure the right training and coaching programs are in place to close any Skills gaps and equip the organization with the necessary support systems and coaching Then comes phase five implementation and execution. This is where our plans become action It’s critical for leaders steer co and working teams to maintain alignment to track milestones and metrics for success Integration and reinforcement this is out about embedding change into the fabric of the organization Executives reinforce new behaviors through systems processes and recognition. This is where change becomes the new normal and finally phase seven Sustain and review so change isn’t a one-time event. It’s an evolution I’m sure you’ve heard this before but the only thing constant is change So establishing ongoing review processes to evaluate measured impact then refine the approach Adopt new strategies and encourage continuous innovation Each phase builds on the last creating a structured yet flexible path forward all Anchored on the objectives set by the executives with a clearly defined action plan So after this webinar We would recommend the following Identify a list of AJA use cases for prioritization and reference that activation checklist for viability Next utilize your stakeholder strategy map to look for an executive sponsor to approach and third would be contact your Adobe account Team for support during your use case planning development and or execution journey And you’re on your way to finding a new executive sponsor to champion your idea So thank you guys for your time Now we’re going to transition into the Q&A portion of this webinar Great great job Alana Thanks everyone, I’m gonna go ahead and go and and Ask you to fill out a PO a poll. There’s three Questions, it should be pretty fast. I’m gonna go ahead and launch that now So If you could just fill that out and I apologize if you’re hearing some noise next to me but I’m gonna go ahead and go to the chat and See if there’s any questions for Alana today From the group It looks like we don’t have any questions Alana So we’ll go ahead and wrap up I think Okay, all right All Right, well, I appreciate you guys for attending today if there’s any other questions that come up, please let us know We’re here for you and feel free to reach out. And again, please sign up for next week’s topic It should be really great building off executive sponsorship and diving a little more deep into the your organizational readiness So thank you so much for your time today Thank you, thank you everyone have a great day, thank you