Drive Your Cloud Services Portfolio with Webex and the Jobs to be Done Framework

We learned in the first post of this blog series how service providers (SPs) can use the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) framework to better engage with their customers and achieve superior results. In this post, we look at how JTBDs are applied for the Cisco Webex suite. We look at key elements of JTBD construction such as the buyer and purchase dynamics.  We then learn how you can extend Webex JTBDs to differentiate and target your own cloud services offer.

Jobs to be Done Overview

As we learned in Part 1, the JTBD framework is especially powerful when combined with advanced digital engagement methods and larger go-to-market transformation initiatives. In go-to-market transformations, SPs apply digital capabilities to better orchestrate customer interactions across digital and non-digital channels through the end-to-end customer lifecycle.

JTBDs are woven into customer touch points and achieve maximum impact where SPs deliver the right message and experience, to the right persona, at the right time.

Using this approach is especially important for cloud services where customer experience is king, and churn is your biggest enemy. Forbes recently reported that 89% of businesses now compete primarily on the basis of customer experience, up from 36% in 2010.

JTBDs take considerable effort to develop. Building these out requires deep customer engagement, rounds of working with product UI/UX, testing via focus groups, and then verifying via A/B testing and analytics. Finally, you bring your JTBD to life through creative teams and designers.

Apply Jobs to be Done for Webex

To give you some examples of this, we will walk through JTBD highlights for Webex. Note that these Webex JTBDs are new. Webex now incorporates a broader set of capabilities, delivering not only meetings, but Webex Teams, Webex Cloud Calling, and Webex Conferencing Devices. These can be packaged and delivered alongside Cisco handsets, headsets, and other enabling hardware. This powerful suite enables you to target more important jobs for your customers. In addition, the expanded Webex suite can be delivered via the Cisco cloud, offering open APIs to third-party applications and better support for customer cloud migration strategies.

One of the first and most important elements of JTBDs is the focus on the buyer. For Webex, there continues a focus on seamless user experience and industry-leading benefits for IT leadership.  With an expanded set of capabilities, Webex becomes even more important for the IT buyer, firm leadership, procurement activities, and businesses operations.

We see two ways that you can apply JTBDs as you engage IT leadership in their purchase process:

Buying groups: While IT may lead the procurement process, the decision itself is more likely done in a group setting with multiple interests or JTBDs represented. Sirius Decisions recently reported that 59% of B2B decision-making is now made by “buying groups.” This dynamic suggests a benefit in identifying multiple JTBDs and how they can appeal across different key purchase influencers or personas in these buying groups.

Consumption dynamics:  Although Webex is typically purchased by an IT Director, CIO or business owner, the success of the implementation depends on user adoption and consumption. Buyers need to reflect the interests of the firm’s target “end users,” e.g., the broader base of employees who need communications and collaboration tools. Not to be too clever here, but one of the “jobs” of the buyer (and buyer group) is to represent the “jobs” of their end-users.

Figure 1:  How JTBDs are “rolled up” to the CIO for communications solutions from 1) C-suite buyer groups and 2) end-user consumers

To address the above purchase dynamics, our Webex JTBDs focus on the IT leader but include the context of other key stakeholders. By taking related C-suite issues into account, Webex JTBDs give you an ability to target the majority of the C-suite as your potential buying group. We also worked in key end-user issues and common challenges related to mobility, device UX, and inter-generational demands.

Webex Jobs to be Done Summaries

In sum, we identified three starter Webex JTBDs and have presented them in the tables below.  These tables include the target C-suite personas, the C-level purchase priorities, the JTBD classic statement format, and a small amount of supporting third-party data:

JTBD 1

Workplace Transformation to Serve Agile Staff

Targets

CEO, CIO, COO

Priorities

- Employee engagement
- Retain top talent
- Productivity & execution

JTBD
statement

“Agile workers are the future of our business but struggle with an antiquated and inconsistent communications experience. Webex offers the ease-of-use, device flexibility, and analytics to transform the workplace and create a connected business environment. This helps us retain top talent and lets agile workers not only engage in the business but achieve greater productivity and execute against their targets.”

Snippets of supporting data

The Annual CEO Benchmarking Report 2019 by The Predictive Index finds talent optimization challenges are actually keeping CEOs awake at night – responding that 80% of their top five challenges are people problems. 87% of Chief Information officers believe digitally empowering employees can drive at least 5% additional revenue growth over 3 years.

JTBD 1 key insight: Webex is not about meetings or calling but about managing your workforce, employee retention, getting the most from your talent, and the culture of your organization.

JTBD 2

Cloud Migration to Drive Growth Initiatives

Targets

CIO, CFO, COO

Priorities

- Drive growth initiatives
- Control costs
- Support distributed workforce

JTBD
statement

“Moving business applications to the cloud is a strategic imperative. The cloud is key to growth and better supports our distributed workforce. We need a path to the cloud with minimal disruption and at a pace that fits our unique mix of site needs and budget.Webex provides hybrid support, flexibility, and channel support to let me move mission critical calling, collaboration, and contact center applications to the cloud with assurance and confidence.”

Snippets of supporting data

“Data and Analytics” and “Cloud” are cited as #1 and #2 disruptive technologies (77% and 74% impact) affecting how businesses are running their operations, i.e., driving productivity, running workflows, moving goods and services, operating infrastructure, and carrying out business activities, according to KPMG, 2017.

JTBD 2 key insight: cloud migration is the number one initiative and all-consuming for many CIOs. It is a huge gating factor to growth and breakthrough leaps in efficiency.  Webex gets you to the cloud faster.  Tap into that.

JTBD 3

Secure Communications or Lose Our Jobs

Targets

CIO, CFO, COO

Priorities

- Protect customer data
- Reduce loss of intellectual property
- Manage compliance & reduce regulatory risk

JTBD
statement

“Security is now a critical part of everything we do, especially with sensitive communications and customer data.I need a communications and collaboration solution with security "baked-in" so we can focus on growth initiatives and sleep soundly at night.”

Snippets of supporting data

The Conference Board reported that US CEOs rank cyber security as their #1 external concern for 2019.  Security is the #1 management issue cited by CIOs and other IT executives surveyed by the Society for Information Management (SIM).

JTBD 3 key insight:  security is  non-negotiable.  It keeps CIOs and other C suite leaders up at night.   IT staff lose jobs over security.  Piece-part security solutions create enormous amounts of work and headaches for IT.  Do your customers an enormous favor and remind them of the depth and breadth of Webex and Cisco security capabilities.

Use Jobs to be Done for Your Offers

We feel that these JTBDs offer a strong starting point to engage prospects and customers. Instead of talking “product-out,” your sales teams and marketing content should lead with the customer concerns, or “customer-in” challenges. Instead of talking about specific features, hardware, or phone systems, the discussion might start with business objectives, growth plans, and customer experience.

These JTBDs are just the beginning for partners. As partners wrap their unique capabilities around Webex, even more compelling JTBDs are created. You can tackle the bigger and even more important “jobs” of your customers by combining Webex solutions with your broader solutions portfolio. Partner services that align with Webex include network solutions, managed services, migration services, systems integration, and overall service assurance. Not only does this help differentiate your Webex offer, but it can you drive an improved overall experience and set of outcomes for your customers.

Another important consideration is where you can enhance Webex JTBDs in combination with additional Cisco technologies and services. This includes Webex combined with Cisco networking, hardware, security, and channel certifications. These extended JTBDs bring even more tightly orchestrated and compelling value to customers, and even greater benefits for the CIO and key stakeholders.

In conclusion, SPs face an incredible opportunity to target and win the $2.1T enterprise spend on digital transformation that IDC forecasts  for 2019.

To best address this opportunity, you should:

Embrace digital engagement,

Lead with Webex and the greater Cisco portfolio, and

Use advanced go-to-market frameworks such as Jobs to be Done.

For any comments or feedback, please feel free to post below.

Resources

For more information on Jobs to be Done, see Clayton Christensen’s groundbreaking HBR article here.

For more information on Webex, please check here.  Look forward to continuing the dialogue.