Amanda S. Horn Boise State University

Idaho State University

• First year MATC student at Boise State

• Works at Idaho State University

• Worked in craft beer industry

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1. What opportunities exist for technical communicators within CXM?

2. Are there any accreditation requirements relating to keeping up with new trends and technologies in technical communication degrees?

3. Are technical communication students taught about CXM?

4. Should technical communication students prepare for CXM?

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Customer Relationship Management

Interrelated with marketing

Formerly product/service driven

Now customer driven

What will the customer’s experience

be?

4

5

CXM

Customer Driven

Technical

Skills

Constantly Evolving

Emerging Opportunity

• Manage electronic interactions through: • Podcasts

• Blogs

• Facebook

• Twitter

• RSS feeds

• YouTube

• Monitor each step of the organization’s contact

• Grow and retain customers

• Foster positive interactions

• Examples include “WCM”: SDL Customer Analytics, HootSuite, Adobe, Oracle, Ektron

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Google search for “customer

experience manager” + job = 5 million

results

Customer service content writer

Forum manager

Content Strategist

Editor

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1. Audience analysis and use case

development

2. Creating visuals that clarify text

3. Organizing information for maximum

comprehension

• The Certified Customer Experience

Professional (CXXP) program offers

certification

• Post-secondary education

• Join professional groups such as the CXPA

• On-the-job training

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Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission

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Arizona State Montana Tech UC Berkeley

Carnegie Mellon North Carolina State UC San Diego

Eastern Washington Purdue Engineering

Univ. of Central

Florida

Indiana Univ. East

Rensselaer

Polytechnic Univ. of Houston

Mercer University

Southern New

Hampshire

Univ. of

Massachusetts

Metropolitan State -

Denver

Southern Polytechnic

State Univ. of Minnesota

Michigan Tech

Texas Community

College Univ. of N. Texas

Milwaukee SOE Texas State Univ. of Wisconsin

Minnesota State Texas Tech Utah State

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What is your current role in Tech. Comm.

education?

How familiar are you with Customer Experience

Management (CXM)?

On a scale of 1 to 5

Where did you first learn about CXM?

Do you think Tech Comm students should study

CXM?

If you checked undergraduate/graduate

coursework above, which university did you

attend?

Faculty 92%

Student 8%

What is your current role in tech comm?

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1

5

2

2

0

0 2 4 6

Not familiar at all 1

2

3

4

HighlyKnowledgeable 5

How Familiar are you with CXM?

3

0

0

1

2

4

Professional Tech Comm Forum orPublication

Undergraduate Coursework

Graduate Coursework

Current or Former Job Experience

This is the first I've heard of it

Other

Where did you first learn about CXM?

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75%

25%

Do you think tech comm students should study CXM?

Yes No

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• “I selected NO, but I really mean not by itself as an isolated topic, but yes, if CXM is discussed in context with its relationship to the field of tech comm. It's more in alignment with business comm than actual tech comm, in my opinion, but it would be valuable for students to know about in the context of how technical communicators in global workplaces fit in the CXM big picture.”

• “I do think student should study this, but not in a holistic way – perhaps as part of a class. It’s almost dipping too much into a graduate business degree if it becomes a whole course or a thread of courses.”

• “I’ve worked in the field for over 30 years – and I’ve been teaching technical communication for 19, in a professional certificate program. I’ve only begun to hear the term “Customer Experience Management” in the last couple – and it is not well defined.”

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Yes.

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Baker, Pamela. (n.d.) The transition from CRM to Customer Experience Management. [Web log

comment]. Retrieved from http://www.crmsearch.com/customer- experience-management.php

Business Dictionary Online. “CXM” Retrieved from

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/customer-relationship-management-

CRM.html#ixzz316N8unW1

Davenport, Daniel. (2012, January 31). Digital channels move at the speed of social: thinking about

CXM. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.thinkinc.com/blog/digital-channels-move-at-the-

speed-of-social/

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. (2013). Accreditation handbook, 2013 Edition.

Retrieved from

http://www.nwccu.org/Pubs%20Forms%20and%20Updates/Publications/Accreditation%20Handbook,

%202013%20Edition.pdf

Powers, S. & Walker, B. (2011, August 22). The emergence of CXM solutions. Forbes online.

Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2011/08/22/the- emergence-of-cxm-

solutions/

TechWhirl. (2012, July 10). Technical communication poll: roles in customer service. Retrieved from

http://techwhirl.com/technical-communication-poll-roles-in-customer-service/

TechWhirl. (2014, May 5). Transferring Skills Between Tech Comm and CXM (poll). Retrieved from

http://techwhirl.com/transferring-skills-tech-comm-cxm-poll/

Texas Tech University. (n.d.) MA in Technical Communication. Retrieved from

http://www.depts.ttu.edu/english/tcr/MATC/

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