Jesus Hoyos

Jesus Hoyos

CRM Advisor, Principal Consultant

CX2Advisory

Jesus Hoyos

What has been your business/work highlight of 2024 so far?

Mentoring CX and CRM executives in closing the gap between the CX strategy and the technology, especially around managing the whole customer relationship cycle with a focus on omnichannel integration. Also, I have been working on how to integrate AI with the different CRM solutions to find out that we are not ready yet. We need to start with the right talent and data. We are often asked to learn how to do Prompts, but we forget that we often do not know how to even communicate in a meeting. All the soft skills, especially critical thinking, are needed to optimize any CRM, improve omnichannel and implement data governance. Without any of these three thing working AI will not work.

Who is your business hero and why?

My team. The folks that help me on my day-to-day activities and help our customers improve their CRM / CX ecosystems. They are my 2nd brain. Managing a CRM / CX ecosystem is complex. You need to know the ins and outs of every piece of the technology and then translate “the knowledge” to the business acumen of the customer. Not easy to do. My team is always learning and adapting to all the new things for every technology. Without knowing the technology, we cannot help customers close the gap with their strategy. I trust my team. They are the heroes.

What’s the biggest business mistake you’ve made and what did you learn from it?

I worked on a big project where the project was not properly scoped. Thousands of users with Martech, CRM, social media, call center and complex back-office integration. I went to explain to the CMO/COO the situation. We put a plan together to accelerate the timeframe and mitigate current issues. The implementation was late but successful. One of the key things was that we already had a change management track that helped mitigate other risks. Key learnings: be transparent, come up with a realistic plan, communicate, and focus on the small things to be sure you are on track. After the successful implementation, the CMO/COO took me and my team to other key projects in other organizations.

What’s the most inspirational book you’ve ever read and why?

A Walk in the Woods. A story about hiking the Appalachian Trail. Learn to take small steps and risk. I love the outdoors, and do relate to this book. Not everything is CRM or CX.

What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role in 2024?

We are still forgetting that implementing CRM projects with or without any strategy we are still working on silos. Breaking those silos will never end due to the constant challenge of having the right resources. For this, I had helped companies work together with Human Resources to find and retain the proper talent. Not easy, but it is a continuous process. We need to be mentors, sherpas and whispers with all types of resources.

What technology will have the greatest impact on your business this year and why?

AI, but not this year. Maybe in 2027. Data Governance / Observability is the technology that will have the biggest impact. Why? Data that is clean, available, curated, protected, and that is actionable is going to help succeed any company with CX.