Organisations must build resiliency into the relationships they have with their customers.
According to IDC’s latest report “Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) Future of Customers and Consumers Technology Index: Building Resiliency into Customer Relationships”, leading organisations that are well-positioned in their technology and data capabilities are in a better position to capitalise and pivot to opportunities arising from the pandemic.
This key finding is derived from the IDC-developed Future of Customers and Consumers (FoCC) technology index based on two key areas of customer experience (CX) – technology landscape and data leverage – to understand how organisations are progressing toward becoming customer-centric enterprises and deliver empathy at scale.
During the pandemic, organizations faced gaps in customer reach and engagement through digital channels and touchpoints. The study shows that more leading CX organizations (CX leaders) than CX followers are better positioned to take advantage of competitor weakness to capture market share, and to pivot into new business opportunities.
At the same time, CX leaders, supported by the right technology and use of data are better able to:
* Handle customer interaction and engagements across multiple touchpoints, using AI and data to contextualize interactions at scale.
* Orchestrate multipath journeys across channels, use real-time behavioral data to adapt to the individual customer’s context, and coordinate stakeholders and partners in customer-impacting operations.
* Learn about the customer based on real-/near-real-time data and apply this intelligence in a timely fashion to adapt and transform experiences according to the customers’ needs.
* Continuously optimize and transform processes based on a continuous customer feedback loop and maintain a pulse on shifting customer and market sentiments.
“These CX traits have allowed leading organizations to adapt and recover more quickly from the disruptions caused by the pandemic. Where others struggle with maintaining customer engagements, sales, and support, these organisations see opportunities and are positioned to capitalize on them,” says Lawrence Cheok, senior research manager for future of customers and consumers research at IDC Asia/Pacific.
The study further identifies CX leaders in customer empathy, with the goal to help other organizations address shifting customer requirements in the new normal. This is done by examining the CX technology deployment and data leverage within four technology dimensions of contextual awareness, frictionless engagement, active learning, and sentiment measurement.
These four technology dimensions are aligned to the digital customer’s needs in terms of customer conversation, journeys, experience, and satisfaction. For organizations, addressing these shifting needs are critical to build market resiliency in a constantly shifting landscape filled with uncertainties.
“In the next normal, organisations must be able to rapidly respond and adapt to both incremental and extreme change. To do this requires digital resiliency. The study shows that organizations that build on empathetic foundations are also building digital resiliency into their relationships with their customers,” says Daniel-Zoe Jimenez, associate vice-president of digital transformation, future of customers and consumers research at IDC Asia/Pacific.