Customers not impressed by digital strategies, report finds

In today's digital world, consumers are demanding the implementation of digital strategies over traditional and conventional strategies.

However, according to a new report, organisations are failing to implement effective digital strategies.

As a result, their customer experience (CX) solutions are becoming disjointed, and digital is not displacing traditional phone interactions at the speed that their customers are demanding.

The research is by Dimension Data in the 20th anniversary edition of its Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report.

1351 organisations across 80 countries contributed to the research, including 200 Australians.

The report states that less than 10% of organisations overall, and just 6% of Australian participants, say they had an optimised strategy for digital business in place.

Over half, 51%, reported they didn't have a plan at all or are in the process of developing one. In Australia, that figure is even higher at 55%.

Globally, improving customer experience is a top driver for digital transformation. More than 84% of organisations are experiencing an uplift in revenue and 79% report cost savings because of improved customer experience. In Australia, these figures are 82% and 78% respectively.

Yet, just 36% of respondents overall, and only 28% of respondents in Australia, have appointed a board-level executive who is responsible for customer experiences.

Companies that have committed to adapting to the digital revolution are outpacing established market leaders. According to the report, top quartile organisations are performing up to ten times better than their counterparts.

To support this, Joe Manuele, Dimension Data's group executive, CX and Collaboration comments, "the world has formed a digital skin and business, service, technology and commercial models have changed forever."

Yet, Manuele says that organisations are strategically challenged to keep pace with customer behaviour. He says that without a connected digital strategy customers are often unaware of the digital solutions available.

"The digital dilemma is deepening, and organisations need to choose a path between digital crisis or redemption," Manuele adds.

Moreover, the emergence of CX robotics is creating a new reality for the very near future of customer experience.

Virtual assistants, such as chat bots, were voted the top channel growth focus for 2017 and with IoT deployments set to double, a new approach is needed.

Michael Slip, Dimension Data Australia's general manager, CX and Collaboration, says, "pioneers of the digital age have reimagined business models and processes that have changed customer behaviour, and the choices organisations make with their CX and digital strategies will define the future success of their organisations.

In addition, the report states that 81% of Australian research participants forecast increases in assisted-service volumes and 71% predict a rise in fully automated digital contacts. 59% anticipate overall interactions to grow.

The research also found that connected customer journeys via omnichannel (integrated) solutions is the top technology trend for 2017.

Omnichannel solutions, alongside customer analytics, was listed as the top factors to reshape CX capability in the next five years.