Australasian businesses are taking charge of digital transformation: Genesys
An upsurge of customer experience investment by Australasian companies over the next three years will accelerate their digital transformation and pave the way for innovation, according to omni-channel customer experience and contact centre solutions company, Genesys.
In new research commissioned by Genesys and conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the study found 86 per cent of Australasian C-level executives considered “improving customer experience” as a key driver for their company’s digital transformation.
The survey was conducted with 516 C-level executives in 21 countries, including Australia and New Zealand.
In line with this finding, the report stated Australasian companies were set to invest heavily on customer experience innovation. 20 per cent of respondents said they planned to boost their investment by more than 27 per cent in the next three years, which is up from 15 per cent three years ago.
On a global scale, larger companies are cutting back on their investment, with just 12 per cent planning a similar increase over the next three years. This has put Australasia ahead in the race to lead customer experience innovation.
Genesys Asia-Pacific managing director, Bruce Eidsvik, said motivated primarily to improve customer loyalty, the upsurge in investment can be linked to the direct correlation the survey found between CEO engagement in customer experience and company performance in revenue growth and profitability.
“More and more senior executives are beginning to not only understand their digital consumer but also see the urgent need for customer experience innovation to be prioritised on their investment agenda and to keep up with today’s digitally driven customer.
“With this in mind, organisations need to consistently evolve to meet the growing demands of their customers, build trust, increase loyalty and drive revenue growth,” Eidsvik said.
Other findings from the study include:
- Traditional customer experience channels in Australasian companies are set to drop to 45 per cent in terms of importance in the next three years, compared to 60 per cent currently, with these channels to be overtaken by social media, Web self-service and online assistance.
- 60 per cent of Australasian business leaders still believe face-to-face interaction between companies and customers is an important and effective customer experience channel.
- 40 per cent of the Australasian respondents said increased customer retention was one of the benefits of customer experience investment, followed by increased sales and improved customer satisfaction, both identified by 18 per cent of respondents.
- 58 per cent of Australasian companies reported a much higher profitability than their competitors when the CEO was in charge of customer experience.
