The latest research by Netcall, a leading provider of customer engagement solutions, in collaboration with Davies, a professional services and technology business, reveals some interesting results.
This paper uncovers both drivers and obstacles of further CX transformation. As a team dedicated to preparing CX professionals for upcoming challenges, we gathered the most important insight from the report. Let’s dive in.
Key drivers for CX transformation
According to the above-mentioned research, 53% of business leaders from UK NHS, local government, banking and insurance organisations, stated that customer experience innovation has increased in the last 12 months, with no sign of slowing down.
Whilst COVID-19 was named as the number one CX change driver, ‘seeking operational efficiencies’ (51%) and ‘improving customer retention’ (28%) were also prominent factors influencing transformation.
“Digital transformation and automation present a huge opportunity for organisations as they seek to maintain competitive advantage, streamline their operations, and deliver service excellence. With an overwhelming number of options, we will continue to drive our innovation agenda to help our clients level up their customer experience fast,” commented Craig John, Global Innovation Director at Davies.
Key obstacles in implementing desired CX changes
As with every change come challenges and obstacles, organizations have to learn to be agile and solve problems along the way. Failing to foresee the most effective ways to engage with the customers, is just one of the drawbacks of a rapid change.
This research by Netcall confirms that 50% of business leaders worry they will miss out on the opportunity to engage with customers, whilst 55% are planning to use new channels to do so. To meet the needs of today’s users, 59% of organisations either have a strong ambition or would like to be more omnichannel in the future. However, over a quarter (26%) admit they are distracted by other priorities.
Despite the desire to transform, organisations are facing a number of barriers in doing so successfully, with the complexity of legacy systems (47%) and a lack of organizational expertise (45%) revealed as the main hurdles. Nearly half (49%) of respondents find the choice of customer experience technology overwhelming, suggesting that, despite the urgent need to transform, support and guidance are needed to ensure success.
Investing in organizational culture as a top priority
Unsurprisingly, organizational culture was cited as a factor obstructing CX transformation. Almost 60% of CX professionals said to deliver a sustainable customer experience, a change has to be built through stable organizational culture.
This indicates that planning transformation carefully by setting the expectations and predicting eventual changes in organizational culture is crucial.
“Organisations must transform touchpoints, internally and externally, to provide the right customer choices. Automating routine tasks can also free up frontline workers and boost staff morale. It’s often impractical to remove older systems but wrap them in more accessible technologies. In this way, organisations can foster a new agile culture and create sustainable CX transformation,” shared Richard Farrell, Chief Innovation Officer at Netcall.