With the possibility of the work-from-home arrangement discontinuing when the situation improves, organisations across Asia-Pacific region will carry on with the digital transformation of their customer experience (CX) and CX processes, as stated in a new report by global cloud communications platform Infobip.
The report titled A Year of Disruption: Managing Increasing Complexities in Customer Service surveyed 2,760 professionals across nine Asia-Pacific markets – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
The results showed that companies still face some challenges while implementing changes in future and these are:
- More queries amid uncertainty: 54% of respondents cited the increase in support enquiries as a top challenge faced in customer support last year
- Bridging the skills gap: The survey shows that 60% of APAC respondents said employee training is a top consideration when adopting a digital customer support system
- Evolving preferences: From Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp Business to Viber, online chat is a growing space for Business-to-Customer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) communications.
The data indicates that the customer service support (CSS) and CX landscape is evolving and slowly departing from traditional channels. This is a key finding for one specific Asia-Pacific market. Thirty-five respondents from the Philippines agreed on the need to digitalise CSS.
Automation is the Future
Fifty percent of the respondents said the digitalisation of CSS is a permanent implementation moving forward. The long-term benefits of smart automation and implementation of a digital omni-channel hub will be the primary choice in the future.
Rating on a scale of 1-10, respondents gave an eight on average for the importance and necessity for CSS to be digitalised.