A BIG number of consumers in the Asia-Pacific region believes that digitalization of customer service support (CSS) is the way of the future for businesses that will also bring long-term benefits brought by automation and implementation of a digital omnichannel hub.
In a survey conducted by global cloud communications platform Infobip, titled “A Year of Disruption: Managing Increasing Complexities in Customer Service,” half of the respondents agreed that digitalization will bring several advantages to the consumer.
On a scale of one to 10, the study said respondents rated an eight on average the importance and necessity for CSS to be digitalized. This is a key finding for the Philippines, with 35 percent of respondents agreeing on the need to digitalize CSS.
“The convergence of business and information technology is an important investment that Filipino executives should make now. The changes they will decide on to improve their operations, particularly in digitalizing their tools to satisfy customer needs and demands, will enable them to reap tangible benefits in the long-term even beyond the pandemic,” Charist Montenegro, country manager of Infobip Philippines, said in a press statement.
According to Infobip, the respondents said the increase in and management of support channels were among their two biggest challenges. With different strategies employed for different channels, customer service teams are encouraged to consider adopting an omnichannel approach or end up creating fragmented customer journeys.
With the rise of remote work, Montenegro pointed out that 2020 signaled the start of a major digital transformation journey for many businesses in the Asia-Pacific. As employees had to work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the customer experience and processes had to be digitized.
The report, which surveyed 2,760 professionals across nine markets (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines), shows that while companies intend to implement some changes permanently in the future, there are still some challenges to overcome.
Furthermore, 54 percent of respondents cited the increase in support inquiries as a top challenge faced in customer support last year.
Sixty percent of APAC respondents emphasized that employee training should be a top priority when companies are going to adopt a digital transformation program in their customer support system.
The study also showed the evolving preferences of respondents. Early on, they started using Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp Business and Viber. Lately, respondents are switching to online chat for business-to-customer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) communications.
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