Organizations realize they must invest in transformational solutions to optimize the customer experience or risk losing out to competitors
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Business leaders are doubling down on pre-emptive customer service technology to help meet the demands of less loyal and more digital savvy customers, according to new research by Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGA), the low-code platform provider that builds agility into the world’s leading organizations. The global study, conducted by research firm iResearch, surveyed leaders from 11 countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific for their thoughts on the evolution of customer service over the next five years.
The survey found that pre-emptive customer service technology is becoming a must-have for businesses who are committed to meeting the needs of their customers. Nearly two thirds (65%) of respondents said that perfectly anticipating customer needs and solving them before they feel the need to reach out was one of their primary goals over the next five years, while more than half (54%) said their biggest customer service challenge was moving from reactive to pro-active and pre-emptive customer service. Meanwhile, nearly one-third (32%) said they expect customer service to become more anticipatory than reactive within that same period as a result.
The findings underline a shift towards customer-centric technology as the solution to the challenges posed by more demanding, digital-savvy customers. Eighty percent of respondents said deploying customer service technology to improve efficiency was one of their most important priorities over the next five years. Meanwhile, more than half (55%) cited a lack of investment in new technologies that can help them to meet growing customer expectations as among the top three technology customer service challenges they face.
Perhaps the biggest driver of this race towards more pre-emptive, customer-centric technologies over the coming years is that customer loyalty is expected to fall sharply as customers continue to evolve. More than half (55%) of respondents felt that over the next five years, businesses will become increasingly likely to completely lose customers if they deliver a poor customer experience. As a result, organizations are scrambling to stay one step ahead of their competitors by investing in customer service software.
The study also identified several changes to the way customer service will look over the next five years. These include:
- The customer of the future is changing: Customers are increasingly becoming digital-first, and more than half (54%) of …….