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The digital transformation of businesses accelerated significantly in 2020. They had to quickly adapt to remote work and further develop their usage of digital channels.
A recent study by McKinsey illustrates that this circumstance could have saved five years on the adoption of digital tools. In this context, what will be the result of these developments in 2021? What trends should you ratify now to serve your company well in the future?
1. Full digital journeys replace physical interactions
The transition to digital experiences has been underway for several years in the retail sector. In today’s climate, retailers have to differentiate themselves by offering alternatives to the brick and mortar experience, a situation accelerated by events in 2020. This trend is further backed by 49 percent of customers who say they buy more online since the start of the health crisis.
Systems such as click & collect, previously utilized by the principal retail players, are expanding to all industries. Shop journeys are planned and concentrate on the customer experience, often through a team member.
Therefore, digital can support sales staff in physical stores. Playing a pivotal role in aiding sales staff in-store. Particularly since the rise of digital interactions is set to increase by 40 percent in 2021, according to Forrester.
To be ready for this increase, organizations must adopt the channels their customers use and love, and for their agents managing them, the tools to manage channels with ease and frictionless effort.
2. Flexibility is a fundamental
Contact center flexibility is a vital specification of a successful customer experience. At the beginning of 2020, businesses had to rapidly deploy solutions for working remotely to maintain a level of continuity.
This is a transition that was simple for enterprises with digital maturity, but more difficult for others who had not yet fully developed digital systems.
Companies relying mainly on the cloud were able to ensure this transition quickly. At the same time, those with on-site solutions encountered serious obstacles, in particular, due to the need for physical hardware.
In 2021, the versatility to remain ready to customers and satisfy their expectations becomes indispensable to standing out. Therefore, companies should embrace adaptable strategies empowering them to accommodate changes.
This means using extensive technologies to be flexible and blend the innovations of tomorrow with the company fundamentals.
3. Asynchronous communications proceed to grow
There remains a continuous growth in the asynchronous interactions for customer service. Channels such as Facebook Messenger and Instagram have seen daily conversations increase by 40% amongst customers and businesses.
Also, with 2 billion users on WhatsApp and 1.2 billion on Messenger, the habits of consumers are changing and encourage the increased use of these messaging apps throughout the customer journey.
GAFAs proceed to support this shift to asynchronous, by improving the messaging activity. Google, for example, began the rollout of Business Messages, enabling users to message a business rather than making a phone call and instead encouraging direct messaging.
Due to circumstances in recent months on a global scale, the peak across each and every industry in demand for customer service teams has exploded. This too has led to a rise in the adoption of asynchronous messaging channels, as the mode of exchange in which the customers favor has shifted.
To meet the expectations of instantaneity, fast asynchronous communication is increasingly succeeding synchronous channels such as live-chat. In 2021, implementing the best tools to handle these demands and answer within the appropriate timeframe will be imperative.
