OPTUS RESEARCH PROMPTS RETHINK FOR AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS ON CUSTOMER INTERACTION

• Sixty-five per cent of Australian consumers are expecting to have access to the same service and features across an organisation’s digital and traditional channels; however only 12 per cent of Australian businesses are delivering a fully integrated channel experience.
• The Financial Services and Insurance sector is leading the charge in Mobile whilst Manufacturing and Utilities have lowest adoption of digital channels. Hospitality, Retail and Media/Telco are leading in the use of the Social Media channel to engage customers.
• Businesses and consumers are optimistic about 4G and NBN, seeing the benefits of improved application performance, productivity and user experience.

Meeting rising consumer expectations across multiple customer interaction channels and investing in the right mix of digital and traditional channels will be the major challenges for Australian organisations according to the 2013 Optus Future of Business Report released today. The report, which surveyed 550 decision-makers from business and government organisations and 2,177 consumers, reveals which customer interaction channels (from online, mobile and social media to contact centres, and bricks and mortar) are most important to Australian organisations and their customers today and will be important in three to five years’ time. The results sound a warning to Australian businesses that are prioritising investment in emerging digital channels such as social media. Surveyed consumers rated online, namely organisations’ websites, as their most preferred channel of interaction with organisations over the next three to five years. However, only eight per cent of surveyed consumers expressed a preference to engage with organisations via social media during the same period. This could lead to Australian businesses delivering a mix of customer service channels that don’t meet their customers’ future expectations. Mobile shows great potential to engage customers, with the percentage of Australian organisations expecting to use mobile to engage their customers rising from 46 per cent now, to 82 per cent within the next three to five years. Currently, 40 per cent of organisations use mobile applications to engage with their customers, while 71 per cent plan to do so in the next three to five years. The research also confirms that industries are at different stages of the multi-channel journey. Financial and insurance services are leading the charge in mobile customer interaction (62 per cent), while the manufacturing (70 per cent) and utilities sectors (77 per cent) have the lowest adoption of online channels to engage customers. Hospitality (89 per cent), retail (69 per cent) and media/telco (67 per cent) are leading in the use of the social media channel to engage customers.

New channels experiencing strong growth but not at the expense of traditional

• Consumers expect to interact through new digital channels: Consumers are expecting to be able to use mobile (38 per cent) and social media (20 per cent) to interact with organisations in the next three to five years. However their preference to use these channels is halved. This indicates that while consumers understand the relevance of these channels, businesses are yet to demonstrate the value to customers and may need to enrich the experience.
• Consumers value traditional channels: Fifty–four per cent of surveyed consumers rank contact centres as their top pick for customer care and support in the next three to five years.
• Mobile and social channels will experience the strongest growth: 82 per cent of organisations are planning to use mobile to engage customers in three to five years (up from 46 per cent currently), and 86 per cent for social media (from 62 per cent).
• Improving customer experience underpins digital channels: Over 40 per cent of organisations cite improving customer experience as a driver for new digital channels. However traditional channels will also retain an important role, with the number of organisations using contact centres increasing to 66 per cent, from 56 per cent today.

Mobile channels to mature and mobile apps to rise

• Mobile apps continue to be a strong growth area for business: 65 per cent of organisations cite convenience and simplicity as reasons to offer mobile apps, followed by meeting customer expectations (47 per cent).
• Availability of transactional apps will also continue to grow: Consumers expect to be able to use mobile apps and mobile payments (63 and 64 per cent respectively) to interact with organisations in three to five years.
• Businesses expected to match consumer expectations on mobile payments: Organisations expecting to offer mobile payments apps for consumers will rise nearly fourfold to 45 per cent in three to five years, up from 12 per cent today.

Businesses and consumers optimistic about 4G and NBN

• Businesses believe the 4G evolution will enrich the mobile experience: Nearly half of the organisations surveyed feel that 4G will provide them with increased productivity (47 per cent) and the ability to engage with customers via mobile apps (45 per cent) in the next three to five years.
• NBN will be a key enabler in enhancing the engagement experience: Forty-five per cent of businesses feel that the NBN will increase productivity and improve their level of service to customers. Nearly a third of consumers expect to get responses to their queries more quickly, while a quarter expect to carry out more transactions online as a result of the NBN.

For media enquiries and to receive a copy of the report: Joshua Drayton/Derek Lau Optus Corporate Affairs Tel: (02) 8082 7850 Simon Fitzgerald/Mihika Gujral Text 100 Public Relations Tel: 02 9956 5733 About the Optus Future of Business Report: Stancombe Research + Planning surveyed more than 550 organisations with more than 100 employees in 10 industries as well as government. Participants were asked how they used traditional (contact centre; bricks and mortar) and digital (online; social media; mobile) channels to engage customers currently and their plans for the next three to five years. IT decision makers were also asked about the use of technology within their organisation, focusing on mobility, 4G, cloud computing and the NBN. Stancombe Research + Planning also surveyed 2,177 consumers about their current and future expectations of interacting with organisations via traditional and digital channels to compare with business responses. Consumers were asked about their interaction with an organisation in a particular industry within the last three months, as well as preferences and expectations in next three to five years’ time.