Page 27 - Optus Future of Business Report 2013

26
optus Future of Business
Online bringing consumers
and businesses together
Online has emerged as one of
the most popular channels for
organisations and their customers
and adoption will continue to rise
over the next few years. Of the
digital channels, online is by far the
one with which consumers were most
comfortable, with 42% using online
to deal with an organisation in the
previous three months.
According to businesses, online
contributes most to marketing products
and services. Businesses also have
high hopes for online to grow their
profits, with the channel contributing
a quarter of total sales volumes today.
Organisations anticipate a greater
contribution from online in three to
five years, expecting it will account for
about a third of sales, transactions and
customer support volumes.
A third of organisations say their online
presences are fully developed and
operational, while nearly two-thirds
acknowledged room for improvement.
The rise of online as the overall
preferred channel in consumers’ minds
over the next three to five years may
cause organisations to revisit their
strategies, to ensure this channel keeps
pace with customer expectations.
Business and consumer
see eye-to-eye on online
benefits
Businesses and consumers agree on
online benefits, with 70% of businesses
citing it aids ease and convenience for
customers, while 40% of consumers
say it saves them time and is simple
to use. Two-thirds of businesses say
it will make it easier for consumers
to find information and a similar
number highlight the around-the-clock
availability of their brand to consumers.
A third of consumers say that online is
more convenient than other channels.
Online deployed to enhance
customer experience
The most cited reason 41% of
organisations give for offering online
is to improve customer experience
and, secondly, to build their brands
(35%). A third say they are swayed
by its cost-effectiveness and 31%
are meeting customer expectations.
Online is especially important for
marketers, 43% saying they see it as
a way to improve customer experience,
while 40% of customer experience
executives say the same.
Profitability measures
key to channel success
Revenue is a top measure of
online success for over a quarter
of organisations, behind customer
satisfaction (34%) and customer
adoption (29%), and narrowly ahead
of the closely related transaction
volume measure.
Perhaps reflecting its public role,
government lists revenue generation
as a measure in just 4% of cases, and
is much more likely than the private
sector to cite transaction volumes as
a key measure for success. This focus
on operational efficiency is reflected
by nearly a quarter of government
respondents identifying cost reductions
as a key measure compared to 14% in
the private sector, perhaps a reflection
of differences in public and private
operating budgets.
ONLINE CHANNEL CONTRIBUTION TO FUNCTIONS
NOW (%) 3–5 YRS (%)
MARKETINGPRODUCTS
AND SERVICES
VOLUME
OF SALES VOLUME OF
TRANSACTIONS VOLUME OF
CUSTOMERSUPPORT
38 38 25 32 28 34 24 29
7% 6% 5%
TOP 3 CITED CUSTOMER BENEFITS
(%)
EASE AND
CONVENIENCE
FOR CUSTOMERS
EASIER FOR
CUSTOMERS TO
RESEARCH OR
FIND INFORMATION
70
40
65 62
40 32
24/7 AVAILABILITY
OF THE
ORGANISATION
IT SAVES
TIME SIMPLE AND
EASY TO USE
IT IS MORE
CONVENIENT
THAN OTHER
CHANNELS
ONLINE
ONLINE
BUSINESS
CONSUMER
Of the digital channels, online is by
far the one with which consumers
were most comfortable. The most cited reason 41% of
organisations give for offering online
is to improve customer experience.