Page 3 - Optus Future of Business Report 2013

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optus Future of Business
Welcome to the Optus Future of Business
Report 2013. For the third consecutive year,
Optus has commissioned this research to
explore how businesses and government
organisations are responding to changing
customer needs and leveraging technology
to transform themselves in an increasingly
digital world.
In 2012, we found that meeting customer expectations
was the primary reason organisations adopted digital
technologies, ahead of increasing revenue and cutting
costs. With the proliferation of social networks, smartphones
and tablets, organisations are expanding how they
connect with customers.
This year we interviewed 550 IT, marketing and customer
experience decision makers to explore in greater detail how
organisations were using traditional and digital channels to
engage customers and their plans in three to five years. For
the first time, we also surveyed nearly 2,200 consumers on
what channels were most in demand, to benchmark whether
organisations are meeting their customers’ expectations.
Our results may cause many organisations to re-think
how they approach their customer engagement in today’s
multi-channel world.
We find that while consumers are keen to explore digital
channels such as online websites, they are not embracing
emerging channels such as social media as quickly as
organisations think. Consumers expect traditional channels
will have a greater role in interacting with organisations
in the future.
Businesses on the other hand recognise the role of traditional
channels but are more eager to push forward on their digital
journey. They are prioritising investment in newer digital
channels, and in some cases, expect digital channels to
assume a more important role than traditional channels to
fulfil future customer needs.
Furthermore, consumers want to access the same services
and features across many different channels, but few
organisations have a fully integrated channel presence to
deliver a consistent experience. This suggests organisations’
multi-channel efforts may be spread too thinly.
Although organisations are largely motivated to adopt digital
channels to improve customer experience, our findings
suggest that they are implementing emerging channels
perhaps faster than the average consumer is willing to use
them – and may risk delivering a mix of service channels that
don’t meet their customers’ current expectations.
Organisations may need to take a step back and reflect how
they can embed the customer front and centre of their multi-
channel strategies. Before embarking too far down the digital
road, it’s worth asking: ‘Are these future plans aligned with
customers’ needs?’
However, consumers and businesses are in agreement on
the role of online, which we define as organisations’ websites.
Consumers are comfortable interacting with organisations
on their websites and expect online to become their overall
preferred channel of engagement in the next three to
five years. Online will also become the dominant channel
through which consumers expect to research, buy and
receive products and services in the future. Organisations
are embracing this opportunity, and plan to continue to
invest in their online presence.
This also presents an opportunity for mobile to emerge as
a more meaningful channel for organisations to engage
customers. Our research shows that apps and mobile
payments are a rich way for businesses and customers
to connect over the next few years.
As more consumers adopt the next generation of
smartphones and tablets and businesses continue to
optimise and enrich the mobile experience for customers,
mobile is poised to become an extension of the online
experience. Wireless 4G and the National Broadband Network
will accelerate this trend as they roll out across the nation.
Introduction: Embedding the customer at
the core of your multi-channel strategy