Having great products at the right price is no longer a guarantee of success in the global marketplace, according to a global research report released today.
Australian businesses which fail to embrace eight customer service “megatrends” during the next decade will falter at the hands of savvy local and international competitors, according to the report ‘Service 2020: Megatrends for the decade ahead’, a BDO Global report written by the Economist Intelligence Unit capturing the views of 479 business leaders world-wide.
BDO Australia national chairman Tony Schiffmann said the report served as a warning for all businesses by outlining key customer service shifts over the coming decade, and forecasting eight service ‘megatrends’ that are likely to occur.
The eight trends are:
- Global competition will drive up service standards.
- Companies must maintain service standards in the face of ‘the need for speed’.
- Firms must learn to use the increased transparency brought by social media to their advantage.
- Companies must use new sources and types of data to rethink the way they track and personalise their service.
- Good employees will remain fundamental to good service but with technology as an enabler.
- More firms will outsource aspects of customer service to new kinds of specialists.
- The rise of the mass affluent and other customer segments will force companies to find new product or service niches.
- Customer expectations, including the purpose of the store, are evolving with new technology.
The full report is available for free download.
Schiffmann said the report explores how successful organisations have built – and sustained – excellent client service, and outlines eight predictions on how customer service will change in the coming decade.
“While service can sound like an ambiguous term, your customers inherently know whether you deliver great service or not,” Schiffmann said.
“The quality of the customer experience is the added dimension which will impact businesses, regardless of their size, or whether they are operating from a shopfront, office or online,” he said.
Schiffmann said, according to the report, the next decade would see businesses wage an ongoing battle to beat customer expectations, learn to love new technologies and use customer service as a global competitive differentiator.
“International and domestic business is more connected and competitive than ever before.
“As globalisation takes a deeper hold over the next decade, there will be significant new consumer markets and aggressive new global rivals.
“Customer service has never been as important to business as it is now, with good service set to become a key competitive differentiator in a global marketplace, with new technologies playing a huge role in doing so,” he said.
