Best Bets for CX Investments in 2022

HOW ARE BRANDS INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY AND TRANSFORMATION?

Over the past two years, the demand for customer service excellence increased dramatically. Meanwhile, the factors affecting support increased in number, and the means of remedying issues became more complex. One study found that 50 percent of U.S. consumers value customer service more in deciding to do business with a company since the pandemic. And 30 percent of customers are willing to pay more for excellent service. As consumers, companies and nations work toward the next normal, it’s clear that CX excellence can make or break a brand.

Our study showed that 49 percent of consumers expect great customer service from a company to consider purchasing from them again. Additionally, brands that show loyalty to buyers gain powerful allies, as more than 70 percent of buyers recommend brands with good loyalty programs. And overall, consumers are forgiving—78 percent will continue to do business with a brand if it remedies its mistakes.

Attracting and retaining loyal customers is a challenge in a complex global marketplace. Coupled with supply chain issues, labor shortages and other global disruptions, providing superior customer support requires companies to invest in technologies and transform to accommodate a new way of reaching and interacting with customers.

In our annual survey of business leaders and decision makers from a variety of industries, we asked how they would be investing and transforming customer support in 2022. Here is where brands are putting their time, talents and treasure this year.
 

1 – CYBERSECURITY

Top of the list is cybersecurity tools, with 36 percent of respondents planning to invest in these assets. And it’s not difficult to understand why. By Q3 2021, cybersecurity incidents were already up 17 percent over 2020. The pressure is on companies to protect data across a variety of systems and with a hybrid workforce that is no longer tied to an office.

Call centers were hit harder than before, as many of these teams had gone mobile for the first time. Additionally, many industries manage sensitive data, which is an ideal target for bad actors.
 

2 – CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

About 32 percent of companies noted they would invest in new/improved customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Perhaps some companies were saddled with legacy systems, or they were midstream in moving to a cloud-based solution. In any case, anytime and anywhere access to secure customer data is a necessity in today’s multichannel support where consumers may move from chatbot to live agent to phone support in one session.
 

3, 4 (TIE) – QUALITY MONITORING AND WORK-FROM-HOME

In our survey, 29 percent of leaders plan to invest in tools for quality monitoring and management. Advanced analytics tools can bring a great deal of actionable knowledge to contact centers and support functions. New to our survey this year, we asked leaders how they plan to use analytics in their CX operations.

Tied with analytics at 29 percent, work-from-home (WFH) investments, such as virtual desktop infrastructure, will continue, though to a lesser degree than in 2021. Companies that were blindsided in 2020 probably used the past year to prepare and solidify a new approach to hybrid/remote work. And many companies may have completed their improved infrastructure setup to move forward as the pandemic subsides.
 

TECHNOLOGY TIES IT ALL TOGETHER

From security to customer to quality, companies are finding new ways to deliver an enhanced customer experience, and advanced technology is a critical part of that delivery. As business models migrate toward the evolving metaverse, technology will provide an immersive experience where people connect and collaborate virtually. As a result, the need for VR and AR, and other advanced technologies, will increase. Gartner anticipates that metaverse is still eight years in the future, but in the meantime more companies will invest in these technologies that will transform customer support and how brands interact with customers.

And outsourcing with an agile, scalable partner is one way to adopt next-generation technology and transform your business and customer support. Companies look to partners that can deliver digital solutions, lower costs and elevate the way they do business.
 

WHAT ELSE WILL 2022 BRING?

To learn more on how companies plan to strategize and improve the next level of customer support and CX, get the full report, 2022 BPO and Customer Care Dynamics. You’ll get insights and advice on how to serve consumers in an increasingly complex world.