The past few years have been challenging for the global Manufacturing sector, with both Brexit and COVID-19 creating a wide range of operational disruptions whose impact is still being felt. Indeed, as recently as January 2023, we saw UK manufacturing shrinking for the sixth consecutive month1.
Policymakers have now recognised that world-class digital connectivity and fast internet connections are as essential to the future of the society now as ports, railways, airports, and highways were throughout the last two centuries. Those systems transformed the way people lived and worked, irrevocably changing human conceptions of distance, speed, and time.
Achieving successful digital transformation across the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Sector. New technologies are transforming every aspect of how projects are brought from conception to completion across the AEC sector. As a result, numerous leaders across the sector are accelerating their digital transformation plans, embracing the Cloud, AI, big data, and IoT in order to both overcome their immediate challenges and bring their long-term business goals closer.
Retailers - be they small local shops, online sellers, or top global brands - generate, transfer, and store more data than ever before, ranging from customer data (both online and in-store, as we have considered in previous articles), to supply chain and asset tracking data. Whether it's shopping online or utilising in-store apps to access the latest savings and special offers, the way customers shop has fundamentally changed forever, with the data they generate online and in person allowing retailers to build up unique personas that drive truly bespoke experiences.
There's no doubt that the current economic environment has led to feelings of instability, in both our personal and professional lives. Consumers are feeling the pinch, and with rising inflation and interest rates, they will have no choice but to curtail their spending. The impact on business is similarly far-reaching. Aside from the economic impact of the reduction in spending, there is the very real situation that both employees and customers will be experiencing stress in their personal lives. As a result, many organisations across the public and private sectors are evaluating how to best maintain their service quality under these difficult circumstances.
The Retail sector is more diverse, dynamic, and rapidly changing than any other time in its history. This not only encompasses the way customers make their purchases – with online shopping, click-and-collect, and in-person shopping all converging to offer true, end-to-end experiences – but also the way retailers open and operate new sites. Whether this means trendy pop-up shops, kiosks at other brands' locations, or booths at events, retailers from up-and-coming start-ups to global leaders are no longer relying on fixed high-street locations to welcome their customers and put their wares on display, instead making sure they are present wherever their ideal customers are, and fully prepared to offer a world-class experience that builds brand recognition and loyalty.
The way in which we consume content has changed forever. Physical media and prescheduled TV and radio have rapidly given way to the convenience, accessibility, and range offered by streaming services. Independent content creators share the digital stage with the most well-established industry leaders, and numerous organisations have embraced the mantra that 'content is king', utilising online video as a key tool for building engagement with their prospects and customers.
The public sector's relationship with technology is evolving at an unprecedented rate, as familiar legacy systems are increasingly phased out in favour of leading-edge digital infrastructure that offers levels of scalability, sustainability, and operational resilience that would previously have been dismissed as impossible.
How Actionable Data Drives Sales, Improves Employee Satisfaction, and Enhances the Customer Experience One of the key components we discuss with organisations when defining their contact centre needs is their data: the data the organisation requires, the data the solution can report on, and the tools available to interpret this data.
We've probably all encountered what we consider to be poor customer service through a contact centre, whether it's calling your utilities provider, banking, mortgages, or just everyday online shopping.There have been many excuses for poor service through the pandemic due to ill-prepared home working solutions. Those should be behind us now, although that's likely the topic of a further blog, as many companies are still leaning on this excuse!
We're all trying to do more with less, whether that's making our monthly shop go further and reducing our utilities consumption at home or doing more with our organisations' available budgets and resources in our professional lives. But while getting the most out of the resources we have available is certainly admirable and sensible, our most precious resource – one that we cannot replenish once it's been used – is all-too-frequently neglected: our time.
The CX technology market continues to evolve, innovate, and expand in all directions. The CRM and CCaaS vendors are locked in battle for customer wallet share and have started to step on each other's toes, particularly in areas like AI (Artificial Intelligence), automation, and analytics. The CRM vendors have established base camp in territory which has traditionally been the stable of the CCaaS vendors and, at the same time, we are seeing CCaaS vendors introduce new capability that encroaches on the CRM space. However, it is still the case, at least for now, that no single solution can meet all the needs of a mature customer service or CX operation. Add to that the fact that customer expectations are more demanding than ever and that creates a challenge for contact centre leaders.