As businesses continue to experience a transition towards an all-digital world, with most consumer interactions being executed digitally, organizations must employ intentional approaches to be able to offer a great digital customer experience, financial and digital experts have said.
They suggested that consumers are progressively shifting their emphasis away from products and services and toward the quality of the experience they receive. Meeting these new criteria will require firms to demonstrate unflinching commitment.
They said this during a webinar organized by CWG Ghana and DigiD, themed ‘Digital Customer Experience: A profitable Journey’, where the industry leaders discussed how to engage the digital customer.
Group Chief Information Officer (CIO), at I &M Bank-Kenya, Rohit Gupta stated, as businesses digitize their operations, in keeping with the times, they must also carry their employees along. He said, as businesses adopt technology, the staff must be technologically enabled for the skill sets needed for interacting with digital customers.
Elaborating on the change in customer behavior and how businesses must adapt, Ramesh Kannan, founder of Digid, a digital onboarding, and identity verification system, said the financial services industry and other businesses must concentrate their effort on improving services through digitization.
“In the previous 5-7 years, the internet purchasing experience has reached a mature stage.Online customers are now able to enjoy an immersive shopping experience that was previously only available in-person.Customers wanting to get financial services and products should also be provided with a comparable experience. They should be able to purchase their services from any location, at any time, and using any device “he said
” A handful of the manual / semi-manual work processes that financial services companies are now using are unsustainable and needs immediate attention,” he said, bringing the attention to the existing onboarding process in financial services firms.
For Chief Information Officer (CIO) at First National Bank Ghana, Samuel Dakurah, as technology advances, it presents opportunities, which several industries can leverage for growth, explore advancement and improve on customer experiences
“Major advancements in customer service have been driven largely by advancements in technology. A key driver has been the growth and accessibility of the internet which has opened up many opportunities for both organizations and customers. Communication is now timely and efficient. Also, advancement in areas such as cloud technology has helped address challenges such as scalability, availability, and uptime or platforms. Many solutions now have a “software as a service” offering that organizations can quickly leverage to serve their customers. The growth in fields such as machine learning and AI have also provided new avenues for engaging with customers such as intelligent chatbots.,” he said.
Mr. Dakurah advised that, in the quest to satisfy the needs of the digital customer, businesses especially banks, must also ensure that they keep an eye on cyber security threats. Both customers and organizations are vulnerable now, more than ever to cyber security risks. This can potential destroy the customer’s trust if not properly addressed.
Comfort Armoo, Head of Customer Experience at Fidelity Bank Ghana, said that all services must be relevant to the needs of the customers. She said that when it comes to digital services, , systems must be built client-centric.
“In general, every world-class service must be Reliable & Responsive, Empathetic, have a great Ambience, and provide Assurance. That being said, in order for us to proclaim a positive customer experience, service providers must make every effort to make all digital journeys and processes smooth and seamless, timely, emotionally rewarding, and successful.When all four of these critical imperatives are present , one had definitely engineeerd a powerful anacea for growth and customer loyalty, while improving organizations own efficiency”, She said
For his part, a digitalization expert at OSPBA NOVAT, Bismark Owusu-Prempeh said insurances companies, whose services he described as ‘sensitive’, must foster transformative and customer-centric cultures if they are to meet the demands of the new normal.
“Technology should be used to increase the value of services delivered to customers. For me, understanding ‘who your digital customers are’ and ‘how you affect their perception, and brand loyalty’ is critical,” he said.
“There are basically 3 fundamental ingredients to a good digital customer experience: (SEE)
- Success – Whether the customer receive his/her preferred service/product. Did the customer complete their task and achieve their goal?
- Effort – The amount of efforts the customer had to put in to receive a service or product. Was the process smooth and easy?
- Emotion – The kind of impression/perception the customer is forming about your brand. did they come away from the interaction feeling good?
In all of these, understanding your customer needs is the first step in redefining your business digital offerings. For example, what are the customer needs in the insurance industry? Can the customer enroll or buy insurance product, update his/her personal information, know his/her contributions, future benefits, etc. without visiting the brick-and-mortar office? Can I get these with less efforts?” he added.
