In this roundup, four of the five new research reports address organizational or worker-related issues that present seemingly divergent findings. While Frost & Sullivan projects exponential growth for CX innovation, Mendix underscores the CX challenges in delivery, siloing, and talent acquisition faced by enterprises. Meanwhile, Qualtrics says US employees are better off today than they were two years ago before the pandemic started, but Nudge finds widespread discontent in a specific segment of the workforce—retail workers.
Yet these findings are not so much in opposition or contradictory as they are complementary, indicative of the multifarious and rich complexity of the CX universe and its capacity to accommodate varying perspectives, owing to the realm’s fluid and ever-evolving dynamic. The apparent outlier in this batch is the fifth report, a study on consumer loyalty. Then again, the consumer is nothing less than the quintessential CX subject, which makes inclusion of the final report in this roundup entirely appropriate and correct. Details on the individual reports and their findings follow.
Frost & Sullivan: CX Innovation Set for Exponential Growth
New research from business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan reveals that organizations are embracing technology and new ways of working to deliver improved customer service, with 98% planning to transform operations within 24 months.
In the study commissioned by Webhelp, the provider of business outsourcing services headquartered in Paris, France, almost one in two senior CX professionals expect a rise in new customer channels, supported in the next decade by technology such as voice assistants and augmented reality services, with much of the change accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In remote environments, meanwhile, employee engagement and motivation remains the most pressing operational challenge, closely followed by the need felt within organizations to keep up with the latest contact center technology and deployment at scale, the research indicates.
To address operational challenges in the future, any CX management approach must tackle issues relating to employee attrition, the integration of disparate channels and systems, compliance management, and employee engagement and motivation. Respondents that have engaged in transformation projects are seeing benefits, the research points out, with positive impacts identified in the areas of CX (78%), data security (77%), cost base (77%), operational resilience (77%), and access to talent (76%).
Qualtrics: Workers Are Better Off Today Than Two Years Ago
Two years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, the majority of US employees say their work and family lives have changed for the better, according to new research from experience management provider Qualtrics.
The findings from the study show that 68% of US workers feel they have grown closer to family members during the past two years, and that 89% of remote employees with children say their kids are happier when parents work from home. Employees are also happier when it comes to work, with 43% saying their work-life balance at present is better than during pre-pandemic times. The one area where employees are divided is mental health, with 31% saying they are better off today, and the same percentage of workers arguing otherwise.
As society starts to enter a new phase and as life gradually returns to normal, the head of employee experience (EX) advisory services at Qualtrics, Benjamin Granger, Ph.D., says business leaders should take stock of lessons learned during the pandemic. Given the change in work-life balance for the American worker, Granger says leaders should not forget how flexibility and the new ways of working have made life better for employees, most of whom have no desire to return to a traditional work model.
Mendix: Enterprises Face CX Challenges
A new report from Mendix, the Boston-based provider of a development platform for mobile and web apps, sheds light on the lingering challenges that organizations face as they strive to deliver better CX.
Although 88% of senior IT professionals in Europe and the US say that delivering an outstanding CX is an important goal, a larger number—90%–admit to being challenged in delivering CX, with the two most common obstacles being cybersecurity (49%) and data integration (42%). For their part, customers are frustrated by long waits or response times (28%) and unresolved issues (27%). Organizations are feeling the pressure as well, with 94% reporting at least one pitfall, the most common being CX silos (28%) that prevent collaboration across teams and hinder effective data usage.
Companies are also finding the shortage of developers to be a problem, with nearly a third of organizations struggling to find or retain developers and user interface (UX) designers. As a workaround, most organizations plan to accomplish their CX goals by using in-house employees with existing IT skills (61%) or by training their existing staff (48%). Such findings suggest that pressure is continuing to increase on IT departments as digital experiences evolve across web and mobile platforms.
Nudge: Widespread Discontent Seen In Retail Workers
A new report from Nudge, the Canadian provider of a mobile engagement platform for frontline employees, reveals widespread discontent among frontline retail workers because of a lack of communications and feedback. While 68% state that feedback is important to them, 37% say they do not feel heard by their organization.
The findings, contained in The Deskless Report: Retail Edition, also indicate that the retail communications and feedback loop is broken. More than 80% of retail leaders feel they send meaningful communications, but 59% of retail workers say the communications they receive are either of somewhat value or not useful at all. For 27% of leaders, turnover is their biggest challenge, given that 37% of workers say they wish to quit their jobs given a combination of poor management, inadequate pay and benefits, and deficient communications.
Worker discontent is finally being addressed, however, the report notes, as 63% of retailers plan to invest more in overall EX next year. Jordan Ekers, co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of Nudge, says corporate leadership is finally catching on. “Turnover and resignations are still on the rise because frontline retail workers want better—better communications, better feedback, better engagement, and a better employee experience. It’s time retail leaders listened, and it seems that they now are.”
Yotpo: Shoppers Expect Relationship with Brands to Go Beyond Sales
In the face of ever-rising consumer expectations, a new report from Yotpo, the New York City-based provider of an e-commerce marketing platform, reveals just how hard brands have to work to earn the loyalty of customers and drive positive business outcomes.
Findings from the Yotpo annual State of Brand Loyalty report indicate that nearly 40% of global shoppers say they would need to buy from a brand five or more times before considering themselves loyal—an 11% increase from the rate last year.
Additional findings indicate that today’s consumers expect their relationship with brands to go far beyond a sales transaction. Data transparency is important, and the majority of consumers (68%) are willing to share information with the brands they love in exchange for more personalized loyalty experiences and rewards. Furthermore, 84% say they are more inclined to buy from a brand whose values align with their own. Conversely, bad business practices related to the mistreatment of workers or to the environment are the chief reasons discouraging customer loyalty, the report notes.
Author Information
Alex is responsible for writing about trends and changes that are impacting the customer experience market. He had served as Principal Editor at Village Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based consultancy on technology impacting healthcare and healthcare-related industries. Alex was also Associate Director for Content Management at Omdia and Informa Tech, where he produced white papers, executive summaries, market insights, blogs, and other key content assets. His areas of coverage spanned the sectors grouped under the technology vertical, including semiconductors, smart technologies, enterprise & IT, media, displays, mobile, power, healthcare, China research, industrial and IoT, automotive, and transformative technologies.
At IHS Markit, he was Managing Editor of the company’s flagship IHS Quarterly, covering aerospace & defense, economics & country risk, chemicals, oil & gas, and other IHS verticals. He was Principal Editor of analyst output at iSuppli Corp. and Managing Editor of Market Watch, a fortnightly newsletter highlighting significant analyst report findings for pitching to the media. He started his career in writing as an Editor-Reporter for The Associated Press.
