NTT Ltd. releases the 2021 edition of the Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report (GCXBR), its highly influential annual survey assessing the global state of play for CX. Now in its 24th year, the latest GCXBR arrives at an important juncture to help organisations calibrate their rapid adoption of CX technology, revealing a significant gap in perceptions between organisations and consumers.
This year, NTT interviewed 1,359 professionals across 34 global markets and 14 different sectors. For the first time, the research also included a voice of the customer (VoC) survey, supplementing evidence from professionals with opinion from aconsumer panel of 1,402 respondents.
In the context of a disrupted CX environment, responsibility for CX has been elevated to a significantly more senior level and confidence in CX has followed suit:
- 75 per cent of organisations now have ultimate accountability for CX held at the board level, up from 35 per cent in 2020
- The rate of organisations with ‘well advanced’ or ‘complete’ CX strategies has more than doubled to 71 per cent, up from 28 per cent in 2020
- The rate of organisations reporting being ‘very satisfied’ with their CX has risen to 45 per cent, up from 10 per cent in 2020
Organisations now expect that the majority of CX will be automated in twelve months’ time, with workloads handled by AI and robotics rising to 51 per cent from 32 per cent today, and over a fifth of interviewees reported that their use of AI or robotics is delivering beyond expectations.
The positive outlook from the industrywas only partially echoed by the new VoC survey, however. Encouragingly,87 per cent are happy to continue using digital channels at the increased levels triggered by the pandemic,while 38 per cent said that the quality of automated CX systems had improved over the course of the pandemic.
Withforecastsfor next year showing high rates of organizationsexpecting to have implemented voice-activated AI assistants (52 per cent), robotic process automation (48 per cent), web-based AI assistants (45 per cent), and other new technologies, these developmentshold a lot of potential for businesses to differentiate themselves by more effectively solving customers’challenges.
“The addition of VoC data this year has shone a spotlight on a really interesting situation,” comments Rob Allman, Vice President, Customer Experience, NTT Ltd. “It’s allowed us to spot a – potentially growing – disparity between how businesses assess their own performance and how consumers perceive CX. The fruition of new technology in the CX space is exciting, but the ultimate focus always needs to be on people,” added Allman.
When asked about human-led support, 94 per cent of CX decision-makers agreed that it remains critical– but less than half agreed that they have the technology in place to fully support remote CX employees. Meanwhile, 38 per cent in the VoC panel stated that their biggest reason for avoiding digital channels is that they would rather speak to a human.
“Of course, technology has always augmented human capabilities”, concludes Allman. “This year, the key message of the GCXBR is to empower customers and employees through the use of data and AI-driven technology. People need to be at the center of any CX strategy, with technology in the service of superior customer and employee experiences that create value,” commented Allman.