Infosys a global leader in consulting, technology, outsourcing and next-generation services, today published a research study that highlights the changing ways in which customers wish to experience brands, the challenges companies face when trying to transform digitally to meet these expectations, and the approach needed to drive successful digital transformation.
The research, commissioned by Infosys and conducted by Forrester Consulting, surveyed business and IT decision-makers across the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany. The study notes that customer relationships with brands are beginning to deteriorate as businesses fail to measure up to changing expectations. While 70% of executives viewed improved customer experience as their top priority in 2015[1],customers' perception of their experience of over 170 brands declined by almost 20% in the same year.
Lack of a systematic approach to implementing and executing digital change by almost two thirds of survey participants is one of the reasons for this incongruity. They believe that their organizations lack both strategic planning and the expertise to execute successful digital change. Only 31% believe that they have a digital strategy in place, with just about 9% observing that they are truly differentiated by their digital maturity.
Organizations that choose a systematic approach to digital transformation, over an ad-hoc one, are likely to invest more in the process. 61% of respondents believe that they will change current business models, while 68% intend to create direct customer-centric structures to quickly adapt to changing customer behavior. 79% of enterprises that have a systematic approach in place are investing 5-15% of revenues in digital initiatives, while 35% of them are investing between 10-15%. In contrast, just 11% of firms with an ad-hoc approach to digital invest at the same level. Digital transformation initiatives backed by the CEO have a significantly more positive effect, as per the study. 69% of the time, when the CEO leads digital change, firms invest more than 10% of their revenues in digital projects over the following year.
1. Forrester's Global Business Technographics® Priorities And Journey Survey, 2015
To meet changing customer expectations, organizations are looking to make focused digital investments.
Highlights:
- Improving products and services through digitization (47%), improving operational efficiencies (47%) and improving customer experience (42%), are among the top three priorities for the next 12 months
- Operations (73%), IT (73%), and marketing (69%), are seen as best placed to benefit from digital transformation
- Simplifying the supply chain (68%) and moving from a product to service-based customer relationship model (56%) are among the top initiatives to achieve operational efficiency
- Investing in mobility (67%) and cross-channel customer experience (60%), are seen as crucial components of a successful digital strategy
- Almost all respondents (95%) are relying on their partners' digital skills and expertise to deliver best-in-class customer experience
