In our recent research report Future proofing CX: How can organisations drive transformation effectively? , we take a closer look at how financial services, NHS and local authorities are adapting to the accelerated pace of customer experience (CX) change. Our research uncovered so much, but one thing we’ve been eager to explore in more depth is how an organisation’s approach to CX can change based on their industry, size, and the kind of budget they have to play with.
It’s time to take a closer look.
Bigger doesn’t always mean better
Respondents from our research seemed to think that larger organisations are better equipped to drive change. Reasons being that larger organisations have more to lose if they don’t move quickly and they have the resources to manage change in general. However, bigger doesn’t always mean better.
Enterprise organisations, including many large insurers, have grown thanks to acquisitions and mergers. But with this growth, organisations can often find they are left using too many fragmented and disparate systems leading to a negative impact on the business’ operational health and CX. Surprisingly, our research showed that 22% of organisations with over £1billion revenue, strive to improve operational efficiency as a priority. This means that a staggering 78% do not consider this a priority.
As part of our research, we spoke to many senior leaders across financial services, NHS and local authorities, and there was a sense that banks were finding digital transformation projects a little easier than others as they were early to adapt. Although these businesses still need to evolve, they have certainly already done much of the leg work.
Money, money, money
Our report revealed that 42% of respondents from organisations with revenues of £100m-£500m cited lack of budget as a top 3 change barrier. Unsurprisingly, for organisations with a revenue of £501m+, the main barriers were legacy systems, lack of technical expertise and embracing change. Research shows that a reason for these factors could be poorly managed acquisitions and mergers (Lewis ,2021). Most likely though, larger organisations failed to pin the tail on the proverbial donkey when the pandemic kicked off, putting a strain on their systems, abilities, and culture as people started to work remotely.
Not everybody wants to be social
As customer behaviours have evolved, so have channel preferences. Our findings revealed that social chat is being strongly considered as a new channel by local government (71%) and NHS Trusts (75%) yet 59% of financial services have no urgency to adopt this channel. 63% of financial services organisations say that they would prefer for their customers to choose a channel of their choice when communicating with their brand. Which begs the question, have some financial services organisations slipped up by not looking to adopt social chat?
To keep up with growth and customer demands, financial services CX experts may wish to reconsider adopting channels such as social chat. Forrester (2022) predicts that banks will need to spend big on technology in 2022 to keep up, and it would be wise for financial services to invest in tech that supports what their customers have come to want and expect from consumer brands – not simply financial services brands. It is no longer a matter of different expectations based on industry type; customers expect all industries to invest in the latest communication technology to satisfy their preferences.
Breaking free of industry limitations
Industries can no longer compare the quality of their CX against only their competitors. To continually keep up with their customers’ needs and expectations, it makes sense for organisations to compare their customer journey to other organisations outside their industry. Organisations can no longer justify not having the latest technology or channel preference based on the industry they operate in.
So, there you have it. Organisational size does impact on the quality of CX and larger organisations must invest time and resources into improving operational efficiencies. And although businesses with a revenue of £500m or less find it harder to keep up with the changing CX due to budget limitations, they can still be more on top of some of the elements than larger organisations.
A game of cat and mouse continues to ensure the balance is right between organisations and what customers expect regardless of industry, how big they are, or how much money they have to play with.
Get in touch
Mat Paixao
Commercial Director
E. mat.paixao@davies-group.com
