Trusted digital experiences at speed

The need for speed

At the height of the global pandemic, digital channels became one of the only ways to engage and transact with organizations. The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in March 2020. Since then, digitization of customer interactions sped-up by three to four years. During the pandemic crisis the development of digitally enabled products accelerated by seven years (McKinsey, 2020).

Rapid access to digital information and services is now a significant concern for customers (KPMG, 2020). Sadly, many businesses didn't successfully make the leap to digital. An estimated 60% of the closed companies closed in March 2020 are permanently closed (Yelp, 2020).

Got a moment? 

Today, organizations need to spin-up new services and digital experiences at a moment's notice, and these services need to be fast. Today's customers count wait times in milliseconds. A one-second delay can now impact conversion rates by 20% (Think with Google, 2019). Seventy-two percent of customers consider response times more important today than before the pandemic.

It's no surprise, then, that almost 90% of recent digital transformations are focused on customer-facing initiatives - digital marketing, personalization, and streamlining the customer journey. As digital channels become more critical, this trend is likely to continue (BCG, 2020).

Ensuring trust

The pace of change is staggering, and it's not enough for companies to simply shift real-world transactions to digital channels. Digital experiences need to be fast, deliver value, and be trusted. According to Rachel Botsman, Oxford University Trust Fellow, "trust is the currency of interactions" in the digital economy.

Good digital experiences reinforce trust and build loyalty. Digital services need to be useful – so fast, easy, and intuitive that it should be almost forgettable, or 'frictionless, for customers.

As more services, information, and transactions are digitized, it's critical to ensure that customers trust the experience. "Trust is a confident relationship with the unknown" (Rachel Botsman, Financial Times, 2020).

During the pandemic, as fear and concerns heightened, consumers have become even more aware of organizations' reputation and their ability to deliver trusted information and services. Previously, only 28% of customers listed trust as necessary. Recent research suggests that as a result of the pandemic, 'trust and transparency' have overtaken personalization as core to digital engagement (KPMG 2020). The stakes are high.

In recent years the EU issued hefty fines to organizations around the world for non-compliance with General Data Protection Regulation. In 2019, a major airline received a $26 million penalty for compromising customer data. In the Netherlands, a hospital received a $540,000 fine for a lapse in patient data access. (Accenture, 2020).

In an environment where there's no tolerance for a failed digital strategy, where speed is critical, and digital services need to be trusted, how can you prepare for the 'next normal'?

Adjusting to the 'next normal'

The sweeping economic and societal changes shaped by the global pandemic have created a once in a generation opportunity to digitize critical services. Those that fail to make the leap won't survive. Rapidly creating new capabilities requires a digital partner that understands what it takes to build trusted, valuable experiences that scale to meet the ever-increasing needs of customers.

Why Squiz?

With over twenty years of digital transformation expertise, Squiz delivers seamless, trusted, personalized digital experiences that create value. Leading organizations trust Squiz to rapidly develop customer-first digital services, improve organizational efficiencies, and increase employee productivity.

To read more about Great Experiences at Speed, click here to download the eBook.