Customer Experience (CX) is a top priority for businesses in 2022 and is fast becoming a key differentiator for the top brands, said Ayusha Tyagi, managing director of Customer Experience Live on the sidelines of the Customer Experience Live Show Middle East.

Tyagi said: “The pandemic has disrupted businesses and has forced business leaders to be innovative and driven digital transformation at a rapid pace than what was expected over the years. Today, if businesses have to thrive it is important to identify products and services that prioritise experiences. Identifying products and services that need innovation is an incredible opportunity for businesses to survive and sustain themselves.

Technologies that will be in forefront defining future for marketing trends will be AI, chatbots, data analytics and cloud capabilities.

The CX transformations are thus a necessity for all organisations while consumer choices, customer experience taking over price and product as a key brand differentiator. The Customer Experience Live Intelligence Report for 2022, launched on the sidelines of the Customer Experience Live Show Middle East, cites an increased investment in digital CX.

Providing key insights to the regional CX industry, the report states that 60 per cent of companies in the region are looking to invest in solutions that will strengthen their data framework. Talking about the budget allocation for tech deployment in 2022, 66 per cent of organisations plan to invest upwards of $200,000 in CX next year whereas 14 per cent will be investing between $ 500,000 to $ 1,000,000.

Strengthening CX Infrastructure is of utmost importance, to which effect, 51 per cent of companies show an increased drive towards digital transformation implementation or expanding AI, chatbots, analytics, and cloud capabilities.

Moreover, 49 per cent of companies cite data analytics and data security as central to CX – leveraging data analytics to analyse feedback responses and drive insightful decisions whilst having strong data governance. Furthermore, 57 per cent of companies will be re-evaluating customer journey mapping platforms in 2022 while 43 per cent will be investing in Intelligent Chatbots in 2022 to enhance omnichannel CX.

Customer Experience Live Show Middle East concludes tomorrow at The Meydan Hotel, Dubai, is a first-of-its-kind event dedicated to the regional CX industry. Organised by Customer Experience Live, a unique platform in the Middle East enabling organisations to create seamless interactions that reflect and enhance the value of a brand at every touchpoint, the show brought together leading global and regional corporations such as Amazon, Mastercard, Omantel, Tanfeeth, Spotify, American Express, Al Mouj Muscat amongst others to delve deep into exploring emerging technologies, business models, and customer-centric strategies to deliver strong corporate performance.

Supported by Sprinklr, Yellow.AI, MoEngage, WebEngage, Sitecore, and Pisano, the event saw over 50 senior CX leaders share insights on how they transformed CX into a growth lever for their organisations.

Tyagi said: “The experiences that a brand provides throughout the customer journey will either help build a lasting relationship with the customer or tarnish one. 60 per cent companies are investing in solutions to strengthen their data analytics framework and leveraging data insights in future product and service design. Customer experience weaves around operational excellence, service design excellence, and digital transformation. Companies must attain internal alignment on how data is collected and used across these functions to achieve overall success.”

Technology is playing a key role in shaping customer experience (CX) in the post-pandemic world while the future of CX will involve data and technology. Thoughtful use of data, analytics, and technology can help deliver actionable, tangible experiences that can turn into relationships. Customer success is all about building a lasting relationship with your customers and companies which can master total customer experience will have a true competitive edge, manifested in revenues, profit margins, growth rates, employee and customer satisfaction, and ultimately shareholder value.

Business leaders need to transform their organisations to be more customer-centric in order to survive the market competition. It takes creative thinking and customer journey mapping to identify customers’ wants and needs.

Some of the leading organisations in the region that have invested in CX and digitisation thereby achieving high customer experience success were recognised at the Customer Experience Live Awards held on the first day of the Customer Experience Live Show Middle East. These included Bank Omantel, Alfa Co, Tanfeeth Emirates NBD, Al Mouj Muscat, Medcare Hospital, Oreedoo Oman, Medcare, Modon, Bank Dhofar, and Dammam Airports Company amongst others.

Companies receiving the honours from UAE included Medcare Hospital which received the award for the Best (Voice of Customer) in the Healthcare category while Tanfeeth Emirates Islamic and Tanfeeth Emirates NBD recognised for Best Customer Experience – BFSI and Best Contact Center respectively

Kowshik Bhattacharjee, head of service excellence, Medcare Hospitals, said: “The transition to digitisation during the pandemic has strengthened our CX journey. The engagement between the brand and the customer has become much stronger as the customer started seeing ‘this is a brand that truly takes care of me’. “A digital healthcare brand with a Human Heart”. It also gave birth to the teleMEDCARE platform, our leading platform for online consultation.”

Covid-19 has forced businesses to be innovative. Agile businesses which identified products and services that prioritize experiences have been able to take a competitive advantage. Identifying products and services which need innovation is an incredibly important opportunity for businesses and the pandemic has driven more digital transformation within businesses than what was expected pre-pandemic.

Further, Jon Norotsky, newly-appointed CEO of Alfa Co, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Al Faisaliah Group states “The pandemic has taught the restaurant industry many invaluable lessons in astonishing speed, most basic of which is putting our guests’ needs at the heart of everything we do. We quickly learned that a strong digital presence is a key element to delivering what our guests need, especially at a time of limited mobility. This is why we had to focus our efforts on our digital business, which has grown exponentially over the last year or so.” Piatto by Alfa Co. from KSA received the award for Best CX Transformation Project –Hospitality.

Talal Said Al Mamari, CEO, Omantel, said: “As far as privatisation is concerned, customer experience sits at the core of what we do. Some of the opportunities lie in accelerated digitization of customer experience as customers have moved faster towards Omnichannel.” Brands need to explore how omnichannel adoption can make a great addition to their marketing strategy when working on their CX. Brands that are targeting the youth seem to be delivering a better omnichannel experience.