More than 100 company decision-makers and close to 20 leading providers of customer experience services were questioned. The survey, titled “The Market for Customer Experience Services in Germany – Competitive Edge through Customer Experience and Customer Centricity,” has now been published.
One of the core survey findings is that the market for customer experience services is still growing. Last year, service providers in this market, such as IT consultants and digital agencies, saw their sales rise by some 18% on average. Indeed, these companies expect an increase of around 23% for 2019. User organizations are mainly investing in areas such as optimization of customer communications channels – via chatbots or apps, for example – and automation of customer interaction processes. These were the areas mentioned by about three-fourths of the enterprises surveyed.
KPS partner Stefan Metzger confirms this pattern: “Customer experience is becoming more and more important. While the main focus in the past was on technologies and specific products, there is now a recognition that the customer is at the center of all activities, and must therefore be placed at the center of all processes.”
Against this background, KPS helps enterprises to establish and further develop their omnichannel strategies: interaction across all channels, with the goal of reaching customers with appropriate content at the right time, on any channel of their choice.
Unprecedented demand for customer experience services
According to the survey, the greatest demand for customer experience services is still generated by major corporations with more than 10,000 employees. But midsize enterprises are following their lead, and the trend toward digitization is visible everywhere. “Smaller businesses find it even more difficult to maintain their market position in a digitized world,” says Metzger. “On the other hand, they are often closer to their customers or have a personal relationship with them. And our role is to offer them imaginative ideas that help them exploit this strength, become customer-centric, and develop a highly effective customer journey.”
The survey found, in fact, that there is both a need and a desire for this type of assistance from external providers. Almost 80% of respondents develop their digital business models in collaboration with external partners. KPS specialist Metzger sees diversity as the main driver. After all, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. “Digitization involves the interplay of compelling front ends such as apps and websites, appropriately integrated CRM, marketing, commerce, PIM and CMS systems, and most important, intelligent, effective, enterprise-wide change management. Against this background, it is very difficult to achieve digitization without external support and additional resources.” To meet growing demand for external support with digitization, KPS has been steadily evolving as a company, and has created a broad and diverse service offering.
When it comes to choosing external partners, companies pay attention above all to their powers of innovation (94%), industry and target-group-specific knowledge (90%), understanding of business models (89%) and customer journeys (83%), followed by agile methods and tools, and design and creative skills. KPS addresses customers’ requirements with the help of innovative, cloud-based software solutions that are quick and easy to implement, and highly flexible. In addition, KPS combines MVP-based approaches with its own Rapid Transformation® methodology, ensuring tangible results are achieved rapidly, and allowing customers to begin using the new solution fast. Another technology set to play a decisive role in the future is artificial intelligence. It enables better outcomes to be accomplished faster, helps drive down costs, and offers new scope for creativity.
