Looking to Digital to Transform the Customer Experience

Mid-tier companies want to invest in digital to improve CX, but a new report has found that a third adopt the ‘wait and see approach’ when it comes to new technology.

Big Four accounting firm KPMG has released the results of a new study into reasons that British companies invest in digital initiatives, and transforming the customer experience was cited by a fifth of respondents as the primary motivation to do so.

In fact, digital was seen a priority by 72 per of the 1,200 UK mid-market companies surveyed, and 68 per cent said that they would increase their spend on digital in the next two years. A third of those even expect to increase their spend by over 10 per cent.

Despite the clear move in thinking towards digital, many companies were still hesitant to actually take any firm steps, with a third (32 per cent) admitting that they would prefer to wait and see if a new technology was proven to work before investing.

This ‘wait and see’ approach was most prominent in the manufacturing and construction sectors, where digital was far less of a strategic priority than in IT, telecommunications, media organisations, finance and accounting.

Nathan Beaver, Customer & Growth Director at KPMG Enterprise, said that those who are adopting the ‘wait and see’ approach are playing a risky game.

He explained: "While there is nothing inherently wrong in waiting for technology to be proven, there is a danger that such an approach could give rise to a ‘two-tier digital economy’ where some mid-tier organisations end up falling behind and being overtaken by those more innovative businesses."

The biggest issues holding those surveyed back from adopting new technology and move into the digital age were implementation issues (21 per cent) and lack of an organisation-wide strategy and vision (19 per cent).

"Mid-tier companies need to understand that they do not need to do everything straight away," Beaver added.

"This is about being agile by breaking down projects into bite-sized initiatives that can be delivered at speed. That way they can keep up-to-date without the risk of being overtaken by the speed of innovation in the digital environment."

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