IDCDFOne of IDC’s recent report, titled ‘Empathy During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Becoming an Empathetic Enterprise in the Next Normal’, details how the most digitally mature organizations adapted quicker to challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. IDC highlights what organizations must focus on to become empathetic organizations – using technology to provide empathy at scale in areas of customer conversation, customer journey, customer experience, and customer satisfaction.

According to the market intelligence firm, the crisis has accelerated the shift of customer experience (CX) from physical to digital-first, exacerbating existing CX challenges and growing the digital divide between leading organizations in CX and others. To thrive in the Next Normal, organizations should accelerate their digital transformation efforts (DX) and become truly customer centric.

"During the crisis' peak, organizations displaying customer empathy have adapted quickly. In the next normal, the most empathetic ones will stand to thrive. Therefore, organizations must remain deeply connected, understand their situations, and continue to act in ways that build trust," says Lawrence Cheok, Senior Research Manager, Digital Commerce, Marketing and Digital Transformation at IDC Asia/Pacific.

Amid the pandemic, leading organizations have leveraged technology to stay connected, continue engagements, and adapt experiences to their customers' needs. More importantly, these organizations' responses have changed customer expectations for the next normal. Customers have demonstrated that empathy is what they need and are looking for from organizations – empathy is not an option but a requirement.

Examples of organizations already pivoting to empathy at scale

 

IDC 
Other highlights from the report on what IDC expects in the next normal include:

  • Digital engagement, ecommerce, and e-communities will become mainstream
  • The physical world will be repurposed to augment digital-first journeys
  • Sustained CX initiatives will be grounded in customer empathy
  • Listening to customer sentiments will shape enterprises' recovery curve.

 

IDC’s ‘Future of Customers and Consumers’ service looks at how technology is playing a key role in customer experience and the digital transformation of that experience. Organizations should leverage technologies such as AI, connected devices, ubiquitous services, and an underlying foundation of trust to understand customers’ needs and address them dynamically. This service analyzes the necessary changes required across business and IT functions providing actionable recommendations on how to thrive in the next normal. (Source: IDC)

By MediaBUZZ